Endnotes

  1. Pease, T.C., The County Archives of the State of Illinois, 1915, passim. The Circuit judges' docket book for Johnson County dates back to 1813 (p. 332); Circuit Court dockets exist for St. Clair County from 1825 (p. 584); fee books for S angamon County Circuit date back to 1833 (p. 599); and the Union County judges docket starts in 1818 (p. 637).
  2. An Inventory of the County Archives of Illinois, No. 70, Moultrie County, prepared by the Illinois Historical Records Survey Project of the W.P.A. and published in 1941, reports that several volumes of Justice of the Peace Docket records for Su llivan Township for the period 1857-1929 were preserved in the County Clerk's vault (p. 160), and that other Justice of the Peace docket records for other townships for the period 1881-1919 were preserved in the Circuit Clerk's vault (p. 187). However, th e Circuit Court Clerk of Moultrie advised the author that the earliest Justice of the Peace docket book in her office dates back to 1929. Letter of Deborah M. Preston, Moultrie County Circuit Clerk, January 5, 1996.
  3. A Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby & Moultrie Counties, Illinois, published in 1891, contains information on prominent citizens of the post-Civil War era and their families, and adds a few details with respect to the earlier period. L and entry records of Moultrie County, including a Land Entry book in the County Clerk's office listing the original purchases (referred to herein as Land Entry Book), provide details as to who bought the land, where, when, and how much. Family hist ories of the Whitley, Waggoner and Martin families (listed among the Authorities Consulted) provide information on early Whitley Point family members.
       The Combined History of 1881 and these biographical and family records have recently been supplemented by I.J. Martin's Notes on the History of Moultrie County and Sullivan, Illinois (Sullivan, 1990). This slender volume co ntains additional information and ancedotes about the early settlements; but although I.J. Martin grew up in the Whitley Point community, he was not born until 1859, and his notes--some parts of which were written in old age--are chiefly valuable for the period through which he lived, particularly the period after publication of the Combined History.
       The Inventory of the County Archives of Illinois, No. 70, for Moultrie County, prepared by the Historical Records Survey Project, instituted by the federal Work Projects Administration and published in 1941, provides a sketch of t he history of the county and its government organization, as well as a survey of county offices and records.
       The Moultrie County Historical & Genealogical Society has published since 1972 a series of quarterly periodicals entitled Moultrie County Heritage, which reflect much diligent research and useful information. Also in

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    1990-1991 Al and Anne Golden compiled several volumes of materials, including excerpts from the 1881 Combined History, essays by modern county historians and newspaper articles.
  4. Buck, Illinois In 1818, pp. 1, 59.
  5. Quaife, Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673-1835, pp. 262-284.
  6. Miller, City of the Century, New York, 1996, pp. 48-58;Buck, op cit., pp.39-40; Boggess, The Settlement of Illinois, 1778-1830, pp. 134-145.
  7. Roney, "Kaskaskia Reflections", Moultrie County Heritage, IV, No. 3, august 1976, p. 67; Strader and Benbow, Our Wandering Whitleys.
  8. John Whitley Sr. bought the east half--80 acres--of the northwest quarter of Section 12. His son, William, bought the west half of the northwest quarter of the same section. Land Entry Book of Moultrie County; see also Combined History, pp. 45, 209. Other early settlers in Section 12 were George M. Hanson, Rufus Pierce, Daniel Ellington, Israel Ellis and William G. Haydon.
  9. Combined History, p. 45.
  10. Combined History, p. 305.
  11. Original Federal Surveyor Field Notes, Illinois State Archives.
  12. Martin, I.J., Notes, p. 8.
  13. Pooley, The Settlement of Illinois from 1830 to 1850, pp. 313-329.
  14. Pooley, id., pp. 538-558.
  15. Waggoner, J.G. and Boling, C.M., The Waggoner Family, p. 4.
  16. Isaac and Elisha Waggoner perfected claims to 80 acres of land in Section 7 of Township 12; and Amos perfected a claim to 40 acres in the same Section 7. john and Gilbert settled just to the north, in Sections 5 and 6. Sharp bought his land in Section 9--two miles east of father Isaac--where John owned additional land. George bought land closer to the Whitleys, four miles east of his father, Isaac, in Section 11. Land Entry Book of Moultrie County; see also Waggoner, J.G. and Boling, C.M., T he Waggoner Family, p. 35.
  17. The Combined History describes Samuel Lindley as a son-in-law of John Whitley (p. 209). But a paper published in Moultrie County Heritage, XI, No. 4, November 1983, says he was married to Sarah Polly Hall (p. 91).
  18. Combined History, pp. 45, 209-210.
  19. Martin, I.J., Notes, pp. 11-15.
  20. Combined History, pp. 46-48.
  21. Flower, History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois, p. 141.
  22. Haydon purchased the 80 acres consisting of the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 12. Whitley had the east half of the northeast quarter. Land Entry Book of Moultrie County.
  23. Radio program script of George Fred Edmonds, November 1977, files of Moultrie County Historical Society; also interviews with George Fred Edmonds and Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Voyles.
  24. referred to in the Coles County Commissioners' records for June term, 1834, p. 92.
  25. Combined History, p. 210.
  26. Ellington and his wife eventually owned 120 acres in the southwest quarter

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    of Section 12. Land Entry Book of Moultrie County; see also newspaper article by E.D. Hortenstine, "Essex, Ghost Town of 1855," Daily Journal-Gazette, matoon, Illinois, September 1, 1955; radio program script of George Fred Edmonds, November 1977, files of Moultrie County Historical Society.
  27. Id.
  28. Martin, I.J., Notes, pp. 16, 20. See also Combined History, p. 210. Elsewhere, I.J. Martin wrote about Whitley Point, "I remember that in the 1860's there was a string of a dozen log houses along the public road for two or three hundred feet. These houses were built close together [and connected] by a roofed over driveway in which usually stood a wagon or cart. In an earlier day there had been a store room and post office." He added, "Some twenty years before I first noticed the place, m y Mother had attended a school in one of these houses." (Manuscript in the possession of the author, p. 52.)
  29. Peck, A Gazetteer of Illinois, p.311.
  30. Martin, I.J., Notes, p. 8.
  31. See 1875 atlas page for Whitley Township, supra, Illustration No. 8, p. 18. The term "Est." probably refers to "estate." Jesse Hunt apparently died shortly before the atlas was published in 1875, in which case his farm would have been owned by his "estate" pending conclusion of probate proceedings.
  32. Radio program script of George Fred Edmonds, November 1977, files of Moultrie County Historical Society.
  33. Hortenstine, "Essex, Ghost Town," op cit.
  34. Interviews with Harold (Ben) Townley and George Fred Edmonds.
  35. Fischer, Albion's Seed, pp. 605 et seq., esp. 759-765.
  36. Combined History, pp. 149, 210; file of typed and copied materials labeled "Linn Creek Church," maintained by Moultrie County Historical and Genealogical Society.
  37. Waggoner, A.J., "A Pioneer's Reminiscenses," The Gazette, windsor, Illinois, August 1926.
  38. Inventory of the County Archives of Illinois, No. 70, p.19.
  39. Combined History, p. 264.
  40. Martin, I.J., Notes, p. 20.
  41. Hortenstine, "Essex, Ghost Town," op cit.
  42. Evans, "Shanghai," Moultrie County Heritage, VI, No. 2, May 1979, pp. 34-35.
  43. Martin, I.J., Notes, p. 20.
  44. Hortenstine, "Essex, Ghost Town," op cit.
  45. Evans, "Shanghai," op cit.
  46. Roney, J., "Nelson," Moultrie County Heritage, V, No. 4, November 1977, pp. 84-96; Combined History, p. 264.
  47. Combined History, pp. 71, 210.
  48. Martin, I.J., Notes, pp. 16, 20.
  49. Moultrie County Heritage, XIII, No. 3, August 1985, p. 86.
  50. "Haydon Family Bible," Moultrie County Heritage, Vol XIII, No. 3, August 1985, p. 86.
  51. Martin, I.J., Notes, p. 20.

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  52. Id., p. 16.
  53. Whitley Point Record Book, p.104; see also p. 99.
  54. Combined History, p. 71.
  55. Hortenstine, "Essex, Ghost Town," op cit.
  56. "Haydon Family Bible," op cit.
  57. Whitley Point Record Book, infra, pp. 2-3.
  58. "Haydon Family Bible," op cit.
  59. Basler, Roy P. (editor), The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Rutgers, 1953, Vol. II, pages 428-429.
  60. Whitley Point Record Book, infra, pp. 104, 106.
  61. Combined History, p. 45.
  62. Land Entry Book of Moultrie County; Waggoner, J.G., and Boling, C.M., The Waggoner Family, p. 46.
  63. Combined History, p. 194.
  64. Whitley Point Record Book, p.206.
  65. Id., pp. 307, 308, 313
  66. Id., p. 194.
  67. Waggoner and Boling, The Waggoner Family, p. 46.
  68. Combined History, p. 194.
  69. Laws Passed by the Third General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Act to Regulate the Terms of the Circuit Court, February 17, 1823, p. 161.
  70. Revised Laws of Illinois, vandakia, 1833, p. 152.
  71. Laws of 1835, p. 150. Earlier in 1824, provision had been made for the holding of circuit courts by separate circuit judges; but that provision had been repealed in 1827. Inventory of the County Archives of Illinois, No. 70, p. 59.
  72. Laws of 1841, p. 173. this system prevailed until 1848, when provision was made for election of separate circuit judges by the district electorate. Constitution of 1848, Art. V, Sec. 7, 15.
  73. Asbury, Illinois Form-Book (frequently referred to as Asbury's Justice), at iii, iv.
  74. Laws of 1819, p. 185; Laws of 1823, p. 184; Revised Code of 1827, p. 259; and revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, pp. 382 et seq.
  75. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, p. 386.
  76. Id., at 387.
  77. Id., at 401.
  78. Id., at 390.
  79. Id., at 392.
  80. Tindall v. Meaker, 1 Ill. 137, 138 (1834).
  81. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, at 402.
  82. Id., at 403.
  83. Id., at 403.
  84. Id., at 293-294.
  85. Brush, Growing Up With Southern Illinois, p. 53; see Flower, History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois, p. 96.
  86. See generally 1 Corpus Juris Secundum, 1985, at 601-666; 1 Illinois Law and Practice, 1988, at 95-98. An Action of debt was based on a contract and intended to recover a liquidated or certain sum of money; whereas an action

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    of assumpsit was based on an implied promise--for example, to pay for goods sold and delivered, or to settle an account. See Blackstone, Commentaries, Vol. III, pp. 154-164; Asbury's Justice, p. 39. These actions were to be distinguished fro m the older action of account, to compel a defendant to come in and settle his accounts. Blackstone, Commentaries, Vol III, p. 164; Pollack and Maitland, The History of English Law, Vol. II, pp. 219-220.
  87. See, e.g., Whitley Point Record Book, pp. 18, 19, 20.
  88. Id., pp. 50, 51, 53.
  89. Id., p. 107.
  90. Id., pp. 19, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 149.
  91. Id., pp. 26, 40, 41, 42, 43, 51, 55.
  92. Id., p. 77.
  93. Id., p. 93.
  94. Id., p. 95. To recover the statutory penalty for improperly cutting timber, the correct action was debt; to recover damages to personal property, the correct action was one for trespass. Asbury's Justice, pp. 31, 44.
  95. E.g., id., pp. 21, 23, 26.
  96. Id., pp. 73, 76, 77, (although one lender charged only 6% during that period); 98. In 1845, the legislature enacted a usury law limiting interest to no more than 6%. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1845, p. 294. The rate was moved to 10% in 18 49. Laws of 1849, p. 98.
  97. For example, id., pp. 66, 67, 69, 71, 72, 73, 80, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88; cf. 76.
  98. Fischer, David Hackett, Albion's Seed, 1989, p. 370.
  99. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 22.
  100. Id., p. 37.
  101. Illinois Laws, 1833, at 82 et seq.
  102. Whitley Point Record Book, pp. 130–131.
  103. Id., p. 133.
  104. Id., pp. 181–183.
  105. Id., p. 45.
  106. Id., p. 67. The action of trover and conversion was to recover damages from any person who obtained the personal property of another and sold or used it, or refused to return it on demand.
  107. Id., pp. 95, 100, 101. Some of these actions probably should have sounded in debt. See fn 94 supra.
  108. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, at 382 et seq.
  109. Section 20 of the Act, id., at 338.
  110. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 28.
  111. Id., p. 102.
  112. Justice of the Peace Act, Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, p. 395.
  113. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1823, p. 402.
  114. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 94.
  115. Id., p. 99.
  116. Id., p. 102.
  117. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, p. 152.
  118. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 104.
  119. Id., p. 125.
  120. Id., p. 146.

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  121. Id., p. 150.
  122. Id., p. 150.
  123. Id., p. 153.
  124. Id., p. 154.
  125. Id., p. 154.
  126. Id., p. 153.
  127. Id., p. 157.
  128. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, pp. 334 et seq.
  129. Id., at 334. According to Asbury's Justice, p. 208, "It is not proper to hear or admit on the examination before the justice, any other testimony than that of the woman. She may be cross-examined, but no evidence going to show that she i s suspicious character, or even a common strumpet, can there be admitted."
  130. Id., at 335.
  131. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 156. Patsy Waggoner may have been the daughter of Isaac Jr. and granddaughter of the patriarch of the Waggoner clan, Isaac Sr. See Evans, "Shanghai," Moultrie County Heritage, VI, No. 2, May 1979, p. 35. Th at would make her a niece of Justice Amos Waggoner. Benjamin Freeman was not listed in the 1840 U.S. Census for Shelby County. However, ten years later, the 1850 U.S. Census for Moultrie County listed 33–year old Benjamin Freeman as married to 24–year old Mary A. Freeman.
  132. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 163. The 1840 U.S. Census for Shelby County (p. 15) lists William L. Ward as the head of a household, with four children.
  133. Oliver, Eight Months in Illinois, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  134. Id., p. 48.
  135. Id., p. 49.
  136. Whitley Point Record Book, pp. 257, 305, 321.
  137. Oliver, Eight Months in Illinois, p. 49.
  138. Id., p. 50; see Pooley, Settlement of Illinois, pp. 549–550.
  139. Id., p. 34.
  140. Id., p. 34.
  141. Id., p. 36.
  142. Id., p. 35.
  143. Id., p. 52.
  144. Id., pp. 52–53.
  145. Laws of Illinois, 1835, pp. 229 et seq.
  146. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 253.
  147. Id., pp. 318, 322.
  148. Laws of Illinois, 1835, p. 229.
  149. Whitley Point Record Book, pp. 258, 318.
  150. Id., p. 305.
  151. Id., p. 306.
  152. Id., p. 309.
  153. Id., p. 317.
  154. Id., p. 319.
  155. Id., p. 309.
  156. Id., p. 255.

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  157. Martin, R.E., Fragments of Martin Family History, p. 107.
  158. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 301; Martin, R.E., Fragments of Martin Family History, p. 110.
  159. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 319.
  160. Id., p. 320.
  161. Oliver, op. cit., p. 62.
  162. Oliver, op. cit., p. 62; see Buley, The Old Northwest Pioneer Period, 1815–1840, Vol. I, pp. 234–236.
  163. Hortenstine article, op. cit.
  164. Peck, Gazetteer of Illinois, pp. 13, 233.
  165. For the completion dates of railroads serving Moultrie County, see supra, p. 27, fn. The north–south line of the Illinois Central passing east of Sullivan through Mattoon was completed in 1856. Howard, Illinois, pp. 189–202, 245.
  166. Martin, I.J., Notes, p. 8.
  167. Jordan, Philip D., The National Road, 1948, p. 148.
  168. Montgomery, Textiles In America: 1650–1870, p. 271; Brush, Growing Up With Southern Illinois, pp. 43, 55–57, 113.
  169. Montgomery, Textiles In America: 1650–1870, p. 279; Brush, Growing Up With Southern Illinois, p. 55; see Buley, The Old Northwest Pioneer Period, 1815–1840, Vol. I, pp. 202–207.
  170. Hardingham, The Fabric Catalog, p. 130.
  171. Montgomery, Textiles In America: 1650–1870, p. 328.
  172. Id., p. 225.
  173. Id., p. 269; Hardingham, The Fabric Catalogue, 1978.
  174. Whitley Point Record Book, p. [38].
  175. Montgomery, Textiles In America: 1650–1870, p. 285.
  176. See, e.g., Whitley Point Record Book, pp. 284, 292, 295.
  177. Brush, op. cit., p. 54.
  178. Supra, p. ___.
  179. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 200.
  180. Id., p. 199.
  181. Moultrie County Heritage, Vol. IX, No. 1, February 1981, p. 7.
  182. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 206.
  183. Id., p. 312.
  184. Howard, Illinois, A History of the Prairie State, 1972, p. 111.
  185. Martin, I.J., Notes, p. 45.
  186. Oliver, op. cit., p. 33.
  187. Martin, I.J., Notes, pp. 45–47; Howard, Illinois, A History of the Prairie State, pp. 282–283.
  188. Whitley Point Record Book, pp. 206, 210, 230, 297.
  189. Id., 213, 226.
  190. Id., 248, 278, 289, 290.
  191. Id., p. 263; see also 287, 291. 189. Buley, The Old Northwest, 1950, Vol. I, pp. 155–157.
  192. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 207.
  193. Id., p. 283.
  194. Id., p. 199; see also p. 326.
  195. Buley, The Old Northwest, Vol. I, pp. 335–336.

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  196. Faragher, Sugar Creek, p. 105.
  197. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 294.
  198. Id., pp. 237, 238.
  199. Martin, R.E., Fragments of Martin Family History, p. 189.
  200. Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, p. 510.
  201. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 195.
  202. Id., p. 194, 195.
  203. Id., pp. 193, 195.
  204. Id., pp. 194, 195, 196.
  205. Id., p. 203.
  206. Id., p. 209.
  207. Id., p. 210.
  208. Id., p. 211.
  209. Martin, R.E., Fragments of Martin Family History, p. 140.
  210. Whitley Point Record Book, p. 192.
  211. Id., p. 191.
  212. Quaife, ed., Pictures of Illinois One Hundred Years Ago, pp. 73–74.
  213. Whitley Point Record Book, pp. 2, 328.
  214. Id., p. 326.
  215. Id., p. 328.
  216. Id., p. 327.
  217. Id., p. 329.

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| Acknowledgements | Preface | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three |
| Docket Book | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven |
| Authorities Consulted | Endnotes | Index |

| The Whitley Point Record Book (Part 1) |
| The Whitley Point Record Book (Part 2) |
| Index |

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