• At the age of 14, Seth Hart Hills became one of the first settlers in Ogle county. When the older brother with whom he had lived was married in 1828, he felt so resentful and rejected that he ran away. For several years he nursed his grievance in a shack he built on the bottomland across from where Black Hawk statue is now located. Eventually other settlers arrived, and it was inevitable that one of them would like the site the boy had chosen. Of course, the first to file a claim would have to be of legal age. When that happened, he again “squatted” in the more remote unsettled area of Nashua township. As soon as he was old enough to file, he did so, and in 1840 received the final title to his farm one mile east of Lighthouse Church. He was soon to be related to two families who migrated from Canada. John Martin and Moses Nettleton were friends who had married each other’s sister. As [Moses] Nettleton’s wagons approached the area in 1838 with his goods and family, his oldest daughter, Jane, was eager to identify all the places he had described. She was happy to see places, but suddenly wondered where the Bachelor Hills were, not realizing that her marriage to that “landmark” was to be the first wedding in the whole area.1328, pp 365-6

• 1840 Census: Washington Pct., Ogle, Illinois. Age 20-30. 00011/0001.1344
• 1850 Census: Daysville, Nashua Twp, Ogle, Illinois. Age 36, b NY. Farmer. $3600. Living adjacent to Riley Paddock.604, p 2

• 9 children590, p 4