Colonel John Strawn, 20 May 1832 - 18 June 1832, Commanded the 40th Regiment of Mounted Volunters in the Black Hawk Indian Wars.

Henry Republican Obit

Our death column chronicles the passing away of Colonel John Strawn, on the evening of the 4th, after an illness of 10 days, caused in great measure, by a hart received from falling from a wagon recently, at his residence three miles east of Lacon.

The colonel was one of the old landmarks of the county, settling on the place where he died, so long ago as September 1829, when he was the only white settler in this region. Every old settler knew him well, for he was hospitable, a hard worker, and a leading man of his day.

He was born in Somerset county, PA., on November 25, 1791, of Quaker stock, a religion he embraced. He had a taste for pioneer life, and in 1812 started out into the western country, visiting Kentucky, Ohio, and even Illinois, then a wilderness, when Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, etc., were insignificant trading posts.

He finally made up his mind to go west, first going to Kentucky, thence to Ohio, where he married, and afterwards to Illinois, as given above. He took part in all the enterprises of the early day, shared its struggles, privations and progress, and at the Indian outbreak gained the title and rank of colonel.

He entered the ground where Lacon now stands, and we believe laid it out in lots. He was married three times, his last two wives being quite young women.

By his first wife he had 13 children, one by his second, and two by the widow. He was very wealthy, and he has numerous children in the vicinity, who are invariably in good circumstances.

One of his peculiarities was love of horseflesh, and kept a large lot of them for many years, for no other purpose that most folks could see but to eat him up, many being of ordinary stock. A year ago he had an auction and sold the most of them under the hammer.

His widow is quite young, 25 perhaps, who has two small children, to whom he wills all his property, estimated at $200,000. She is a fine appearing lady, and well calculated to be a colonel's widow. The colonel's residence stands on high ground, on the prairie, surrounded by a very high board fence, and can be seen a long distance. The funeral was a very large one, and the exercises unusually impressive. -