USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 12
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The preceding chapter has immortalized John Quiney Adams in local history, through the square, the town and the county, and it is the aim of this seetion of the work to detail the legislative, political and institutional evolution of the last named as a civie body. Inter- woven with the story is much vital and mellowing personal matter ; and, coming right down to basie truth, the history of the county, as well as universal history itself, is but the outward and systematized manifestation and record of individual aets which germinate into living movements and institutions.
THE COUNTY'S CREATIVE ACT
The ereative act which formed the county from portions of Pike and Fulton, and which was approved on the 18th of January, 1825, reads as follows : "Be it enacted, that all that traet of country within the following boundaries, to-wit-beginning at the place where the township line between townships three south and four south tonehes the Mississippi River, thenee east on said line to the range line to
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the northeast corner of township two north, range five west, thence west on said township line to the Mississippi River, and thence down said river to the place of beginning, shall constitute a county to be called the county of Adams." The act also appointed the commis- sioners to locate a permanent seat of justice for the new county, and the circumstances under which they performed their duties have been already narrated. Also in pursuance of its provisions, and by direct order of the judge of the Circuit Court, the first elcetion for county officers was held at the cabin of Willard Keyes. About forty votes were cast, and Levi Wells, Peter Journey and Mr. Keyes himself were the successful candidates for county commissioners.
Mr. Journey, a Jerseyman by birth, resided at the lower end of the bluff some ten miles south of Quiney, in what is now Fall Creek Township. Mr. Keyes lived in his cabin at what is now the foot of Vermont Street, and Mr. Wells had his home in the locality of the present Village of Payson.
FIRST COURT AND ITS SEAL
On Monday, July 4, 1825, the first County Court of Adams County was duly organized in the cabin of Willard Keyes at Quincy. Messrs. Journey, Keyes and Wells, commissioners, all being present, Earl Pierce was appointed a special constable for the court, and Henry H. Snow was appointed clerk, entering into a bond for the faithful performance of the duties thereof, having Earl Pierce and Levi Hadley as sureties upon his bond. Ira Pierce was appointed to take the census of the county. . At the same time Joshua Streeter, John L. Soule, Lewis C. K. Hamilton and Amos Bancroft were recommended to the governor and received their appointment as justices of the peace. The clerk was authorized to procure seals for the County and Circuit courts, the seals to contain these words, viz .: "Seal County Commissioners Court, Adams Co., Ill., 1825." "Seal Circuit Court, Adams Co., Ill., 1825." He was also authorized to procure the neces- sary stationery for use of the court, using his own discretion as to quality and quantity. It is self-evident that those early people had faith in their public servants more than is now shown to the un- fortunate wight who thirsts for political honor in the way of a county office. However, H. H. Snow is described as a remarkable man in his way; and was one of nature's noblemen. He had arrived in the county but a short time previous to the convening of the court, and having good clerical ability was the man for the hour. He after- ward held some four or five of the county offices at one and the same time.
The Pierces lived some five miles south of Quincy near what was subsequently called the Alexander farm.
COUNTY SEAT SITE ENTERED
The quarter section designated by the commissioners as the county seat, not being subject to entry, the clerk was instructed at this term
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of the court to apply to the land office at Edwardsville for its pre- emption according to an act of Congress, granting to counties the right of pre-emption to one quarter section of publie lands for a connty seat. In that day as in this, it was no trouble to make the order but it was decidedly more difficult to raise the money. It appears, as the following will show, that the county officials had personal eredit. At least, the money was borrowed from one Russell Farnham, a river trader who agreed to loan the commissioners $200, taking the personal note of the commissioners for the payment of the same. The following is a true copy of the note:
State of Illinois, Ss. Adams County,
For value received of Russell Farnham, we, the undersigned, county commissioners of said county, promise in the name of the aforesaid county, to pay him or his order the sum of two hundred dollars on or before the fifteenth day of May next, with interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum, from the seventeenth day of August last till paid.
Dated at Quiney, this sixth of September, 1825.
Willard Keyes, - Levi Wells, ¿County Commissioners. Peter Journey. J Witness :
Jeremiah Rose, Dep. Cl'k.
For Henry H. Snow, Ch'k.
The following are the endorsements on the note :
Paid Russell Farnham, two hundred and five dollars as per his receipt of April 10th, 1829. ($205.)
Paid Mr. Farnham, seventy-four dollars and fifty-nine cents, being balance of interest dne on this note, which amount is in full for prin- cipal and interest due him on the within note (without date).
Robert Tillson.
The note was, however, taken up on the 1st of May, 1830.
It appears from the above note that the money was obtained August 17, 1825, and the note given for it September 6th following : it has been said that Governor Wood made the arrangement for the money in the first place, thereby securing the land, and a conveyance was made by the United States to the County of Adams and its sue- eessors on the 13th of February, 1832.
QUINCY ORDERED PLATTED
In November, 1825, the County Commissioners' Court ordered that the land purchased from the Government be laid off and platted
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as the Town of Quincy. Henry H. Snow was appointed to perform the work and to receive as compensation $1 per day while so engaged, and he was authorized to employ assistants at the rate of 75 cents per day. The commissioners set apart Block 12 for a public square, and the west half of Block 11 was appropriated for the public buildings.
On Monday, September 5, 1825, the Commissioners' Court ordered that the persons then living in township 3, south range 8, west of the fourth principal meridian, be organized into a school, to be called District No. 1.
FIRST SALE OF QUINCY TOWN LOTS
On the 13th of December, 1825, fifty-one lots, which had been ad- vertised for sale in the Edwardsville and St. Louis papers, were sold at public auction by the county commissioners, the most of them being purchased by the commissioners, sheriff and other citizens of the county, very few being sold to outside speculators. Their pur- chasers and purchase prices were as follows:
Lot 6, block 15, Peter Journey $19.50
Lot 5, block 15, Hiram R. Hawley 12.00
Lot 4, block 15, Doctor McMillen 12.00
Lot 3, block 15, Doctor McMillen 19.50
Lot 6, block 6, Peter Journey 18.50
Lot 5, block 6, Peter Journey 19.00
Lot 4, block 6, Willard Keyes 20.00
Lot 3, block 6, Willard Keyes 30.00
Lot 6, block 5, Willard Keyes 38.00
Lot 5, block 5, Willard Keyes
25.50
Lot 4. block
5, Edward White
20.50
Lot 3, block 5, Jeremiah Rose
21.00
Lot 2, block 5, Jeremiah Rose
6.00
Lot 7, block 15, Samuel Seward
6.50
Lot 2, block 16, Samuel Seward
10.00
Lot 1, block 16, Samuel Seward
Lot 1, block 19, John Wood 15.00
13.25
Lot 2, block 19, John Wood 16.75
Lot 3, block 19, Rufus Brown 19.00
Lot 4, block 19, Rufus Brown 27.00
Lot 1, block 18, Hiram R. Hawley 18.25
Lot 2, block 18, Hiram R. Hawley 18.00
Lot 3, bloek 18, Fra Pieree 14.50
Lot 4, block 18, Fra Pieree 11.50
Lot 1, block 17, John L. Soule. 5.50
Lot 2, block 17, John Wood 4.00
Lot 3, block 17, H. H. Snow 6.00
Lot 4, block 17, H. H. Snow 12.25
Lot 4, block 14, Levi Wells 5.50
Lot 8, block 15, Samuel Seward 6.50
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QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
Lot 6, block 14, Levi Hadley $ 7.00
Lot 7, bloek 14, Levi Hadley
6.00
Lot 8, block 14, Levi Hadley 9.50
Lot 4, block 13, Levi Hadley 11.00
Lot 5, block 13, Levi Hadley 18.00
Lot 6, block 13, Samuel Seward 20.00
Lot 7, block 13, Levi Hadley 9.00
Lot 4, bloek 20, Peter Journey 16.25
Lot 5, bloek 20, Peter Journey 8.00
Lot 8, block 19, Jeremiah Rose 14.00
Lot 7, block 19, Jeremiah Rose
16.00
Lot 6, bloek 19, Rufus Brown 14.00
Lot 5, block 19, H. H. Snow 18.00
Lot 8, bloek 18, Asa Tyrer
14.50
Lot 7, bloek 18, Doetor McMillen 14.25
Lot 6, bloek 18, Levi Hadley 12.50
Lot 5, block 18, Levi Hadley
14.50
Lot 8, block 17, John L. Soule. 10.00
Lot 7, block 17, John L. Soule. 10.00
Lot 6, block 17, Daniel Moore 5.50
Lot 5, block 17, Rufus Brown 5.00
It is related that one of the old citizens of the county in comment- ing years afterward upon the opportunities presented in Quiney to acquire wealth by real estate investments, made the remark, "I remember when I could have purchased the whole of the lot on which the Quiney House now stands for a pair of boots." "Why," said the person whom he addressed, "did you not make the purchase?" "For a very good reason," he answered : "it was a cash offer, and I hadn't the boots."
FIRST LOG COURTHOUSE
After the election of officers and the platting of the county seat, the most pressing matter which remained unaccomplished was to provide permanent headquarters for the County Government and a home for the administration of justice through the courts. The pioneer citizens and officials of Adams County would not have put it thus impressively ; they would have said: "Next, we had to have a courthouse." Look- ing praetieally toward that end, on Friday, December 16. 1825, the County Commissioners' Court instructed the sheriff to offer to the lowest bidder the building of a courthouse of the following deserip- tion: "To be twenty-two feet long and eighteen feet wide and to be built of hewn logs seven inches thick; to be laid as close together as they are in Mr. Rose's house, with stone to be placed under the corners and the middle of each sill not less than eight inches high. and to be two stories high, the lower story to be eight feet high and the upper story five feet, with nine joists and eight sleepers; the
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building to be covered with oak clapboards, four feet long and laid elose together, and three boards thick, to be completed by the 15th of March, 1826." The structure was to contain a door and eight win- dows-four of twelve lights each and four of six lights. It was to have a double flooring of planks, each one and a quarter inches, laid on hewn puncheons. The center of the upper story was to be made of sawed planks, boards of clapboards, and that portion of the court- house was to be reached by two flights of steps. The plans called for a good stone chimney, with fireplaces in both stories, the larger one (31% feet wide at the baek) in the lower story.
FIRST LOG COURTHOUSE
The work of placing the logs was let to John Soule for $79; who also built the stairways. Willard Keyes put in the windows and doors, and Levi Hadley built the chimney.
The first courthouse was completed according to contraet, and dur- ing the following decade was used not only for the purposes planned, but as a church, schoolhouse and public hall. At one period in its history court sat downstairs and the upper story was given over to carpentry and various clerical matters.
PIONEER COUNTY LEGISLATION
About the time the log courthouse was thrown open to the county at large, George Logan, the first permanent lawyer of the county, settled at Quiney and commeneed praetiee. Through the records of the County Commissioners Court other pioneer events may also be traced.
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In 1826 that body granted the first hotel license at the county seat to Rufus Brown; and he could not do business until he had paid into the country treasury the sum of $1, with clerk's fees, and had his permit stowed away in his jeans, or other safe place. At the March term of the court the following rates for hotel feed and drink were fixed with all the nonchalance of the powers-that-be in 1918: For each meal of vituals, 25 eents; lodging for night, 1215 eents; one-half a pint of whiskey, 1212 cents; half a pint of brandy, 3712 cents ; half a pint of rum, 834 cents; half a pint of wine, 3712 cents; bottle of wine, $1.00; bottle of gin, 1834 eents; horse feed per night, fodder and grain, 25 cents ; single horse feed, 1216 cents.
Brown opened his cabin hotel at the corner of Fourth and Maine, where the Neweomb House now stands, and later in the year George W. Hight opened a tavern under the hill on Front Street.
One of the first rules of the County Commissioners Court, adopted September 4, 1826, was as follows: "That this eourt always give their opinion in writing on any ease of controversy, and that there shall be no argument after the decision of the court is given. The court shall, in all such cases of controversy, consult together privately or otherwise, as a majority of them shall think proper; and further, that either number of the court shall have the privilege of entering his protest, as a matter of record, to any opinion given by a majority of his court. All of which seemed businesslike and fair."
BURIAL GROUND RESERVED
On December 4th of that year the south half of what is now ealled Jefferson Square and which is the present site of the courthouse, was reserved as a burial ground for the people of Adams County, and the lot on Fifth Street immediately north was set aside for school purposes. The former tract was used as a cemetery for about nine years, when the ground at the southeast corner of Maine and Twenty- fourth streets was purchased for that purpose, and no internments were afterward made in Jefferson Square. Although many bodies were moved to the new grounds, some of the graves could not be identified and their contents were left undisturbed. These inelude several of the pioneers, whose descendants still reside in the city, as well as a number of travelers passing through the town who died en route. Governor Hubbard, the second governor of the state, was among those who were interred in the old cemetery and whose grave could not be identified.
Through the north half of the block, which was set aside for school purposes, originally ran a deep ravine. The title to that traet was long in dispute between the city and county, but finally their differ- ences were settled, the ravine was filled up, the entire square improved and the 1876 eourthonse was erected thereon. But we are far out- running the chronology of the story.
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QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
FIRST TEACHER AND FIRST PREACHER
Hardly had the little log courthouse been completed in the spring of 1826, before the few families at Quincy decided to open a school therein for the benefit of their children. Finally, somewhat late in 1827 they engaged as teacher a Presbyterian clergyman, from Abing- ton, Massachusetts, who had journeyed thus far West in hope of strengthening a feeble constitution. He was a graduate of a New England college, and a man of more than ordinary culture and chiar- acter. When his class had been completed it was found that its mem- bers were of all ages, some of the older scholars being young men and women as old as their teacher. The Porter School soon became one of Quincy's most noted institutions, and about a year after it was opened, in 1828, its head commenced the first regular preaching in town, the meeting place being also the courthouse. Mr. Porter died about 1832, and was long remembered for his talents and fine Chris- tian character.
PROVIDING FOR JUDGE SNOW'S EXPANSION
Although the County Board had ordered a jail built as early as the spring of 1827, it was not completed nntil some years later; and during that period there seems to have been more need of a church building than a jail. In December of that year the commissioners perceived that the public service required a separate clerk's office, as Judge Henry H. Snow was at that time holding the offices of probate judge, recorder and county and cirenit clerk, and had spread himself and his official belongings all over the second story of the conrthouse. The pressing question in 1827 was to provide for the expansion of Judge Snow.
WOODLAWN CEMETERY
Until 1836 there had been no other public burial ground than the south half of the present Jefferson Square, which had been reserved for this purpose when the town was platted in 1825. A meeting of citizens was called on June 26th of that year to consider the estab- lishment of another cemetery, which, in the following year, resulted in the purchase of the town from E. B. Kimball of about 81/2 acres at the southeast corner of Maine and Twenty-fourth streets, now Mad- ison Park. The price paid was $642. There had probably been three hundred or more burials in the first named cemetery up to the time of its discontinuance, and most of them, as lias been noted, were trans- ferred to the other cemetery. Many of these, at a later date, were buried in Woodland Cemetery.
A. F. HUBBARD'S CLAIM TO FAME
As also stated, among the unidentified graves in the old cemetery was that which contained the remains of A. F. Hubbard, lieutenant-
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QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
governor of Illinois from 1822 to 1826-"a queer character," says the late Gen. John Tillson, "whose claim to fame lies more on what he was not, than on what he was, and who by this accident of an undis- covered grave obtained a more widely published notoriety than any- thing his merits of public service could have secured. His residence here was brief, and his publie career marked only by his absurd and futile attempts to supplant Governor Coles during the latter's tem- porary absence from the state. He sought the governorship in 1826, but failed. The following sliee from one of his speeches illustrates his eapacity and character: 'Fellow citizens, I am a candidate for governor. I don't pretend to be a man of extraordinary talents, nor elaim to be equal to Julius Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte, and I ain't as great a man as my opponent, Governor Edwards, Yet I think I ean govern you pretty well. I don't think it will require a very extra smart man to govern you ; for to tell the truth, fellow citizens, I don't think you'll be hard to govern, no how.' He was well described by Governor Coles as a 'historie oddity.' A well enough meaning man, of shallow bearings, but inordinate aspirations, type of a class which we today see still survives. Men whom the shrewd and sarcastic Judge Purple used to speak of as 'fellows who forced themselves on the publie, claiming that they have a mission to fill, which they most always Fool-fill.' "
THE GHOST WALKS AGAIN
The ghost of the opposition to Quiney as the county seat first walked in the year 1835 and materialized in the following year. The opposition was based on the phantom advantage designated by the term "geographical center of the county," which had slight sub- stance while the country was quite raw and roads and other trans- portation facilities were negligible considerations. But even at that time, the center of the county's population was nearer Quiney than the geographical center. and although there was a strong sentiment in favor of the latter theory, it was overbalaneed by those who really considered the question from the standpoint of "the greatest good to the greatest number." Accordingly, at the August election of 1835 the vote throughout the county stood: For Quiney, 618; for "eom- missioners' stake," 492. The "commissioners' stake," while purport- ing to be in the geographical eenter of the county was not really so. They are said to have first decided on the southwest quarter of section 10, range 1 south, 7 west, which location is now in Gilmer Township. The locality was quite widely advertised as Adamsburg, but when the commissioners actually arrived on the ground to fix the stake, the proprietors of the proposed seat of justice had left the state; so the former planted their stake two miles and a half further east, at or near the subsequent site of Columbus.
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THE SECOND ADAMS COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Completed in 1838; Burned in 1875. The Building Stood Opposite Washington Square on Fifth Street. Here Douglas Presided as Circuit Judge, 1841-43.
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QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
COURTHOUSE OF 1835-75
But, as stated, the people of the county decided that they were, on the whole, satisfied with the location of Quincy as their seat of justice, and in September, 1836, the County Commissioners Court invited proposals for the construction of a new courthouse, to be built of "brick of the best quality and in the neatest manner, the earpenters' and joiners' work to be of the best materials and finished in the most fashionable style." It was completed in 1838 and oecu- pied until its destruction by fire in 1875. Three months afterward the old log courthouse went the same way.
DANGERS OF CHRONIC OFFICE HOLDING
It should be stated that at the general election of August, 1836, Earl Pieree was chosen sheriff of the county for the sixth time. It is said that he suddenly left for Texas under a cloud ; that, though natu- rally frank and good-hearted, his long period of office-holding and his free-and-easy ways got the better of his honesty. Pieree had been sheriff sinee 1826 and at the time of his departure was also brigadier general of the State Militia. The 1836 election also placed in county offices Thomas C. King as roroner and A. W. Shinn, George Taylor and John B. Young, as county commissioners.
A JMIL THOUGHT EXPEDIENT AND NECESSARY
The year following the completion of the courthouse official steps were taken to build a jail, which had previously progressed no further than suggestions. In the proceedings of the County Commissioners Court of June 6, 1839, an order was made to build the jail which stood in the rear of the courthouse on Fifth Street and was burned in 1873. Such order read : "Whereas, there is no jail or place of confinement for eriminals in the County of Adams, it is therefore thought expedi- ent and necessary that a jail should be built in said County of Adams for the confinement and safekeeping of eriminals. It is therefore ordered that a jail be built in the Town of Quiney on the east part of the lot on which the courthouse now stands: said jail to be built with the front facing to the south and to range with the south side of the courthouse ; said jail to be built after, and agreeable to a draft as now on file in the elerk's office.
"Ordered, that the sum of one thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated to Joseph T. Holmes and J. O. Woodruff or bearer, for the purpose of commencing and carrying on the building of a jail in Quincy. The above sum to be issued in orders of not less than fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars each. the orders to draw twelve per cent per annum interest from the time they are taken out of the office until redeemed ; said orders to be redeemed in twelve months after their date."
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QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
THE ORIGINAL ELECTION PRECINCTS
During the June meeting of 1839 the County Commissioners Court also divided the county into ten election precincts: The Northeast Precinct, for which elections were to be held at the house of Zacheus Dean, who, with Elliott Combs and Jonathan Browning, was appointed a judge thereof; Clayton Precinct, with Cyrus Cupen, George Mc- Murray and Shannon Wallace judges of election, the house of David M. Campbell to be the polling place; Kingston Precinct, elections to be held at the house of William Hendricks, with George W. Williams, Azariah Mayfield and Richard Buffington as judges; Liberty Precinct, the house of D. P. Meacham to be the polling place and John Wigle, William Hart and Jacob Hunsaker, judges; Payson Precinct, with Thomas Crocker, Alexander Furst and David Collins, judges, and the store of J. C. Bernard the polling place; Quincy Precinct, "the old judges to serve," and no mention made as to the place for holding elections ; Burton Precinct, for which the house of M. H. Daniels was named as the polling place and E. M. King, John Doty and John G. Himphrey judges of elections; Columbus Precinct, elections to be held in the schoolhouse at the village of Columbus, with M. D. McCann, John Thomas and George Smith, judges of elections; Houston Pre- cinct, elections for which were to be held at the house of H. A. Cyrus, with David Strickler, John W. McFarland and Richard Seaton judges, and Woodville Precinct, all elections to be held at the village by that name under the supervision of Benjamin Robertson, Martin Shurry and Simeon Curtis, judges.
COLUMBUS FIGHTS FOR THE COUNTY SEAT
In March of that year (1839) Columbus, the village at the approx- imate center of the county, was incorporated, and the Advocate started by Frank Higbee as an avowed champion of that place for the county seat as against Quincy. The election which was to test the relative strength of the candidates was held August 2, 1841, and on the face of the returns Columbus won by a vote of 1,636 to 1,545. A com- mittee of Quincy citizens was at once appointed to contest the vote. It consisted of Joel Rice, J. H. Luce, John Wood and J. T. Holmes, and Abraham Wheat and Andrew Johnston, as legal counsel, rep- resented them in the proceedings before the County Commissioners Court. The first petition of the Quincy Committee was presented to William Richards, George Smith and Eli Seehorn, the county com- missioners, on September 7, 1841, and claimed that although the apparent majority in favor of Columbus was 91, in reality more than 100 illegal votes had been cast for the location of the county seat at Columbus. Messrs. Richards and Seehorn gave it as their opinion that the commissioners had the legal right to hear the contest : to go behind the returns and judge of the legality of the votes cast in the election. Commissioner Smith dissented from their opinion, and Willard Graves
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