Mary Ann Kaylor found this among her papers. She thinks it is from the Springfield State Journal-Register, not sure when. The paper is old but not old enough to be placed on the web page. I'll probably abstract some of it for the history page. Cememony honors Logan County's settlement by kidnapped Europeans by Diana Lehmann LINCOLN - Anna Gilham and her family were commemorated here Friday as the first people of European descent to come to Logan County, even though they earn that distinction by being kidnapped. In 1790, Gilham, two of her sons, Clement and Samuel, and an unidentified female child, were abducted from the family's log cabin in Kentucky by a band of Kickapoo Indians. According to historians, the band was headed back to its tribal headquarters along what is now Salt Creek in Logan County when they captured the woman and her children. Historians believe the family was captured to prove the ability of the Kickapoo warriors to take four prisoners and conduct them safely past established settlements to an Indian town. The capture, historians say, was to prove a raiding party's "bravery and sagacity. A text published in the early 1800s by Gov. John Reynolds, "The Pioneer History of Illinois," described in detail the shock James Gilham and his son Isaac received upon arriving home from their daily chores to find the cabin ransacked and the rest of their family missing. According to Reynolds' text, Gilham experienced "a horrible feeling when he discovered his home was ransacked by Indians and his family captured and either killed or doomed to savage bondage." Anna Gilham and her children were forced to walk more than 400 miles across Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois before arriving in Kickapoo Town. According to a 1911 history of Logan County by Judge Lawrence Stringer, Gilham and her children nearly starved to death along the trail. Stringer's history says the Indians refused to hunt near pioneer settlements for fear of detection. Realizing that the woman and her children were starving to death, they sent out a hunting party that brought back a raccoon. "The coon was not dressed in a Parisian style but most of the hair and fur were taken off and some of the contents of the extreme inside were thrown away," according to Stringer's account. "The coon soon was boiled into a nondescript dish ... and the whole assembly of white and red skins got some relief from absolute starvation." The family arrived at Kickapoo Town in late 1790. They were held for ransom for two years. James Gilham sold his farm in Kentucky, and, with Isaac, set out to locate his wife and missing children. Two years later, he was able to ransom his family from Kickapoo Town. The town later was abandoned by the Kickapoo Indians, who were forced to leave Illinois. In 1815, 23 years after the ordeal, the U.S. government deeded 160 acres to Anna Gilham in compensation for the suffering she had undergone. Friday afternoon, a plaque was dedicated denoting the ground of Kickapoo Town and the site of the Gilham family's entry into Logan County. The site is now Lincoln Memorial Park. The Tourism Committee of the Greater Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce organized Friday's ceremonies, which were attended by members of the city council and Logan County Board. Cheryl Rothwell clrothwell@mindspring.com