Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois, Part 4

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois > Part 4

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Atlas, forty miles south. Up to this time, none but log houses were built in the county, and all of these were built without iron, all ties and fastenings being made with wooden pins.

CHAPTER VII.

1825.

COMMISSIONERS LAY OUT THE TOWN AND FIX THE COUNTY SEAT. WHY COUNTY NAMED "ADAMS" AND TOWN "QUINCY." FIRST WED- DING. FIRST CIRCUIT COURT. MAILS ONCE A WEEK. DIFFICULTY IN GETTING TITLE TO SITE OF CITY. FIRST PLAT OF CITY. FIRST SALE OF LOTS. FIRST BURIAL GROUND. FIRST COURT HOUSE. ROLL OF NAMES OF EARLY SETTLERS.

Eighteen hundred and twenty-five was a no- table year in the history of Quincy. It was the natal year of county and eity, and when the former assumed its permanent place in the po- litical structure of the state. In 1824, and also in 1825, up to the time when the Commissioners authorized by the state, came to locate the county seat of the new county, there were at "the bluffs" but three resident families and as many cabins. These last were, as has been related, first, John Wood's cabin, near the cor- ner of Delaware and Front streets, inhabited by John Wood and Major JJeremiah Rose and fam- ily ; second, Willard Keyes' cabin, near where Front and Vermont streets join, in which he lived by himself, and, third, (also third in the order of erection), was the cabin of John Drou- lard, a Frenchman. Ile was a shoemaker by trade, and the owner of the quarter section bounded by Twelfth street on the east, Broad- way on the north, the west line reaching to the alley between sixth and seventh streets, and the south line to a point between York and Kentneky streets. Dronlard's cabin was situ- ated near what is now the corner of Seventh and Jersey streets, on the block northwest of the present gas works.

In conformity with the notice referred to in a preceding chapter, application was made to the General Assembly at its session of 1824 and 1825 and the same was referred to the Commit- tee on Counties, of which General Nicholas Ilanson, the representative from Pike county, which then embraced all the country between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, was chair- man. He reported a bill, which was passed and approved January 18th, 1825, creating the counties of Adams and Sehyler, providing for their organization, and dividing the remainder of the Military Traet into future counties, each

PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

temporarily attached to either one of the above counties, but authorized to independently or- ganize when the population amounted to three hundred and fifty persons: authority being given to the Governor to appoint the necessary county officials. Adams and Schuyler counties, under this law. were allowed to initiate their corporate organizations whenever the Circuit Judge should order an election for County Commissioners. This election for Adams county was ordered and held on the 2nd of July. Han- cock county by the law, was attached to and formed, temporarily, a part of Adams.

The three commissioners, appointed in pur- suance of the above legislation, to select the county seat for the new county, were Joel Wright, of Montgomery County, Seymour Kel- logg, of Morgan, and David Dutton of Pike.

On the 30th of April, two of the Commission- ers, Messrs. Kellogg and Dutton, came to "the bluffs" to perform their allotted task. They had been strongly impressed with the propriety and had come to the determination, as they ex- pressed it, of locating the county seat "as near the geographical center of the county as pos- sible." Fate decreed otherwise. Luck, strat- egy and the impressive treatment they received at "the bluffs" produced a reversal of this de- sign. They were courteously received on their arrival. One-fourth of the male population of the place was absent ( Wood being at St. Louis), but the residue (Keyes, Rose and Droulard) turned out en masse. The Commissioners ac- cepted the hospitalities of the place, and when they started on their search for the center of the county. twenty-five per cent of the male population (Willard Keyes) volunteered to es- cort and guide them. One finds, as a eurious commentary on the uncertainty which some- times attends the action of a person of the most assured capacity, that. on this occasion, Mr. Keyes' proverbial skill in woodcraft and ex- perience as a land pilot, appears to have been entirely lost, or, left at home: sinee, notwith- standing his valuable and disinterested aid, the worthy commissioners after a day's toil, found themselves far more likely to reach the cen- ter of the earth than the center of the county. After floundering through the briars, bogs, quagmires, swamps and quicksands of Mill Creek. sinking sometimes to their saddle girths. happy were the fagged dignitaries, abandoning their profitless search for the central "Eldora- do." to retrace their steps, and, when the dusk came on, find shelter beneath the generous roof of the cabin of John Wood and Jeremiah Rose. A substantial supper; a comforting sleep; a hearty breakfast on the ensuing morning, and the bewildered judgment of the now refreshed

Commissioners. ripened to a result. Passing. with all the people of the place in procession, over the broken bluffs and through the grassy woods to the narrow. prairie ridge that crept across what is now Washington Square, they halted about the spot where is now the bronze statue of John Wood. Here, driving a stake into the ground, with all the formality and im- pressiveness that could be brought to bear, they officially announced that the Northwest quarter of section two, township two, range nine west, was from that hour the county seat of Adams County. Then, reverently placing their hands upon the top of the stake, they christened the place "Quiney."

John Quincy Adams had been elected Presi- dent and on the preceding 4th of March, took possession of the White House. and just about the time of this visit of the commissioners, the inaugural address of "The old man eloquent," which had been delivered to Congress some two months before, had been brought in the mails. It formed. of course, a topie for conversation between the Commissioners and the citizens, and Kellogg, a warm Adams man from Morgan. sore over a recent political struggle, said. "In our county. they've named the county seat Jacksonville, after General Jackson." "Well," said some one from the crowd, "let's eall our county seat Quiney, and we'll see which comes out ahead, Jackson or Adams," It was car- ried by a unanimous vote.

As the county had been called Adams and the town christened Quincy, an attempt was made to have the stream that flows into the river at the foot of Delaware street, named "Johnny Creek," so as to complete the se- quence of the cognomen. It failed to stick.

Another query about names occurs in the case of "The Bay," which stretches along the foot of the bluffs for about three miles above the city. "Boston Bay" it was called in the earlier times and on the older maps, as some say. because "'a Bostonian once navigated his craft up this bay, mistaking it for the main channel of the river." The more reasonable theory is, that it took its name from a French trader by the name of Bouston, or Boistone. who lived on its east bank.

A notable event occurred shortly after this visit of the Commissioners, the first of its kind. and hence the cause of no small sensation in the infant community. It was the marriage of Amos Bancroft to Ardelia Ames. Whether these young people were stimulated to this step by a landable ambition to be the first local pioneers in the good work invented by old Adam, or whether they were influenced by that which makes young folks nowadays "go and do

PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

likewise. " it is not now material to inquire; sufficient is the fact that theirs was the pioneer wedding, the first marriage solemnized in Adams County. The venerable Mr. Bancroft afterward removed to Missouri, where he died February, 1875.

The first election was held for county offi- vers on the 2nd of July at "Keyes' Cabin," where the Presidential vote had been taken the fall before. Whether the old teapot officiated again is not recorded. About forty votes were polled. These forty votes included probably almost every man in Adams County; those in the attached territory on the north, and also anybody else who chose to vote. Our unselfish and unsuspicious ancestors were not sensitive on the suffrage question. Age, residence, or other qualifications were matters that they in- quired into very little. Their reasoning was that any one who came along. unless Indian or negro, had a right to vote, if not here some- where, and hence perplexing questions were rarely asked. The commissioners chosen, were Peter Journey, a Jerseyman by birth, who lived at the foot of the bluff about ten miles south : Willard Keyes, a native of Vermont, resident, as we have stated, about the foot of Vermont street, and Levi Wells, a native of Conneetient. Mr. Wells then resided in the south part of the county near Payson, but soon moved to Quincy. remaining in the city until his death. The es- timated population of the county at this time, was seventy. On the 4th of July. the newly chosen officials met for organization at the house of Mr. Keyes. They appointed as tempo- rary clerk (subsequently making the appoint- ment permanent ). Henry II. Snow. Mr. Snow (or Judge Snow. as he was always named in later years ) was a single man. He had arrived in Quiney but a few days previous. He was a native of New Hampshire, a man of good eler- ical attainment. qualifications much needed in those days, and with an nusnal fund of gen- eral intelligence. Hle soon became the ineum- bent of nearly all the official positions in the county. His name is perhaps, more directly associated with the records and publie business of the place than that of any other of the ear- lier settlers. Earl Pearce was appointed con- stable and Ira Pearce deputed to take the een- sus. The Pearce family lived near where the Alexander farm now is, five miles south. Joshua Streeter, John L. Soule, Lewis C. K. Hamilton and Amos Bancroft were appointed justices of the peace.

Near the close of July or early in August, the first Cirenit Court convened, as usual. at the cabin of Mr. Keyes. No apology was due Mr. Keyes for the public use thus made of his

house, since the fact is, that his was the only one of the three cabins in the place that had no women or children in it. At this term, lit- tle or no business was transacted farther than what was necessary to the organization of the court. The first formally concluded legal busi- ness was at the succeeding term in October. At the session of the County Commissioners preceding the term of the Circuit Court, the panel of Grand and Petit Jurors being made ont is said to have embraced every qualified juryman in the country except two, and one of those was under indictment.

John Yoreke Sawyer, the first circuit judge, was no ordinary man. He was a native of Ver- mont, lle possessed acquirements and legal acumen, fully adequate to sustain the char- aeter of the local bench in those days. In one respect, he was far beyond rivalry. Judge Saw- ver weighed nearly four hundred pounds, while, as an illustration of how extremes will often meet, his good wife could not bring down the scales at ninety pounds. The wags used to say that it took an active lawyer to get around the Judge, and when, in the little sixteen-foot square cabin of Mr. Keyes, where the first court was held, or even afterward in the twenty-two by eighteen court-room subsequently erected, his honor took his seat, the room seemed full of justice. lle had a spice of jolly waggery at times :

Mrs. said he, to a conntry landlady as he picked up the plate of butter, "what's the color of your cows?" "Why, Judge," she answered, "they're all colors ; white and black and speckled." "So I should think, by the looks of your butter," was the Indge's reply. Ile was a fair lawyer, and a correct man. He remained in office but two years. The General Assembly at the session of 1826 and 1827 changing the cirenit court sys- tem, appointed Samuel D. Lockwood, in the place of Sawyer. lle afterward removed to Vandalia and died there March 13th, 1836. while editing the Vandalia Advocate.

Neither Quincy nor Adams County, in those haleyon days, were blessed with any lawyers, but at this first session the Judge was aceom- panied by the Proseenting Attorney, James Turney. A. W. Cavarly, for many years after a prominent politiean from Greene County ; Ben Mills, the most gifted man in the state of his day, who died at Galena some twenty years later: J. W. Whitney, the Lord Coke of famous "Lobby" memory: John Turney, and perhaps other members of the bar, from "below." H. II. Snow was appointed circuit clerk. He was, as before stated, peculiarly qualified for positions of this character and for many years "swung

PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

around the circle" of public trusts, efficient, faithful, and respeeted by all. He was Circuit and County Clerk, Probate Judge, Justice of the Peace, Postman and Recorder, and kept singing school besides. lle died honored and lamented in 1860. Colonel James Black of Van- dalia, was the first appointed postmaster and recorder, but a few days' residence disgusted him with the primitive surroundings and he left, deputizing his duties to Mr. Snow, who soon succeeded to both positions. Levi Hadley was appointed sheriff, an excellent man, who, four years later, in 1829. fell from a steam- boat and was drowned while on his way to Galena.

These, and those previously named, were all the county officials appointed or thought neces- sary at the time. In the year following, an assessor and treasurer were appointed. Nicho- las Hanson was the representative, and Thomas ('arlin. of Greene County, was state senator.

Up to this time, Atlas, forty miles south in Pike County, was the nearest postoffice. There was received a weekly mail, carried on horse- back. When Quiney became a "local habita- tion and a name" it received the benefit of this weekly mail, but it was many years before the mail bag eame oftener than once a week. Ac- cess to the world without was by horseback, and when not in an especial haste, by keel- boat or canoe. Steamboats came "occasional- ly," stage coaches were unknown, and roads were not yet made. The heaviest duty that pressed upon our new eounty commissioners was the devising where roads ought to be. There ran at this time along the river bank. under the bluff, a faintly beaten track, made by the military travel. from Fort Edwards ( Warsaw) south. There was also a road from near the cabin of John Wood up the creek, di- viding when it reached the higher ground, one path pointing towards Fort Clark (Peoria). and the other eastward, towards the Illinois river, at Phillips' Ferry.

Although the location of the county seat had been established and the name decided, the work was, as yet, far from being done. The N. W. 2-2 S. 9 W. had, it is true, been declared by the authorized commissioners of Illinois, to be the county seat of Adams County, but the land belonged yet to the United States, and Adams County could exercise no ownership over it until the same had been bought and paid for. The land was not as yet in the market. A serions, but perhaps unavoidable drawback to the ready settlement of the new states was the delay of the Government in completing its sur- veys and throwing the lands open to entry. For nearly ten years after the admission of the

State, only the bounty or soldier's patented lands of the Military Tract were within the reach of immigrants, the Government, or "Con- gress" land, as it was called, not being ready for entry or offered for sale. A very judicious act of Congress, however, had seenred to coun- ties the right of pre-emption, or priority of pur- chase, whenever the land came into market. of any one designated quarter-section to be used as a county seat. The land above-mentioned had been, as we have seen, selected by the State Commissioners ; but the next step, and the most diffienlt, was the raising of the money (about $200) to deposit with the land office and thus confirm the pre-emption; and herein "lay the rnb."

The score or two of residents of Quiney and the vicinity as yet had little money. Mount Pis- gah could almost as easily have been lifted from its base as the required amount for such a purpose have been furnished by our hand- ful of pioneers.

Fortunately a Mr. Russell Farnham, a well- known, liberal "river trader," the first who took out a peddler's license from the county, had the money and would advance it if he could have some personal assurances of its ultimate return. lle regarded the infant county as a very mythical institution, in a business point of view. On being thus assured, he loaned the money ($200) and took the note of the Com- missioners, dated August 17th, 1825, secured by HI. H. Snow and David E. Cuyler as en- dorsers. This note was taken up and another given by the commissioners without endorsers. dated September 6th, 1825, payable May 15th, 1826, with 10 per cent interest from August 17th, 1825. This note was held by Farnham, and no payments were made on it until April 10th, 1829, when $205 were paid, and on the Ist of May. 1830. the remainder was paid. Mr. Farnham died not long afterward, of cholera, at Portage de Sioux.

With this money the patent was obtained, but not without much tribulation. It was well known that the quarter was fractional, while the precise number of acres was nucertain. The commissioners deposited as much of the money as they thought necessary. desiring to use the remainder for other purposes. They were ad- vised that their deposit was probably too small. Another installment was added and still the matter appearing doubtful, they were informed that if they would deposit the whole amount ($200) the patent would be at once issned to them for 160 acres, and the difference be re- funded whenever the exact measure of the quarter was ascertained. This was done and this is the reason why the patent or deed from

PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

the l'inted States conveys 160 acres, while, as was subsequently ascertained on working out the field notes, when filed, the real area was but 154 acres.

The deed from the United States was not made until the 13th of February, 1832. It eon- veys the N. W. 2, 2 S. 9 W. to the "County of Adams and its successors."

On the 9th of November the commissioners made an order that there should be a survey and plat prepared of the quarter section on which the county seat was located, and that a sale of lots should be held on December 13th. They appointed Snow surveyor and he, in con- junetion with the commissioners, laid ont the town in equilateral blocks, except where the diagonal directions of the river and the frac- tional proportions on the east and south varied the plan. Five streets were platted, running east and west : the central one called Maine and the others named respectively, York, Jersey, Hampshire and Vermont, after the states from whenee came the three commissioners and the clerk, six streets running north and south, after Front were, consecutively numbered from the river eastward.

In making this survey and plat, the leading idea with all was to reserve for the "public uses" the highest, most central and level ground so far as was possible. These surveys were made entirely in rods, not feet. The blocks, lots ( where not fractional of necessity) and the streets, were uniformly laid out thus: Blocks twenty-four rods square; lots twelve rods deep, and six rods wide: streets four rods wide, except Maine street, which was given five rods. Block number twelve (now Washington Park) was reserved as a public square. It was choice ground for such a use, and in relation thereto, "many a hard fought battle at the polls was made to preserve the public square from desecration by those who could conceive no other utility for the square than to make it the receptacle of every building that could be thought of, from the court house and the jail to the butcher's stall." The first butcher in Quincy spiked a wooden bar to a tree in the square, and hung his meat on it. When the community consumed the meat, and he con- «luded it would be ready for further consump- tion, he killed another animal. Besides the reservation above stated, there was also set apart a strip of land along the river for the purposes of a public landing, and all the tier of lots on Fifth street, between Maine and Hampshire for "publie uses." Also that por- tion of the present Sixth street with all east thereof: now known as Block 31. 32. 33, 34. 35

and 36; and the front tier of lots along the river from Maine street south, were marked on the plat as "unappropriated ground," remain- ing thus until laid off in lots on a supplemental plan March 4th, 1828.

In 1826, the south half of what is now called Jefferson Square was reserved as a "burial ground for the people of Adams County, " and the lot on Fifth street immediately north of the court house for school purposes.

The sale occurred as ordered, having been duly advertised in the St. Louis and Edwards- ville papers, on the 13th day of December. It was continued from time to time, as the county commissioners ordered, and the last of the lots were sold in 1836, about the time the second court house was built.

There was but little speeulation in the origi- nal "town quarter." Although it had been ex- tensively advertised, when came the sale day, few outsiders were present to buy, and the resi- dent neighbors had no means after buying their corn bread and bacon to spare for speculative purposes. The only foreign purchaser was a Dr. Mullen, an army surgeon, who happened to be present, at the time of sale and bought a few lots. All the other lots sold were taken by the town and county people.

Deeds were not given at once, as the title had not at the time of the first sale been formally received. Several years elapsed before complete conveyances were made, and, in the meantime many of the original purchasers hav- ing assigned their bonds, the title in such cases was made by the commissioners direct to the assignees. The terms were one-fourth cash, and the remainder in three annual payments.

The following are some of the prices paid : Lots 1 and 2, block 19, being the southwest cor- ner of Fifth and Maine, running half way to Fourth street, was bought for $30.00. The other portion of the ground to Fourth street, now including the Daneke building and the QUINCY (Newcomb ) House, was bought for $46.00. The corner, 99 by 198 feet, on which now stands the QUINCY (Newcomb) House brought $27.00, the highest price paid for prop- erty located around the square. Two hundred feet north from, and including the old post office corner on Fourth street, was struck off for $29.00. The Park corner (Maine and Fourth ), 99 feet on Maine street and 198 feet on Fourth, sold for $18.25. The corner of Maine and Fifth on which stands the Flach's building, sold (99 Feet on Maine street and 198 on Fifth ) for $16.25.

The following is a schedule of the first day's sale :

PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY,

Block

Lot

Price

Block

Lot

Price

$ 4.00

21.00

6.00

20.50

12.25

25.50

5.00

38.00

5.50

30.00

10.00

20.00

10.00

19.00

1×

18.25

18.50

18.00

11.00

14.50

18.00

1×

11.50

3735

5.50

1×

7.00

1×

4.50

6.00

13.25

19.50

19.00

12.00

27.00

12.00

18.00

-19.

6,50

16,00

10.00

14.00

15.00

16.25

6.50

8.00

5.50

The ground on which now stands the QUINCY (Newcomb) Hlouse brought the high- est price of any on the hill. Rufus Brown, the first hotel keeper, bought it for a tavern stand, for which purpose it has always been used. It was part of the high, narrow prairie ridge that ran northeast and southwest across the publie square, and was of course, in demand. Lots on the river bank stimulated the most competition. The only house on the quarter section was the eabin of Willard Keyes. The highest price paid for any one lot was $38.00 and proportionately for others in bloek five and six on Front Street. The reason was, that there, Keyes had settled the year before, and an unfriendly acquaint- ance forced him to bid high to save his improve- ments. It may he said, however. in passing. that the worthy pioneer lost nothing, eventual- ly, by his purchase. For instance, thirty years later. a part of lot three, block 6, one hundred feet in depth, he sold to the writer at the rate of $100 per front foot. The whole lot 99 by 198 feet, had eost him in 1825. $21.00.

The first courthouse was located by order of the Commissioners, December 17th, 1825. on lot six. block eleven. This placed it in the edge of a natural grove on Fifth street, near the corner

of Maine, where now stands what is known as the Dodd building. It faced west. "At the meeting on December 16th, 1825, the County Commissioners ordered that the sheriff let to the lowest bidder the work of building a court- house, to be twenty feet long, eighteen feet wide, of hewn logs seven inches thick and to face ten inches, to be laid as close together as they are in J. Rose's house, " (this was the cabin of John Wood, the first and model house of the place, in which Wood and Rose lived), the lower story to be eight feet high, the building to have nine joists, eight sleepers, to be covered with elapboards and to be completed by March 15th. 1826. The work of putting up the logs was let to John L. Soule, for $79.00. The other contractors were Willard Keyes, $25.00; John Sonle, stairways, etc., $32.00; Levi Hadley, chimneys, etc .. $49.50. Some minor contracts called for the finishing work to be completed by May 15th, 1826.

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Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois, Part 4

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1228