In the spring of 1859, Levi Mann, John French, Ira C. Stone, M. Motherway, and Edmund Welch and families all moved to Kappa.
Joseph Starkey came to Kappa from Indiana in 1856. In March, 1857, he married Miss Margaret Pearson and they are still living at this place, although since then they have resided in Indiana and Missouri.
Ira C. Stone, one of the prominent citizens of this place, was born Aug. 15, 1810, at East Berkshire, Vermont. He married at St. Albans, Vt., Nov. 28, 1832 to Miss Louisa J. Clark. In 1833, they moved to Buffalo, N.Y. They started April 30, 1833 from St. Albans in a wagon. Went to Burlington, where they took a boat to Whitehall, N.Y., then by Champlain Canal to Albany, from there via the Erie Canal to Buffalo. The distance from St. Albans to Buffalo is 500 miles but the time occupied by these emigrants in making the journey was fourteen days. They loaded themselves on the canal boat and thought they were in rapid progress. It was during this journey when passing through Schenectady, N.Y., that they saw the first railroad said to have been built in New York. It was the Mohawk and Hudson R. R. and was 18 miles long, connecting Albany and Schenectady. Our travelers saw a train start out. The cars were just like the old stage coaches with seats clear across, and very small. The train was first started with horses, a rope was then attached to the train and a stationary engine on the top of the hill pulled the train up the hill by means of this rope, then an engine was attached and train was off. The rails were of wood with thin plates of iron on top. After a residence of 26 years in Buffalo, Mr. Stone came to Kappa in 1859. He was a merchant here for 17 years and postmaster for 15 of these years. He retired from active business in 1876 and with his wife and their only child, Eugene, are quietly living on the proceeds of earlier industry.
Hiram Hall was born in Itsega County, N.Y., in 1812. He came to Illinois in 1852, and to Kappa in 1865. He was a
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