MACON COUNTY, situated in the central part of Illinois. Area, 1,400 square miles. Seat of justice, Decatur. Pop. in 1830, 1,122; in 1840, 3,039, in 1850, 3,988. (Fanning's, 1853)
MACON COUNTY Is situated in the central part of the state, and has an area of 500 square miles. It is intersected by the north branch of the Sangamon river, dividing it into nearly equal parts. Also, by the Great Western and Illinois Central railroads. In 1829, the number of inhabitants was short of 800, and in 1840, 3,233, about one-tenth of whom resided at Decatur, the county seat. Making still further progress, in 1850 the population had increased to 3,968. About the year 1852, this part of the state, exhumed from the tomb of Egyptian darkness in which it had so long lain buried, was wholly changed in its aspect by the opening of railroads in this section, and settlers came pouring in upon the splendid rolling prairies, gifted with timber and watered by never failing streams; and soon the smoke curling from cabin chimneys all through the length and breadth of Macon's four million acres of land, told that the arms of civilization had found a resting place. The fall of 1853 witnessed the completion of the Great Western railroad from Springfield to Decatur, and the following spring the arrival of the cars on the new laid track of the Illinois Central. The statistics of the next five years show a marked change for the better; the population in 1855, amounting to about 9,000, and the real and personal estate valued at over $2,000,000, and the manufacturing interest which had sprung up, showing that the county had risen from its Rip Van Winkle sleep and was about to make its mark among the counties of the west. The surface is generally level, and consists of prairies diversified with small tracts of timber. The soil is highly productive; corn, wheat, oats, potatoes and pork are the staples. It contains a large number of fine churches, and has over 1,000 pupils attending public schools. Several newspapers are published in the county. Capital, Decatur. Population, 11,000. County Judge, John Ricketts. Sheriff, Edminson McClellan. (Hawes' Illinois State Gazetteer...,1859)