USA > Illinois > Shelby County > Historic sketch and biographical album of Shelby County, Illinois > Part 2
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Sec. 5 .- It shall be the duty of the clerk of the circuit of said county, to give public notice at least ten days previous to the election. to be held on the second Monday in April next ; and in case there shall be, no clerk in said county. it shall be the duty of the recorder, or any jus- tice of the peace residing within the limits of. said county, and commissioned a justice of the peace for the county of Fayette, to give notice of the time and place of holding said election.
Sec. 6 .- The citizens, of the said county of Shelby, are hereby entitled in all respects to the same rights and privileges as are allowed. in general, to the other counties of this state.
Sec. 7 .- The commissioners appointed to locate the seat of justice of said county of Shel- by, shall receive the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per day, for each day necessarily spent in discharging the duties imposed on them by this act. to be allowed by the county commissioners
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court, and to be paid out of the treasury of said county.
Sec. 8 .- All that tract of country lying north of the aforesaid county of, and within the present boundaries of the county of Fayette, shall be attached to the said county of Shelby until otherwise provided by law ; and for mem- bers of the general assembly, said county of Shelby and the attached parts thereof, shall vote with Fayette. Bond, and Montgomery counties ; and the clerks of the counties of Bond. Fayette, Montgomery, and Shelby, shall meet at Van- dalia, the county seat of Fayette, to compare the number of votes for senator and representa- tive to the general assembly, and sign the nec- essary certificates of election at Vandalia, and forward the same to the person or persons en- titled to such certificate of election.
Sec. 9 .- The county seat of Shelby county, when established, shall be called Shelbyville.
Sec. 10 .- The north half of township nine north, range one west, all of townships ten, eleven and twelve, north, range one west of the third principal meridian, shall be attached to the county of Montgomery; and the citizens within the tract of country above described, shall have the same rights and privileges, as the citizens of the county now or shall hereafter have.
Sec. 11 .- The said county of Shelby shall be, and is hereby attached to the second judicial circuit.
This act to take effect from its passage.
Approved. January 23. 1827.
NINIAN EDWARDS, Governor.
LOCATING OF COUNTY SEAT.
The commissioners, who were appointed to locate the site for the county seat of Shelby.
with their party, in due time entered upon the work. They came into this region in an ox wagon, which contained not only themselves and their camping outfit, but a barrel of "Ok Rye" as well. This had been given them with the stipulation that they were not to open it until they had decided upon a desirable site. After hunting in different localities for miles around, they came back to the place where Shelbyville now stands, and which was then covered with heavy timber and thick brush. On the side of the hill was a fine spring of clear, cold water, which, we believe, is now covered by the C. & E. I. depot. After driving a stake just where the court house is built. thus designating the site where it should stand, they immediately rolled the barrel from the wagon and knocked in the head. Each was supplied with a tin cup. and began at once to relieve his thirst, which, it can be imagined, had become very great. In the words of one of the party, who told the tale. "by morning there was at least a quarter of an acre of hazel brush wallowed down." Thus was the county seat of Shelby located.
We add the report of these commissioners. which they rendered to the county commission- ers' court at its meeting in April, 1827 :
REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS LOCAT- ING COUNTY SEAT.
State of Illinois, Shelby County.
We. the undersigned commissioners, ap- pointed under the authority of the Act creating Shelby county, to locate the seat of justice for the same, being sworn as required by said Act. (lid meet at Barnet Bone's at the time specified in said law, and from thence proceeded to ex- amine the country, with a view to the selection " of a proper and suitable site for said seat of jus-
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tice, and having satisfied ourselves upon the subject. to unanimously select and agree upon the E. 1-2 of S. E. 1-4, of Sec. 7. Town 11 North. Range 4 East, as the traet upon which the town of Shelbyville shall be placed .- The public square .- A hickory stake, which the said com- missioners drove down on said tract. standing between three red oaks-one at the distance of five paees in a northwest direction, one five paces in a northeast direction, and the other four paees in a southeast direction.
Given under our hands this fifth day of April, 1827.
EASTON WHITON. WM. LEE D. EWING. JOHN HOPTON. Commissioners.
We also copy a couple of other documents relative to the affair, which will be of interest :
The above tract of land has been entered in the land office at Vandalia, by Robt. K. Mclaughlin, James M. Duncan, and James T. B. Stapp, who have severally agreed to make collectively the donation required by law, April 5. 1827. WILLIAM LEE D. EWING. State of Illinois, Shelby County.
Be it remembered, that on this day per- sonally came before William Hall. Senr., a Jus- tice of the Peace, in and for said county. John Hopton. Easton Whiton and William Lee D. Ewing, commissioners under the law creating Shelby county, to locate the seat of justice for the same, and took the necessary oath required by said law.
Given under my hand this 2nd day of April, 1827. WILLIAM HALL, SENR., J. P. FIRST ELECTION.
In accordance with the provision of the law establishing the county, the first election was
held at the house of Barnet Bone on the second Monday of April. 1827, and the following of- ficers were elected: John Whitley. Levi Casey, William Weeger, commissioners : William Wil- liamson, sheriff : Isaac Martin, coroner.
FIRST MEETING OF COUNTY COMMIS- SIONERS' COURT.
The first meeting of the county commis- sioners' court was also held at the house of Barnet Bone, and Joseph Oliver was appointed county clerk, in addition to which he performed the duties of county recorder and circuit clerk. William Williamson was appointed surveyor, and it was he who laid out the county seat. It was at the first session of the court that the bond of MeLaughlin, Duncan and Stapp, for the donation to locate the seat of justice for the county, in the penal sum of two hundred dollars. was received by the court and filed by the clerk of the same.
Asa Ledbetter received the appointment of county treasurer, and gave bond in the sum of two thousand dollars, with Shelton Allphin and Richard Thomason as sureties.
The above proceedings constitute the prin- cipal part of the business transacted at the first terin of the commissioners' court.
FIRST MEETING OF BOARD OF SUPER- VISORS AND TOWNSHIP OR- GANIZATION.
In this connection it will be well to mention and transcribe from the official records an ac- count of the first meeting of the board of super- visors and organization under the new town- ship organization law, which was passed by the legislature of 1849. previous to which township
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organization had been unknown in this state. The first law relative to this was repealed two years after its passage, and a new enactment took its place. In 1859, the people of this coun- ty adopted this form of government, which has been in vogue through all the years since. During its December term, 1859. the county court appointed James Cutler, E. G. Shallenber- ger and Benjamin F. Frazer, commissioners to divide the county of Shelby into towns agree- ably to the statute to provide for township or- ganization. Below, we give an extract from the official record of the first meeting of the board of supervisors, containing the names of the townships into which the county had been di- vided, together with a list of the supervisors elected therefrom :
"Agreeable to a petition signed by a major- ity of the supervisors elected on the 3rd day of .April last, requiring the clerk of the county court of Shelby county to publish a call in the Okaw Democrat, requiring the members elect of said board to meet at the court house in Shel- byville, on Friday. the 8th day of June, 1860, for the purpose of organizing and attending to any other business lawfully brought before the board."
Agreeable to the request of said petition- ers, the call was duly published in said Okaw Democrat, and on the 8th day of June. 1860. the following members of said board met at the clerk's office, in the court house, in the town of Shelbyville, and answered to their names respec- tively, to-wit :
Name.
Township.
John R. Warren. Tower Hill William B. Travis. . Rural George F. Hutchinson. Flat Branch John Freeman. Moweaqua William I. Milton Dry Point
John C. Selby Rose
David Ewing. Ridge
John Casey Pickaway
William J. F. Howe Holland
E. G. Shallenberger. Shelbyville
Alfred Francisco . Okaw
William Manning Prairie
Joseph M. Brown Richland
Alexander Walker Windsor
William B. Bennett Ash Grove
On motion of William B. Travis, Alexan- der Walker was nominated and duly chosen chairman of the board pro tem. whereupon the chairman called the board to order.
On motion of William B. Travis, it was agreed to that the petition for a call of the board of supervisors above alluded to, should be spread upon the journal of said board, to-wit :
A CALL FOR THE BOARD OF SUPER- VISORS TO MEET AND OR- GANIZE.
We. the undersigned supervisors, elected for the county of Shelby, Illinois, on Monday. the 3rd day of April, last, do hereby request the clerk of the county court for the county of Shelby, to give notice, by publication in the Okaw Democrat, calling the members of the said board of supervisors to meet at the court house in Shelbyville, on Friday, the 8th day of June. 1860. for the purpose of organizing ac- cording to law, and to transact any other busi- ness that may be lawfully brought before them.
(Signed by supervisors elected.)
It was then moved and seconded that the members elected produce their certificates of election whereupon the following supervisors laid before the chairman their certificates and evidence of election, to-wit :
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(Here follow names of supervisors as given above.)
On motion of William B. Bennett, it was agreed to that said board now proceed to elect. by ballot, a permanent chairman of the board.
Whereupon. John Casey, Esq .. received ten votes for chairman : scattering, four votes.
Immediately following this business, came the adoption of the rules of order, a score or more. well calculated to preserve the decornm of that august body and to govern their action while in session.
The chairman appointed the following standing committees :
Finance :- John R. Warren. William B. Bennett, and Alexander Walker.
Claims :- E. G. Shallenberger. David Ew- ing, and John C. Selby.
Equalization :- W. J. F. Howe. John Free- man, William B. Travis, James Brownlee, and Joseph M. Brown.
Roads and Bridges :- James McNutt. Al- fred Francisco. William Manning.
Public Buildings :- George T. Hutchinson. Jefferson Williamson, William A. Milton.
James Cutler. E. G. Shallenberger and B. Frazer were allowed ten dollars each, for ser- vices as commissioners to lay off the county in- to townships : a remuneration none too great. considering the arduous task they had to per- form.
The supervisors were allowed two dollars each per day for the meeting. Burrel Roberts. the clerk, was allowed six dollars for two days at court. Jacob Culter. sheriff. was allowed two dollars for two days at court.
At the regular meeting in September. the following supervisors produced certificates of election : Jefferson Williamson, Alexander Wal- ker. James McNutt and James Brownlee. At
this meeting it was announced that John C. Sel- by was dead. and Edward Roessler was duly appointed supervisor from Rose township to fill the vacancy.
Of the above named supervisors, who con- stituted the first board of Shelby county. John Freeman was the first republican chairman, be- ing subsequently appointed to that responsible position. Should this roll of supervisors be called now. William Bennett would be the only one of them to respond. the others having passed away.
NAME.
Closely identified with the organization of the county, is the name thereof, which was not left for the people more directly interested to decide upon, but was given by the same act of the legislature which established the county. This act specified that the county should be called Shelby. This was in honor of Isaac Shel- by. whose name was, at that time, held in re- membrance by the entire country. Mr. Shelby was born in Maryland in 1750. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. and after- wards held many offices in civil life. In 1771 he moved to the west. and three years later served as a lieutenant in an expedition against the Indians. At the beginning of the Revolu- tion he became a captain of a military company in Virginia. Later, he was placed in charge of the commissary department, for the frontier. In 1779 he was elected to the house of delegates of Virginia, and soon afterwards received a ma- jor's commission, and the next year was pro- moted to the rank of colonel. as recognition of his bravery at the battle of King's Mountain. In 1780 he received a vote of thanks and a sword from the legislature of North Carolina.
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of which he was elected a member in 1781- 1782. In 1781 he served in Marion's company, and on the organization of the state of Ken- tucky. in 1792, he was chosen Governor, and held the office four years. He was again gov- ernor of that state from 1812 to 1816. In 1813 Governor Shelby joined General Harrison at the head of four thousand Kentuckians, served at the battle of the Thames, and owing to bravery and gallantry displayed at that battle, was pre- sented by Congress with a gold medal. Such in brief is the record of the man of bravery and patriotism for whom Shelby county is named. and from whom the city of Shelbyville derived its name: thus conferring an honor, not upon the man, but upon the county and city them- selves.
FIRST COURT HOUSE.
.At their regular September meeting in 1827. the county commissioners came to the conclu- sion that it was essential to the proper transac- tion of business, to have a suitable building erected for the purpose. As may be supposed. the requirements were not great, and after a good deal of discussion about ways and means and plans, it was decided that a log building. of the style and size described below, should be erected.
The building, which was the first court house of Shelby county, was built upon the east half of lot number five. in block number one. a few rods southeast of where the present struc- ture stands. As has been indicated, it was built of hewn logs, and was twenty feet wide by twen- ty-four feet long. The first story was but nine feet high in the clear, while the second story was but five feet high. to the top of the wall
plate ; thus it was about fourteen feet from the ground to the caves of the building. The roof was of ordinary hand-made shingles. There were two doors below, also two windows of fifteen lights each, with shutters, and in the up- per story there were two windows of like di- mensions. The floors of the two rooms were planked. The upper part of the building was reached by steps placed on the outside.
William Hall, Sr., was the contractor who did the work, as he was the lowest bidder, and agreed to have the building completed by the first Monday in April of the following year. He received Suro as full remuneration for the con- struction of the building.
In the early part of 1829 a number of im- provements were added to this building. This was in the stead of a new court house. the ercc- tion of which had been seriously talked of and planned. But a number of the prominent citi- zens petitioned for "the procrastination of the building of the court house." for the following reasons :
First .- One-fourth of the whole amount of money necessary for the erection of the pro- posed building was not on hand and could not be secured.
Second .- The "county paper" would be preciate in value at least three-fourths, "which would in a measure destroy the faith of the country, and most probably ruin the undertak- ers.
The above was concluded by the suggestion of the petitioners that the commissioners, to meet the growing need of more room and greater convenience. "build some little addition : say, to build a shed on the south side of the present court house, and to saw out the logs on the south side, and to remove the judge's bench
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near the center of the same." The prayer of the petitioners was granted. the "procrastination of the building" was submitted to, and the sug- gestion was acted upon. The alterations were made by J. W. Johnson, who agreed to do the work for $39.25. In this connection it will be interesting to read a petition. signed by twenty- seven men. which we reproduce below, just as it was written nearly seventy-two years ago :
March 3d. 1829. "To the Honorable County Commission- ers of Shelby county. now in session :
"We, the under sign'd Citizens of Shelby county, Beg leave to petition your honorable Body, that you make such allowance to J. W. Johnston as may be considered the actual worth of the worke and labour Done on the court house. and likewise for all other Extra work over and above what his bond calls for.
"Believing as we do that the Court house was let out considerably lower than any man could afford to Do the work: and in all Cases where Individuals Do work for the public in a way that they are like to sink money that should be Remunerated out of public funds. we Rec- ommend the above as one of these very Cases where the Individual has sunk money and we Confidently hope that your honorable Body will make such allowances as may be consid- ered to amount to the actual value of the work agreeable to the Judgement of workmen."
It may be readily surmised that the prayer of these petitioners was granted. for in those "good old days" it was not the predominant policy of one to take an unjust advantage of another: but kindly, brotherly feeling which prevailed inspired them to render unto each other that, which. in their unselfish minds. they deemed right and just.
SECOND COURT HOUSE.
The growing need for more offices and an enlarged court room, soon rendered the old buikling inadequate, and in 1832 a new court house was erected. according to the following plan, which we produce verbatim, as the unique construction of words and sentences may be of passing interest :
"The form of a Court house for the County of Shelby. Ill.
"The said Court house to be 40 feet square. Bilt of brick to Commence with Rock 18 Inches under ground, and raised one foot above the ground. with rock well hammer Dressed above the ground : the walls to be Twenty-three feet high above the ground. with Two Dores lower in Storey, and Ten Twenty-four light windows in the lower Story, and Twelve Eighteen light windows in the upper story. The lower story of said walls to be Twenty-seven inches thick. and the upper story Eighteen Inches thick with the under flower laid with brick. Each of those windows to be filled with Fraim, with Timber Six Inches Square. Dores and win- dows with pannel. Jams and pannel shutters to each Dore and a post set in the centre of the house, to be set on a firm pillow of rock : said post to be completely Turned in a workmanlike manner. to be Eighteen Inches in Diameter ; and one girder. forty feet long. Twelve by Fourteen Inches thick, to rest on that post: a set of Joists for the second floor, three by Ten Inches, to be let In Two feet apart from centre to centre : the second floore to be laid of oak plank. Tounged and grooved and laid down rough. A Second girder Ten Inches by Ten. forty feet long : a Second post Twelve Inch in Diameter turned like the other and set over the other post for the Second girder to rest on. A
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Second Set of Joists the same size of the other. 3 by to Inches; the roof to be sheeted and shingled, with walnut or oak shingles, boxed and cornished all round plain. The walls to be plastered, and overhead sealed : the windows all to have venisian blinds : the upper story to split in 3 rooms to be divided with plank petitions. 'I'wo Chimneys with 2 fire places below and two above, and 2 artificial funnels at the other End of the house, all to be done in workmanlike manner. Allso Judges Seat, Jury box. Sheriff's box. etc., etc."
A couple of years after this a number of alterations and additions were made, a few of which we give :
The judge's bench was to be nine feet long. and three feet, six inches wide on the floor ; with a writing board three feet long and eigh- teen inches wide. The Clerk's desk was made three feet, six inches long, and two feet six inches wide, with twenty-six pigeon holes in- closed with a desk lid door. Six jury benches were built, each twelve feet long. There were also constructed a sheriff's box in each of two cor- ners of the bar, three feet by three feet in the clear, with a suitable writing board for each. The criminals' box was made four feet square in the clear. The whole cost of the improve- ments on the building was six hundred nineteen dollars, and the work was satisfactorily accom- plished by Nelson R. Jones. In 1837 a neat cupola was added, which improved the appear- ance of the building to a great extent. This court house served the purpose for which it was erected, very nicely for about thirty years, when it was deemed advisable by many interested par- ties, to build a larger and more substantial building, which would more nearly meet the de- mands of the county's business. In accordance with this very general opinion efforts were made
to secure an appropriation for that purpose ; but all movements in that direction proved futile until in July of 1879, when the board of super- visors, who had heretofore been conservative. yielded to the popular demand and made the appropriation necessary to build the present beautiful structure. We append the following record of their official action, which made pos- sible the
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THIRD COURT HOUSE.
On the 3d of July, 1879, Supervisor W. (). Robertson offered the following resolution :
"Resolved, That it is hereby deemed expedi- ent, because of the dilapidated and unsafe con- dition of the present county building, to build a new court house in and for Shelby county, not to exceed in cost the sum of seventy thousand dollars ($70,000), and
"Resolved, That a committee of members of this board be, and the same are constituted a building committee, whose duty it shall be to fix upon and procure a site for such court house. to adopt plans and specifications for the same, not to exceed said cost, and to report their pro- ceedings herein to this board, subject to its approval at their meeting in September next : and
"Resolved, That William M. Wright. Har- mon Kelley. Skelton Birkett. Nelson Neil. W. A. Carlisle be and are hereby appointed said building committee."
This was adopted by a vote of twelve for. only seven voting against it.
At the meeting of the board in September. the following resolution was proposed by Super- visor Hillard, and adopted :
"Resolved. That the sum of seventy thou- sand dollars ($70,000) be and the same is hereby
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appropriated for the purpose of erecting a court house in the city of Shelbyville, in Shelby coun- ty, Illinois, and
"Resolved. That the sum of twenty-five cents upon each one hundred dollars' worth of real estate and personal property in said county as assessed for the year 1879, and equalized by the State Board of Equalization for said year. be and the same is hereby levied for the pur- pose of raising a fund to carry out the objects of the said appropriation ; and that the clerk of the county court be and is hereby ordered to compute and extend upon the tax collectors' books of said county for the year 1879. the levy of twenty-five cents aforesaid against all the real estate and personal property of said county, and that the said levy of twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars be extended under the heading of "Court House Tax," and that the same, when collected, shall by the county treas- urer be kept as a separate fund for the purposes for which the same is levied."
Under this resolution, the amount of money raised for 1879 was $19.900.06.
The limit of time for the completion of the building was December ist, 1881. This made prompt action necessary upon the part of the building committee. In the selection of this committee a wise choice had been made. and the men who composed it were found equal to the task before them. Hon Wm. M. Wright. chairman, made the following report to the board, it was adopted. and. in accordance with the plans, specifications, etc., contained therein, the work upon the magnificent new court house was soon in progress.
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