The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
In 1854 when the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad was completed Andrew and Samuel C. Douglas platted the first lots in the town of Biggsville, naming it after its early founder, John Biggs.
The plat consisted of one row of lots on the north and one on the south side of Main Street and from the depot on the east to the mill race on the west. In 1856 Solomon Essex, George and Smith Wax came to the newly laid out but unsettled town and each bought lots and built houses.
That fall Michael Farley built two houses on the south side of Main Street near the west end of the plat. The village was beginning to develop into a marketing place.
1882 History of Henderson County