USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 13
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and others, representing Columbus, through Nehemiah Bushnell, their counsel, formally appealed from the decision of the majority of the County Commissioners Court. The appeal was granted on condition that the representative of the Columbus people bond himself in the sum of $100, to be paid provided the majority opinion should be affirmed by the higher court.
Judge Stephen A. Douglas, of the Circuit Court, ordered the re- moval of the official records from Quiney to Columbus in the month following the election, but Messrs. Richards and Seehorn refused to obey his writ of mandamus. Then, in March, he issued a peremptory writ, and the Quiney people appealed to the State Supreme Court. It was argued before that body in July by George C. Dixon for the commissioners and Archibald Williams for the Columbus elaimants, and the decision was ordered deferred until December.
MARQUETTE AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES
At this point, we again fall back upon General Tillson's annals. "Immediately after the August election of 1842," he says, "the con- test took a new shape, and a bombshell was thrown into the Columbus camp which broke its unity and resulted in the full defeat of all its aspirations. At a meeting held in Quiney on the 26th of October the proposition was agreed to that the Legislature should be asked to divide the county by cutting off the ten townships on the eastern side of Adams, and thereby form a new county. Columbus was asked to unite with this movement, but refused. In faet. Columbus eould not safely agree to it, for the reason that the town lies on the extreme western edge of the proposed new county-a part of it being in Gihner Township-and the village would thus be eut in two. The same ob- jection would theu lie against Columbus as a county seat-'away at one side of the county'-that had before been used against Quincy.
"This project stirred into activity every local interest in the county and proved that the previous movement had not been based on a preference for Columbus merely, but for a county center. A half score of plans were started for outlining new counties, most of them not favoring a division of the county, but demanding, if a division of the county should be made, that it should be so outlined as to make a central point the county seat, most generally ignoring Columbus. Some of these proposed to take in part of Haneock, some part of Sehuyler, and some part of Brown or Pike: and all seemed to have forgotten about Columbus. The end was not difficult to foresee.
"This movement, adroitly originated for a division of the county. so as to compromise the differences between eastern and western spe- tions, practically decided, at the very outset, that the county seat ultimately would remain at Quiney. Time had been gained, and the issue transferred itself again to the State Legislature, which then convened every two years on the first Monday in December.
"As early as the 19th of December, at the session of 1842-43.
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Mr. Wheat, one of the representatives from Adams County, intro- duced a bill for the division of the county based upon the proposition which had been made and adopted at the meeting at Quincy on the 26th of October. Upon this, there followed a flood of petitions for and remonstrances against the proposed action, coming from all parts of the county, with every variety of project, proposition and sugges- tion. It was made a matter of long, bitter and doubtful discussion, and came to a final determination in the early part of 1843, resulting in a nominal division of the county, which separation stood as of a record which was never practically completed throughout the following five years."
The act creating Marquette from the eastern part of Adams was approved February 11, 1843, and provided that the justices of the peace within the limits of the original territory, as well as Daniel Harrison, school commissioner ; George Smith, one of the county com- missioners, and Jonas Grubb, coroner-all of whom resided in old Adams County-should hold over as officials of the newly erected county. The State Supreme Court decided in a test case, which An- drew Redman (who had been elected a justice of the peace for the Columbus Precinct, Marquette County) brought against Nicholas Wren, clerk of Adams County, to compel the latter to issue Redman a certificate of election-that Marquette County was an independent political body and absolutely separate from Adams. That was the decision of Judge Thomas, the successor of Judge Douglas to the Circuit Bench.
But though elections took place in Marquette County, at stated times and places, no officers ever qualified and it paid no taxes to either state or county for the term of five years; and during these several years of contention over the county seat and Marquette County, Co- lumbus continued actually the seat of justice.
But E. H. Buckley, a lawyer of Columbus and one of its strongest champions, was elected to the Legislature in 1846 and appeared in his seat therein when the session opened in December. He prepared a bill, and overcame strong opposition to it, changing the name of Marquette, and creating from its old territory, with the addition of a small portion of Gilmer Township, the County of Highland. His bill became a law in February, 1847, and he afterward represented Highland County in the Legislature. The two counties were reunited in 1846 under the good old name of Adams County.
JUDICIAL REFORM AND SLAVERY
The next event of importance to vitally affect Adams County was the promulgation of the constitution of 1848. In March of that year the instrument which had been framed at Springfield in the summer of 1847 was submitted to the people for ratification. The features which had caused the most discussion were those in regard to the elective judiciary of the Circuit Bench and the creation of a sep-
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arate State Supreme Court; barring slaves from Illinois, and the pro- posed tax of two mills on the dollar to be applied to the reduction of the publie debt. In Adams County, out of a total of 2,241, the majority for the constitution proper was 923.
TOWNSILIP ORGANIZATION ADOPTED
Under the constitution of 1848, Adams was one of the first coun- ties in the state to adopt the system of township organization. Under the old system most of the local business was transacted by three commissioners in each county, who constituted a County Court which held quarterly sessions. During the period ending with the constitutional convention of 1847, a large portion of the state had been settled by a population of New England birth or character, daily growing more and more compact and dissatisfied with the compara- tively arbitrary and inefficient county system. Under the stress of this feeling, the constitutional provisions of 1848, and the law of 1849 extending them, were enacted, permitting counties to adopt town- ship organization. Those north of the Illinois River, comprising the bulk of the New England population, adopted the change earlier than those in the southern portion of the state, which elung more tenaciously to the more aristocratie form of county government which originated in the Old Dominion.
In December, 1849, Adams County effeeted its transformation from the old county system, eentering in the County Commissioners Court, to the plan of township representation as embodied in the Board of Supervisors. On the sixth of that month, the court appointed Thomas Enlow, Angustus E. Bowles and William Berry as commis- sioners to divide the county into townships. They reported on the eighth of the following Mareh (1850), with the following township divisions, twenty in all :
('layton .- The whole of Congressional Township, 1 north, 5 west.
North East .- The whole of Congressional Township. 2 north, 5 west.
Camp Point .- The whole of Congressional Township, 1 north, 6 west.
Houston .- The whole of Congressional Township. 2 north. 6 west.
Honey Creek .- The whole of Congressional Township, 1 north, 7 west.
Keene .- The whole of Congressional Township, 2 north, 7 west.
Ursa .- The whole of Congressional Township. 1 north, S west, and of fractional township 1 north, 9 west. and all that portion of country in townships 2 north, 8 west and 2 north, 9 west, which lies south of Bear Creek.
Lafayette .- All that portion of country in townships 2 north, 8 west, 2 north, 9 west, and fractional township 2 north. 10 west, which lies south of said Bear Creek.
Jackson .- The whole of Congressional Township 1 south, 5 west, and the north half of Congressional Township 2 sonth. 5 west.
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Beverly .- The whole of Congressional Township 3 south, 5 west, and the south half of Congressional Township 2 south, 5 west.
Columbus .- The whole of Congressional Township 1 south, 6 west. Liberty .- The whole of Congressional Township 2 south, 6 west. Richland .- The whole of Congressional Township 3 south, 6 west. Dover .- The whole of Congressional Township 1 south, 7 west. Burton .- The whole of Congressional Township 2 south, 7 west. Payson .- The whole of Congressional Township 3 south, 7 west.
Ellington .- The whole of Congressional Township 1 south, 8 west, and fractional township 1 south, 9 west, except that portion of said fractional township included in the corporate limits of the City of Quiney.
Melrose .- The whole of Congressional Township 2 south, 8 west, and fractional township 2 south, 9 west, except that portion of said fractional township included within the corporate limits of the City of Quincy.
Benton .- The whole of Congressional Township 3 south, 8 west, and fractional township 3 couth, 9 west.
Quiney .- The whole of the corporate limits of the City of Quiney.
FIRST BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
The first Board of Supervisors of Adams County met in the old courthouse on June 3, 1850, and those present were John P. Robbins, John M. Ruddell, Grason Orr, Baptist Hardy, Jabez Lovejoy, John T. Battell, Joseph Kern, Alexander M. Smith, David Wolf, Williston Stephens, Solomon Cusiek, Thomas Bailey, William H. Tandy, Robert G. Kay, Thomas Crocker, Stephen F. Safford and Edward Sharp. Mr. Tandy was chosen chairman and the following changes were made in the names of townships: From Lafayette to Lima, Benton to Fall Creek, Dover to Gilmer, Richland to Richfield, and Jackson to Con- cord. Various tax matters were settled; the paupers of the county provided for ; it was resolved that the board "grant no license to any one to sell ardent spirits in the county," and the grand and petit jurors were named for the October term of the Circuit Court. The report of the county treasurer for three months of 1850 indieates that he had received a trifle over $2,744 from all sources and expended all but 35 eents of it. That official was ordered to borrow $1,500 to meet expenses, at a rate of interest not to exceed 10 per cent.
THE TWENTY POLLING PRECINCTS
The Board of Supervisors at its next meeting, November 1, 1850, divided the county into twenty precincts, with judges and polling places as follows :
Quiney .- Polling place, courthouse, with Adam Schmitt, Lorenzo Bull and William B. Powers judges of election for the first poll, and J. D. Morgan, Christopher Dickhute and Robert S. Benneson, judges of the second poll.
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Ellington .- Polling place, stone house known as the "old Jacobs place "; Samuel Jameson, A. E. Bowles and William C. Powell, judges of election.
Ursa .- Polling plaee, the Ursa Schoolhouse ; judges of election, William Loughlin, Gabriel Keath and Joel Frazier.
Lima .- Polling place, Beebe House, Village of Lima; judges of election, E. P. Wade, Henry Nulton and Thomas Hillurn.
Honey Creek .- Polling place, schoolhouse on seetion 16; judges of election, John A. White, John Johnson and L. A. Weed.
Keene .- Polling place, schoolhouse on section 16; judges of elec- tion, William II. Robertson, R. L. Thurman and James Shannon.
Houston .- Polling place, briek schoolhouse on seetion 16; judges of election, David Strickler, Samuel Woods and John Kern.
Northeast .- Polling place, Franklin Schoolhouse; judges of elec- tion, Elliott Combs, E. B. Hoyl and William Robins.
Camp Point .- Polling place, MeFarland Schoolhouse: judges of election, John Robertson, Lewis MeFarland and William Thompson.
Clayton .- Polling place, postoffice in Clayton Village; judges of election, Hiram Boyle, Thomas Curry and James C. Carpenter.
Coneord .- Polling place, house of Elisha Turner; judges of elec- tion, John Ansemuse, David Ilobbs and Elisha Turner.
Columbus .- Polling place, red schoolhouse in Village of Colum- bus; judges of election, Franeis Turner, James Thomas and George Johnson.
Gilmer .- Polling place, MeNeil Schoolhouse; judges of election, Thomas D. Warren, John Lummis and John I. Gilmer, Jr.
Liberty .- Polling place. schoolhouse in Village of Liberty : judges of election, Ira Pieree, Ebenezer Chaplin and Lewis J. Thompson.
Beverly .- Polling place, house of Solomon Perkins: judges of elee- tion, Isaac Perkins, James Sykes, Jr., and George W. Williams.
Richfield .- Polling place, center schoolhouse; judges of election, James Woods, Henry Farmer and Isaae Cleveland.
Burton .- Polling place, wagon shop of Mr. Enlow; judges of election, Samuel G. Blivens, William Richards and Joseph Leverette.
Payson .- Polling place, house of Benjamin Hoar, Village of Pay- son : judges of election, Thomas J. Shepherd, William Shinn and John O. Bernard.
Fall Creek .- Polling place, center schoolhouse; judges of election, Silas Beebe, John Bean and Joseph Journey.
Melrose .- Polling place, schoolhouse near Amos Baneroft's; judges of election, Noah Swain, John Wood and Amos Baneroft.
OFFICIAL, ACCOMMODATIONS EXTENDED
Several years after the county had thus been divided into town- ships and organized, eivilly and politically, under the township system. the authorities decided to do something toward the improvement of the official accommodations. To be more exact, in 1-53 the old brick
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courthouse on the east side of Washington Square was extended in the rear, and by an arrangement between the city and county, the municipality obtained the use of one of the large lower rooms for a council chamber and clerk's office, which was thus occupied during the succeeding fourteen years.
FIRE FORCES BUILDING OF NEW COURTHOUSE
Agitation over the question of a presentable courthouse had com- menced among the county solons and citizens in general, several years before the structure was completed; and then it might not have been finished had not the old courthouse been rendered useless by fire. The matter was discussed in the local press and by public-spirited citizens some time in 1868 before the County Board took official cognizance of it. At the December term of that body a committee was appointed to attend the Legislature and secure authority to issue bonds and take other steps to build a new courthouse and jail. Its members were Perry Alexander, Silas Bailey, A. W. Blakesly, Benjamin Berrian and James H. Hendrickson. The object of their visit was accomplished, but in February, 1869, the Board of Supervisors refused to approve the bill passed by the Legislature.
The project seemed to rest most quiescent until on the ninth of January, 1875, when flames licked up most of the framework of the old courthouse, fortunately sparing the books and records which were moved to neighborhood buildings. The jail, at the rear of the court- house, also escaped, although some of the sheriff's boarders were escorted to the city police station to be perfectly safe and provided for possible contingencies.
After holding several meetings the County Board decided to pro- vide quarters for the sheriff, county and circuit clerks and the several courts in the partially destroyed courthouse. Portions of the first floor were repaired for these purposes, and, although the accommo- dations were anything but convenient and comfortable, especially in the summer months, the county officials, judges and the' public made the best of an unavoidably bad situation. While the repairs were progressing, the county and circuit clerks had their offices in Dill's Block, between Sixth and Seventh streets. The temporary official quarters were occupied until the new courthouse was completed in 1877.
COATSBURG SUBSIDES
Numerous meetings were held on the issue for or against removal of the county seat, which was to be decided at the coming election in November. Coatsburg was the only place in the running against Quincy, and its claims for the advisability of making the change were its more central location, the probable saving of expense if the new courthouse should be built at that point, and the large number of
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voters who had signed the petition for removal. The speakers for Quiney were largely in the majority. Such as Col. William A. Rich- ardson, Ilon. A. H. Browning and Hon. J. W. Carter, with numerous lesser lights, pressed home their points for Quincy, while John Hen- driekson held the fort for Coatsburg. The entire vote polled was 7,281, and the majority against removal was 4,172, which seemed to lay the pretensions of Coatsburg in the dust as far as the county seat was concerned.
JEFFERSON SQUARE SELECTED AS SITE
Although various sites were offered for the proposed new county buildings, the contest finally settled down to a rivalry between Jeffer- son Square and Washington Park. In May after the fire the County Board received a communication from the City Council offering to deed Jefferson Square to the county, in ease an agreement eould be made to build a courthouse thereon. Later the County Board voted in favor of Washington Park, but at its September meeting (1875) accepted the city's proposition and declared, by seventeen aves and fourteen nays, that Jefferson Square was preferable. A further reso- lution was adopted requesting the City Council of Quiney to prepare the deeds conveying the square to the county and have them approved by the county attorney ; finally, that the deeds be deposited in the hands of a third party, and in the event of the removal of the county seat to Coatsburg, or any other point outside the City of Quiney, the papers mentioned should be returned to the party making the same.
In the meantime V. S. Penfield had been in custody of the papers conveying the city's interest in Jefferson Square to the county, in ease the seat of justice remained at Quiney. Now it was perfectly safe to pass them over. Therefore, although the deed to the north half of Jefferson Square was executed October 1, 1875, by Robert S. Benneson, president of the Board of Education, and Albert Demaree, clerk, it was not received and entered of record on the county elerk's books until at the special Deeember meeting of the Board of Super- visors in that year.
STEPS IN BUILDING OF PRESENT COURTHOUSE
In the meantime the plan of John S. MeKean had been accepted out of three submitted, after several doubtful points regarding the strength of the main supports had been settled by Captain Eads in favor of the arehiteet. A majority of the Building Committee of the board submitted a detailed report of plans and specifications in Jan- uary, 1876, and further recommended the construction of a jail in the basement of the new courthouse at a cost of $20,000, which would probably bring the entire eost of the building to $215,000 or $220.000.
Pending the consideration of this report, the board was notified of the death of William A. Richardson, one of the supervisors.
F
THE COURTHOUSE OF TODAY
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At the February meeting in 1876 a communication was received from the mayor of Quiney, suggesting the Fourth of July as an appro- priate day for laying the corner-stone of the new courthouse. The bond of Architect MeKean for $10,000 was also received and ap- proved.
In pursuance of an order issued by the Board of Supervisors and a vote of popular approval at the fall election of 1876, an issue of $200,- 000 eight per cent bonds was authorized to aid in the building of the courthouse. In July of the following year it was ordered that half of that amount, which had been printed but not issued, be destroyed, and that a new issue be put out-one-half payable in March, 1881, and one-half in March, 1882. At the same time, Messrs. Larkworthy and Burge tendered to the use of the board the use of the courthouse for that session, with the proviso, on the part of that body, that an ac- ceptance of such offer should not be construed as an acceptance of the building.
On the ninth of July, 1877, the Board of Supervisors held its first meeting in the new courthouse, and a few days afterward it was form- ally accepted as satisfactory from the hands of its builders. The cost of its construction had considerably exceeded the original estimates, amounting to nearly $290,000; and yet, in resigning as chairman of the Board of Supervisors, several months after the courthouse had been occupied, Ira Tyler wrote to his co-workers as follows: "For the last two years your duties have been very arduous and difficult. Within that period you have constructed a courthouse and jail, which is one of the most substantial, beautiful and economically constructed buildings in the West, and at so small a cost for that class of a building, that scarcely a tax-payer in the county is dissatisfied. So low have been the bids that it is believed that no contractor has made a fair profit, while some have lost money."
As completed, the handsome structure, two stories and basement, was of brick faced with ent stone, 105 by 175 feet in dimensions. A massive and ornate dome rose above the slate roof to a height of ninety feet and at the four extreme angles of the building were four turreted towers. The style of exterior architecture may be ealled an adaptation of the Corinthian order, or Renaissance. In each of the four fronts is a spacions double portico, approached by a wide staircase which gives access to the first story. The basement, eleven feet in height, con- tained the jail, with the heating apparatus for the courthouse. On the first floor were the offices of the county and circuit clerks, the county treasurer, sheriff, recorder, collector and surveyor. The sec- ond story was devoted to a chamber for the Board of Supervisors, the County Courtroom and the Circuit Court, and private rooms for the judge and juries, and the first sitting of the latter body was held Oe- tober 22, 1877.
Since the completion of the courthouse in 1877, many changes for the better have been made in its interior accommodations and arrange- ments to meet the growing demands of the years as to sanitation, con-
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venience and comfort. The county superintendent of schools has his offices in the second story. In 1878, the next year after the courthouse was built, the pastors of Quincy filed an objection with the Board of Supervisors to using the basement as a county jail, and every exam- ination by the state auditors has criticised that arrangement. "How- ever," says Judge Lyman McCarl, in one of his historical addresses, "the basement has been used as a jail from the time of its construction, thirty-eight years ago (delivered in 1916), and during all that time not a single death has occurred as the result of a disease contracted in this jail."
All the interior surroundings of the courthouse are modern and sanitary, and the well-kept grounds without, which rise gradually from the four thoroughfares bounding the square, make an attractive and imposing setting for the structure which is stately of itself.
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COUNTY
Adams County has had many able representatives both in the county and the state governments, as the following roster will show. In the earlier years, when the population was meager, most of the able citizens of the county were drawn into public affairs of more or less prominence, but with the increase of settlers it was not nec- essary to call upon the same lot continuously. Judge Henry H. Snow, Earl Pierce, Asa Tyrer, William H. Tandy and others, who had almost a monopoly on office-holding for many years, walked from the scene and their successors were legion.
COUNTY OFFICERS, 1825-69
James Black, recorder
July 8, 1825
Levi Headley, sheriff.
August 30, 1825
Asa Tyrer, coroner. August 30, 1825
Henry H. Snow, judge probate
September 15, 1825
Henry H. Snow, judge probate.
January 23, 1826
Henry II. Snow, recorder
January 23, 1826
Hugh White, surveyor
.January 23, 1826
Earl Pierce, sheriff.
September 6, 1826
Asa Tyrer, coroner
September 6, 1826
Heman Wallace, coroner
September 6, 1828
Earl Pierce, sheriff
December 5, 1828
Earl Pierce, sheriff
November 27, 1830
Thomas Moon, coroner
.November 27, 1830
Earl Pierce, sheriff.
September 5, 1832
William P. Reader, coroner
September 5, 1832
H. Patton, surveyor. April 28, 1834
Harris Patton, surveyor June 2, 1834
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