Editing Henry County, Illinois (section)

==History==
Henry County was formed on January 13, 1825, out of [[Fulton County, Illinois]]. It is named for [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] figure [[Patrick Henry]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|publisher=Govt. Print. Off.|author=Gannett, Henry|year=1905|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n154 155]}}</ref> The county was settled by people from [[New England]] and western [[New York (state)|New York]], descendants of English Puritans who settled New England in the colonial era. The New England settlers founded the five towns of Andover, Wethersfield, [[Geneseo, Il|Geneseo]], Morristown and La Grange.<ref>The expansion of New England: the spread of New England settlement and institutions to the Mississippi River, 1620-1865, pp. 215-216</ref>

The settlement of Cambridge came about in 1843, when the owner of the land in that area (Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury) dedicated a section of his properties to a town council; lots were sold to incoming settlers, and construction of the town proper began on June 9, 1843. The incoming "Yankee" settlers made Henry County culturally similar to early [[New England]] culture.<ref>History Henry County, Illinois H.F. Kett & Company (1877) pp. 177-178</ref><ref>The expansion of New England: the spread of New England settlement and institutions to the Mississippi River, 1620-1865 by Louis Kimball Matthews, pp. 215-216</ref>

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File:Henry County Illinois 1825.png|Henry County from the time of its creation to 1827
File:Henry County Illinois 1827.png|The county between 1827 and 1831
File:Henry County Illinois 1831.png|Henry between 1831 and 1836
File:Henry County Illinois 1836.png|Henry in 1836, after Whiteside County was created
</gallery>