Lawrence County, Illinois

County: Lawrence

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 38.7000, -87.7167

In 1821, the Illinois General Assembly created Lawrence County out of the counties of Edwards and Crawford. Settlers named the county for War of 1812 hero Commodore James Lawrence, whose dying command on the USS Chesapeake was "Don't give up the ship." Lawrenceville became the county seat.

"An Act for the Formation of a New County Out of the Counties of Edwards and Crawford," 16 January 1821, Laws of Illinois (1821), 16-17; James N. Adams, comp., Illinois Place Names (Springfield, IL: Illinois State Historical Library, 1989), 589; Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, and John William McCleve, eds., Illinois Historical Lawrence County Biographical (Chicago: Munsell, 1910), 619, 635; Michael J. Crawford, "Lawrence, James," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 13:285-86.