Capt. Curtis Blakeman and the

<br><center>In memory of<br> <b>Capt. Curtis Blakeman</b><br> and the<br> <b>Marine Settlement</b><br><br> Just north of here, in 1819, a group of sea captains,<br> Blakeman, Allen, Breath, Deselherst, and Mead<br> from Connecticut, arrived and built log cabins,<br> naming the settlement Marine.<br> Captain Curtis Blakeman,<br> our great, great, great grandfather,<br> built an ox driven mill in 1823,<br> served in the Illinois state legislature as a Whig, 1822-1826.<br> He, his wife, and daughter, along with many others,<br> died in the 1833 cholera epidemic and are buried here.<br> Curtis Blakeman Jr. was also a legislature<br> 1842-1844 and 1846-1848. Charter member<br> of the Marine Masonic Lodge in 1859.<br> Captain in the Civil War.<br> Built the Cable Mill in 1866.</center>