Early Settlement

Figure 2: Melish’s 1819 Map of the State of Illinois (Lamb 2001)

Congress sets aside The Military Bounty Lands in Arkansas, Michigan, and Illinois in May 1812 as payment to volunteer soldiers in the War of 1812 against the British. Some 5.4 million acres of land are set aside in Illinois, 3.5 million of which are deemed fit for agricultural cultivation. This tract of Illinois land is surveyed in 1815-16 and opened to settlement. John Melish’s map, published in 1819 (see Figure 2), paves the way for increased settlement by marking “The Military Bounty Lands”, the area west of the Illinois River (R. Chenoweth & Semonis 1992). Settlers begin arriving in the Illinois River valley in the 1820s, and the population increases dramatically, especially in the 1850s and 1860s.

While the official census data for the 1820s differ from other estimates of the population in the counties of the lower reach of the Illinois River, the data illustrate the dramatic increases (Table 1).

The population of Peoria County in 1840 was reportedly 6,153; by 1850 it was 17,547, almost a three-fold increase. The population continues to grow rapidly after 1850. In 1860, the population is documented at 36,061, and by 1870 the population is 47,540, an almost eight-fold increase in 40 years.

Table 1: Census Data at the County Level 1810-1870 (Harper College)

*Not an established county