Quincy Township (part 1 of 74)

Preface

^'^^^^^N many respects Adams county is without a i)eer among the one hundred and two coun- S X * ties comprising the great state of Illinois. Its historj' has repeatedly been written, but % jL^ notwithstanding, the publishers of this volume thought the time was ripe for the publica- ^:#0#i»i^ tion of .still another one, and the success attending their venture justifies them in their conclusion. The work is along a little different line from any that have preceded it, and it will be found a veritable poi'trait gallery of the best people of the county, and as such will be doubly appreciated by all.

The history of the city of Quincy was written by Gen. John Tillson, but revised and corrected by Hon. William II. Collins, while the history of the county has been written by William II. Collins and Cicero F. Perry, men whose qualifications for the work will be acknowledged by evei'yone. The biographical sketches are of sj^ecial interests, our corps of writers having gone to the people, the men and Avomen who have, by their enterj^rise and industry, brouglit this county to a rank second to none among those comprising this great and noble state, and from their lips have the story of their life struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelligent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how othei-s, with limited advantages for securing an edvication, have become learned men and women, with an intluenee extending tlironghont the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and records how that success has usually crowned tlieir efforts. It tells also of many, very many, who, not seeking the applause of the worlcl, have pursued the "even tenor of their way," content to have it said of them, as Chi-ist said of the woman performing a deed of mercy - "They have done what they could." It tells how many, in the pride and strength of young manhood, left the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every Avoman is a lesson that should not be lost upon those Avho follow after.

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the fact that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records and which would otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the Avork and every opportunity possible giA^en to those represented to insure correctness in Avhat has been Avritten : and the publishers flatter themselves that they give to their readers a Avork Avith fcAV errors of consequence. In addition to biographical sketclies, poi-traits of a number of representatiA'e citizens are given.

The faces of some, and biographical sketches of )nany, will be missed in this volume. For this the publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the Avork, some refused to giA-e the information necessary to compile a sketch, Avhile others Avere indift'erent. Occasionally some member of the family Avonld oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested one Avould be Avithheld. In a fcAv instances men ncA^er could be found, though repeated calls Avere made at their residence or place of business.

History Of Ouincy Chapter

-ILLIXOIS COUNTRY." CONTESTS FOR ITS POSSESSION. EARLY POLITICAL HISTORY. AN OUTLINE SKETCH" OF ITS HISTORICAL SETTING. MAY PROPERLY INTRODUCE A HISTORY OF THE "GEM CITY."

"What was known as the "Illinois Country" for the ninety years which intervened between the early French discoveries and the surrender of the region to the English, in 1763, was bounded by the Mississippi on the west, by the river Illinois on the north, by the Ouabache (Wabash) and Miamis on the east, and the Ohio on the south. The Act of Congress defining the boundaries of the State, included all the territory west of the Illinois to the Mississippi, and north to what is now the Wisconsin line. Thus the site of the present city of Quincy was included in the State of Illinois.

The French explorers were the first to visit the "Illinois Country" and for nearly a century, they held undisputed possession. Spain held a claim to the whole region, but it was feeble, and she was kept too busy elsewhere, to make it good, and in 1763, she relinquished it. The country at this time, passed under the authority of the British crown. England held it for fifteen years. In 1778, General George Rogers Clark, in command of a small, but gallant army, took possession of it for the colony of Virginia. At the close of the war of the Revolution, England, by treaty, surrendered forever her claims to supremacy.

Virginia had already in 1780, ceded to the Confederate colonies all her acquired rights as conquerer; and made the deed of cession, and relinquishment by the celebrated ordinance of 1787. During the preceding nine years, a sort of quasi sovereignty, partially recognized and less enforced, had been asserted by Virginia. The entire countiy north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi had been, in October 1778, formed into the "County of Illinois," and Col. John Todd was appointed "Lieutenant Commandant." He was invested with a blended military and civil authority, which he exercised, nominally, until his death at the noted Blue Lick battle in 1782. After him a Frenchman, Timothy Montlrun by name, appears to have been vested whatever of authority was exercised in Virginia.

In 1787, Congress assuming control of the country, embracing what is now the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, entitled it the "North-west Territory" and elected General Arthur St. Clair its Governor. In 1790, Governor St. Clair declared all that country lying between the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi rivers and an east and west line about on the parallel of the present site of Bloomington, Illinois, the County of St. Clair, Cahokia being the county seat. Five years later, in 1795, all south of the present county of St. Clair was set off and called Randolph county. These two counties constituted all of Illinois as organized, until 1812.

In 1800 (May 9th) Congress divided the North-west Territoiy. All west of what is now the State of Ohio, was declared the territory of Indiana. The population at the beginning of this century, of what now constitutes four great states, was estimated at 4875 whites : 135 negro slaves, and about 100,000 Indians. AVilliam H. Harrison (afterwards President of the United States) was appointed Governor, and Vincennes was selected as the territorial capital. Governor Harrison's administration was vigorous and successful. During his first five years, he concluded ten ti-eaties with the various Indian tribes, extinguishing their title and securing the cession of their lands to the LTnited States. By the treaty of November 3rd, 1804. made with the Sauks and Foxes he received from them the surrender of all the land between the

Illinois and Mississippi rivers (embracing the -'Military Tract") to which this tribe laid claim and the greater portion of which they held in possession. On the 3rd of February," 1809, Congress formed the territory of Illinois iuclnding what is now the states of Illinois and Wisconsin. This was the first Federal recognition of the name Illinois, although following the action of the Virginia colony in 1778, the term "Illinois" had been in popular use, generally applied to all the northwestern country. The word "Illinois" is a French perversion of the name claimed by the Indian tribe, which at the time of the French advent, controlled the principal portion of what now forms the state. Afterward, overborne and crowded southward by superior numbers, it passed out of existence. The various remnants to the last retained their original name, "Leni," or "Illini," as the French pronounced it. It is the general Algonquin term for "superior men."

Kaskaskia became the capital of the infant territory. Settlements were sparse. They lay along the Mississippi from about Kaskaskia to near the mouth of the Missouri ; up the Kaskaskia or Okaw river for a short distance : skirting the Ohio river and running up the Wabash lieyond A'inceiines. by far the larger portion of the iiiha])it;nits. being of French birth or extraction.

Beyond the lines above named, the Indians held almost luidispnted control. Xiniau Edwards was appointed tci-i-jtorial Governor, an office which he retained. \>y successive re-appointments, until the ici-rilory became a state. He was a i^ifted, bi-illianl. imposing man, far superior to most of his public associates, and while his positive nature created for him almost constant political conflicts, his position, high character, and admitted ability, kept him until the day of his death, more than any other, the representative man of Illinois.

The first delegate to Congress was Shadrach Bond, a popular man of fair native ability. He, in 181-1:. was succeeded by Ben.jamin Stephenson. Nathaniel Pope (Tei'ritorial Secretary) succeeded Stephenson in ISlti.

Randolph and St. Clair were the two original comities, but in 1812 Johnson, Gallatin and Madison were formed. The latter comprehending all the northern portion of the State. Subsequently other counties were formed in the southern part of the territory until 1818, the number amounted to fifteen. Congress on the 18th of April, 1818, acceding to the application made by the territorial legislature in the preceding winter, passed a bill admitting Illinois into the Union as a State. The constitutional convention representing the fifteen counties, nu't at Kaskaskia in July of the same year and completed the con.stitution on the 26th of August, 1818. It was not submitted to the people but went into ett'ect immediately.

At the first State election September, 1818, Sliadracb Hi>ni\ was chosen Governor and I'ici-rc Menard, Lieutenant Governor, without opi)ositi(Ui.

Chapter Ii

FIRST WHITE MKN TO SEE THE SITE OF THE FUTURE CITY. EXPIX)R.\TIOX OF JOLIET AND M.iiRQrETTK. FIRST INHABITANTS. ITS EARLIEST COMMERCE. TOPOGR.\PHICAL.

In the month of M;iy, 1673, Louis Joliet and Jaques Marquette, with five voyageurs in two canoes, started from St. Ignaee in Lake Michigan on a tour of exploration. They passed through Green Bay and up the Fox Rivers; then through Winnebago Lake, thence westward, crossing a portage into the Wisconsin river. They .journeyed down the Wisconsin, and on the 17tli day of June found themselves upon the waters of a great river. To this, they gave the name Rio de la Conception. The Indian name was, according to some etymologists, "MeaclL ('liass('ei)e." Its signification was "gatherer cjI' all waters" or "great river." Some of the early French explorers gave it the name of "Colbert" in honor of their prime minister. The Indian name of Mississippi has happily survived.

Spanish explorers had seen the river in its lower waters, and De Soto had been buried in its liosom, but those Frenchmen were the first to see it in the higher latitudes.

It was a thrilling moment to these bold adventurers, when, emerging from the mouth of the Wisconsin, their canoes floated ui)on the broad Ixisoni of the swift flowing river. It then flowed clear and pure. The plow and spade of civilization had not bi'oken up the sloping surface of its vast watei'-sheds to pulverize the soil and transform it into a muddy torrent with every serious rain-fall. Rootlets and leaves of the forest and the grasses of plain and prairie, caught, filtered aud tempered the flow of its contributing streams. No city polluted it with sewage. Innumerable schools of fish swam in its waters and bred, by countless millions, in its quiet sloughs and bays. Its banks were lined with virgin forests of elm, sycamore, walnut, Cottonwood, oak and pecan. They had never echoed to the stroke of the pioneer axe or the crack of his rifle. Pi-airie bottom-lands alternated with woodland and stretched away on either side to the distant bluffs. Islands abounded, as now, roofed with a tangle of vines aud fringed with drooping willows. Sharply defined against a stretch of forest green occasionally was seeu some tall, dead tree, bleached by the storms of many years, lifting up its leafless branches, gracefully festooned with the green and scarlet of the trumpet-vine. The white and blue heron waded the swamps. The eagle and the halcyon darting from the high over-hanging boughs with a splash, broke the mirrored surface of the river. Flocks of pelicans covered the low-lying sandbars, looking at a distance like banks of snow left by the retreating winter. Herds of buft'alo sought the river to slake their thirst and grazed upon the grasses of the ad.iacent bottoms. Deer with lifted heads and wild eyes gazed for a moment upon the voyageiu-s and vanished into the thickets. Flocks of geese, swan and ducks were without number, and upon alarm rose into the air with a beating of wings, which sounded like the roll of thunder.

Those explorers traded with the Indians for supplies of maize and venison, while they often used the dry breast of the wild turkey, broiled upon coals, as a substitute for bread.

Following the flow of the great river, they .sought that which was the prime incentive for all the daring and enterprise of the age, viz: a western water route to the East Indies. Marquette's journal tells us that in thirty days. (July 17th), he reached the mouth of the Arkansas, about fourteen himdred miles below where he entered the Mississippi ; that during this time he made a halt of six daj's, in the earlier part of his voyage ; that diu-ing the first four days he jurneyed 180 miles. This shows his average daily travel to have been, not far from fifty miles per day.

While no special mention or description is made in his .journal that would apply to this locality as it does to Alton, Rock Island and other points, yet on the rough chart which he has left, there is drawn high land at just the place on the river where our bluffs appear. Taking all these facts together, his total average distance travelled per day, time consumed

We can imagine these exploi-ers landing upon the bank of the river, which now is the wharf of Quincy. As their two canoes neared the shore, the Indian dogs greeted them with their noisy and wolfish yelps, while the l)rowu men, women and children rushed forward to see for the first time in their lives, the "pale face." Undoubtedly, Marquette asked them about the bay. It would have appeared to him as a tributary river. Some Indian making a rude drawing in the sand with a stick, would answer his inquiries aboiit the geographical features of the country, its forests, lakes, sloughs and tributary streams.

At this time they all abounded in fur-bearing animals. Mink, musk-rat, otter, raccoon, wolf, fox and beaver were numerous. The Indians liegan to learn that they could exchange the products of the trap and the chase, for the calicoes, hatchets and trinkets which men from the North offered them in trade. This was the first rude beginning of commercial transactions associated with the site of the future city.

These early inhabitants of the locality disappeared, and left as memorials of their existence, the mounds upon the bluffs and a few stone hatchets and flint arrow-heads.

In 1805, Gen. Zebulon Pike was sent by the War Department to explore the ^Missi.ssippi from St. Louis to the Falls of St. Anthony. He started from St. Louis on Friday. August 9th, 1805, with a Sergeant, three corporals and seventeen privates in a keel boat seventy-five feet long. He was provisioned for four months. As he passed up the river, he considered the advantages of various points for the location of Forts. The bluff", on which the city of Warsaw was afterwards built, being near the mouth of the Des ]\Ioines river, and nearer to the Indian country, was selected as being a better strategic point for militaiy purposes than the site of the future city of Quincy. There Fort Edwards Avas built.

In 1813. a military expedition consisting of two battalions of mounted rangers, started from old Fort Edwards, lying east of the present city of Alton, and passing through what is now Calhoun County, came northward along the river to the .site of Quincy. Here they struck the Indian village and destroyed it. The small trading with the French was broken up.

This cruel attack was, in part, in retaliation for some injuries some of the frontier pioneers had suffered. The Indians were driven northward, some of them escaping into Iowa to seek revenge afterward, under the leadership of the chieftain Black-hawk. The site of the future city again became a wilderness. The only human being to break upon its solitude was an occasional trapper or hunter, landing from his canoe and camping for a night.

Little can one who today looks upon the broad and beautiful area on which our bustling city stands, realize the contrast of the present scene, with the wild solitude that revives in the retrospection of nearly a century. One may indeed imagine the aspect of the locality, were the buildings all removed, the streets abandoned and all tokens of life taken away. But permanent changes have been effected; landscape lines are now gone ; physical features forever effaced, which, only a few survivors ever saw.

Years ago, as the hrst white settler saw it, before axe or plough had desecrated nature's sanctity, the city was marked by alternations of timber and prairie : timber in the ravines, along the streams, covering also the crest and river face of the bluff's ; and prairie generally on the level land and the ridges which separated the ravines. The timber was usually heavy except near the heads of the "draws," where it became gradually lighter or altogether disappeared. The prairie was luxuriant, not with the long swamp grass of the bottom lands, nor of the prairies in southern Illinois, but with a grass about breast high and very thick. It did not, as many imagine reach to the river, or even to the verge of the bluffs. Along the river bank from what is now known as Broadway to Delaware, there stood a scattering growth of trees, while south of the latter point, the rank, luxuriant, almost impenetrable vegetation, common to our bottom lands, prevailed. The strip of land below the bhiffs, and along the river was then much narrower than at j^resent ; the hills having been cut and blasted aAvay. From Broadway south to Delaware the rock cropped out continuously and was always visible at an average stage of water. For keel and steamboats, the usual landing place was then and long after between Vermont and Broadway: probably selected, because the trees here were convenient to tie to. and the river plateau was broader ; also because they were more sheltered from the wind. It was easy to get into the river again from there, as at that time, the point of the "island" lay much higher up than at present; in fact the main river channel ran directly over, where, is now the highest groAvth of willows on the "Tow Head."

The present area of the city, Avas about equall,y divided betAveen timber and prairie, the latter slightly predominating. The prairie from the east threw out four long arms, or feelers, as if striving to reach the river; one of these.

extended as far as Eighth street in what is now known as Berrian's Addition; a second about the same distance on State Street : a third creeping into the heart of the city and narrowing down, pushed diagonally across the public s(puire. nearly to Third Street, and the fourth, broke in about Chestnut and Twelfth, thence "with many a winding bout," almost lost at times, reached nearly to Sunset Hill. East of Eighteenth Street all was prairie save a short thicket spur which ran eastward a few blocks from the Alstyne qimrter near Chestnut, and a small grove of j-oung trees at what is now Highland Park, which has greatly increased in size.

Between Twelfth and Eighteenth, in John Moore 's Addition, all excepting a small slice off the northwest corner, was prairie. On the south side of Gov. Wood's large field about ISth and Jeft'erson there stood about twenty acres of heavy timber, part of which yet may be seen. Along the rear of the present residences of Messrs. L. Bull, McFadon and Pinkham, lay a small thicket, and a similar shaped strip of larger ^rowth, stretched across the Alstyne quarter, from near Broadway and Eighteenth, to the coi-ner of the Berrian quarter, uniting west of Twelfth with the heavy forest in Cox's addition.

To follow the division line between the jirairie and timber, let one commence in Eighteenth street on the south line of the city facing north. On his right all was prairie, on the left timber. The line ran nearly due north almost to Jefferson street, crossing the latter a little west of Eighteenth, pushed three or four hundred feet into Gov. Wood's large field, then turned sharply around in a soutliAvesterly direction, reerossed Jefferson about Fourteenth, crossed Twelfth near Monroe, thence ran through Berrian's Addition in a direction some- Avhat south of Avest to near Eighth, AA^here curving back almost on itself, it enclosed a I)retty little prairie islet of about ten acres. Thence it bore northeasterly, crossing Jefferson about Ninth, touching TAvelfth (but not crossing) at Payson AA'enue. there SAviuging around toAvard the Avest, it folloAved nearly the line of Ohio to Eighth, then north along Eighth to near Avhere Dick's BrcAvery uoav stands, thence east; irregularly parallel Avith Kentucky, just touching the northeast corner of Gov. Wood's garden : here, veering sharply northAvest, it crossed TAvelfth, just north of York, then ran eastAvard nearly to Eighteenth.

From this point. (Jersey and Sixteenth), it turned Avest again and passing through the back part of L. Bull's grounds gradually neared Maine Street so as to take in the Webster School House, a fcAv of the trees standing there yet. From the corner of Maine and Twelfth, it ran by a wavering line to the corner of Hampshire and Eighth. This part of the city (Droulard's qnarter between Eighth and Twelfth) was cut up by ravines running from north to south, all of them sustaining thickets of various length, according to the size of the ravine and all pointing northward. The Post Office building stands on what was prairie, but just on the southei-n edge. The line from there ran west, slightly inclining to the south, so as to cross the corner of Sixth and Maine street diagonally. It passed southwest, touched Fifth Street, followed it down on the east side as far as the Engine House, crossed the street, there, leaving Eobert Tillson's lot, corner of Fifth and Jersey, part in the prairie and part in the brush; thence it went southwest to near the corner of York and Fourth, crossing Fourth at the alle.v between York and Kentuckj'. Bending then somewhat south, then west, then north all in this same block, it recrossed York near Third. This was the most westerly limit, the nearest approach that the prairie made to the tiver. Immediately west, across Third Street, there lay, embosomed in the thick timber, a pretty little pond, a noted resort for wild ducks, covering about three acres, its western limit reaching nearly to the crest of the bluff. Vestiges of this little lake existed as late as 1840 and later. Long before this the timber had disappeared, and the pond was finally drained in cutting York Street through to the bluff.

From here the prairie line went back, passing north, up Third to Jersey, thence diagonally across block 18. to the corner of Maine and Fourth, thence north along the west side of Fourth, ^\^th the square (all prairie) on the right, it turned across Fourth .ju.st north of Hampshire, struck Vermont at Fifth, passed along the southern edge of Jefferson Square, about one-third of the square being prairie. That portion which was afterward a burying ground crossed Broadway near Seventh, still running northeast, crossed Eighth, then took a nearly direct course to Twelfth. Not crossing Twelfth, it bore off in an irregular line towards the northwest, and running almo.st to Sunset Hill, before reaching which, it swept around to the right and noi'th, and again east and southeast, joining itself to the heavy timber in Cox's addition, making in this part of the city just such a pi-airie island as we have mentioned in Berrian's addition, only a greatly larger one.

reason of this is that along the river front the ravines which ran up into the bluff, were extremely short, scarcely draining as far east as the Public Square. A larger portion of the city, especially that most easily settled, was di-ained to the east.

By far the largest portion of the water that fell ran in the water shed inclines toward the east instead of direct to the river, and found its way there finally through the great ravines that seamed the eastern and central portion of the place.

The crest of the blutt' immediately overlooking the river, scolloped as it was on the western face, by these scant ravines was yet highest about the line of Second and Third Streets and thence toward the east the land descended for some distance. The average height of the bluffs above low water mark was 126 feet. The crest occasionall.v rose into little conical peaks, in many of which bones, weapons, and other remains of the Indian race have been found.

The highest among all these was "Mount Pisgah. ' ' It stood on the south side of Maine, near Second, and was much the highest peak on the bluffs, commanding a most attractive view of the river and our rich surroundings in every direction. Its name was earned first by the promising prospects it offered, and afterwards was kept ancl claimed, so it is said, from the many promises there made, when, in later years, it became the trysting place of negotiating lads and lassies during the dusky hours.

The streets have shorn away its northern and Avestern face, the vandal grasp of improvement toppled its high head to the dust, the vei-y heart of the haughty hill has been washed into the waves of the river on which it had frowned for centuries but there is many a peruser of these pages who will always cherish pleasant and regretful remembrances of the venerable mount.

Chapter Iii The First Inhabitants Of Quincy. Their

BIOGRAPHICAL. JOHN V\OOD. WILLARD KETES, THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF QUINCY. THEIR EXPLORATIONS. LEGEND OF "TREASURE TROVE." PIKE COUNTY ORGANIZED.

Pioneer history must be mainly biographical. It is the record of the actions of individuals. Often seemingly insignificant, they lead to rei'AST AND PRESENT OF ADA.AIS (JOUNTY suits oi' liigh import.niee. The pioueer goes into the wilderness, often i)n)mpted by a i"estlessness of temperament, and unconsciously with his axe and rifle, help lay the foundations of city and state. He builds more Avisely and broader than he knows.

But the founders of the eity of Quincy. laid its foundation with tdear conception of, and a confident faith in the future of their enterprise. The actions and the utterances of our pioneers, so far as we have any record of them, bear testimony to their firm confidence in the ultimate growth and prominence of the city. Fortunate it is, that in the later i)eriod of their lives, they have found solace and satisfaction for the trials and hardships of frontier life, in the realization of the prosperity for which they had long looked and labored. They founded one of the most pro.sperous and beautiful cities in the State of Illinois.

To Governor Wood belongs the distinction of having been the first actual settler of Quincy. A native of Cayuga County, New York, coming to Illinois in 1819, in search of a location, he met in the winter of that year with Mr. Willard Keyes, a Vermonter who, like himself, a single, young and adventurous man, was on the lookout for a fitting place in which to "settle down for life."

They established themselves in all the royal independence of a log cabin in the "Ijottom." some thirty miles soutli of where QUINCY now is and resided there for two or three years on the northern skirt of settlement, in what was then lladison, now Pike County.

Before anchoring themselves, these two men, with others, (in the tenth of February, 1820, started <in an exploring expedition through the soutlicni jiart of the Military Tract. This joiii'iicy in'cupied several weeks and (^rried them along the sections next the Illinois River as far north as the base line and thence east and south towards the junction of the two rivers. Wood and Keyes wanted to visit and inspect this ])lace. The pul:)lished niajis oT tlie (-(niiitr\'. dd'ccti^'e as tlioy Avere. all showed that here was a lilult liank on the east side of the river, the only really available point north of the mouth of the Illinois for a town, that M'nuld always be above overflow. It so happened, that these poor boys. Wood and Keyes. I'odc liniT(iw<'d horses, and although anxious to go, having at last got in its neighborhood, to the bluffs of the river which their imaginations and conversations had fixed upon as the site of a future city, could not persuade the older heads of the party to go there, and hence, passing through about where now is Camp Point, then only a point of timber, jutting into the prairie and known as Intliau Camp Point, and coming in their travel, within about twelve miles of QUINCY on their southern return, they "put for home," which they reached on the first of March, having been eleven days on their tour of exploration. This little i'l>isode indicates how nearly our pioneers came to fixing their location some years jirior to the period of their permanent settlement. Still clinging to their original thought, awaiting the litting chance for its development, they ocrnpieil tliciiiselves with farming and occasional exjilorations with seekers for land, whom their knowledge of the country and skill in woodcraft enabletl them to efficiently aid. From a private journal kept by the father of the writer, describing a business tour he had made in 1821, from his residence in the southern section of the state through the military tract, we copy the following allusion to our future city fathers.

"Passed the night with two young bachelors from northern New York, Wood and Keyes by name. These young men propose to be permanent settlers and have all the requisites of character til make good citizens, much as will add to the chai'acter of a community ami the development of landed values about them."

It was on one of the land-seeking excursions, as above named, in February, 1821, that Wood at last struck upon the long-thought-of El Diiradii. Pihiting two men, Molfatt and Flynn. in se;irch iif a (piarter section of land owned by the latter, it i)roved to lie the ([uarter section immediately east of and ailjoining his present residence, on the corner of Twelfth and State Streets. The primitive beauties of the location touched his fancy: and he determined that it was just what he desired and should be secured, if within his power. The locality we have described in our second chapter. It was a disa])pointment to Flynn, Avho was impressed with its loneliness, and said he would not have a neighbor in fifty years. He carried away with him these feelings of dissatisfaction. On Wood's return to his cabin he lost no time in [louring into the eager ears of his jiartner his enthusiastic impressions: and his intention of returning to ])lant himself for life. Catching the infection A\liich so blended with his own predilections and desires. Keyes, at Ins first convenience, bori'owed a horse from his nearest neighbor, eight miles distant, and going up alone to look at the promised land and see for himself: needed but a single glance to become convinced that he need seek no further, or, to use his own words, that "not the half had been told." lie laid out for the night at the foot of the bhii'f near the river, returned on the following day, and thenceforth, the purposes of the young adventurers were fixed. Their home was ehosen, the site of the future city was selected and they waited only the opportunity to establish themselves.

These details are given as indicative of the ideas that stimulated our ancestoi's in their settlement of the place. Circumstance, as has been seen, conspired to lead them to conceal the profoiuid satisfaction which they entertained respecting their future home. Wood, it will be remembered, was "tongue-tied" by the presence of parties from whom he expected to purchase, and before whom it was not judicioiis to too strongly express himself, and whatever Keyes maj' have said or thought, could hardly have been remendiered and brought away by his sole companion, another man's horse.

The primitive appearance of the place has been heretofore portrayed. It was an unbroken wild with no evidences of past permanent occupation, save the remains of a few rude stone chimneys or fire-places on the river bank about the foot of Broadwa^' and Delaware streets. These were known to be the vestiges of the huts erected by French traders who in past years had occasionally Avintered here, or sometimes made it a temporary rendezvous in their occasional dealing with the Indians.

There was a tradition connected with the locality current among the Indians and frontiermen. of a "treasure trove" that may yet start up to the enrichment of some child of fortune.

The story, fully as well authenticated as the legends of Capt. Kidd and Aladdin, is. that a wealthy Indian trader by the name of Bauvet, who lived here about the year 1811. buried two kegs of French crowns and was shortly afterward killed by the Indians, leaving the secret of his deposit unrevealed. The proof of this story will lie established by the finding of the crowns.

The Legislatui-e on the 31st of January. 1821. formed the county of Pike, embracing all the territory between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, reaching on the noi'tli to the Wisconsin line. Cole's Grove, now in Calhoun county, and since called Gilead. was the county seat. At the same session. February 14tli, a legislative apportionment law was passed making Pike a representative, and Pike and Greene counties a senatorial district. So numei'ous and .sometimes so conflicting were the applications for new counties, that on the 30th of January, a law was passed requiring that all intended applications to the General Assembly for the formation of counties must be previously published twelve times in a newspaper. The only newspaper in the country was published at Ed- Avardsville. John Wood led the movement, which after a few years resulted in the formation of Adams County.

Element To Change The Constitution

JOIiN- WOOD'S LOG CABIN THE FIRST BUILDING IN QUINCY. SIXTY DOLLARS FOR ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ACRES. DANIEL LISLE AND JUSTUS PERIGO. THE FIRST SETTLERS IN ADAMS COUNTY. (THEN PIKE). FIRST STATE ELECTIONS. EFFORT OF THE PRO-SLAVERY ELEMENT TO CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION.

Wood and Keyes had but little difficulty in securing from Flynn the "refusal" of the land whose fertility and surroundings had so fastened upon their fancy. Flynn was as zealous to get rid of, as they wei-e to accjuire it. There was, however, a difficulty of another natui'e and one ecpially important to overcome. It took money to buy the land, and the enormous price askecl by Flynn of sixty dollars for these 160 acres, was a fabulous sum to our young adventurers. They had, however, twenty dollars of their own and a neighbor forty miles away, happened to have the forty more to loan them and the trade was completed, to the satisfaction of all parties, in the summer of 1822. In the fall of this year. Wood came up and making "camp" on the bank of the river near the foot of Delaware street, commenced the erection of the first building within the limits of the present city. Not very pretentious was this lone structure, no architectural skill elaborated its style, no "sealed proposals" heralded its construction, no scheduled "estimate or written contracts," formalized its birth. It Avas a log cabin of the most primitive sort, 20 by 18 feet in size, built without the use of a single nail, a stranger to the ai'istocrae.y of "salved lumber." clay chinked. Avith puncheon floor, rough stone fire place and chimney built of sticks bedaubed Avith clay. It Avas truly a Avooden structure both in material and maker. With occasional aid from his distant neighbors in Pike, especially at the "raising," Mr. Wood Avas eniibled to complete his home sufficiently to Avarrant moving in on the eighth of December, 1822. This cabin, long since destroyed, is remembered by some of the old settlers. It stood on the southeast corner of Front and DelaAvare streets, faeiug west. Const niuted with more care than was usual in those early days, subsequently, with additions made, a porch attached, wliite- Avash liberally used and surroundings attended to, it became noted for an appearance of comfort and taste superior to most of tlie houses iu the country.

For the first seven years, its ownership was a divided or doubtful one between two claimants, John Wood, the constructor and occupant, and the United States, in which rested the ownership of the laud. For a while, the government claim was the only valid one. Although Mr. Wood at this time owned the land which he had purchased from Flynn and "which he was now preparing to farm, the first soil, in this section broken, by a plow (he was a "squatter") was on the spot where he lived. Then and for some years later, the squatter on unsold government land was an intruder, (in law, a "trespa.sser. Subse(iuently, a judicious and liberal reversal of the government policy, gave to the squatter a color of prior claim to the ownership of the land on which he had located whenever it came into market through the operation of the pre-emption laws. Excepting the patent on bounty lands, all the land in this section south of the base line wa.s not siabject to entry or purchase, until 1829.

At the time of Wood's settlement there were but two other white residents within the limits of Avhat now constitutes Adams county. These were Daniel Lisle (afterwards County bommissioner) who lived a short distance south of where the town of Liberty now stands; some of whose descendants are yet residents in that neighborhood, and Justus I. Perigo, an old soldier who had settled in Section 9, 3 S. 8 W, on the quarter section which he had drawn. This land joins the well known "Chatten" farm in Fall (ireek township and was probably the first improved, or perhaps we had better say cultivated land in the county. Taking the statement reported to have been made by its owner in the early times, it must have been in a singularly advanced condition of culture for those days.

The story is that Perigo. practically "conscious of what Adam had been told thatit was "not well for man to be alone," went for a wife in the southern part of the state, and successfully dazzled the fancy of a "confiding female" by the representation that he owned a farm of one hunclred and sixty acres, on which he had two thousand bearing apple trees. Record has not perpetuated Mrs. Perigo 's comments, Avhen. on coming up to the farm, she found that the two thousand apple trees were wild crabs.

with an occasional assistant, found ample employment iu clearing the premises about his cabin, "mauling rails," etc, preparatory to his farming operations in the coming year, keeping "bachelor's hall" in the single tenement of which he was the sole occupant in 1822.

The elections in August, 1822, had generally a fortunate result, Edward Coles was chosen governor over three contestants, receiving a minority vote, but a larger one than any of his competitors. A. T. Hi;bbard was chosen Lieutenant Governor. He afterwards resided in Quincy and his remains lie in the "old grave yard" now called Jefferson Square. Daniel P. Cook was again elected Representative to Congress by an increased majority over John Mc- Lain, his opponent, in 1820. Thomas Carlin, afterwards Governor, was elected State Senator from the Pike and Greene District, embracing what is now Adams, and Nicholas Hanson, representative to the General Assembly. The election of Coles and Cook was an advantage to the cause of freedom that can never be overestimated. They represented, the former especially, anti-slavery element in the state and to Governor Coles, his position, example, energy and efficient action perhaps more than to any other man, is due the redemption of Illinois from the designs of the slavery propagandists. Now, for the first time, fairly entered this fireband into the political arena which it inflamed with intense excitement, to the exclusion of all other issues, throughout the two succeeding yeai's, absorbing all minor questions and drawing a line of division through the political elements on which the political organizations of all subsequent time have stood and still exist,

Two questions of exciting nature came before the Genei-al Assembly in 1822 and 1823, and in reference to them, the representatives from the "Kingdom of Pike." as our huge county, three hundred miles long and with an average width of fifty miles, was called, became part of a "curious piece of political history, which has occasionally been published as an illustration of sharp practice iu the early days. The seat of Nicholas Hanson, representative from Pike, was contested by John Shaw, and after an examination into the question, Hanson was allowed the place, as was proper, he having, undoubtedly, been elected. The election for LTnited States Senator came on soon after and Jesse B. Thomas, the former member, was re-elected. Hanson voted for him. The other issue to which allusion was made above, tlien came forward. An organized effort was made to introduce slaverv into Illinois,

Forbidden in the Coustitution of 1818, it could only be legalized by the revision of the constitution and in that instrument it was provided, that, to call a convention for such purpose two-thirds of each branch of the legislature, must order an election and the people then vote in favor of such call and then the legislature order, etc. The senate had a twothird majority of pro-slavery men, so that there no difficulty was found ; while in the House they lacked just one of the requisite two-thirds. But where there is a will there is a way to shape desired ends. Wrong never knows scruples. Consistently with the policy, it ever after possessed, of defying law, right and decency when its interests demanded, slavery resolved upon its course. Shaw, a coarse, pliant and not scrujjulous man, the unsuccessful contestant of Hanson, was sent for and he agreed if the seat would be given to him that he would vote for the convention. So the question decided ten weeks before was reconsidered. Hanson, who had been admitted and held the office for ten weeks, was turned out. Shaw was voted in, and casting his vote for the convention, it carried, and three days after Shaw's admission the General Assembly adjourned. These facts have been heretofore published, but usually with an impoi'tant error. Probably to give piquancy to the story, it has been said that Hanson was admitted to vote for Thomas, which Shaw would not have done, and that Shaw was afterward brought in to vote for the convention as Hanson would not do. This is not correct. The senatorial election had no influence in determining Hanson's claim to a seat. It was decided on its merits. The turning him out was an after-thought, resorted to, when it was found, towards the close of the session, that one vote was needed, and Shaw's pliabilit}^ and general views were known to be just what was required. Shaw was a rough, course natured man. of some means and more notoriety, of a most suspiciousl.v contraband complexion and appearance, and not burdened with any amount of scruples to unload, that would have pre- A^ented him from voting any way on any subject (or promising to do so) to get his seat. He was known as the "Black Prince" of Calhoun. The effect of this high-handed defiance of rule and propriety, was most seriously damaging to the cause of the pro-slavery men, and was a charge during the .succeeding canvass which they could not deny or defend.

At this session.' December 30th, 1822. the boundaries of Pike County were more completely defined, the base line six miles north of Qtiiney being the northern limit, all above, being "attached." Provision was also made for the selection of a county seat which should be south of the base line. Calhoun county was subsequently cut off from the lower portion of Pike with Cole's Grove (Gilead) as its county seat, while the county seat of Pike was established at Atlas, forty miles south of Quincy, which thus became the legal centre of this part of the county for the next three years.

A Half Section

JEREMIAH ROSE. PIONEER HOSPITALITY. FIRST STEAMBOAT TO LAND. FIRST PASSENGER. STEAMBOATS DESCRIBED. SALE OF LANDS IN TRACT" FOR TAXES. KEYES BUYS A HALF SECTION.

The legislation bearing especially upon this section (what is now Adams Coimty) during the year 1823, was not exten.sive or important. On the 28th of January, Fulton County was formed by detaching that portion of the military tract lying east of the Meridian; and on the 18th of February, as stated in the preceding chapter, by the aid of Shaw, the bogus representative from Pike, the call for a convention to revise the Constitution of the State, passed the General Assembly, and thereupon, commenced the fierce political struggle, which raged throughout the farthest bounds of the state and was ended by the decisive result at the polls eighteen months later.

In ]\Iarch of this year. Major Jeremiah Rose, with his wife and daughter, moved up from the lower part of Pike County, where he had been residing, and commenced "housekeeping" in Wood's cabin, its proprietor boarding with them.

The same sjiring. Wood and Rose broke and put under tillage about thirty acres of the land on either side of State street, just east of 12th, which Wood had enclosed during the winter, this being the land bought by him of Flyun, and the first cultivated ground in the vicinity.

There was very little immigration during the year, though a few settlers dropped in at scattered points throughout the county. Tyrer, on his land in Melrose, southeast of the city. ^lajor Campbell and the Worleys in the Rock Creek section, and perhaps half a dozen other families, or, generallj^, single men, settled in other localities. The little family of four monarchs of all they surveyed plodded diligently on through the inouotoiioiis time, gradually surrounding themselves with more and more of the comforts of home, plain as these comforts were, and extending the sphere of their farming labors as the months rolled along. An occasional land hunter; a straggling squad of Indians; the monthlj- passage by of the military mail carrier from below to Fort Edwards (Warsaw) : now and then a United States Army officer on his tour of duty; these were the random links that gave them some connection with civilization.

Hotels were unknown, or i-ather it might be said, that every cabin, tent, or camp was a free hotel, a "'lodge in the wilderness" open to the unasked use of all. Those were the days when "every stranger seemed a friend and every friend a brother."' and the traveler more than rei)aid the care he caused when he opened his budget of news and gossij) from the far-off world.

Such was the social condition throughout the whole frontier of the west here and elsewhere, and this, like some others, from location or accident, became one of the noted stations for the traveler's hospitable welcome. Statelier structures have since arisen, from which reach out more tempting offerings of luxury and style, but never has the wearied wayfarer been solaced with truer comfort and rest, than in the rough-hewn huts of our pioneer sires. Rugged as might lie the outer seeming, welcome smiled on the threshold and i)lenty crowned the board, and in the little clean-kept cabin, from stranger and sojourner faded away all thought of homely cheer while partaking of the land hospitality of their hosts.

A salient episode in the UKjnotony of the time, was the appearance of the "Virginia," the first steamboat that attempted the navigation on the upper Mississippi. It was a stern wheeler with a cabin on the lower deck, and no upper works, not even a pilot house. It was steered by a tiller in the hands of the pilot, as are canal boats at the present time. It was 118 feet long and 22 feet beam, and drew six feet when moderately loaded.

The "Virginia" passed up in May of this year with the object of demonstrating the feasibility of navigation by stream of the Mississippi from St. Louis to its junction with the ^linnesota (Fort Snelling). This, thoiigh the first boat that passed ovei' the lower rapids, was but the second that had ascended to that point. Three years before, a government steamer, the "Western Engineer," commanded bv or under the direction of Major S. II. Long, an army officer eminent for his acquirements as a discoverer and civil engineer, steamed up as high as Keokuk. This was in the summer of 1820 or 1821 ; authorities disagree upon the j)recise date.

On its downward trip, Mr. Asa Tyrer, who afterward located, lived and died east of what was long known as Tyrers' (now Watson's) Spring, happened to be on the river bank, having roamed here to examine his land. He hailed the steamboat, was taken on board and thus the Engineer became the first steamer that landed at Quincy, and Mr. Tyrer the fir.st passenger therefrom. It was many years before another was seen.

Before this time, and f(U' many years afterward, transportation on the river was carried on by keel boats, which made their periodical trips from St. Louis to Fort Cranford, Prairie Du Chien or Fort Snelling. laden with supplies for the army and the Indians, and whatever else of freight might be picked up. The ordiiun-y speed of these boats was from eight to twelve miles a day. by being cordelled or poled along tlic hanks except when, with a favoral)le south wind, sail could be raised, when their progress was greatl.v accelerated.

Freight usually had a fixed price, that is, the charge was as great to any intermediate point as throughout the whole distance unless the shipper would guarantee that when his way freight was taken out an equal amount should replace it. Then rates proportionate to distance would be charged.

The construction of the Engineer "smoke boat" or "fire canoe," as the Indians termed the steamboat, was pecidiar enoiTgh to warrant description. Authorities differ somewhat as to the detail of appearance, one writer says that "on the bow running from the keel, was the image of a huge serpent, painted black, its mouth red, and tongue the color of a live coal ; the steam escaped through the mouth of this image. The Indians looked upon it with great wonder and astonishment. They declared it was the power of the great Spirit ; and said the big snake carried the boat on its back. Some were afraid to go near the machinery. The steamer was in command of Lieutenant Swift, but the vessel was not very swift, but as a means of exploration, the boat was a success. She was a side-wheeler, and the first to ascend the Upper Missouri, and Mississippi." Another and more reliable authority, the Rev. John M. Peck, who writes from his personal observation, says "the boat was a small one with a stern wheel and an escape pipe so contrived as to emit a torrent of smoke and steam through

A steamer, however, was a curiosity in those days. It was not until about the year 1830 that steamboats fairly superseded the keel b.oats on the Upper Mississippi, and not until a later period, that their business became general and regular. The reasons were manifold. One was the light amount of business that offered either way up or down, and unless .steamboats had a shipment of government stores for army or Indian use, it did not pay to steam into the wilderness, and again the construction of boats in those days precluded navigation of the upper rivers except during for a short period of the year.

The steamers of "old times," as recollection pictures them, contrast strikingly with the floating palaces of to-day. They were short, blunt, broad, with small wheels; the wheelhouse rarely rising above the level of the cabin floor. The ladies' cabin was located at the stern of the boat as now. the gentlemen's cabin was below and in the rear of the w'heel houses. The sides of the cabins were filled with two and sometimes three tiei-s of berths, with long curtains that diiring the day w^ere drawn aside. State rooms were much later inventions ; not until about 1836 were these in use, and only then and later, w^as the custom of making the cabins all lined with staterooms, general.

The space now occupied by the main cabin was unfinished and iised by the half-fare or "deck" passengers. The roof did not, as now, extend forward over the boiler deck. It ran about tw-o-thirds the length of the boat with the little pilot house standing on its forward edge. There was no cover to the boiler deck and up through it ran the two chimneys. A single engine only was used with one escape pipe and especial care was taken to have the escape of the steam as loud as possible, so that it might serve as a note of warning to the coiuitry for ten miles or more ai'ound.

A bowsprit from six to ten feet long protruded at the front on the end of which the fiag staft' rested. Some of the earlier built boats made use of the bowsprit as a scape pipe for the steam as depicted in another part of this chapter.

Some of these seekers for land during this and the following year returned and settled in various directions but they were few and scattered. Only those who. as soldiers, had drawn land or tho.se who had bought of the soldier.

The boinity lands were first offered for sale, under state laws, for taxes, in December of this year at Vandalia, when all the lands granted by the government to soldiers lying between the two rivers where defaidt to pay taxes had occurred, were put up for sale and this sale attracted a great representation of settlers and speculators. So extensive, however, was the amount of land offered in contrast with the number and means of the attendant purchasers that little or no competition occurred, the buyers formed in a circle on the day of sale and the lots were bought in turn, and subsequently divided by the purchasers. Mr. Keyes (who up to this time remained at the old residence in five south, six west) and i\Ir. Wood, attended this sale and purchased sundry lots in the vicinity of Quincy, trusting to their intended occupancy and the chance of obtaining the other title if their tax purchase was not redeemed. At this time Mr. Keyes purchased the half section north of Broadway and We.st of 12th street, for the amount of taxes and costs amounting to about eleven dollars. the complete title of which he acquired at a later day.

Chapter Vi Cabins Of Wood. Keyes. Droul.A.Rd. First

CABINS OF WOOD. KEYES. DROUL.A.RD. FIRST BLACKSMITH. FIRST PHYSICI.A.N. PRO-SLAVERY AGITATION. TIN TEAPOT FOR A BALLOT BOX. FIRST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTON. GOVERNOR CARLIN. ROLL CALL OF ARRIVALS.

In the spring of 1828 Willard Keyes, who two or three years before had been keeping "bachelor's hall" with John Wood, about thirty miles south of where Quincy now is, came up to the "bluffs," following his old "pardner," Wood, and built for himself a cabin some twenty feet s(iuare, and rather larger and more pretentious than that of Wood's. It was located near what is now the corner of First and Vermont streets. This" settlement" of Keyes' was a" squat," the term in those days, applied to a location or residence on government land not yet subject to entry, and was in oppo-sition to the laws which forbid such settlement and occupation, ilr. Keyes hoped, however, to obtain a prei6 emptiou uiidei' the law wliicli would entitle him to priority in purchase when the land became subject to sale. But the fact of its being fractional and the subsequent taking it for the county seat under the provisions of a law which reserved any quarter section from private entry that had been selected as a county seat, before its otfer for sale, spoiled the hopes of the pioneer. He cared little about this, because it was mainly through him that the county seat was located where it now is to the sacritice of his immediate interests in the laud on which he lived. This rough, little cramped cabin became a prominent building, because put to many pTiblic uses in those early days. It was the "temple of justice" where the first court was held. It was the place for public assemblages, where the early officials met and the primitive organizations were matured, sometimes it served for religious meetings (like Wood's cabin, a half a mile south) ; it was a general free hotel for the wanderer and the wayfarer, and the temporary stopping place of the inuuigrant with his family until he coiild make his pennauent location in the ueighborhood. This was the second house built in Quiiicy.

In the fall of this year came John Droulard, a Frenchman, aiid a shoemaker by trade, who had served in the army. He became the owner of the northeast quarter of section two, township two south, range nine west, the 160 acres now in the center of the city lying immediately east of the fractional quarter on which Keyes had settled ; bounded by Broadway and 12th streets on the north and east, on the west by the alley, running from Maine to Hampshire, between 6th and 7th, and on the south by a line nearly half way between Kentucky and York streets. This was a choice piece of pi'operty, which, in a few years, Droulard frittered away. He erected a cabin near the northeast corner of what is now Jersey and Stli streets, a little west of where the gas works are situated. These three houses. Wood's, Keyes' and Droulard 's, were the only buildings in the place in 1824. This same season, Asa T.yrer, who had visited the place some years before, came again and set up a cabin and blacksmith shop about a mile southeast, near what was long known as Tyrer's Spring, since called Watson's Spring, named for Ben Watson, the son-in-law of Tyrer. who long lived there afterward. A Dr. Thomas Baker, the earliest physician in the county, came also during the summer and established himself about two miles south, below the bluff. He was a learned and skillful man. A few years later, he moved north into what is now Mercer countv, and shortly after, was accidently killetl - kicked by his horse. The three families first named, Wood, then unmarried, with whom was Major Rose and family, Keyes also a bachelor and Droulard with a family were the people of Quincy. Their special pioneership may be stated thus: Wood first came, built and settled; Rose theu followed, took Wood's cabin, kept house for him and brought hither the first family; Keyes was next in the order of coming, and the first to settle on what became the original town of (^luincy. and Di'oulard was tlu^ first resident laiRl owner. Keyes. Wootl ami Rose were liviug on land to which as yet they had not obtained title. They were "squatters" in fact, as were many of our early settlers at first, but they were the possessors of the entire ai'ea, and their apparent ownershij:) "fenced in," as it were, the locality so that there seemed "no abiding place" for anyone else until the following year, when the establishment of the county seat on the fractional northwest quarter of section two, threw the land open to settlement. There were a few settlers around within a range of thirty miles or more, less than a liundred in all, men, women and children. The census of the following year gave 192 as the poi)ulatioii of Adams and Hancock. Quiet and monotonous was the life they led on this edge of ci\'ilization ; devoted to their simple daily task, gathering the news from the outer world that came through the meagre monthly mail or was brought by the occasional traveler or the incoming settler, who were certain to he thoi'oughly pumped of all the news they contained. Yet their isolation inu\ ilistance from older commiTuities did not prevent their taking interest in public affairs and the growing future of the great state whose fortunes they had linked with their own. And the time soon came for this little community to play a not unimportant part in the movements permanently shaping the destiny of Illinois. During this year, there came up and was settled the most exciting and vital political struggle that ever affected the social, political, moral and material interest of the state.

Illinois six years before had been admitted to the union with a free constitution, biit was in many respects, practically a slave state. Tier early settlers were mainly from the south, and most of her public men were of southern birth and proclivities. Slaves had. without restriction, been brought here during territorial times and even later, and they remained here as slaves. Again, by stipulation in the treaties which transferred all of the Louisiana territory, embracing the valley of the Mississippi, negroes belonging to the French and Span- ish owners remaiued slaves for life, aud the ehildreu of such slaves so eoutiuued until they became twenty-eight years of age. Thus a large slave element aud interest existed.

The election as governor in IS'2'J, of Coles, an avowed emancipationist, wlio had brought hither his own slaves from Virginia and given them their freedom, aroused all the latent disagreeing elements on this siibjeet and stimulated a struggle as bitter and fierce as always characterized contests over this issue during the after years Avhen the pro-slavery interest attempted to dominate the nation. It was essential to the introduction, aud sustaining of slavery, such as existed, that the constitution should be changed. To do this a convention must be called. In the legislature of 1822-23 one vote was needed to pass the law calling for a convention to be voted for at the next election. It was furnished from the "military tract."

The scheme by which a majority in the legislatiu'e was secured in favor of the convention, has been related. The measure was adopted by a ma.jority of one.

From this time, the spring of 1821:!, for eighteen months, until the August election of 1824, the state was stirred up with great excitement. Voting for a convention, meant and was recognized as voting for slavery. If a convention was called, the apportionment in the state was such that it would have a majority of proslavery members, and there was the certainty that a constitution recognizing slavery would be framed and adopted without .submission to a popular vote, just as the con.stitution of 1818 was adopted.

There were but four votes in Quincy, and in what is now Adams county there were perhaps a score or more, but they were earnest and active. The county, which was then Pike, as far north as the base line six miles above QiTiney, was canvassed thoroughly, so was all the country north as far as Rock Island. The voters turned out en masse, and on Sunday morning, the day before the election, nearly fifty had gathered here at the "Bluffs," as the placi; was then called. They rode to Atlas, forty nules south, swimming the creeks which were "bank full," and plumped their votes on the following day. Of the one hundred votes cast at Atlas, ninety-seven were for "no convention" or a free state, and three were "for the convention." The "no convention" ticket swept the state by about 1,800 majority, and Illinois was preserved to freedom.

decisive vote, lie resigned before his term expired and was succeeded by Levi Roberts, of Fulton county. Fulton and Pike were then a representative disti-ict. Thomas Carlin (aftei-- ward governor) was elected state senator. Daniel P. Cook was elected again to congress over his competitor, ex-(;overnor Bond. Illinois was entitled to but one representative, Niniau Ed- Avards, U. S. senator, having resigned. John ilc- Lean was chosen as his successor.

The presidential election in November, which resulted in the success of John Quincy Adams, was marked by a feature which is said to have had some bearing upon the name given to the county and town in the following year. At this time the whole country between the rivers, north of Pike county, was attached to that county, and called, from its extent, the "Kingdom of Pike." As there were no organized or authorized voting places north of Atlas the settlers concluded to try their own hands independently at electing a president. ' Accordingly on the day of election some twenty or more of them assembled, and organized a poll by electing judges and clerks and made use of a" tin teapot for a ballot box and voted. John Wood came up from Atlas the day before with a list of the Adams electors. Nobody knew the names of the Clay or Crawford electors. They all wanted to vote. So, though many of them thought that Jackson or Crawford or Clay was the better man, they uiuinimously voted the Adams ticket.

At this presidential election in November, 182-i, twenty votes were said to have been cast. This number is not improbable, as men were then allowed to vote, away from home, anywhere in the state at general elections, and the qualifications of the voters as to age, citizenship, etc., were rarely inquired into. Indeed, some of the voters on this occasion were residents of Missouri, but who could not find any other place in which to exercise their freeman's privilege. There is one point in this old and oft told story of their nuiking use of an old teapot for a ballot box which is of more tlian doubtful validity, aud which rather tends to cloud the Avhole transaction with some uncertainty. The manner of voting then in this state was viva voce, and not until tweuty-four years, was the liallot box system adopted as the law. Why or how a teapot should have been needed is somewhat of a puzzle. Still, as all the parties are dead and the story now can neither be refuted nor proven, it is well enough to let it stand and not be too critical in the vindication of the truth of the story.

son, Henry (-'lay, John Quincy Adams and Wm. H. Crawford for the presidency was almost entirelj' personal, and based, mainly, on individnal preferences or local feeling. These men had all been more or less closely associateii Avith the late administration of President Monroe and entertained nearly the same general political ideas. This was also the case in regard to the local elections and officials.

Hanson and Carlin - representative and senator - represented no party, for there were no parties nor party names, to serve lender. They were of general agreement in public matters but of different stamp of character and training, and would have drifted into opposition over the strong political lines that formed a few years later. These two were important men in their day. Hanson was possessed of more than ordinary ability, and had a great deal of influence in the legislature and at home. After he resigned his seat in the house, during this session, he returned to New York, his native state. Carlin filled a large place in the history of this section and the state. He was state senator for eight years, soon after came to Quincy as receiver of the land office, and in 1838, Avas chosen governor. He was a man of limited attainments, of rough apjiearance and habits, but had force of character, good .judgment and i^ersonal integrity, qualities which secured him public confidence and success.

Settlers came slowly drifting into the vicinity during the year ; perhaps a dozen or more families settled in what afterward became Adams county, most of them in the southern portion. None came to Quincy, or the "Bluffs." as it was then called. These settlers were either soldiers who had come to take possession of the land which thej' had drawn as bounty, or parties who had purchased of the soldiers. No other than the military bounty lands had, as yet, come into market. These settlers passed directly on to their lands and commenced and were kept busied with their rude improvements. During the year there moved into the county, Levi Wells, Orestes and Zephaniah Ames, Amos Bancroft, Rial Crandall, James Pearce, L. Budkirk, the Soehorns, Elias Adams, Lawrence Cranford, Daniel Moore, Peter Journey and perhaps half a dozen others. There was but little intercourse because the people were few, were busy clearing their lands and lived far apart. There was no trading because there Avas nothing raised to sell, and but little was Avanted. Supplies, .such as could not be raised at home and Avere needed, Avere obtained from Clarksville or Louisiana or sometimes, from St. Louis. Clarksville, Missouri, Avas then the postoffice. Aftei-Avard a postoffiee was established at

Atlas, forty miles south. Up to this time, none but log houses Avere built in the county, and all of these Avere built Avithout iron, all ties and fastenings being made Avith Avooden pins.

Court House. Roll Of Names Of Early

COMMISSIONKRS LAY OUT THE TOWN AND FIX AND TOWN "QUINCY." FIRST AVEDDING. FIRST CIRCUIT COURT. MAILS ONCE A AVEEK, DIFFICULTY IN GETTING TITLE TO SITE OF CITY. FIRST PLAT OF CITY. FIRST SALE OF LOTS. FIRST BURIAL GROUND. FIRST COURT HOUSE. ROLL OF NAMES OF EARLY SETTLERS.

Eighteen hundred and twenty-five Avas a notable year in the history of Quincy. It Avas the natal year of county and city, and when the former assumed its permanent place in the political structure of the .state. In 182-4, and also in 1825, up to the time AA'lien the Commissioners authorized by the state, came to locate the county seat of the ncAV county, there Avere at "the bluff's" but three resident families and as many cabins. These last Avere, as has been related, first, John Wood's cabin, near the corner of DelaAvare and Front streets, inhabited by John Wood and Jlajor Jeremiah Rose and family; second, Willarcl Keyes' cabin, near Avhere Front and Vermont streets .join, in Avhich he lived by himself, and, third, (also third in the order of erection), Avas the cabin of John Droulard, a Frenchman. He was a shoemaker by trade, and the OAvner of the cpiarter section bounded by Twelfth street on the east, Broad- Avay on the north, the Avest line reaching to the alley betAveen sixth and seventh streets, and the south line to a jDoint betAveen York and Kentucky streets. Droulard's cabin Avas situated near what is uoav the corner of Seventh and Jersey streets, on the block nortliAvest of the present gas Avorks.

In conformity Avith the notice referred to in a preceding chapter, application Avas made to the General Assembly at its session of 1824 and 1825 and the same Avas referred to the Committee on Counties, of Avhieli General Nicholas Hanson, the representative from Pike county, Avhich then embraced all the country betAveen the Illinois and Mississippi ri\'ers, Avas chairman. He reported a bill. Avhich Avas passed and approved January 18th. 1825, creating the counties of Adams and Schuyler. proA'iding for their organization, and divicling the remainder of the Military Tract into future counties, each temporarily attached to either one of the above comities, but authorized to independently oi"- ganize when the population amounted to three hundred and fifty persons; authority being given to the Governor to appoint the necessary county oiificials. Adams and Schuyler counties, under this law, were allowed to initiate their corporate organizations whenever the Circuit Judge should order an election for County Commissioners. This election for Adams county was ordered and held on the 2nd of July. Hancock county by the law, was attached to and formed, temporarily, a pai't of Adams.

The three commissioners, appointed in pursuance of the above legislation, to select the county seat for the new county, were Joel Wright, of Montgomery County, Seymoiir Kellogg, of Morgan, and David Dutton of Pike.

On the 30tli of April, two of the Commissioners, Messrs. Kellogg and Dutton, came to "the bluffs" to perform their allotted task. They had been strongly impressed with the propriety and had come to the determination, as they expressed it, of locating the covinty seat "as near the geographical center of the county as possible." Fate decreed otherwise. L^^ck, strategy and the impressive treatment they received at "the bluffs" produced a reversal of this design. They were courteously received on their arrival. One-fourth of the male population of the place was absent ("Wood being at St. Loixis), but the residue (Keyes, Eose and Droulard) turned out en masse. The Commissioners accepted the hospitalities of the place, and when they started on their search for the center of the county, twenty-five i)er cent of the male population (Willard Keyes) volunteered to escort and guide them. One finds, as a curious commentary on the uncertainty which sometimes attends the action of a person of the most assured capacity, that, on this occasion, Mr. Keyes' proverbial skill in woodcraft and experience as a land pilot, appears to have been entirely lost, or, left at home : since, notwithstanding his valuable and disinterested aid, the worthy commissioners after a day's toil, found themselves far more likely to reach the center of the eai-th than the center of the coimty. After floundering through the briai's, bogs, quagmires, swamps and quicksands of Mill Creek, sinking sometimes to their saddle gii-ths, happy were the fagged dignitaries, abandoning their profitless search for the central "Eldorado," to retrace their steps, and. when the dusk came on, find shelter beneath the generous roof of the cabin of John "Wood and Jei'emiah Eose. A substantial supper : a comforting sleep ; a hearty breakfast on the ensuing morning, and the bewildered judgment of the now refreshed

Commissioners, ripened to a result. Passing, with all the people of the place in procession, over the broken bluffs and through the grassy woods to the narrow, prairie ridge that crept across what is now Washington Square, tliey halted about the spot where is now the bronze statue of John Wood. Here, driving a stake into the ground, with all the formality and impressiveness that could be brought to bear, they officially announced that the Northwest quarter of section two, township two, range nine west, Avas from that hour the county seat of Adams County. Then, reverently placing their hands upon the top of the stake, they christened the place "Quincy. "

John Quincy Adams had been elected President and on the preceding 4th of March, took possession of the White House, and .just about the time of this visit of the commissionei-s, the inaugural address of "The old man elociuent," which had been delivered to Congress some two months before, had been brought in the mails. It formed, of course, a topic for conversation between the Commissioners and the citizens, and Kellogg, a w&vm Adams man from Morgan, sore over a recent political struggle, said, "In OTU- county, they've named the county seat Jacksonville, after General Jackson." "Well," said some one from the crowd, "let's call our county seat Quincy, and we'll see which comes out ahead, Jackson or Adams," It was carried by a unanimous vote.

As the county had been called Adams and the town christened Quincy, an attempt was made to have the stream that flows into the river at the foot of Delaware street, named "Johnny Creek," so as to complete the sequence of the cognomen. It failed to stick.

Another query about names occurs in the case of "The Bay," which stretches along the foot of the bluffs for about three miles above the city. "Boston Bay" it was called in the earlier times and on the older maps, as some say, because "a Bostonian once navigated his craft up this bay, mistaking it for the main channel of the river." The more reasonable theory is, that it took its name from a French trader by the name of Bouston. or Boistone, who lived on its east bank.

A notable event occurred shortly after this visit of the Commissioners, the first of its kind, and hence the cause of no small sensation in the infant community. It was the marriage of Amos Bancroft to Ardelia Ames. Whether these young people were stimulated to this step by a laudable ambition to be the first local pioneers in the good work invented by old Adam, or whether they were influenced by that which makes young folks nowadays "go and do likewise," it is nut now material to inquire; sufficient is the fact that theirs was the pioneer wedding-, the first marriage solemnized in Adams County. The venerable Mr. Bancroft afterward removed to Missouri, where lie died February, 1875.

The first election was held for county officers on the 2nd of July at "Keyes' Cabin," where the Presidential vote had been taken the fall before. Whether the old teapot ofiSeiated again is not recorded. About forty votes were polled. These forty votes included probably almost every man in Adams County; those in the attached territory on the north, and also anybody else who chose to vote. Our unselfish and unsuspicious ancestors were not sensitive on the sutfrage question. Age, residence, or other qualifications were matters that they inquired into very little. Their reasoning was that any one Avho came along, unless Indian or negro, had a right to vote, if not here somewhere, and hence perplexing questions were rarely asked. The commissioners chosen, were Peter Journey, a Jerseyman by birth, who lived at the foot of the bluff about ten miles south; Willard Keyes, a native of Vermont, resident, as we have stated, about the foot of Vermont street, and Levi Wells, a native of Connecticut. Mr. AVells tliou resided in the s(Uith part of the county near Paysoii. luit soon moved to Quine.v. reiiiaining in the cily until his death. The estimated population of the county at this time. was sevent.y. On the 4th of -Inly, the newly chosen officials met for organization at the hdiisc of Mr. Keyes. They appointed as temporary clerk (subsequently making the appointment permanent), Henry H. Snow. Mr. Snow (or Judge Snow, as he was always named in later years) was a single man. He had arrived in Quincy but a few days previous. He was a native of New Hampshire, a man of good clerical attainment, tpiaiifications much needed iu those days, and with an unusual fund of genci'al intelligence. He soon became the ineumliciit of neai-ly all the official positions in the county. His name is perhaps, more directly associated with the records and public business of the place than that of any other of the earlier settlers. Earl Pearce was appointed constable and Ira Pearce deputed to take the census. The Pearce family lived near where the Alexander farm now is, five miles south. Joshua Streeter, John L. Soule, Lewis C. K. Hamilton and Amos Bancroft were apjiointed justices of the peace.

Near the close of July or eaiiy in August, the first Circuit Coui't convened, as usual, at the cabin of Mr. Keyes. No apology was due Mr. Keyes for the public use thus made of his house, since the fact is, that his was the only one of the three cabins in the place that had no Avomen or children in it. x\.t this term, little or no business was transacted farther than what was necessary to the organization of the court. The first formally concluded legal business was at the succeeding term in October. At the session of the County Commissioners preceding the term of the Circuit Court, the panel of Grand and Petit Jurors being made out is said to have embraced every qualified .juryman in the country except two, and one of those was under indictment.

John Yorcke Sawyer, the first circuit judge, was no ordinary man. He was a native of Vermiuit. He possessed acquirements and legal acumen, fully adequate to sustain the character of the local bench in those days. In one respect, he was far beyond rivalry. Judge Sawyer weighed nearly four hundred pounds, while, as an illustration of how extremes will often meet, his good wife could not bring down the scales at ninety pounds. The wags used to say that it took an active lawyer to get arovnid the Judge, and when, in the little sixteen-foot square cabin of Mr. Keyes, where the first court was held, or even afterward in the twenty-two by eighteen court-room subsequently erected, his honor took his seat, the room seemed full of justice. He had a spice of jolly waggery at times: landlady as he picked up the plate of butter, "what's the color of j^our cows'?" "Why, Judge," she answered, "they're all colors; white and black and speckled." "So I should think, by the looks of your butter," was the Judge's reply. He was a fair lawyer, and a correct man. He remained in office but two years. The General Assembly at the session of 1S'2() and 1827 changing the circuit court sys- 1('iii, ap])ointed Samuel D. Lockwood, in the place of Sawyer. He afterward removed to Vandalia and' died there March 13th, 1836, while editing the Vandalia Advocate.

Neither Quincy nor Adams County, in those halcyon da.vs, were blessed with any lawyers, but at this first session the Judge was accompanied b.v the Prosecuting Attorney, James Turney, A. W. Cavarly, for many years after a prominent politican from Greene County; Ben Mills, the most gifted man in the state of his day, who died at Galena some twenty years later; J. W. AVhitney, the Lord Coke of famous "Lobby" memory: John Turney, and perhaps other members of the bar, from "below." LI. II. Snow was appointed circuit clerk. He w^as, as l^efore stated, peculiarly qualified for positions of this character and for many vears "swung arduiul the circle"' of public trusts, etficient, faithful, and respected by all. He was Circuit and County Clerk, Probate Judge, Justice of the Peace, Postman and Recorder, and kept singing school besides. He died honored and lamented in 1860. Colonel James Black of Vandalia, was the first appointed postmaster and recorder, but a fcAv days' residence disgusted him Avith the primitive surroundings and he left, deputizing his duties to Mr. Snow, who soon succeeded to both positions. Levi Hadley Avas appointed sheriff, an excellent man, who, four years later, in 1829. fell from a steamboat and Avas drowned while on his way to Galena.

These, and those previously named, were all the county officials appointed or thought necessary at the time. In the year following, an assessor and treasurer were appointed. Nicholas Hanson was the representative, and Thomas Carlin. of Greene County, was state senator.

Up to this time. Atlas, forty miles south in Pike County, was the nearest postoffiee. There was received a weekly mail, carried on horseback. When Quincy became a "local habitation and a name" it received the benefit of this weekly mail, but it was many years before the mail bag came oftener than once a week. Access to the world without was by horseback, and when not in an especial haste, by keelboat or canoe. Steamboats came "occasionally," stage coaches were unknown, and roads were not yet made. The heaviest duty that pressed upon our new county commissioners was the devising where roads ought to be. There ran at this time along the river bank, under the bluff, a faintly beaten track, made by the military travel, from Fort Edwards (Warsaw) south. There was also a road from near the cabin of John Wood up the creek, dividing when it reached the higher ground, ono path pointing towards Fort Clark (Peoria), and the other eastward, towards the Illinois river, at Phillips' Ferry.

Although the location of the county seat had been established and the name decided, the work was, as yet. far from being done. The N. W. 2-2 S, 9 W. had, it is true, been declared by the authorized commissioners of Illinois, to be the county seat of Adams County, but the land belonged yet to the United States, and Adams County could exercise no ownei'ship over it until the same had been bought and paid for. The land was not as yet in the market. A serious, but perhaps unavoidable drawback to the readjr settlement of the new states was the delay of the Government in completing its surveys and throwing the lands open to entry. For nearly ten years after the admission of the

State, only the l)<)unty or soldier's patented lands of the .Alilitary Tract were within the reach of immigrants, the Government, or "Congress" land, as it was called, not being ready for entry or ott'ered for sale. A very judicious act of Congress, however, had secured to counties the i-ight of pre-emption, or priority of purchase, whenever the land came into mai-ket, of any one designated quarter-section to be used as a county seat. The land above-mentioned had been, as we have seen, selected by the State Commissioners ; but the next step, and the most difficult, was the raising of the money (about $200) to deposit with the laud office and thus confirm the pre-emption; and herein "lay the rub."

The score or two of residents of Quincy and the vicinity as yet had little money. Mount Pisgah could almost as easily have been lifted from its base as the required amount for such a purpose have been furnished by our handftil of pioneers.

Fortunately a Mr. Russell Farnham, a wellknown, liberal "river trader." the fir.st who took out a peddler's license from the county, had the money and would advance it if he could have some personal as.surances of its ultimate return. He regarded the infant county as a very mythical institution, in a business point of view. On being thus assured, he loaned the money ($200) and took the note of the Commissioners, dated August 17th, 1825, secured by H. II. Snow and David E. Cuyler as endorsers. This note was taken up and another given by the commissioners without endorsers, dated September 6th, 1825, payable May 15th, 1826, W'ith 10 per cent interest from August 17th, 1825. This note was held by Farnham, and no payments were made on it until April 10th. 1829. when $205 were pgid. and on the 1st of May. 1830. the remainder was paid. Mr. Farnham died not long afterward, of cholera, at Portage de Sioux.

With this money the patent was obtained, but not without much tribulation. It was well known that the quarter was fractional, while the precise ninnber of acres was uncertain. The commissioners deposited as much of the money as they thought necessary, desiring to use the remainder for other purposes. They were advised that their deposit was probably too small. Another installment was added and still the matter appearing doubtful, they were informed that if they would deposit the whole amount ($200) the patent would be at once is.sued to them for 160 acres, and the difference be refunded whenever the exact measiire of the quai'ter was a.scertained. This was done and this is the reason why the patent or deed from the Uiiiteil States conveys 160 acres, while, as was subsequently ascertained ou working out the field notes, when filed, the real area was but 154 acres.

The deed from the United States was not made until the 13th of February. 1832. It conveys the N. W. 2, 2 S. 9 W. to ""the "County of Adams and its successors."

On the 9th of November the commissioners made an order that there should be a survey and plat prepared of the quarter section on whicli the county seat was located, and that a sale of lots should be held on December 13th. They appointed Suoav surveyor and he, in conjunction with the commissioners, laid out the town in equilateral blocks, except where the diagonal directions of the river and the fractional proportions on the east and south varied the i)lan. Five streets were platted, running east aiul west ; the central one called Maine and the others named respectively, York, Jersey, Hampshire and Vermont, after the states from whence came the three commissioners and the clerk, six streets running north and south, after FroTit Avere, consecutively numbered from the river eastward.

In making this survey and plat, the leadingidea with all was to reserve for the "public uses" the highest, most central and level ground so far as was possible. These surveys were made entirely in rods, not feet. The lilocks, lots (where not fractional of necessity) and the streets, were uniformly laid out thus: Blocks twenty-four i-ods square; lots twelve rods deep, and six rods wide ; streets four rods wide, except Maine street, which was given five rods. Block number twelve (now Washington Park) was reserved as a public square. It was choice ground for such a use, and in relation thereto, "many a hard fought battle at the polls was made to preserve the public square from deseci'ation by those who could conceive no other utility for the square than to make it the receptacle of every building that could be thought of, from the court house and the jail to the butcher's stall." The first butcher in Quincy spiked a wooden bar to a tree in the square, and hung his meat on it. When the community consumed the meat, and he concluded it would be ready for further consumption, he killed another animal. Besides the reservation above stated, there was also set apart a strip of land along the river for the purposes of a public landing, and all the tier of lots on Fifth street, between ]\Iaine and Hampshire for "public uses." Also that portion of the present Sixth street with all east thereof: now known as Block 31, 82, 33, 34, 35 and 3(j : and the front tier of lots along the river from ]\Iaine street south, were marked on the plat as "unappropriated ground," remaining thus until laid off in lots on a supplemental plan .Alarch 4th, 1828,

In 1826, the south half of what is now called Jefferson Square Avas reserved as a "burial gi-ound for the people of Adams County," and the lot on Fifth street immediately north of the court house for school purposes.

The sale occurred as ordered, having been duly advertised in the St. Louis and Echvardsville i)a Iters, on the 13th day of December. It Avns continued from time to time, as the county cijuiiiiissioners ordered, and the last of the lots Avere sold in 1836, about the time the second court house Avas built.

Thei'e Avas but little speculation in the original "toAvii quarter." Although it had been extensively advertised, AA^hen came the sale day, lew outsiders were present to buy, and the resident neighbors had no means after buying their corn bread and bacon to spare for speculative purposes. The only foreign purchaser Avas a Di'. ;\fullen, an army surgeon, aa'Iio happened to he present, at the time of sale and liought a fcAV lots. All the other lots sold Avere taken by the toAvn and county people.

Deeds Avere not given at once, as the title had not at the time of the first sale been foruially received. Several years elapsed before eoiuplete i-onveyances Avere made, and, in the meantime many of the original purchasers haA'- ing a.ssigned their bonds, the title in such cases Avas made by the commissioners direct to the assignees. The terms Avere one-fourth cash, and the remainder in three annual payments.

The folloAving are some of the prices paid: Lots 1 and 2, block 19, being the soutliAvest corner of Fifth and Maine, running half Avay to Fourth street. Avas bought for' f(;30.00. "The other iiortioii of the ground to Fourth street, now in<-ludiiig the Daneke building and the QTTINCY (NcAVComb) House, Avas bought for $46.00. The corner, 99 by 198 feet, on Avhich uo-\;- stands the QUINCY (NeAvcomb) House lirouglit $27.00, the highest price paid for property located around the square, Tavo luuidred feet iKU-th from, and including the old post office corner on Fourth street, Avas struck off for $29.00. The Park corner (]\Iaine and Fourth ). 99 feet on Elaine street and 198 feet on Fourth, .sold for $18,25. The corner of Maine and Fifth on Avhich stands the Flach's building, sold (99 feet on :\raine street and 198 on Fifthl for .$16.25.

The ground on Avhicli now stands the QUINCY (Newcomb) House brought the highest price of any on the hill. Rufns Brown, the first hotel keeper, bought it for a tavern stand, for which purpose it has always been used. It was part of the high, narrow prairie ridge that ran northeast and southwest across the public square, and was of course, in demand. Lots on the river bank stimulated the most competition. The only house on the cjuai'ter section was the cabin of Willard Keyes. The highest price paid for any one lot Avas $38.00 and proportionately for others in block five and six on Front Street. The reason was, that there, Keyes had settled the year before, and an unfriendly accpiaintance forced him to bid high to save his improvements. It may he said, however, in passing, that the worthy pioneer lost nothing, eventually, by his purchase. For instance, thirty years later, a part of lot three, block 6. one hundred feet in depth, he sold to the writer at the rate of $100 per front foot. The whole lot 99 by 198 feet, had cost him in 1825. $21.00.