The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
In 1827 Mr. James Ryason from Edgar County, Ohio, the first settler in South Henderson Township (Gladstone Township today), left his wife and child with her father and started down the Ohio River with a load of whiskey on a flat boat intending to take it to a lucrative market in New Orleans.
On the way he learned that prospects for a brisk trade were slim so re-directed his sights for Galena. Pulling oars to go up river, he landed there and disposed of his cargo and stayed on to work in the mines.
Not striking a bonanza, he loaded up his canoe with lead and hides and sailed down the river for Oquawka and the Phelps Bros. trading post. Thinking to start a wood yard, he located on N. ¸ N 1/4 Sec.2 in the fall of 1828 where he built the first house in the township.
It was constructed of hewed logs covered with clapboards with a hewed log floor. The chimney was erected by mixing sticks and clay completing the single room one story dwelling.
1882 History of Henderson County