Indiana, says that fugitives "commenced coming in 1820," and he denominated himself "an agent since 1820," although he "never kept a depot till 1852."[103] It is scarcely necessary to make a showing of testimony to prove that an expansion of routes like that taking place in Ohio and states farther east occurred also in Indiana. [101] Stephen B. Weeks, _Southern Quakers and Slavery_, p. 242. [102] _Reminiscences of Levi Coffin_, 2d ed., pp. 20, 21. [103] Letter from John F. Williams, Economy, Ind., March 21, 1893. When this letter was written, Mr. Williams was eighty-one years old. He was, he says, born in 1812. In 1820 he would have been eight years old. Children were sometimes sent to carry food to refugees in hiding, or to do other little services with which they could be safely trusted. Such experiences were apt to make deep impressions on their young memories. It is doubtful at what time stations first came to exist in Illinois. Mr. H. B. Leeper, an old resident of that state, assigns their origin to the years 1819 and 1820, at which time a small colony of anti-slavery people from Brown County, Ohio, settled in Bond County, southern Illinois. Emigrations from this locality to Putnam County, about 1830, led, he thinks, to the establishment there of a new centre for this work. These settlers were persons that had left South Carolina on account of slavery, and during their residence in Brown County, Ohio, had accepted the abolitionist views of the Rev. James Gilliland, a Presbyterian preacher of Red Oak; and in Illinois they did not shrink from putting their principles into practice. This account is plausible, and as it is substantiated in certain parts by facts from the history of Brown County, Ohio, it may be considered probable in those parts that are and must remain without corroboration. Concerning his father Mr. Leeper writes: "John Leeper moved from Marshall County, Tennessee, to Bond County, Illinois, in 1816. Was a hater of slavery.... Remained in Bond County until 1823, then moved to Jacksonville, Morgan County, and in 1831 to Putnam County, and in 1833 to Bureau County, Illinois.... My father's house was always a hiding-place for the fugitive from slavery."[104] On the basis of this testimony, and the probability in the case, we may believe that the underground movement in Illinois dates back, at least, to the time of the admission of Illinois into the Union, that is, to 1818. Soon after 1835, the movement seems to have become well established, and to have increased in importance with considerable rapidity till the War. [104] Letter from H. B. Leeper, Princeton, Ill., received Dec. 19, 1895. Mr. Leeper is seventy-five years of age. His letter shows a knowledge of the localities of which he writes, Bond County in southwestern Illinois, and Bureau and Putnam Counties in the central part of the state.