Lincoln's Taylorville

Lincoln's Taylorville. . , Lincoln was in the General Assembly in 1839 and helped engineer the creation of Dane County at the best of area friends Taylorville was a location without the least sign of habitation, but landowner Daniel C. Goode convinced the appointed Commission choose the site, naming it for commissioner John Taylor of Springfield. The first session of court scheduled for Dane County in June 1839, was not held: but, thereafter, Lincoln and officials of the Eighth Circuit visited yearly until 1853. He settled a case for defendant Samuel Brown in 1852 but didn't receive his fee of $6.22. By 1855, Lincoln was no longer coming so Taylorville, and he asked Hound Powel, son of a former Springfield neighbor, so seek a judgement against Brown on his behalf, which was granted In 1856, county trustees retained Lincoln in a legal dispute with the builders of the new brick courthouse (1856-1902). Lincoln argued the case before the Illinois Supreme Court and won a Reversal of a Verdict that had favored the contractor , Named for the creator of the Northwest Ordinance, Nathan Dane, the county's name was changed by popular vote of the citizenry on the Taylorville Square, reflecting the roots of emigrants from Christian County, Kentucky (named for a Revolutionary War hero). Taylorville was established un May 1839, and the property was immediately surveyed and platted. The first house under construction was by H. M. Vandeveer in July. Samuel Reece moved his grocery store from nearby Edinburg that winter, keeping store on one end and living in the other. The Taylorville Lincoln would come to know was taking shape. Before its twentieth anniversary, Christian County replaced its frame building courthouse in 1856 with a brick structure begun by Overholt and Squier. The County Lincoln had helped bring to life was firmly rooted in its rich prairie soil.