be held at the house of Thomas Mooney, subsequently in obedience to a vote of the people at the August election, changed to the house of Thomas B. Reed. In 1849 this section was visited by the scourge of cholera and many were the deaths that followed in its trail. The stricken became so numerous and the disease was so deadly that few of those left untouched by its ravaging hand had the temerity to nurse the sick and dying. Hence it was that the Peoria board of health was forced to find some place to house and segregate cholera patients and, on July 11 of the year above mentioned, the county commissioners' court was prevailed upon to grant the use of the three upper rooms in the court house for hospital purposes. In addition, the county furnished beds and necessary medicines and delicacies for both town and county patients. At a special term of the court held in September, Alva Moffatt was given the contract to furnish coal for the court house and jail at five cents a bushel, and William Compher was authorized to procure three hundred dollars to be expended in Pittsburg for iron used for the roof of the county jail. At this time William Mitchell was clerk, but before the next session of the court, held in November following, he fell a victim of cholera. Ralph Hamlin was appointed his successor and, on the 23d day of November, 1849, the last term of the commissioners' court was held, it ceasing to exist, a county court having been provided for by law.

COUNTY COURT

At the election held in the fall of 1849, Thomas Bryant was elected county judge, who superseded the county commissioners' court in the transaction of the county's business. The first term of the county court was held on the 3d day of December, 1849, but in the spring of 1850, a board of supervisors had been elected, which took full management of the county's affairs on the 9th of July following. The question of adopting the "township system" of government had been submitted to a vote of the electors in the fall of 1849, which resulted in a majority vote of 2,128 being cast in its favor. There were only nineteen votes in the negative. David Sanborn, George Holmes and Mark Aiken were appointed commissioners to divide the county into townships and the first election of supervisors was held in April, 1850. The newly elected body held its first meeting on the 8th day of April, 1850, at which time the twelve townships then organized were represented by the following named persons:

Samuel Dimon was elected by his fellow members chairman of the board, and Charles Killette was clerk.

In the June (1850) meeting of the board Orange township was given the name of Kickapoo. Benton was changed to Fremont and later the name was discarded for that of Radnor, in honor of one of the pioneers of that region.

The last session of the county commissioners' court was a special one, which

lasted three days and adjourned on Friday, November 23, 1849. The first term of the county court was held December 3, 1849, and the last term on the 4th day of June, 1850.

THE PROBATE COURT

In the legislative act creating the county of Peoria, provision was made for the election of a probate judge for the county, whose tenure of office should be during good behavior. The probate courts were first established by law February 10, 1821, and their jurisdiction was similar to that of the probate courts of the present day, although many changes had been made as the years went by. They were courts of record and the judge also acted as his own clerk. Norman Hyde was the first incumbent of this office and was elected within a day or two after the passage of the bill organizing the county. Governor Edward Coles issued to him his commission on the 18th day of January, 1825, but he did not qualify until the 4th day of June following, John Dixon, clerk of the circuit court administering the oath of office. In the meantime, Mr. Hyde had been appointed clerk of the commissioners' court and performed the duties of that office until his induction into the office of probate judge. On the 6th of June, 1825, Judge Hyde opened his court, but there being no matters for settlement, an adjournment was taken until the next term, and so on for the next four terms the court was without anything to do and at once adjourned for that reason. It was not until the 30th day of September, 1825, that the first estate of a deceased person was entered in the court. On that day John Barker took out letters of administration upon the estate of John O'Brien, giving bond in the sum of $800, with John L. Bogardus and Daniel Like as securities. The court then adjourned, that having been all the business before it. Nothing came up before the court until December 5th, when the will of Isaac Remsden, Jr., made in Muskingum county, Ohio, dated May 13, 1825, was probated. The witnesses to the will were Thomas Bell and Gilbert Crandall. Letters of administration were issued to Jacob Crooks.

No business was brought before the court until April 11, 1826, several adjournments having been taken in the meantime. On this day Isaac Perkins was appointed administrator of the estate of Elza Bethard, deceased. However, at the October term, Handy Bethard proved himself to be the next of kin and the letters of administration granted Perkins were revoked and Bethard was appointed in his stead.

WHEREIN CHICAGO FIGURES

Alexander Wolcott appeared at the April (1826) term of court and made proof of the death of John Crafts of Chicago, a prominent member of the American Fur Company. Upon filing a bond of $3,000, Wolcott was issued letters testamentary, having for his sureties John Kinzie, of Chicago, and John Latham. On the 20th day of November, 1826, Wolcott submitted his appraisement and sale bills of the estate, which were recorded. The appraisers were John Kinzie and "Billy" Caldwell, both of Chicago. On this day also came Jacob Crooks, administrator of the estate of Isaac Remsden and filed his appraisement of the estate, made by Alexander McNaughton, John Griffith and Hugh Montgomery, and sworn to before 'Squire John Dillon.

On the 10th day of December, John Barker, as executor of the estate of Joseph O'Brien, filed his appraisement of property of the deceased, which had been sworn to before Stephen French, justice of the peace. On the next day Margaret Latham and Richard Latham, her son, were appointed administrators of the estate of James Latham (the same who claimed title to part of the town site of Peoria) deceased, Benjamin Briggs, Grant Blackwell and John Hamlin becoming their sureties on a bond of $2,000.

The first final settlement of an estate in Peoria county was that of Joseph O'Brien, John Barker, on the 16th day of April, 1826, having filed his final account, which showed a balance for distribution among the heirs of $416.314. The appraisement of the property of James Latham was made by Peter G. Cowerdin, Charles Finley and Grant Blackwell, and an additional appraisement was made by John Hamlin, John Barker and Henry Neely, and sworn to before John L. Bogardus, of Peoria. The papers showed that after the deduction of expenses a balance of $968.21 remained. This appraisement was filed by Richard Latham, April 19, 1827. On the 8th day of January, 1828, Richard Latham filed the sale bill of James Latham's property at Elkhart Grove, Sangamon county, amounting to $722.46, of which the widow's award was $301.75.

Alexander Wolcott, administrator, closed up the affairs of the estate of John Crafts, in which, among other items, he charged himself with $2,500, received from the American Fur Company in New York, Craft's share of profits on the Chicago assets for 1825-6, according to the award of Thomas Addis Emmet, a noted lawyer of New York city, arbiter in the matter. After crediting himself with an item of $784, being the amount of an account of the American Fur Company against the estate, one of John Kinzie's for $87.88 and one of Gurdon S. Hubbard for $22, a balance was shown in favor of the heirs in the sum of $1,454.25. On the same day Wolcott made proof of the death of John Kinzie, of Chicago, and was granted letters testamentary on his estate, the bond being placed at $3,000, with John Beaubien and James Kinzie as sureties. On the 19th day of May, Wolcott filed a schedule of the property of John Kinzie, made at Chicago, on April 22d, by Alexander Doyle and J. B. Beaubien and acknowledged by R. A. Kinzie, clerk. The property amounted to $805.40, plus a sale bill amounting to $254.872.

Josiah Fulton applied for letters of administration upon the estate of his brother, Samuel Fulton, late sheriff of Peoria county, December 4, 1829. He was appointed administrator and the bond was fixed at $1,000. An appraisement was made of the estate by H. B. Stillman and Norman Hyde and filed with the court.

On the 17th day of December, 1830, John B. Beaubien obtained letters of administration upon the estate of Francis La Frambois, of Chicago. John Hamlin and David Hunter were his sureties on a bond of $3,000. On the same day, David Hunter proved the death of Alexander Wolcott and was appointed administrator, debonis non of the estate of John Kinzie, late of Chicago. His bond was $3,000 and with him signed John B. Beaubien and John Hamlin. By this time the reader must have gathered the idea that the two men just mentioned were professional bondsmen.

Francis Sharp, on the 27th day of January, 1831, proved the death of his father, George Sharp, a member of the county commissioners' court. Letters of administration were granted him and Elizabeth Sharp, the widow of the deceased, with bond of $4,000. The sureties were John Hamlin and Alexander Caldwell. The inventory and sale bill of the estate was filed in May, which showed a personal estate amounting to $524.064. On the same day David Hunter, administrator of the estate of John Kinzie, filed a report, showing he had received from various sources the sum of $740.25 due the estate. The report also showed that the sum of $2,190.12 was due the estate from the American Fur Company, with interest at five per cent from May 12, 1828.

the

The David Hunter here mentioned was a man of no ordinary distinction. He was an officer in the regular army and was for some time in command of Fort Dearborn. During the Civil war he became one of the leaders among many brave commanders in the army and rose to the rank of major-general. The last entry made by Judge Norman Hyde was the notation on his record of the adjournment of court February 6, 1832, as his death occurred soon thereafter. His successor, in the person of Andrew M. Hunt, was commis

sioned as judge of the probate court, by Governor John Reynolds, November 10, 1832, and on the 15th day of November took his seat on the bench. On the 21st day of November John Hamlin and Simon Reed filed the will of Norman Hyde, in which John Hamlin, Simon Reed and Andrew M. Hunt were named as executors. Only the first two could qualify, as the latter had become the judge of the court before whom the estate must be settled.

The office of probate judge was abolished by act of the legislature March 4, 1837. But an additional justice of the peace, styled probate justice of the peace, was elected in August of that year, whose jurisdiction was the same as other justices, in addition to which he was clothed with authority and ministerial powers in probate matters and jurisdiction when executors or administrators were parties to a suit to the amount of $1,000; also the same judicial powers of a probate judge. However, all his acts were subject to the approval of the circuit court. It will be seen, therefore, that Judge Andrew M. Hunt's official career was a short one. At the election held in August, 1837, George B. Parker was elected the first probate justice of the peace. In 1839 he was succeeded by Dr. Edward Dickinson, who served until 1843, when William H. Fessenden was elected. Thomas Bryant followed Fessenden in 1847 and retained the office until November 29, 1849, when the office was abolished.

CHAPTER XV

SELECTION OF A SITE FOR AND ERECTION OF A COURT HOUSE-CIRCUIT COURT— JAILS THE FIRST COURT HOUSE, SO-CALLED, A LOG CABIN-THE FIRST BUILDING ERECTED BY THE COUNTY A BRICK STRUCTURE-THE SECOND COURT HOUSE -COUNTY INFIRMARY-HOME FOR THE INSANE-COUNTY OFFICERS.

One of the first orders entered in the minute book of the county commissioners' court, at its first term, was for the selection of a site and the erection thereon of a court house, the same to be twenty feet square and nine feet from the floor to the joists, with a good plank or puncheon floor; also a clerk's office fourteen feet square, with a good puncheon floor, both to be of good materials and finished in a workmanlike manner-the clerk's office to be ready for occupancy by the 20th day of April, and the court house on the 25th day of May. Four days later the order for these buildings was rescinded.

The first court house, or rather, the first meeting place of the county commissioners, was at the house of Joseph Ogee, below the ferry and some distance from the tract of land designated by the legislature for the county seat, and for the use of the house Ogee was allowed one dollar. This place had also been chosen in which to hold the circuit court, and the records show that the November term of the circuit court was held at the Ogee home and the May term of the commissioners' court in 1826, for the use of which Ogee was allowed three dollars. The next term of the circuit court was held at the house of Louis Beeson, who at the December term, was allowed for the use of his house the sum of $16. Joseph Ogee was a half-breed, with a strain of French blood. His wife was a Pottawatomie. He was in the employ of the American Fur Company, as was also Beeson. The Ogee house was reputed to have been the best in Peoria at the time of which we write, being constructed of hewn logs, and this probably accounts for his place being chosen by the courts for their meetings. It is surmised that the Beeson house was the same as that mentioned as Ogee, for the latter had moved from the settlement soon after the May (1826) term of the commissioners' court. In Drown's Historical View of Peoria, published in 1844, a writer, presumably John Hamlin, says the house in which the court was held in November, 1826, was “a log building on the bank of the river, in which jurors slept on their blankets on the floor."

THE CIRCUIT COURT

In the session of the legislature which convened in December, 1824, the judiciary of the state was reorganized and divided into five judicial circuits and in the same act five circuit judgeships were created. Prior to this, members of the supreme court of the state held the circuit courts. The first circuit was composed of the counties of Sangamon, Pike, Fulton, Morgan, Greene and Montgomery, and the judge for this district, as for the others, was elected by the general assembly, their commissions being dated on the 19th day of January, 1825. John Sawyer was elected to the first circuit, to which Peoria county upon its organization, was attached. The first term of the circuit court in the