Surnames in this biography are: Search, Cunningham, Harrison, Buell, Wilson, Semans, Clark, Robb, Hickenbotham, Kent, Clinton, John B. King, Shanklin, Jameson, Hall, Butterfield, Purviance, Boggs, Enoch Farmer, Samuel Ensley, John, Joseph Cox, Seavers, Mickle, McMahan, Solomon Munroe, Isaac Waymire, Cicot, Yandes, Gooden, Crow, Ridinour, Seymour, Roads, Railsback, Kerns, McCords, Clark, Fenton, Magee, Mace, Davis, Reed, Johnson, Munson, Stewart, Moores, Bowyer, Stinson, Kirk, Hodgen, Bunton, Brockman, Armintrout ,Graves, Rogers, Babcock, Ross, Kilgore, Hill, Usher, Michael, Douglass, Armstrong, Bunnell, Allen, Brown, McQueen, Timmons, Pence, Good OLD SETTLERS OF WILLLAMSPORT AND SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOODS FINE CREEK-KICKAPOO--CICOT' S LANDING-DOCTOR YANDES AND ANOTHER MAN DROWNED-RAINSVILLE AND ITS VICINITY- REED AND DAVIS' SETTLEMENT-JACK STINSON AND THE GAMBLERS-JACK INDICTED-HIS TRIAL-HIS SPEECH-Is ACQUITTED-NATUAL SCENERY AROUND WILLIAMSPORT-TIIE FALLS OF FALL CREEK MINNERAL SPRING BELOW TOWN-LARGE STONES ON THE SURFACE OF THE GROUND-A BOARDING HOUSE SCENE-SOMNAMBULISM- ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. On my first visit to Williamsport, the county seat of Warren County, I stopped with William Search, who kept a boarding house on Main Street, near where the Warren Republican, an excellent newspaper, is now printed and published by my old friend, Enos Canutt, Esq. Cunningham, tile clerk and recorder of the county, boarded and kept his office in Search's house; and as the most of his time was occupied in building a couple of flat boats to carry corn to the New Orleans market the next Spring, he employed me to write in his office of nights, and on Saturdays, which would not interfere with my school hours. The town then consisted of five families, viz: William Harrison, the proprietor of the village, who kept the ferry, and a little tavern and grocery at the foot of Main street; Dr. Jas. H Buell, Ullery, Search, and a man called Wild Cat Wilson. Two only (Harrison and Wilson) of the families above named had children large enough to go to school. The rest of my patrons lived in the country, some two or three miles from town, and consisted of John Semans, sheriff of the county, Wesley Clark, Robb, Hickenbotham, and one or two more. At this time Warren County was but thinly settled. Perrin Kent, county surveyor, Tillotson, Clinton, and a few other families, lived down towards Baltimore and Mound prairie. On Redwood, and sprinkled through the woods, and on the edge of Grand prairie, lived John B. King, Shanklin, Jameson, Hall, Butterfield, Purviance, and a few others. On Kickapoo, a small stream lying north of Big Pine creek, was a settlement composed of Boggs, Enoch Farmer, Samuel Ensley, John and Joseph Cox, Seavers, the widow Mickle, McMahan, the widow Cox, Hollingsworth, Solomon Munroe, Isaac Waymire and Zachariah Cicot, a French and Indian trader, who was born on the place where he lived (near where the town of Independence now stands) more than forty years before the organization of Warren county. - It was at this place-Cicot's landing-in the spring of 1829, if my memory serves me correctly, that Dr. Simon Yandes, with two other men, attempted to cross the Wabash river in a canoe, and were thrown out in the middle of the river, and the doctor and one other were drowned; the third with difficulty made the shore, and escaped a watery grave. Up Pine creek, in the Rainsville neighborhood, lived James Gooden and Benjamin Crow, county commissioners, William and Jonathan Roads, Dickson Cobb, Ridinour, Seymour Roads, William Railsback, Medseker, Esq. Kearns, McCords, and a few others. Above Cicot's was Judge Samuel B. Clark, Fenton, Magee, Edward Mace (father of the Hon. Dan Mace), Jerry Davis, John and Gabriel Reed, Thomas Johnson, Dawsons, Orrin Munson, Sino Munson, James Stewart, Moores, Bowyer and John Stevenson, alias "Jack Stinson," who, in his earlier and palmier days, taught school in the Reed and Davis neighborhood, and perpetrated none of the eccentricities which filled up the last twenty years of his life. OLD SETTLERS OF CLINTON COUNTY-TWELVE MILE PRAIRIE-JEFFERSON, FBANKF0RT, AND MICHIGAN LAID OFF-ELECTION OF COUNTY OFFICERS-FIRST RELIGIOUS MEETING HELD ON THE TWELVE MILE PRAIRIE-ADVENTURE WITH A SUPPOSED ROBBER IN THE WILDER NESS. Clinton County contains 432 square miles. It was organized in 1830. Its principal streams are the middle and south forks of Wild Cat, Sugar, and some smaller creeks. Its rich and fertile soil is well timbered, with the exception of that portion known as tile Twelve Mile prairie, the borders of which contained the first settlements made in the county. Nathan Kirk settled near its east end, William Clark near its west end, as early as the year 1827, and their houses were stopping places for travelers, Indian traders, and land hunters for many years. It may not be uninteresting to give here a list of the old settlers who resided in Clinton county at the close of the year 1828, as furnished by one of the number, in whose statements implicit confidence may be placed. Add to the names of Kirk and William Clark, those of Mordicai, McKinsey, Robert Dunn, William Hodgen, John Bunton, Moses Brockman, Eli Armintrout (to