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Pioneers of Marion County K Thomas Kirton was
born in Yorkshire, England, came to Canada, where he resided five years,
from thence to Illinois, and from thence to Clay township, in this county,
in '43, and from thence to this township in the spring of '48. He purchased
a claim where he now lives in the north part of the township, of an
individual named Geo. Leach, an adventurer of some notoriety in this
part of the country at that time, and suspected of being a horse-thief.
After selling to Mr. Kirton, Leach moved his residence to Franklin township,
near where John Clark now lives, where he passed the winter of '48 and
'49, making it rather his temporary home. Once during this winter, being
at Pleasantville he set out for home across an uninhabited prairie,
the snow being nearly three feet deep on the level, and blown into drifts
of much greater depth, and unbroken trail, this adventurer came very
near ending his career. After struggling through the trackless waste
till within about two miles of distination, he became so exhausted that
further progress seemed impossible, and it occurred to him that he must
perish. In view of his impending fate he cut a small stick, flattened
it, wrote his name thereon, and stuck it up in the snow, in order that
his remains, if ever found, might be identified, and then laid himself
down to die. But here the horrible idea of leaving his carcass to be
possibly found by some fellow being, but more probably to be devoured
and scattered by wolves, came upon him with such force that it roused
him to a determination to make another effort for his life. This he
did, and by such efforts as only the fear of death can nerve a sufferer
to make, he reached his home alive. |