First Madison County Court
The county of Madison County held its first meeting on February 12, 1821, at the house of J. G. W. McCabe.
Justices
William Dillon
Henry Whitener
Clerk
Nathaniel Cook
At this time the county extended west to Black River, and was divided into three townships, Castor occupying the eastern part, St. Michaels the western, and Liberty the northern. Two new townships were now laid out. They were Twelve-Mile, which included all the southwestern part of the county, and German Township, which adjoined it on the east. Election places were then fixed, and judges of election appointed as follows:
Liberty
(at the house of John Renohue)
Ephraim Stout
Anthony Sharp
Elisha Bennett
St. Michaels
(at courthouse)
Thomas Cooper
James Holman
Thomas Craddock
Castor
(at the house of William Anthony)
Hugh Fulton
John White
David Ward
German
(at the house of widow Whitener)
John Bess
Michael Mouser
Anthony Clubb
Twelve-Mile
(at the house of William Boren)
William Boren
William Cravens
A. Johnston
Other townships were subsequently organized:
St. Francois in 1845
Arcadia in 1848
Union in 1850
In 1857, by the organization of Iron County, Arcadia and the greater part of Union and Liberty were cut off. Liberty was then re-established and Polk Township formed.
Prior to 1822 the courts were held at private residences. In that year the present brick courthouse was completed. It is in a remarkably good state of preservation, and it the oldest structure of the kind now in use west of the Mississippi.
A jail was completed a year or two before the courthouse. It stood on what is still known as the jail lot, and was built with triple walls of logs, in the middle wall the logs being placed upright.
It was burn down by an escaped prisoner named Mitchell.
A Brick jail was then built upon the public square. It met with the same fate as the first, and for over thirty years the county has been without a jail.
|
|
|
Source: History of Southeast Missouri