USA > Illinois > Pike County > History of Pike County, Illinois : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens > Part 21
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PIKE COUNTY.
As a part of the Territory of Illinois in 1790 all of that portion of Illinois south of what is now Peoria was made a county and named St. Clair, in honor of Gen. St. Clair, Governor of the Northwestern Territory. Cohokia was the county-seat of this county. In 1812 that part of Illinois Territory above St. Louis was created into a county called Madison, with Edwardsville as the county-seat. Illinois was admitted as a State in 1818, and in. 1821 all that part of Madison county between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers was organized into a county and named Pike. Its name was chosen in honor of Gen. Pike, of the war of 1812. The tract of country now known as Pike county was surveyed by the Government in the years 1817-'9, and soon afterward attracted at- tention on account of its natural advantages for commerce, fertility of soil and abundance of water. It is the oldest county in the Military Tract, and one of the largest, containing 510,764 acres, or 800 square miles, in 23 townships. The following is a copy of the act organizing the county :
AN ACT TO FORM A NEW COUNTY ON THE BOUNTY LANDS. APPROVED JAN. 31, 1821.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., that all that tract of country within the follow- ing boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of the Illinois river and running thence up the middle of said river to the fork of the same, thence up the south fork of said river until it strikes the State line of Indiana, thence north with said line to the north boundary line of this State, thence west with said line to the west boundary line of this State, and thence with said line to the place of beginning, shall constitute a separate county to be called Pike.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted that there shall be appointed the following per- sons, to wit: Levi Roberts, John Shaw and Nicholas Hanson, to meet at the house of Levi Roberts, in said county, on or before the first day of March next, to fix the temporary seat of justice of said county, the said seat of justice to be south of the base line of said county.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, etc., that the citizens of Pike county be hereby declared entitled in all respects to the same rights and privileges that are allowed in general to other counties in the State.
SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, etc., that said county of Pike be and form a part of the first judicial circuit.
This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
COUNTY-SEAT LOCATED.
The following act was passed at the next session of the Legisla- ture :
AN ACT DEFINING THE BOUNDARIES OF 'PIKE COUNTY, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. APPROVED DEC. 30. 1822.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in General Assembly, that the county of Pike shall be bounded as follows, to wit: On the north by the base line; on the east by the Illinois river; on the west by the Mississippi; and all the rest and residue of the territory, composing the county of Pike before the passage of this act, shall be attached to, and be a part of, said county until otherwise disposed of by the General Assembly of this State.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, etc., for the purpose of fixing the permanent seat of justice of said county, the following persons be and the same are hereby appointed Commissioners, to wit: Garrett VanDusen, Ossian M. Ross, John M. Smith, Daniel Ford and Daniel Shinn, who, after being duly sworn by some judge or justice of the peace of this State, faithfully and impartially to discharge the duties imposed upon them by this act, shall meet at the house of John Shaw, in said county, on or before the first day of March next, and proceed to determine on the permanent seat of justice of said county, and designate the same, taking into consideration the condition and convenience of the people, the future population of the county, and the health and eligibility of the place; and they are hereby authorized to receive as a donation for the use of said county any quantity of land that may be determined on by them, from any proprietor that may choose to offer such donation of land; which place, so fixed and determined upon, the said Commissioners shall certify, under their hands and seals, and return the same to next Commissioners of Court in said county, which shall cause an entry there- of to be made upon their books of record.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, etc., that the said Commissioners shall receive, as a compensation for their service, the sum of two dollars per day for each day by them necessarily spent in discharging the duties imposed upon them by this act, to be allowed by the Commissioners of the Court, and paid out of the county treasury.
Pursuant to that portion of the above act as relating to locating the county-seat, the Commissioners made their report to the County Commissioners at their March term of Court, 1823, and presented the Court with a deed from William Ross and Rufus Brown for an acre of land upon section 27, Atlas township.
COUNTIES CUT FROM PIKE.
When Pike county was organized it embraced all of that country between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and extended east along the line of the main fork of the Illinois, the Kankakee river, to the Indiana State line and on to the northern boundary of the State, in- cluding the country where Rock Island, Galena, Peoria and Chi- cago now are. It was indeed a large county, and embraced what is now the wealthiest and most populous portion of the Great West. The extensive lead mines of Galena had not yet been discovered, and Chicago was only a trading;and military post. The Commissioners of Pike county, as will be noticed in the following chapter, exercised full authority, so far as the duties of their respective offices were concerned, over all this vast region.
Settlers soon began to locate here and there in the Military Tract. Two years had scarcely passed ere the few settlers east of the fourth
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
principal meridian and north of the base line desired a county, and appealed to the Legislature for power to organize one. Ossian M. Ross, the founder of Lewistown, Fulton county, and one of the prime movers in the organization of that county, was at that time a member of the County Commissioners' Court of Pike county. The following is an abstract of the act referred to:
An act approved Jan. 28, 1823, forming the county of Fulton out of all the attached part of Pike, beginning where the fourth princi- pal meridian intersects the Illinois river, thence up the middle of said river to where the line between ranges five and six east strikes the said river, thence north with the said line between ranges five and six east, to the township line between townships nine and ten north, then west with said line to the fourth principal meridian, then south to the place of beginning; and all the rest and residue of the at- tached part of the county of Pike east of the fourth principal merid- ian shall be attached to Fulton county.
Jan. 13, 1825, Schuyler county was cut off from Pike and Fulton, and included all that country within the following boundaries: " Commencing at a place where the township line between town- ships two and three south touches the Illinois river, thence west on said line to the range line between ranges four and five west, thence north from said line to the northwest corner of township three north, range one west, thence east on said township line to the Illi- nois river, thence down the said river to the place of beginning."
The same year an act was passed forming new counties. Those formed were Adams, Hancock, McDonough, Warren, Mercer, Henry, Putnam and Knox. Their boundaries were fixed by the act of Jan. 30, 1825. Calhoun county was cut off from Pike county and organ- ized in 1825.
GENERAL REVIEW.
No whites settled north of Alton for agricultural purposes prior to 1819. During that year and the next there was a sufficient num- ber of settlers to organize a county. Accordingly the Legislature of 1820-'1, as above seen, organized the county of Pike, which then included all of the State of Illinois between the Illinois and Missis- sippi rivers. The county-seat was first fixed at Coles' Grove, ad- joining the locality of Gilead, afterward the county-seat of Calhoun county. This place was named after Edward Coles, Governor of Illinois.
We copy the following topographical sketch of Pike county from " Peck's Illinois Gazetteer," published in 1834, as giving an idea of the county at that early date:
" Pike county is the oldest county in the Military Tract, and was erected from Madison and other counties in 1821. It then em- braced the whole county northwest of the Illinois river, but by sub- sequent formation of new counties it is now reduced to ordinary size, containing twenty-two townships, or about 800 square miles. It is bounded north by Adams, east by Schuyler and the Illinois
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
river. south by that river and Calhoun, and west by the Mississippi. Besides the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, which wash two sides, it has the Sny Carte slough, running the whole length of its west- ern border, which floats steam-boats to Atlas at a full stage of water. Pike county is watered by the Pigeon, Hadley, Keyes, Black, Dutch Church, Six-Mile and Bay creeks, which flow into the Mis- sissippi; and Big and Little Blue, and the North and West Forks of McGee's creek, which enter into the Illinois. Good mill-sites are furnished by these streams.
"The land is various. The section of country, or rather island, between the Sny Carte slough and the Mississippi, is a sandy soil, but mostly inundated land at the spring flood. It furnishes a great summer and winter range for stock, affording considerable open prairie, with skirts of heavy bottom timber near the streams. Along the bluffs and for two or three miles back the land is chiefly timbered, but cut up with ravines and quite rolling. Far in the in- terior and toward Schuyler county excellent prairie and timber lands are found, especially about the Blue rivers and McGee's creek. This must eventually be a rich and populons county.
" In Pleasant Vale, on Keyes creek, is a salt spring twenty feet in diameter, which boils from the earth and throws off a stream of some size, and forms a salt pond in its vicinity. Salt has been made here, though not in great quantities.
"In the county are seven water saw-mills, four grist-mills, one carding-machine, five stores, and a horse ferry-boat across the Mis- sissippi to Louisiana."
HANSON AND SHAW.
The State Constitution, adopted on the admission of Illinois into the Union in 1818, prohibited slavery in this State. Owing to this fact many of the early immigrants coming West,'who were from the slave States of Virginia and Kentucky, passed right through this garden of Eden into Missouri. An effort was made, therefore, to so amend the Constitution as to permit slavery in this State that it might be more attractive to settlers, and the sequel showed that Illinois had a narrow escape from the dreadful evils of slavery. When the necessary preliminary resolution was offered in the Sen- ate it was ascertained that the requisite two-thirds vote to pass the resolution for the call of a convention to amend the Constitution could be obtained and to spare; but in the House they needed one vote. At first it was strenuously argued that the two-thirds vote meant two-thirds of the two Houses in joint convention; but the opponents were too powerful in their argument upon this point. The majority, however, was not to be foiled in their purpose. An- other mode presented itself: all that was required was courage to perpetrate a gross outrage on a recalcitrant member. There had been a contested election case from Pike county. The sitting mem- ber decided by the House to be entitled to the seat was Nicholas Hanson, and the contestant, John Shaw, the " Black Prince." Han-
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
son's vote had been obtained for the re-election of Jesse B. Thomas, strongly pro-slavery, to the United States Senate; but further than this he would not go. Shaw, who favored the convention project, was now discovered to be entitled to the seat. A motion was there- upon made to reconsider the admission of Hanson, which prevailed. It was next further moved to strike out the name of Hanson and insert that of Shaw. During the pendency of the resolution a tumultuous crowd assembled in the evening at the State House, and after the delivery of a number of incendiary speeches, inflam- ing the minds of the people against Hanson, they proceeded through the town (Vandalia) with his effigy in a blaze, accompa- nied with the beating of drums, the sound of bugles, and shouts of " Convention or death." A motion to expel Hanson and admit Shaw was adopted, and the latter awarded the majority by voting for the convention resolution, which thus barely passed. The night following, a number of members of both Houses entered their sol- emn protest against this glaring outrage of unseating Hanson, both with the object intended and the manner of perpetrating it. Many reflecting men, earnest in their support of the convention question, condemned it, and it proved a powerful lever before the people in the defeat of the slavery scheme. The passage of the convention resolution was regarded as tantamount to its carriage at the polls.
The pro-slavery party celebrated their triumph by an illumina- tion of the town, and the procession, accompanied by all the horrid paraphernalia and discordant music of a charivari, marched to the residence of Governor Coles, and the quarters of the chief oppo- nents of the measure, where they performed with their demoniac music to annoy and insult them.
The convention resolution was finally defeated by 1,800 majority at the polls.
It is thus seen how Pike county gave the casting vote on the slavery question in this State in 1820.
MARQUETTE COUNTY.
The counties now bounding Pike on the north are Adams and Brown; but in 1841 there was a county struck off from the east side of Adams and called Marquette. Columbus, being more cen- trally located in Adams county, became ambitious for the county- seat, but as Quincy was too powerful against this project, the eastern portion of Adams county was struck off by an act of the Legis- lature in order that the ambition of Columbus might be satisfied and become a county-seat. No attempt was made to organize the county until 1846, when Quincy again proved too powerful for them, and the following Legislature repealed the act defining the boundaries of the county.
COUNTY-SEAT CONTEST.
In 1842-'3 an effort was made to divide the county, the new county-seat to be at Barry. Dr. Thomas Worthington was a mem-
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
ber of the State Senate, and Wm. Blair of the House, each repre- senting the interests of his section of the county. The bill introduced by Mr. Blair proposed to divide the county by a line running north and south through its extent; but, after the presentation of many petitions and remonstrances, and a period of consider- able excitement, the bill failed to pass the House. In 1850 the county was divided into 19 townships, and organized under the town- ship organization law of the Constitution of 1848. Under this mode the county is at present conducted. And that was the end of this little fight. The county remains, therefore, to the present day as it was outlined by the Legislature of 1825. In the fall of 1846 the effort was renewed. Meetings were held in various parts of the county, and speeches were made on both sides of the ques- tion; but public interest soon died down.
CHAPTER IV. IMPORTANT LABORS OF THE COUNTY COMMIS- SIONERS' COURT.
FIRST MEETING.
The first meeting of the County Commissioners' Court of Pike county was held April 24, 1821. There were present Leonard Ross, John Shaw, and William Ward, the three Commissioners. After the Court was organized, Stephen Dewey was appointed Clerk pro tem, in the absence of James W. Whitney, the Clerk. The records give but little information in regard to the organization of the county. They begin with unqualified statements, and record the acts of the honored Court with greatest simplicity.
The first business before the Court was an application for a li- cense to sell spirituous liquors made by Belus and Egbert Jones. The license was granted upon the payment of $3 into the newly made treasury by the Joneses.
Belus Jones was then appointed Constable for the county of Pike. The liquor traffic evidently was not great enough to em- ploy the entire time of the two gentlemen, and as the newly organ- ized county needed a Constable, Mr. Jones' services were solicited in that capacity.
The county must needs have a Treasurer; accordingly Nathaniel Shaw was appointed to this important office. The Court then ad- journed to meet at 7 o'clock A. M., April 25.
According to adjournment the Commissioners assembled upon the morning of the 25th. The first business presented to the con- sideration of the Court was an application for license to sell liquors presented by Thomas Ferguson. The Court seemed to pos- sess a willingness to encourage the liquor business within the newly made county, as they granted Mr. Ferguson license for $2.50. Why they should grant him a license for 50 cents less than they charged the Joneses, we can not tell. Perhaps an increase of busi- ness and flattering prospects enabled them to reduce the "tax. "
Ebenezer Smith and Stephen Dewey were then recommended "as fit and suitable persons for the Governor to commission Jus- tices of the Peace." The Court then adjourned until June.
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
SECOND MEETING.
Monday, June 4, 1821, the date set for the convening of the Court, John Shaw appeared and opened Court, but there not being a quorum present the Court was kept open until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when all of the Commissioners appeared and took their seats. Upon the following day James W. Whitney, who had been appointed Clerk of the Court, although we find no record of his appointment, "appeared in open Court and took the several oaths required by law, and gave bond in the penal sum of $1,000, and tendered Levi Roberts and Rigdon C. Fenton his securities, who were accepted and approved by the Court."
TAVERN LICENSE.
At the June term, 1821, Nathaniel Hincksley was granted license "to keep a tavern. "
A tavern in those days was a combination of an inn and a saloon. The proprietor, however, did not expect to derive any great revenue from the hotel, but looked to his liquors for an income. Many of these " taverns " were the smallest of log cabins. Here and there all over the country, sometimes miles from any other cabin, they might be found. Some of them were indicated to be such by signs nailed to a post, tree, or to the side of the cabin. These were of the rudest make and design. Some simply had the word "entertainment " scrawled upon them, while others, more ex- plicit, read "entertainment for man and beast." Some were still more definite and said simply " whisky and oats. " The storms of a half century, the advancement of civilization, the culture of the age, have all combined to transform these rudest of signs, scrib- bled by an uncultured pioneer upon hewn boards, into gilded and glittering letters artistically traced upon French-plate glass.
The name by which the place was known where liquor was vended was shortly after this changed from "tavern " to "grocery " or " groggery, " and subsequently assumed the appellation of" saloon;"' and finally, that coming into disrepute, many have adopted the more modern title of "sample room," "hall," "garden," etc.
The following schedule of "tavern rates" was then established to govern Hincksley :
Victuals, per meal,. 25 cents
Horse keeping, per night,. 3715
Lodging, per night,. 1212
Whisky, per half pint,. 1216 4
Rum and gin, per half pint,
25
French Brandy, per half pint,.
50
Wine, per half pint, ..
3716 “
JOHN KINZIE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE FOR PIKE COUNTY.
Upon motion of Abraham Beck, Esq., John Kinzie was recom- mended to the Governor of Illinois as a fit and suitable person for
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
Justice of the Peace for Pike county. This gentleman was the well-known first settler of Chicago, and at that time resided there, it then being in this county. It must be remembered that Pike county at that time spread over a vast territory, and embraced all of the northern part of the State. Yes, though unlearned in law and unacquainted with science and literature, the Commissioners held jurisdiction over a large district; and that they conducted the public affairs rightly, and built a firm and solid foundation upon which the future prosperity and greatness of this portion of our beloved State should rest, can not be gainsaid. This is plainly evident from the unparalleled strides made in agricultural and me- chanical progress; from the hundreds of thousands of busy inhabi- tants now dwelling within this territory; and from the vast stores of wealth accumulated solely from resources within it. Those great and unconcealed wonders reflect honor and credit each day upon their founders; and as days and years multiply, when the same territory over which they presided shall be teeming with millions of earnest and energetic people, then will great honors and more exultant praise and adoration be expressed for the brave, sturdy pioneers who explored and opened up a region so prolific, and founded a community that for genius, enterprise and wealth will in the near future out-rank many older settled countries, and indeed will vie with many kingdoms of the earth. Then these vast prairies will be cultivated as a garden. Every forest tree and woodland will be utilized, and populous cities with numerous fac- tories and vast stores of commerce may be numbered by the score. Then will the modes of travel be superior to the remarkable rail- road facilities of to-day, and transport the increased products with greater facility. Indeed, everything will then be as different and as superior to what they are at present as the things of to-day are as compared with those of fifty years ago. Our readers may re- gard this as wild and unreasonable speculation, as wholly vision- ary ; but they are only the conclusions deduced from a careful study of history, of a comparison of what has been accomplished, with certain advantages, with the results that the superior advantages now enjoyed will as certainly accomplish.
THE POOR.
One of the first acts of the noble-hearted Commissioners was to make provisions for their poor. The pioneers were generous and liberal to a fault when it came to provide the necessities of life to those more unfortunate in their midst. June 5, 1821, Baxter Bradwell and Joel Bacon were appointed overseers of the poor.
RECORD BOOK.
A record book was then ordered to be purchased, for which $3.00 was given. This is a common paper-covered blank book of about 200 pages, and at the present time the price would be considered high if the book were sold at half that amount.
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
LAYING OUT ROADS.
For many years the petitions for roads occupied a very large pro- portion of the Court's time and attention, and consumed more space to record than all other proceedings. They are similar in construc- tion, and it would be useless, and worse, to speak of them as often as they occur. We will only give a specimen of these applications and the mode of dealing with them. The records read as follows: "A petition of sundry inhabitants of this county was presented praying that a road may, be laid out from McDonald's Ferry on the Mississippi river, the nearest and best course to the Illinois river to meet a road that may be laid out from thence to Vandalia." The prayer was granted, and Daniel Shinn, Clarendon Ross and Eben- ezer Franklin were appointed a committee to view and ascertain where said road should be located.
Upon the 3d of July of the same year the committee reported and their report was: " Accept as far as the north line of section 27 of township 6 south, in range 5 west [Atlas township], that being as far as said Commissioners were able to proceed, owing to the ex- cessive growth of vegetation; and it is further ordered that the time for viewing and laying out the remainder of said road shall be ex- tended until after the vegetation shall be destroyed by frost."
Five days' work upon this road was required of each man who lived within two and one-half miles of it. This rule also applied to other roads laid out in those primitive times. One dollar was allowed for each day a man labored more than that.
A petition was also presented for a road from Ferguson's Ferry on the Illinois river, to Fort Edwards, upon the Mississippi river. Again we find "a petition presented by sundry citizens, Oct. 4, 1821, for a road from Fort Clark (now Peoria) to the mouth of the Illinois river." Accordingly James Nixon, John Shaw and Eben- ezer Smith were appointed a committee to view the road from the house of Ebenezer Smith to Fort Clark.
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