Samuel Preston, Sr. , made the first claim and was the first settler in Mt. Carroll Township. His claim covered the water power of Fulrath’s Mill and what has ever since been known as ‘Preston’s Prairie.’ The same day, Paul D. Otis and Granville Mathews made a claim of the land and water power at Mt. Carroll, which afterwards became the property of Emmert, Halderman & Co. These claims were made some time in 1836 and in 183T. Messrs. Otis and Mathews built a cabin near what subsequently became the Christian homestead, and into which Mr. Mathews removed his father. As already stated in these pages, Otis and Mathews sold their claim to Geo. Swaggert and others, and they in turn sold it to Emmert, Halderman & Co., who were the real founders of Mt. Carroll.

“In the Fall of 1836, Nathan Downing took a claim that is now known as Kinney’s Farm. Nathan Downing sold his claim to his brother, Heman Downing within a year afterwards, who continued to occupy and improve it until 1856, when he sold the farm to John Kinney .

The first white child born in the Mt. Carroll settlement was a daughter to Nathan Downing, born in the Spring of 1837. When this daughter grew to womanhood, she was given in marriage to Gideon Carr. This same Spring, Rezin Everts took up the land now known as the Trail Farm; and Samuel S. Bayless claimed a part of section 12, at the present fair grounds. He laid off a town there, which, in honor of the capital of his native state, Virginia, he called Richmond. He made liberal of offers of lots to settlers, and two small houses were built, but the financial troubles of 1837 killed Richmond, and blasted the hopes and expectations of its founder. Otis and Mathews, like a great many other claim-takers, were greedy and tried to ‘slide’ their claim over on to Bayless’, but he ‘didn’t scare worth a cent,’ and wisely held on to his claim. In 1839, a post-office was established at Richmond and was entered on the post-office records at Washington tinder that name. When the Whigs came into power under Harrison, in 1841, the ‘ Richmond, Carroll County, Illinois’ post office was stricken from the list of U. S. P. O.’s, and has never since been known by that name. A little circumstance in connection with the appointment of the first post­master at Richmond is worthy of preservation. A part of the settlers wanted old ‘Squire Chas. G. Hawley for postmaster, and another part of them wanted Heman Downing. Both were Whigs. The appointing power (Van Buren’s) was Democratic, so Downing’s friends ventured to assert in their petition that he was a Jeffersonian Democrat, thinking that would be an irresistible and unanswerable argument in his favor, and sure to settle the question—and it did. Both parties handed their petitions to Luther H. Bowen, potmaster at Savanna, who was a Democrat. He looked over the petitions and made this simple endorsement on Downing’s “He is a Whig.” He said nothing about Hawley’s politics, but Hawley got the post-office.

“In the Spring of 1838, Daniel Christian moved on to the Otis and Mathews claim and built the old saw mill down the creek. Wm. Mackay (the elder brother of Duncan Mackay) and John George leased and ran the mill for some time. This year Hemnan Downing built the first fram barn of any size in the county. Its sills and posts and beams and girders, were made of hewn oak timber and, as was the practice in those days, they were large and heavy, and required the united strength of all the settlers between Plum River and Cherry Grove to raise it. It was the model barn of the county in those days, but its glory departed before many years.

“In 1838, Geo. W. Stewart settled on the Samuel Hayes farm, on the Savanna road, and a man by the name of Hinckley settled on the land now covered by the Daniel Crouse farm.

“Somewhere about 1838 (the exact date is unknown), John Kinney, Joseph Ferrin, Rezin Everts and others were fishing down Carroll Creek, early in the Spring, and all at once they heard a hissing and rattling noise, and, looking around, they found themselves overtaken by hundreds of rattlesnakes that had come out from their dens to sun themselves. They quit fishing and went to snake-killing, and when none but dead ones were to be seen, they took an inventory of the stock on hand, and found that they had disposed of one hundred and ninety, and they didn’t think it was a very good day for snakes, either! They had more snakes than fish.

In 1839, Mr. Whipple, a travelling Presbyterian niinister, preached the first sermon on the prairie. The first school was taught the same years by Sarah J. Hawley, in the upper part of the senior Preston’s house.

Previous to the time which we have reached in time history of the county, Sidney and Lewis Bliss, John O’Neal, Benj. Church, Jos. Ferrin, John Kinney and a few others had settled on Preston Prairie, and David Masters a half a mile south of the Mt. Carroll depot.

“A man named Leonard built a grist mill in 1838-9, at the site of the mill now owned by Adam Fuirath. The mill-stones were quarried from the Galena Limestone that crops out along the creek, one of which may still be seen at the Fulrath mill.”

David Emmert and family, of Pennsylvania, came to Cherry Grove in May, 1840, and kept the Cherry Grove House for a while. In the Fall of 1841, N. Halderman, also, came into the county, and, stopping at Cherry Grove, made Emmert’s acquaintance, and entered into an arrangement with him to build a mill somewhere in the county. Their attention was directed to the Mount Carroll mill site, which Halderman examined some time in the month of November, and being fully satisfied with its advantages, a mill company was formed, the site purchased, and operations commenced. The company was composed of David Emmert, N. Halderman, John Rinewalt, and Thomas Robinson, of the firm of Irvine & Robinson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A log house was built at “Stags’ Point,” on the ground now occupied by the residence of I. P. Sheldon, and in January, 1842, the Emmert family moved in and occupied it. About this time Halderman fell in with Daniel Hurley, at Cherry Grove, who, with Hugh Slowey and one or two other men, were enroute for Galena hunting a job of work. Halderman entered into a contract with Hurley to build the dam and lay the foundation of the mill building. Some twenty men were employed on this work, quarrying the stone for the mill, etc., all of whom boarded with Emmert. The next dwelling houses were built by some of the men employed in the mill enterprise. Jesse and Thomas Rapp settled here in 1842, intending to unite their fortunes with the mill company, but subsequently changed their minds. Jesse Rapp built the first house south of the stone hotel (now the Chapman House), soon after the town was laid out, some two or three houses having been built in advance of the survey. The first season after the survey, a man named Goltinan built a house on the lot subsequently occupied by John S. Miller’s store. The same year a house was built on the first corner south of that now occupied by the Chapman House. Until 1844, when the Chapman House was built, this was the largest and best house in town, and was used as a boarding-house by Thomas Rapp. Soon after the completion of this (then) somewhat aristocratic house, Harlan Pyle built another one just west of the mill-race, which was afterwards rebuilt by Evan Rea.” Thus commenced the settlement of Mount Carroll, and here the settlement will be left to be taken up again in a local history of the growth and prosperity of the city.

From the History of Carroll County by Ketts 1878