of that year after the war ended. In the fall of 1832 Charles Brooks and John Wright arrived from Indiana. On July 1, 1833, Charles Brooks and his wife had a son named Charles A. Brooks, who was the first child of any settler born in the township. In 1833 the settlement was increased by the arrival of Isaac Burgit, M. B. Miller and Platt Thorn from New York state and Elijah Thompson and family from Indiana. Thompson settled on what, after the lands were surveyed, turned out to be a section set aside for a school. He sold out his improvements and moved on to Kankakee. His daughter, Ann, was married September 1833 to Harvey Rounsaville. William McDowell, who had been elected justice of the peace a few weeks prior, performed the ceremony. This was the first marriage in Avoca Township. The first sermon preached in the township was at the McDowell cabin in the spring of 1833 by Rev. James Eckels. The first school was taught by Samuel Breese in the fall of 1835. The schoolhouse was a cabin, 16 x 18 feet, with a large wood fireplace. The building was paid for by Mrs. Sarah McDowell (her husband William had died in 1834), Nathan Popejoy and James Blake. David Terhune and Harrison Fletcher arrived in the township in 1834. Fletcher was the first blacksmith and opened a shop on his claim late in the winter of that year. Other early settlers in the late 1830s included George Johnson, Nathan Popejoy, James Blake and Isaac Wilson. In 1840 Joseph C. Morrison, Asa DeMoss and James DeMoss arrived with their families. James DeMoss was a carpenter who helped erect the first mill in the nearby town of Pontiac and assisted in building the first county courthouse. The first post office was established in 1840 and was named Avoca. Nicholas Hefner was the first postmaster. The office was where the village of Avoca was afterward located and was on the mail route between Ottawa and Danville. The office was discontinued in 1864. In 1850 Dr. C. B. Ostrander and his wife arrived from Chicago. They settled on a farm near Lodemia. Until the early 1860s he was the only physician in the area, his practice extended to the east and southern portions of Livingston County. During the 1850s the township was rapidly settled, with most locating in the timber along