Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/227

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 167 terseet the place of beginning." This county so bounded was called Wayne county and on account of its great size was often spoken of as the "State of WajTie. " The commission- ers to fix the seat of government were Over- ton Bettis, James Logan, Solomon Bollinger, "William Street and Ezekiel Ruebottom. The courts were held at first in the house of Ran- som Bettis. When W^ayne count^^ was organized, in 1818, the commissioners selected as a site for the county seat the place where Greenville now is. The town was laid out in that year and has been the county seat ever since. For a number of years the courts were held in rooms rented for the purpose. The first court house was a two-story log building which was replaced in 1849 by a brick structure; this was burned in 1853 and the county appropriated $2,500 to rebuild it. Jeremiah Spencer and L. H. Flinn were ap- pointed to supervise its construction ; they completed its erection in 1856. The first jail in the county was built of logs and stood on the south corner of the public square. It was moved away and a brick building erected in 1849 ; this was used until 1873, when a new jail costing $9,000 was built. The present court house was erected in 1894 at a cost of $7,000. The first clerk of the courts in Wayne county was Solomon R. Bowlin. Another clerk in the early period of the county was Thomas Catron, who resigned the office in 1849 ; among his successors were Nixon Pal- mer and George W. Creath. One of the first sheriffs was Wiley Wallis. ^Madison county was created by the territo- rial legislature by an act passed December 14, 1818. At that time, as in other counties, the principal court was the circuit court, which transacted much of the business of the county. The first meeting of the court was held in the house of Theodore F. Tong on July 12, 1819. Judge Thomas was on the bench ; Charles Hutchings was clerk, but was afterwards succeeded by Nathaniel Cook ; Jos- eph Montgomery was the sheriff. A grand jurj' was summoned and it returned indict- ments against a number of persons for larceny. The courts for a number of years were held in private houses. The county court of Mad- ison county was organized in 1821 ; it met at the house of J. G. W. McCabe ; William Dillon and Henry Whitener were the judges of the court, and Nathaniel Cook was clerk. The county boundary on the west was Black River, and up to the meeting of the county court in this year it had been divided into three town- ships: St. Michaels, on the west. Liberty, on the north, and Castor, on the east. In this year two new townships. Twelve Mile and German, were erected. In 1822 a court house was ordered to be erected and was built in the same year. It was built of brick and is still standing. The jail was built in 1820, and it was built of logs on the present jail lot. From the organization of the county imtil the year 1822 the courts were held at private residences. In that year, however, the present brick court house was completed ; it is the old- est structure of its kind now in use west of the Mississippi river. It was well built and is still in a good state of preservation. A jail had been built before the erection of the court house. It stood on what is still kno'n as the jail lot. It was burned by an escaping pris- oner and a new building of brick was erected; it was also destroyed by fire and since that time the county has never erected a jail. In 1845 the township of St. Francois was erected; Arcadia townsliip in 1848 and Union township in 1850. On the organization of