If you liked this video, you might also enjoy this one that I made about the counties with the highest poverty rates. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lqbQa_qEd5o.html
Did you know that the first bank was in Shawnee Town? When Chicago was first forming, some of the city founders wrote the Shawnee bank, asking for a loan of $10,000 to get things rolling. The bank wrote back "No, because the city of Chicago will never amount of anything. "
Bring back Pontiac!!! His angry cohorts took care of business at Starving Rock!!:sorry PBS worshiping Minnesotans!! No discussion crisis solving committee back then!!! Ouch!!!
I was actually born in Chicago (in 1953!), but raised in DuQuoin in Perry County. If you go to southern Illinois, you should go to Makanda, just south of Carbondale, and see Giant City State Park. It has trails, small (comparatively speaking) cliffs, streams, lots of picnic areas with picnic tables and some with grills, a really nice lodge that has rooms to rent and a dining room, and a small water tower you can climb where it is said that you can see 7 states. It is worth the trip. I've been there many times. You should also go to Alto Pass, south of Murphysboro, and see the Bald Knob Cross. It is fantastic!
Fun fact, pike county has more cows than humans. Also Pittsfield had one of the best highschool football team in the country for a while. Don't know why I know this. But I used to drive through there to get to missouri.
@stansanner it really is. I moved from Chicago to rural Texas, well sorta rural. It was a small beach community outside Galveston, but there was 500 people. Went from 3mil to 500. Was quite the difference. Especially the quiet
I just moved to Northern Illinois (about 12 miles from the Wisconsin border and no, not Chicago, not even close to there) and I love it here. The people are so friendly and the cost of living is nice. I moved from the swamp of Las Vegas. I hate the desert and the people are the biggest jerks. It’s been refreshing living here.
I'm retiring in Florida, but that's not for another 18 years. Honestly, if it wasn't for Illinois winters, I wouldn't live anywhere else. Illinois will always be home. Btw, I found your channel tonight and subscribed to it. I love watching videos about Illinois. I'm Illinois born and bred.
Chicago is draining the life out of Southern Illinois. We have high taxes, and we see little of it used in our area. Local businesses have to pay for things that the state should but doesn’t. For example: school repairs. Let’s not forget that the computers in the schools can’t even load a RU-vid video and a RU-vid page at the same time. The version of Safari they are capable of running can’t even load RU-vid, and an old version of chrome can somewhat watch RU-vid about 2 minutes of loading. The internet is good, but the computers they use are literally museum pieces.
@@kenkunz1428 well, why is it that Kentucky, Indiana, and Missouri are more rural, yet they are thriving? In those states, they have industry. In Illinois, taxes killed all of our industry and local businesses. All of the states surrounding Illinois disprove your point. Even Wisconsin for crying out load has worse farm land and much worse cold, yet they are thriving. Illinois has become as bad as California for the same reasons.
To your point, it seems taxes ought to be raised sharply for Cook County so they can be lowered at the state level. Seems the fact they aren't is the unfortunate result of Chicago voters pulling a fast one on the rest of the state, just because they can get away with it.
@@kenkunz1428 it virtually has shrivelled up southern counties, and quite some time ago. High tax structure has been blamed, with good argumtnt, for driving business from small town IL to neighboring states with easier taxes, stripping everywher EXCEPT Chicago of job opportunities. Chicago has the gravity of size to still pull in business, but for small towns, those taxes, installed entirely BY Chicago, has strangled the economy.
@@Pbirv spent to much time in the desert in the late 80s early 90s I won't even go to the beach I hate sand so much. Oh and the heat, no thanks. I like seasons
@@jjohnsengraciesmom But it does have hurricanes, alligators, and roaches that will kick your rear end! But Illinois does have mosquitoes that are competing with the cardinals for “state bird.” 😬😱
Our family moved to Harrisburg Illinois in the mid 60’s when my father retired from the Army. He wanted to go back to his roots which was in the Shawnee National Forest. Thank goodness we were there for only 11 months. Dad found good pay and work opportunities in Rockford. We’ve been there ever since. We’ve witnessed the decline of the largest manufacturing city in the country. It’s a sad reality for this town.
Those southern Illinois counties are the best in all of the state, too bad we couldn't separate from the rest to get away from the b.s. of northern Illinois (Chicago)
@@kenkunz1428 Who would guard your prisoners for you then? About 85% of the Dept. of Corrections inmates in these Southern Illinois prisons are from the Cook County region.
Pope County has more deer population than people population. Growing up, I remember hearing that students had to get off the school bus, walk over the wooden bridge, the bus would drive over the bridge, then the students would get back on the bus. No tax base. Farmers and Shawnee National Forest.
I grew up in Kankakee county, went to college in Cole county and then lived in DuPage, Kane and Iroquois counties. IL is a state of at least three distinct cultures - the Chicago metro area, the corn/soybean-based agribusiness of central, western and NW IL, and then southern IL which, especially the little Egypt area, has more in common with TN, MS and AL than the Midwest.
I spent half my life in California and half in central Illinois. I loved California until it went far left. Now Chicagoland is trying to force the rest of Illinoisans to give up our rights and submit to wokeism. I would prefer to live in Southern Illinois but do love our home on one acre with giant burr oaks, and many other trees. We have access to great hospitals in Springfield and Decatur. Homes are very inexpensive compared to the rest of the country. Thanks for your videos!
@@RonWagner I love how you make the claim that Chicago is forcing you to give up you rights but you don't cite a single one. Nor do you give any examples of this horrible "wokeism" that is being thrust upon you.
Thank you for making this video. I was born and raised in a very small town (Willisville) in Perry County IL. I was certain I would see Perry county on this list, so its wild that there are poorer counties here. Southern Illinois needs economic stimulus very badly. I thought marijuana becoming legal would be our ticket, but of course IL politicians handed out limited certificates and of course you already have to be rich in order to afford them. Anyway, thanks for putting this together!
How about one about the Shelton Brothers, Charlie Birger, John Dale Cavaness. Lots of history in the southern part of the state that a lot of people don't know about.
As a former Illinois resident I find this very interesting. Many of my ancestors probably travelled this area in the early 1800's up to central Illinois from Kentucky.
Mine too. My parents lived in Hickman Kentucky when I was born in Union City Tennessee just across the border in 1958. They moved to Illinois in 1959. We have relatives though as far north as Rock Island.
You mentioned ShawneeTown, my family came from there. They moved to Chester because my Grandfather went to work at Menard. And I was named after ShawneeTown.
Having lived in Illinois and on its border for my entire youth, I long ago decided that Illinois should be divided into 2 states. 2. Chicago, and 2. The real state of Illinois.
In the late sixties ,or early seventies the state of Ilinois ran ads promoting tourism.Ads contained a catchy little jingle. “Just outside Chicago,there’s a place called Illinois.” It was always like that😁.There is Crook County,and then the rest of Illinois.🤣
I've lived in Little Egypt the last 33 years. Coal mines shut down. Oil business in decline. Walmart has put nearly everything out of business. We don't even have a grocery store left in my town. I'm 66 and retired. I will die here, but can't imagine a young kid wanting to stay. edit: Forgot to mention. Our bridge over the Wabash closed down as unsafe over 10 years ago. No plans to fix it. Our hospital closed over 10 years ago.
you have to regress the numbers for jackson cty to remove SIU students and for Marion to remove the inmates at the federal prison. These populations skew the stats, but do not represent actual residents.
@@granch4211 Four federal prisons in Illinois: Marion (the maximum security prison which Pete Rose called home for a stretch) Chicago Pekin Greenville (which is just north of Clinton County)
We just moved here from Michigan. My husband's job was transferred, so we didn't have much choice. I don't really like it here. Everything is so expensive, and property taxes are insane! Utilities are also much higher than Michigan. Our water bill is double what it used to be, with the same usage. Our property taxes are SIX times higher than our old house, with comparable market value. This is nuts!
Kathy R settle down try to find some good in it.At least you are married and he has a job.Lots of women married and husbands don't have jobs.You have your life Thank "God" You can handle the snow you are from Michigan.Be and stay bless.
Southern IL is definitely the opposite of big city life....in most ways. There is a lot of crime and drugs, little opportunity and with a few exceptions the schools are awful. But if you're looking for cheap rent, a slower pace of life and don't mind going without a lot of a more wealthy & populated area's conveniences, culture and services (or are willing to drive long distances to get them) it would be fine for someone with an outside source of income. Ability to tolerate both cold & heat and humidity is a must!
The hard truth is that Southern Illinois has little to offer compared to other areas of the state. Central Illinois is one of the world's most productive agricultural areas and Northern Illinois has a global seaport (Chicago). Southern Illinois just has coal, for which demand has been declining since the 1980s. For the record, global warming didn't kill the coal industry here, acid rain did. Southern Illinois coal has a high sulfur content, contributing to acid rain ,a big environmental issue back in the 1980s, well before global warming appeared on the radar. The ensuing regulations killed demand.
It's evident that you are completely ignorant of the vast wealth of So. Ill in biodiversity, sheer beauty and an excess of high quality outdoor experiences. I'm a NYC trained landscape painter and biologist, that area has MANY unique examples of flora and fauna, in part, to its transition zone climate. I teach Earth Science in Brooklyn, ny. I can teach earthquakes, tornados floods, deposition of land forms and minerals, weather, climate, types of land formations/types of terrain, (delta, glacier morraine, monumental erosion of rock, Karst landscape, springs, rivers, as well as Astronomy- didja hear that the full eclipse passed squarely over SIU......) honestly I could go on and on. You're focused only on plebian things, honey. Read a book.
@@mariebernier3076 It's no industrial wasteland, if that's what you mean, but compared to what neighboring states have to offer, it can't compete. When it comes to outdoor activities, people head to either Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley or the Missouri Ozarks. The area CAN be made into a tourist destination with a bit of work, but that will require considerable investment and community involvement, two things that are sorely lacking in this area. Unfortunately, most people take the easy way out and just leave.
@@stevenmorton2059 No, I actually meant that it is what I said - just because it's not the most popular place doesn't make my points less valid. I think we're coming from 2 diff places. I'm looking at it through beauty, science and outstanding recreation. You seem to focus on the narrow view of economic health.
@@mariebernier3076 Economic health is a major and relevant issue. You can't really appreciate beauty, science, and recreation when you're struggling to survive. Besides, economic health also impacts desirability to tourists. No one comes to see abandoned buildings, run-down neighborhoods, and hordes of meth addicts. The region you saw was a relatively small area in the extreme southern portion of the state. Economically, SIU is the only thing keeping that area going. In short, what you saw down there was about as good as it gets for the region. West Virginia has loads of natural beauty, too. That doesn't make it any easier for the people trying to live there.
@@stevenmorton2059 I actually grew up there. In fact, I came from a town that was racially segregated until 1985. I attended SIU and have all my extended family in Chicago. I have seen 90% of the state. I thoroughly understand this area relative to the other parts of the state. You seem to have such drive - is it to be 'right' about the financial aspects over all others, or is it a negative relationship with my state?
I live in Union County (near most of the counties that made the list, less than a 30 min drive from quite a few locations seen in this video). It really is sad seeing areas like Cairo. You can absolutely tell that in their prime they were something great. Now they feel like you probably shouldn’t be there in the first place. Lots of beautiful sites to see in the southern part of the state though. Shawnee, garden of the gods. It’s all gorgeous!
Members of my family Founded Cave-In-Rock, Hardin County and I still have distant cousins who live and hunt there, but they probably don't know of me. But there may still be some old folks who knew my Grandpa.
Can you do Crawford County Ill? Hardinville, Oblong area? as a suggestion? I was a kid there and we had to move when Tidewater Oil Co. folded. Your videos are great!
My grandma lives in shawneetown, it's a spooky place, and a lot of drugs and sickness roaming. It's hard to find resources for her. I'm surprised farming isn't on the list of jobs there, there seem to be a lot of farmers. Good stats though! Ty!
My hometown is Casey, Illinois and a few years ago this town was dying a horrible death, all but 1 of the factories packed up and moved out and that made it where we would have to travel 40 miles to have a decent paying job. The mayor had an idea and he and his brother started making really big things, we currently have approximately 2 dozen world records for our collection of big things, (mailbox, rocking chair, barbershop pole, golf tee, pitchfork, ECT...) The problem is how outrageously high the utilities are here! We literally have the highest utilities in the state! The new mayor promises lower bills but it's been over 2 years now and the only thing he has reduced is the ability to talk to him! Maybe if a video was made about how high the utilities are something might be done.
I moved out of Illinois to take care of my mother who fell and cracked her spine in 2 places in June 2016. I still own a house there that I can not get sold even though it is priced at $50,000.00 less than it would sell for in Missouri where I live. It is a great town to live in but it is in a lousy state. I am glad I am out of Illinois.
@@speedracer1963 I wish Pritzker would move out and take Lightfoot with him. They can move to Uranus. Even that wouldn’t be far enough away for my blood. They can also take Madigan and a few other politicians.
@@glennso47 Madigan has been out of office since the last election. you didn't know this a few days ago ? Or are you one of those gypsy southerners who move up here to ramp-up the gop vote
@@StuckInTheKernfield can I be number two? Like Avis I try harder! You have to go back a ways to get that. The two biggest car rental companies used to be Hertz and Avis. Avis used to say “We’re number two, we try harder.”
There are a certain type of people who talk endless crap about how bad Chicago is but it would seem that the further you get from Chicago the worse the towns and cities get.
I have lived in Southern Illinois my entire life and for the first time in my life I have to say that I hate living here. I'm planning on moving out of the state asap. I am 55 and single. BTW I have always said Chicago should be its own state! Our state would be so much better off! All of our money goes to Chicago!
I'm 55, single and grew up in Williamson County until i left 35 years ago for NYC. I love it here, but boy, nothing is as breathtakingly beautiful as Southern Illinois. Looking for a house with woods to buy somewhere from Carbondale south, the cliff-ier the better.
You just look at the down state roads and one knows where the crooked politicians are sending our tax money > Chicago ... I know I live in southern Illinois ... but not much longer...getting out of welfare paradise.
Malkovich is from Christopher. I have traveled all over the state's and Southern Illinois is a very beautiful place. It fell on bad times when the mines closed. There is possibility.
Born and raised in cook county, Maywood. I moved 20 mins west of joliet in a small town called morris. Best decision I've ever made. Love this little town now
@@kennethbiebighauser7984 Carroll County now has a federal prison, near Thomson. Obama bought an underused state penitentiary there during his administration to house prisoners from Gitmo but the congress and many people in this area said “no”. But they still made it into a federal prison . So there are some jobs in Carroll County that wouldn’t be there otherwise. 😬
I appreciated the effort displayed by the production of this video. I was less impressed that the writers/producers didn't hammer the dreadful political scene in the state's capital, Springfield. Despite the poverty referenced in the story, the state's residents pay high taxes, and the public sector weighs heavily on the state's poorest counties and their residents. The writers breezed over the impact of losing so much of the state's coal industry during the last 60 years, instead making the curious decision to cite safety stats from half a century ago.
Grew up in McDonough county Il but moved to Missouri for college and never looked back. Missouri isn't perfect, but I'm still close enough to visit family and friends plus mid and southern Missouri are beautiful. 36 now and I highly doubt I will ever move back.
Born, and raised in Franklin, I honestly was not surprised to see us on here, I did guess the number tho. But all I can say about this area, is has its perks, but at the same time, it makes you want to leave illinois..
These are mostly Southern Illinois counties. Southern Illinois is extremely rural especially down along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In that region Paducah, KY and Cape Girardeau, MO are the cultural hubs where as Marion, Carbondale, and Mount Vernon are the inland cultural hubs for our region. I live in Franklin County. Williamson County is south of me and it is where I work. Williamson County is one of the few counties in the entire state that is actually growing.
Jefferson is getting new business, but not new people. I live in Mt. Vernon, and since I moved here nearly 12 years ago, Continental Tire expanded at leasr twice, Good Sam built a new hospital, as did Crossroads, the little strip malls where Kay's, and Panda Express were built, Drury built a new hotel, as did Double Tree, and the new high school opened up. We lost Sears, but gained Hobby Lobby and Ross, Kohl's opened, Menard's opened, a new Taco Bell, new Starbucks, the water park, new Mach 1 gas station, Culver's, and now we're getting a new ambulance center and Dunkin donuts. We're getting new business, but not new residents.
@@orion3706 Mt Vernon does have a lot of nice businesses despite its population. I'm surprised at some of the things the town has despite only having 14,000 people.
I remember oh probably in the mid 1970's Galena was being sold via advertising extensively. Being of an advanced age with a handicapped wife I am sort of stuck here in Chicago and right now not the place to be! It is a shame knaves run our State and City.
I was lucky enough to have a successful corporate career and now have a summer home at Lake of Egypt in Williamson County in Southern Illinois as an Illinois native it is sad to see the demise of Southern Illinois. Thank you Cook County.
I grew up in Carterville and I really miss it there in Wisconsin now 15 yrs and I hate it. Would love to here about Catriona and how it is today compared to the 90's
I was born and raised in Southern Illinois. I moved to the Texas Gulf Coast when I was in my 20s to get away from the harsh Illinois winters then, upon my retirement, I moved back to Southern Illinois. I can tolerate the winters now that I do not have to work out in them. I live in a relatively crime-free rural town where I leave my car unlocked and there hasn't been a murder in over 25 years (and that was when a man killed his wife). Many people around here are poor, but they barter with each other. Deer are plentiful and since there is only one game warden to cover like 4 or 5 counties, venison supplements many rural diets. Walmart is about the only store in the county and McDonalds is considered 4-star dining, but I can walk uptown without packing a firearm which is something I could not do on the Texas Gulf Coast.
I don't think I missed it, but it would have been nice to see the map with all 10 counties highlighted. That would only have driven home the regional point to little Egypt
Shawnee National Forest is both the beauty and the bane of Southern Illinois. It's a gorgeous place for recreation, but it limits development. Also, Pike County is famous for whitetail deer hunting, leading the state in deep harvested almost every year.
@@jjohnsengraciesmom Just a lot of land and resources that could be used for industry and commerce, but have to be left untouched. I'm not saying it's a bad thing--I love Shawnee, and it's a positive to have it.
@@kenthawley5990 there is plenty of space for commercialization. The problem is, the taxes kill industry and businesses. Every time you see a new business open, locals go immediately to show support. However, we also guess how many months they are going to survive before closing. Dream baskets and Tropical Snow are pretty much the only businesses in the last decade in Harrisburg to survive. But dozens have started and failed.
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One minor correction- the hog capitol ( of the world) is Kewanee IL. as declared by a US Congress resolution . Since Kewanee is not in Pike county, then Pike county cannot be the hog capitol of the state or the world. Kewanee even has a Hog Days festival each year to celebrate and honor its being the hog capital.
Most people from Southern IL, take it as an insult, when they are compared to Chicago. We have very little in common.We don't act, think,or talk like em. They are not going to change, and we aren't either.Its just the way it is.
I live in waterman Illinois and love it peaceful. And we only have about 1500 people in town if that. We only have a dollar general n a Casey’s in town
The area that you called pike county that consumed all of Chicago Basically west of the Illinois and east of Mississippi River The county seat at that time was actually gilead Illinois in calhoun county. To the south. Gilead now has a population of about 15 people
The southern part of Illinois was decimated by the clean air act. It in the not so disdent past, had a robust economy based on coal and oil prduction. Also a lot of off the grid economic resources. Peple lived pretty well there. I moved to the area in 1989. The good days were 15 to 20 years gone by then. The residents are fiercely loyal to there home region and quite suspicious and unwelcoming to outsiders. One thing you barely touched on was the natural beauty there. George Harisons sistier lived in Eldorado.
@@TheJerimiah21 northwest Illinois is the place. If you have ever thought of a flat earth, that part of Illinois would cure you. The rolling hills and the huge bluffs along the Mississippi River have scenery that is to die for especially in the autumn. I don’t know what happened but the rest of Illinois is as flat as a pancake. The highest elevation in Illinois is in JoDaviess County in the extreme northwest. They say the glaciers came down during the ice age and made most of the Midwest very flat but missed that small area of northwest Illinois. 🤔
@@glennso47 Southern Illinois has many beautiful hills as does the area along the Mississippi. The prettiest spot in Illinois, IMHO is in tht Garden of the gods in southern Illinois near Saline.
I was born and raised in Little Egypt. Back in the 1950s, humorist H. Allen Smith, himself a native of McLeansboro, wrote a book about the region called "Lo! The Former Egyptian." It is very funny. My favorite passage is one in which he quotes a visitor who describes the land of my nativity as "the sorriest piece of real estate in the whole country . . . nurturing a miserable tribe of human beings whose equal for ignorance and depravity has not been seen in the entire history of the world." Things haven't changed much.
@@kenkunz1428 Then don't vote for politicians who are against small business, free markets, "clean" energy, anti 2nd Amendment BS and other things that drive people and business out of the state.
Wasn't Southern Illinois originally heavily french (and, presumably, Catholic)? If so, how did it turn into an Anglo-Saxon Protestant enclave? Asking for a friend.
@Ain't ItAwful Yes, it was! The French settled in the area and built at least two different forts, Fort Chartre and Fort Massac, but then the French and Indian War happened, and the French were defeated. The British then took control of the region. The French settlers around Fort Chartre mostly moved over the border to Missouri. As for Fort Massac, it had been destroyed, but George Washington ordered it to be rebuilt as an American outpost during the Revolutionary War. So basically two wars pushed the French out and left it open for other groups to move in.
I moved from Illinois to Washington state a few years ago. In Illinois everybody complains about living there where as out here people love living in the Pacific northwest
E town. Was bigger than I saw on another documentary. A lot of buildings appear to be raised. From memory. . We blew thrugh in my army combat engneer days. And E town was a over night stop over. Sorry to see empty lots all over. Sgt williams retired
Danville is pretty bad since all the good factories went to Mexico and Chicago tore down the projects and a lot of those people moved here, the crime rate is awful now
That's for sure. 1 of the biggest problems with Chicago is the liberal left crooked politicians! Its no wonder its such a hell hole! Look at the murder rate!
I am an Illinois native from Batavia in Kane county which became too expensive for me. I moved to the UP in Michigan which is very cheap and very cold. I was wondering if you might consider making a video of the Southern Illinois counties as a possible retirement area for those of us who are on the poor side. And are there any Veterans medical clinics in these counties? ty
I'm not Ty, but I'll try to answer your question. Yes, there are two big VAMCS in the Chicago-area. One called Westside, which is actually on the Southside of Chicago ; the second is called Hines. Farther north out of Chicago, you'll find another in North Chicago, IL, and it's about 3-5 miles west of the USN RTC. Throughout the state, they also have Veterans Nursing Homes and possibly other VAMCS or VA--Out Patient Clinics A simple Google search should supply you with all the info you need. I wish you well.
Bob, I am eying the same thing. Very selfishly and perhaps narrowly, I am looking for cheap retirement more than for any business opportunity. The south has the best weather and scenery but just a slow pace and poverty. I want to be near the forest, but commuting distnce to some modicum of civilization....perhaps a stone's throw from Carbondale will do.
Far southern counties that cannot be farmed due to clay soils n rocky landscapes are going to have far smaller tax bases that central IL. Since farmland is so much more profitable the taxes are higher and the county is wealthier the farther north you go.
2yrs late I am, but I appreciate your video. I am really looking toward retirement and a move out of Louisiana. My sister is in Chicago, which I have visited several times happily, by good grief, the fees for everything! The price of mega-city living is too rich for my blood. But a move to the southern area would put me comfortably in range for holiday road trip visits. People want to trash talk IL, but for all its problems, it ain't the worst. I, as a gay man, am getting sick of living in a MAGA state surrounded by nothing but more MAGA states. Southern IL may be conservative, but thankfully IL's civil rights laws are state-wide. But seriously, a couple points: The qualities of any state are going to vary a lot from place to place, so it is worth considering that blanket statements are not going to hold true everywhere, so thanks for your efforts to highlight county differences. Second point, one person's economic disaster is another's opportunity. I, for example, am considering my options for retirement. You might have mentioned, but I did not hear it, that with Illinois' high taxes in mind, the cheapest property tax rates in the state are in the far south, Hardin, Gallitan, Pulaski, Alexander, Franklin, White, Massac, etc. Combine that with some extremely low home prices for older homes, and that is economically a deal. Jackson County is higher rate, but it is only a modest drive from Franklin County to Carbondale, where the state university brings a bit of community cultural options. I appreciate that IL does not tax retirees' typical income sources, other than investments. I would love to see some more analysis of concerns of retirees in these places, if you would consider further videos. Thnx.
I was born in the Windy City & grew up in & around there. Dad was from White County. We moved to Wayne County. It was culture shock to say the least. Anyone from north of Springfield was a d----d Yankee & they didn't want much to do with Yankees. Most of Dad's ancestors came from NC, VA, & by the way of Kentucky and Indiana. Some were in Illinois before it became s state. I left over 25 years ago. Long story, but I don't think i can handle the winters any more as "Arthur" loves me too much.
