In force, Jan[January] 31, 1837.
AN ACT to locate and establish a state road from the State line of Indiana to intersect the road leading from Paris, in Edgar county, to Springfield.
1Commissioners appointed, to locate said road.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That James Gordon, James Flack and Thomas H. Dougherty be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to view, and locate a State road2 leading from the State line of Indiana to Catfish Point, in the county of Edgar.3
Shall meet at Bloomfield.
Time of meeting.
Time of meeting.
Shall be sworn.
On best route to Embarrass Point.
Sec. 2. The said commissioners shall meet at Bloomfield, in the county of Edgar, on the third Wednesday in May next, or within sixty days thereafter, and after having been duly sworn by some justice of the peace, impartially to locate
said road, they shall commence at the State line aforesaid, between townships fifteen
and sixteen north of range ten west, in the said county of Edgar,4 and thence to the centre of section eleven west, thence across the state road on Main street in the said town
of Bloomfield; thence upon the best and most practicable route to the Mulberry Grove; thence to little Embarrass Point; thence to intersect the state road leading from Paris to Springfield at the most suitable point on said road in a direction to Charleston, in Coles county.5
Shall cause a true survey.
Declared a state road.
County com. shall allow compensation to said com’rs.[commissioners]
Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall, within twenty days after the location of said road, cause
a true survey or map of the same to be lodged with the clerk of the county commissioners court of Edgar county; and the said road shall be, and the same is hereby declared a State road, and shall be opened and kept in repair
as other state roads now are; and the county commissioners court of said county shall allow said reviewers the sum of one dollar and fifty cents each per day, as
compensation for their services.
Approved, 31st January, 1837.
1On December 14, 1836, Augustus C. French in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens of the state, requesting a state road from the state line of Indiana to intersect the state road leading from Paris to Springfield at Catfish Point. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition,
French of the select committee introduced HB 20, originally titled “A Bill to Locate and Establish a State Road from the State Line
of Indiana to Catfish Point, in the County of Edgar,” in the House on December 20. On January 9, 1837, the House passed the bill. On
January 10, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the
bill on January 13 with several amendments, in which the Senate concurred. The
Senate passed the bill as amended, amending the title by striking out all between
the words “to and in,” and inserting in lieu thereof the words, “intersect the state
road from Paris to Springfield.” On January 26, the House concurred in the Senate
amendments and amended title. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 34, 84, 162, 219, 256, 301, 391, 434, 440; Illinois
Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 180, 188, 207, 309-10, 324.
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.
3On January 13, 1837, the Senate amended the bill by adding James Flack to the list of commissioners, replacing E. G. Stanfield.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 207.
4Located in the northeast portion of the county.
“Counties, Townships, and Ranges in Illinois,” Maps, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis
et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d
edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Reference.aspx?ref=Reference html files/LandMeasurement.html.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 248, GA Session: 10-1