Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 52: Official Centennial Roster, 1912

It has been stated elsewhere in this work that the northern boundary of Madison county was the Canadian line. This is in accordance with the proclamation of Governor Edwards, September 14, 1812, constituting the county. But B. F. Hoffman, in Brink's History, claims that the northern boundary never extended to the Canadian border, that the territory of Michigan, organized in 1805, included the present states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. This contradicts the American Encyclopedia, which claims that when Michigan was set off from Ohio it was with substantially the same borders as at present. Thus do authorities disagree, but we find from "The Territorial Records" that Wisconsin was certainly a part of Illinois when set off from Indiana in 1809, as Governor Edwards exercised jurisdiction over it and appointed its local officials. On the 3d of May, 1809, the acting governor (Secretary Nat. Pope) appointed Nicholas Boilvin justice of the peace at Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin). On the following day he issued a dedimus to Harry M. Fisher, of the same place, to administer the oath to Michel Brisbois and John Marie Cardinal, whom he had appointed as lieutenant and en¬ sign, respectively, of a militia company at Prairie du Chien. To show further that there was no mistake in jurisdiction the Territorial

Record shows the appointment by Governor Edwards, on June 21, 1814 (five years later), of George Kennedy as captain and James Kennedy as lieutenant at Prairie du Chien. Hence the territory of Illinois did extend to the Canadian border. Prior to the admission of the territory as a state, all military and civil appointments were made by the governor. The following list for this county is compiled from the "Executive Register" of the terri¬ torial records.

The following military commissions were issued to residents of Madison county by the acting governor, Nathaniel Pope, prior to the separation of Madison from St. Clair:

1810 - January 2 - William Pruitt, Samuel Judy, captains of militia; William Gillham, Valentine Brazil, Solomon Pruitt, lieutenants of militia; Samuel Whiteside, ensign.

1812 - January 24: - Isaac Griffin and Solo¬ mon Pruitt, captains; John Goings, lieutenant; George Mitchell and Isaac Gillham, ensigns Second regiment.

1816 - January 10 - William Gillham and Henry Cook, captains ; Isaac Gillham, lieu¬ tenant; Martin Jones and John Barnett, en¬ signs Second regiment.

August 16 - Isaac Ferguson, major; Wil¬ liam Townsend, captain ; John Herron, lieu¬ tenant. Residence in this case uncertain - Madison or St. Clair.

1812 - September 19 - Isom Gillham, sher¬ iff ; Josias Randle, clerk of court of common pleas. Wm. Rabb, Jno. G. Lofton and Samuel Judy, judges of court of common pleas.

Below is the roster of county officials as complete as the names appear on the court house records. It is supplemented by the territorial record above which fills some gaps in the early county records.

^Reference to these boards of commissioners appear in another form in an earlier part of this work, but in order to make the roster of countyofficials complete is repeated here.