Quincy Township (part 3 of 74)

Congress, shortly after the second war with Enuland. reservedthat portion of Illinois territorv Iving between the :Mississippi and Illinois rivens' and south of the southern line of what is now Rock Island county, as bounty to the soldiers in the war of 1812. one hundred and sixty acres, or a quarter section was to be patented to every soldier of the war. This was then, as now," one of the choicest sections of the state. It measures one hundred and sixty-nine miles in leugtli from north to south, ninety miles across in its broadest part, with an average width of somewhat less than sixty miles. It comprises two hundred and seven complete townships of six miles square, and .sixty-one fractional townships, or such as are irregular in their boundaries from bordering on one or the other of the two rivers. The entire tract contained, as per survey, about 5,360,000 acres, of which 3,500,000 acres were reserved or set apart for the bestowment of the soldiei's' bounties above mentioned, and no lands could be entered or bought from the government mitil the soldiers' bounties were paid - indeed, as it happened, not until long after that time. The survey of the tract was made in 1815 and 1816, and immediately after patents were issued to the soldiers. The lands thus patented Avere invariably chosen from the evenly measured cpiarter sections of one hundred and sixty acres each, neither more nor less, and all fractional surveys, such as contained more or less than the above-fixed standard, as well as all the lands left after the bountj^ payment had been completed, were retained by the government and subsequently sold, many years later, at the price first of two dollars and after that, of one dollar and a quarter an acre.

About half of the tract was thus given in bounties, and the laiuls so given were almost wholly purchased from the soldiers by eastern capitalists, and at the first sale of lands for state taxes in 1823, nearly all of them were bought in by speculators. Thus the title to all these xuioccupied lands, some 1,400,000 acres, was in the ownership of non-residents, and had been since 1823 in the charge of the agency of John Tillson, afterward and at this time, Tillson, Moore & Co., which was located at Quincy. Mo.st of these lands were for sale and at very low rates, the prices ranging from fifty cents or less an acre, up to two, three or five dollars, according to title, location, etc., but sales at the last named figures were very rare.

The unpatented land, which was commonly called government or congress land, was very gradually placed on market. Indeed, it was not until five or six years after the establishment of Quincy as the county seat that all the public lands in Adams county were thrown open to purchasers. They were subject to entry, however, at this time (1835), and the government land offices were here located. Hence all who desired to purchase land, either by private sale or government entry, must come to Quincy to complete their dealings, so it may be readil.y conceived what an infhix of travel and business was thus drawn to the place. Population flowed in from everj^ quarter, from the slave-worn south, from sterile New England, from the overcrowded old world, attracted by the low price of the lands and the not greatly exaggerated tales of their wondrous fertility. Here they stopped, bought their lands and left their money ; some settling near, some going to more distant locations.

Aiding these influences was also the great abundance of bank money, a condition that two years later was sadly reversed. The steps taken towards establishing a branch of the state bank, to which .$120,000 (on paper) was subscribed here, the prospective Northern Cross railroad (now the Wabash) also contributed to give life, vigor and apparent prosperity. Travel greatly increased. Up to April 17th, twenty-six steamers had arrived ; later in the season and late in the fall, the arrivals were almost daily, two packets claiming to run semiweekly from St. Louis to Keokuk. The first steam ferry was started by Merrill & Co., about July 10th: who advertised that thej' wovild cross every hour and ofteuer if desired, and claimed they would cross in five minutes' time. The health of the town Avas greatly improved, as compared Avith previous years. The cholera AA'hieh had so severely scourged it tAvo years earlier, made a slight visitation, tAvo jiersons only (strangers) dying of that disease.

A notable event Avas the establishment of the first ncAvspaper, AAdiich Avas issued as a weekly, on April 17th, by C. M. Woods. The editorial and chief OAvnership Avas iu Judge R. M. Young. It Avas styled the Bounty Land Register. Tlie folloAving year it changed hands and added to itself the name of Argus, bj' Avhich title it Avas knoAvn for some time and about fiA'e years alter became the Herald. It is probably, next to the Journal and Register of Springfield, the oldest journal in Illinois. Its appearance for the first tAvo years contrasts strongly Avitli the present day journals. It Avas printed on a sheet 16x20 inches, of coarse, dingy paper, and Avitli the heaviest and blackest of ink. Its political character Avas "Jackson" or "Republican," the names Whig and Democrat of later years having not then been fully assumed. This jiaper, Avhich giA'es the earliest continued rec- (U-d of public affairs iu QuincA', Avas Avell managed, but it Avas largely made up of selections and ncAvs from abroad, containing comparatively little of local information. People then AA'ished to learn about the out.side Avorld, and personal gossips ansAvered in the place of local editors. Among the items AA^as one that Avould look strange uoav. It AA'as the advertising by Jiidge YoTuig for his runaAA^ay .slave, George, and an offer of $50 for his apprehension. There Avere at that time quite a number of .slaves in

Initial movements were made during this year for the formation of the Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal and Unitarian churches. Members of tliese new societies had been either members of or were attendant on the First Congregational Church. Tlie Methodist Church organized in June and the Baptist Church in August, the other two a year or so later.

What we now call mail facilities were anything but facile during this period. Twice a week the eastern mail was expected to be delivered in Quincy, and usually it came, sometimes it didn't. There were two stage lines, one through Carrollton and Rushville, arriving on Thursday, and one through Springfield and Jacksonville, coming in on Friday of each week. There was also a weekly mail northward to Peoi'ia and westward to Palmyra, and farther on each route. The eastern mails and passengers were, when the roads permitted, iDrought in by the old-fashioned "Troy coach" stage, but during no small portion of the time the means of conveyance was tlie ''mud wagon," or, with equal ai^propriateness, called the "bonebreaker," which was a huge scjuare box fastened with no springs, upon two wheels, into which said box mail and passengers were promiscuously piled, and the conjoint and constant prayer of the insensate mail and of the contused passengers was "good Lord, deliver us." The earliest, most copious and most sought for news, was that gleaned from the St. Louis papers which were brought up on the boats and privately circulated.

Correspondence by mail was an expensive luxury. Postage rates were, for a single letter or one piece of paper not exceeding 30 miles, 6 cents ; not exeeecling 80 miles, 10 cents ; 150 miles, 121/^ cents : 400 miles, 18% cents, and on all over 400 miles, the single letter postage was 25 cents, and if the letter was written on two, three or more pieces of paper the postage was doubled or trebled, etc., accordingly. This postage was not then, as now. paid in advance, but at the time of delivery, and had to be paid in silver.

It will be noticed that these rates are graded on a different currency system from that which now exists. Although the present decimal system of currency was then the only legitimate national coinage, yet the great preponderance in circulation of English, Colonial, Spanish and Mexican silver, compelled the law to be accommodated to the specie grades that were current, and alike with this, trade and business of every kind were governed; goods Avere

Mail matter came leisurely. Letters from the seaboard cities and from Washington were generally about tM'o weeks in transit. There were four postoffices in the county outside of Quincy - Liberty, Bear Creek, in the north part of the county. Ashton in the south, and AValnut Point in the east.

Postage being so high and required to be paid in silver, it was not unusual for letters to lie in the postoffice for a long time before the needed "rhino" could be secured with which to obtain their deliverance. The same consideration affected also the selection of the postmaster. As the receipt of his own letters free and the franking privilege were the perquisites and part of the postmaster's salary, the office generally fell into the hands of some responsible and respected leading business man, to whom the saving of this excessive cost of correspondence was a large economic factor, thus giving the office a prima facie repute, to which in modern days it is too much a stranger. As an illustration of the prominent part that postage played in those days we know of a case (and there were others similar) where for many years, the office was held by a party, who, having an extensive distant correspondence, gave all the emoluments to an assistant, who personally attended to its business. The weekly and semi-weekly mail would bring and take away a basket full of personal letters for the postmaster and contain about one-tenth as many for the general distribution, the postmaster realizing an ample reward in having an untaxed corespondence.

It was the scarcity of small silver and its necessary use in trade, entering lands and paying postage, that led to the use of "cut money." A Mexican or Spanish dollar would be cut into eight pieces, each of these little silver wedges representing twelve and a half cents, and their circulation was general. It was shrewdly understood, however, that if all the pieces of any one dollar coidd come together again there would be discovei-ed nineeighths - the coiner thus paying himself for the labor of manufacture.

This "cut money" above described, cpiite current since territorial times, especially in the interior of the state, gradually disappeared. It gave way before the advance of the legal federal coin which profusely accompanied eastern emigration. Where these silver pieces Avent to and what became of them is a query as unanswerable as "what becomes of the pins?" Some of the stuff undoubtedly yet exists, biit most probably greatly changed from its original form. In tlie wiiter's family a portion of it is thus preserved. Hi.s father, had, as postmaster, for many years received it in large amounts and substituted legitimate coin therefor on settlement with the department. From the handfuls of silver wedges thus left in his possession he caused to be manufactured a "tea set" consisting of sugar bowl, cream cup, etc., which have since often socially, circulated with as much satisfaction as they formerly did in their particular euneal form. This set is still preserved, special in its attractiveness alike from being a family heirloom, more than half a century old, and also from the oddity of its origin. Much more has luidoubtedly been saved in a similar way.

Following this adroit device for the creation of a small coin circulation and at the same time speculating therein by obtaining nineeights from each divided dollar, there came aniitlier specie siieculation in small coins, somewhat more profitable and decidedly more legitimate. At this time almost the only small silver coins in use were the Mexican and Spanish Picayune {GYi cents) and bits {VZy^ cents), and by these all trade ]) rices and values were scaled.

The federal half dimes and dimes, of which there -were but few. passed current from hand to hand, equal severally with the picayune and the bit, so that whoever in the eastern states exchanged dollars for dimes, receiving ten dimes for each dollar, and brought his bags of dimes to the west, made twenty-five per cent by the operation. AVith eight of these ten-cent pieces he could buy a dollar's worth of anj'- thing, and have two dimes remaining, equal in purchasing power to twenty-five cents. This, as may be imagined, was an exchange factor of no light weight.

The moneyed condition of the country (if paper is money) superficially viewed, was wondrously flush and favorable to the settlement and development of the west, but was intrinsically fictitious and rotten. The veto of the national bank, by which step the government assumed the vicious policy of refunding to protect its people by guarding the legal promises to pay, which are the indispensable needs of all civilized communities, and of refusing to establish a circulating medium uniform, staple, safe everywhere, since the resources and stability of the people and of each one of the people who used it would be pledged to its validity, this luiwise movement opened the floodgates of banking irresponsibility, and the land was made to teem with "shoddy" and "Avildcat" bank notes. With this profusion of engraved paper, miscalled money, came that delusion which appears to periodically aft'ect each generation, making men, as says America's most eminent writer, to "mistake the multiplication of money for the multiplication of wealth, not understanding that it is a mere agent or instrument in the intei'change of traffic, to represent the value of the variaus productions of industry, and that an increased circulation of coin or bank bills, in the shape of currency, only adds a proportionately increased and fictitious value to such productions. ' '

This wild inflation affected the whole country, especially pervading the west, so inviting at that time to speculative chances, and Qnincy and its surroundings shared in the mania. Land had then as now, and as always, its fixed relative productive value, but money was cheap, common, plenty, "thick as autumnal leaves, that strew the forests of Valambrosa, " and ultinuitely about as valueless. It passed as freely from hand to hand as a candidate's "shake" on election day.

As illustrative of this speculative whirl and of the great fall and deep depression in prices that inevitably succeeds these unnatural conditions, we cite the sale of what is now Nevins' addition. This tract, containing one hundred and twenty acres, comprised within Twelfth. Jersey, Eighteenth and Broadway, was bought at this time by an eastern company for thirty thousand dollars. Five years later the purchasers sought to sell for five thousand but could not, and it was not until 1850, fifteen years after the above-named purchase, when it had been divided among the owners and was platted into sixty lots of about two acres each, that it could be put upon the market. The lots then sold at prices running from three to eight hundred dollars - a few bringing more, but the average was, aside from the fifteen years' taxes, money interest, etc., hardly to the original buyers a return of their purchase money. Yet these unnatural money conditions, with their certain futin-e relapse, gave for the time, a brisk prosperity to the place, and, it must be admitted, developed conditions which resulted in permanent growth.

Its business situation is fairly represented in the following statement, prepared at the time by one of Qnincy 's earliest settlers, and one himself peculiarly a part of its early history. Some omissions and inaccuracies occur, slightly characteristic of the compiler, biit in the main it is a correct and comprehensive schedule, as no one then but Judge Snow could have made. It somewhat varies the appearance of the town as pictured in a previous paper, for the reason that this was made up at a later period in the year.

are in Quincy."' says tliis report, stores, one land agency, one silversmith, three cooper shops, six lawyers, six physicians, three blacksmiths, one printing oiifice. two bakers, one coachniaker, four tailors, two wagon makers, three plasterers, two drug shops, one bonnet store, two masons, four groceries, two warehouses, twenty-one merchants, five carpenter shops, two shoemakers, two butchers, oiie gunsmith, one government land office, one milliner and mantua maker, three taverns, one pork merchant, four saddlers^ two stonemasons, one wheelwright, one ehairmaker, one steam mill. one woolcarding macliine. two regular steam packets to St. Louis."

Some of these occupations existed prior to this period, some dated with the year, while still others were established subsequent to the time when the foregoing schedule was compiled, and of course do not appear. Here follows as a proper and pleasant touch to recollection brief mention of a few of these then representative business men. who now have almost entirely passed from life and taken their names with them into i:)artial forgetfulness. Such notice, at this dim distance of time, naturally can be but scant and without pretension to full accuracy or precision.

The lawyers alluded to liy Judge Snow were 0. H. Browning, Archibald and Robert R. Williams, J. II. Ralston, J. W. AVhitney (Lord Coke) and Louis Masqueier. Several of them have been heretofore sketched. The first two carried conspicuous names. O. H. Browning, who, as a young lawyer from Kentucky, settled here in 1831, almost immediately acquired, and maintained for neai'ly fifty years, the recognized leader.ship at the Quincy bar. Excelled as he maj' have been in some one line of capacit}^ or attainment by this or that professional compeer, yet in industry, experience, sagacity, knowledge of men, self-possession, grasp alike of comprehensive principles and of detail ; indeed in the general aggregate of excelling (jualities needful to the symmetrical mold of a great legal mind, he had no equal here or superior in the northwest. Pie jDossessed, to a rare degree, one most especially valuable legal attribute ; a natural lucidity of expression through which to transfer his own thoughts with equal clearness and force to every member of a mixed and miscellaneous audience, composed as it might be of all grades of intellect and intelligence, and to do this in such a way that each listener received what he heard as seeming to himself to be the self-flattering elaborations of his oAvn brain. He retained these .splendid mental ti'aits TincloxTcIed, and his physical faculties equally preserved, throughout his eminent half-century career, down ahnost to the day of his life's close in 1881. Archiljald Williams, heretofore spoken of as the first lawyer to settle in Quincy, coming here in 1829, filled for thirty-two yeai-s a foremost position at the bar and earned a reputation more extensive than the state.

While not possessing some of the varied mental adornments peculiar to Mr. Browning, and not so educationally advantaged in youth, yet in native muscularity of intellect he was at least his equal. His force of thought was singulai-ly strong, and his comprehensive and concise analytical power would most strikingly appear when, before a court, he would in the briefest of terms unfold, apply and enforce a legal principle. It was the mutual good fortune of these eminent men to be for thirty years in almost constant professional collision, they severally being the especial legal representatives of the opposite positions in the eontested and unsettled tax laws of the state. What benefit it must have been to two such minds to be so opposed in a struggle over such great interests, involving the profouude.st principles of human law, may be well imagined.

Louis Masquerier was a notable man in his day : a man of many varied qualities : a ready speaker and writer, of much information, al- Avays ambitious, but always failing from his caprices and lack of judgment. A wag described him as graduating from an institution "for the promotion of useless knoAvledge and the general confusion of the human understanding." He Avas a clcA^er felloAV and generally liked. Soon after this time he moved to Southern Illinois and there died.

The physicians Avere Drs. Eels & Nichols (partners'), S. W. Rogers, Hornsby, Ralston & H. Rogers (partners). Some of these have been previously sketched. Dr. Hiram Rogers Avas a physician of education and skill. He came to Quincy in -1843, from Ncav York, and first engaged in the drug business Avith Dr. Ralston. He Avas register of the public land office from 184.5 to 1849. He died several years since, leaving liberal charitable bequests. His AvidoAV, the daughter of Capt. Pease, yet resides here.

Dr. Samuel W. Rogers, the elder brother, Avas the fir.st phy.sician AA'ho settled in the place (1829). Outside of his profes.sional position, Avhich Avas high, he Avas a man of much force and leadership in public affairs. He Avas prominent in toAA'n councils, and equally so in his party; Avas city postmaster during the administration of President Polk. He died about four years since at his daughter's residence in NcAV Hampshire.

profession then aggregated at home and abroad, a fairer standard of success and respect than is common in later years. While lacking the advances of science and experience, they were for that period, ecpial to the responsibilities which they ware called to meet, and if there were fewer men of eminence, there were fewer charlatans. This cannot as well be said of the clerical profession. With the exception of the faithful "Parson" Turner, there were few if any among the frequent floating preachers who would instinctively be called a "divine."

The two "drug shops" cited by Judge Snow were those of Rogers & Ralston and Wells & Morey, who kept a small stock of drugs, chemicals, etc., although most of the physicians sold medicines.

The steam mill at the foot of Delaware street was operated liy J. T. Holmes & Co. Capt. Nathaniel Pease, located on Front street near Vermont, was the only pork )nerchant.

Three taverns graced, some say disgi'aced the town. They were Rufus Brown's, the first in the place, where now stands the Newcomb Hotel: the Land Office Hotel, kept by W. S. Walton, on the uorth side of the sqiiare, .just west of Fifth street, and George W. Hight's Steamboat Hotel on Front street, about opposite the present railroad depot, better then known as "Catfish Hotel." No special delineation of these need be given. Their reputation was long preserved in the expressive vei'uacular. current in those days, which Ave cannot exhume without offending the tastes of our readers and also di-awing too strongly against the third commandment.

The bonnet store and milliner and mautuamaker's shop was kept by Mrs. Dr. Nicholas and Mrs. Burns, on the west side of Fourth street, near Maine, afterwards immediately opposite. Fortunately, forty-seven years ago "boughten goods" were not so prevalent, nor was "style" thought to l)e so indispensable as now, home-made truck meeting the general want, so that these ladies had little difficulty in keeping Tip with the fashionable demands on their tastes and time.

D. G. Whitney was then, as before and after, the leading merchant, who had associated with him, successively, Richard Green, and his own brothers, Ben and William. Mr. Whitney was from Marietta. Ohio, and came westward early. He possessed unusual mercautile enterprise and skill, carrying on several branches of business at tlie same time : an extensive store on the west side of the square, a distillei-y some two miles below the town, a grist mill in the south part of the county, and a warehouse near by on the river bank, also having interests in several countrj' stores. All these made him the most extensive, as he was the most popular business man of the county. He built the mansion afterward owned by Gen. Singleton ("Boscobel") east of the city, which then was the most palatial residence in this part of the country. His failure in business, was to himself and to the general public, the most hurtful of any that ever occurred here. Mr. Whitney removed to California in 1849, and there partially restored his fortunes. He finally died about ten years (1886) since, crushed by a railroad car collision.

Tlie Pearson brothers, E. L. and Albert, were merchants from near Philadelphia. Thej' owned and resided on fine farms, of 160 acres each, innnediately ea.st of Twenty-fourth street, at the southeast side of the city. Their store was on the west side of the public square, near the center of the block. After retiring from mercantile life, the elder, Edward L.. removed to California, and there died. Albert engaged for a time in banking at Warsaw, 111., afterward returned east and died in 1881, at his home in New Jersey. They were men of mind, of more than ordinary originality and vigor of thought, influential and respected for their intelligence and hospitality, and possessed of some marked eccentricities. Albert, the second brother, held it to be the sacred and bounden duty of every American citizen to denounce Andrew Jackson, an obligation which he patriotically performed to the last day of his life.

iMatthews & Co.. from Ohio, Avere like Whitney and the Pearsons, early settlers. Their store was on ]\Iaine, corner of 'Ihird. Subsequently they opened a store at Carthage, and later at Warsaw, to which latter place they moved, and finally left for the east. There were three brothers, of whom only one (James") we believe is living at this date (1886).

Rogers & Dutcher were a prominent mercantile and commission firm. Samuel C. Rogers, the senior member, was a very superior business man. He passed quite a portion of his time in New Orleans. He was quite an ardent and liberal Catholic, and that church owes much to him and to his gifted wife. Thos. B. Dutcher, also a man of good business habits, after his failure in Quincy, engaged in the commission business at St. Louis, and latterly in New Orleans. Both of these gentlemen have long lieen dead.

Holmes family was from Connecticut, and possessed of Yankee enterprise to the amplest extent. Stephen died a few years after this time. Samuel, one of the most enterprising, rapidminded men of the town, was prominent in many public matters, especially devoted to political affairs, holding various ofSees in the town and city, mayor several times, register of the government land office, representative to the general assembly and speaker of the House, etc. He died in 1868. The store of the Holmes', who kept the same under several changes of firm name, was at the southwest corner of Maine and Fifth. Later in the year Geo. W. Brown, a l)rother-iu-law, was associated in the business, and finally assumed it.

John Burns, Jr., a former sea captain, came from Massachusetts in 1834, to remain. He had visited Quincy the year previous. His store was at southwest corner of Maine and Fourth. Capt. Burns afterward moved to Payson, and retiring from business, returned to Quincy, where he died at an advanced age. The family is extensively ref)resented here and in the Pacific states. Their homestead for many years was the "Burns place," now owned by Lewis Kendall, one mile north of the city, on Twelfth street. This Avas a large family of active and enterprising people.

Joel Rice, who died several years ago, was a Kentuekian by birth, but came to Quincy in 1835, from Cincinnati and began business on Front street, as a general dealer and shipping merchant, afterward engaging in grain and pork packing. A lucky event a few years later closed his speculative ventures, which were really foreign to his cautious, prudent nature. The river froze quite unexpectedly and continued closed for some time, holding in its grasp a steamboat on which Mr. Rice had shipped the product of his entire winter's work, indeed, almost all that he was worth Avas invested in the enterprise. He had to ship in the face of declining prices and of a certain loss, to what extent, he could not know. He had made his negotiations Avith the Illinois State Bank, and his payments Avere to be made to the bank and in its paper. The bank failed Avhile the steamer lay locked in its icy fetters. The depreciation of its paper saved him from the apprehended loss. He quit speculation to any extent after this experience, as he said, he "didn't tliink a bank Avould fail and the river freeze up at the same time again." Mr. Rice subsequently engaged in the iron business, retiring several years ago. He died about 1878. Mr. Rice Avas an earnest public Avorker, especially during the earlier period of the city's history. He Avas of somewhat quaint manner.

John W. aicFadon, located on Hampshire, not far from Fourth, was one of the early merchants. He Avas a native of Baltimore, a man of broad infoi-mation, derived from unusual opportunities of foreign travel and business as a ship supercargo, Avhich occupation carried him almost over the Avorld. He Avas for some years engaged in business at Rio Janeiro. He brought Avest a snug sum of money, opened a store at Mareelline, and later at Quincy, he invested sagaciously in lands and toAvn lots, and handling his business prudently and living frugally, left at his death, in 1864, one of the largest estates in the county, and a name of honor. Mr. McFadon AA'as very averse to political notoriety, although possessing most positive political attachments and prejudices: his likes Avere with the Whig party, especially on account of its commercial and financial policy, and his dislikes Avere for the Democratic and Abolition parties, although, like most of the Whigs, he Avas auti-slavery in principle. When asked once Avhy he never got into public life, "By Jupiter." said he, his faA'orite expression, "I'm too much of a Whig and a gentleman to be anything but postmaster at Bear Creek, Avhere they have to have some such man to read the directions on the letters."

John A. I'ierce's store Avas on ilaine street, north side, near Fourth : later remoA^ed to Fourth, ju.st south of D. G. Whitney & Co. He had been a sea captain and had all the bluff, frank and genialty and general intelligence that usually attaches to that pursuit, but totally un.skilled as a merchant. lie returned to New York the folloAving year, having disposed of his business to I. 0. Woodruff'.

S. R. M. Leroy for a short time kept a store adjoining the Land Office Hotel; he died during the year, leaving an extensive family connection, noAV represented by the Sullivan, Richardson, Dunlap and Lane families of Quincy and the Reeds and Belknaps of Keokuk, loAva.

Levi Wells, mentioned in a former chapter, one of the A-ei\y earliest of the pioneer settlers, Avas at this time engaged in merchandizing in his oAvn building, near the southAvest corner of Fifth and IMaine, i^art of Avliich he occupied as a residence. To his general store he and a Mr. Morey, added AA'hat Avas. perhaps (though small), the largest assortment of dr-uggist stock in the place.

Tillson & Pitkin, at the old postofiSee, corner of Fourth and Maine, represented the oldest then existing mercantile house of the toAvn, that of Tillson & Holmes, founded in 1828. Seth

L. Pitkin, the junior partner, was a Connecticut man. of excellent character and business qualifications, but, like many such luen, seemed to labor under misfortune, ilr. Pitkin was a relative of U. S. Penfield, and ilr. Penfield and Thomas Pope also were clerks in this store at a somewhat later date.

The firm of Berry & Parker, changed during the year to Berry & Skinner, transacted a lively business at the corner of Fourth and Hampshire. They were brothers-in-law. They were not successful in business and have long since passed away, not far distant in the dates of their death.

Among the merchants who are yet (1866) alive and residing here, are Samuel Jackson, from Charlestowu, Jlass., who opened a store this year on Hampshire street, about opposite the Tremont House, and Samuel P. aud Clark B. Church, New Euglanders, but from Pittsburg here, who located on Fourth street, on the west side, near Jersey. George Huntingdon, long since deceased, opened the first exclusively commission house. Montandon & Kimball late in the year began business immediately east of where the Newcomb Hotel stands. This was Deacon Kimball aud H. L. Montandon, the silversmith (of whom hereafter). A tin store kept by A. Maddoek, from Cincinnati, on Front, at the corner of Vermont, was jjerhaps the first store of this kind.

The grocers, as such, were Thos. C. and Wm. King and Wm. P. Reeder, on Hampshire street, near Fourth, and Wm. Curtis & Co. on the same street, near Sixth. We say "as such" because these professed to bi' solely grocers, while the fact was. that nearly all of the stores kept more or less of an assortment of groceries, hardware and everything besides that was saleable.

C. Brown, on Maine street, west of the bonnet store, and May aud Kobidoux, on Front, or Water street, as it Avas then called, between Maine and Hampshire, operated small bakeries. Conrad Broseal, the early baker does not appear to have been in business at this time.

Of the blacksmiths who had shops, Harrison Dills, who came in 18:54, from Virginia, and located at the eoi'ner of Hampshire and Sixth, and Jos. Galbraith, a Pennsylvanian, and David Karnes were about all. The last tAvo, with their families, are gone. Asa Tyrer, the pioneer blacksmith, of 1825, was not then (1835) working. Mr. A. C. Lightfoot and a Mr. Sykes, were the leading stone masons. The first named was a man of considerable influence and euergv iu jjublic affairs. Wagonmakers, Avheehvrights and coachnu\kers may be classed together. Of these A. C. Root and Carter & Walker appear to be the only parties who had shops. Sam Seward, the first wagonmaker of 1826, had long since disappeared. There were several carpenter shops and plenty of carpenters, though many were but temporary residents, drawn hither from the neighborhood liy the opening opportunities for work, and man\- of these wci'e but rough workmen. Nathaniel Summers, from Kentucky, who settled in 1829, was tlie earliest of the boss car- ]ienters. There were also T. C. King, from Virginia ; -J. C. Sprague, a New Yorker, - Purnell, the Winters, Charles Green. Amos W. Harris and others.

Mr. Harris may be called the pioneer in the lumber trade wliich foi'ms so great a factor iu our present prosperity, since in addition to his carpenter's shop he established the first lumber yard of any extent. The only gunsmith was Joseph Musser. Avhose shop stood about Avhere the Occidental hotel noAV is. He died a fcAV years since at La Grange, JIo. James Mc- Quoid, Walby and Albright Avere butchers. James H. Luce. Avho had for some years kept a chairmaker's shop, on Fourth near Jersey, Avas still so engaged. Mr. Luce, accidentally shot himself Avhile hunting at Lima lake. During this year there came Wm. ToAvnley from NcAV York, AAdio added to his cabinet making business that of carriage and ornamental jsainting. This Avas an advance on whiteAvash. WhitcAvash, to use a solecism, Avas the chief coloring material in general use. Paiut as yet, Avas not in general use. Even "God's Barn" Avas unjjainted, remaining so for many years, until it became somebody else's barn.

George Wood, from NeAV York, on the north side of the public square, AAdio later in the year associated Avith himself S. Halsey, aud E-. B. AVilmoth Avere cabinet makers also. Among the ,saddlei-s aud harness makers, Levi B. Allen, before named as the first of the trade in 1825, Avas still in luisiness on Maine, Avest of Fourth. Tlici-e AV('r<' also Lytle Griffin, Avho soon moved to ColumVms, and Cornelius Couley. B. Peabody carried on a. Avool-carding business on the north side of ;\Iaine. about michvay betAveen Third and Fourth : he died during the year. The (udy livery stable. Avhich, also. Avas the first to be established in the city. Avas that of John B. Y(nuig and Martin Laduer, on the north side of Hampshire, Avest of Third, just Avhere the Avinding road from the riA'er reached the main toAvn level. There Avere three or four cooper shops ; one Avas that of George W. Chapman, at the soutliAvest coriu^i- of Third and Hampshire. A right good fellow was Chapmau; he was very round shouldered, for which he eared little, perhaps enjoyed it, as he i;sed to tell with much glee, how Thomson, a big, noisy harum searum painter, once said to him, "George, what a splendid, full chested man you would be if your head was turned the other way." lie left hero a few years later for Texas, where he died, and few men had more friends.

Wells & Morgan (E. Wells and J. D. :\Iorgau) had also a cooperage establishment in a log cabin on tlie northwest coi'ner of the Public Square, and a shop run by John Watts, we think in connection with the steam mill, was at the foot of Delaware street. There were four tailor shops; that of J. P. Bert, father of the present well known Bert family, on Fourth street, opposite God's barn, of Louis Cosson. who had bought out ]\Iichael ]\Iast, and was as eccentric a Gaul as Mr. Mast was a Teuton, and H. B. Swartz, both on the west side of the public square, and S. Leachman's. on Hampshire near Sixth, ilr. Bert died in 1860, regretted as he had been respected in life. 'Mr. Co.sson, leaving a prosperous tailoring business engaged in other piu'suits. steamboating, at the last, and died in St. Louis.

H. L. Montanden was the first, and for a long time, the only silversmith and jeweler. His shop was at the corner of Maine and Fifth, over Holmes' store, afterward moved immediately east of Brown's hotel, where he engaged in merchandise with Deacon E. B. Kimball. The latter, with Mr. White, soon after took the steam mill of J. T. Holmes & Co.. and ran the same for manj' years. Montanden, who moved to Iowa some j'ears later, was a worthy kind of a man and something of a character. Gov. Wood used to tell, with his well known zest, of his calling on Montanden with a gentleman who desired to have his watch repaired. JL, after examining, decliued to touch it, saying, "I can do good blacksmith work on all the watches about here, but yours, Mr. T.. is too fine a watch for me to meddle Avith. " "Well." said the woi;ld-be-eustomer, "I thank you, and must say that you are too honest a man to be working at what you can't do." Whether this had any effect in influencing his subsequent change in business can't be kuown. perhaps it had.

The Quincy House

the men who conducted them, we come to what were the principal factors in the pi"omising prospects of the place. These were the Government Land Office (of Avhich hereafter) and the "laud agency" before named, and the Quincy House, which latter, although built during the two following years, was projected this year and was born of the land agency and hence may be proi^erly mentioned in this connection. The "land agency" was that of Tillson, Moore & Co., John Tillson. Jr., F. C. Moore, Lloyd ilorton. B. F. Willis, and .sxicceeding him on his death about this time, S. C. Sherman, partners therein. It had been established by ilr. Tillson, at Hamiltou, now Hillsboro, in 1820, and in 1834-5 the other parties above named were associated in the firm and the office was transferred to Quincy.

It was a fortunate circumstance that brought it to this place. Had Peoria been selected as the state capital instead of Springfield it would have been taken there, and our rival city would then have reaped the advantage of being the great land center and of having the big hotel.

Few men were as extensively known throughout this section of the state as these agents, both because of their personal dealings with so many of the incoming settlers and their fre- ((uent periodical trips into all the counties of the tract.

John Tillson came to the west from Ma.ssachusetts in 1819, landing at Shawneetown on the same day with Gov. Wood. Spending the following winter in Edwardsville. recording deeds and looking into land business of his own and others, forseeiug what fruitful business prospects lay in the lands of the then unsettled Military Tract, he established an agency, as above stated, near the state capital, for the reason, that, then and for some years after, the tax on non-resident lands (which paid state tax only) was paid at the state capital and not in the counties as now. This business grew so rapidly that in two yeai's from that time it comprehended the agency of almost all the nonresident land in the state. So much so that we have letters from the state auditor saying. "We have our books now ready, please come and pay the state tax." Later, when the taxes by law were paid in the counties, and the general interests of the business required a location near the lands, Mr. Tillson removed with his office to and resided at Quincy until his death. He was found dead in his bed at the Peoria house iu 1853, having died instantly, as did his father and grandfather, of heart disea.se. Business perplexities shortened a life that otherwise might have reached, as has those of many of his family before him, to neai-ly a century. He was a large man. of umisiially rapid and powerful action, both muscular and mental; thought but little of rising early and walking from his home to Vaiidalia (the capital) twenty-eight miles distant, iu time for breakfa,st and to attend to business for the day. His philanthropy and sagacious public spirit were part of our early state history. A modest and nnostentatioixs man, he contributed to the welfare of society in many and substantial ways. In the town of his first residence, which he founded, fostered and beautified, making it one of the most attractive villages iu the state, he would not permit even a street to be named after him. Many of the earlier beneficial enterprises of the state received from him origin or aid. To one of our oldest educational institutions he i^rivately gave a large subscription, conditioned that another should also contribute and that it should bear the name of the latter. We heard Gov. Wood say to him, "If you had come here Avhen I did there would be twice as many people here by this time."

Francis C. IMoore, whom almost everybody from Calhoun county to Eock Island used to know, was a polished, graceful gentleman of small stature, singularly alei't in thought and action. He was born in New York, bx'onght up with a mercantile education, came west in 1834, entered into the laud office at Hillsboro, came to Quiney the following year. He was the leading partner in the firm of Moore, Morton & Co. for some thirty years, when it went out of existeuee. He was a very attractive man : industrious, precise in business, kindly, social, jovial as a boy: a most earnest member of the Episcopal chui-ch. of which he may almost be called the father and founder, in this city. He was twice married, leaving a family of eight children, three of Avhom were John L. Moore, Mrs. J. T. Baker and Jlrs. J. (',. Rowland. He died in Omaha, at the residence of one of his children in 1874.

Lloyd Morton. "Old Uncle Morton," as all called him, for he was one of those slow-mannered men who seem old when young, was a Massachusetts man, a brother-in-law of Mr. Tillson. He came west in 1829, clerked in the office until 1834, when he became a partner and later brought his family to Quiney. He was an odd man. with a slow, drawling speech, much intelligence and quaint wit. He bore through life a proverbial reputation for strong, good .iudgment and integrity, a special distinction which few gain who work for it, but which the public instinct confers upon some men, and rarely bestows it wrongly. He had singularly cool coTirage and determination : qualities needed and tested among the rough scenes of earlier daj\s. An odd story is told of him. which is "ower true." It is said that at the time of the Nelson riots, he came in from his home, the present Buckley i^lace, on Broadway and Twenty-fourth, with a gun loaded to the muzzle with shot, slugs, etc., and answered all queries by saying the he meant to point his gun towards the left of the enemy and pull trigger and swing it round to make a swathe through them. Foi-tunately for all hands, no fight came off. otherwise the story would have been too mournful to be told. He died in 1862, leaving three children, John T. for many years a circuit .judge in Kansas; the late Col. Charle.v Morton, and one daughter, Joanna.

Seth C. Sherman, whose somewhat recent death and burial on the same day with his wife, is still fresh in memory, Avas a Vermonter, well educated and of unusual literary tastes and attainments. His library Avas one of the largest and best selected in the place. He moved to the Avest about 1830, located at Vandalia, Avas editor and laAA'j'er Avhile there, thence came to Quiney Avith the other partners and remained in the business for many years. He, Avith V. C. and Ebenezer Moore, engaged for a time in banking about 1856. He Avas the first collector of internal revenue for this district. He dietl in 1879.

Connected Avith the locating of the land business in Quiney Avas the erection of the Quiney House. It Avas, and yet is, a puzzle to some Avhy so large and expensive a building should have been built at such a time in the little toAvn of Quiney. Its anomalous appearance may be concei\^ed Avhen Ave note that there Avere not a dozen brick buildings in toAA'n, only tAvo or three about the square, no building existing over tAvo stories high, and but fcAV such; that no street was graded to the river, the old Avinding track from about the foot of Vermont to the vicinity of the present City Hall, being the only road from the landing to the square ; that there Avas no Maine street east of Sixth; that on Hampshire all was open countiy beyond Eighth, that north of BroadAvay Avere Avoods and cornfields, that the same appeared three blocks south of Maine, and the contrasted size and elegance of such a structure may be fairly imagined. It had been the original intention of ]\Ir. Tillson, AA'ho built it, to erect a hotel costing about tAventy thousand dollars. Deacon E. B. Kimball, Avho had oAvned pai-t of the land on Avliich the house Avas built, Avas interested in the enterprise, but the Avhole Avas finally taken by Mr. Tillson and the pi'oject enlarged Avith the folloAving design. A stock company had been formed, composed of eastern men who OAvned most of the non-resident land in the Military

A large i:)ortiou of the lands were held by the tax title, under which, indeed, must of the land in this section was originally settled and improved. It was exceedingly desirable to secure favorable legislation so as to quiet the contests over titles. The state legislature was not particularly zealous to guard the interests of foreign laud owners, none the more because these owners were mostlj^ from the east, and it was suggested that if the company owned a substantial improvement and interest their claims and those of persons who bought from them, would be more highly regarded and secure. "With this object, Mr. Tillson, built the house at a cost, when furnished, of one hundred and six thousand dollars. It was transferred to the company, which then became the Quincy House Company. The objects were partially accomplished, favorable legislation as to time aud place of recording deeds, the "possession law," etc., being the fruit of this plan ; but the beneficial results were brief. Between 1835 and 1838 financial reverses came. "Hard times" such as have never since been felt, stagnated the business of the country, and the Quincy House Company and all connected with it went down, but the benefits to Quincy from its construction were not only immediate, but permanent.

Charles Ilowland, from Middleborough, Mass., was the architect. When built, and for some years afterward, the house stood with its lower floor even with the street, but a decline grade on Maine street and the lowering of Fourth street left the cellar wall on that side about half exposed, and many were the prophecies that the wall would fall. But houses in those days were built to staj*. and this has stood and shown a strength under a test such as few structures could bear. It was most thoroughly built : cost was nothing as against completeness. The stone work was extra solid for those clays, the bricks were pressed, the rafters of best seasoned hard wood : the pine flooring and finishing wood was brought by boat from Pitt.sburg: the upholstering, furniture, etc., were made in Boston.

Its construction furnished work for more mechanics than then lived in Quincy. It was opened in 1838, by Wm. ]\Ioni'oe. foi'merly of the Bloomfield house, Boston. Many will pleasantly remember that prince of genial, jovial landlords, the stately, substantial landlady, and their three active, attractive daughters. They are all dead. Mr. ilonroe, after leaving here with his son-in-law, Charley Andrews, kept the Monroe house in St. Louis, and later the Newhall liouse at ^lilwaukee. It is a little singular that the Quincy house, the finest hotel of its time in the west, and the Newhall house, twenty years later the leading western hotel of its day, should have been kept by the same parties, and been destroyed almost at the same time. The house has been operated almost constantly from the fii'st. It was closed in the winter of 1845-6 and 1850-51 for repairs, and once or twice for a brief period, has been since tenantless. Its landlords after Mr. Monroe have been IMiller & Guttery, D. W. Miller, 0. il. Sheldon, Floyd & Kidder, Boon & Blossom aud one or two others whose names we do not recall, E. S. Morehouse, and lastly Geo. P. Fay.

It was a leading social institution in its early days, a sort of society headquarters. Gaiety gathered in its halls, and whatever was done by the "Quincy House ladies" and the many young men who boarded there was society ex cathedra. Those were generous, joyous times. Eveiybody knew everybody, himself and family, horse and dog. If you met some one whom you did not know, the first friend you saw could tell you who he was. Quincy was a kind of Rus in urbe. Its scant area and its palatial hotel, combined pastoral freedom with town luxury. Refinement and rurality intertwined. It was bT;t a few moments' walk from a city hotel to a forest seclusion. Game and fish were within hand reach and plenty as blackberries. All this made it an attractive and familiar summer resort fi'om St. Louis and the south.

The impression made on a stranger by such a contrasted condition of things M'as well told lis by Dr. Bartlett, one of the keenest of the old time sportsmen: "I came to Quincy," said he, "knowing nothing of it and nobody in the place, but looking for a place to settle. I got in late at night and only noticed with surprise the size and style of the hotel, which seemed better than in St. Louis. The next morning I looked out of my third story windows but couldn't see much town. It was country all around. I went down stairs and found Mr. Monroe buying a saddle of venison for fifty cents, and just then (it was before breakfast) Capt. Phillips came in with his gun and dog and a back load of quails which he had shot in Keyes' cornfield. I went upstaii-s and told my wife that I had found the place to stay."

It was the center for news from abroad and at home. There were no daily papers then, no telegi'aphic news. It came through the St. Louis papers, or was brought by returning citizens. The big reading room was the place for concourse in summer and winter evenings, and thoiigh the day of the old house is over and its like will come never again, there are not a few liugei-iug grey heads of the place who will pleasantl}' recall those gossip gatherings in the old office and halls; and the toes of some now stately silvered dames Avill yet tingle at the sometime recollection of those cadeneed foot tappings on the parlor carpets when Taylor and Baker and Bert and Chick, and the "Monroe girls," and the "Merend girls" et id geni;s omne, struck out fun from joy's freshest fountain as they did in old times, and as only old times knew how to do, with tlie great landlady seated in lier cozy wliist coi'uer, and her nuich lesser half, the mirth eyed landlord, ruhbing his generous palms and looking smilingly on.

The government land office for the public land district which comprised the Military Tract had been located at Quiucy in 1831. The office was on the south side of Hampshire street near Sixth, where it remained for a number of years. But little business was then transacted for some time, there being only seventeen entries during the first year (1831), the reason for this being that at that time no lauds noi'th of Adams county were subject to entry. For some reason, to the writer unknown, the government periodically placed only portions of its surveyed laud in the market, and although the entire Military Tract had been surveyed in 1815 and '16. it was not until this year that all of the district was thrown open to the jiublic.

The first sale at auction, as lands Avere then from time to time offered, took place June 15th of this year. From thence until 1857-8, Avhen most of the lands being entered, the office was transferred to Springfield, this business added largely to the growth of the place. The first Register and Receiver were severally. Samuel Alexander (father of Perrj^ Alexander) and Thomas Carlin. They were succeeded in 1837-8 by Wm. G. Flood and Samuel Leech, after whom came, in 1845, Samuel Holmes and Hiram Rogers; in 1849, Henry Asbury and H. V. Sullivan, and in 1853, A. C. Marsh and Damon Hauser, at the expiration of whose term the office -was removed.

Of Thomas Carlin mention has been made. Samuel Alexander, the first Register, was a man of much foi-ce of character, very rough in manner, extremely earnest and ultra in politics and wielding much influence with his party. Gov. Wood, whose oft-told old stories have in them always a local relish, was wont to tell of his first and second meeting with Alexander. In 1824 political feeling, fanned by the antislavery agitation, was at a fever heat. The question of "convention" or "no convention" was voted iipon. Convention meant a new pro slavery constitution. No convention meant a free state. To Gov. EdAvard Coles are we indebted for the blessing that Illinois was not then made a slave-holding state. Mr. Wood, immediately after the election, went east and on his way took to Edwardsville, the then state capital, the returns from this section. When the boat on which he ti'aveled stopped at Shawneetown, a crowd came on board and asked to learn how the state had voted. The captain said, "here's a young man just from Edwardsville, perhaps he can tell you." Wood, thus referred to said that "it was thought at Edwardsville that 'convention' was beaten by about 1,500." "It's a d - d lie!" said one of the parties, answering more from his wish than his knowledge. Wood picked up a chair and but for the interposition of the captain a small civil war was imminent.

Nine years after, as John Wood tells it, "a man, all alone, in a canoe, paddled up to opposite my cabin at the foot of Delaware street, landed and staid with me over night. He told me that his name was Alexander, that he had come to open the land office of which he had been appointed Register." While at supper he said, "I think I've seen j'ou before." Mr. Wood then told him that he was the man who at Shawneetown gave him the lie for reporting the result of the election of 1824. "Oh, no," says Alexander, "it must have been some other d - d fool." and although Wood on every convenient occasion liinted at this story of the first meeting, Alexander's memory could only be refreshed by the statement that "it was some other d - d fool."

Tlie census, taken this year, showed a population in the county of 7,042, subject to military duty 1.311); in the town the popiTlation was 753, and 270 subject to military duty - about 18 yev cent in the county and about 36 per cent in the town. This is a singular c(uitrast, but it indicates how much more rapidly during the last ten years the county had been settled up, and also that the town population was largely uuxde up of young and single men. It indicates another curious fact in connection with the contests for the removal of the county seat, which first liecame a contested question during this year.

It will be remembered that in 1S25, as has been stated in a former chapter, the commissioners appointed by the legislature to select the comity seat came here with the intention of locating the same at the geographical center of the county - a somewhat natural notion that often prevailed in those days. It is also known that needing a pilot for that piirpose they engaged Mr. Willard Keyes, an experienced early pioneer, as a guide, and that Mr. K. proved himself to he guide, philosopliei- and friend, aud guided the commissioners back to Quincy after a toilsome day's search for the center of the county among the Mill creek swamps, where they more nearly reached its liottom ; philosopher enough to know where the county seat ought to be, and that the best use of knowledge is often to not use it at all, and friend enough to his own views and to the then and future interests of town and county to thus bring about the selection which the wearied commissioners made on tlie following day, and the living gratitude of Quincy will never forget the judicious blindness and far foreseeing forgetfulness of this experienced pioneer Keyes on this pregnant occasion. No objection was made to the selection then nor for years after.

During the j^ear 1834-5 however, a movement was originated to compel the change of the county .seat from Quincy to a "geographical center," This was the commencement of that nonsense which nurtured a sectional strife between city and county, altogether baseless, but renewed at two later periods. The designation of "geographical center" was geographically incorrect - a matter of no consequence now, but one that cut quite a figure then and more so in the contest of some six years later. At the August election the vote stood for Quincy 618, "for commissioners' stake" 492; Quincy at the time casting 390 votes - of these 320 were for itself and 70 against. Later, in 1841, when the contest lay between Quincy and Columbus, the vote, as declared, was 1,545 for the former and 1,636 for the latter. Still later, on Nov. 18, 1875, there were given for Quincy 7,283 votes, and for Coatsburg 3,109,

This strife is now settled forever. These elections are referred to as showing how slight was the sectional feeling in 1835, when, as it will be noted, Quincy contained but about one-third of the voting population of the county and was successful ; while in later years, when demagogue influences had roused up prejudice the city stood about five to six in voting strength, still it won.

The "commissioners" .stake," which was voted for. as purporting to be the precise geographical centre of Adams county, and therefore the proper place at which to locate the county seat, was not (as before said) the exact centre of the county. Connected with the history of this county seat contest, and as showing also that the all prevalent central idea for a county "seat of justice" was not daunted by its decided defeat in 1835, but still smouldered, ready to be raked up and revived, as it was in 1841 and again in 1875, meeting at each period the same crushing fate. As pei'tinent to

Geographical Centre Of Adams County, On Tuesday, June 21

"Adamsburg is beautifully situated on a high, gently rolling prairie, in the geographical centre of Adams county, said to be on the quarter section designated by the commissioners appointed under a late act of the legislature as the most central, eligible and convenient point for the permanent location of the seat of justice for said county, but the gentlemen then owning it not being in the state the commissioners fixed

He is a proper subject for mention for the upon a location about two and one-half miles east. A vote of the people being taken the latter location of the commisssioners was rejected by a very small majority, because of its not being sufficiently central ; so that a permanent site for the seat of justice has yet to be selected, and but little doubt remains that Adamsburg will be the place. Its commanding location," etc., etc.

So ran the notice. The intended town above named was on the southwe.st quarter of section 10, 1 south, 7 west, which is now in Gilmer toAvn.ship, and has been for many years a most excellent farm. It was one of the thousand like speculative towns which dotted the state all over and had no existence beyond that of a paper and a plat and stakes driven in the ground. There existed at this time the maddest of manias among farmers and speculators who happened to own a handsomely situated quarter section of la,nd. to survey and lay out the same, stake it out into streets, blocks and lots, give the place some pretentious name, advertise it for sale, and then lie back on the lazy dignity of having become a "town founder," and it usually happened that within the two or three succeeding years the founded town and the "to'^vn foimder" were alike found to be foundered. Special mention is here made of this town for the local reasons above given, and as it so well illustrates the town speculative craze of the da3^ and also becaiise some notable names were affiliated with the county seat project. Stephen A. Douglas, James Berdan, Dennis Rockwell, leading lawyers and business men of Jacksonville ; S. S. Brooks, a well known printer and managing politician of this state, afterward recorder of Adams county, and J. H. Petit, editor at one time of the Quincy

Argus (now Ilei-akl) and simie ulliers nearly as well known, were the incubators of this scheme - proprietors of the property which they supposed might eventually become, through this geographical idea, the seat of justice of Adams county. The project ended almost as soon as it commenced, and the town of Adamsburg is among the "things that were" not.

The county commissioners in Sei)tember invited proposals for the construction of a new courthouse, to be built "of brick of the best quality and in the neatest manner, the carpenters and joiners work to be of the best materials anil finished in the most fashionable style." This was the well remembered building, completed in 1838, and destroyed by fire in 1875. Three months after this, its predecessor, the superannuated old log courthouse which had stood since 1825, went np in fiames. As much justice was done to the public wish when it went np as had ever emanated from within its log walls.

Two notable departures from life occurred late in this year, the death of the first two permanent settlers of the county, Daniel Lisle and Justus Perigo, who had resided here since about 1819 or '"20. They were both of the rough stamp of character common in those days, but good men in their way. Lisle was one of the early county commissioners and his name appears on the earliest of the quaint court records in connection with a controversy with John Wood. Some of his family still live in the southeastern part of the county.

Heretofore there had been no other i)ublic burial ground than the south half of the block on which the courthouse stands, now knowu as Jefferson square, which had been reserved for cemetery uses when the town was platted in 1825. A meeting of citizens was called on June 2Cth, to initiate measures for the establishment of another cemetery, which resulted two years later, in 1837, in the purchase by the town from E. B. Kimball, of eight and 56-100 acres at the southeast corner of ilaine and Twenty-fourth streets, now lladison park. The price paid was .t6-t2. There had probably been three hundred or more burials in the first named cemetery up to the time of its discontinuance. Some of the bodies buried were those of strangers, nameless and unknown ; other graves contained the bodies of those who, through neglect of friends to nuirk them, could not be identified. Most of them were transferred to the other cemetery, and many of these again, at a later period were buried in Woodland cemetery. Yet there still lie and will forever lie, many undistinguished and unclaimed bones, rotten and foi'- gotten, as was noted, when a few years since.

There rests, with other honored dust, the ashes of A. P. Hubbard, lieutenant-governor of Illinois from 1822 to 1826, a queer character, whose claim to fame lies more on what he was not. than what he was, and who by this accident of an undiscovered grave obtains a more widely jiublished notoriety than anything his merits (ir public service could have secured, of its navigable streams, the ilississippi, Ohio, reason that he was the first Quiney man who filled, or i-ather in his case it may be better said, occupied, a prominent state position.

His residence here was brief and his public career marked only by his absurd and futile attempts to supplant Gov. Coles during the latter's temporary absence from the state. He soug.ht the governor.ship in 1826 but failed. The following slice from one of his speeches illustrates his capacity and character:

"Fellow citizens, I'm a candidate for governor; I don't pretend to be a man of extraordinary talents, nor claim to be equal to Julius Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte, and I ain't as great a man as my opponent. Gov. Edwards. Yet I think I can govern you pretty well. I don't think it will recpiire a very extra smart man to govern you : for to tell the truth fellow citizens, I don't think you'll be hard to govern, no how."

He was well described by Gov. Coles as a "historic oddity." A well enough meaning man, of shallow bearings, but inordinate aspirations, tyjie of a class which we to-day see still survives. Men, whom the shrewd and sarcastic Judge Purple used to speak of as "fellows who forced themselves on the ])ublie, claiming that they have a mission to fill, which they most always fool-fill."

The cost of living at this period was in some respects light and again in others heavy. Home products were easily and cheaply obtained at low prices; imported stuffs were exceptionally dear. The rapidly rising jiopulation, the accelerating business and the growing plentitude of mone.y caused these somewhat contrary conditions. Labor prices and the bu.siness situation is pictured in the following from the Register in November of this year:

"Business is brisk, boats being crowded to excess with freight and passengers ; great com- ])laints are made for the want of mechanics to construct buildings to shelter the emigrants and their goods. At present carpenters are getting from $1.50 to .$2.00 per day and found. Masons -$2.00, and other mechanics in proportion. Common laborers are getting $1.00 and $1.25. Hands on a farm get $15.00 to $18.00 per mouth ; 75c l^er cord paid for cutting- wood. It is fouud very difficult indeed to obtain heliJ at these prices. The arrival of a uuiidjer of iudustrious hands would be hailed with joy by a large number of our citizens. ' '

Values in these daj^s cannot be easily or accurately stated. An imperfect price current for the year shows the following averages : Hams, 8@10c ; beef, -Ic ; best butter, 16c ; coffee, 20c ; brown sugar, 12e ; loaf sugar, 20c ; whisky, 30(ai50e per gallon ; cheese, 10c ; coal, 20c per bushel: tlour varying much but averaging thi'ough the year about $4 per barrel ; beeswax which had been a cash staple, 16c : of grass seed (which appears to have been very scarce), clover $8. timothy $3, blue grass, $2 ; hides 9c, green hides -lijC: cut nails 10c : wrought nails 20c; salt $1.01 )(a $1.50: wheat sold for about 50c ; potatoes ranged during the year from 25e to $1 - showing then as now the uncertainty of this climate for the growing of the potato, as significantly told by the southern darkey, "dars no medocrity 'bout de tater, his head is down in the groimd, he's invariably good or inebitably bad; you can't bet on the tater."

About this time importations of staples, such as flour and bacon, ceased; the home productions being sufficient. There had been from four to five thousand dollars' worth of these and such articles brought in annually since 1831. but during the last half of 1834 and the first six months of 1835 about $40,000 worth of these staples were home-produced much more than meeting the local demand.

From this time Quincy lived mostly on the products of local industries. During these past two half years there had been about 25,000 bi^shels of wheat ground. 3,500 hogs killed and packed, at an average of $3.75, also, for the fir.st time. 40 head of cattle slaughtered, at $3 per cwt. : 900 bbls. of beef and pork put up. about 180.000 pounds of bacon. 1.300 kegs of lard and 2.000 pounds of tallow. Pork sold at about $11 per barrel.

The above gives, as near as it is possible to obtain it, the current business transacted at this period. The season was favorable for traffic and travel. Navigation opened as early as Jaiiiiary 23rd and closed November 25th, holding good throughout the rest of the year.

"With this period awoke that wild railroad mania which, shaping itself into the "internal improvement system"' and running to a most extreme excess, fastened upon the state an enormous debt, biirdening its progress for many years, until now after nearly half a century of struggle, the incumbrance is happily wiped out

Our great unopened state had thus far only been reached by the water courses. The banks Illinois, Wabash, and even the Kaskaskia (or Okaw, the old Indian name,) were fringed with settlements, but the back country was still a grass wildei'ness, and the instinct of enterpi'ise craved to reach and reap the richness of this untamed prairie soil. Only by the divining touch of the railroad wand could this uubimnded fertility be aroused and developed. A rapid ardor for improvement spread over the state. It pulsated here. With the knowledge that the legislature would adopt a comprehensive pro.ject of railroad building - called "internal improvement," the first organized movement of Quincy was made on December 11th of this year, when after some weeks of previous notice, the fir.st railroad meeting was held at the Land Office hotel, which was largely attended and veiy earnest. It met in connection with similar movements at Clayton, Beardstown, Jacksonville and eastward through the state, and also still farther east on the present Wabash parallel in Indiana. J. T. Holmes was chairman, and C. IM. Woods secretary. Most of the representative men of the place were present and acting. Judge Young was the chief adviser. The action of the meeting was that,

WHEREAS, The sub.ject of internal improvement by means of canals and railroads has justly excited much public attention throughout the state, etc.

Resolved. That the legislature be respectfully re([uested to incorporate a company to con- .struct a railroad from Quincy by way of Clayton and Rushville to Beardstown : or from Quincy by way of Clayton and Mt. Sterling to Meredo.sia on the Illinois river, etc.

This was the initial movement from which came in legislative action afterward the Northern Cross railroad, out of which the Wabash and C, B. & Q. have grown.

This road was built, (we can hardly say completed) and operated from Springfield to the Illinois, on the present line of the Wabash. It is the oldest railroad in the state and the only one that under the internal improvement sj^stem had even a partial finish; and on its charter the two roads above named have been based and extended.

Patriotism was vigorous in these primitive days. On the 4th of July. Browning made the speech and Snow read the declaration at "the church," there was but one church then, piety being as much concentrated as it is now scattered, and the exercises of the day ended with a banquet at the Land Office hotel. This hotel.

where the railroad meeting above alluded to was held, was a notable place in its day - a long, white, two-story frame structure on the north side of Hampshire, a short distance west of Fifth. There were two other taverns, and they were duplicates of this one and the story might be applied to all. It is told that one of the travelers in the semi-weekly stage coach just leaving for Springfield (evidently a stranger), asked a fellow passenger, "why do they call this the Land Oltice hotel?" "Because." was the reply, "this is the town where all the land ofifiees are located, and land is entered and sold. All this splendid soil that you see around us is for sale there." "Aye, aye," said the other, in a tone that a traveler uses who has just had a bad breakfast. "I understand : it is well named, th-' land there is two inches above board (a sailor's expression) all over the floor, and you can sample the soil in any of the rooms."

The cost of learning may be estimated from the advertisement of a "select school for young ladies," by a teacher of more than ordinary qualification. The terms, per quarter, were : Reading, writing, arithmetic and geography, .'f;2.00; higher English branches, $2.50; drawing, painting, etc.. $4:. 00. Probably the pupils got their money's worth full as well as they do now.

In February of this year was chartered the State Bank of Illinois, with some singular provisions. The capital stock was to be -$1. .300.000 of which $1,400,000 must be subscribed by individuals, and $100,000 to be taken by the state whenever the legislature chose to do so. The stock shares were $100 each. It was provided that the main bank .should be at Springfield, with a branch at Vaudalia, and that six other branches might be located at discretion. A subscription of $250,000 was demanded as a basis for the location of each branch bank. There Avas subscribed on the 10th of April from Qiiincy and vicinity $120,100. It was not, however, ixntil the following year that the branch was located here.

This was a somewhat iiiarlvod year for settlement. The earlier "old settlers" prior to 1830 were but few, and of these now at this date. (1883) all but two have passed away. Immigration subsequent to that period until 1834, Avas not great ; much of it was transitory, and three successive years of blighting sickliness had told heavily against the population. With 1834, hoAvever, and the few folloAving years, the tide of settlement rapidly sAvelled. Dvu'ing the year 1834. there had come to stay, the Bi;rns. BroAvn and Cleveland families, George and Ed. Bond, EdAvard Wells, J. D. Morgan, H. Dills, Adam Schmidt. Kaltz, Herleman, John Schell, Delebar, F. C. Moore, N. Pease (who had visited the tOAvn before), the McDades and a fcAV other of Avell known names. At the same time came to tlu' county, families yet here and more or less knoAvn to the city, the Sykes and Robinsons, of Beverly; A. H. D. Butz, of Liberty; Scarborough and the Bernards, of Payson ; the Turners, of Ellington, and Ursa; the late 01)ediah Waddell, of Melrose, Avho had seen the l)lace tAventy years before and might properly l)e called its first visitor. He passed over the si)ot Avhere Quiucy noAv is Avith the IIoAvard expedition after the Avar of 1812. Avhen there then stood only the remains of a feAv scattered AvigAvams. but no evidences of a permanent settlement.

His story. Avith other evidence, dissipates the idea that this Avas the site of an important old Indian toAvn. There Avas proliably but one large Indian A'illage in tlie county, in the northern pai't near Bear Crcclv. i'\idenees of AA'hich longexisted. Another also, hnig abandoned. Avas situated on the edge of Pike county, on the Sny Ecarte (or lost Avandering channel. noAv knoAvn as the Sny Carte Slough or Sny). but all this section south of the Des Moines rapids and above the mouth of the Illinois Avas debatable ground betAveen the Sacs and Foxes, the PottoAvatamie.s. the loAvas of the north, and llicir hei-editary foes, the PiasaAvs, Kaskaskias, the mini, the ShaAvnees and other hostile tribes of the south and east.

With the year of 1835, of Avhich Ave are writing, there Avas a decided increase in permanent population. Among the Avell knoAVU settlers of this date Avere Major J. H. Holton, Capt. Pitman, Joel Rice, Lloyd Morton, J. P. Bert, the Churches, Mitchells, Stobies, Grimms, McClintocks, A. Konantz. Phelps and many others, also Castle, for a time at Columbus, the Blacks and Wallaces, of Clayton : Richardsons and Clatters, of Beverly; Bliven, Prince and Pottle, of Payson : the Shinns, of Melrose ; BartholemcAV. of ;\f('iidon. or Fairfield, as it Avas then called, and many others Avhose names are identified Avith the city and county history.

The French named this slough Chenal ecai-te or "narroAV channel." This Avas first abbreviated and called Snv Carte, and uoav is called the Sny.

Pierce. Militia. Marion Cita'. Railroad

Coming Avith this year Avas a large number of "old settlers." men, Avhose names are Avell knoAvn, and some of them ai'e living at this date, (1886).

Among them there were F. AV. Jaiisen. the Glasses, Diekhuts, Biukerts, Stewarts, Wm. Gerry, W. H. Gage, Amos Green. S. E. Seger, C. A. Warren, L. Kingman, H. V. Sullivan, J. T. Baker. George Miller, "Wilson Lane, A. E. Drain, and many beside whose names cannot be given. The foreign immigration, mostly German, began largely with this year.

The political action of the town fathers was relatively of as much importance and created as fair a proportion of interest and criticism as do the intellectual wrestlings among the city fathers of to-day.

The board meetings were not frequent. At the April and again at the May session, the clerk was ordered to notify the road supervisors specifically of their duties, etc., which shows that supervisors could be as lazy in those days as now.

An ordinance was passed on ilay "21st, wliieh reads somewhat sti'angely: "Be it ordained by the president and trustees of the town of Qnincy, that all buildings now erected or that shall hereafter be erected on any of the public grounds in the limits of this corporation are hereby declared a public nuisance." As the old courtliou.se had just been burned and another was in process of erection, this looked like a wrathful thrust at local architects. The "meaning meant well" - as C. A. "Warren was wont to say - of this sort of a boomerang ordinance, and its true intent can be understood, yet it is not certain that a similar one might M-ith truth and propriety be placed on most of the corporation records of the country.

At the June election G. "W. Chapman. Joel Rice, "Wm. Skinner. E. L. Pearson and J. T. Holmes were elected as trustees. Holmes was made president and Peai'son secretary. The report of Treasurer "Williams for the past year gives an insight into the financial affairs of the town, besides exhibiting another unusual feature. His report showed as collected on taxes $249.82, and $5.00 paid in for show license, making $254.82, of receipts ; that he had paid out $258, and hence was a creditor of the town to the amount of $3.18.

As Mr. "Williams was again chosen treasurer by the board and accepted the office, it would appear that the right of the town to owe its treasurer was recognized and approved by both parties. It does not appear that the treasurer required the town to make to him a bond.

The prominent public improvements at this time were the public wells, tM'o of which were ordered to "be sunk on the public square, of suitable dimensions as soon as practicable." These proved to be well-springs of trouble and contest, running through several j^ears, contracts thrown up, work abandoned, committees of examination, etc., before they were completed, making the same proportionate stir that a similar question does now. (An allusion to the agitation of the question of ownership by the city of the water works. Ed.)

It seems as if the average town and city father has always been more or less afflicted by "water on the brain." A strange remissness in regard to the public business of the town both in meeting and recording the same appears. Although monthly meetings of the board were prescribed, the record of July 5th adjourns to "next ilonda.v, July 11th," but no record again appears until the next February. Either the board had nothing to do or it was ashamed to tell of it.

At the August election (and it may be stated that until after 1848. all the general elections, except the pi*esidential in November, were held on the first Monday in August), Earl Pierce was elected sheriff for the sixth and last time, as before his term expired he "between two days" .suddenly took a trip, and some other things, that did not belong to him to Texas. Pierce had been sheriff since 1826, and was a specimen politician of the times.

A frank, generous, rollicking manner, and an active, adroit, aspiring nature, long made perhaps the most popular and influential man of the county, but constant office holding spoiled him. He was brigadier general of the state militia (cornstalk) as it was then termed, of which, the 37th Adams County regiment was a part, officered by Col. P. "W. Martin, Maj. Wm. G. Flood. Paymaster 0. H. Browning, Adjutant Dr. S. "W, Rogers, all of the Black Hawk war eminence. Thos. C. King was elected coroner, A. W. Shinn, Geo. Taylor and John B. Toung were county commissioners. No other change was made in the other county officers; "Wren, Snow and Frazier remaining in office.

The legislative apportionment made at the session of 1835-6 entitled Adams county to one senator and two representatives, under which O. H. Browning was elected senator, and George Galbraith and J. H. Ralston representatives. Joseph Duncan was gove)'nor: Wm. L. ;\Iay representative, and John il. Robinson and W. L. D. Ewing senators in congress, the latter being succeeded by Judge Richard 51. Young, who was chosen at the session of 1836-7 for the full term, being the first member of either house of congress fi-om Quincy.

Navigation opened March 18th and continued good until about December 1st. Time, especially in port, was not economized as now. The Wyoming left Quincy on the evening of May 1st for St. Louis and got back on the evening of the 4th, beinj:!' out scvcuty-twd and ;i half hours, claimed to be the quickest trip yet made. Two reg'uhar packets, the Quiney and 0 'Connell, plied between St. Louis and the rapids. The river was very high early in the season, lioodiug the low lands and laying a fatal wet blanket over the prospects of many of the expectant cities which had been born from the speculative frenzy of the last two years and located in the bottom land.

]\Iarion City, or (Ircen's landing as it had been known, ten miles liclow Quiney, and announced as its fiilnrc rival, where some $400,- 000 were said to have been invested in lots in 1835, Avas almost completely covered by the irreverent Mississippi and its inflated pretensions hoi:)elessly dissolved.

Work was begun on the Quiney House and courthouse, both of which were finished in 1S3S. Several other brick, among them the Methodist church, and a large number of frame buildings were erected, "averaging a new dwelling for a family, for everj^ day between the first of April and the last of August," and it was estimated and recorded that over two hundred non-resident mechanics and laborers found here steady employment. Prices ran higher than in the previous year. Flour sold at .$7.25, wheat 87 cents, potatoes 40 to 50 cents, butter 20 cents, bacon ISVo cents, beef $7.00 per hundred.

Another hoped for county seat was laid off and advertised as the town of Lafayette, on the S. W. 14. 1 S. 7 W. at the real geographical centre of the county. (I think that this name should be Adamsburg, Ij. B.) The proprietor of the town was very liberal in his offers, proposing to give every other lot to the county, and also if it became the county seat to give half the balance of the land, and to the first merchant and first mechanic who should settle and build a house worth one hundred dollars any lot that he might choose. It was then and yet is a very good farm.

The railroad movements of the preceding year brcnight about at the session of 1835-6 one of the first railroad charters granted in the state which blended afterward with the, internal improvement system, and is now the Wabash. Being a pioneer enterprise of its kind and containing some singular features, the charter is worthy of a sununarized statement of its provisions. It empowers John "Williams. James Bell, Wm. Carpenter and Wm. Craig, of Sangamon : John W. Murphy, Samuel Mc- Roberts and G. W. Cassidy, of Vermilion ; Matthew Stacy, James Tilton and J. J. Hardin, of Morgan, and J. T. Holmes, E. L. Pearson and J. W. McFaden, of Adams, "to construct a road from some point on the line between this state and Indiana, thence to Danville, Decatur, Springfield, Jacksonville, iLeredosia, Mt. Sterling, Clayton and Quiney - pi-ovided they make ai'i-angements with a company already chartered to nuike a road from Jacksonville to ]\Ieredosia. " If they could not agree on terms with this intermediate incorporation "the .judge of the ^loi-gan ciuirt" should decide. The first named comi)any, the "Wabash & ^Mississippi." not to build from Jack'sonville to ^leredosia until terms were arranged with the other company. The company was required to expend .$2il.(Ht(l within four years, or to operate Avithin ten years, or forfeit the charter. The capital stock was fixed at $3,000,000, with the privilege of increasing the same to $5,000,000.

All the town lots in the original to-\vn of Quiney remaining unsold were offered at auction by the county commissioners, on April 11. The prices given are of relative interest and curiosity now. The north half of what is now the c(nn-thouse block, facing Broadway, sold for $541 : the north half of the block next on the west sold for $736 ; the two lots of block 10. on Vermont street, between Fifth and the alley, facing the courthouse, bi-ought lietter figures, .$1,398; that part of block 11 on Fifth street facing Washington Square, excepting about one hundred feet at the corner of Hampshire and one hundred feet in the middle, Avhere the late coui-thouse stood, was sold for $11,657, being an average value of about $58 per foot; the groTuid on the east side of Sixth, between Vermont and Broadway, opposite the present court house, was struck off at .$488 ; lot 1, block 21, at the corner of Jersey and Sixth, brought $200, while lots 6, 7 and 8, on the south side of the same block, were bought for $957 - about $3 per foot. Lots on Yoi-k street, betAveen Second and Sixth, realized from $1 to $6 per foot - the last a high figure, the average being a little over $2. This section contained at that time the most desirable selections for residence lots. Lot 1, block 26. at the corner of York, sold for $450.

Proi)erty at private sale changed hands often some sfaiuling improA'ements. The first large and at i-apidly rising rates. The highest price previously paid for any piece of property in the town had been for the Quiney House corner, being about $80 per foot, but this included sale above that figure Avas made in this year, being that of lot 7, block 8. on the north side of Hampshire, one hundred feet Avest of Foni'fh, at the rate of $100 per front foot.

The sales above described as being made by the county commissioners were only of unimproved property, and completed the transfer into private hands of all of the original toAvn of

Quincy. except such as was reserved for public purposes, similar sales having been held from time to time siuce 1825. Almost all of this land was purchased by residents.

John Yorcke Sawyer, a prominent olifieial figure in the infancy of Quincy. having been the first circuit judge, and holding the first court in the county, iu 1825, in Keyes' cabin on Front street, died this year. ]\[arcli 13th, at Vandalia. He was then the editor of the Vandalia Advocate. He was better educated than the average of the profession in his time, and was an excellent lawyer, as with perhaps a single exception, have been all the judges upon this circuit bench.

Judge Sawyer was legislated out of office two years after the formation of this county, and M'as succeeded in 1827 by Samuel D. Lockwood, one of the purest and clearest minded men that ever adorned the bench. In 1831 an additional circuit was made, comprised almost entirely of the ililitary Tract. To this Richard il. Y'^oung was appointed and sustained the office with dignity and credit until his election to the United States senate, which took place thi.s year. As before stated, up to this period, the Adams county bench had been exceptionally well filled.

A discordant public question broke out about this time, and several years elapsed before its final settlement. It was as to where the mai-- ket .should be located. A portion of the community had been accu.stomed and wished still to see buildings, such as courthouse, market house, etc., built on the public grounds and the gronud to be left unenclosed, while another portion desired to have such grounds, as far as practicable, enclosed for park purposes, and that public buildings should be erected elsewhere. This struggle had been made over the courthouse location the year before. That being decided, it now came np over the market house. It was at one time concluded to double the width of ]\Iaine street east of Fifth, and half way to Sixth, and build the market house therein. This project of course, fell through. but the contest was kept up. to be told more of hereafter.

There also now awoke the aspiration to become a city, a natural notion in a growing town, no matter how yo\ing the town may be. This is a feeling that is fostered by many interests, but it is a question of serious doubt whether many of the little cities which throng the state, instead of being Avhat they are now, with a form of government entailing increased expense, political strife and all its bad consequences, would not have been benefited by a longer adherence to the town system, which is the .simplest, fairest, though not always the strongest system for corporate rule. It "is also the equalized and con.sistent basis of our general institutions. It was four years later that Quincy became a city, and it was undoubtedly needful that it should do so.

The Bounty Land Register, still the only paper in the place, was purchased in July by John H. Petit, and took the additional name of Argus. The year following this, it became the Quincy Argus, and a few years later the Herald, its present title. It was now slightly enlarged, having five 2i/4-inch, instead of four 3-inch columns, as before - on nearly the same sized sheet 21ioxll, but with a gain of reading matter of an inch on the top and half an inch on the side margin. The color and texture of the paper and style of type were unchanged, and such as are never seen nowadays. It now assumed what it had not during its ownership by Mr. Woods, a decided and avowed position as a democratic journal, which, nnder its various names, it has always maintained.

Chapter Xiv Banks And Banking In Quinct

The opening branch of the State Bank of Illinois during this year was the commencement of banking in Quincy. The brief story of this institution will be hereafter told, but a skeleton sketch of the Illinois banking abortions i)rior to this period will not be amiss here, since it will show the financial movements and moneyless condition of the state generally, in which Quincy of course had its share.

A bank at Shawneetown was authorized by the territorial legislature of 1816, and at the next session two others were ordered to be located at Kaskaskia and Edwardsville. These had a brief existence, and in three years' time suspended. In the meantime, however, their circulation had been redundant. Profuse supply of money, known to be worthless, stimulated speculation of the wildest kind. Everybody was anxious to get and to get clear of these '"rag promises," and the result was that when the collapse came in 1820 everybody owed everybody. The first .state legislature in ISlfl, seeing the in'od of SDUie financial action, but, nnderstaudinii- their business, less, if possible, than all legislatures generally do, chartered a bank with a capital of $2,000,000 to run for twenty-seven years, the charter, however, being afflicted with so many absurd features, that altliough books were opened by law throughout the state, not a dollar of stock Avas subscribed.