“Jour. H. of Del.,” Va., Oct. Sess., 1778, 106-7; “Jour. of Senate,” Va., Oct. Sess., 1778, 52.
Erroneous statements concerning the time of the formation of the County of Illinois have been made by Winsor, “Westward Movement,” 122; Poole, in Winsor, “Narrative and Crit. Hist. of Am.,” VI., 729; Thwaites, “How George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest,” 64; Boyd, in “Am. Hist. Rev.,” IV., 623; Mason, in “Chicago Hist. Soc. Coll.,” IV., 286; Pirtle, “Clark's Campaign in the Ill.,” 5; Moore, “The Northwest Under Three Flags,” 220; Wallace, “Hist, of Ill. and La. Under French Rule,” 402; Butler, “Hist. of Ky.,” 1836 ed., 64; and others. Roosevelt's indefinite statement that the county was formed “in the fall of 1778”—“Winning of the West,” II., 168—is technically correct. Kate Mason Rowland truthfully says—“George Mason,” I., 307, 308—that a committee was ordered to prepare a bill for the formation of the county, on November 19, 1778, and that such a bill was presented on November 30. Butterfield says—“George Rogers Clark's Conquest of the Ill.,” 681-6—that the Act was passed between the 10th of November and the 12th of December, 1778. It is true that the bill in its final amended form passed both houses on December 9, was signed by the Speaker of the Senate on December 17, and subsequently, if at all, by the Speaker of the House of Delegates. On the 12th of December, Governor Patrick Henry issued three important sets of instructions in accordance with the provisions of the Act creating the County of Illinois. As the signing of the bill by the Speakers was mandatory after its passage, it is easy to understand the issuance of these instructions previous to the signing. It is almost impossible to conceive that Governor Henry, who showed marked interest in the Western frontier, should first have begun to issue orders at least six weeks after the county was formed, as is implied by the date commonly given for its formation. For the legislative history of the act, see “Jour. H. of Del.,” Va., Oct. Sess., 1778, 65, 72, 79-80, 91, 96, 106-7; “Jour. of Senate,” Va., Oct. Sess., 1778, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 70-1.
“Cal. of Va. State Papers,” I., 312-14.
Col. John Todd, jr., was born March 27, 1750, in Pennsylvania. He was well educated by his uncle in Virginia, in which state young Todd practised law for some years. In 1775, he was one of the representatives chosen at the call of the proprietors of Transylvania to form an ultra-constitutional government for that new settlement. In 1777, he was one of the first two burgesses from the county of Kentucky. He was killed at the Battle of the Blue Licks, August 19, 1782. For biographical sketches see John Mason Brown, “Oration at the Centennial of the Battle of the Blue Licks,” 27-31; “Chicago Hist. Soc. Coll.,” IV., 285-8; Green, “Historic Families of Ky.,” 211; White, “Descendants of John Walker,” 56; “Filson Club Pub.” VI., 27-8; Morehead, “Settlement of Ky.,” 174. Morehead's facts were from R. Wickliffe, Todd's son-in-law, but this fact loses its significance from the circumstance that Todd's only living child was of posthumous birth.
“Chicago Hist. Soc. Coll.,” IV., 294-6, 418; “Mich. Pioneer Coll.,” IX., 498.
A Mr. Winston, probably Richard, was in Illinois in 1770, and was regarded as an authority on the prices of cattle, as is shown by the court records. In 1773, upon the occasion of the purchase of land from the Kaskaskia Indians, by the Illinois Land Company, Richard Winston was at Kaskaskia, and interpreted in French to the illiterate Indian interpreter of His Majesty what the company desired to say to the Indians—“Chicago Hist. Soc. Coll.,” IV., 435; “An Account of the Proceedings of the Ill. and Ouabache Land Companies,” 1796, 14. Richard Winston was one of the original Indiana Company—“Cal. of Va. State Papers,” VI., 18, 35.
Todd to Winston, June 15, 1779—“Chicago Hist. Soc. Coll.,” IV., 302; Todd to Judges at Kaskaskia, July 31, 1779—Ibid., 304; McCarty to Todd, from Cahokia, July 18, 1779—“Draper Coll., Clark MSS.,” XLIX., 72, original MS.; McCarty to Montgomery, from Cahokia, Sept. 19, 1779,—Ibid., XLIX., 71, original MS.
Richard McCarty had been a resident of Cahokia under British rule and had warned the British against American encroachments. He was licensed to trade by the county government upon the recommendation of the court of the District of Cahokia, June 5, 1779—“Mich. Pioneer Coll.,” IX., 368, 383; “Chicago Hist. Soc. Coll.,” IV., 296-7-8.
Capt. John Williams to Col. Wm. Preston, from Ft. Clark, Kaskaskia, Sept. 20, 1779—“Draper Coll., Preston Papers.” V., 9, original MS.
Montgomery to Clark, from Ft. Clark, Kaskaskia, Oct. 5, 1779—Ibid., “Clark MSS.,” XLIX., 78, original MS.