taxes of 1824;(535) and in 1826 a great drought in North Carolina caused a marked emigration from that state.(536) In 1829 emigration was great. Some forty English families from Yorkshire came by way of Canada and settled near Jacksonville, Illinois. They brought agricultural implements and some money.(537) The _Kentucky Gazette_ lamented the fact that a large number of the best families of Lexington were removing to Illinois.(538) An Illinois newspaper reported: “The number of emigrants passing through our Town [Vandalia] this fall, is unusually great. During the last week the waggons and teams going to the north amounted to several hundred. At no previous period has our State encreased so rapidly, as it is now encreasing.”(539) Another editor estimated the annual increase in population from 1826 to 1829 at not less than 12,000(540)—a figure which was almost certainly too low. In 1830 a meeting of gentlemen from the counties of Hampshire and Hampden (Massachusetts) was held at Northampton to consider the expediency of forming a colony to remove to Illinois. After a discussion it was voted to adjourn to meet on the 10th of October at Warner’s Coffee House in Southampton. Similar meetings were held at Pawtucket and Worcester.(541) The immigration to Illinois was but part of a general westward movement. From Charleston, Virginia, we hear: “The tide of emigration through this place is rapid, and we believe, unprecedented. It is believed that not less than eight thousand individuals, since the 1st September last [written on November 6, 1829], have passed on this route. They are principally from the lower part of this state and South Carolina, bound for Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.—They jog on, careless of the varying climate, and apparently without regret for the friends and the country they leave behind, seeking forests to fell, and a new country to settle.” The editor attributes this movement to the fact that slavery had rendered white labor disreputable.(542) Three thousand persons bound for the West arrived at Buffalo in one week and six thousand per week were reported as passing through Indianapolis, bound for the Wabash country alone.(543) The great northern tide was chiefly bound to Ohio and Michigan,(544) northern Illinois not being open to settlement. Five years after Detroit received three hundred arrivals per week, Chicago had about a dozen houses, besides Fort Dearborn. This was the Chicago of 1830.(545) CHAPTER VII. SUCCESSFUL FRONTIERSMEN. The character of the men who succeed in gaining the favor of those among whom they live indicates the character of those whose favor has been gained. Preachers, land dealers, lawyers, town builders, and politicians can not thrive in a hostile community. It is worth while in studying Illinois in its frontier stage to notice some of the chief traits of its leaders.