Woodford County, Illinois: History
=== Establishment ===
Woodford County is part of what was formerly the homelands of several Native American peoples, including the Potawatomi, the Meskwaki, and the Sauk peoples. It was located just south of the land of the Illiniwek. The western portion of the county in particular shows much archeological evidence of having supported extensive First Nations populations.
At the time of the American Revolutionary War, three competing American colonies – Massachusetts, Virginia, and Connecticut – claimed part of what is today the state of Illinois. The matter was solved in 1778 when Virginia amalgamated lands in the region into a massive county called Illinois, borrowing the name of a native people. Indiana Territory was formed in 1800 with William Henry Harrison as Governor; the future Illinois was part of this territory. It was not until 1809 that Illinois Territory was formally established as an official territory of the United States of America. Statehood followed in December 1818.
The first organized Anglo settlements in the future Woodford County region appeared in the 1820s. First settlement in the county came at Spring Bay, with pioneers managing to select the same ground occupied by an ancient Indian burial site which ran north-and-south through the entire settlement. The location was chosen due to its proximity to the Illinois River.
In the 1870s, an early historian of Woodford County wrote:
There were a few Indians in the county at the time of settlement by the whites, but the two races did not come into conflict to any extent. The advancing wave of civilization seemed to follow up the retreating wave of barbarism. The first settlers encountered a few Indians ... and in 1832 were involved to some extent in the Black Hawk War, but the active operations were further north than Woodford County.
The current boundaries of the county were not those originally drawn; moreover, the names of various counties in the region changed frequently The Eastern portion of Woodford County was known as Edwards (1814–16), Crawford (1816–19), Clark (1819–21), and Fayette (1821-25) Counties, while the Western part of today's county was included in Madison (1814–17), Bond (1817–21), and Sangamon (1821–25) Counties.
In 1827 new lines were drawn and Tazewell County was established, including all of today's Woodford County. Settlers began arriving from neighboring territories during the early 1830s. This led to the formal creation of Woodford County along its current boundaries in February 1841 from a portion of Tazewell County and a portion of McLean County that had been part of Tazewell County before 1830.
The county was named for Woodford County, Kentucky, which was in turn named after General William Woodford, who served with General George Washington at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during the brutal winter of 1777–78.
The first post office in today's Woodford County was established in 1836 at Partridge township, named for local tribal leader Black Partridge. Also in 1836, the area's first (private) school was founded, by Miss Betsy Page. The first public school followed shortly thereafter. The first Sunday school was established in 1837 in the home of Parker Morse in Cazenovia. …