HR0803

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HOUSE RESOLUTION


 
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    WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the 
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State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate the City of 
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Decatur and Macon County on the occasion of their 175th 
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anniversaries; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Macon County was established on January 19, 1829; 
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the first families to live in Macon County were the Leonard 
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Stevens Family (1821), the Ward Family, the Austin family, the 
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Smith family, the Warnicks family, and several other families; 
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and

 
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    WHEREAS, Macon County was originally part of Shelby County; 
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Benjamin R. Austin, Andrew W. Smith, and John Ward traveled to 
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the State capital of Vandalia to petition the legislature to 
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create  Macon County, with the seat of justice to be called 
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Decatur; the county was named after the Revolutionary War 
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Patriot of Carolina, Nathaniel Macon, who refused to accept pay 
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for his services in the war; and

 
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    WHEREAS, The City of Decatur was established on April 10, 
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1829; Benjamin R. Austin, Macon County surveyor, was paid the 
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sum of $24 for his services in laying out the town of Decatur; 
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the county seat of justice was named for Commodore Stephen 
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Decatur, the popular naval hero; and

 

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    WHEREAS, In 1836, the first municipal government in Macon 
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County was that of the Village of Decatur; the Board of 
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Trustees was elected with Richard Oglesby, the uncle of 
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Governor Richard J. Oglesby, serving as the president of the 
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board; and

 
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    WHEREAS, In 1839, the Town of Decatur was incorporated, and 
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in 1855,  a new charter from the State legislature was given; 
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this charter provided for an aldermanic form of government, and 
 


 






HR0803
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LRB093 21782 HSS 49635 r




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on January 7, 1856, the first city officers were elected with 
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John P. Post chosen as Decatur's first mayor; the first marshal 
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of Decatur was Captain John W. Harley, a veteran of the Mexican 
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and Civil Wars; and

 
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    WHEREAS, The Lincoln Log Cabin Courthouse was built in 1830 
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and was the first courthouse in the county; it was also used 
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for public gatherings, church services, and as a school; the 
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Lincoln family first arrived in what is now Decatur's Lincoln 
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Square in 1830; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Decatur was the site where Illinois Republicans 
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gathered at the Wigwam Convention Building and first mentioned 
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Abraham Lincoln for president of the United States; therefore, 
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be it

 
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    RESOLVED, BY THE  HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
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NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we 
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congratulate the City of Decatur and Macon County on the 
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occasion of their 175th anniversaries; and be it further

 
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    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
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presented to the City of Decatur and Macon County as an 
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expression of our respect and esteem.