Jersey County, Illinois - Chapter 12: Greene County, 1919

Establishment

In 1821, with the establishment of Greene County, it ceased to be a part of Madison County, a relation it had held since the latter was formed by Governor Edwards in 1818. The part of Greene County that now constitutes Jersey County, continued to be included in Greene until August 5, 1839. The Enabling Act passed by the Legislature Febru¬ ary 28, 1839, provided that on August 5 following at an election held for that purpose, a proposition should be submitted to the voters of the latter county, for and against the separation of Jersey County from Greene County, for their determination. At that election, there were 1,239 votes for and 714 against the proposition, a majority of 525 out of a total of 1,953 votes. From 1821 until 1839, however, the history of Jersey County is naturally included in that of Greene, and is so given.

First Circuit Court

The first term of the Circuit Court of Greene County was held at Carrollton, April 26, 1821, with John Reynolds, judge ; Thomas Carlin, sheriff; Samuel Lee, Jr., clerk; Jacob Waggoner, coroner; Gen. Jacob Fry, foreman of the grand jury. On May 1 of that year, the first meet¬ ing of the county commissioners was held, with John Allen, John Brown and Seymour Kellogg, commissioners; Samuel Lee, clerk.

seat at Carrollton, upon land donated by Thomas Carlin, presented it at this session. John Wilkins was licensed at this session, to keep a tavern at Piasa Creek, south of Delhi. He was known chiefly as the father-indaw of Perley Silloway, who was later elected the second sher¬ iff of Jersey County, holding the office for two terms.

Military Districts

On June 4, 1821, that part of Greene County south of Macoupin Creek, was divided into two military districts, on the line between townships seven and eight, north. All that territory south of that line constituted the first district, and the part between that line and Ma¬ coupin Creek, the second district. Elections were ordered in each of these districts for one captain, one lieutenant and one ensign. In the first district the election was to be held at the house of Thomas G. Lof¬ ton, with John D. Gillham, John Waddel and Samuel Kincaid, judges. In the second district, the polling place was the house of John Thorn¬ ton, with Gershom Patterson, William Adair, and Nathaniel Rowden as judges. At this session Ira Kelley, Samuel Kincaid and Jehu Brown were recommended to Governor Bond for appointment as justices of the peace.

Election Districts

Two election districts were organized of the same form and terri¬ tory as the above described military districts, the south one to be called Otter Creek, and the other one, Macoupin. In the latter Abiram Mc¬ Kinney and Joseph Piggott were appointed overseers of the poor, and in Otter Creek, John Findley and John Wilkins were appointed to the same office. Jurors for the next term of the Circuit court south of Ma¬ coupin were: Ezekial Gillham, William Davidson, Gershom Patterson, John D. Gillham, James Whitesides and Philip Grimes. Gershom Flagg of Madison County was allowed six dollars for surveying the town of Carrollton.

Early Criminals

A robbery of a man named Dixon, who lived upon land adjoining John G. Lofton, of $1,200.00, occurred in 1821, and William B. Whitesides, sheriff of Madison County, and Maj. Robert Sinclair were in¬ dicted as the criminals. Sinclair was convicted, but escaped before sentence, and Whitesides forfeited his bail, but was later brought into court by his bondsmen, and the case against him was finally nolle prossed, and both defendants escaped punishment, although the crime created intense excitement in the community, and interest in it was shown for years to come. At the trial of Sinclair at Carrollton, William Dixon, John G. Lofton, Thomas G. Lofton, William Davison, Ezekiel Gillham, John Findley, William Pinkard, Henry Llopkinson, Charles Gear and Joab White were witnesses for the people. The circuit judges were, during the spring term of 1822, Joseph Phillips ; October term of that year and spring term of 1823, Thomas Reynolds; September term, 1823, to May term, 1825, John Reynolds; followed by John Sawyer to April term, 1827 ; and from then until Jersey County was organized, Samuel D. Lockwood.

Early Officials

In the spring term of 1822, Edward Carroll, Joseph White, Robert Avery, Joseph Piggott, Thomas Orcutt and Charles Gregory were county commissioners. In 1824, John Brown, Abraham Bowman and Charles Gregory were the commissioners; in 1826, Joseph Piggott, Jeremiah Smith and Jehu Brown were commissioners ; in 1828, John Barnett, Alexander King and Charles Gregory were commissioners; in 1830, Cy¬ rus Tolman, Thomas Cummings and Cavil Archer were commissioners; from 1834 to 1838, Thomas McDow, Cavil Archer and Cyrus Tolman were the commissioners. In 1823 the overseers of the poor for Otter Creek were John D. Gillham and Joab White; and for Macoupin, they were Joseph White and Benjamin Brown. In 1825, Josiah T. Askew was one of the overseers of the poor for Otter Creek, and Major Dodson and Alexander Smith held the same office for Macoupin. In 1826, Otter Creek had for judges of election, John G. Lofton, John McDow and Thomas Cummings, and the election was held at the house of John G. Lofton. In Macoupin, the judges for that year were Samuel Gates, Nathaniel Rowden and Alexander Smith, and the election was held at the house of Francis Colean.

Additional Districts

In 1827, Richwoods district was made from the west part of Otter -Creek district and the Macoupin district. For that year the judges were, for Otter Creek, John McDow, John G. Lofton and Walter Cresswell, and the election was held at the house of Samuel A. Lofton. In the

Richwoods district, the judges were Gershom Patterson, Daniel Cox and Darius Carrico, and the election was held at the house of Abraham Borer. In the Macoupin district, the judges were C. J. Gardiner, John Green and Alexander Smith, and the election was held at the house of Lewis Means. In 1831, the judges of Otter Creek were Jasper Terry, John D. Gillham and John McDow; of Richwoods, they were Gershom Patterson, Matthew Darr and Francis Colean ; in the new Piasa district, they were John Wilkins, William Draper, and James Simmons, and the election was held at the home of John Wilkins.

Another Early Crime

In September, 1831, a son of John Lofton was foully murdered by a man named James Sullivan, who secured $15.00, and fled the country. He was indicted for the murder, arrested in New Orleans, La., and re¬ turned to Carrollton. Here he was tried, convicted and executed, this being the first legal execution in Greene County. The criminal gave as his true name Patrick Cavanaugh.

Other Early Events

In 1833 merchants' licenses were issued to Woodbury Massey, George Finney, Gregg McDaniel, George Smith and Hugh McGill. James Mason paid a license to keep a ferry at Grafton, and Thomas Barnett to erect a mill on Otter Creek.

Wild Speculation

The years of 1836 and 1837 were ones of wild speculation, and all sorts of "get rich quick" schemes that ran like wild prairie fires throughout the state, were about as disastrous as the fires themselves in their results. Prospective towns were laid out, some of them being Randolph, Upper Grafton, Camden, Hartford, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Teneriffe, Salsbury, Delaware, Grafton and Jerseyville, the latter being saved by being named for the county seat in the Enabling Act for the organization of Jersey County. The others, with the exception of Grafton, have long ago been vacated. Prudent people who kept out of speculation and debt survived, but many others were swept away in the financial disaster of wreck and ruin.