John Coulter

The French name of Grand Cote was given to the prairie in the northeastern part of the county. It was on this prairie that John Coulter settled in 1822. Around his place a small village grew up and for a time was known as Grand Cote. When the town was platted in 1850,...

A. A. Burlingame

The people about Sparta early assumed a leadership in the making of tools and implements used by the settlers. A. A. Burlingame set up to make wagons in nearby Eden. He soon began to make plows and in 1866 moved to Sparta. At that time he regularly employed nine men...

David Cathcart

When Illinois became a state, large sections of Randolph County were still unsettled. Thus David Cathcart, or Carthcart, was not in anyway crowded when he came from South Carolina in 1818 to settle near the lower end of Flat Prairie. His nearest neighbors were even...