Jesse Walker (1766 - 1835), with his wife Susannah (1757 - 1832), laid the foundation of the Methodist Church in Illinois and Missouri. Known as the Daniel Boone of Methodism, he was the first presiding elder of the district known as Illinois and later of the district known as Missouri, and was a founder of Methodism in the City of St. Louis. He was the first Methodist minister to enter the bounds of the Rock River Conference and, as superintendent of the Chicago Mission, inaugurated the first Methodist services in Chicago with the Rev. Stephen R. Beggs on June 15, 1831. At a session of the Rock River Conference held in Plainfield, Ill. A.D. 1850, his remains were borne to this place from a pioneer cemetery one mile southwest by his sons in the Gospel.