Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 31st 1837.

AN ACT to change a part of the road from Shelbyville to the Wabash.
1

Road from Howard’s. in Crawford co. to Shelbyville vacated, and the present co.[county] road from Palestine to the section line between sec. 1 & 12, 6 n.[north] 11 w.[west], and on said line to the river.

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 as lies between John Howards in the county of Crawford and the Wabash river,2 as viewed and located under an act approved January the sixteenth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, entitled “an act to locate a State road from the Wabash, in Crawford county, to Shelbyville, in Shelby county” be, and the same is hereby vacated.

Declared a state road.

Sec. 2. That the present county road leading from Palestine, by Isaac Walters, Richard Lagow’s, sen., Joshua Barbee’s and Eldridge S. Janney’s farm; and from thence, running a northwesterly direction until it intersects the Shelbyville State road as located by the commissioners appointed under the act of January the 16h, 1836, and from Palestine to the Wabash river, commencing at the south end of main east street; thence along the county road that leads to the mouth of Lamott creek until it strikes the south east corner of southwest quarter of section thirty-five, town seven, range number eleven west; from thence south eastwardly until it strikes the high land on the south side of Lamott creek, a few roads above Joseph Kitchell’s brick yard; thence running a straight line as near as practicable until it strikes the section line between section one and twelve, in town six north, range eleven west; thence on said line to the river be, and the same is hereby declared a State road, and that so much of the county road as lies between the east corner of the south west quarter of section thirty-five and the mouth of Lamott creek be vacated.3

County com. of Crawford to appoint two commissioners to view and survey part of said road.

Sec. 3. The county commissioners court of the county of Crawford shall appoint two competent persons whose duty it shall be to mark and survey said part of said State road as lies between the south east corner of the south west quarter of section thirty-five, town seven, range number eleven west, to the Wabash river, varying as little as practicable from the lines laid down in this act.

Commissioners to make report

Width of road.

Compensation.

Sec. 4. The persons appointed by the commissioners court, shall proceed to mark and survey said road as soon as practicable, and make their report to the clerk of the county commissioners court, who shall record the same as far as any change may be made from a direct line, and when done, shall be opened sixty feet wide, and kept in repair as other State roads are; and the two persons shall receive one dollar and fifty cents out of the county treasury for every day they may be necessarily engaged in said work.

This act shall be in force from and after it passage.4

Approved, January 31, 1837.

1On January 9, 1837, John Logan in the House of Representatives presented the petition of various citizens of Crawford County, requesting a re-location of part of the state road from Shelbyville to the Wabash River. The House referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions. In response to this petition, Stephen A. Douglas of the Committee on Petitions introduced HB 116 in the House on January 12 . On January 20, the House passed the bill. On January 28, the Senate passed the bill. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 201, 239, 250, 312, 414, 434, 440; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 268, 281, 288, 291, 311-12, 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.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.

3All the townships, ranges, sections, and farms referenced in this section were located in the east portion of Crawford County, east and southeast of Palestine .
“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.

4In 1839, the General Assembly passed an act calling for the road envisioned in this act to intersect with the road located under the act approved in 1836.