Fairfield Township

Fairfield Township is in the northwest corner of Bureau county, and was not settled until about 1838. At that time Francis Adams and James D. Bingham made claims on sections 23 and 24. Samuel Brady settled on section 14 in 1839 and was the oldest settler when the swamp land was surveyed in 1852. In 1840 William Adams settled on section 12; in 1842 Jacob Sells, Elijah Olmstead, Daniel Davis and Lewis H. Burroughs made a beginning here. The village of Yorktown was started in 1846 on section 6; the men who were interested in the enterprise were W. and S. Dow, R.H. and S.W. Sheldon and the McKinzies. Among the first settlers were M.A. Myers, H. Hays, D. Baity, W.H. Chase, Alden Booth and Henry Thackaberry. Much of the land in this township has been reclaimed by a system of ditches and at the present time further improvements in the drainage line is being perfected. The feeder to the Hennepin canal passes through the township, entering on the northeast corner of section 2 and goes out at the sourthwest corner of section 36. Yorktown Corners has had for many years one and two stores, blacksmith shop and postoffice; the land in this vicinity is of the finest quality. The population by the census of 1900 numbered 921. The supervisors of this township have served as follows:

Jacob Sells, 1851-52

Hiram McKinzie, 1853-54

James Cain, 1855-56

George Whiting, 1857-58

Salmon Jewell, 1859

S.W. Sheldon, 1860

R. H. Sheldon, 1861-62

G. P. McKay, 1863

N.J. Hogeboom, 1864

Van S. Bastian, 1865-1872

W.W. Craddock, 1873-77

S.L. Whiting, 1878-1880

George Burden, 1881-1883

L.W. Brown, 1884-1892

J.E. Bunker, 1893-1898

William C. Dale, 1899-1906