Editing Sangamon County, Illinois (section)

==History==
[[File:Abraham Lincoln Tomb Springfield Illiois.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lincoln Tomb]]]]
Sangamon County was formed in 1821 out of [[Madison County, Illinois|Madison]] and [[Bond County, Illinois|Bond]] counties. The county was named for the [[Sangamon River]], which runs through it. The origin of the name of the river is unknown; among several explanations is the theory that it comes from the [[Potawatomi language|Potawatomi]] word ''Sain-guee-mon'' (pronounced "sang gä mun"), meaning "where there is plenty to eat."<ref>Callary, Edward. 2009. ''Place Names of Illinois''. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, p. 310.</ref>  Published histories of neighboring Menard County (formed from Sangamon County) suggest that the name was first given to the river by the French explorers of the late 17th century as they passed through the region. The river was named to honor "St. Gamo", or Saint Gamo, an 8th-century French Benedictine monk. The French pronunciation "San-Gamo" is the legacy.

Prior to being elected [[President of the United States]], [[Abraham Lincoln]] represented Sangamon County in the [[Illinois Legislature]]. Lincoln, along with several other legislators, was instrumental in securing [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]], the Sangamon County seat, as the state's capital. Sangamon County was also within the congressional district represented by Lincoln when he served in the [[US House of Representatives]]. Another legislator who represented Sangamon County was Colonel [[Edmund Dick Taylor]], also known as "Father of the Greenback". The prominent financiers and industrialists [[Jacob Bunn]] and [[John Whitfield Bunn]] were based in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, as well as in Chicago, during the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The careers of these men and the people with whom they collaborated helped to shape much of the history and development of Sangamon County, Illinois.

<gallery>
File:Sangamon County Illinois 1821.png|Sangamon County from the time of its creation to 1823
File:Sangamon County Illinois 1823.png|Sangamon County between 1823 and 1825
File:Sangamon County Illinois 1825.png|Sangamon County between 1825 and 1839
File:Sangamon County Illinois 1839.png|Sangamon in 1839, when the creation of Logan and Menard Counties reduced it to its present borders
</gallery>