Knox County ILGenWeb

[The township was named Chester in an 1850 report.]

From the 1870 Atlas Map of Knox County, Illinois, Andreas, Lyter & Co., Davenport, Iowa, 91 pages.  [Submitted by Bob Miller.]

"First settler in Truro, was John Dill, on Sec. 19, in 1832, in a house which is still standing.  First marriage was Jake Ryan to Miss Stambough, in 1833, by Rev. J. Cummings.  Ferry established on Spoon River, by John Coleman, in 1834, on Sec. 30.  First birth was Andrew Dill, 1833, on Sec. 19.  First death was a U. S. Mail Carrier, whose name is now unknown, who was drowned while crossing Spoon river, with the mail, in 1832.  His grave can now be seen on the banks of the river, on Sec. 30, with his initials R. W. cut on a Box Elder tree.  First sermon was by John Cummings, at the house of Widow Lambert, on Sec. 31, 1834.  First school house was built on Sec. 33, in 1848.  First Justice was R. Johnson.  First Post Office at Coleman's Ferry.  Truro, above the river, is very broken, below the river rich, fertile land."

From the 1878 History of Knox County, Illinois published by Charles C. Chapman.  [Submitted by Bob Miller.]

"This township contains a greater number of miles of Spoon river than any other township in the county.  That river touches 17 sections, which is, seemingly, as many as is possible for the same number of miles of a stream to cross in running through a township.  The first settler in Truro was John Dill, who came to the township in 1832, and erected his cabin on section 19.  Malon Winans, United States' Mail Carrier, was the first person meeting with death in this township.  He lived in Lewistown, Fulton county, and was making his first trip with the mail.  O. M. Ross, who came into Fulton county in 1822, carried the mail between Springfield and Monmouth for some years, or rather it was carried by his son, Harvey L., who, when he began in 1832, was but 15 years of age.  In 1834, Mr. Ross let out a part of the route, from Lewistown to Monmouth, to a relative of his, Malon Winans.  Mr. Winans had a son whom he intended to put upon the route, but concluded to go over it himself first that he might make all necessary arrangements for stopping-places.  But his first trip was his last, for in attempting to swim Spoon river with the mail-bag strapped to his back, he was drowned.

The first marriage ceremony performed in the township was by Rev. J. Cummings in 1833, when he united Jake Ryan and Miss Stambaugh.  The first birth was Andrew Dill, in 1833.  The first sermon was preached at the residence of Widow Lambert on section 31, in 1834, by Rev. John Cummings.  A ferry was established on Spoon river at section 30, in 1834, by John Coleman.

On the northwest quarter of section 31, Truro township, on the land afterward owned by Charles Bradford, a number of Indian graves were found when the first white settlers came there.  The corpses had been buried in the forks of the trees ten to fifteen feet above the ground.  Logs had been split in halves and excavated for coffins; the forks of the trees were cut away with their tomahawks sufficiently to let them in, and the crude coffins there rested with their skeleton contents, until about 1836 the whites took them down and buried them in the earth."