USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., gathered from mattter furnished by the Mercer County Historical Society, interviews with old settlers, county, township and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources as have been available : containing also a short history of Henderson County > Part 84
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
In accordance with said, act of the general assembly of the state, the first meeting of the commissioners met at Oquawka, the county seat, April 19, 1841, and organized a term of the county commis- sioners' court of Henderson county, by entering upon their records the following proceedings :
" STATE OF ILLINOIS, Records of the County Commissioners' Court. Vol. I. HENDERSON COUNTY.
"According to the provisions of an act of the general assembly of the State of Illinois, passed at the session commencing the first Mon- day in December, A.D. 1840, entitled ' An Act to Establish the County of Henderson,' an election was held at the different precincts of said county on the fifth day of April, 1841, when Preston Martin and Benjamin C. Coghill were duly elected county commissioners, who,
878
HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
together with James C. Hutchinson, who had previously been elected county commissioner of Warren county, and being included in the new county of Henderson was retained in office by said act, met at the town of Oquawka, the county seat of said county of Henderson, on Monday, the nineteenth day of April, 1841, agreeable to a further provision of the above-recited act, to hold a term of the county com- missioners' court therein provided for, and the said Preston Martin and Benjamin C. Coghill, being duly qualified as the law directs, pro- ceeded to business."
Alfred Knowles, who had at said election been elected elerk of the county commissioners' court, filed his bond and was duly qualified. William D. Henderson, who was elected sheriff of said county at the same time, was duly qualified as sheriff. John McKinney, recorder- elect, was likewise duly qualified as recorder of the county.
Then after transacting some routine business adjourned until the following day, when it again convened for the transaction of business. On this day an order was entered of record for a venire for the first grand jury that convened in the county. As these names are among the early settlers of the county, and are composed of a class that will ever be remembered as pioneers of sterling worth, whose examples in life are worthy of being imitated, we give the list in full : Isaac Cren- shaw, James Scott, William Rhodes, Edward R. Adams, Sidney Owens, Matthew Findley, Michael Crane, Daniel Drew, Frederick Davidson, George P. Rice, Obadiah Edmunds, Joseph Watson, Isaiah J. Brook, S. S. Leet, Jonathan Perkins, James Jamison, Hugh Lee, John R. McQuown, William L. Stockton, Samuel W. Lynn, Thomas D. Wells, Ebenezer Chapin, Jesse L. Ellett. These were men of ster- ling qualities, well qualified by nature to perform the duties of pioneers, who would lay properly the foundations of society in a new country. The most of these men have gone, after attaining an honored old age, and left bright examples of a well-spent life to be imitated by those who have succeeded them. A few of this list still reside among us, with lives bounteously lengthened out in order that they might behold the almost magicial prosperous change in the country of their adoption. At this first meeting of the commissioners of the county, Stephen S. Phelps and Alexis Phelps, the proprietors of the town of Oquawka, in compliance with the conditions of the location of the county seat at Oquawka, as set forth in the act of the general assembly, presented to the board a deed, conveying to the county 200 town lots, of average value of the lots in the town of Oquawka, for the purpose of erecting publie county buildings from the proceeds of the sale of the same.
SS1
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
It was at this first meeting of the board, that the first saloon license was issued for Henderson county ; John A. Lynn, thus, for the sum of twenty-five dollars, being authorized to vend at retail in Oquawka intoxicating liquors, without having attached the dangers that beset the dealers of to-day, by virtue of the provisions of the dram-shop act.
April 21, 1841, at the same session of the board, William R. Jami- son, who had been elected treasurer of the county, filed his bond and was qualified. The board appointed William D. Henderson collector of taxes for the current year. The board also appointed Samuel McDill assessor of the county for the same time.
At a regular meeting of the board September 5, 1841, Joseph B. Jamison filed his bond as school commissioner and was duly qualified. William C. Rice who was elected county surveyor at the same time as other county officers were elected, was duly qualified. At this meet- ing of the board Thomas MeDill, William Graham and James Jamison were appointed trustees of school lands for township No. 10 N., 5. West. Jeremiah Baker, John Hopkins and William P. Toler were appointed to like offices for township 12 N., 4 West. Thomas M. Bonham, Wil- burn Walker and Joseph DeHague were appointed to like offices for township 9 N., 6 West. Peter Nichols, Obadiah Edmunds and John A. Smith were appointed to like offices for township 8 N., 5 West. Asahel Johnson, George W. Penney and George Huston . were appointed to like offices for township & N., 4 West. Alexander Rankin, Frederick Davidson and John Pogue were appointed to like offices for township 9 N., + West. Abner Drew, John Bay and T. Morgan were appointed to like offices for township 10 N., 6 West. Matthew Find- ley, Thaddeus Eames were also appointed to like offices for township 11 N., 5 West.
At this meeting the clerk of the county court and the clerk of the circuit court were authorized to procure seals for their respective offices, the design of the seal for the county commissioners court to be an Indian in a canoe, and that for the circuit court to be the temple of liberty. At this meeting of the board the first action was taken look- ing to the erection of a court-house, as appears by the following order entered of record : "Ordered, that the clerk give public notice that on the 28th day of October the commissioners will contract at public sale for the delivery of 175,000 of brick and 227 perch of stone in the town of Oquawka, on lot Nos. 13 and 16 in block 58 ; one-half of the brick to be delivered the first of July next, the other half by the twentieth of the same month ; the stone to be delivered by the middle of April next. Also twenty-two window frames and six door frames."
50
882
HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
At this time the first ferry license was granted by the board, to keep and maintain a ferry across the Mississippi river at Burlington, Iowa, to land on the east bank of said river at any accessible point, to William H. Mauro, not however to trespass upon the established rights of others engaged in ferrying at the same point.
Called meeting of the board of commissioners August 15, 1842; the following proceedings were had : the court proceeded to open and compare the proposals received for building the court-house, according to a notice previously given, and Alexis Phelps offered to do the work proposed for the sum of $1,219, which was the lowest offer; it is there- fore ordered that Alexis Phelps have the sum of $1,219 for laying the walls and putting on the roof of said court-house, and that he receive payment therefor eight months after the work is done, and if not then paid to receive eight per cent until paid. Said Phelps filed his bond, with James Ryason and Samuel Darnell for sureties, for the completion of the work. Ordered further that the foregoing contract is approved by the court, and filed by the clerk in his office.
James C. Hutchinson continued to hold the office of county com- missioner until the September term of the commissioners' court, when he was succeeded by Francis J. C. Peasley, who held the office until September, 1842, when he was succeeded by Michael Crane, who, with commissioners Martin and Coghill, constituted the board until Septem- ber, 1843, when Mr. Coghill was succeeded by Isaiah Brook. The court remained thus constituted until September, 1844, when William Cous- land succeeded Preston Martin on the board. In September, 1845, Ira Miller succeeded Michael Crane. In September, 1846, Matthew Findley and Jeremiah Rose succeeded Brook and Cousland. In September, 1849, Ebenezer Chapin succeeded Matthew Findley, and Charles S. Cowan having been elected clerk succeeded Alfred Knowles. In September, 1848, Matthew Findley succeeded Ira Miller, and the board thus constituded continued until December, 1849, when the county government was organized under the new constitution.
Township organization has not been adopted in this county, but the old system of county government is still maintained, the county being divided into precincts for election purposes, and the county govern- ment composed of a board of three commissioners, manage the affairs of the county. This constituted the county government until the adoption of the constitution in 1848, when, under a provision of which, the general assembly of the state passed an act in relation to the government of coun- ties, in force April 13, 1849, by which each county elected a county judge and two associate justices of the peace, who were directed to hold a regular term of court for the transaction of county business, on the first
883
CIRCUIT COURT OF THE COUNTY.
Mondays of March, June, September, and December, in each year ; the county judge being authorized and directed to hold a probate term of court on the third Monday of each month for the transaction of business pertaining to the estates of deceased persons, and for the pur- pose of attending to all cases that might arise under general probate jurisdition. The two associate justices of the peace so elected by the voters of the county at large, were county justices of the peace, and were vested with justices' jurisdiction for the whole county. The county judge was likewise ex-officio justice of the peace for the entire county. On the third day of December, 1849, William C. Rice, county judge, Daniel Edmunds, and George W. Penny, associate jus- tices of the peace, and Charles S. Cowan, clerk of the county court, filed their respective bonds, and were qualified for the offices to which they had been elected. The court thus constituted, organized and pro- ceeded to the transaction of business. Robert Cronover, county treas- urer, took the oath of office, and his bond was fixed at $2,000. At this meeting of the court, Earl Frizzell, a revolutionrry soldier, pre- sented his declaration, as required by the war department, to secure a pension from the United States government, and after complying with the requirements prescribed by law. the court issued the required cer- tificate. At the December term, 1850, of the county court, Boothe Nettleton, who had been elected sheriff, filed his bond, took the oath of office, and entered upon the discharge of his duties.
A company having been organized under an act of the general assembly, April 19, 1851, under the name of the " Burlington and Warren Plank Road Company," for the purpose of constructing a plank road across the Mississippi river bottom, from Hopper's mills, in Hen- derson county, to a point on the river bank opposite the city of Bur- lington, Iowa, the county court, at its September term, 1850, granted said company a license to run a ferry across the river from a point where their plank road touches the river on the east bank, to the city of Burlington, upon paying into the county treasury the sum of $10. At the December term of the county court, 1852, Samuel P. MaGaw, sheriff elect of the county, filed his bond and was duly qualified.
CIRCUIT COURT OF THE COUNTY.
Henderson county was, on its organization, in the fifth judicial circuit, and the first term of the circuit court was held in Oquawka, May 28, 1841, in a store-room belonging to Col. Patterson, on Second street, near the present location of the brick block of Robert Moir. Hon. Stephen A. Douglas presided as judge, John S. Pollock, clerk, William D. Henderson, sheriff, and H. L. Bryant, state's attorney pro
884
HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
tem. At this term Henry B. Harbinson filed his bond and qualified as the first coroner of the county. Of the character of Judge Douglas as a judge, lawyer, and statesman, it is needless here to speak. His char- acter and achievements, both on the bench and in the national councils, have passed into history ; and when passion and prejudice shall have had their day, and the impartial historian shall take up his pen, the record shall then assign the name of Stephen A. Douglas its true place in the list of statesmen and jurists of our country. Judge Douglas continued to preside in our circuit until the November term, 1843, when he was succeeded by Jesse B. Thomas, who continued to preside until the November term, 1845. Richard M. Young succeeded Judge Thomas at the June term, 1845, and then Norman H. Purple came to preside in this cireuit, and continued until the June term, 1848, when he was succeeded by William Minehell, who held the same position until the September term, 1851, when Onias C. Skinner, of the county of Adams, who had been elected by virtue of an act of the general assembly of the state, passed in pursuance of a provision of the consti- tution adopted in 1848, dividing the state into judicial circuits, and providing for the election of judges by vote of the people, became judge of this circuit, and continued to preside with signal ability at each term of the court in this county until the year 1855. Judge Skinner won a deserved reputation as a learned and upright judge, and soon after retiring from the circuit bench he was elected to fill a place on the supreme bench from the central grand division of the state, where he fulfilled the expectations of his legal friends and maintained the high character he had so justly won. Judge Skinner died at his home in Quincy about three years ago, his death being caused by having been thrown from his carriage by a frightened team while riding through the street near his residence.
Hezekiah M. Wead, of Peoria county, next held court in this county for one year, when John S. Thompson, of Mercer county, was elected in his place, and continued to preside as judge of our circuit court until 1861, when he resigned, and Aaron Tyler, of Knox county, was appointed by the Governor to fill the unexpired term for which Judge Thompson had been elected. Judge Thompson came upon the bench with but little legal experience at the bar, but the possession of a sound legal mind, great industry and an unfaltering determination to deal justly with all questions submitted to him for adjudication, enabled him to discharge the arduous duties devolving upon him with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the legal friends with whom he asso- ciated. His decisions and rulings while on the bench bore well the serutiny of the higher court, when taken there for review.
885
CIRCUIT COURT OF THE COUNTY.
In 1861 Charles B. Lawrence, of Warren county, was elected judge. Of him we need only say that he brought to the discharge of his judicial duties that ripe scholarship, that well trained judicial mind, that has made for him a place in the front ranks of the legal profession in the state and also in the entire west. This circuit was favored with his able judicial administration until the year 1864, when he was elected judge of the supreme court from the northern grand division of the state. At the election of 1864 John S. Thompson was again elected judge to fill the vacancy made by the resignation of Judge Lawrence, and continued to preside until he was succeeded by Arthur A. Smith, who was elected in 1868. Judge Smith was a resident of Knox county, and had served in the army as a lieutenant-colonel of the 83d reg. Ill. Vol., and has been twice elected to fill the position of judge of the cir- cuit in which Henderson county is embraced, and still continues to preside as one of the three judges who compose the judiciary of the circuit. This long service and repeated choice of the voters of the cir- cuit speaks louder in behalf of his merited popularity with the people of his circuit than any eulogy that can be written in this brief review.
In 1877 the general assembly passed an act re-organizing the judi- cial circuits throughout the state, and Henderson county with Warren, Knox, Henry, Mercer, and Rock Island counties, became the tenth judicial circuit, entitled to elect three judges. Judge George W. Pleas- ants, being the judge of the circuit in which Rock Island county was em- braced, and residing in that county, became one of the judges of this circuit, and at the election held in August, 1877, John J. Glenn was elected as the associate of judges Pleasants and Smith. Judge Glenn is a resident of Warren county, and brought to the discharge of his ยท judicial duties large experience at the bar, a clear analytical mind, great industry and unquestioned integrity, which has won for him the confi- dence of the people of his circuit, and the warm esteem of his many friends. Although an active partisan he has never been accused of allowing his partisan predilections to sway his judicial decisions, but has sought to hold the scales of justice in equal poise for each and all men alike. Judge Pleasants, in 1877, was designated as one of the judges of the appellate court of the first district, composed of Cook county, and upon his re-election in 1879, was again designated as one of the judges of the appellate court for the second district, composed of all the counties of the northern grand division except Cook county, which position he now fills with credit to himself and to the satis- faction of the members of the bar, and the public generally.
I shall not be accused, I know, of invidiousness by any who are acquainted with Judge Pleasants, when I speak of him as an ornament
886
HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
to his profession, and a judge possessed of rare judicial ability. His legal attainments, his clear, discriminating mind, are all of the highest order. Always self-possessed upon the bench, patient with wearisome arguments that do not instruct, ever ready to listen to any suggestions or authority presented by counsel, he possesses that rare faculty of eliminating from a case before him, almost by intuition, all extraneous matter, and coming at once to the true issnes to be determined, and when he has reached a legal conclusion in a case npon which to base a judgment, his reasons are so convincing that few suitors go from his court dissatisfied with his adjudications. It is to be regretted that his health is impaired, and all join in the hope that his physical strength may be renewed, and that he may be spared yet for many years to grace the position which he now so ably and worthily fills. In 1879 jugdes Smith. Pleasants and Glenn were elected for a full term, and still hold the courts of this circuit.
POLITICAL PARTIES.
At the formation of the county the political parties were divided into whig and democratic, as understood in the national divisions, the whig party having abont 200 majority in the county. There were during the early history of parties a small number of radical anti-slavery men in the county, who could not subscribe to the doctrines held by either of the other parties on the slave question, and held aloof from their organizations. Too feeble in numbers to effect tlie object desired, having but little countenance or support anywhere in this state or the west, they bore the reproach everywhere heaped upon the head of a man who dared declare that slavery was wrong, and that the onward march of events and the light of civilization proclaimed its . early downfall. To be an abolitionist in those days was to abdicate all hope of political advancement, and all claims upon the suffrages of voters at the polls.
The war with Mexico and the large acquisition of territory on our part as the price of peace, the agitation consequent upon the passage of the compromise measures of 1850 by congress, aroused the atten- tion of the people of this county as well as those of other sections, and led to the formation of a third party in Henderson county, which for the first time entered the field and contested at the polls for public favor in 1852, under the name of the "free soil" party. These dis- tinctive organizations continued until the formation of the republican party in 1856, which was composed of the bulk of the defunct whig party and the anti-slavery element combined. This new party in the presidential campaign of that year, under the candidacy of John C.
887
TOWNS.
Fremont, contested with the democratic party for supremacy. Since that time the republican party's majority in the county upon all test votes has ranged from 100 to 300.
It is true that the small anti-slavery element cast a few votes by way of protest in the year 1848, and the organization denominated the "know nothing," or American party, made some show of strength at the polls in the year 1854, but all these fragments became finally con- solidated with, one or the other of the great parties of the day in 1856. From 1856 to the present time the republican party, when an issue has been sharply made, has usually had about 350 majority in the county.
TOWNS.
The town of Oquawka was laid out in 1836, by Alexis Phelps and his brother, Stephen S. Phelps, who purchased a claim and im- provement that had been made upon the grounds now occupied by the town. Oquawka owes its name to the Indians with whom it was a noted point in their travels and tribal convocations. The word is said to signify the lower end or termination of the Yellow Banks, the point indicated being situated at the termination of a series of high sand bluffs along the river, extending at intervals to a point above the town of New Boston, eighteen miles above Oquawka. Upon the laying out of the town it at once became a place of commercial im- portance, a large trade centering upon its levees. It was for many years, and until the opening of railroads revolutionized trade, the ship- ping point for a large country around, including Warren, Knox and a part of Mercer counties. Extensive warehouses lined the river landing in which the products of the surrounding country was in the winter stored, to await the opening of navigation in the spring, when ship- ments would begin for St. Louis and New Orleans, about the only two market points relied upon at early periods. Goods shipped from east- ern cities for this market came generally by way of Pittsburgh and the Ohio river to Cairo, and thence up the Mississippi to our landing. Some shipments of heavy goods were made by sea to New Orleans and up the river. Upon the opening of the Illinois and Michigan canal a new route was opened by Erie canal, and lakes, thence to the Illinois river and up the Mississippi. Oquawka contained, in 1852, about 1,800 population, but has since fallen off, so that it contains not more at present than 1,000. Like many other towns and cities, she in an evil hour, and under the guidance of bad counsel, encumbered herself with burdensome debts, beyond her ability to liquidate, which resulted in the necessity of levying taxes that became burdensome upon the business of the place, and capital, alarmed at the future prospects, fled
888
HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
the town to avoid taxation, while manufacturing and other enterprises sought more favored localities. The debts thus incurred were first the issue of bonds to the amount of $10,000, to aid in the construction of the "Washington and Oquawka Plank Road," an enterprise in the state of Iowa, the projected plank road terminating at a point on the river opposite Oquawka. The corporation and the road long ago were counted among the things of the past, and remembered only as a warn- ing to others to avoid like follies. The next enterprise in which the authorities of the town took stock, and thus added burdens to those already borne, was in May, 1857, when the issue of $25,000 of bonds was seeured to pay Messrs. Phelps and Jamison for work and labor performed on that part of the Peoria & Oquawka railroad lying between the town of Sagetown and Oquawka. The "work and labor" consisting of partially grading the line between these two points, the people being led to believe that in so doing they would secure railroad facilities by connection with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy line. But it proved a failure. The people incurred the indebtedness without any guaranty of a return for their money, and the debt is to-day out- standing and will be left as a legacy to the next generation. These debts, together with the share of the county indebtedness which the town has to pay, makes the burden a heavy one.
Of the towns in this county Oquawka is the oldest. It was laid out July 9, 1836, by the brothers, Alexis Phelps and Sumner S. Phelps. Its territory, before any additions were attached, was comprised of fractional Secs. 15 and 22, T. 11 N., R. 5, W. of the 4th P. M., as shown by the records of Warren county, Vol. II, p. 344. William C. Butler was the surveyor for the proprietors. In the deed of dedication the proprietors, in addition to liberal reservations of lots for school pur- poses, set apart and dedicated for use of the Methodist Episcopal, Baptist and Presbyterian churches, eligible and valuable lots for the erection of church edifices. Some years subsequently Abram D. Swarts laid out two additions to the town, upon the east side.
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.