DEDICATION 

     We dedicate this book to the memories of the late Jess M. Thompson, the author, and W. Preston Miller, printer and former business manager of The Pike County Republican, A life sketch of the author appears elsewhere in this volume. Both Mr. Miller and his wife, Dorothy, were staff members of The Pike County Republican when the history was printed therein -- in fact, Pres set much of the type - so they had a personal interest in seeing the history reprinted in book form, and both donated much of their labor toward this project.

     Pres died before the book was completed, but Dorothy continued the work; consequently we are able to offer this Pike County History as our contribution to the commemoration of Illinois' Sesquicentennial (1968) 

                                              Milo Pearson, Jr., President 

                                              Lindle Reel, Vice President 

                                             Pike County (Illinois) Historical Society

                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                                FORWORD

     This Pike County History was written in 1935-39 by Jess M. Thompson, then a contributing editor of the Pike County Republican, a weekly newspaper published at Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois.

     The original title as it was published weekly in the Republican was "Pike's County Seat War and Its Effect on the Political Destiny of the State of Illinois," by Jess M. Thompson (in Three Installments).

     As Mr. Thompson proceeded with his research, he uncovered many interesting records and facts of this "war" which had never before been brought to light, and the three installments lengthened into thirty-seven. By then he had become so interested and involved in these records, he continued writing and, beginning with Installment Thirty-Eight, he used the title "Pike County History," with subtitles to suit the subject.

     In preparing this story for publication in book form, the chapter headings were written by Mr. and Mrs. Preston Miller, staff members on The Republican during the ownership of Mrs. Dot Dorsey Swan from 1927 to 1944. The story itself remains the same as it was written by Mr. Thompson. If the writer had prepared the test to be published in the book form he would, undoubtedly, have edited it thoroughly and deleted much of the repetition which was inserted at that time for benefit of those who had missed reading preceding installments (in this book called chapters), or who wished to clip the story of their own families to save, as many did, in scrapbook form.

     The reader will note that many family names are spelled differently in different chapters. These are not misprints. The families themselves adopted different spellings, and the writer used them as given to him, or as he found them in records.

     As an employee of The Pike County Republican for over fifteen years, I have many, many times had occasion to refer to this J. M. T. history and I have heartily agreed with those who commented that "it should be published in book form." Permission was obtained from Paul Findley, then publisher and editor of the newspaper, and during my term as president of the Pike County Historical Society (1961-1964), the wheels were set in motion on this long-range project. But it was not until 1965, through the efforts of Warren Winston, president (1964-1966) of the society, that the goal was in sight. He obtained, through contact with George Irwin, a grant from Quincy Foundation, Quincy, Illinois, of which Mr. Irwin is president, and publication of this book was assured.

     In 1966, during the administration of Milo Pearson, Jr., as president of the Pike County Historical Society, a contract was signed with Preston Miller of Racine, Wisconsin, for the printing of this history in book form and now, in 1967, the fine work of Mr. Thompson is made available in permanent form for this and future generations of Americans.

     One prodigious task remained: the compilation of a complete and comprehensive index for the book. This took months to complete and required several persons' efforts. For their assistance in the many phases of this indexing, I extend my thanks to Mrs. Harold Fitch, Mrs. Park Lacy, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Stone, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Kiser, Lewis Brown, Milo Pearson, Jr., Mrs. Harold Claus, Mrs. Mervin Woods, Mrs. Elmer Lowe, Mrs. Gladys Turnbull, Miss Mary Margaret McGuire, Miss Helen Harman and Mrs. C. A. Gamble; and for assistance in proofreading to Mrs. Lowe and Lewis Brown in Pittsfield and Miss Laurel Miller in Racine.

       December 1, 1967       

                                                GRACE  E. MATTESON