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Excerpt from History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois: From the Earliest Time to the Present; Together With Sundry and Interesting Biographical Sketches, Notes, Reminiscences, Etc. Etc UR history of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton Franklin and Will iamson Counties, after months of persistent, conscientious labor, is now completed. Every important field of research has been minutely scanned by those engaged in its preparation, and no subject of universal public value has been omitted save when pro tracted efiort failed to secure trustworthy results. The impossi bility of ingrafting upon the pages of this volume the vast fund of the counties' historic information, and the proper omission of many valueless details have compelled the publishers to select such matter as are deemed of the greatest importance. Fully aware of our inability to furnish a perfect history from meagre public documents, inaccurate private correspondences, and num berless conflicting traditions. We make no pretention of having prepared a work devoid of blemish. Through the courtesy and generous assistance met with everywhere, we have been enabled to rescue from Oblivion the greater portion of important events that have transpired in past years. We feel assured that all thoughtful people in the counties, at present and in the future, will recognize and appreciate the importance of the undertaking and the great public benefit that has been accomplished. It will be observed that a dry statement of fact has been avoided, and that the rich romance of border incident has been woven with statistical details, thus forming an attractive and graphic narrative, and lending beauty to the mechanical execu tion of the volume and additional value to it as a work for perusal. We claim superior excellence in the systematic manner of col leeting material by workers in specialties, in the subdivision into topics, and in the ample and comprehensive index. We also, with pride, call the attention of: the public to the superb mechani cal execution of the volume. While we acknowledge the existence of unavoidable errors, we have prepared a work fully up to the standard of our promises, and as accurate and comprehensive as could be expected under the circumstances. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.