Boone County, Illinois

Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Boone County, Illinois.

History

Boone County was formed in 1837 out of Winnebago County. It was named for Kentucky frontiersman Daniel Boone. The first non-Native American settlers arrived in what is now Boone County in 1835. They arrived as a result of the end of the Black Hawk War as well as the completion of the Erie Canal. They consisted entirely of settlers from New England. These were "Yankee" settlers, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who settled New England in the colonial era. They were primarily members of the Congregational Church though due to the Second Great Awakening many of them had converted to Methodism and some had become Baptists before coming to what is now Boone County. When the New England settlers arrived in what is now Boone County there was nothing but a dense virgin forest and wild prairie. In the late 1870s immigrants began arriving from Germany and Ireland.

Adjacent Counties

• Rock County, Wisc.
• Walworth County, Wisc.
• McHenry County
• DeKalb County
• Ogle County
• Winnebago County

Cities, Villages, Towns & Communities

• Belvidere
• Bonus
• Boone
• Caledonia
• Candlewick Lake
• Capron
• Cherry Valley (part)
• Flora
• Garden Prairie
• Leroy
• Manchester
• Poplar Grove
• Spring
• Timberlane

Links

The Seth S. Whitman House Pettit Chapel Wikipedia Genealogy Trails