Irish immigrant Michael Yore, his wife Roseanna, and their 12 children played an important role in shaping west Lake Forest. The Yores came to the U.S. in 1827. First settling in Salina (Syracuse), New York, Michael worked at the salt works, and later on the Erie Canal. In 1840, he traveled west to look for a farm in Wisconsin. A storm forced him off Lake Michigan, north of Chicago and he came to explore the Corduroy Road.

Michael Yore purchased a 160-acre farm in Deerfield Township and brought his family out from New York. He quickly became a leader of the fledgling community, donating land adjacent to his for the first cemetery and church (called – coincidentally? – St. Michael’s). The Yore cabin served as a gathering place, hosting town meetings, boarding travelers for the night, and on Sundays entertaining both the itinerant priest and churchgoers, who came from miles away. The Yores owned some of the only horses in the area, where oxen predominated, and Michael Yore often aided his neighbors with removing stumps and other tasks.