USA > Illinois > Mason County > The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 43
USA > Illinois > Menard County > The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 43
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SEC. 2. All Justices of the Peace and Constables heretofore duly elected and qualified in and for the counties of Menard and Tazewell, and who now reside within the aforesaid bound- aries of the county of Mason, shall hold their offices in and for the said county of Mason, the same as if no division had taken place. .
SEC. 3. The legal voters residing within the limits of said county of Mason, shall meet at the town of Havana, in said county, on the first Monday in April next, appoint Judges and Clerks of Election, and proceed to elect a Sheriff, Coroner, Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, Recorder, Treasurer, Probate Justice of the Peace, School Commissioner, and three County Commissioners for said county, and any other county officers provided by law, to be elected for counties, and the returns of said election shall be made by said Judges and Clerks to the Justices of the Peace in said county of Mason, and any two or more of said Justices shall meet at Havana at any time within five days after said election, and proceed to open said returns, make out abstracts of the same, and transmit one to the Secretary of State, and file one with the Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of said county of Mason, and to do and per- form all other duties now required by law, in like cases of the Clerks of the County Commis- sioners' Courts and Justices of the Peace.
SEC. 4. The legal voters of said county of Mason shall also, at the time and place, and in the manner specified in the third section of this act, vote for sites or places at which to locate and establish the permanent seat of justice of said county of Mason, and the site or place which shall receive the greatest number of votes shall be and forever remain the permanent seat of justice, or county seat, of said county of Mason, and the Judges and Clerks of said election are hereby authorized to open columns in their poll books, and receive votes for the same; said election to be conducted in all respects, and returns thereof made in the same manneras provided for in the third section of this act, and of the laws of this State in relation to elections ; Pro- vided, however, That the Judges and Clerks of said election are not authorized to open columns or receive votes for any site or sites, place or places, for said county seat, unless the proprietors or friends of said site or place shall first place in the hands of the Judges of said election their promissory note drawn to the County Commissioners of Mason County, or their successors in office, for the use of said county of Mason, for the sum of one thousand dollars, payable three months after date, with good and sufficient security for the payment of the same, to be approved by the Judges of said election, and shall also place in the hands of said judges a bond conditioned for a donation of real estate for the use of said county, on which to erect the public buildings, which donation shall not be less than one block of lots, if the county seat is located at a town already laid off, and not less than twenty acres if on land not heretofore laid off in town lots.
SEC. 5. The Judges of the aforesaid election shall deposit with the County Commissioners of said county of Mason, as soon as said court shall be organized, the notes and bonds which may come into their hands in the manner specified in the proviso to the fourth section of this act, and said Commissioners, after the returns of said election shall have been made agreeable to the
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
provisions of this act, and it shall have been finally decided which point has received the highest number of votes for the county seat, all the aforesaid notes and bonds shall be returned to the persons from whom they were received, except those received from the friends or proprietors of that point at which the county seat has been located.
SEC. 6. The School Commissioner of the county of Mason, as soon as he shall be duly elected, qualified and commissioned, according to law, shall call upon the School Commissioners of the county of Menard and Tazewell, and demand of and receive from them all notes, bonds, mortgages or other writings or obligations which may belong or be coming to said county of Mason ; also the distributive share of the school, college and seminary fund, which said county of Mason shall be entitled to.
SEC. 7. The said county of Mason shall constitute a part of the -- Judicial Circuit and a Circuit Court shall be held for said county, at some convenient house in the village of Havana until the public buildings shall be erected ; the time of holding said court shall be appointed by the Judge presiding on said circuit. This act to take effect from its passage.
Approved January 20, 1841.
After the passage of this act, it becoming known that Havana was the only voting.place named, parties not in the Havana interest procured the passage of the following supplemental act, providing for polls being opened in Salt Creek and Lynchburg also.
An Act supplemental to an act for the formation of the county of Mason :
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in General Assembly, That polls shall be opened at the town of Lynchburg, and at the house of James Walker (in Walker's Grove), in the county of Mason at the same time, and for the same objects, and under the same regulations as provided for at the town of Havana, by the act to which this is supplemental.
Approved February 27, 1841.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT.
As the legislative and controlling power of the county resided in this Court at the time of the formation of the county and down to the year 1849, we shall devote some attention to their acts and doings. There is no record showing the result of the vote whichi elected the first set of county officers, or of the location of the county seat, but the record shows who served the people as County Clerk, Sheriff, Probate Justice of the Peace, School Commissioner and County Com- missioncrs-leaving us in the dark as to who was the first Coroner and County Surveyor. It also shows that the county seat was located at Havana, at that election, which was held in Havana, Salt Creek and Texas Precincts, on the 5th day of April, 1841.
At the first meeting of the Court, in April, the bond of J. A. Phelps, County Clerk, was approved, and five road districts were laid out in the county. At the Junc term, the number of road districts were increased to ninc, and the Supervisors appointed to serve therein were as follows: First District, Daniel Swing; Sccond, Abraham Virgin; Third, Isaac Tecter ; Fourth, William McDaniel; Fifth, John H. Neteler; Sixtli, Joseph Lybarger; Seventh, Nelson R. Ashurst; Eiglith, William Davis, and Ninthi, John R. Chaney. The location of these districts may be known from the residence of the Supervisors. It was
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
also ordered that three days' road labor be expended on the roads in the year 1841, by all persons liable to do such work.
Ira Patterson was allowed $2 for services as a Justice of the Peace in open- ing the poll books and making abstracts of the first election for county officers and county seat.
At this June term of court, it was also ordered that a new Justice's district be formed of the territory lying west of the range line between Nine and Ten, to be called Lynchburg District, and ordered an election for two Justices and two Constables. As a result of that election we only know that Amos Smith was elected one of the Justices, and continued in that office to the time of his death, in the year 1851.
. The Court further ordered that George May should pay $5 license for a ferry across the Sangamon, and required him to give a bond of $150, conditioned that he should "keep. the ferry so as to give every person a passage in reasonable time"-but the order did not state what kind of physic the ferryman should use. In those days, being hemmed in from the outside world by the Illinois and San- gamon Rivers, the ferries were great institutions, and there were plenty of them and considerable rivalry for business.
The Court also ordered that Francis Low be appointed Collector of Taxes for the year 1841, and that' the rate of taxes should be 50 cents on the $100 for county purposes, and 30 cents for State purposes.
The Court ordered that the following named persons be summoned to serve as grand jurors at the first term of the Mason County Circuit Court, to be held on Friday, after the second Monday in November, 1841, viz .: James Walker, Daniel Clark, Sr., Ira Halstead, Michael Swing, Austin P. Melton, P. W. Campbell, William Dew, John G. Conover, Thomas F. Blunt, Anderson Young, Samuel D. Becket, George Marshall, G. W. Phelps, Edmund Northern, Ashley Hickey, Hoag Sherman, William Hibbs, William Atwater, Thomas Low, John Rishel, Daniel Deffenbacker, Pulaski Scovil and David Bell. Of all these men, we know but four now in the county-Scovil, Blunt, Deffenbacker and John G. Conover, the latter still an active, stout, jolly man, as he has always been. G. W. Phelps is living in Kentucky, but most of them have been summoned to a court of stern decrees-the court of death.
The Court also selected the following named persons to serve as travis jurors at the same term of Court, viz .: George Close, James Yeardley, Henry Sears, John Close, Sr., Abel W. Kemp, Jacob H. Cross, James Russell, James Ray, Laben Blunt, James Lockerman, Washington Daniel, Benjamin Sisson, Israel Carman, John Johnson, Orin E. Foster, Frederick Buck, Thomas Faulkner, David Coder, William Chainey, Samuel Patton, James Blakely, William Rodgers, Nelson Abbey, Henry C. Rowland.
The writer was acquainted with nearly all the men on both tliese juries, of wliom there are but four of the latter known to be living, making eight out of forty-seven.
Lyman Lacey .
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
The Court finished up its business for that term with the following interest- ing order, or decree, which goes to show how the court stood (or perhaps, leaned), on the main question ; we copy literally :
" In the Mason County Comrs'. Court :
STATE OF ILLINOIS,
MASON COUNTY.
Be it remembered that permission is hereby given to Richard P. Gatton, to retail spirituous liquors, by any quantity, until the end of the September term of the Co. Com. Court of said county, for which permission the said Gatton has paid the sum of $2.50.
" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name and private seal, no official seal having been provided.
" Dated at Havana, June the 12th, A. D. 1841.
" J. A. PHELPS, Clerk Co. Com. Court, M. C."
This was the first liquor license given in Mason County, and the demand for it was so pressing, that they could not wait for a seal to be put on the license, and the party had to take it straight, without any trimmings! Bath was a little behind on the county seat question, but ahead on the license to sell the stuff that has made such fearful havoc of the peace and morality of the town. With bad whisky "retailed in any quantity," Bath has been the scene of several bloody murders, and of drunken rows and orgies without number !
At a July special term of court, it was ordered that the Judges and Clerks of the April election be allowed $1 each for their services, viz. : Salt Creek- John Young, John L. Turner, Abraham Swing, Ira Halstead and John Close ; Texas Precinct-Joseph Adkins, George Marshall, James May, Mark A. Smith and Howard Campbell ; Havana Precinct-Isaac Parkhurst, Jesse Brown, John H. Neteler, Hoag Sherman and Eliphaz Low.
It was also ordered that the sum of $146 be paid, with 12 per cent interest, semi-annually, to Robert Faulkner, George T. Virgin and A. J. Field, County Commissioners, for money advanced for books for county offices.
It would seem that the county started in business on borrowed capital, and at a pretty high rate of interest.
It was further ordered at this term of court that the bond for $1,000, to be donated for the purpose of erecting public buildings, signed by N. J. Rockwell, Pulaski Scovil, Louis W. Ross and H. L. Ross, be sued upon in the Circuit Court of Mason County, and that the bond of L. W. & H. L. Ross, for a block of lots adjoining the public square, in Havana, for the use of the county, be put in suit for the enforcement of the conditions of the bond.
At the September term of court, it appears that A. J. Field, Amos Smith and Israel Carman, together with the County Clerk (all in the Bath interest), held a term of court, claiming to have been elected at the August election, and drew lots, Carman drawing for three years, Field, two years, and Sinitli, one year.
At the same time, another court was being held by the other two Commis- sioners (Faulkner and Virgin), at which time J. A. Phelps, County Clerk, was removed from office " for neglect of duty and for non-compliance of the County
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
Commissioners of said county, and George W. Fielding is appointed by the Commissioners in his room until another is elected by the people!" No name appears to the record of this double-barreled Returning Board, but at the next meeting, in December, the record is signed by Faulkner, Virgin and Smith, with Fielding as Clerk. As Phelps, Field and Carman disappear from the records, and their official acts were ignored, the presumption is that these three members of the Returning Board were bull-dozed out of office by the action of some higher court !
This was the first round in the battle between Havana and Bath, in which Havana drew first blood !
At the March term, 1842, of court, an order was made to prosecute J. A. Phelps and his securities on his official bond, a Havana move to punish the Bath champion.
At the June term of court, a permit is given to Charles Howell, Julius Jones and William Pollard, to build a mill-dam six feet high, across Quiver River, on the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 22, Township 22, Range 8, the site where the McHarry mill now stands, Mr. McHarry afterward purchasing the site and building the mill.
It was also ordered that the suits on the $1,000 bond, and the bond for a block of lots, be dismissed. This was a left-handed lick made by Havana, which the Bath boys claimed to be a foul !
: : At the August election, in 1842, Joseph A. Phelps was again elected by the lower end of the county, to the office of County Clerk. First knock-down for Bath ! .. .. At the September term of court, it was resolved that the contract which had been let for the building of a Court House in Havana, was valid, and that $1,800 (the price to be paid), should be paid the contractors when the job was completed. Havana taffy !
It was also ordered that the suit commenced against J. A. Phelps be dis- missed. A back-down for Havana !
At this time, the county seat fight waxed hot between the rival towns, and resulted in the passage of an act by the Legislature, providing for an election in February, 1843, to settle the vexed question. At this election, Bath got the first knock-down, and won the battle!
At the March term, 1843, of County Court, it was ordered that the precinct known by the name of Texas Precinct, be changed to the name of Bath Precinct, and that Bath be the place of holding elections. Also, that the north line of the precinct be extended to the north line of Section 18, Township 21, within a mile of the present city limits of Havana ! "See, the conquering hero comes." Bath has secured a respectable name, as a precinct, and, by the prowess of her stalwarts, has enlarged her dominions !
In consideration of the many fights and murders that have occurred in Bath, it is a question of propriety whether the old name of " Texas" should not have been retained.
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
An order was also passed at this term of court, providing for a settlement, by referees, with Moses Freeman, the Havana Court House contractor, for dam- ages, in not being allowed to complete the work. At the same term of court, Freeman accepted $250, in county orders, in full settlement.
At this term of court, Quiver Precinct was set off from Havana, containing all the territory north of Quiver River, and the place of voting fixed at the house of Isaac Parkhurst. Crane Creek was also set off from Salt Creek, and the place of voting located at the Crane Creek Schoolhouse, making the number of six precincts at this date, viz .: Havana, Bath, Salt Creek, Lynchburg, Quiver and Crane Creek.
Up to this time and long afterward, the principal business of the County Court was locating roads and licensing ferries. With all that has been done in the past, is it not a little strange that we have so few good roads in the county ?
COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSY.
The county seat question, in its time, was all absorbing, and we shall there- fore devote a chapter to the subject, which may be of interest to old settlers. The agitation began at the formation of the county, when there were about 400 voters in the county, and, at the first election, the vote was a close one between the rival towns. The strife continued, with more or less bitterness, as will be seen in the County Court proceedings, until the Bath people succeeded in get- ting the following act passed, in January, 1843 :
An act to permanently locate the county seat of Mason County.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That on the second Monday in February, A. D. 1843, there shall be an election held at Havana, James Walker's, Lynchburg and Bath, in the county of Mason, and the judges and clerks of the different election precincts in said county are hereby authorized to open poll-books and receive votes at said places for the towns of Havana and Bath, in said county, as candidates for the seat of justice for said county.
SEC. 2. The election provided for in the foregoing section shall not be held unless the pro- prietors or friends of said town of Bath shall execute and deliver to the Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of said county a good and sufficient bond for a block of lots on which to erect the public buildings in said town, and said proprietors shall also on or before the first day of February, A. D. 1843, make, execute and deliver to said clerk their promissory note with good and sufficient security to be approved by said clerk, and said note shall be drawn in substance as follows: "$1,000. Six months after date, we, or either of us, jointly and severally, promise to pay George T. Virgin, John R. Chaney and Amos Smith, or their order, County Commissioners of the county of Mason, or their successors in office, for the use of the county of Mason, the sum of one thousand dollars, for value received, dated Mason County, Illinois, February the first, A. D. 1843;" and, if the town of Bathi shall receive the greatest number of votes for county seat, the Clerk shall deliver to the County Commissioners said note and bond ; which note and bond may be sued and collected the same as other notes and bonds, and a certificate from the Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of said county certifying that the aforesaid note and bond have been filed in his office, with good and sufficient security, approved by him, shall be deemed sufficient evidence to authorize the judges and clerks of election to open poll- books at the several places in said county for holding the election as aforesaid.
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
SEC. 3. If the clerks and judges shall refuse to open a column and receive votes for the town of Bath, after a certificate duly certified agreeable to the provisions of the second section of this act shall be deposited with them, the poll-book of said precinct shall be rejected.
SEC. 4. No person shall vote at the special election provided for by this act, except such persons were residents and legal voters of said county of Mason on the first day of January, 1843, and shall continue to reside in said county up to the time of said election.
SEC. 5. The returns of said election shall be made to the Clerk of the County Commis- sioners' Court, as provided for by law in relation to other elections. and said poll-books shall be opened and compared by said clerk and two justices of the peace of said county, and two abstracts shall be made out and certified and subscribed by them, and one shall be filed by said clerk in his office and the other transmitted to the Secretary of State.
SEC. 6. In case the friends of either of said towns shall be dissatisfied with the abstracts made out by the clerk and justices as aforesaid, and shall wish to purge the poll-books by prov- ing off illegal votes, William H. Nelms and Benjamin H. Gatton shall be considered as repre- senting the interests of the town of Bath, and N. J. Rockwell and H. L. Ross as representing the interest of the town of Havana, and either of said parties may give notice to the other in writ- ing, at any time within ten days after said election, which notice shall specify the time that said contest shall take place, not to exceed twenty days from the time of said election ; and in the event of a contest as aforesaid, John Camp, Probate Justice of the Peace, Ira Patterson and Pollard Simmons, Justices of the Peace in and for said county of Mason, are hereby authorized and required to meet at the town of Matanzas at the time specified in the aforesaid notice, and proceed to hear and determine, from the testimony adduced before them, which of said towns . has received the greatest number of votes for county seat. Said justices are hereby authorized to issue subponas, swear witnesses and compel their attendance, and, if either party shall be dissatisfied with the decision of said justices, they shall be allowed an appeal to the Circuit .Court of said county.
SEC. 7. If either of said justices shall refuse or neglect to attend at the time and place of trial, the vacancy may be filled by the other justices.
SEC. 8. If the town of Bath shall receive a majority of the legal votes polled at said elec- tion, it shall be the duty of all officers required by law to reside at the county seat to remove their offices, together with the books, papers and records appertaining to the same, to the town of Bath, between the 20th day of June and the 4th day of July next.
SEC. 9. If the county seat shall be removed from Havana to Bath, the County Commis- sioners shall return the vote and bonds given by the proprietors of Havana to said proprietors, and the same shall be null and void.
SEC. 10. The Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of said county of Mason shall give notice of the time and place of holding the election provided for by this act as in case of other elections.
SEC. 11. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Approved January 14th, 1843.
At the election held under the provisions of this act, the county seat was located at Bath, by a majority so decided as to obviate any further proceedings, and in due time the records were removed, as the law required, to the town of Bath, and there they remained until in the spring of 1851, eight years. The people of Bath, with commendable enterprise and energy, went to work at once and erected a substantial brick Court House. In a few years the question was again agitated, and at every session of the Legislature, after the year 1846, petitions and remonstrances, signed by men, women and children, went up for and against removal, and at each session the leading men of Havana spent the winter in the lobbies at Springfield laboring to get the question again submitted to the people.
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
On the part of Bath the contest was resisted, mainly by J. M. Ruggles, assisted at one session by G. H. Campbell, and successfully resisted at every session until in 1851, when, by the help of outside parties, the Legislature was induced to submit the question again to a vote of the people, under the pro- visions of the following act :
An Act to relocate the county seat of Mason County :
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the Genera Assembly, That an election shall be held in the county of Mason, on the second Monday of March, A. D. 1851, at the usual places of holding elections in said county, for the removal of the seat of justice of said county ; at which election the clerks thereof shall open two columns, one for Havana, and one against removal, and shall take and record the vote of each qualified voter for one of the aforesaid places, or against the removal of the seat of justice of said county, as said voter shall direct.
SEC. 2. The same rules shall be observed in conducting said election, and in making returns- thereof, and in counting said votes, and in all other things, as shall be required by law in elections for Senators and Representatives of the General Assembly of this State. The Clerk of the County Court shall, immediately on receipt of the election returns, in the presence of two Justices of the Peace, open the election returns, compare them, and certify the same to the County Court, and the place having a majority of. the legal votes of the county shall be and remain the seat of justice of said county.
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