CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  RANDOLPH COUNTY

P. 524  COUNTY AND STATE HISTORY PARALLEL—

KASKASKIA COURT HOUSE OF 1819—

A SLAVE COUNTY—POPULATION, 1825-1840—

COUNTY SEAT MOVED TO CHESTER—DECLINE OF KASKASKIA—

ON THE RAMPARTS OF OLD FORT GAGE.


 

       This is the second oldest county in the state. In 1790, when St. Clair, the first governor of the Northwest Territory, came to Kaskaskia, he created St. Clair county by proclamation. It included everything west of a line drawn from near the present site of Pekin on the Illinois river to Fort Massac and bounded by the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Ohio. In 1795, October 5th, the governor ran an east and west line through Cave spring just south of the New Design and called all south of the line Randolph.

COUNTY AND STATE HISTORY PARALLEL

       Randolph’s civil government from 1795 to 1803 was in the hands of a court of common pleas consisting of twelve justices of the peace. From 1803 to 1809 the commissioners seem to have met in private houses, though there was a jail as early as 1803.

       In 1809 Illinois was set off from Indian Territory with Ninian Edwards as governor and Nathaniel Pope as secretary. Pope, by proclamation, created the two counties’ heretofore existing, namely: Randolph and St. Clair. Randolph is supposed to have had 7,000 in it in 1809. After the proclamation of Pope, commissioners Wm. Arundel, Philip Fouke, and John Edgar were constituted. The court met in the home of Thomas Cox, who kept a tavern in Kaskaskia.

       The history of Randolph and St. Clair for many years after their creations is in the main the history of the state. In 1812 we passed from a territory of the first class to one of the second class. Randolph sent Pierre Menard to the council of the legislature, and George Fisher to the house.

       In the War of 1812 Randolph was the seat of government and Governor Edwards was there a large share of his time. Many of the troops were furnished by Randolph.

       In the constitutional convention, George Fisher and Elias Kent Kane represented Randolph county. The seat of government was fixed at Kaskaskia, which was also the county seat of Randolph county.

       Although there were fifteen counties in the state in 1818 when the constitution was made, yet the governor and lieutenant-governor were both from Randolph. Shadrach Bond lived at “Elvirade,” a farm near P 525 Kaskaskia, and Menard lived at the foot of the bluff under old Fort Gage just east of the river Kaskaskia.

KASKASKIA COURT HOUSE OF 1819

       A court house was built at Kaskaskia in 1819. It was of brick and two stories high. It cost $4,750—quite a sum for those days. There seems to have been an “old” court house when the new one was built. It was an old residence and was rented for an inn, with “grocery” attached.

A SLAVE COUNTY

       In the contest of 1823-4 over the question of the introduction of slavery into the state, Randolph county voted for slavery for she

MANSION OF PIERRE MENARD, JUST AT THE FOOT OF THE BLUFF, ON WHICH STOOD OLD FORT GAGE,

OPPOSITE KASKASKIA, RANDOLPH COUNTY

had quite a number of old French slaves in her territory. The vote in this county stood 357 for the convention to 284 against it.

POPULATION, 1825-1840

       The constitution of 1818 provided for the taking of the census every five years beginning in the year 1820. In 1825 the census of Randolph county was taken by Th. J. V. Owen and the report is interesting. The population was for the county—whites 3,481, slave negroes 240, free negroes 91. Total 3,812. The manufacturing interests were reported as follows: “Eight distilleries, nine horse mills, three inclined grist mills, one water grist mill, one ‘ditto’ saw mill, three cotton gins, one carding machine, two house carpenters carrying on business, three shoe manufactories, two hat manufactories, five blacksmith shops, one bake shop, two tailor shops, one saddle manufactory, and one spinning wheel manufactory.” P 526 The census of 1830 is also interesting as it connects some of our great names with ordinary “human affairs.”

       The population had grown to 4,448 persons. Slaves had increased to 99 and free negroes decreased to 102. Six hundred and sixty-one persons were enrolled in the militia, and 911 persons were voters. Wm. Morrison was running a copper steam distillery and water grist mill, while Nathaniel Pope had a saw mill and a grist mill. Other prominent men are named as owning or operating distilleries, saw mills, grist mills, carding machines, oil presses, etc.

       In 1840 the population was 7,944; 133 were slaves, 188 free negroes. A study of the report of 1840 shows a very prosperous condition in the county. Thousands of mules, hogs, horses, cattle, poultry, etc., are enumerated. There were still 4 distilleries, making annually 5,300 gallons of whiskey.
 

VIEW OF THE MISSISSIPPI FROM THE WATER TOWER IN CHESTER, RANDOLPH COUNTY

Gustavus Pape, still living in Chester, told the writer that he came to Chester in 1832, and that at that time there was a bridge across the Kaskaskia. One day the bridge fell and made a great crash. He said it was never rebuilt.

COUNTY SEAT MOVED TO CHESTER

      Randolph county took on its present limits in 1827 when Perry was created out of Randolph and Jackson. It now has an area of 587 square miles, and a population of 29,120. In 1844 there was high water and the whole city of Kaskaskia was inundated. People fled to the bluffs at Fort Gage, scores taking shelter in the home of Pierre Menard. Boats steamed in and out among the streets of Kaskaskia.

       Following this the agitation began for the removal of the county seat. This was strenuously opposed by the Kaskaskia Repubtican, P 527 edited at that time by Parson Percy. After several elections and more or less illegal voting, as charged at the time, the courts settled the matter in favor of Chester. The county seat was eventually located in Chester, in 1847, though some of the county officers did not remove their offices till the spring of 1849.

       The present site of the court house in Chester was selected by the county board January 16, 1849. It is on a bluff some 250 or 300 feet above the river, and commands a fine view of that stream as well as of the country for miles beyond.

       Probably no county can present the names of so many great Illinoisans as can Randolph. At the risk of offending some whose friends might be named, we shall give only a few of very many: Governor Shadrach Bond, Pierre Menard, Elias Kent Kane, Thomas Mather, Gabriel Jones, Thomas Reynolds, Joseph Morrison, James Shields, Daniel P. Cook, Jesse B. Thomas and David J. Baker.

DECLINE OP KASKASKIA

        After the removal of the county seat to Chester the town of Kaskaskia ceased to grow. There were some people who followed the county seat to Chester, but in the main the citizens remained in the old town. From 1880 to 1890 the Mississippi river was cutting its way across the narrow neck which separated the two rivers. In times of high water the Mississippi would cut across the neck of land and flow down the Kaskaskia. It was easily seen that that would eventually be the route of the river. And since the bluffs upon the east would prevent the widening of the Kaskaskia in that direction, the town of Kaskaskia, which was situated on alluvial land must eventually be swallowed up in the channel of the great stream. In the legislature of 1891 an appropriation of $10,000 was made to remove the bodies from the old town cemetery to the bluffs near Fort Gage. This was accomplished none too soon, as the houses, stores, orchards and all improvements began to disappear in the newly cut channel. The Catholic church which contained the bell presented by the King of France, and also the records of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, was moved to the interior of the newly made island, where the third Kaskaskia was founded.

ON THE RAMPARTS OP OLD FORT GAGE

       There are a few old ruins of the former center of French power in the Louisiana province. As one stands on old Fort Gage and looks down upon what is left of a once flourishing city it is with a tinge of sadness. The very air about one is charged with the traditions of two centuries. Yonder is the spot where General George Rogers Clark added an empire of territory to the thirteen struggling colonies. There is where a few embryo statesmen enacted the fundamental law for an imperial commonwealth, and there the scene of the brilliant and patriotic reception given to the best friend Washington, America and Freedom ever had; and just here at our right are the graves of those early founders of empire in the west. If there is any place west of the Alleghenies where one's sluggish patriotism may be stirred, where visions of the past may float before one's imagination and where high resolves may assert themselves it is on the ramparts of old Fort Gage, Randolph county.

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