Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, 15th Feb.[February] 1837.

AN ACT to re-locate a certain State road.
1

Road changed

Duty of supervisors

Proviso

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That so much of the State road leading from Gilead to Rushville,2 as runs through the north-west quarter of section fourteen, in township three south, of range three west of the fourth principal meridian, belonging to Hasten Wells,3 be and is hereby changed so as to run on the west line of said quarter section. And the supervisor of the district in which that part of said road is situated, is hereby required to change

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and open said road as above directed: Provided, Said Hasten Wells shall grant and donate to the State for the use of said road one half of the land on which the said road shall run on said quarter section.

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

Approved 15th February, 1837.

1On December 14, 1836, Alpheus Wheeler in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens of Pike County, requesting the re-location of part of the state road from Gilead to Rushville. On December 17, William A. Richardson presented a similar petition. The House referred the petitions to the Committee on Petitions. Responding to the petitions, Stephen A. Douglas of the Committee on Petitions introduced HB 81 in the House on January 6, 1837. The House passed the bill on February 2. The Senate passed the bill on February 11. On February 15, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 34, 65-66, 184, 397, 455, 556, 571; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 348, 369-70, 385, 396, 400-401.

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.

3Located in the north portion of Pike County, northeast of Perry.
“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.