Harlem Township, one of the central tier of townships, the fourth settled in point of date in the county, is inferior to none as regards its location and agricultural advantages. The township is plentifully supplied with wood and water, and possesses other features of excellence indigenous to the country. The first settler to visit the present township of Harlem with a view to locate permanently was Miller Preston, who came in 1835, and settled upon Section 22, near the Galena stage road. It is believed by members of his household who survive Mr. Preston, that he visited Stephenson County first m 1833, coming from Dixon on a prospecting tour, and, after a hasty survey of the country, selected the site whereon he subsequently settled. Having made his claim in that year, he returned to Gallipolis, Ohio, where he concluded the tanning of a batch of hides upon which he was employed when considering the policy of emigrating to the West, and, purchasing a drove of cattle, came once more to Illinois, arriving upon his claim in the spring of 1835, the original settler in the present township of Harlem, which was then Lancaster Township, and so continued until the eastern portion of that territory was set off and appropriated to the organization under which it is now known.

The country is represented as being peculiarly attractive at that date. The prairies were covered with flowers, dotted here and there with burr oak timber, the branches of which served as a shelter not only to the pioneers but to the dusky maiden and painted savage, from the dews of the nights in spring and the heat of the summer's sun. The soil was of surpassing richness, and streams, creeks, rivulets, brooks and springs were distributed about the territory as if with mathematical exactness. But Mr. Preston proceeded to work at once and confirmed his title to the claim entered by erecting a log hut at the point above mentioned. The ax was sent to the ??? of the surrounding trees by the muscular arms of the sturdy pioneer ; log after log was rolled to, and fixed in, its proper place, and while the deer browsed among the fallen tree foliage, and the howl of the wolf from the surrounding hill-tops was heard above the contest with the forest, the first house in Harlem Township attained its limited proportions.

In the succeeding fall, William Baker, Benjamin Goddard and others had settled in what was subsequently set off as Lancaster Township, where Mr. Preston enjoyed the society of neighbors, participating in the raising of Baker's cabin, and other social amenities calculated to promote the genial in a sparsely settled portion of the country. During 1836, except Elias McComber, there is no record of any one settling permanently in Harlem, but a year later the population was materially augmented by the arrival of John Edwards, who came in May ; Rezin, Levi and Thompson Wilcoxon, Levi Lewis, John Lewis, and some others. The same season, Levi Wilcoxon erected a mill on Richland Creek, on the present site of Scioto Mills. Among those who were employed during its building, John Lewis put in the water-wheel, and the following persons assisted in the various work necessary : John Edwards, George Cockerell, William Goddard, Alpheus Goddard, Peter Smith, Wesley Bradford, Homer Graves and John Anscomb. The mill was completed and operated during the month of August of that year.

In the year 1838, P. L. Wright settled on a claim purchased of William Robey, who had come on a short time previous, as also had E. H. D. Sanborn, the latter owning a claim of half a section on the Lancaster line, which he subsequently sold to George Furst for 12,800; William Preston, who settled on the banks of the Pecatonica, Lewis Preston, Mathew Bridendall, and some others. Lewis Preston settled on Section 10, and, before he had put his house in order, an infant daughter was added to the family number, the first birth in the township. She grew to womanhood, and to-day, as Mrs. Benjamin Brown, has been enumerated in the census returns of the State of Iowa.

In 1839, Robert Young settled in the township near the mouth of Cedar Creek. Benjamin Bennett came the same year, and bought what is now known as the Putnam farm. In the 6th month of February of this year, the first death in the township took place — Mrs. William Preston, who died at the residence of her husband in Section 15, and was buried in the vicinity. Between 1839 and 1845, Thompson Cockerel settled on the east side of the Pecatonica ; Charles W. and Robert Barber, and others became residents of the township ; a man named Clark married the " Widow " Lyon, and many- other events of great import, doubtless, were included among the number accomplished.

From this date thenceforward to the survey of the Illinois Central route through the township, immigration was scarcely proportioned to that in the direction of other townships in the county. The lands were cheap, and advantages equal to those offered elsewhere, but for some unaccountable reason the incoming settler was an unknown commodity, or one of such rare exception as to create comment. About 1850, a change came over the spirit of those who came West, and many began to settle in Harlem. When the railroad was surveyed, however, and its construction determined beyond doubt, the value of land appreciated, until today property which sold for $12 per acre twenty-five years ago cannot be had at thrice that sum. The water privileges, too, became valuable about this time, though necessity and speculation had made a market there- for almost with the first settlement.