In force March 2, 1837.
AN ACT for the formation of Michigan county.
1Boundaries of Michigan county.
An election to be held for or against the county.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly That all that tract of country lying within the following boundaries to wit: Commencing
on the line of Kane county, at the north west corner of the county of Will, and running east on said line between Cook and Will, to the range line between ten and eleven east of the third principal meridian, thence
south one township, thence east one township, thence north on the line between eleven
and twelve north to the line between the counties of McHenry and Cook, thence west to Kane county, and thence to the place of beginning, shall constitute a new county to be called
Michigan,2 Provided however, That an election shall be held by the qualified voters of Cook county, in the several justices precincts thereof, on the first Monday of August next, at
which election a poll shall be opened for and against the formation of said county
of Michigan, which election shall be conducted and returns thereof made in the manner prescribed
by law for the elections of Sheriffs, and if there shall be a majority of the votes
given in favor of the formation of said new county, then the said county shall be considered as established, but if a majority shall be given against such
new county, then this act shall be null and void, and said county shall not be formed.3
If formed when and where election for county officers are held
Judges of election appointed.
Sec. 2. If said county of Michigan, shall be formed as aforesaid, then an election shall be held at the house of John Stephens on the third Monday of August next, by the qualified voters of said county, for one Sheriff, three county commissioners, one recorder, one county surveyor,
one coroner, and one probate justice of the peace; who, when commissioned and qualified,
shall hold their offices until the next general election for said offices respectively.—Said
election shall be conducted and returns thereof made to the clerk of the county commissioners court of Cook county according to law in other cases, and said clerk shall give certificates of election;
and when said county commissioners shall be elected and qualified, the said county of Michigan shall be considered as duly organized. Hiram Fowler, R. K. Potter, and J. H. Giddings, are hereby appointed Judges of said election.
To be attached to the seventh circuit.
courts to be held.
courts to be held.
Sec. 3. Said county of Michigan shall be attached to the seventh Judicial circuit, and the judge of said circuit shall have power to fix the terms of the circuit courts therein, two terms whereof shall be held in said county annually.
Commissioners to locate county seat.
To take an oath.
When and where to meet
Their duties.
Sec. 4. For the purpose of locating the permanent seat of justice of said county of Michigan, Seth Reed of Kane
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county, William Smith of Will county, and Horatio G. Loomis of Cook county,4 are hereby appointed commissioners who, or a majority of them being first duly sworn
before some justice of the peace, shall meet at the house of John Stephens on the first Monday in September next, or within thirty days thereafter, and shall proceed to locate the seat of justice of said county, at the most eligible and convenient point,5 Provided, That if the same can be located with as much advantage on public land not claimed,
then it shall be the duty of said commissioners so to locate the same. But if not,
then they shall obtain for the county, of the claimant, a quantity of land not less than twenty acres, or three thousand
dollars, upon which land and contiguous land, the said county seat shall be located.
Commissioners compensation.
Sec. 5. The commissioners appointed to locate said county seat, shall each be paid out of
the Treasury of said county of Michigan, the sum of three dollars per day, for each day by them necessarily occupied in the
performance of that duty.
Approved March 2, 1837.
1Responding to a petition, Joseph Naper from a select committee introduced HB 298 in the House of Representatives on February 23, 1837. The House passed the bill on February 24. The Senate passed the bill on February 28. On March 2, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 679, 706, 772, 803, 818; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 525-526, 540, 556, 591.
2Between statehood in 1818 and 1867, the Illinois General Assembly authorized the creation
of 104 Illinois counties. During Lincoln’s four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives,
the General Assembly authorized 38 counties. The General Assembly allowed voters
in the affected county or counties to accept or reject the creation of the new county
in only twelve of those cases. In four instances, including this one, a majority
of voters rejected the creation of the new county. The Illinois Constitution of 1848
made such referenda mandatory in the creation of new counties.
Michael D. Sublett, Paper Counties: The Illinois Experience, 1825-1867 (New York: Peter Lang, 1990), 12-14, 22; Ill. Const. (1848), art. VII.
3On August 7, 1837, the voters of Cook County rejected the formation of Michigan County
by a vote of 332 for and 462 against. Eighteen months later, the General Assembly
authorized the creation of Du Page County, covering approximately 60 percent of the
territory encompassed by the proposed Michigan County.
Sublett, Paper Counties, 40-42; An Act to Create the County of DuPage.
4Two years later, the General Assembly selected two of these three commissioners---Reed
and Loomis---and a third commissioner to locate the county seat of DuPage County.
5For the 38 counties authorized by the General Assembly during Lincoln’s four terms
in the Illinois House of Representatives, the General Assembly appointed commissioners
to designate the county seat in 23 instances, allowed the voters of the new county
to select the county seat in 11 instances, and designated the county seat directly
in the remaining 4 instances.
Sublett, Paper Counties, 14-18.
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 82-83, GA Session: 10-1