George Flint of New Hampshire came to Illinois to farm in 1865. He was just 21 and started out working as a laborer on various farms in Madison County and met a man who had some scrub land in McLean County. Eventually George had enough money to purchase that farm in Bellflower Township, which is pictured below. He made all the improvements to it and in 1872 his younger brother, Charles Flint, joined him and worked for him as a laborer until he was made a partner in the farm of 500 acres. George and Charles were noted for their very fine livestock: horses and cattle. George Flint married Belle Skidmore in 1877 and Charles married her younger sister, May, in 1887. George and Belle had two daughters. May Skidmore Flint died in childbirth in 1894 and was buried with her baby in her arms. Her son Lawrence Flint lived until 1962 and was a farmer in Bellflower.
Fernando Eyestone was an Ohio transplant to Illinois. He came to Illinois as an adult after the Civil War. He served with the Army of the Potomac in major battles until he was captured and imprisoned. After his release, he joined Sheridan's Army and fought again, until captured again and imprisoned until Lee's surrender. He married Minerva Ralston in Ohio in 1867 and them came to live on his father's farm in McLean County before purchasing his own farm. The Eyestones had no children.
Alfred Fagerburg was a native of Sweden and came to the United States in 1854 as a teenager. He was already trained in carriage making and black smithing and began a career as a boilermaker in Chicago. He moved about Illinois and Missouri working as a master boilermaker and superintendent of manufactories. It was while working in Bloomington that he decided to make a change and begin farming. As a successful mechanic he was able to buy a farm of 160 acres in Dry Grove Township. Mrs Catherine Fagerburg had six children, four of whom lived beyond infancy. Two of their sons were college educated Frank worked as a paymaster for the railroad and Edward was an insurance agent and real estate agent. His oldest son, Albert, worked as a boiler maker and his youngest, George, as a farmer.
