Excerpt from The Voters and Tax-Payers of Bureau County, Illinois: Containing, Also, a Biographical Directory of Its Tax-Payers and Voters; A History of the County and State; Map of the County

But few can realize the task involved in the publication of a work of this kind. We have to contend against ignorance, prejudice and selfishness. Ignorance of some people as to our objects, many refusing to give their names, for fear they will be used for some swindling purpose; or their politics, lest it be used to their discredit;-or how much property they own, fearing it is to increase their taxes. Prejudice of people who have subscribed through agentsfor publications, and, not having received what they expected, have forever' thereafter sworn war fare against all agents, without discriminating, or taking into consideration the absolute necessity of employing men under certain circumstances as the media between publisher and people. Selfishness by citizens who expect to have pub lished, gratuitously, every thing they see fit to send us, which usually is of a per sonal nature, or not relevant matter, and if published would be of no general interest, therefore we deem best to suppress it, thereby receiving their outspoken enmity. For this work we do not claim perfection; that would be an impossi bility. Most townships have been gone over thoroughly, but still there are undoubtedly errors, mostly in spelling names and in dates. We have several cases in bureau'count'y where members of the same family spell their names in different ways, and a number of cases where the dates of births, of marriages, or when they came into the county, were improbable, and when brought to their notice, they had made a mistake generally of ten years in calculation. We give our agents the most positive instructions to be especially careful in getting names and dates, but ofttimes men are indifferent in giving required information, and when met on the road, at the threshing machine, or in the rain or cold, the information is given hurriedly or carelessly, and our agents are obliged to put it down as given them, and when copied, mistakes necessarily occur.

We have endeavored to get the names of all tax-payers and voters. We have about names, the vote being about which shows we could not have missed many. In our History of the County we have endeavored to give an interesting, condensed, and correct sketch. Our History of Illinois will give the reader some interesting and valuable historical facts. Our Laws should be carefully read by every ibusiness man and farmer; they contain invaluable jnformation. In fact we have toiled long and at great expense, and have far exceeded our promises to make everything in these pages interesting and valu able, and all you could expect or wish, and in your criticisms, please to bear in mind that in gathering, compiling and publishing a volume of this kind, perfec tion would be an impossibility.

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