RICE-William R. - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

The settlements on Hickory Creek were among the very first. WR Rice in a letter says that in June 1829 he and his father William Rice and Miller left Fountain County, Indiana to look at the Far West. He says: "We struck the Iroquois which we followed to the Kankakee, which, in turn we followed to the Des Plaines. We followed the Des Plaines upstream to Hickory Creek. Going up this a mile or two, we found a Mr. Brown and old Col. Sayre living in an old Indian bark shanty near where Dr. Allen's house stands (the old Davidson place) and about 80 rods NW across the creek was an old man of the name of Friend who had a log cabin partly built." The account is correct. The man Brown died soon after and was buried on the Davidson place, the first white burial in Will County.   ---kbz