Taming the “Swamp Monster” in Dora

•October 28, 2026•

by Janet Roney

“You are doing a great job, Roger!”  Those were Paul Tueth’s frequent encouraging words during my husband’s visits with him in Paul’s shady front yard across the road from the “Tueth eighty” up in Dora Township. He not only encouraged Roger, who was fairly new at this farming business back in the sixties, but Paul shared stories about the folks of “Little Ireland” with him.  

One story was about his father who used to tell Paul, “If you are ever going to do anything in this world, you better do it while you are livin!” Dora’s pioneer dirt farmers who lie at peace in the church yard at St. Isadore Catholic Church must have followed that sage advice, for the prairie they first tilled continues to be among the best, most productive land in Moultrie County. This amazing productivity began to reveal itself when Edward Bresnan showed up in Dora Township from Ireland in 1858.

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