SE ¼ of Section 33 in Panola Twp., later purchasing it. They were the parents of William, Frederick, Henry, Richard, Mary (Slenker), Elizabeth (Johnson), Minnie (Crusius), Carrie May (Ruple), Jessie (Fisher) and Emma, who never married.
BODGER, John – Owned land in El Paso Twp. in 1855, and had been farming land northeast of Kappa in 1854.
BOIES, Wilber H. Sr. – Came from Livingston County, New York state and located in the new town of El Paso, Illinois in 1856, when the town only had five houses. He purchased Lot 6 and the W 1/2 of Lot 5 in Block 45 from George L. Gibson on July 9, 1857. He engaged in the lumber business, and in grain and groceries. Wilber was a member of the Town Council, and Treasurer of the first Sunday School ever organized in El Paso. He moved to Watseka as T. P. & W. Agent in January 1862, and later settled in Gridley, Illinois, where his grandson of the same name still is in the grain business.
BONAR, John Marshall and Celicia Jones – Came from Marshall County, Virginia in 1854 by boat, landing at Peoria, and settled first near Versailles, and in Greene Twp. in 1857, where their old home was in the center of the NW 1/4 of Section 24, around which they had accumulated 800 acres of land by 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Bonar were charter members of the Panola and El Paso Methodist Church, established in 1857. Their children were: Sarah, Marshall, James T., Franklin M., Mary, Joseph L., Ida May, Rose Clare, Harriet, Elizabeth, William H., and Charles C. Mr. Bonar was born July 16, 1818, and died in Greene Twp. October 14, 1873.
BOWERS, A. J. and Susan – Came to Illinois from Ohio in 1857 and ran an early El Paso grocery store. They purchased Lot 10, Block 36 from Wathen on November 19, 1859.
BOWMAN, John – A Bowling Green resident at an early unknown date.
BOWMAN, M. Gilmore, and Eliza Ann – Their names are on early Methodist records for 1858, in the early Panola-El Paso church.
BRADLEY, Tobias S. and Lydia – Purchased Lot 2, Block 18 of Gibson on July 5, 1858.
BRANCH, Rev. William and Wife – Rev. Branch was the pastor of the first Baptist church in El Paso in 1858. He presided at the organization meeting of the El Paso Cemetery Association (Evergreen Cemetery) which was held August 11, 1859, then served as the Association's first president. He organized the first El Paso Baptist Church January 21, 1858 in Crawford's Hall which stood at the corner of Cherry and Second Streets where the Gayle Andrews residence now is. He purchased Lot 8, Block 32 from Gibson on July 22, 1859.
BRENN, Thomas H. – Came to Illinois from Pennsylvania in 1857 and became one of El Paso's earliest livestock dealers.
BREWER, John and Rebecca Cox (1800-1880) – They were Ohioans, who moved from Bloomington, Illinois to be the first pioneers to settle in Panola Twp., building their cabin in Shuck's Grove, then Brewer's Woods, one mile north of Panola in 1836. John was born May 1, 1805 and died in Panola Twp. on October 13, 1852. He is buried in the Harper Cemetery west of Panola. Rebecca, born in 1800, lived until September 18, 1880. A daughter was married to John Magarity, and the youngest daughter, Sarah A. Brewer, married John Tyler, long residents of the area. Sarah was possibly the first child born in Panola Twp. John and Rebecca owned land in Section 28 of Greene Twp. in 1850, and they patented the NW 1/4 of Section 19 in Panola Twp. August 31, 1852. Mrs. Brewer died at the home of her daughter, Sarah Tyler. The Brewer
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