USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois > Part 7
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LAND TENURES.
The early French settlers held the possession of their land in common. A tract of land was fixed upon for a Common Field in which all the inhabitants were interested.
Beside the Common Field, another tract of land was laid off as the Com- mons. All the villagers had free access to this as a place of pasturage for their stock. From this they also drew their supply of fuel.
Individual grants were likewise made. Under the French system, the lands were granted without any equivalent consideration in the way of momey, the individuals satisfying the authorities that the lands were wanted for actual settlement, or for a purpose likely to benefit the community. The first grant of land, which is preserved, is that made to Charles Danie, May 10th, 1722. The French Grants at Kaskaskia extended from river to river, and at other places in the Bottom they commonly extended from the river to the bluff. Grants of land were made for almost all the American Bottom, from the upper limits of the Common Field of St. Phillip's to the lower line of the Kaskaskia Common Field, a distance of nearly thirty miles.
The British commandants, who assumed the government, on the cession of the territory by France, exercised the privilege of making grants, subject to the approval of his Majesty, the King. Colonel Wilkins granted to some merchants of Philadelphia a magnificent domain of thirty thousand acres lying between the village of Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher, much of it already covered by French grants previously made. For the better carrying out their plans, the British officers, and perhaps their grantees, destroyed to some extent the records of the ancient French grants at Kaskaskia, by which the regular claim of titles and conveyances was partly broken. This British grant of thirty thousand acres, which had been assigned to John Edgar, was afterward patented by Governor St. Clair to Edgar and John Murray St. Clair, the Governor's son, to whom Edgar had previously conveyed a moiety by deed.
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Although much fault was found with the transaction, a confirmation of the grant was secured from the United States government.
When Virginia ceded Illinois, it was stipulated that the French and Cana- dian inhabitants, and other settlers, who had professed allegiance to Virginia, should have their titles confirmed to them. Congress afterward authorized the Governor to confirm the possessions and titles of the French to their lands ; in accordance with this agreement, Governor St. Clair, in 1790, issued a procla- mation directing the inhabitants to exhibit their titles and claims to the lands which they held, in order to be confirmed in their possession. Where the in- struments were found to be authentic, orders of survey were issued, the expense of which was borne by the parties who claimed ownership. The French in- habitants were in such poverty at this time that they were really unable to pay the expenses of the surveys, and a memorial signed by P. Gibault, the priest at Kaskaskia, and eighty-seven others, was presented to Governor St. Clair, praying him to petition Congress for relief in the matter. In 1791 Congress directed that four hundred acres of land should be granted to the head of every family which had made improvements in Illinois prior to the year 1788. Before this, in 1788, Congress had also directed that a donation be given to each of the families then living at either of the villages of Kas- kaskia, Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, Fort Chartres, or St. Phillip's. These were known as "bead-right" claims.
At an early date speculation became active in the land claims of different kinds; bead-rights, improvement rights, militia rights, and fraudulent claims were produced in great numbers. The French claims were partly unconfirmed, owing to the poverty of that people, and these were forced on the market with the others. The official report of the commissioners at Kaskaskia, made in 1810, shows that eight hundred and ninety land claims were rejected as being illegal or fraudulent. Three hundred and seventy were reported as being supported by perjury, and a considerable number were forged. There are fourteen names given of persons, both English and French, who made it a regular business to furnish sworn certificates, professing an intimate knowledge, in every case, of the settlers who had made certain improvements upon which claims were predicated, and when and where they were located. A French- man, clerk of the parish of Prairie du Rocher, "without property and fond of liquor," after having given some two hundred depositions in favor of three land claimant speculators, "was induced" in the language of the report, "either by compensation, fear, or the impossibility of obtaining absolution on any other terms, to declare on oath that the said depositions were false, and that in giving them he had a regard for something beyond the truth."
The report of the commissioners raised many doubts in regard to the va- lidity and propriety of a number of confirmations by the Governors, and much dissatisfaction among the claimants, and in consequence Congress, in 1812, passed an act for the revision of these land claims in the Kaskaskia district. The commissioners under this law were Michael Jones, John Cald- well, and Thomas Sloo. Facts damaging to persons who occupied positions of high respectability in the community, were disclosed. They reported that the English claim of thirty thousand acres confirmed by Governor St. Clair to John Edgar and the Governor's son, John Murray St. Clair, was founded in neither law nor equity, that the patent was issued after the Governor's power ceased to exist, and the claim ought not to be confirmed. Congress, however, confirmed it.
For a period of several years, emigration was considerably retarded by the delay in adjusting land titles. The act of Congress, passed in 1813, granting the right of pre-emption to settlers, was influential in bringing the public lands into market. Emigrants poured into the country, and improvements were rapidly made.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
The history of Illinois has been traced while a possession of France, and when under the British government; and the formation of Illinois as a County of Virginia has been noted. The several States afterwards agreed, on the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, to cede their claims to the western lands to the General government. Virginia executed her deed of cession March the first, 1784. For several years after there was an imper- fect administration of the law in Illinois. The French customs partly held force, and affairs were partly governed by the promulgations of the British commandants issued from Fort Chartres, and by the regulations which had subsequently been issued by the Virginia authorities.
By the ordinance of 1787, all the territory northwest of the Ohio not con- stituted into one district, the laws to be administered by a governor and secretary, a court was constituted of three judges. A general assembly was provided for, the members to be chosen by the people. General Arthur St.
Clair was selected, by Congress, as Governor of the northwestern territory. The seat of government was Marietta, Ohio.
In the year 1795, Governor St. Clair divided St. Clair County. All south of a line running through the New Design settlement (in the present County of Monroe) was erected into the County of Randolph. In honor of Edmund Randolph of Virginia, the new county received its name.
Shadrach Bond, afterward the first Governor, was elected from Llinois, a member of the Territorial Legislature which convened at Cincinnati, in Jan- uary, 1799. In 1800 the Territory of Indiana was formed, of which Illinois constituted a part, with the seat of government at Vincennes. About 1806, among other places in the West, Aaron Burr visited Kaskaskia in an en- deavor to enlist men for his treasonable scheme against the government. In 1805, George Fisher was elected from Randolph County a member of the Territorial Legislature, and Pierre Menard was chosen member of the Legis- lative Council.
By act of Congress, 1809, the Territory of Illinois was constituted. Ni- nian Edwards was appointed Governor of the newly organized Territory, and the seat of government established at Kaska-kia. Nathaniel Pope, a relative of Edwards, received the appointment of Secretary.
For nearly four years after the organization of the Territorial Government no legislature existed in Illinois. All election for representatives was held on the eighth, ninth, and tenth of October, 1812. Shadrach Bond, then a resident of St. Clair County, was elected the first Delegate to Congress from Illinois. Pierre Menard was chosen from Randolph County member of the Legislative Council, and George Fisher of the House of Representatives. The Legislature convened at Kaskaskia on the twenty-fifth of November, 1812.
In April, 1818, a bill providing for the admission of Illinois into the Union as a sovereign State was passed by Congress. A Convention to frame a Constitution assembled at Kaskaskia in the following July. The first election under the Constitution was held in September, 1818, and Shadrach Bond was elected Governor, and Pierre Menard, Lieutenant-Governor. Illinois was now declared by Congress admitted to the Union as on equal footing in all respects with the original States. The Legislature again met at Kaskaskia in January, 1819. This was the last session ever held at Kas- kaskia. Vandalia, the same year, was selected as Capital of the State. It was stipulated that Vandalia was to be the Capital for twenty years. At the end of that period it was changed to Springfield. Below we give list of governors and chief officers of Illlinois.
Illinois was constituted a separate Territory by act of Congress, February 3d, 1809.
OFFICERS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
FROM 1809,
To 1878.
ILLINOIS TERRITORY.
NAME OF OFFICER. OFFICE.
. March 7, 1809.
Ninian Edwards, ....... Governor, . April 24, ISog.
H. H. Maxwell
Auditor Public Accounts, 1816.
Daniel P. Cook, ........
.January 13, 1816.
Joseph Phillips .Secretary,
December 17, 1816.
Robert Blackwell, Auditor Public Accounts, .. April 5, 1817,
Elijah C. Berry, .. 4
.August 29, 1817.
John Thomas,
. Treasurer, ..
1818.
STATE OF ILLINOIS.
Shadrach Bond, Governor, . October 6, 1818.
Pierre Menard, Lieut-Governor,
.. 6, 1818.
Elias K. Kane,.
.. Secretary of State,
= 6, 1818.
Elijah C. Berry,. Auditor Public Accounts,
1818.
Treasurer, John Thomas, 1818.
August 2, IS19.
Edward Coles,.
Governor,
December, IS22. = 1822.
Adolphus F. Hubbard, ... Lieut .- Governor,
Samuel D. Lockwood,. .. Secretary of State, ..
= 18, 1822.
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DATE OF COMMISSION OR INAUGURATION.
Nathaniel Pope, .Secretary of the Territory, ...
Robert K. Mclaughlin,
23
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Abner Field, ..
.Treasurer, ...
.. January 14, 1823.
David Blackwell, ....
Secretary of State,
April 2, 1823.
Morris Birbeck,
.. October 15, 1824.
George Forquer,.
=
January 15, 1825.
Ninian Edwards,.
Governor,
December, 1826.
William Kinney,
.. Lieut .- Governor, ...
1826.
James Hall, ..
Treasurer,
February 12, 1827.
Alexander P. Field,
Secretary of State,
January 23, 1829.
John Reynolds,
Governor,
. December 9, 1830.
Zadock Casey,
. Lieut .- Governor, 9, 1830.
John Dement,
Treasurer,
. February 5, 1831.
James T. B. Stapp,
Auditor Public Accounts,.
Governor, ..
1834.
Levi Davis, ..
Auditor Public Accounts,
November 16, 1835.
Charles Gregory,
Treasurer,
December 5, 1836.
John D. Whiteside,
. March 4, 1837.
Thomas Carlin,. Governor,
December, 1838.
Stinson H. Anderson Lieut .- Governor,
Stephen A. Douglas,
.Secretary of State, ..
. November 30, 1840.
Lyman Trumbull,
March 1, 1841.
Milton Carpenter,. Treasurer,
1841.
Mes:
Thomas Ford,
.Governor, December 8, 1842.
8, 1842.
Thomas Campbell, .Secretary of State,
.March 6, 1843.
William L. D. Ewing, .. .Auditor Public Accounts,
6, 1843.
Thomas H. Campbell,. 4 P. A. (to fill vacancy)
" 26, 1846.
Augustus C. French,
Governor,
December 9, 1846. 4 9, 1846.
Horace S. Cooley, ..
Secretary of State,
23. 1846.
John Moore, ...
Treasurer, (to fill vacancy), ....
August 14, 1848.
William McMurtry, ..
Lieut .- Governor, January, 1849.
David L. Gregg, .. Secretary of State (to fill vacancy), ... April 3, 1850,
Joel A. Matteson, ...
Governor,.
. January, 1853.
Gustavus Koerner,.
Lieut .- Governor, " 1853.
1853. Alexander Starne, Secretary of State
Ninian W. Edwards,
.Superintendent Public Instruction, ... March 24. 1854.
William H. Bissell,
.Governor, .January 12, 1857.
John Wood, .. Lieut .- Governor, 12, 1857.
Ozias M. Hatch, ..
.. Secretary of State,
12, 1857.
Jesse K. Dubois,
. Auditor Public Accounts,
12, 1857.
James Miller, ..
. Treasurer,
4 12, 1857.
William H. Powell .Superintendent Pullic Instruction, ...
12, 1857.
= 10, 1859. Newton Bateman,.
William Butler,. ....
.Treasurer (to fill vacancy), .. September 3, 1859.
Richard Yates,
Governor, January 14, 1861,
Francis A. Hoffman,
Lieut .- Governor,
14, 1861.
Ozi us M. Hatch,
.Secretary of State,
14, 1861.
Jesse K. Dubois,
.. Auditor Public Accounts, 14, 1861.
William Butler,
Treasurer,
44 14, 1861.
Newton Bateman, ..
Superintendent Public Instruction, ..
14, 1861.
Alexander Starne
Treasurer,
= 12, 1863.
John P. Brooks Superintendent Public Instruction, ...
4 12, 1863.
Richard J. Oglesby,. .Governor,
= 16, 1865.
William Bross, ....
Lieut .- Governor,
Sharon Tyndale,.
.Secretary of State,
Orlin H. Miner,
Auditor Public Accounts,
December 12, 1864-
James H. Beveridge, .. .... . .. Treasurer,
.January 9, 1865.
Newton Bateman, .Superintendent Public Instruction, ... January 10, 1865. George W. Smith, Treasurer, .January, 1867.
John M. Palmer,.
Governor,
January 11, 1869.
John Dougherty,.
. Lieut .- Governor,
11, 1869.
Edward Rummel!,
.Secretary of State, ..
11, 1869.
Charles E. Lippincott . Auditor Public Accounts.
= 11, 1869.
Erastus N. Bates,
. Treasurer,
11, 1869.
Newton Bateman,
Superintendent Public Instruction, ... January, 1871.
Erastus N. Bates,.
Treasurer,
November 8, 1870.
Richard J. Oglesby,
Governor,,
. January 13, 1873.
John L. Beveridge, Lieut .- Governor,
= 13, 1873.
George H. Harlow, Secretary of State,
« 13, 1873.
Charles E. Lippincott
.. Auditor Public Accounts, ..
13, 1873.
Edward Rutz, ...
. Treasurer,
13, 1873.
John Early,
Lieut .- Governor,
23, 1873.
S. M. Cullum,
Governor,
8, 1877.
Andrew Shuman,
.Lieut .- Governor,
8, 1877.
George H. Harlow,
Secretary of State,
= 8, 1877. Edward Rutz, ....
= 8, 1877.
T. B. Needles,
. Auditor Public Accounts,
S, IS77.
S. M. Etter,
... Superintendent Public Instruction, ... = 8, 1877.
J. P. Slade,
=
4
" 8, 1579.
J. C. Smith,
.Treasurer,
« 8, 1879.
Believing that it will be interesting to the younger readers of our work, we subjoin the following list of Presidents of the United States :
PRESIDENTA UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.
TERM OF SERVICE.
Virginia, . George Washington, . 1789 to 1797, eight years.
Massachusetts, .. .. 1797 to 1801, four years. John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, . 1801 10 1809, eight years*
Virginia, James Madison, .. 1809 to 1817, eight years.
James Monroe,
Virginia, .. 1817 to 1825, eight years.
John Quincy Adams
Massachusetts, .. 1825 to 1829, four years.
Andrew Jackson
Tennessee, .1829 to 1837, eight years.
New York, . 1837 to 1841, four years. John Tyler,
.. 1841 to 1845, four years. Tennessee Zichary Taylor,
.. 1849 to 1850, one year.
Franklin Pierce, ..
.New Hampshire .. .... 1853 to 1857, four years.
1838. James Buchanan, . Pennsylvania, .. 1857 to 1861, four years.
Abraham Lincoln, (murdered), Illinois
Tennessee, .. 1865 to 1869, four years. Ulysses S. Grant,. Illinois, 1869 to 1877, eight years.
Rutherford B. Hayes .. . Ohio,
1877, present incumbent.
CHAPTER III.
PIONEERS AND EARLY SETTLERS.
ENTEFORE speaking of the first white men who set foot on the soil of Macoupin, a few words concerning the copper-colored race whose strange habits and singular misfortunes have made them objects of sympathy, will not be out of place.
Never did a race inspire more romantic contemplation, or suffer more speedily and completely a disastrous fate than the American Indians. They perished when they came in contact with our civilization, almost as the hues of sunset fade when you look at them through the telescope; or as the odor of the rose vanishes while you attempt to analyze it.
Before they could be studied as men or as nations, as families or as tribes, either by their traditions or literatures, they had disappeared. Their lan- guage is mostly unknown and their literature a blank.
The Indians were not the first denizens of the soil. America seems to have been the home of a prior race ; and evidence is not wanting that this race was preceded by yet another. Of the race directly preceding the Indians there remains but a meagre record. A few mounds, some beads, a small variety of earth-made ware, stone hammers, implements for dressing skins, and, now and then, one of their idols of religious worship, are all of their domestic and public life left us. To write the history of the "mound builders " would be to set forth the " baseless fabric of a vision."
Another race succeeded them. They were a hunter-race. They practised scarce one of the arts of peace. They could build no houses ; only huts or wigwams sheltered them. They scarcely tilled the earth. They had rarely fixed boundaries for their tribes or nations. No time-honored institutions bound them to the past or gave a pledge for the future.
They were and are not.
Their modes of life seem to have been individual rather than social. In war, at once cunning and cruel, brave and cautious, they asked no quarter of an enemy, and could endure torture with stoic fortitude and indifference.
We find, thickly scattered in many parts of the country, their gimlets, arrow-heads, spear-heads, saws, flesh scrapers, spades and hammers, all made of stone and demanding almost infinite patience for their manufacture. It seems a wonder that a people having power to concentrate the mind on such difficult work as shaping flint-stones, should have been so barren in all the graceful and elevating arts.
They delved as patiently as their neighbors, the beavers, and yet despised labor and imposed it as a degrading burden on their women. We alternate- ly pity and despise them; admire their stoicism and sicken at their cruelties. We use the maize which they sometimes cultured, and stupefy ourselves with the smoke of the tobacco they taught us to consume.
They preceded us, but left the country no better for their labors. Is it wonderful they are almost forgotten ? This portion of country was known in an early day as the " Black Hawk Hunting-ground," and was widely noted as a fine hunting region. Game of all kinds was very abundant. Hither came in pursuit of game from the northward, under the command of
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IL.
.. Virginia,
.Ohio, ..... ... 1841, one month. Virginia, James K. Polk,
.. 1845 to 1849, four years. Millard Fillmore, Louisiana, New York,
.. 1850 to 1853, three years.
.. 1861 to 1865, 4 yrs. I mo- Andrew Johnson,
James Shields, ...
Auditor Public Accounts, 1841.
John Moore, .....
Lieut .- Governor, 4€
Joseph B. Wells, ....
Lieu :.- Governor,
.August 27, 1831. Martin Van Buren
December, 1834. William H. Harrison,
Joseph Duncan,.
Alexander M. Jenkins,
. Lieut .- Governor,
John L. Beveridge,.
Governor,.
23, 1873.
...
. Treasurer,
16, 1865. = 16, 1865.
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24
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
their famous chief, the stalwart warriors of the Sac and Fox tribe. A feeble remnant of this once powerful tribe, broken in spirit and hope, are now in Kansas. Here also came the braves of the Pottawattamies, distinguished from other Indians by the swarthiness of their complexion, their long uncut hair, and larger frames,
" To pursue the deer and bison On the Muskoday, the meadow."
All that are left of this tribe, once so renowned in war, are living in Kansas. Another tribe that frequented this region was the Kicka- poo, who many years ago were removed to a reservation in the northeastern part of Kansas. This was one of the fiercest, bravest and most intelligent tribes of their race. Another, with members of which the early settlers be- came familiar, was the Osages.
FIRST WHITE MEN IN THE COUNTY.
The first men of our race, so far as is known, whose glad eyes looked upon the beautiful portion of Illinois now embraced within the broad boun- daries of Macoupin county, were those who comprised a battalion of three hundred and fifty mounted men, under the personal command of the terri- torial governor, Ninian Edwards. In September of 1812, this band rode out from Camp Russell, the rendezvous, near the town of Edwardsville, in Madison county, and took up their line of march against Fort Peoria. We let one of this command, a private, afterwards governor of the State, John Reynolds, tell his own story. He says: " We left Camp Russell, marched up the northwest side of Cahokia creek, nearly to its source, thence across the prairie to Macoupin creek, not far above the present Carlinville, and at the Lake fork we stopped to noon. At this point some wild boys dug open an Indian grave, and found in it, with the Indian, a gun, brooches, and other articles."
In July of the next year, Capt. Samuel Whitesides, a brave man and honorably connected with the early history of the state, at the head of a small company of rangers, pursuing a band of marauding Indians, who had massacred the wife and children of Mr. Reagan, near Alton, followed their trail towards the Sangamon. They passed over Bunker Hill Ridge: con- tinued on out by Dry Point, Honey Point and Shaw's Point, fording the Macoupin near Spring Cove. It is probable that the soldiers and rangers on their return from these expeditions to the settlements in Madison and St. Clair, brought glowing descriptions of the beauty and fertility of the country lying to the north : for upon a fairer land than had unfolded itself to their vision, as it stretched itself away before them in virgin loveliness, the sun had never shone.
:
The first settlers of Macoupin came from Madison and St. Clair, which fact gives color to the above supposition.
FIRST SETTLEMENT AND EARLY SETTLERS.
It has proved to be a matter of exceeding difficulty in this county rightly to award the honor due the bold pioneer who first pushed forward into an untried wilderness, and thereby became the founder of the county.
Who was the first settler of Macoupin County? Accounts of the first settlement, owing to the lapse of time and failing memories of men, are meagre, various, and conflicting. Nor has it been easier to fix with certainty the date when the first settler reared his humble cabin on the border of the stream, and in the shadow of the primeval forest.
In a book entitled "My Own Times," by Ex-Gov. John Reynolds, of Belleville, he holds the following language : " Mr. Coop and family, in the Spring of 1815, broke through the old Indian frontier of Madison county, and settled in the limits of the present county of Macoupin." A very thorough and impartial investigation has resulted in the discovery of much evidence corroborative of the correctness of the governor's statement.
The Coop family, who were of German extraction, consisted of David Coop, Sr., whose broken utterance betrayed surely his origin, his wife, and four sons, John, David, Jr., William G. (who was the first treasurer of the county), Ransom, and several daughters. It seems established that in the spring of 1815 they selected their home on the banks of the small stream which has been named after them, Coop's Creek, not far from the centre of Hilyard township. Here they lived for about ten years, and in 1825 or '26 removed to the mound, thereafter to be known as Coop's Mound, which lies nearly six miles northeast of the capital of the county. Here they remained for a few years, after which they again removed, this time to Iowa. None of their descendants live in the county, but the name of Coop, united, as it is to hill and stream, resists decay.
Seth T. Hodge and John Love, natives of Alabama, but who moved from Tennessee to Madison county in 1814, are by some thought to have the bet- ter claim to the honor of first settlement. It seems certain that they were in the county also in 1815, and equally certain that they believed themselves to have been the first white men to occupy this land. The weight of au- thority seems in favor of Mr. Coop's claim. Messrs. Hodge and Love did not bring their families with them in 1815, but came on a combined hunting and observation tour, and one year, at least, was allowed to pass before they brought their families to the county, whose appearance pleased them so well, and whose fair attractions drew them to it as their home.
Seth T. Hodge way of medium size, weighing nearly 150 pounds. His hair was light, his cheeks ruddy, his eyes blue. He had a vigorous intellect, and he was noted among the early settlers for his skill with the rifle. He was a good citizen, a useful man, and was chosen as a member of the first county commissioners' court. He was a good farmer, for we find that "ten acres of corn on Mr. Hodge's farm, in 1817, yielded 800 bushels."
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