Lincoln and Lawrence County

Lincoln Introduced Bill that Included State Road to Russellville 1837

A Bill was introduced in Illinois Legislature to locate a state road from Morgan County to Sangamon County by Abraham Lincoln on July 19, 1837. The bill was immediately amended by Edward J. Oneille, representative from Lawrence County, to include a road leading from Lawrenceville to Russellville, in Lawrence County.

Sec 5 That Samuel K. Miller, James Fyffe, and James Lanterman be appointed commissioners to view and locate a state road leading from Lawrenceville to Russellville, in Lawrence County.

Sec 6 That said commissioners shall meet in Lawrenceville, on or before the second Monday in August, or as soon thereafter as convenient, and after being sworn by some justice of the peace impartially to locate the same, they shall commence at Lawrenceville, thence by James Nabbs’ bridge, across the Embarrass river to the Center School house in Allison prairie, and from thence to Russellville on the most convenient and practicable ground, doing as little injury to private property as possible.

Sec 7 The said commissioners shall, as soon as convenient, cause to be filed with the clerk of the County Commissioners’ Court of Lawrence County a report and complete map of said road, which report and map shall be preserved and shall form a part of the record of said court. Said road when so established shall be kept in repair as other state roads are; and the County Commissioner’s Court of Lawrence County shall allow the said viewers not more than one dollar and fifty cents per day for their services.

From The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln by Roy P. Basler, Editor, published by Rutgers University Press, NJ. 1953, page 85, https:books.google.com books isbn=1434477029 (accessed on November 10, 2018)