Editing Lee County, Illinois (section)

==History==
The area's first non-native settlers were mostly from the six [[New England]] states.<ref>Stevens, Frank Everett. ''History of Lee County, Illinois, Vol. 1'' p. 382</ref> The early nineteenth century saw a wave of westward movement from New England, due largely to completion of the [[Erie Canal]] and the end of the [[Black Hawk War]].<ref>Holbrook, Stewart Hall. ''The Yankee Exodus: An Account of Migration from New England'', University of Washington Press (1968)</ref><ref>Shalev, Eran. ''American Zion: The Old Testament as a Political Text from the Revolution to ...'', Yale University Press (March 26, 2013) {{ISBN|9780300186925}} pp. 70-71</ref>

The area that included present-day Lee County was delineated as [[St. Clair County, Illinois|St. Clair County]] in 1809. In 1823, a large section of northern St. Clair County was partitioned off as [[Fulton County, Illinois|Fulton County]]. In 1825, the northwestern portion of that county was partitioned off as [[Putnam County, Illinois|Putnam County]]. In 1831, the area was further partitioned into [[Jo Daviess County, Illinois|Jo Daviess County]]. A section of that county was partitioned off in 1836 as [[Ogle County, Illinois|Ogle County]], and in 1839 the bottom half of Ogle County was split off as Lee County. It is largely understood that the county's name honors [[Henry Lee III|"Lighthorse Harry" Lee]], an officer in the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gannett |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ |title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1905 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n183 184]}}</ref> An alternative theory suggests the name honors [[Richard Henry Lee]], a member of the [[Continental Congress]] (the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] was adopted pursuant to the [[Lee Resolution]]).

President [[Ronald Reagan]] lived in Dixon as a boy and attended [[Dixon High School (Illinois)|Dixon High School]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/spring/schoolhouse.html |access-date=December 30, 2007 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration}}</ref>
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File:Lee County Illinois 1839.png|Lee County's boundaries have remained unchanged since its creation in 1839.
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