USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume I > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
During the year 1910 there was a total of 4,322 persons employed at the mines. During the same period there were sixteen fatal acci- dents and eighty-four non-fatal which lost thirty days' time in work. There are three shipping mines located near Collinsville, viz : Lumaghi Coal Company, mines 2 and 3, and the Independent Coal Company. There is one mine at Troy, the Brookside Coal Company These mines are on the Vandalia road. There are three mines on the St. Louis, Troy & Eastern Railroad, viz: No. I, two miles north of Collinsville ; No. 2, at Maryville; No. 3, at Troy. These mines are owned by the Donk Brothers Coal Company of St. Louis. There
202
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
are two mines at Glen Carbon, Nos. 2 and 4 on by fire on the surface or machinery breaking the Illinois Central, owned by the Madison Coal corporation of St. Louis. There are three mines on the Litchfield & Madison road: No. I, near Staunton; No. 2, at Williamson, and No. 3, at Edwardsville. There are two mines on the Wabash road-one the Decamp mine, near Staunton, and the Kerns-Donnewald mine at Worden. One mine on the Chicago & Eastern, located at Livingston and owned by the New Staunton Coal Company of St. Louis, and one at Edwardsville on the T., St. L. & W., making sixteen shipping mines. Two local mines at Collinsville, one the Abbey Coal Com- pany, the other the Bullock Brothers. One at Edwardsville, Home Trade Coal Company. One at Troy, the Troy Co-Operative Coal Company. Three at Bethalto, operated by Perry Meyers, James Hill and Ernest Rink, respectively. One at New Douglas, the Big Mound Coal Company. One at Moro, George Kabel, operator. One at Prairietown, Thomas Schuler, operator. One at Carpenter, W. H. Backs, operator. Two at North Alton, oper- ated by Peter Syddal and Benjamin Eccles, respectively.
WORKING AND SAFEGUARDING THE MINES
The coal seams of Madison county run from the outcrop on the river bluffs to a depth of 400 feet in the east part of the county. Two- thirds of the coal of the county is mined by machines, and in two-thirds of the shipping mines the haulage under ground is done by electric motors. Mules gather the loaded cars from the working face to stations, where the cars are made up in trains and hauled to the hoisting shaft. Large and powerful machin- ery is used for hoisting. The greater part of the large mines are lighted by electricity. All mines have two shafts, one for hoisting the coal and for lowering and hoisting the em- ployes in and out of the mine. The other shaft is used for ventilation, with suitable stairway for employes to come out in case of accident
down. A large number of the larger mines have all outbuildings made as near fireproof as possible. [The new law, which went into effect July 1, 1911, requires all shafts, build- ings on surface and for a distance of three hundred feet from shaft underground, to be made fire-proof, with elevated tanks, pipes and hose to protect both bottom and top of all mines for a distance, also of three hundred feet.] Where machines are used one hundred tons of coal are mined by use of one keg of powder. In hand mines twenty-five tons are gotten out for each keg of powder burned. Some of the large mines have upwards of forty mules each, with two electric motors, and having an output of from 3,500 to 4,000 tons in eight hours. Madison county mines are very good and safe; that is, the larger mines. Engines, boilers and buildings are modern and nearly fire-proof. The under- ground works are kept in good and safe condi- tion. Sixty per cent of the accidents are caused by falling coal and slate, as the seam is very high in some of the mines. There is coal enough in Madison county to last hundreds of years. It is this cheap fuel that has built up St. Louis and East St. Louis.
SOME COAL MINING STATISTICS (1870-1911)
Since the above was written the editor has received from Hon. David Ross, secretary of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fol- lowing statistical report of the coal mining in- dustry of Madison county : For the coal min- ing industry for Madison county the follow- ing condensed figures are given, being the averages for each year for the past thirty years : Average number of mines, 28; aver- age number of men, 1,945 ; average number of tons, 1,603,900; average value of product, $1,396,917.
The first report of the coal industry made to the bureau was for the year 1882 by E. J. Molloy, inspector of mines for Madison
203
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
county. It is also found from an earlier re- port that the output of coal for the county for the year 1870 was 116,724 tons and for 1880, 239,725 tons.
The following is a detailed statement of the coal mining industry of Madison county for thirty years, taken from the annual coal re- ports of the bureau :
Year
Mines Men
Tons
Aggregate Value
1894
2I
97
889,768
640,633
1895
23
1,04I
978,161
655,358
1896
24
1,243
1,080,718
707,799
1897
26
976
780,921
445,478
1898
23
1,026
630,769
427,518
1899
26
1,295
1,403,977
883,845
1900
26
1,561
1,441,650
1,068,434
190 I
30
2,015
1,595,081
1,252,147
I902
28
2,49I
1,956,27I
1,546,800
1882
26
1,165
578,000
$ 861,220
1903
31
2,915
2,551,587
2,087,359
1883
27
295
767,200
1,020,426
1904
35
3,412
3,030,892
2,749,096
1884
29
833
560,636
591,47I
1905
38
3,815
2,987,906
2,625,996
1885
28
889
601,816
503,118
1906
36
3,95I
3,021,553
2,820,202
1886
29
1,127
604,214
532,917
1907
34
3,979
3,573,163
3,236,414
1887
29
807
521,705
418,407
1908
32
4,034
3,584,106
3,226,636
1888
26
828
512,948
450,882
1909
3I
4,109
3,287,418
2,880,574
1889
23
1,015
490, 18I
441,653
1910
29
4,322
3,719,155
3,345,716
1890
23
783
646,228
574,497
I9II
27
4,238
3,766,002
3,968,784
1891
27
835
719,308
539,481
1892
22
890
873,770
664,065
Totals
48, 116,998
$41,907,510
1893
22
972
951,894
140,574
Averages 28 1,945
1,603,900
1,396,917
Year
Mines Men
Tons
Aggregate Value
CHAPTER XXV
HON JOSEPH CONWAY
AN EARLY MADISON COUNTY LEGISLATOR WHO OVERTURNED THE STATE JUDICIAL SYSTEM TO GET EVEN WITH A CIRCUIT JUDGE.
By Hon. Wm. A. Meese
Joseph Conway was born in Kentucky and emigrated to Illinois territory, settling in Ran- dolph county in the early part of 1811. At this time the Indians were very hostile and committed many murders of the whites in this territory. The people realizing their dan- ger began making preparations for defense. Stockades were built in various sections of the southern part of the state, the then only inhabited portion of the territory, and several companies of "rangers" or mounted riflemen were raised. One of these companies was formed in Randolph county and while but a few of the muster rolls of these Ranger com- panies have been preserved, a payroll of mili- tia from July 4, to July 29, 1811, of Captain William Alexander's company, has been found which shows the name of Joseph Con- way enrolled as one of the company. How long he remained in the service is not known, but it is known that after his service in Alex- ander's company he continued for some time in the contractors' (now sutlers') depart- ment of the state militia on the frontier. Cap- tain Alexander afterwards, from October 27, to December, 1814, was adjutant general of territorial militia. In 1812 Conway came to Kaskaskia, the then capital of the state, where he was admitted to the bar and where he com- menced the practice of the law.
In 1814 we find that he had settled in Mad-
ison county, where on June II, 1814, he and Abraham Pickett, afterwards a member of the general assembly, were appointed a com- mittee "to superintend the construction of the judge's bench and other benches necessary for the courthouse." At the September term, 1815, he was appointed clerk of the court of common pleas for Madison county.
During the Third session of the territorial legislature, December 2, 1816, to January 14, 1817, Conway was clerk of the council (sen- ate). In December, 1817, Judge Jesse B. Thomas appointed him clerk of the circuit court of Madison county. That he was a good politician we must admit, for we find that at the time he was appointed circuit clerk by Judge Thomas, he still held the position of clerk to the territorial council, serving there from December 1, 1817, to January 12, 1818.
Although Conway belonged to the anti- slavery party, we find from the records of Madison county that on February 8, 1818, "Jarret, boy fifteen years, bound himself to Joseph Conway for thirty years."
Under our territorial laws and for some years after the adoption of our state constitu- tion (December 3, 1818), the indenturing of slaves was practiced. What became of Con- way's indentured boy Jarret, cannot be learned.
Conway held the office of clerk of the cir- cuit court until April 13, 1819, when he was
204
205
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
appointed by Judge John Reynolds clerk of the county commissioners court.
The legislature at its session in 1825 re- organized the judiciary by creating five cir- cuit judges who were to hold all the circuit courts in the state, while the supreme court, composed of four judges, was to be held twice a year at the capital. Previous to this the supreme judges were obliged to attend the circuits. Of these circuit judges elected, Sam- uel McRoberts was an advocate of slavery and at the election in 1822 had been one of the leaders of that party. He was also a political opponent of Conway's and at a term of the Madison county circuit court over which Judge McRoberts presided, the latter on a technicality refused to allow Conway to testify on behalf of his friend, Governor Coles, who was on trial for manumitting his slaves without giving bonds as required by law.
The March term of 1825, of the circuit court of Madison county, was to appoint the clerks, and as Judge McRoberts held that they also had the power to remove them, one of his first judicial acts was to remove Conway and appoint Emanuel J. West, his political friend. Conway was well known and very popular and in 1825 was elected a state sena- tor from Madison county.
The change in the judiciary had not proven a very popular move, and at the session of the legislature in 1826-7, a great outcry was raised against the extravagance of the judiciary sys- tem. Conway brought his grievance against McRoberts to bear against the entire judicial system, and thus one of the circuit judges was to be punished for proscription. A writer of that day in speaking of this matter said: "A talented young lawyer of stirring elo- quence in the southern part of the state, a man possessing many qualities which admir- ably fitted him for a demagogue of the high- est order, mounted the hobby and rode it in a storm of passion through several counties in the south." The legislature "repealed the
circuit system, turned four of the circuit judges out of office (including McRoberts) and required the judges of the supreme court to hold circuit courts. The chief reasons for the repeal of the system were its cost and the proscription of a popular clerk."
At this session of the legislature many im- portant matters were acted upon, chief among which was the general act of incorporation. The subject of railroad building was for the first time brought up, and several charters were granted. It was during this session that Theophilus W. Smith, one of the supreme judges was up for impeachment, which, how- ever, failed. This I believe was the first and only impeachment trial in this state. This session also first enacted a mechanic's lien law.
The state was now divided into five cir- cuits, one of the supreme judges being as- signed to each of the four, to hold two terms of court in each county yearly. One of the circuit judges, the Hon. R. M. Young, was retained on a circuit in the Military district. But one yearly term of the supreme court was provided.
Conway was first elected to the second ses- sion of the Fourth general assembly in 1825, as state senator from Madison county to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Theo- philus W. Smith, and was reelected in 1826 to the Fifth assembly without opposition. He was again reelected in 1830. He resigned in 1833 after the close of the Eighth assembly, after a service of over seven years. Know- ing Rock Island county was to be organized, he came up the river to Farnhamsburg (now Rock Island). Judge Richard M. Young, who had not been legislated out of office and who was Conway's friend, was to hold the first court in Rock Island county.
Prior to 1833 Rock Island county was in- cluded in the jurisdiction of Jo Daviess county. During 1833 the Legislature of Illi- nois passed an act declaring that all the terri- tory embraced within the following boundaries,
206
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
to-wit: Beginning in the middle of the chan- nel of the Mississippi river, on the north line of township 15 north, and west of the fourth principal meridian ; thence running eastwardly on said line to the fourth principal meridian ; thence north to the middle of the channel of Rock river; thence up the middle of said channel to the Maroas d'Ogee slough ; thence along the middle of said slough to the middle of the channel of the Mississippi river ; thence down along the middle of said channel to the place of beginning-should be formed into a county to be known as Rock Island county.
The voters of this county for the first time met, pursuant to notice, at the house of one John Barrell in Farnhamsburg on Monday, July 5, 1833. They organized by selecting Joseph Danforth, Joel Wells, Sr., and Wil- liam H. Simons, judges; and Joseph Conway and W. Thompson, clerks. The total num- ber of votes cast was sixty-five and resulted in the election of the following: County com- missioners, George W. Harhan, John W. Spencer and Col. George W. Davenport; sheriff, Benjamin F. Pike; coroner, Levi
Wells; justices of the peace, George W. Har- lan, J. B. Patterson and Joel Wells; con- stables, George V. Miller, Huntington Wells and Edward Corbin.
On July 8th, the County Commissioners met at the house of John Barrell and organized by selecting Joseph Conway, clerk. Joseph Wells was selected as treasurer and assessor. Elections and courts were ordered to be held at the "House of John Barrell."
Joseph Conway acted as county clerk from 1833 to 1843, and circuit clerk from 1834 to 1847. The records of our county shed but little light on the history of our first clerk.
In 1834 he was appointed postmaster at Farnhamsburg. Previous to this time George Davenport had been postmaster and the office was located at his trading store at Rock Island. At this time the office was not a lucrative one, the Blue Book for 1833 stating that Daven- port's annual compensation for that year was $79.96.
In the early fifties, Conway left Rock Island and went south, and nothing further was heard of him.
CHAPTER XXVI
SLAVERY AND SLAVE HOLDERS
INDENTURED SLAVES-SLAVE HOLDERS IN MADISON COUNTY IN 1814-VALUE OF SLAVES AND HORSES IN 1820.
Reference has been made heretofore to the existence of a form of slavery in Illinois, sur- viving from the year 1717, when the Sieur Renault brought 500 slaves from San Do- mingo to the Illinois and Louisiana country to work the mines of precious metals sup- posed to exist but which, in reality, consisted only of the lead mines in Missouri. When he left the country, in disgust, several years later, he sold his slaves to the French resi- dents of Cahokia and Kaskaskia. When the country east of the Mississippi was ceded to England in 1763, the right to hold slaves was conceded by the English to the inhabitants under the interpretation that slaves were prop- erty, or, at least, the treaty was so interpreted by the slave holders, and thus slavery was perpetuated in the territory.
When the Northwest territory was ceded by Virginia to the national government it was provided by Congress, in the ordinance of 1787, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude "shall exist in said territory except in punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." But again this provision was nullified as to slaves already in bondage by a ruling of the courts that it (the ordinance) was prospective and not retro- active.
INDENTURED SLAVES
But in 1807 the legislature of Indiana, which then included Illinois, passed an act
which effected a modified form of slavery. It provided that negroes could be introduced into the territory and held as "indentured slaves." On the separation of Illinois from Indiana, in 1809, the Indiana code was adopted for the new territory, and thus southerners moving into Illinois were still enabled to hold the slaves they brought with them by having them indentured for a term of years by agree- ment with such slaves. Of such agreements the following from the Record of Indentures of Madison county is a sample :
Be it remembered that this day, to-wit the 15th of March in the year of our Lord 1815, personally ap- peared before me, Josias Randle, Clerk of the County Court of Madison county in the Territory of Illinois, Jack Bonaparte, a man of color, and Joshua Vaughn, both of the county of Mad- ison, and the said Jack now being the property of said Joshua, and for other considerations, doth hereby agree and freely oblige himself to serve the said Joshua Vaughn, his heirs and assigns, ninety years, as a good and faithful servant, and the said Joshua Vaughn obliges himself, as long as said Jack con- tinues with him, to furnish the said Jack with good and wholesome food, necessary clothing and all other necessaries suitable for a servant. In testimony thereof both parties have hereby agreed to the fore- going bargain in my office the day and year afore- said.
JOSIAS RANDLE, County Clerk of Madison county. Entered 1815. Term of service 90. Jack Bona- parte will be free 1905.
Test.
FIELDING BRADSHAW.
207
208
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
SLAVE HOLDERS IN MADISON COUNTY IN 1814
It is probable that as the territory compris- ing this county was not settled by Americans until 1802, there were never many of the old, so-called, "French slaves" in the county. The slaves were mainly of the indentured class, brought into the county by emigrants from the south and subsequently indentured. But that they were classed as property and as- sessed as such is shown by the following rec- ord from the assessor's books of 1814: Ann Bradshaw, 2; Thomas Good, I; John Jarvis, I; Thomas Kirkpatrick, I ; Robert Renolds, I ; John Robertson, 2; William Rabb, 2; Jesse Stanker, 2; James Shelton, I; Joseway Vaughn, I; Joel Whiteside, I; William Whiteside, 2. In 1814 the tax on bond serv- ants or slaves was one dollar per head. The tax on horses was fifty cents per head. The total number of taxpayers in 1814 was 173.
VALUE OF SLAVES AND HORSES IN 1820
Names of Holders
No. of Slaves
Value
No. of Horses
Value
William Archer
I
$300
I
$ 75
Henry Cook
I
400
5
295
Micajah Cox
I
500
5
30
Ninian Edwards
3
1,500
4 300
Isom Gillham
I
700
4
300
Elizabeth Gingles
I
100
2
75
James Gray
5
850
Jacob Gillham
I
400
4 300
Henry Hayes
I
500
5 350
William Hosey
I
400
8 400
John Harris
I
300
I 80
Wm. H. Hopkins
I
500
2
180
Sam Jackson
I
400
I 25
Jacob Judy .2
500
7
300
Jepth. Lumpkins .2
450
7
780
James Mason
.2
500
4
200
No. of Slaves
Value
Horses
Value
Jacob Lurton
3
400
2
100
Robert Pogue
.2
650
I
50
Joshua Patterson
I
100
2
150
Alsey Pulum ( ?)
.3
700
2
100
James Renolds
.I
300
3 150
Thomas Renolds
3
600
3 150
Benj. Stephenson
8
1,500
Willie Scott
I
600
4 200
James Shelton
I
500
I
75
John Todd .2
500
2
200
Clayton Tiffen
.I
300
I
75
Sarah Vaughn
I
300
I 50
Emanuel West
.I
450
I
50
.
In 1820 the tax rate on personal property was five mills on the dollar; negroes and horses were taxed according to value and not per head, as in 1814. The number of tax pay- ers in 1820 was about 1,200. (The foregoing data were taken from the tax list of Madison county, in the county clerk's office, for the years 1814 and 1820.)
This condition of servitude of both inden- tured servants and the descendants of "French slaves" continued until 1845 when the supreme court of the state declared them free. It was against these and other barbarous black laws that Governor Coles fulminated in his first message to the legislature in 1822 which pre- cipitated the great anti-slavery struggle of 1824, when the attempt was made to fasten slavery upon the state in the same form as it existed in the south. In that famous cam- paign, as stated in a previous chapter, Madi- son county cast 563 votes for freedom and 35I for the proposed slave amendment to the con- stitution thus repudiating the institution.
No. of
Names cf Holders
John Robinson
.2 300
CHAPTER XXVII
"AFFAIRS OF HONOR"
CAUSE OF SHIELDS-LINCOLN DUEL, THE "REBECCA ARTICLE"-MATTER SATISFACTORILY SET- TLED-TWO OTHER DUELS "FALL THROUGH"-ANOTHER MADISON COUNTY "AFFAIR OF HONOR."
The celebrated "Lincoln-Shields duel" of 1842, of which much has been written and which caused great excitement at the time in Alton and in which two of her citizens bore the part of peace makers, deserves mention in the annals of Madison county. In the summer of 1842, at about the worst period of the hard times when the state banking system had col- lapsed and the people were unable to pay their taxes, the collectors being instructed by the state officials to receive nothing but specie in payment of taxes and the citizens having noth- ing wherewith to pay except the depreciated script of the banks, were in much distress. Thereupon the officers of the state suspended the collection of taxes of 1842, which action was held to be beyond their province.
CAUSE, THE "REBECCA ARTICLE"
James Shields was then auditor of the state, and his ruling in first ordering the collection of taxes in specie and then suspending the col- lection altogether was severely criticised by Mr. Lincoln in an article dated "Lost town- ship," signed "Rebecca," and published in the Sangamon Journal of September 2, 1842. It was written in jesting style but gave Shields great offense, as it held him up to ridicule. The mercurial blood of the Milesian gentle- man rose to the top of the tube. He de- manded of the editor of the Journal the name of the author of the "Rebecca letter" and was Vol. I-14
given that of Mr. Lincoln. That gentleman was then at Tremont in Tazewell county, and thither Shields repaired accompanied by his friend, Gen. John B. Whiteside. Arriving at Tremont he immediately sent a note to Mr. Lincoln demanding an apology. Mr. Lincoln replied to the note, refusing to make any ex- planation on account of the menacing charac- ter of Shields' demand. Other correspond- ence followed, culminating in a note from Shields naming General Whiteside as his friend, to which Mr. Lincoln replied, naming a Dr. E. H. Merriman as his friend. These two "friends" now secretly pledged their honor to each other to agree upon some amicable terms of settlement and compel their princi- pals to accept them, and to procrastinate the matter adjourned further proceedings to Springfield.
Arriving at Springfield Monday night, Sep- tember 19th, Lincoln left early the next morn- ing for Jacksonville, to escape arrest, dueling being against the state law. He was accom- panied by William Butler, leaving instructions with his second, Dr. Merriman, in which he avowed the authorship of the "Lost Town- ship" letter; said it was written for political effect and was not intended to reflect on Shields' private character as a man or a gen- tleman, and concluded by saying that if the explanation was not satisfactory "the prelimi- naries of the fight are to be :
209
210
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
"First-Weapons : Cavalry broadswords of the largest size such as are now used by the cavalry company at Jacksonville.
"Second-Position: A plank ten feet long and from nine to twelve inches broad, to be firmly fixed on edge on the ground, as the line betwixt us which neither is to pass on forfeit of his life. Next a line drawn on the ground on either side of said plank and parallel with it, each at the distance of the whole length of the sword and three feet additional from the plank; and the passing of his own such line by either party during the fight shall be deemed a surrender of the contest.
"Third-Time: On Thursday evening at five o'clock, if you can get it so ; but in no case to be at a greater distance of time than Friday evening at five o'clock.
"Fourth-Place: Within three miles of Al- ton on the opposite side of the river, the par- ticular spot to be agreed on by you."
The position prescribed for the combatants on the field looks like the cropping out of one of Lincoln's jokes, as each would be, seem- ingly, out of harm's way, but the advantage would certainly have been with Lincoln owing to his great height and length of arm.
These instructions were read to General Whiteside by Dr. Merriman who declined to agree on terms of settlement until they should meet in Missouri. To have accepted them in the state would have violated the oaths of of- fice of both Shields and Whiteside, who were state officers. All parties now left for the field of combat : Lincoln and his party by way of Jacksonville where they were joined by Dr. Bledsoe ; and Shields and Whiteside by way of Hillsboro, where they were joined by General Ewing. Arrived at Alton, they were further joined by Dr. T. M. Hope. The Lincoln party had also been joined at Jacksonville by Dr. R. W. English, later postmaster at Alton. In the meantime Gen. John J. Hardin of Jacksonville and Dr. R. W. English of Carrollton, later postmaster at Alton, had also arrived and, as
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.