Pike County, Illinois - Chapter 3: Organic Uistory, 1880

Chapter 3: Organic Uistory

At the close of tlie war between the United States and Eiifrland in 1812 our G«)verninent laiil oil" a tract of land in Illinois for the soldiers who iiarticipated in that war. The land thus appropriated was einhraeol in the re;;ion Ix'twecn the Mississij)pi and the Illinois rivers, and south of the north line of MerciT county. Its northern boundary, therefore, ran ea.st to Peru on the Illinois river, and a little south of the middle of Bureau and Henry counties. To it the name '* Military Tract" was ^iven, and by that name this section is still known. Within this Ixmndary is emltraced one of the most fertile re;^ions of the ijlol>e. Scurcely had Con^re^s ma«]e the proper provisions to enable the s^ildiers to secure their land ere a few of the most darin»j and resolute started to p«:)sse88 it. There were only a few, however, wh(» at first regarded their ** <juarter-secti<m " of sufficient value to induce them to endure the hardships of the pioneer in its settlement and imj)rovement. Many of them sold their patent to a tine " prairie quarter " in this county for one hundred dollars, others for less, while some tra<led theirs for a horse, a cow, or a watch, regarding theinselves as just so much ahead. It is said that an old shoemaker, of New York city, bought several as fine quarters of lantl as are in Pike county with a j)air of shoes. He would make a pair of shoes for which the sohlier woiild deed him his "patent quarter" of land. This was a source of no little trouble t(» the actual settlers, for they couM not always tell which quarter of land belonged to a soldier, or which was " Congress land and could be pre-empted. Even when a settler found a suitaljlo location known to be '' patent land." with a desire to purchase, he experienced great difficulty in finding the owner, and often did not find him until he had put hundreds of dollars' worth of improvements on it, when the patentee was sure to turn up. Many of the early settlers presumed that the owner never would be known; but in many instances, after a patent quarter-section was made valuable by improvement, the original patent would be brought on by some one, who would oust the occupant and take possession, sometimes paying him something for his improvements and sometimes not Many holders of patents had no pity. This condition of affairs presented a temptation tu merciless ''land-sharks," who would come into this section and work uj) cases, ostensihly tor the original patentees, but really for their own pockets. The most notorious of these was one Tvdiver Craig, who actually made it a business to forge patents and deeds. This he cari-ied on extensively from 184:7 to 1854, especially in Knox and Fulton counties, and to some extent in Pike. He had forty bogus tleeds put on record in one day at Knoxville. He was arrested in New York State, in 1854, by O. M. Boggess, of Monmouth, and taken to the jail at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attempted suicide by arsenic; but at the end of the year he was released on bail.

As a part of the Territory of Illinois in 1790 all of that j^ortion of Illinois south of what is now Peoria was made a county and named St. Clair, in honor of Gen. St. Clair, Governor of the Northwestern Territory. Cohokia was the county-seat of this county. In 1S12 that part of Illinois Territory above St. Louis was created into a county called Madison, with Edwardsville as the county-seat. Illinois was admitted as a State in 1818, and in 1821 all that part of Madison county between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers was organized into a county and named Pike. Its name was chosen in honor of Gen. Pike, of the war of 1812. The tract of country now known as Pike county was surve^'ed by the Government in the years 1817-'9, and soon afterward attracted attention on account of its natural advantages for commerce, fertility of soil and abundance of water. It is the oldest county in the Military Tract, and one of the largest, containing 510,7(54 acres, or 800 square miles, in 23 townships. The following is a copy of the act organizing the county :

Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., that ull that traet of couutrj' within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of the Illinois river and running thence up the middle of said river to the fork of the same, thence up the south fork of said river until it strikes the State line of Indiana, thence north with said line to the north boundary line of this State, thence we.><t with said line to the west boundary line of this State, and thence with said line to the place of beginning, shall constitute a separate count}- to be called Pike.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted that there shall be appointed the following per- 8on.s, towit: Levi Roberts, John Shaw and Nicholas Hanson, to meet at the house of Levi Roberts, in said county, on or before tlie first day of March next, to fix the temporary' .seat of ju.stice of said county, the said seat of justice to be south of the base line of said county.

Sec. :{. Be it furtlier enacted, etc., that the citizens of Pike county be hereby declared entitled in all respects to the same rights and privileges that are allowed in general to other counties in the State.

County-Seat Located

of the county, and the health and eligibility ot the place; and they are hereby authorizwl to n-ceive aa a donation for tin- us«' of said <"ounty any (|uanlily of land that may lie determined on by them, from any proprietor that may i Iioohc to offer «ii - A 1, plitce. idetirmin<d u|M)n, the said

8hc. 8. lie it further enactwl.clc., ibal the said Commissioners shall re<-eive, as a comiM-naaliou for their M-r ' - sum of two dollars per tlay for each day

When Pike county was orp^nizod it embraced all of that country between tlie Illinois and Missi.-sippi riyers,and exten<le<I east along the line of the main fork of the Illinois, the Kankakee river, to. the Indiana State line and on to the nortltern boundarv of the State, includiiii; the country where Rock Island, (4alrna, Peoria and L\i\- cago now are. It was indeed a large county, and embraced what is now the wealthiest and most populous portion of the Great West. The extensive lead mines of Galena had not yet been disc«jvered, and Chicago was only a tradingjand military post. The Commissioners of Pike county, as will be noticed in the following chajjter. exercised full autliority, so far as the duties of their resj)ective offices were concerned, over all this vast region.

Settlers soon beoran to locate nere p.nd there in the Military Tract. Two years had scarcely passed ere tlie few settlers east of the fourth principal meridian and north of the base line desired a county, and appealed to the Legislature for power to organize one. Ossian M. Ross, the founder of Lewistown, Fulton county, and one of the prime movers in the organization of that county, was at that time a member of the County Commissioners' Court of Pike county. The following is an abstract of the act referred to:

An act approved Jan. 28, 1823, forming the county of Fulton out of all the attached part of Pike, beginning where the fourth ])rincipal meridian intersects the Illinois river, thence up the middle of said river to where the line between ranges five and six east strikes the said river, thence north with the said line between ranges five and six east, to the township line between townships nine and ten north, then west with said line to the fourth principal meridian, then south to the place of beginning; and all the rest and residue of the attached part of the county of Pike east of the fourth principal meridian shall be attached to Fulton county.

Jan. 13, 1825, Schuyler county was cutoff from Pike and Fulton, and included all that country within the following boundaries: " Commencing at a place where the township line between townships two and three south touches the Illinois river, thence west on said line to the range line between ranges four and five west, thence north from said line to the northwest corner of township three north, range one west, thence east on said township line to the Illinois river, thence down the said river to the place of beginning."

The same year an act was passed forming new counties. Those formed were Adams, Hancock, McDonough, Warren, Mercer, Henry, Putnam and Knox. Their boundaries were fixed by the act of Jan. 30, 1825. Calhoun county was cut off from Pike county and organized in 1825.

General Review

No whites settled north of Alton for agricultural purposes prior to 1819. During that year and the next there was a sufiicient number of settlers to organize a county. Accordingly the Legislature of 1820-'l, as above seen, organized the county of Pike, which then included all of the State of Illinois between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. The county-seat was first fixed at Coles' Grove, adjoining the locality of Gilead, afterward the county-seat of Calhoun county. This place was named after Edward Coles, Governor of Illinois.

We copy the following topographical sketch of Pike county from "Peck's Illinois Gazetteer," published in 1834, as giving an idea of the county at that early date:

" Pike county is the oldest county in the Military Tract, and was erected from Madison and other counties in 1821. It then embraced the whole county northwest of the Illinois river, but by subsequent formation of new counties it is now reduced to ordinary size, containing twenty-two townships, or about 800 square miles. It is bounded north by Adams, east by Schuyler and the Illinois river, south by that river and Calhoun, and west by the Mississippi. Besides tiie Mississip])i and lUinctis rivers, wliieh wasli two sides, it has the Sny Carte slough, running tlu' whole length of its western border, whicii tloats steam-boats to Atlas at a tiill stage of water. Pike county is watered b}' the Pigeon, Iladley, Keyes, Plack, Dutch Churcli. Six-Mile and Bay creeks, which tlow into the Mis- 6issij)])i; ami liig and Little Ulue, and the North and West Iu>rka of AicGee's creek, which enter into the Illinois. GihkI mill-sites are furnished by these streams.

"Tiie land is various. The section of country, or rather island, between the Sny Carte slough and the Mississij>])i, is a sandy soil, l)Ut mostly inundated land at the spring llo«i<l. It turn i.-< lies a great summer and winter ranc^ for stock, atfonling consideral)le open jtrairie. with skirts of heavy bottom timber near the stieams. AloUi; the blutfs and for two or threi' miles back the land is chieliy timbered, but cut up with ravines jiml (|uite rolling. Far in the interior ami toward Schuyler county excellent prairie and timber lands are found, especially abi>ut the lilue rivers and McGee's creek. This must eventually be a rich and j»opnlous county.

*' In Pleasant Vale, on Keyes creek, is a salt spring twenty feet in diameter, which lK)ils fnjin the earth and tlirows (»lf a stream of some size, and forms a salt pond in its vicinity. Salt has been made here, though not in great ijuantities.

" In the County are seven water saw-mills, four grist-mills, one carding-machiiu', five stores, luid a horse ferry-boat across the Mis- 8issij)pi to Ivouisiana."

Hanson And Shaw

The State Coiistitntion, adopted on the admission of Illinois into the Union in 181S, prohibited slavery in this State. Owing to this fact many of the early immigrants coming West.'who were from the slave States (»f N'irginia and Kentucky, passed right through this garden of Eden into Missouri. An etiort w}u> made, tlieretore, to so amend the Constitution as to iMjrmit slavery in tliis State that it might Ik) more attractive to settlers, and the sequel showed that Illinois had a narrow escjipe from the dreadful (;vils of slavery. When the necessary preliminary resolution wjis offered in the Senate it was ascertained that the re<{uisite two-thirds vote to pass the resolution for the call of a convention to amend the Constitution Could be obtained and to spare; but in the House they needed «)ne vote. At first it was strenuouslv arj'ued that the two-thirds vote meant two-thinls of the two Houses in joint convention; but the op])onents were too powerful in their argument ui)on this point. The majority, liowever. was not to be foiled in their purpose. Another mode ]>resented itself: all that was required was courage to perpetrate a gross outrage on a recalcitrant member. There had been a contested election case from Pike county. The sitting member decided by the House to be entitled to the seat was ^sicholas Hanson, and the contestant, John Shaw, the " Black Prince." Han- son's vote liad been obtained for the re-election of Jesse I>. Thomas, strongly pro-shvvery, to the United States Senate; but further than this he would not ^o. Shaw, who favored the convention j)roject, was now discovered to be entitled to the seat. A motion was thereupon made to reconsider the admission of Hanson, which prevailed. It was next further moved to strike out the name of Ilanson and insert that of Shaw. Durini^ the pendency of the resolution a tumultuous crowd assembled in the eveninor at the State House, and after the delivery of a number of incendiary speeches, inflaming the minds of the ])eople against Hanson, they proceeded througli the town (Vandalia) with his efligy in a bhize. accompanied with the beating of drums, the sound of bugles, and shouts of " Convention or death." A motion to expel Hanson and admit Shaw was adopted, and t])e latter awarded the majority by voting for the convention resolution, which thus barely passed. The night following, a number of members of both Houses entered their solemn protest against this glaring outrage of unseating Hanson, both with the object intended and the manner of perpetrating it. Many reflecting men, earnest in their support of the convention question, condemned it, and it proved a powerful lever before the people in the defeat of tlie slavery scheme. The passage of the convention resolution was regarded as tantamount to ils carriage at the polls.

The pro-slavery party celebrated their triumph by an illumination of the town, and the procession, accompanied by all the horrid paraphernalia and discordant music of a charivari, marched to the residence of Governor Coles, and the quarters of the chief opponents of the measure, where they performed with their demoniac music to annoy and insult them.

The counties now bounding Pike on the north are Adams and Brown ; but in 1841 there was a county struck off from the east side of Adams and called Marquette. Columbus, being more centrally located in Adams county, became ambitious for the countyseat, but as Quincy was too powerful against this project, the eastern portion of Adams county was struck off by an act of the Legislature in order that the ambition of Columbus might be satisfied and become a county-seat. No attempt was made to organize the county until 1846, when Quincy again proved too powerful for them, and the following Legislature repealed the act defining the boundaries of the county.

County-Seat Contest

ber of tlie State Senate, ami Win. Hlair of the House, each representing: the interests »>f his section of the Cduntv. The hill introduced by Mr. P>lair prt»posed to divide the ooiiiity by a line runninn: north and south throu<;h its extent; but, after the presentation of many petitions and remonstrances, and a period of considerable excitement, the bill failed to pass the House. In 1850 the county was divided into 19 townships, and or^.iiiizcd under the townshij) or<^anization law of the Constitutit)n of 1S4>S. Tmler this mode the county is at present conducted. And that wiu» the end of this little tight. The countv remains, therefore, to the present dav as it was outlined bv the Lej^islature of 1^25. In the fall of 1840 the ctlbrt was renewed. Meetings were held in various j)art8 of the county, and speeches were nuide on hoth sides of the question; but ])ublic interest soon died down.