History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 37

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

USA > Illinois > Madison County > History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches > Part 37

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The plastering of the court-house was contracted for in !

September, with George G. Nevitt, at twenty-eight cents per square yard, to be measured according to the customary rules among plasterers. Mr. Nevitt was paid $182.51} for his work. The donation court house was now completed- ten years after its coruer-stone was laid. Ex-governor Ninian Edwards, who had once made the most liberal offer in re- ference to the county buildings, was now a resident of Alton. In September, 1831, he received and paid $12.00 for a li- cense to retail merchandise at Lower Alton.

Hail Mason resigned the office of county clerk on the 8th of September, 1831, when J. T. Lusk was appointed his successor. David Prickett, who had been appointed com- missioner of school lands, declined to serve, aud J. T. Lusk was appointed to this place also. The court was ordered to loan school funds iu sums of one hundred dollars or less, at twenty-five per cent., and larger amounts at twenty per cent. annual interest. Money must still have been very scarce, and people who had to pay such outrageous charges for their loans could scarcely be expected to prosper. The finan- cial report of 1831 does not mention the balance of $746.15 reported to have been in the treasury in December, 1830, and it may be presumed that the amount was converted into specie to pay off Sloper's elaim of $450. The expenditures of the county are again on the increase, and exceed the in- come, leaving on said 1st of December the county in debt to the amount of forty-four cents.

Francis Roach, an old soldier of the war of independence, appeared before the court to have his pension secured for him. He said he was born in Fairfax C. H., Virginia, 1739; enlisted in Joseph Session's Co., Col. Richard Cas- well's regiment of the North Carolina line for three months, in 1779; again, in 1780, with Captain Dougherty on the frontier, for one year; then went with his captain in the service under Gen. Rogers Clark, in 1782; and served again for seven weeks with his old captain, under Gen. Benjamin Logan, against the Indians in 1786 ; was then (1832) ninety- three years of age; had lived from 1787 to 1806 in the counties of Mercer, Lincoln, Washington, and Livingston, Kentucky; and in 1806 came to Madison county, then a part of St. Clair county, Illinois. Rev. John Barber and George Kinder gave testimony in reference to the claim of Roach and his character. The old gentleman lived long enough to see his application granted, and to enjoy the pay as member of this American Legion of Honor. The amount drawn, viz: $74.01, shows that he survived three years ex- actly, as his annual allowance was only $24.67.

This legion had 22 members in this county, and the annual pension paid to them amounted to $1,397.71. These annual pensions ranged from $20.00 paid to Laban Smart, and $97 .- 50, paid to Joseph MeAdams.

In August, 1834, Cyrus Edwards and James Semple were elected members of the legislature, and N. Buckmaster was reelected sheriff.

The expenditures of the county during the year amounted to $1887.09}, of which $741.334 went towards supporting paupers.

In March, 1833, the court contracted with George Nevitt for the building of the clerk's office on the public square,

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINIOS.

the building to be fifty feet long and twenty feet wide, of brick, one story of teu feet, foundation to be of stone, eighteen inches below the surface and twelve above; outside walls to be fourteen inches ; eight windows of twenty-four lights, 12x 12 each ; two outside doors, siil of outside doors and win- dows to be of stone; to be done by November Ist, 1833, for $500. And with Charles Sloper to do the carpenter and glazier work, and furnish materials, for $337.00. These buildings are still in existence, serving now as school-rooms for the children of the numerous negro population of the distriet.

During the official term of this court, a number of peti. tions, praying for suppression of grog shops in the towns of the county, were laid before the members. One of these petitions, signed by a large number of Altonians, gave a most graphie description of the condition of affairs in Alton, saying : " Your petitioners have of late been led to reflect much upon the nature and effects of ardent spirits, as exhib- ited in the character and condition of those who are habitu- ally addicted to their use,-the result of which is a settled conviction in their minds, that they are not only totally use- less as a means of supporting the system, or giving lasting en- ergy to any faculties of the mind,-but decidedly injurious to both ; and that they have for years, in common with many of their fellow citizens, deplored the wide-spreading desola- tion of intemperance, without the power of interposing any effectual barrier to stay its progress ; and that too often have they been compelled to witness the alienation of affection,- the subversion of principle, and the brutal ferocity of the senseless inebriate in his descent from respectability or com- parative affluence, down the precipice of intemperance, to the abodes of wretchedness and want ; and that they have frequently witnessed the contaminating influence that is wielded by the congregating of these loathsome objects in a mixed population, when method and fixed principles have not by their perfect establishment become the law of indivi- dual or corporate action ; and they have often reflected upon the happy consequences that would result from a total sup- pression of this degrading vice in their village; and believing as they do, that the principal cause of the evil is to be traced to the numerous dram shops that disgrace our towns through- out the land ; and that no step that can be taken will be as likely to bring about a permanent change in the habits of a community in this respect as to remove the cause of the evil; they are constrained, from a sense of duty they owe to them- selves and to the rising generation, to ask of your honors that the assistance which your official station commands may be directed to aid them in suppressing the degrading vice, and that you will refuse to grant any licenses to sell ardent spirits in the town of Alton the present year It is not, however, designed to prevent the licensing of respectable houses for the entertainment of travelers now at Alton, or that may become really necessary for the accommodation of travelers, but only those which, under the bonds of inn- keepers, serve not to accommodate the weary traveler, but . to afford facilities for drunkenness.

In making this request, your petitioners are not conscious of being influenced by any other motives than those which

spring from a desire to benefit their fellow-beings. They do believe that patriotism and benevolence are the moving principles that have induced them to lay before you this petition. In proof of this, they appeal to its nature and spirit. What is it that they ask ? It is that the floodgates of dissipation may be closed-that the highway to destrue- tion may be blocked up-that the avenues of vice may be stopped-that the seeds of disease and death be blasted - that the foundations of pollution and wickedness may be cleansed-that the causes of contention and strife may be removed-that the drafts on reason and common sense may be protected-that the sorrows of the widow's heart may be soothed -that the wife's distracting anxiety may be allevi- ated-that the nakedness of the children may be covered- that peace may take the place of tumult-order of confusion -vir ue of vice. These are the things that they ask ; and they appeal to your honors as men possessing a perfect knowledge of the existence and cause of these evils, whether their request is not a reasonable one-if it is, ought it not to be granted? Is there one weighty reason why it should not be? Your petitioners are fully of the opinion that there is not. They do not believe that the trifling sum that annually accrues to the county treasury from the avails of licenses to sell spirits ought to have any influence in deciding, even upon the expediency of granting this petition, when all ex- perience testifies, that a license to retail spirits is nothing less than a license to fit men for acts of desperation and vio- lence; they cannot perceive any consistency in those meas- ures which, in the first place, impose a severe penalty on the transgressors of the law, and then, for a few shillings, authorize the existence of a grogshop, whose sole business it is to dethrone reason and to drive the unhappy victims to trample under foot all law. If the object of granting licenses is confined to the raising of revenue, your petitioners are decidedly of the opinion that it is the worst possible scheme for accomplishing this object that could have been devised. They do not believe that the county could ever be made rich by such means ; but, on the contrary, they do believe that it is the surest and quickest way of bringing upon us poverty with all its evils. They believe that the tendency of grog- shops is to produce pauperism, and that ten times the amount received from licenses in the county would not de- fray the expenses of the paupers that may be manufactured in one year by a single grog shop. Your petitioners think that it would not be difficult for them to prove, that where- ever these nurseries of vice exist, they do operate as a bur- densome and oppressive tax upon the community, and that this tax is very unequally borne. That, in consequence of crimes committed against the laws of the state, which have their origin in scenes of dissipation, they are called upon as peace officers, or good citizens, to attend long, tedious trials before a court, and frequently without compensation for time lost or money expended.

These are not imaginary grievances but real, your peti- tioners have felt them and will continue to as long as whis- key can be had at every corner of their streets, at all hours of the day and night by any one who can command a six- pence, be he drunk or be he sober. But setting aside the

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

consideration of profit or loss there is one view of the subjeet to which more particularly they wish to draw your atten- tion, and that is, the pernicious influence that is exerted by a grog shop population to break down and destroy the prin- ciples of morality and religion in their immediate neighbor- hood. Whoever saw a man fresh from his eups with a heart glowing with love to God and good will to man ? Whoever heard of the accomplishment or happy progress of any scheme for bettering the condition of the world, either by penetrating the darkness of pagan superstition opening to the mind the beauties of the gospel or instructing the rising generation in those principles that are best adapted to their circumstances as moral and accountable beings, that had its origin in a community of tipplers ? But on the contrary who has not witnessed the contemptuous sneer, the fiend-like rage of the grog shop haunter, when subjects of this char- acter are introduced in his presence. Intemperance is a vice that seldom, if ever, goes single handed ; it is invaria- bly attended by a host of others. In such a community the children are daily witnessing the grossest and most wicked violations of those precepts, that they have been taught as coming from the Creator, and designed for their good, the tendency of which is to familiarize their minds with sin and thus early learn to tread its thorny paths. That the exis- tence of dram-shops in a community, but more especially in one made up of laboring men, does operate to counteract the exertions of benevolent enterprise is a truth not to be denied ; that they are not unfrequently the scenes of discord and contention, and that where they are the most numerous these scenes are of most frequent occurrence, are truths ac- knowledged by all. Why then suffer them to exist ? Why not banish them at once and rid us of an evil that is so de- structive to all that is desirable. Your petitioners feel that now is the time for action, and that much is depending on the result of this effort in relation to the character their village is to sustain. They feel the importance of laying the foundations of their village on temperance principles from the consideration that it is much easier to prevent evils than to remove them, when once incorporated into the habits of so- ciety. They therefore pray your Honors that this their petition be granted.

Signed by Ephraim Marsh, William Miller, C. W. Hunter, Solomon E. Moore, D. A. Spaulding, Samuel Wade, Samuel P. Stratton, R. G. Enox, John W. Slaten, Henry Boothby, Jolın Haine, Henry Evans, Joel Finch, Samuel Abiz, John Buchanan, Mark Pearson, Josiah Rees, Alexander G. Mel- rose, W. T. Meacham, Winthrop L. Gilman, John Lee, Nathan Barrett, Curtis Nobbs, John Walker, H. Davis, L. J. Clawson, William Harrison, Samuel Delaplain, Simon Peters, Enoch .Lang, W. G. Pinckard, George W. Fuller, John Manning, Thomas Lippincott, Benjamin T. Lang, Stephen Griggs, W. Manning Jr., Alvin Bailey, Samuel Bush, J. C. Hayes, Henry Watts, William Hayden, E. Hayden, W. A. Robertson, G. N. Morgan, H. S Summers, E. P. Long. John Camp and Hail Mason. Andrew Miller had also signed this petition, but his name is blotted out' Andrew Miller was elected sheriff of Madison county after- wards.

The court ordered the above petition to be placed on file, where it remained for fifty years. The penmanship of the petition is splendid, and seems to have been the work of either D. A. Spaulding, Mark Pearson or Hail Mason. The Altonians were undoubtedly displeased with the disposal made of their eloquent petition of February 23, 1832, and now on the 7th of May, 1832 they reported to the county authorities that they had incorporated their town. This document was made a matter of record ; it says :

LOWER ALTON, May 7th, 1832.

At a meeting of the citizens of Alton held this day at the Union Hotel for the purpose of taking the sense of the in- habitants in relation to ineorporating the town, Stephen Griggs was chosen president of the meeting and W. S. Gilman appointed clerk.

The officers were duly sworn, and having ascertained that the town contained over one hundred and fifty inhabitants, and that ten days previous public notice of this meeting had been given according to law, they received the following votes :

In favor of incorporating the town : John Lee, William Miller, Ephraim Marsh, S. E. Moore, Z. Low, Charles W. Hunter, M. C. Garey, Stephen Griggs, S. T. Kendall, Wm. Manning, jr., Samuel Airs, John Quigley, W. S. Emerson, Samuel Wade, W. S. Gilman.

No votes were given in the negative.

STEPHEN GRIGGS, President.

W. S. GILMAN, Clerk.

The names of Alton and Upper Alton were officially re- cognized soon after, as the old precinct of Greenfield was subdivided into two election districts, March 1833, to be called Alton and Upper Alton. The "poll " for the former was located at the house of Andrew Miller.

The election of 1834 gave to Cyrus Edwards a seat in the state senate, in place of Joseph Conway, and sent Nathaniel Buckmaster and Jesse B. Thomas, jr., to the house of rep- resentatives. Thomas G. Lofton was chosen sheriff, and James Wilson coroner. Madison county had since 1833 formed a part of the first congressional district, and was rep- resented by Charles Slade of Clinton county.

ELEVENTH BOARD 1834-1836.

David Swett, Robert Aldrick and John Newman.

A special election was held in October 1834 to elect a member of congress in place of Charles Slade, who on his way home from Washington had fallen a victim to cholera, then raging through the United States. Governor Reynolds was elected to fill this vacancy, and reclected at the con- gressional eleetion in November following, for a full term in the 24th congress, 1835 to 1837.

Nathaniel Buckmaster, who had been sheriff since 1822, mnade final settlement at the June term and was allowed $445.50 " back " pay in full of his fees for serving notices to road supervisors, grand and petit jurors and judges of clection during those 12 years-Jurors received a compen-

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

sation of 50 cents each day by order of court-August special term 1835.

The county revenue of the year 1835, was $4,262.86 and the expenditures amounted to 84 079.40, of which $1,163, 60 had been paid towards supporting paupers. The balance reported in treasury in 1834 is not mentioned.

Isaac Cox was appointed commissioner of census in 1835. The returns have not been preserved.

James Wilson, coroner, was appointed sheriff' in place of T. G. Lofton, resigned June 10, 1836. Ordered by the court that the county be laid off into ten eleetion precinets, to be called Edwardsville, Collinsville, Mariue, Sugar Creek, Silver Creek, Cahokia Creek, Monticello, Alton, Upper Alton and Six Mile.

The first stone bridge built in the county, across Shield's branch, was contracted for, Alton to pay $1000, and the county 8500 .- 1836. July 23. Joseph Conway, former clerk of this court, presented a claim of $489.67} " baek " pay, but was refused and told that he had received $30.00 per annum ex-officio salary, and that the county was not re- sponsible for work he had done for private individuals.

August 1836. Elected John Hagan, James Temple and Robert Smith members of the house of representatives, Nathaniel Buckmaster sheriff, and Robert Aldrick, Abel Moore and S. W. Robbins, county commissioners.

TWELFTH BOARD-1836-1838.

Robert Aldrick, Abel Moore and S. W. Robbins. The court appointed William Ogle treasurer March term, 1837, in place of Isaac Cox, resigned.

The era of bridge building was inaugurated by this board, who at said term, ordered a substantial bridge to be erected across Wood river at Milton. This bridge was built by Samuel Grub, and completed in December 1837 at an expense of $5,125.00. It should be born in mind that the total revenue of 1837 amounted to but 85579.47.

The clerk was ordered to pay into the treasury all amounts received by this court and its predecessors. From this order it would appear, that balances due by outgoing treasurers had been paid into court instead of to the incoming treas- urers. The amount paid over in consequence of the above order was stated to have been $1,205.25.

The tavern rates were raised during this administration to twice the amount previously fixed ; a meal cost now fifty cents, and half a pint of whiskey, twenty-five cents.

The various county offices, heretofore filled by appoint- ment, were made elective by acts of the 10th General Assem- bly-1830 to 1838.

William T. Brown was elected county clerk, William Ogle treasurer, John T Lusk school commissioner, and Benaiah Robinson surveyor,-at the August elections, 1837.

A financial transaction of some maguitude, considering the resources of the county, took place during this adminis- tration. The State legislature had, by law, located the State penitentiary at Alton, in accordance with an aet passed some ten years previously, by which Shadrach Bond, W. P. MeKee and Gershom Jayne had been appointed commis-

sioners to select a suitable place on the Mississippi river at or near Alton, for a site. The county seems either to have promised a bonus of 85,000 as a subvention, or to have pledged the faith and credit of the county for the payment of that amount by others. Among the files of the e ›unty, the writer found two drafts, one for 83,000, dated May 26, 1837, and the other for $2,000, dated August -, 1837. The phraseology of these drafts is peculiar, as will be seen from the following :

Dollars, 3,000. ALTON, May 20, 1837.

Five days after demand, pay to the order of George Smith, Samuel C. Price and J. R. Wood, inspectors of the peniten- tiary, three thousand dollars, with teu per cent. iuterest per annum from the date hereof until paid-payable at the Branch of the State Bank of Illinois at Alton, and a notice in writing left by the holders hereof with the teller of said bank shall be deemed sufficient notice and demand of pay- ment,-being on account of Madison county bond.

To Messrs. J. M. Krum, C. )

- W. Hunter, A. Cawles, Rob- ert Smith, John Hogan & Co., Aldrich & -, Clawson & Cook, N. Buekmaster, J. A. Townsend, J. C. Bruner, Cook and Fifield S. Griggs.

ABEL MOORE,

L. W. ROBBINS,

Two county commis- sioners.

The draft was accepted by those parties, and so endorsed in writing across the face of said draft.

A marginal remark contains the following, written in red ink : " Demanded payment at Alton Branch, Bank of Ill- inois, November 21st, 1838; payment refused by a clerk."

The draft was formally protested on the 29th of Novem- ber, 1838, before John H. Sparr, notary public, at the re- quest of the Branch of State Bank of Illinois at Alton, and holder of the original acceptance, who exhibited said bill or acceptance at the counter of the Alton Branch of State Bank of Illinois and demanded payment thereof, whereui.to the answer was made through a clerk of said Branch Bank that said acceptance could not be paid, as funds for that pur- pose had not been furnished.

The protest papers contain on the reverse side the follow- ing words written in lead pencil: "Ask Sparr if at any time since demand, funds have been provided for the payment of said draft-Ask if demand was made, also by whom " -- and : Jones-

"Upon the ground that it is novel instrument and no action can be sustained upon it."

Action or no action, the county, nevertheless, paid the full amount, interest included, by issuing county orders, amount- ing in the aggregate to $5,666.67, at the September term, 1839, payable to the inspectors of the penitentiary, and bearing teu per cent. annual interest from date of issue until paid. These orders were paid during E. M. West's term of office. as treasurer of the county, and it appears that the first pay- ment, to wit : $100 00, was made on the 12th of September, 1839, and the last, being the thirtieth, 8525.00, on the 10th

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

of June, 1841. These thirty payments aggregate $6,504.84. The funds in discharging this debt were raised by a spe- cial tax.

But, to return to our subject matter: in June, 1838, the old precinct name of "Cahokia," like the beautiful designa- tion of " Goshen " heretofore, was now blotted out, Swett's Prairie having been substituted for it. Sugar Creek was changed into Highland, and a new precinct, "Madison," organized north of Six-mile.

The result of the August election of 1838 was as follows :

George Churchill, State Senator ; William Ottwell, George Smith and Robert Smith, members of the House; John Adams, Sheriff; Henry P. Rundall, Coroner, and Hiram Arthur, Edmund Fruit and Thomas J. Waddle, County Commissioners.

THIRTEENTH BOARD, 1838-39.

The tenure of office of County Commissioners was changed by act of the Tenth General Assembly. The Commission- ers elected in August 1838 were to hold their terms for one, two and three years severally. as determined by lot. Hiram Arthur through the three years, Edmund Fruit the two years, and Thomas Waddle the one year's term.

Ex-Sheriff Buckmaster was represented to the court to be in default with the County revenue to the amount of $2598.75. An investigation was held before the court, who thereupon entered judgment against Buckmaster for $751.29 due and $168.78 penalty.

A new town named Fitz James is mentioned in connection with a grocery license granted to one Alexander Shaffer. Fitz James is the present Grant Fork in Saline township. Highland is mentioned also for the first time as a town in T. 3-5, and John Zimmermann and Moritz Huegy were licensed to keep taverns, because, the court says, they are respectable men, and will probably keep orderly houses. The court divided the county into nine assessors' districts, with Thomas Gillham, Ebenezer Huntington, Daniel A. Lanterman, Erastus Wheeler, Joseph Bartlett, Robert Aldrich, Abel Olive, J. L. Ferguson and James Reynolds, as Assessors. Fragments of their returns, made in June, 1839, are still in existence, but the writer found it impossible to compile any interesting or reliable information from them. The County paid $181.00 for the work, of which Huntington drew $48.00, the largest amount paid, while Robert Aldrich contented himself with $8 00.

Lands were no longer classed as of first, second and third quality, but assessed according to actual value. The revenue of the year was collected by John C. Dugger, ap. pointed by the court, as the law required. Dugger reported to have collected in taxes $4135.71 ; in merchants' licenses, $175.75 ; in tavern licenses, $312-00 ; fines, 41.00, and in jury and docket fecs, $118.00-total $4781.86. The County ex- penditures were-County officials, $1214.40; roads and bridges, $1464.25 ; paupers, $982.04; courts, jurors and stationery, 539.50 ; jail, court-house and prisoners, $319.62; sundries, 82.00, and to Joseph Conway, ex-clerk, $406.63. Mr. Conway had taken an appeal on his case, and received now his " back" pay, although the court had previously

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 37

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698