History of the City of Quincy, Illinois

1 F 549 ;|.Q6T5 :, -^^o? »% •- %<<' ^^..^^ %<^^ -MS:: \/ : yM£\ \r /jitev :> r.'JL' >. O . :^^. -v'^^./ -o^^W:^%o'> v^/ %'^^\^' V'- -^.^^ •'^' \<^'' 'M^' \/ .'jfe'- %.^'' y^^^^'^ v./ /:^fe'v V. .*' » ..-•» *. ,0^ o • • • ^ -*5 "oV" «^ •.;-.• .«'*• •-^•y** ••^•\/'\ ••^•" /%. '•.ffiK--y% ^ ^^-'-^^ ,^ 0* ^ 0^ .LlL'. ^> « O O , o > ,0^ Tr,-' ^^^ V^*^-' A°\.. V^-'* . v*^-\^°\.. V*" '--/ **«*'•• i- -'Site-- A- %/ %" V % HISTORY OF THE City of Ouincy, Illinois BY GEN. JOHN TILLSON Revised and Corrected by HON. WILLIAM H. COLLINS I By direction of the Quincy Historical Society PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY BY THE S. ). CLARKE PUBLISHING CO. CHICAGO HISTORY OF OUINCY By GEN. JOHN TILLSON CHAPTER I. formed into the "County of Illinois," and Col. ••ILLINOIS COUNTRY." CONTESTS FOR ITS POS- John Todd was appointed "Lieutenant Com- SESSION. EARLY POLITICAL HISTORY. AN mandant." He was invested with a blended OUTLINE SKETCH OF ITS HISTORICAL SET- military and civil authoi-ity, which he exer- TING, MAY PROPERLY INTRODUCE A HISTORY OP THE ••GEM CITY." cised, nominally, until his death at the noted Blue Lick battle in 1782. After him a French- "What was known as the "Illinois Country" man, Timothy Montlrun by name, appears to for the ninety years which intervened between have been vested with whatever of authority the early discoveries French and the surrender was exercised in Virginia. of the region to the Engli.sh, in 1763, was In 1787, Congress assuming control of the bounded hy the Mississippi on the west, by the country, embracing what is now the States of river Illinois on the north, the by Ouabaehe Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wiscon- (Wabash) and Miamis on the east, and the Ohio sin, entitled it the "North-west Territoiy" and on the south. The Act of Congress defining the elected General Arthur St. Clair its Governor. boundaries of the State, included all the terri- In 1790, Governor St. Clair declared all that tory west of Illinois the to the ^Mississippi, and country lying between the Wabash, Ohio and north to what is the Wisconsin line. Thus now Mississippi rivers and an east and west line the site of the present city of in- Quincy was about on the pai-allel of the present site of cluded in the State of Illinois. Bloomington, Illinois, the County of St. Clair, French explorers first visit The were the to Cahokia being the county seat. Five years the "Illinois for Country" and nearly a cen- later, in 1795. all south of the present county tury, they held undisputed possession. Spain of St. Clair was set off and called Randolph held a claim to the whole region, but it was county. These two counties constituted all of feeble, and she was kept too busy elscAvhere, to Illinois as organized, until 1812. make it good, and in 1763. she relincinished it. In 1800 (May 9th) Congress divided the The country at this time, passed under the au- Xorth-west Territory. All west of what is now thority of the Bi'itish crown. England held it the State of Ohio, was declared the territory of for fifteen years. In 1778, General (ieorge Indiana. The population at the beginning of Rogers Clarlc. in command of a small, but gal- this century, of what now constitutes four great lant army, took possession of it for the colony states, was estimated at 4875 whites; 135 negro of Virginia. At the close of the war of the Rev- slaves, and about 100,000 Indians. William H. olution, England, by treaty, sui'rendered for- Harrison (afterwards President of the United ever her claims to supremacy. States) was appciinted Govei-nor. and Vincennes Virginia had already in 1780. ceded to the w;is selected as the territorial capital. Gov- Confederate colonies all her acquired rights as ernor Harrison's administration was vigorous concjuerer: cession, and made the deed of and and successful. During his first five years, he relinquishment by the celebrated ordinance of concluded ten treaties with the various Indian 1787. During the preceding nine years, a sort tribes, extinguishing their title and securing of quasi sovereignty, pai'tially recognized and the cession of their lands to the Ignited States. less enforced, had been asserted by Virsrinia. By the treaty of November 3rd. 1804. made The entire country north of the Ohio and east with the Sanks and Foxes he received from IMississippi of the had been, in October 1778, thorn the siiiTciider of all the land between the PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY. Illiuois and ilississippi rivers (embracing tlie ing all the northern portion of the State. Sub- "Military Tract") to which this tribe laid sequently other counties were formed in the claim and the greater portion of which they held southern part of the territory until 1818, the in possession. On the 3rd of February," 1809, number amounted to fifteen. Congress on the Congress formed the territory of Illinois in- 18th of April, 1818, acceding to the applica- cluding what is now the states of Illinois and tion made by the territorial legislature in the Wisconsin. This was the first Federal recog- preceding winter, passed a bill admitting Illi- nition of the name Illinois, although following nois into the I'nion as a State. The constitu- the action of the Virginia colony in 1778, the tional convention representing the fifteen coun- term "Illinois" had been in popular use, gen- ties, met at Kaskaskia in July of the same year erally applied to all the northwestern country. and completed the constitution on the 26th of The word "Illinois" is a French perversion of August, 1818. It was not submitted to the peo- the name claimed by the Indian tribe. M'hich at ple but went into effect immediately. the time of the French advent, controlled the At the first State election September. 1818, principal portion of Avhat now forms the state. Shadrach Bond was chosen Governor and Afterward, overborne and crowded southward Pierre ilenard. Lieutenant Governor, without by superior numbers, it passed out of existence. opposition. The various reuniants to the last retained their original name, "Leui," or "Illini," as the French pronounced it. It is the general Algon- quin term for "superior men." The population of the new territory in 1809, CHAPTER II. was estimated to be about 9.000 whites and somewhat less than 50,000 Indians. FIRST WHITE MEN TO SEE THE SITE OF THE FU- An imperfect census taken in 1810. returned TURE CITY. EXPLORATION OF JOLIET AND MARQUETTE. FIRST INHABITANTS. ITS E.^R- 11,501 Avhites. 168 slaves, and 613 "mixed" ex- LIEST COMMERCE. TOPOGRAPHICAL. clusive of Indians. Kaskaskia became the capital of the infant In the month of May, 1673, Louis Joliet and territor.y. Settlements were sparse. They lay Jaques Marqiiette, with five voyageurs in two along the Mississippi from about Kaskaskia to canoes, started from St. Ignace in Lake Michi- near the mouth of the Missouri ; up the Kas- gan on a tour of exploration. They passed kaskia or Okaw river for a short distance; through Green Bay and up the Fox Rivers; skirting the Ohio river and running up the then through Winnebago Lake, thence west- Wabash beyond Vincennes, by far the larger ward, crossing a portage into the Wisconsin portion of the inhabitants, being of French river. They journej^ed down the Wisconsin, and birth or exti'aetion. on the 17th day of June found themselves upon Beyond the lines above named, the Indians the waters of a great river. To this, they gave held almost undisputed control. Ninian Ed- the name Rio de la Conception. The Indian wards was appointed territorial Governor, an name was, according to some etymologists, ofSce which he retained, by .successive re-ap- "]\Ieach Chasseepe." Its signification was pointments, until the territory became a state. "gatherer of all M'aters" or "great river." He was a gifted, brilliant, imposing man, far Some of the early French explorers gave it the superior to most of his piiblic associates, and name of "Colbert" in honor of their prime min- while his positive nature created for him al- ister. Tlie Indian name of Mississippi has hap- most constant political conflicts, his position, pily survived. high character, and admitted ability, kept liim Spanish explorers had seen the river in its until the day of his death, more than any other, lower waters, and De Soto had been buried in the representative man of Illinois. its bosom, but those Frenchmen were the first The first delegate to Congress was Shadrach to see it in the higher latitudes. Bond. 'a popular man of fair native ability. He. It Avas a thrilling moment to these bold ad- in 1814. was succeeded by Benjamin Stephen- venturers, when, emerging from the mouth of son. Nathaniel Pope (Territorial Secretary) the Wisconsin, their canoes floated upon the succeeded Stephenson in 1816. broad bosom of the swift flowing river. It then Pope was afterwards made United States flowed clear and pure. The plow and spade of District Judge. He held the office until his civilization had not broken up the sloping sur- death, in 1850. face of its vast water-sheds to pulverize the Randolph and St. Clair were the two original soil and transform it into a muddy torrent with counties, but in 1812 Johnson. Gallatin and every serious rain-fall. Rootlets and leaves Madison were formed. The latter comprehend- of the forest and the grasses of plain and PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAJIS COUNTY. prairie, caught, filtered and tempered the flow and halts made, he probably reached the site 1673. of its coutributiuy streams. No city polluted of the present city about the 1st of July, landing upon it with sewage. Innumerable schools of fish We can imagine these explorers is wharf swam iu its waters and bred, by countless mil- the bank of the rivei', which now the lions, in its quiet sloughs and bays.

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