USA > Illinois > Adams County > The history of Adams 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; general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 35
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In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to pre- vent its falling into the hands of the English. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fontainbleau, gave the country in question to England. In 1779 it was captured from the English by Col. Geo. Rogers Clark, and finally, four years later, by the treaty of peace between the United States and England, that part of the country which embraced Illinois was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States, and in 1784 Virginia ceded the northwest territory to the general government, to be cut into states. In the year 1809 -- Feb. 3d -- Illinois was erected as a territory, with the capital at Kaskaskia, near the mouth of Kahokia creek. Thus it will be seen that about two hundred and six years ago, Marquette, the first white explorer of the upper Mississippi, floated down the father of waters, passing along the borders of Adams county, and, it may have been, that he made a brief halt at, or near, where the beautiful city of Quincy now stands. To strengthen that belief, he has mentioned in his journal of that voyage the bluffs upon the eastern bank of the river, and also made a rude sketch of the same.
From that time until 1811, the history of the country which now com-
Pilard Keyes (DECEASED) QUINCY
259
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
poses Adams county was completely hidden from the civilized world, neither legend or record throwing any light upon the subject. It is said that one Bauvet, a French trader, located on the bluffs of Quincy, but was soon afterwards killed by the Indians. A legend comes down from the same shadowy source that there was an Indian village located on the bluffs of Quincy, but from the most authentic sources of information to be obtained such was not the case; but, however, there was an Indian village near Bear creek, in the northwest part of the county, as evidences still remain of a permanent occupation by the noble red man of the Sauk tribe.
In 1813, Gen. Howard, with two regiments of mounted rangers from Illinois and Missouri, on an expedition to the north part of the territory, passed this point, and found the remnants of some rough stone chimneys and a few wigwam poles along the shore near the bluffs.
The legendary stories of the existence of this savage village of the Sauk tribe, which flourished here in the olden time, relate that its uncivil- ized inhabitants on hearing of the approach of Gen. Howard and his two regiments of mounted rangers, fled from their homes, and left the village to the tender care and mercies of the pale faces. Gen. Howard's rangers, upon their arrival at the place, burned the village and passed on.
For a period of about six years the future county of Adams appears to have retired from the public gaze, as neither legend, romance or record reveals to us anything which may have taken place.
FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENT OF COUNTY.
Williard Keyes, one of the pioneers of Adams county, says, in his lecture before the New England Society: "We floated past the model city (Quincy) on the 10th of May, 1819, unconscious of our future destiny in its eventful history."
In the summer of 1820 Asa Tyrer, searching for his land, (which he afterwards settled upon, just southeast of the city, being at the river side when the " Western Engineer," the first steamboat that ever stopped at Quincy, came in sight, took passage for some point down the river. In February, 1821, John Wood came, at the solicitation of a man named Flynn, to find his land, and was successful, it having been located on the very spot where Gov. Wood's orchard is now growing. Flynn was dissatisfied with the location, while, on the contrary, Wood was enraptured with the locality, and upon his return to his home in the East, so impressed Keyes, who was his partner, with the beauties of the section that Keyes came to Quincy, and encamped near the foot of Vermont street, spending some time tracing lines and exploring the country.
There were several other persons who had moved into this section since 1820. Of these, Justus I. Perigo was here in 1820, and it may safely be said that he was the first actual settler in Adams county. He resided on what is how the eastern portion of Fall Creek township. Daniel Lisle
260
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
came here about the same time, and located not far from the present town of Liberty.
In December, 1822, John Wood, in company with a man by the name of Longley, erected the first cabin in Quiney. It stood on the east side of Front street, south of Delaware. It was a queer mansion, compared with the pal- atial one which he afterwards erected at the corner of State and 12th streets, in Quincy. The dimensions were 18x20, and it was decidedly an economical affair. Not a nail was used in its construction, it being fastened together by wooden pegs.
In the spring of 1823 Jeremiah Rose moved from Pike county with his wife and child, and took up his abode with Wood, he being a joint owner in the mansion heretofore described, Mrs. Rose being the first white woman who settled in Adams county, and her daughter, afterwards Mrs. Geo. W. Brown, the first white child resident.
The immigration to the county in the next few years following was not very rapid, most of those who came settling in the Bear creek and Rock creek sections, and some few in and near Quincy. The Beebes, Holcombs and Thomases on Fall creek, Campbells, Grosony and Worleys about Rock creek, during the year 1823. Asa Tyrer came to Quincy with his family in 1824, and erected the blacksmith shop. More than one-half the land comprising the military tract was land granted to the soldiers of 1812, and was not subject to entry, and as none could be purchased except what was known as the bounty lands, the settlement was much retarded on that account.
In the year of 1824 Williard Keyes returned to Quincy and erected his cabin near what is now Vermont and Front streets. Jno. Dronllard came about the same time and erected his cabin near the corner of 7th and Hampshire streets, in Quincy.
As part of the Northwest Territory, in 1790 all of Illinois south of what is now Peoria was made the county of St. Clair, with Cahokia as the county seat. In 1812 the northern portion of St. Clair county, above St. Louis, was created Madison county, with Edwardsville as the county seat. the county extending to the Wisconsin line. Illinois was admitted into the Union as a State, April 18, 1818. On the 31st of January, 1821, all of Madison county between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers was detached and made Pike county, with Coles Grove, now Giliad, in Calhoun county, as the county seat.
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
On the 14th day of September, 1824, John Wood inserted the follow- ing notice in the Edwardsville Spectator:
A petition will be presented to the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at its next session, praying for the establishment of a new county, to be formed from the county of Pike and the parts attached, the southern boundary of which shall be between towns three and four, south of the base line.
August 17. (12t)
[Signed]
JOHN WOOD.
i f fa
261
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
The notice having been published twelve times, as required by the law then in force relating to the formation of new counties, the General Assem- bly was not slow in considering the matter presented in the petition of Mr. Wood, and at the following session passed a bill which was approved on the 18th day of January, 1825, of which the following is a copy.
The county of Adams was formed out of the counties of Pike and Fulton and the attached parts, by an act of the Legislature, approved Jan- uary 13th, 1825. Act:
Be it enacted, that all that tract of country within the following boundaries, to-wit: beginning at the place where the township line between townships three south and four south touches the Mississippi river, thence east on said line to the range line between ranges four and five west, thence north on said range line to the northeast corner of township two north, range five west, thence west on said township line to the Mississippi river, and thence down said river to the place of beginning, shall constitute a county, to be called the county of Adams.
The same act appoints Seymore Kellogg of Morgan county, Joel Wright of Montgomery county, and David Dutton of Pike county, to select a permanent seat of justice for the new county, and directs them to meet at the house of Ebenezer Harkness, in said county, on the first Monday of the next April, or within seven days there- after, and after taking the oath before a justice of the peace, to locate the seat of justice for the future accommodation and convenience of the people, shall proceed to fix the seat of justice, and when fixed it shall be the permanent seat of justice of said county; and the commissioners shall forthwith make out a copy of their proceedings and file them in the office of the recorder of Pike county; and the said commissioners shall receive the sum of two dollars per day for each day spent by them in the discharge of their duties, and for each day spent in going to or returning from the same, to be paid out of the first money paid into the treasury of said county of Adams after its organization.
On the 30th of April, 1825, Messrs. Kellogg and Dutton, two of the commissioners, came to the town site, as Quincy was then called, prepared to locate the county seat. They were determined to place it at the geograph- ical center of the county, and procured Williard Keyes as a guide, who was known as a skillful land hunter. He however, from some cause not fully explained but which may be attributed to a little self-interest, led them into the bogs and quagmires of Mill creek, where they floundered around for a whole day, and were at night-fall compelled to return to the town site for shelter. The next morning the commissioners had changed their minds, and forming a procession composed of three-fourths of the male population of the place, they proceeded to the spot now known as Washington Square, and halting near the east park gate, drove their stake into the ground and officially announced that the northwest quarter of section 2, town 2, south range 9, west of 4th principal meridian, was the county seat of Adams county, and placing their hands upon the stake named the place Quincy.
262
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
ORIGIN OF NAMES OF COUNTY AND COUNTY SEAT.
The name of the county and county seat was suggested by the follow- ing incident: In November, 1824, on the day appointed to choose electors of President and Vice-President, the settlers living in and around that portion of the kingdom of Pike, now called Adams county, being of an enterprising turn determined to hold an election, and organizing an election precinct, appointing their judges and clerks, using an antiquated tea-pot for a ballot- box, they proceeded to open the polls. It was found upon counting the ballots that about twenty-five votes had been cast for the Jno. Quincy Adams' elector. There were some Missourians present, and they were by general consent permitted to vote. Thus it will be seen that ballot-box stuffing was of early origin even on the frontiers. The votes were received without protest or "electoral commission," and William Harrison, the Adams' elector, was chosen. It was thereupon suggested to the legislature that the name of the county be Adams. At the time the commissioners established the county seat, the late election was one of the principal topics of conversation, and Kellogg, one of the commissioners from Morgan county, was a strong Adams' man; he informed the persons present that the Morgan county people had called their county seat Jacksonville in honor of the defeated candidate. Some one in the crowd suggested "let us take another slice from the President's name and call our county seat Quincy, and in the struggle for position among the counties of the state, we will see who takes the lead Adams or Jackson."
Time has shown, and we leave it for the reader to decide which of the counties has gained the foremost rank in the march of progress.
At the time of the establishment of the county seat, there were pres- ent of the people composing Quincy, Williard Keyes, Jeremiah Rose, and John Droullard; John Wood, the other one-fourth of the population, being absent on a business trip to St. Louis.
FIRST ELECTION.
On the 2d of July, 1825, in pursuance of an order of the Judge of the Circuit Court, the first election for county officers was held at the cabin of Williard Keyes; about forty votes were cast, and Levi Wells, Peter Journey, and Williard Keyes were elected county commissioners.
Peter Journey, a Jerseyman by birth, resided at the lower end of the bluff some ten miles south of Quincy, in what is now Fall Creek township, Williard Keves of Quincy living at what is now the foot of Vermont St., and Levi Wells residing near what is now the village of Payson.
The county had at this time an estimated population of about seventy; the population now-1879-being estimated at 70,000. What a striking illustration of the progress made by our country, and results not even dreamed of by those sturdy pioneers who waited at its birth.
263
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
COURT SEALS.
On Monday, July 4, 1825, the first county court of Adams county was duly organized in the cabin of Williard Keyes at Quincy. Messrs. Journey, Keyes and Wells, Commissioners, all being present, Earl Pierce was appointed a special constable for the court, and Henry H. Snow was appointed clerk, enter- ing into a bond for the faithful performance of the duties thereof, having Earl Pierce and Levi Hudley as sureties upon his bond. Ira Pierce was deputed to take the census of the county. At the same time Joshua Streeter, John L. Soule, Lewis C. K. Hamilton and Amos Bancroft were recommended to the Governor and received their appointment as Justices of the Peace. The clerk was authorized to procure seals for the county and circuit courts, the seals to contain these words, viz: "Seal County Commissioners Court, Adams Co., Ill., 1825." "Seal Circuit Court, Adams Co., Ill., 1825." He was also authorized to procure the necessary stationery for use of the Court, using his own discretion as to quality and quantity. It is self-evident that those early people had faith in their public servants more than is now shown to the unfortunate wight who thirsts for political honor in the way of a county office. However, H. H. Snow is described as a remarkable man in his way, and was one of nature's noblemen. He had arrived in the county but a short time previous to the convening of the court, and having good clerical ability, was the man for the hour. He afterward held some four or five of the county offices at one and the same time.
The Pierces lived some five miles south of Quincy near what is now called the Alexander farm.
ENTRY OF COUNTY SEAT.
The quarter section designated by the commissioners appointed by the Legislature as the county seat, not being subject to entry, the clerk was instructed at this term of the court to apply to the land office at Edwards- ville for its pre-emption according to an act of Congress, granting to coun- ties the right of pre-emption to one quarter section of public lands for a county seat. In that day as in this, it was no trouble to make the order, but it was decidedly more difficult to raise the money. It appears, as the following will show, that the county officials had personal credit. At least, the money was borrowed from one Russell Farnham, a river trader who agreed to loan the commissioners $200, taking the personal note of the commissioners for the payment of the same. The following is a true copy of the note:
State of Illinois, { · SS.
Adams County. 1
For value received of Russell Farnham, we, the undersigned, county commissioners of said county, promise in the name of the aforesaid county, to pay him or his order the sum
264
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
of two hundred dollars on or before the fifteenth day of May next, with interest at the rate of ten per cent. per annum, from the seventeenth day of August last till paid.
Dated at Quiney, this sixth of September, 1825.
WILLIARD KEYES
Witness: Jeremiah Rose, Dep. Cl'k For Henry H. Snow, Cl'k. ]
LEVI WELLS,
PETER JOURNEY,
County Commisioners.
The following are the endorsements on the note:
TILLSON & HOLMES. Paid Russell Farnham, two hundred and five dollars as per his receipt of April 10th, 1829. ($205).
Paid Mr. Farnham, seventy-four dollars and fifty-nine cents, being balance of interest due on this note, which amount is in full for principal and interest due him on the within note (without date). ROBERT TILLSON.
The note was, however, taken up on the 1st of May, 1830.
It appears from the above note that the money was obtained August 17, 1825, and the note given for it September 6th following; it has been said that Gov. Wood made the arrangement for the money in the first place, thereby securing the land, and a conveyance was made by the United States to the county of Adams and its successors on the 13th of February, 1832.
QUINCY PLATTED.
In November, 1825, the County Commissioners' Court ordered that the land purchased from the government be laid off and platted as the town of Quincy. "Henry H. Snow was appointed to perform the work and to receive as compensation one dollar per day while so engaged, and he was authorized to employ assistants at the rate of seventy-five cents per day. The commissioners set apart block 12 for a public square, and the west half of block 11 was appropriated for the public buildings.
On Monday, September 5, 1825, the Commissioners' Court ordered that the persons then living in township three, south range eight, west of the fourth principal meridian, be organized into a school district, to be called District No. 1. Thus, at that early date, do we see the people moving in the commendable work of education, and to-day, from that feeble little band of struggling, heroic pioneers, has grown into existence some of the finest schools of which this or any other county can boast.
On the 13th of December, 1825, fifty-one lots, which had been adver- tised for sale in the Edwardsville and St. Louis papers, were sold at public anction by the county commissioners, the most of them being purchased by the commissioners, sheriff and other citizens of the county, very few being sold to outside speculators. Feeling that it would be of interest to the readers of this work to see a list of the lots sold, with the prices the lots brought, we insert it. Many now who are familiar with the lots and the present value to which they have grown, will in looking over the list recall opportunities, without number, when a trifling investment, with the advantages of the past progress of the county, would have placed them in a position to which we all struggle to attain and few succeed-easy and
J. H. laste QUINCY
265
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
affluent circumstances. It is related that one of the old citizens of the county recently, in commenting upon the opportunities presented in Quincy to acquire wealth by real estate investments, made the remark, "I remember when I could have purchased the whole of the lot on which the Quincy House now stands for a pair of boots." "Why," said the person whom he addressed, "did you not make the purchase?" " For a very good reason," he answered; " it was a cash offer, and I hadn't the boots."
FIRST SALE OF TOWN LOTS IN QUINCY.
Lot 6, Blk. 15, Peter Journey . . .
$19.50
Lot 2, Blk. 17 John Wood.
$ 4.00
"4
Dr. McMillen.
12.00
"4
"3
66
19.50
14 Levi Wells.
5.50
." 6
6
Peter Journey
18.50
"6
Levi Hadley.
7.00
"4
Williard Keyes
20 00
" 8 "
" 4
13
66
11.00
6
5
66
38.00
"5
66
66
18.00
" 5
20.00
Edward White.
20.50
Levi Hadley
9.00
Jeremiah Rose
21.00
cx 4
20
Peter Journey
16.25
66
6.00
" 5
66
8.00
66
15 Samuel Seward
6.50
8
19
Jeremiah Rose.
14.00
48
¥
15
10.00
66
Rufus Brown
14.00
" 1
16
15.00
" 5
H. H. Snow.
18.00
1
19
John Wood.
13,25
" 8
18 Asa Tyrer.
14.50
=
66
.
16.75
Dr. McMellen
14.25
Rufus Brown.
19.00
"6
66
Levi Hadley . 66
14.50
" 1
18
Hiram R. Hawley.
18.25
"8
17
John L. Soule 10.00
" 2
6.
Ira Pierce
14.50
"6
Daniel Moore
5.50
"4
=
11.50
Rufus Brown
5.00
"1
17 John L. Soule.
5.50
"5
Hiram R. Hawley. 12.00
"3
H. H. Snow
6.00
12.25
66
19,00
יר
6.00
"3
¥
16
6.50
66
16.00
66
4
66
27.00
18.00
66
10.00
FIRST MARRIAGE.
The first marriage ceremony that ever took place in the town of Quincy occurred during this year, being the marriage in June of Amos Bancroft to Miss Ames.
9.50
30.00
25.50
Samuel Seward יר
12,50
266
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
CHAPTER III.
FIRST COURT HOUSE -- COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT -- TOWN RATES -- RULES OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT -- LEAD MINES EXCITEMENT --- SUCKERS -- SCHOOL AND TEMPERANCE -- FIRST STOCK OF GOODS-FIRST FERRY RATES-MAIN STREET OPENED IN QUINCY-FISCAL-FIRST COUNTY JAIL-FIRST PREACHING-BRICK MADE-DEEP SNOW.
FIRST COURT HOUSE.
The connty had been organized, the County Commissioners' Court and other county functionaries had entered upon the discharge of their official duties. Courts had already been held in the county, at such places as could be best procured for such purposes, but no building had been erected for these purposes, and the heads of the county had no permanent place of abode, officially speaking, and one must needs be built for the future use and convenience of the county government. Proceedings for this purpose were commenced in the year 1825.
On Friday, December 16, 1825, the County Court instructed the sheriff of Adams county to offer to the lowest bidder the building of the body of a court-house of the following dimensions, to-wit: To be twenty-two feet long and eighteen feet wide in the clear; to be built of hewn logs, seven inches thick; to face not less than ten inches ; to be laid as close together as they are in Mr. Rose's house, with stone to be placed under the corners, and the middle of each sill not less than eight inches high, and to be two stories high, the lower story to be eight feet high and the upper story five feet, with nine joists and eight sleepers; the building to be covered with oak clapboards, to be four feet long, and laid close together, and three boards thick, to be completed by the 15th of March, 1826. At the same time, the sheriff was instructed to let to the lowest bidder the following work, to be done on said court house: Four twelve-light windows, two in the front and two in the rear, in lower story, and four six-light windows in the upper story, to be placed in the same manner, made to slide sideways, and one door in the front of the lower story, three feet wide, six and one-half feet high, with the necessary door and window casings, to be completed by the 15th of May, 1826; two floors of planks, one and one-quarter inches thick, or hewn puncheons. The center of the upper story to be made of sawed planks, boards, or clapboards, and two flight of steps, to be made in a plain, substantial manner. The upper floor, if made of puncheons, to be hewed on both sides; a good, stone chimney, with a fire-place in the upper story,
267
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
the back of which to be two and one-half feet wide, and one in the lower story to be three and one-half feet wide at back, and hearth to each fire- place of brick or stone, the whole to be done in a workman-like manner. The work of placing the logs was let to John Soule, for seventy-nine dollars. The other contractors were: Williard Keyes, windows and doors, twenty-five dollars; John Soule, stairways, thirty-two dollars; Levi Hadley, chimneys, etc., forty-nine dollars and fifty cents. This building stood as one of the land-marks of Quincy, and was the scene of many a victory and defeat for our worthy legal gentlemen, many of whom have become famous as lawyers, orators and statesmen, the length and breadth of our great country. The building was convenient in those days for public uses, and of very general utility, being used for church, school-house, exhibition, lecture and political purposes. The upper story was used as a clerk's office, lawyer's office, Mr. Browning having had his office there for a time, and finally for a carpenter shop, and we presume that while cases were being tried down stairs, casings were being made up stairs. It finally closed its history, being destroyed by fire about the year 1836, when the brick court-house on Fifth street, between Main and Hampshire streets, was commenced. It was in the year 1826 that the first law-office was opened, when Judge Logan came to Quincy to practice, and, in vulgar parlance, " hung out his shingle." In the same year, the first hotel opened in Quincy was started by Rufus Brown, on the lot where the Quincy House now stands.
The County Commissioners' Court had full power to grant licenses, etc., and during the year of 1826, Rufus Brown applied for and received a license to keep a hotel, the license being placed at the exorbitant sum of one dollar and clerk's fees. The Court also at the March term, 1826, estab- lished the following rates by which tavern-keepers were to be governed in making their charges ::
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