John Larson Sr.
John Larson, father of John H. Larson, came from Norway in the early 1840’s. He arrived in New York, later he walked to Ottawa, IL. He carried a copper cow bell he had made in Norway.
He married, and lived in a one room house with seventeen other people. About 1844, he built a small log cabin near Leland. His son John H. married Sarah Ann Stevenson. They had four sons and two daughters: John, Edward, Frank, Albert, Nellie and Emma.
Nellie, the only living survivor, now has possession of the cow bell.
Source: Lee Centennial Book