USA > Illinois > Woodford County > The Past and present of Woodford County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c.; a directory of its tax-payers; war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics etc > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
.
236
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
of the inhabitants at an inconvenient distance from the places of holding the courts. A few men of Walnut Grove, and in the vicinity of Versailles, then the principal town, made an effort, in 1840, to secure a new county, and a petition to the Legislature was prepared and, after receiving the requisite number of signers, was presented to that august body, then in session, by Mr. Thomas Bullock, who has been mentioned as the prime mover in the affair from the first inception of the project until its final accomplishment. As a relic of interest in the history of the county, we copy the entire act from the original docu- ment, now before us, with all the official names and signatures appended required in the premises to render it valid :
An Act for the Formation of the County of Woodford.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all that section of country situated in the following boundry, to wit : beginning at the southwest corner of Livingston County, thence on a straight line to the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of Section Twenty. Township Twenty-five North, Range One, east of the Third Principal Meridan ; thence south to the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of Section Twenty-nine. Township and Range aforesaid, thence west to the Tazewell County line, thence north one and a-half miles, thence west to the center of Township Twenty-five North, Range Two, West of the Third Principal Meridian, thence north to the line between Townships Twenty-six and Twenty-seven. thence west to the Illinois River, thence with said river to the northwest corner of Tazewell County, thence with the northern boundary of Tazewell and McLean counties to Livingston County, thence south to the beginning ; which shall constitute a county to be called Woodford.
SEC. 2. There shall be an election held on the second Monday in April next, at the town of Versailles, and at each of the places of voting for Justices of the Peace and Constables in the limits of the said County of Woodford. The election shall be conducted by the present Judges of Elections in said county, who have been appointed by the counties of Tazewell and McLean, in accordance with the election laws of the State, at which election the legal voters of the said county of Woodford shall elect all county officers for said county, who shall be qualified and commissioned as similar officers are of other counties of this State. Said officers so elected and qualified shall hold their offices until the next ensuing general election for such officers now provided by law, and shall have the same jurisdiction, and discharge all the duties within the limits of the said county of Woodford that are required by law of similar officers of other counties of this State.
SEC. 3. Within five days after said election, the Judges of Election at the different places of voting shall return the poll books of said election to the town of Versailles, in said county, directed to Matthew Bracken, John W. Brown and Morgan Buckingham, three acting Justices of the Peace within the limits of said county, and the said Justices shall meet in the said town of Versailles within seven days after said election and proceed to open said election returns, and do and perform all the duties in relation to said returns that now are required of Clerks of County Commissioners' Courts by law in relation to similar returns.
SEC. 4. As soon as the county officers shall have been elected and qualified as provided for in this act, the county shall be considered organized, and the Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court shall give notice of the same to the Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, who shall appoint a Clerk of the Circuit Court. and hold courts in said county, at the town of Versailles, until the county seat of said county shall be located as hereinafter provided for. Said county of Woodford shall form a part of the Eighth Judicial Circuit until otherwise provided by law.
SEC. 5. Suits and indictments that have been commenced, or may hereafter be commenced, in the Circuit Court of Tazewell or McLean Counties, by any of the citizens living in the county of Woodford, before the organization thereof, shall not be affected by this act, but all suits so com- menced shall be decided in the Circuit Courts of the Counties of Tazewell and McLean, where they originated.
237
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
SEC. 6. All Justices of the Peace and Constables elected in the counties of Tazewell or McLean, who reside in the limits of the county of Woodford, shall hold their offices and have jurisdiction in the said county of Woodford, as though they had been originally elected in said county.
SEC. 7. The school funds belonging to the several townships in said county, and all notes and mortgages pertaining to the same, shall be paid and delivered over to the School Commis- sioner of the county of Woodford by the School Commissioners of the counties of Tazewell and McLean so soon as said county shall be organized and the Commissioner of School Lands ap- pointed and qualified according to law, together with all interest arising out of said money that has not been heretofore expended for school purposes in those parts of Tazewell and McLean Counties now included in the county of Woodford.
SEC. 8. The seat of justice of said county shall be temporarily located in the town of Ver- sailles for the term of two years from and after the organization of said county, Provided the inhabitants of said town furnish a good and suitable house for holding courts and for other public business, free of charge to said county, but. on their failing to comply with said condi- tion, the County Commissioners may remove the same to such place where a suitable building can be procured. It shall be the duty of the Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court to issue writs of election to the Judges of Election in the several precincts of said county to hold an election, to be governed in all respects by the laws of this State in relation to the election of Members of the General Assembly, within thirty days from and after the expiration of the above said two years, to locate and establish the seat of justice. The place receiving a majority of all the votes polled shall be the permanent seat of justice of Woodford County. But if more than one place shall have been voted for and no one having received a majority of all the legal votes polled, the Clerk aforesaid shall issue writs of election, as in the first case, for a second election within twenty days from the first election, but no place or places shall be voted for but the two having received the greatest number of votes at the first election ; nor shall any place be voted for in either case unless the proprietor or proprietors shall have first deposited a bond or honds for at least fifteen hundred dollars, with good and sufficient security, in the office of the Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, for the payment and discharge of such donations as may be offered, which shall be collected by the County Commissioners and applied to the erection of public buildings.
SEC. 9. The County Commissioners of the County of Woodford shall, at their December term in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and at their December term annually thereafter, pay out of the County Treasury the sum of ninety-five dollars, which sum shall be paid as their portion of the interest due by the county of McLean on the county house debt ; and the County Commissioners shall also pay, after the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, in two equal annual installments, the sum of twelve hundred dollars, as their respect- ive portion of the principal of the aforesaid debt; and when the provisions of this section are fully complied with, the said county of Woodford shall be exempt from all further liabilities to the county of McLean, provided, however, that the revenue necessary to pay the above principal and interest shall be collected from the inhabitants withiu that part of Woodford County which is set off from the county of McLean.
SEC. 10. The legal voters residing within the boundaries of the county of Woodford shall continue to vote for Senators and Representatives with the counties of McLean and Tazewell, the same as if no division of said counties had taken place, and the returns of said elections shall be made to the Clerks of the County Commissioners' Courts of Tazewell and McLean respect- ively ; the Circuit shall be held in said county, at such times as the Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit may hereafter appoint, until otherwise provided by law.
W. L. D. EWING, Speaker of the House of Representatives. S. H. ANDERSON, Speaker of the Senate.
Approved February 17, 1841.
THO. CARLIN, Governor.
238
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
STATE OF ILLINOIS,
OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE.
I, Stephen A. Douglas, Secretary of State, do hereby eertify the foregoing to be a true and perfect copy of the enrolled law on file in my office.
Witness my hand and the seal of State.
[SEAL OF THE STATE. ] SPRINGFIELD, February 27, 1841.
S. A. DOUGLAS, Sec. of State.
About the time the movement was made for the organization of Woodford County, a similar one was inaugurated at Washington, a village of Tazewell. for a new county, with the county seat at that place. On learning, however. of Bullock's project, and the start he had of them in the matter, the Washington people changed their petition into the form of a remonstrance to the Legislature against the new county of Woodford. The contest of the two parties became close and warm, and each found in the other
" Foemen worthy of their steel."
For some time the excitement ran pretty high, and considerable doubt existed as to which would be the successful party. But the untiring energy and persever- ance of Mr. Bullock finally won the day, and after a stormy and tedious contest in the General Assembly, it passed both houses and received the signature of the Governor as noted above. Thus sprang into existence the county of Wood- ford, with its seat of justice at the village of Versailles. The names-Wood- ford and Versailles-were both given by Mr. Bullock in honor of his old county and its capital in Kentucky, which are the same.
THE FIRST CIRCUIT COURT.
The first session of the Circuit Court was held on the 24th day of Septem- ber, 1841, by Hon. Samuel H. Treat, presiding in the Eighth Judicial Circuit, to which circuit Woodford County was assigned. Judge Treat had previously appointed the Fridays before the fourth Monday in April and September in each year, as the time for holding the Circuit Court, and had also appointed Samuel J. Cross Clerk. The following extract is taken from the records of the first session of the court :
" PRESENT, Hon. Saml. H. Treat, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, presiding and holding court in the Eighth Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois ; Saml. J. Cross, Clerk, and William S. Magarity, Sheriff." The following were the Grand Jurors at this session, as copied from the court records : " John Page, Sr., Foreman, Thos. A. McCord, John Mohr, S. Y. Barnard. Reubin Carlock, H. J. Clark, James Findley, David Travis, Elijah Dickinson, Caleb Davidson, Ellis Parker, Parker Morse, Sr., William Dodd, James Owens, John C. Coons, Joseph Wilkerson, George Bennett and Jesse Hammers," who were " elected, charged and sworn to inquire for the body of the County of Woodford." But two indictments were made by this jury-one against Nathaniel Wilson for larceny, who gave bail for his appearance at the next term of court,
R.T. Cassel EL PASO
241
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
and the other against Alfred Moore for arson, who petitioned for a change of venue to Tazewell County, which was granted, and he gave the necessary bail.
Samuel J. Cross presented his bond for two thousand dollars, with Thos. H. Baker, Reubin Carlock and Henry J. Clarke as securities, which was approved by the court, when he was sworn in by M. L. Covell. Clerk of McLean County. The Sheriff's bond for one thousand dollars. with James Magarity, Daniel Travis and David Deweese as securities, also the bond for two thousand dollars of William Hoshor as Coroner, with Robert M. Clarke as security, were pre- sented and approved. The oath to " support the Constitution of the United States and the State of Illinois," was then administered. and the new officers entered upon their duties. The first case on the docket was :
GEORGE CAGE, Appellee, - ISAAC W. LOWE, Appellant.
In Appeal.
" It is ordered by the Court that this suit be dismissed. as per agreement on file. It is, there- fore, considered that the plaintiff recover of the defendant his costs. etc., and that he have execu- tion." The Court lasted two days, and in addition to the business already noticed, several suits for debt were tried, in which judgment was given for default. Among the lawyers present were Abraham Lincoln, David Davis, A. Gridley, Col. E. D. Baker and several others of some promi- nence in this section of the State. David R. Campbell, of Springfield, was present as State's Attorney.
The first case tried by the jury was at the April Term, in 1842, and was : " THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
JAMES L. GARDINER.
ยท Indictment for intent to inflict bodily injury."
The following were the jurors in the case : George M. Arnold, Chas. T. Boggs, James Bracken, John Barnes, Samuel Arnold, Ephraim Potter, Sr., Samuel Kirkpatrick, Allen Hart. George Bennett, Lewis Stevens, David Deweese and Samuel Mundell, who returned a verdict of "Guilty," and he was " fined thirty dollars and costs." The first prisoner sent to State's Prison from the county was one William Hopkins, for larceny, on a change of venue from Tazewell County. The case was tried at the September Term in 1850, and the prisoner having withdrawn his plea of "Not Guilty " and pleaded " Guilty," was sentenced to the "State Penitentiary, at Alton, for the period of eighteen months, twenty days of which shall be in solitary confinement, and the residue of said term at hard labor," by Hon. David Davis, the presiding Judge at the time.
THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT.
In accordance with the act forming Woodford County, an election was held in April, 1841, for county officers, which resulted as follows : John J. Perry, Clerk ; Joseph Meek, James Boys and Josiah Moore, County Commissioners ; Wm. S. Magarity, Sheriff. At the first term of the County Commissioners' Court, held in June, 1841, the term of service of the Commissioners was decided by lot, Joseph Meeks receiving the shortest term, which expired August, 1841, James Boys, 1842, and Josiah Moore, 1843. The county was laid off into four election precincts, viz .: First Precinct, Bowling Green, with Eli Patrick, B
Y
242
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY
Samuel Arnold and Samuel Kirkpatrick as Judges of Election ; Second Pre- cinct, Versailles, with Henry J. Clark, Warren C. Watkins and Ben Major, Judges of Election ; Third Precinct, Partridge, Jefferson Hoshor, John Page, Sr., and Joel Raney, Judges of Elections ; Fourth Precinct, Richland, Benj. D. Perry, Jessie Hammers and Jefferson Sonards, Judges of Elections. Reubin Carlock, of Bowling Green ; Benj. J. Radford, of Versailles ; John Page, of Partridge, and J. Foster, of Richland, were appointed Overseers of the Poor; Ben. Major, County Commissioner of Schools. The Court elected the Grand and Petit Jurors for the Circuit Court Term, to be held in the following Sep- tember. The names of the Grand Jurors have already been given in connec- tion with the Circuit Court, and the following are the Petit Jurors for the same term : Wesley Arnold, Jacob Stevenson, William Long, William Willis, James A. Whorton, Thos. H Baker. John P. Beaty, Thos. Bullock, Benj. J. Rad- ford, M. R. Bullock, David Deweese, Jas. Wells, James Brown, Cooley Curtis, Francis Boggs, Andrew Galbraith, Solomon Tucker, Aaron Richardson, Samuel Arnold, Wm. S. Pratt, Norman Dutton, George Kingston, C. D. Banta and A. A. Brown. The following entry appears upon the records at this session of the County Commissioners' Court : "Ordered that Samuel J. Cross, Clerk of the Circuit Court, and John J. Perry, Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, are hereby authorized to procure two official seals, one for the Circuit Court, with a ' Balance ' for a design, and one for the County Commissioners" Court, and for a design, the likeness of a sheaf of wheat ; when procured, to be paid for out of the County Treasury." William Rockwell was the first Col- lector of Revenue for Woodford County, and filed a bond for four thousand dollars, with David Travis, Win. Dodd and Isaac J. Sunderland as security, which was accepted by the Court. The following is the first report :
WM. ROCKWELL, Collector of Revenue for 1841, WOODFORD COUNTY.
To Treasurer's receipts. $1,034 60
By Treasurer's receipts .. $891 18
By commission on first $500, at ten per cent. 50 00
By commission on $491.17, at six per cent. 28 15
By delinquent list, as above. 3 80
By lands and town lots advertised 61 47
$1,034 60
James S. McCord was the first County Treasurer, and gave a bond for $3,000, with Joseph Brown and James V. Philips as securities. The following is his first report :
JAMES S. McCORD, Treasurer,
IN ACCOUNT WITH WOODFORD COUNTY.
To Collector's receipts.
$1,034 60
By county orders paid. $613 61
By jury certificates. 24 00
By commissions. at two per cent .. 12 75
By amount allowed Collector. 78 15
By delinquent list 3 80
By lands and town lots advertised. 67 41
$793 78
Balance in my hands.
$240 82
MARCH 7, 1842.
4
243
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
In contrast to this diminutive beginning of the financial affairs of a pros- perous county, we would state just here that the County Collector and Treas- urer for 1878, Ayers M. Whitaker, as Collector, gave bond for $115,000; and as Treasurer, gave bond for $150,000, with ample security, which was received and approved by the Board of. Supervisors.
The Chancery Court was organized in 1842, and held its first term on the 22d day of April, under Hon. Samuel H. Treat. There were but a few cases on the docket, and none of any great importance. Samuel J. Cross was ap- pointed the first Master in Chancery, an office he held for a number of years.
The first deed on record in the Clerk's Office of Woodford County is the conveyance of a parcel of land from " Isaac Williams and his wife, Eliza L. Williams, of the county of Tazewell, and State of Illineis, to James Ross, of Todd County, Ky., and John H. Baker, of Montgomery County, Tenn., for and in consideration of the sum of $673.60, to them in hand paid, the receipt whereof, etc .; they, by these presents, etc .; the east half of Section numbered 50, of Townsbip 26 north, of Range 1, west of the Third Principal Meridian, containing, by government survey, 320 acres," etc. This deed was acknowl- edged before Matthew Bracken, Justice of the Peace, of Woodford County, under date of May 14, 1841, and recorded June 28, 1841.
The first mortgage was given by George Roderkin and Elizabeth, his wife, to John H. Robbins, on Lot No. 4, in Block No. 11, and east half of Lot No. 1, in Block No. 12, of the town of Versailles, and "for and in consideration of the sum of $86.41," dated August 3, 1841, and recorded August 4, 1841.
The first sale of land for delinquent taxes was at the Court House in Ver- sailles, on the 2d day of May, 1842, for the unpaid taxes of 1841, and con- sisted of twenty-three tracts of land sold, most of which was soon after re- deemed.
The first "letters of administration " were issued to Henry J. Clark, on the estate of Jacob Stevenson, deceased, under the date of December 20, 1841.
The first marriage license on record after the organization of the county was issued to Peter Hininger and Margaret Hern, May 22, 1841, who were married by Matthew Bracken, Justice of the Peace, June 8, 1841 ; and during . this first year of the new county, twenty-seven marriage licenses were issued. With a commendable desire to obey the command, " Go ye and multiply and fill the earth," there were issued from the County Clerk's office, for the year 1877, 171 licenses to those eager to fulfill the scriptural iujunction.
FINAL LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.
As will be noticed in the original act for the formation of Woodford County, the seat of justice was to remain for two years at the town of Versailles, when the final question as to the place of its location was to be submitted to a vote of the people. As is usual in new counties, many towns and villages of Woodford aspired to the dignity of becoming the county seat, of which the most formidable
244
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
contestant was the village of Metamora, then called Hanover. The act had been prepared *- giving the people the right to decide the county seat question by vote-under the impression that with the seat of justice at Versailles for two years, it would so increase the importance of the place and the population in its vicinity, as to render the result of a vote favorable to it, but falling somewhat short in their expectations, Mr. Bullock still determined to retain the " court at Versailles " if at all possible, and at the next session of the Legislature, went to Springfield, where he succeeded in getting a bill before the body to locate the seat of justice by three Commissioners-named in the bill-who were supposed to have been selected because of their partiality for the town of Versailles. Woodford was not yet entitled to a Representative in the General Assembly, but had continned to vote as heretofore, with Tazewell County, whose Represen- tative was Mr. Tackerberry, of Pekin. On learning of the new movement on foot to locate the county seat by Commissioners, instead of by vote of the peo- ple, and which had been represented as being the wish of the latter, Tackerberry wrote to John Page, Sr., of Hanover, and was informed by Mr. Page of the true state of affairs, that the people had expected to vote upon the question, and was ready at any time to settle it in that way. Page and S. S. Parks hastened to Springfield, when they found the bill had passed to its second read- ing, and with all their "lobbying," and "log rolling," could only succeed in getting a " supplemental act " to the original, giving them two additional Com- missioners, we believe, of their own selection. A meeting of these Commis- sioners was called at Versailles, in June, 1843, for the purpose of settling the mooted question. The five Commissioners were J. L. Sharp, of Fulton County ; L. A. Hanaford, of Peoria: John H. Harris, of Tazewell; James K. Scott, of De Witt and John H. Bryant, of Bureau, a brother of Wm. Cullen Bryant, the poet. There still seems to have been wire pulling, even after the passage of the acts, and the appointment of the Commissioners, together with time which was to settle the question. Sharp. the Commissioner from Fulton County, started for the place of meeting according to appointment, but at Pekin received information that the Commissioners had already met at Versailles, and . there not being a quorum present, had left for their homes, without accomplish- ing anything, when he, too, turned homeward. Upon the assembling of all interested in the exciting question, and the Hanover faction learning of the trick played upon them in sending Sharp-who, if not favorable to them, was at least, they believed, unbiased-about his business, started John W. Page after him post haste, to bring him back in time for the meeting which was to take place the next day. Page, after a long and tedious chase, finally came up with Sharp at Centerville, in Fulton County, and inquired, " Are yon Mr. Sharp ? " and being answered in the affirmative, replied, " then I am after you sharp." Upon receiving a full explanation of how matters stood, Sharp agreed to return, and they immediately set out, but his horse gave out by the time
* Under the supervision of Mr. Bullock and the Versailles party.
245
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
they reached Washington, where they were forced to remain over night. The next morning they came on to Versailles and the Commissioners held their meeting. After visiting the different points contesting for the honor of the position, it was finally settled, and possibly for all time, according to the follow- ing report on file in the County Clerk's office :
We, the undersigned, Commissioners, appointed by an act of the Legislature of the State of Illinois to locate the seat of justice of the county of Woodford, approved February 28, 1843, and an act supplemental to said act. approved March 6, 1843, having met at the town of Ver- sailles, and been duly sworn according to the provisions of said act, have proceeded to examine said county and the different sites proposed for said seat of justice with respect to the present and future population of said county, and after mature deliberation have agreed to locate the said seat of justice in the town of Hanover. on Sections 17 and 20, in Township 27 north of the base line. Range 2 west of the Third Principal Meridan, and that the public buildings for said county be built on such blocks or lots as the County Commissioners of said county shall think best.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.