26. Edward Burrall, Jr. Grave
26. Edward Burrall, Jr. came to Illinois from Connecticut to repair his faltering health. He had been born and educated in the East, but felt he needed some prairie life to counteract time spent at school and in his first job with an eastern banking house. His father owned land in Millersburg, Mercer County, where he built a farm house and settled in. In 1843 he was married to his wife, Ann. Following a brief time spent in the California gold rush, Mr. Burrall returned here with $4,000 to invest in a country store in Edgington as well as a mercantile business in Rock Island. He was later President of The Rock Island-Moline Quilt Company, and a stockholder in the Glass Company, to mention just a few of his affiliations.
He was also a director and stockholder in The Rock Island Stove Company, and served the public library, the Rock Island school board, and the athletic club on their boards of directors. Mr. Burrall was also vice president of The Rock Island National Bank. When he died in 1877, Mr. Burrall had previously chosen his own monument, a 30-ton boulder which he had seen beside the road west of Davenport. It was moved, probably across the frozen Mississippi, to Rock Island, by a crew of about 60 men on horseback. However, historians are not entirely clear about how it finally arrived at Chippiannock.
