Surnames in this biography are: Search, Cunningham,Harrison, Buell, Wilson, Semans, Clark, Robb, Hickenbotham, Kent, Clinton, JohnB. 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            ANDANOTHER MAN DROWNED—RAINSVILLE AND ITS VICINITY—            REED ANDDAVIS’ SETTLEMENT—JACK STINSON AND THE GAMBLERS—JACK INDICTED—HIS TRIAL—HISSPEECH—Is ACQUITTED—NATUAL SCENERY AROUND WILLIAMSPORT—TIIE FALLS OF FALL CREEKMINNERAL SPRING BELOW TOWN—LARGE STONES ON THE SURFACE            OF THEGROUND—A BOARDING HOUSE SCENE—SOMNAMBULISM—            ECLIPSE OFTHE SUN.                     On myfirst visit to Williamsport, the county seat of Warren County, I stopped withWilliam Search, who kept a boarding house on Main Street, near where the WarrenRepublican, an excellent newspaper, is now printed and published by my oldfriend, Enos Canutt, Esq. Cunningham, tile clerk and recorder of the county, boardedand kept his office in Search’s house; and as the most of his time was occupiedin building a couple of flat boats to carry corn to the New Orleans market thenext 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: WilliamHarrison, the proprietor of the village, who kept the ferry, and a littletavern 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 thefamilies above named had children large enough to go to school. The rest of mypatrons lived in the country, some two or three miles from town, and consistedof          John Semans, sheriff of thecounty, Wesley Clark, Robb, Hickenbotham, and one or two more.  At this time Warren County was but thinlysettled. Perrin Kent, county surveyor, Tillotson, Clinton, and a few otherfamilies, lived down towards Baltimore and Mound prairie. On Redwood, andsprinkled through the woods, and on the edge of Grand prairie, lived John B.King, Shanklin, Jameson, Hall, Butterfield, Purviance, and a few others. OnKickapoo, a small stream lying north of Big Pine creek, was a settlementcomposed of Boggs, Enoch Farmer, Samuel Ensley, John and Joseph Cox, Seavers,the widow Mickle, McMahan, the widow Cox, Hollingsworth, Solomon Munroe, IsaacWaymire and          Zachariah Cicot, aFrench and Indian trader, who was born on the place where he lived (near wherethe town of Independence now stands) more than forty years before theorganization of Warren county. -                     It was atthis place—Cicot’s landing—in the spring of 1829, if my memory serves mecorrectly, that Dr. Simon Yandes, with two other men, attempted to cross theWabash river in a canoe, and were thrown out in the middle of the river, andthe doctor and one other were drowned; the third with difficulty made theshore, and escaped a watery grave. Up Pine creek, in the Rainsville neighborhood, lived JamesGooden 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 andGabriel Reed, Thomas Johnson, Dawsons, Orrin      Munson, Sino Munson, James Stewart, Moores, Bowyer and JohnStevenson, alias “Jack Stinson,” who, in his earlier and palmier days, taughtschool in the Reed and Davis neighborhood, and perpetrated none of theeccentricities which filled up the last twenty years of his life.            OLDSETTLERS OF CLINTON COUNTY—TWELVE MILE PRAIRIE—JEFFERSON, FBANKF0RT, ANDMICHIGAN LAID OFF—ELECTION OF COUNTY OFFICERS—FIRST RELIGIOUS MEETING HELD ONTHE TWELVE MILE PRAIRIE—ADVENTURE WITH A SUPPOSED ROBBER IN THE WILDER NESS.                             ClintonCounty contains 432 square miles. It was organized in 1830. Its principalstreams are the middle and south forks of Wild Cat, Sugar, and some smallercreeks. Its rich and fertile soil is well timbered, with the exception of thatportion known as tile Twelve Mile prairie, the borders of which contained thefirst 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 houseswere stopping places for travelers, Indian traders, and         land hunters for many years. It may not be uninteresting to give here a list of the oldsettlers who resided in Clinton county at the close of the year 1828, asfurnished by one of the number, in whose statements implicit confidence may beplaced. Add to the names of Kirk and William          Clark, those of Mordicai, McKinsey, Robert Dunn, WilliamHodgen, John Bunton, Moses Brockman, Eli Armintrout (to