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EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY - 1876
By John Carroll Power

These biographies were submitted by a researcher and evidently abstracted from the 1876 History of Sangamon County, IL. Errors could occur, so one should always verify the correctness by obtaining copies of vitals and performing all necessary research to document what is contained herein.



FRANCIS, ALLEN, born April 12, 1815, in Wethersfield, Conn., resided in St. Louis until the death of his brother Edwin, in 1834, when, with his two sisters, he came to Springfield, Ill. Worked in the Journal office, and subsequently became a partner in the same. He was married Dec. 25, 1838, in Springfield, to Cecilia B. Duncan, of Glasgow, Scotland, and sister of David Duncan, who was drowned in attempting to cross the Sangamon river on horseback, in 1837. They had six living children, namely--

CECILIA J., born in Springfield, married in Oregon to Hermon Hofferkamp, and now resides in Washington Territory.

MARIETTA, born in Springfield, Illinois, married in Victoria, Vancouver's Island, to David A. Edgar, of Staten Island, N. Y.

HULDAH G., born in Springfield, Ill., married Byron Z. Holmes, of Portland, Oregon, and resides there.

ELIZA E., born in Springfield, Ill., married William T. Gillihan, of Portland, Oregon.

ALLEN BUNN, born in 1849, in Springfield, accompanied his father to the Pacific coast. Subsequently became agent for a fur company in San Francisco, was stationed at Fort Constantine, in Alaska, and never saw a white woman or heard his native language for over eighteen months. He is now interested in a quartz mine in that territory, which he discovered in the autumn of 1874.

EDWIN H., born in 1851, in Springfield, went to Alaska soon after it was purchased of Russia by the United States, was appointed deputy collector at Sitka, and clerk of the city council. He has seen much of frontier life, is master of the Russian language, and many of the Indian languages, and reside at Sitka, Alaska.

Allen Francis was for several years a member of the city council of Springfield, Ill., from the first ward. He erected the Journal buildings, and a brick dwelling on the corner of Sixth and Carpenter streets. In Oct., 1861, President Lincoln appointed him consul at Victoria, Vancouver's Island. He left for that point February, 1862, and resigned in 1871. He, with his two sons, engaged in the fur trade with the Indians, on the north Pacific coast. He resides in Victoria, Vancouver's Island.



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