A VIVID CHAPTER in early Pike county history that has all but escaped the early historians is revealed in official
records of the first County Commissioners' Court, on file at the Pike county court house.
This chapter has to do with the bitter county seat war that raged between Coles' Grove and Ross's Settlement, now
Atlas, in the early 1820's out of which grew a flaming feud that later was to shape the political destiny of the
great state of Illinois, and, in 1824, save the state from being committed to the evils of slavery.
Records of the proceedings of the early court, entered in the colorful hand of James W. Whitney ("My Lord
Coke"), first clerk of the court, are brief and clothed in the greatest simplicity, but they are sufficient
to reveal the tremendous conflict that was raging in the pioneer settlements. For a period of nearly three years,
the records of the court are writ upon a background of warring factions, led by two of the most powerful leaders
the state has known, John Shaw, "The Black Prince," who championed the cause of Coles' Grove, and General
Nicholas Hansen, the first state legislator elected from Pike county, who espoused the cause of the Rosses, the
early settlers upon the present site of Atlas.
Pike county was erected on the bounty lands by act of the second state legislature, sitting at Vandalia, then the
state capital, January 31, 1821. It was created from Madison, Bond and Clark counties, and included all that part
of the state north and west of the Illinois and north of the Kankakee rivers to the Wisconsin line, embracing the
present sites of Quincy, Peoria, Galena and Chicago. From the original Pike county of 1821 and 1822, more than
30 counties have since been carved (32 full counties and six parts of counties).
The legislature, in setting up the county, appointed Levi Roberts, John Shaw and Nicholas Hansen to meet at the
house of Levi Roberts on or before March 1, 1821, to fix the temporary seat of justice for the new county, the
legislature specifying only that said seat of justice should be south of the county's base line, a line 12 miles
north of the present northern boundary of the county and intersecting the Illinois river near Beardstown.
Pursuant to this legislative enactment, John Shaw and Levi Roberts fixed the temporary seat of justice at Coles'
Grove, the home of both Shaw and Roberts. The County Commissioners, on January 12, 1822, ordered that there be
paid out of the county treasury the sum of $8 to John Shaw and $4 to Levi Roberts for "their services as commissioners
in locating the county seat."
Coles' Grove (invariably written as Colesgrove in the early records) was located adjacent to the present site of
Gilead, on the west side of what is now Calhoun county and about 20 miles south of the present line between Pike
and Calhoun. It was named for Edward Coles, who succeeded Shadrack Bond as the second governor of Illinois. It
was laid out in 1821, but prior to that there was a white settlement there. At the beginning of 1820, Coles' Grove
was the Northernmost white settlement in the Military Tract. In the spring of 1820, John Wood, founder of Quincy,
and Willard Keys settled in what is now Pleasant Vale township. Later in 1850 came Ebenezer Franklin, Daniel Shinn
and the four sons of Micah Ross, who settled at what is now Atlas. This settlement, prior to March, 1823, was known
as Ross's Settlement, being so designated by the then Postmaster General.
At Coles' Grove dwelt the Black Prince, John Shaw, ruthless dictator of the early days and controller of elections
for years in the formative period of the county's history. Forging election returns and stealing elections were
said to be common occurrences during the reign of the Black Prince, in later years known also as the "Bashaw
of Hamburg."
The Black Prince had settled at Coles' Grove in a very early day. He was there prior to 1820. He was the most powerful
political figure of those times. His influence was felt throughout the new state, and at Vandalia, then the state
capital, his power was something to be reckoned with. He is described by a historian of the period as "the
most noted and influential man in his day of all in all this region."
Shaw carried on farming, stock-raising and conducted a store, but it was in politics that his vast influence was
chiefly felt. Throughout the settlements, he was known as a tyrant and a dictator. His influence was so great that
he was able to rule all the vast area of the original county, directly or indirectly, for a number of years. He
was said to have exercised control over a large number of halfbreeds, with whom, and his numerous other henchmen,
he controlled the elections and carried every measure he desired. The early historian relates that "he forged
deeds, even by the quire, doctored poll books, etc.," his influence becoming so great and so injurious to
the settlers that there developed in the politics of the county two stern and unyielding factions, "Shaw"
and "anti-Shaw" and not until the great and united struggle over the slavery issue in 1824 did the supremacy
of the Black Prince begin to wane.
Coles' Grove having been designated the temporary justice seat, the first Pike county commissioners' court convened
there, April 24, 1821. Present were Leonard Ross, John Shaw and William Ward, the first commissioners of the Pike
county court. Ross represented Ross's Settlement; Shaw and Ward were from Coles' Grove.
Within a year after the fixing of the temporary seat of justice at Coles' Grove, a county seat war began brewing.
Around the log cabins of the Rosses, new cabins had arisen. Other settlers, attracted by the beauty of the location,
had chosen the new site for their comes. Ross's Settlement grew rapidly. And as it grew, its settlers began to
count the days until they would have a chance to measure strength, politically, with the older settlement to the
south. That chance came in the election of August, 1822, and bitter was the contest for the county offices, especially
for the offices of county commissioners, of whom three were to be elected.
Coles' Grove and Ross's Settlement each had a ticket in the field. Excitement ran high. The stakes likewise were
high. The government of all the vast territory between the two rivers and north to Lake Michigan and the Wisconsin
line was at stake. The county offices of sheriff and coroner were contested, but the heat of battle centered in
the contest for county commissioners.
Bigelow C. Fenton of Coles' Grove, first sheriff of Pike county, and Leonard Ross of Ross's Settlement were the
rival candidates for sheriff. Joel Bacon was the Coles' Grove contestant for coroner, opposed by Daniel Whipple
of Ross's. Ebenezer Smith, William Metz and James Nixon were the Coles' Grove candidates for commissioners, opposed
by James M. Seeley, David Dutton and Ossian M. Ross, who were pledged to support Ross's Settlement for permanent
seat of justice. Ossian M. Ross then dwelt in a cabin on the present site of Lewistown in what is now Fulton county,
which was cut off from the original Pike county the year following the election, January 28, 1823, this being the
first inroad on the county's original vastness.
The election was held; the votes counted. There were three voting places and voting was viva voce, the Constitution
of 1818, providing that all votes were to be given viva voce until changed by the General Assembly, and this was
the usual method of voting down to the Constitution of 1848, which provided that all voting should be by ballot.
Precincts 1 and 2 were divided by a line extending from river to river and coinciding with the north line of what
is now Pittsfield township. All settlers above this line and north to the shores of Lake Michigan and the Wisconsin
line were in Precinct No. 1, and voted at the house of Ossian M. Ross, where Lewistown now is, Mr. Ross being judge
of election. Settlers below this line, and south to a line between the two rivers 12 miles south of the present
Pike-Calhoun line were in Precinct No. 2, and voted at the house of Rufus Brown at Ross's Settlement. Daniel Whipple,
Leonard Ross and William Ross were judges. Precinct No. 3 embraced the remainder of the county, south of Precinct
No. 2 to the junction of the Illinois with the Mississippi, and settlers therein voted at the county seat, Coles'
Grove, with John Shaw, Stephen Dewey and Amos Bancroft as judges. Prior to June 5, 1822, when the county commissioners
divided the great county into three election precincts, voters from the region of Chicago went to Coles' Grove
to vote.
In the election of August, 1822, the Black Prince mustered the greater number of votes. He controlled the half-
breeds and the French Canadians from the region of Chicago. Shaw himself spoke the tongues of the Indians and the
French. He was sworn in as interpreter for the early courts of Pike county, when Indians and half-breeds were on
trial. He held these wild breeds in the hollow of his hand.
The partisans of Ross's Settlement charged illegal voting. The then Constitution of the State, in its suffrage
clause, extended the franchise only to "all white male inhabitants above the age of 21 who had lived in the
State six months." The Rosses and their supporters claimed the Indians, the half-breeds and the French were
not legal voters. They contested the election, and into the court of Justice John Reynolds, swearing justice of
early days, went the issue of the election, a long, stubborn fight ensuing in the courts.