Who was the first settler?

Martin Hanon was the first settler of the territory now Christian County, coming in the fall of 1818. He was from Nashville, Tennessee, born April 1799, son of Michael and Sarah Hanon. His father died when he was a young boy and he ventured with his mother and brothers and sisters. The party came into this region and pitched a tent on the south of a large fallen tree, trusting it for protection against the storms and cold. He set to work to chop enough logs for a primitive log cabin, but was interuppted in his work by a pack of wolves, who smelled the food carried by the pioneers, trying to attack them. He new the best way to disperse them was to throw a burning brand in the midst of the pack. In time he developed a farm, later to become the Squire Council property. On October 10, 1823 he went to Shawneetown and married Miss Sallie Miller. He stayed in the area until 1826, when he built a cabin on the west side of South Branch, south of Taylorville, later the old Forest Mill, but he returned to So Ford. In 1834 he bought an interest in the Knuckols and Wallace water mill, later known as the Elgan mill and moved his family to the bank of the Sangamon in that area. His mother died in 1838 and he did not want to stay in that spot, so sold his interest to Jesse Elgan and in 1839 located permanently on his farm five miles northwest of Taylorville, on the north side of Horseshoe Prairie, later to belong to Josiah A Hill. On May 28, 1862, his wife passed away and was buried in the Horseshoe graveyard. Following this, he sold his homestead and lived among his eleven children, all whom were grown. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs Mason of Sharpsburg on April 5, 1879 at the age of nearly 80 years. He took an active part in the early history of this county. Taken from "History of Christian County, Illinois" by Henry L Fowkes, 1918

South Fork Township

Martin Hanon