Jeremiah Lay: Mover, shaper
Jeremiah Lay: Mover, shaper Dean Karau A successful Wisconsin merchant made his way to Wethersfield in early 1854. He had read with fascination the plans for the Central Military Tract Railroad to connect Iowa with Chicago, cutting across Illinois prairies which would become rich farmland. He saw an opportunity to speculate in land, to turn the profits he made in Wisconsin into even greater profits. The entrepreneur did not shirk from the possibilities before him. As a result, he helped shape the fledgling village of Berrien, soon to be renamed Kewanee. Jeremiah Nelson Lay was born to Jeremia...