Dated January 30, ____ and signed by GRAFF.

History and Characteristics of a Thriving City

Facts About the People and Prosperity of the Place Mt. Vernon, Ill. January 30 - (Correspondance)

In accordance with a act of the General Assembly, passed March 10, 1819, the following "commissioners" met at the house of William CASEY--Lewis BARKER, Ambrose MAULDING and James RICHARDSON. The object of the meeting was to select a site for the seat of justice of Jefferson County. The result of that meeting was that the South West Quarter of Section 29, Range 3 and Township 2 was selected--the land then owned by William CASEY. The meeting occurred on May 12, 1819, and, on the 9th of June, the court proceeded to consider the expediency of laying off the town in town lots, and on that day the infant village, in accordance with the order of the commissioners, was christened "Mt. Vernon".

In a few weeks William HOSACK surveyed and platted the town into town lots, which, on the third Monday of September following, were sold, James E. DAVIS, a Presbyterian minister, crying the sale. The contract of erecting the court house out of hewn logs--the building to be 18x20x30--was, on June 25, let to John SANDERS at a cost of $85. At his period not a road lead out of the town-- only trails and footpaths. The first church built in Mt. Vernon was erected by the Methodists in 1835, when there were only three Methodist families in the vicinity. As early as 1837 there was a movement made to incorporate the town, but nothing was accomplished until 1864, when another effort was made and it was successful. In 1872 the village became a city under the general law, and Honorable James M. PAGE (I think this may be PACE) became the first Mayor.

Mt. Vernon, IL History Continued - Railroads

In Jefferson County records several failures in the attempt to secure an outlet other than by the various wagon roads. An effort was made in 1855, when a vote of the people was taken to donate some swamp lands, and the propostion after much hard work on part of the devotees of the cause, carried. The track was cleared from Ashley to Fairfield, and the road-bed was nearly completed. But the contractors contracted only heavy debts, and, as may be imagined the crash came and everything came to a standstill. Effort followed effort toward securing a railroad, but each time a failure was recorded, and it was not until 1869, when the St. Louis and Southeastern was built that hopes in this line were realized. The road afterward came into the control of the Louisville and Nashville Company, by whom it is now operated. In 1882 the Air Line, having its western terminus at this place, was completed, and now runs its trains through to St. Louis over the L&N.

Just now and for some time past negotiations have and are going on by which the Jacksonville Southeastern will come here. The J.S.E. is growing in popular favor, and Mt. Vernon will do welll to secure the road, which will give that which is now so desirable, viz., a northern outlet. There are several other lines in embryo which may soon develop into something tangible.

Just now Mt. Vernon is suffering as her sister cities are suffering--from the repeated failure of the crops. But withal, as I propose to show, she is a live city and is making rapid strides, which may, in the not far distant future, make her an Egyptian Wichita.

Following contributed by Sandy (Whalen) Bauer

Note from Sandy: I found all of this history particularly interesting since Ambrose Maudling is my my 4th great grandfather and Barton Atchison who bought Lot 2 in Mt. Vernon is my 5th great grandfather. I have deep roots in Jefferson County!

Source:
History of Jefferson County, IL
By William Henry Perrin
Nov 1883

CHAPTER II
Page 283

the 9th of Juine, the court proceeded to consider the expediency of laying off the town, so as to enable them to sell the lots and place them in a situation to erect putblic buildings, wherefore it was ordered "That Joel Pace be, and he is, hereby appointed and empowered to contract with a surveyor to lay off the said town in such manner as will be most advantageous to the ounty, or in such manner as the County ommissioners may direct ; and it is further ordered that the sale of said lots shall commence on the third Monday of September nex; and further ordered, that an advertisement to that effect be inserted in the Illinois Emigrant for three weeks previous to the commencement of said sale, and that fifty copies of said advertisement be printed on handbills, to be sent to the different parts of the country, for the information of those who may want to attend the sale, for which service the editor of the aforesaid paper shall be paid out of any money that may be in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated. And it is further ordered that the town be called Mount Vernon." The payments were to be made in four- equal installments, six, twelve, eighteen and twenty-four months. Mount Pleasant was the name first proposed, and almost became the name of the town; but the popular love for Washington was yet warm, and Mount Vernon, his ancestral home, prevailed.

In a few weeks, the services of William Hosick were engaged ; the town was surveyed and platted, and the notes and plat ready for record by July 10. This man, Hosick, was the son of a little Scotchman, who lived in Livingston County, Ky., about nine miles from Golconda, Alick Hosick. William was a one-armed man, and lived at Shawneetown. The new town, of course, included but twenty acres. It extended from Harrison street north of the jail, on the north, to Jordan street on the south, and from Casey street east of the Commercial Hotel on the west, to Johnson Alley, west of Westbrook & Co.'s Mill, on the east. The lots were numbered from the northwest corner, where Crebs lives, and ended with Lot 48 in the southeast corner, where Kline's boarding house stands. They lay in eight squares, three each way, and one to the county, but nothing was said about blocks in the survey. Here, then, the business lay till September, when, the time of sale drawing nigh, it is "ordered that William Casey and Joel Pace be, and they are, hereby employed to set four mulberry stakes around the public square, i.e., one at each corner, to drive all the stakes in the town, and also to number the lots, for which they are to be paid by the county the sum of $5."

The day of sale arrived. About a hundred persons assembled, many of them strangers, and they sallied forth into the town. It was a little nook on a gentle swell at the north side of the prairie. The edge of the timber ran from near where the academy afterward stood, northwest, past Fletcher Johnson's, by the New York Store, by the jail, by Joel Watson's, west a hundred yards or more, then southwest, past William Casey's field, and so on down to where the woolen factory stands; while clumps of sturdy white oaks stood west of the square, and at Porter's corner, and near where D. C. Warren lives.

The prairie was not so smooth as it had been a few years before, but here and there was a little hazel or brier patch, or a bunch of sumach or elder bushes. But the lines had been hacked or staked out, and the lots could be found. When well out into the open space, James E. Davis, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher, raised the cry, "O yes, gentlemen ! I am now going to sell you some lots in the beautiful town of Mount Vernon, all covered now with a beautiful coat of green, but destined soon to be cov«red with magnificent buildings."

Lot No. 1, Crebs's, was struck off to Bennett Maxey for $4l ; No. 2. to Barton Atchisson ; Burchett Maxey bought No. 4, south of Herdman's, where he soon after built a large double log house ; Lewis Watkins took the corner lot, the Joel Pace lot, at $162.50 ; Nelson Ferguson, the corner east of that, now bank corner, for $165 ; Edward Maxey, the Thorn lot, for $60; Clark Casey, the corner west of Nieman's, at $160; Thomas Jordan, the lot where J. D. Johnson's store is, at $153 ; William Maxey, the lot now Porter's corner, for $95 ; Dr. McLean, afterward of McLeansboro, bought the H. T. Pace corner at $136 ; Isaac Casey was his security, McL. failed on it, Isaac took it, and passed it over to Burchett Maxey. But more of these matters hereafter.

Watkins had already made some preparations to build on his lot, though he never paid for it, and Thomas Jordan took it off his hands; and Burchett Maxey, as before stated, at once put up a house on his. These buildings were scarcely under headway, when Clark Casey moved his walnut-log house from near where Joseph Pace lately lived up to his lot, and the town was fairly begun.

Of course, one of the first subjects that occupied the attention of the County Court was the erection of public buildings for the use of the county. Indeed, the court house was already built, and standing there in all its glory at the time the sale of lots above described took place. The first sitting of the County Commissioners began, as before stated, June 7, 1819 ; and on the 9th they determined to build a court house" "As it is inconvenient to hold court in a private house for several reasons, " Ordered, That the building of a court house be let to the lowest bidder on Friday the 24th inst., to be eighteen by twenty feet, thirteen feet high; to be built of hewed logs that will face from ten to twelve inches, closely notched down; to have a good roof made of boards ; also a good under floor made of plank, rough, and closely laid; and joist-plates, with holes cut for joists; the house to have one door and one window, cut and faced, and to them good shutters hung, made of rough plank ; the house and all the work about it done in workman-like manner, completed and delivered to the County Commissioners' Court at their next September term, subject to the inspection of the County commissioners, said house to be built in the public square, or on the spot the said Commissioners shall designate. The timber to be furnished by Isaac Casey, William Casey and Josejjh Jordan. The building of said house to be paid for out of any moneys that may be in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."

Accordingly, on Friday, June 25, the court again met at the house of William Casey; and, "in pursuance of an order of the last court, the building of a court house was this day let to the lowest bidder, the building of which John Sanders undertook for the sum of $85, and entered into bond with James Kelly, his security, conditioned for the faithful performance of his contract." Isaac Casey, William Casey and Joseph Jordan furnished the timber, and many others found employment in cutting and hewing the logs, sawing the plank, ''riving'' the boards, hauling, etc. It must not be understood, however, that the gentlemen named furnished the timber from their own lands. There was good timber on the United States lands on the ridge a mile or two northwest of town, from where Judge Keller lives to old Union, and there all the materials for this house were "got out." Henry Tyler hewed nearly every log in the building. We can readily imagine how much the public attention was excited by so important an enterprise. Notwithstanding the whole was to be done in the sultry months of July and August, the work went bravely on, and when the court met in September, Monday, 6th, they found the building nicely finished and ready for use.' According to an order of the last court, for letting the building of a court house, it was let to John Sanders, who completed and delivered the same to the court at their present term; wherefore ordered, that the Clerk grant him a certificate for the same."

It stood about the center of the public square, its only door fronting to the south. its only window in the west side, and the bushes around were so broken down that its bright logs and roof were plainly visible from all the business part of town. But the best of earthly things are imperfect. As winter came on, it became too evident that, large and commodious as the court house was, it was not a comfortable place for a winter session. Hence, when the court met in December, 6th, it was ordered that the finishing of the building should be let to the lowest bidder on the following day. And this was to be the manner of it: "To be completed as follows, to wit: A chimney place to be cut out, and a good chimney, back and hearth to be built, after the form of the chimney to the house in which Lewis VVatkins now lives, and to be as good as said chimney was when it was first finished; also a set of good hewed or sawed joists put in, and an upper floor of sawed plank to be closely laid, the plank to be one and a fourth inches thick; also the cracks to be closely chinked inside, and well daubed outside with well wrought mortar. There is a platform to be constructed in the west end of the house, to be of proper height, four feet wide, of good hewed puncheons or thick plank, to lack but three feet of reaching from one side of the house to the other; at the end of said platform are to be steps composed of blocks or planks, and a hand-rail in front of the aforesaid platform of a proper height, and a seat in the rear of the platform of the same length of the platform, and two seats in front of the platform of the same length on the floor, all the seats to be made of good hewed puncheons or plank, to be made in such a manner as to be steady, and movable at pleasure. The platform is to be supported by good substantial posts, pillars or blocks. All of which is to be completed by the first Monday in March next, and to be done in a workmanlike manner." All of this Oliver Morris undertook to do for the sum of $80. But he signally failed, the Commissioners, on an examination of the work, finding it so imperfect that they determined to deduct $5 from the amount he was to have received. He accepted the $75. The building now, though not indeed everything that a court house ought to be, had'cost the county $160.

The next demand was a Stray Pound—not because there were more cattle than criminals running at large, nor because they were more likely to be taken up, but because the law imperatively required it. And this again was because, from the scarcity of inclosures, stock was very liable to go astray. By an act approved March 23, 1819, the County Court in all new counties was required, within three months after locating coui't house, etc., to cause a Pound to be made near the same place, under penalty of $20 for every term of the court after the three months till it should be built. In this Pound all stray horses, mules, etc., over two years old, taken up within twenty miles, were to be kept from 12 till 4 o'clock on the first day of the County Court for three terms nest after the taking up, to enable the owner to find and prove his property. Strays under two years old were advertised nearly as at present. If over twenty miles away, the stray was to be put in pound on the fii'st day of the second term after the taking up. The keeper was to keep and tend the pound on court days, under penalty of $8 fine.

On the second day of this December term, therefore, the court "Ordered that the building of a Stray Pound be let to the lowest bidder, of the following form, to wit: Forty feet square, five panels on each side of equal length, to be made of posts and rails, the posts to be made of white or post oak, neatly hewed, fom- by seven inches; the rails to be sufficiently strong; the cracks from two feet downward not to b^ more than four inches, and from that upward not more than six inches ; a good strong gate, and fixed to it a good lock and key, to be affixed to one side of said pound ; the posts of said fence to be set in the ground not less than thirty inches, to be in all respects strong and firm ; said pound to be completed and delivered to this court at the next March term."

John C. Casey took the contract for building the pound for S33.87i, but he does not seem to have been in haste about it, for at the February term, February 10, 1820, the coui't ordered that the pound be built on Lot No. 31. Garrison Greenwood having bought that lot, and failed to execute the required notes, it of course went back to the county. The Pound was ordered upon that lot, and "six feet from the southeast corner." And there it was located in due time, being received March 6, and the architect appointed to keep it. This lot. No. 31, is that on which the county jail now stands.

The Jail. Before the Stray Pound was finished (February 10, 1820), it was determined to build a jail (on the same lot as follows: "Ordered, that the building of a gaol be let to the lowest bidder on the second day of nest March term, to be built as follows, to wit: The first floor to be composed of two layers of timbers squared to twelve inches laid crosswise, and the whole to be covered with two inch plank closely laid and spiked down, the floor to be sunk within six inches of the surface of the earth; the wall to be composed of timber squared to twelve inches, of which two walls are to be built thirteen inches apart, the vacancy between which is to be filled with timbers not less than twelve inches square, to stand perpendicularly the walls to bebtiiltin the way above described ten feet high, the timbers to be laid as close as possible; on which a second floor is to be made of twelve-inch square timber closely laid and covered with two- inch plank, closely laid and spiked down, the spikes to be not less than four inches long; the room above described is for a dungeon.

On the second floor there is a debtor's room to be built by continuing the outside wall of timber as before described, eight feet high from the second floor; then there is to be a third floor composed of timbers twelve inches square, closely laid, reaching from the outside of each wall, the house to be well covered with shingles. The lower room to be ten feet square in the clear, the walls and floors to be composed of good, sound oak timber. There is to be a door cut in one side of the upper or debtor's room, to which a good shutter is to be made and hung sufiiciently strong, to be made of two lay of two inch plank spiked together with spikes to go through and clinch; there is to be two windows to each room, twelve inches square, with eight bars of iron two feet long and an inch and a half square to each window put crosswise; about the middle of the second floor there is to be a hole cut two feet square, and to it there is to be hung sufiiciently strong a trap-door to fit the hole made in the same manner that the other door is to be made; there is to be made to reach up on the outside of the gaol to the door, a good and substantial pair of steps, and also a platform made at the top of the steps four feet square, and a railing three feet high from the platform around the same and also on one side of the steps; the whole to be completed and delivered in a workmanlike manner to the County Commissioners' Court at their next December term."

Burchett Masey took the contract for building the jail at $320. It cost more than the court house—twice as much—and rightly, for while there were but fifty or sixty logs in the court house, there were largely over 200 in the jail. No sooner did Burchett Maxey secure the job than Zadok Casey, who was an extra hand with an ax, either in chopping or hewing, was taken in as a partner. Lewis and James Johnson and others assisted in gettiug out the timbers, but John Wilkerson hauled nearly every log in the building. It was "erected on the southwest corner of Lot No. 31, eight feet from the line." And on the 5th day of December, Henry B. Maxey, who undertook the building of the jail, delivered the same to the court, which being completed agreeably to the order, was received by the court." The platform required by the contract was formed by putting in four logs four feet longer than the rest, the projecting ends forming the platform and needing no support, while the steps were literally "a pair," being formed of two large timbers twelve or fourteen inches square, in which the steps were cut. We see economy in all the transactions of the court. In settling for the jail, the Treasurer was ordered to pay Z. Casey $114, and H. B. Maxey $96, and Zadok pledged himself to take his own paper for the rest, the court authorizing the Treasurer to receive it.

At the October term of the county court - October 20, 1820—it was "Ordered, that the building of a Clerk's ofiice be let to the lowest bidder on the third Monday in October, inst., to be built as follows, to wit: The house to be built of hewed logs, fourteen feet square, the logs to face from ten to twelve inches, the wall to be nine feet high, to have a good, strong and tight clapboard roof, the ribs and weight poles the bark shaved off, the wall well chinked on the inside and well daubed on the outside; the house to have a good floor of good and wellseasoned plank, jointed and well laid, have a door place cut, and to it hung with good, strong iron hinges a good batten door, made of well-soaaoned plank, one window cut and faced the proper size for a ninelight sash, the sash and glass the undertaker to put in, also to have a chimney built after the same manner that the chimney to the court house is built, with good back wall, hearth and jamb-atones, the corners neatly sawed down, and a good batten shutter hung to the window with strong iron hinges; the house to be built of any kind of oak except Spanish oak. The whole to be finished in a workmanlike manner and delivered to the County Commissioners' Court at their next December term."

This building was undertaken by John Wilkerson, but at the next court his time was extended until March. Accordingly, March 5, 1821, "the court proceeded to examine the Clerk's office, the workmanship of which being done in a satisfactory manner, was received, and in discharge for building the same, ordered the County Treasurer to pay to William Casey 111, to William Jordan $2.25, to Henry B. Maxey $4, and to John Wilkerson $12.37, all which amounts to $59.62-1/2." Three months later the court ordered W. L. Howell |1 for a lock for the Clerk's office, and it was complete. It stood about midway on the north side of the public square, the door fronting south, the window north, and the chimney east like that of the court house. And we may add, it is not expressly stated in the record, but it was expressly done—both chimneys were built wholly of wood except the "back, hearth and jamb-stones." They were genuine mud and stick chimneys, albeit they were very neat ones. And speaking of the lock for this ofiSce reminds ub that in September after the court house was finished—six months—they had to pay Lewis Watkins for a lock and chain for that building. The lock, you will at once understand, was a padlock, and the door was secured by putting the chain through a little chink between the logs and through an auger hole in the door, and locking the end links together. You will notice, too, as the rib poles were shaved, that it was not intended that the Clerk's office should ever have a ceiling.

So much for the public buildings. They constituted about half of the town. It was in the court house that Burchett Maxey lived while finishing his own house on Lot No. 4, and it was in the Clerk's office that Joel Pace spent the last years of his single and first months of his married life. It was here that he lived with his family when Harvey T. Pace came out from Kentucky in the vigor of youth, and split 3,000 rails for him at 50 cents per hundred in State paper, equal to 25 cents in specie. Harvey boarded with his uncle, and fourteen feet square seems to have been room enough for them and their goods, and also the office.

It is proper, perhaps, that we now tell who those men were that we have sometimes mentioned in connection with these first buildings in Mount Vernon.

James E. Davis, who cried the sale of town lots, was one of a little colony of Maxeys, Johnsons and others, that came in from Sumner County, Teun., in 1818. He lived near where Robert Edwards lives. His wife was a sister to Burchett and Elihu Maxey's wives, and to James Bowman's and John Afflack's, all being daughters of Perry Taylor, of Wilson County, Tenn. Davis remained here till he had one daughter grown and married to John Tade. John was a son of David Tade, and David Tade was the father also of Mrs. W. Finch. They lived about where Elijah Knox lives, but in a year or two Mr. Davis, old Mr. Tade, and all their families, went to Tazewell County, and thence to Iowa.

Of those who bought lots: Bennett N. Maxey was the second son of "William Maxey and brother to Joshua C. and Jehu G. D., who are still here; was the father of William H., James J., Charles H., Joshua C, Jr., and Thomas J.; also of Mrs. Emily Ray and Mrs. Eliza White; and died at the place he first settled, a mile east of Pleasant Grove, in 1846, aged fifty-one, his widow, Sally, nee Overbay, dying at some seven years later.

William and Edward Maxey were brothers, sons of Jesse Maxey, of Virginia. William married Rhodam Allen'n sister Emily, in 1793, and came to Illinois in 1818, and was the father of Henry Burchett, Bennett Nelbon, Elihu, Charles Hardy, Joshua Cannon, William McKeudree Adney and Jehu; also of Mrs. Clarissa Johnson, Mrs. Harriet and Mrs. Vylinda A. Casey, and Hostillina, who died in 1818; and William himself died in 1838, his wife having died in 1837. Edward married Elizabeth Pitner, went to Allen County, Ky., and came thence to Illinois in 1819; was a Methodist preacher, held office many years, raised no son or daughter, but raised Judge Sattertield and others, and died at Gov. Casey's about thirtyfive years ago, his wife soon following.

Barton Atchisson was from Georgia, by way of Tennessee; married a Hill, sister to old Mrs. WiJkey and Mrs. Dempsey Hood; came to this county in 1815-16, was much in public life, and died in November, 1847, leaving sons, William, Ignatius, Samuel and George W., and daughters Winney Myers, Martha Chaffin, and one the wife of Theophilus Cook, Jr.

Nelson Ferguson came to this county in 1819, and lived one year on James Johnson's land, and went back to Tennessee, to Station Camp Creek, six miles north of Gallatin; his wife was a Tyler, sister to Jordan Tyler, now among us.

Clark Casey—John C.—was a son of Abraham P. , and son-in-law of Isaac Casey; came to this county in 1818, and raised the first cabin on Mulberry Hill, where Capt. Wolff lives, moved several times, lost his wife, married a Bingaman, went to Missouri, and at last came back and died here in 1862.

Lewis Watkins was prominent in the history of Jefi^erson County for several years, living first in Moore's Prairie, then in Mount Vernon, and at last went back to Tennessee, leaving one child here—Margaret, wife of Green P. Casey, and mother of Lewis F. Casey, of Centralia.

Of those concerned in the public buildings: John Sanders was from Franklin County, his first wife, Nancy, a sister to Abraham and Joseph Estes. He was the first Constable, his appointment dating in June, 1819; next year he married a Miss Cox, soon after got license to keep tavern—somewhere in the south part of the county, and then we lose all trace of him.

Henry Tyler, was the son of John Tyler, and John was a half-brother to James and Lewis Johnson. John Tyler and Lewis Johnson came from Sumner County, Tenn., in 1819. Henry married Catharine, daughter of Isaac Casey, lived awhile at the Brown place on the Salem road, and awhile where the eastern part of Mount Vernon is. He built a cabin east of where Thomas Hobbs lives; discovered the springs, but despised them because the water tasted "brackish," concluded his land would never be worth anything, and sold his pre-emption on the eighty acres to Thomas Tunstall for $92. He lived many years on the Centralia road, and died there in 1877. John C. and Isaac, of this county, are his sons ; Mrs. Pat Ingram, of Richview, his daughter. He never had the headache in his life, but died of something like apoplexy.

Oliver Morris, was son-in-law to Joseph Jordan. He was a man of some means, living in Moore's Prairie, where he built a brick house in 1823. He and Lewis Watkins were appointed Justices of the Peace before the county was organized; and Morris " swore in " the first officers. He went to Texas about 1831; there his only child married Crockett Glenn, a nephew to Davy Crockett. They all came back about seven years later, fearfully reduced in fortune Morris located on the high point east of the Benton road, about five miles south of Mount Vernon, where he died in August, 1839.

John Wilkerson was brother to Henry as before stated. He first married Dicey Keelin, in Virginia, then a Mrrs. Thomas, sister to Rhodam Allen and William Maxey's wife. Allen, father of H. H. W. Wilkerson, was a son of the first wife. Mrs. Thomas by her first husband had five children—.

Mrs. Thad Moss's grandfather, "Aunt Polly" Parker, and Edward Wilkerson's wife were of these. John's last set of children were Mastin, John, Ransom, Betsey Webber, Sallie Daniel, Jane Hill, Emily Hill and Patsy Lynch. So his descendants are all over the country. Zadok Casey, who occupied such a place in our history, is extensively noticed elsewhere in this volume.