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are now in Texas, some in Missouri, and three are residents of this county; viz., Philip, Barney, and Caroline, wife of B. SMITH, all prominent citizens.

Hugh EAGAN, also from Tennessee, was one of the early settlers of the county. He resided at first in what is now Kinmundy township, but after several years removed to a farm north of Salem, which farm he purchased of Ross JONES, and upon which he lived till he died. He has a large family. HARRISON, one of his sons, is a prominent minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is now located in Washington Territory. Other early settlers in Kinmundy township were John BLURTON, Hinton BLURTON, Barney EAGAN, Roger WILLIAMS, Thomas WILLIAMS, James RAY, Samuel WHITESIDE, and Wm. HOWELL.

Ross JONES, from Tennessee, became a citizen of the county about 1827; improved a farm, upon which he lived for several years, and then removed to East Fork on the Vandalia road. He there made a good farm upon which he was living at the time of his death.

John DAVIDSON settled in the south-east part of Tonti, township as early as 1828, and lived there many years. He afterwards removed to Carrigan township, where he died.

In 1827, Thomas DEADMOND, a native of Virginia, came from Tennessee to Marion county, and settled on section 28, Odin township. His family consisted of ten children. He arrived here late in the fall, and built a log shed enclosed on three sides in which he passed the winter. On the open side of this structure he kept a log heap constantly burning, to prevent himself and family from freezing. He was at that early day a prominent man, and for ten years served as Justice of the peace.

Jacob TABOR, of Tennessee, settled in the county at an early day, and reared a family of children who were heads of families at the time of his death, which occurred about 1837.

Absalom STEELE, George HARRISON, Robert and F. J. LEWIS, Moses PTOMEY, and Wm. ALEXANDER were all early settlers in that part of the county known as Carrigan Township.

Gideon BURTON was one of the pioneers of Clinton county, and removed to this county about 1823. His first land entry in this county was made Sepember 26th, 1825. He cleared up and improved a good farm and built a horse-mill; reared a family of nine grown daughters and three sons, who composed his family when he arrived in the county. He and his wife were very large and healthy, and consequently well prepared physically to endure the hardships common to pioneer life. He died on the old homestead in 1830.

One of the oldest settlers now living in the county is Wm HILL, who emigrated from South Carolina in 1803, and removed from Randolph county, Ills., to this county in 1825, he being one of twelve children. The company of emigrants with whom his father and family came from South Carolina numbered thirty persons. They were nine weeks en route to this western country, and once lost the road, causing them to go for four days without anything to eat. Mr. HILL was nine months in the war of 1812, and three months in the Black Hawk war, during which time he was as near that celebrated warrior as he desired to be. In 1819 he married his cousin, Jane HILL, with whom he, at the time of her death, had lived sixty-one years. He has witnessed the transformation of this county and state from a howling wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts and savage Indians, into a blooming paradise, occupied by the enterprising Saxon race with all the rich results of modern civilization. Let his name then be embalmed in history as one of the honored pioneers of this great state and prosperous county.

Marshall WANTLAND and his brother, John, came from Tennessee to this county about 1826, and settled on adjoining tracts of land. Each of the brothers had a large family. In 1844 Marshall removed with his family to Texas, and John with his to Saline Co., Ills.

Samuel HAYS left Alabama in 1828, and the same year became a resident of this county, and settled in what is now Halnes township. He died in 1835, leaving a family of nine children, seven boys and two girls, some of whom still reside in the county. In the same year David MERCER came here from Kentucky, and settled where is son, Silas, now lives.

In 1828, John AADAMS left his home in Kentucky, and came to this county, settling on a farm now occupied by his son, Elisha. Six of his children came with him, most of whom are now dead. His son, Elisha, is one of the oldest and most respected citizens now living in Tennessee Prairie.

Green DE PRIEST settled here at an early day, and built one of the first two cabins in Haines township, Isaac MCCLELLAND erecting the other, where J. C. GASTON now lives.

Abner STEWART, a native of Maury county, Tennessee, emigrated, in 1828, from that state and settled on a farm in what is now Kinmundy township. His cabin then stood on the site of the present town of Kinmundy, and there he improved a good farm. He reared a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters. Two of his children, a son and a daughter, still survive; the former named Joseph, residing in Texas; the latter, Catherine, in JOHNSON Co., Missouri. The old gentleman long ago removed to Missouri, where he died twenty years ago.

In the same year, three brothers, James, Joseph and William GRAY, arrived here from Tennessee. In 1829 William built a hewed log cabin near STEWART's dwelling, and the same still stands, being used for a stable by the widow COLEMAN. About 1833 William GRAY removed to Randolph Co., Missouri. James GRAY was the first Justice of the Peace in this (Kinmundy) township. He filled the office till the time of his death, in 1835, and his brother, Joseph, from that time till he died. James GRAY, left a widow and a family of eight children. She died in 1844. The two youngest children, James H., and Isaac D., still survive, and are highly esteemed citizens of the county. The former occupied the old homestead, where he has resided fifty-three years; reared a family of five children, and become by industry and economy one of the wealthiest men in the county. The latter, born here just half a century ago, lives near his brother and has a family of five children. Joseph GRAY, one of the three brothers, improved several tracts of land here and was one of the early prominent citizens. His son, John H., was several years Justice of the Peace, and for a while was one of the County Judges.

Joseph GRAY died on his farm in 1844, leaving a family of nine children, only one of whom (William) is now living. He resides on a farm north-west of Kinmundy.

Isaac EAGAN was a single man when he came to the county with James GRAY. He drove stage for a number of years, but subsequently married, and in 1831 bought a farm, to which he from time to time made additions, till he at length had one of the finest farms in the county. He was a quiet, unassuming man, very successful in agricultural pursuits, and became owner of a thousand acres of cultivated land. He reared a large family of children, seven of whom now live in the vicinity of the old homestead. In 1873 he died on the place where he first settled.

John Beardin was another early settler in that part of the county now embraced within the limits of Kinmundy township. He had no family, and died here.

The first settler in what is now Odin township was probably