HISTORY | Local lore

Who walked in our footsteps before us? What were our ancestors’ lives like from 1817 through the 1850s? Find out about the people of the Sugar Creek area, now known as Ball Township in Sangamon County, from John Faragher, Yale University professor of American history and executive director of the Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders. “Small Places, Wider Worlds: Sugar Creek and Settler Colonialism in North America” is the title of his talk on April 26 at UIS Brookens Auditorium. Also the author of numerous articles and 12 books, Faragher’s knowledge of the history of our area sprang from visits and extensive research for this 1988 book, Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie. The book surveys local settlers but is indicative of early life throughout the Midwest. It won awards from the American Association for State and Local History and the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. Sangamon County Historical Society and UIS ECCE Speaker Series cosponsor. Learn more about the Historical Society at sancohis.org.