USA > Illinois > Douglas County > Historical and biographical record of Douglas County, Illinois > Part 3
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PRAIRIE TRAVEL
Neighborhoods extended over a wide area of country, and a journey of fifteen miles was not considered a great undertaking for an after- noon's visit. Roads were few, and the prairie, easily cut up, often presented at points where lines of travel were obliged, by the conforma- tion of the land, to unite, bog holes, that proved almost impassible. So long as the paucity of
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settlement allowed a pretty free selection of route, mud holes could be generally evaded and a worn track avoided. But this prac- tice had its disadvantages. In a coun- try without continuous fences and few landmarks, save the groves, it requires some skill and an intimate knowledge of the country to successfully cross even a small prairie in day- light. Crossing the uncultivated prairie at night was a very uncertain venture even to the most expert. If the night was clear. the stars were a reliable guide, and the pioneers became quite proficient in the simpler rudiments of astronomy. In a cloudy night, and a snowy or foggy day, their resources were less sure. A steady wind often proved the only guide. The traveler, getting his bearings, woukl note how the wind struck his nose-the right or left car-and then, keenly alive to these sensations, would so maintain his course as to keep the bearing of the wind always the same, and re- gardless of all other guides, would generally reach his destination without difficulty. To do this required no little skill and a steady wind. If the latter changed gradually, the better the skill, the wider the traveler diverged from his true course. Without these guides, it was a mere accident if a person succeeded in crossing even a small prairie. The tendency is to move in a circle, and when this is once begun and ob- served by the traveler, the only resource is to camp in the most convenient place and manner,
and wait for morning. Each family had its signal light, which served to mark the place of the cabin. It was a frequent practice to erect a pole by the chimney, upon which a lighted lantern was placed. Others had a light in the window, which often saved a dreary night's experience on the open prairie.
Such experiences, unpleasant in mild weather, were too often fatal in the winter sea- son. The trackless prairie, covered with a de- ceptive expanse of snow, and swept by a fierce blast, which pierced the most ample clothing and the hardiest frame, made the stoutest heart waver. Journeys were seldom undertaken in such circumstances, save under stress of the most urgent necessity. But nearly every early settler can remember some experience in winter- season traveling, while some never reached the home they sought, or the end of the journey reluctantly begun.
With the settlement of the prairie, and the regular laying-out of roads, traveling became less dangerous, though scarcely less difficult. The amount of labor which could be devoted by the few people in the scattered settlements, made but little effect upon the roads of the country, which seemed particularly exposed, by the character of the soil and the conforma- tion of its surface, to the unfavorable action of rain, and even now the farming community pays a heavy annual tribute to muddy, impass- able roads.
.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF
DOUGLAS COUNTY.
CHAPTER II.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.
BY HENRY C. NILES.
By the treaty of peace between the French and English in 1763, the Illinois country was ceded to the latter. It remained in their hands until 1778, in which year Virginia troops under Gen. Clark conquered the country. A county called Illinois was then organized, and had been considered hitherto a part of the territory included in the charter of Virginia. Vir- ginia ceded it to the United States in 1787, and it was called the "North- west territory." In 1800 it received a separate organization and a territorial govern- ment in conjunction with and under the name of Indiana. Another division took place in 1809 when the distinct territories of Indiana and Illinois were formed.
The name of Illinois is derived from that of its great river, an aboriginal appellation, signifying the "River of men."
When Illinois territory was a part of In- diana, the seat of government was at Vin- cennes, and when the territory was set off from Indiana in 1809 the whole state was made into two counties, St. Clair and Randolph. From
St. Clair Madison was made; from Madison, Crawford; the state then had about fifteen counties. In 1819 Clark was set off from Crawford, and extended to the northward in- definitely. Coles county was organized in 1830-31; Cumberland parted from it in 1842, and Douglas in 1859.
Illinois was admitted into the Union of states in 1818, with an area of fifty-five thou- sand, four hundred and ten square miles, about four hundred and nine of which belong to Douglas county.
Coles county, from the area of which Doug- las was taken, once comprised within its bounds all of Cumberland county as well, and was named in honor of Edward Coles, the second governor of the state, elected in 1822.
Amongst the smallest counties in the state, though not the least by some seven or eight, Douglas county is geographically in the east centre of the state, and lies below the fortieth parellel of latitude, Tuscola the county seat, being in latitude thirty-nine degrees, forty-five minutes, north. The county is bounded on the
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north by Champaign county, on the east by Edgar, upon the south by Coles, and on the west by Moultrie and Piatt.
The election for and against the new county was held in Coles county on the first Monday in March, 1859, and the clerk was ordered to make his returns to Coleman Bright and Joseph B. MeCown, of Camargo.
Coles was a large county of some twenty- four congressional townships, and containing about eight hundred and eighty square miles. New towns, demanded by the rapidly increas- ing population of the north part, were springing into existence, the principal of which, Tuscola and Okaw (for so Arcola was originally called), upon the line of the Illinois Central Raliroad, had been laid out, the latter by the railroad, upon its own lands, and the former upon railroad lands by private enterprise.
The tedious trip, over the prairie of twenty or twenty-five miles, to Charleston, the county seat, laid out in 1831, and the almost universal disposition of the people toward concentration, carried still farther, eventually, by township organization, were amongst the inducements that brought about the division.
Origin of Douglas .- In date of formation, Douglas county precedes Ford by one day only, and lacks so much of being the latest-formed county of the state, but though late in asserting its independence, it has not been unknown to the geography of the state, under other titles. In October, 1778, it was included in the county of Illinois; in 1790, it became a part of St. Clair county ; in 1816 a part of Crawford; in 1819 a part of Clark; in 1823 a part of Edgar, and in 1830 a part of Coles. During all this time the territory now included within the lim- its of Douglas county was a wilderness, with-
out the habitation of a single white man, with the exception perhaps of one family in 1829. The county of Coles was originally a part of Edgar, and as first formed included the terri- tory of the present counties of Cumberland, Coles and Douglas. At this time the settlement at Charleston was strong in numbers and in- fluence, and became the county seat. Later, as the southern portion of its territory began to settle up, an agitation was begun for a di- vision of the large territory included in Coles and while the interests of Charleston were not hostile to this movement in the abstract, there was a very decided preference manifested for the way it should be divided. The leaders of the new county movement preferred to have the whole territory equally divided, but in such case it appeared certain that the county seat interests of Charleston would be put in jeop- ardy, as it would be located too far south in the reconstructed county to long hold the seat of justice. The question was soon forced into politics, and three campaigns were fought on this issue, the candidates for the General As- sembly announcing themselves in favor of one of the other party. The Coles county people proposed the formation of a small county on the south, and eventually another on the north, and the issue was defined in the vernacular of the stock marks of the time as a crop or a split. Twice the Charleston people defeated the split at the polls or in the lobby, but finally a candi- date was elected upon the platform of "first a split, second a crop, but in any case a new county," and in 1843 Cumberland county was formed. Another county would have been formed from the north end of Coles, but this part of its territory settled up slowly, and by the time that a movement was made for a new
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county, the necessity for its erection was 110 longer recognized by the older community. Coles county contained twenty-four congressional townships, enough to form two counties of the required area, and the tedious trip of twenty or twenty-five miles over the prairie to the coun- ty seat, located considerably south of the geo- graphical center, intensified the determination to divide it. Public-spirited men organized the movement, and a bill was introduced in the General Assembly to form the new county. The name occasioned no little difficulty at first. IV. D. Watson, of Camargo township, was in the senate and a Republican. The proposed county was politically in sympathy with him, and the petition for the new county asked for the name of Richman, that of the first white inhabitant; others proposed and pressed the name of Watson, and the subject was discussed at local meetings, with a good deal of excite- ment. There was a disposition on the part of the legislature to reject both names, and honor the name of Stephen A. Douglas with its desig- nation. Dr. Pearce, of Camargo, and others strongly resisted this suggestion, and the vig- orous opposition was not relaxed until it ap- peared certain that a bill could not be passed with another name, and even then it is said that promise was given by certain responsible persons, that the name should subsequently be changed. The name, however, has long since lost its political significance, and is worthily be- stowed in honor of a brilliant and patriotic statesman. The peculiar spelling follows that adopted by Senator Douglas.
The act of organisation .- The bill intro- duced for the purpose of organizing Douglas county provides as follows :
"Section I. Be it enacted by the People of
the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all that portion of the county of Coles lying within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at the northeast corner of the county of Coles; thence west on the line between said county and the county of Cham- paign, to the northwest corner of the county of Coles; thence south on the west line of Coles county to the southwest corner of section eight- een (18), township fourteen (14) north, of range seven cast ; thence cast on the section line to the southwest corner of section eighteen (18), township fourteen (14) north, range ten east ; thence north to the township line between townships fourteen (14) and fifteen (15); thence east on said line to the east line of Coles county; and thence north on the east line of Coles county to the place of beginning, be and the same is hereby created into a new county, to be called the county of Douglas : Provided, that a majority of all the voters of said county of Coles voting on the question, shall vote for the same in the manner hereinafter prescribed.
"Sec. 2. The qualified voters of the said county of Coles may, at an election to be held in the several precincts of said county, to be held on the first Monday of March next, vote for or against the creation of the said new county of Douglas by ballot, upon which shall be written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, 'For the New County' or 'Against the New County.'
"Sec. 3. The clerk of the county court of the county of Coles shall give notice of said election in the several election districts in said county, in the same manner as general or special elections are given, as nearly as may be ; and the judges of election and clerks thereof shall conduct said election and make returns thereof
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND IHISTORICAL.
in the same manner as is now provided by law state. In case there shall be portions of pre- for conducting elections. In case of vacancies in cincts or election districts within the boundaries of the new county, then the voters within the same may, at the first election for county of- ficers, as herein provided for, vote within such precinct or election district as they may deem most convenient within said new county. the board of election, or failure to attend, such vacancies of absentees shall be filled in the same manner as is now provided by law in relation to elections. Returns of said election shall be made by the several boards of election to the clerk of the county court of Coles county, who shall be governed by the general election law then in force in opening and canvassing the same. The clerk of the county court of Coles county shall make return of the votes to Cole- man Bright and J. B. McCown within six days after the same have been canvassed; and the said clerk shall also within ten days make re- turn of said votes to the secretary of state.
"Sec. 4. If it shall appear that a majority of all the voters in said county of Coles voting upon the question have voted for the creation of the new county of Douglas, then, and in that case, there shall be held a special election in the several precincts within the limits in this act described for said new county of Donglas, on the second Monday in April next, for county officers. Said election shall be conducted by the judges of elections then holding office under appointment in the county of Coles, and at the usual places of holding elections; at which election the qualified voters of the new county of Douglas shall elect all county officers for said county, except such as are hereafter excepted, who shall be commissioned and qualified in the same manner as such officers are in other counties in the state, and shall hold said offices until the next general election for such officers, and until their successors are elected and qual- ified, and shall have all the jurisdiction and per- form all the duties which [are] or may be con- ferred upon or required of like officers in this
"Sec. 5. All the justices of the peace, con- stables, or other officers who have been hereto- fore elected and qualified in the county of Coles, whose term of office shall not have expired at the time of said election, and whose place of residence shall be embraced within the limits of said county of Douglas, shall continue to hold their said offices and exercise the juris- diction and perform the duties thereof until term of office shall expire and their successors shall be elected and qualified.
"Sec. 6. For the purpose of fixing the per- manent county seat of said new county of Douglas, the voters of said county shall, at said election of county officers, vote for some place, to be designated upon their ballots, for a county seat; upon said ballots shall be written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, 'For county seat'-after which word shall be written or printed the name of the place in- tended. The place receiving the majority of all the votes polled upon that question shall be the county seat of the said county of Douglas; but if no one place shall receive a majority of all the votes polled upon that question, then it shall be the duty of the county court of said county to call another election, within sixty days thereafter, at the several places of holding elections in said county; at which time the voters of said county shall choose from the two places having the highest number of votes at the previous election, and the place having the
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
majority of all the votes cast shall be the per- manent county seat of said county of Douglas. "Sec. 7. Notice of said election for county officers shall be given by the clerk of the county court of Coles county, in the same manner as notices of general elections are given in other cases; which notices shall specify that a vote will be taken upon the location of the county seat ; and returns of said election shall be made to said clerk of said county court, the same as is provided by law in other cases.
"Sec. 8. All sitits and prosecutions that have been, or may be commenced in said county of Coles, including all proceedings in the county court of said county in matters of probate be- fore the organization of said county of Dong- las, shall not be affected by this act, but all such suits, prosecutions and proceedings shall be prosecuted and conducted to their final termina- tion in said county of Coles; and the officers of said county of Coles are hereby authorized to execute all writs that may be necessary for the completion of said suits, prosecutions and pro- ceedings within the limits of said county of Douglas; and all judgments that may have heretofore or that may hereafter be obtained under the provisions of this section shall have the same lien upon all property within the lim-, its of said county of Douglas as though the said territory had not been erected into a separate county.
"Sec. 9. As soon as the county officers shall have been elected and qualified, the said county of Douglas shall be considered organ- ized, and the clerk of [the] circuit court of said county shall give notice thereof to the judge of the fourth judicial circuit, who shall hold court at such places as shall be designated by the county court, until the county seat is
located, as herein provided, said circuit court to be holden at such times as said judge shall direct, until otherwise provided by law.
"Sec. 10. The school funds belonging to the several townships embraced in the limits of said county of Douglas shall be paid and de- livered over by the school commissioners of the county of Coles to the school commissioner of the said county of Douglas as soon as he shall be elected and qualified.
"Sec. II. The county court of the said county of Douglas may, at any term of said court, by an order to be entered of record, ap- point some competent person a commissioner for the purpose hereinafter expressed, who shall take an oath of office before some person authorized by law to administer oaths. Said court shall, at the same time, provide a suffi- cient number of blank books and deliver to said commissioner, who shall receipt for the same to the clerk of said county court.
"Sec. 12. As soon as said books shall be delivered to said commissioner, he shall record in each a copy of the order of his appointment, and of his oath of office, and shall thereupon proceed to transcribe into such books all such deeds, mortgages and title papers of every de- scription, with the certificates of acknowledg- ment thereto, of lands lying in the county of Douglas, which have been recorded or may be recorded hereafter, before the organization of said county of Douglas, be recorded in the re- corder's office of the said county of Coles; and there shall be allowed him, the said com- missioner, such sum as his services aforesaid are reasonably worth; to be paid out of the county treasury of the county of Douglas.
"Sec. 13. When the said commissioner shall have completed his work he shall make
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
return of said books to the clerk of the circuit court of said county of Douglas; and they shall thereupon be taken and considered, to all in- tents and purposes, as books of record of deeds, mortgages and title papers for the county of Douglas; and copies of said papers, certified by the officer having custody of said books, shall be evidence in all courts and places in the same manner that copies of records are evidence in other cases, and with like effect.
"Sec. 14. The county of Douglas shall be responsible for and bound to pay one-fourth of the county debt of the county of Coles, in- curred for stock in the Terre Haute & Alton Railroad Company, and shall be entitled to one-fourth of the stock held by said county of Coles in said railroad company ; and it shall be the duty of the county court of the county of Douglas, after the Ist of January, A. D. 1860, to pay the interest on the bonds issued by the county of Coles for that purpose, num- bered from No. I to No. 25, inclusive, semi- annually, as the same shall become due; and also to provide for and pay the principal of said bonds, numbered as above, the same being one-fourth of the said debt of Coles county.
"Sec. 15. That the county of Douglas shall, until otherwise provided for by law, at this or a subsequent session, be attached to and con- stitute a part of the twenty-fifth representative district, and of the eighteenth senatorial dis- trict.
"Sec. 16. The secretary of state shall forth- with furnish the clerk of the county court of the county of Coles with a copy of this act, certified under the seal of state.
"Sec. 17. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
"Approved February 8, 1859."
A supplementary bill .- This bill was drawn up by A. G. Wallace, assisted by Dr. McKin- ney, Martin Rice, Coleman Bright, J. B. Mc- Cown, W. H. Lamb, J. R. Hammet and others. In its description of boundaries, township 14, of ranges 10, 11 and 14, were omitted in some way, and it soon appeared that the county as (described in the act did not contain the required area "of not less than four hundred square miles," whereupon a supplementary act was asked for to cover their deficiency. The defect- ive bill had passed both houses before this vital error was discovered, and only three days of the session remained. Dr. J. W. Mckinney, of Camargo, at once started for Springfield, wrote out a supplementary bill adding eighteen sections of land. This was accomplished be- tween ten and twelve o'clock in the morning, and after a deal of hard work the bill was con- sidered in the house, under a suspension of the rules, and read a second time and passed, reported to the senate and again passed, under a suspension of the rules ; the bill was signed by the governor at four o'clock and the Doctor, with a copy of it in his possession, was on his way home by six o'clck P. M. the same day. This bill also postponed the day of election and is as follows :
"Whereas it is represented that the county of Donglas, as created by the act to which this is supplementary, does not contain the number of square miles required by the constitution ; therefore, in order to perfect the same, and that said county may contain the requisite num- ber of square miles,
"Sec I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, that the folloing described territory, to wit: Sections one (1), two (2), three (3),
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four (4), five (5), six (6), seven (7), eight (8), nine (9). ten (10). fifteen (15), sixteen (16), seventeen (17), eighteen (18), township No. 14, range No. 10, and section six (6), in township No. 14, range No. 1I, and sections four (4), five (5) and six (6), in township No. 14, range No. 14 west, be and the same are hereby declared to be a part of the county of Douglas, as fully and completely, for all pur- poses whatsoever, as if they had been contained within the boundaries set forth in the act to which this act is supplementary.
"Sec. 2. The election required by the act to which this is supplementary, to be held on the first Monday in March next, shall be held on the third Monday of March, in the manner therein provided.
"Sec. 3. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.
"Approved February 16, 1859."
The partition left the new county with reg- ular outlines, save in the southeast corner, where some fifteen square miles of territory was not included to accommodate the citizens of Oakland an vicinity, who preferred to re- main in Coles county, and by this concession the managers of the partition secured their co- operation. As finally formed, Douglas county contained four hundred and eight sections, the area amounting to between four hundred and nine and four hundred and ten square miles, the sections varying in this county considerably in size, the smallest being as low as two hun- dred and thirty acres, and many running some- what over one thousand acres. These and other irregularities are occasioned by the inaccuracies of the government surveyors, and the practical limitations of the system.
The new county was now born and
christened, and being admitted, the next thing in this case was to see that she was properly clothed, and to this end the first nominating convention for the selection of county officers was held in a board shanty on the McCarty farm, two and one-half miles east of Tuscola. The men put in nomination were selected with- out regard to party, and the officers who were then elected were :
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