Samuel GILLILAN

                   From a booklet "Algonquin the Beautiful" A history of Its Pioneers and Settlement in Commemoration of Its 100th Birthday---pages 6 & 8:

"GILLILAN THE FIRST SETTLER
It is conceded by all that the first white settler in McHenry county was Samuel Gillilan, who arrived with his family November 18, 1834. His wife, Margaret Gillilan, was the first white woman in this section. To the banks of the Fox River, into the forest primeval, over the grassy prairies unscarred by plough share came this pioneer family, driving two (two) covered wagons. They also drove along with them some live stock. Richard and Nancy Hill of West Virginia, moved by wagon in 1833 to Ohio, resided there one year and them came on to what later became Algonquin.
Mr. and Mrs. Gillilan were the parents of nine children---six girls and three boys---of whom Deida, Lydia, Chauncy, Nancy and Shadrack died early in life. The surviving children were Electa, Tabitha, Martha and Richard. Electa married Levi Seebert, and a (grand) daughter of this union, Mrs. Bertha Hawley, is now residing in Elgin. Tabitha Gillilan married Floyd Clausen of Missouri, and Martha became the spouse of J. Rennet (an error in the name, it should be Bennet). Richard, who was about six years old when the Gillilan family came to Algonquin, is remembered clearly by many of the present residents of the village.
When the Gillilans arrived here they selected a site on which they built a rude log cabin and began to clear land in readiness for their crop. They lost their first crop of corn because of sickness. At the time of the Gillilans' arrival there was an Indian camp across the river and still another where the main village now is, this section of the country being a favorite hunting ground of the Indians. The woods and hills abounded with game, also with wolves and foxes, while the river teemed with fish. The Indians, for the most part were friendly, though they did steal a horse from the Gillilans, which, however, later was recovered. The Indians occasionally visited the Gillilan home and usually were fed. One day when Mrs. Gillilan was alone in her cabin a group of Indians came and one of them spat in a kettle of boiling water from which Mrs. Gillilan had lifted the cover to show them it contained no meat. Mrs. Gillilan was a small woman but a brave one. The action of the Indian so angered her that she sprang at him and pushed him out of the house, which very much delighted the other Indians, who undoubtedly thought her a "heap brave squaw."
Another story of Mrs. Gillilan's bravery is told in connection with the theft of her cook stove by Indians. A cook stove was an unheard-of luxury, and a band of Indians stopping at her cabin took such a liking to it that they carried it along with them. Mrs. Gillilan followed the Indians 20 miles on horseback and got her stove back. The size or kind of a stove that could be carried on horseback has, unfortunately, not been recorded, but such is the story.
On August 26, 1835, a daughter of the Gillilands, named Deida, died at the age of fifteen years. This was the first death and burial in Algonquin township. The young girl was buried in what was known for many years as the Gillilan Cemetery.
Mr. Gillilan did not long enjoy his wilderness home, but was here to welcome his cousin John, who arrived in the spring of 1835 and settled on the east side of the river on land which subsequently became the Henk farm. John resided here until 1882, when he removed to Nebraska. Among early pioneers who usually stopped at Gillilans', it being the only white man's house, were the Klincks, Toles, Chunns, Cornishes and Chandlers. Also, Dr. Plumleigh, Horace Hubbard and Levi Seebert. The latter subsequently becoming the husband of Electa Gillilan. Other distinguished pioneers who partook of the Gillilan hospitality were the famous Gifford brothers, founders of Elgin. In the spring of 1835 they started afoot from Chicago, seeking a dwelling place in the Fox River Valley. On the third day after leaving Chicago the Giffords reached the Gillilan cabin, hungry and wet, and were received with every manifestation of hospitality. Following a good night's rest and a substantial breakfast of hot corn dodgers and coffee the Gifford brothers continued their journey the next morning and reached their destination, now the city of Elgin, on April 3, 1835.
Samuel Gillilan succumbed to the hardships of a pioneer's existence and died in 1837 at the age of 40, leaving his widow and children to carry on. He had not yet entered his land, but his widow secured a title to 417 acres. After the daughters had married, Mrs. Gillilan and Richard were alone on the farm. A record is extant of an old settlers' reunion held in 1878 at which Mrs. Gillilan received much attention as the first white woman in McHenry County. After his mothers' death Richard Gillilan lived alone in a little house, about where the new Algonquin cemetery is located. With him lived his faithful dog, and for many years Richard and the animal were familiar figures on the streets of Algonquin. He finally died at an advanced age at the old Morton House where he hand been cared for during his last years.
Not alone the Gillilans, but nearly all of the earlier settlers in Algonquin reached the banks of the Fox River in covered wagons, cutting their own trails, building their log cabins, clearing the land by cutting down the trees and digging out the stumps. Verily, a hard and strenuous life."

Page 10 of the same booklet-paragraph titled, "GILLILANS VISIT BARRINGTON CENTRE
When the Gillilans came to Algonquin they stopped over night at the log cabin of Jesse Miller and his wife, Ruth Klinck Miller, at Barrington Centre, on the east side of the river. When the Gillilans reached Algonzuin they forded the river and settled on the western bank, where no white man had ever been before. The Millers subsequently moved to the Miller, later known as the Lowe District....."

Page 31 of the same booklet--paragraph titled ALGONQUIN'S CEMETERIES

"The first cemetery in Algonquin was the Gillilan family burying ground. It was situated on the Cary road at a point about opposite the Wilbrandt farm and at the extreme northerly end of the Gillilan estate. The first person to find interment there was Deida, the fifteen year old daughter of Samuel Gillilan, who was buried in 1835, the year after the family's arrival in Algonquin. Samuel Gillilan, the original pioneer and father of Deida was the next to find sepulture in the little burying ground. As the years progressed other children of the Gillilans were interred there. Subsequently all these bodies were exhumed and laid to rest permanently in the Algonquin cemetery, which was laid out in 1853, the land having been donated by Mr. Edwards whose wife died in that year and was the first person to be buried there."