1955 - This is Knox County - Illinois Ancestors

of a region with an estimated population of 123,000.FOUNDING OF KNOX COLLEGEAs soon as Galesburg was built, work was started onthe manual labor college conceived by the founder of thecolony. It was chartered in 1837 and at first was calledKnox Manual Labor College, but this was later simplified toits present name of Knox College. In addition to the ReversndMr. Gale, its first board of trustees consisted ofJohn Waters, John G. Sanburn, Matthew Chambers, ErastusSwift, Nehemiah H. Losey, George H. Wright, Parnach Owen,and Thomas Simmons.When completed and opened in 1838, Knox College'sfirst building, a crude frame edifice, served not only as acollege hall but as a community preparatory school, churchand town meeting place. It was limited only to male studentswho combined college work with manual labor. In 1870, however,women were admitted to the full college course. Galesburg's other pioneer college, Lombard, was absorbed byKnox in 1930. Today, Knox Collgee has an enrollment of 780students.ASTEEL PLOW INVENTORIf it is still a debatable question among historiansas to who produced the first steel plow in Illinois, yetHarvey Henry May, of Galesburg, remains high on the list of13