Ogle County, Illinois - The whole text, 1878 (part 8 of 25)

As the reader has already discovered, the County Court from the time of its first session, January 13, 1837, had been of rather a migratory character. It seems to have had no settled habitation. Sometimes it was held at the house of John Phelps, in Oregon City - that house and two or three others being the city - sometimes at Buffalo Grove, then at Grand de Tour, and lastly at Dixon. [N^otwithstanding the commissioners appointed to locate a permanent seat of justice for Ogle County had selected a site and planted a stake upon it on the 20th of June, 1836, within one quarter of a mile of which, under the law, the county offices were required to be kept, they were moved about from place to place, as above stated. From the time the county seat stake was planted until Lee County was set off, in 1839, there was a strong opposition in some parts of the county against making Oregon City (first called Florence) the " permanent seat of justice." The first board of county commissioners was elected by this opposition influence, and, perhaps, in moving the sessions of their court from place to place, they hoped to conciliate the conflicting elements, and finally remove the seat of justice to some other locality. But if such was their purpose, it never matured.

At the general election, held on the first Monday in August, 1838, a new board of commissioners - Messrs. Martin Keynolds, Jacob Parry, and Masten Williams - was elected. This board, as appears from the proceedings of their first session, herewith published, were not disposed to temporize with the question, but to adopt a positive course of action.

August 30, they convened in extra session at Dixon. They first presented their certificates of election, after which they severally subscribed to the required oath of office, when they were ready to enter upon the discharge of the duties to which they had been chosen. After these preliminary requirements, the court adjourned until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the following proceedings appear of record :

The clerk then prepared three tickets, upon one of which was written "one year;" upon another one "two years," and upon another one "three years," which tickets, when so prepared, were presented to each commissioner, whereupon it was decided that Martin Reynolds continue in ofHce one year; Hasten Williams continue in office two years; and Jacob Parry continue in office three years.

[The law under which the county commissioners were elected provided that one of them should serve for one year, one of them for two years, and one of them for three years, so that two of them were always familiar with the routine of county business. It was in compliance with this law that the tickets above were prepared and drawn.]

Ordered, That the place of holding Circuit Court in the County of Ogle shall be at the house of John Phelps, in Oregon City, after the end of the next October term, which shall be held in the Town of Dixon.

Ordered, That the clerk notify the judge of the sixth judicial circuit that the Circuit Court will beheld at the house of John Phelps, in Oregon City, after the end of the next October term, which shall be held in the Town of Dixon.

Ordered, That so much of the order of .this court, passed the 30tli day of August last, as relates to the place of holding the circuit courts, for Ogle County, be aud the same is hereby rescinded ; and it is further ordered, that the circuit courts of Ogle County shall hereafter be held at the house of John Phelps, in Oregon City, in said county, until public buildings shall be erected.

There was no double meaning in this or the orders of the 30th of August. They were of the positive kind. Every one knew where to find the county commissiohers when they were in session ; where the circuit courts were to be held, and also, where to find the county and circuit court clerks, and other county officials.

During this September session of the county commissioners court, the report (already published) of Charles Kead and J. L. Kirkpatrick, two of the commissioners appointed to select a site " for the permanent seat of justice of Ogle County," was presented, accepted and ordered to be entered of record. Soon after, or about this time, the people began to agitate the necessity of erecting county buildings. Notwithstanding the locating commissioners had declared Oregon City as the most desirable and convenient location, and that the county commissioners had, at the extra session held on the 30th of August, and by an amended order, adopted at this session, ordered that all the courts should be held at Oregon City, there was still an opposition element to making Oregon (^/ity the permanent seat of justice. The sooner public buildings could be erected, the sooner that factious element would be overcome. At least, so reasoned those friendly to Oregon City.

At this time, the town plat had been surveyed and platted, and on Wednesday, the 4th of December, the county commissioners court being in session, it was

Ordered, That lots three and four and nine and ten, in block ninety-nine, be appropriated for the building of a church for public worship of Almighty God, and a schoolhouse, free for all denominations.

Ordered, That so much of the last order of yesterday, relating to the appropriation of lots for a church and school-house, is hereby rescinded, as makes lots three and four, in block ninety-nine, a part of the donation, and that lots three and four, in block one hundred be appropriated in their place, making lots three and four, in block one hundred, and nine and ten, in block ninety-nine, the ones devoted to the purposes mentioned in the former order.

Ordered, That public buildings shall be erected for Ogle County, Illinois, in Oregon City, the seat of justice of said county, and on the southeast quarter of section four, township twenty-three north, range ten east of the fourth principal meridian, and that the clerk of this court shall cause notices to be given to all the principal settlements of said county that bids will be received and contracts let for that purpose, on the first day of December next, at which time plans of the work will be submitted.

Ordered, That Thomas Ford is hereby appointed a commissioner to sell lots for the County of Ogle, situate on the quarter section on which the county seat of said county was located by Charles Read and J. L. Kirkpatrick, being the southeast quarter of section four, township twenty-three north, range ten east of the fourth principal meridian, at public vendue, in Oregon City, on the first Monday in December next, he giving due notice of said sale, and that he have power to make and deliver deeds for lots so sold by him; said commissioner to sell on a credit of six, twelve and eighteeu months, with approved security, and that he have power to cause a plat of said quarter section to be drawn up, exhibiting the location and size of the lots ; and also to lay out and sell out lots of a suitable size, and for that purpose to call on the county surveyor; the proceedings of said commissioner, at all times, to be under the county commissioners court.

Ordered, That the court house be erected on block number 78, it being the one laid on the recorded plat for the public square ; and that the hill on said square be leveled ten feet in the center, leaving a plain of sixty-five by fifty-five feet square, at the center, and from said plain to be made a gradual descent to a level with the balance of the plat, except the hill north, which is to be level with said plain thirty feet from its edge or boundary.

The clerk was then " ordered to advertise for sealed proposals, to be received to the second Monday in the month of January, 1839 (a special term of the court to be held on that day), for the building of a court and jail house in Oregon City, for Ogle County, and the grading and leveling of the hill on the public square in said town, according to plans filed in the clerk's ofiice.''

Plans for a two-story court house had been previously adopted. The building was to be 40 by 50 feet *' from out to out," the narrow way fronting the river, and the walls to rest on stone foundations sunk four feet in the ground and raised three feet above the surface. The lower story to be twelve feet in height, with eighteen-inch walls. A hall or passage-way, ten feet in width, was to extend from front to rear, on either side of which the county offices were to be located. Provisions were made for large windows on either side of the front entrance, and for ample side windows to light the offices. The second story was to be ten feet high above the floor, and to be finished oil* as a court room.

Plans for a jail 18 by 18 feet, two stories high, were adopted at the same time. The walls were to be solid stone, three feet in thickness, and correspondingly strong throughout.

Ordered, That John Acker have the contract for building jail as per a first order and contract of this date, for the sum of twelve hundred and forty-nine dollars ; provided^ the said Acker appear at the first day of the March term, next, and give security to be approved by the court, for the completion of said jail, according to the order and article of agreement.

Ordered, That William J. Mix, Martin C. Hill and John C. Hulett have the contract for building the court house for Ogle County, as per order of court, December term, 1838, and contract of this date.

February 27, 1839, the act providing for the erection of Lee County was approved and became a law. This act provided " that all that part of Ogle County lying south of a line beginning on the western boundary of Ogle County, at the northwest corner of section eighteen, in township twenty-two north, of range eight, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence, on the section line between sections numbered seven and eighteen, in said township, east, to the main channel of Rock River; thence, up the centre of the main channel of Rock River, to the section line between sections twelve and thirteen, in township ^; wen ty- two, north, of range nine, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence, east, with the last mentioned section line, to the northeast corner of section seventeen, in township twenty-two north, of range ten, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence, south, to the southeast corner of the last mentioned section; and thence, east, with the section lines, to the eastern boundary of the county, shall constitute the County of Lee."

The erection of Lee County left Ogle with eighteen full townships and. about seven half townships of land - thirty-nine miles from east to west and twentv-one miles from north to south.

The Dixon interests sought to have the north line of Lee County established a few miles north of the line as defined by the law creating the county, but they were not successful. Their purpose in that attempt was to remove the centre of Ogle farther north, and thus destroy the chances of their old rival, Oregon City, from becoming the county seat.

A little incident attending the rivalry between Dixon and Oregon City and their representative men, John Dixon and J ohn Phelps, may not be out of place here.

Dixon kept a hotel which, it seems, was the most popular, if liot the only hotel at that time, in that embryo city. Mr. Phelps, of Oregon City, had occasion to visit Dixon one day, when the county seat question was terribly agitated, and stopped at the Dixon House for dinner. Mr. Dixon, the proprietor, was absent, and Mrs. Dixon did the honors of the table. During the meal she remarked to Mr. Phelps : "It is a good thing for you, Mr. Phelps, that Mr. Dixon is not at home to-day, for if he was, you would get hurt. There would be a fuss."

"It is a good thing for Mr. Dixon, madam," replied Mr. Phelps, " that he is not at home, for if he was, he surely would be hurt. I was born in a fuss, and nothing pleases me better than to be engaged in a fuss."

Mr. Phelps was of Southern birth and education - at times impetuous and seemingly hot-headed and headstrong, yet, withal, he was a really generous, charitable man, and a good and enterprising citizen - warm in his friendships, and bitter in his enmities, when he was an enemy.

Since the erection of Lee county, there have been no changes in the boundary lines of Ogle; the county seat question was definitely settled, and, as the lands came into market and subject to entry, the people who had made claims secured the warranty of Uncle Sam to full and uninterrupted possession, and settled down to a course^of industry that has made their county one of the foremost and richest in the Rock Eiver Valley, At the March term, 1839, it was

Ordered, That, whereas, by an order of this court at its extra session, Jan. A. D. 1839, the contract for the erection of the county jail was let to John Acker, under a condition therein named ; and whereas, said condition has not been complied with on the part of said Acker, the said contract with the said Acker is hereby declared forfeited by failure on the part of the said Acker; and the said contract for the erection of the jail, as aforesaid, is hereby let to Joseph Knop, to be completed as per order of this court in relation thereto, and the contract of date of March 8, A. D. 1839, for the sum of eighteen hundred and twenty-two dollars and tifty cents (|1,822.50).

March 9, it was ordered that a sale of lots on the county quarter, in Oregon City, commence on the 4th Monday in May following, and to be continued from day to day as long as the Commissioners Court shall see proper. The clerk was instructed to advertise the same in the Chicago Democrat, Peoria Register, the Galena Democrat and the Chicago American, four weeks preceding said sale.

April, 1839, for the first time in the history of the county, the assessment of personal property was assigned to assessors appointed for the purpose, where, as before, that duty had been confided to the county treasurer.

Lucius Eeed was appointed assessor for that part of the county lying west of Rock River; Major Chamberlain for that part of the county on the east side of Rock river; Joseph Sawyer for that part of Lee County east of Rock River; JBenj. H. Stewart for that part of Lee County west of Rock River; K. Gr. Reynolds for that part of Whiteside County lying southeast of Rock River, and John B. Dodge for the west.

[The first election for county officers for Lee County was held on the first Monday in August, 1839. Until they were elected and qualified, that county was subject to the jurisdiction of Ogle County, which accounts for the appointment of the assessors named for Lee County in the above order.]

The contract for grading and leveling down the hill on which it had been determined to erect the court house, was awarded to Joseph Knox, and on the 3d of July, 1839, the contract having been completed, the court

Two years and more had now passed since the county was organized. In this time it began to be questioned whether the point of ground on which Messrs. Reed and Kirkpatrick, two of the commissioners for " locating the permanent seat of justice of Ogle County," had planted the stake, was in the extreme soathwest corner of the northeast quarter of section three, or in the extreme northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section four, town twenty-three north of range ten east. To determine the question beyond cavil or controversy, the commissioners requested the county surveyor, Mr. Joseph Crawford, to make the necessary survey to definitely fix the lines and corners in question. Mr. Crawford proceeded to discharge that duty in the month of September, 1839, and in October following submitted to the court his report in the words following:

Report of Joseph Crawford, Surveyor of Ogle County, in compliance with the request of the County Commissioners of Ogle County, to ascertain on what quarter section the stake designating the location of the county seat was placed : On account of an error in the original survey of Township twenty-three north, the in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, for the purpose aforesaid, since which time the error lias been discovered, and it now appears that the said stalce was placed on the northwest quarter of section three, in Township twenty-three, north of range number ten, east of the fourth principal meridian. Said last survey was made by me on the fourth day of September last.

It appearing to the satisfaction of the court that said stake in the above report mentioned, was placed on said northwest quarter of section number three, in Township number twenty-three, north of range number ten, east of the fourth principal meridian, it is considered by the court that the said quarter section, by virtue of the act of Congress on that subject, belongs to the County of Ogle, to be appropriated to the uses and purposes in said act mentioned.

Ordered, That the clerk cause three written notices to be posted in Oregon City, forbidding all persons trespassing, or in any way taking possession of any portion of the northwest quarter of section number three, in Township number twenty-three, north of range ten, east of the fourth principal meridian, the quarter section on which the stake designating the location of the county seat was planted.

This action of the county commissioners evoked a controversy with Mr. Fhelps and other parties interested as claimants of the northwest quarter of section three. It seems to have been the purpose of these claimants to have the county seat stake planted on the northwest quarter of section three; but in consequence of reasons already stated, it was^placed on section four. The commissioners maintained tliat the planting of the stake on section three gave them the right to hold it, notwithstanding it had been previously claimed by Mr. Plielps for himself and others. The question was taken before the district land authorities, who sustained the commissioners. Mr. Phelps, who had sold a number of lots in the disputed quarter section (which had been sub-divided into town lots) appealed from that decision to the Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington City, who sustained the ruling of the district land office authorities, thus confirming the claim of the county commissioners, and on the 22d day of September, 1842, the following certificate issued to them from the Greneral Government:

Pre-emption Certificate No. 13,098. To all to whom these presents shall come: Greeting - Wheras, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved on the 26th of May, 1824, entitled an act granting to the counties, or parishes, in each state and territory, in which the Public Lands are situated, the right of pre-emption to quarter sections of lands for Seats of Justice within the same, there has been deposited in the General Land Office of the United States, a certificate of the Register of the Land Office at Dixon, whereby, it appears that full payment has been made by the County of Ogle, in the State of Illinois, by Dolphus Brown, Spooner Ruggles and Henry Farrell, Commissioners of the County of Ogle, as aforesaid, according to the provisions of the Act of Congress of the 24th of April, 1820, entitled. An Act making further provisions for the sale of Public Lands, for fractions numbered one and two, of the northwest quarter of section three, in Township twentythree, of Range ten east, in the district of lands subject to sale at Dixon, Illinois, containing one hundred and thirty-one acres, and fifty-three hundredths of an acre, according to the official plat of the survey of the said lands, returned to the General Land Office, which said tract has been purchased by the said County of Ogle, in the state aforesaid :

Now know ye. That the United States of America, in consideration of the premises and in conformity with the several acts of Congress, in such case made and provided, have given and granted, and by these presents do give and grant unto the said County of Ogle, in the state aforesaid, the said tract above described ; to have and to hold the same, together with all the rights, priveledges, immunities, and appurtenances of whatever nature thereunto belonging, unto the said County of Ogle in the state aforesaid and to its successors and assigns forever.

In testimony wliereof, I, John Tyler, President of the United States of America, have caused these letters to be made patent, and the Seal of the General Land office to be hereunto affixed.

[Seal.] Given under my hand at the City of Washington, the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the IJnited States the sixty-seventh.

In the final liearing of the case before the commissioners of the general land office, the Phelps interest was represented by Francis Scott Key, of Baltimore, Maryland (author of the " Star Spangled Banner), who died in 1843. The county commissioners were represented by General Sampson Mason, of Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, an able attorney of that state, a prominent Whig politician in the days of that party, and for several years (and at that time) a member of Congress from the Springfield district.

[November 18, 1839, the county court being in session, Mr. Jacob B. Crist, representing William J. Mix, Martin C. Kill and John C. Hulett, to whom was awarded the contract for building the court house, presented the following estimate for materials:

Ordered, That the court house foundations, now on block seventy-eight, according to the old original city plat, be removed to block ninety-one, Florence, and built on lots two and three (the site now occupied), eastern end, as follows : The ditch for the reception: of the foundation wall to be sunk three feet at the front toward the east, and leveled back fifty feet ; the wall to be seven feet high from the bottom of foundation, three feet thick, raised four feet above the surface of the ground at the front, and back according to the rise of the ground, considering the wall to be seven feet from commencement of foundation as aforesaid ; all that part of the wall above natural ground to be of large stone, neatly hammerdressed, and the whole to be laid in good lime mortar.

Ordered, That proposals for removing and re-building the foundation, according to the foregoing order be received immediately, and to be completed by the 13th of April next

At an extra session of the county commissioners court, held May 12, 1840, the following named gentlemen were appointed to superintend the building of the Ogle County court house and jail : A. M. I). Robertson, Isaac S. Wooley and Robert Davis, provided, that if either of the above named persons become interested in the contract for the erection of either of the said buildings, they shall no longer act as superintendents of the erection of the same.

June 5, 1840, the commissioners ordered that a tax of fifty cents be levied on every hundred dollars worth of taxable property in the county

This assessment returned a revenue, according to the following settlement made with the county treasurer, in June, 1841, of $1,667.T8, representing an appraised value of $333,556.00.

The total valuation of personal property in 1842 was $167,348, on which an assessment of one half of one per cent was ordered to be levied. June 7, of that year, the records show the following settlement was made with the collector for 1841 :

At the August term of the county commissioners court, the first jail in the county having been completed, an order for $1,822.50 was ordered to issue to Joseph Knox, the builder, in full payment for its erection.

From the date of the organization of the county up to the completion of this jail, evil doers and law breakers had but little fear of local " grates and bars." As will be shown elsewhere, the country was literally overrun with horse-thieves, counterfeiters and criminals of the worst character. They were scattered all over the county. In some localities, their numbers were so great that they controlled the election of local officers, such as justices of the peace, etc. Grand and petit juries were never free from their presence. They were smooth, oily-tongued fellow^s, of good address, and, to use the words of an old settler who knew them, "generally as smart as whips." Under such circumstances, it was a very difficult matter to convict a wrong doer. When arrests were made, bail was always ready to be furnished, for many of the rogues were wealthy. Before the jail was completed, prisoners were either taken to the Jo Daviess or Winnebago County jail, or kept under guard. The general situation considered, however, there were not many such cases, although there were instances when prisons were a necessity. An evil doer who did not belong to the regularly organized gang had no standing among the " brotherhood," and such '' unfortunates," when arrested, tried, and found sufficiently guilty to be held to answer to the higher courts, were turned over to guards, or taken to neighboring county jails, most of which, in those days, were very insecure concerns. For want of a jail, and in consideration of the expense attending their transportation to other counties, or guarding them at home, many a rogue "got off" much easier than if Ogle County had been provided with a " good and sufficient " jail. But the time came when the gang did not escape arrest and imprisonment, and after the jail was completed, as many as ten and fifteen of them were incarcerated at one time. But that was a dangerous time for the sheriff and jailor. Life insurance companies, if they had been fashionable then, would not have insured the life of an Ogle County sheriff, his deputies, or the jailor, for a cent. But of these things, more anon.

The first allowance made by the county commissioners court for the care of prisoners in the Ogle County jail, was at their December session, 1840, when a county order was directed to issue to Isaac S. Woolley, for $174,874 for committing prisoners Terrill, Brown, Webb and Dennison to jail, and dieting them to date, and for other duties as jailor.

While the jail was being built and completed, the court house was also under way, and on the 5th of March, 1841, it was " ordered that Jacob B. Crist be allowed $3,000 on court house contract." The reader should bear in mind the fact that the cost of building the jail and court house was not met and covered by the taxes assessed and collected from personal property, for that would have been entirely inadequate. In 1840 the county tax amounted to only $877.78, and in 1841 to $836.74. When the county commissioners filed a claim to the northwest quarter of section three, of which fact mention has already been made, although Mr. Phelps and his associates had sold a large number of lots, Judge Ford was appointed as county agent to sell lots, etc., subject to the order and direction of the county commissioners. Judge Ford was succeeded in this duty in June, 1840, by Mr. D. H. L. Moss. The proceeds of these lots were*^ intended to apply on the erection of public buildings for the county, as provided in the act of congress of May 24, 1824, and sundry amendments thereto. Without this aid, the erection of public buildings could not have been undertaken, as any one can readily see that the amount of taxable property at that time was entirely inadequate to such an undertaking.

At the time the three thousand dollar order was issued to Crist on the court house contract, the building was nearing completion - at least, it was so far completed that it was intended to be used for holding the Spring term of the circuit court, which was set for Monday the 22d of March. But the outlaws willed that it should never be used for that or any other term of the court, for, during the night before the court was to convene they set fire to the building and burned it to the ground. This fire being the work of the outlaws that held dominion in this county at that time, for several years previous and for some years afterwards, a further account of it will be left to make up a part of the history of a reign of terror that hung over the settlers of the Rock River Yalley like a death pall for a full decade of years.

On the 4th of June, 1841, it was " ordered that Jacob B. Crist be allowed the sum of $1,000, which is in final settlement on the part of the County of Ogle on the contract for the building of the court house, entered into between'WiUiam J. Mix, Martin C. Hill and John Hulett, of whom Jacob B. Crist is the representative."

This order closed out the first court house undertaking, and left the county to rebuild a new temple of justice, which was erected on the site of the one destroyed, its erection being commenced in 1843.

The jail built by Mr. Knox, already mentioned, was a stone building, two stories high, and stood a little to the west of the present court house. The building was only eighteen feet square, and had no doors in the lower part. The second story was reached by a stairway on the outside. The prison part or cells were reached through a kind of trap door. Prisoners were taken up the stairs, thence through the door into the upper part. The trap door was raised and a ladder lowered to the first floor, by which the prisoners descended to the " cage," when the ladder was drawn up. But withal, it did not prove to be a very safe concern. In one instance, a prisoner who had been incarcerated within its walls for some minor ofiense, dug out in less than an hour with an old jack knife. When the more desperate characters were imprisoned, it required an almost constant watch to prevent their escape, and even then, they would sometimes get away. There were always some members of the organized gang on the outside, seemingly on the watch, and they spared neither opportunity nor occasion to render " aid and comfort " to such of their confederates as happened to be in the cage; and when it is considered that, for a number of years the gang overran the county, holding the community in continued terror, it is almost a wonder they did not batter the jail to pieces the first time it was used for the confinement of such of the gang as were caught within the toils of the laws which they set at naught.

After the court house was burned in 1841, until the ])resent court house was built in 1843, courts were held in such buildings as could be had sufiiciently large for the purpose - sometimes in a house belonging to a Mr. Sanderson, but most generally in a log house belonging to Mr. Jno. Phelps, on Third Street, at or near the corner of Monroe, and not far from the site now occupied by the cheese factory.

Between the time of the burning of the first court house on Sunday night, March 21, 1841, and the building of the present one, the removal of the county seat from Oregon City was seriously agitated. The feeling that had been engendered against Oregon City by the Dixon interests before the erection of Lee county, had never fully died out, and when it became neces- sarv to build a new court house, the smouldering embers of that fiery opposition were fanned into new life, and the excitement ran pretty high. Mount Morris, Daysville, Grand de Tour and Byron, were candidates for county seat honors. The friends of each place devised plans and schemes for a division of the county, each different plan being so defined as to make the favorite town the grand centre. But single-handed and alone, Oregon City maintained the supremacy, and finally gained what proved to be a permanent victory. During the agitation of this question, the county authorities took no action towards the erection of public buildings, but let the matter remain in abeyance.

In the latter part of March, 1843, a call was issued for a mass meeting of the people of the county, to be held at the old school-house that stood on the west side of Fifth Street, between Washington and Jefferson Streets, to take action in regard to the matter, and to adopt such measures as would settle the question beyond further dispute. That meeting was called for the 3d of April, and was largely attended. The Spring was the most backward of any known in the history of the country. Rock River was still blockaded with ice, and snow lay on the ground to the depth of several inches. The day was mild and pleasant, however, and the streets and vacant places - and there was a good deal of vacancy, then - soon became plains of slush.

Colonel Dauphin Brown was selected to preside over the deliberations of the meeting, but the name of the secretary is forgotten - the written proceedings not being preserved. Mount Morris, Grand de Tour, Daysville and Byron were represented in full force. Mr. Phelps and the other representative men of Oregon City were not indifferent to the issue involved, and had secured the presence of every one friendly to their interests. Speeches were made by representative men from each of the contesting villages, each of them claiming superior county seat advantages. After each of the spokesmen had exhausted their arguments, the question of location was submitted to a vote of the meeting, which resulted in favor of Oregon City by a small majority - Daysville giving up the contest before the vote was taken, and voting with Mr. Phelps and his friends for Oregon City.

A resolution was then passed asking the county commissioners to proceed at once with the erection of a one-story brick court house on the foundations of the one destroyed by fire, a number of persons pledging themselves to assist in its erection and to take town lots in payment for their labor thereon, or for such material as they might be able to furnish. The meeting then adjourned, waded down town through the slush, and, in bumpers of the best whisky to be had in the embryo city, provided at the expense of the Oregon people, pledged each other to bury the hatchet, let by-gones be by-gones, and work together for the common good of the county, after which the delegates retired to their respective homes, as merry as only pioneers know how to be, and yet keep sober. The county seat question was settled.

During the proceedings of the meeting, when the proposition to build a one-story court house was being considered, one of the Danas, of Grand de Tour, took occasion to remark that such a building would look more like a black schooner than a court house, and that it ought to be so called. Mr. Ben. Holden, then a settler in the Town of Maryland, replied that the Grand de Tour people might call it a black schooner if they wished. He was willing to adopt the name. When completed and rigged and ready for the crew, he knew where to find them. All that was necessary was to go down to Grand de Tour. A crew for such a craft could be picked up there at any time.

After this action on the part of the people, the county commissioners set to work to carry out the spirit of the meeting, and soon thereafter proceeded to the erection of the building. At a session of the county commissioners held in April, General Philip R. Bennett, the father of William Bennett, Esq., president of the First I^ational Bank of Oregon City, was appointed to superintend the erection of the new temple of justice. At the September term of the Commissioners Court, General Bennett presented to the court the original subscription list by which different citizens had agreed to aid in its erection, take town lots in payment therefor, etc., etc. At the same session, the court authorized Messrs. Bennett, W. W. Fuller and D. H. L. Moss to " proceed with the erection of the court house, and to vary the plan of the same from the specifications presented to the court in April so that the walls will be sixteen feet high." These agents were also authorized to sell lots to defray the additional expense beyond the original estimate of $2,000.

Under these auspices, the present court house, the wings excepted, was completed and ready for court occupancy in the Summer of 1848. The wings were built in 1847, at a cost of $1,000. Moses T. Crowell was the contractor and builder.

In the Summer of 1845, a new jail became a necessity. The old one, always weak and unsafe, was condemned, and measures inaugurated for the erection of a new one on the south side of the public square, between the building now occupied by the county clerk and county treasurer and the new brick jail, erected in 1874. December 4, 1845, the commissioners ordered the clerk to advertise for proposals for the erection of a new twostory brick jail, 18 by 32 feet, resting on stone foundations sunk two and one half feet below the surface of the ground and rising eighteen inches above the surface - the walls to be sixteen feet high. Provisions were made for two cells in the north end of the building, eight feet square each, and to be lined with two thicknesses of two-inch white oak planks, lined between with thick plate iron, to be spiked through with wrought iron spikes. The plans adopted also called for another cell seven by eight feet, to be lined in a similar manner, spiked and nailed together, etc. Each cell was to be furnished with good, substantial iron-barred doors, five feet high and eighteen inches wide. Innumerable locks, bars, bolts, etc., were included in the " plans and specifications," with a seeming determination of purpose to secure a jail that would bid defiance to the worst of characters, feut jail-breaking then had not been reduced to a science. Such a jail now would be looked upon as but little better than a pile of brick and rubbish, to be picked to pieces at will.

On the 9th of January, 1846, the commissioners being in session, the matter of the building of the jail was considered, and a blank contract was drawn up by the clerk, stipulating the manner of payment, etc. On the 10th, the contract for building the same was put up at public auction, the lowest responsible bidder to be awarded the contract. Thomas A. Potwin was the successful bidder, the contract being " knocked down " to him at the sum of $1,990. Isaac S. Wooley became Potwin's bondsman. In March, W. L. Ward was appointed to superintend the building of the jail, which was completed during the Summer, and accepted by the commissioners December 9, 1846.

That jail answered for all needed purposes until 1874, when the present handsome county prison, including a residence for the sheriff, at the southwest corner of the public square, was undertaken. In an exterior point of view, this county building is among the handsomest of its kind in the state. Messrs. Damier and Elder, of Chicago, were the contractors and builders, Messrs. Street and Baker, architects. Messrs. Daniel Shottenkirk, Charles M. Samis and George W. Dwight, of the board of supervisors, were the building committee and superintendents - Shottenkirk, chairman. The brick were from the kilns of Messrs. Hallett & Wertz, one and a quarter miles north of Oregon City. The structure cost $20,000. Henry C. Peak was the first sheriff to occupy the new building after its completion.

The last session of the county commissioners court was held on the 30th of November, A. D. 1849, and their last order related to the appointment of commissioners to divide the county into townships, and was in the words following, to-wit :

Ordered, That William Wamsley, Henry Hill and Daniel J. Pinkney be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to divide the County of Ogle into towns, under the provisions of the act of the legislature, entitled "Township Organization;" said commissioners being governed in the discharge of their duties by the provisions of said act, and make report accordingly. {Signed) Samuel H. Coffman,

When Illinois was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent state in 1818, the county system of management by a board of three county commissioners became a part of the organic law, but when the constitution of 1848 was adopted, provisions were made for submitting the question of a change from county to township organization to the people of the several counties of the state. The two systems are so entirely different in origin and management, that a ^brief synopsis of the differences is deemed pertinent in this connection.

Elijah M. Haines, in his "Laws of Illinois, Kelative to Township Organization," says the county system " originated with Yirginia, whose early settlers soon became large landed proprietors, aristocratic in feeling, living apart in almost baronial magnificence on their own estates, and owning the laboring part of the population. Thus the materials for a town were not at hand, the voters being thinly distributed over a great area. The county organization, where a few influential men managed the whole business of the community, retaining their places almost at their pleasure, scarcely responsible at all except in name, and permitted to conduct the county concerns as their ideas or wishes might direct, was, moreover, consonant with their recollections or traditions of the judicial and social dignities of the landed aristocracy of England, in descent from whom the Yirginia gentlemen felt so much pride. In 1834, eight counties were organized in Yirginia, and the system, extending throughout the state, spread into all the Southern States, and some of the Korthern States, unless we except the

" Illinois, which, with its vast additional territory, became a county of Virginia on its conquest by Gen. George Rogers Clark, retained the county organization, which was formally extended over the state by the constitution of 1818, and continued in exclusive use until the constitution of 1848. Under this system, as in other states adopting it, most local business was transacted by three commissioners in each county, who constituted a county court, with quarterly sessions. During the period ending with the constitutional convention of 1847, a large portion of the state had become filled up with a population of New England birth or character, daily growing more and more compact and dissatisfied with the comparatively arbitrary and inefficient county system." It was maintained by the people that the heavily populated districts would always control the election of the commissioners to the disadvantage of the more thinly populated sections - in short, that under that system, " equal and exact justice " to all parts of the county could not be secured. The township system had its origin in Massachusetts, and dates back to 1635. The first legal enactment concerning this system provided that, whereas, " particular towns have many things which concern only themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of business in their own town," therefore, " the freemen of every town, or the major part of them, shall only have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, with all the appurtenances of said towns, to grant lots, and to make such orders as may concern the well-ordering of their own towns, not repugnant to the laws and orders established by the General Court." " They might also (says Mr. Haines), impose fines of not more than twenty shillings, and ' choose their own particular officers, as constables, surveyors for the highways, and the like.' Evidently this enactment relieved the ^ general court of a mass of municipal details, without any danger to the powers of that body in controlling general measures or public policy. Probably, also, a demand from the freemen of the towns was felt, for the control of their own home concerns.

Similar provisions for the incorporation of towns were made in the first constitution of Connecticut, adopted in 1639; and the plan of township organization, as experience proved its remarkable economy, efficacy and adaptation to the requirements of a free and intelligent people, became universal throughout 'New England, and went westward with the emigrants from New England, into New York, Ohio and other Western States, including the northern part of Illinois."

Under these influences, the constitutional provision of 1848, and subsequent law of 1849, were enacted, enabling the people of the several counties of the state to vote "for " or " against" adopting the township system. This question was submitted to the people of the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1849, and was adopted by most of the counties^north of the Illinois River.

February 12, 1849, the legislature passed a law creating a county court. Section one of this law provided " that there should be established

* The New England colonies were first governed by a "general court," or legislature composed of a governor and a small council, which court consisted of the most influential inhabitants, and possessed and exercised both legislative and judicial powers, which were limited only by the wisdom of the holders. They made laws, ordered their execution by officers, tried and decided civil and criminal causes, enacted all manner of municipal regulations, and, in fact, did all the public business of the colony, in each of the counties of this state, now created and organized, or which may hereafter be created or organized, a court of record, to be styled the ' County Court,' to be held and consist of one judge, to be styled the ' County Judge.' " Section seventeen of the same act [see p. 307-10, Statutes of 1858] provided for the election of two additional justices of the peace, whose jurisdiction should be co-extensive with the counties, etc., and who should sit with the county judge as members of the court, for the transaction of all county business and none other.

IS^ovember, 1849, Spooner Ruggles was elected county judge, and William C. Salisbury and Joshua White were elected associate justices. The first term of the county court was commenced on the 17th of December, 1849. The commission of Spooner Euggles was signed by Augustus C. French, Governor, and bore date December 3, 1849. Justice Salisbury's commission bore the same date; Justice White's commission was dated the 17th of the same month. John M. Hinkle was elected county clerk at the same election, and his commission also bore date December 3, 1849.

The county court remained in the management of county aifairs until succeeded by a board of supervisors in the Fall of 1850, the first board being elected in April, 1850, and holding their first session on the 11th of November, A. D. 1850. February 5, 1850, the commissioners appointed by the county commissioners court, at their last session, November, 1849, to divide the county into townships, submitted the following report to the county court, which report was accepted and ordered to be made of record : of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, entitled -' An Act to provide for Gounty and Township organizations.'''' Approved February 12, 1849:

Lafayette Township - Includes all that half of Township 22 north, range 11 east of the fourth principal meridian, which lies in Ogle County.

Taylor Township - Qom^vi^es, all those portions of Township 22 north, ranges 9 and 10 east of the fourth principal meridian, which lie in Ogle County and east of the middle of Rock River.

Nashua Township - Includes all that part of Township 23 north, range .10 east of the fourth principal meridian, which is situated on the east side of a line drawn along the middle of Rock River, and on the south side of the half section line running east and west through the centres of sections 10, 11 and 12 of said township 23, range 10 east; also, the following islands in Rock River: Nos. 7, 8 and 10.

Oregon Township - ContSLins all that part of Township 23 north, range 10 east of the fourth principal meridian, which lies on the west side of tlie middle of Rock River, and that part of said township which lies on the east side of Rock River, north of the half section line running east and west through the centres of sections 10, 11 and 12 of said township 23 north, range 10 east, and also the islands in said Rock River which are not placed to the Town of Nashua and in the bounds of said township 23.

Marion TownsJiip - Includes all of Township 24 north, range 11 east, and that part of Township 25 north, range 11 east of the fourth principal meridian, which lies south and east of the middle of Rock River.

Byron Township - IncXu^e^ all that part of Township 25, range 11 east of the fourth principal meridian, which lies on the north and west of the middle of Rock River, and all the east half of Townsliip 25 north, range 10 east of the fourth principal meridian.

Grand cle Tour Township - Contains all those portions of Township 22 north, range 9 and 10 east of the fourth principal nieridian, which are situated in Ogle County and on the west side of the middle of Rock River.

Mount Morris Township - Comprises all of Township 24 north, range 9 east of the fourth principal meridian, and the east half of Township 24 north, range 8 east of the fourth principal meridian.

Leaf River Township - Includes the west half of Township 25 north, range 10, and the east half of Township 25 north, range 9 east of the fourth principal meridian.

Harrison Townsliip - Includes the west half of township 25 north, range 9 east, and the east half of Township 25 north, range 8 east of the fourth principal meridian.

Brookdille Township - Contains the west half of Township 24 and the west half of Township 25 north, range 8 east of the fourth principal meridian, also all of fractional Townships 24 and 25 north, range 7 east of the fourth principal meridian.

Buffalo ToiDnship - lnc\\i6.QS all of Township 23 north, range 8 east, and fractional Township 22 north, range 8 east of the fourth principal meridian, also fractional Township 33 north, range 7 east of the fourth principal meridian.

Commissioners, ~~ At the general^election ]S"ovember, 1849, the people of Ogle Countyvoted on the question of adopting the township system, with the following result:

This Board of Supervisors first met in an official capacity on the morning of November 11, 1850, when Joseph Williams was chosen temporary chairman, and Messrs. Spooner Kuggles, A. O. Campbell and Wm. SaHsbury were appointed a committee on rules and regulations. The board then adjourned until 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

*' Thomas Paddock and Charles C. Royce were contestants from Lafayette Township, an examination of w^hich was deferred from the first to the second day of the session, and then referred to the committee on elections. On the third day this committee reported in favor of Mr. Paddock. The report was adopted and the seat given to that gentleman.

At 2 P.M. the board re-assembled and proceeded to perfect tlieir organization. Zenas Aplington was cliosen permanent chairman. After the transaction of some further preliminary business, the board adjourned until 9 o'clock, IN'ovember 12.

1. The cliairman shall take the chair each day precisely at the hour to which the board shall have adjourned, and shall immediately call the meeting to order, and if a quorum be present shall cause the minutes of the previous day to be read.

2. When a motion is made and seconded, it shall be stated by the chair, or, when presented in meeting, shall be handed to the clerk to be read aloud before debate.

3. When any member is about to speak in debate, or present any matter to the board, he shall rise from his seat and address himself to " Mr. Chairman," and shall confine himself to the question under debate, and avoid personalities.

5. No member shall speak more than once on the same question without leave of the board, nor more than once until every member choosing to speak shall have spoken.

6. When the chairman is putting any question or addressing the board, no member shall walk across the room ; nor when a member is speaking shall entertain private conversation ; nor when a member is speaking pass between him and the chair.

The next business to claim the attention of the board was in relation to a change of name of three of the townships, as reported by the commissioners appointed to divide the county into townships. On motion it was resolved that ^

Whereas, It appears from a communication from the Auditor of State to the Clerk of the County Court that, by a decision in his office, the names of the Towns of Harrison, Eagle and Brooklyn must be changed, in pursuance of which the name of the Town of Harrison is changed to the name of Maryland ; the name of the Town of Brooklyn is changed to the name of Rockvale, and the name of the Town of Eagle is changed to the name of Pine Rock.

[Haldane Township was erected from the west part of Mount Morris and the east part of Brookville Townships, September 15, 1869. September 11, 1872, the name was changed from Haldane to Lincoln. The first election in Haldane was held in April, 1870.

Among the other committees appointed at the first session of the first Board of Supervisors, a special committee - Austin Lines, Samuel Mitchell and E. Payson Snow - to consider the traffic in spirituous liquors, and devise ways and means to regulate what was then believed by many people (as many people now believe) to be an evil. That committee had the subject under consideration for two or three days, and on the last day of the session submitted their report, recommending the Board o Supervisors to fix the sum to be paid by apphcants for license at one hundred and fifty dollars. " Your committee are led to this conclusion from the fact that they consider the practice of selling liquor by the small measure to be a fruitful source of immorality and opposed to the well-being and good order of society; and they would further state, as their conviction, that this sum fixed as the price to be paid would perhaps have a greater tendency to discourage the traffic, than an attempt at utter prohibition. And your committee would further recommend to the Board of Supervisors to use all due dilligence to put the law in force against all who may violate the license law, and to recommend all good citizens to do the same, to the end that the traffic may be discouraged, and tlie law sustained in case of violation." The report was adopted. So it seems that in 1850 the temperance wave was agitating the people pt' Ogle County, and that the Board of Supervisors, through a special committee, placed themselves in an attitude of antagonism to what their special committee designated in their report as " a fruitful source of immorality." But that action did not permanently settle the question. Thirty-eight years, almost, have come and gone, and still the evil exists. The coming of every municipal or April election, reopens the agitation of the subject, and license or no license is the dividing issue in almost every municipality. Sometimes the scales have been pretty evenly balanced between the license and anti-license elements, but as a rule the license people have maintained the supremacy. The license system may have been a source of revenue, and the means of aiding in certain improvements, but it is a fact that can not be readily and successfully denied, say the more intelligent representatives of the two factions, that the cost of prosecuting the law cases that grow out of the traffic, even under license, more than overbalances the amount of revenue that is derived from license.

From another report of a special committee herewith presented, it would seem that the affairs of the county in its early days were loosely and carelessly managed. It is a lamentable fact that in almost every instance there was an inexcusable carelessness or negligence about preserving official papers, and keeping a proper record of the accounts of counties, the receipts and expenditures, the different sources of revenue, etc. There is no valid reason why there should not be in every county a ready means of showing every business transaction from the time the first entry was made upon the records to the close of the last year. JSTeither is there any reason (loss by tires or floods excepted) why every paper of an official character, no matter how small or comparatively trifling, should not be carefully preserved. On the other hand, there ought to be a severe penalty imposed upon all officials, whether of new counties or old ones, who fail to preserve intact the official papers of the offices they fill. If this rule were always followed by public officers, it would save a world of trouble and vexatious confusion. Special committees of examination and charges of fraud, corruption and dishonesty would not be so frequent, and the means would always be at hand to show the taxpayers where their money goes.

When the supervisors succeeded the county commissioners and county court in the management of county affairs in 1850, " confusion confounded " or confounded confusion, prevailed, to a very great extent in the county offices. Papers had been carelessly kept, the records, in many instances, were in bad shape. 'No one knew the exact, or even approximate, condition of the financial status of the county. This was not the result of a dishonesty of purpose on the part of the respective clerks and other guardians of the county's interests, but of carelessness and indifference. The carelessness had come to be an abuse, and the abuse demanded correction. So at a special meeting of the board, E'ovember 15, 1850, a special finance committee of two was appointed to investigate the affairs of the county and report at a subsequent meeting. December 5, 1850, the board again met in special session, when the special committee just mentioned, presented the following report as the result of their investigations:

First. We have, by carefully inspecting the records in the County Clerk's office and the books of the Treasurer, endeavored to ascertain the amount of revenue orders issued from the year 1837 up to September, 1850 ; also, the amount of the same in payment of taxes and cancelled during the same period of time ; also, the amount of interest on the unpaid balance, which had been presented to the treasurer for payment up to the present time.

Second. We have, by a careful examination of the records, found the whole amount of building fund orders which have been issued from A. D. 1839 up to June, A. D. 1843, including all that species of orders ever issued by the county. Next, we found the amount of these orders which had been paid into the Treasury. Then we carefully computed the interest on the unpaid balance, which, when added to the principal, shows the amount, or the total indebtedness of the county on the building fund.

Under the third division of our report your committee have labored under serious embarrassment. In this division we designed to show the indebtedness of the county in the form of Jury certificates, but it appears on inquiry of Mr. Light that a record of a very small part of the jury certificates issued had been kept, consequently your committee had no resort left but to ascertain the amount of which a record had been kept by the present clerk, and then refer to the whole mass of cancelled county paper now in the archives of the county. From this mass, where county orders, building fund orders, jury certificates, county clerk and county commissioners certificates, etc., etc., are in wild confusion mingled, we have, by carefully unfolding each package and paper separately, of the thousands there found, been able to figure up the whole amount of jury certificates already paid. From this amount we have deducted the amount of which a record has been kept, and thereby shown the sum cancelled, which had never been recorded ; and your committee would here add, only, however, as a presumption of their own, that as these certificates are usually issued in small sums and scattered generally throughout the county, they have mostly found their way back to the county treasury, and are not to any great extent a source of county indebtedness.

Recapitulation

Total indebtedness of county aside from jury certificates. $27,925 82 Against this indebtedness we have notes and obligations and interest in favor of county in hands of clerks, amounting to .$2,084 90

Under the third division of this report We present the following view ;of the jury certificates, unsatisfactory and imperfect as it may be :

From this amount deduct recorded certificates, and we find a balance of [$1,299.55, of which no record has been kept. Then by adding the amount of certificates recorded, to those already cancelled, and we have a total amount of $4,235.18, as above.

Your committee would further report that from the thorough examination they have given this part of the duty assigned them, they have come to the conclusion that by far the greatest part of the jury certificates issued by the clerk of the Circuit Court previous to a record being kept, are paid. Of those issued under the administration of the present clerk, about on6 fourth only have been cancelled. One fourth of $1,467.80 is $366.95 ; this amount taken from the whole amount recorded, leaves a balance against the county of jury certificates unpaid of $1,100.85.

That the treasurer of Ogle County be instructed by the Board of Supervisors to keep a separate and distinct account of the species of funds paid into the treasury, viz.: Cash, Revenue Orders, Building Fund Orders, Certificates of County Commissioners, and Clerks and Jury Certificates, each separate and distinct, and on separate pages ; also, that the County Clerk be instructed to file each of the foregoing species of county paper, when cancelled, in his office, in separate parcels.

The adoption of the above resolutions, in the opinion of your committee, would hereafter avoid confusion and greatly facilitate reference to the state of the affairs of the county.

It would be as unprofitable as unnecessary to present in detail the numerous orders, reports, resolutions, etc., etc., of the board of supervisors. Among so many men, their> proceedings partake a good deal of the nature of a legislature. There are always some cool business heads, as well as a good many glib tongues. Some of them are practical, industrious workers - others are of the "buncombe" order, and always ready to make a speech or voluminous report, more to be heard and read of men, than for real, practical usefulness to their constituency and the taxpayers. This is in no wise derogatory to their characters as men, for they can't help it. They were born so. It has always been and always will be. In the Congress of the United States, in state legislatures, a few men do the work, a few others do the talking - make the speeches. This is neither romance nor elaboration, but solid history, sustained by facts as old as civilized government. -

Thirteen years have now come and gone since the independence of Ogle County was recognized by an act of the legislature. In these years the wild prairies - erst the home of the red men - had been reduced to farm tillage, and evidences of wealth, intelligence, comfort and refinement were to be seen in every direction. Indian trails had given way to state and county roads; villages, churches and school-houses had sprung up on the " old camp grounds " of the Pottawattomies and their kindred tribes of men, native to the beautiful valleys of Rock River and its tributaries. '' Claims " upon which the hardy pioneers had settled long before the government surveyors had disturbed the grasses and flowers that grew in great profusion with jacob-stafi and chain, as they defined township and section lines, and established section corners, had been " proved up," and with a guaranty from Uncle Sam, the occupants were " monarchs of all they surveyed." In peaceable possession of their lands and their homes, the outlaws expelled from the country, their lands rich and productive, the people of Ogle could well afford to be joyous and happy. What if their pioneer days were often full of hardship, toil, exposure'and want; the worst was over. These years of trial had brought them comfort and plenty, and the future was bright with hope and full of promise. Since then (1850) twenty-eight more years have come and gone, each of them adding to the population, wealth and intelHgence of the people, until the county has come to rank among the richest and most populous in the great State of Illinois - a proud monument to the memory of the brave and heroic Ogle, whose coolness and courage at the head of his command during the siege of Fort Henry, rendered him so conspicuous among the other fearless officers by whom he was surrounded, and in whose honor the county was named.

As elsewhere stated, Isaac Chambers was the first white man to claim a habitation within the limits of what is now Ogle County, having come to White Oak Grove, about one half mile west of the present village of Forreston, in the early Spring of 1830. We are not advised whether he made a claim there or not, but if he did, he soon abandoned it, for a site ten miles south, at Nanusha, or Buffalo Grove, where John Ankeney had made a claim by marking some trees early the same season. While it is an admitted fact that Isaac Chambers and family were the first actual settlers, it is an open question whether he or Ankeney made the first claim, but the preponderance of evidence seems to be in favor of Ankeney. Ankeney, as our readers will remember, had come up from some part of Southern Illinois, and after making his claim as mentioned above, returned to his family. Chambers must have been at White Oak Grove about the same time, but we have no evidence that he made any claim before he moved down to Bufltalo Grove, where, by chance, he selected the claim that Ankeney had marked. He was probably entirely ignorant of the fact that he was "jumping " a claim, or that any other white man had ever disturbed the native wildness by his presence. Other settlers in that neighborhood followed from year to year. In 1831 there were enough voters to entitle them to an election precinct, and in 1831 the county commissioners of Jo Daviess erected the Buffalo Grove precinct. From Buffalo Grove the settlements extended to other parts of the country from time to time, the settlers all occupying claims under claim-emption laws of congress, until the lands were surveyed and thrown upon the market. Fourteen townships of land east of the third principal meridian were open to sale at the United States land office at Galena, October 29, 1839. These townships included the land in what is now White Kock and Scott Townships, where the first lands in the northern district were sold. The first tract offered was the east half of the northeast quarter of section 1, town 41, range 1 east, and so on throughout the section. For the unoccupied lands there were no bidders. The first tract sold was bid in by Thomas O. Young, agent for the settlers, for Jacob Wickhizer, and included the east half of the northwest quarter, and the west half of the northeast quarter of section five, town forty-one, range one, east of the third principal meridian.

The lands west of the third principal meridian, within the present County of Ogle, were not open to sale until the Summer of 1843, and none of the lands became subject to taxation until five years after date of purchase.

Adjustment of Land Claims. - It may seem strange to the people of the present that, with nothing but claim titles to their homes, there were not more serious differences between the settlers than there appears to have been. In point of fact, there was but little legal law in the country from the time when Chambers and Ankeney settled here, in 1830, up to the time when Ogle Ooantj was set off from Jo Daviess County, in 1837, and the machinery of the county set in motion. It is very true that the courts were open at Galena, but it must be remembered that the distance between G-alena and Oregon was a two days' journey. There were no railroads then, and horseback or wagon conveyance, where settlers had horses or wagons, was the only means of travel, unless men went on foot. A visit to G-alena and return, required the largest part of a week. Few settlers could well spare that much time from their claims and homes. They would rather bear with patience impositions that would now seem outrageous, than go to Galena to go to law. Only the more aggravated cases were ever sought to be redressed by statutory provisions. There was but little lawing in those days. The people were bound together by a community of interests, and essayed to govern themselves and protect each other upon the principle of the golden rule - " As ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." Yery few claim disputes ever found their way into the courts for settlement and adjudication. The settlers were sovereign, and made their own claim laws and regulations.

To give the reader an idea of how the pioneer settlers protected the claim rights of each other, we present the following constitution and bylaws of the Oregon Claim Society, which was adopted on the 11th day of March, A. D. 1839 (two years after the County of Ogle was organized), and which was placed at our disposal by Hon. James Y. Gale.

Preliminary to the adoption of this constitution, a meeting of settlers met in Oregon at the date above quoted, when Dr. William J. Mix was called to the chair, and D. H. T. Moss appointed secretary of the meeting. Spooner Ruggles, of Grand de Tour Precinct ; Edwin S. Leland and James Y. Gale, of Oregon Precinct ; Samuel M. Hitt and David Worden, of Boston Precinct ; Aaron Payne and E]>hraim Page, of Bloomingville Precinct; David Reed and Chauncy Blodgett, of Brooklyn Precinct, and Enoch Wood and Jacob Perry, of Washington Precinct, were appointed a committee to report amendments to the rules and regulations previously adopted and in force among the settlers and land claimants. After due deliberation, the committee reported the following :

Article 2. Its oflScers shall consist of a president, secretary, and three referees in each of the following precincts, viz.: Oregon, Grand de Tour, Bloomingville, Brooklyn, Boston and Washington, and two directors and one marshal in each of said precincts.

Article 3. It shall be the duty of the president to preside at the meetings of the society, and to direct the secretary to issue notices for special meetings. In case of his absence, the society may elect a president pro tern.

Article 4. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep a record of the proceedings of the society, to receive and record the claims of its members, designating accurately on a plat the metes and bounds of said claims, to record such title papers as may be handed in by the members, awards of arbitration and referees, to issue such notices, and perform such other duties as shall hereinafter be required of him.

Article 5. It shall be the duty of each director, when ever any member shall apply to him for a trial of any dispute between him, the said member, and any other individual in relation to a claim, to appoint three disinterested persons who shall not be relatives of either of the contending parties, or residents of the same precinct in which either of them reside, arbitrators to hear and determine said controversy, ana shall furnish the secretary with a certificate of the names of the persons so selected by him, who shall thereupon issue a written notice to the adverse party informing him of the lime and place of trial, and duly specifying the claim, demand or subject matter in difference to be adjusted, and also a notice" in writing informing the arbitrators of the time and place of trial, which said notice

Proprietor Of The Ogle Co. Abstract Office

Article 6. Said arbitrators, after receiving satisfactory evidence that due notice has been given as mentioiied in Article 5th (unless good cause shall be shown by one of said parties for a continuance) shall, at the time and place appointed, proceed to hear and determine the case according to the evidence produced, and according to their best skill and judgment. In case one of said arbitrators shall be absent, the two present shall have power to fill the vacancy in their board with a fair and impartial man, in nowise related to either of said parties. After said arbitrators shall have made out their award, which shall clearly and explicitly describe the premises and damages and cost awarded, together with the names of the parties, and bear date on the day of the trial, they shall forward the same to the secretary to be by him recorded.

Article 7. If either of said parties shall be disappointed with the decision of said arbitrators, he shall have the right to an appeal from the decision of said arbitrators, by giving notice thereof to the secretary withm five days next after the trial, to a tribunal to be constituted in the following manner, viz, : The secretary shall select by lot five of the eighteen referees, appointed officers of this society, who shall have final and conclusive jurisdiction of all controversies in regard to claims. Whenever the secretary shall renew the notice that an appeal is claimed, he shall select said board of referees by lot as aforesaid, and shall give to the party claiming the appeal a notice in writing to be served upon the adverse party, informing him that an appeal has been taken, and of the time and place of trial before the referees. Also, a notice in writing informing the referees of the time and place of trial, to be served upon said referees and adverse party at least one week before the day of trial. The notice to the referees shall inform them of the subject matter in difi"erence, mentioned in the notice to the adverse party, of the trial before the arbitrators, to which they shall confine themselves in the trial before them.

Article 8. Said referees, after receiving satisfactory evidence that due notice has been given as mentioned in Article 7th (unless good cause shall be shown for a continuance) shall proceed to hear and determine the controversy between said parties according to the evidence, and according to the best of their skill and judgment.

If not more than two of said referees shall be absent, those present shall have power to fill the vacancy in their board by calling in the nearest one or two to be found of the other referees mentioned as officers of this society ; but three of said referees shall have power to try and decide an application for a continuance. After the trial has been decided, it shall be the duty of said board of referees to make out their award containing the names of the parties, and clearly describing the premises, damages and costs awarded, and forward the same to the secretary for record.

Article 9. In all trials, either before the arbitrators or referees, a decision may be made by a majority, and if an appeal be not taken from the decision of the arbitrators as heretofore mentioned, their decision shall be final and conclusive.

Article 10. There shall be allowed to said arbitrators for their services, two dollars per day, and to said referees three dollars per day, and to the secretary the following fees, viz.: For making an entry of a claim upon the plat, twenty-five cents; for each notice in writing, twelve and a half cents; for recording instruments of writing, the same fee as allowed to county recorders for similar services, to be advanced by the party or person claiming their services, except in case of a continuance, in which case the party asking for the continuance shall pay the costs occasioned thereby.

Article 11. In all trials the successful party shall recover his costs.(except the cost of a continuance, which shall in all cases be paid by the party on whose motion the continuance is granted). And in all trials before the referees, if the parly in whose favor they decide has advanced money to pav the costs, and the adverse party shall neglect or refuse to pay said money so advanced by "said successful party, the said referees shall have power, and it shall be their duty to award to said party in whose favor they decide, such timber, stone or part of the claim of said unsuccessful party, not protected by law, as they deem sufficient.

Article 12. It shall be the duty of the marshals when the rules and regulations of this society are violated, to call upon any one of the members to aid in enforcing them ; and all members when notified so to do by either of said marshals, shall turnout and enforce an observance of them or protect their rights of membership, unless a reasonable excuse shall be offered.

Article 13. If any member of the society, shall be desirous of having but one trial of a matter in difference between himself and another individual, in relation to a claim which shall be final and conclusive, he may obtain a hearing before the Board of Referees in the following manner, viz. : He shall make application to the secretary therefor, whose duty it shall be to select said board in a manner heretofore provided in Article 7, and shall thereupon issue a notice of writing, informing the adverse party and Board of Referees of the time and place of trial ; which said notice shall be served upon said adverse party and upon each of said referees, at least one week before the day of trial. The notice to the ad- verse party shall clearly specify the demand or matter in difference to be tried. The trial to be conducted in the same manner heretofore pointed out in Article 8, and the amount to be made out in the same manner and forwarded to the secretary for record.

Article 14. This society will in no instance countenance any individual in trespassing upon the claims of another; but, any individual not having' a claim of his own, and becoming a member of this society, who shall feel himself aggrieved by another person unjustly holding a claim of unreasonable size, may make application to a director who shall proceed in the manner heretofore pointed out m Article 5, or if he shall prefer to have but one trial, and that by the Board of Referees, he shall apply to the secretary, as pointed out in Article 13; whereupon said directop or secretary shall proceed as heretolore directed in said article, and if on the trial it shall appear to the arbitrators or referees that said claim is under all tlie circumstances of the case of Gnreasonable size and unjust, ihcy shall award to said person so claiming a trial, a part of said claim exceeding in no case three hundred and twenty acies; such proportion of which shall be prairie, and such timber as in their judgment shall seem right. If said trial shall in the first instance be had before the arbitrators, either party may appeal in the manuer heretofore described. In case of a complaint being made as mentioned in this article, the arbitrators or referees as the case may be, shall not award to said complainant any partition of the claim of another actually under improvement, or any portion of the timber actually necessary, taking into consideration the amount of improved prairie.

Article 15. It shall be the duty of the members of this Society, to hand in to the Secretary for record a plat of their claims within three months, in order that it may be easily ascertained what is. and what is not claimed; and in order that all disputes may be settled as soon as possible, and before the land sales, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to ascertain and inform the parties when the plat of different members cover the same parcel of land, that the difficulty may be settled by members on trial, and adjusted in the manner heretofore described ; and if any member" shall neglect or refuse to have his claim recorded within said three months, this society will not consider such members entitled to its protection.

Article 16. All arbitrations had and determined, either uuder the rules and regulations of this Society, or by arbitrators mutually chosen by the parties, shall be deemed final and conclusive.

Article 17. Any individual who shall have been in peaceable possession of any claim, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, by residence thereon for the term of six months, shall not be disturbed in his said possession, and it shall in all trials be evidence that the claim is his.

Article 18. In all cases of complaint by a member, that the claim of another is unjust and of unreasonable size, when the person in whose name the claim is holden shall reside without the limits of this Society, the said party making application of a trial, shall cause three copies of the notice to the adverse party, given him by the Secretary, to be posted up, two weeks successively next before the day of trial, a copy at the house of the nearest settler to the premises. Whereupon the arbitrators or referees shall proceed in the manner heretofore pointed out.

Article 19. All unoccupied and unimproved Congress land, owmed by individuals residing without the limits of this Society, on which there are no valuable improvements or marks of claim except hacking in the timber, stakes set in the prairie or furrow round it, unless the same shall have been bona fide purchased for a valuable consideration, by a person intending to settle on the same, shall no longer be considered a claim, but may be occupied by any person who may see fit to settle on it, and in case said claim shall have been bona fide purchased by a person intending to reside on it, unless said purchaser shall remove to and settle within the limits of this Society within six months, or shall within said time make improvements at least to the value of fifty dollars on each half section, the same shall be considered open for settlement, but ijo person settling upon land situated as herein mentioned shall be entitled to claim more than three hundred and twenty acres, not more than eighty acres of which shall be timber, provided there be prairie enough to make out the half section.

Article 20. This Society deems itself bound to protect all claims bona fide purchased for a valuable consideration and owned by residents within the limits of this Society.

Article 21. There shall be an annual meeting of the Society, on the second Monday of June for the election of officers and for the transaction of such other business as may be brought before the meeting.

The members of this Society hereby pledge themselves to be at all times ready to aid and support each other in carrying into effect its rules and regulations and to support each other at the land sales, by preventing all bidding upon the claims of any member thereof.

All the rules and regulations of the Claim Protecting Society adopted at Oregon on the 2d day of July, A. D. 1836, not inconsistent with the above, are still in force and adopted.

Referees. - William J. Mix, Seweli Biitterfield and Martin C. Hill, of Oregon; David Keed, Harvey Jewett and Alden, of Brooklin; Erastus D. Hubbell, Cyrus Chamberlin and Cotton, of Grand de Tour; Aaron Payne, Joseph Sanford and Dauphin Brown, of Bloomingville; Isaac Eosencrans, Jehiel Day and Enoch Wood, of Washington; Martin Keynolds, S. M. Hitt and B. Worden, of Boston.

Directors. - James Y. Gale and D. H. T. Moss, of Oregon; David Reed and Harvey Jewett, of Brooklyn ; Moore and Prichard, of Grand de Tour; Joseph Sanford and Wm. Wilkenson, of Bloomingville; R Aikins and B. Eathburn, of Washington; D. Stover and Hestand of Boston, Moore and Prichard, of Grand de Tour.

Marshals. - Jno. Waggoner, of Oregon; C. Blodgett, of Brooklyn; J. C. H., of Grand de Tour; Simon Spaulding of Bloomingville; Eiley Paddock, of Washington ; ISTathan Swingley, of Boston.

The old record from which the above is copied bears the names of sixty of the old pioneers of the " times that tried men's souls," " when this country was new " - who came here before the Indians were gone - markets and stores many miles away - who lived on such game as the wilds afforded for meat, beans, etc., with an occasional "mess" of potatoes, and now and then a " corn dodger," until their strong arms and brave hearts reduced the prairie sod to productive tillages-then they began to live as they and their parents lived in the states from which they came.

Two principal reasons conspired to render a combination of this character necessary. First, there was a class of men, void of character and honesty, who were 'professional claim jumpers. They came in after the " ice was broken," and sought to take forcible possession of claims which rightfully belonged to others. Second, as the time for the land sales came on, capitalists and land speculators, only different from claim jumpers in that they had more money, commenced to plan and scheme to buy up large tracts of land, including the improvements settlers had made, by outbidding the pioneer occupants. Both the claim jumpers and the speculators were justly regarded as natural enemies to the settlers, and hence the latter formed a " ring," if it may be so called, to protect each other, and who can honestly maintain that they were not right.

After this digression we return to the Supervisors record, to notice a few more orders and resohitions, when we will pass to the consideration of other matters.

The educational interests' of the county were earnestly and carefully guarded from the time when first there were children enough to form a school, and the precedents established by the early county authorities in this regard, have been zealously followed and maintained until the schools of Ogle County outrank the schools of any other in the state.

As early as January, 1852, the county legislators or Board of Supervisors, introduced and adopted a resolution providing for a series of lectures on education in the several schools districts of the county, as follows:

Resolved, That the school commissioner of Ogle County be, and is hereby authorized to visit the schools of the several towns ot the county for the purpose of promoting the cause of education by delivering lectures or otherwise, during the present year, and that he be paid two dollars per day by the county for the time actually employed in such service; provided the lime so employed by him shall not exceed fifty days.

An amendment was oiFered providing that the time should not exceed thirty days, but the amendment was lost, and the resolution, as originally drawn, was adopted.

This was probably the first movement of the kind undertaken in the state; that it was a movement in the right direction can not be gainsaid. It was time and money well employed, as the present proud position of the schools amply testifies. It was the beginning of that fostering care, which, carefully followed, won for the Ogle County schools a Centennial medal in 1876, of which more will be said in a special educational section.

September 14, 1853, the liquor license question again came before the Board of Supervisors in the form of a petition bearing 1,723 signatures asking the board to adopt a retail license resolution or order. With a large class of people at that time this question seems to have been considered as a vital and important one, and to have kept the public mind in an almost continued state of agitation and unrest. The petition, however, on motion, was laid on the table, and so far as the records show, was never again called up.

September, 1856, the Board of Supervisors^inaugurated measures to secure the erection of a fire -proof building for the use of the several county officers, resulting in the building of the two small concerns at the northeast corner and the southeast corner of the public square. Messrs. Rood, Wood and Williams were appointed to make estimates for the erection of the same. On the 5th of March, 1857, a resolution was presented providing fur the erection of two buildings instead of one. The resolution was adopted, and on the 7th of March a new building committee (composed of Messrs. Potwine, Baker and Rood) was appointed to superintend their erection. A final settlement for these buildings was not made for a year or two after their completion in consequence of a diiference of opinion between the supervisors and the builders, the former maintaining that the buildings were not finished according to the contract requirements. The difierences were finally adjusted, however, without resort to the courts of law, and the buildings accepted and paid for.

So far as the proceedings of the county commissioners, the county court and the board of supervisors are concerned, we have carefully traced the more important of their acts to the present. There are some things, however, such as the building of the bridge across Rock Kiver, the county's connection with railroad enterprises, etc., that are treated under separate headings, and their history will be found in appropriate sections, and will be found full of interest, an interest that will increase with the increase of years. This part of our undertaking so far completed, we turn back to the earlier records to reproduce some miscellaneous records that are not without historical value. When we have disposed of these, we will take up circuit court affairs, the history of the Eeign of Terror and Outlawry endured by this people for a period of ten years or more, culminating in the organization of a Yigilance committee, the killing of^he Driscolls, etc., after which will take up the War Record of the county - a record of which every man and woman of the county has just reason to be proud.

The first marriage license issued from the county court was to Mr. Horace Thompson and Miss Eliza Ann McKinney. The license was dated January 31, 1831, and was signed " Smith Gilbraith, clerk, by J. P. Dixon, deputy clerk." The certificate of marriage was returned on the 12th day of February following, by John Thomas, who certified that he solemnized their marriage on the Tth day of February, 1837.

The first probate order on record related to the estate of Peter Meyer, deceased. This order was dated June 10, but the year was omitted. From the fact, however, that on the 31st day of July, 1840, Jacob Meyer and Mary Meyer, widow of Peter Meyer, were appointed guardians of the persons and effects of Peter Meyer, it is presumable that the order first quoted was made June 10, 1840.

The device for the circuit court seal was adopted at a session of the County Commissioners Court held in August, 1840. The device is thus described on the records: "Clouds above, from which is thrust an illuminated hand holding the scales of justice, and the words, 'Circuit Court, Ogle County.' "

I, Alexander Irvine, of the County of Ogle and State of Illinois, do make and publish this my last Will and Testament, in manner and form following, that is to say:

Second. I give and devise to my eldest son, Joseph W. Irvine, all that tract of land lying eighty rods on the river, south of Cyril James' line, and north to the line of Wm. Wilkerson,' being about two miles, containing nearly half of a section; also, money to enter, or pay tor said tract of land, and to his heirs and assigns forever.

Third. I give and devise one thousand dollars to the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to be paid in forty years from date, without interest.

Fourth. I give, and devise, and bequeath to my beloved wife, Clarisa Irvine, all^ the remainder of my property, both in this State and elsewhere, to distribute as she sees fit or best. And further, it IS my desire that my son Joseph have a general superintendence of said property if he is willing. And lastly, I hereby constitute and appoint my wife, Clarisa Irvine, and my son, Joseph W. Irvine, and my friend, Horace Miller, to be the executors for this my last Will and Testament, revoking and annuling all former wills by me made, and ratifying and confirming this and no other, to be my last Will and Testament.