Source: Thomas Fetters' Family History of the Louthan family

John Louthan was born on December 2, 1790, the first of nine children to Henry Louthan & Mary Henderson. He married when he was 28 to Margaret Carter in 1818 and attempted farming to support his wife. Things worked against him and he soon found himself deeply in debt.

An indenture dated December 23, 1820 listed debts of almost $2000 mostly owed to John Kerfoot, his cousin. He had acted as surety for a bond of his brother, James, for $250, which was paid by John Kerfoot but was to be repaid by John Louthan. He also owed rent of $65 which was backed by all his possessions including cups and saucers, cradle, his watch, hiscrops and a Negro boy named Henry.

Four years later, on February 23, 1825, John's debts were recorded against $1450 with bonds of 200 dollars due on the first of the year from 1823to 1828. He again listed his livestock, crops, and furniture as collateral.

An indenture dated August 4, 1834 was filed which listed nine or more men or farms that John owed various sums of cash. The debt had reached $1710.06 with additional interest of $72.11 bringing the sum to 1782.17. To settle this claim, John sold "One Negro man, Henry, aged twenty years; 10 head of horses, one two year old colt, two suckling colts, 11 head of cattle, five yearling calves, 37 head of sheep, 50 head of hogs, one road wagon, one old wagon, 2 pair sheat cranes, one cart, 9 sett of geese, three McCormick Barsheur ploughs, 8 shovel plows, 2 harness, pitchforks, 1 corner cupboard and contents, 2 dining tables, 2 stands, 2 pinetables 1 thirty hour clock, 1 shotgun, 2 pair of andirons, 10 Windsorchairs, 2 looking glasses, and all the rest and remains of the household and kitchen furniture, and all the wheat, rye, rye and oats now in stock on the farm and the present crop of corn now growing.

From the evidence at hand, it seems that John's property was sold to satisfy the debts and that the family of eleven children moved westward to Ohio to join his brothers who had left earlier. Arriving in Miami Valley in 1835, John apparently decided to keep moving west and he proceeded to Edgar County in Illinois where they farmed for eight years. They then moved to nearby Coles County where he established a new farm on 300 acres which he claimed from the prairie. The land was remarkably flat and required drainage tiles and ditches to make farming practical. John's address was Hermitage, Coles County, Illinois for the remainder of his life.

"The Hermitage" had been built as a coach stop and inn on the Springfield Road which ran from Terre Haute, Indiana and Springfield, Illinois. It later became a post office known locally as "The Hermitage" and the last proprietors were John and Sarah Louthan.

John Louthan's wife, Margaret, died in 1844. Two years later, in 1846, John married Sarah Haines on October 22 in Coles County, Illinois. This section of Coles County was later to become Douglas County. The couple lived in Lower Okaw Precinct, Coles County with the younger children of the earlier marriage. Ten years later, the couple stayed on the farm, but the children moved away. (Okaw, Indian name, became Arcola)

John and Sarah were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and John had been a Justice of the Peace for a number of years. He died in 1865 and Sarah passed away the following year.

*The marriage license of October 22, 1846 lists Sarah Harris in error.

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