AUTHOR'S PREFACE _____ THE difficulty of reducing the great amount of material accumulated in the county records and newspaper files, together with the personal recollections of old settlers, to the limits of a single book, cannot be realized by any one till he undertakes a similar task. The author has been solicited by the curator of the State Historical Society, Hon. Charles Aldrich, and others, to make a permanent record of the history of the county. Notwithstanding he has witnessed every step in her progress since the spring of 1857, yet this does not necessarily qualify one for such a task. He, however, consented to undertake it, but with many misgivings, knowing full well that he could not reach his own ideal of what it should be, viz: that it should cover the entire period from the organization of the county up to the date of its publication; that it ought to be elaborate and complete and the past brought side by side with the present. The limits prescribed makes this impossible. The problem in assorting, arranging and philosophising upon the importance and significance of recorded and unrecorded events, consists of what to admit and what to exclude. At some future time the facts recorded herein may form the basis for the historian whose field is of wider scope, an dwho will add largely to the sum of the State's, and even to the Nation's history. Montgomery County is the garden spot of the world and if her history is a promise and a prophecy of the future, great things are in store for her, and the preservation of her annals should be classed among things demanding more than a passing notice. Another reason why this record should be preserved is that it furnishes to posterity examples of manhood and womanhood worthy of imitation. The pioneers were imbued with faith and courage. They lived the simple and contented life and transmitted to their descendants their physical and moral vigor, as well as their material accumulations, obtained without the taint of dishonor. The facts gleaned from the voluminous county records and the newspapers may be relied upon. A brief mention is made of noticeable events of the several years of the county history, chronologically ranged, from 1849 to 1905 and some of them are referred to and enlarged upon in other chapters. Acknowledgement should be made to several contributors who assisted the author in this work. The chapter on "Early Life in the Forks" was written by Mr. W. H. Moore, who was an actual participant in the scenes he describes, being one of our early school teachers. The chapter on medicine was contributed by Dr. W. B. Lawrence; and Mr. Webster Eaton, the first editor of The Express, wrote what is given relatilng to the founding of that paper in Chapter XXIX. The chapter on the Spanish-American War was contributed by Mr. E. J. Barklow, who also wrote "The History of Red Oak" and "Other Towns in the County." The four chapters of early experiences and early incidents were compiled from various sources, teh experiences of old settlers given in Chapter XX being taken from the special edition of the Red Oak Independent several years ago. In inserting portraits, the author was governed by the rule of admitting only those of people who came to the county prior to 1865, though there are a few obvious exceptions. In the portraits of public men, the plan was to give only those who had held higher than county offices. The author recognizes that following this plan there were necessarily many omissions, but he spared no effort to get portraits of all the early settlers that he possibly could and several requests for these were published in the Red Oak Express.
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