Welcome to Madison County ILGenWeb
Madison County ILGenWeb Coordinator - Beverly Bauser
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History of Alton's Hotels and Boarding Houses!
BRIEF HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS
Named after James Madison, the fourth President of the United
States and father of our Constitution, Madison County was
established in the Illinois Territory on September 14, 1812 from Randolph and St. Clair Counties. At the
time it was established, Madison included all of the modern
state of Illinois north of St. Louis, as well as all of
Wisconsin, part of Minnesota, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In
1814, the formation of Edwards County removed almost half of the
eastern part, and the final boundary change came in 1843, when a
small portion on the northeast corner of Madison County became
part of Bond County.
On September 19, 1812, Illinois Territory Governor Ninian Edwards appointed Isam Gilham as the first Sheriff of Madison County, with William Rabb, John G. Lofton, and Samuel Judy as judges; and Josiah Randall as Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. Josiah Randall was named Recorder, and Robert Elliott, Thomas G. Davidson, William Gilham, and George Cadwell were appointed Justices of the Peace.
Edwardsville, the county seat, was laid out in 1815 on the site designated by Governor Edwards in his proclamation organizing the county. It was named in his honor, and later became his residence.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ALTON & SANGAMON RAILROAD (later named the CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD)
The Alton & Sangamon Railroad was spearheaded by Captain Benjamin Godfrey and other Alton businessmen, including Cyrus Edwards, Simeon Ryder, S. Griggs, and Robert Ferguson. Planning stages began in December 1838, and the charter was issued February 27, 1847. Construction began in February 1850, and was completed from Alton to Springfield in 1852. Originally, the line into Alton ran down Piasa Street, and ended at the depot, between Third and Fourth Street. Tracks were not allowed south of the north side of Third Street. The first train pulled into Alton from Springfield on September 9, 1852. To read more on the history of the Alton & Sangamon Railroad, please click here.
"EARLY DAYS IN MADISON COUNTY" - WRITTEN BY REVEREND THOMAS LIPPINCOTT
EARLY DATE IN MADISON COUNTY, NO. 1
By Rev. Thomas Lippincott
Source: Alton Telegraph, August 26,
1864
I was very imprudent to allow myself to be beguiled into
a sort of a promise to call up the memories of the years that
are long past. I am in the predicament of him who boasted to
Hotspur that he could “call spirits from the vastly deep,” when
the spicy gentleman significantly asked, “But will they come,
when you do call them?” I am afraid not, very readily, and not
very regularly, yet I will try.
I came to Madison County
in the Autumn of 1818. In fact, it was the first day of winter
when I arrived with my family to reside. But it may not be
intolerable in an old man’s story to go back a little and tell
how it happened.
The trip down the Ohio River from
Pittsburg to Shawneetown would be more interesting to hear about
than to perform, as we did. But I neither can nor desire to
enter into particulars. We started – “we” may be understood to
designate my wife, my child, and myself, together with all my
worldly goods – but on the boat “we” included another family,
consisting of a man, his wife, two children, and a young lady,
who united ….. [missing] …. Times that I write about, but a
Monongas flatboat, about half the length of those generally used
at that time for conveying produce to New Orleans, and like
them, covered over with a crowning roof, which was the deck on
which the navigators walked, and covering of a cabin below.
Well, we started, as I was going to say, on the first day of
December 1817, and on the 30th day of the same month, landed at
Shawneetown. The most notable event of the voyage is thus
written in my diary, under date 18th December: “Was passed by
the steamboat (about two o’clock) built by Evans, Steckhouse &
Rogers, of Pittsburg. She moved majestically along at a rapid
rate.” This was the first steamboat we saw on the Ohio, and the
only one we saw on our twenty-nine days trip.
[continued]
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