In the Dec. 9th Daily Herald, columnist Diana Dretske wrote of the county's French connection, going all the way back to French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette and trader Louis Jolliet who are believed to have landed at the mouth of the Dead River in whatis now Illinois Beach State Park in Zion. By 1695, there was a trading post built on a bluff above Lake Michigan at current-day Waukegan.
In 1763, the whole area was turned over to Britain after the French loss in the French and Indian War.
In the 1830s, a settler of German and a settler of Scottish ancestry named Jacob Sprecht and John Strang came to the area. Each had fought in the Napoleonic Wars.
Jacob Sprecht, (1788-1874) was a native of Darmstadt, Germany, and had been conscripted into the French Army. He and his wife Anna Elizabeth migrated to the US and settled near Milburn in 1843 and became farmers.
John Strang (1779-1866) was a seaman and impressed into British service where he fought French forces at the Battle of the Nile. As a result of the battle, he temporarily lost his eyesight.
In 1835, he and wife Margaret Clellan migrated to Canada. Three of his sons found employment on the Illinois-Michigan Canal and later settled in Milburn in 1838. John and Margaret joined them the following year.
I lived in Lake County for 18 years in Vernon Hills and Round Lake Beach. I also taught middle school in Round Lake for 33 years.
A Bit of History, Local-Style. --Cooter
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