This info is extracted from an 1800s letter of Gideon Rathbone Jeannie :) TOWNS MENTIONED 1---Springfield circa 1827 2---Springfield & Meridota RR (Fiirst RR built in IL) circa 1838 3---Stout's Grove, Mc Lean County circa 1840 & 1845 4---Fawney's Mill, Woodford County 6 miles NW of Stout's Grove circa ----1840 5---White Oak Grove, Woodford County 7 miles NE of Stout's Grove 6---Hendson, a station on the Illinois Central RR 7 miles N of Bloomington ---circa 1853 7---LaSalle in 1853 the Northern terminus of the Illinois Central RR 8---Bloomington circa 1873 9---Danvers, McLean County circa 1873 SURNAMES MENTIONED 1---Eliza J HOWELL b: in Hardin County, KY in 1815 m: Gideon ----RATHBONE (wife 1) on June 14, 1829 in IL; d: in Steamboat Rock, ----IA on Sep.9, 1873 2---BUNN & ELLSWORTH of Bloomington (manuf. ironwork) circa 1840 3---Mrs. Narcissa HARLAN>IA; m: Otis L. TAYLOR in McLean County -----in Oct. 1873 4---Lucy A. Brooks HOWELL (widow of Eliza HOWELL's brother, -----Jacob HOWELL) m: Gideon RATHBONE (wife 2) in Danvers?, -----McLean County on Apr. 25, 1876;-----d: in Hardin County, IA on -----June 7, 1889: