In force Jan.[January] 20, 1835.
AN ACT for the benefit of John Groves.
1Commissioners of Little Wabash river, to settle with.
Any balance due said Groves how paid.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the commissioners heretofore appointed by law to superintend the construction
of the necessary improvements to the navigation of the Little Wabash river,2 or a majority of said commissioners, are hereby authorized and required to adjust
the accounts of John Groves, on a contract for the erection of a lock at Robinson’s mill-dam on the said river, and to execute to said Groves, upon ascertaining what balance, if any, is due to him on his said contract, a certificate
setting out that such balance does so remain due; and upon production of said certificate
to the commissioner for the sale of Saline lands at Equality, the said Groves shall be entitled to purchase land from the said commissioner, to the amount of the
sum stated
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to be due by the certificate aforesaid, at the rate per acre provided by law, or he
may purchase a less quantity if he prefer, and the said commissioner shall endorse
on the said certificate the number of acres so purchased by the said Groves, and file the same in his office, and the said commissioner shall issue and grant
to the said Groves, certificates of purchase, in the usual form, and make a special entry on his books,
explaining the transaction, and the certificate of the commissioners first named,
to the said Groves, shall be taken as payment for such lands as may be so purchased by him according
to the amount purchased: Provided, That the said selections to be made by the said John Groves, shall be of the first thirty thousand acres ordered to be sold, and should any of
the lands in said reservation be hereafter relinquished, and others selected in lieu
thereof, the said Groves shall not interfere with any pre-emption right heretofore granted thereon.3Approved, Jan. 20, 1835.
1William McHenry introduced HB 60 in the House of Representatives on December 29, 1834. The House passed the bill on January 2, 1835. On January
6, the Senate took up the bill and referred it to a select committee. On January 17, the select
committee reported back the bill with an amendment, in which the Senate concurred.
The Senate passed the bill as amended on January 19. The House concurred on the same
day. On January 21, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State
of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December
1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 168, 176, 191, 326, 333, 343; Journal of the Senate, of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at
their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 173, 174, 191, 197, 274, 279, 281, 282, 293.
2“An Act Concerning the Saline Reserves, a Penetentiary, and the Improvement of Certain
Navigable Streams,” 15 February 1827, The Revised Code of Laws of Illinois (Vandalia, IL: Robert Blackwell, 1827), 353-60.
3In November 1835, John Groves purchased 2,000 acres of saline lands in Gallatin County,
Illinois, for $1,000, and 600 acres of saline lands in Saline County, Illinois, for
$300, both likely with the credit from this act for constructing the lock at Robinson’s
mill-dam.
Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Gallatin County, 814:29-31, Saline County, 814:28-29; Illinois State Archives, Springfield,
IL
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at their First Session (Vandalia, IL:
J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 69-70, GA Session: 9-1