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 32
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SECTION 3. And be it further enacted, That the register and receiver at Galena, after the board of commissioners have heard and determined all the cases of pre-emption under the act to which this is an amendment, shall expose the residue of lots to public sale to the highest bidder, after advertising the same in three public newspapers at least six weeks prior to the day of sale, in the same manner as is provided for the sale of the public lands in other cases; and after paying to the commissioners the compensation hereinafter allowed them, and all the other expenses incidental to the said survey and sale, the receiver of the land office shall pay over the residue of the money lie may have received from the sale of lots aforesaid, by pre-emption as well as at public auction, into the hands of the County Com- missioners of Jo Daviess County, to be expended by them in the erection of public. build- ings and the construction of suitable wharves in the Town of Galena.
SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners appointed to carry this act into effect shall be paid by the receiver six dollars each per day, for their services, for every day they are necessarily employed.
Approved, July 2, 1836. [See U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 5, p. 79.]
Having thus introduced the law and the means under and from which part of the money was derived to build the court house, we return to the
326
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
County Commissioners' record, to bring up some other important items which were omitted from regular chronological order.
From March, 1835, to March, 1836, a period of one year, there is nothing on the record out of the usual routine of county business. March 15, of the year last named, the following assessment was made against the several ferries within the county for county and road purposes:
Ferry.
County Tax. Road Tax.
Dixon's
$20 00
$10 00
Wight, Galena.
15 00
7 50
Jordan, Dunleith
50 00
00
Bush
15 00
7 50
Brophy, Dunleith.
50 00
15 00
McClure
5 00
2 50
Bales
15 00
7 50
Kirkpatrick
15 00
7 50
L. H. Bowen, Savanna (Carroll Co.)
10 00
5 00
J. L. Brewster
10 00
5 00
John Phelps
15 00
7 50
Total
$220 00
$90 00
Grand total of taxes assessed against ferries
$310 00
September 10, 1836, the County Court offered a premium of one hun- dred dollars for the best plan for a court house, and thirty dollars for the best plan for a jail, to be presented at the December term of the court (first Monday in December, 1836), the probable cost of the court house to be $40,000, and of the jail, $10,000, and directed the county clerk to advertise for the same through the Galena newspapers and the St. Louis Republican, the advertisement to be inserted weekly in each of the above named papers for eight weeks.
A number of plans were presented to the commissioners at their December term (Thursday, the 8th) and after having examined and consid- ered all of them carefully, the plans presented by Charles H. Rogers for court house and jail were thought to be superior to any others, and were consequently adopted, and the award offered in the advertisement was paid by an order drawn on the county treasurer.
April 19, 1837, the county clerk was directed to advertise through the columns of the Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser for sealed proposals until June 1, for building a jail according to the plans adopted as above. This jail, as shown elsewhere, was completed in 1839.
This year (1837) a financial panic swept over the country and very materially interrupted the plans, purposes and undertakings of the people. There was a general cry of "hard times," and many promising business men were stranded by " shrinkage in values." Charles Peck, county treas- urer, either out of his goodness of heart and mercy for tax payers, or for some other cause, failed to make an assessment, and on the 7th of Septem- ber the county court ordered suit commenced against him on his official bond for such failure. Thomas Drummond, now a prominent U. S. Judge, but then a young lawyer of Galena, was retained on the part of the county.
The records of the Circuit Court show that the suit was commenced at the Fall term thereof, and that on the 19th of October the defendant (Peck) filed a demurrer to plaintiff's declaration. On the docket for the July term, 1838, under date of the 11th, this entry appears: " After argu- ment by counsel, court takes time." There, so far as the judicial records show, the case terminates. Some of the surviving citizens of that period
.327
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
tell us that a compromise satisfactory to all parties was effected, and the case finally disposed of in that way.
As yet there was no way of raising money to defray the expenses of the county, except from taxes levied upon personal property. During the fiscal year ending on the first day of March, 1839, the legitimate expenses of the county were $11,408.16, and the receipts from all sources, $8,114.80, leaving a balance against the county of $3,293.36.
The following statement shows the real condition of the county from the first day of March, A. D. 1836 to the first day of March, A. D. 1839:
EXPENDITURES.
To amount paid on purchase of lots for court house ... $ 296 22
66
for paupers.
1,539 34
66
66
rent of court house.
852 00
66
66
66
"
County
346 37
66
66
sheriff
838 10
66
county commissioners
671 00
..
66
miscellaneous
122 68
66
66
66
county treasurer.
269 13
66
66
constables attending Circuit Court stationery
110 37
¥
66
elections
227 33
66
66
coroner
47 25
66
66
66
printing.
9 00
attorney's fees for attending suits in Cir- cuit Court
508 75
66
66 court house_
16,000 00
66
66
plans for and repairs on same.
1,110 28
Probable amount of county orders in circulation March
1, 1836
2,140 53-$27,704 38
RECEIPTS.
From merchants
$2,764 33
tavern keepers
2,267 58
66 auctions
100 00
66
ferries
495 00
66
sheriff for county taxes
628 60
Due from sheriff for taxes 1838
1,015 31
66
interest on judgment
35 32
66
fines in Circuit Court_
720 00
66
sheriff, July term, 1838.
30 00
justices of the peace.
8 00
From rent from basement of court house.
50 66-$8,114 80
66
roads
1,066 05
clerk of Circuit Court
173 25
.6
guarding and boarding prisoners
1,169 61
84 00
66
stoves for court house.
123 12
.
Amount of indebtedness from the organization of the county and
first meeting of county commissioners in June, 1827 $19,589 80
The large excess of expenditures over the receipts, as shown in the above statement, is owing to the purchase of a part of the stone building on Main Street, known as the Dowling building, for the uses of a court house, etc. On Thursday, the 11th day of January, 1838, the county commis- sioners
Ordered, That for the purpose of providing a suitable court house and offices for the County of Jo Daviess, as required by law, the county commissioners of said county, on behalf of the same, having contracted with John Dowling for the purchase of a certain lot or piece of land in the town of Galena, being part of an extra lot of ground known and described on the town plat as lot No. 36, on the east side of Main Street, and containing thirty-three feet and two and a half feet of the adjoining lot, No. 37, together with a part of
328.
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
a stone building erected on the same, bounded northeast by the center of the wall dividing the entire building into two parts or tenements, under one roof; southwest by lot No. 35, owned by P. F. Scheimer; in front, by Main Street; and in the rear by Commerce Street, making the premises contracted for 3512 feet in front by 120 feet in depth, more or less.
And the said Jolin Dowling, having given his obligation for certain additional im- provements in the building, it is thereupon ordered by the courtthat, on said John Dowling and wife executing to the county a good and sufficient warranty deed for said premises, warrants, in sums as desired, on the county treasurer, to the amount of sixteen thousand dollars consideration for the premises, be issued in favor of said John Dowling, in the usual form, to bear six per cent interest from the first of March next.
At a special term of the County Commissioners Court, held on the 12th of September, 1837, an order was entered which shows that the build- ing had already been used for holding a session of the Circuit Court, for it was
Ordered, That John Dowling be allowed $150 rent of house for Circuit Court, June term, 1837, and that W. H. Bradley be appointed agent to contract for the removal of the court room from the second to the ground floor.
The contract for the Dowling building was fully perfected as is shown by the following order under date of March 10, 1838 :
Ordered, That W. B. Green be appointed agent for the County of Jo Daviess to lease such part of the Court House as was not needed for the uses of the Court or officers; also, that said Green take charge of the Court Room and offices, when the same shall be fitted up according to contract pending, and be authorized to contract for the use of the Court Room to the Episcopal Church at the rate of $200 per annum.
The Dowling building continued to be used as a court house until the building and completion of the present one. The counters, shelves, etc., that were in the building when it was purchased were disposed of by Thomas Drum, appointed to that duty by an order of the county court, also dated September 12.
At the same time the County Commissioners were contracting for the purchase of the Dowling property, it seems they were arranging to build a house for the same uses, for at a special meeting held on the 12th of Sep- tember, 1838, it was ordered that W. B. Green " be allowed $225, for money paid C. S. Hempstead on note for court house lot." At was also
Ordered, That John L. Slaymaker and Samuel Mazzuchelli (a Catholic Priest) be appointed agents to superintend and oversee the architectural work which will be required in the building of a new court house for the county.
It is a little difficult for an ordinary mind to see the economy of paying $16,000 in county paper, for a house for county uses, while at the same time arrangements were being perfected for the erection of a court house building. The warrants paid to Dowling were not worth more than one third of their face value, and it is said they finally found their way into the hands of Pittsburg iron dealers, who, in after years, when the county had grown into good condition, financially, collected from the tax-payers their full face, together with the accumulated interest. This debt was not settled until some time in 1856, when, by order of the Board of Supervisors, and at the request of the holders of the warrants, smaller orders were issued in exchange for the larger ones. They subsequently fell into the hands of Nicholas Dowling, but were paid up in full.
Retrospective .- It is now necessary to go back a few years in order to bring up some details that have a bearing upon the grounds occupied by the county buildings. As previously stated Galena was laid off in 1836. The first act in relation to the matter was entitled "An Act to authorize the
St. Junce CHICAGO.
FORMERLY OF GALENA
THE LINDIPY
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
331
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
laying off 'a town on Bean River, in the State of Illinois, and for other purposes,'" and was approved February 5, 1829. Section two of this act provided that it should be the duty of the "Surveyor to class the lots already surveyed, in the said Town of Galena, into three classes, according to the relative value thereof on account of situation and eligibility for business, without regard, however, to the improvements thereon, and pre- vious to the sale of the said lots aforesaid, each and every person, or his, her or their legal representative or representatives, who shall heretofore have obtained from the agent of the United States a permit to occupy any lot or lots in the said Town of Galena, or who shall have actually occupied and improved any lot or lots in the said town, or within the tract of land hereby authorized to be laid off into lots, shall be permitted to purchase such lot or lots, by paying therefor, in cash, if the same shall fall within the first class, as aforesaid, at the rate of twenty-five dollars per acre; if within the second class, at the rate of fifteen dollars per acre; and if within the third class, at the rate of ten dollars per acre : Provided, That no one of the persons aforesaid shall be permitted to purchase by authority of this section more than one half acre of ground, unless a larger quantity shall be neces- sary to embrace permanent improvements already made."
July 2, 1836, an amendatory act (already published) went into effect, and on the 7th of July, 1836, under Van Buren's administration, appoint- ments were issued to Daniel Wann and John Turney, of Galena, and General Samuel Leech, of Quincy, as commissioners provided for in the amendatory act of July 2, 1836. The following is the form and wording of the appointment :
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, July 7, 1836.
SIR-I am instructed by the President to inform you that he has appointed you, in conjunction with Gen. Samuel Leech and John Turney, Esq., a Commissioner, under an "Act to amend an act entitled an act authorizing the laying off a town on Bean River, in the State of Illinois, and for other purposes, approved the 5th February, 1829"-a copy of which act I herein enclose you.
" The Commissioner of the General Land Office will be directed to give you all necessary instruction to enable you to proceed in the business of the appointment.
"I am, Sir, with respect, yr. ob't.,
LEVI WOODBURY, Secretary of the Treasury.
DANIEL WANN, EsQ., Galena, Illinois.
The instructions referred to above were very elaborate, and were as fol- lows, as copied from the original :
GENERAL LAND OFFICE, 18th July, 1836.
GENTLEMEN :- By this day's mail there has been transmitted to you separate letters from the Secretary of the Treasury, notifying you that the President had appointed you Commis- sioners to carry into effect the provisions of the Act of the 2d instant, "to amend the Act entitled An Act authorizing the laying off a Town on Bean River, in the State of Illi- nois, and for other purposes, approved 5th February, 1829," and enclosing copies of the Act under which you are appointed, and which, in connection with the original Act of 1829, defines the duties required of you.
By the Act of 1829, it was provided that a tract of land not exceeding 640 acres, at and including " Galena," on Bean River, should be laid off, under the direction of the Surveyor General at St. Louis, "into town lots, streets and avenues, and into out lots, having regard to the lots and streets already surveyed, in such manner and of such dimensions as he may think proper," the town lots not to exceed one quarter of an acre each, and the out lots not more than two acres each. It being also provided that a strip of land of proper width on the River, and running therewith the whole length of the Town, should be reserved from sale for the public use and as a common highway. A plat of the survey, when it is completed, was to be returned to the Secretary of the Treasury. By the 2d Section of that law it was
19
332
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
made the duty of the Surveyor General to divide the lots "already surveyed " into three classes, according to the relative value thereof, on account of situation and eligibility for business, without regard to the improvements made thereon, and previous to the public sale of the said lots, any person, or the Legal Representative of any person who had, previous to the date of that Act, obtained from the agent of the United States a permit to occupy any lot or lots in the Town of Galena, or who had previous to that date actually occupied and improved any lot or lots within the Town or within the limits of the tract so to be laid off, was permitted to purchase such lot or lots by paying therefor in cash if in the 1st class at the rate of $25 per acre; if in the 2d at $15 per acre; and if in the 3d at $10 per acre; pro- vided, that no one person should be permitted to purchase by the authority of that section more than one half acre, unless a larger quantity was necessary to embrace the permanent improvements which had been made previous to the passage of this law. By the 1st Sec- tion, no Town Lot could be sold for less than $5. Under this law it appears to me:
1st. That in making the resurvey the Surveyor General was obliged to be governed " by the lots and streets already surveyed," or in other words, by the lines of the lots, streets, etc., which had been previously run under the restriction however of the first proviso that no Town Lot should exceed one quarter, nor no out lot more than two acres.
2d. That only such lots could be classed as had been actually surveyed previous to the date of the law.
3d. That the right of purchase prior to the public sale only vested in such persons or their Legal Representatives, as had previous to the date of the Act obtained from the Agent per- mits to occupy any lot or lots, or as had previous thereto occupied and improved any such surveyed and classed lots.
4th. That not more than one half acre can now be entered by any person or his Legal Representatives who obtained such permit, or who had so actually occupied and improved a lot or lots, unless an additional quantity is necessary to embrace the permanent improve- ments made previous to the date of the Act, and then only sucli quantity as may be neces- sary to include them.
5th. Where a permit was obtained for any Town Lot or lots exceeding a quarter of an acre, or for any out lot exceeding two acres, or where any such lots were occupied and im- proved, not exceeding two town lots of one quarter of an acre each, nor more than one half acre of any out lot can be entered, and the out lot must necessarily be subdivided so as to restrict the entry to that quantity, unless indeed, as before mentioned, it is necessary to ex- ceed that area to embrace the permanent improvements, when such addition only is to be made to the half acre as may be required to include them.
6th. The Act specifies the minimum price at which any Town Lot, and the minimum rate per acre at which the classed lots are to be sold; for the out lots not so classed, no minimum is affixed, and therefore they are to be sold for whatever they will bring at auction.
By the Act of the 2d instant, the duties required to be performed by the Surveyor General by the Act of 1829 are to be performed by you as a Board of Commissioners, and in so doing you will be governed by the principles above mentioned, as well as the following instructions :
After taking the oath of office prescribed by the law, which isto be transmitted to this office, you will give public notice of the day upon which you will commence the investiga- tion of claims under the 2d section of the Act, and you will keep a full and accurate record of all the evidence which may be offered in each case, and after having the Town surveyed in the manner required by the Act of 1829, designating the squares and lots by separate and regular series of numbers, you will file the evidence in each case, with your decision there- on, with the Register of the Land Office, accompanied by your joint certificate in favor of each person entitled to a pre-emption, designating the lot which he is to be permitted to purchase; these certificates should be regularly numbered and an abstract thereof trans- mitted to this office. In all cases where the right of entry is claimed under a permit from the Agent of the United States, the production of such permit, or of satisfactory evidence of its loss or destruction, and precise contents, must be required; and where the claim is based upon actual occupancy and improvement prior to the 5th February, 1829, satisfactory evidence of such actual occupancy and improvement prior to that time is indispensable. The affidavit of the claimant is in no case sufficient.
In making the survey of the Town, you will employ a competent and faithful person, who should be duly sworn, and you are authorized to allow him a fair and reasonable com- pensation for executing the work and making the required plats showing the designation, boundaries, and area of each lot. One copy of this plat is to be furnished, as required by the Act of 1829, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and another copy is to be furnished to the Register of the Land Office to guide him in selling the lots. The field notes of the survey inust be deposited with the Register. Any reasonable contingent expenses (but not clerk hire) which may be incurred in carrying this Act into effect will also be allowed and paid by the Receiver. I send for your information and guidance a copy of the plan of the Town as laid out under the direction of the agent of the War Department.
The Act fixes your compensation at Six Dollars each, per day, for every day necessarily employed in the discharge of your duties, and you should therefore attach to your respective
333
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
accounts a certificate that you were necessarily employed, in discharging your duties under the law, the number of days charged for. I am, very respectfully, your obt. servt., ETHAN A. BROWN,
Commissioner of the Gen'l Land Office.
Messrs. Daniel Wann, John Turney, and Samuel Leech,* Galena, Illinois.
August 20, 1836, two of the commissioners, Daniel Wann and John Turney, appeared before Samuel Smoker, a justice of the peace, at Galena, and subscribed to the oath of office as required by the law under which they were appointed. They then proceeded to business by notifying the com- missioners of the General Land Office that they had organized, rented a room for the use of the commission, etc., and that the services of a clerk were indispensable, and that they had appointed Samuel Smoker, Esq., to that position. James Craig was appointed surveyor, he being in possession of the only field notes ever taken of the first survey in 1826-'7. August 25, the commission
Ordered, That notice be given by publication in the Galenian and Northwestern Gazette, that the commissioners have proceeded to survey the town of Galena, and that said notice be inserted for three weeks.
The commission also ordered "that suitable rocks, at least three feet in length, be procured, six inches of the top of them to be dressed and a hole half an inch deep drilled in the top as a point to measure fromn; these to be planted at least two and a half feet deep, with the top projecting above the ground at the commencement of each division of the town of Galena; and that at every station or change in the course of the streets, a rock shall be planted at least two feet in the ground, to perpetuate said angular point, and that each lot sliall have wooden stakes drove at the corners, and that the front stakes on the streets to be marked with the appropriate number of the lot, and that all the measurements shall be horizontal, and with suitable leveling stones," etc., etc.
On tlie 26th, William B. Green, George W. White and John C. Bond were sworn to "faithfully measure and return a correct account of the measurement of the lots in the Town of Galena," etc. October 5, the com- missioners (having adjourned on Saturday the 17th of September to Wednesday, October 5) "ordered that notice be given that the commis- sioners will be prepared to receive testimony on Monday the 17thi instant, relative to claims to lots on the prairie from No. 1 to No. 46 ; on Monday the 24th instant, on all the lots between Main and Bench Streets, as far as Moses Meeker's garden, and on Monday the 31st, on all other lots included in the old survey, or within the limits of Galena, and that the Board of Commissioners would sit from day to day until the testimony was all taken."
Thus it will be seen that the first evidence of claimants of lots was heard on Monday the 17th of October, 1836. The commissioners journal ' of proceedings is preserved among the records of the Circuit Clerk's office. and an examination of its pages reveals some curious phases of human life. In many cases there were exciting contests between claimants, and all sorts of testimony was given. As claims were passed upon, certificates were issued to the rightful claimant, and were filed with the Register of the Land office of the district, where the land or lots were entered. As the net pro- ceeds of the sales of lots, etc., were to be paid over to the county commis- sioners of Jo Daviess County to be used in the erection of public buildings,
* Mr. Leech did not qualify and appear as Commissioner until the 7th of February, A. D. 1838. Up to that time the business of the commission was conducted entirely by Messrs. Wann and Turney.
334
HISTORY OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY.
the improvement of wharves, etc., the order of the county commissioners requesting the Recorder of the Land Office to receive any money current in Illinois at the time, from the holders of pre-emption certificates to lots in Galena, is easily understood. At that time gold and silver was the standard currency at the U. S. Land Offices, and the object of the county commis- sioners was evidently to help the miners, mechanics, laborers and other citizens of the Galena of 1836 secure their homes with such money as might be in circulation here at the time.
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