Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all that section of country situated within the following boundaries, to-wit: Beginning at the south-west corner of Livingston county, thence on a straight line to the north-west corner of the south-west quarter of section twenty, townships twenty-five north, range one east of the third principal meridian; thence south to the north-west corner of the south-west quarter of section twenty-nine, township and range aforesaid; thence west to the Tazewell county line; thence north one and a half miles; thence west to the centre of township twenty-five north, range two west, of the third principal meridian; thence north to the line between townships twenty-six and twenty-seven; thence west to the Illinois river; thence with said river to the north-west corner of Tazewell county, thence with the northern boundary of Tazewell and McLean counties to Livingston county; thence south to the place of beginning; which shall constitute a county to be called Woodford.

Sec. 2. There shall be an election held on the second Monday in April2 next, at the town of Versailles, and at each of the places of voting for justices of the peace and constables in the limits of the said county of Woodford. The election shall be conducted by the present judges of elections in said county, who have been appointed by the counties of Tazewell and McLean, in accordance with the election laws of this State, at which election the legal voters of the said county of Woodford, shall elect all county officers for said county, who shall be qualified and commissioned as similar officers are of other counties of this State. Said officers, so elected and qualified, shall hold their offices until the next ensuing general election for such officers now provided by law and shall have the same jurisdiction and discharge all the duties within the limits of the said county of Woodford, that are

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required by law of similar officers of other counties of this State.

Sec. 3. Within five days after said election, the judges of elections at the different places of voting, shall return the poll books of said election to the town of Versailles, in said county, directed to Matthew Bracken, John W. Brown, and Morgan Buckingham, three acting justices of the peace within the limits of said county; and the said justices shall meet in the said town of Versailles, within seven days after said election, and proceed to open said election returns, and do and perform all the duties in relation to said returns that now are required of clerks of county commissioners’ courts by law in relation to similar returns.

Sec. 4. As soon as the county officers shall have been elected and qualified as provided for in this act, the county shall be considered organized, and the clerk of the county commissioners’ court shall give notice of the same to the judge of the eighth judicial circuit, who shall appoint a clerk of the circuit court, and hold courts in the said county, at the town of Versailles, until the county seat of said county shall be located as hereinafter provided for. Said county of Woodford shall form a part of the eighth judicial circuit until otherwise provided by law.

Sec. 5. Suits and indictments that have been commenced or may hereafter be commenced, in the circuit courts of Tazewell or McLean counties, by any of the citizens living in the limits of the county of Woodford, before the organization thereof, shall not be affected by this act; but all suits, so commenced, shall be decided in the circuit courts of the counties of Tazewell or McLean, where they originated.

Sec. 6. All justices of the peace and constables elected in the counties of Tazewell or McLean, who reside in the limits of the county of Woodford, shall hold their offices and have jurisdiction in the said county of Woodford, as though they had been originally elected in said county.

Sec. 7. The school funds belonging to the several townships in said county, and all notes and mortgages pertaining to the same, shall be paid and delivered over to the school commissioner of the county of Woodford, by the school commissioners of the counties of Tazewell and McLean, so soon as said county shall be organized, and the commissioner of school lands appointed and qualified according to law; together with all interest arising out of said money that has not been heretofore expended for school purposes in those parts of Tazewell and McLean counties, now included in the county of Woodford.

Sec. 8. The seat of justice of said county shall be temporarily located in the town of Versailles for the term of two years from and after the organization of said county: Provided, The inhabitants of said town furnish a good and suitable house for holding courts and for other public business, free of

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charge to said county; but on their failing to comply with said condition, the county commissioners may remove the same to such place where suitable buildings can be procured. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the county commissioners’ court to issue writs of election to the judges of elections in the several precincts of said county to hold an election, to be governed in all respects by the laws of this State in relation to the election of members of the General Assembly, within thirty days from and after the expiration of the above said two years, to locate and establish the seat of justice. The place receiving a majority of all the votes polled shall be the permanent seat of justice of Woodford county, but if more than one place shall have been voted for, and no one having received a majority of all the legal votes polled, the clerk aforesaid shall issue writs of election, as in the first case, for a second election, within twenty days from the first election, but no place or places shall be voted for but the two having received the greatest number of votes at the first election; nor shall any place be voted for in either case, unless the proprietor or proprietors shall have first deposited a bond or bonds, for at least fifteen hundred dollars, with good and sufficient security, in the office of the clerk of the county commissioners’ court, for the payment and discharge of such donations as may be offered, which shall be collected by the county commissioners and applied to the erection of public buildings.3

Sec. 9. The county commissioners of the county of Woodford, shall at their December term, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and at their December term annually thereafter, pay out of the county treasury the sum of ninety-five dollars, which sum shall be paid as their portion of the interest due by the county of McLean on the court house debt, and the county commissioners shall also pay after the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, in two equal annual instalments, the sum of twelve hundred dollars, as their respective portion of the principal of the aforesaid debt; and when the provisions of this section are fully complied with, the said county of Woodford shall be exempt from all further liabilities to the county of McLean: Provided, however, That the revenue necessary to pay the above principal and interest shall be collected from the inhabitants within that part of Woodford county which is set off from the county of McLean.

Sec. 10. The legal voters residing within the boundaries of the county of Woodford, shall continue to vote for senators and representatives with the counties of McLean and Tazewell, the same as if no division of said counties had taken place; and the returns of said elections shall be made to the clerks of the county commissioners’ courts of Tazewell and McLean respectively. The circuit court shall be held in said county, at such times as the judge of the eighth judicial circuit may hereafter appoint, until otherwise provided by law.4

Approved, February 27, 1841.