Peoria County, Illinois - Chapter 10: The County Seat, 1880

Chapter 10: The County Seat

Pre-empting the Land - Survey of the Town Site - Streets and .Mleys - Sale of Town Lois - County Court Orders and Whisky Securing the Title - The Military Tract - Fractional Sections - French Claims - Title Secured. 1'krsonai. ; William .S. Hamilton - Barney Norris.

The law under which Peoria county was organized gave the County Commissioner's Court the control and iiiuniigemcnt of the tjuarter-section of land on which it was provided the county seal slioiiid be located. The first action liy tiie court in regard to it was taken on the I'ith of Mtircli, 182'), when it was "ordered that Nathan Dillon, one of the commissioners, be authorized to make application to the register of the land office at Springfield for the right to pre-empt the said (juarler-section, for the purpose of establishing the County Seat of Peoria county, according to the act of Congress of 18215. "

OrJtrtd, That William Holland be aulhorited to employ some suitable person to survey lots on the northeast quarter of section nine, township eight north, and range eight east of the fourth principal meridian, said lots to be one hundred feet in length, including eight feet to be deducted from each lot for an alley, and eighty feet wide. The street on the shore of the lake to he one hundred and ten feet in width, and all the other streets to be one hundred feet wide.

At the September session the subject again came up, and in answer to the request of William Holland and others that a town may be laid out as the County Seat of Peoria county, having an eye to the present and future convenience of the citizens, the court ordered :

6. Water street shall run parallel with the bank of the lake, so that the blocks fronting the same may be the same distance from the break of the bank, that is, no feet.

7. All the streets, except Water street, shall be one hundred feet wide, and extend to low water mark, where the fraction on which the town is situated, will admit.

9. Fractional lots and blocks fronting on Water street are considered as exceptions to the above, and to be laid off in the same size as the others, where the angles will admit.

Whereas, By an act of Congress there has been granted to each county the preference in purchase of onequarter-section of land, in case the seat of justice for the same should be located on public land, and the General Assembly of this State, in pursuance thereof, at their last session, passed an act establishing the county of Peoria, and fixing the County Seat of justice therefor on public land, and on the northeast quarter of section nine ; and.

Whereas. At a late session of this court it was ordered that said fraction be laid off as a town, which order has been carried into effect, and a number of inhabitants having settled and made improvements on said fraction ; and.

Whereas, It is deemed that the value of the lots thereof will be enhanced, and the interest of the county promoted by the encouragement of settlements on the same ; therefore, be it

Otdered, That all such lots so laid off on the said fraction as are now, or shall have been built on previous to the public sales as contemplated by this court, and also one lot for every house built on said fraction previous to the survey of the same as a town, and which in said survey, have fallen in the streets, to be selected by the owners of said house, to be reserved from sale ; and it is further

Ordered, That the owner or owners of all such houses or buildings shall have the preference in the purchase of the lots so reserved, at the average value of the lots sold according to situation, said value to be ascertained by this court, by reference to the actual sales at the public sales as above ; and be it further

Ordered, That no preference shall be allowed as above, for any improvement that may hereafter be made on any of the following lots, that is to say : Beginning at the northeast end of Front street, on lots Xo. i, 2 and 3, 5, 6 and 7, and so on alternately through its whole length, except such as are now claimed as above, in which case the lot adjoining shall be reserved from the privilege of redemption ; and on all the other streets leading north and south, the lots t and 2, 4 and 5, and so on alternately through the whole length of each street, shall be reserved from the privilege of pre-emption commencing at the north end of the street ; provided, that it is hereby expressly understood that this court does not bind itself to guaranty the above specified preferences of purchase in any case, should the said court not acquire for the use of the county, as aforesaid, the legal right in fee simple to the fraction above desciibed; and, provided, also, that the above right of preference is in no case to be executed to any but actual settlers on said lots.

On the 6th of March, 1826, Mr. Dixon, the Clerk to the County Commissioners' Court, was authorized in behalf of the court to make application, officially, to the Register and Receiver of the Land Office at Springfield, for a written statement of the obstacles and objections, (if any exist,) which prevented the entry of the quarter section of land upon which the Legislature designated the county seat should lie located, as it was anticipated that some objections might arise on account of the exact quantity of land not being known. After securing this information from the land office and the objections, if there were any, Mr. Dixon was directed to proceed to St. Louis and apply to the surveyor general for a plat of the survey of this particular quarter section, and if no such plat could be furnished without a resurvey, to contract with the surveyor general for that purpose, at the expense of the county, for a speedy completion of such resurvey. and to request that a plat be made immediatelj', properly authenticated and forwarded to the

There seems to have been some objections or obstacles in the way of the entry, although no report of such ol)jections or obstacles appear of record, for, at the July session (1826) the treasurer was " ordered to pay John Dixon thirty-four dollars and eighty-five cents for going to St. Louis, by order of the Court, and for postage, clerk hire," etc.

Whatever difficulties and objections may have at first existed as to the purchase of this quarter section, they seem to have been fully overcome, for at a special term of the court, on the 2d of May, 1826, it was

Ordered, That John Dixon be and he is hereby authorized to borrow, on the credit of the county of Peoria, one hundred and eighty-four dollars, sixty-two and one-half cents, by him to be paid to the receiver of the land office at Springfield, in payment for the northeast fractional quarter of section number nine, town eight north, range eight east of the fourth principal meridian, and that he be authorized to issue orders on the treasury to such person as shall loan the said county the above money, at any interest not exceeding twenty-five per cent, per annum until paid.

Arrangements were made with William Holland, one of the Commissioners, under which that gentleman agreed to advance the money necessary to pay for the county seat quarter, but if it was paid over to the County Clerk it was never used for that purpose, as before the obstacles in the way of purchase were removed, there were funds enough in the treasury to pay for the land without borrowing.

At the same time a rcsurvey of the town site was ordered, it was also ordered that the streets should run parallel with the river, that Front (or Water) street should remain the same width as previously established, and that all the other streets should be one hundred feet in width, and the lots and blocks as before quoted. It was also "ordered that the Clerk advertise a sale of lots on the tenth day of July. 1826, on the following terms: Ten per cent, of the purcliase money cash in hand, and tlie balance in three equal payments at six, twelve and eighteen months, by pureiiasers giving their notes. In case of failure on the part of the purchasers to meet the deferred payments, then the ten per cent, cash payment was forfeited to the county."

July 8, two days before the day advertised for the sale of town lots, the Court being in session, it was ordered that " Josei)h Smith - one of the Commissioners - be authorized to employ an auctioneer and furnish whisky for the sale of lots in Peoria."

Tlie sale came off as advertised, and under the terms and conditions of ten per cent, cash, etc., the cash receipts were one hundred and thirty-nine dollars and thirty-eight cents. In settling up the expenses incident to the sale, the following orders appear of record :

Ordered, Th.ii the treasurer p-iy William Clark three dollars for crying the sale of lots in the town of Peoria. Ordered, That the treasurer pay John Hamlin three dollars and fifty cents for whisky and paper furnished for the sale of lots in I'eiiria.

W. S. Hamilton was allowed fifty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents for making the survey. A. C. Ballard was a chain carrier, and was allowed two dollars. Henry Neely assisted in the survey and was allowed four dollars. William Clark for cash and services was allowed ten dollars and fifty cents.

December 4, 1826, an order was entered retaining W.S. Hamilton, as counsel in behalf of the County Commissioners for obtaining the title to the county seat quarter. What is known as the Military Tract, within which Peoria county is included, was appropriated by Congress for the benefit of the soldiers of the war of 1812. This tract comiiu'iiccd at the month of the Illinois river, extended north one huiiilred and sixty-two miles to a line running east from the Missi.ssippi to the Illinois river, and included all the land between that line and the two rivers. Its area was 8,640 square miles, or r),;V2!(,600 acres. The full sections were granted to the soldiers, for whose benefit the land was intended, while the fractionsl sections along the Mississijipi and Illinois were subject to the same laws as Other public lands. The law under wiiich Peoria was organized designated a part of one of these fractional sections as a site for the county seat. The commissioners, as ah-eady shown, took steps to secure tlie right of pre-emption thereto, with a view to an early purchase of the same ; and, although the}' made repeated efforts in that direction, they failed of their object until December, 1834.

Under an act of Congress approved May 15, 1820, entitled "An act for the relief of the inhabitants of the village of Peoria, in the State of Illinois," and a subsequent act approved March 3, 1823, entitled "An act to confirm certain claims to lots in the village of Peoria, in the State of Illinois," certain French claims came to pester the authorities and hinder the purchase of the land.

Between the last session of the Court in 1826, which was held in the month of December, and the beginning of the year 1830, numerous orders were enteied of record in regard to securing the title, and different agents were appointed to visit the Register and Receiver of the U. S. Land Office, to urge the claim of the Commissioners, but without avail. In the early Spring of 1830, the Commissioners had some encouragement, and on Wednesday, the 3d day of March, of that year, ihey declared that "whereas it was understood there was a probability that the county of Peoria would shortly obtain the title to the land whereon to fix their county seat ; and that as certain persons were desirous of making improvements at said county seat, etc., that any such person making improvements to the amount of twenty-five dollars on any of the lots, not exceeding two, should be entitled to the refusal of them at such price as might be fixed upon them by appraisers to be appointed by the Court."

At the same session Stephen Stillman was appointed a " special agent on the part of the county of Peoria for the purpose of obtaining for the use of the county the right of soil to the north-east fractional quarter of section number nine, town eight north, range eight east, with full power to act for the county," etc. The commissioners, on the part of the county, bound themselves to accept anj- part of said quarter section, be it more or less, that might remain after deducting that which was appropriated by a law of Congress for " Peoria Claims," in lieu of a full quarter allowed by Congress to each new county seat. They also recommended that a special act of Congress be passed granting to the county of Peoria the remaining 2)art of the fractional quarter section after deducting the " Peoria Claims," as aforesaid.

There is no record to show what Stillman accomplished, but from the fact that his appointment as agent was revoked at the March session, 1831, it is fair to presume his acts were not satisfactory. Abner Eads was appointed to succeed Stillman, and was authorized to make a tender of money to the Register and Receiver of the Land Office at Springfield for the county seat quarter, at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, and to obtain a certificate of entry therefor. He was also directed to assure the Register and Receiver that they - the Commissioners - were willing to accept what was left of the quarter section after the "Peoria Claims" were satisfied. On April 6, 1832, the Court ordered a sale of lots to take place, on the 10th day of May following, and during the sitting of the Spring term of the Circuit Court The sale was ordered to be advertised in the Vandalia Whig, Illinois Intelligencer, Sangamon Journal and Missouri Republican. Terms of sale : One-fourth cash in hand and the balance in three equal payments. At the same time a value was fixed upon certain lots which were numl>ered and registered.

July 3, 1832, John Coyle and Aquila Wren were authorized to draw two hundred dollars from the County treasury to pay for the land, and twenty-five dollars for expenses, and proceed to Springfield and make tender of payment. Their mission, if they went, was fruitless of results, for on the .5th of October following, John Coyle, one of the Commissioners, was authorized to take two hundred dollars from the Coimt}' treasury and proceed to Springfield and pay for the county-seat quarter, if the necessary papers had been furnished from the Surveyor General's office at St. Louis ; if not, then to pro- ceed there and procure the papers necessarj- to enable the matter to he settled. But even yet the question remained to vex the Court and retard liuilding improvements. Difficulties remained in the way until removed by a special act of Cpnprcss approved March 2, 1833. At a special session of the Court, July 13, 1833, it was

OtdeTtd, That ander the provisions of an act of Congress passed on the 3d day of March last, entitled " An act to authorize the County Commissioners of the County of Peoria, State of Illinois, to enter a fractional quarter section of land for a seat of justice and for other purposes," we. the under.-igned. County Commissioners of the county aforesaid, do hereby authorize John Coyle to 'jnter the northeast fr.ictional quarter of section nine, in town cighf north of the base line, in range eight east of the fourth principal meridian, for the puq>oses aforesaid under the provisions of the above recited act of Congress, and insiruci liim to make payment therefor, and at the same time to deposit with the land officers at Springfield, Illinois, a copy of this order to be transmitted to the General Land office. And we do hereby, in behalf of said county, in the name of ourselves and successors in office, state and declare that, in making tlie said entry under the provisions of the said act of Congress, we do exclude from said entry any lands or lots lawfully belonging to any person or persons whatever.

This was the last commission appointed to visit the land office, and on the 16th day of December, 1834, a patent issued to the County Commissioners for one hundred and forty-seven acres and fifteen hundredths of an acre of land whereon the Legislature had declared the county-seat should be located.

Personal

The original town site was surveyed by William S. Hamilton, a son of Alexander Hamilton, who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. He was afterwards engaged as one of the government survej'ors. probably as a contractor, in the Rock river country, and in 1832 had a smelting furnace in the edge of Wisconsin, a few miles northeast from Galena. In the Black Hawk war a fort was erected at his "diggings" and called Fort Hamilton, which was under command of Captain George W. Harrison. Captain Harrison, after trying in vain to get a cannon at Galena, had some leaden pieces cast at Hamilton's furnace to resemble cannon, and mounted them at the fort as a terror to the Indians, who always had a dread of " big guns." At the beginning of the war Colonel Hamilton mustered two hundred and thirty Indians, mostly Sioux, with some Menominees and Winnebagoes, and reported at Galena with tlieni on the 8th of June, 1832. There was Ijad blood between the Sioux and Menominees and the Sacs and Foxes. The Sioux especially were eager for the affray and anxious for Sac and Fox scalps. Colonel Hamilton was a brave and fearless man as well as officer, and did valuable service during the Black Hawk war.

Note. - Alexander Hamilton was born at Nevis, West Indies, in 1757. While a student at Columbia College, at the .ige of seventeen years, he publi>hed several essays concerning the rights of the colonies which were marked by vigor and maturity of style, as well as by soundness of argument. He entered the American army before he was nineteen, with the rank of captain of artillery, and by the time he was twenty, the commander-in-chief made him his aid-de-camp, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, was his almost inseparable companion, ami was consultetl by General Washington on all imp .rtant army matters, .\ftcr the war he studied law. In 17S2 he was elected a member of Congress from New York, and soon acquired great influence in that body. He contributed largely to the favorable reception of the constitution by the ess.iys he wrote in conjunction with Madison, and which were pub li.shed in the /-'fi/etatiil. On the organization of the Federal government in 1789, he was appointed secretary of the treasury, and in the five yearn he held that position, he raised the public credit from the lowest depression to a height altogether unprecedented in the history of the country. In l7gS. when the French invasion was threatened, and a provisional called into the field his public services, he again responded, and on the death of Washington, December 14. 1 7<j9. he succeeded to the chief coinm ind. When the army was disbanded he returned to the practice of law. In the Summer of 1804. a quarrel arose between him and Aaron Hurr, which resulted in a duel at Hobxken, on the nth of July. Hamilton fell mortally wounded at the fir;<t fire. His eldest sun was killed in a duel on the same ground some years previous. - Zei.I..

It is saiil of Colonel Hamilton tjinl some years after the duel between bis fatiier and Burr, he followed the latter to St. Louis and challenged him to mortal combat, but that

When the California gold excitement began to agitate the country. Colonel Hamilton left the Galena section and went to that country, where he died. Some years after his death and burial, the question as to the location of his grave was raised, but could not be settled by the people there. At last it was learned that Barney Norris, a mulatto man, who had been in Hamilton's employ in California, and who was with him in his last sickness, and present at his burial, had returned to the States and was living at Galena. He was appealed to, and in a letter to the interested parties, he so accurately described the last resting place of Colonel Hamilton there was no difficulty in finding his grave.

Under influences previously recited, the constitutional provisions of 1 848 and subsequent law of 1849 were enacted, enalaling the people of the several counties of the State to vote " for " or " against " township organization. This question was submitted to the voters of the State at the election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1849, and was adopted by most of the counties north of the Illinois river.

Under the provisions of an act of the legislature opposed February 12,1849, a County Court was created. Section one of this law provided " that there should be established 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 pp. 307-10, Statutes of 1848] 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.

The last session of the County Commissioner's Court was a special session, and commenced on Tuesday the 20th and closed on Friday the 23rd day of November, 1849. William Mitchell, who had served as Clerk of the Court for several years died, on the 13th of November and at a previous session Ralph Hamlin was appointed to the vacancy. The following is the last order of the old style County Commissioner's Court.

County Court

At the November election, 1849, Thomas Bryant was elected County Judge. The first term of this Court - Joseph Ladd and John McFarland, Associate Judges - was held on Monday, the 3d day of December, 1840, and from that time until a Board of Supervisors was elected and fully organized in the Spring of 1850, had full management of the business affairs of the county. On the 6th of December, the Clerk certified to the Court an abstract of the votes cast "for" and "against" township organization, which was as follows :

Tlie Court then appointed David Sanborn, George Holmes, and Mark Aikin, commissioners to divide thi' county into townsliips. There seems to he no report of their action on record, and hence it is assumed that the commissioners did not report in favor of any change from the lines established by the government survevors.

The last term of the County Court, wliile managing the county affairs, was held on the 4th of June, IS.'jO, when the Supervisoi-s succeeded fully to the public duties they are now discharging.

First Meeting Of The Board Of 8Utervisors

The first election of Supervisors in the several townships occurred at the regular April election, 1850, and the first meeting of the Board was held on the 8th of the same month. At that meeting the following twelve townsliips were represented as follows:

At a meeting of the Board on the 9th of June, 1850, a communication was read \»y the Clerk from the Auditor of State advising the Board that there was a township known as Orange, in another part of the State, of older date, and directing that another name be selected for the Peoria county township so designated. Kickapoo, after the Kiekapoo Indians, was substituted, by wiiicli name it has ever since been known.

Benton was changed to Fremont at the same time and for the same rea.son, and on the 20th of June, in response to a letter from the Auditor of State, advising the Board that there was already a Fremont township, the name was changed to Radnor, in honor of one of the first settlers in that part of the county. Since then there have been no changes of note in any of the townships.

Old Time Bridges. Modern Structures

First Bridge Across the Kickapoo - Award of the Contract - Trouble with the Contractor - Completion of the Structure - First Hridge Across the Mississippi - Iron Wagon and Railway Bridges - Triumphs o( Kngineering Skill.

With the increase of immigration and spread of settliMuents, there came a demand and necessity for wagon bridges across the Kiekapoo and otlier ereeks that were ofter. so swollen by melting snows and heavy rains as to be impassable. Floods were of more frequent occurrence before the wild sod was broken, and the earth loosened by the plow of the husbandman than since. This is exi)laiiied on the hy|iothesis tiiat the sod presented greater resistance to absorptii)n than cultivated ground, and, consequently, a greater quantity of the rain-fall found its way into the beds of tlm creeks.

In the early part of 1827, a site was selected for a bridge across the Kiekapoo, and at a sjieeial session of the Commissioners' Court. March 10, 1827, an order was issued to erect a public luidgo acro.ss Kickapoo creek, a short distance above the present fording on the public road from I'eoria to Lew istown.

The Court was in session on the 7th of April, but there is nothing to be found on record to show to whom, or at what price, the contract was let. The following order, however, under date of March 4, 1828, indicates that the contract was let to John L. Bogardus :

Ordered, That a suit be commenced in the Circuit Court against John L. Bogardus, as principal, and John Dixon and Augustus Langworthy, as sureties, on a bond for five hundred dollars, conditioned for building a bridge across Kickapoo creek in Peoria county, conformable to an order of the County Commissioners' Court, and that the clerk forward the necessary documents to the Attorney-General, with a request that he commence suit immediately on behalf of the county.

At a special session of the Court, June 13, 1829, the clerk was directed to advertise another letting of the bridge, July 11, 1829. This is the last order respecting the bridge until a special session of the Court, Julj' 28, 1830, when it was "Ordered, That the bridge across Kickapoo creek, engaged to be built by John Cameron, be accepted as finished according to contract," and he was allowed fifty dollars as balance of contract price. No entry of "the price for which the bridge was " engaged to be built," is to be found upon the old journal.

Guakding Against Accidents

The preservation of bridges and precautions against accidents were carefully guarded by the early public authorities. At a March term - 1836 - of the County Court, it was " Ordered, That no person be allowed to go on or cross over any frame bridge in the county of Peoria with more than four yoke of oxen and the load drawn by them, or six horses and their load, under penalty of paying whatever damages might occur." A copy of this order was attached to the appointment or "commission " of each road supervisor, and they were expected to see that it was respected and obeyed.

Modern Bridges

That old bridge, the first wagon bridge to span the Kickapoo, was also the first one built in any part of the county at the expense of the county. In those days, and for a good many years later, it was thought impossible to build a wagon bridge without heavy timbers morticed together with two-inch tenons and fastened in place with inch or inch and-a-half plus, and otherwise strongly supported and braced. Time and art-science, however, have demonstrated that stronger bridges can be built with much smaller timbers, and without mortices and tenons. In 1830 the idea of bridging such water courses as the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri livers, was not conceived. The first settlers of the country west of those great water courses crossed them in Indian canoes as Abner crossed the Illinois river at the old trading house, Wesley City, in the early Summer of 1819. After canoe-ferries came ferry boats that were worked by hand with sweeps or great big oars. Starting in on either side of the larger streams these boats hugged up the shore as closely as possible for some distance, then pulled out diagonally across the river in the direction of the opposite shore. When the center of the current was reached, the prow of the boat was headed obliquely down the stream towards the landing point. After that kind of ferry came horse ferries and then steam ferries. Until St. Paul, Minnesota, Imilt a great wagon bridge across the Mississippi at that place, the first bridge of any kind to span the " Fatlier of Waters," the great majority of people thought, if they thought at all, that ferries would be used for all time to come, in crossing that mighty river. Profiting by the successful accomplishment of the St. Paul undertaking, active mechanical and engineering minds set to work, and as a result, the Mississippi and Missouri rivers are bridged in a dozen places with iron railway bridges, many of them with wagon-ways combined. The smaller rivers were less difficult to overcome, aud now these great watercourses ofi'er but little obstacle to travel or commerce between the cities of the Atlantic and those of the golden-sloped Pacific. Engineering .skill has annihilated distance and time, so that passengers and freight are transferred from ocean to ocean in

The old first bridge at the Lewistown road crossing of the serpentine Kickapoo, was several times replaced with wooden structures. Other bridges were built at other crossings, but nearly all of them have given place to iron bridges that rest on solid stone piers and abutments. These structures bid defiance to winds and floods and ice-gorges, and will last for generations to come.

The first of these iron bridges in Peoria count)' was built in 1871, at a cost of flO,- 400. At the August session, 1873, of the Committee on Roads and Bridges of the Board of Supervisors contracted with the King Iron Bridge Co., of Cleveland, Ohio, for a bridge on the Farmington road at Kickapoo creek, of 120 foot span at !Si2o.30 per lineal foot. And with the Canton, Ohio, Compau)' for 125 foot span over Spoon river at f26.50 per lineal foot, the total cost being II8.86I. Besides these bridges, there is one large iron bridge over the Kickapoo creek at the plank road crossing ; and one at the middle road crossing spanning the same creek ; and over Spoon river at Elmore, besides numerous smaller structures in the county, in which iron has taken the place of wood in almost every instance.