Peoria County, Illinois - Chapter 9: Political Economy Continued, 1880

Chapter 9: Political Economy Continued

:826: Thanks of the County Court to President John Quincy Adams - Fox River Precinct - Rev. Jesse Walker - Fever River Precinct - August Election - The Candidates - Peter Williams - Second Financial Exhibit - County Revenue - Tavern and Ferry Rates - Delinquent Taxes - Mining Excitement. Chicago : First Ferry and Tavern License - Turnpike and Election Accounts - Marriage Records - Justices of the Peace - Billy Caldwell - Shabonee - An Old Document.

March 6, the Court being in session the clerk was directed to transmit to the President of the United States the thanks of the Court for his prompt compliance with the prayer of their petition for leave to enter the fractional quarter section of land on wliich to locate their county seat ; and also that he (the Clerk) be directed to inform the President that his kind interference in their behalf did not produce the result desired.

Fox Riveb Precinct

At this session, the Conrt ordered that an election precinct be established by the following boundaries : " All that district of country north of Senatchwine creek, and the River Dupage, within the bounds of this State, to be known and distinguished as the Fox River Precinct, and that all general and special elections shall be held at the house of Jesse Walker, near the Junction of the Illinois and Fox rivers (Ottawa) and that Aaron Hawley, Henry Allen and James Walker be appointed jndges thereof."

Ebv. Jesse Walker

The Jesse Walker here mentioned was a Methodist preacher and missionary, and of the first to Ijreak the bread of life on the waters of the Illinois river. He was a good man, and his soul full of the milk of kindness. At one time what was known as the Green River settlement, on Fox river, run short of provisions, and the people were on the verge of starvation. Jesse Walker heard of their destitute and suffering condition and sent them word from the Sangamon settlement, near Springfield, that if they would send a keel-boat down the Illinois and up the Sangamon to within six miles of Springfield, the settlers there would load it with needful provisions. Jesse Walker undertook the relief expedition in person, obtained a keel-boat at Peru, and, securing Josiah Fulton as pilot, proceeded to the point named, where the boat was loaded as the pioneers to Sangamon had promised. They returned to Peru, and from there, through the importunity of Walker, tliey went on up the river as far as Starved Rock, where the cargo was landed. It arrived just in time to "do the most good." Josiah Fulton, the pilot, returned to Peoria by canoe.

This is not the only instance of Jesse Walker's interest in suffering, hungering pioneers, that is mentioned. His name and good deeds were enshrined in the hearts of the pioneers and transmitted to their posterity. Blessed be the name and the memory of Jesse Walker.

Fever Rivek Precinct

At their June session (June 2, 182G), the Commissioners " ordered that an election precinct. No. 5, comprise the following boundaries : All of Mercer and Warren counties, and the attached parts thereof." This precinct included the Fever river lead mines, Jo Daviess county, and the returns of the election uf the 7th of August, 1826, were made as from the " Fever River Mines Precinct." At the same session the Court revised a former order relating to judges for the August election, and appointed the following :

August Election

As already noted the first election in Peoria county was held on the 7th day of March, 1825. The second election was held on the 7th day of August, 1826, the day on which general elections were held in the olden times. The vote in each of the four precincts where polls were held, was as follows :

County Coniniissioners - William Holland, 105 ; Nathan Dillon, 106 ; John Hamlin, 172 ; Stephen C. French, lOl ; Rivers Cormack, 81 ; Hiram M. Curry, 46; Gideon Hawley, 18. Hollin, Dillon and Hamlin were elected.

Peter Williajis

In 1832, before the eastern slope of Iowa was opened to white settlement, Peter Williams went over to that side of the Mississippi river and built a cabin - the first - on the site of Fort Madison. The Indians complained against the innnvaiion, and some soldiers were sent down from Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, who demolished Peter's cabin and set him across tiie River in Illinois. In June, 1833, when the Indian limit of possession expired, he returned to Fort NLulison and re-occupied his claim. He did not remain there long, however, until he pushed on to the Des Moines river, where he died in 1835.

County Revenue

Lands in Peoria were opened to sale in 18 - and became taxable in 18 - . Before the lands were subject to taxation, revenue for county purposes was raised by taxes assessed against personal property, and rated from one-half of one per cent, to one per cent, on the value of the property or article taxed. Ferries were licensed by the County Commissioners, and paid from ten to twenty dollars a year, for the use of the county. Taverns were licensed in the same way, and charged at about the same rates. Merchants, grocers and dealers were also licensed by the County Court, and paid from five to twenty dollars a year to the county treasury. These were the only sources of revenue and required careful management and strict economy to meet the current expenses.

The political economj' of Peoria county as commenced and practiced by the County Commissioners has been introduced for the purpose of preserving the modus operandi of perfecting county organizations. The old journals have been carefully overhauled, and voluminous extracts made from their well-written and carefully preserved pages. These extracts will pieserve the names of the representative men and public officials of the years which they cover, to generations yet to come. While a few of the old pioneers still remain among the useful, honored and respected citizens of the county and earth, the most of them have been gathered to their home. " Peace to their memory. "

The general details of county management are here dismissed to write of other incidents and events that will be of more interest to the majority of readers.

The statement below shows the condition of the county in June, 1827, when at a special session of the Court it was ordered that the sheriff be debited and credited as follows :

J Debtor

To balance in the treasury at the last settling day, December teiin, 1826, $294 355^ " delinquent list from assessor's tax book - 312 52 $606 83

Credit

At this session of the Co'irt it was also ordered that each and every taveru keeper in the county of Peoria, be autliorized to charge the following rates :

Delinquent Taxes

Delin(juunt taxes were not easily collected, for tliere were tax-fighters in those days as well as in the present. In 182d, two hundred and four persons in the Fever River settlement - Jo Daviess county - were returned delinquent in the payment of taxes a.ssessed against tliem. Most, if not all of tiieui, were miners. .Samuel Fulton was sheriff and collector of Peoria county, and Ji).><iaii Fulton was his deputy. In the disciiarge of liis duty the sheriff sent iiis deputy uj) among liu- miners with tax warrants to make collections. Josiah says, first one miner would take a warrant, read it, or get some one to read it for him, and then hand it to another one, till it liad passed from one to another of ail who happened to be present, and then remarked : " You come up here to collect tax money, did you ? And you are going to seize property if we don't pay, are you? Well, we aren't going to pay, and we aren't going to let ytm take any of our property, either. Mind that, will you? And the best tiling you can do is to get out of here as a tax collector just as quick as you can. But if you want to share our bed and board as a private citizen and visitor, 3'ou shall liave the best in our cabins, liut you can't ha\e a cent on yi.ur d - d old tax warrants, nor you shan't toucli a bit of jiropert^' to make it." And Jo^iali Fultun came iiunie wilii little 01 noliiing to show for his trip or to add to tlie wealth of tlie county treasury.

First Ferry And Tavern License

tavern and maintain the first ferry, the pioneer settlers at Fort Dearborn were indebted to the Commissioners of Peoria count}-. At the June - 1829 - term of the Court,

Ordered, That Archibald Clybourn and Samuel Miller be authorized to keep a ferry across the Chicago river, at the loner forks, near Wolf's Point, crossing the river below the Northeast Branch, and to land on either side of both branches, to suit the convenience of persons wishing to cross. And that said Clybourn and Miller pay a tax of ten dollars and execute a bond with security for one hundred dollars. The rates for ferriage to be one-half the sum that John L. Bogardus gets at his ferry at I'eoria. [See Feny Rates, p. 304.]

At the December term, same year, Archibald Caldwell, blacksmith and constable, was licensed to keep a tavern at Chicago, and to charge the same rates as those already quoted. He was required to pay a tax of eight dollars for the privilege, and to give bonds in the sum of one hundred dollars for a faithful observance of the laws then prevailing for the regulation of taverns.

At the June - 7th - term, 1830, Rev. William See was authorized to keep a ferry across the " Callimink," at the head of Lake Michigan, now included in South Chicago, for which he was required to pay a tax of ten dollars. He was permitted to charge the following rates :

Mr. See was a Methodist minister, and was the first clergyman of any denomination, as shown by the records, to perform the marriage ceremony in Chicago. He subsequently removed to Racine, Wisconsin, where he died.

Turnpike And Election Accounts

In June, 1830, the Court allowed Archibald Caldwell five dollars and fifty cents for ironing a turnpike scraper ; and on the 7th of December they allowed Henley Clybourn sixteen dollars "for one day's services as clerk of election, and bringing the election returns to Peoria."

Marriage Records

The following marriages were solemnized and recorded in Peoria county while the jurisdiction thereof extended north to the Wisconsin State line :

By John Kinzie, Justice of the Peace. Chicago precinct, January 2, 1S27, Peter St. Clair and Margaretta Peehequetarairi. [The writing on the returns is not very legible, and it maybe the correct orthography is Perhequetaroui.]

By Rev. Jesse Walker, a regular minister of the Methodist Episcopal Chnrch, May 3, 1828, Velat Vermit to Cornelia Walker. Vermit was a ferryman at Ottawa, and the wedding was at the house of David Walker.

By Rev. Isaac Scarrett, a missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Holderman's Grove- - near Newark, Kendall county - July 21, 1829, WiUard Scott and Caroline, daughter of Pierce Hawley. By the same, at the same time and place, John K. Clarke and Permelia, daughter of Stephen J. Scott.

Justices Of The Peace Billy Caldwell

Billy Caldwell, named above as a justice of the peace, was the son of an Irish of&cer in the British service by a Pottawatomie Indian woman, and was educated by the Jesuits at Detroit. Hon. John Wentworth is authority for the statement that he was an officer in tlie British service during and after the war of 1812 : and that lie styled himself as Ciijjtiiin of the Indian Department, in 1S16, at Fort Maiden [Anihurstlnirg]. He marrieil a sister of the Pottawatomie chief. Yellow Head, hy wliom he had one child, which died yoifng. At the time of his death, Esquire Billy Caldwell was Head Chief of the combined Pottawatomie, Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

Shabonee (French pronunciation Chamblee) was well known to many of the early settlers at Peoria. He was born on the Ohio river, and was a chief of the Ottawa tribe of Indians. In the war of 181"2 he joined Tecumseh, and was a member of Caldwell's band or company of Indians in that conflict. A short time before his death Shabonee visited and remained over night with William Hickling, now living in Chicago, but then and for many 3ears a resident of Ottawa. At that visit he gave Mr. Hickling the original manuscript of the following paper, which is evidence that Billy Caldwell was neither an ignorant man nor a mere pretender :

This is to certify that the bearer of this name, Chamblee, w.is a faithful companion tome during the late war with the United Slates. The bearer joined the late warrior, Tecumthe [Tecumseh], of the Shawnee nation, in the year 1807, on the Wabash river, and remained with the above warrior from the commencement of the hostilities with the United States until our defeat at Moravian Town, on the Thames, October 5, 1S13. I also have been witness to his intrepidity and courageous warfare on many occasions, and he showed a great deal of humanity to those unfortunate sons of Mars who fell into his hands. B. Caldwell, Captain 1. D.

" This document," continues Mr. Wentworth, who saw it, " was written on a half sheet of old-fashioned English foolscap paper, plainly water-marked ' C. & S., 1813.' " Shabonee assured Mr. Hickling when he presented the paper to him that he had always worn it on his person. This certificate of character was undoubtedly given to the old chief to assist him with the British government, Init as he afterwards became a good Indian, and highly esteemed by the early settlers of that part of Illinois in which he lived, it was of little benefit to him in the way intended.