History of Knox County Illinois

TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION

It is believed by persons best informed upon the archaeology of Knox county that prior to 1828 it had
been the home of at least three distinct races of men.

The first is known from fossils found with the bones of extinct animals and fragments of tropical wood
from a few to fifty feet below the surface, where the race seemed to have existed for a long time and are
now completely covered by the drift. They left no traces than are found as above stated, some. of which
indicate their handiwork.

The next race was the mound builders, who here, as elsewhere, was probably an agricultural and
semi-civilized people. Traces of their occupancy are found in various parts of the county. They too
disappeared without leaving anything of their history.

The Indian with his bow and arrow followed the mound builders, at what time we do not know, but he was
the undisputed owner of the country for a long period of time. Whatever record of history he made was
of such transitory character that nothing is left and nothing is known beyond some few things that may be
gathered from tradition and what transpired after the advent of the white people. At the time of the
discovery of America, he was the occupant of the soil but has now passed away from most of his old haunts
and his power is gone as surely as his predecessors'.

The revival of learning in the fifteenth century stimulated the desire for exploration. Spain was the first
to move in a far westerly course and the West Indies were discovered by Columbus. The reports of his
meager success were circulated in Europe when Portugal, France and England joined in the search for a
new world. As early as the year 1000, Scandinavian explorers had previously occupied places on the
western shore of Greenland, planted a colony which has been supposed by many to have been near the
coast of New England. but this was unsuccessful and passed out of existence. Several unsuccessful
attempts were made to establish colonies in this country at different periods along the Atlantic coast by
the French, Spaniards, Portuguese and English. Fernando de Soto, a Spanish chevalier, explored this
country in 1541 as a part of Florida, but it was never taken possession of by the Spanish. We are
interested only in the settlements which were finally effected, one in Virginia in 1607 by the English, and
one made by France in Canada at Quebec in 1608, and at Montreal