USA > Illinois > Lee County > Early Lee County, being some chapters in the history of the early days in Lee County, Illinois > Part 12
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TO LOCATE THE COUNTY SEAT
to the United States. But in case such selection should be made upon land claimed by an individual or individuals, the said commissioners shall secure for the use of the county a quantity not less than forty acres, which land thus acquired shall be laid off into town lots and be disposed of by the county commissioners, and the proceeds thereof applied to the erection of public buildings for said county. Pro- vided, however, that no person residing within the bounds of the attached part of said county shall be allowed to vote for commissioners to locate the Seat of Justice as herein provided for."
After this amendment was adopted the bill was read the third time and laid on the table, on motion of Max- well, and later, on the motion of Wight, taken from the table and referred to a select committee, consisting of Wight, Maxwell and Benjamin Bond of Clinton.
On Thursday, February 9, Wight reported the bill with an amendment, which was read and concurred in, and the bill passed in the following form :
"Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- nois represented in the General Assembly : Sec. 1-
That all of that tract of country laying south of Ogle County formerly of Jo Daviess County be and is hereby attached to and made a part of Ogle Coun- ty.
Scc. 2d-
The county commissioners' court of Ogle County shall order an election in the several precincts in said county at such time as they may think best. At which election the qualified voters residing in said county may vote for the permanent seat of Justice of said county, which election shall be conducted in every respect and returns thereof made, as other county elections are under the act regulating elec- tions approved Jan. 10, 1829-
Sec. 3d-
It shall be the duty of the county commissioners of said county to hold a court within thirty days after
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
said election shall have been held at which court it shall be the duty of the clerk to lay before the court complete returns of said election as far as they have been received, and if it shall appear by said returns that the present county seat has received a greater number of votes than any other one place voted for. it shall be and remain the permanent seat of Jus- tice for said county. But in case any other place voted for shall have received at said election a great- er number of votes than the present county seat, or of any other place voted for, and a suitable cite, with not less than forty acres, of land can be obtained by the county commissioners at the place so elected for the use of the county. Said land shall be laid off into Town lots and disposed of by said court, and the proceeds thereof applied to the erection of Public buildings for said county. Which said election so made shall be and remain the county cite seat for said county, any law to the contrary notwithstanding. Providid that if the affore said election be contested the county commissioners may defer their action un- till the result of said contest be known. This act to be in force from and after its Passage."
The House sent it to a special committee, consisting of James Craig of Jo Daviess, George Scarborough of Ver- million, Elijah Charles of Jo Daviess, Henry Madden of La Salle, and William A. Richardson of Schuyler.
On March 1 Craig reported the bill to the House with an amendment (now lost), which was read and concurred in, and it was ordered to a third reading, and on motion of Craig, referred to a select committee consisting of Craig, Albert C. Leary and Joseph Naper of Cook.
On March 3 Craig reported the bill with an amendment which was read (and is now lost). Augustus C. French of Edgar moved to lay the bill on the table until July fourth, and the motion was carried. This was the end of the bill, for the Assembly adjourned March sixth.
Among those voting against this motion to table were Father Dixon's friends, Elijah Charles and James Craig of Jo Daviess, John Dement, then living in Franklin
154
TO DIVIDE OGLE COUNTY
county, Jesse K. Dubois, later State Auditor, Ninian W. Edwards, John J. Hardin, who was killed in the battle of Buena Vista, Abraham Lincoln, John Naper, Edwin B. Webb and Robert L. Wilson.
The commissioners who were appointed to locate the seat of justice of this county placed it at Oregon. This intensified the jealousy between the people of Dixon's Ferry and those of Oregon. Buffalo Grove, long since obliterated by the march of improvements, and Grand De Tour became ambitious, and efforts were made to di- vide the county. John Dixon was the controlling spirit in the south half of the county, while Thomas Ford, then judge of the Circuit Court, and later judge of the Su- preme Court and, still later, Governor, was dominant in and around Oregon. Virgil A. Bogue was the cham- pion of Buffalo Grove.
In his "Sketches of the History of Ogle County" Henry R. Boss says that John Dixon posted notices in Galena, in 1838, that he would apply to the Legislature "for the formation of a new county, the proposed territory includ- ing Oregon in the north," and that John Phelps of Oregon chanced to see this notice and he posted one stating his intention of applying for an act dividing Ogle by an east and west line "just including the present town of Dixon" in the north county. (P. 57.)
In the Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser, commencing September 8, 1838, and running until Feb- ruary 21, 1839, the following appeared :
"NOTICE : A petition will be presented to the Legislature at their next session at Vandalia, for a division of Ogle county at or near the centre by a line from east to west thereby making each county about twenty-one by thirty-six miles.
Dixon, Sept. 1st, 1838.
JOHN DIXON."
Petitions for a division by an east and west line were prepared, circulated and signed, while the friends of Buffalo Grove and Grand De Tour scoured the county
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
in their efforts to secure signatures to their petition for a division by a north and south line. Phelps, a man of strong passions, had taken offense at something said or done by Dixon, and in his anger denounced the latter with much more force than elegance. Judge Ford, then living in Oregon, realized that Phelps was doing a great injury to that community, so he interceded and induced the latter to make peace with Mr. Dixon and join with him in an effort to divide the county in such a manner that each would have a county seat at his own town. Phelps listened to Ford's suggestions and became Dixon's ally. A committee was appointed to establish the divid- ing line. Joseph Crawford of Dixon and Cyrus Cham- berlain of "The Kingdom" were two members of that committee. Undoubtedly there were other members of the committee, but our efforts to learn their names failed.
It was proposed that the north line of the new county should run from the northeast corner of Lee straight to Rock river, but Chamberlain protested so vehemently against this that the line was placed where it is to-day, and this because Chamberlain insisted that his land must be in the south county, for he would not live "in Jack Phelps' county." (This is on the authority of a state- ment by Dr. Oliver Everett.)
Then they put into circulation petitions to the legisla- ture asking that Ogle be divided upon the line they had chosen. Smith Gilbraith and Frederick R. Dutcher went to Vandalia in behalf of Dixon's Ferry to see that no point was overlooked.
Dutcher frequently talked of the work he and Gilbraith did at Vandalia to promote the passage of their bill, and often said that they once heard that Bogue was expect- ing to receive another petition signed by a great number of the inhabitants of Ogle. Fearing that petition would give Bogue a majority of the petitioners, Dutcher and Gilbraith made their plans to keep the new petition from
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DUTCHER'S TRICK
Bogue. To do this, Dutcher frequently inquired at the post office if there was any mail for Bogue. His persist- ence was rewarded one day by an affirmative answer, and lie promptly asked for the mail. He was given a large package which he soon found was the new petition, and he and Gilbraith carefully concealed it until their bill was passed, and then it was useless.
Dutcher also said that, in order to reduce the influence of Bogue to the minimum, he and Gilbraith persuaded Bogue to make a speech in favor of the abolition of slav- ery, and such a speech did not make one very popular there in those days.
While some who claim to know say that Bogue was not in Vandalia during that session, being detained at home by a severe illness, his daughter says he did attend that session, and was confined to his room by illness, but she adds, with sincere regret, she has no further information on the subject, as she was a mere child then and her father would not talk of those events.
The Eleventh General Assembly convened for its first session on the third of December, 1838. George W. Har- rison of Galena was the Senator for the district com- posed of the counties of Jo Daviess, Rock Island, Steph- enson, Winnebago, Ogle, and Mercer, and James Craig of Jo Daviess, and Germanicus Kent of Rockford were the representatives for the district. On the thir- teenth of January, 1839, there was presented to the House a petition of citizens of Ogle living in township forty two, ranges one and two (Scott and Monroe) asking that those towns be placed in Winnebago. It went to the committee on counties and no report was made upon it.
On the twenty-sixth of January, Craig presented to the House of Representatives several petitions for the division of Ogle, with remonstrances against the division, and the recantations of some persons who had found themselves on the wrong side of the question after they
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
had signed, and all were, upon his motion, referred, with- ont reading, to a select committee consisting of himself, William H. Henderson of the Putnam and Bureau dis- triet, and Joseph Naper of Cook, Will and MeHenry district, for whom Naperville was named. Two days later Craig presented more petitions and recantations, and they went to the same committee. On the fourth of February, this committee, by Craig, reported favorably a bill for "An Act to create the County of Lee out of Ogle." It was read twice, and then, on his motion, re- ferred to the standing committee on counties, which was composed of John Moore of McLean (afterwards State Treasurer), Henry L. Webb of Alexander, Abraham Lin- coln of Sangamon, Newton Cloud of Morgan, Germanicus Kent, John Houston of the Crawford and Jasper dis- trict, Edward M. Daley of Greene, John H. Murphy of Vermillion and Alden Hull of Tazewell.
In the Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser of February 1, 1839, is part of a letter to the Peoria Register from the latter's Vandalia correspondent speak- ing of the bill to establish new circuits for the courts in which the writer mentions "the new county that will likely be made out of the south part of Ogle and Henry." The correspondent erred, as there was no proposal to make such a county.
On the twelfth of February, Kent presented two peti- tions, one signed by seventy nine, and the other by three hundred and twenty three voters, praying for a removal of the county seat of Ogle, and remonstrating against a division of the county. Without reading, they were sent to the committee on counties. On the nineteenth of Feb- ruary, Moore of that committee and in its behalf, made a favorable report upon the bill with some amendments, which the committee proposed, one of them making the title "An Act to create the county of Lee from the county of Ogle," and it was ordered engrossed for a third read-
158
LEE COUNTY FORMED
ing. On the twenty-second it passed the House and was sent to the Senate, where it was read the first time Feb- ruary 26 and ordered to a second reading, when, upon motion of Harrison, the rules were dispensed with and the bill read the second time by its title, and then, upon his motion, a further dispensation of the rules was had, and the bill was read the third time by title and passed. It was approved, and went into effect on the twenty- seventh of February.
The Act provides "that all that part of Ogle County lying south of a line beginning on the western boundary of Ogle County at the northwest corner of section eighteen in township twenty-two, north of range eight, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence on the sec- tion line between sections number seven and eighteen in said township, east to the main channel of Rock River; thence up the center of the main channel of Rock River to the section line between sections twelve and thirteen in township twenty-two north of range nine, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence east with the last men- tioned line to the northeast corner of section seventeen, in township twenty-two north of range ten, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence south to the southeast corner of the last mentioned section ; and thence east with the section lines to the eastern boundary of the county shall constitute the county of Lee."
As passed the bill appointed D. G. Salisbury, "N. Nichols" and L. G. Butler commissioners to locate the county seat. On March second, the House, on motion of Craig, adopted a resolution reciting that "N. Nichols," of Whiteside, should be "E. H. Nichols," and authoriz- ing the Secretary of State to substitute the latter for the former in the enrolled bill, and that was done, the Senate concurring in the passage of the resolution.
While this bill was pending a bitter fight over the loca- tion of De Kalb's seat of justice brought in a strange element. Joseph W. Churchill of De Kalb introduced
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
a petition of citizens of that county praying for a divi- sion of Ogle, and a petition from De Kalb asking for the re-location of the seat of justice of that county. Both went to the committee on counties. The latter resulted in the passage of the "Act to re-locate the seat of justice of the county of De Kalb," approved March second, 1839. The first induced the committee to report a bill for "An Act relative to the county of De Kalb," which was read twice in the House. February twentieth it was ordered en- grossed for third reading, and then abandoned, no further action being had upon it. The bill remains on file. The first section is crossed out. The other sections relate to the location of the county seat. The first section, had the bill passed with that in it, would have added to De Kalb, without any vote by the people, all of range two east of the third principal meridian, being townships thirty- seven (Wyoming), thirty-eight (Willow Creek), thirty- nine (Alto) of Lee county, and townships forty (De- ment), forty-one (Lynnville) and forty-two (Monroe) of Ogle. (An erasure and alteration make it uncertain as to the last town.)
While these bills were pending an effort was made in the House to create a new county out of parts of Winne- bago, Ogle, De Kalb and La Salle, but it failed.
Citizens of Lee, De Kalb and LaSalle unsuccessfully petitioned the Fourteenth General Assembly, 1844-45, for the formation of a new county out of territory in those counties.
Silas Noble of Lee introduced in the Senate of the Fif- teenth General Assembly, 1846-'47, the petition of sundry citizens of Lee, La Salle, and De Kalb counties for a new county to be called Eagle, to be composed of town- ships thirty-six, thirty-seven and thirty-eight, in ranges one, two, three and four, east of the fourth principal meridian, and township thirty-nine in ranges one and two east of that meridian. After considering them the
160
NAME
committee asked to be and was discharged from duty, and Noble obtained leave to withdraw the petition. Had these petitioners succeeded in this effort, Lee would have lost the present towns of Brooklyn, Wyoming, Viola, Willow Creek, Reynolds and Alto, and Paw Paw, in all probability, would have become the county seat.
William B. Plato of Kane introduced in the Senate of the Eighteenth General Assembly, 1853, a bill for "An Act to establish the County of Eagle, and for other pur- poses therein named," which was read twice and then put to death by a reference to the committee on elec- tions that never reported upon it.
In the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, W. W. Sedgwick of De Kalb introduced a petition signed by residents of De Kalb, La Salle and Lee counties pray- ing that the new constitution be so framed that a new county could be formed out of those counties whenever two-thirds of the voters in the territory petitioned the General Assembly for such new county. The petition was sent to the committee on counties and no report was made upon it.
Dutcher claimed the credit of selecting the name of the county, and stated that when he chose it he had in mind General Henry Lee (Light Horse Harry) of the Revo- lutionary Army, and intended, so far as it was in his power, the honor should go to him and no other. The statement in Hill's History of Lee County (1881) that the name was chosen in honor of General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army is too ridiculous for any comment.
BARNARD MILLER Printers+Chicago
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 016 095 166 7
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