Will County ILGenWeb Biographies..... 
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File contributed for use by:
Dori Leekly & Margie Glenn

Author: History of Will County, Illinois; Chicago: Wm LeBaron Jr & Co, 186 Dearborn Street, 1878.

Eli D. SMALL, dealer in lumber and agent for the negotiation of loans, Wilmington; born in 
Noblesville, Hamilton Co., Ind., March 5, 1841, but removed to Ohio in early childhood, with 
his father's family; thence to this State in 1851, locating in Wilmington Twp., this county;
came to the city of Wilmington, his present home, in 1854; since 1862, he has been engaged 
in the lumber trade and boating, in connection with other business; in 1867, he engaged in 
mercantile business, under the firm name of SMALL Bros., which continued till January, 1872, 
when he disposed of his interest in the store, and engaged in the lumber business on a more 
extensive scale, under the firm name of E. D. SMALL & Co.; they own propeller Mohawk Belle, 
and ship all lumber by way of canal and river to their lumber yards at this place - Horse 
Creek and Hanford's Landing, the one at Horse Creek opened in 1875, and the latter in 1878. 
Several experiments have been made by different parties, and, up to 1866, over $260,000 had 
been expended on the Illinois Michigan Canal and Illinois River in devising ways and means 
by which steam could be made a cheaper means of transportation on the canals than horse-power; 
great credit is due Mr. SMALL, owner of the Mohawk Belle, and N. Rullison, owner of the Whale, 
for their persistency and final success in this undertaking. In June, 1871, he was married to 
Miss Kate W., youngest daughter of I. B. MCGINNES, of Gardner, IL; she was born, in New 
Brunswick, N. J.; two children by this union - Charles D. and Howard McG.