I. List of representatives in Congress representing the territory of which Moultrie County formed a part since the admission of the state.

During the first 14 years, the state had but one representative.

John McLean was first elected and served until 1819. He was then defeated by only 30 votes by

Daniel Pope Cook, who served eight years but had a hard fight each time to secure reelection and defeated Gov. Bond in one campaign and McLean once or twice -- always by small majo rities. In the Presidential contest in 1824 in the House he voted for Adams, and the Jackson men helped to defeat him in 1826, electing

Joseph Duncan, who served six years or until the state was divided into three districts. He was then electe d in 1832 from the 3rd district, which included the north part of Moultrie, which then belonged to Macon -- a segment nine sections wide. In 1834 Duncan was elected Governor.

When the state was divided into three congressional districts before the e lection of 1832, Shelby County was placed in the 2nd district and Macon in the 3rd. The south two thirds of Moultrie was in Shelby and the north part in Macon. It has been said that Gov. Duncan represented the 3rd for one term. He was succeeded by Wm. L. May of Springfield, who served four years. All the representatives named so far were classed as democrats. The third district in 1838 elected a Whig, John R. Stuart, who served two terms, or until 1843.

The second or Shelby district was represente d the full ten years, 1833-1843, by Jadoc Casey of Mt. Vernon, a democrat. He was one of the remarkable men in the first half century or more of the state history. His father emigrated from Ireland to North Carolina before the Revolutionary War and was a soldier under Marion and Sumpter. Jadoc was born in 1796, married in 1815 and came to Illinois in 1817, a year before its admission as a state. He settled at Mt. Vernon and was the principal founder of that city. He was in the service of the public n early all his life:

• he was in the lower house of the legislature 1822-1826;

• he was in the state senate 1826-1830;

• he was Lieut.-Governor 1830-1833;

• he was our representative in Congress, 1833-1843;

• he w as president of the constitutional convention in 1845;

• he was elected to the legislature in 1848 and became Speaker, was reelected in 1850;

• he was chairman of the statewide peace convention that met in Springfield in 1861;

I have never heard him censured but for one thing. In the legislature in 1822 he voted for calling a constitutional convention which was formed by pro-slavery men.

In 1843, the year Moul trie County was organized, we were put into a new 3rd district, the state being entitled to 7 representatives.

Orlando B. Ficklin of Charleston served the first 6 years, 1843-1849, then missed a term and was again elected, serving from 1851-1853 . Ficklin was one of the big men of that day. He had been in the legislature in 1834 when Lincoln was serving his first term. He resigned but was again elected in 1838 and served until 1842 when he entered Congress. He was not a member of the constitu tional convention of 1847 but was chosen to represent Coles and Moultrie in the convention of 1862, which contained some of the best talent in the state not employed in the war. John Dement was chairman. It had nearly a dozen past or future Congressmen, one ex Governor, several circuit and supreme court justices and one future Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In his old age, Ficklin was again elected to the legislature, in 1878. His neighbors nearly all voted for him -- plumped three votes and ran him a thousand votes ahead of his running mate, the venerable Arnold Thomason of Moultrie County, but both were elected.

His wife was the daughter of Gov. Colquit [?] of Georgia, who was also a U.S. Senator, and Mrs. Ficklin had brothers who we re governors and senators in Georgia and Texas. The law firm of Craig brothers at Mattoon -- Ed, Don and J.W. Jr. -- are grandsons of Old Fick, so they had great lawyers on both sides of their ancestry.

I believe Ficklin was beaten in 1848 by Timot hy R. Young, who served two years, and again in 1852 by James C. Allen, who served until 1857. He had previously served one term in the legislature, 1850-1852. He was the democratic nominee for governor in 1860, was elected congressman at lar ge in 1862. He had previously been elected circuit judge, which office he then resigned. He was a member of the constitutional convention in 1870, and was again elected circuit judge and served until 1879.

Allen was succeeded in 1857 by Aaron Shaw< /I> of Lawrenceville, which indicates the immense territorial size of the old 7th district. Shaw served but one term. Other positions which he held throughout his active public life indicate that he was a man of ability. The same can be said of Young, our other single term representative heretofore mentioned.

Our next representative was one of the big men of pioneer days -- James C. Robinson, who was elected in 1858 and continued as our representative until 1862, when the state was redistrict ed and we were put in the new 7th. Robinson lived at

VII. County Clerks

IX. District Attorneys (prior to 1872) and States Attorneys

Then States Attorneys:

John Perryman
David Patterson (a portion of the time, John R. Eden passed on the qualification of teachers)
Thomas Young Lewis

Above are the names of some of the school commissioners who served from 1843 to 1869 when the first County Superintendent of Schools was elected. John Perryman was the first of these commissioners, and Dr. Lewis was the last. Judge Patterson may have served all t he years between their terms, or there may have been others.

XI. County Treasurer

Thomas M. Bushfield. When Sullivan was incorporated in effective December 23, 1872, Thomas M. Bushfield, who was then also County Treasurer, was president of the board of village trustees. He became Mayor of the new city and served until 1873.

The Grange farmer movement was strong in Moultrie County at this time, and almost everybody in office was suspected of being, or not, just what they ought to be. A committee was appoint ed by the farmers to carry out an investigation. On this committee were George Hetherington of Lovington, William Harrison Garrett of Whitley and George W. ______ of Sullivan. The committee made a special investigation of the offices of County Clerk and Treasurer. These two officers do more than others who work directly for the County, for which they are paid from public revenue. The Circuit Clerk and the Sheriff received their pay at that time from the fees collected in their office.

The standing of A.N. Smyser, County Clerk, and T.M. Bushfield, County Treasurer, was affected by this investigation. I have never seen any report made by the committee, but the fact that an investigation was being held was sufficient for those who wanted to believe t hat something was wrong. The term of office of both men expired and neither became a candidate for reelection to their county offices, and Bushfield did not run for city Mayor.

The Democrats ran William Kirkwood for Clerk and S.W. Wright (Sr.) for Tre asurer. Both were good clean men and their defeat shows that no party candidate could have been elected. The farmers nominated two Republicans and elected both. They were George Hetherington (who had been chairman of the investigating committee) for Cl erk and J.H. Dunscomb for Treasurer; both served until 1877 when the Democrats were sore over the Hayes-Tilden contest and so they were beaten by W.W. Eden and A.E.D. Scott respectively.

The first four Aldermen of the new city were Village Trustees who carried over as Aldermen until the first regular city election. There were: Walter B. Kilner, Milton Tichenor, Peter Cofer, and J.H. Waggoner. Kilner was as druggist and a brother of Ed Kilner, whose daughter, Mrs. Mae Lucas, is living in Sullivan (19 40). Milton Tichenor was a liveryman, later an implement dealer. Peter Cofer was a worker, I think in some builder's trade. And Joseph Henry Waggoner served sixteen years as Circuit Clerk, 1864-1880. He was later publisher of a paper in Clinton, Illin ois, and afterward a publisher in Fresno, California.

Victor Thompson, 1873-1877. Mayor Thompson was the first regularly elected city Mayor. He ran on the "Citizens" ticket and served two terms. He was running a

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*I.J. Martin's "Common Place Book" is supplemented as to Mayors of Sullivan by handwritten notes commenting on particular mayoral administrations which I.J. made on his copy of the revised Ordinances of Sullivan, 1892.

Xavier B. Trower, 1877-1879. Mayor Trower was a banker, son of Thomas B. Trower, who for many years was prominent in Charleston. He ran as an anti-license candidate, [i.e., opposing licensing of saloons], and wa s reelected in April 1879, but on account of the insolvency of his bank, he left Sullivan on a special train at midnight following the election.

William Kirkwood, 1879-1881. Mayor Kirkwood was chosen at a special election on May 27, 1879, and his choice marks the subsidence of the temperance enthusiasm, although saloons were not immediately reestablished. Mayor Kirkwood laughingly remarked later that the boys had to rely on drug store whiskey for a while longer.

Benjamin Samuel Jenning s, 1881-1883. Mayor Jennings was elected on the "Citizens" ticket as a pro-license candiate, and was an out and out advocate of saloons. Two saloons were kept going during his term of two years. At the end Jennings was defeated on the saloon issue by

Demothenes Francisco Bristow, 1883-1885. Mayor Bristow was elected on the "Peoples" ticket. He and the elected Aldermen were all against saloons. He gave us a good business administration, characterized more by economy than improvement, a nd we had no saloons in his administration. One of the Aldermen during Bristow's administration was Stephen Sweney, who was a rather pale drinker, but in the main harmless though apt to be a little quarrelsome. In the first year of Bristow's administrat ion, Marshall James T. Taylor arrested Sweney on the charge of being drunk and disorderly. Sweney made fun for the crowd of onlookers by protesting, "You can't arist me, I'm an alderman. I'll arist ye!" Near the end of Bristow's term, it was felt that the saloon party was gaining ground. In order to eliminate some of the personal bitterness from the contest, it was decided to submit the license question to a vote of the people and elect officers pledged to abide by the vote.

William Hollins Shin n, 1885-1887. Shinn was nominated in a "Citizens" primary over Murray McDonald, and had no opposition in the regular election. License had carried, but the "High License" issue now arose in the City Council. Mayor Shinn proposed to increase the lic ense fee from $500 to $1000, but the saloon advocates objected. They argued that we could have four saloons at the low fee which would produce as much revenue as two at $1000. Besides four would produce more rent for property owners and employment of pe ople. Mayor Shinn replied that more places and more employees were just what he wished to avoid.

The holdover Aldermen -- William Thuneman, J.M. Cummins, and Morris Ansbacher -- all opposed the increase to $1,000. Dr. J.A. Dunlap, Thomas Lee Wiley, and Mayor Shinn were for $1,000. The remaining Alderman, L. Lambrecht, was for a compromise of $750. He would vote with the Thuneman group to pass their ordinace but would then desert them on the vote to pass it over the Mayor's veto. Finally, Lambrec ht voted with Wiley and Dunlap (with the Mayor casting the deciding vote) to

After the 1885 election, the question of whether to issue licenses was not voted on again until 1891 when license was carried by a decisive majority. It was not again an issue until 1906, when the majority voted against saloons.

Up to Mayor's Shinn's term, very little had been done by any administration except to maintain a kind of order or quietness in the city, do a little grading of the streets, repair culverts and bridges, and build or r epair wooden side walks. So long as the boards were close enough to enable one to step from one to another, repair was not absolutely necessary. There were no street lights and when people put out their lights or pulled down their blinds in the evening, the town was in darkness.

Mayor Shinn, with the support of the Council, put in a system of gasoline street lamps, and every evening a lamp lighter -- Jim Harris -- went over the town and lighted the lamps. The roar of his fuse lighter could be heard for blocks.

This was the start of our improvement, and since then nearly every mayor has had something to his credit in the progress of the city.

Walter Eden, 1887-1891. Mayor Eden was twice elected Mayor on the "Citizens" ticket, defeating George Brosam, the first time. Walt Eden, son of John R. Eden, was called "the boy mayor" at the time. The caucus that nominated him both times declared for saloons, but the council each time refused to submit the question to the people. This forced t he temperance people to nominate a ticket. Eden had a hard fight for each of his two elections. George Brosam and Frank Craig were his two opponents. His administration managed city affairs quite well and is distinguished for beginning our water system . A well was dug on a lot on East Jackson Street, and a wind mill erected to operate a pump. A huge wooden tank was elevated on the lot now occupied by the city hall at the corner of Jefferson and Madison streets. Six water mains were laid along the ce nter of the streets around the public square. The windmill worked better and more regularly than one would now think. The tank was usually filled with water unless the pump got out of order. Of course the fine sand underlying the city at a depth of abo ut 90 to 100 feet made pumping difficult.

James Wesley Elder, 1891-1893. The mayoral election of 1891 was the hottest and closest election ever held in the city. Elder defeated F.M. Harbaugh by a plurality of 4 votes. Hollingsworth ran for Al derman on the Harbaugh ticket, and had a majority of one. The other leads in aldermanic races were similarly small. The Elder administration was pro-license. In the Elder administration, the first light franchise was given, and the city contracted for ten years for 10 arc street lights at $80 each with the privilege of adding lamps at the same price. Before the termination of the ten year period, the number of lamps had been increased to 40.

George Brosam, 1893-1895. Brosam was pro-license and was elected on the "Peoples" ticket. The first paving -- around the square and the street intersections -- was

Alpheus Kemper Campbell, 1895-1897. Mayor Campbell was pro-license and was elected on the "Citizens" ticket. He had to promise to extend the pavement to the depot in order to counteract Brosam's prestige. The first extension of water mains was hurried in order to get through the center of Harrison street ahead of the pavement. It was not learned until afterward that the center of a street is the very worst place for a water main. The Campbell administration undertook to establish a new survey of the west part of the city that led to a good deal of litigation in which the city was generally defeated.

George Brosam (again), 1897-1899. Brosam, still pro-license, wa s nominated on a Democrat ticket and was elected over Dr. I.W. Johnson, who ran on a "Citizens" Ticket. A telephone franchise was granted in this administration, and we have had telephone service ever since. When established, we had fewer than sixty pho nes, and a large number of them were business phones. In so small a system there was not much advantage in having one.

The public library was established in 1898. For many years the books were kept in E.E. Baker's book store, and Mr. Baker served as librarian. It superseded a subscribers' circulating library that had been operated from the office of the County Superintendent of Schools. For the first ten years, nearly all the revenue was expended in the purchase of books.

Isaac Hudson, 1 899-1901. Hudson, a Democrat, was elected as a pro-license candidate. A steel water tank, a pumping station and one or two deep wells were added to the water system. Bonds were voted for this improvement, which made a distinguished development in the a ffairs of the city. The credit of the administration was somewhat impaired by the discovery after the next election that the city was in debt more than twenty thousand dollars in floating orders, and that the treasury was practically empty. While no sat isfactory explanation was ever made, it is probable that this debt had been accumulating for some time. This administration extended the Baker light franchise although it yet had more than 10 years to run, and made a new contract for street lights at $90 per lamp on an all night schedule. Prior to this, the lights had been shut off at midnight.

John Eden Jennings, 1901-1903. Brosam and Hudson had been elected on political party tickets, and in 1901 the Democrats nominated John H. Baker for Ma yor. Mr. Baker was the owner of the light plant, but he now transferred the property to a corporation of which his wife and other relatives owned nearly all of the stock. Much amusement was occasioned by the attempt to give Mr. Baker credit for making t his transfer. Mr. Baker himself spoke of it in a public meeting, saying that his wife said when she signed the deed that she was "glad to get rid of the damn thing." Of course this was a slip of the tongue. He didn't mean that his wife expressed hersel f in his characteristic vocabulary. Jennings was elected on the "Citizens" ticket by a little more than fifty majority in the largest vote ever polled up to that time in a city election.

During the first year the new contract for street lights was repudiated and an order of cour t obtained annulling the extension of the light franchise. An offer was made to the light company to open negotiations to extend the contract, but it was not accepted; and when the time expired, the street lights were permanently discontinued. This was done without notice to the city. However, the opposition were informed and many opponents of the administration appeared down town with lanterns just before the usual time for lighting the streets. Some appeared to think that before many weeks, the Mayo r and council would be before the manager of the plant on their knees begging a resumption of service. The council were told that they would have to go to the managers' office for a conference -- that he would not meet them in the council room. This pas sage at arms ended all communication between the two sides.

Only aldermen were elected in 1902, and supporters of the administration carried every ward; and a movement for establishing a municipal street lighting plant was begun.

The floating inde btedness had been arranged for by a promise to pay five thousand dollars out of each year's revenue until the entire $20,000 was paid. These payments were all made in this and the next four years. The opponents of the administration clamored for the spe edy payment of this indebtedness in order to prevent the installment [of municipal lighting facilities], but the owners of the debt were more interested in the settlement of the claims than in embarrassing and crippling the city.

A few days before the end of the Jennings administration, the current from a new light plant was turned on to a well distributed street light system.

James R. Dedman, 1903-1905. Dedman was also a "Citizens" Mayor, and Mr. Jennings was elected City Attorney in the ne w administration. The policies [of the prior administration] were continued -- "the same old stuff" in the words of both its friends and enemies. This administration was characterized by a big paving expansion. The Harrison street pavement was extended to the intersection of Worth, which latter street was paved from Harrison north to the city limits. And Jackson street was paved from the Worth intersection eastward to the city limits.

Dr. Andrew D. Miller, 1905-1907. Miller was also a "Citi zens" Mayor. The work of paving was continued. Hamilton street was given a full length pavement, and a connection through Jefferson was made with the intersection of the southwest corner of the square.

In the middle of this administration, saloons we re voted out, and from this time until 1933 no kind of intoxicating liquor could be legally sold or given away in the city.

Nathan C. Ellis, 1907-1909. No license; "Citizens" ticket.

William H. Birch, 1911-1913. Mayor Jennings and his successors down to Mayor Birch had been elected on "Citizens" tickets. Although all of them except Miller had been Democrats , the Democratic party organization had run against them candidates of its own choice. This began in 1897, but Brosam and Hudson were the only ones elected on this ticket. Birch was elected on the "Peoples" ticket.

Finley Edgar Pifer, 1913-191 5. "Citizens" ticket. Developed Wyman Park.

Dr. Stonewall Johnson, 1915-1919. "Citizens" ticket. This administration was noted mainly for a prolonged contest with the public service company. The municipal plant began to sell electricity for light and power. It also began to oust the I.P.S. company from the use of the streets for poles and wires. The company obtained an order [from the Illinois Commerce Commission] for the extension of its lines to serve all who applied for terms, and then secured an injunction restraining the Mayor and council from interfering with their complying with the order of the state commission. Later the Mayor and other city officers were cited to appear before Judge Whitfield at Decatur for contempt as they had ignored the injunction. They were defended by City Attorney Richard Huff, A.J. Miller and Clarence Darrow. They were discharged and the injunction dissolved.

Mayor Johnson won his second term by a good majority over P.J. Harsh, who four years late r was elected. The municipal light plant was firmly established and was strong enough to go through a term of a hostile administration a few years later.

Dr. Andrew D. Miller, 1919-1921. "Citizens" ticket.

William H. Birch, 1921-1923 . "Peoples" ticket.

Perry Jackson Harsh, 1923-1925. "Citizens" ticket. Died in office.

Charles Roy Patterson, 1925-1929. "Citizens" ticket. Started new city water system.

Charles E. McFerrin, 1929-1935.

Andrew D. M iller, 1935-1939.

I was first appoin ted a library trustee by Mayor Brosam when the public library was established in 1898, and was reappointed by Mayor Jennings in 1901, by Mayor Dedman in 1904, by Mayor Ellis in 1907, and Mayor Shirey in 1910. In 1913 Mayor Pifer neglected to name Trustee s, and I served through that year, and was reappointed for three years in 1914. I was reappointed by Mayor Johnson in 1917, by Mayor Miller in 1920, by Mayor Harsh in 1923, by Mayor Patterson in 1926 and by Mayor McFerrin in 1929.

I served through M ayor Hudson's term in 1899-1901. If my term had expired he would have appointed me. My term did not expire in either of Birch's terms. He might not have reappointed me. Every other mayor has been friendly. I served through one of Miller's terms, one of Johnson's and one of Patterson's, but would have been reappointed if there had been an expiration. I have now, in 1932, served continuously 33 years.