Boschong Subscribers, I found this very interesting article from The Commercial News of Danville, Illinois, written by Roy J. Kyger in 1951. One of the Kyger daughters, Luella married Charles T. Bushong. See BOSCHONG Archives for October 2009, July 2011 and April 2013 for further information. I could not find this couple in the 1900 or 1930 census and I spent a lot of time looking. I called the library in Danville, Illinois and ordered their obits but according to the librarian, it will take 4 to 6 weeks to receive them. Seems like a awfully long time since I did furnish them with the exact death dates but she did say they were short handed so we wait. ------------------ The Commercial News Danville, Illinois Sunday, 25 November 1951 RECOLLECTIONS: KYGER'S MILL GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN By R. J. Kyger Few and obscure are the landmarks today of pioneer days when settlers flooded into the rolling hills of the Midwest. One of the familiar sights in this area a century ago was Kyger's Mill near Grape Creek on the Vermillion River, six miles southwest of Danville, then a village of only a few hundred. Amid scenic beauty, the three-story frame building housed a huge grist mill that ground wheat and corn night and day. Through a small structure adjacent to it passed thousands of logs to be sawed into rough lumber. The first mill was built on the site by William Sheets and Thomas Morgan of Georgetown in 1835. When Henry T. Kyger purchased the mill in 1850, he enlarged the building, installed new machinery and formed a partnership with the two brothers, Daniel and Tilmon Kyger. The original Kyger family was Henry T. Kyger and wife, their five daughters and two sons. Of these, two sons and a daughter survive: MRS. CHARLES T. BUSHONG, 602 Buchanan Street, R. J. Kyger, 316 Chandler and Willet T. Kyger, of Pocahontas, Arkansas. Power to run the grinding burrs and sawmill was furnished by two turbine shells driven by water impounded in a large fore-bay or mill race. Water was forced into it by a dam built across the river at an angle to the mill. Both corn and wheat were ground by stone burrs. Lumber was cut by a "gate-saw" fitted into a huge frame about eight feet high and six feet wide. The sawmill turned out about two thousand feet of lumber a day, considered good in those days. The price was 50 cents per hundred feet, or a share. Other buildings used in the milling business included a mill barn to house the horses and oxen, a cooperage for making barrels to ship flour, a wheat granery and barracks for mill hands. Henry Kyger sold the mill after operating it more than 30 years, but it continued to be used until the turn of the century when the structure weakened by age, fell of its own weight into the river. Only memories of its existence remain. ------------------- CHARLES THOMPSON BUSHONG Born: 1 June 1875, Vermilion County, Illinois, s/o Andrew Moore Bushong and Elizabeth Ross Died: 27 November 1951, Vermilion County, Illinois Married: 24 June 1897, Vermilion County, Illinois, to Luella Kyger LUELLA KYGER Born: 18 September 1875, Vermilion County, Illinois, d/o Henry Thornton Kyger and Electra Ann Redfern Died: 14 December 1956, Vermilion County, Illinois Both Burial: Springfield Cemetery, Vermilion County, Illinois ------------------ 1880 Federal Census: Illinois Georgetown, Ed 214, Vermilion County Enumerated 17 June 1880 Page 444C Lines 5-12, HH 324/340 Andrew Bushong W/M/30/Married/Farmer/PA/PA/Ireland Elizabeth Bushong W/F/27/Wife/KeepsHouse/IL/KY/IL Margaret A. Bushong W/F/6/Dau/AtSchool/IL/PA/IL CHARLES T. BUSHONG W/M/5/Son/IL/PA/IL Amanda J. Bushong W/F/2/Dau/IL/PA/IL Frank Bushong W/M/6mosBornNovember/Son/IL/PA/IL Charles Snook W/M/19/Laborer/IL/OH/OH Lucy Cook W/F/27/Single/HouseKeeper/IL/IL/IL ------------------------- STATE OF ILLINOIS MARRIAGES Vermilion County Marriage Book 1, Page 157 Charles Bushong and Luella Kyger 24 June 1897 ------------------- 1900 Federal Census: No sign of him -------------------- 1910 Federal Census: Illinois Danville City, Ward 1, Vermilion County Charles T. Bushong Head/Male/White/35/Married/IL/PA/IL Luella K. Bushong Wife/Female/White/34/IL/OH/OH Willett Bushong Son/Male/White/7/AttendedSchool/IL/IL/IL ----------------------- 1920 Federal Census: Illinois Danville City, Ward 1, Vermilion County Note: Indexed as Brashan Charles Bushong Head/Male/White/44/Married/IL/PA/IL Luella Bushong Wife/Female/White/44/IL/OH/OH Willet Bushong Son/Male/White/16/AttendedSchool/Arkansas/IL/IL ---------------------- 1930 Federal Census: No sign of him. -------------------------- 1940 Federal Census: Illinois Danville City, ED 92-37, Vermilion county Enumerated 2 April 1940 Page 538A, Sheet 9 Lines 30-31, HH 602/210 Buchanan Street Charles T. Bushong Head/Male/White/64/Married/8thGradeEd/CarpenterBuildingContractor/BornIL Luella K. Bushong Wife/Female/White/64/2yrsHS/BornIL --------------------------- Researched and Submitted by Gloria Neiger Bushong