History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 87

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 87
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 87

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John B. Holliday

. County Commissioner .Nov.

4, 1873.

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COUNTY OFFICERS.

many others who were the offspring of the slave system, he had but that one name, for family he had none. The existence of slavery for- bid the cultivation and perpetuation of family ties. The absence of all those sanctified relations included in the family circle was essential to the perpetuation of what was termed, in the days of its power, the "institution of slavery." Richard was born a slave in Greenville, Kentucky, in 1815, as the property and chattel of Solomon Rhodes. At the age of twelve years he was sold to John Billings. Mr. Billings took him to the State of Missouri and sold him to Capt. William Phelps for the sum of $1,000, which, Dick remarked to the writer, was more than the average white man would sell for in Missouri at that time. Capt. Phelps, who is a brother of the late S. S. Phelps, and engaged at that time with him in the Indian trade, brought Dick to Oquawka with him. Afterward Dick became a valuable assistant with the Phelps brothers in their Indian trade in Iowa and on the frontier. He at one time saved the family of S. S. Phelps, at their trading station in Iowa, from death in their burning home. In doing so he risked his life, and was seriously injured by the explosion of gunpowder in the burning building. Ever afterward he was treated with the greatest kindness by the Phelps brothers. He was always welcome in the families of the Phelps brothers. In their trading expeditions in the west among the Indians, Dick was always their valued aid and faithful companion. For many years Dick enjoyed the fruits of his fidelity. He may be said to have been put on the retired list, with pay and rations. Many are the good stories that are related at Dick's expense, growing out of journeyings among the red men. Many a thrilling scene is related of his dealings with these natives ; whether in the deadly encounter, where personal bravery was a large factor in self-preservation, or in the swift race for life, where fleetness and endurance were essential to success, Diek never found his superior. He possesses rare natural abilities. Although the child of slavery, he has gathered a rare stock of practical every-day education, and fur- nishes us evidence of the truth that his race is capable of receiving that training that shall fit them for those duties devolving upon men who would perpetuate that system of government where all "just powers are derived from the consent of the governed." Diek still lives among us, and, although well advanced in years, happy and cheerful. With his horse and his gun, he is the same good-natured, jolly, honest Dick that he was when first his foot trod the free soil of Illinois. He was never freed in any formal manner, and he says that he does not know but what he would still be in law a slave, if had not been for the proclamation of President Lincoln freeing the slave.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

RAILROADS.

The first railroad enterprise in which the citizens of Henderson county engaged, looking to the building of a road in the county, was the Peoria & Oquawka, a project to build and equip a road from Peoria, on the Illinois river, to Oquawka. On February 12, 1849, the general assembly of this state passed an act incorporating the com- pany, when, on December 20, 1849, the first meeting was held to organize. Alexander Turnbull, James W. Davidson, Wyatt B. Stapp, Preston Martin, John McKinney, Robert M. Patterson, Samuel B. Anderson, James Knox, Daniel Meek, William Moss, Alfred G. Cur- tinius, and Isaac Underhill, the commissioners, opened the books for subscriptions to the capital stock. The shares were fixed at $100 each, and five per cent payable at the time of subscription. At that time the managers of the enterprise estimated the cost of the road, includ- ing rolling stock, at from $6,000 to $10,000 per mile.

The county commissioners ordered an election for the first Monday in May, 1851, of the legal voters of the county, to vote upon the proposition for the county to subscribe $50,000 to the capital stock of said company. The election was held and resulted in the proposition for such subscription being voted down by a large majority.

By an act of the general assembly the charter of this railroad con- pany was amended, and by one provision of the amendment it was provided that a branch road, extending from Sagetown (now Gladstone) might be constructed to a point on the Mississippi river opposite the city of Burlington, Iowa. The town of Oquawka, under a mistaken idea of the importance of the completion of the road to that point, gave to the enterprise no encouragement, and Burlington, seeing her oppor- tunity, at once set about raising the means to secure the completion of the work to her over the branch. In this she succeeded, and Burling- ton became what Oquawka might have been, a great commercial point and a railroad eenter for a large portion of the roads through Iowa.

The Peoria & Oquawka railroad was completed to Monmouth in 1855, on the first of January. The Chicago & Quincy railroad was completed to Galesburg at that time, and that company leased the Peoria & Oquawka line and completed the work to Burlington, and commenced running their trains over the whole route, and in a short time afterward purchased the entire line, when the name was changed to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, and as soon as the Quincy branch was completed to Galesburg, 110 miles, this name became universally known as one of the most popular railroads in the United States. That portion of the road from Sagetown to Oquawka the company never completed. The town of Oquawka graded, tied,

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RAILROADS.

and bridged the five miles of road between the two last named points, in 1856, under some kind of an expectation that the road would be operated by the company, but after the expenditure of $25,000 these expectations proved to be without basis, and the work remained nse- less and of no value to the town.

In 1849 the general assembly granted a charter for the Warsaw & Rockford Railroad Company, for the purpose of constructing a road from the town of Rockford, Winnebago county, Illinois, to the city of Warsaw, Hancock county, Illinois, near the foot of the Des Moines Rapids. The route of this proposed road passed from north to south through Henderson county.

In 1853, at an election, the county commissioners were authorized to subscribe $100,000 to the capital stock of said company, to aid in the completion of the enterprise. In November, 1855, the commis- sioners, in accordance with the authority thus given, proceeded to make the subscription. The road was never completed, nor indeed was much, if any, valuable work done on the line, but the affairs of the company fell into incompetent hands, and the subscriptions were frittered away, leaving no results of value to those who had, in an evil hour, placed their means at the disposal of these managers.

Henderson county, however, succeeded after some years in recover- ing back $21,000 of unexpended bonds, and thus saved this much from the wreck of this wretched, bankrupt concern. The county sub- sequently refunded the remaining portion of the indebtedness, and at this time has paid a greater part of the same, and will in the early future be entirely free from this debt.

The Carthage & Burlington Railroad Company was chartered in 1867 by the general assembly, and authorized to construct a road from Burlington, Iowa, to Carthage, Hancock county, Illinois, a distance of about twenty-six miles. In about 1870 the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company purchased this road, and added it to its already lengthening lines, and commenced operating it under the title of the Carthage & Burlington division of that road.

The Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis railroad was commenced by a company organized under the laws of this state in 1865, with intent to build a road from Rockford through the counties of Rock Island, Mercer, Henderson, and so on to St. Louis, touching Keiths- burg and Oquawka as river points. That part of the road between Keithisburg via Oquawka to Sagetown was completed and put in oper- ation in 1869, when the company changed its route, running south from Rock Island through the eastern portion of Mercer county to Monmouth, Warren county, and thence to St. Louis. Subsequently.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Company purchased the entire line of road from the Rockford & St. Louis Company, and now operate the whole line. The short piece of road from Sagetown to Keithsburg was extended six miles farther north to New Boston, where it connects with the Galva branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road.

That part of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw railroad within the limits of this county crosses the county line on leaving Hancock county, extending in a northwesterly direction, and forms a june- tion with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road at Iowa station, be- tween the towns of Lomax and Carman. Thus it will be seen that Henderson county has in operation about fifty miles of railroad, viz : the east and west main line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, ex- tending from the Warren county line to the Mississippi river, seven- teen miles ; the Burlington & Carthage branch of the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy road, extending from Burlington to Dallas City in this county, fifteen miles; the Galva branch of the last-named road, extending from the south line of Mercer county by way of Oquawka to Gladstone, where it forms a junction with the main line, fourteen miles ; the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw railroad from Iowa Junction to the south line of the county, a distance of four miles.

There are other lines of projected railroads, the routes of which touch the territory of Henderson county, none of which, at the present time, give promise of an early completion. The Peoria, Farmington & Keithsburg road, running by way of Monmouth, touches the northeast- ern part of the county. This road is completed and running cars from Peoria to Farmingtom. Much grading has been done in Mercer county, from Keithsburg, eastward, and along the line much money has been expended, but work has ceased on the west portion of the line, and there seems at present no indication of an early completion of the road. Two other lines of railroad are projected, running through the county from east to west, pointing to the Burlington bridge, but whether these paper enterprises are merely speculative or not, there is no visible indications of active work upon them at the present time. These enterprises probably are only speculative."

SENATORIAL AND REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICTS. NAMES OF SENA- TORS AND REPRESENTATIVES.

In 1844, for the first time, Henderson county appears in districting the states into senatorial and representative districts. At this appor- tionment of the general assembly, Warren, McDonough and Hender- son counties composed a senatorial district, and William McMillan, of

* See page 62 for further information.

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SENATORIAL AND REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICTS.

Henderson county, was elected senator. In the same year Henderson and Warren counties composed a representative district, and William D. Henderson was elected representative. In the general assembly of 1846-8, William McMillam still held the office of senator, and John Curts, of Henderson county, was elected representative. The consti- tutional convention of 1848 made the counties of Hancock and Hen- derson a senatorial district, and Azro Patterson, of Henderson county, was elected senator. At the same time the counties of Warren, Mercer and Henderson became a representative district and entitled to two representatives, and Abner C. Harding, of Warren, and Gilbert Turn- bull, of Henderson, were elected representatives. In 1850 Jacob C. Davis, of Hancock county, was elected senator, and Thomas Willits, of Mercer county, and Azro Patterson, of Henderson county, were elected representatives. In 1852 J. C. Davis still held the office of senator, and Samuel Darnell, of Henderson county, and Eleazer A. Paine, of Warren county, were elected representatives. In 1854 J. C. Davis still held the office of senator, and William C. Rice was elected repre- sentative. In 1856 Gen. Iliram Rose, of Henderson county, was elected senator, and A. V. T. Gilbert, of Warren county, represented the district composed of Warren and Henderson counties. In 1858 John P. Richmond, of Schuyler county, was elected senator of the dis- trict to which Henderson county belonged, and William C. Rice, of Henderson county, was elected representative. In 1860 John P. Richmond still held the office of senator, and William C. Maley, of Warren county, was elected representative. In 1862 Henry K. Pef- fer, of Warren county, and Thomas B. Cabeen, of Mercer county, were elected representatives from the Henderson representative district. In 1864 James Strain, of Warren county, was elected senator, and Jona- than Simpson, of Henderson county, was elected representative. In 1866 James Strain still held his seat in the senate, and Francis M. Bruner, of Warren county, was elected representative. In 1868 Isaac McManus, of Mercer county, was elected senator from the Henderson senatorial district, and David M. Findley, of Henderson county, was elected representative. In 1870 Harvey S. Senter, of Mercer county, was elected senator from the same district, and William A. M. Crunch was elected representative. In 1870, by the adoption of the new con- stitution framed by the convention of that year, the state was divided into fifty-one senatorial districts, each electing one senator, and each senatorial district constituting a representative district, entitled to three representatives to the lower house of the general assembly.

The constitution also provided for the cumulative system of voting for members of the lower house. In the districting by the general

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

assembly, in pursuance of this constitutional authority, the counties of Henderson and Hancock became one senatorial and representative district, entitled to one senator and three representatives. In 1872 Benjamin Warren, of Hancock county, was elected senator, and David Rankin and William Scott, of Henderson county, and Edward E. Lane, of Hancock county, were elected representatives. In 1874 Benjamin Warren still held the office of senator, and David Ran- kin and Paul D. Salter, of Henderson county, and Wellington Jenney, of Hancock county, were representatives in the lower house. In 1876 William Scott, of Henderson county, was chosen senator, and Charles F. Gill, George F. Walker, and John J. Reyburn, of Hancock county, were elected representatives. In 1878 William Scott held over as senator, and Thomas B. Brumbrack, John J. Reyburn and Brooks R. Hamilton were elected representatives. In 1880 John Fletcher, of Hancock county, was elected senator, and James Peterson, Robert A. McKinley and Henry M. Whiteman, of Henderson county, were chosen representatives.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

The first constitutional convention that ever assembled in Illinois, was convened at Kaskaskia, in July, 1818. It remained in session until August 30, 1818. This convention was composed of thirty-three delegates, and adopted a constitution which the convention did not see fit to submit to a vote of the people. This constitution was ratified by congress December 3, 1818. In 1847 a second constitutional conven- tion convened in this state. It assembled on June 7, 1847, and ad- journed Angust 31, 1847. It was composed of 162 delegates. The convention adopted and submitted a constitution to a vote of the people, who ratified it on March 6, 1848. Abner C. Harding, of Warren county, was the delegate chosen from the district composed of Warren and Henderson counties. The next constitutional convention that convened in this state assembled at Springfield, Jannary 7, 1862, and continued in session until March 24, 1862. It adopted a constitution and submitted it to the people for ratification or rejection, on the Tuesday after the third Monday in June, 1862. The people, by a decided major- ity, rejected the constitution thus submitted. The rejection of this consti- tution did not result so much from any real defects in the provisions of the constitution thus submitted, as from other causes combined. It will be seen by the date of the assembling of this convention, that it was during the second year of the war of the rebellion. Passion and prejudice held at that time high carnival. A war of gigantic propor- tions confronted the northern states. The federal government was

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CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.

menaced as never before had it been menaced. Many saw in the dire calamity of war only ruin to our whole country. Vast armies were being raised and concentrated at different points, preparatary to being sent forward to meet the advancing foe.

. While the heart of the great mass of the people, without regard to party lines, beat true to the lawfully-authorized government and the old flag, there was a small number of malcontents to create alarm. They made up by their clamor in caucuses, conventions, and secret organiza- tions, what they lacked in numbers. No doubt the representations of their actings and doings in the North to some extent encouraged the rebels of the South. It was at such a time that this convention assem- bled. Some of the early acts of this body, although perhaps springing from honest and patriotic motives, caused alarm in the public mind, already aroused and inclined to suspect danger in every unusual move- ment, and especially in a body so potent for evil as was this convention. The majority of the members of the convention assumed that upon its organization it was no longer bound by any legislative enactments, but was sovereign in the exercise of supreme power of the state; that it was virtually an assemblage of the people, with full and necessary power for a peaceable revolution of the government of the state. The law authorizing the calling of the convention prescribed the oath for members to take: to support the constitution of the state. This a majority of the convention refused to do, holding it to be inconsistent to take an oath to support a constitution that they were about to do away with. It was claimed that the convention had the right to declare itself permanent and exercise all the power of the people of the state. The debates upon these subjects created in the minds of a large portion of the people distrust and alarm. The convention lost the confidence and moral support of the people, and a powerful opposition was organ- ized to whatever the convention might do. The final work of this body was much superior to what the people had been led by the debates to believe it would be; in fact, the constitution by them adopted, and submitted to the people for their ratification, was of high character as an organic law ; but such was the prejudice that had been engendered against the convention, and such was the party spirit which had been aroused, that the people refused to look at the merits of the instrument, and the constitution thus submitted was defeated by a large majority. In this connection a fact should be recorded. The elause of the constitution, popularly known as the "black laws," which forbid the settlement of negroes in this state, and which was submitted as a separate article, was ratified by the people of the state by about 100,000, although the constitution was defeated; but

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IIISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

by a provision of the schedule in such contingency, the separate article became inoperative. Henderson county ratified the sepa- rate article, but rejected the constitution. Public sentiment changed radically since the vote upon that occasion. At the date of the election of delegates to this convention, Warren and Henderson counties composed one district, and Jonathan Simpson, of Hen- derson, was elected delegate. In 1869 another constitutional con- vention convened at Springfield. It assembled December 13, 1869, and closed its labors and adjourned May 18, 1870. It was composed of eighty-five members. It adopted a constitution and submitted it to the people for ratification July 2, 1870. It was ratified by a large majority. Mercer and Henderson counties constituted one district, and James S. Poage, of Mercer county, was elected delegate.

EFFORTS TO REMOVE THE COUNTY SEAT.

There have been in this county several efforts made to remove the county seat from Oquawka to some more central point in the county. The first of these efforts was made in 1859. At the session of the general assembly of that year an enabling act was passed, authorizing a vote to be taken upon the question of removing the seat of justice to the town of Warren, twelve miles south of Oquawka, and not far from what was claimed to be the geographical center of the county. The election was held in November of that year, and resulted in a majority adverse to removal.

In 1865 the general assembly again passed an act authorizing an election to be held upon the question of removing the seat of justice to the town of Sagetown (now Gladstone), five miles south of Oquawka. The election was held in November of that year and resulted in a majority against removal of 114.

In 1869 an election was again held to vote upon the question of removal to the town of Biggsville, a town on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, about ten miles south and east of Oquawka. The majority in this case was also against removal.

In 1872 the question was again submitted to the vote of the elec- tors of the county of removal to Sagetown, but the people again decided, by a majority of 170, against removal. At the present time the legal steps have been taken to obtain again the sense of the people of the county upon the question of removal, but the point to be sub- mitted for the decision of the legal voters of the county has not yet been fixed upon. The towns of Biggsville and Gladstone are each cir- culating petitions for signatures of the voters, which will be presented to the county court in September next, when the question will be

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THE POOR FARM.

decided which of the two towns thus petitioning shall be the one upon which the vote shall be taken in November next.

Many who reside in the southern portion of the county feel it to be a hardship to have to travel so far to the seat of justice. It is true that the distance to be traveled would be more in accordance with equity if the county seat was more centrally located. Oquawka, the present county seat, is situated within nine miles of the northern boundary of the county ; the county being thirty miles in length from north to south. If a geographical center was sought, it would be found to be a little north of the town of Olena, near the residence of Isaiah J. Brook and the farm of John N. Bruin, in township 10 north, range 5 west. The main objection urged to the removal is the bur- den of taxation that would be laid upon the county in the erection of county buildings, court house, jail, etc.

THE POOR FARM.

In September, 1855, the authorities of the county purchased of George Cronover the N. W. ¿ of Sec. 26, T. 11 N., R. 5 W., for the purpose of providing a place for all county paupers. It is situated about two miles from the county seat, on Henderson creek. Upon this farm the county erected commodious buildings for the accommo- dation of the unfortunates from time to time demanding public charity. The farm has been well improved, and has proved upon the whole an economical plan for caring for the poor of the county.

In erecting the buildings, the basement of the larger building was constructed into cells for the safe-keeping of such as might, while there sojourning, need restraint or confinement. Such at least was the pre- text at the time. In 1859 we find, however, an act passed by the gen- eral assembly authorizing the use of the said basement as a common jail of the county. As a jail the location has been found both insecure and expensive. Situated in a secluded spot, far away from help in case of need, this jail has proved anything but a safe deposit for per- sons charged with crime, while waiting trial or transportation to Joliet after conviction. Many have been the escapes from this so-called prison, many have been the expensive pursuits, followed by few cap- tures. In this jail the noted William Lee was confined prior to his trial, conviction, and execution on the gallows in 1876 for the murder of Jessie McCarty, which event is described more in detail further on in these pages under the head of noted criminal trials.

One of these periodical jail deliveries occurred in the summer of 1880, and created for a time a sensation in the county. Confined at that time in the jail were some ten prisoners, charged with various

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 87

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424