Scope and Contents:
This collection contains a notebook and notes used by Charles J. Tinkham of Homer, Illinois, a surveyor, civil engineer, and businessman. The notebook, evidently compiled in 1856 or 1857, and entitled Field Notes of the Original Surveys of Champaign County, Illinois, contains 102 pages of plats and 40 pages of "timber notes," covering all of Champaign and most of Vermilion Counties. (The notebook is essentially an abridged copy of the original U. S. General Land Office surveys of Champaign County which were made between 1812 and 1823.) Also in the collection are two loose pages containing plats and notes, and a tax receipt for a payment made to the Champaign County Treasurer's Office by M. D. Coffeen, Tinkham's father-in-law.
Tinkham attended West Point, came to Homer in 1850, and served in the 26th Ill. Vol. Inf. His grandson, James Tinkham Babb, gave the collection to the Library in 1950.