USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 14
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And the years were still going into history with the matter unsettled. But no link in the chain has been left unrecorded, save that, on the 14th day of March, 1831, a letter was addressed to the register of the land office at Springfield, the author of which is in doubt. From the fact, however, that it sets forth the case of the county in detail, it is presumed that William S. Hamilton, who had been retained by the commissioners to take charge of the matter, prepared it.
On July 3, 1832 the record shows the following entry :
"Ordered that John Coyle and Aquilla Wren, two of the members of the court, receive two hundred dollars from the county treasurer for the purpose of
92
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
making a tender of the same in the land office in payment for the fraction of land upon which the town of Peoria is located.
"Ordered that the treasurer furnish the said Coyle & Wren with twenty- five dollars to bear their expenses on the foregoing order."
When the September ( 1832) term of the commissioners' court sat, its mem- bers were composed of John Coyle, Aquilla Wren and Edwin S. Jones, and it was ordered that the treasurer pay Aquilla Wren nine dollars and John Coyle four dollars and fifty cents, to reimburse them for money expended in visiting the land office at Quincy, where they tendered the money for the county seat land. It might here be mentioned that the land office at Quincy had been estab- lished after the last memorial of the commissioners had been sent to congress.
On the second day of the term the following entry was made:
"Ordered that John Coyle, one of the members of this Court, receive of the County Treasurer two hundred and twenty dollars and repair with the same to the Land Office at Quincy, to make payment for the fraction of land upon which the County Seat is located. If the necessary papers or returns have not been furnished by the Surveyor General in the case the said Coyle is directed to go to the Surveyor General's Office in order to procure the papers that may be wanted ; he is also directed to keep a bill of his expenses."
At last congress, presumably through the efforts of the Illinois senators and congressmen, took a hand in the matter, and, on the second day of March, 1833, passed an act permitting the county of Peoria to enter the land assigned it by the Illinois legislature for county seat purposes. But this did not end the trouble, although it was the beginning of the end thereof. In so far as Peoria county and the national government were concerned the incident was closed and a patent for the land was issued.
John M. Moore, acting commissioner of the land office, on the 24th day of June, 1833, addressed the following letter to Isaac Waters, clerk of the county commissioners' court :
"Sir :- Your letter of the 5th ulto., has been received and I enclose herewith for your information a copy of a letter of this date to the Land Officers at Spring- field, Ill., in relation to the entry of the fractional quarter Section in which Peoria is situated, under the provisions of the act of Congress of the 2d of March last."
And on the same day the same officer addressed the following letter to the register and receiver of the land office at Springfield :
"Gentlemen :- Under the provisions of the act of Congress of the 2d of March last 'to authorize the County Comrs. of the County of Peoria in the State of Illinois to enter a fractional quarter section of land for a Seat of Justice and for other purposes,' you will permit those Commissioners to enter & pay for the fractional quarter Section mentioned in said act.
"The receipts, monthly returns and the certificate of purchase must all designate the entry as being made under this act, and the Certf. of Purchase must conform to the proviso to the ist Section of the act by declaring that 'the. said purchase shall not be so construed as to interfere with the claim or claims of any other person or persons to the said fractional quarter section,' and at the same time of making the entry the Commissioners should deposit with you for transmission a duly executed instrument of writing stating that in making such entry they expressly exclude therefrom any lands or lot, within the limits of the fractional quarter Section, belonging to or lawfully claimed by another 'person or persons.
The last chapter in the long struggle of the county to secure a perfect title to the land for its county seat ended when a compromise was effected with the heirs of James Latham, in settlement of their claim against the property. The first step in this direction led to the adjustment of the matter when, on the 28th day of May. 1834, an action of ejectment was commended in the circuit court,
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
a "friendly" action nominally to recover two lots in the town of Peoria, but actually to settle the title to the whole tract of land. The case was decided by the court on an agreed (by the attorneys) state of facts and taken to the supreme court. However, the case was finally settled out of court as the following will show :
"Gentlemen :- I have this day been able to effect a compromise with the Lathams in the suit to recover our town. They have withdrawn their entry at the Land Office, given up their certificate of entry, and taken their money ; and also withdrawn the suit now pending. I have given them my notes for seven hundred dollars as you will perceive by the receipts herewith enclosed. $500 is to be paid to them in six mos. and the other two hundred in twelve. You will perceive the arrangement is much less than what I was limited at.
"As I have made myself responsible for the payment of the money, I wish the Court to pass orders in my favor for that amount and payable at the time these notes are due to enable me to meet the payment of the same. Say one order for $500 to be paid on the 17th of May, 1835, and one of $200 to be paid on the 17th of November, 1835; I was not able to get them to relinquish up the bond they held for the two lots. Richard & Philip Latham, who I saw would not take any responsibility on their part on account of the other heirs; if it should be thought expedient to give them anything for their claim to those two lots it can be done yet, but the grand obstacle in the way of improvement is now settled and people can now make investments with perfect safety; I saw all the papers at the Land Office canceled and given up. If Mr. Waters has not yet made out a transcript of the docket he need not do it."
This letter was accompanied by the following document signed by Stephen T. Logan, attorney for the Latham heirs:
"John Hamlin has this day executed to Richard Latham for the use of the heirs of James Latham his note for five hundred dollars payable in six months, also for one hundred dollars payable in twelve months, also at the request of said Lathams his note to S. T. Logan for one hundred dollars payable in twelve months, in all amounting to seven hundred dollars, on a compromise of a suit brought by said Latham Heirs against said Hamlin & as a compromise by which Lathams are to withdraw in the Land Office at Springfield their entry on the fractional quarter Section on which the Town of Peoria Stands."
On the 5th day of December, 1834, the county commissioners' court of Peoria county entered the following orders :
"Ordered that the Treasurer pay John Hamlin five hundred dollars on the 17th day of May, 1835, as compensation for a note for the said amount due at the said 17th May to the heirs of Judge Latham as a compromise of a law suit, etc."
"Ordered that the Treasurer pay John Hamlin two hundred dollars on the 17th day of November, A. D., 1835, as compensation a note given him to the heirs of Judge Latham completing the payment of the compromise on the law suit, etc."
"The $700 of the two last orders is the price of the compromise with the said heirs of Judge Latham relinquishing their claim and withdrawing their entry at the Land Office for Peoria Town fraction."
CHAPTER XIV
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT-THE COUNTY SEAT IS NAMED PEORIA-GRAND AND PETIT JURY SELECTED FINANCIAL CONDITION REPORTED- ELECTION PRECINCTS ESTABLISHED-COOK COUNTY A PART OF PEORIA COUNTY- FIRST ELECTION HIELD IN CHICAGO-COUNTY COURT SUPERSEDES BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS-TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IS ADOPTED- THE PROBATE COURT.
Owing to the importance of the county seat controversy, much space has been given that subject and the general proceedings of the commissioners' court ignored. But while that matter was taking its course and reaching a final adjust- ment the business affairs of the newly created bailiwick were in good hands and looked after in a business-like manner. The election for county officials had been held March 7, 1825, and on the next day the commissioners, Nathan Dillon, of Mackinaw Point, William Holland, of Peoria, and Joseph Smith, of Farm Creek, met at the house of Joseph Ogee, below the ferry landing, where the court was organized by its members taking the prescribed oath of office, and they at once proceeded to perform the duties for which they were elected. Their first act was to appoint, or rather acquiesce in the appointment of Norman Hyde as clerk. Then Aaron Hawley was selected by the court as county treasurer and the county seat was named Peoria. Another measure of importance tran- sacted was the levying of a county tax of one-half of one per cent upon the taxable property of the county.
The next session called for the performance of an important function of the commissioners, that of selecting a grand and petit jury, as the first term of the circuit court would sit in the following June. The sheriff was ordered and performed his duty in summoning the following named persons to serve as grand jurors : William Eads, Abner Eads, Alva Moffatt, Elijah Hyde, Noah Beacham, Sr., William Wright, John Ridgeman, Robert Berrisford, Josiah Fulton, Thomas Gamblin, John Phillips, George Ish, David Matthews, Jacob Wilson, Elisha Fish, Isaac Perkins, Nathaniel Cromwell, Walter Dillon, William Davis, Alexander McNaughton, George Sharp, Austin Crocker, Augustus Langworthy, Allen Dougherty. The following were selected as petit jurors: Stephen French, Joseph Ogee, Abner Cooper, George Love, Joseph O'Brien, Elias P. Avery, Thomas Dillon, Jesse Dillon, Seth Wilson, John Klein, George Klein, Stephen Carle, James Walker. At the June session these names were added: Horace Crocker, Noah Beacham, Jr., Aquilla Moffatt, Henry Neely, William Smith, Charles Love, John Sharp, William Barker, John Cooper, David Hukey, Philip Latham. It was at this term of the commissioners' court that Norman Hyde, who had been elected probate judge, as stated heretofore, resigned his office as clerk, to take up the duties for which he first had been chosen. For services ren- dered as clerk and stationery furnished by him the treasurer was ordered to pay him $12.50 and the court appointed John Dixon as his successor. At this same June session Rivers Cormack was appointed by the court to take the census of the county, but declined to qualify and at a subsequent term of the court John L. Bogardus was selected for the work desired. Being empowered to appoint justices of the peace, under confirmation of the governor, Stephen French, Nathan Dillon, John Phillips and Jacob Wilson were so selected immediately after the
95
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
organization of the county and during the same year John Kinzie, of Chicago, and John Dixon and John L. Bogardus, of Peoria, were appointed. During the July session of the court other recommendations were made to the governor for the appointment of justices, and Frederick A. Countryman, Elijah Hyde and Hiram M. Curry were appointed constables. For the same office Archibald Clyborne, of Chicago, was appointed. But, in 1827, the legislature passed an act making the offices of justice of the peace and constable elective, so that no further appointments to them were made by the commissioners' court.
At the December term the sheriff made his report, which is here given, as it is an index to the financial condition of the county for the first fractional year of its existence, and the attention of the reader is called to the fact that the "state paper" which is an important item mentioned was, at that time, worth about fifty cents on the dollar :
"Dr. To amount of taxes as returned by Assessor, including twenty dollars received from Clerk for tavern license.
$339.15
Cr. By amount of bad debts. $ 29.90
By County orders and percentage on same. 105.04
By State paper
46.50
By State paper, including interest thereon. 21.60
By $33.45 in specie, being equal in State paper 66.90
By State paper 19.21 $289.15
At this term the county was divided into three election precincts. "The Chicago Precinct" to contain all that part of the county east of the mouth of the La Page river where it empties its waters into the Aux Plain; the elections to be held at the Agency House or "Cobweb Ilall," and Abner ( Alexander?) Wolcott, John Kinzie and J. B. Beaubien to be judges at all general and special elections.
"Peoria Precinct" to contain all that tract of country north and west of the Illinois river and ( east of the river-Ed.) north of township twenty-four and west of the third principal meridian, the elections to be held at the clerk's office and Stephen French, Abner Eads and John Phillips to be judges.
"Mackinaw Precinct" to contain the residue of the county, the clections to be held at the house of Jesse Dillon, and Isaac Perkins, William Eads and Thomas Dillon to be judges. The Mackinaw precinct was the smallest, territorially, of the three, doubtless for the reason it had a greater population.
Another election precinct was added to the others at the March, 1826, session and designated as the "Fox River Precinct." It contained all that district of country north of Senachwine creek and the Dupage river, and it was ordered that the place for holding elections therein should be at the house of Jesse Walker, near the junction of the Illinois and Fox rivers, and that Aaron Hawley, Henry Allen and James Walker be the judges. Still another precinct was added, at the June session, known as the "Fever River Precinct," which comprised the counties of Warren and Mercer. The house of Dr. Garland was chosen as the place for holding elections. At this term Stephen French and Isaac Perkins were appointed overseers of the poor and John Hamlin and Archibald Allen "fence viewers," whatever that may have been.
FIRST ELECTION HELD IN CHICAGO
At the September term of the commissioners' court, the following persons were ordered paid certain allowances :
To John Kinzie, John B. Beaubien, and B. Caldwell, judges, and Archibald Clyborne, clerk, each one dollar ; and to John K. Clark, sixteen dollars, for return- ing polls of the election held at Chicago in the preceding month of August ( 1826), and to John Kinzie $1.50 for a ballot box used at said election. This was the first election ever held in Chicago and a much more peaceful one than some others of later years.
H. WALTERS & CO
NOHL'S
ARKET
1
PEORIA'S FIRST FISH MARKET
PEORIA'S FIRST PUBLIC BATH HOUSE-IDEA OF HON. THOMAS N. GORMAN
٢ ٨
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
In the election of 1826, which took place in August, the candidates for county commissioners were Nathan Dillon, William Holland, John Hamlin, Stephen French, Hiram M. Curry, Rivers Cormack and Gideon Hawley. The successful ones were Nathan Dillon, William Holland and John Hamlin. This court held a term in December, at which time the sheriff made his second report as follows :
"To amount returned by Assessor's books. $ 855.93
DEBIT
To amount in State Paper equal to.
641.93
To balance in treasury, December. 1825. 54.153/4
To overcharge for collecting the above. 10.25
To order on State Treasurer, 1825.
To amount of fines collected. 100.00
16.50
To amount of tavern licenses
3.00
To amount of sale of town lots.
21.00
To amount of State Treasurer, 1826.
168.75
To amount collected from list of bad debts, 1825.
6.821/2
CREDIT
$1,022,431/4"
"By amount of delinquent tax list for which the Sheriff is allowed until
the March term to collect, it being State Paper, $416.691/2 equal to
By amount lost by collecting at Chicago at 50 per cent. 27.05
$312.52
By county orders amounting to.
358.65
By percentage for collecting the above $64.401/2, on which commission has been paid.
22.08
By percentage on above orders 7.171/2
$728.071/2
$294.3534"
A special meeting of the commissioners was held in March, 1827, and a tax levy was made of one-half of one per cent. George Sharp was appointed county treasurer and his bond fixed at $2,000. If Sharp served as treasurer it could not have been for long, as the records show that at the April term John Birket was appointed to the office, but having declined the honor ( if any), Norman Hyde was chosen in his stead. A session of the court was held in June. A new elec- tion precinct was created and named "La Salle Precinct." It embraced all that territory north of the south line of township 10 north, and south and west of Sand river ; and Peoria precinct to embrace all of Peoria county proper, south of the north line of township 9 north. It also appears by the record that further difficulty had been encountered in securing a suitable person for the office of county treasurer, for the reason that Simeon Crozier had been appointed to succeed Nor- man Hyde and his bond fixed at $2,000.
As has been heretofore related a new commissioners' court had been elected in August, 1826, but at the June term of 1827 only one of the members elected, John Hamlin, was present. His associates were George Sharp and Henry Thomas, but by what process they superseded Nathan Dillon and William Holland, the records fail to denote. At the October term it was ordered that state paper be received by the county treasurer at seventy-five cents on the dollar, which would be an indication that the credit of the state had improved in the course of two years at least twenty-five per cent.
The members for the commissioners' court elected in August, 1828, were Isaac Egman. George Sharp and Francis Thomas. Orin Hamlin, sheriff. A session Vol. 1-7
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
of the court was held in September and John Hamlin was appointed treasurer with bond at $1,000. At this term "Henderson precinct" was created, cmbrac- ing Mercer and Warren counties. Francis Thomas did not qualify as commis- sioner until the December term.
The office of county treasurer seems to have "gone a beggin'." Several ap- pointces to the office had declined or failed to qualify. The last one to decline the office was John Hamlin, at the May session of the year 1829, and in his place Henry B. Stillman was named, with bond in the sum of $1,000. Stillman served almost a year and within that time furnished the county with seals; one for the commissioners' court, one for the probate court and one for the circuit court, and at the September term he was allowed five dollars for each. Judge McCulloch, in his history of Peoria county describes the seal of the circuit court as having been "a flat piece of metal like a coin ; a piece of paper would be laid on the face of it and rubbed with lead to give the impression of the inscription, and this would be fastened to the official document by means of a large wafer."
Once again the personnel of the county treasurer's office was changed. At the March term Isaac Waters was appointed county treasurer, assessor and census taker, his bond being placed at $1,000. John Dillon resigned as clerk of the commissioners' court and Stephen Stillman became his successor.
Fox River precinct was reorganized at the June session, its new boundaries being fixed as follows: Commencing at the northeast boundary of the Military Land and including the country north and west of the Desplaines river as far north as the north line of township 34 north, extending west as far as the east line of Jo Daviess county.
In August, 1830, George Sharp, John Hamlin and Stephen French were elected county commissioners and at the September term of the court were sworn into office. An interesting item recorded at that term was the allowance of five dollars to Elisha Fulton for carrying the abstract of votes to Fulton county and one dollar to Augustus Langworthy, for the use of his horse upon which Fulton rode to his destination. The minutes of the December session show that the clerk was ordered to transmit to the sheriff of Warren county the tax books maintained for that county, at the request in writing of the county com- missioners' court, and that the said commissioners' court of Warren county be requested to send the amount of sixteen dollars, duc Peoria county for assessing the property, by mail as soon as convenient. This item would indicate that Warren county had taken control of its own affairs and had been released from the jurisdiction of Peoria county.
At the April ( 1831) session of the court, Resolved Cleveland qualified as county commissioner and fulfilled the duties of George Sharp, whose death had made a vacancy. Isaac Waters was appointed county treasurer.
By this time, the counties of Cook, Warren, Tazewell, Putnam and other counties which had remained attached to Peoria county when the latter was created, became separate organizations and for that reason the Chicago, Hen- derson and Fox River precincts became extinct.
Those remaining in 1831 were Peoria, La Salle and La Marsh, and the judges of elections were thenceforth only appointed for those precincts.
In December a session of the court was held and John Hamlin having re- signed as a member, John Coyle was qualified as his successor, Coyle previously having been elected to the office. At the session held in March, 1832, Aquilla Wren became a member of the court, Stephen French having resigned.
The members of the court in the session of September, 1832, werc Edward J. Jones, John Coyle and Aquilla Wren. At this term Isaac Waters was allowed $1.50 for a record book purchased for the court, and seven dollars for attending the canvass of votes for senator and representative at Hennepin. Jesse Walker was allowed sixteen dollars for bringing the election returns from Chicago in 1830.
Seth Fulton was allowed one dollar, at the March term of 1833, for the use
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
of a room in which the presidential election had been held the previous year. Orin Hamlin, Alva and Aquilla Moffatt were granted leave to build a mill dam in Limestone township, on section 13, long known as the Monroe mill. For this session of the court Stephen Stillman was allowed five dollars for the use of a roon1. Before the expiration of the year Asahel Hale was appointed county treasurer and reappointed in 1834 and 1835. From the fact that his bond was fixed at $10,000 under the last two appointments, the reader may gather that the affairs of the county were "looking up" and the responsibilities of the office were "assuring proportions." As a matter of fact, the sum of $5,560.37 passed through the treasurer's hands in 1835, the largest amount the treasurer had ever handled in his official capacity. This can be accounted for by the generous sale of town lots, going on at that period and which had been delayed throughout the previous years, by reason of the difficulty the county experienced in securing a patent for the land from the government and perfecting its title thereto.
At the April session of court, in the year 1835, the infirmities of years and other disabilities of Isaac Waters had become so apparent that he was removed from the office of clerk of the county commissioners' court and William Mitchell was appointed his successor. Waters had been one of the faithful pioneer ser- vants of the new county of Peoria and had served as clerk five continuous years. By reason of his infirmities of body and brain it also became necessary to ap- point in his stead a clerk of the circuit court. This was accomplished by the selection of Lewis Bigelow, for the position, Judge Thomas Ford, afterwards governor of the state, making the appointment, July 13, 1835.
The court for the September term, of the year 1834, was made up of Andrew Thorpe, John Coyle and Orin Hamlin, and continued in office until August, 1836, when Aquilla Wren, William J. Phelps and Samuel T. McKean were elected. These latter were succeeded, in August, 1838, by Smith Frye, Clark D. Powell and Moses Harlan. From this time on the tenure of the office was three years, one member being elected each year. Those elected to the office under the new law were: Clark D. Powell, August, 1839; William Hale, January 10, 1840, to fill the vacancy made by the election of Moses Harlan to the legis- lature; Nathaniel Chapin, August, 1840; Smith Frye, August, 1841 ; Thomas P. Smith and Clementius Ewalt, August, 1842, one to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Smith Frye to the office of sheriff; William Dawson, 1843; Clementius Ewalt, 1844; Thomas P. Smith, 1845: Thomas Mooney, 1846; James 1 .. Riggs, 1847; Joseph Ladd, 1848. On the 23d day of November, 1849, the last term of the county commissioners' court was held.
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