History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 23

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 758

USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 23
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 23

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Apropos of "marrying and giving in mar- riage," the following incident comes in place : In the early years of the county, Judge Roun- tree was the engineer that ran pretty much all of its machinery. He was Probate Judge, Recorder, County and Circuit Clerk, Justice of the Peace, legislator, and held a dozen or two other minor offices " too tedious to mention." |

Once, while at Springfield on legislative busi- ness, a couple came to town to get married, and when they found him gone, they seemed greatly troubled in " body and mind." But somebody sent them to Mrs. Rountree, who told them that she could issue the license if she could get in the office, but that Mr. Roun- tree had carried off the key with him to Spring- field. They went to the office, however, when the bridegroom elect set up a lot of fence-rails against the window and finally succeeded in forcing it open. He then entered and opened the door from the inside, and Mrs. Rountree went in where she found a license signed by Judge Rountree, which she filled up for the happy couple, and sent them on their road to Hymen rejoicing. Since then, many couples have gone aud done likewise ; the old, old story, and yet forever new, has been told over and over again, and still the work goes on. The date of the first birth is forgotten, but as Mr. Coolidge says, the crop of children was sure and large ; there was a first birth, and, perhaps, at an early day. The present population of the county indicates their frequency.

The first death which occurred is not now remembered. Sixty-five years have come and gone since the first white people came here, and now most of them have passed to that bourn whencc no traveler returns.

"Long years have flown o'er the scenes of the past, And many turned gray in the winter's cold blast; While others bnt dream of the time that is gone, They are bent by the years that are fast rolling on."

It was appointed unto all men to die, says Holy Writ, and pretty faithfully have the pioneers of Montgomery County obeyed the summons. The grass has grown over their graves in the old churchyard, the flowers have bloomed and withered with the coming and waning years, and a new generation now fill their places upon the stage of action.

186

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

CHAPTER III .*

ORGANIZATION OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY-THE ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE CREATING IT-EARLY OFFICERS AND COURTS-LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT -COURT HOUSES AND PUBLIC

BUILDINGS - DIVISION OF THE COUNTY INTO PRECINCTS AND TOWNSHIPS-CON-

VENIENCE OF TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS-THE POOR FARM, ETC. -POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES.

T MIIE American people tend naturally to self- government. Hence, the formation of States and counties as soon as the number of inhabitants will allow. Under the history of Bond County, we have seen how Illinois formed, first, a county of Virginia, then a portion of the Northwestern Territory, then of the Indiana Territory, later a territory of itself, and finally, a State of the American Union. Its first divi- sion into counties is there noted, and the man- ner in which Bond was created while the State was still a Territory, and embraced a vast ex- tent of country now divided into a number of counties. This tendency to independence and self-government, led to the formation of Mont- gomery County, when there were but a few hun- dred people within its present circumscribed limits. It was set off from Bond County, by act of the Legislature, passed at the session of 1820-21, and approved on the 12th of February of the latter year. That portion of the act per- taining to the organization of Montgomery County, or the main point of it, were as follows : " Be it enaeted by the General Assembly of Illi- nois, and it is hereby enaeted by authority of the same, that all that tract of country lying within the following prescribed boundaries, to wit :

" Beginning at the southeast corner of Sec- tion 24, in Township 7 north, and Range 2 west, of the Third Principal Meridian ; thenee west eighteen miles, to the southwest corner of Sec-

tion 19, in Township 7 north, and Range 5 west ; thence south to the line of said town- ship, thence west to the southwest corner, and thence north to the northwest corner of Town- ship 12 north ; thence east twenty-four miles to the northeast corner of Township 12 north, and Range 2 west, thence south to the beginning, to be known as Montgomery County, and that Melchoir Fogleman, James Street and Joseph Wright, be appointed Commissioners to locate the seat of justice of said county, etc., etc." The remainder of the act, with a number of " whereases " and " enactments," has no partieu- lar reference to this county and is omitted. The newly created county was named, it is said, in honor of Gen. Montgomery, a Revolutionary officer, while others are dubious as to whence it received its name. In the absence, however, of certainty, we will leave the honor with the old soldier mentioned above.

Montgomery County retained its original boundaries until the formation of Dane County, now ealled Christian, the act of which was ap- proved February 15, 1839, when a large mouth- ful was taken out of the northeast corner of Montgomery, leaving it in its present irregular shape. The Commissioners, appointed to locate the county seat, met at the house of Joseph McAdams, to determine the matter, and to de- cide upon an eligible site. According to the act creating the county, the owner of the land selected for the county seat was to donate twenty acres for public buildings, as an induce- ment for his land being accepted for the pur-

*By W. II. Perrin.

187

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

pose. After mature deliberation, the Commis- sioners made selection of a site, known since as the "McAdams place," and which is about three miles southwest of Hillsboro. A town was laid out and called Hamilton, lots were sold, streets surveyed, and contracts let for pub- lic buildings, and every effort made to start a town. In the meantime, however, there was much dissatisfaction as to the place selected, and strong objections raised to the erection of a court house and a jail at Hamilton. Joseph Wright, one of the Commissioners appointed to locate the county seat, refused to sign the report of the Commissioners, and made a kind of minority report on the question, urging as a reason for his course, that Ham- ilton was neither the geographical center of the county or of population. So great was the controversy over the matter that, by another act of the Legislature, passed early in the year 1823, new Commissioners were ap- pointed to relocate the county seat. This new board consisted of Elijah C. Berry, Silas L. Wait and Aaron Armstrong, and in accordance with the provisions of the act they met and, after considering the different points contesting for the honor, they chose the present site of Hillsboro. The name is said to have been given by a North Carolinian, many of whom were among the early settlers of this section, in honor of his native place, Hillsboro, N. C. But it is quite as probable that the name was attained from the numerous hills, upon which the little city now sits as majestically as did ancient Rome upon her seven hills.

The following incident is related in connec- tion with the location of the county seat at Hillsboro. The land upon which the town stands, and which had been selected for the capital, had not been entered at the time. The Commissioners had heard of a man living in the sonthern part of the county, of the name of Newton Coffey, who was said to have fifty dol- lars in money, something very unusual for a

pioneer citizen of Illinois at that day. So they sent for him and prevailed upon him to enter the land, as none else had money enough to do so. Coffey entered the land, made a donation of the usual twenty acres for public buildings, and proceeded to lay out the town of Hillsboro, as will be fully detailed in succeeding chapters of this work.

The Courts .- No public buildings, as we have said, were erected at Hamilton, and the first court of the newly-organized county was held at the house of Joseph McAdams, and after the relocation of the county seat, at the house of Luke Steel, until a building of a court house at Hillsboro. The first term of the Cir- cuit Court, as well as the County Commis- sioners' Court, was held at MeAdams', and was presided over by Hon. John Reynolds, Judge ; Hiram Rountree was Clerk, and Joel Wright Sheriff. The grand jury were as follows : John Seward, James Black, George W. Shipman, David Bradford, William McDavid, John Beck, James Card, George Davis, Elisha Freemen, Henry Hill, Lewis Scribner, Hiram Reavis. James Walker, Newton Coffey, Jarvis Forehand, John Yoakum, John Elder and Thomas Robinson. The first County Commissioners' Court was held April 7, 1821, the Commissioners being John Beck, John McAdams and John Seward. The following county officers were appointed at this term of courts, viz. : Hiram Rountree, Clerk ; " John Tilson, Treasurer ; Joel Wright, Sheriff, and E. M. Townsend, Probate Judge ; James Wright and Daniel Meredith were appointed first Constables of the county. Thus was the civil machinery of the county set in motion, by the organization of the different branches of the court, and the appointment of the requisite officers to properly administer the same. Some of these early officers were men of ability, and left their impress upon the history of the county, as will be seen from sketches of their lives in different departments of this work.

As population increased, the county was laid

188

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

off into districts for the greater convenience of the people and the better administration of the laws. It was first divided into election pre- cinets, and subdivided as occasion required. The election precincts were continued until within the last decade, when the county adopted township organization, and the precinets were changed into civil townships. There are now eighteen townships in the county, viz .: Hills- boro, North and South Litchfield, Zanesville, Harvel, Pitman, Raymond, Bois D'Arc, Roun- tree, Nokomis, Audubon, Witt, Fillmore, East Fork, Irving, Butler Grove, Walshville and Grisham. These are all full Congressional townships, that is, comprise thirty-six sections, except Harvel, Bois D'Arc, Audubon, Fillmore, East Fork and Grisham. Some of these have been divided for election purposes, but other- wise remain subject to the same township gov- ernment. Under the old precinct system, the court consisted of three Commissioners, elected by the people, and all business relating to the county was transacted by this court as it is now done by the Board of Supervisors. The system of township organization had its origin in the United States, in the early history and settlement of New England. "The root of this form of local government," says a late writer, " may be traced to the districting of England into tithings by King Alfred, in the ninth cen- tury, to crush the widespread local disorders which disturbed his realms." Upon this an- cient idea of tithing districts, the Puritans grafted their great improved township system. The county system originated in this country, in Virginia, and is also of English origin. The tobacco planters of the Old Dominion, owning their laborers more completely than did the Barons of England their vassals, lived isolated and independent upon their large landed es- tates, in imitation of the aristocracy of the mother country. They also modeled their county and municipal institutions, with certain modifications, suitable to the condition of the

new country, after the same prototype ; whence has spread the county system into all the South- ern and many of the Northern States. All the Northwest Territory, now constituting five States, after the conquest of Clark, was, by Virginia, in 1778, formed into one county under jurisdiction (as already mentioned), called Illi- nois. The county feature was after retained in all the States carved out of this territory. The county business in Illinois was transacted by these Commissioners, in the respective counties, who constituted a County Court, which, besides the management of county affairs, had usually other jurisdiction conferred upon it, such as that of Justice of the Peace and Probate business. By the constitution of 1848, owing to Eastern or New England settlers in the northern part of the State, township organization was author- ized, leaving it optional for any county to adopt or not the law to be enacted. In accordance with the provision of that constitution, and in obedience to a demand from the people in the northern part of the State, who had observed its practical workings in the Eastern States, the first township organization aet was passed by the Legislature. But the law, in attempting to pnt it into practical operation, disclosed radical defects. It was revised and amended at the session of 1851, substantially as it has existed until the recent revision in 1871. The adop- tion of the township system marks an era in the management of fiscal affairs in many of the counties of the State. Our township system is not, however, closely modeled after the New England States. There a Representative is sent directly from each town to the Lower House of the Legislature. In New York, owing to her vast extent of territory, this was found to be impracticable, and a county assembly de- nominated a Board of Supervisors, composed of a member from eachi town, was then estab- lished. This modified system we have copied, almost exactly, in Illinois.

" Townships are often compared to petty re-

A. M. Kingsbury

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS

191

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

publies, possessing unlimited sovereignty in matters of local concern ; and Boards of Su- pervisors are often popularly supposed to be vested with certain limited legislative powers. Neither is the case. Both the County and the Township Boards are the mere fiscal agents. They hold the purse-strings of the counties ; they may contract, incur debts, or create liabil- ities-very great powers, it is true-but they cannot prescribe or vary the duties, nor con- trol in any manner the county or township of- ficers authorized by law. While the County Court of three members is a smaller, and, there- fore, as a rule, more manageable, or control- table hody by outside influences, there is little doubt that a Board of Supervisors is not only more directly expressive, but also that a thou- sand and one petty claims of every conceivable character, having no foundation in law or jus- tice, are constantly presented, and, being loose- ly investigated and tacitly allowed, aggregate no insignificant sum. A Board of Supervisors also acts or is controlled more by partisan feelings. There ought to be uniformity through- out the State in the management of county af- fairs. No little confusion seems to pervade the laws at the present time relating to our two classes of counties."

Whatever may be the opinion of the writer of the foregoing, the system of township organ- ization now in vogue in a majority of the coun- ties of Illinois, is not without its merits. The fact-a very potent one, too-is that, when once adopted by any county, it is never changed. None have been known, as far as we have been able to learn, though the attempt has often been made, to recede from the position and return to the old system. And, slowly as some of the counties were to enter into it, yet when they did finally adopt it, they have continued to eling perseveringly to it. Montgomery, as we have said, was late in adopting township organ- ization, remaining under the old precinct organ- ization until 1873, when the new order of local

government was inaugurated. The most im- portant township officers are a Supervisor, Township Clerk, Assessor, Treasurer, etc. The number and names of the townships of Mont- gomery County have already been given in this chapter.

The Poor Farm .- This is a county institu- tion and deserves some mention in this connec- tion. It is located in East Fork Township, about three miles south of Hillsboro. The costs of pauperage in this county are but small com- pared to those borne by the people of England and some other European nations. The local communities of Illinois give equally good care to a few unfortunates who, by constantly re- curring misfortunes, are at last brought to live upon the county.

The first Poor Farm was in Irving Township, and was known as "swamp land," which was set apart for the purpose of a Poor Farm, but was never used nor improved as such. It was selected December 6, 1873, and was the northeast quarter of Section 1, Township 9 (Irving), Range 3. A committee was appointed to prepare a place for erecting buildings, etc., and March 27, 1874, a contract was let for $3,900 for that pur- pose, but on the 29th of April, before work commenced, the site was changed to the Black- man farm, in East Fork Township. The con- tractor was to put up the same buildings as those designed in Irving Township. May 1, 1874, the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 24 (eighty acres), and part of the east half of the southeast quarter of the same sec- tion (sixteen acres); west half of northwest quarter of Scetion 19, and part of the west half of the southwest quarter of same section, 172 acres, was purchased of O. Blackman, at $35 per acre, and a decd made to the Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County. The buildings, as originally designed, were com- pleted and accepted September 9, 1874, by the Board of Supervisors.

In a recent article upon the institution, Mr.

192

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Springer says : "The Poor House is shaded by handsome forest trees, and flanked on the left with a well-trained and productive orchard. The care and comfort which its inmates, who have in most instances some mental or phys- ical defects, and often both, is far better than they had met in earlier parts of their friendless lives, and here they seem actually to enjoy an existence, which to the rational visitor appears unenviable. The establishment has been satis- factorily conducted ever since its removal here from its first location in Irving Township, and at an expense (under the management of Mr. Staub) to the county, comparatively light. It is part self-sustaining, the soil of the farm be- ing productive under careful cultivation."

Political .- In the early history of Mont- gomery County, there was but little strife among political parties as compared to that of a later day. The war of 1812, and the ac- companying events, wiped out the old Federal party that had so bitterly opposed Mr. Jeffer- son, and for some years politics ran on smoothly. The scramble for office in the early period of the county was almost nothing to what it is at present. The office sought the man and not the man the office ; and an un- faithful "steward " was rarely heard of. The most Incrative offices were filled by appoint- ment and not by popular election, and as a general thing by faithful and competent men, who discharged their duties without fear or favor. Thus, Judge Rountree held several important offices at the same time, for more than twenty years-a pretty good proof that he discharged his duties faithfully.

The appointing power, conferred by the Legislature upon the court, although anti-re- publican in principle, is believed by many to be the best calculated to secure efficiency and competency in office. Experience has proven, in many instances, that the less frequently changes are made, the better it is for the pub- lic service. The early records of the County

show, under the appointing power, but few changes-the case of Judge Rountree being an example in point.

The Presidential election of 1824 was at- tended with uunsual excitement. The candi- dates for President were Henry Clay, Gen. Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William II. Crawford. Mr. Clay carried his own State but was overwhelmingly defeated. Neither of the candidates had a majority of the votes in the Electoral College, according to the Consti- tutional rule, and upon the House of Repre- sentatives devolved the duty of making choice of President. Each State, by its Representa- tives in Congress, cast one vote. Mr. Clay was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and it is supposed that, through his influence, the Kentucky delegation cast the vote of that State for Mr. Adams instead of for Gen. Jack- son. By this coup d'etat Mr. Clay was instru- mental in organizing political parties that survived the generation in which he lived, and ruled in turn the destines of the Republic for more than a quarter of a century.

For several years after the political power and official patronage had passed into the hands of Old Hickory, parties were known thronghont the country as the Jackson and anti-Jackson parties. These finally became the Whig and Democratic parties, the latter of which lias retained its party organization down to the present day, and is still one of the great political parties of the time, and has ever been the dominant party in Montgomery Connty. During the existence of the Whig party, the Democrats usually carried off the spoils of office in the county ; and when the Whig party died and was resurrected nnder the title of Republican party, the ghost of Andrew Jackson still led the old hero's ad- herents on to victory, as he himself had led his ragged militia to victory at New Orleans. It is sometimes told of them, by way of derision that many Democrats are still voting for him,

193

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

particularly in the south end of the county. We were informed, however, by a gentleman whose party predilections do not coincide with them, that, from the amount of mail matter which goes to that section, they have doubt- less learned of his death ere this. Bnt, with

all the slurs cast at the party, it is a significant fact that the Democratic party, inaugurated during the political career of Gen. Jackson, still exists, and was never stronger or in a more flourishing condition, with better show of success, than at the present day.

194

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV .*

EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY - PIONEER PREACHIERS - ORGANIZATION OF CHURCHES - EDUCA- TIONAL-THE FIRST SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS-TIIE PIONEER SCHOOLIIOUSES-PRESENT EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES OF THE COUNTY -STATISTICS -COMPULSORY EDUCA- TION AND ITS GENERAL EFFECTS-THE PRESS OF THE COUNTY, ETC., ETC.

E DUCATION and religion received the early attention of the pioneers of Mont- gomery County. It is a fact highly com- mendable to them that churches were estab- lished while yet there was but a handful of residents in the newly-settled community. People in those early days seem really to have been more religious, more zealously devoted to their church and the cause of their Master than at the present day. Whether this result- ed from their lonely life in the wilderness, beset with toil and with danger as it was, or whether they were more zealous Christians, we will not attempt to say. But since we heard a minister of the Gospel recently declare in a sermon that some of the heathen countries of the Globe, who, fifty years ago, had never seen a Bible nor heard the story of the Cross, now had more Christians in proportion to their population than this enlightened country of ours, we are forced to believe the pioneers were more religious than their descendents. Their religion was more simple, earnest, and sincere, and possessed fewer forms and cere- monies than that now in vogue. Religion, like everything else, has kept up with the marvel- ous march of civilization, and the genuine old article, given us by "Him who spake as never man spake," has been wonderfully improved to adapt it to the lively wants of the nine- teenth century.

The introduction of the Gospel into Mont-

gomery County was coeval with its settlement by white people. The preachers came in reality " as one crying in the wilderness," and where- ever they could collect a few of the pioneers together, they proclaimed the glad tidings of sal- vation " without money and without price." The first sermon preached within the present limits of the county, is believed to have been preached by Rev. James Street, in 1817, at the house of David McCoy, one of the early set- tlers of what is now Hillsboro Township. A church was organized in 1820, the first Chris- tian organization in the county, and in 1821 a church edifice was erected. It was of the pioneer type, built of logs, the cracks daubed with mud and split logs formed the " pews," or, in backwoods parlance, the " benches." A Bap- tist Church was built in 1823, which was also a rude log structure. Although Rev. Street preached the first sermon, Rev. Henry Sears, it is claimed, was the first resident minister. The first resident Presbyterian minister was Rev. Jesse Townsend. Rev. Daniel Scherer organized the first Lutheran Church; the Presbyterians organized a church in East Fork in 1830, of which Rev. Joel Knight and Rev. John Barber were the first ministers.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 23

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin Number of Pages: 758

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 758