Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 19th Jan.[January] 1837.

AN ACT to appoint commissioners to locate a State road from William Crow’s to Jacksonville.
1

Commissioners appointed.
Duties

When & where to meet

to take an oath

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That William Crow, Isaac R. Bennett, and John Semple are hereby appointed commissioners to view and locate a State road from William Crow’s, in Morgan county, to Jacksonville in said county. Said commissioners, or any two of them, shall meet at the residence of William Crow, on the first Monday in April next, or within one month thereafter, and after having been duly sworn by some justice of the peace of said county of Morgan, they shall proceed to locate a State road, beginning at the commencement of the State road running from said William Crow’s to Musick’s bridge in Sangamon county, running on the most eligible route to Samuel Robertson’s Mill on the north fork of Indian creek, thence to J. J. Robertson’s Mill on the South Fork of Indian creek, thence by John Semple’s on the best route to Jacksonville, having due regard to farms and improvements.2

to blaze the trees and set stakes in prairie to report

Report to be returned to commissioners’ court

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall blaze the trees through the timber on said route, and shall set stakes at suitable distances through the prairie, and shall make out a written report of the location of said road, showing in said report the courses and distances of said road so located, which report shall be returned by one of said commissioners to the county commissioners’ court of said county, being signed by a majority of them.

Compensation.

Sec. 3. The county commissioners of Morgan county shall allow said commissioners a reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the county treasury.

Road located
Supervisors to be appointed

Sec. 4. When said road is located, and a return made as aforesaid, the county commissioners shall appoint supervisors, whose duty it shall be to warn in such hands as

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may be assigned by the county commissioners for that purpose, and proceed to cut out said road and keep the same in repair.

This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved 19th January, 1837.

1On December 16, 1836, Richard S. Walker in the House of Representatives presented the petition from citizens of Morgan County, requesting the establishment of a state road from William Crow’s to Jacksonville. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Walker of the select committee introduced HB 14 in the House on December 19. The House passed the bill on January 6, 1837. The Senate passed the bill on January 12. On January 19, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 59, 75, 162, 190, 248, 280, 285, 297; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 169, 172, 178, 187, 200, 237, 240.

2State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.