In force, Jan[January] 27, 1837.
Commissioners appointed to view road from Salem to Jenning’s to New Nashville to columbus and to Chester.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Israel Jennings of Marion county, Samuel T. Henry of Washington county, and John Parks of Randolph county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and locate a state
road,2 to commence at Salem in Marion county, thence to Israel Jennings’, thence to New Nashville in Washington county, and thence through Columbus to Chester in Randolph county.3
When and where to meet
To be sworn.
Oath.
Duty.
Oath.
Duty.
To report to clerks of county commissioners courts through which it passes.
Declared a state road.
Sec. 2. Said commissioners or a majority of them, shall meet at Salem on the first day of June next, or within two months thereafter and after being sworn by some justice of the peace
faithfully to discharge the duties required of them by this act, shall proceed to
view, mark, and locate said road from point to point as directed in the first section
of this act, upon the nearest and best route, avoiding as much
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as practicable any injury to farmers’ improvements, and private property on said route, and make out a return to the county commissioners courts of the several counties through which it passes, a certified report of said road,
describing as nearly as practicable the route and distance of said road, which shall
be filed with the several clerks of the county commissioners courts through which said road passes, within one month after said road is located, and said road, when so located, shall
be deemed a public state road, and kept in repair as other state roads are.
Compensation
Sec. 3. The said commissioners shall receive such compensation for their services as the
county commissioners courts of the counties through which said road shall pass, may deem just and reasonable,
to be paid out of the several county treasuries through which the said road passes.
County commissioners may have road surveyed, &c.[etc.]
Sec. 4. The county commissioners courts of Marion, Washington, and Randolph counties, may, at any time they shall agree upon, have said road surveyed and plats
thereof filed in the several clerk’s offices of the county commissioners courts through which said road may pass.
Approved 27th Jan., 1837.
1On December 21, 1836 Richard B. Servant introduced SB 16 in the Senate. The Senate passed the bill on December 23. On January 10, 1837, the House of Representatives passed the bill. On January 12, the House re-considered this vote and referred the
bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January
14 with amendments, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended.
On January 16, the Senate concurred in the House amendments. On January 27, 1837,
the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 119, 136, 164, 227, 238-39, 258, 284, 360, 365; Illinois
Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 87, 90, 98, 225, 226, 271, 278, 309.
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 14, 1837, the House of Representatives amended the bill by adding Israel Jennings’ residence as a point of contact.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 258.
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 240-41, GA Session: 10-1,