Person:Seth Gard (2)

Seth GARD was 13 when he arrived in the Cincinnati area with his parents, Gershom and Phebe Ruth Huntington GARD. They were among the first to open up the Northwest Territory and settle land granted by the government to the Minuteman who served in the Revolutionary War. There were three settlements in the area and the GARDs lived in North Bend where Seth settled his father's estate (Gershom-1790) in the northern part of Hamilton County, Ohio

Seth served in the War of 1812, married and had a family, and moved to Wabash County, Illinois in 1814.

Seth GARD settled on a farm in the Lick Prairie area, still sometimes called Gard's Point. He immediately became prominent in the area and was elected to the Territorial Legislature and later servced as one of the first county judges.

According to "History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties": Judge Gard was a man of great force of character, and endowed with more than ordinary ability and cool judgment.

He possessed a quite vein of humor, a keen sense of the ridiculous, and a thorough conviction of right and justice.

In fact, Jacobs points out, he had twin sons named "Justus and Resin."

In 1815 "Seth Gard and Company" donated 20 acres to found Palmyra on the bend of the Wabash River north of Mt. Carmel. Palmyra went on to have a population of about 1,000 and administer a mammouth county named after the first governor of Illinois Territory, Ninian Edwards.

Judge Gard died on his farm in 1845 and is buried at Gard's Point Cemetery.

He had 10 children and many of his descendants remain in Wabash County, Illinois.