All the realm of fictions furnishes no such dramatic, heroic and surprising legends as the actual occurrences in the life of many a pioneer of Illinois. Prominent among these is the courtship, marriage and honeymoon, midst wild forest and Indian life, of Captain William Phelps and Caroline Kelsey. They were well known and honored pioneers in Fulton County and Western Illinois, and the facts here given are known, in their salient features, to many a pioneer home. This story shall deal in facts; where there is coloring, the narrative will be weakest.