Monday, April 8, 1839, the county seat was established at an election ordered and held for that purpose. At the same election and under the same special law, the people voted for a full board of county officers. At that same election and under the same special law, the law people voted for a full board of county officers. At this time politics did not cut much of a figure in the selection of candidates, although it is reasonable to suppose that the election was full of interest to the settlers, as from that day they were to be recognized in management of the affairs of the state as a separate and independent county, and entitled to all the rights and privileges of the other and older counties. For judicial purposes, the county was made to them a part of the sixth district, of which Dan Stone, of Galena, was the presiding judge. Courts were to beld twice a year at such times as the judge should designate, and the early records show that Judge Stone appointed these terms for May and September. The county officers elected were:
County Commissioners, Samples M. M. Journey, Garner Moffett, and Luther H. Bowen; County Clerkl, William B. Goss, Sheriff, Hezekiah Francis; Probete Justice of the Peace, John C. Owings; Corner, Mason C. Taylor; Recorder, Royal Cooper; Surveyor, Levi Warner.
On the 13th day of April, five days after their election, two of the county commissioners, Samples M. Journey and Luther H. Bowen, met and organized as a county commissioners' court. The first entry made on their journal of proceedings was the oath of office, administered to William B. Goss as county clerk, which is in these words, to-wit:
"State of Illinois, Carroll County-I, the undersigned, being duly elected clerk of the county commissioners' court for said county; do hereby swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and of this state, and that I will fulfill the duties of my office as clerk of said court truly and faithfully to the best of my knowledge and ability; so help me God.
"Subscribed and sworn before me this 13th day of April, 1839, at Savanna
BENJ. CHURCH, J. P. [Seal.["

The next entry was the oath of office administered to each of the two commissioners, and in the same words, except that "county commissioners" is substituted for "county clerk." The oath of office was administered by the same justice, Benjamin Church.
The court then proceeded to business, and

"Ordered, that Elijah Bullows and Alva Daines be appointed assessors for Carroll County, for the year 1839.
"Ordered, That Norman D. French be appointed for collector for the above county, for the year 1839.
"Ordered, that there shall be four days' road work required of each man, if necessary.

This was the style of their orders. There was no waste or unnecessary use of words. "Short, quick and sharp" was their method-a rule of action that characterized "Luther H. Bowen, the guiding and controling spirit of the board, in all his business transactions, and each order was signed by the commissioners, as they were written by the clerk. At this session the commissioners divided the county into ten road districts and appointed a supervisor for each district, etc. Having thus started the county machinery, the commissioners adjourned until the 3rd day of June following.
At this session the first business appearing of record was the appointment of C. Grant and Jno. Ankeny, of Elkhorn Grove and Herman Downing, of the Preston Settlement to review the road from "Stoney Creek to the county line in the direction to Buffalo Grove, touching Elkhorn Grove," which appears to be the first road viewed in the county. There is no record of any petition having been presented "praying" for the establishment of this road, and hence there is a probability that the road was petitioned for before Carroll County was set off from Jo Daviess, or that the commissioners ordered it without petition.
Two petitions follow this order-one for a road leading from "Savanna in said county to Knox mill on Elk Horn creek, and also a road diverging from the first named road at or near Johnson Creek to the county line in a direction to Harrisburgh on Rock River." The viewers appointed for tese roads were Vance L. Davidson, A. L. Knox and Thomas Francis.
The second petition "prayed" for the location of a road "from Savanna via Bowen's ferry to the south line of the county in the direction of Fulton City, and that a road diverge from said road on or about two miles from Savanna and intersect the road leading from the Savanna Mill to Prophetstown, near the farm now occupied by Elijah Stearns."" The viewers appointed for this road were Elijah Stearns, Asa Patrick and Andrew Dodds.
At this session of the Board of County Commissioners the regulation and formation of election precincts claimed attention, and it was "ordered that the Cherry Grove Precinct include all of Cherry Grove, the inhabitants within the limits of range 5, 6, and 7 in township 25, and that Garner Moffitt, G. W. Harris and John C. Owings be appointed judges of elections and the elections be held at the house of John C. Owings."

Ordered. That the inhabitants within the limits of townships twenty-three and twenty-four, east of the center of range for and west of Little Rock River or creek, be recognized as the Preston Precinct, and that Samuel Preston, Herman Downing and Daniel Cristian be the judges of elections, and that the elections be held at the house of Samuel Preston.
Ordered. That the inhabitants of all that part of Carroll County laying west of the middle of range 4, in townships 23 and 24, and all west of range 5 in township 35, be included in the Savanna Precinct, and that N. D. French, Vance L. Davidson and John A. Wakefield be appointed Judges of elections, the election to be held at Wm. L. B. Jinks' tavern, in Savanna.
The following named settlers were selected as grand and petit jurors for the first term of the Circuit Court, which was expected to convene in September of that year:
Grand Jurors.-John Knox, A. Painter, Hiram McNemur, Daniel Stormer, Thos. I. shaw, E. W. Todd. Francis Garner, John C. Owings, Geo. Swagert, Nathan Fisk, Samuel Preston, Sr., David Masters, B. Tomlomson, Aaron Pierce. Thos. Roof, John Eddowes, John Barnard, John Laswill, Stephen N. Arnold, Elijah Stearns, Wm, Wm. Dyson, Jr., Wm. Dyson, Sr., and Daniel Christian-23.
PETIT Jurors.-Wm. Ayers, Aaron Bobble, Wm. Jenkins, Israel Jones, John Isler, Sumner Downing, Nelson Swaggert, Irwin Kellogg, Vance L. Davidson, Alonzo Shannan, John Orr, David Ashby, Geo. W. Brice, wm. Eaton, Levi Newman, John Johnson, Jonathan Cummings, Geo. Christian, P. D. Otis, Elias P. Williams, Royal Cooper, David L. Bowen, Wm. Bundle, and John W. Fuller-24.
The term of court for which these jurors were selected was not held, and consequently the prescribed oath was not administered to them. A second selection was equally useless because of informality in the manner of selection, and when the court met, on the first Monday in June, 1840, they were dismissed by Judge Stone, in the words following, as entered of record:
It being made manifest to the court that no legal summons had been issued by the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court to the Sheriff of the County of Carroll, commanding him to summon the persons selected by said Commissioners' Court, at their April term, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty; as grand and petit jurors, to appear before said Circuit Court on the first day of said term; and, it further appearing that the Sheriff of said county had summoned without any legal venise or summons, twenty-three persons as grand jurors, and twenty-four persons as petit jurors, to appear on the first day of said term, which said persons were in attendance as grand and petit jurors, not having been summoned according to law, it is ordered that they be discharged from further attendance on said court.
The County commissioners, at this term of court, also
Ordered. That the sum of seven dollars be granted to Alva Daines for three and one half days' services as assessor, and the sum of seventeen dollars be granted to Elijah Bellows for eight and one half days' services as assessor. And that the above be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
It was further
Ordered, That Messrs. Smith and Journey should have a license for the term of one year from this date to keep a grocery in Savanna, by paying twenty-five dollars into the county treasury and giving bonds according to law.
This last order concluded the second session of the Commissioners' Court, when they adjourned. Ad interim, County clerk Goss made the following entry:
In pursuance of the law in regard to the County Commissioners drawing tickets for their term of service, the tickets were presented by the clerk of the said court at their June term, 1839,, and Luther H. Bowen drew the ticket which ha the word one year written upon it, and S. M. Journey drew the ticket which had the word three years written upon it, and the remaining ticket which had the word two years written upon it was left for Garner Moffit who was absent at the time.
Wm. B. Goss, Clerk.

A special term of the court was held on the sixth day of July, when the following claims were audited and ordered to be paid out of the County Treasury:
To Benjamin Church, J.P., for swearing in Clerk and County Commissioners, 75 cents; to Vance L. Davidson, $3.75, for three days' services as road viewer; to Thomas Francis, $8.75, and to A. L. Knox, $3.75, for same services. Six dollars were allowed to John Eaton and son for three days' services as chainmen in opening a road, etc. Nine dollars were ordered to be paid to L. H. Bowen, for three days' services of himself and team, in assisting to open a road. Eight dollars and seventy-five cents were allowed to Levi Warner for three and a half days' services as road surveyor, and $8 were allowed to W. B. Goss for books and stationery furnished the county up to date.
The next session of the court was held in September. An election had been held on Monday, the 5th day of August, and Wm. B. Goss had been re-elected to the office of County Clerk, and had filed his bond in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, with Vance L. Davidson as his bondsman, for faithful discharge of the duties of the office. John Eddowes had been chosen at the same election as County Commissioner, to succeed Luther H. Bowen (who, at the first term of the court, in April, had drawn the short-term ticket), and had qualified accordingly.
For a number of years the settlers whose names figure so conspicuously in the early affairs of the county continued to be prominent characters in the public interests. Some of them were repeatedly elected to places of trust, and made faithful, honest servants of the people.
The first county order issued was in favor of James Craig (a captain in the Black Hawk War0, for $10.50, in payment for a copy of the law under which the county was organized. Craig was a member of the House of Representatives. From Jo Daviess County, and had introduced the bill and secured its passage.
The first term of the Circuit Court commenced on the first Monday in May, 1840. The building used as a court house was a frame structure situated on block forty at the upper end of town. It was owned by a railroad or steamboat engineer, and was untenanted. Besides serving as a court house, it was used as a school house, church, and such other meetings as the times and occasions demanded.
When court was called, Leonard Goss presented his appointment from Judge Stone as clerk, together with his official bond in the sum of $2,000 for a faithful discharge of the duties of the office. John Bernard and Aaron Pierce were his bondsmen. After subscribing to the oath of office, he entered upon the discharge of its duties.
Hezekiah Francis filed his commission from Governor Carlin, as sheriff, and also his official bond in the sum of $10,000, with John Bernard, William R. Craig, Aaron Pierce, D. H. Whitney, John Laswell and V. L. Davidson as bondsmen. His bond was approved, the oath of office administered, and he entered upon the discharge of the duties of sheriff.
Mason C. Taylor, coroner elect, also presented his official bond in the sum of $2,000, and took the oath of office. His bondsmen were Milus C. Robinson and John Bernard.
After the dismissal of the grand and petit juries as already stated, the approval of the several bonds, and administering the oath of office to the clerk, sheriff and coroner, as above noted, the business of the court commenced.
The old docket shows that twelve cases had been entered for trial. Martin P. Sweet, Judge Drummond (now U. S. Circuit Judge), a Mr. Chase and a Mr. Hoge, were present as attorneys. Judge Drummond had two divorce cases-the first of the kind in the county. They were entitled Jeremiah Humphrey vs. Hannah Humphrey, and Dudley C. Humphrey vs. Lavina Humphrey. Of the other ten cases, two were slander suits, brought by the same man-Robert Ashby vs. Peter Bashaw and Oliver Bashaw. Both cases were dismissed from the docket without trial.
Among the lawyers who attended the early courts of Carroll County, quite a number attained prominent distinction in the judicial and other departments of public affairs. Among these, in addition to those already mentioned, were E. B. Washburne and Judge Heaton. The name of Washburne is as familiar as household words, not only here where he first came into notice as a young lawyer, but from one end of our common country to the other.
For Jury rooms in those days, some of the rooms in Pierce's Hotel were brought into requisition, for which the county commissioners usually made an appropriation of fifteen dollars for putting the rooms in order for each tern of the court.
Judge Dan Stone was succeeded by Judge Browne, also of Galena, since when the succession has been Wilkinson, Drury, Eustace and Heaton.
The third selection (and the first to serve) for grand and petit juries was as follows:
Grand Jurors,--Alvah Dains, Henry Hunter, John Ankeny, Harry Smith, Tilson Aldrich, Israel Preston, Sr., Joshua Bailey, Col. Beers Tomlinson, Amos Leonard, Elijah Stearns, William Dyson, Sr., James M. French, Royal Jacobs, Vance L. Davidson, Milus C. Robinson, James Kimball-21.
Petit Jurors,--Joshua McKillops, Stephen N. Arnold, David L. Bowen, W. L. B. Jenks, M. W. Hollingsworth, Jonathan Cummings, Samuel L. Bayless, John B. Christian, Rezin Everts, Squire Garner, Alfred Newman, Henry Jenkins, John Fuller, Richard Wright, William Blundell, M. B. Pierce, David Ashby, John Fuller, Richard Wright, William Blundell, M. B. Pierce, David Ashby, Benjamin Church, David Masters, Garner Moffett, Samuel Tontz, Joseph Hire, Daniel Stormer-23.
Early Resident Attorneys,--"When the first term of the Circuit Court was held," says VOLNEY ARMOUR, Esq., in "A Glance at the Early History of Carroll County,' "there was but one resident attorney-John A. Wakefeld. John Wilson came about 1841."
In the same paper Mr. Armour says: "I wonder what our present race of hotel keepers would say to legislation such as the following, passed March 5, 1844, by Beers Tomlinson, Henry Smith and John C. Owings, county commissioners, to-wit: 'Ordered, that the following be the tavern rates in the County of Carroll up to March, 1845: Each person, per meal, not exceeding 25 cents; horse to hay and grain per day, 50 cents; lodging, one person, 12 ½ cents; all kinds of liquor, per drink, 6 ¼ cents,' "
REMOVAL OF THE COUNTY SEAT-MOUNT CARROLL
As settlements increased and spread out to different parts of the county, the question of removing the county sear from Savanna to a more convenient or central location began to be discussed, and finally took definite shape. The removal was hastened, perhaps, by the neglect or inability of the Savanna interests to comply with the provisions of Section 3 of the law under which the county was organized. These provisions were to the effect that the town of Savanna should "donate to said new county, for the purpose of erecting public buildings, a sufficient number of lots, in the town of Savanna, for the accommodation of the necessary public buildings, and three thousand five hundred dollars in cash, payable in three equal instalments, say in six, twelve and eighteen months from the time the location of said county seat is established," At the September term, 1840, of the County Commissioners Court, Porter Sargent, Esq., was appointed agent "to confer with the proprietors of the town of Savanna on the subject of the money donated by them for the purpose of erecting buildings for the county, and in conjunction with them to devise means for assessing the town property and making out a pro rata list and collecting the obligations or money accordingly, and return the same to the County Court by their next meeting in December, or sooner, the obligation, if taken, to be made payable in instalments, as called for by the commission." In December there was no meeting of the court, and consequently no report made by Mr. Sargent. Nor do we find any report, whatever, in regard to this matter, although the record of the Commissioners' Court has been carefully examined. But, on Monday, the 6th of December, 1841, at a regular session of the court, a special session, of the court was ordered to be held on the first Monday in February, 1842, to receive proposals for building a jail. At that special session Messrs. L. H. Bowen, and Vance L. Davidson were appointed a committee to confer with the property owners of the town of Savanna "To see what measures they would take in regard to the donation required by law of the proprietors of said town," etc. No proposals appear to have been received for building the jail, and the court adjourned until the next term in course. On the second day of the March term, 1842, the following entry was made: "On the second day of the March term, 1842, the following entry was made: "On the report of L. H. Bowen and Vance L. Davidson * * * * it is hereby ordered that Beers Tomlinson and Norman D. French be appointed a committee to contract with the proprietors of the town of Savanna for a building for the use of the county, to be used as a court house and offices for county officers, to be donated as a part of the bonus," etc.
Several orders of this kind were entered, but they seem to have been without avail. No decided and decisive steps were taken, further than to get our some timber of a kind of block jail, but it was never used for the purpose for which it was intended.
Some time in 1836, Paul D. Otis, a driver, and Granville Mathews, superintendent of the Winter's stage line from Peoria, via Dixon's Ferry and Cherry Grove, to Galena, made a claim of the lands covering the mill site and lands at Mount Carroll. In 1837, Daniel christian, Nathaniel Swingley, Samuel L. Hitt and George Swaggert formed themselves into a mill company, and bought the Otis and Mathews claim, for which they paid $1,400, but did not enter upon its improvement. In 1841, Nathaniel Halderman and David Emmert entered into an arrangement to build a mill somewhere in the county, and for a time had their attention called to the site now occupied by the mills of Messrs. Wood & Kitchen, on Plum River, then known as the Bowen mill site. Negotiations, however, were not completed, and they purchased the interest of Daniel Christian, Nathaniel Swingley, Samuel L. Hitt and George Swaggert in and to the Mt. Carroll property, for which they were to pay $3,000. The original company had dissolved its partnership arrangement some time prior to this, and had made a division of the property. The new company was known by the firm name of Emmert, Halderman & Co., and soon after the purchase of the property was completed, they commenced operations-making excavations for the mill foundations, starting the dam, etc,, etc. In the Spring of 1842, their enterprise was well under way and the centre of attraction to new comers. The removal of the county seat to a more central location was a general theme of conversation and interest among the settlers, and by reason of its nearness to the geographical centre of the county, the new mill came to be regarded as the legitimate and only rival of Savanna. And it is not unreasonable to suppose that the managers of the new enterprise availed themselves of every possible opportunity to keep the advantages of their site for county seat honors before the people.
In 1837, George W. Christian had come in possession of that tract of land now embraced in the farm of Sherman Cole, a tract of ten acres owned by Hon. J. M. Stowell, and extending north to the Baptist Church and east to Clay Street. Of this tract, Christian proposed to give thirteen acres to the county if the seat of justice should be located here. Emmert, Halderman & Co., the mill company, likewise proposed to donate forty acres on the east side of the present town site, on the same condition. Both partied ---I,e., Christian, and Emmert, Halderman & Co.-kept their faith and did convey to the county commissioners and their successors in office, the lands referred to.
Savanna had failed up to this time to comply with the requirements of the law under which the county had been organized, and during the session of the legislature of 1842-3, an act entitled "An acto to re-locate the county seat of Carroll County" was passed, and "John Dixon, of Lee County, Moses Hallett, of Jo Daviess County, and Nathaniel Belcher of Rock Island County, were appointed commissioners to select a site for the re-location of the county seat. * * * And the said commissioners, or a majority of then, shall meet at Savanna, in the County of Carroll, on the first Monday in May next (1843), of within fifteen days thereafter, and after being duly sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties, shall proceed to examine such parts of said county as they may think proper to enable them to select such a site as in their opinion shall give the greatest amount of good to the greatest number in inhabitants of said county, as a county seat; and said commissioners, after having made such selection, shall report to the clerk of the County commissioners' Court of said county a certificate thereof, which certificate of said selection shall be recorded by the clerk of said County Commissioners' Court: Provided, always, that such selection so made shall not be the town of Savanna."
Section 2, of the same act, provided as follows" "Than an election shall be held in the County of Carroll, on the first Monday in August next, at the usual place of holding elections in said county, for the removal of the seat of justice of said county; at which election the clerks thereof shall open two columns, one for Savanna, the present seat of justice, and one for the place which shall be designated by the commissioners hereinbefore appointed, and shall receive and record the votes of each qualified voter for one of the aforesaid places as the seat of justice thereafter for said county. * *
The clerk of the County Commissioners' Court shall immediately after the receipt by him of the returns of said election, in the presence of two justices of the peace, open said election returns, compare them, and certify the same to the County Commissioners' Court, and the place having the greatest number of votes shall be and remain the seat of justice in said county."
Pursuant to their appointment under this law, two of the commissioners, John Dixon, of Lee County, and Moses Hallett, of Jo Daviess County, proceeded, within the time specified, to examine the ground, etc, and on the 17th day of May, 1843, made the following report:
The undersigned (who constitute a majority of the commissioners an appointed to select a site as a county seat for said county), who, after having examined said county with a view of the best interests of the greatest number of inhabitants of said county, and after taking into consideration the liberal donation to be secured to the county commissioners of said county for the use of the people thereof, do, by these presents, make known and declare that the site selected, as a foresaid, is the south half of the east half of the southeast quarter of section one (1), township twenty-four (24) north, range principal meridian, and that a substantial stake has been set in the place selected as a public square, to which site we have given the name of Mount Carroll.
As witness our hands and seals this seventeenth day of May, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
JOHN DIXON. (Seal.)
MOSES HALLETT. (Seal.)

The returns of the August election show that 421 votes were polled on the county seat question, of which Mt. Carroll had 231, and Savanna 190. There were only four precincts, or voting places, at each of which votes were cast as follows:
Precints. Mt. Carroll. Savanna
Savannah 6 130
Cherry Grove 46 36
Elkhorn Grove 78 38
Preston 101 6
------ ------
231 199
Majority for Mt. Carroll 41

The report of the commissioners to re-locate the county seat was entered upon the journal of the County Commissioners Court at their September session, 1843. In August the people had voted and the result was known, so that at this session the commissioners inaugurated measures looking to a removal of the county offices from Savanna. John Wilson was appointed as an agent for the county to demand the execution of a warranty deed from George W. Christian to the county for the land he had agreed to donate to the county if the county seat was located at Mt. Carroll, and also to superintend the division of the Emmert, Halderman & Co. tract into town lots, etc, and to give public notice of the sale of lots and to sell on such terms and conditions as the county commissioners should direct, to receive notes, execute title bonds and deeds to purchasers under his proper hand and seal, for and in behalf of the county," etc.
The immediate site designated by the locating commissioners by driving a stake into the ground, was at or near
The west line of Main Street, on the top of the hill near the Baptist Church. Upon the first organization of the county, the choice of a name was left to the settlers in Cherry Grove Precinct, the most of whom were Marylanders, and they named the new county in honor of that grand old patriot who wrote his name to the Declaration of American Independence, "Charles Carroll, of Carrollton." From the point where this stake was driven in the earth, the ground sloped in all directions, and was elevated above the surrounding country. The name of Mount Carroll was given to the new county seat-a place before unknown by any name except Emmert, Halderman & Co.'s Mill Site.

THE FIRST COURT HOUSE.
December 5, 1848, Col. Beers Tomlinson, one of the members of the Board of County Commissioners, was "appointed agent for the County of Carroll to contract for the building of a court house of the following description, to-wit: Thirty feet by forty on the ground; a basement of stone sixteen inches above the surface of the earth, two feet thick. The first story to be eight feet and nine inches high in the clear, divided into four rooms, entrance and one flight of stairs as marked on plat number one on plan on file in this office. The timbers of the lower floor to be good substantial sleepers; the joists of the second story floor to be ten inches deep and two inches thick and twenty inches apart from centre to centre. The second story to be eleven feet high, to be finished according to a specified plan in this office. Roof, cupola, cornice, and frontispiece all to be finished according to the last above named specified plan. The walls of the building above the basement to be brick; first story walls to be sixteen inches thick or the length of two brick; flues suitable to receive stove pipes prepared in each room; doors to each room containing six panels each and one and a half inches thick; outside doors to be two inches thick. Floors to be of good white oak, tongued and grooved, one and a quarter inches thick. The roof covered with good merchantable pine shingles. The building to be painted throughout-outside and inside-the whole building to be finished on or before the October term of Circuit Court of Carroll County, A. D. 1844, in accordance throughout with the plan on file in this office, to be built of good sound material, and built in a workmanlike manner. If it should be necessary, our agent, in entering into a contract with builders may make such slight changes in the above specified plan as may be deemed proper."
A sale of lots was advertised for the 20th of November, A. D. 1843, at one third cash in hand, one third in six months, and the remaining one third in twelve months from the day os sale, secured by the notes of purchasers, the county commissioners giving title bond for deed when last payments were made, the county commissioners stipulating to receive specie, current paper and county scrip in payment for lots, etc. The day of sale came, but in consequence of objections raised by the Mill Company, no sales were made. In agreeing to donate forty acres of land and one thousand dollars in money to the county, if the seat of justice were located adjacent to their mill property, the company understood and expected that the site for the court house would be selected near the line dividing their land from the forty acres they would deed to the county, that they might be equally benefitted by the nearness of the public buildings to them. But, when Mr. Wilson, the county clerk and special agent for the county to superintend the division of that forty acres of land into town lots, selected the site for the court house, etc., instead of locating the court house square on the northwest corner of the land donated by the Mill Company, he selected the county square near the centre of the forty acres, and hence the objections of the company. That company not only objected to the measures, so far as they had been prosecuted by Mr. Wilson, and to the sale of lots as a violation of the agreement entered into when they donated the land, but refused to pay the thousand dollars which they had offered in addition to the land. The county needed public buildings. The treasury was empty, the people were poor, and to raise a sum sufficient to build a court house, etc., by taxation, would have imposed a heavy burden upon the settlers-a burden they could not carry. A thousand dollars in those days was a "bonanza" to Carroll County, and it was to the public interest to secure the money offered by the Mill Company, as well as the forty acres which they had donated to the county and release them from the payment of the one thousand dollars they had offered, and also deed to them the Christian tract of thirteen acres, they would give a sufficient number of acres of ground near their mill, and build thereon a court house, and deed the same to the county. The terms were accepted. And the present public square was surveyed out and the erection of a stone court house commenced and completed on the northwest corner of the square, which served the county until the present handsome brick temple of justice was completed , in 1858. Afterwards, with a frame addition built on the north side, it was used and occupied by Messrs. Blake & Stowell as a hardware store. It was burned down in October, 1872.
Nathaniel Halderman, of the firm of Emmert, Halderman & Co., seems to have been the representative, or business man, of the Mill company, and to have conducted all their business matters, particularly in arranging and adjusting the differences that came up between his company and the county, and to no one man, perhaps, is there due a greater degree of credit for the inauguration and management of the public interests of Mount Carroll than to Nathaniel Halderman, who, though now nearing the last of the years alloted to man, is remarkably well preserved, intellectually and physically, and one of the most active business men of the community, and highly respected not only at home, but abroad.
March 6, 1844, while the county commissioners were in session, Beers Tomlinson, building agent for the county, submitted his first report, in the words following, to-wit:

To the Honorable County Commissioners Court, of Carroll County, Ill.-GENTLEMEN:
In conformity to required duties, on the first day of January '44, I presented a blank bond, received from the clerk of said court, to Messrs. Emmert, Halderman & Rinehart, to be executed by them to the people of said county, which they refused to sign, stating that the bond required more of them than they agreed to perform, which was the addition of a cupola, bell, frontis and elevation of the upper floor. With that alteration they would sign said bond. Accordlingly a bond was drawn, copied from the original, with the above exceptions, and signed by David Emmert, N. Halderman and S. M. Hitt, for the completion of said house as required in the original blank bond. At a subsequent period, I made a verbal contract with the said Emmert & Halderman, to put up the said house with stone instead of brick. The last named alteration was, that the building should be 31 by 41 feet, instead of 30x40. I am informed by said E. & H. that about one half the stone is now on the building spot. Thus far I have gone and no further.
Very respectfully your humble servant,
B. Tomlinson
SAVANNA, 5th March, 1855

Second Report.-At the June session of the County Commissioners Court, Mr. Tomlinson presented his second report, as follows:
To the Honorable County Commissioners Court of Carroll County, Ill.-GENTLEMEN: Since my last report, I have made no alteration in the construction of the court house. The men who are engaged in putting up the building are progressing as fast as can be expected. The walls are stone instead of brick, as was calculated in the first place, when the contract was made. The first story of the wall is laid, and the work appears to be done in a good, substantial, workmanlike manner, and the house will be completed by the first of October next, and I see no reason why the next Circuit Court should not be held at Mount Carroll. All of which is respectfully submitted. 3d June, 1844.
B. TOMLINSON.

Tuesday, June 4, 1844, the County Commissioners Court
Ordered, That the several officers of this county who are required to hold their offices at the county seat, move their offices from Savanna to Mount Carroll on the first Monday of September next, and that Henry Smith, Esq., be required to procure suitable offices at said Mount Carroll, to be occupied by said officers, etc.

Careful inquiry fails to locate the offices after their removal here anywhere except in the court house. As it was only about one month after their removal here until the court house was finished, if they occupied any other quarters, it must have been in Mr. Wilson's private residence-a house that stood on the corner now occupied by the bank block, at the corner of Main and Market Streets.
When Emmert, Halderman & Co. entered into a contract to build the court house, the exacted a guaranty from the county authorities that, when completed, it should be open for a period of ten years to religious meetings and such other public gatherings as occasion and the necessities of the time demanded. July 4, 1844, the building had so far advanced towards completion that it was fitted up and decorated with evergreens, etc., for a celebration of our nation's birthday, which was the first time the day had been publicly observed and respected in Mt. Carroll. Hon. Thomas Hoyne, then of Galena, but now of Chicago, and at one time not long ago mayor de jure of the latter city, was orator of the day, and although there have since been thirty-three recurrences of the day, nearly all of which were publicly observed, non of them were more happily spent. In pioneer life there is a should and a feeling-a genuine spirit of hospitality and sociability that is comparatively unknown, when a country grows older and richer. Pent-up conventionalities and self-constituted castes do not interfere to cripple the truer inwardness of the human soul. Distinctions and fashions do not turn up their noses at their neighbors. The people more fully believe in the truth of the sentiment that "all men are created free and equal: than they do in later years, when farms have been opened and made remunerative, fine houses made to take the places of log cabins, cities to supersede wayside post-offices, and finely-constructed church edifices, with their cushioned pews, to supplant the old log school houses and primitive dwellings as houses of worship. These modern achievements are well enough in their way, but they cripple rather than develop the grander and nobler attributes of the human heart, and dwarf that genuine hospitality and sense of humanity that obtains among pioneers everywhere.
The first session of the County Commissioners Court held in Mt. Carroll, commenced on Monday, the 2nd day of September, 1844. There were present of the old board, Henry Smith and John C. Owings. Beers Tomlinson had succeeded at the August election by Henry B. Harmon, who presented to the board his certificate of election, when the oath of office was administered to him by Leonard Goss, P.J.P., and he entered upon a discharge of the duties of a county commissioner.
During this session of the commissioners (on Wednesday, the 4th), the court:
Ordered, That the debt of Carroll County in the hands of Emmert, Halderman & Co., amounting to six hundred dollars, is this day funded as follows: Said indebtness to be paid at the expiration of two years, in six equal instalments, with interest payable half yearly, at the rate of eight per cent per annum; and the clerk of this court is authorized and required to give bonds in accordance with the above agreement, the evidence of the original indebtedness, as above, having been given up in open court and paid over to the treasurer. Also.
Ordered, That John Wilson, clerk of this court, be our agent to procure suitable furniture for the court house, and to see that the same is put in readiness for holding court in October next.

The next session of the County Commissioners Court was held in December, the recorded proceedings of which show that emmert, Halderman & Co. were allowed 850 for two stoves and seventy pounds of pipe, including, three elbows, and that Leonard Goss was appointed to take possession of the stoves on behalf of the county, and directed to appropriate one to the use of his office (Circuit Clerk) and the other to the use of the room designed for the use of the County Commissioners Court. From these several orders last quoted, it would seem that the court house had been completed and turned over to the uses of the county, but, in hunting over the journal, the writer could find no record of the fact-an omission that should not have occurred. But oral evidence, as well as an order directing County Clerk Wilson to procure the necessary furniture and prepare the building for the fall term (1844) of the Circuit Court, the completion of the court house is fixed about the first of October of that year. In the completion of the building, Emmert, Halderman & Co., as shown by an order made at the March term (1845) of the County Commissioners Court, had done extra work to the amount of one hundred and fifty-six dollars, to secure the payment of which the following contract was entered into by and between the county commissioners and Emmert, Halderman & Co.:
They (Emmert, Halderman & Co.) shall be permitted to rent out that part of the court house used as a school room, at a reasonable price, until the above amount (156) is raided, provided such time shall not exceed a term of ten years from the 10th day of October, 1844; and unless the above amount is raised as a foresaid, then the above order to be void, and no liability resting upon the county. It is also understood that said room is at all times to be open for county purposes, free of charge. The said Emmert, Halderman & Co, are further required to report semi-annually the amount received as above, which shall be credited on this order.

On the margin of this order appears this endorsement:

This contract cancelled and contract given up, March 4, 1847.

This, it seems, completed in good faith, all matters between Emmert, Halderman & Co. and the county commissioners, in relation to the building of the court house.
Nearly six years had come and gone since the county was organized and the first election of county officers in April, 1839. The county had increased largely in population and wealth, and, so far, its public affairs had been carefully and economically managed. The liberality and enterprise of Emmert, Halderman & Co. had provided for any new county, and one that answered well for nearly twenty years, thus enabling the people to avoid making a debt, or subjecting them to heavy taxation for public building purposes. This liberality and public spirit of the founders of Mt. Carroll, Emmert, Halderman & Co., provided the means by which the county could prepare themselves against the day when a larger and better court house would be needed.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS.

Thus far only the first settlement at Savanna, the history of the organization of the county, the re-location of the county seat, the building of the first court house, etc., etc., have been followed. To render our undertaking more complete and comprehensive, the settlement of the different parts of the county will now be taken up, that the names of the first settlers and some of the pioneer incidents may be preserved.
Taking these settlements in their regular order, we return to Savanna, to add a few additional items that were omitted in the beginning of these pages for want of the proper data. After the work had been commenced, the writer visited Dr. E. Woodruff, of Savanna, to solicit his aid in making some corrections and supplying some important dates, etc. While on that visit, that very courteous and intelligent gentleman kindly consented to "hunt up" sundry items of Savanna's early days, without which this history would incomplete. True to his word, as he has ever been to all his promises, Dr. Woodruff remits to these pages the missing links in the history of that part of Carroll County of which he has been an honored, respected and useful citizen and representative man for over forty years.

SAVANNA, Ill.., nov. 19. 1877.
H. F. KEET & Co. Dear Sirs: I wrote to Mr. Pierce, at Hampton, Ill., for items of interest to your praiseworthy undertaking-the "History of Carroll County," but owing to the death of his sister, Mrs. Rhodes, his attendance at her funeral, etc., I did not receive an answer until this morning, when I received the following:
"Mrs. Mary Jane Rhodes, whose death is referred to above, was the first white child born in what is now Carroll
County. She was born May 8, 1829, and died Nov. 14, 1877.
"The principal tribes of Indians here when the settlement at Savanna was commenced were, the Foxes, Keokuk, chief; the Sacs, Black Hawk, chief; and a few Winnebagoes and Pottawatomies."
The first marriage occurred (I think) in 1835, when Vance L. Davidson was married at Harriett M. Pierce. They subsequently moved to California, where they were still living at last accounts.
Marshall B. Pierce, (now of Hampton, Ill.,) and Julia A. Baker procured the first marriage license after the county was organized, and were married by Benjamin Church, Justice of the Peace, Aug. 24, 1839.

We had occasional preaching, as a preacher happened among us. No church record prior to 1858 is known, to my knowledge, although there was an M. E. Church organization as early as the Spring of 1838, but I can not give you any definite information about it.
The first death of which I have any positive knowledge was in the family of Luther H. Bowen, when they lost an infant son. The second death was in the same family, in the Fall of 1887, when the wife and mother followed the infant son to a home beyond the skies.
The first church edifice was erected by the Methodist people, in 1849.
The first steamboat to land at Savanna was the "Red Rover," Captain Throckmorton, that stopped to take on wood-red cedar, cut along the bluffs above town. In these days, when cedar posts, for fencing posts, etc., are worth twenty-five cents each, that kind of fuel would be rather expensive.
The land upon which the town of Savanna was built was patented by A. Pierce and George Davidson. I think Vance L. Davidson also patented some, but I can not say now what part, or how much.
M. B. Pierce says in his letter to me: "Father's house was a hospital for the sick of the whole country for several years, which was the cause of Savanna bearing the name of being a sickly place, bilious fever and ague being the principal diseases." And again he says: "Rattlesnakes were very plenty and denned in the bluffs above town. For the first few years we used to go snaking, and killed hundreds of them as they came out of their dens in the spring." Since my acquaintance with him, I have often heard him relate snake stories of his boyhood's days,
James Craig built the first saw mill. It was built on Plum river, about two miles east of town, at the site now occupied by Messrs. Wood & Kitchen's flouring mills.
The Winter of 1842-3 was a long and cold one. Snow commenced falling in October, and did not entirely disappear until late in April. On the 10th of April, 1843, we crossed the Mississippi River on ice, with four yoke of cattle, hauling bridge timber. During the Winter, owing to the severe and intense cold and deep and continued snow, stock of all kinds suffered severely, and a great many cattle starved and froze to death. The like of that Winter has never since been experienced.
Very Respectfully and Truly Yours.
E. Woodruff.

The 4th of July, 1876, was celebrated by the Mt. Carroll people in Right royal style. In perfecting their arrangements, C. B. smith, Esq., was selected as orator of the day, and Volney Armour, Esq., was appointed to prepare and read a historical sketch of the early history of the county, which was subsequently reproduced in the Carroll County Mirror, running through several numbers of that paper. While compiling this book, these papers were placed in possession of the writer, and very materially assisted him in perfecting his chain of history, and especially regard to fixing the dates and names of the settlers in the different parts of the county-facts now under consideration. Referring to the condition of Savanna when the first settlers came there, in the Fall of 1828, Mr. Armour said:

Above the place, where the Irvine Saw Mill used to stand, extending from the bluffs nearly to Main Street, the timber was splendid. The trees, however, were all dead, having been girdled by the Indians a year or two prior to the arrival of the settlers. Some of these trees were more than ten feet in circumference. The near neighbors were the few settlers at Albany, Whiteside county, Dixon, Lee County, and Hanover, Jo Daviess County. Eachof the first settlers brought with them a pair of cattle, with which they did their logging and breaking. They planted the first crop ever cast into the bosom of the prolific earth of Carroll County in the Spring of 1829, and while they planted, the Lord watered; yet the earth would have brought no increase except that the boys and girls had been kept by day scaring the countless millions of birds of every kind and hue from devouring the germinating seed in the Spring, and the ripening corn in the Fal; and the men and boys had kept in check the hundreds of raccoons that came upon their fields, like the plagues of Egypt in the night. But perseverance and industry conquered, and the settlers gathered a harvest of golden grain, that gave proof of the fatness of the land. M. B. Pierce says that we of to-day have no idea of the throngs of birds that filled the groves and made vocal the solitudes around, nor of the wild fowl that swam in the sloughs and creeks at that time. I gather from what he says that they swarmed around Savanna then like the grasshoppers on the plains and prairies of Colorado. * * * * The Indians at that time were numerous and friendly, and, for a trifling compensation, shared the products of the chase and fish from the streams. These substantials, as well as delicacies, the mere thought of which, at this late day, makes our stomachs hunger, and our mouths water, consisted of venison, wild turkeys, prairie chickens, and ducks, geese, woodcock and snipe,, in their season; and occasionally buffalo meat, as countless herds of bison then roamed the prairies of Iowa and Minnesota. Whether these settlers hankered after the flesh-pots of Egypt, such as hog meat. I do not know, but certainly the grunt of the porker was yet unheard in Carroll County. And I know, they sighed for milk and butter, for of these they had none until M. P. Pierce and his father went down to Bong County in the Summer and came back in August, 1829, with a few cows. They also brought up a few horses. While these settlers had so much to gladden their stomachs, the county was not without its, pull-backs or draw-backs, for the voracious musquito sang and hummed about the unsilent couches, and wood ticks, buffalo gnat and horse flies sought their life blood in revenge for being disturbed in their hitherto quiet domain.
In the Spring of 1830-1, John Bernard settled in what is now Washington Township, at the Hatfield place. Hayes and Robinson settled on the George Fish far, the same Spring. Corbin (heretofore mentioned) on the land now included on the Noah McFarland far. Corbin's house or hut was built in a tree about ten feet from the ground, to avoid snake bites, rattlesnakes then abounding in all this region. An idea of how numerous were some of the fur-bearing animals around the Dyson neighborhood, in York, may be reached by a statement of the fact that M. B. Pierce and another man, in five weeks, killed 1,000 muskrats, the skins of which brought them the snug little sum of $200 per man,.
Mr. Armour next referred to the breaking out of the Black Hawk War and the attack made by the Indians upon the Savanna settlement, and account of which we had already written, and the statements are so nearly alike that a further mention would be entirely superfluous, hence the omission of this part of his address. Resuming an examination of the address from which we are copying, the speaker continues:
Aaron Pierce was Savanna's first tavern keeper; he even commenced entertaining strangers while living in the old council house, and still continued afterwards. He built the present Chambers House in 1836-7. Luther H. Bowen built the Woodruff House, which was first called the Mississippi House. These hotels were built in anticipation of a glorious future for Savanna. During the Winter of 1835-6, the Legislature of Illinois inaugurated its grand scheme of internal improvements, embracing about 1,350 miles of railroad. One of these contemplated lines was intended to terminate at Savanna, and had this road been built at that time, Savanna would, no doubt, have become one of the most important cities of the state. What Quincy is, may be safely regarded as a fair representation of what Savanna might have been. It was in anticipation of this supposed future that these hotels were built. They were then the best hotels in all this region of country. It is sad, even at this late day, to contemplate what possibilities for Savanna were blasted by the financial tornado of 1837.
The late Luther H. Bowen, probably the most enterprising citizen Savanna ever had, came to the state in 1832, and assisted in the early surveys of the northwestern territory. Although he came to Savanna several years after the Pierces, Davidsons and Blundells, he became the original proprietor of the town, in connection with some Quakers by the name of Murray, of Philadelphia. Settlers came in slowly until 1833 and 1834, when there was a very noticeable increase. Stephen N. Arnold, who gave his name to the landing above Savanna, settled on what subsequently became the farm of John Robinson, came about this time. Royal Cooper came about 1835, and was an active participant in the early affairs of the county. Nathan Lord and Elijah Bellows settled in the Savanna district about the same time. At the April election, 1839, when the first board of county officers was elected, Savanna precinct cast 127 votes, of which 60 were residents of the village. This, according to the established rule of estimating five persons to each voter, would fix Savanna's population at that time at 300 men, women and children.

CHERRY GROVE,--This settlement next claimed Mr. Armour's attention: "The first settlement of any locality is always around a grove, if there be one, or along roads of travel, if there be any. Carroll County was not an exception to the rule, for we find that our first settlers, except those at Savanna, who came there to found a village, settled at Elkhorn Grove, Chambers' Grove, which, in fact, is a part or branch of Elkhorn Grove, and Cherry Grove, in the immediate vicinity of the route of travel from Dixon's Ferry to Galena, but as Chambers' Grove is almost entirely in Ogle County, we will have but little to say about that old-time land mark. At which particular grove the first settler marked his claim and reared his hut or cabin, is not very clear, as no record of the event seems to have been kept. But, from the best and most reliable data to be had, the first settlement is credited to Cherry Grove, and was made by Thomas Crane; and from the fact of his having built a log or block house in the grove, a little east of the Garner Moffett House, he must have had some companions or associates. It is also presumable that he had some knowledge of Indian character for he surrounded his house by an abatis* to protect its inmates from surprise. The walls of the house were pierced with post holes, and the abatis was large enough to include within it a small garden. For many years this old house offered shelter and protection to all new-comers and wayfarers. Geo. W. Harris and family found shelter within it in 1837; David Emmert and family in 1840; and the father and family of W. A. J. Pierce in 1841. Numerous other families whose names are not remembered at this late day, also found temporary homes beneath the old house's friendly roof and within its protecting walls.
A species of fence placed in front of a breastwork, or on a glacis,. For the purpose of impeding the advance of an attack. It is usually made of felled trees, with the branches pointed outward.

"Shortly after the close of the Black Hawk War, Thomas Crane sold his claim to Samuel M. Hitt, of Maryland, who afterwards became prominently identified with the public affairs of Ogle County, and Crane removed to what was subsequently known as Crane's Point, in Stephenson County. Francis Garner, wife and family, including five or six children, came here from Southern Illinois soon after the Indian troubles were conquered. His youngest daughter, Mary, and probabky Jane, also (but of this I am not certain), was born in Carroll County. Garner had been one of the army against the Indians, and he selected his claim when he was en route home, after his discharge at Galena.
"In 1833, Wm. thompson settled either at Cherry Grove or Arnold's Grove. If at cherry Grove, he soon sold out and took up the claim of the old Arnold and Henry Strickler places. Levi Walden (or Walker) took up a claim the same year. George Swaggert came the next year, and soon after his arrival his wife died. She had selected the place for her burial, and hers was the first grave in the Cherry Grove graveyard. Garner Moffett came in 1835, and purchased a claim, probably Swaggert's. Moffett lived in the original log house until 1846 or 1848. Wm. Daniels came in 1837, and made a claim on the creek near Lanark, where George Ransover now lives. This was the pioneer claim-away out beyond the frontier line of settlemetn, and was considered a bold move on the part of Mr. Ransover. In 1837, George W. Harris, another Marylander, came to the Grove, more to look after and take care of Hitt's interests than as a settler. He first lived in the old, fort-like house built by Crane, and kept a kind of tavern therein for three years, when he built the old Cherry Grove House for Hitt, which he also occupied for a time, as did also David Emmert in 1840 and 1841. Emmert was succeeded by a Mr. Pierce. John Iler and Peter Meyers came about the same time that Harris came. Some time about 1835 or 1836, a line of stage coaches was established between Galena and Peoria, via Dixon's Ferry. The line was kept up until 1846, and made a station with Harris as long as he remained at Cherry Grove, and when he removed to Plum River, his place there was made a station, also. Emanuel Stover afterwards came into the ownership of the farm on which the Cherry Grove House stood, and either Mr. Stover, or some one to whom he sold it, removed it to Lanark, and it now makes a part of the Taber House barn.
Sarah, daughter of Garner Moffett (now the wife of Emanuel Stover), was born in 1837, and is the oldest native resident of that vicinity.
When Harris left the Grove, he took the claim that is now covered by the farm of Samuel Ludwick, on Plum River. In 1847, he moved to Mt. Carroll, where he was postmaster from 1853 to 1861-eight years, and justice of the peace for a much longer period. He died in 1875. Jas. Mark came without money or property in 1837. In 1841 he was living in an 8 by 10 pole shanty on his claim, east of where H. F. Lowman now lives. Nathan Frisk, Israel Jones, and Bradstreet Robbins made claims about 1838-9. Frisk located on the north side of the Grove, Jones at the Big Springs near Shannon, and Robinson east of the Grove-Jones venturing further out than any settler had ever attempted before. Some time previous to these last-named accession to the Cherry Grove settlement, the father of John Laird either selected or bought a claim. When George Swaggert left the Grove, he bought the claim of Wm. Thompson, who in turn took up the Shultz farm in Woodland, which, a few years later, he sold to Daniel Arnold and Henry Strickler, and in 1838, together with S. M. Hitt and Daniel Christian, bought the Otis and Mathews claim to Mt. Carroll and vicinity, and in 1841-2 lived where Hartman now resides. In later years, he took up the farm two miles southeast of Mt. Carroll, where he died in 1856 or 1857.
"John C. Owings came to the county in 1834, from some one of the Southern States, and settled a little to the southwest of the Grove. He was a man of energy and influence, and a kind of leader or representative man, and served for a number of years as a justice of the peace, and also as postmaster. He removed from the county in 1868, and now lives in Iowa.
"Garner Moffett, of whom mention has heretofore been made, was a kindly, genial gentleman, of fair talents and some degree of culture. He filled several offices of trust and honor, always being elected by large majorities, notwithstanding he was a Democrat, and the county decidedly Whig. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1848, and died in 1856, respected and regretted by every citizen and acquaintance."
ELKHORN GROVE.-This settlement dates back to 1830, at which period John Ankeny and Thos. Parish built cabins on the east side of the Grove. Both near, of not both on, the Harry smith place, but both left about the time of the breaking out of the Black Hawk War, in 1832. So far as known, neither one of them ever returned to their claims-in fact, Parish was never heard of afterwards, while Ankeny turned his attention to keeping a hotel or tavern at Buffalo, a few months after leaving his claim. This beginning excepted, Elkhorn Grove remained an unbroken, undisturbed wild until about 1834, when Levi Warner settled on the south side of the Grove. A surveyor by profession, he was elected county surveyor at the first county election, in April, 1839, and re-elected for several successive terms. He came here a bachelor, and remained in "single blessedness" for a number of years. John H. Hawes now lives where Warner first settled. In 1835, Alvin Humphrey settled at the norteast corner of the Grove, and Caleb Dains and thos. Hughes at the southeast corner. Humphrey was a great wag, and a great many of his "jokes" are still remembered with broad faces. John Knox and family, including Geo. W. Knox, came about 1834 or 1835, and made a claim on the south side of the Grove, where he "set out" the first orchard planted in the county. Geo. W. Knox now occupies the old home place. In 1835, John Ankeny returned to the Grove. Uncle Harry Smith and Samples M. Journey settled at the Grove in 1834-the first-named on the land where he now resides, and the latter a little further to the east, on the farm on which Ransom Wilson died a short time ago. Miles Z. Landon, Elder John Paynter, Joseph Steffins, Manasas Neikerk and Lyman Hunt came soon afterwards. A rapid tide of immigration now set in, and among them came a number of our now most prominent citizens. In 1837, Elijah Eaton built a saw mill-the first in the township. The same year the people of the Grove celebrated the 4th of July with great pomp and ceremony, at the place of Alvin Humphrey. Felix Conner delivered the oration, and a right good one it is said to have been. In 1834, a millwright name Peters settled on Elkhorn Creek Bottom, near the present village of Milledgeville, but, falling sick, he gave up his claim to Jesse Kester, who improved it with a saw mill. Kester subsequently sold out his claim to Adam Knox, who built the grist mill. In 1839, his daughter, Eliza J., was born, which was the first birth. Soon after, his son Albert died, which was the first death at or near Milledgeville. In 1844, a post-office was established there, and Jacob McCourtie was appointed postmaster. At that time, Milledgeville (it is said) was a larger place than Mt. Carroll. In 1839, Simeon Johnson and his son, J. B. Johnson, Byron and Nelson Fletcher, and Abel Eastabrook, the father of L. F., and the other Eastabrooks boys, settled in the present town of Wysox. About this time-some a little before and some a little afterwards-the following named persons had settled in the Elkhorn Grove neighborhood, in which are included the towns of Lima and Wysox: Tilson Aldrich, John Richardson, I. H. Woodruff, Hiram McNamer, Geo. G. Colton, N. Spencer, Alvah Daius, Henry Hunter, E. W. Todds, Chas. Redman, Stephen Jenkins, Philetus Peck, several by the name of Grant, and D. Stormer.
"With but few exceptions, these settlers hugged the Groves, only the boldest of them venturing out on the prairie. The sweep of the winter winds, it was thought by some, would render the prairie practically uninhabitable., Others could not bear the idea of removing so far away from the timber. Two gentlemen who had sold their farms in Pennsylvania, came to Milledgeville in 1840, with the intention of investing their means in lands thereabouts, and rearing stately homes on the broad fields nature had cleared. Some parties had accompanied them to show them the beautiful prairie between Milledgeville and Cherry Grove, etc. After traversing the broad and undulating expanse, vaster than anything o f the kind their imagination had ever pictured, they came to the conclusion that the prairie was and must forever remain worthless, because it could never be inhabited to any extent for want of timber. So they repacked their dollars, turned their backs upon that garden-spot of nature, and re-invested their wealth in rocks and mountains and hills and timber of Pennsylvania.
"A Mr. Ingalls was the first school teacher in the Elkhorn Grove neighborhood, and taught in what is now known as the Centre School House District."
MOUNT CARROLL.-"Samuel Preston, Sr., made the first claim and was the first settler in Mt. Carroll Township. His claim covered the water power of Fulrath's Mill and what has ever since been known as 'Preston's Prairie." The same day, Paul D. Otis and Granville Mathews made a claim of the land and water power at Mt. Carroll, which afterwards became the property of Emmert, Halderman & Co. These claims were made some time in 1836 and in 1837. Messrs. Otis and Mathews built a cabin near what subsequently became the Christian homestead, and into which Mr. Mathews removed his father. As already stated in these pages, Otis and Mathews, sold their claim to Geo. Swaggert and others, and they in turn sold it to Emmert, Halderman & Co., who were the real founders of Mt. Carroll.
"In the Fall of 1836, Nathan Downing took a claim that is now known as Kinney's Farm. Nathan Downing sild his claim to his brother, Heman Downing, within a year afterwards, who continued to occupy and improve it until 1856, when he sold the farm to John Kinney.
"The first white child born in the Mt. Carroll settlement was a daughter to Nathan Downing, born in the Spring of 1837. When this daughter grew to womanhood, she was given in marriage to Gideon Carr. This same Spring, Rezin Everts took up the land now known as the Trail Farm; and Samuel S. Bayless claimed a part of section 12, at the present fair grounds. He laid off a town there, which, in honor of the capital of his native state, Virginia, he called Richmond. He made liberal offers of lots to settlers, and two small houses were built, but the financial troubles of 1837 killed Richmond, and blasted the hopes and expectations of its founder. Otis and Mathews, like a great many other claim-takers, were greedy and tried to 'slide' their claim over on to Bayless', but he 'didn't scare worth a cent,' and wisely held on to his claim. In 1839, a post-office was established at Richmond and was entered on the post-office records at Washington under that name. When the Whigs came into power under Harrison, in 1841, the 'Richmond, Carroll County, Illinois' post-office was stricken from the list of U. S. P. O's, and has never since been known by that name/ A little circumstance in connection with the appointment of the first postmaster at Richmond is worthy of preservation. A part of the settlers want old 'Squire Chas. G. Hawley for postmaster, and another part of them wanted Heman Downing. Both were Whigs. The appointing power (Van Buren's) was Democratic, so Downing's friends ventured to assert in their petition that he was a Jeffersonian Democrat, thinking that would be an irresistible and unanswerable argument in his favor, and sure to settle the question-and it did. Both parties handed their petitions to Luther H. Bowen, postmaster at Savanna, who was a Democrat. He looked over the petitions and made this simple endorsement on Downing's: "He is a Whig." He said nothing about Hawley's politics, but Hawley got the post-office.
"In the Spring of 1838, Daniel christian moved on to the Otis and Mathews claim and built the old saw mill down the creek. Wm. Mackay (the elder brother of Duncan Mackay) and John George leased and ran the mill for some time. This year Heman downing built the first frame barn of any in the county. Its sill and posts and beams and girders, were made of hewn oak timber, and, as was the practice in those day, they were large and heavy and required the united strength of all the settlers between Plum River and cherry Grove to raise it. It was the model barn of the county in those days, but its glory departed before many years.
"In 1838, Geo. W. Stewart settled on the Samuel Hayes farm, on the Savanna road, and a man by the name on Hinckley settled on the land now covered by the Daniel Crouse farm.
"Somewhere about 1838 (the exact date is unknown), John Kinney, Joseph Ferrin, Rezin Everts and others were fishing down Carroll Creek, early in the Spring, and all at once they heard a hissing and rattling noise, and looking around, they found themselves overtaken by hundreds of rattlesnakes that had come out from their dens to sun themselves. They quit fishing and went to snake-killing, and when none but dead ones were to be seen, they took an inventory of the stock on hand, and found that they had disposed of one hundred and ninety, and they didn't think it was a very good day for snakes either!. The had more snakes than fish.
" In 1839, Mr. Whipple, a travelling Presbyterian minister, preached the first sermon on the prairie. The first school was taught the same year, by Sarah J. Hawley, in the upper part of the senior Preston's house.
"Previous to the time which we have reached in the history of the county, Sidney and Lewis Bliss, John O'Neal, Benj. Church, Jos. Ferrin, John Kinney and a few others had settled on Preston Prairie, and David Masters a half a mile south of the Mt. Carroll depot.
"A man named Leonard built a grist mill in 1838-9, at the site of the mill now owned by Adam Fulrath. The mill-tones were quarried from the Galena Limestone that crops out along the creek, one of which may still be seen at the Fulrath mill."

MOUNT CARROLL.-"David Emmert and family, of Pennsylvania, came to Cherry Grove in May, 1840, and kept the Cherry Grove house for awhile, In the Fall of 1841, N. Halderman, also, came into the county, and, stopping at Cherry Grove, made Emmert's acquaintance, and entered into an arrangement with him to build a mill somewhere in the county. Their attention was directed to Mount Carroll mill site, which Halderman examined some time in the month of November, and being fully satisified with its advantages, a mill company was formed, and site purchased, and operations commenced. The company was compose of David Emmert, N. Halderman, John Rinewalt, and Thomas Robinson, of the firm of Irvin & Robinson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A log house was built at "Stage' Point," on the ground now occupied by the residence of I. P. Sheldon, and in January, 1842, the Emmert family moved in and occupied it. About this time Haldermand fell in with Daniel Hurley, at Cherry Grove, who, with Hugh Slowey and one or two other men, were en route for Galena hunting a job of work. Halderman entered into a contract with Harley to build the dam and lay the foundation of the mill building. Some twenty men were employed on this work, quarrying the stone for the mill, etc., all of whom boarded with Emmert. The next dwellint houses were built by some of the men employed in the mill enterprise. Jesse and Thomas Rapp settled here in 1842, intending to unite their fortunes with the mill company, but subsequently changed their minds. Jesse Rapp built the first house south of the stone hotel (now the Chapman House), soon after the town was laid out, some two or three houses having built in advance of the survey. The first season after the survey, a man named Goltman built a house on the lot subsequently occupied by John S. Miller's store. The same year a house was built on the first corner south of that now occupied by the Chapman House. Until 1844, when the Chapman House was built, this was the largest and best house in town, and was used as a boarding house by Thomas Rapp. Soon after the completion of this (then) somewhat aristocrtic house, Harlan Pyle built another one just west of the mill-race, which was afterwards rebuilt by Evan Rea." This commenced the settlement of Mount Carroll, and here the settlement will be left to be taken up again in a local history of the growth and prosperity of the city.
YORK.-To Norman D. French belongs the honor of pioneering the settlement in this division of the county, where he made a claim in 1835; broke up some ground in 1836; built a cabin in 1837, and raised his first crop in 1838. Mr. Armour says he had, by his early experience among the hills and mountains of Vermont, became disgusted with them, and while assisting in the United State's survey of the lands along the Mississippi, selected the site of his present home. William Dysen, Sr., and his sons, William, Jr., and Hezekiah; his son-in-law, Russell Colvin, and George Helms, a relative, came in 1836. These new settlers, because of the numerous gushing springs to be found there, made their claims along the bluffs. A year or two later, a man named Edgerly settled near French, and William St. Ores and Jacob Potter settled just west of the centre of town 23, range 4-probably on section 9. No other settlements are recorded until 1838, when Col. Beers Tomlinson located on the lands now occupied by his son, Beers B. Tomlinson. When Col. Tomlinson came to Carroll County to locate a new home his attention was directed to York by Samuel Preston, Sr., who says of him: "Colonel Tomlinson was a man of dignified presence, and would at once be recognized as a man born to lead and not to follow. Yet he had none of those airs of loftiness suggestive of the great 'I' and little 'U' that characterize some men. His nature was social and jovial, and he relished a joke equal to the best in that line. His wife was a Bailey, and he was soon followed to his new home by that family and their kindred, the Balcoms. His brother, Seymour Tomlinson, and the Athertons came afterwards, but only Daniel B. Kenyon and his sons, and Joshua Bailey, came prior to 1841. Col. Tomlinson was a captain in the war of 1812, and was born almost in sight of old Fort Ticonderoga, and, no doubt had some of the Ethan Allen spirit in him." Levi Kent was York's first school teacher and taught at Bluffville.
FREEDOM.-The earliest settlers of Salem, of whom any trace has been kept, were David Masters, George Swaggert, Seymour Downs, William Mackay, Duncan Mackay, and Henry Reynolds David Masters being the first settler, having selected a claim and built a cabin, in 1837.
ROCK CREEK'S first settlers were David Becker and Zachariah Kinkaid. Becker sold to Daniel Belding. Richard A. Thompson was an early settler, and the first to introduce cheese-making in the county.
LIMA.-John Chambers and Philetus Peck were the first white occupants of this beautiful and naturally rich and attractive section of the county. Peck came some time previous to 1840.
WOODLAND.-This is the most heavily timbered part of the county, and was first occupied by William Thompson and Moses Wooten. The Hendersons and Gills came in 1842 or 1843, and Uriah Green came about the same time.
These notes on the first settlements in the different parts of the county bring us back to the general history of the county, at the point from which we digressed. A first court house had been erected and was occupied by the various county officers. The first term of the Circuit Court in the new building was held in October, 1844-Judge Thomas C. Browne, presiding. The following named citizens were the
Grand Jurors.-Alvin Humphrey, Samuel Drain, David Becker, Jamed McCourtie, James Webster, E. Longsdon, Royal Cooper, David B. Hartsough, James Burnett, Thomas B. Rhodes, Vance L. Davidson, Francis Garner, Israel Jones, John Johnson, Peter Atherton, Griffith Carr, G. W. Dwinnell, R. R. Bush, Harlan Pyle, Beers Tomlinson, William Harmon, Alexis Bristol, B. C. Baily-23
Petit Jurors.-David L. bowen, Nathan K. Lord, William Blundell, Andson Closson, Butler E. Marble, John P. Goff, Thomas Hough, Benjamin Church, William Owings, John Pierce, Jr., Robert Beatty, John Fosdick, Hiram McNamer, J. C. Shiottenkirk, William Lowry, Cyrus Kellogg, Lyman Kent-24.
L. B. Welle, the attorney for the people, not being present, the Court appointed James M. Strade attorney for the people pro tem. There were eight criminals cases-one for perjury, on a change of venue from Joe Daviess County; one for assault with intent to kill; one for contempt of court, as a grand juror; one on forfeiture of recognizance; one for riot; one for larceny, on a change of venue from Jo Daviess; one on indictment against a supervisor; and one on indictment for malicious mischief-shooting a mare.
It is to the credit of the people of the county that but few really bad or desperate characters ever found an abiding place in their midst. The criminal docket, as compared with other counties, shows a lower percentage of convictions than most of them-not because evil-doers have not been prosecuted, but because were not committed.
In 1843, six years after the county was organized, the total amount of county tax was $935.27. The old journal of the county commissioners court, under date of Wednesday, June 3, 1846, shows that the "following settlement was made with the collector, Sumner Downing:
Cr. For amount of tax paid into treasury $841.39
" " " " delinquent list 49.60
" " " " collector's percentage 44.28
Total $935.27
Which being the amount of receipts for county tax-list, 1845, the same were ordered canceled and satisfied."
Compared with the annual tax-lists for the last seven years, this amount of $935.27 is very insignificant, indeed. From 18709 up to and including 1877, the amount of county tax is as follows: In 1870, $12,135.63; 1871, $14,332,86; 1872, $17,339.58; 1873,$15,250.50; 1874, $17,927.02; 1875, $17,542.64; 1876, $15,222.95; 1877. $17,452.88. Total in seven years, $127,204.06.
In 1840 the population was 1,023. In 1850 it was 4,586; in 1860, 11,733; in 1870, 16,705; increase from 1860 to 1870, 4,792, or a little over twenty-five per cent. Since the last census, in 1870, the increase, according to the best sources of information, has not been more than ten per cent.

COUNTY JAIL MATTERS.
In October, 1846, the commissioners ordered the county clerk to advertise for sealed proposals for building a jail, the "walls to be of stone, each two feet in thickness, and not less than one and a half feet long and one foot deep, jointed and coupled top and bottom with iron pins, three quarters inch rod; the walls to commence four feet below the surface of the earth, and to raise twelve feet above the surface; the building to be 16 by 20 feet on the outside; the first floor to be made of solid hewn timber, ten inches on the outside; the first floor to be made of solid hewn timber, ten inches thick, and to be firmly set in the outside walls, and to be covered with well seasoned, two-inch, merchantable oak plank, jointed, the top of the wall, of solid hewn timber, jutting over sufficiently to give eave, and to be covered on the inside with well-seasoned one and a half inch oak plank, and spiked the same as the lower foor," etc. The inside of the building was to be divided, according to the plans, into three apartments, or sections, by strong, thick oaken walls, made of seasoned two-inch oak plank, three thickness, firmly bolted and spiked together. The outside door was to be a heavy oaken one, covered with sheet iron. The inner one was to be of equal thickness, and same kind of material.' Bids were solicited through the advertising columns of the Jeffersonian and Gazette, of Galena, and by three written notices put up in the three most conspicuous places in the county, etc. The records, however, do not show that any bids were ever received. But this is not surprising, for it is a subject of universal regret, if not of complaint, among the people of the county, that the records in the county clerk's office were very indifferently and negligently kept until Major Hawk succeeded to the office, in December, 1865. When he came into the office many of the important papers had not been filed in regular succession, but had nearly all been tumbled into boxes, without any regard to order, and it was many months before they were resurrected from chaos and confusion and arranged in any thing like decent shape. Now, there is a place for everything and every thing is in its place.*
Whether any bids were received for the building of a jail or not is a matter of but little consequence, since it is known that no jail, such as proposed in the plans quoted above, was ever built. In those days there were not many evil doers in the county, and what few there were, were of the petty order, and in cases where they were unable to give bail, they were placed in the keeping of some citizens. Sometimes a pretty hard customer would "turn up," that couldn't be trusted to the keeping of any citizen, and such characters would be taken to the jail at Galena. This practice prevailed until about 1850, when one of the lower rooms of the old court house was converted into a jail and divided off into cells, and continued to be so used until the erection of the present county buildings. That jail was none of the strongest, and when, perchance a desperate character, tramping through the country, would commit some of the higher grades of crime, and would be arrested and held to answer, he would be transferred to the jail of Jo Daviess County, to await trail at the next term of the circuit court. But with the erection of the present count house and jail-the latter being considered the strongest and best in the state-the county became thoroughly independent in this regard, and fully competent to take care of the worst of "jail birds."