Jesse W. Fell
Jesse W. Fell was a Bloomington, Illinois businessman and land owner instrumental in the establishment of communities throughout Central Illinois and for the founding of Illinois State University. A close friend of Abraham Lincoln it was Fell who urged him to challenge his opponent, Stephen A. Douglas, to their famous series of debates.
Fell was born in rural southeastern Chester County, Pennsylvania, to Quaker parents of modest means. He attended local Friends schools as well as a private boys academy and briefly taught in local public schools before migrating to Ohio to study law in 1828. In 1831 Fell moved to Illinois, opening Bloomingtons first law offices and beginning his career in real estate. Fell was especially active during the Illinois land boom in the late 1830s with James Allen, Fell cofounded the town of Clinton, Illinois and worked to create DeWitt County arranging for his brother, Kersey Fell, to become the clerk responsible for organizing the new county. He established Livingston County, which he named, and backed the founders of Pontiac, Illinois, which he also named. Fell invested in lands in Bloomington, Chicago, Milwaukee, Danville, and other places in central and eastern Illinois.
Source: Wikipedia