This is from Rootsweb. The town has a long history of name changes. German Valley Remembers, 1848-1998 published by the History Committee on the occasion of the 150th year celebration I have Lin Strong's copy on loan. Several of us had attended the festival and set up a genealogical session in the Silver Creek Reform Church. We helped people with their questions. It's hard to believe that it was held over five years ago! It appears the earliest names for the village were initially Wieman and then Baalton. These names were the owners of the property that the village and later the railroad used. Here are some dates: Wieman - 17 Apr 1884. In honor of the storekeeper and postmaster and to establish a name for the young village This name was not universally accepted by the settlers Baalton - 18 Mar 1886. The area north of the railroad was platted and named Baalton after Nanke Baal. German Valley - 16 May 1887. There was a town named Bolton on the railroad that was creating some confusion. German Valley was officially incorporated as a town in 1907. Meeken - 19 Mar 1919. The events of World War I led some people to express their loyalty to the United States German Valley - 19 Apr 1922. I guess the loyalty mission was accomplished and sanity returned to the area. Some confusion exists about when postal service was provided to German Valley (or Wiemen or Baalton). In the early days, mail had to be picked up in the village of Ridott, north of German Valley. I do not know when a post office was established in German Valley. I have not been able to determine the first name of the Wiemann fellow. The problem is that all of Wiemann settlers identified themselves as farmers, not as storekeeper or postmaster. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions, Robert

German Valley (apparently, from the Rootsweb article, the present name of the town of Meeken) is located in Stephenson County, with a population of 481 (2000 census). ~Karima ----- Original Message ----- From: <JOARDITH@aol.com> To: <ILROOTS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 5:55 PM Subject: Re: [ILROOTS] town location > This is from Rootsweb. The town has a long history of name changes. > > German Valley Remembers, 1848-1998 > published by the History Committee on the > occasion of the 150th year celebration > > I have Lin Strong's copy on loan. Several of us had attended > the festival and set up a genealogical session in the Silver > Creek Reform Church. We helped people with their questions. > It's hard to believe that it was held over five years ago! > > It appears the earliest names for the village were initially Wieman > and then Baalton. These names were the owners of the property > that the village and later the railroad used. Here are some dates: > > Wieman - 17 Apr 1884. In honor of the storekeeper and > postmaster and to establish a name for the young village > This name was not universally accepted by the settlers > > Baalton - 18 Mar 1886. The area north of the railroad was > platted and named Baalton after Nanke Baal. > > German Valley - 16 May 1887. There was a town named > Bolton on the railroad that was creating some confusion. > > German Valley was officially incorporated as a town in 1907. > > Meeken - 19 Mar 1919. The events of World War I led some > people to express their loyalty to the United States > > German Valley - 19 Apr 1922. I guess the loyalty mission > was accomplished and sanity returned to the area. > > Some confusion exists about when postal service was provided to > German Valley (or Wiemen or Baalton). In the early days, mail > had to be picked up in the village of Ridott, north of German Valley. > I do not know when a post office was established in German Valley. > > I have not been able to determine the first name of the Wiemann > fellow. The problem is that all of Wiemann settlers identified > themselves as farmers, not as storekeeper or postmaster. > > I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions, > > Robert > > --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 0522-13, 06/03/2005 Tested on: 6/3/2005 6:06:16 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com