USA > Illinois > Jo Daviess County > The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion history of the Northwest, history of Illinois Constitution of the United States > Part 31
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Among the more important duties of the early County Commissioners was the erection of voting and justices precincts. As the reader may see 'by taking a map and tracing the boundary lines of the original Jo Daviess County, heretofore given, the territory embraces a larger extent of country than is embraced in each of several States of the American republic. To regulate and manage the local affairs of so large an extent of territory, was not a very easy task, but was a duty that required a good deal of skill and judgment. However, there were men among the miners and mechanics that had graduated from the farms and shops and cabins and old log school-
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HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
houses of states older than Illinois, that were just as competent to the task of- organizing order out of the chaotic confusion of Indian wilds, as were the college graduates who came after the pioneers had established the customs of civilization and introduced in the wilderness of the Upper Mississippi that enterprise and industry that developed the great agricul- tural and mineral wealth that made for Galena and all the lead-producing region of the Northwest a name and a fame co-extensive with civilization. To the sturdy sous of toil-the hardy miners, the strong armned mechanics who accompanied them, and their brave, heroic wives, who bartered safety and comfort in their girlhood's homes, for Indian dangers and probable privation and want, and not to the sons of rich men, raised in affluence and wealth, schooled in colleges and fitted for the profession of law or politics, and who came here long after the dangers and privations and hardships were over, belongs the honor of reducing the primitive wilds to a condition of civilization that is second to no other part of a common country. But such observations aside, and we turn again to the official proceedings of the local legislators of Jo Daviess County-the County Commissioners.
March 3, 1830, Rock Island precinct was established, and thus defined :
"Beginning at the mouth of Maria O'gee and running due east to the eastern extremity of Jo Daviess Co., thence south to the County of Peoria, thence west to the south- west corner of said county of Jo Daviess, thence up the Mississippi to the place of beginning."
The same day Apple River precinct was established :
" Beginning at Shannon's mills and running due east to the east (?) corner of Jo Daviess County, thence south to the Rock Island precinct, thence due west to the mouth of the Maria O'gee, thence to the place of beginning."
The Galena precinct was changed as follows:
" To begin at Shannon's mills and run east to where the Apple River road crosses the east and west line; thence west to Lockwood's furnace (including the settlement at said furnace), thence on a west line to the Mississippi River; thence with the state line to the place of beginning."
The boundary lines of Centreville precinct were also changed as fol- lows:
" Beginning at Meeker's farm and running to Lockwood's furnace; thence to Council Hill on the old road traveled; from thence with the New Diggings road to the state line; west to the Mississippi River to the line of the Galena precinct; thence east to the place of beginning."
A new precinct called White Oak Springs precinct was erected, the boundary lines being thus defined:
" Beginning at the Apple River road where the east and west line crosses said road from Shannon's mills; thence east to the eastern extremity of said county; thence north to the state line; thence west to the New Diggings (including the settlers on the east fork and on the head waters of Apple River); thence along the road to Council Hill; thence to Lockwood's furnace; thence to the place of beginning."
The wording of these orders is a little vague in some respects, and the location of some of the lines rather indifferently defined, but it must be borne in mind that a good deal of the territory included in these several precincts was entirely unsettled, so that it was a somewhat difficult matter to establish "landmarks," and so locate them that every body could follow the boundary lines in their mind and know just where they started, what particular points they passed, or precisely where they terminated. Roads, in those days, were little else than trails, perhaps first marked out by Indian feet and Indian ponies. The same lines could be established now so that every school-boy, almost, could readily locate every particular place
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HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
within the precincts. Where then there were not more than twenty or thirty voters, there now are hundreds, and the waste places of March 30, 1830, are full of productive farms and the busy hum of industry.
June 8, 1830, John Campbell was licensed " to keep a ferry across the Mississippi River, opposite Dubuque's mines, on payment of eight dollars to the County Treasurer, and entering into bonds with good and sufficient security." He was permitted to charge fifty cents for crossing man and horse.
Then follows a long list of road orders, the granting of tavern license, ,etc. In fact, for several years a good deal of the time of the various sessions of the Commissioners Court was consumed in matters of this kind. Immi- gration was rapid, and there had to be places of entertainment. Provisions were scarce and high. The settlers could not afford, however hospitable and willingly inclined, to keep travelers scot free, and hence they were licensed to charge reasonable rates. These taverns were rude concerns- not grand structures like the De Soto House-but log cabins, and may be, had only one room. Or if they had more, they were low, side additions. Some times a cabin was built sufficiently high to permit sleeping quarters above. In such cases a common step ladder in one corner of the room afforded access to the room above, or just as like as any other way, the upper portion of the house was reached by a ladder on the outside in the " chimney corner." If tables in those days were void of elaborate bills of fare and the edibles to be found in "taverns " of more modern date, there was plenty of substantials, and what would now be called varieties. One old pioneer, Samuel Simpson, now in his eightieth year, and living in Elizabeth Town- ship, who came to the state in 1832, told the historians that during the first fourteen years of his residence in Illinois there was no necessity for serving a single meal in his house without wild honey and either fresh or dried ven- ison. All the streams abounded with fish of the choicest varieties; wild tur- keys were to be found in large flocks in almost every forest, and prairie chickens, pheasants, etc., were to be found in plenty.
June 10, 1830, the County Commissioners Court
Ordered, That the sheriff be charged with the sum of $610.27, that being the amount of the tax list for the year A. D. 1829; and that he be credited by the delinquent list for the sum of $49.66, and that he also have a credit for the sum of $581.11, the amount of the taxes for the year A. D. 1829, and the fines of Jonas ($30), Furguson & Gear's ($5), as assessed at the November term, 1829, of the Circuit Court for said county.
The next day, June 11, they ordered that all the county orders previ- ously issued and redeemed by the treasurer should be burned, which order was carried out, and orders representing $2,242.961 were committed to the flames. A subsequent order recited this fact, as well as the names of the parties to whom the orders had originally been issued, and their- various amounts.
Slavery once existed in Illinois. This italicized declaration may sound a little harsh to the ears of some of the readers of these pages, but it is a fact, nevertheless. A full reference to this condition of affairs will be found in that part of this book devoted to the general history of the. early settle- ment of the Galena section of the Upper Mississippi or Fever River coun- try, so that an extended reference to this " twin relic of barbarism " in this connection is unnecessary. As late as 1839, and perhaps 1840-'1, taxes were assessed against slaves or indentured apprentices, and by "inden- tured apprentices" the authorities ordering the assessment of taxes
CHARLES S. HEMPSTEAD DECEASED) GALENA
$
THE LIDERBY
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HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
meant negro slaves. The subterfuge of "indentured apprentices " didn't remove the fact that they were as much slaves as were the negroes of the South, and that property was recognized in man. There yet lives in the City of Galena at least two (Swanzy Adams and his wife) representatives of this "indentured apprentice" class ("what a whipping of the devil around the stump!") against whom taxes were levied as upon so many cat- tle, and from whose earnings and industry the assessment was collected. At last, however, the foul blot and stain upon our boasted freedom was washed out, and negro slavery exists no more.
In Book A, the first volume of the records of the County Commis- sioners Court, under date of June 30, 1830, two instruments of writing are recorded that are transferred to these pages for preservation to posterity- not only as a part of the early history of the county, but as a part of the history of a government whose fathers claimed it to have been founded upon the principle of freedom to all men, because all men, in their opinion, were created free and equal.
On that day Arch, alias Arch Davis, an "indentured apprentice," caused to be entered of record the following document:
Col. A. Field to Arch .- Know all men by these presents, that Abner Field, of the County of Jo Daviess, Illinois, and by these presents do liberate and set free a certain black man now an indentured apprentice, named Arch alias Arch Davis, hereby releasing and exonerating the said Arch from all further service; provided, however, that the said Arch shall be compelled to work to the amount of at least two days in each week so long as he shall remain in the house of the said Field, and cohabit with his (the said Arch's) wife. The said Field is to furnish him with a sufficiency to eat, and to permit him to sleep in his kitchen, etc.
ABNER FIELD. [Seal.]
January 12, 1829. Recorded June 30, 1830.
JAMES W. STEPHENSON, Clerk, etc.
The same day a female indentured apprentice named Cherry alias Chaney, caused a similar instrument of writing to be recorded, as follows:
Abner Field to Cherry .- Know all men by these presents, that I, Abner Field, do by these presents release and free an indentured woman of color now belonging to me, known and called Cherry alias Chaney, on condition that she, the said woman, will serve me for one year from the date of this writing, and permit herself to be taken to Kentucky or else- where by my giving bond and security for her return.
In testimony of the foregoing, I hereto set my hand and seal this 27th day of April, 1830.
Recorded June 30, 1830.
ABNER FIELD. [Seal.]
J. W. STEPHENSON, Clerk, etc.
And so, one by one, where death or other causes did not intervene, were the "indentured apprentices " or slaves of Illinois emancipated from bondage and restored to the normal condition of all mankind. It is more than probable that the only survivors of this class of Illinois slaves are residents of Galena, where, overcome with years, they are watching and waiting for the summons to appear before that Master who is no respecter of persons.
September 8, 1830, the commissioners ordered that the next term of the Circuit Court be held at the house lately occupied by Hammett & Campbell, and that the sheriff cause the same to be prepared for that pur- pose, and that James K. Hammett be allowed the sum of thirty dollars for the use of the same. The house here referred to was a frame store room situated on Diagonal Street, not far from the present court house.
From September, 1830, until March, 1831, there was but little business to engross the attention of the commissioners, so that we find nothing in
18%
322
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
these months worthy of special mention. On the 9th of that month pro- visions for raising money to defray the year's expenses were considered, and it was ordered that an assessment of one half of one per cent be levied on slaves or indentured negro or mulatto servants, on pleasure carriages, on all horses, mares, mules, asses and neat cattle above three years of age, and on watches and clocks and their appendages, and on lead and hogs.
At a meeting held on Saturday, April 23, the following entry was ordered to be made :
It is considered by the court that the sheriff of the county be permitted to release from taxation such lead as has been assessed for taxes for the year 1830, as may appear on the oath of the merchant or person with whom the same is stored, to belong to non-residents of this state; Provided, That, if the merchant or persons aforesaid do not consent by their oath to partition their individual lead from that, they, or either of them, may have in stor- age, then this order shall not operate as a repeal of any former order on the subject.
On complaint of Thomas Jordan, made April 29, 1831, the license of John Campbell, as ferryman between the Illinois side of the Mississippi River and Dubuque's mines, was revoked, because of Campbell having abandoned the undertaking. The same day license was granted to Mr. Jor- dan to keep a ferry at his landing (now Dunleith), upon payment of five dollars to the county treasurer, and giving security for a lawful discharge of a ferryman's duties. Jordan's was the first licensed ferry at that point.
During the Summer, Fall and Winter of 1831, there was no business of an extraordinary nature to claim the attention of the local legislators. Settlements had extended to various parts of the county, and immigrants were coming in, selecting claims and settling down to their improvement. For the balance of the year the sessions of the County Court were taken up, for the most part, in the ordinary business of the county-granting road views, tavern licenses, selecting grand and petit juries, etc. In the Spring of 1832 the Indian War came on, and all kinds of business, public and pri- vate, was almost entirely suspended. That war was vigorously prosecuted, the Indians subdued and a permanent peace conquered. September 6, of that year, a part of the volunteer militia for the suppression of the Indian rebellion were mustered out of the service at Galena, and the army dis- banded. On the 8th the commissioners were in session and the county business again taken up. Among the other business of that session, an order was entered allowing Dr. Newhall fifty cents for each visit to the poor and diseased, Dr. Newhall to furnish his own medicines. The other business of that session, as of the remaining sessions of that year and up to March, 1833, related solely to ordinary matters. On the 12th day of March, for the first time, so far as the records show, an assessment of taxes was ordered against ferries. At this time there appeared to have been only four ferries within the county-at what are now Dixon, on Rock River, Rock Island, Galena, and Jordan's (between the present sites of Dunleith and Dubuque). On Dixon's ferry a county tax of $15 was levied; on Foley's Galena ferry, $12; on Barrel's Rock Island ferry, $10.
The subjugation of the Indians, in 1832, removed all apprehension of Indian dangers, and the people settled down to earnest, hard work. New plans were marked out by those engaged in the mines, by those who were making farms and by those who were charged with the management of county affairs.
Early in 1833, six years after the county machinery had been set in motion, the necessity of permanent quarters for the county offices came to
323
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
be considered by the Commissioners. On the 22d of March of that year they
Ordered, That the clerk of this court be, and is hereby, authorized to contract with Charles Peck for his house, if it can be obtained on the following terms, viz .: For one hun- dred and twenty dollars a year, for 3 years, payable in two equal payments, the first to be paid in June, and the other in December of each and every year, the house to be put in good repair by Mr. Peck; the said payments to draw six per cent interest from the time they become due until paid.
The Peck House here referred to, was a large frame structure and stood on the ground now occupied by the De Soto House, and with the exception of Comstock's storehouse, was the largest in Galena.
May 8 it was also
Ordered, That the house of Peck & Heath shall be the Court House for this county, during the continuance of the lease; also, that the several clerks are requested to keep their respective offices in the said house.
December 27, 1834, Messrs. Charles Peck, H. Newhall, and E. Charles submitted a plan and estimate for a jail, which was satisfactory to the Court, and it was ordered that public notice be given in the Galenian and North- western Gazette, inviting sealed proposals through the office of the county clerk (where plans and specifications could be seen), until the first Monday of March following, for building the said jail according to the plans pro- posed. The site for the proposed jail was on the southwest corner of the public grounds, between Main and Bench Streets, on the (then) late res- idence grounds of Amos Farrar. The jail was to be completed by the first of December, 1835, one half of the contract price to be paid when the building was put under roof, and the balance when the building was com- pleted and accepted, good security to be given for a faithful performance of the contract. The building of the jail as contemplated by this order was never commenced. Some difficulty was experienced in the purchase of the necessary lot on which to build it, and it was not until the ground on which the county buildings were subsequently erected were secured, that a jail was completed.
The following is an itemized exhibit (and the first on record that we have been able to find), of the receipts and expenditures of Jo Daviess County, for the year ending Dec. 10, 1834.
RECEIPTS:
From ferries
$ 55 00
From merchants and tavern keepers. 1,062 77
From fines
85 00
From county taxes.
195 39
From orders of Peck
300 00
From county taxes current year not collected 2 72
From outstanding and doubtful accounts.
325 23
Total
$2,496 11
EXPENDITURES :
For paupers
$ 681 75
For roads.
251 00
For rent of court house and jail.
225 12
For election expenses
134 42 For guarding prisoners
90 00
For constables
70 00
For sheriff
90 00
For treasurer
93 00
For county commissioners
.68 25
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HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY. F
EXPENDITURES-CONTINUED.
For clerk commissioners court. $ 81 00
For clerk circuit court. 57 00
For wood and stationery. 75 00
For miscellaneous 46 61
For lot of orders current year
767 97
Total
$2,638 43
RECAPITULATION :
Expenditures $2,638 43
Receipts 2,496 11
Excess of expenditures over receipts_ $142 32
About this time the people and the county authorities began to agitate the question of purchasing grounds for public buildings, and on the 9th of March, 1835, the County Court
Ordered, That Abraham Hathaway and Elijah Charles (two of the County Commis- sioners at that time) be appointed agents, on the part of county to execute a note from the county to the commissioners appointed in a matter of petition between George Davenport and others for the payment of nine hundred dollars for a certain lot (of ground) in the town of Galena, bought for the purpose of erecting public buildings thereon.
The following day (March 10), an entry was made from which it appears that James Bennett, Rivers Cormack and W. B. Green had been duly authorized to purchase a lot of ground in Galena as a site for a court house and jail. Bennett had purchased a lot known as the "Connolly lot," for the use of the county, but had taken the deed in his own name and had given his note with security to James Craig, Horatio Newhall and David G. Bates, commissioners for the sale of the said lot, for the sum of nine hundred dollars, and it was ordered that Bennett be required to deed the said house and lot to Jo Daviess County, and in default thereof suit was directed to be commenced against him .. The same day an order on the County Treasurer was directed to issue "to Charles Peck for what money he may have to advance on a note executed to James Craig, Hora- tio Hewhall and David G. Bates, commissioners appointed in a matter of partition between Davenport and others, of certain real estate," etc. On application, Bennett refused to deed the property as required in the order of the 10th of March, and suit was ordered to be commenced against him in the Circuit Court.
Some time subsequent to the adjournment of this session of the County Commissioners and prior to a session held on the 22d of April, a proposition was made to the Court by Charles Hempstead in regard to certain grounds for public buildings, which the court, at the date just quoted, agreed to take under advisement until the next term, June 13, when it was
Ordered, That a writ of injunction be applied for to stop proceedings of certain com- missioners appointed at a late term of the Circuit Court to set off the dowry of Mrs. Sophia Farrar, in a certain lot of ground (recently purchased by the county at a Commissioners' sale), known as the Connolly lot, situate in the Town of Galena.
Suit against Bennett had been commenced, and the finding of the Cir- cuit Court was adverse to the interests of the county, and on the 6th of September, 1836, it was
Ordered, That an appeal be taken to the Supreme Court from the decision of the Circuit Court at its late session (Jo. Daviess County cs. James Bennett), and the Clerk of the Commissioners Court is authorized to employ Jesse B. Thomas, William Thomas, and Henry J. Galewood, as counsel.
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HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
September 8, 1838, John W. Foster was appointed to take possession of the lot then in possession of Sophia Farrar, and on the 8th of December, 1838, a quit-claim deed was directed to be made to Sophia Farrar to lot No. 52, on Bench Street.
While these proceedings were going through the courts, the County Commissioners and public-spirited citizens were busy maturing plans, look- ing to the erection of a court house, jail, etc. After Colonel Strode seized, tore down and removed the jail erected in 1830, and re-erected it as a block house at the beginning of the Black Hawk war, in 1832, there was no place for the confinement and safe keeping of prisoners until the erection of the present brick jail on lot No. 17, block No. 24, in 1838. During these years rooms were rented, and men employed at the expense of the county to guard prisoners, the expenses of which were very heavy.
At a special term of the County Court, in October, 1835, a " petition was ordered to be forwarded to the Congress of the United States for the avails of the sale of 640 acres to be laid off into town lots at Galena, to go for the benefit of the county in lieu of pre-emption right to 160 acres granted to county seats located on Congress lands, and that a letter be addressed to the representative in Congress on the same subject." The county commissioners at this time were James Craig, Abraham Hathaway, and E. Charles. This petition seems to have been favorably considered by Congress, for in 1836 that body passed the following act relative thereto, entitled " An Act to amend an 'act authorizing the laying off a town on Bean River, in the State of Illinois, and for other purposes,' approved fifth February, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine."
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Amer- ica, in Congress assembled, That all acts and duties required to be done and performed by the surveyor of the States of Illinois and Missouri, and the Territory of Arkansas, under the act to which this is an amendment, shall be done and performed by a board of commission- ers of three in number, any two of whom shall form a quorum to do business; said com- missioners to be appointed by the President of the United States, and shall, previous to their entering upon the discharge of their duties, take an oath or affirmation to perform the samc faithfully and impartially.
SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall have power to hear evidence and determine all claims to lots of ground arising under the act to which this is an amendment, and for this purpose the said commissioners are authorized to admin- ister all oaths that may be necessary, and reduce to writing all the evidence in support of claims to pre-cmption presented for their consideration; and when all the testimony shall have been heard and considered, the said commissioners shall file with the register and receiver of the land office at Galena, for the lot or lots to which such person is entitled, the receiver shall grant a receipt therefor, and issue certificates of purchase, to be transmitted to the General Land Office, as in other cases of the sale of public lands.
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