My 4th great-grandfather Paul Colburn died 200 years ago this week: February 27, 1825. He is buried in the Sulphur Springs Cemetery in Loami, IL in Sangamon County. His marker is a small plate at the foot of the stone of his son and daughter in law, William and Achsa Colburn. (The first three photos are from Find-a-Grave because I can't find my own at the moment.) Paul's great-great-grandfather, Edward Colburn (1618-1700) was an emigrant from England and the first settler of Dracut, MA. I learned recently that Paul was a stone carver whose work can be seen in cemeteries in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. Paul and his wife Mehitibel and some of their children decided to go west, which took them five years, 1815-1820. They settled in Pittsburgh for a while, waiting for the Ohio River to be suitable for raft travel, then they settled in Marietta, OH. When they stopped in Louisville, KY, one of their sons and his wife died, leaving children orphaned. Then Mehitibel died as they went through Shawneetown, IL. Finally they settled in Sangamon County as one of the first pioneers of small Loami, IL. They arrived in the county a few months before Elijah Iles, who is considered the founder of nearby Springfield. The two early Sangamon histories give their story, which I copied: https://paulstroble.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/my-family-the-carsons-and-colburns/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIrWE1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHbmgzRvGsAErD9pSf2iGxlzMH0wzyTcyjyYFrrtQp4ZrVx1wQXpdN3emkw_aem_LmdtoJDDmBvLlUhFU7F4yA These are ancestors through Dad's beloved maternal grandmother Alice Carson. The Colburns went through such hardship to move to Illinois, that I'm glad that I know Paul's death date and can share their story.
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