By Jared Olar
Local History Specialist
It was a century ago that the Lincoln Circuit Marking Association, led by Lottie Jones of Danville, Ill., under the auspices of the Daughters of the American Revolution, placed historical markers at all of the county courthouses and county-line crossings along the route of the old Eighth Judicial Circuit that Abraham Lincoln and his fellow attorneys traveled from 1847 to 1859.
In observance of the 100th anniversary of the placing of the Lincoln Circuit Markers, on Washington’s Birthday, Monday, Feb. 21, the Tazewell County Courthouse hosted a rededication ceremony. The dignitaries in attendance included 10th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Katherine Gorman, Tazewell County Presiding Judge Paul Gilfillan, Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stewart Umholtz, Tazewell Circuit Clerk Lincoln Hobson, Mayor Gary Manier of Washington, Mayor Elizabeth Skinner of Delavan, and Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman. Each of them spoke at the event.
The event’s keynote speaker was Guy C. Fraker, a retired attorney and Lincoln scholar, author of “Looking for Lincoln in Illinois: A Guide to Lincoln’s Eighth Judicial Circuit” (2017). Fraker’s book is a historical tour guide that traces the Eighth Judicial Circuit and highlights aspects of Lincoln’s life and career as an Illinois attorney in the old Eighth Circuit.
As a part of the rededication of the Circuit Markers, and to bring renewed attention to the markers, Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman donated author-signed copies of Fraker’s book to Tazewell County’s public libraries. The Pekin Public Library’s copy is now a part of the library’s Local History collection.
In his book, Fraker provides detailed directions to each of the courthouses and Lincoln Circuit Markers, as well as some of the more notable Lincoln sites readily accessible along the circuit route. Pages 15-21 of Fraker’s book tell about some of lawyer Lincoln’s Tazewell County connections, including links to Delavan, Tremont, Pekin, and Washington.
Tazewell County, says Fraker on page 15:
“. . . provided Lincoln with a solid political base of support in the 1840s, although that support weakened with the rise of the slavery issue in the 1850s. It was the Circuit’s third largest county in population during this period, and Lincoln had more business there than in any county other than Sangamon and Menard. Tazewell lawyers were some of the best on the Circuit, and they included among their ranks Benjamin Prettyman and William Kellogg of Pekin, Benjamin James and Edward Jones of Tremont, and Norman Purple and Henry Grove of Peoria.”
On page 20, Fraker relates a colorful Lincoln anecdote from the 1850 Tazewell County Courthouse, when courtroom proceedings were interrupted by a bat:
“On one occasion in the Pekin courtroom, a trapped bat flew wildly around the chamber. The judge enlisted the lanky Lincoln to drive it out. At first he tried to do so by twirling his coat after the bat, but when that failed to work, he got a broom and successfully drove the flying rodent out the window.”
Two of the county-line crossing Circuit Markers are associated with Tazewell County. One of them is the Logan-Tazewell County Line Marker, on Delavan Road near the county border, located at the southwest corner of the intersection of County Roads 2000E and 0000N (on page 15 of Fraker’s book). The other is the Tazewell-Woodford County Line Marker, located at the northeast corner of Tazewood and Nofsinger roads a few miles north of Washington.
