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Cropsey Township History
Organization
McLean County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

The township was organized in April, 1858, at a meeting held at the house of Levi Straight. Alonzo Alexander Straight was chosen Moderator, and Andrew Jackson Cropsey, Clerk. The town was divided into two road districts on the half-section line running through the town north and south, which now has the iron bridge on it. Those who have served as Justices of the Peace are, L. F. Straight, G. W. Freshcorn, J. H. Van Eman, Ellis Elmer, H. L. Terpenning, J. T. Tanner, A. Beale, A. R. Jones, I. C. Lefler, J. P. Worley, J. E. Whiting and J. Hinshaw. The Commissioners of Highways have been, Alonzo Alexander Straight, G. W. Freshcorn, N. M. Stoddard, Simeon A. Stoddard, D. Thompson, N. Brigham, Joseph Elmer, E. H. Ward, J. W. McCullough, G. Haller, M. H. Knight, John Sharpless, J. B. T. Mann, Z. C. Worley, A. S. Dart, J. C. Arnold, P. J. Decker and E. B. Meeker. The township, in 1868, adopted at its town meeting a long cattle "ordinance." It contained eleven sections, and was carefully drawn, providing that cattle should not run at large, and providing for empounding and fixing penalties; providing how they should be released, and giving the proper officers power to act in all cases. This was a new way of dealing with a very troublesome subject, and it proved a very effective way. The Legislature had passed a law allowing townships to vote for or against permitting cattle to run at large. One of the provisions of this law was that in case a majority of the legal voters of any township should vote against letting cattle run at large, the law should then be in effect in that township, whether the voters in an adjoining township adopted or not. This complicated matters very much, and there were constant depredations upon the part of those who did not choose to live up to the law. Custom had grown into a kind of law, and citizens were unwilling to take the law into their own hands and make a pound of their own inclosures. This ordinance was the subject of a legal decision, and soon became very effective. [The History of McLean County, Illinois, Chicago: W. LeBaron Jr. & Co., 1879]

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