| 1835 |
David A. Holly, a
native of York County, PA removes to Lee County,
IL and settles in Franklin Grove. |
| 1836 |
Amos H. Holly,
son of David & Eva (Hoke) is born in Lee
County, April 9th. |
| 1838 |
Capt. Jonas
Johnson was one of the pioneers of Lee County,
arrives in the fall, when he is near the age of
seventy-six years. He was born near Leominster,
Mass. on November 30, 1762. |
| 1838 |
Eben H. Johnson
who was born in Bainbridge, Chenango Co., NY
settles in Lee county (Palmyra). |
| 1839 |
Thomas H.
Johnson, son of Eben and Sarah, is born about
this year. He later marries Eliza M. Rogers,
daughter of Walter L. and Hannah (Fellows) and
lives in Larimer County, Colorado. |
| 1840 |
Cornelia A.
Holly, daughter of David & Eva (Hoke)born in
Lee County on the 12th of February. |
| 1841 |
Mary Janette
Johnson, daughter of Eben and Sarah, is born the
20th of March |
| 1842 |
Captain Jonas
Johnson dies on the 3rd of December, his wife
Sallie (McCray) preceding him on the 21st of
August. They were the parents of Sarah who
married Eben H. Johnson (son of Seth and Mary
(Hough) Johnson); Jonas M. Johnson; and Rev.
William Y. Johnson. |
| 1843 |
David C. Holly,
son of David & Eva (Hoke), is born in Lee
County, on January 1st. He later marries Callie
Bovey. |
| 1843 |
Lyman C. Wheat,
son of Josiah and Mary (Black) comes west from
Steuben county, NY in midsummer with his small
family (wife Mary [Warnick] & daughter
Josephine) and lives for a short time on the
Dixon and Chicago road working as a school
teacher. |
| 1843 |
George W. Wheat,
son of Lyman C. and Mary (Warnick), is born on
the 8th of November. |
| 1844 |
Jane Ann Johnson,
daughter of Eben and Sarah is born about this
year. |
| 1845 |
George W. Holly,
son of David & Eva (Hoke), is born in April. |
| 1845 |
David Holly
leaves Franklin Grove and purchase land in
Palmyra Township. |
| 1845 |
Harvey E. Johnson
moved from Chenango County, NY to Palmyra, Lee
Co., IL and purchased a farm in Palmyra township. |
| 1845 |
Lyman C. Wheat
and family moves to Lee Center and lives there
for a number of years - while there is a trustee
of the academy. |
| 1846 |
John W. Clute
marries Henrietta Peterson in Lee Center on 21st
of January. |
| 1847 |
Ebenenzer Ralph
Johnson, son of Eben and Sarah is born in Palmyra
22 Jan. |
| 1848 |
Theodore Johnson,
son of Eben and Sarah is born about this year |
| 1848 |
On the 31st of
December, Harvey Johnson marries Miss Mary J.
Wheat, daughter of Josiah Wheat, one of the
earliest settler of what became China Township. |
| 1849 |
Addie N. Wheat,
the daughter of Lyman and Mary, is born on the
12th of June. |
| 1849 |
Warren D. Holly,
son of James N. and Sophronia (Harrison) is born
on the 22nd of June in Palmyra Township. He later
marries Mary Carpenter. |
| 1849 |
Emily Holly,
daughter of David & Eva (Hoke), is born in
August . |
| 1850 |
The town of China
is organized under state law on April 2nd. it was
previously called Fremont. Josiah Wheat was
elected clerk at the first town meeting. |
| 1850 |
DeForest, the
first child of Harvey and Mary (Wheat) Johnson,
is born on the 13th of April. |
| 1850 |
Populatin of
Dixon Township is 1,073. |
| 1850 |
William
"Howard" Johnson, son of Eben and
Sarah, is born on the 20th of August. He later
marries Alice Rogers. |
| 1851 |
Florence R.
Johnson, daughter of Harvey and Mary (Wheat), is
born on the 8th of October. |
| 1851 |
A log house is
built east of the Amos Hussey homestead for
school and church purposes. |
| 1852 |
Emma Bovey is
born June 9th; she later marries DeForest
Johnson. |
| 1854 |
Jonas M. Johnson
removed from Sugar Grove to Dixon where he
conducted a hardware store |
| 1854 |
Alice May Wheat,
daughter of Lyman and Mary is born on the 2nd day
of December. |
| 1854 |
Lyman C. Wheat
buys out Charles Hitchcock and goes into the
merchandising business, and by the end of this
year is the father of four children. |
| 1855 |
Marcus M.
Johnson, son of Eben and Sarah is born in Palmyra
on the 15th of August. He later marries Emma
(Flamm). |
| 1855 |
Franklin F.
Johnson, son of Harvey and Mary (Wheat) is born
on the 19th of December. |
| 1857 |
Fred Augustus
Wheat, son of Lyman and Mary, is born on the 18th
of July, but believe he died at a young age. |
| 1858 |
Lizzie Jane
Wheat, daughter of Lyman and Mary, is born on the
9th of December. |
| 1860 |
On June 11th,
Mary (Black) Wheat dies in Palmyra and is buried
at the Palymra Cemetery. |
| 1860 |
Harvey Johnson is
listed Listed as head of household in the Lee
county census for 1860 - town of Palymra, post
office Dixon. Farmer with real estate valued at
$5085 and personal estate valued at $1100. |
| 1861 |
Josiah Wheat, son
of Samuel and Abigail (Sabin), dies in China
township on the 21st of September and is buried
in the Palymra Cemetery. |
| 1862 |
Mary Janette
Johnson, daughter of Eben H. and Sarah (Johnson),
marries William H. Swigart this year. |
| 1862 |
Lizzie Jane
Wheat, youngest of Lyman and Mary's children,
dies on the 31st of July. |
| 1862 |
George Wheat, son
of Lyman and Mary, enlists in Co. E, 75th
Illinois Volunteers and fights at the battle of
Perryville. |
| 1863 |
Widowed and
father of at least four small children, Lyman
Wheat marries Harriet Lucretia Eaton on the 23rd
of August. |
| 1864 |
Lyman and his
second wife Harriet have a son, Willie Henry
Wheat born on the 16th of October. |
| 1865 |
Lyman C. Wheat
transfers his merchandising business to Amboy. |
| 1865 |
On the 12th of
September, Lyman and Harriet's infant son Willie
dies. |
| 1865 |
Charles Lyman
Wheat is born to Lyman and Harriet on the 8th of
December. |
| 1866 |
Addie A. Johnson,
daughter of Harvey and Mary (Wheat) is born on
the 25th of December. She later marries William
Snyder. |
| 1870 |
Harvey Johnson is
listed in the 1870 Lee County, IL Census -
Palmyra Twp - Dixon Post Office with wife Mary
and children Deforest, Florence, Frank and
Adaline. |
| 1872 |
Lyman C. Wheat
moves his family to Amboy. |
| 1872 |
William
"Howard" Johnson, son of Eben and
Sarah, marries Alice A. Rogers, daughter of
Walter L. and Hannah (Fellows) on the 24th of
March. |
| 1872 |
Married: "At
the residence of the brides parents in Woosung,
Ogle County, Ills, on the 24th day of Dec. 1872,
by Elder C.W. Sherwood, Mr. DeForrest Johnson and
Miss Emma C. Bovey."
"At the residence of the brides parents in
Woosung, Ogle County, Ills, on the 24th day of
Dec. 1872, by Elder L.D. Waldo, Mr. David Holley
and Miss Callie Bovey." [Telegraph &
Herald, Thrus Jan 9, 1873, p.4] |
| 1873 |
Florence Johnson,
daughter of Harvey and Mary (Wheat), marries
Jacob Baker on the 25th of December and resides
in Ogle County, IL. |
| 1875 |
David Holly dies
in June. He was born in 1804 and was the son of
Jesse, husband of Eva (Hoke); and the father of
William, Jesse, Amos, Cornelia, David, George and
Emily.. |
| 1875 |
Mary Janette
(Johnson) Swigart, dies on the 3rd of June. |
| 1876 |
Franklin F.
Johnson marries Miss Ida Rand on the 1st of
December and resides in Palmyra township. |
| 1877 |
Son of Franklin
Johnson and Ida May (Rand), Fred, is born in
October. |
| 1879 |
Della E. Johnson,
daughter of DeForest and Emma (Bovey), is born on
the 27th of September. |
| 1879 |
Grace Johnson,
daughter of Franklin and Ida May (Rand) is born
in December. |
| 1880 |
Harvey Johnson is
listed in the 1880 census of Lee county, IL -
town of Palymra as a farmer with his wife Mary
and daughter Addie - census indicates both of his
parents were born in Conneticut. His son Deforest
is living next door with his young family. |
| 1880 |
Census for Lee
county indicates that China, exclusive of
Franklin Grove, has a population of 681 persons
and six school districts. |
| 1881 |
Raymond Johnson,
son of Franklin and Ida May (Rand) is born in
December. |
| 1882 |
"Miss Addie
Johnson of Viola was visiting friends in this
place last week." [Amboy News July 1, 1882
p.12, c1] |
| 1884 |
Sometime before
April of this year, Frank Johnson, wife Ida May
(Rand) and children Fred, Grace and Raymond,
leave Lee county, Illinois and settle in Cherokee County, Iowa |
| 1884 |
"H.E.
Johnson, one of the large farmers of Palmyra
township, was at the Republican rally Thursday
and staid over night with his brother-in-law,
Lyman C. Wheat." [Amboy News July 1, 1882
p.12, c1] |
| 1884 |
"Rats are
tormenting everybody. Harvey Johnson tore down an
old corn crib, and with a rat terrier caught two
bushels of the rodents." [Amboy News Nov 1,
1884 p.8, c2] |
| 1885 |
"Mrs. Eben
Johnson, wife of Uncle Eben Johnson, died
recently at her home in Palmyra, Lee county. She
was an early settler, and a worthy kind-hearted
woman. She was quite old, far above the average
of life." [Amboy News May 30, 1885 p.4, c2] |
| 1885 |
Eben H. Johnson,
son of Seth and Mary (Hough) dies at Amboy on
29th of August. He was preceded in death by his
wife Sarah (Johnson) on a few months before. |
| 1885 |
"Howard
Johnson was appointed administrator of the estate
of E.H. Johnson, deceased, under bonds of
$300." [Amboy News October 24, 1885 p.8, c4] |
| 1887 |
Harvey Johnson,
son of Seth and Mary (Hough), and husband of Mary
Jane (Wheat) dies in Palmyra on the 15th of
November. His wife dies in Cherokee Co., IA in
1892. |
| 1891 |
James N. Holly
died September 16th at the age of eighty-five. |
| 1898 |
Tornado hits Lee
county where Mr. Johnson's hired man sees the
destruction from the road, standing undecided
which way to flee. |
