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Totten Prairie or Totten's Prairie was a small settlement in Cass Township, Fulton County, Illinois, just to the southwest of the present Smithfield, Illinois. [1] It was named after William Totten, who was the first to settle there in 1823. [2] A small cemetery, called Totten Cemetery or Old Totten's Prairie Cemetery, still exists in that location. [3]
Cass Township is one of twenty-six townships in Fulton County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 622 and it contained 271 housing units.
Fulton County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 37,069. Its county seat is Lewistown, and the largest city is Canton.
Illinois is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It has the 5th largest Gross Domestic Product by state, is the 6th-most populous U.S. state and 25th-largest state in terms of land area. Illinois is often noted as a microcosm of the entire United States. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in northern and central Illinois, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base, and is a major transportation hub. Chicagoland, Chicago's metropolitan area, contains over 65% of the state's population. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports around the world from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean; as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois Waterway on the Illinois River. The Mississippi River, the Ohio River, and the Wabash River form parts of the boundaries of Illinois. For decades, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and, through the 1980s, in politics.
The 1879 History of Fulton County, Illinois contains the following entry for William Totten:
When the red man was sporting over the prairie of Illinois and when the wolves were prowling through the forests, William Totten placed his family and effects in a one-horse cart in Ohio and found his way to Kentucky, thence to Indiana, and finally to Fulton Co., where in 1823 he settled on the well-known Totten's Prairie. It would require a large volume to recount all the incidents of his frontier life in Fulton Co. Mr. Totten was remarkable for retaining peace with the Indians. When on the war path they would visit him, trade and sport with him and leave peaceably. He was the first settler in Cass township, and settled on sec. 27. The widow of William Totten still lives on the old homestead with her son John Totten at the age of 84 years. John Totten followed the occupation of hunting for many years, raising such grain as was needed for family use. He was married in 1847 to Barbary Baughman. Their son, Michael P. Totten, was born in Fulton Co., Oct. 18, 1850; was educated in the common schools of this county; is a well-to-do farmer. Miss Almira, daughter of John Totten, is but 13 years of age, and is a remarkably good scholar for her age. Mrs. Totten was educated in Ohio, and came here with her parents in 1832. P. O., Smithfield."— [1]
