USA > Illinois > Hancock County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Hancock County, Volume II > Part 8
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H. Judd was a dental surgeon at Warsaw.
B. F. Newlon was a physician at Dallas City.
William A. Patterson was proprietor of the Madison House at Carthage.
Hinchman & Loomis, a firm comprised of J. R. W. Hinchman and John S. Loomis, were land agents at Carthage, and Mason W. Mc- Quary was engaged in the same business.
J. J. Crawford was a physician and surgeon at Carthage, and N. B. Butler was a physician and surgeon at La Harpe.
In this paper Joel Howd of Webster Adver- tised the Franklin House of Pontoosuc for sale.
U. C. Taylor had purchased of Benjamin Clark his entire stock of goods, had added largely to the stock, and was engaged in selling dress goods, boots and shoes and clothing at Carthage.
L. Oudard advertises an ice-cream saloon at Nauvoo, advising the people that "the refreshing breezes, to say nothing of the good things to eat, and the taste with which his grounds are cultivated, will compensate for the trouble and expense of a visit."
J. & J. K. Lloyd were engaged in the grocery, hardware and iron business at Hamilton, and J. W. and G. S. Knox were selling dress-goods and groceries at Warsaw.
Samuel Wilson was conducting the Wilson
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY
House on the east side of the public square at Carthage, sparing no pains to give satisfaction to the public.
Jesse R. Cunningham was selling spring and summer goods, including silk, satin, English straw, hair-lace and Leghorn bonnets, ready -. made clothing, hardware, queensware and gro- ceries.
J. F. & John Sample of Carthage were ready to undertake all kinds of carpenter and joiner work at the shortest notice.
E. Harris was engaged in selling dress-goods and clothing at Carthage and George Rockwell was engaged in the drug business at Warsaw, and Hendrix & Ellison in the grocery business at Carthage.
Dr. M. Crump was practicing medicine at Ft. Green, and Dr. A. J. Griffith at Carthage.
In the issue of the Carthage Republican dated November 19, 1857, other names of busi- ness men appear. The Republican at that time was published by Child & Garthwait.
Among professional cards are those of Dr. Adam Spitler, Dr. J. K. Boude and Dr. M. J. L. Birchard of Carthage, and Dr. A. Thompson, electric physician, two miles south of Basco on the Warsaw road.
John S. Cox advertises as a forwarding and commission merchant and dealer in groceries and provisions at Hamilton, and E. H. Wil- liams as a nursery man at Carthage.
L. Wells was keeping the "Prairie House" five miles from Carthage, at the junction of the Warsaw and Keokuk roads, for the accommo- dation of the public.
D. L. Dudgen was a clock and watchmaker at Carthage. Crocket Wilson was engaged in selling goods at Carthage, as were also Le Tulle, Webb and Le Tulle, successors of Hill, Knox & Co. at Warsaw.
J. K. Anderson was keeping the Keokuk House at Plymouth.
OLD LANDMARKS
Under the title of "Old Landmarks," Mr. Gregg in his History of Hancock County deals with the early settlements under the names then used to designate them, as no one but one of the earliest settlers in the county, as Mr. Gregg was, could so satisfactorily and vera- ciously name and describe them. We give the history of these settlements and localities in Mr. Gregg's language.
Head of the Rapids .- This cannot be said to
be passing away ; but the term as a designation of a settlement is now seldom used, though once very common as a name for that early settle- ment in the county now occupied by Nauvoo.
Foot of the Rapids .- Embraced all that coun- try opposite "The Point," from Fort Edwards to Chancy creek, or the Montebello House.
Fort Johnson .- The remains of an old stock- ade fort, on the high bluff south of Albers' mill, in Warsaw.
Fort Edwards .- A fort at Warsaw that was still standing and occupied by settlers as late as 1845.
Venus .- Was a postoffice only, and the first established in the county. It was at the head of the rapids, in the midst of the oldest settle- ment in the county, excepting Fort Edwards. Who was its first postmaster we have not learned.
Montebello .- This was the name of the oldest town in the county. It was laid out in 1832, by Luther Whitney and William Vance. It for many years was the business center for the set- tlers along the rapids, and a place where many goods have been sold. As a town or place of business, it is now unknown, and its name has been transferred to the township in which it was situated.
Green Plains .- Was once quite a famous local- ity in the county, now unknown. It embraced parts of what are now Wythe, Walker, Wilcox and Rocky Run townships, the postoffice for which was at Col. Levi Williams' home.
Golden's Point .- Was a point of timber pro- jecting into the prairie on the borders of Lary's creek, in Sonora township, named from Abram Golden, a settler there at an early day.
Spillman's Landing .- The point on the river in the north part of the county, near the resi- dence of Mr. Hezekiah Spillman, and where he kept a ferry, and a woodyard for steamboats. He was a settler of 1825.
Round Prairie .- A designation by which a rich prairie settlement was known in the early days, lying partly in Hancock and partly in Schuyler and McDonough counties. It was bounded north, east, and west by the waters of Crooked creek and branches, and south by Wil- liams' creek, and had Plymouth for its busi- ness center.
Oliver's Settlement .- Was that early settle- ment in the southeast of the county around Pulaski, and had its name from Alexander Oliver, its earliest settler.
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Joe Duncan .- Was a town laid out in the years of town mania by Robert Miller, David W. Mathews and Isaac N. Morris. It was near the southeast corner of Fountain Green township. Ex-Governor Duncan was at that time a specu- lator in town lots, and it is stated that it re- ceived its name, Joe Duncan, because he re- fused to take stock in it. Mathews and Miller sold goods there for a short period.
Cutler's Grave .- At Commerce, the place where George Y. Cutler, one of the first county commissioners, was buried, enclosed by a stone wall.
Half-way House .- A little frame building erected about 1834, and occupied by one Chap- man, at the place afterwards owned and occu- pied by Mrs. Samuel Comer, just west of Elvas- ton, and on the Warsaw and Carthage road.
Prentis' Shanty .- A shanty built near the line of the Warsaw & Peoria Railroad, soon after the state entered upon its magnificent scheme of internal improvements. Mr. Daniel Prentis, of Fountain Green, had a contract for grading in 1838-9 and to accommodate his hands erected a shanty there. The shanty remained there many years, and was a point well known to travelers. (Daniel Prentis spelled the name with one "s," but his son, S. W. Prentiss, doubles the "s.")
Rock Island Trail .- An old road that led from Quincy and beyond to Rock Island and Galena lead mines, from point to point in the prairie. In this county it ran from Green Plains to Golden's Point, thence to other points north. It crossed the Warsaw & Peoria Railroad at Pren- tis' shanty, two or three miles east of Hamilton.
Commerce .- A town at the head of the rapids, laid out in 1834 by Joseph B. Teas and Alexan- der White.
Commerce City .- Laid out in 1836, and de- signed to be the town of the West.
Commerce and Commerce City became parts or Nauvoo.
Des Moines City .- Laid out in 1837, by Dr. Adolphus Allen, on the Mississippi, about two miles above Montebello. It died in its infancy.
Hartford .- Was laid out in 1837, by James M. Campbell, on section 5, 7n., 7w., in the north part of the county. It also died in infancy.
Mechanicsville .- As its name indicates, was designed for a manufacturing village, and for a time bid fair to realize the expectations of its proprietor. It was laid out in 1842 by Alan- son Lyon, near the northwest corner of Augusta
township. The manufacture of wagons, car- riages, and agricultural implements was entered into and carried on for a time; but for some cause the enterprise failed, and the town exists only in name.
Ramus .- Was a Mormon town, laid out in 1840 by Wm. Wightman, and settled largely by the Mormons, having at one time 400 or 500 in- habitants. It was sometimes called Macedonia. It is now Webster. The history of Ramus is more clearly shown by an act of the General As- sembly in force March 3, 1843, for the incorpora- tion of the town of Macedonia. Section 14 of the act appoints Joseph E. Johnson, William McLeary and Benjamin Andrews to conduct the first election for the seven trustees provided for in the act, and requires the persons elected to organize by electing one of their number presi- dent, and by appointing a clerk, and then pro- vides that this board of trustees shall prescribe the mode of conducting ant elections after the first election, and that "the town of Ramus, from and after the passage of this law, shall be known and designated as the town of Mace- donia." It thus appears that this particular municipality was first known by the name of Ramus, and that this name was afterwards changed to Macedonia by act of the General Assembly. It is probable that this change of names had in fact been effected before the act was passed, and that the act was passed to give validity to the new name and to confer cor- porate powers accordingly. This is suggested by the first sentence of Section 1, which enacts that the inhabitants and residents of the town of Macedonia are made a body corporate and politic in law, by the name and style of the "trustees of the town of Macedonia." At a later date the name of the town was changed to Web- ster, by which name it is known at the present day. The population of from 400 to 500 in- habitants which Ramus or Macedonia had in Mormon days was greatly reduced by the exodus of the Mormons.
Yelrome .- Was the name given by its pro- prietor, Isaac Morley (as attorney for Joseph Smith), to the Mormon town, in the township of Walker, laid out in 1844. It generally was known by the name of Morley-Town. It was principally burnt out during the trouble in 1845. It is now Tioga.
Franklin .- Was the name of the postoffice and settlement about La Harpe until 1836, when William Smith and Marvin Tryon laid out the
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY
town, and gave it the name of the French adventurer.
La Harpe .- (This item has been written by the Hon. John H. Hungate of La Harpe.) The vicinity was originally called Franklin, but was changed to La Harpe when an old stockade was discovered on a high bluff of the creek north of the town which, at that time, was supposed to have been the camping place, during severe weather, of General La Harpe when he explored French possessions in the new world. It was named Fort La Harpe and it commanded an extensive view of the surround- ing country. The ditch and raised earth, enclos- ing about two acres, is still visible, and inside of the enclosure are lookout pits and a place for cooking. However, there is no historic evidence that General La Harpe reached this part of the country, and some years ago the Reverend Doctor Peet, an eminent archaeologist, and the author of several books on aboriginal mound- building, visited the locality and pronounced the so-called fort an Indian stockade, probably the work of the Iroquois tribe from the east during a campaign extending as far west as the Mis- sissippi River. Hancock County was evi- dently an ideal hunting ground and the perma- nent home of many Indians. Indian arrow- heads and stone axes have been found in great abundance along all the streams and the river bluffs. There is a stone axe still preserved in La Harpe weighing seventeen pounds and there is not in the Smithsonian Museum a similar in- strument more perfect and symmetrical.
Several years ago Wayman Huston was hunt- ing in the woods about five miles northeast of La Harpe, when, from under an old stump his dog scratched out three stone tablets 6x9 inches, with inscriptions carved thereon in Norman- French. One of the inscriptions is as follows: "We are captured by the Indians and if we at- tempt to escape we will be burned." It is sup- posed that those stones were put there by those men who deserted from La Salle and Tonti during the building of Creve Coeur. They found themselves between the upper and nether mill- stones. They dared not desert from the Indians, under penalty of death, neither could they re- turn to France where the penalty of their crime was also death.
Shakerag .- Years ago this was a common designation of a locality a short distance south- west of the present town of La Crosse. This part of the county, in an early day, was rough,
wooded land, in fact, rather a wild place, where blackberry bushes grew in great abundance. In the blackberry season the locality was infested with people from all directions, many of whom went to Shakerag in the afternoon or evening and camped for the night, in order that they might be in the blackberry field at dawn of the following day. Those who were there first ob- tained the berries.
Tuckertown .- Two or three miles east of where Bentley stands, there was a small village in the sixties, named Tuckertown after the Tucker family of that vicinity. There were one or two stores, a blacksmith shop, and perhaps a mill, and some residences. After the Wabash road had been built and a station established at Bentley, Tuckertown declined and soon ceased to exist.
CHAPTER III
COUNTY ORGANIZATION
NORTHWEST TERRITORY-ORDINANCE OF 1787- INDIANA TERRITORY-TERRITORY OF ILLINOIS- STATE OF ILLINOIS-FIRST CONSTITUTION-STATE BOUNDARIES-SEVENTY SOULS-FORT JOHNSON- AND FORT EDWARDS-ORGANIZATION OF HANCOCK COUNTY-FIRST ELECTION-FIRST DISTRICTS- FIRST GRAND JURY-FIRST PETIT JURY- OTHER EARLY ACTS - ELECTION PRECINCTS - EARLY ROADS-EARLY BOUNDARIES-EARLY TAX LEVIES -COUNTY SEAT-CARTHAGE PERMANENT COUN- TY SEAT-LAYING OUT OF CARTHAGE-COUN- CIL OF REVISION-UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO CHANGE COUNTY-SEAT-SECOND CONTEST- ELEC- TION RESULTS-LOG CABIN COURTHOUSE (1833) -PERMANENT COURTHOUSE (1839)-PRESENT COURTHOUSE (1906)-JAILS-COUNTY FARM.
NORTH WEST TERRITORY
That part of Illinois Territory now known as Hancock County is part of the lands referred to by act of Virginia, Dec. 20, 1783, with refer- ence to what has been known as the North- west Territory. The act in question author- ized the delegates of the State of Virginia in
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY
Congress to convey to the United States all the rights of that commonwealth in and to the territory "northwestward" of the river Ohio. The delegates referred to were Thomas Jef- ferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe. On March 1, 1784, these delegates, by instrument reciting the act of session above mentioned, and reciting that they were the dele- gates referred to, and that the said resolution remained in full force, by virtue of the power and authority so committed to them, and in the name and for and in behalf of the com- monwealth of Virginia, conveyed, transferred, assigned and made over to the United States, in Congress assembled, for the benefit of the said states, Virginia inclusive, all right, title and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction, which the said commonwealth had to the ter- ritory or tract of country within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio to and for the use and purposes and on the conditions of the said recited act.
At the time of this cession of the Northwest Territory to the United States, that very small fraction thereof afterwards named Hancock County, Illinois, was a wilderness, its forests untouched by axe, its prairies covered with wild grasses and pools of water, the home of wild animals, and untrodden by any human beings except Indians, and giving little prom- ise of its present population, wealth, fertility and beauty as one of the choicest spots of the great State of Illinois.
ORDINANCE OF 1787
On July 13, 1787, Congress, sitting under the Articles of Confederation, passed the celebrated ordinance of 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. This ordinance was drawn by one Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, a dis- tinguished jurist of that day, and was passed by the Continental Congress without any change or alteration whatever.
The ordinance of 1787 contains a clever and comprehensive statement of fundamental rights, drawn in part from Magna Charta, and largely preserved in the several state constitutions. Among them are the following :
"No person demeaning himself in a peace- able and orderly manner shall ever be molested
on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments in the said territory."
"The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writs of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of the people in the Legislature, and of judicial proceedings ac- cording to the course of the common law."
"All persons shall be bailable, unless for capi- tal offences, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great."
"All fines shall be moderate and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted."
"No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; and should the public exigencies make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compen- saton shall be made for the same."
"Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of educa- tion shall forever be encouraged."
"The utmost good faith shall always be ob- served toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them with- out their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty, they shall never be invaded or dis- turbed, unless in just and lawful wars author- ized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them."
"There shall be neither slavery nor involun- tary servitiude in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted : Provided always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original states, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid."
The act of cession provided that the North- west Territory should be laid out and formed into states, containing suitable extent of ter- ritory, not less than 100 nor more than 150 miles square, or as near thereto as circum- stances would admit, to be admitted as mem- bers of the federal Union, having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other states.
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But the State of Virginia, by act of Dec. 30, 1788, ratified and confirmed a different di- vision of the territory requested by Congress under date of July 7, 1786, so far as to em- power Congress to divide the territory into distinct and republican states, not more than five nor less than three in number, as the situation of that country and circumstances might require.
INDIANA TERRITORY
By act of Congress, passed on May 7, 1800, it was enacted that from after July 4, 1800, all that part of the Northwest Territory, lying westward of the line beginning at the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north, until it should intersect the terri- torial line between the United States and Can- ada, should, for the purpose of temporary gov- ernment, constitute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory. The government of Indiana Territory was to be in all respects similar to that provided by the ordinance of 1787, and the officers for the said territory were to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. It was further provided that whenever that part of the territory which lay east of the line run- ning north from the mouth of the Great Miami river, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, should be erected into an independent state and admitted into the Union, such line should remain permanetly the boun- dary line between such state and the Indiana Territory. It was further provided that Chil- licothe, on the -Scioto river, should be the seat of government of the territory northwest of the Ohio river, and that Saint Vincennes, on the Wabash river, should be the seat of government for the Indiana Territory.
TERRITORY OF ILLINOIS
Illinois was constituted a separate territory by act of Congress, of Feb. 3, 1809, to take effect from and after March 1, 1809. This new territory called Illinois was described as all that part of the Indiana Territory which lay west of the Wabash river, and a direct line drawn from the Wbash river and "Post" Vin- cennes due north, to the territorial line be- tween the United States and Canada. The
ordinance of 1787 was made effective within this territory, and the officers were to be ap- pointed by the President, by and with the ad- vice and consent of the Senate. Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi river, was declared to be the seat of government.
STATE OF ILLINOIS
On April 18, 1818, Congress passed an act authorizing the inhabitants of the Territory of Illinois to form a constitution and state gov- ernment, and to assume such names as they should deem proper, and providing that such state, when formed, should be admitted into the Union upon the same footing with the origi- nal states, in all respects whatever.
In this act of Congress, the proposed state was described as follows: Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash river; thence up the same, and with the line of Indiana (which had theretofore been formed into a state), to the northwest corner of said state; thence east with the line of the same state to the mid- dle of Lake Michigan; thence north along the middle of the same lake, to North latitude 42° 30'; thence west to the middle of the Mis- sissippi river; and thence down along the mid- dle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio river ; and thence up the latter river along its northwestern shore, to the beginning. These boundaries were subject to ratification by the convention provided for in the act, and, it was further provided that if the said convention should not ratify the boundaries, they should remain as prescribed by the ordinance for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio. It was further provided that Illi- nois should have concurrent jurisdiction with Indiana on the Wabash river as far as that river should form the common boundary, and also concurrent jurisdiction on the Mississippi river with any state or states which should be formed west thereof, so far as said river should form a common boundary to both.
Fifteen counties are specified in the act, three of them to have three representatives each, and the others two each, in the convention to be held at the seat of government of the Territory of Illinois, on the first Monday of August, 1818, to determine first, by majority of the whole number elected, whether or not it was expedient at that time to form a con- stitution and state government for the people
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY
within the said territory, and, if it was deemed expedient, to proceed to form a constitution and state government. But it was provided that Illinois should not assume statehood, un- less it should appear, from the enumeration directed to be made by the Legislature, that there were, within the proposed state, not less than 40,000 inhabitants. A very important pro- viso in this act related to the ordinance of 1787, it being provided that the constitution and state government, whenever formed, should be republican and not repugnant to the ordinance of the 13th of July, 1787. Thus slavery was forever prohibited in the State of Illinois.
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It is a serious question whether Illinois Ter- ritory in 1818 had 40,000 inhabitants. There is evidence of some doctoring of the figures in order to swell the population to the neces- sary extent. It is said in "Illinois in 1818," by Solon Justus Buck, this being one of the Illinois Centennial publications, that "a com- parison of the returns with those of the United States census of 1820, bears out, to some ex- tent, the charge of padding." The return for Gallatin County had 101 more than the United States census figures for the same county, and for Washington County 190 more. The com- missioner, by way of postscript, stated that "from good information," there were 680 at Fort Crawford, seventy at Fort Edwards, and eighty 'at Fort Clark, and these were counted as within the boundary of Madison County. But Fort Crawford was at the mouth of the Wisconsin River, which was north of the Illi- nois boundary. However that may be, the fig- ures were sufficiently manipulated to make up a total of 40,000, or more, and Illinois, by hook or crook, got into the Union, and has been there ever since.
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