PIKE COUNTY ORGANIZED.—FIRST ELECTION IN FULTON
COUNTY HELD AT MY FATHER’S HOUSE.—MY FATHER’S
VOTE THE FIRST CAST IN FULTON COUNTY.—JOHN L.
BOGARDUS, ONE OF PEORIA’S EARLY SETTLERS.—FIRST
MARRIAGES IN FULTON COUNTY.—MY SISTER LUCINDA
THE FIRST WHITE CHILD BORN IN THIS TERRITORY.

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The first probate court held in Pike county was in May, and the first circuit court in October, 1821, at Cole’s Grove. The first

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probate judge was Abraham Beck; the first circuit judge, John Reynolds; first representative, Nicholas Hanson; first senator, Thos. Carlin. Carlin and Reynolds afterwards became, each, governor of Illinois.

The first election ever held near Lewistown was at my father’s house Aug. 5, 1822, while we were still in Pike county. The judges of the election were Abner Eads, Stephen Chase and Reuben Fenner, and John Totten was the clerk. The candidates for governor at that election were Edward Coles, Joseph Phillips and Thomas C. Brown. Coles got nineteen; Phillips, seven; Brown, six. For congress, Daniel P. Cook got all the votes, thirty-three; for representative, Nicholas Hanson got thirteen votes; for sheriff, John Shaw eighteen, Leonard Ross twelve, and B. C. Fenton twenty; for coroner, Daniel Whipple twelve, James Bacon fifteen.

The first election ever held in Fulton county after its organization was also held at my father’s house about three-quarters of a mile northeast of the Court House Square in Lewistown, on April 14, 1823. The boundaries of the county at that time extended from the Illinois river to the Mississippi and to the northern line of the state, including Galena, Chicago and all that country. The judges at that election were George Brown, Amos Eveland and Hazel Putnam; the clerks, Thos. Lee Ross and John Totten. There were no great national issues at that election, but it was run on local issues mainly. It was then—seventy-four years ago—just what it has ever been, North Fulton vs. South Fulton; and the fight was over the office of sheriff. The people of North Fulton had nominated for that office a man named Abner Eads of Peoria, and the people of South Fulton had nominated my father, Ossian M. Ross. The voters from the northern part of the county (all Northern Illinois) came down the Illinois river in canoes, then up Spoon river to Waterford, and then walked through the woods seven miles to my father’s house where the election was held, for it was then the only voting precinct in all that majestic portion of Illinois now containing

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fifty counties, many hundreds of cities and towns, and people by the millions! It was a big battle like some of the later county seat fights in Fulton county. Eads and Ross had marshaled all their forces from Rushville on the south to Fort Clark (Peoria) and Chicago on the north. The North Fultonites had brought whiskey with them. In those days men could travel and hold elections without carrying much food, for they could live on game; but they could not get on without plenty of whiskey. When the election was over it was found that thirty-five (35) votes had been cast, and that Eads had beaten Ross by a majority of four votes! But it afterwards was shown that as Eads came down the river with his sixteen voters he stopped at "Town Site" (now Pekin) in Sangamon county, and brought with him two bachelors—fraudulent voters—and by this means won the election.

I have in my possession the original poll books of the elections of 1822 and 1823, just as they came from the hands of the judges and clerks of those elections. So I can tell exactly how every vote was cast. The poll book for 1823 shows that my father cast the first vote that was ever cast in Fulton county (all Northern Illinois), and it was cast for Abner Eads, his opponent for the office of sheriff. My uncle, Hugh R. Coulter, was the first county and circuit clerk, just of probate and county recorder. My uncle, Thomas Lee Ross, was the first assessor and county treasurer. My uncle, John N. Ross, was the first surveyor. In 1824 my father was elected county treasurer and sheriff and was appointed the first postmaster in big Fulton county.

In regard to the first settlements and first towns built up in the territory I have described, Chicago had the start of the others, and Peoria was the next. But in 1830 they both fell behind some of the other towns. The towns of Atlas, Quincy, Columbus, Rushville, Lewistown, Peoria, Galena and Chicago would not, in 1830, have varied 200 in population, Lewistown being a little ahead of all the others. From the most reliable accounts to be had, Chicago in 1830 did not contain more than eighteen to twenty houses, and its population did not exceed 200. It was organized in 1833, and incorporated as a city in 1837.

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One of the first settlers at Ft. Clark (Peoria) was John L. Borgardus. He went there in 1819. He was a lawyer, and he and Hugh R. Coulter were the first lawyers in Fulton county. Mr. Bogardus attended the first court terms held in Lewistown. He was a very energetic and successful business man. He owned most of the land that now constitutes Peoria and laid out the first town lots in that city. He also kept a ferry across the Illinois river at that place. One peculiar line of business he engaged in was the manufacture of fish oil, shipping it by boat to St. Louis. At the outlet of Peoria Lake in early times vast quantities of fish would congregate. He had them caught in vast quantities in seines, would throw them into huge hoppers holding several wagon loads, and leave them there to be tried out into oil under the fierce rays of the sun. He had to employ Creoles and Indians to do this work, as white men would at once go down with fever and ague, against which the Indians and Creoles were proof. This fish oil was about the first produce ever shipped out of the county, except furs.

The first marriages in this territory, of which there is any record, were two that took place—one at Chicago and the other at Lewistown—on the same day, July 2, 1823, both then in Fulton county. One was the marriage of Thomas Lee Ross and Susan Nye, who were married in Lewistown by Hugh R. Coulter, J. P. The other was the marriage of Alexander Wolcott, and Eleanor Kinzie, (doubtless the daughter of the founder of Chicago), at Chicago, by John Hamilton, J. P. Both marriage licenses were issued by Hugh R. Coulter, county clerk, at Lewistown. The bride of Thomas Lee Ross was a niece to Mr. Bogardus above alluded to.

My sister Lucinda was the first white child born in this immense territory above described. She was born in Lewistown Oct. 7, 1821. She became the wife of Judge William Kellogg of Canton, afterwards a member of Congress, and now resides at Ashtabula, Ohio. Her daughter, Mrs. Judge L. W. James, resides in Lewistown.

For two years after the organization of Fulton county the people of Chicago had to come to Lewistown for their marriage

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licenses, tavern licenses, ferry licenses, etc., and to do all county business. When a couple wanted to get married they would generally postpone the matter until they found another couple of the same mind, or found some one who wanted a tavern license, and then they would send a man down to Lewistown to do both jobs and thus save expense, as it took a man at least two weeks,

horseback, to make the trip, and he would have to camp out in the woods most of the nights because there were but few settlers along the route.

It was a great relief to Chicago when Peoria county was organized in 1825, and the county seat located at Peoria. They could then get their tavern and marriage licenses at Peoria and save fifty miles of travel. So after 1825 Peoria took Chicago under its wing, and took a kind of motherly care over the little thing until it got big enough to take care of itself.*

*Mankato, Kas., July 12, 1897.

Editor Democrat:--I have been reading with deep interest the pioneer sketches of Mr. H. L. Ross, especially the last one relating to Dr. Newton. A great deal has been said about his drinking, etc., but no one had told the good story that he was finally converted and baptized while at the home of my grandfather, Joseph Geyer, near Cuba. My grandparents took care of him during his sickness and death. I have in my possession one of his ancient medical books, and also a queer old forceps with which he pulled the teeth of the pioneers of Fulton county. Grace Geyer Purdum.

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