PIKE COUNTY in 1827 was so poor that it had nowhere to lay its official head. It had no court house; not even so
much as a clerk's office. Whipped from pillar to post, the early courts were dependent upon the log homes of the
settlers, and chiefly upon the bounty of the Rosses. The records show that at the November term of the circuit
court in 1827, court was held in the log house of John Jay Ross, eldest son of Capt. Leonard Ross. In the years
1826 and 1827, the clerks of both the circuit and commissioners' courts were quartered in the house of William
Ross.
The last term of court held in the historic log court house at Atlas was that which convened on the fourth Monday
in October, 1823. At this session of the circuit court, John York Sawyer, first circuit judge in Pike county, presided
for the last time. Never before or since has the Pike county bench been occupied by so much judicial dignity, Judge
Sawyer having been officially weighed in at 386 pounds avoirdupois.
Judge Sawyer was succeeded upon the bench by Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, who held his first term of court in a settler's
cabin on the prairie at Atlas in June, 1827. Judge Lockwood presided at all succeeding terms of the court held
at Atlas, sitting for the last time there on March 21, 1833. No court was held at the new county seat of Pittsfield
that year, the August term being adjourned when Judge Lockwood notified Clerk William Ross that he could not attend
the term. On Monday, March 24, 1834, Judge Lockwood convened the first term of circuit court in Pittsfield, upstairs
in a frame building on the north side of the square where the Heck store now stands. Judge Lockwood also presided
at the August term, 1834. At the April term, 1835, he was succeeded by Judge Richard M. Young.
After 1826 and up to September, 1829, the county had no place of permanent judicial abode. Apparently, makeshift
arrangements of a very temporary character were necessary for the accommodation of both the circuit and commissioners'
courts, and for the clerks' offices. The commissioners' court at the December, 1827, meeting, ordered that five
dollars in specie be paid to John Jay Ross for the use of his house at the last term of the circuit court. The
commissioners ordered that William Ross be paid twelve dollars a year for the years 1826 and 1827 for quarters
furnished in his house for the clerks of the circuit and commissioners' courts, Ross himself being clerk of both
courts in 1827.
It appears that a prairie cabin was fitted up for a temporary court house in 1828. Records of the commissioners'
court for the June term, 1828, disclose that Otis Johnson and Benjamin Barney were each paid the sum of fifty cents
out of the county treasury for "services done in fixing up a court room preparatory for the sitting of the
circuit court at its late term (April, 1828)." Johnson, Barney and George Hightower were then county constables
and were in attendance upon the circuit court during its sessions. Judge William Thomas of Jacksonville, who attended
the Atlas court in this period, said "court was held in a log cabin in the prairie."
The early courts at Atlas thus continued in temporary abodes until a new frame court house, never completed, was
accepted for use by the court on September 7, 1829. This, the last court house at Atlas, stood near the site of
the first log court house, some distance east and south of the present D. A. R. marker in front of the W. J. Hillman
home at the crossroads in Atlas.
What happened to the first log house, early in 1837, is not clear. Whether the county government outgrew the rude
structure or whether it was rendered untenable by storm or fire or lawlessness growing out of the county seat war,
is not fully disclosed by the records. That disaster came in some manner to the historic building is indicated
in he record of its sale in 1827, wherein the famous structure is referred to as a remnant." At a special
term of the commissioners' court at Atlas on July 23 and 24, 1827, with the commissioners Garret Van Dusen, Nathaniel
Hinckley and Thomas Proctor all in court, the passing of the first log temple of justice at Atlas is officially
recorded in the following entries:
"Ordered that the remnant of the old building lately occupied for a Court House be this day (July 24) at 1
of the clock P. M. sold to the highest bidder at public sale."
And the following later entry: "The County Commissioners proceeded to sell the old Court House, agreeable
to the preceding order, and the same was struck off to William Ross for the sum of five dollars, he being the best
bidder, and that sum being the amount of his services as Clerk of this Court the present term; Ordered that the
sais five dollars be allowed him in full compensation for his services aforesaid."
So passed into history the famous justice seat whose log walls had echoed to the voices of the giants of early
Illinois, a justice seat from which once was ruled that vast domain sweeping north and east from the junction of
the rivers to the Wisconsin and Indiana lines and the shores of Lake Michigan. Moved from the first capital at
Coles' Grove early in 1823, the log walls rose again at Atlas and became the seat of justice for a still mighty
empire, embracing that portion of the state west of the Fourth Principal Meridian and north from the junction of
the rivers to the Wisconsin line, including the present counties of Calhoun, Pike, Adams, Brown, Schuyler (excepting
on corner), Hancock, McDonough, Warren, Mercer, part of Rock island (including the site of the present city), and
a corner of Jo Daviess adjoining the Wisconsin line and including the site of Indiana.
Contrary to popular belief, Atlas was not the county seat at any time when the present site of Chicago was in Pike
county. The Lake Michigan region passed out of the Pike county picture in 1822, when Coles' Grove was still the
seat of justice. Atlas, however, became the seat of justice for all that territory in which are the modern cities
of Quincy, Macomb, Mt. Sterling, Rushville, Monmouth, Rock Island, Moline and Galena. Over this domain it exercised
judicial authority until 1825.
Not in half a century has there been anyone who could lay claim to having set eyes upon the first log court house
at Atlas. No picture was ever taken of it; but in 1880 a drawing was made from the description of persons then
living who remembered the rude edifice as it stood at Coles' Grove and at Atlas. From this drawing was derived
a picture that has often been reproduced and which doubtless shows with considerable fidelity the outlines of this
structure as it stood in the early day.
The picture purports to present the building as it stood in ancient Coles' Grove. Removed to Atlas in 1823, it
was re-erected there in almost precise duplicate of its former appearance. At Atlas, the building faced to the
northwest, on the old McDonald's Ferry road, now paved highway U. S. 54. The building stood near the intersection
of two famous roads, the McDonald's Ferry road, leading from the Mississippi river opposite Louisiana to Phillips'
Ferry on the Illinois river, and the Fort Edwards road, leading from the site of present Warsaw to Ferguson's Ferry
near the mouth of the Illinois.
The following description of Pike's first justice seat was set down by the historian of 1880 from the recollections
of first settlers, then in their old age:
"This year (1821) the first court house in the county was built. Daniel Shinn took the contract for cutting
was built. Daniel Shinn took the contract for cutting and hauling the logs, at $6, and for $26 he got out the puncheons
and finished the building. It was completed without nails or iron in any shape. It was 16 by 18 feet in dimensions,
with one door and two windows, the door on the east side, one window on the south side and another on the west
side; desks made of puncheons; chimney outside; and the clapboards of the roof held on with weight-poles and knees.
There were no trees around the house, but plenty of hazelbrush in the vicinity."
Thus, as the early settlers recalled it more than 50 years ago, stood Pike county's first justice seat from 1821
to 1827. For removing this building from Coles' Grove to Atlas in 1823, and repairing it and fixing it up for court
purposes, Sheriff Leonard Ross was paid $109 in state paper (equivalent then to $27.50 in specie), this payment
being ordered by the county commissioners at the first term of court held in the reconstructed court house in 1823.
The passing of the old court house early in 1827, leaving the county without a justice building to its name, again
threatened the supremacy of Atlas. Once more the seat of the Rosses is challenged. Partisans of the Black Prince
still live within the narrowed borders of the county, although the new county line between Calhoun and Pike has
tempered the ancient animosities between the parties of Shaw and Ross. By these Shaw partisans, abetted by scattered
settlers who by this time have peopled the wilderness region now embraced in Chambersburg, Griggsville, Detroit
and Flint township, a movement is launched to change the county seat to a more central point in the county, and
again a county seat war flames through the early settlements, lacking, however, the devastating intensity of the
fierce outburst of 1822 and 1824.
On March 8, 1827, the then commissioners of the county, namely, Garret Van Dusen, Thomas Proctor and Nathaniel
Hinckley, meeting at Atlas, proceeded to divide the county into four precincts for the purpose of an election to
decide the county seat issue. The record of that meeting is in the following words:
"Ordered that the County of Pike be divided into four Precincts and that the following be the boundaries for
the purpose of holding an election to elect Commissioners to remove the Seat of Justice of Pike County or continue
the same; that the boundaries of the two Precincts on the East side of the County, as now established for election
purposes, be and they are hereby established for the purpose aforesaid, and that James Wells, Richard Buffington
and Samuel Winegar be judges of election in McGee's Precinct (now Chambersburg township) and that Zachariah Allen
(Boone Allen, brother-in-law of Daniel Boone), John Garrison and William Bowen be and are hereby appointed judges
of Franklin Precinct (now Montezuma township) and all the territory heretofore included in the precincts on the
Mississippi side, as hereto established, be and comprise two Precincts (to wit) all south of the center of Range
5 South be and compose one precinct and all north of said line be and compose the other Precinct and not included
in the two first named Precincts, and that John Ross, James W. Whitney and John M. Smith be and they are hereby
appointed judges of Election of the South Precinct, and that David Dutton, Henry Parkis and Daniel W. Howard be
Judges of Election for Dutton's Precinct; that the Election in McGee Creek Precinct be holden at the house of James
Wells on the last Monday in March, Inst., for the choice of one District Commissioner and one General Commissioner
to re-locate the Seat of Justice of Pike County; and the election be held at the house of John Garrison in Franklin
Precinct at the time, place and for the purpose aforesaid; and that the election be held at the Court House in
Atlas in the South Precinct on the same day and for the purpose aforesaid; also at the house of Henry Parkis in
Dutton's Precinct on the day and for the purpose aforesaid."
Prior to this division of the county into four voting precincts, new election precincts had been established on
June 6, 1826, by Commissioners James M. Seeley, Garret Van Dusen and Thomas Proctor, as follows: In what is now
Pleasant Hill township a precinct was established to be called Bay Creek Precinct and elections were ordered held
in the house of Belus Jones in said precinct, and James W. Whitney, Paul Harpole and Egbert Jones were appointed
judges of election therein.
John Ross, Joseph W. Petty and Daniel Shinn were appointed judges of election in Atlas Precinct.
A new election precinct was established in what is now Pleasant Vale township, to be called Dutton's Precinct (this
being the neighborhood of David Dutton, noted early day commissioner) and elections were ordered held at the house
of Henry Parkis, and Henry Parkis, Daniel W. Howard and James Rice were appointed judges of election.
A third new precinct was erected in which is now Montezuma township, to be called Franklin's Precinct (after Ebenezer
Franklin, first settler there), and elections were ordered held at the house of John Garrison, and John Garrison,
Zachariah Allen and William Boen (Bowen) were appointed judges of election.
A fourth new precinct was erected in the northeastern part of the county, in what is now Chambersburg township,
to be called McGee's Creek Precinct, and the house of James Wells was named as the polling place, and James Wells
was named as the polling place, and James Wells, Samuel Winnegar and Richard Buffington named election judges.
Of these new precincts, Dutton's, Franklin's and McGee's were retained by the act of 1827, preliminary to the county-wide
vote upon removal of the county seat, while Bay Creek Precinct was merged with Atlas.
The voting for commissioners favoring and opposing removal of the county seat was held on the last Monday in March,
1827. In that election, David Dutton and Joel Meacham appear to have been elected district commissioners, and William
Meredith general commissioner. Dutton lived in what is now Pleasant Vale, Meacham (early proprietor of Meacham's
Ferry) lived where Montezuma now is, and Meredith was a newcomer in what is now Detroit township.
On June 6, 1827, William Ross, clerk of the commissioners' court, made the following entry:
"A communication was received from David Durron and Joel Meacham, signing themselves ‘District Commissioners,'
and William Meredith, signing himself ‘General Commissioners,' relative to the seat of justice of Pike county,
and ordered to be filed."
This communication, probably favorable to Atlas, David Dutton being a powerful ally of the Atlas party, is not
to be found among the Pike county records and was doubtless destroyed in the fire that swept the clerk's office
at Atlas in the winter of 1830-31. Thus the Rosses, for the third time, withstood the shock of county seat conquest,
the seat of justice remaining at Atlas, where, two years later, in 1829, a new frame court house was erected.
As early as 1825, there was a movement initiated to replace the log court house at Atlas with a brick edifice.
On June 7, 1825, Levi Hadley, James M. Seeley and Rufus Brown, then county commissioners, "ordered that the
following notice be spread on the records and also posted on the court house door, to wit:
"Notice is hereby given that on the 25th day of June, instant, at the court house in Atlas, Pike county, Illinois,
at 2 o'clock, P. M., will be let to the lowest bidder the building of a court house so far as is hereinafter expressed:
To be 40x30 feet on the floor and 20 feet high, two stories; to be built of brick, the two side walls below to
be one and a half brick thick, the other walls to be one brick thick. The outside to be finished complete with
doors and windows; the lower floor to be laid with brick or tile, fireplaces and partitions, except the partition
of the grand jury room, to be done with a plain wooden cornice. The Commissioners reserve one bid for the county.
Plans to be shown and further particulars made known at time and place of sale.
"N. B. - County orders to be given to undertakers on interest until paid. It is proposed to give the job of
procuring the stone and mortar for building separate from the other part or parts. All of which is to be completed
by the first day of January, A. D. 1827. Sufficient securities will be required."
On June 25, 1825 at a special court of the county commissioners, Commissioners Hadley and Seeley present, it was
ordered that the Sheriff offer to the lowest bidder the procuring and delivering of stone for the foundations and
lime and mortar for the building of the court house; also the digging of ditches for the underpinning and partition
walls; the work to be performed on the ground where the court house was to be built on or before September 1, 1826.
This job was struck off to Daniel Shinn and Joseph Petty for $200.
The Sheriff was then ordered to offer to the lowest bidder the building of the court house itself, with specifications
amended as follows: the contractor to "furnish doors and window frames complete for building, also to make
one outside double door, to find hangings and to hang same, to find sash and glaze the house complete, to find
all the necessary timbers, nails, shingles and laths for the roof and to put on same; also to put in two brick
partition walls one story high, to make five fireplaces, to lay a brick or tile floor in the lower story, to make
a plain cornice and paint the outside woodwork except the roof and to paint and pencil the outside brick work,
the whole to be done by May 1, 1827." this job was struck off to Leonard Ross and William Ross for $1,260.
This proposed temple of justice never arose at Atlas except in the minds of the Honorable Commissioners. It was
too expensive, too ambitious for the times. Following the June 25, 1825 session of the court, at which the above
contracts for the building were struck off, the new court house is no more heard of. Times were desperately hard.
There was little specie in circulation. State paper was of doubtful value. Only the Rosses had any money, and even
they were poor in terms of today.
Early Pike county records tell the story of those times: Corn 5 cents a bushel; oats 3 cents; wheat 37 ½
cents; straw 16 1/4 cents per hundred bundles; dressed pork 3 cents; a "good young milch cow" $5; "cow
with calf by side" $7; "sow and pigs" $6; shoats "16 for $22"; two-year-old steers $5;
yearling steers "five for $17.50"; these prices of the period being taken from old sale bills preserved
in the records of the early probate court.
The postage for a letter, inscribed on a single sheet of brown paper, cost one bit (12 ½ cents), postage
at one time being twice that amount; sugar was 12 ½ cents a pound (earlier and later it was 20 cents); interest
on borrowed money was 37 ½ per cent; taxes on best quarter sections (160 acres) of land ranged from $1.18
3/4 to $1.33; a coffin for the dear departed cost $6 and the clothes to lay him out $3.66; these prices also are
from the official records of the early probate court.
Good oxen were in demand and prices high. A good ox team brought $45 to $55 at sales in settlement of pioneer estates.
Good ox carts and ox wagons (spelled "waggon" in those days), especially the great ox wagons of the Conestoga
type, brought much money for the times, ox carts selling for $20 to $25 and the larger ox wagons up to $50 and
$65. Sheriff Leonard Ross's great ox wagon sold in 1836 for $167, while one of his huge ox carts brought $35 and
a yoke of oxen $67.