WHERE is Middletown?

"Fifth day 24th [Thursday, October 24, 1867] Came 12 miles to Middletown on the Sangomon & fed. Jane still very unwell. Cold raw air, cloudy. Our bread gone. Bought some in town--a dime for a small loaf. 15 cts a lb for crackers. Came through Champaign & what used to be called Western Urbana, a very large flourishing place. Eastern Urbana has improved less. Came 3/4 of a mile and camped in a nice grove in company with our Owen County movers. They will leave us tomorrow morning & turn south for Paris & cross the Wabash at Terre Haute. We shall feel lonely to camp alone again."

Looking at our map, we saw LeRoy where we had been, we saw the Sangamon River, and we saw Champaign. But WHERE was Middletown? We came to a small place called Mahomet on the Sangamon River and stopped for lunch in a corner deli. Driving around, we came upon this old cemetery in the center of town. So we had found Middletown after all! Further research showed that the town's name was changed to Mahomet in 1871 (after Ann & Henry traveled through) because of another Middletown in Illinois, and it was causing problems with the U.S. mail. Some of the headstones were placed before 1867, so perhaps Ann & Henry saw these same markers as their wagon passed this way.

Like Bloomington/Normal, we found that Champaign/Urbana sort of all ran together. It is home to the University of Illinois. Just
east of town, we came upon a present-day Quaker Meetinghouse.
I think Grandmother Ann would have been pleased.