Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 6th Dec.[December] 1837

AN ACT for the benefit of Mary Myot, infant daughter of Catherine Myot.
1

Guardian.

To give bond.

May sell and convey.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That Nicholas Boilvin of the county of Cook, half brother and friend of Catherine Myot, mother of her only and infant child2 Mary Myot, on filing with the judge of probate of the county of Cook aforesaid a bond with good and sufficient securities, to be approved of by said judge, conditioned for the true and faithful discharge of the duties enjoined by this act, and that as guardian of said infant heir Mary Myot, he will sell and truly account for and invest in other lands and for the education and maintainance of said Mary Myot, all monies arising from the sale of a tract of land herein authorised, shall be and he is hereby appoinied guardian to the said Mary infant daughter of his said sister Catherine Myot, and is hereby empowered to sell and convey by sufficient deed or deeds all of a certain tract or parcel of land granted to the said infant Mary Myot, by a treaty concluded and agreed upon at Prairie du Chien, on the first day of August, 1829, by and between the United States on the one part and the Winnebago nation of Indians on the other part; the same being six hundred and forty acres; or one entire section, and which is now about being located; said sale to be either at private or public sale, and upon such terms as to credit or not to credit as the said guardian may deem proper and most beneficial to his said ward.3

Proceeds of sale chargeable

Sec. 2. The money arising from said sales shall be chargeable in account with his ward to the said guardian, and shall be laid out by him to the best advantage in other lands and the maintainance and education of her his said ward.

Compensation to be allowed.

Sec. 3. The said Boilvin, guardian as aforesaid, shall be allowed a reasonable allowance for the care, charge and maintenance of his said ward; and when she arrives at the lawful age, then the said guardian shall be required faithfully to account with his ward for the manner in which he may have managed her affairs.4

This act to betake effect from and after its passage.

[ certification ]
12/06/1836
Field, Alexander P.

The foregoing bill having been laid before the council of

<Page 2>
revision and ten days not having intervened before the adjournment of the General Assembly, and the said bill not having been returned with the objections of the council on the first day of the present session of the General Assembly the same has become a law.

Given under my hand, the 6th day of December, A.D. 1836.
A. P. FIELD,
Secretary of State.

1On December 16, 1835, William L. D. Ewing in the Senate presented the petition of Catharine Myott, requesting authority to sell a section of land for the benefit of Mary Myott, her infant daughter. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions. In response to this petition, Ewing of the Committee on Petitions introduced SB 34 in the Senate on December 21. The Senate passed the bill on January 4, 1836. The House of Representatives concurred on January 15. The Council of Revision neither approved the bill nor returned it with objections before the end of the session, and the bill automatically became law on December 5, 1836, at the next session of the General Assembly.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 226, 268, 289, 304, 327, 346; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 80, 94, 161, 247, 267.

2In this context, “infant” simply means the child is a minor.

3The 1829 Treaty of Prairie du Chien between the U.S. and the Winnebago ceded a large amount of land in northwestern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin to the United States government. Article V of the treaty granted 42 sections of land to 39 individuals identified as descendants of Winnebago. It specifically granted two sections of land to Catherine Myot and one section of Mary Myot.
“Treaty of the United States with the Winnebago Tribe,” 1 August 1829, in Charles J. Kappler, comp., Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1904), 2:300-03.

4Illinois law considered women to be minors until the age of 18. For women under the age of 14 whose fathers were dead, the court appointed a guardian to manage the financial affairs of the woman until she reached 18.
“An Act concerning Minors, Orphans, and Guardians,” 5 February 1827, Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 453-46.