Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Sec[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly: That so much of the old county road as leads from Higgins’ mills in Edwards county to Fox River in Clay county be,2 and the same is declared to be a State road;3 And the county commissioners of the respective counties through which it passes are hereby required to keep the same in repair as other State roads are.

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[37?]

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Senate

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N^o 39

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A Bill entitled An act declaring a certain County Road to be a State Road.

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[01]/[02]/[1837]
Laid on Table [~~Indefinitely~~?]

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[12]/[31]/[1836]
2

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[03]/[03]/[1837]
Postponed Indefinitely

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[12]/[31]/[1836]
Engrossed

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[01]/[26]/[1837]
Oneille 4

1On December 29, 1836, Henry J. Mills in the Senate presented the petition of citizens of Edwards and Lawrence counties, requesting changing a part of a state road. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on Petitions. In response to this petition, John D. Whiteside of the Committee on Petitions introduced SB 27 in the Senate on December 30. The Senate passed the bill on January 9, 1837. On January 26, the House of Representatives referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on March 3 without amendment, recommending its rejection. The House then indefinitely postponed consideration of the bill.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 223, 253, 396, 446, 823; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 114, 126, 133, 139, 179, 623.

2Higgins’ mills refers to a water mill on Bonpas Creek owned and operated by Ransom Higgins.
Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties Illinois (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen, 1909), 21

3State 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.

4Edward J. O’Neille, Thomas Hunt, and Peter Green formed a select committee in the House of Representatives that considered the bill.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 396.