Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 25: Hon Joseph Conway, 1912

Joseph Conway was born in Kentucky and emigrated to Illinois territory, settling in Ran¬ dolph county in the early part of 1811. At this time the Indians were very hostile and committed many murders of the whites in this territory. The people realizing their dan¬ ger began making preparations for defense. Stockades were built in various sections of the southern part of the state, the then only inhabited portion of the territory, and several companies of "rangers" or mounted riflemen were raised. One of these companies was formed in Randolph county and while but a few of the muster rolls of these Ranger com¬ panies have been preserved, a payroll of mili¬ tia from July 4, to July 29, 1811, of Captain William Alexander's company, has been found which shows the name of Joseph Con¬ way enrolled as one of the company. How long he remained in the service is not known, but it is known that after his service in Alex¬ ander's company he continued for some time in the contractors' (now sutlers') depart¬ ment of the state militia on the frontier. Cap¬ tain Alexander afterwards, from October 27, to December, 1814, was adjutant general of territorial militia. In 1812 Conway came to Kaskaskia, the then capital of the state, where he was admitted to the bar and where he com¬ menced the practice of the law.

ison county, where on June 11, 1814, he and Abraham Pickett, afterwards a member of the general assembly, were appointed a com¬ mittee "to superintend the construction of the judge's bench and other benches necessary for the courthouse." At the September term, 1815, he was appointed clerk of the court of common pleas for Madison county.

During the Third session of the territorial legislature, December 2, 1816, to January 14, 1817, Conway was clerk of the council (sen¬ ate). In December, 1817, Judge Jesse B. Thomas appointed him clerk of the circuit court of Madison county. That he was a good politician we must admit, for we find that at the time he was appointed circuit clerk by Judge Thomas, he still held the position of clerk to the territorial council, serving there from December 1, 1817, to January 12, 1818.

Although Conway belonged to the anti¬ slavery party, we find from the records of Madison county that on February 8, 1818, "Jarret, boy fifteen years, bound himself to Joseph Conway for thirty years."

Under our territorial laws and for some years after the adoption of our state constitu¬ tion (December 3, 1818), the indenturing of slaves was practiced. What became of Con¬ way's indentured boy Jarret, cannot be learned.

The legislature at its session in 1825 reorganized the judiciary by creating five cir¬ cuit judges who were to hold all the circuit courts in the state, while the supreme court, composed of four judges, was to be held twice a year at the capital. Previous to this the supreme judges were obliged to attend the circuits. Of these circuit judges elected, Sam¬ uel McRoberts was an advocate of slavery and at the election in 1822 had been one of the leaders of that party. He was also a political opponent of Conway's and at a term of the Madison county circuit court over which Judge McRoberts presided, the latter on a technicality refused to allow Conway to testify on behalf of his friend, Governor Coles, who was on trial for manumitting his slaves without giving bonds as required by law.

The March term of 1825, of the circuit court of Madison county, was to appoint the clerks, and as Judge McRoberts held that they also had the power to remove them, one of his first judicial acts was to remove Conway and appoint Emanuel J. West, his political friend. Conway was well known and very popular and in 1825 was elected a state sena¬ tor from Madison county.

The change in the judiciary had not proven a very popular move, and at the session of the legislature in 1826-7, a great outcry was raised against the extravagance of the judiciary sys¬ tem. Conway brought his grievance against McRoberts to bear against the entire judicial system, and thus one of the circuit judges was to be punished for proscription. A writer of that day in speaking of this matter said: "A talented young lawyer of stirring elo¬ quence in the southern part of the state, a man possessing many qualities which admir¬ ably fitted him for a demagogue of the high¬ est order, mounted the hobby and rode it in a storm of passion through several counties in the south." The legislature ''repealed the circuit system, turned four of the circuit judges out of office (including McRoberts) and required the judges of the supreme court to hold circuit courts. The chief reasons for the repeal of the system were its cost and the proscription of a popular clerk."

At this session of the legislature many im¬ portant matters were acted upon, chief among which was the general act of incorporation. The subject of railroad building was for the first time brought up, and several charters were granted. It was during this session that Theophilus W. Smith, one of the supreme judges was up for impeachment, which, how¬ ever, failed. This I believe was the first and only impeachment trial in this state. This session also first enacted a mechanic's lien law.

The state was now divided into five cir¬ cuits, one of the supreme judges being as¬ signed to each of the four, to hold two terms of court in each county yearly. One of the circuit judges, the Hon. R. M. Young, was

Conway was first elected to the second ses¬ sion of the Fourth general assembly in 1825, as state senator from Madison county to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Theo¬ philus W. Smith, and was reelected in 1826 to the Fifth assembly without opposition. He was again reelected in 1830. He resigned in i833 after the close of the Eighth assembly, after a service of over seven years. Know¬ ing Rock Island county was to be organized, he came up the river to Farnhamsburg (now

Rock Island). Judge {Richard M. Young, who had not been legislated out of office and who was Conway's friend, was to hold the first court in Rock Island county.

Prior to 1833 Rock Island county was in¬ cluded in the jurisdiction of Jo Daviess county. During 1833 the Legislature of Illi¬ nois passed an act declaring that all the terri¬ tory embraced within the following boundaries, to-wit: Beginning in the middle of the chan¬ nel of the Mississippi river, on the north line of township 15 north, and west of the fourth principal meridian ; thence running eastwardly on said line to the fourth principal meridian ; thence north to the middle of the channel of Rock river ; thence up the middle of said channel to the Maroas d'Ogee slough ; thence along the middle of said slough to the middle of the channel of the Mississippi river ; thence down along the middle of said channel to the place of beginning - should be formed into a county to be known as Rock Island county.

The voters of this county for the first time met, pursuant to notice, at the house of one John Barrell in Farnhamsburg on Monday, July 5, 1833. They organized by selecting Joseph Danforth, Joel Wells, Sr., and Wil¬ liam H. Simons, judges; and Joseph Conway and W. Thompson, clerks. The total num¬ ber of votes cast was sixty-five and resulted in the election of the following : County com¬ missioners, George W. Harhan, John W. Spencer and Col. George W. Davenport ; sheriff, Benjamin F. Pike; coroner, Levi

Wells; justices of the peace, George W. Har¬ lan, J. B. Patterson and Joel Wells; con¬ stables, George V. Miller, Huntington Wells and Edward Corbin.

On July 8th, the County Commissioners met at the house of John Barrell and organized by selecting Joseph Conway, clerk. Joseph Wells was selected as treasurer and assessor. Elections and courts were ordered to be held at the "House of John Barrell."

Joseph Conway acted as county clerk from 1833 to 1843, and circuit clerk from 1834 to 1847. The records of our county shed but little light on the history of our first clerk.

In 1834 he was appointed postmaster at Farnhamsburg. Previous to this time George Davenport had been postmaster and the office was located at his trading store at Rock Island. At this time the office was not a lucrative one, the Blue Book for 1833 stating that Daven¬ port's annual compensation for that year was $79.96.