Editing Bureau County, Illinois (section)

==History==
Bureau County was created from a portion of [[Putnam County, Illinois|Putnam County]] in 1837. It is named for brothers Michel and Pierre Bureau, French Canadians who ran a trading post from 1776 until the 1780s near the conjunction of Big Bureau Creek with Illinois River. Their actual surname most likely was Belleau, but the local American Indians had difficulty pronouncing the "l" sound, which was not found in some local languages.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/pioneersillinoi00matsgoog/page/n230 <!-- pg=229 --> Pierre de Beuro, an Indian trader] ''Pioneers of Illinois'' by Nehemiah Matson, 1882, p. 229</ref><ref>[http://www.earlychicago.com/essays.php?essay=7 Jean Baptiste Point de Sable : the founder of modern Chicago] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126163950/http://www.earlychicago.com/essays.php?essay=7|date=January 26, 2013}} by John F. Swenson, 1999- . Retrieved November 11, 2010.</ref>
An early settler of this area was Bulbona, a man of mixed French and Native American descent with a Native American wife. Unlike most of the other Native Americans in the area, Bulbona remained after the area was settled by Euro-Americans and ran a trading post, where he sold whiskey among other necessities.<ref name=Bradsby>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbureauc00brad|title=History of Bureau County, Illinois|first=Henry C.|last=Bradsby|date=May 11, 1885|publisher=Chicago : World Pub. Co.|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131230537/http://www.archive.org/details/historyofbureauc00brad|archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref>

The founders of [[Princeton, Illinois|Princeton]], the area's oldest town, were settlers from [[New England]], descendants of the [[English American|English]] [[Puritans]] who settled [[New England]] in the 17th century. They were part of a wave of [[New England]] farmers who moved to the [[Northwest Territory]] in the early 19th century. Most of them came soon after of the completion of the [[Erie Canal]].<ref name=Bradsby/> When they arrived, they faced virgin forest and wild prairie. These [[English American|New Englanders]] laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes. They brought with them many of their [[Yankee]] [[New England]] values, such as a passion for education, establishing many schools, and were staunch [[Abolitionism|abolitionists]]. They were mostly members of the [[Congregationalist Church]] or [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalians]]. Early Bureau County, like much of northern [[Illinois]], was culturally very continuous with early [[New England]] culture.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nehemiah Matson|title=Reminiscences of Bureau County &#91;Illinois&#93; in Two Parts|url=https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesbu00matsgoog|year=1872|publisher=Republican book and job office|pages=[https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesbu00matsgoog/page/n257 265]–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2VBAQAAMAAJ&q=%22New+England%22&pg=PA223|title=Past and Present of Bureau County, Illinois: Together with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead|first=George B.|last=Harrington|date=May 11, 2018|publisher=Pioneer Publishing Co.|isbn=9780608368887|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=Bradsby/>

Like so many other areas in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], this county was on a "line" of the [[Underground Railroad]]. There was a "station" at the home of [[Owen Lovejoy]] in [[Princeton, Illinois|Princeton]], and several other locations in the county.

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File:Bureau County Illinois 1837.png|Bureau County's boundaries have remained unchanged since its creation in 1837.
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