Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-02
OLDEST CIVIL RECORD
Hon. J.. Nick Perrin Discovers
Historical Illinois
Relic.
1T is WRITTEN IN FRENCH.
First Entry Marriage Contract
Made rs Years
Ago.
1T Is WRITTEN IN FRENCH

Reference was made in The ARGU
few days ago to the announcement
made by Hon. j. Nick Perrin. of Bell
vile, TT the meeting of the State His
torical society last week of the discov
cry of what he claimed was the oldes
civil record in the western country.
Ten years ago." said Mr.. Perrin
to St. Louis Republic correspondent
IL delved into the must and rust il
our court house, looking for ancien
records to prepare paper for the st
Clair county centennial celebration. s.
| discovered this record at the time
| and this is the first time l have
brought it to the light of day. There
may be older religious and military
| records in existence in the western
| country, but I'll venture that there i:
no older civil record. 1t is written il
French. and the first date is Fort
Charities. Afterwards the notary who
kept the record moved to Kaskaskia,
the one-time capital of Illinois. Tom
May, circuit clerk of St. Clair county,
has the book in mis- office.
lit is bound in hog hide. contains
/ 46 pages and is called 'Registre des
Insinuatioas des Donations aux Siege
des Illinois, The first entry is a
marriage contract between Louis Nor
maud Labriere and Catherine Glenn
ent, and l want to add that they used
a good quality of ink US years ago.
There were six entries for the year
1897, beginning with the one men
toned. The notary. Barrior. signed
each one, attesting 20 its genuine
ness. There is the approval on each
of Delaloire Flancour, clerk of the
marine department under the French
government, who was located in New
Orleans and evidently made trips to
the Illinois country for this purpose.
Some time l am going to spend a
week or two reading aud translatiug
this ancient record, (which l believe to
be the oldest in the west"
Northwest Coded to France.
The paper read by Mr.. Perrin be-
fore the Historical society created
something of sensation. The mem
bers were not disposed to accept his
conclusions. but none could cite to
more ancient document. Here is Mr.
PERKINS, paper:
In 1870 a treaty was made be-
tween the Indians of the northwest
and the French in Canada. by which
the great northwest passed to France
in consideration of the protection fur
nished to those northwestern tribes
against the encroachments of their
eastern hostile neighbors. In this
Indian cession was EN- braced the 'Ili-
nois country Three years later
U673) Marquette and Joliet and their
made the discovery of
the Illinois country, and planted
station among the Kaskas-
kias. in the present LaSalle county.
Ia 1852 LaSalle descended Illinois
river and the Mississippi to its
mouth, where he took possession in
the name of France, and thus COM
pleted the chain Of title to the French |
possessions in North America. La
Sale called the country extending
along the Mississippi and it's tribu- |
taries Louisiana. The Illinois coun- |
try then became part of Louisiana. |
In 171S New Orleans was estab- |
lisbed, and shortly thereafter French |
marine station was established there. |
and marine officer was intru sted |
with the management of civil affairs.
This officer had oversight of the ter
ritory within his jurisdiction, in
which was included the Illinois coun-
try. The village of the Kaskaskias |
has been removed from the upper
Illinois river to its present site, at
The junction of the Mississippi and
river.
AT Fort Charities and kaskaskia a |
notary was stationed. whose business |
t was to look after the civil affairs of |
he Illinois country. He kept reg
ster in French. Some years ago l
STUN bled across the precious historic
ressure in the archives of st. Clair
county, where it had been buried for
more than 100 years beneath a mass
Il documents, and I believe was never
by any historian or known
o any body, except perhaps Governor
lit dates back to 1877. and it's en-.
ries cover a period from 1887 to 1859.
Z is bound in hog-hide, the cover hav-
ug the appearance of being the skin
# pig, showed and dried-the ends
# the bristles are plaiuly discernible.
n my judgment, it is the oldest
'fficial record in the west containing
ivil enteries. 1t contains a record of
lifts by will. marriage contracts and
therwise. While the entries are not
numerous, the book was well kept by
he notary, and was inspected from
ime to time by marine officer. who
dded his approval after examination.
rhe writing is in q remarkable state
( preservation. Some of the leaves,
lowever. have been gnswed by rats"