|
Monmouth's first settlers arrived with the westward expansion that followed the War of 1812. Eager to increase the country's settled territories, Congress offered land tracts to veterans as payment for their military service. One veteran bet his tract of land in a New Orleans poker game in 1827. Unfortunately, the veteran lost and a Kentucky plantation owner named John Talbot came away from the table with a warrant for a section of land in the Illinois Military Tract.
Talbot and his cousin, Allen Andrews arrived to settle on the land he won and constructed a one-room cabin eight miles northeast of the present city. Talbot was so pleased with the new land that he sent word back to his friends in Kentucky, and in 1828 a group of them came to see for themselves.
Early in its history the process of naming the town was foremost in everyone's mind. Three names were submitted and placed in a hat. The names were: "Kosciusko", "Isabella", and "Monmouth". Kosciusko was the name drawn, but it was wisely decided that the name was too difficult for the people to spell and the name was withdrawn. The second drawing gave the settlement its present name of Monmouth.
|
