1955 - This is Knox County - Illinois Ancestors

ment established by the county's first residents. With itsnew name, Knoxville remained the seat of Knox County forthe next forty-one years, or until 1873 when Galesburg becamecounty seat.GALESBURG COLONYAfter the close of the Black Hawk War of 1832, aconflict which brought about the permanent removal ofIndians from Illinois, there began a inrush of Easternersinto the Prairie State, most of whom settled in the upperpart of the commonwealth. Although this movement actuallystarted with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, itwas greatly accelerated when the Indian menace was ended in111 inois .Among the numerous colonization societies formed inEastern states to establish model towns in the new prairiecountry of Illinois, one of the most successful was thatorganized by the Reverend George Washington Gale, a giftedPresbyterian minister of Oneida County, New York. He notonly platted the town of Galesburg, which today is a leadingIllinois agricultural and manufacturing center, but hefounded Knox College, one of the earliest of Americanmanual labor colleges.It was in 1835 that the reverend Mr. Gale conceivedthe idea of a religious community on the western frontier,one that would center on a manual labor college. He feltthat such a community would bring both religion, and ed-11