Cheryl -- I have Rachel & Sylvia Hall's account of the May 1832 murder of the settlers on Indian Creek in a text file, which I would be happy to send you (just email me personally; its pretty long to put on the list). Rachel & Sylvia were the two daughters who were kidnapped for about a week and a half and ransomed back from the Winnebago tribe (who were neutral) in southern Wisconsin. I'm descended from Rachel Hall. Sorry I can't help you out with Davis' parents. There is a monument in Freedom Twp. in a small park called Shabbona Park (in LaSalle Co. near Harding, IL) where the victims of the attack were buried in a mass grave. The incident was part of the Black Hawk War, and is mentioned in many history books on that topic. Depending on the book, you get very different views of the whole thing. Many of the accounts written in the 19th c. are published in different county history books (like in the various LaSalle Co. histories). Basically, a few local Pottawatomi Indians who had a grudge against Davis (one had been beaten by him for taking apart a dam that the settlers built which was hurting fishing at the Indian village) took advantage of the unrest going on and with a group of maurading Sauk & Fox Indians attacked the Indian Creek settlement. The Davis & Hall families had been warned twice by Shabbona (a friendly chief from the Pottawatomi village) but as nothing happened the first time, thought they would take their chances at defending themselves at their cabins. When the attack finally came, many of the men were out in the fields planting and a few of them were able to escape. The massacre fueled an absolute frenzy of fear in Ottawa and in settlements all over Illinois, and hundreds of ill-equipped volunteer militia were rapidly formed (you can read more about these groups in books on the Black Hawk war). Rachel & Sylvia became celebrities after their rescue, and the state of IL gave them some land. Rachel's husband supposedly read about this in a newspaper in IN and hurried over to marry her -- all the records seem to show she was only 15 at this point! Anyway, let me know if you (or anyone else) wants the text file mentioned above --Sandy Dunavan << I thought this would be of interest to someone besides me, William Davis is my gr.-gr.-gr.-grandfather. I am also interested in finding out more about this Indian attack and the names of Williams parents. >>