History of the early settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois : "centennial record", Part 6

Author: Power, John Carroll, 1819-1894; Power, S. A. (Sarah A.), 1824-; Old Settlers' Society of Sangamon County (Ill.)
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : E.A. Wilson & Co.
Number of Pages: 824

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of the early settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois : "centennial record" > Part 6

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SANGAMON COUNTY.

created much solicitude, and the shores for miles were crowded by our citizens. Her arrival at her destined port was hailed with loud acclamations and full demonstrations of pleasure. When Capt. Bogue located his steam mill on Sangamon river, twelve months ago, and asserted his determination to land a steam boat there within a year, the idea was considered chimerical by some, and utterly impracticable by others. The experiment has been made, and the result has been as successful as the most enthusiastic could expect ; and this county owes a deep debt of gratitude to Captain Bogue for getting up the expedition, and his never tiring and unceasing efforts until the end was accom- plished. Capt. Pollock, who is naturally warm and enthusiastic, entered fully into the feeling of our citizens, who visited the mouth of the river to render any and every assistance in their power; and much credit is due him for his perseverance and success. The boat experienced some difficulty from drifts, and leaning timber on shore, which made her trip somewhat tedious. The result has clearly demonstrated the practicability of navi- gating the river by steamboats of a proper size; and by the expenditure of $2,000 in re- moving logs and drifts and standing timber, a steamboat of So tons burthen will make the trip in two days from Beardstown to this place. The citizens of Beardstown man- ifested great interest for the success of the enterprise, and some of them accompanied the boat until the result was no longer doubtful. They proposed the cutting of a communication or canal from the bluffs to their landing-about five miles-whereby seventy-five miles of navigation may be saved, and offered one thousand dollars to assist in completing it. It is to be hoped that the next Legislature will afford some aid in making the river safe and pleasant in its navigation. Springfield can no longer be considered an inland town. We have no doubt but within a few months a boat will be constructed for the special purpose of navigating the Sangamo river. The result which must follow the successful termination of this enterprise to our county, and to those counties lying in its neighborhood, it would be impossible to calculate. Here is now open a most promising field for the exercise of every branch of honest industry. We congratulate our farmers, our mechanics, our merchants and professional men for the rich harvest in prospect, and we cordially invite emigrating citizens from other states, whether rich or poor, if so be they are industrious and honest, to come hither and partake of the good things of Sangamo."

A ball was gotten up in honor of the arrival, and several yards of machine poetry appeared in the next number of the fournal, detailing the various incidents connected with the wondrous event. The boat was unloaded, and immediately started on its re- turn, but the river had so fallen and brought the water within so narrow a channel, that it was impossible to turn it around, and they were compelled to back it out the entire distance. The only mention ever made of her afterwards was a newspaper re- port that the Talisman was burned at the wharf in St. Louis in the latter part of the next April. No attempt was ever made after that to bring a boat up the river. Thus ended the dream of navigating the Sangamo, across which a man may walk almost dry shod for nearly half of every year.

RAILROADS.

The navigation of the Sangamon river being a failure, left the problem of transporta- tion still unsolved. Brains and hands were at work in another land, that were destined to

HISTORICAL PRELUDE.

revolutionize all former ideas on the subject in this, but their labors had. never been heard of by the people, with the exception, probably, of an occasional extensive reader of the news. The railroad was then in its very infancy in England. The steam loco- motive, about that time, found its way to this side of the Atlantic, but it required a few years more for it to reach Illinois. The first rail laid in the state was at Meredosia, on the Illinois river, May 9, 1838, on what was called the Northern Cross Railroad. The first locomotive arrived at the same place September 6, IS3S, on the steamboat Chariton, and was put on the track and first turned its wheels on the Sth of November following. It required more than three years to complete the road to Springfield. The first locomotive was run into Springfield, February 15, 1842, on what is now the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad. George Gregory-see his name-was the engineer, and Thomas M. Averitt-see his name-was the fireman, both of whom are yet living in this county. The State of Illinois has now over six thousand miles of railroad, and Springfield has railroads by which travelers may enter and leave the city in eight different directions.

SPRINGFIELD.

We have already said that a temporary county seat was chosen for Sangamon county, April 10, 1821, and called Springfield. The first survey of public land in the county took place that year. The Rev. John M. Peck, in his Pioneer History of Illinois, says that Springfield was laid out in February, 1822, referring, no doubt, to Calhoun, which was the name given to the first plat of what is now a part of Springfield. It is in the northwestern part of the city. The first sale of public lands in Sangamon county took place November 7, 1823. At that sale the lands were purchased upon which Calhoun had been laid out. Four different parties entered each a quarter of as many sections cornering together. The town plat of Calhoun was recorded December 5, 1823. It was under a law approved December 23, 1824, that the county seat was permanently located by the commissioners, who assembled March IS, IS25, and confirmed the former location at Springfield. The land donated by Elijah Iles and Pascal Enos was laid out into lots, making the streets correspond with those of ,Calhoun. There was great prejudice against the name of Calhoun, (afterwards the great nullifier of South Carolina,) many refusing to recognize it, and it soon ceased to be used except in the conveyance of lots.

The first legislation on the part of the state, with reference to Springfield, was ap- proved February 9, 1827. By this act the court of county commissioners was required to appoint street commissioners for the town, and 'levy a tax for improving the same. A general law for the incorporation of towns was enacted and approved February 12, 1831. April 2, 1832, Springfield was incorporated under that law. October IS, 1832, the county court ordered a re-survey of the town, in order to adjust the discrepancies between the plats of Calhoun and Springfield. The survey was made and acknowl- edged June 18, 1833, and recorded November 9, 1836.

The first board of trustees after the town was incorporated, April 2, 1832:

C. R. Matheny, President, Cyrus Anderson, John Taylor,

Elisha Tabor, Mordecai Mobley, Wm. Carpenter.

SANGAMON COUNTY.

1833: John R. Gray, President.

1834-5-6-7-8: C. R. Matheny, President.

1839: Peleg C. Canedy, President, and Abraham Lincoln a member of the town board.

By an act of the General Assembly, approved February 3, 1840, a city charter was granted to Springfield. This law provided for an election to be held the first Monday in April, being the sixth day, to adopt or rejeet the proposed charter. It was adopted, and the first election for city officers was held April 20, 1840.

Benjamin S. Clements was elected Mayor, and James R. Gray, Washington Iles, Joseph Klein and William Prentiss, Aldermen. The following were the successive Mayors from that to the present time: For 1841, Win. L. May; 1842, David B. Campbell; 1843, Daniel B. Hill, who resigned and Andrew McCormick was elected to fill the vacancy; 1844, Andrew McCormick; 1845, James C. Conkling; 1846-47 and '48, Eli Cook; 1849-50 and '51, John Calhoun; 1852, William Lavely; 1853, Josiah Francis. In 1854 the number of Aldermen was increased from four to twelve, and William H. Herndon was elected Mayor; 1855, John Cook; 1856-57 and '58, John W. Priest; 1859, William Jayne; 1860, Goyn Sutton; 1861-62, Geo. L. Huntington; 1863, John W. Smith; 1864, John S. Vredenburgh; 1865, Thomas J. Dennis; 1866, John S. Bradford; 1867, Norman M. Broadwell; 1868, William E. Shutt; 1869, N. M. Broadwell; 1870, John W. Priest; 1871 and '72, John W. Smith; 1873, Charles E. Hay; 1874, the wards were increased from four to six, and Obed Lewis elected Mayor; 1875, Charles E. Hay; 1876, this is printed in February, and the election takes place in April.

SPRINGFIELD, THE STATE CAPITAL.

From the discovery of the country by the French in 1673, there was no attempt at organized government in the territory now composing the State of Illinois, until 1718, when the " Company of the West" was formed in Paris, for the new world. Kaskaskia had been settled between 1680-90, and is regarded as the oldest permanent settlement in the Mississippi Valley.

Judge Caton, in his oration at the laying of the corner stone of the new state house, October 5, 1868, described the building which was used as the capitol when the terri- torial government was organized, in the following language: "It was a rough build- ing in the centre of a square in the village of Kaskaskia, the ancient seat of the western empire for more than one hundred and fifty years. The body of this building was of uncut limestone, the gables and roof of the gambrel style of unpainted boards and shingles, with dormer windows. The lower floor, a long, cheerless room, was fitted up for the House, whilst the council sat in the small chamber above. This venerable building was, during the French occupancy of the country, prior to 1763, the head- quarters of the military commandant. Thirty years ago the house was a mass of ruins, and to-day, probably, there is not a stone left to designate the spot where it stood." That building was the capitol during the territorial existence of Illinois, and the state government was organized in it also.

The state constitution of 1818 required the General Assembly to petition Congress for a grant of land upon which to locate the seat of government for the state. In the

HISTORICAL PRELUDE.

event of the prayer of the petitioners being granted, a town was to be laid out on said land, which town should be the seat of government of the state for twenty years. The land was granted. "At the session of 1819, in Kaskaskia, five commissioners were appointed to select the land appropriated by Congress for the state capital." The commissioners made their selections further up the Kaskaskia river. Having selected the site, the commissioners were sorely puzzled in their efforts to select a name that should be so euphonious as to attract the attention of the whole world. Governor Ford, in his history of Illinois, gives the following humorous account of the way it was done: " Tradition says that a wag, who was present, suggested to the commis- sioners that the ' Vandals" were a powerful nation of Indians, who once inhabited the banks of the Kaskaskia river, and that ' Vandalia,' derived from the name, would per- petuate the memory of that extinet but renowned people. The suggestion pleased the commissioners, the name was adopted, and they thus proved that the cognomen of their new city-if they were fit representatives of their constituents-would better illustrate the character of the modern, than the ancient inhabitants of the country."

Having located and named their town, it was at once laid out, and the dense growth of timber cut away and a two story frame building erected on the square set apart for the State capitol. The building was placed on a rough stone foundation in the centre of the square, and was of very rude workmanship. The lower floor was for the House of Representatives, and the upper divided into two rooms, the largest one for the Senate and the smaller one for the office of Secretary of State. The State Auditor and Treasurer occupied detached buildings. The archives of the State were removed from Kaskaskia to Vandalia in December, 1820. That wooden State house was burned a few years later, and a much larger one built of brick on the same ground. The rapidity with which emigration filled up the northern portion of the State made it ap- parent, long before the twenty years it was to remain at Vandalia expired, that it would be necessary to remove the capital further north, and as early as 1833 the question be- gan to be agitated in the General Assembly.

In the Legislature of 1836-7 Sangamon county had two Senators and seven Repre- sentatives. They were the most remarkable delegation from any one county to the General Assembly, being much taller than the average of human stature. Some of them were less and some more than six feet, but their combined height was exactly fifty-four feet. They were then and are yet spoken of as the "Long Nine." The names of those in the Senate were Archer G. Herndon and Job Fletcher; in the House, Abraham Lincoln, Ninian W. Edwards, John Dawson, Andrew MeCormick, Dan Stone, Wm. F. Elkin and Robert L. Wilson. One or two were as tall, but none taller, than Abraham Lincoln, who, quoting his own language, was "six feet, four inches, nearly." It was known that a movement would be made to re-locate the State capital. The "Long Nine" were united for securing it, and nothing could turn one of them from their purpose. They were ready to yield anything else, but when any other point was yielded, it secured votes for Springfield as the capital. Their opportunities were great. The people of Illinois were, at that time, almost in- sane on the subject of internal improvements. Not one in ten thousand of them had ever seen a railroad, but they had heard of them, and thought the prairies of Illinois the best place in the world to build them. The first movements began in the General Assembly in 1833, but the first charter was: "An act to incorporate the Chicago and

SANGAMON COUNTY.

Vincennes railroad company with an authorized capital of $3,000,000," and was approved January 17, 1835. Within one year and four days from that time, charters were granted for building railroads in the State, of which the combined capital authorized was $18,200,000. In this legislation the State did not propose to furnish any capital, only authorized capitalists to invest their money. Not a mile of railroad was ever built under any of those charters. Before the next session, the Legislature realized that there were no capitalists to build railroads, and a new system was inaugurated. The most remarkable aet ever passed by a legislative body in the State was approved Feb- ruary 27, 1837, and was entitled " An act to establish and maintain a general system of internal improvements." Two supplementary acts were approved March 4, 1837. The three acts fill thirty-two octavo pages. The object was to construct public works at the expense of the State, in all parts of the same. Under this law appropriations were made for canals, and the improvement of rivers, to the amount of $650,000; also, for the building of railroads, $9,550,000, making a total of $10,200,000. During the month of February and March, 1837, bills were passed chartering twenty-two railroad companies with authorized capital stock to the amount of nearly $8,000,000, making an aggregate of about $30,000,000 involved in the vain endeavor to legislate railroads into existence in the State of Illinois before their time.

While the internal improvement bill was pending, the "Long Nine" were busy. They said little or nothing in locating proposed railroads, but would assist other localities, where votes could be secured for locating the capital at Springfield. The result was the passage of "An act permanently to locate the seat of government for the State of Illinois," which was approved at Vandalia, February 25, 1837. This law provided for a joint session of the two houses, on the twenty-eighth of the same month, to select a situation. An appropriation of fifty thousand dollars was made, to commence building the State house. The law also declared that no place should be chosen unless its citi- zens contributed at least $50,000 to aid in the work, and not less than two aeres of land, as a site for the capitol. When the two houses assembled on the twenty-eighth, the question was decided by the following-

BALLOTINGS.

ist.

end.

3rd.

4th.

Springfield .

5.3

Jacksonville

Vandalia

Peoria.

Atton.

Scattering

Illiopolis

That settled the question, and Springfield was declared to be the future capital of the State.

A supplemental act was passed on the third of March, authorizing the commissioners of Sangamon county to convey the land, as a site for the new edifice, to the State. It also named Dr. A. G. Henry, of Sangamon; Archibald Job, of Cass, Wm. Herndon, of Sangamon, as commissioners, who were authorized and instructed to superintend the work of erection. It was expected that the new capital would be completed in time for

HISTORICAL PRELUDE.

the first meeting of the Legislature in Springfield, which was fixed for the special ses- sion of 1839-40. Finding that the building could not be sufficiently advanced, the Second Presbyterian church, on Fourth street, was secured as Representatives' Hall. The build- ing was then quite new, and was, by far, the largest church edifice in the central and whole northern part of the State. It was built of brick, stood a few feet north of the site of the present magnificent Second Presbyterian church, until the latter was erected. The old building was torn down in the summer of 1875. The Methodist church was used for the Senate chamber, and the Episcopal church for the Supreme Court, both wooden buildings. The Legislature first convened in special session December 9, 1839.

It was thought by many to be unreasonable to require a little town of eleven hundred inhabitants, struggling with the disadvantages of a new country, to pay the $50,000 pledged. During that special session, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, then a mem- ber from Morgan county, proposed to bring in a bill, releasing Springfield from the payment of the same. The sterling honesty of Abraham Lincoln manifested itself on this, as on all other proper occasions. He interposed his objections, although he fully appreciated the kindly feelings that prompted the proposal, but he insisted that the money should be paid. Arrangements were entered into for paying it in three instal- ments. The two first payments were made without any great difficulty; but the third pressed more heavily, as the financial crash that swept over the whole United States, while the new State house was in course of construction, impoverished many. Under these circumstances, it became necessary to borrow the money to make the last pay- ment, from the State Bank of Illinois. A note for the amount was signed by one hundred and one citizens, and deposited with the bank, the money drawn, with which internal improvement scrip or stock was purchased and paid into the State treasury, thus paying the last instalment in the State's own evidence of indebtedness. From that time it was a matter between the State Bank and the citizens who signed the note. Soon after the note was given, the State Bank failed, and some of the payments were made in the depreciated paper of the bank, for which it had received par value when it was paid out. The original note is preserved in the Ridgely National Bank, but the following is a copy of the same:

$16,666.67.

SPRINGFIELD, March 22, 1838.

One ycar after date, we, the undersigned, or either of us, promise to pay to the Pres- ident, Directors and Company of the State Bank of Illinois, sixteen thousand, six hun- dred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents, for value received, negotiable and pay- able at the bank, in Springfield, with interest until paid, at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually.

John Hay, L. Iligby,

Thomas Mather, Tho. Houghan,

C. R. Matheny, William Butler,

Joseph Thayer,

D. Prickett,

P. C. Canedy,

William Thornton,

J. Calhoun,

Jos. Klein.

M. O. Reeves,

Josiah Francis, Washington Iles,

P. C. Latham, A. G. Henry,

W. P. Grimsley,

William Wallace,

Ninian W. Edwards,

John B. Watson, C. H. Ormsby,

Joel Johnson, C. B. Francis, Wm. S. Burch,

John T. Stuart, Jonas Whitney,

SANGAMON COUNTY.

Moses Coffman, Geo. Pasfield, B. C. Webster,

B. Ferguson, Benjamin Talbott,

Erastus Wright, John Todd,

S. M. Tinsley,

Jesse Cormack,

E. D. Baker, A. Lincoln,

Ephriam Darling, Jona. Merriam, Ira Sanford,

B. C. Johnson,

Garrett Elkin,

Thomas Moffatt,

John Capps, Alexr. Garrett,

Charles Arnold,

Simeon Francis,

Gershom Jayne,

John L. Turner,

Nathaniel Hay,

T. M. Neale, William G. Abrams,

Sullivan Conant, And. Mcclellan, Alexander Shields,

Stephen T. Logan,

Foley Vanghn,

A. Trailor,

Robert Allen,

Abner Y. Ellis,

C. C. Phelps,

James R. Gray,

N. A. Rankin,

R. B. Zimmerman, William Hall,

J. S. Britton,

Elijah Iles,

James 1 .. Lamb,

W. B. Powell,

, Henry F. Luckett, James P. Langford,

E. M. Henkle,

Henry Cassequin,

James W. Keyes,

J. M. Cabaniss,

Wm. Porter,

James Maxey, -

Wm. H. Marsh,

Z. P. Cabaniss,

W. Ransdell,

E. G. Johns,

Joshua S. Hobbs,

Amos Camp,

John G. Bergen,

Thos. J. Goforth,

B. S. Clement,

Benj. F. Jewett, W. M. Cowgill.

From a footing up of the principal and interest on one side of the note, the final settlement appears to have been made February 19, 1846. The principal and interest to that time was $17,918.

Soon after the Legislature adjourned at Vandalia, in March, 1837, and the members returned to their homes, a public festival was given in Springfield in honor of the new legislation for the removal of the capital. Among the toasts and speeches that followed the dinner, were the two following :

By Abraham Lincoln, Esq: "All our friends-they are too numerous to mention now, individually, while there is no one of them who is not too dear to be forgotten or neglected."

By S. A. Douglas, Esq .: "The last winter's legislation-May its results prove no less beneficial to the whole State than they have to our town."

A tradition still lingers here that something stronger than water was used in drinking the toasts on that occasion, as there was not a man to be found after the festival that could tell who made the last speech, and that important faet is lost to history.

The commissioners appointed to superintend the building at once entered upon the discharge of their duties, and on the fourth of July, 1837, the corner stone of the State -7

Joshua F. Amos,

Robert Irwin,

Virgil Hickox,

Dewey Whitney,

George Trotter,

M. Mobley,

J. Adams,

S. H. Treat,

F. C. Thompson,

M. L. Knapp,

J. M. Shackleford,

John F. Rague,

HISTORICAL PRELUDE.

house was laid with grand civic and military demonstrations. After it had been lowered to its place in the wall, it was mounted by E. D. Baker, afterwards United States Sen- ator from Oregon, and the lamented Colonel of Balls Bluff memory, who delivered one of those thrilling and eloquent speeches, for which he was so famous. It was estimated that the building would cost $130,000, but $240,000 was expended before it was completed according to the original design. When the State house was completed it was looked upon with wonder and admiration by the people. It was thought to be so enormous in size that it would answer all the purposes of the State for all time to come; but from the time it was built until the breaking out of the great rebellion the growth of Illinois was beyond anything that could have been imagined by the early settlers.

When the rebellion came to an end, and what was left of the two hundred and fifty- six thousand men from Illinois, who assisted in carrying the stars and stripes until there was no armed foe to conquer, returned to their homes, furled their banners, and assumed their accustomed places in the peaceful avocations of life, it soon became ap- parent to all who had occasion to visit Springfield, that the building of another State house could not be delayed for any great length of time. The State had so far out- grown the edifice, which had been regarded as a wonder of magnificence and archi- tectural beauty only a brief quarter of a century before, that its records were unsafe, and many branches of its official business had to be transacted in rented buildings, where much of its valuable property was exposed at all times to the danger of being destroyed by fire. The question had been very generally discussed in a quiet way, and soon after the Legislature assembled in January, 1867, Hon. James C. Conkling presented a bill providing for the erection of a new State Capitol at Springfield, and laid it before the House of Representatives. It passed both houses, and was approved by Governor Oglesby February 25, 1867, with a supplementary act two days later. That law provided for the conveyance by the Governor of the square containing two and a half acres of land, with the State house upon it, to Sangamon county, for a court house, in consideration of $200,000, to be paid to the State of Illinois, and for the further consideration that the city of Springfield, and Sangamon county, cause to be conveyed to the State a certain piece of land, described by metes and bounds in the bill, and containing between eight and nine acres, upon which to erect the new State house. The law also provided that the State should have the use of the old State house until the new one should be ready for occupancy. The land was secured at a cost to the city of $70,000, and conveved to the state; the $200,000 was paid by the county, and that amount, with $250,000, to be drawn from the State treasury, making $450,000, was appropriated to commence the work. The total cost of the building was limited to $3,000,000. The design by J. C. Cochrane was adopted July 15, 1867, and Jan. 14, 1868, he was appointed architect and superintendent. Excavation commenced. early in the spring, and the first stone was laid June 11. On the fifth of October the corner stone was laid by the Grand Master of Free Masons of the State of Illinois, with the imposing ceremonies of the order, and surrounded by members of the craft from all parts of the State.

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History of the early settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois : "centennial record", Part 6

Author: Power, John Carroll, 1819-1894; Power, S. A. (Sarah A.), 1824-; Old Settlers' Society of Sangamon County (Ill.) Publication date: 1876 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : E.A. Wilson & Co. Number of Pages: 824

Author: Power, John Carroll, 1819-1894; Power, S. A. (Sarah A.), 1824-; Old Settlers' Society of Sangamon County (Ill.)
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : E.A. Wilson & Co.
Number of Pages: 824