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+Project Gutenberg's The Jefferson-Lemen Compact, by Willard C. MacNaul
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Jefferson-Lemen Compact
+       The Relations of Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen in the
+       Exclusion of Slavery from Illinois and Northern Territory
+       with Related Documents 1781-1818
+
+Author: Willard C. MacNaul
+
+Release Date: April 29, 2007 [EBook #21251]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEFFERSON-LEMEN COMPACT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected,
+all other inconsistencies are as in the original. Author's spelling
+has been maintained.
+Missing page numbers correspond to blank pages.
+Page numbers are in format {p.xx}.]
+
+
+
+
+                    The Jefferson-Lemen Compact
+
+
+                         The Relations of
+                 Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen
+              in the Exclusion of Slavery from Illinois
+                    and the Northwest Territory
+                      with Related Documents
+                            1781-1818
+
+
+                      A Paper read before the
+                     Chicago Historical Society
+                         February 16, 1915
+
+                                By
+                         Willard C. MacNaul
+
+
+                        [Illustration: Arms]
+
+
+                  The University of Chicago Press
+                              1915
+
+
+                          Copyright by
+                   CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
+                              1915
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS {p.03}
+
+
+  INTRODUCTION
+
+     1. Sketch of James Lemen.................................. 7
+
+     2. Lemen's Relations with Jefferson in Virginia........... 9
+
+     3. Lemen's Anti-Slavery Mission in Illinois--
+          Slavery in Illinois until 1787...................... 11
+          Prohibition of Slavery by Ordinance of 1787......... 11
+          The Slavery Conflict under Gov. St. Clair
+            (1787-1800)....................................... 12
+          The Slavery Conflict under Gov. Harrison
+            (1801-1809)....................................... 13
+          Slavery Question in the Movement for Division
+            of Indiana Territory in 1808-9.................... 16
+          James Lemen's Anti-Slavery Influence in the
+            Baptist Churches until 1809....................... 16
+          Slavery under Gov. Ninian Edwards (1809-1818)....... 19
+          Slavery in the Campaign for Statehood in 1818....... 19
+
+     4. Available Materials Relating to the Subject........... 23
+
+     5. Account of the "Lemen Family Notes"................... 24
+
+
+  DOCUMENTS
+
+     I. Diary of James Lemen, Sr.............................. 26
+
+    II. History of the Relations of James Lemen
+          and Thos. Jefferson, by J. M. Peck.................. 32
+
+   III. How Illinois Got Chicago, by Jos. B. Lemen............ 37
+
+    IV. Address to the Friends of Freedom..................... 38
+
+     V. Recollections of a Centennarian, by
+          Dr. W. F. Boyakin................................... 39
+
+    VI. In Memory of Rev. Jas. Lemen, Sr...................... 41
+
+   VII. Statement by Editor of _Belleville Advocate_.......... 41
+
+  VIII. Letter of Rev. J. M. Peck on the Old Lemen
+          Family Notes........................................ 42
+
+
+  PIONEER LETTERS {p.04}
+
+    IX. Letter of Senator Douglas to Rev. Jas. Lemen, Sr...... 46
+
+     X. Announcement by J. B. Lemen........................... 48
+
+    XL. Letter of Gov. Ninian Edwards to Jas. Lemen, Jr....... 49
+
+   XII. Letter of A. W. Snyder to Jas. Lemen, Sr.............. 49
+
+  XIII. Letter of Abraham Lincoln to Jas. Lemen, Jr........... 50
+
+   XIV. The Lemen Monument--Lemen's War Record................ 51
+
+    XV. Sketch of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., by J. M. Peck........ 52
+
+   XVI. Old Lemen Family Notes, Statement by Jos. B. Lemen.... 56
+
+        References............................................ 59
+
+
+
+
+NOTE {p.05}
+
+
+The materials here presented were collected in connection with the
+preparation of a history of the first generation of Illinois Baptists.
+The narrative introduction is printed substantially as delivered at a
+special meeting of the Chicago Historical Society, and, with the
+collection of documents, is published in response to inquiries
+concerning the so-called "Lemen Family Notes," and in compliance with
+the request for a contribution to the publications of this Society. It
+is hoped that the publication may serve to elicit further information
+concerning the alleged "Notes," the existence of which has become a
+subject of more or less interest to historians. The compiler merely
+presents the materials at their face value, without assuming to pass
+critical judgment upon them.
+
+                                        W. C. M.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION {p.07}
+
+RELATIONS OF JAMES LEMEN AND THOMAS JEFFERSON IN THE EXCLUSION OF
+SLAVERY FROM ILLINOIS AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY
+
+
+In view of the approaching centennary of statehood in Illinois, the
+name of James Lemen takes on a timely interest because of his
+services--social, religious, and political--in the making of the
+Commonwealth. He was a native of Virginia, born and reared in the
+vicinity of Harper's Ferry. He served a two-years' enlistment in the
+Revolutionary War under Washington, and afterwards returned to his
+regiment during the siege of Yorktown. His "Yorktown Notes" in his
+diary give some interesting glimpses of his participation in that
+campaign.[1] His Scotch ancestors had served in a similar cause under
+Cromwell, whose wedding gift to one of their number is still cherished
+as a family heirloom.
+
+Upon leaving the army James Lemen married Catherine Ogle, daughter of
+Captain Joseph Ogle, whose name is perpetuated in that of Ogle county,
+Illinois. The Ogles were of old English stock, some of whom at least
+were found on the side of Cromwell and the Commonwealth. Catherine's
+family at one time lived on the South Branch of the Potomac, although
+at the time of her marriage her home was near Wheeling. Captain Ogle's
+commission, signed by Gov. Patrick Henry, is now a valued possession
+of one of Mrs. Lemen's descendants. James and Catherine Lemen were
+well fitted by nature and training for braving the hardships and
+brightening the privations of life on the frontier, far removed from
+home and friends, or even the abodes of their nearest white kinsmen.
+
+During, and even before the war, young Lemen is reputed to have been
+the protégé of Thomas Jefferson, through whose influence he became a
+civil and religious leader in the pioneer period of Illinois history.
+Gov. Reynolds, in his writings relating to this period,[2] gives
+various sketches of the man and his family, and his name occurs
+frequently in {p.08} the records of the times. He was among the first
+to follow Col. Clark's men to the Illinois country, where he
+established the settlement of New Design, one of the earliest American
+colonies in what was, previous to his arrival, the "Illinois county"
+of the Old Dominion. Here he served, first as a justice of the peace,
+and then as a judge of the court of the original county of St. Clair,
+and thus acquired the title of "Judge Lemen."[3] Here, too, he became
+the progenitor of the numerous Illinois branch of the Lemen family,
+whose genealogy and family history was recently published by Messrs.
+Frank and Joseph B. Lemen--a volume of some four hundred and fifty
+pages, and embracing some five hundred members of the family.
+
+True to his avowed purpose in coming to Illinois, young Lemen became a
+leader of anti-slavery sentiment in the new Territory, and,
+undoubtedly, deserves to be called one of the Fathers of the Free
+State Constitution, which was framed in 1818 and preserved in 1824.
+His homestead, the "Old Lemen Fort" at New Design, which is still the
+comfortable home of the present owner, is the birthplace of the
+Baptist denomination in Illinois; and he himself is commemorated as
+the recognized founder of that faith in this State, by a granite shaft
+in the family burial plot directly in front of the old home. This
+memorial was dedicated in 1909 by Col. William Jennings Bryan, whose
+father, Judge Bryan, of Salem, Illinois, was the first to suggest it
+as a well-deserved honor.
+
+James Lemen, Sr., also became the father and leader of the noted
+"Lemen Family Preachers," consisting of himself and six stalwart sons,
+all but one of whom were regularly ordained Baptist ministers. The
+eldest son, Robert, although never ordained, was quite as active and
+efficient in the cause as any of the family. This remarkable family
+eventually became the nucleus of a group of anti-slavery Baptist
+churches in Illinois which had a very important influence upon the
+issue of that question in the State. Rev. James Lemen, Jr., who is
+said to have been the second American boy born in the Illinois
+country, succeeded to his father's position of leadership in the
+anti-slavery movement of the times, and served as the representative
+of St. Clair county in the Territorial Legislature, the Constitutional
+Convention, and the State Senate. The younger James Lemen was on terms
+of intimacy with Abraham Lincoln at Springfield, and {p.09} his
+cousin, Ward Lamon, was Lincoln's early associate in the law, and also
+his first biographer. Various representatives of the family in later
+generations have attained success as farmers, physicians, teachers,
+ministers, and lawyers throughout southern Illinois and other sections
+of the country.[4]
+
+The elder James Lemen was himself an interesting character, and,
+entirely apart from his relations with Jefferson, he is a significant
+factor in early Illinois history. His fight for free versus slave
+labor in Illinois and the Northwest derives a peculiar interest,
+however, from its association with the great name of Jefferson. The
+principles for which the latter stood--but not necessarily his
+policies--have a present-day interest for us greater than those of his
+contemporaries, because those principles are the "live issues" of our
+own times. Jefferson is to that extent our contemporary, and hence his
+name lends a living interest to otherwise obscure persons and remote
+events. The problem of free labor versus slave labor we have with us
+still, and in a much more complex and widespread form than in
+Jefferson's day.
+
+According to the current tradition, a warm personal friendship sprang
+up between Jefferson and young Lemen, who was seventeen years the
+junior of his distinguished patron and friend. In a letter to Robert,
+brother of James Lemen, attributed to Jefferson, he writes: "Among all
+my friends who are near, he is still a little nearer. I discovered his
+worth when he was but a child, and I freely confess that in some of my
+most important achievements his example, wish, and advice, though then
+but a very young man, largely influenced my action." In a sketch of
+the relations of the two men by Dr. John M. Peck we are told that
+"after Jefferson became President of the United States, he retained
+all of his early affection for Mr. Lemen"; and upon the occasion of a
+visit of a mutual friend to the President, in 1808, "he inquired after
+him with all the fondness of a father."[5]
+
+Their early relations in Virginia, so far as we have any account of
+them, concerned their mutual anti-slavery interests. Peck tells us
+that "Mr. Lemen was a born anti-slavery leader, and had proved himself
+such in Virginia by inducing scores of masters to free their slaves
+through his prevailing kindness of manner and Christian arguments."
+Concerning {p.10} the cession of Virginia's claims to the Northwest
+Territory, Jefferson is thus quoted, from his letter to Robert Lemen:
+"Before any one had even mentioned the matter, James Lemen, by reason
+of his devotion to anti-slavery principles, suggested to me that we
+(Virginia) make the transfer, and that slavery be excluded; and it so
+impressed and influenced me that whatever is due me as credit for my
+share in the matter, is largely, if not wholly, due to James Lemen's
+advice and most righteous counsel."[5]
+
+Before this transfer was effected, it appears that Jefferson had
+entered into negotiations with his young protégé with a view to
+inducing him to locate in the "Illinois country" as his agent, in
+order to co-operate with himself in the effort to exclude slavery from
+the entire Northwest Territory. Mr. Lemen makes record of an interview
+with Jefferson under date of December 11, 1782, as follows: "Thomas
+Jefferson had me to visit him again a short time ago, as he wanted me
+to go to the Illinois country in the Northwest after a year or two, in
+order to try to lead and direct the new settlers in the best way, and
+also to oppose the introduction of slavery into that country at a
+later day, as I am known as an opponent of that evil; and he says he
+will give me some help. It is all because of his great kindness and
+affection for me, for which I am very grateful; but I have not yet
+fully decided to do so, but have agreed to consider the case." In May,
+1784, they had another interview, on the eve of Jefferson's departure
+on his prolonged mission to France. Mr. Lemen's memorandum reads: "I
+saw Jefferson at Annapolis, Maryland, to-day, and had a very pleasant
+visit with him. I have consented to go to Illinois on his mission, and
+he intends helping me some; but I did not ask nor wish it. We had a
+full agreement and understanding as to all terms and duties. The
+agreement is strictly private between us, but all his purposes are
+perfectly honorable and praiseworthy."[6]
+
+Thus the mission was undertaken which proved to be his life-work. He
+had intended starting with his father-in-law, Captain Ogle, in 1785,
+but was detained by illness in his family. December 28, 1785, he
+records: "Jefferson's confidential agent gave me one hundred dollars
+of his funds to use for my family, if need be, and if not, to go to
+good causes; and I will go to Illinois on his mission next spring and
+take my wife and children."
+
+Such {p.11} was the origin and nature of the so-called
+"Jefferson-Lemen Secret Anti-Slavery Compact," the available evidence
+concerning which will be given at the conclusion of this paper.[7] The
+anti-slavery propaganda of James Lemen and his circle constituted a
+determining factor in the history of the first generation of Illinois
+Baptists. To what extent Lemen co-operated with Jefferson in his
+movements will appear as we proceed with the story of his efforts to
+make Illinois a free State.
+
+The "Old Dominion" ceded her "county of Illinois" to the National
+domain in 1784. Jefferson's effort to provide for the exclusion of
+slavery from the new Territory at that date proved abortive.
+Consequently, when James Lemen arrived at the old French village of
+Kaskaskia in July, 1786, he found slavery legally entrenched in all
+the former French possessions in the "Illinois country." It had been
+introduced by Renault, in 1719, who brought 500 negroes from Santo
+Domingo (then a French possession) to work the mines which he expected
+to develop in this section of the French Colonial Empire.[8] It is a
+noteworthy fact that slavery was established on the soil of Illinois
+just a century after its introduction on the shores of Virginia. When
+the French possessions were taken over by Great Britain at the close
+of the colonial struggle in 1763, that country guaranteed the French
+inhabitants the possession of all their property, including slaves.
+When Col. Clark, of Virginia, took possession of this region in 1778,
+the State likewise guaranteed the inhabitants the full enjoyment of
+all their property rights. By the terms of the Virginia cession of
+1784 to the National Government, all the rights and privileges of the
+former citizens of Virginia were assured to them in the ceded
+district. Thus, at the time of Lemen's arrival, slavery had been
+sanctioned on the Illinois prairies for sixty-seven years. One year
+from the date of his arrival, however, the Territorial Ordinance of
+1787 was passed, with the prohibition of slavery, as originally
+proposed by Jefferson in 1784.[9] Thus it would seem that the desired
+object had already been attained. By the terms of the famous "Sixth
+Article of Compact," contained in that Ordinance, it was declared that
+"there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said
+Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the
+accused shall have been duly convicted." This looks like a sweeping
+and final disposition of {p.12} the matter, but it was not accepted
+as such until the lapse of another fifty-seven years. But neither
+Jefferson nor his agents on the ground had anticipated so easy a
+victory. Indeed, they had foreseen that a determined effort would be
+made by the friends of slavery to legalize that institution in the
+Territory. Almost at once, in fact, the conflict commenced, which was
+to continue actively for thirty-seven years. Like the Nation itself,
+the Illinois country was to be for a large part of its history "half
+slave and half free"--both in sentiment and in practice.
+
+Two attempts against the integrity of the "Sixth Article" were made
+during Gov. St. Clair's administration. The trouble began with the
+appeals of the French slave-holders against the loss of their
+slaves.[10] As civil administration under the Territorial government
+was not established among the Illinois settlements until 1790, both
+the old French inhabitants and the new American colonists suffered all
+manner of disabilities and distresses in the interval between 1784 and
+1790, while just across the Mississippi there was a settled and
+prosperous community under the Spanish government of Louisiana. When,
+therefore, the French masters appealed to Gen. St. Clair, in 1787, to
+protect them against the loss of the principal part of their wealth,
+represented by their slaves, he had to face the alternative of the
+loss of these substantial citizens by migration with their slaves to
+the Spanish side of the river. And, in order to pacify these
+petitioners, St. Clair gave it as his opinion that the prohibition of
+slavery in the Ordinance was not retroactive, and hence did not affect
+the rights of the French masters in their previously acquired slave
+property. As this view accorded with the "compact" contained in the
+Virginia deed of cession, it was sanctioned by the old Congress, and
+was later upheld by the new Federal Government; and this construction
+of the Ordinance of 1787 continued to prevail in Illinois until 1845,
+when the State Supreme Court decreed that the prohibition was
+absolute, and that, consequently, slavery in any form had never had
+any legal sanction in Illinois since 1787.[11]
+
+It does not appear that Mr. Lemen took any active measures against
+this construction of the anti-slavery ordinance at the time. He was,
+indeed, himself a petitioner, with other American settlers on the
+"Congress lands" in Illinois, for the recognition of their claims,
+which were menaced {p.13} by the general prohibition of settlement
+then in effect.[12] Conditions in every respect were so insecure prior
+to the organization of St. Clair county in 1790, that it was hardly to
+be expected that any vigorous measure could be taken against
+previously existing slavery in the colony, especially as the Americans
+were then living in station forts for protection against the hostile
+Indians. Moreover, Jefferson was not in the country in 1787, and hence
+there was no opportunity for co-operation with him at this time. Mr.
+Lemen was, however, improving the opportunity "to try to lead and
+direct the new settlers in the best way"; for we find him, although
+not as yet himself a "professor" of religion, engaged in promoting the
+religious observance of the Sabbath on the part of the "godfearing"
+element in the station fort where, with his father-in-law, he resided
+(Fort Piggott). In 1789 Jefferson returned from France to become
+Secretary of State in President Washington's cabinet, under the new
+Federal Government. He had not forgotten his friend Lemen, as Dr. Peck
+assures us that "he lost no time in sending him a message of love and
+confidence by a friend who was then coming to the West."
+
+St. Clair's construction of the prohibition of slavery unfortunately
+served to weaken even its preventive force and emboldened the
+pro-slavery advocates to seek persistently for the repeal, or, at
+least, the "suspension" of the obnoxious Sixth Article. A second
+effort was made under his administration in 1796, when a memorial,
+headed by Gen. John Edgar, was sent to Congress praying for the
+suspension of the Article. The committee of reference, of which the
+Hon. Joshua Coit of Connecticut was chairman, reported adversely upon
+this memorial, May 12, 1796.[13] It is not possible to state
+positively Lemen's influence, if any, in the defeat of this appeal of
+the leading citizens of the old French villages. But, as it was in
+this same year that the first Protestant church in the bounds of
+Illinois was organized in his house, and, as we are informed that he
+endeavored to persuade the constituent members of the New Design
+church to oppose slavery, we may suppose that he was already taking an
+active part in opposition to the further encroachments of slavery,
+especially in his own community.
+
+The effort to remove the prohibition was renewed under Gov. Wm. Henry
+Harrison, during the connection of the Illinois {p.14} settlements
+with the Indiana Territory, from 1800 to 1809. Five separate attempts
+were made during these years, which coincide with the term of
+President Jefferson, who had removed St. Clair to make room for Gen.
+Harrison. Harrison, however, yielded to the pressure of the
+pro-slavery element in the Territory to use his power and influence
+for their side of the question. Although their proposals were thrice
+favorably reported from committee, the question never came to a vote
+in Congress. The first attempt during the Indiana period was that of a
+pro-slavery convention, called at the instigation of the Illinois
+contingent, which met at Vincennes, in 1803, under the chairmanship of
+Gov. Harrison. Their memorial to Congress, requesting merely a
+temporary suspension of the prohibition, was adversely reported from
+committee in view of the evident prosperity of Ohio under the same
+restriction, and because "the committee deem it highly dangerous and
+inexpedient to impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the
+happiness and prosperity of the Northwestern country, and to give
+strength and security to that extensive frontier." Referring to this
+attempt of "the extreme southern slave advocates ... for the
+introduction of slavery," Mr. Lemen writes, under date of May 3, 1803,
+that "steps must soon be taken to prevent that curse from being
+fastened on our people." The same memorial was again introduced in
+Congress in February, 1804, with the provisos of a ten-year limit to
+the suspension and the introduction of native born slaves only, which,
+of course, would mean those of the border-state breeders. Even this
+modified proposal, although approved in committee, failed to move
+Congress to action. Harrison and his supporters continued nevertheless
+to press the matter, and he even urged Judge Lemen, in a personal
+interview, to lend his influence to the movement for the introduction
+of slavery. To this suggestion Lemen replied that "the evil attempt
+would encounter his most active opposition, in every possible and
+honorable manner that his mind could suggest or his means
+accomplish."[14]
+
+It was about this time that the Governor and judges took matters in
+their own hands and introduced a form of indentured service, which,
+although technically within the prohibition of _involuntary_
+servitude, amounted practically to actual slavery. Soon after, in
+order to give this institution a more secure legal sanction, by
+legislative enactment, the {p.15} second grade of territorial
+government was hastily and high-handedly forced upon the people for
+this purpose. It was probably in view of these measures that Mr. Lemen
+recorded his belief that President Jefferson "will find means to
+overreach the evil attempts of the pro-slavery party." Early in the
+year 1806 the Vincennes memorial was introduced into Congress for the
+third time and again favorably reported from committee, but to no
+avail. It was about this time, as we learn from his diary, that Mr.
+Lemen "sent a messenger to Indiana to ask the churches and people
+there to get up and sign a counter petition, to uphold freedom in the
+Territory," circulating a similar petition in Illinois himself.[15]
+
+A fourth attempt to bring the proposal before Congress was made in
+January, 1807, in a formal communication from the Governor and
+Territorial Legislature. The proposal was a third time favorably
+reported by the committee of reference, but still without action by
+the House. Finally, in November of the same year, President Jefferson
+transmitted to Congress similar communications from the Indiana
+government. This time the committee reported that "the citizens of
+Clark county [in which was located the first Baptist church organized
+in Indiana], in their remonstrance, express their sense of the
+impropriety of the measure"; and that they also requested Congress not
+to act upon the subject until the people had an opportunity to
+formulate a State Constitution[16]. Commenting upon the whole
+proceedings, Dr. Peck quotes Gov. Harrison to the effect that, though
+he and Lemen were firm friends, the latter "had set his iron will
+against slavery, and indirectly made his influence felt so strongly at
+Washington and before Congress, that all the efforts to suspend the
+anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787 failed."[17] Peck adds
+that President Jefferson "quietly directed his leading confidential
+friends in Congress steadily to defeat Gen. Harrison's petitions for
+the repeal."[17]
+
+It was about this time, September 10, 1807, that President Jefferson
+thus expressed his estimate of James Lemen's services, in his letter
+to Robert Lemen: "His record in the new country has fully justified my
+course in inducing him to settle there with the view of properly
+shaping events in the best interest of the people."[18] It was during
+this period of the Indiana agitation for the introduction of slavery,
+{p.16} as we learn from an entry in his diary dated September 10,
+1806, that Mr. Lemen received a call from an agent of Aaron Burr to
+solicit his aid and sympathy in Burr's scheme for a southwestern
+empire, with Illinois as a Province, and an offer to make him
+governor. "But I denounced the conspiracy as high treason," he says,
+"and gave him a few hours to leave the Territory on pain of
+arrest."[19] It should be noted that at this date he was not himself a
+magistrate, which, perhaps, accounts for his apparent leniency towards
+what he regarded as a treasonable proposal.
+
+The year 1809, the date of the separation of Illinois from the Indiana
+Territory, marks a crisis in the Lemen anti-slavery campaign in
+Illinois.[20] The agitation under the Indiana government for the
+further recognition of slavery in the Territory was mainly instigated
+by the Illinois slave-holders and their sympathizers among the
+American settlers from the slave states. The people of Indiana proper,
+except those of the old French inhabitants of Vincennes, who were
+possessed of slaves, were either indifferent or hostile towards
+slavery. Its partisans in the Illinois counties of the Territory, in
+the hope of promoting their object thereby, now sought division of the
+Indiana Territory and the erection of a separate government for
+Illinois at Kaskaskia. This movement aroused a bitter political
+struggle in the Illinois settlements, one result of which was the
+murder of young Rice Jones in the streets of Kaskaskia. The division
+was advocated on the ground of convenience and opposed on the score of
+expense. The divisionists, however, seem to have been animated mainly
+by the desire to secure the introduction of slavery as soon as
+statehood could be attained for their section. The division was
+achieved in 1809, and with it the prompt adoption of the system of
+indentured service already in vogue under the Indiana government. And
+from that time forth the fight was on between the free-state and
+slave-state parties in the new Territory. Throughout the independent
+territorial history of Illinois, slavery was sanctioned partly by law
+and still further by custom. Gov. Ninian Edwards, whose religious
+affiliations were with the Baptists, not only sanctioned slavery, but,
+as is well known, was himself the owner of slaves during the
+territorial period.
+
+It was in view of this evident determination to make of Illinois
+Territory a slave state, that James Lemen, with Jefferson's approval,
+took the radical step of organizing a {p.17} distinctively
+anti-slavery church as a means of promoting the free-state cause.[21]
+From the first, indeed, he had sought to promote the cause of
+temperance and of anti-slavery in and through the church. He tells us
+in his diary, in fact, that he "hoped to employ the churches as a
+means of opposition to the institution of slavery."[21] He was reared
+in the Presbyterian faith, his stepfather being a minister of that
+persuasion; but at twenty years of age he embraced Baptist principles,
+apparently under the influence of a Baptist minister in Virginia,
+whose practice it was to bar from membership all who upheld the
+institution of slavery. He thus identified himself with the struggles
+for civil, religious, and industrial liberty, all of which were then
+actively going on in his own state.
+
+The name of "New Design," which became attached to the settlement
+which he established on the upland prairies beyond the bluffs of the
+"American Bottom," is said to have originated from a quaint remark of
+his that he "had a 'new design' to locate a settlement south of
+Bellefontaine" near the present town of Waterloo.[22] The name "New
+Design," however, became significant of his anti-slavery mission; and
+when, after ten years of pioneer struggles, he organized The Baptist
+Church of Christ at New Design, in 1796, he soon afterwards induced
+that body--the first Protestant church in the bounds of the present
+State--to adopt what were known as "Tarrant's Rules Against Slavery."
+The author of these rules, the Rev. James Tarrant, of Virginia, later
+of Kentucky, one of the "emancipating preachers," eventually organized
+the fraternity of anti-slavery Baptist churches in Kentucky, who
+called themselves "Friends to Humanity."
+
+From 1796 to 1809 Judge Lemen was active in the promotion of Baptist
+churches and a Baptist Association. He labored to induce all these
+organizations to adopt his anti-slavery principles, and in this he was
+largely successful; but, with the increase of immigrant Baptists from
+the slave states, it became increasingly difficult to maintain these
+principles in their integrity. And when, in the course of the campaign
+for the division of the Territory in 1808, it became apparent that the
+lines between the free-state and the slave-state forces were being
+decisively drawn, Lemen prepared to take a more radical stand in the
+struggle. With this design in view he asked and obtained the formal
+sanction of {p.18} his church as a licensed preacher. In the course
+of the same year, 1808, he is said to have received a confidential
+message from Jefferson "suggesting a division of the churches on the
+question of slavery, and the organization of a church on a strictly
+anti-slavery basis, for the purpose of heading a movement to make
+Illinois a free state."[21] According to another, and more probable,
+version of this story, when Jefferson learned, through a mutual friend
+(Mr. S. H. Biggs), of Lemen's determination to force the issue in the
+church to the point of division, if necessary, he sent him a message
+of approval of his proposed course and accompanied it with a
+contribution of $20 for the contemplated anti-slavery church.
+
+The division of the Territory was effected early in the year 1809, and
+in the summer of that year, after vainly trying to hold all the
+churches to their avowed anti-slavery principles, Elder Lemen, in a
+sermon at Richland Creek Baptist church, threw down the gauntlet to
+his pro-slavery brethren and declared that he could no longer maintain
+church fellowship with them. His action caused a division in the
+church, which was carried into the Association at its ensuing meeting,
+in October, 1809, and resulted in the disruption of that body into
+three parties on the slavery question--the conservatives, the
+liberals, and the radicals. The latter element, headed by "the Lemen
+party," as it now came to be called, held to the principles of The
+Friends to Humanity, and proposed to organize a branch of that order
+of Baptists. When it came to the test, however, the new church was
+reduced to a constituent membership consisting of some seven or eight
+members of the Lemen family. Such was the beginning of what is now the
+oldest surviving Baptist church in the State, which then took the name
+of "The Baptized Church of Christ, Friends to Humanity, on Cantine
+(Quentin) Creek." It is located in the neighborhood of the old Cahokia
+mound. Its building, when it came to have one, was called "Bethel
+Meeting House," and in time the church itself became known as "Bethel
+Baptist Church."
+
+The distinctive basis of this church is proclaimed in its simple
+constitution, to which every member was required to subscribe:
+"Denying union and communion with all persons holding the doctrine of
+perpetual, involuntary, hereditary slavery." This church began its
+career as "a family church," in the literal sense of the word; but it
+prospered nevertheless, {p.19} until it became a numerically strong
+and vigorous organization which has had an active and honorable career
+of a hundred years' duration. Churches of the same name and principles
+multiplied and maintained their uncompromising but discriminating
+opposition to slavery so long as slavery remained a local issue; after
+which time they were gradually absorbed into the general body of
+ordinary Baptist churches.
+
+During the period of the Illinois Territory, 1809 to 1818, Elder Lemen
+kept up a most energetic campaign of opposition to slavery, by
+preaching and rigorous church discipline in the application of the
+rules against slavery. He himself was regularly ordained soon after
+the organization of his anti-slavery church. His sons, James and
+Joseph, and his brother-in-law, Benjamin Ogle, were equally active in
+the ministry during this period, and, before its close, they had two
+churches firmly established in Illinois, with others of the same order
+in Missouri.
+
+"The church, properly speaking, never entered politics," Dr. Peck
+informs us, "but presently, when it became strong, the members all
+formed what they called the 'Illinois Anti-Slavery League,' and it was
+this body that conducted the anti-slavery contest."[23] The contest
+culminated in the campaign for statehood in 1818.
+
+At the beginning of that year the Territorial Legislature petitioned
+Congress for an Enabling Act, which was presented by the Illinois
+Delegate, Hon. Nathaniel Pope. As chairman of the committee to which
+this petition was referred, he drew up a bill for such an act early in
+the year. In the course of its progress through the House, he
+presented an amendment to his own bill, which provided for the
+extension of the northern boundary of the new state. According to the
+provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, the line would have been drawn
+through the southern border of Lake Michigan. Pope's amendment
+proposed to extend it so as to include some sixty miles of frontage on
+Lake Michigan, thereby adding fourteen counties, naturally tributary
+to the lake region, to counterbalance the southern portion of the
+State, which was connected by the river system with the southern slave
+states. Gov. Thomas Ford states explicitly that Pope made this change
+"upon his own responsibility, ... no one at that time having suggested
+or requested it." This statement is directly contradicted in {p.20}
+Dr. Peck's sketch of James Lemen, Sr., written in 1857. He therein
+states that this extension was first suggested by Judge Lemen, who had
+a government surveyor make a plat of the proposed extension, with the
+advantages to the anti-slavery cause to be gained thereby noted on the
+document, which he gave to Pope with the request to have it embodied
+in the Enabling Act.[24] This statement was repeated and amplified by
+Mr. Joseph B. Lemen in an article in _The Chicago Tribune_.[25] It is
+a well-known fact that the vote of these fourteen northern counties
+secured the State to the anti-slavery party in 1856; but as this
+section of the State was not settled until long after its admission
+into the Union, the measure, whatever its origin, had no effect upon
+the Constitutional Convention. However, John Messinger, of New Design,
+who surveyed the Military Tract and, later, also the northern boundary
+line, may very well have made such a plat, either on his own motion or
+at the suggestion of the zealous anti-slavery leader, with whom he was
+well acquainted. As Messinger was later associated with Peck in the
+Rock Spring Seminary, and in the publication of a sectional map of
+Illinois, it would seem that Peck was in a position to know the facts
+as well as Ford.
+
+In the campaign for the election of delegates to the Constitutional
+Convention, slavery was the only question seriously agitated. The
+Lemen churches and their sympathizers were so well organized and so
+determined in purpose that they made a very energetic and effective
+campaign for delegates. Their organization for political purposes, as
+Peck informs us, "always kept one of its members and several of its
+friends in the Territorial Legislature; and five years before the
+constitutional election in 1818, it had fifty resident agents--men of
+like sympathies--quietly at work in the several settlements; and the
+masterly manner in which they did their duty was shown by a poll which
+they made of the voters some few weeks before the election, which, on
+their side, varied only a few votes from the official count after the
+election."[23]
+
+It is difficult to determine from the meager records of the
+proceedings, even including the Journal of the Convention recently
+published, just what the complexion of the body was on the slavery
+question. Mr. W. Kitchell, a descendant of one of the delegates,
+states that there were twelve delegates that favored the recognition
+of slavery by a {p.21} specific article in the Constitution, and
+twenty-one that opposed such action. Gov. Coles, who was present as a
+visitor and learned the sentiments of the prominent members, says that
+many, but not a majority of the Convention, were in favor of making
+Illinois a slave state.[26] During the session of the Convention an
+address to The Friends of Freedom was published by a company of
+thirteen leading men, including James Lemen, Sr., to the effect that a
+determined effort was to be made in the Convention to give sanction to
+slavery, and urging concerted action "to defeat the plans of those who
+wish either a temporary or an unlimited slavery."[27] A majority of
+the signers of this address were Lemen's Baptist friends, and its
+phraseology points to him as its author.
+
+James Lemen, Jr., was a delegate from St. Clair county and a member of
+the committee which drafted the Constitution. In the original draft of
+that instrument, slavery was prohibited in the identical terms of the
+Ordinance of 1787, as we learn from the recently published journal of
+the Convention. In the final draft this was changed to read: "Neither
+slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter be introduced," and
+the existing system of indentured service was also incorporated. These
+changes were the result of compromise, and Lemen consistently voted
+against them. He was nevertheless one of the committee of three
+appointed to revise and engross the completed instrument.
+
+The result was a substantial victory for the Free-State Party; and had
+the Convention actually overridden the prohibition contained in the
+original Territorial Ordinance, as it was then interpreted, it is
+evident, from the tone of the address to The Friends of Freedom, that
+the Lemen circle would have made a determined effort to defeat the
+measure in Congress.[27]
+
+Dr. Peck, who, like Gov. Coles, was a visitor to the Convention, and
+who had every opportunity to know all the facts, in summing up the
+evidence in regard to the matter, declares it to be "conclusive that
+Mr. Lemen created and organized the forces which confirmed Illinois,
+if not the Northwest Territory, to freedom." Speaking of the current
+impression that the question of slavery was not much agitated in
+Illinois prior to the Constitutional Convention, Gov. Coles says: "On
+the contrary, at a very early period of the settlement of Illinois,
+the question was warmly agitated by zealous {p.22} advocates and
+opponents of slavery," and that, although during the period of the
+independent Illinois Territory the agitation was lulled, it was not
+extinguished, "as was seen [from] its mingling itself so actively both
+in the election and the conduct of the members of the Convention, in
+1818."[26]
+
+Senator Douglas, in a letter to James Lemen, Jr., is credited with
+full knowledge of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Compact" and a
+high estimate of its significance in the history of the slavery
+contest in Illinois and the Northwest Territory. "This matter assumes
+a phase of personal interest with me," he says, "and I find myself,
+politically, in the good company of Jefferson and your father. With
+them everything turned on whether the people of the Territory wanted
+slavery or not, ... and that appears to me to be the correct
+doctrine."[28] Lincoln, too, in a letter to the younger James Lemen,
+is quoted as having a personal knowledge of the facts and great
+respect for the senior Lemen in the conflict for a free state in
+Illinois. "Both your father and Lovejoy," he remarks, "were pioneer
+leaders in the cause of freedom, and it has always been difficult for
+me to see why your father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and
+aggressive leader, who boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the
+Territory and the State free, never aroused nor encountered any of
+that mob violence which, both in St. Louis and in Alton, confronted
+and pursued Lovejoy."[29] Of the latter he says: "His letters, among
+your old family notes, were of more interest to me than even those of
+Thomas Jefferson to your father."
+
+Jefferson's connection with Lemen's anti-slavery mission in Illinois
+was never made public, apparently, until the facts were published by
+Mr. Joseph B. Lemen, of the third generation, in the later years of
+his life, in connection with the centennary anniversaries of the
+events involved. However, the "compact" was a matter of family
+tradition, based upon a collection of letters and notes handed down
+from father to son. Jefferson's reasons for keeping the matter secret,
+as Dr. Peck explains, were, first, to prevent giving the impression
+that he was seeking his own interests in the territories, and, second,
+to avoid arousing the opposition of his southern friends who desired
+the extension of slavery. Lemen, on the other hand, did not wish to
+have it thought that his actions were controlled by political
+considerations, or subject {p.23} to the will of another. Moreover,
+when he learned that Jefferson was regarded as "an unbeliever," he is
+said to have wept bitterly lest it should be thought that, in his work
+for the church and humanity, he had been influenced by an "infidel";
+and, sometime before his death, he exacted a promise of his sons and
+the few friends who were acquainted with the nature of his compact
+with Jefferson that they would not make it known while he lived.[30]
+Under the influence of this feeling on the part of their father, the
+family kept the facts to themselves and a few confidential friends
+until after the lapse of a century, when the time came to commemorate
+the achievements of their ancestor.
+
+How much of the current tradition is fact and how much fiction is hard
+to determine, as so little of the original documentary material is now
+available. The collection of materials herewith presented consists of
+what purport to be authentic copies of the original documents in
+question. They are put in this form in the belief that their
+significance warrants it, and in the hope that their publication may
+elicit further light on the subject. These materials consist of three
+sorts, viz.; a transcript of the Diary of James Lemen, Sr., a
+manuscript History of the confidential relations of Lemen and
+Jefferson, prepared by Rev. John M. Peck, and a series of letters from
+various public men to Rev. James Lemen, Jr. The Diary and manuscript
+"History" were located by the compiler of this collection among the
+papers of the late Dr. Edward B. Lemen, of Alton, Illinois. These
+documents are now in the possession of his son-in-law, Mr. Wykoff, who
+keeps them in his bank vault. The collection of letters was published
+at various times by Mr. Joseph B. Lemen, of Collinsville, Illinois, in
+_The Belleville Advocate_, of Belleville, Illinois. The Diary is a
+transcript of the original, attested by Rev. James Lemen, Jr. The
+"History" is a brief sketch, in two chapters, prepared from the
+original documents by Dr. Peck while he was pastor of the Bethel
+Church, in June, 1851, and written at his dictation by the hand of an
+assistant, as the document itself expressly states. Mr. Joseph Lemen,
+who is responsible for the letters, is the son of Rev. James Lemen,
+Jr., and one of the editors of the Lemen Family History. The editor of
+_The Belleville Advocate_ states that Mr. Lemen has contributed to
+various metropolitan newspapers in the political campaigns of his
+party, from those of Lincoln to those of McKinley.[31] He also {p.24}
+contributed extended sketches of the Baptist churches of St. Clair
+county for one of the early histories of that county. He took an
+active part in promoting the movement to commemorate his grandfather,
+James Lemen, Sr., in connection with the centennary anniversaries of
+the churches founded at New Design and Quentin Creek (Bethel).
+
+The originals of these materials are said to have composed part of a
+collection of letters and documents known as the "Lemen Family Notes,"
+which has aroused considerable interest and inquiry among historians
+throughout the country. The history of this collection is somewhat
+uncertain. It was begun by James Lemen, Sr., whose diary, containing
+his "Yorktown Notes" and other memoranda, is perhaps its most
+interesting survival. While residing in the station fort on the
+Mississippi Bottom during the Indian troubles of his early years in
+the Illinois country, he made a rude walnut chest in which to keep his
+books and papers. This chest, which long continued to be used as the
+depository of the family papers, is still preserved, in the Illinois
+Baptist Historical Collection, at the Carnegie Library, Alton,
+Illinois. It is said that Abraham Lincoln once borrowed it from Rev.
+James Lemen, Jr., for the sake of its historical associations, and
+used it for a week as a receptacle for his own papers. Upon the death
+of the elder Lemen the family notes and papers passed to James, Jr.,
+who added to it many letters from public men of his wide circle of
+acquaintance.
+
+As the older portions of the collection were being worn and lost, by
+loaning them to relatives and friends, copies were made of all the
+more important documents, and the remaining originals were then placed
+in the hands of Dr. J. M. Peck, who was at the time pastor of the
+Bethel Church, to be deposited in the private safe of a friend of his
+in St. Louis. As the slavery question was then (1851) at white heat,
+it is not surprising that Dr. Peck advised the family to carefully
+preserve all the facts and documents relating to their father's
+anti-slavery efforts "until some future time," lest their premature
+publication should disturb the peace of his church. As late as 1857 he
+writes of "that dangerous element in many of the old letters bearing
+on the anti-slavery contest of 1818," and adds, "With some of those
+interested in that contest, in fifty years from this time, the
+publication of these letters would create trouble between the
+descendants of many of our old pioneer families."[6]
+
+A {p.25} man by the name of J. M. Smith is suggested by Dr. Peck as
+the custodian of the originals. When this gentleman died, the
+documents in his care are supposed to have been either lost or
+appropriated by parties unknown to the Lemen family. Mr. Joseph B.
+Lemen relates that a certain party at one time represented to the
+family that he had located the papers and offered, for a suitable
+consideration, to recover them. This proved to be merely a scheme to
+obtain money under false pretenses.[6] Various other accounts are
+current of the disposition of the original papers; but as yet none of
+them have been located.
+
+The transcripts of the collection, made by James Lemen, Jr., came into
+the hands of his son, Joseph Bowler Lemen, who is responsible for the
+publication of various portions of the story, including some of the
+letters entire. Even these copies, however, are not accessible at the
+present time, except that of the Lemen Diary, as located by the
+present writer. Joseph Lemen's account of the fate of the elusive
+documents is given in full at the end of this publication. He there
+states that every paper of any value was copied and preserved, but
+even these copies were dissipated to a large extent. He also claims
+that all the facts contained in these documents have been published in
+one form or another, "except a very few, including Rev. James Lemen's
+interviews with Lincoln, as written up by Mr. Lemen on ten pages of
+legal cap paper." This Joseph B. Lemen is now far advanced in years,
+has long been a recluse, and has the reputation of being "peculiar."
+In a personal interview with him, the present writer could elicit no
+further facts regarding the whereabouts of the "Lemen Family Notes."
+Nevertheless, the discovery of the copy of the Lemen Diary and the
+manuscript of Dr. Peck's "History" gives encouragement to hope for
+further discoveries, which should be reported to the Chicago
+Historical Society.
+
+
+
+
+DOCUMENTS {p.26}
+
+I. DIARY OF REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.
+
+
+                              Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.
+
+The within notes are a true copy of the notes kept by the Rev. James
+Lemen, Sr., when in the siege at Yorktown. The original notes were
+fading out.
+
+                              By his son, REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              Near Yorktown, Va. Sep. 26, 1781.
+
+My enlistment of two years expired some time ago, but I joined my
+regiment to-day and will serve in this siege.
+
+
+                              Quarters, near Yorktown, Sept. 27, 1781.
+
+I was on one of the French ships to-day with my captain. There is a
+great fleet of them to help us, it is said, if we fight soon.
+
+
+                              Sept. 30, 1781, Near Yorktown.
+
+Our regiment has orders to move forward this morning, and the main
+army is moving.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 3, 1781.
+
+I was detailed with four other soldiers to return an insane British
+soldier who had come into our lines, as we don't want such prisoners.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 4, 1781.
+
+I carried a message from my Colonel to Gen. Washington to-day. He
+recognized me and talked very kindly and said the war would soon be
+over, he thought. I knew Washington before the war commenced.
+
+
+                              Near {p.27} Yorktown. Oct. 4, 1781.
+
+I saw Washington and La Fayette looking at a French soldier and an
+American soldier wrestling, and the American threw the Frenchman so
+hard he limped off, and La Fayette said that was the way Washington
+must do to Cornwallis.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 5, 1781.
+
+Brother Robert is sick to-day, but was on duty. There was considerable
+firing to-day. There will be a great fight soon.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 15, 1781.
+
+I was in the assault which La Fayette led yesterday evening against
+the British redoubt, which we captured. Our loss was nine killed and
+thirty-four wounded.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 15, 1781.
+
+Firing was very heavy along our lines on Oct. 9th and 10th. and with
+great effect, but this redoubt and another was in our way and we
+Americans under La Fayette captured one easily, but the French
+soldiers who captured the other suffered heavily. They were also led
+by a Frenchman.
+
+
+                              Yorktown. Oct. 19, 1781.
+
+Our victory is great and complete. I saw the surrender to-day. Our
+officers think this will probably end the war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.
+
+I have examined the within notes and find them to be correct copies of
+notes kept by Rev. James Lemen, Sr., which were fading out. He
+originally kept his confidential notes, as to his agreement with
+Thomas Jefferson, in a private book, but as this is intended for
+publication at some future time, they are all copied together.
+
+                              By his son, REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.
+
+
+                              Harper's Ferry, Va. Dec. 11, 1782.
+
+[5]Thomas Jefferson had me to visit him again a short time ago, as he
+wanted me to go to the Illinois country in the North West, after a
+year or two, in order to try to lead and {p.28} direct the new
+settlers in the best way and also to oppose the introduction of
+slavery in that country at a later day, as I am known as an opponent
+of that evil, and he says he will give me some help. It is all because
+of his great kindness and affection for me, for which I am very
+grateful, but I have not yet fully decided to do so, but have agreed
+to consider the case.
+
+
+                              Dec. 20, 1782.
+
+During the war, I served a two years' enlistment under Washington. I
+do not believe in war except to defend one's country and home and in
+this case I was willing to serve as faithfully as I could. After my
+enlistment expired I served again in the army in my regiment under
+Washington, during the siege of Yorktown, but did not again enlist, as
+the officers thought the war would soon end.
+
+
+                              May 2, 1784.
+
+[6]I saw Jefferson at Annapolis, Maryland, to-day and had a very
+pleasant visit with him. I have consented to go to Illinois on his
+mission and he intends helping me some, but I did not ask nor wish it.
+We had a full agreement and understanding as to all terms and duties.
+The agreement is strictly private between us, but all his purposes are
+perfectly honorable and praiseworthy.
+
+
+                              Dec. 28, 1785.
+
+Jefferson's confidential agent gave me one hundred dollars of his
+funds to use for my family, if need be, and if not to go to good
+causes, and I will go to Illinois on his mission next Spring and take
+my wife and children.
+
+
+                              Sept. 4, 1786.
+
+In the past summer, with my wife and children I arrived at Kaskaskia,
+Illinois, and we are now living in the Bottom settlement. On the Ohio
+river my boat partly turned over and we lost a part of our goods and
+our son Robert came near drowning.
+
+
+                              May 10, 1787.
+
+I am very well impressed with this new country, but we are still
+living in the Bottom, as the Indians are unsafe. We prefer living on
+the high lands and we shall get us a place there soon. People are
+coming into this new country in increasing numbers.
+
+
+                              New {p.29} Design, Ill. Feb. 26, 1794.
+
+My wife and I were baptized with several others to-day in Fountain
+Creek by Rev. Josiah Dodge. The ice had to be cut and removed first.
+
+
+                              New Design, May 28, 1796.
+
+Yesterday and to-day, my neighbors at my invitation, gathered at my
+home and were constituted into a Baptist church, by Rev. David Badgley
+and Joseph Chance.
+
+
+                              New Design, Jan. 4, 1797.
+
+We settled here some time ago and are well pleased with our place. It
+is more healthy than the Bottom country. A fine sugar grove is near us
+and a large lake with fine fish, and soil good, but the Indians are
+not yet to be trusted. We have been here now a number of years and
+have quite a farm in cultivation and fairly good improvements.
+
+
+                              New Design, Jan. 6, 1798.
+
+I have just returned with six of my neighbors from a hunt and land
+inspection upon what is called Richland country and creek. We had made
+our camp near that creek before. On the first Sunday morning in
+December held religious services and on Monday went out to see the
+land. We found fine prairie lands some miles north, south and east and
+some timber lands along the water streams mostly. Game is plentiful
+and we killed several deer and turkeys. It is a fine country.
+
+
+                              New Design, May 3, 1803.
+
+As Thomas Jefferson predicted they would do, the extreme southern
+slave advocates are making their influence felt in the new territory
+for the introduction of slavery and they are pressing Gov. William
+Henry Harrison to use his power and influence for that end. Steps must
+soon be taken to prevent that curse from being fastened on our people.
+
+
+                              New Design, May 4, 1805.
+
+At our last meeting, as I expected he would do, Gov. Harrison asked
+and insisted that I should cast my influence for the introduction of
+slavery here, but I not only denied the request, but I informed him
+that the evil attempt would encounter my most active opposition in
+every possible and honorable manner that my mind could suggest or my
+means accomplish.
+
+
+                              New {p.30} Design, May 10, 1805.
+
+Knowing President Jefferson's hostility against the introduction of
+slavery here and the mission he sent me on to oppose it, I do not
+believe the pro-slavery petitions with which Gov. Harrison and his
+council are pressing Congress for slavery here can prevail while he is
+President, as he is very popular with Congress and will find means to
+overreach the evil attempt of the pro-slavery power.
+
+
+                              Jan. 20th 1806.
+
+[15]As Gov. William Henry Harrison and his legislative council have
+had their petitions before Congress at several sessions asking for
+slavery here, I sent a messenger to Indiana to ask the churches and
+people there to get up and sign a counter petition to Congress to
+uphold freedom in the territory and I have circulated one here and we
+will send it on to that body at next session or as soon as the work is
+done.
+
+
+                              New Design. Sept. 10, 1806.
+
+[19]A confidential agent of Aaron Burr called yesterday to ask my aid
+and sympathy in Burr's scheme for a Southwestern Empire with Illinois
+as a province and an offer to make me governor. But I denounced the
+conspiracy as high treason and gave him a few hours to leave the
+territory on pain of arrest.
+
+
+                              New Design. Jan 10, 1809 [1810].
+
+[20]I received Jefferson's confidential message on Oct. 10, 1808,
+suggesting a division of the churches on the question of slavery and
+the organization of a church on a strictly anti-slavery basis, for the
+purpose of heading a movement to finally make Illinois a free State,
+and after first trying in vain for some months to bring all the
+churches over to such a basis, I acted on Jefferson's plan and Dec.
+10, 1809, the anti-slavery element formed a Baptist church at Cantine
+creek, on an anti-slavery basis.
+
+
+                              New Design. Mar. 3, 1819.
+
+I was reared in the Presbyterian faith, but at 20 years of age I
+embraced Baptist principles and after settlement in Illinois I was
+baptized into that faith and finally became a minister of the gospel
+of that church, but some years before I was licensed to preach, I was
+active in collecting and inducing {p.31} communities to organize
+churches, as I thought that the most certain plan to control and
+improve the new settlements, and I also hoped to employ the churches
+as a means of opposition to the institution of slavery, but this only
+became possible when we organized a leading church on a strictly
+anti-slavery basis, an event which finally was marked with great
+success, as Jefferson suggested it would be.
+
+
+                              New Design. Jan 10, 1820.
+
+My six sons all are naturally industrious and they all enjoy the
+sports. Robert and Josiah excel in fishing, Moses in hunting, William
+in boating and swimming and James and Joseph in running and jumping.
+Either one of them can jump over a line held at his own height, a
+little over six feet.
+
+
+                              New Design. Jan. 12, 1820.
+
+A full account of my Indian fights will be found among my papers.
+
+
+                              New Design. Dec. 10, 1820.
+
+Looking back at this time, 1820, to 1809, when we organized the
+Canteen creek Baptist Church on a strictly anti-slavery basis as
+Jefferson had suggested as a [center] from which the anti-slavery
+movement to finally save the State to freedom could be directed, it is
+now clear that the move was a wise one as there is no doubt but that
+it more than anything else was what made Illinois a free State.
+
+
+                              New Design, Ill. Jan. 4, 1821.
+
+Among my papers my family will find a full and connected statement as
+to all the churches I have caused to be formed since my settlement in
+Illinois.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There were many of our family notes which were faded out and Rev. J.
+M. Peck retained some when he made father's history and many were
+misplaced by other friends, but we have had all copied [that] are now
+in our possession which are of interest.
+
+                              REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.,
+                              (Son of Rev. James Lemen, Sr.).
+
+
+                              Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.
+
+My father's account of his Indian fights and statement of all the
+churches he caused to be founded in Illinois, above mentioned,
+{p.32} were loaned to Rev. John M. Peck a short time before his death
+and have not been returned, but the information contained has already
+been published except a few confidential facts as to his relations
+with Jefferson in the formation of the Canteen Creek Baptist Ch., now
+the Bethel Baptist Church.
+
+                              REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.
+                              (Son of James Lemen, Sr.)
+
+
+II. PECK'S HISTORY OF THE JEFFERSON-LEMEN COMPACT
+
+                              Rock Spring, Ill., June 4, 1851.
+
+The history of the confidential relation of Rev. James Lemen, Senior,
+and Thomas Jefferson, and Lemen's mission under him, which I have
+prepared for his son, Rev. James Lemen, Junior, at his request from
+the family notes and diaries.
+
+                              J. M. PECK,
+                                 Per A. M. W.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The leading purpose of Thomas Jefferson in selecting James Lemen, of
+Virginia, afterwards James Lemen, Senior, to go to Illinois as his
+agent, was no doubt prompted by his great affection for Mr. Lemen and
+his impression that a young man of such aptitude as a natural leader
+would soon impress himself on the community, and as the advantages in
+the territory were soon to be great, Jefferson was desirous to send
+him out, and with the help of a few friends he provided a small fund
+to give him, and also his friend who was going to Indiana on a like
+mission, to be used by their families if need be, and if not to go to
+good causes. There was also another motive with Jefferson; he looked
+forward to a great pro-slavery contest to finally try to make Illinois
+and Indiana slave states, and as Mr. Lemen was a natural born
+anti-slavery leader and had proved himself such in Virginia by
+inducing scores of masters to free their slaves through his prevailing
+kindness of manner and Christian arguments, he was just Jefferson's
+ideal of a man who could safely be trusted with his anti-slavery
+mission in Illinois, and this was an important factor in his
+appointment.
+
+The last meeting between Mr. Lemen and Jefferson was at Annapolis,
+Maryland, on May 2, 1784, a short time before he {p.33} sailed as
+envoy to France, and all the terms between them were fully agreed
+upon, and on Dec. 28, 1785, Jefferson's confidential agent gave Mr.
+Lemen one hundred dollars of his funds, and in the summer of 1786 with
+his wife and children he removed and settled in Illinois, at New
+Design, in what is now Monroe County. A few years after his settlement
+in Illinois Mr. Lemen was baptized into the Baptist church, and he
+finally became a minister of the people of that faith. He eventually
+became a great organizer of churches and by that fact, reinforced by
+his other wonderful traits as a natural leader, he fully realized
+Jefferson's fondest dreams and became a noted leader.
+
+In 1789 Jefferson returned from his mission to France and his first
+thought was of Mr. Lemen, his friend in Illinois, and he lost no time
+in sending him a message of love and confidence by a friend who was
+then coming to the West. [5]After Jefferson became President of the
+United States he retained all of his early affection for Mr. Lemen,
+and when S. H. Biggs, a resident of Illinois, who was in Virginia on
+business and who was a warm friend of both Jefferson and Mr. Lemen,
+called on him in 1808, when President, he inquired after him with all
+the fondness of a father, and when told of Mr. Lemen's purpose to soon
+organize a new church on a strictly anti-slavery basis Jefferson sent
+him a message to proceed at once to form the new church and he sent it
+a twenty-dollar contribution. Acting on Jefferson's suggestion, Mr.
+Lemen promptly took the preliminary steps for the final formation of
+the new church and when constituted it was called the Baptist Church
+of Canteen Creek and Jefferson's contribution, with other funds, were
+given to it. This church is now called the Bethel Baptist Church, and
+it has a very interesting history.
+
+But in view of the facts and circumstances the church might properly
+have been called the "Thomas Jefferson Church," and what volumes these
+facts speak for the beneficent and marvelous influence which Mr. Lemen
+had over Jefferson, who was a reputed unbeliever. The great love he
+had for James Lemen not only induced him to tolerate his churches but
+he became an active adviser for their multiplication.
+
+[30]The original agreement between Jefferson and Mr. Lemen was
+strictly confidential; on the part of Jefferson, because, had it been
+known, his opponents would have said {p.34} he sent paid emissaries
+to Illinois and Indiana to shape matters to his own interests, and the
+extreme South might have opposed his future preferment, if it were
+known that he had made an anti-slavery pact with his territorial
+agents; and it was secret on the part of Mr. Lemen because he never
+wished Jefferson to give him any help and his singularly independent
+nature made him feel that he would enjoy a greater liberty of action,
+or feeling at least, if it were never known that his plans and
+purposes to some extent were dictated and controlled by another, not
+even by his great and good friend Jefferson; so the agreement between
+them was strictly private. [30]And there was another circumstance
+which finally determined Mr. Lemen to always preserve the secrecy, and
+that was that some of Mr. Jefferson's opponents shortly before Mr.
+Lemen's death informed him that he had become an absolute unbeliever,
+and this so impressed his mind that he wept bitterly for fear, if the
+fact should ever be known that he had an agreement with Jefferson,
+that they would say that he was in alliance with an unbeliever in the
+great life work he had performed, and he exacted a promise from his
+sons, his brother-in-law, Rev. Benjamin Ogle, and Mr. Biggs, the only
+persons who then knew of the agreement, that they would never divulge
+it during his lifetime, a pledge they all religiously kept, and in
+later years they told no one but the writer and a few other trusted
+friends who have not, and never will, betray them. But the writer
+advised them to carefully preserve all the facts and histories we are
+now writing and to tell some of their families and let them publish
+them at some future time, as much of the information is of public
+interest.
+
+As to Jefferson's being an absolute unbeliever, his critics were
+mistaken. He held to the doctrine that the mind and the reason are the
+only guides we have to judge of the authenticity and credibility of
+all things, natural and divine, and this appears to have been the
+chief basis on which Jefferson's critics based their charges against
+him. But while these harsh criticisms in some measure misled Mr. Lemen
+he never lost his great love for Jefferson and to the latest day of
+his life he always mentioned his name with tenderness and affection. I
+had hoped to complete this history in one chapter, but there appear to
+be notes and materials enough for another. By oversight the notes of
+Mr. Lemen's war record were not given me, but he honorably served an
+enlistment of {p.35} two years under Washington, and returned to his
+regiment at the siege of Yorktown and served until the surrender of
+Cornwallis, but did not re-enlist.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+At their last meeting at Annapolis, Maryland, on May 2, 1784, when the
+final terms in their agreement as to Mr. Lemen's mission in Illinois
+were made, both he and Jefferson agreed that sooner or later, there
+would be a great contest to try to fasten slavery on the Northwestern
+Territory, and this prophesy was fully verified in spite of the fact
+that Congress, at a later period, passed the Ordinance of 1787 forever
+forbidding slavery; two contests arose in Illinois, the first to
+confirm the territory and the second to confirm the state to freedom.
+
+[17]From 1803 for several successive congresses Gen. William Henry
+Harrison, then governor of the Northwestern Territory, with his
+legislative council petitioned that body to repeal the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787 and to establish slavery in the
+territory, but without avail, and finally recognizing that the
+influence of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., was paramount with the people of
+Illinois, he made persistent overtures for his approval of his
+pro-slavery petitions, but he declined to act and promptly sent a
+messenger to Indiana, paying him thirty dollars of the Jefferson fund
+given him in Virginia to have the church and people there sign a
+counter petition, meanwhile circulating one in Illinois among the
+Baptists and others; and at the next session of Congress Gen.
+Harrison's pro-slavery petitions for the first time encountered the
+anti-slavery petitions of the Baptist people and others, and the
+senate, before which the matter went at that time, voted to sustain
+the anti-slavery petitions and against the repeal of the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, and for the time the contest ended.
+
+[21]The next anti-slavery contest was in the narrower limits of the
+territory of Illinois, and it began with the events which called the
+Bethel Baptist Church into existence. When Mr. Lemen received
+President Jefferson's message in 1808 to proceed at once to organize
+the next church on an anti-slavery basis and make it the center from
+which the anti-slavery forces should act to finally make Illinois a
+free state, he decided to act on it; but as he knew it would create a
+{p.36} division in the churches and association, to disarm criticism
+he labored several months to bring them over to the anti-slavery
+cause, but finding that impossible he adopted Jefferson's advice and
+prepared to open the contest. The first act was on July 8, 1809, in
+regular session of the Richland Creek Baptist Church, where the people
+had assembled from all quarters to see the opening of the anti-slavery
+contest, when Rev. James Lemen, Sr., arose and in a firm but friendly
+Christian spirit declared it would be better for both sides to
+separate, as the contest for and against slavery must now open and not
+close until Illinois should become a state. A division of both the
+association and the churches followed, but finally at a great meeting
+at the Richland Creek Baptist Church in a peaceful and Christian
+manner, as being the better policy for both sides, separation was
+adopted by unanimous vote and a number of members withdrew, and on
+Dec. 10, 1809, they formed the "Baptist Church at Canteen Creek," (now
+Bethel Baptist Church). Their articles of faith were brief. They
+simply declared the Bible to be the pillar of their faith, and
+proclaimed their good will for the brotherhood of humanity by
+declaring their church to be "The Baptist Church of Christ, Friends to
+Humanity, denying union and communion with all persons holding the
+doctrine of perpetual, involuntary, hereditary slavery."
+
+[23]The church, properly speaking, never entered politics, but
+presently, when it became strong, the members all formed what they
+called "The Illinois Anti-Slavery League," and it was this body that
+conducted the anti-slavery contest. It always kept one of its members
+and several of its friends in the Territorial Legislature, and five
+years before the constitutional election in 1818 it had fifty resident
+agents--men of like sympathies--in the several settlements throughout
+the territory quietly at work, and the masterly manner in which they
+did their duty was shown by a poll which they made of the voters some
+few weeks before the election, which, on their side only varied a few
+votes from the official count after the election. [17]With people
+familiar with all the circumstances there is no divergence of views
+but that the organization of the Bethel Church and its masterly
+anti-slavery contest saved Illinois to freedom; but much of the credit
+of the freedom of Illinois, as well as for the balance of the
+territory, was due to Thomas Jefferson's faithful and efficient aid.
+True to his promise to Mr. Lemen that slavery should {p.37} never
+prevail in the Northwestern Territory or any part of it, he quietly
+directed his leading confidential friends in Congress to steadily
+defeat Gen. Harrison's pro-slavery petitions for the repeal of the
+anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787, and his friendly aid to
+Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and friends made the anti-slavery contest of
+Bethel Church a success in saving the state to freedom.
+
+In the preparation of this history, to insure perfect reliability and
+a well-connected statement, I have examined, selected, and read the
+numerous family notes myself, dictating, while my secretary has done
+the writing, and after all was completed we made another critical
+comparison with all the notes to insure perfect accuracy and
+trustworthiness.
+
+I have had one copy prepared for Rev. James Lemen, Jr., and one for
+myself. I should have added that of the one hundred dollars of the
+Jefferson funds given him Rev. James Lemen, Sr., used none for his
+family, but it was all used for other good causes, as it was not Mr.
+Lemen's intention to appropriate any of it for his own uses when he
+accepted it from Jefferson's confidential agent in Virginia.
+
+
+
+
+III. "HOW ILLINOIS GOT CHICAGO"
+
+     (Communication from Joseph B. Lemen, under head of "Voice of the
+     People," in _The Chicago Tribune_ some time in December, 1908.)
+
+
+                              O'Fallon, Ill., Dec. 21, 1908.
+
+Editor of the Tribune:--In October, 1817, the Rev. James Lemen, Sr.,
+had a government surveyor make a map showing how the boundary of
+Illinois could be extended northward so as to give a growing state
+more territory and a better shape and include the watercourses by
+which Lake Michigan might be connected with the Mississippi river.
+With these advantages marked in the margin of the map, he gave his
+plan and map to Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate in congress,
+to secure the adoption of the plan by that body, which he did.
+
+The facts were noted in the Rev. J. M. Peck's pioneer papers and
+others, and in commenting on them some of our newspapers have recently
+charged Nathaniel Pope with carelessness in not publishing Mr. Lemen's
+share in the matter, but unjustly. Mr. Lemen and Mr. Pope were ardent
+friends, and as the former was a preacher and desired no office, and
+he wished and sought for no private preferment and {p.38} promotion,
+he expressly declared that as Mr. Pope had carried the measure through
+Congress with such splendid skill he preferred that he should have the
+credit and not mention where he got the map and plan.
+
+Rev. Benjamin Ogle, Mr. Lemen's brother-in-law, and others mentioned
+this fact in some of their papers and notes. The omission was no fault
+of Mr. Pope's and was contrary to his wish.
+
+The present site of Chicago was included in the territory added, and
+that is how Illinois got Chicago.
+
+                              PIONEER.
+
+
+
+
+IV. ADDRESS TO THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM
+
+     (From _The Illinois Intelligencer_, August 5, 1818.)
+
+
+The undersigned, happening to meet at the St. Clair Circuit Court,
+have united in submitting the following Address to the Friends of
+Freedom in the State of Illinois.
+
+Feeling it a duty in those who are sincere in their opposition to the
+toleration of slavery in this territory to use all fair and laudable
+means to effect that object, we therefore beg leave to present to our
+fellow-citizens at large the sentiments which prevail in this section
+of our country on that subject. In the counties of Madison and St.
+Clair, the most populous counties in the territory, a sentiment
+approaching unanimity seems to prevail against it. In the counties of
+Bond, Washington, and Monroe a similar sentiment also prevails. We are
+informed that strong exertions will be made in the convention to give
+sanction to that deplorable evil in our state; and lest such should be
+the result at too late a period for anything like concert to take
+place among the friends of freedom in trying to defeat it, we
+therefore earnestly solicit all true friends to freedom in every
+section of the territory to unite in opposing it, both by the election
+of a Delegate to Congress who will oppose it and by forming meetings
+and preparing remonstrances against it. Indeed, so important is this
+question considered that no exertions of a fair character should be
+omitted to defeat the plan of those who wish either a temporary or
+unlimited slavery. Let us also select men to the Legislature who will
+unite in remonstrating to the general government against ratifying
+such a constitution. At a crisis like this thinking will not do,
+_acting_ is necessary.
+
+From {p.39} St. Clair county--Risdon Moore, Benjamin Watts, Jacob
+Ogle, Joshua Oglesby, William Scott, Sr., William Biggs, Geo. Blair,
+Charles R. Matheny, James Garretson, and [34]William Kinney.
+
+From Madison County--Wm. B. Whiteside.
+
+From Monroe County--James Lemen, Sr.
+
+From Washington--Wm. H. Bradsby.
+
+
+
+
+V. RECOLLECTIONS OF A CENTENNARIAN
+
+     By DR. WILLIAMSON F. BOYAKIN, Blue Rapids, Kansas (1807-1907)
+     (_The Standard_, Chicago, November 9, 1907.)
+
+
+The Lemen family was of Irish [Scotch] descent. They were friends and
+associates of Thomas Jefferson. It was through his influence that they
+migrated West. When the Lemen family arrived at what they designated
+as New Design, in the vicinity of the present town of Waterloo, in
+Monroe county, twenty-five miles southeast of the city of St. Louis,
+Illinois was a portion of the state of Virginia. [Ceded to U. S. two
+years previous.]
+
+Thomas Jefferson gave them a kind of carte blanche for all the then
+unoccupied territory of Virginia, and gave them $30 in gold to be paid
+to the man who should build the first meeting house on the western
+frontier.[32] This rudely-constructed house of worship was built on a
+little creek named Canteen [Quentin], just a mile or two south of what
+is now called Collinsville, Madison county, Illinois.
+
+In the mountains of Virginia there lived a Baptist minister by the
+name of Torrence. This Torrence, at an Association in Virginia,
+introduced a resolution against slavery. In a speech in favor of the
+resolution he said, "All friends of humanity should support the
+resolution." The elder James Lemen being present voted for it and
+adopted it for his motto, inscribed it on a rude flag, and planted it
+on the rudely-constructed flatboat on which the family floated down
+the Ohio river, in the summer of 1790 [1786], to the New Design
+location.[33]
+
+The distinguishing characteristic of the churches and associations
+that subsequently grew up in Illinois [under the Lemen influence] was
+the name "The Baptized Church of Christ, Friends to Humanity."
+
+One {p.40} of these Lemen brothers, Joseph, married a Kinney, sister
+to him who was afterwards governor [lieutenant governor] of the state.
+This Kinney was also a Baptist preacher, a Kentuckian, and a
+pro-slavery man.[34] When the canvass opened in 1816, 17, and 18 to
+organize Illinois into a state, the Lemens and the Kinneys were
+leaders in the canvass. The canvass was strong, long, bitter. The
+Friends to Humanity party won. The Lemen brothers made Illinois what
+it is, a free state.
+
+The Lemens were personally fine specimens of the genus homo--tall,
+straight, large, handsome men--magnetic, emotional, fine speakers.
+James Lemen [Junior] was considered the most eloquent speaker of the
+day of the Baptist people. Our present educated preachers have lost
+the hold they should have upon the age in the cultivation of the
+intellectual instead of the emotional. Religion is the motive power in
+the intellectual guidance of humanity. These Lemens were well balanced
+in the cultivation of the intellect and the control of the emotions.
+They were well educated for their day, self-educated, great lovers of
+poetry, hymnal poetry, having no taste for the religious debates now
+so prevalent in some localities. They attended no college
+commencements [?]. James Lemen, however, at whose grave the monument
+is to be erected, was for fourteen consecutive years in the Senate of
+the State Legislature, and would have been elected United States
+senator, but he would not accept the position when offered. [This was
+James, Jr., not his father.]
+
+Personally of fine taste, always well and even elegantly dressed, they
+rode fine horses, owned fine farms, well cultivated. They lived in
+rich, elegant style [?]. They were brimful and overflowing with
+spontaneous hospitality. All were married, with several sisters, and
+were blessed with large families. Almost all of them, parents and
+descendants, have passed away. Old Bethel, the church house, and the
+graveyard, in sight of the old mound, are yet there.
+
+NOTE.--Dr. Boyakin was a physician, Baptist minister, and newspaper
+editor for many years in Illinois. He delivered the G. A. R. address
+at Blue Rapids, Kansas, on his one hundredth birthday. He has confused
+some things in these "recollections," especially the story concerning
+the origin of the name "Friends to Humanity," but for his years his
+statements are unusually in accord with the facts.
+
+
+
+
+VI. {p.41} IN MEMORY OF REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.
+
+     BY A WELL-WISHER
+     (_The Standard_, Chicago, November 16, 1907)
+
+
+When James Lemen's early anti-slavery Baptist churches went over to
+the cause of slavery, it looked as if all were lost and his
+anti-slavery mission in Illinois had failed. At that crisis Mr. Lemen
+could have formed another sect, but in his splendid loyalty to the
+Baptist cause he simply formed another Baptist church on the broader,
+higher grounds for both God and humanity, and on this high plane he
+unfurled the banner of freedom. In God's good time the churches and
+state and nation came up to that grand level of right, light, and
+progress.
+
+Of James Lemen's sons, under his training, Robert was an eminent
+Baptist layman, and Joseph, James, Moses, and Josiah were able Baptist
+preachers. [William, the "wayward" son, also became a useful minister
+in his later years.] Altogether they were as faithful a band of men as
+ever stood for any cause. This is the rating which history places upon
+them. The country owes James Lemen another debt of gratitude for his
+services to history. He and his sons were the only family that ever
+kept a written and authentic set of notes of early Illinois; and the
+early historians, Ford, Reynolds, and Peck, drew many of their facts
+from that source. These notes embraced the only correct histories of
+both the early Methodist and the early Baptist churches in Illinois
+and much other early matter.[35]
+
+NOTE.--This communication was probably from Dr. W. F. Boyakin.
+
+
+
+
+VII. STATEMENT REGARDING JOSEPH B. LEMEN
+
+
+"Joseph B. Lemen has written editorially for _The New York Sun_, _The
+New York Tribune_, _The Chicago Tribune_, _and The Belleville
+Advocate_.
+
+"During the McKinley campaign of 1896 he wrote editorials from the
+farmers' standpoint for a number of the metropolitan newspapers of the
+country at the personal request of Mark Hanna.
+
+"He also wrote editorials for the metropolitan newspapers during the
+first Lincoln campaign."
+
+                              --Editor, _Belleville Advocate_.
+  December, 1912.
+
+
+
+
+VIII. {p.42} HISTORIC LETTER OF REV. J. M. PECK ON THE OLD LEMEN
+FAMILY NOTES
+
+  (From _Belleville Advocate_, January, 1908)
+  (Clipping in I.B.H.C., K11)
+
+
+To the Editor of the Belleville Advocate:
+
+We herewith send the Advocate a copy of a letter of the eminent
+historian and great Baptist divine, the late Rev. J. M. Peck, to his
+old ministerial associate, the late Rev. James Lemen, concerning the
+anti-slavery labors of his father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and also his
+views as to the old Lemen family notes, which will perhaps interest
+your readers. It seems quite appropriate for the Advocate to print
+these old pioneer matters, as it is one of the old pioneer landmarks.
+Rev. James Lemen took the paper when it started, under its first name,
+and it has come to his family or family members at his old home ever
+since.
+
+                              By order of the Family.
+                              [JOSEPH B. LEMEN.]
+
+
+REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR., AND HIS ANTI-SLAVERY LABORS
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  Ridge Prairie, Illinois
+
+Dear Brother: At my recent very enjoyable visit at your house you made
+two important requests, which I will now answer. The first was as to
+my estimate or judgment of your father's anti-slavery labors, and the
+second was as to what disposition you had better make of your vast
+stock of old family notes and papers. Considering your questions in
+the order named, I will write this letter, or more properly, article,
+under the above heading of "Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and His
+Anti-Slavery Labors," as the first question is the most important, and
+then in conclusion I will notice the second.
+
+In considering your father's anti-slavery labors, I will proceed upon
+the facts and evidence obtained outside your old family notes, as it
+might be presumed that the trend of the notes on that matter would be
+partial. Not that the facts I would use are not found in your family
+notes, for they appear to cover about every event in our early state
+and church history; but that I would look for the facts elsewhere to
+prove the matter, and indeed I can draw largely from my own {p.43}
+knowledge of the facts upon which your father's success as an
+anti-slavery leader rested. Not only from my own personal observation,
+but scores of the old pioneers, your father's followers and helpers,
+have given me facts that fully establish the claim that he was the
+chief leader that saved Illinois to freedom. Not only the state, but
+on a wider basis the evidence is very strong that Rev. James Lemen,
+Sr., largely shared in saving the Northwestern Territory for free
+states. This was the estimate that General [Governor] William Henry
+Harrison placed on his labors in his letter to Captain Joseph Ogle
+after his term of the governorship had expired. [17]In his letter
+to Captain Ogle he said that, though he and Mr. Lemen were ardent
+friends, he [Lemen] set his iron will against slavery here and
+indirectly made his influence felt so strongly at Washington and
+before Congress, that all efforts to suspend the anti-slavery clause
+in the Ordinance of 1787 failed.
+
+But James Lemen was not only a factor which saved the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, but there is no doubt, after putting
+all the facts together, ... that his anti-slavery mission to the
+Northwestern Territory was inspired by the same cause which finally
+placed the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance, and that Lemen's
+mission and that clause were closely connected. Douglas, Trumbull, and
+Lincoln thought so, and every other capable person who had [been] or
+has been made familiar with the facts.
+
+Many of the old pioneers to whom the facts were known have informed me
+that all the statements as to Rev. James Lemen's anti-slavery teaching
+and preaching and forming his anti-slavery churches, and conducting
+the anti-slavery contest, and sending a paid agent to Indiana to
+assist the anti-slavery cause, were all true in every particular; and
+so the evidence outside and independently of that in the Lemen family
+notes is conclusive that Mr. Lemen created and organized the forces
+which finally confirmed Illinois, if not the Northwestern Territory,
+to freedom. But there was just one fact that made it possible for the
+old pioneer leader practically single handed and alone to accomplish
+such results; and that was because President Jefferson's great power
+was behind him, and through his secret influence Congress worked for
+the very purpose that Jefferson, more than twenty years before, had
+sent Lemen to Illinois, or the Northwestern Territory, to secure,
+namely, the freedom of the new {p.44} country. The claim that Mr.
+Lemen encompassed these great results would, of course, be ridiculous
+were it not known that the power of the government through Jefferson
+stood behind him. Hence Douglas, Trumbull, and others are correct, and
+I quite agree with them, that when you publish the old family notes on
+the matter, if, for reasons you state, you do not wish to publish
+Jefferson's letters to your father which concern the subject, it will
+be sufficient just to say he acted by and under his advice and aid,
+and people will accept it, as it is self-evident, because it is
+preposterous to hold that Mr. Lemen could have accomplished such
+results without some great power behind him. In conclusion, it is my
+judgment that your father's anti-slavery labors were the chief factor
+leading up to the free state constitution for Illinois.
+
+Now as to your old family notes. They are valuable. In their
+respective fields, they embrace by far the most trustworthy history in
+our state. They ought to be preserved, but your generous nature will
+not permit you to say no; and your friends, as you say, are carrying
+them off, and they will all be lost, and presently the vast and
+priceless collection will have disappeared, which will be an
+unspeakable loss. Like your friends, Dr. B. F. Edwards and J. M.
+Smith, I would advise you to make copies of all to keep for use, and
+then give Smith the old collection to keep and hold in St. Louis in
+his safe, and leave them there for good. This will save you an
+infinite amount of worry, as people will not trouble you to see the
+mere copies. It would be a good disposition to make of them, and thus
+bury that dangerous element in many of the old letters bearing on the
+anti-slavery contest of 1818. With some of those interested in that
+contest, in fifty years from this time, the publication of these
+letters would create trouble between the descendants of many of our
+old pioneer families.
+
+There is a danger lurking in many of these old collections where you
+would not suspect it. In 1851, when I wrote the first or preliminary
+part of the Bethel church history from your old family notes, now
+generally referred to as the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen
+Anti-Slavery Pact," and part second as the history proper of the
+church in the letter which was simply the history from its
+organization in 1809 to my pastorate of 1851, I carefully omitted all
+mention of the anti-slavery contest which gave the church its origin.
+I {p.45} did this so that that part of its history could then be
+recorded in the church book, which could not have been done had I
+mentioned the anti-slavery contest; because the bitterness of that
+period had not yet fully disappeared; and the full history of the
+church, with the causes creating, and the results flowing from its
+organization, if recorded or published then, would have aroused
+considerable ill feeling against the church in some parts of the
+state. So part second, or the history proper, was only recorded at
+that time. But having lately completed part third of the Bethel church
+history, showing the results of its organization, I sent it with a
+copy of part first, or the history of the Jefferson Lemen Anti-Slavery
+Pact, to our worthy and noble Christian brother, the Bethel church
+clerk, James H. Lemen, and the other brother whose name you suggested,
+and they can place them in safe keeping somewhere until after your old
+family notes are published, and then they should be recorded in the
+church book with the church history proper and all the papers be
+placed with the other church papers. I shall also send them a copy of
+this letter to be finally placed with the church papers, as it is in
+part the history of the founder of that church, all parties agreeing
+that your father created, though of course he did not formally
+constitute, it. The old church, when all the facts become known, will
+become noted in history, as it stands as the monument of the contest
+which began by putting the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of
+1787, and which concluded by making Illinois and her neighboring
+sisters free states.
+
+As to the more valuable letters in your family notes and collections,
+I have kept them securely for you. Douglas' and Lincoln's letters take
+very correct views as to your father's anti-slavery labors, and
+Jefferson's two letters to your father disclose his great friendship
+for him, and show that he placed the greatest confidence and trust in
+him. Poor Lovejoy's letter reads as if he had a presentment of his
+coming doom. There is no more interesting feature in all your old
+family notes than Lincoln's views at your many meetings with him, and
+your copy of his prayer is beautiful. Some of his views on Bible
+themes are very profound; but then he is a very profound thinker. It
+now looks as if he would become a national leader. Would not he and
+your father have enjoyed a meeting on the slavery question? I put all
+the letters with the other papers you gave me in a safe {p.46} in St.
+Louis, in a friend's care, where I sometimes put my papers. Your son,
+Moses, was with me and the check is given in his name. This will
+enable you to tell your friends that the papers are not now in your
+custody, and they will not bother you to see them. Hoping to see you
+soon, I remain as ever.
+
+                              Fraternally yours,
+                              Rock Spring, Ill.
+                              July 17, 1857.
+                              J. M. PECK.
+
+
+
+
+PIONEER LETTERS
+
+IX. SENATOR DOUGLAS'S LETTER
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 10, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+                              Springfield, Illinois. Mar. 10, 1857
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  Collinsville, Illinois,
+
+Dear Sir:--In a former letter I wrote you fully as to my views as to
+the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact," and that there is no doubt
+but that the anti-slavery contest of your father, Rev. James Lemen,
+Sr., and the organizing of Bethel church as one of the results,
+eventually led to our free state constitution. I also thank you again
+for the privilege of reading Jefferson's letters to your father, and
+other papers in connection with the matter, but desire to add a
+thought or two, or more properly expound [expand] some points in my
+recent letter.
+
+The anti-slavery pact or agreement between the two men and its far
+reaching results comprise one of the most intensely interesting
+chapters in our national and state histories. Its profound secrecy and
+the splendid loyalty of Jefferson's friends which preserved it, were
+alike necessary to the success of the scheme as well as for his future
+preferment; for had it been known that Jefferson had sent Lemen as his
+special agent on an anti-slavery mission to shape matters in the
+territories to his own ends, it would have wrecked his popularity in
+the South and rendered Lemen's mission worse than useless.
+
+It has always been a mystery why the pressing demands of Governor
+Harrison and his Council for the repeal of the anti-slavery clause in
+the Ordinance of 1787 which excluded slavery {p.47} from the
+Northwest Territory, could make no headway before a encession [?] of
+pro-slavery Congress; but the matter is now clear. The great
+Jefferson, through his confidential leaders in Congress [held that
+body back, until Mr. Lemen, under his orders], had rallied his friends
+and sent in anti-slavery petitions demanding the maintenance of the
+clause, when the Senate, where Harrison's demands were then pending,
+denied them. So a part of the honor of saving that grand clause which
+dedicated the territory to freedom, belongs to your father. Indeed,
+considering Jefferson's ardent friendship for him and his admiration
+and approval of his early anti-slavery labors in Virginia, which
+antedated the Ordinance of 1787 by several years, there is but little
+doubt but that your father's labors were a factor of influence which
+quickened if it did not suggest to Jefferson the original purpose
+which finally resulted in putting the original clause in the
+Ordinance.
+
+This matter assumes a phase of personal interest with me, and I find
+myself, politically, in the good company of Jefferson and your father.
+With them, everything turned on whether the people of the territory
+wanted slavery or not. Harrison and his council had informed Congress
+that the people desired it; but Jefferson and Lemen doubted it, and
+when the latter assisted in sending in great anti-slavery petitions,
+Jefferson's friends in Congress granted the people their wish, and
+denied Harrison's pro-slavery demands. That is, the voice and wishes
+of the people in the territory were heard and respected, and that
+appears to me to be the correct doctrine.
+
+Should you or your family approve it, I would suggest that the facts
+of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact" be fully written up and
+arranged for publication, since they embrace some exceedingly
+important state and national history, and, in fact, will necessitate a
+new or larger personal history of Jefferson, as these facts will add
+another splendid chapter to the great story of his marvellous career.
+If you think the publication of Jefferson's letters and suggestions to
+your father would rather tend to dwarf the legitimate importance of
+his great religious movement in the formation of our early churches,
+on account of the wonderful political results of the "anti-slavery
+pact" it would be sufficient to command belief everywhere just to
+simply state that in his anti-slavery mission and contest he acted
+under Jefferson's advice {p.48} and help; because the consequences
+were so important and far reaching that it is self-evident he must
+have had some great and all-prevailing power behind him.
+
+I was greatly pained to learn of your illness, in your last letter,
+but hope this will find you comfortable.
+
+                              Yours in confidence,
+                                   S. A. DOUGLAS.
+
+I wrote this letter in Springfield, but by an over-sight neglected to
+mail it there. But if you write me in a fortnight, direct to
+Springfield, as I expect to be there then.
+
+                              Yours Secv. [_sic_] D.
+
+
+
+
+X. ANNOUNCEMENT BY J. B. LEMEN
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+It was our purpose in this letter [communication] to send the Advocate
+a copy of one of Abraham Lincoln's letters, and some other matter from
+him and Douglas, from the old family notes of Rev. James Lemen never
+yet published; but increased illness, and their greater length,
+prevented making the copy. In their place, however, we send a copy
+each of Governor Edward's and Congressman Snyder's letters. The
+prophetic utterances in this letter as to what would fall on Mexico's
+treachery and slavery's insolence, were so literally fulfilled that
+they emphasized anew Congressman Snyder's wonderful capabilities in
+sizing up public questions correctly and reading the coming events of
+the future, and prove him to have been a statesman of wonderful
+powers. The next, which will be the concluding article in this series,
+will contain the copy of Lincoln's letter and the other matter above
+referred to.
+
+The typos made one or two slight errors in Senator Douglas's letter in
+last week's issue. For "expound" the reader should have read "expand,"
+and at another point the letter should read that "Jefferson, through
+his confidential leaders in Congress, held that body back until Mr.
+Lemen, under his orders, had rallied his friends and sent in
+anti-slavery petitions, etc,"
+
+                              [JOSEPH B. LEMEN.]
+
+
+
+
+XI. {p.49} GOV. NINIAN EDWARDS TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+                              Vandalia, Ill., Dec. 24, 1826.
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  Collinsville, Illinois,
+
+Dear Sir:--Having great respect for your influence and reposing
+perfect confidence in your capable judgment on public affairs, I would
+be very much pleased to have you call as soon as you arrive here, as I
+desire to have your views and advice on some important matters. It is
+my hope, as it will be my pride, that the term upon which I enter
+shall be marked with a degree of educational interest and progress not
+hitherto attained in our young commonwealth; and I wish to ask for
+your counsel and aid in assisting to impress upon the General Assembly
+the importance of such subjects, and the necessity of some further and
+better legislation on our school matters; and I also wish to consult
+with you in regard to the matter of the proposed Illinois and Michigan
+Canal.
+
+                              Sincerely your friend,
+                                   NINIAN EDWARDS.
+
+
+
+
+XII. HON. ADAM W. SNYDER TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+                              City of Washington, Jan. 5, 1838.
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  [Collinsville, Illinois]
+
+My Dear Friend:--To the letter which I wrote you a few days since I
+wish to add that the members of the Illinois delegation in Congress
+have read the letter you recently wrote me, and they are all willing
+and ready to assist in pressing the cause of the class of claimants
+whom you mentioned upon the attention of the government for a more
+liberal and generous allowance of lands. I have no further news to
+communicate, except that I believe Mexico's treachery and insolence
+will sooner or later call down upon her a severe chastisement from
+this country; and that our Southern friends in Congress are growing
+exasperatingly and needlessly sensitive on the slavery question,
+claiming that Jefferson's {p.50} views would sustain their positions,
+not knowing the splendid secret of your father's (Rev. James Lemen,
+Sr.) anti-slavery mission under Jefferson's orders and advice, which
+saved Illinois and we might say the Northwest Territory, to freedom.
+In fact, the demands of slavery, if not controlled by its friends,
+will eventually put the country into a mood that will no longer brook
+its insolence and greed.
+
+                              Yours in esteem and confidence,
+                                   A. W. SNYDER.
+
+
+
+
+XIII. ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LETTER
+
+     _Belleville Weekly Advocate_, April 24, 1908
+
+
+The following letter and remarks from Abraham Lincoln, hitherto
+unpublished, comprise the fifth letter of the series of old "Pioneer
+Letters" which Mr. J. B. Lemen of O'Fallon is sending to the
+Advocate.--Ed.
+
+                              Springfield, Illinois. March 2, 1857.
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  [O'Fallon, Illinois,]
+
+Friend Lemen: Thanking you for your warm appreciation of my views in a
+former letter as to the importance in many features of your collection
+of old family notes and papers, I will add a few words more as to
+Elijah P. Lovejoy's case. His letters among your old family notes were
+of more interest to me than even those of Thomas Jefferson, written to
+your father. Of course they [the latter] were exceedingly important as
+a part of the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact,"
+under which your father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., as Jefferson's
+anti-slavery agent in Illinois, founded his anti-slavery churches,
+among which was the present Bethel church, which set in motion the
+forces which finally made Illinois a free state, all of which was
+splendid; but Lovejoy's tragic death for freedom in every sense marked
+his sad ending as the most important single event that ever happened
+in the new world.
+
+Both your father and Lovejoy were pioneer leaders in the cause of
+freedom, and it has always been difficult for me to see why your
+father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and aggressive leader, who
+boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the territory and the state
+free, never aroused nor encountered any of that mob violence which
+both in St. {p.51} Louis and Alton confronted or pursued Lovejoy, and
+which finally doomed him to a felon's death and a martyr's crown.
+Perhaps the two cases are a little parallel with those of John and
+Peter. John was bold and fearless at the scene of the Crucifixion,
+standing near the cross receiving the Savior's request to care for his
+mother, but was not annoyed; while Peter, whose disposition to shrink
+from public view, seemed to catch the attention of members of the mob
+on every hand, until finally to throw public attention off, he denied
+his master with an oath; though later the grand old apostle redeemed
+himself grandly, and like Lovejoy, died a martyr to his faith. Of
+course, there was no similarity between Peter's treachery at the
+Temple and Lovejoy's splendid courage when the pitiless mob were
+closing around him. But in the cases of the two apostles at the scene
+mentioned, John was more prominent or loyal in his presence and
+attention to the Great Master than Peter was, but the latter seemed to
+catch the attention of the mob; and as Lovejoy, one of the most
+inoffensive of men, for merely printing a small paper, devoted to the
+freedom of the body and mind of man, was pursued to his death; while
+his older comrade in the cause of freedom, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., who
+boldly and aggressively proclaimed his purpose to make both the
+territory and the state free, was never molested a moment by the
+minions of violence. The madness and pitiless determination with which
+the mob steadily pursued Lovejoy to his doom, marks it as one of the
+most unreasoning and unreasonable in all time, except that which
+doomed the Savior to the cross.
+
+If ever you should come to Springfield again, do not fail to call. The
+memory of our many "evening sittings" here and elsewhere, as we called
+them, suggests many a pleasant hour, both pleasant and helpful.
+
+                              Truly yours,
+                                   A. LINCOLN.
+
+
+
+
+XIV. THE LEMEN MONUMENT AND REV. LEMEN'S PART IN EARLY ILLINOIS
+HISTORY
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, Tuesday, April 6, 1909. Clipping in
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+The monument to be erected by the Baptist people of Illinois and
+others at the grave of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., near Waterloo in Monroe
+county, is not only to honor his memory {p.52} as a revolutionary
+soldier, territorial leader, Indian fighter, and founder of the
+Baptist cause in Illinois, but it is also in remembrance of the fact
+that he was the companion and co-worker with Thomas Jefferson in
+setting in motion the forces which finally recorded the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, which dedicated the great Northwest
+territory to freedom and later gave Illinois a free state
+constitution.
+
+Only recently the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Chicago,
+after a critical examination of James Lemen's military and civil
+record, by unanimous vote, appropriated twenty-five dollars for his
+monument fund; and we give below a copy of the papers which they used
+and which will interest our readers, the first being Gen. Ainsworth's
+letter:
+
+  WAR DEPARTMENT
+  Adjutant General's Office
+
+                              Washington, Feb. 13, 1908.
+
+The records show that James Lemen served as private in Captain George
+Wall's Company of the Fourth Virginia Regiment, commanded at various
+times by Major Isaac Beall and Colonels James Wood and John Neville in
+the Revolutionary war. Term of enlistment, one year from March 3,
+1778.
+
+                              F. C. AINSWORTH, Adjt. Gen.
+
+("In January 1779, James Lemen had his term of enlistment extended for
+two years and was transferred to another regiment. After his term
+expired he rejoined his old regiment and served through the siege at
+Yorktown. He was in several engagements.")
+
+                              [J. B. L.]
+
+
+
+
+XV. REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.
+
+     (Written by Rev. John M. Peck, in 1857. Published in _Belleville
+     Advocate_, April 6, 1909. Clipping in I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+Rev. James Lemen, Sr., a son of Nicholas Lemen and Christian Lemen,
+his wife, was born at the family home near Harper's Ferry, Virginia,
+on November 20, 1760. He acquired a practical education and in early
+manhood married Miss Katherine Ogle, of Virginia, and they reared a
+family. He enlisted for a year as a soldier of the Revolutionary War,
+on March 3, 1778, but had his term extended to two years, and {p.53}
+was in several engagements. Sometime after his enlistment expired he
+rejoined his old comrades and served through the siege at Yorktown.
+
+From childhood, in a singular manner, James Lemen was the special
+favorite and idol of Thomas Jefferson, who was a warm friend of his
+father's family. Almost before Mr. Lemen had reached manhood,
+Jefferson would consult him on all matters, even on great state
+affairs, and afterwards stated that Mr. Lemen's advice always proved
+to be surprisingly reliable.
+
+Our subject was a born anti-slavery leader, and by his Christian and
+friendly arguments he induced scores of masters in Virginia to free
+their slaves; this quickly caught Jefferson's attention and he freely
+confessed that Mr. Lemen's influence on him had redoubled his dislike
+for slavery and, though himself a slaveholder, he most earnestly
+denounced the institution. The following paragraphs from a letter he
+wrote to James Lemen's brother, Robert, who then lived near Harper's
+Ferry, Virginia, on September 10, 1807, will disclose that Mr. Lemen's
+influence was largely concerned in connection with Jefferson's share
+in the Ordinance of 1787, in its anti-slavery clause. The paragraph is
+as follows:--
+
+"If your brother, James Lemen, should visit Virginia soon, as I learn
+he possibly may, do not let him return until he makes me a visit. I
+will also write him to be sure and see me. [5]Among all my friends who
+are near, he is still a little nearer. I discovered his worth when he
+was but a child and I freely confess that in some of my most important
+achievements his example, wish, and advice, though then but a very
+young man, largely influenced my action. This was particularly true as
+to whatever share I may have had in the transfer of our great
+Northwestern Territory to the United States, and especially for the
+fact that I was so well pleased with the anti-slavery clause inserted
+later in the Ordinance of 1787. Before any one had ever mentioned the
+matter, James Lemen, by reason of his devotion to anti-slavery
+principles, suggested to me that we (Virginia) make the transfer and
+that slavery be excluded; and it so impressed and influenced me that
+whatever is due me as credit for my share in the matter is largely, if
+not wholly, due to James Lemen's advice and most righteous counsel.
+[18]His record in the new country has fully justified my course in
+inducing him {p.54} to settle there with the view of properly shaping
+events in the best interest of the people. If he comes to Virginia,
+see that he calls on me."
+
+James Lemen did not visit Virginia and President Jefferson did not get
+to see him, but his letters to him showed what a great affection he
+had for his friend and agent. On May 2, 1778 [1784], at Annapolis,
+Md., Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen made their final agreement under
+which he was to settle in Illinois to shape matters after Jefferson's
+wishes, but always in the people's interest and for freedom, and
+particularly, to uphold the anti-slavery policy promised by Jefferson
+and later confirmed by the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of
+1787 which principle both Jefferson and Mr. Lemen expected would
+finally be assailed by the pro-slavery power, and the facts confirmed
+their judgment. In 1786 Mr. Lemen with his wife and young family
+settled finally at New Design, now in Monroe county. [3]He was a judge
+under the early Territorial law. He finally united with the Baptist
+church and immediately set about collecting the Baptists into
+churches, having the first church constituted at his house.
+
+Mr. Lemen created the first eight Baptist churches in Illinois, having
+them especially declare against slavery and intemperance. When General
+William Henry Harrison became Governor, he and his Territorial Council
+went over to pro-slavery influences and demands, and carried Mr.
+Lemen's seven churches, which he had then created, with them. For some
+months he labored to call them to anti-slavery grounds, but failing,
+he declared for a division and created his eighth church, now Bethel
+church, near Collinsville, on strictly anti-slavery grounds; and this
+event opened the anti-slavery contest in 1809 which finally in 1818
+led to the election of an anti-slavery Convention which gave Illinois
+a free state constitution. [32]Jefferson warmly approved Mr. Lemen's
+movement and sent his new church twenty dollars, which, with a fund
+the members collected and gave, was finally transferred to the church
+treasury without disclosing Jefferson's identity. This was done in
+order not to disturb his friendly relations with the extreme South.
+But Jefferson made no secret of his antipathy for slavery, though
+unwilling that the fact should be known that he sent James Lemen to
+the new country especially to defend it against slavery, as he knew it
+would arouse the {p.55} resentment of the extreme pro-slavery element
+against both him and his agent and probably defeat their movement.
+
+[24]James Lemen also first suggested the plan to extend the boundary
+of Illinois northward to give more territory and better shape, and had
+a government surveyor make a map showing the great advantages and gave
+them to Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate, asking him to
+present the matter, which he did, and Congress adopted the plan. The
+extension gave the additional territory for fourteen counties and
+Chicago is included.
+
+James Lemen was a noted Indian fighter in Illinois, ever ready with
+his trusty rifle to defend the homes of the early settlers against the
+savage foe, and in every way he fully justified Jefferson's judgment
+in sending him to look after the best interests of the people in the
+new territory.
+
+Mr. Lemen possessed every moral and mental attribute in a high degree,
+and if any one was more marked than another it was his incomparable
+instinct against oppression, which his wonderful anti-slavery record
+accentuated as his chief endowment, though in all respects he was well
+equipped for a leader among men. That instinct, it might be said,
+fixed his destiny. At Jefferson's request he settled in the new
+territory to finally oppose slavery. That was before the Ordinance of
+1787 with its anti-slavery clause, but Mr. Lemen had Jefferson's
+assurance beforehand that the territory should be dedicated to
+freedom; though they both believed the pro-slavery power would finally
+press for its demands before stated, and the facts proved they were
+right. The reasons which necessitated the secrecy of the
+Jefferson-Lemen anti-slavery pact of May 2, 1784, under which Mr.
+Lemen came to Illinois on his anti-slavery mission at Jefferson's
+wish, and which was absolutely necessary to its success at first, no
+longer exists; and the fear of James Lemen's sons that its publication
+would so overshadow his great church work in Illinois with Jefferson's
+wonderful personality, as to dwarf his merits, is largely groundless.
+Senator Douglas, who with others is familiar with all the facts, says
+that when the matter is fully published and well known, it will give
+to both Mr. Lemen and Jefferson their proper shares of credit and
+fame; and, while it will add a new star to Jefferson's splendid fame,
+it will carry James Lemen along with him as his worthy co-worker and
+companion. The {p.56} subject of our sketch died at his home near
+Waterloo, Monroe county, on January 8th, 1823, and was buried in the
+family cemetery near by.
+
+
+
+
+XVI. OLD LEMEN FAMILY NOTES, JAMES LEMEN HISTORY, AND SOME RELATED
+FACTS
+
+     (MS. Document in I.B.H.C.,--C102. By Jos. B. Lemen)
+
+
+In 1857, to save the old "Lemen Family Notes" from loss by careless
+but persistent borrowers, Dr. B. F. Edwards, of St. Louis, and Rev. J.
+M. Peck, advised Rev. James Lemen, Jr., to make copies of all and then
+give the original stock to a friend whom they named to keep as his own
+in a safe vault in St. Louis, if he would pay all storage charges. But
+at that time he only gave the most important ones to Rev. J. M. Peck
+to place temporarily in a safe in St. Louis where he sometimes kept
+his own papers; though some years later he acted on their advice and
+making copies of all papers and letters of any value, gave the whole
+original stock to the party mentioned (we do not recall his name, but
+it is among our papers) [possibly the J. M. Smith mentioned in Dr.
+Peck's communication to James Lemen, Jr., July 17, 1857] and he placed
+them in the safe. Shortly after this their holder died, and they
+passed into the hands of others who removed them to another safe
+somewhere in St. Louis; but having no further title in the papers, and
+having copies of all for use, the family finally lost all traces of
+the papers and the parties holding them, and have only heard from them
+two or three times in more than 40 years.
+
+A few years ago, when a history of Rev. James Lemen, Jr., and his
+father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., was in contemplation, a reputed agent
+of the parties whom he then claimed held the old family notes,
+informed us that the family could have them at any time they wished;
+and we promised some of our friends who wished to see them that after
+we had used them in connection with the proposed history, the old
+stock of papers would be placed where they could see and copy them, if
+they wished. It was intended to have a few of the more important
+letters photographed for the James Lemen history; though it was said
+that some years before some one had a few of them photographed and
+they were so indistinct as to be worthless; but we hoped for better
+results. But it {p.57} finally developed that the reputed agent would
+expect us to pay him (contrary to our first impressions) quite a round
+sum of money for the restoration and use of the papers before he would
+deliver them to us. This awakened suspicions as to his reliability and
+a detective, to whom we sent his name and number for investigation,
+informed us that no such man could be found; and undoubtedly he was
+some dishonest person seeking to obtain money under false pretenses.
+And so the family, as for many years past, now knows nothing as to the
+parties who hold the papers or where they are. A singular fatality
+seems to have awaited all the papers placed at Dr. Peck's disposal or
+advice. His own papers were generally destroyed or lost, and the old
+"Lemen Family Notes" placed some years after his death, partly as he
+had advised, cannot be found. But while Dr. Peck's lost papers are a
+distinct and irreparable loss, no loss is sustained in the
+misplacement of the old Lemen notes, as every line or fact of any
+value in them was copied and the copies are all preserved; and nearly
+all the more important ones have been published, except a very few,
+including Rev. James Lemen's interviews with Lincoln, as written up by
+Mr. Lemen on ten pages of legal cap paper, and that paper will
+probably be published soon, if it is not held specially for the James
+Lemen history.
+
+As to that history, it will be delayed for some time, as the writer,
+who was expected to see to its preparation, was named by the State
+Baptist Convention as a member of the Baptist State Committee to
+assist with the James Lemen monument; and much of the matter intended
+for the history was published in connection with the labors of the
+State Committee. One object of the history was to secure or to
+influence that degree of recognition of the importance of the services
+of Rev. James Lemen, Sr. and his sons, with a few co-workers of the
+latter, in the early history and interests of both the Baptist cause
+and the State, on the part of the Baptists, to which the family
+thought them entitled. But since the Baptists, the "Sons of the
+Revolution," and others have placed a monument at the grave of the old
+State leader and Baptist pioneer, the Rev. James Lemen, Sr., it is
+felt that the object for making the history has already been in part
+realized. Another circumstance which has delayed it, is the poor
+health of the writer; so the prospect is that the making of the
+history will be delayed for some time.
+
+This {p.58} is written entirely from memory, as the papers and dates
+to which we refer are not before me, but we will retain a copy and if
+there proves to be any errors in this one, we will have them
+corrected. There was such a demand for them that some of Dr. Peck's,
+Lovejoy's, Douglas's, Lincoln's and some other letters were published,
+and some of them are included in the papers we send.
+
+Some years ago some one claimed that the old family notes had been
+found, which led to statements in the papers that they would soon be
+placed where people could see and read them; but it proved to be a
+mistake. For the loss of the papers the family do not believe there
+was any fault with the parties originally holding them, as in fact
+they had the right to hold them where they pleased, according to the
+agreement; but that from sudden deaths and other circumstances, they
+were misplaced.
+
+It should be added that every paper of any value, which was given to
+the St. Louis parties to hold was copied and the copies preserved,
+except mere personal, friendship letters, and of these there was quite
+a large stock; also that much of Dr. Peck's writings and many letters
+of his and others were loaned out and could not be given to the St.
+Louis parties to keep, but all of any real value have been copied or
+published, except the Lemen-Lincoln interviews and some others, and
+that even some of these copies are loaned out, among them copies of
+letters from Dr. Peck, Douglas, Lincoln, Lovejoy, if I recall
+correctly, and others; though the facts or information in them have
+already been published, except such facts as will be held for the
+James Lemen history, and we have copies of them, so nothing will be
+lost.
+
+                              (Signed) JOSEPH B. LEMEN.
+
+  O'Fallon, Illinois,
+  January 10, 1911.
+
+[N. B. The above communication accompanied the gift of the walnut
+chest made by the elder James Lemen at Ft. Piggott, which was sent to
+the custodian of the Baptist Historical Collection at Shurtleff
+College, early in the year 1913--COMPILER.]
+
+
+
+
+REFERENCES {p.59}
+
+
+  1. See p. 26.
+
+  2. Reynolds "My Own Times" and "Pioneer History of Illinois."
+
+  3. See "Territorial Records of Illinois" (Illinois State Historical
+  Library, _Publication_, III.), and compare p. 54 _post_.
+
+  4. See Biographical sketches in "Lemen Family History."
+
+  5. See pp. 33, 53.
+
+  6. See pp. 27, 28.
+
+  7. See pp. 23, 42, 56.
+
+  8. Peck, J. M., "Annals of the West," _in loco_.
+
+  9. See p. 54 _post_, and Hinsdale, "Old Northwest."
+
+  10. Alvord, "Cahokia Records," Introduction.
+
+  11. Reynolds, "My Own Times," p. 208.
+
+  12. McMaster, "People of United States," II: 30, 31; III: 108; St.
+  Clair Papers.
+
+  13. Blake, "History of Slavery," p. 431.
+
+  14. See p. 29.
+
+  15. See p. 30, and compare No. 16 below.
+
+  16. Blake, "History of Slavery," _in loco_.
+
+  17. See pp. 35, 36, 43.
+
+  18. See p. 53.
+
+  19. See p. 30.
+
+  20. See p. 30, and compare, Patterson, "Early Illinois," Fergus
+  Historical Coll., No. 14, pp. 141-2.
+
+  21. See pp. 30, 35.
+
+  22. Reynolds, "My Own Times," p. 170.
+
+  23. See p. 36.
+
+  24. See p. 55, and compare reference No. 19.
+
+  25. See p. 37.
+
+  26. See "Centennial History of Madison Co.," I: 52-55.
+
+  27. See p. 38.
+
+  28. See p. 47.
+
+  29. See p. 50.
+
+  30. See p. 34.
+
+  31. See p. 41.
+
+  32. See p. 54.
+
+  33. _Cf._ Smith, J. A., "History of the Baptists," p. 40; Benedict,
+  "History of the Baptists," II: 246-8.
+
+  34. See p. 39.
+
+  35. See pp. 42, 56 and Peck, J. M., "Father Clark," _in loco_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Jefferson-Lemen Compact, by Willard C. MacNaul
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+Project Gutenberg's The Jefferson-Lemen Compact, by Willard C. MacNaul
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Jefferson-Lemen Compact
+       The Relations of Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen in the
+              Exclusion of Slavery from Illinois and Northern Territory
+              with Related Documents 1781-1818
+
+Author: Willard C. MacNaul
+
+Release Date: April 29, 2007 [EBook #21251]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEFFERSON-LEMEN COMPACT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p>[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected,
+all other inconsistencies are as in the original. Author's spelling has been
+maintained.]</p>
+
+<h1>The Jefferson-Lemen Compact</h1>
+
+
+<p class="center">The Relations of<br>
+  Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen<br>
+  in the Exclusion of Slavery from Illinois<br>
+  and the Northwest Territory<br>
+  with Related Documents<br>
+  1781-1818</p>
+
+<p class="center">A Paper read before the<br>
+  Chicago Historical Society<br>
+  February 16, 1915</p>
+
+<p class="center">By</p>
+<h2>Willard C. MacNaul</h2>
+
+<a id="img001" name="img001"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img001.jpg" width="200" height="200" alt="Arms" title="Arms">
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">The University of Chicago Press<br>
+  1915</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright by</span><br>
+  CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY<br>
+  1915</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS <span class="pagenum"><a id="page03" name="page03"></a>(p. 03)</span></h2>
+
+
+<h4>INTRODUCTION</h4>
+
+<div class="toc">
+<ul class="dec">
+<li><a href="#page07">Sketch of James Lemen</a></li>
+<li><a href="#page09">Lemen's Relations with Jefferson in Virginia</a></li>
+<li>Lemen's Anti-Slavery Mission in Illinois&mdash;<br>
+<ul>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page11">Slavery in Illinois until 1787</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page11">Prohibition of Slavery by Ordinance of 1787</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page12">The Slavery Conflict under Gov. St. Clair
+       (1787-1800)</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page13">The Slavery Conflict under Gov. Harrison
+       (1801-1809)</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page16">Slavery Question in the Movement for Division
+       of Indiana Territory in 1808-9</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page16">James Lemen's Anti-Slavery Influence in the
+        Baptist Churches until 1809</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page19">Slavery under Gov. Ninian Edwards (1809-1818)</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="add2em"><a href="#page19">Slavery in the Campaign for Statehood in 1818</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+<li value="4"><a href="#page23">Available Materials Relating to the Subject</a></li>
+<li><a href="#page24">Account of the "Lemen Family Notes"</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<h4>DOCUMENTS</h4>
+
+<ul class="roman">
+<li><a href="#page26"><span class="smcap">Diary of James Lemen, Sr.</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page32"><span class="smcap">History of the Relations of James Lemen
+          and Thos. Jefferson, by J. M. Peck</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page37"><span class="smcap">How Illinois Got Chicago, by Jos. B. Lemen</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page38"><span class="smcap">Address to the Friends of Freedom</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page39"><span class="smcap">Recollections of a Centennarian, by
+          Dr. W. F. Boyakin</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page41"><span class="smcap">In Memory of Rev. Jas. Lemen, Sr.</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page41"><span class="smcap">Statement by Editor of</span> <i>Belleville Advocate</i></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page42"><span class="smcap">Letter of Rev. J. M. Peck on the Old Lemen
+          Family Notes</span></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<h4>PIONEER LETTERS <span class="pagenum"><a id="page04" name="page04"></a>(p. 04)</span></h4>
+
+<ul class="roman">
+<li value="9"><a href="#page46"><span class="smcap">Letter of Senator Douglas to Rev. Jas.
+         Lemen, Sr.</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page48"><span class="smcap">Announcement by J. B. Lemen</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page49"><span class="smcap">Letter of Gov. Ninian Edwards to Jas.
+         Lemen, Jr.</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page49"><span class="smcap">Letter of A. W. Snyder to Jas. Lemen, Sr.</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page50"><span class="smcap">Letter of Abraham Lincoln to Jas.
+         Lemen, Jr.</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page51"><span class="smcap">The Lemen Monument&mdash;Lemen's War
+         Record</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page52"><span class="smcap">Sketch of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., by J. M.
+         Peck</span></a></li>
+<li><a href="#page56"><span class="smcap">Old Lemen Family Notes, Statement by
+         Jos. B. Lemen</span></a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#page59"><span class="smcap">References</span></a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h2>NOTE <span class="pagenum"><a id="page05" name="page05"></a>(p. 05)</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>The materials here presented were collected in connection with the
+preparation of a history of the first generation of Illinois Baptists.
+The narrative introduction is printed substantially as delivered at a
+special meeting of the Chicago Historical Society, and, with the
+collection of documents, is published in response to inquiries
+concerning the so-called "Lemen Family Notes," and in compliance with
+the request for a contribution to the publications of this Society. It
+is hoped that the publication may serve to elicit further information
+concerning the alleged "Notes," the existence of which has become a
+subject of more or less interest to historians. The compiler merely
+presents the materials at their face value, without assuming to pass
+critical judgment upon them.</p>
+
+<p class="left50"><span class="smcap">W. C. M.</span></p>
+
+
+<h3>INTRODUCTION <span class="pagenum"><a id="page07" name="page07"></a>(p. 07)</span></h3>
+
+<h5>RELATIONS OF JAMES LEMEN AND THOMAS JEFFERSON IN THE EXCLUSION OF
+SLAVERY FROM ILLINOIS AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY</h5>
+
+
+<p>In view of the approaching centennary of statehood in Illinois, the
+name of James Lemen takes on a timely interest because of his
+services&mdash;social, religious, and political&mdash;in the making of the
+Commonwealth. He was a native of Virginia, born and reared in the
+vicinity of Harper's Ferry. He served a two-years' enlistment in the
+Revolutionary War under Washington, and afterwards returned to his
+regiment during the siege of Yorktown. His "Yorktown Notes" in his
+diary give some interesting glimpses of his participation in that
+campaign.<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1">[1]</a> His Scotch ancestors had served in a similar cause under
+Cromwell, whose wedding gift to one of their number is still cherished
+as a family heirloom.</p>
+
+<p>Upon leaving the army James Lemen married Catherine Ogle, daughter of
+Captain Joseph Ogle, whose name is perpetuated in that of Ogle county,
+Illinois. The Ogles were of old English stock, some of whom at least
+were found on the side of Cromwell and the Commonwealth. Catherine's
+family at one time lived on the South Branch of the Potomac, although
+at the time of her marriage her home was near Wheeling. Captain Ogle's
+commission, signed by Gov. Patrick Henry, is now a valued possession
+of one of Mrs. Lemen's descendants. James and Catherine Lemen were
+well fitted by nature and training for braving the hardships and
+brightening the privations of life on the frontier, far removed from
+home and friends, or even the abodes of their nearest white kinsmen.</p>
+
+<p>During, and even before the war, young Lemen is reputed to have been
+the protégé of Thomas Jefferson, through whose influence he became a
+civil and religious leader in the pioneer period of Illinois history.
+Gov. Reynolds, in his writings relating to this period,<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2">[2]</a> gives
+various sketches of the man and his family, and his name occurs
+frequently in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page08" name="page08"></a>(p. 08)</span> the records of the times. He was among the
+first to follow Col. Clark's men to the Illinois country, where he
+established the settlement of New Design, one of the earliest American
+colonies in what was, previous to his arrival, the "Illinois county"
+of the Old Dominion. Here he served, first as a justice of the peace,
+and then as a judge of the court of the original county of St. Clair,
+and thus acquired the title of "Judge Lemen."<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3">[3]</a> Here, too, he became
+the progenitor of the numerous Illinois branch of the Lemen family,
+whose genealogy and family history was recently published by Messrs.
+Frank and Joseph B. Lemen&mdash;a volume of some four hundred and fifty
+pages, and embracing some five hundred members of the family.</p>
+
+<p>True to his avowed purpose in coming to Illinois, young Lemen became a
+leader of anti-slavery sentiment in the new Territory, and,
+undoubtedly, deserves to be called one of the Fathers of the Free
+State Constitution, which was framed in 1818 and preserved in 1824.
+His homestead, the "Old Lemen Fort" at New Design, which is still the
+comfortable home of the present owner, is the birthplace of the
+Baptist denomination in Illinois; and he himself is commemorated as
+the recognized founder of that faith in this State, by a granite shaft
+in the family burial plot directly in front of the old home. This
+memorial was dedicated in 1909 by Col. William Jennings Bryan, whose
+father, Judge Bryan, of Salem, Illinois, was the first to suggest it
+as a well-deserved honor.</p>
+
+<p>James Lemen, Sr., also became the father and leader of the noted
+"Lemen Family Preachers," consisting of himself and six stalwart sons,
+all but one of whom were regularly ordained Baptist ministers. The
+eldest son, Robert, although never ordained, was quite as active and
+efficient in the cause as any of the family. This remarkable family
+eventually became the nucleus of a group of anti-slavery Baptist
+churches in Illinois which had a very important influence upon the
+issue of that question in the State. Rev. James Lemen, Jr., who is
+said to have been the second American boy born in the Illinois
+country, succeeded to his father's position of leadership in the
+anti-slavery movement of the times, and served as the representative
+of St. Clair county in the Territorial Legislature, the Constitutional
+Convention, and the State Senate. The younger James Lemen was on terms
+of intimacy with Abraham Lincoln at Springfield, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page09" name="page09"></a>(p. 09)</span> his
+cousin, Ward Lamon, was Lincoln's early associate in the law, and also
+his first biographer. Various representatives of the family in later
+generations have attained success as farmers, physicians, teachers,
+ministers, and lawyers throughout southern Illinois and other sections
+of the country.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>The elder James Lemen was himself an interesting character, and,
+entirely apart from his relations with Jefferson, he is a significant
+factor in early Illinois history. His fight for free versus slave
+labor in Illinois and the Northwest derives a peculiar interest,
+however, from its association with the great name of Jefferson. The
+principles for which the latter stood&mdash;but not necessarily his
+policies&mdash;have a present-day interest for us greater than those of his
+contemporaries, because those principles are the "live issues" of our
+own times. Jefferson is to that extent our contemporary, and hence his
+name lends a living interest to otherwise obscure persons and remote
+events. The problem of free labor versus slave labor we have with us
+still, and in a much more complex and widespread form than in
+Jefferson's day.</p>
+
+<p>According to the current tradition, a warm personal friendship sprang
+up between Jefferson and young Lemen, who was seventeen years the
+junior of his distinguished patron and friend. In a letter to Robert,
+brother of James Lemen, attributed to Jefferson, he writes: "Among all
+my friends who are near, he is still a little nearer. I discovered his
+worth when he was but a child, and I freely confess that in some of my
+most important achievements his example, wish, and advice, though then
+but a very young man, largely influenced my action." In a sketch of
+the relations of the two men by Dr. John M. Peck we are told that
+"after Jefferson became President of the United States, he retained
+all of his early affection for Mr. Lemen"; and upon the occasion of a
+visit of a mutual friend to the President, in 1808, "he inquired after
+him with all the fondness of a father."<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>Their early relations in Virginia, so far as we have any account of
+them, concerned their mutual anti-slavery interests. Peck tells us
+that "Mr. Lemen was a born anti-slavery leader, and had proved himself
+such in Virginia by inducing scores of masters to free their slaves
+through his prevailing kindness of manner and Christian arguments."
+Concerning <span class="pagenum"><a id="page10" name="page10"></a>(p. 10)</span> the cession of Virginia's claims to the Northwest
+Territory, Jefferson is thus quoted, from his letter to Robert Lemen:
+"Before any one had even mentioned the matter, James Lemen, by reason
+of his devotion to anti-slavery principles, suggested to me that we
+(Virginia) make the transfer, and that slavery be excluded; and it so
+impressed and influenced me that whatever is due me as credit for my
+share in the matter, is largely, if not wholly, due to James Lemen's
+advice and most righteous counsel."<a href="#footnote5">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>Before this transfer was effected, it appears that Jefferson had
+entered into negotiations with his young protégé with a view to
+inducing him to locate in the "Illinois country" as his agent, in
+order to co-operate with himself in the effort to exclude slavery from
+the entire Northwest Territory. Mr. Lemen makes record of an interview
+with Jefferson under date of December 11, 1782, as follows: "Thomas
+Jefferson had me to visit him again a short time ago, as he wanted me
+to go to the Illinois country in the Northwest after a year or two, in
+order to try to lead and direct the new settlers in the best way, and
+also to oppose the introduction of slavery into that country at a
+later day, as I am known as an opponent of that evil; and he says he
+will give me some help. It is all because of his great kindness and
+affection for me, for which I am very grateful; but I have not yet
+fully decided to do so, but have agreed to consider the case." In May,
+1784, they had another interview, on the eve of Jefferson's departure
+on his prolonged mission to France. Mr. Lemen's memorandum reads: "I
+saw Jefferson at Annapolis, Maryland, to-day, and had a very pleasant
+visit with him. I have consented to go to Illinois on his mission, and
+he intends helping me some; but I did not ask nor wish it. We had a
+full agreement and understanding as to all terms and duties. The
+agreement is strictly private between us, but all his purposes are
+perfectly honorable and praiseworthy."<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus the mission was undertaken which proved to be his life-work. He
+had intended starting with his father-in-law, Captain Ogle, in 1785,
+but was detained by illness in his family. December 28, 1785, he
+records: "Jefferson's confidential agent gave me one hundred dollars
+of his funds to use for my family, if need be, and if not, to go to
+good causes; and I will go to Illinois on his mission next spring and
+take my wife and children."</p>
+
+<p>Such <span class="pagenum"><a id="page11" name="page11"></a>(p. 11)</span> was the origin and nature of the so-called
+"Jefferson-Lemen Secret Anti-Slavery Compact," the available evidence
+concerning which will be given at the conclusion of this paper.<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7">[7]</a> The
+anti-slavery propaganda of James Lemen and his circle constituted a
+determining factor in the history of the first generation of Illinois
+Baptists. To what extent Lemen co-operated with Jefferson in his
+movements will appear as we proceed with the story of his efforts to
+make Illinois a free State.</p>
+
+<p>The "Old Dominion" ceded her "county of Illinois" to the National
+domain in 1784. Jefferson's effort to provide for the exclusion of
+slavery from the new Territory at that date proved abortive.
+Consequently, when James Lemen arrived at the old French village of
+Kaskaskia in July, 1786, he found slavery legally entrenched in all
+the former French possessions in the "Illinois country." It had been
+introduced by Renault, in 1719, who brought 500 negroes from Santo
+Domingo (then a French possession) to work the mines which he expected
+to develop in this section of the French Colonial Empire.<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8">[8]</a> It is a
+noteworthy fact that slavery was established on the soil of Illinois
+just a century after its introduction on the shores of Virginia. When
+the French possessions were taken over by Great Britain at the close
+of the colonial struggle in 1763, that country guaranteed the French
+inhabitants the possession of all their property, including slaves.
+When Col. Clark, of Virginia, took possession of this region in 1778,
+the State likewise guaranteed the inhabitants the full enjoyment of
+all their property rights. By the terms of the Virginia cession of
+1784 to the National Government, all the rights and privileges of the
+former citizens of Virginia were assured to them in the ceded
+district. Thus, at the time of Lemen's arrival, slavery had been
+sanctioned on the Illinois prairies for sixty-seven years. One year
+from the date of his arrival, however, the Territorial Ordinance of
+1787 was passed, with the prohibition of slavery, as originally
+proposed by Jefferson in 1784.<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9">[9]</a> Thus it would seem that the desired
+object had already been attained. By the terms of the famous "Sixth
+Article of Compact," contained in that Ordinance, it was declared that
+"there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said
+Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the
+accused shall have been duly convicted." This looks like a sweeping
+and final disposition of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page12" name="page12"></a>(p. 12)</span> the matter, but it was not accepted
+as such until the lapse of another fifty-seven years. But neither
+Jefferson nor his agents on the ground had anticipated so easy a
+victory. Indeed, they had foreseen that a determined effort would be
+made by the friends of slavery to legalize that institution in the
+Territory. Almost at once, in fact, the conflict commenced, which was
+to continue actively for thirty-seven years. Like the Nation itself,
+the Illinois country was to be for a large part of its history "half
+slave and half free"&mdash;both in sentiment and in practice.</p>
+
+<p>Two attempts against the integrity of the "Sixth Article" were made
+during Gov. St. Clair's administration. The trouble began with the
+appeals of the French slave-holders against the loss of their
+slaves.<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10">[10]</a> As civil administration under the Territorial government
+was not established among the Illinois settlements until 1790, both
+the old French inhabitants and the new American colonists suffered all
+manner of disabilities and distresses in the interval between 1784 and
+1790, while just across the Mississippi there was a settled and
+prosperous community under the Spanish government of Louisiana. When,
+therefore, the French masters appealed to Gen. St. Clair, in 1787, to
+protect them against the loss of the principal part of their wealth,
+represented by their slaves, he had to face the alternative of the
+loss of these substantial citizens by migration with their slaves to
+the Spanish side of the river. And, in order to pacify these
+petitioners, St. Clair gave it as his opinion that the prohibition of
+slavery in the Ordinance was not retroactive, and hence did not affect
+the rights of the French masters in their previously acquired slave
+property. As this view accorded with the "compact" contained in the
+Virginia deed of cession, it was sanctioned by the old Congress, and
+was later upheld by the new Federal Government; and this construction
+of the Ordinance of 1787 continued to prevail in Illinois until 1845,
+when the State Supreme Court decreed that the prohibition was
+absolute, and that, consequently, slavery in any form had never had
+any legal sanction in Illinois since 1787.<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>It does not appear that Mr. Lemen took any active measures against
+this construction of the anti-slavery ordinance at the time. He was,
+indeed, himself a petitioner, with other American settlers on the
+"Congress lands" in Illinois, for the recognition of their claims,
+which were menaced <span class="pagenum"><a id="page13" name="page13"></a>(p. 13)</span> by the general prohibition of settlement
+then in effect.<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12">[12]</a> Conditions in every respect were so insecure prior
+to the organization of St. Clair county in 1790, that it was hardly to
+be expected that any vigorous measure could be taken against
+previously existing slavery in the colony, especially as the Americans
+were then living in station forts for protection against the hostile
+Indians. Moreover, Jefferson was not in the country in 1787, and hence
+there was no opportunity for co-operation with him at this time. Mr.
+Lemen was, however, improving the opportunity "to try to lead and
+direct the new settlers in the best way"; for we find him, although
+not as yet himself a "professor" of religion, engaged in promoting the
+religious observance of the Sabbath on the part of the "godfearing"
+element in the station fort where, with his father-in-law, he resided
+(Fort Piggott). In 1789 Jefferson returned from France to become
+Secretary of State in President Washington's cabinet, under the new
+Federal Government. He had not forgotten his friend Lemen, as Dr. Peck
+assures us that "he lost no time in sending him a message of love and
+confidence by a friend who was then coming to the West."</p>
+
+<p>St. Clair's construction of the prohibition of slavery unfortunately
+served to weaken even its preventive force and emboldened the
+pro-slavery advocates to seek persistently for the repeal, or, at
+least, the "suspension" of the obnoxious Sixth Article. A second
+effort was made under his administration in 1796, when a memorial,
+headed by Gen. John Edgar, was sent to Congress praying for the
+suspension of the Article. The committee of reference, of which the
+Hon. Joshua Coit of Connecticut was chairman, reported adversely upon
+this memorial, May 12, 1796.<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13">[13]</a> It is not possible to state
+positively Lemen's influence, if any, in the defeat of this appeal of
+the leading citizens of the old French villages. But, as it was in
+this same year that the first Protestant church in the bounds of
+Illinois was organized in his house, and, as we are informed that he
+endeavored to persuade the constituent members of the New Design
+church to oppose slavery, we may suppose that he was already taking an
+active part in opposition to the further encroachments of slavery,
+especially in his own community.</p>
+
+<p>The effort to remove the prohibition was renewed under Gov. Wm. Henry
+Harrison, during the connection of the Illinois <span class="pagenum"><a id="page14" name="page14"></a>(p. 14)</span> settlements
+with the Indiana Territory, from 1800 to 1809. Five separate attempts
+were made during these years, which coincide with the term of
+President Jefferson, who had removed St. Clair to make room for Gen.
+Harrison. Harrison, however, yielded to the pressure of the
+pro-slavery element in the Territory to use his power and influence
+for their side of the question. Although their proposals were thrice
+favorably reported from committee, the question never came to a vote
+in Congress. The first attempt during the Indiana period was that of a
+pro-slavery convention, called at the instigation of the Illinois
+contingent, which met at Vincennes, in 1803, under the chairmanship of
+Gov. Harrison. Their memorial to Congress, requesting merely a
+temporary suspension of the prohibition, was adversely reported from
+committee in view of the evident prosperity of Ohio under the same
+restriction, and because "the committee deem it highly dangerous and
+inexpedient to impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the
+happiness and prosperity of the Northwestern country, and to give
+strength and security to that extensive frontier." Referring to this
+attempt of "the extreme southern slave advocates ... for the
+introduction of slavery," Mr. Lemen writes, under date of May 3, 1803,
+that "steps must soon be taken to prevent that curse from being
+fastened on our people." The same memorial was again introduced in
+Congress in February, 1804, with the provisos of a ten-year limit to
+the suspension and the introduction of native born slaves only, which,
+of course, would mean those of the border-state breeders. Even this
+modified proposal, although approved in committee, failed to move
+Congress to action. Harrison and his supporters continued nevertheless
+to press the matter, and he even urged Judge Lemen, in a personal
+interview, to lend his influence to the movement for the introduction
+of slavery. To this suggestion Lemen replied that "the evil attempt
+would encounter his most active opposition, in every possible and
+honorable manner that his mind could suggest or his means
+accomplish."<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was about this time that the Governor and judges took matters in
+their own hands and introduced a form of indentured service, which,
+although technically within the prohibition of <i>involuntary</i>
+servitude, amounted practically to actual slavery. Soon after, in
+order to give this institution a more secure legal sanction, by
+legislative enactment, the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page15" name="page15"></a>(p. 15)</span> second grade of territorial
+government was hastily and high-handedly forced upon the people for
+this purpose. It was probably in view of these measures that Mr. Lemen
+recorded his belief that President Jefferson "will find means to
+overreach the evil attempts of the pro-slavery party." Early in the
+year 1806 the Vincennes memorial was introduced into Congress for the
+third time and again favorably reported from committee, but to no
+avail. It was about this time, as we learn from his diary, that Mr.
+Lemen "sent a messenger to Indiana to ask the churches and people
+there to get up and sign a counter petition, to uphold freedom in the
+Territory," circulating a similar petition in Illinois himself.<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>A fourth attempt to bring the proposal before Congress was made in
+January, 1807, in a formal communication from the Governor and
+Territorial Legislature. The proposal was a third time favorably
+reported by the committee of reference, but still without action by
+the House. Finally, in November of the same year, President Jefferson
+transmitted to Congress similar communications from the Indiana
+government. This time the committee reported that "the citizens of
+Clark county [in which was located the first Baptist church organized
+in Indiana], in their remonstrance, express their sense of the
+impropriety of the measure"; and that they also requested Congress not
+to act upon the subject until the people had an opportunity to
+formulate a State Constitution<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16">[16]</a>. Commenting upon the whole
+proceedings, Dr. Peck quotes Gov. Harrison to the effect that, though
+he and Lemen were firm friends, the latter "had set his iron will
+against slavery, and indirectly made his influence felt so strongly at
+Washington and before Congress, that all the efforts to suspend the
+anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787 failed."<a id="footnotetag17" name="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17">[17]</a> Peck adds
+that President Jefferson "quietly directed his leading confidential
+friends in Congress steadily to defeat Gen. Harrison's petitions for
+the repeal."<a href="#footnote17">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was about this time, September 10, 1807, that President Jefferson
+thus expressed his estimate of James Lemen's services, in his letter
+to Robert Lemen: "His record in the new country has fully justified my
+course in inducing him to settle there with the view of properly
+shaping events in the best interest of the people."<a id="footnotetag18" name="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18">[18]</a> It was during
+this period of the Indiana agitation for the introduction of slavery,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page16" name="page16"></a>(p. 16)</span> as we learn from an entry in his diary dated September 10,
+1806, that Mr. Lemen received a call from an agent of Aaron Burr to
+solicit his aid and sympathy in Burr's scheme for a southwestern
+empire, with Illinois as a Province, and an offer to make him
+governor. "But I denounced the conspiracy as high treason," he says,
+"and gave him a few hours to leave the Territory on pain of
+arrest."<a id="footnotetag19" name="footnotetag19"></a><a href="#footnote19">[19]</a> It should be noted that at this date he was not himself a
+magistrate, which, perhaps, accounts for his apparent leniency towards
+what he regarded as a treasonable proposal.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1809, the date of the separation of Illinois from the Indiana
+Territory, marks a crisis in the Lemen anti-slavery campaign in
+Illinois.<a id="footnotetag20" name="footnotetag20"></a><a href="#footnote20">[20]</a> The agitation under the Indiana government for the
+further recognition of slavery in the Territory was mainly instigated
+by the Illinois slave-holders and their sympathizers among the American
+settlers from the slave states. The people of Indiana proper, except
+those of the old French inhabitants of Vincennes, who were possessed
+of slaves, were either indifferent or hostile towards slavery. Its
+partisans in the Illinois counties of the Territory, in the hope of
+promoting their object thereby, now sought division of the Indiana
+Territory and the erection of a separate government for Illinois at
+Kaskaskia. This movement aroused a bitter political struggle in the
+Illinois settlements, one result of which was the murder of young Rice
+Jones in the streets of Kaskaskia. The division was advocated on the
+ground of convenience and opposed on the score of expense. The
+divisionists, however, seem to have been animated mainly by the desire
+to secure the introduction of slavery as soon as statehood could be
+attained for their section. The division was achieved in 1809, and
+with it the prompt adoption of the system of indentured service
+already in vogue under the Indiana government. And from that time
+forth the fight was on between the free-state and slave-state parties
+in the new Territory. Throughout the independent territorial history
+of Illinois, slavery was sanctioned partly by law and still further by
+custom. Gov. Ninian Edwards, whose religious affiliations were with
+the Baptists, not only sanctioned slavery, but, as is well known, was
+himself the owner of slaves during the territorial period.</p>
+
+<p>It was in view of this evident determination to make of Illinois
+Territory a slave state, that James Lemen, with Jefferson's approval,
+took the radical step of organizing a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page17" name="page17"></a>(p. 17)</span> distinctively
+anti-slavery church as a means of promoting the free-state cause.<a id="footnotetag21" name="footnotetag21"></a><a href="#footnote21">[21]</a>
+From the first, indeed, he had sought to promote the cause of
+temperance and of anti-slavery in and through the church. He tells us
+in his diary, in fact, that he "hoped to employ the churches as a
+means of opposition to the institution of slavery."<a href="#footnote21">[21]</a> He was reared
+in the Presbyterian faith, his stepfather being a minister of that
+persuasion; but at twenty years of age he embraced Baptist principles,
+apparently under the influence of a Baptist minister in Virginia,
+whose practice it was to bar from membership all who upheld the
+institution of slavery. He thus identified himself with the struggles
+for civil, religious, and industrial liberty, all of which were then
+actively going on in his own state.</p>
+
+<p>The name of "New Design," which became attached to the settlement
+which he established on the upland prairies beyond the bluffs of the
+"American Bottom," is said to have originated from a quaint remark of
+his that he "had a 'new design' to locate a settlement south of
+Bellefontaine" near the present town of Waterloo.<a id="footnotetag22" name="footnotetag22"></a><a href="#footnote22">[22]</a> The name "New
+Design," however, became significant of his anti-slavery mission; and
+when, after ten years of pioneer struggles, he organized The Baptist
+Church of Christ at New Design, in 1796, he soon afterwards induced
+that body&mdash;the first Protestant church in the bounds of the present
+State&mdash;to adopt what were known as "Tarrant's Rules Against Slavery."
+The author of these rules, the Rev. James Tarrant, of Virginia, later
+of Kentucky, one of the "emancipating preachers," eventually organized
+the fraternity of anti-slavery Baptist churches in Kentucky, who
+called themselves "Friends to Humanity."</p>
+
+<p>From 1796 to 1809 Judge Lemen was active in the promotion of Baptist
+churches and a Baptist Association. He labored to induce all these
+organizations to adopt his anti-slavery principles, and in this he was
+largely successful; but, with the increase of immigrant Baptists from
+the slave states, it became increasingly difficult to maintain these
+principles in their integrity. And when, in the course of the campaign
+for the division of the Territory in 1808, it became apparent that the
+lines between the free-state and the slave-state forces were being
+decisively drawn, Lemen prepared to take a more radical stand in the
+struggle. With this design in view he asked and obtained the formal
+sanction of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page18" name="page18"></a>(p. 18)</span> his church as a licensed preacher. In the course
+of the same year, 1808, he is said to have received a confidential
+message from Jefferson "suggesting a division of the churches on the
+question of slavery, and the organization of a church on a strictly
+anti-slavery basis, for the purpose of heading a movement to make
+Illinois a free state."<a href="#footnote21">[21]</a> According to another, and more probable,
+version of this story, when Jefferson learned, through a mutual friend
+(Mr. S. H. Biggs), of Lemen's determination to force the issue in the
+church to the point of division, if necessary, he sent him a message
+of approval of his proposed course and accompanied it with a
+contribution of $20 for the contemplated anti-slavery church.</p>
+
+<p>The division of the Territory was effected early in the year 1809, and
+in the summer of that year, after vainly trying to hold all the
+churches to their avowed anti-slavery principles, Elder Lemen, in a
+sermon at Richland Creek Baptist church, threw down the gauntlet to
+his pro-slavery brethren and declared that he could no longer maintain
+church fellowship with them. His action caused a division in the
+church, which was carried into the Association at its ensuing meeting,
+in October, 1809, and resulted in the disruption of that body into
+three parties on the slavery question&mdash;the conservatives, the
+liberals, and the radicals. The latter element, headed by "the Lemen
+party," as it now came to be called, held to the principles of The
+Friends to Humanity, and proposed to organize a branch of that order
+of Baptists. When it came to the test, however, the new church was
+reduced to a constituent membership consisting of some seven or eight
+members of the Lemen family. Such was the beginning of what is now the
+oldest surviving Baptist church in the State, which then took the name
+of "The Baptized Church of Christ, Friends to Humanity, on Cantine
+(Quentin) Creek." It is located in the neighborhood of the old Cahokia
+mound. Its building, when it came to have one, was called "Bethel
+Meeting House," and in time the church itself became known as "Bethel
+Baptist Church."</p>
+
+<p>The distinctive basis of this church is proclaimed in its simple
+constitution, to which every member was required to subscribe:
+"Denying union and communion with all persons holding the doctrine of
+perpetual, involuntary, hereditary slavery." This church began its
+career as "a family church," in the literal sense of the word; but it
+prospered nevertheless, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page19" name="page19"></a>(p. 19)</span> until it became a numerically strong
+and vigorous organization which has had an active and honorable career
+of a hundred years' duration. Churches of the same name and principles
+multiplied and maintained their uncompromising but discriminating
+opposition to slavery so long as slavery remained a local issue; after
+which time they were gradually absorbed into the general body of
+ordinary Baptist churches.</p>
+
+<p>During the period of the Illinois Territory, 1809 to 1818, Elder Lemen
+kept up a most energetic campaign of opposition to slavery, by
+preaching and rigorous church discipline in the application of the
+rules against slavery. He himself was regularly ordained soon after
+the organization of his anti-slavery church. His sons, James and
+Joseph, and his brother-in-law, Benjamin Ogle, were equally active in
+the ministry during this period, and, before its close, they had two
+churches firmly established in Illinois, with others of the same order
+in Missouri.</p>
+
+<p>"The church, properly speaking, never entered politics," Dr. Peck
+informs us, "but presently, when it became strong, the members all
+formed what they called the 'Illinois Anti-Slavery League,' and it was
+this body that conducted the anti-slavery contest."<a id="footnotetag23" name="footnotetag23"></a><a href="#footnote23">[23]</a> The contest
+culminated in the campaign for statehood in 1818.</p>
+
+<p>At the beginning of that year the Territorial Legislature petitioned
+Congress for an Enabling Act, which was presented by the Illinois
+Delegate, Hon. Nathaniel Pope. As chairman of the committee to which
+this petition was referred, he drew up a bill for such an act early in
+the year. In the course of its progress through the House, he
+presented an amendment to his own bill, which provided for the
+extension of the northern boundary of the new state. According to the
+provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, the line would have been drawn
+through the southern border of Lake Michigan. Pope's amendment
+proposed to extend it so as to include some sixty miles of frontage on
+Lake Michigan, thereby adding fourteen counties, naturally tributary
+to the lake region, to counterbalance the southern portion of the
+State, which was connected by the river system with the southern slave
+states. Gov. Thomas Ford states explicitly that Pope made this change
+"upon his own responsibility, ... no one at that time having suggested
+or requested it." This statement is directly contradicted in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page20" name="page20"></a>(p. 20)</span>
+Dr. Peck's sketch of James Lemen, Sr., written in 1857. He therein
+states that this extension was first suggested by Judge Lemen, who had
+a government surveyor make a plat of the proposed extension, with the
+advantages to the anti-slavery cause to be gained thereby noted on the
+document, which he gave to Pope with the request to have it embodied
+in the Enabling Act.<a id="footnotetag24" name="footnotetag24"></a><a href="#footnote24">[24]</a> This statement was repeated and amplified by
+Mr. Joseph B. Lemen in an article in <i>The Chicago Tribune</i>.<a id="footnotetag25" name="footnotetag25"></a><a href="#footnote25">[25]</a> It is
+a well-known fact that the vote of these fourteen northern counties
+secured the State to the anti-slavery party in 1856; but as this
+section of the State was not settled until long after its admission
+into the Union, the measure, whatever its origin, had no effect upon
+the Constitutional Convention. However, John Messinger, of New Design,
+who surveyed the Military Tract and, later, also the northern boundary
+line, may very well have made such a plat, either on his own motion or
+at the suggestion of the zealous anti-slavery leader, with whom he was
+well acquainted. As Messinger was later associated with Peck in the
+Rock Spring Seminary, and in the publication of a sectional map of
+Illinois, it would seem that Peck was in a position to know the facts
+as well as Ford.</p>
+
+<p>In the campaign for the election of delegates to the Constitutional
+Convention, slavery was the only question seriously agitated. The
+Lemen churches and their sympathizers were so well organized and so
+determined in purpose that they made a very energetic and effective
+campaign for delegates. Their organization for political purposes, as
+Peck informs us, "always kept one of its members and several of its
+friends in the Territorial Legislature; and five years before the
+constitutional election in 1818, it had fifty resident agents&mdash;men of
+like sympathies&mdash;quietly at work in the several settlements; and the
+masterly manner in which they did their duty was shown by a poll which
+they made of the voters some few weeks before the election, which, on
+their side, varied only a few votes from the official count after the
+election."<a href="#footnote23">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to determine from the meager records of the
+proceedings, even including the Journal of the Convention recently
+published, just what the complexion of the body was on the slavery
+question. Mr. W. Kitchell, a descendant of one of the delegates,
+states that there were twelve delegates that favored the recognition
+of slavery by a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page21" name="page21"></a>(p. 21)</span> specific article in the Constitution, and
+twenty-one that opposed such action. Gov. Coles, who was present as a
+visitor and learned the sentiments of the prominent members, says that
+many, but not a majority of the Convention, were in favor of making
+Illinois a slave state.<a id="footnotetag26" name="footnotetag26"></a><a href="#footnote26">[26]</a> During the session of the Convention an
+address to The Friends of Freedom was published by a company of
+thirteen leading men, including James Lemen, Sr., to the effect that a
+determined effort was to be made in the Convention to give sanction to
+slavery, and urging concerted action "to defeat the plans of those who
+wish either a temporary or an unlimited slavery."<a id="footnotetag27" name="footnotetag27"></a><a href="#footnote27">[27]</a> A majority of
+the signers of this address were Lemen's Baptist friends, and its
+phraseology points to him as its author.</p>
+
+<p>James Lemen, Jr., was a delegate from St. Clair county and a member of
+the committee which drafted the Constitution. In the original draft of
+that instrument, slavery was prohibited in the identical terms of the
+Ordinance of 1787, as we learn from the recently published journal of
+the Convention. In the final draft this was changed to read: "Neither
+slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter be introduced," and
+the existing system of indentured service was also incorporated. These
+changes were the result of compromise, and Lemen consistently voted
+against them. He was nevertheless one of the committee of three
+appointed to revise and engross the completed instrument.</p>
+
+<p>The result was a substantial victory for the Free-State Party; and had
+the Convention actually overridden the prohibition contained in the
+original Territorial Ordinance, as it was then interpreted, it is
+evident, from the tone of the address to The Friends of Freedom, that
+the Lemen circle would have made a determined effort to defeat the
+measure in Congress.<a href="#footnote27">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>Dr. Peck, who, like Gov. Coles, was a visitor to the Convention, and
+who had every opportunity to know all the facts, in summing up the
+evidence in regard to the matter, declares it to be "conclusive that
+Mr. Lemen created and organized the forces which confirmed Illinois,
+if not the Northwest Territory, to freedom." Speaking of the current
+impression that the question of slavery was not much agitated in
+Illinois prior to the Constitutional Convention, Gov. Coles says: "On
+the contrary, at a very early period of the settlement of Illinois,
+the question was warmly agitated by zealous <span class="pagenum"><a id="page22" name="page22"></a>(p. 22)</span> advocates and
+opponents of slavery," and that, although during the period of the
+independent Illinois Territory the agitation was lulled, it was not
+extinguished, "as was seen [from] its mingling itself so actively both
+in the election and the conduct of the members of the Convention, in
+1818."<a href="#footnote26">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>Senator Douglas, in a letter to James Lemen, Jr., is credited with
+full knowledge of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Compact" and a
+high estimate of its significance in the history of the slavery
+contest in Illinois and the Northwest Territory. "This matter assumes
+a phase of personal interest with me," he says, "and I find myself,
+politically, in the good company of Jefferson and your father. With
+them everything turned on whether the people of the Territory wanted
+slavery or not, ... and that appears to me to be the correct
+doctrine."<a id="footnotetag28" name="footnotetag28"></a><a href="#footnote28">[28]</a> Lincoln, too, in a letter to the younger James Lemen,
+is quoted as having a personal knowledge of the facts and great
+respect for the senior Lemen in the conflict for a free state in
+Illinois. "Both your father and Lovejoy," he remarks, "were pioneer
+leaders in the cause of freedom, and it has always been difficult for
+me to see why your father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and
+aggressive leader, who boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the
+Territory and the State free, never aroused nor encountered any of
+that mob violence which, both in St. Louis and in Alton, confronted
+and pursued Lovejoy."<a id="footnotetag29" name="footnotetag29"></a><a href="#footnote29">[29]</a> Of the latter he says: "His letters, among
+your old family notes, were of more interest to me than even those of
+Thomas Jefferson to your father."</p>
+
+<p>Jefferson's connection with Lemen's anti-slavery mission in Illinois
+was never made public, apparently, until the facts were published by
+Mr. Joseph B. Lemen, of the third generation, in the later years of
+his life, in connection with the centennary anniversaries of the
+events involved. However, the "compact" was a matter of family
+tradition, based upon a collection of letters and notes handed down
+from father to son. Jefferson's reasons for keeping the matter secret,
+as Dr. Peck explains, were, first, to prevent giving the impression
+that he was seeking his own interests in the territories, and, second,
+to avoid arousing the opposition of his southern friends who desired
+the extension of slavery. Lemen, on the other hand, did not wish to
+have it thought that his actions were controlled by political
+considerations, or subject <span class="pagenum"><a id="page23" name="page23"></a>(p. 23)</span> to the will of another. Moreover,
+when he learned that Jefferson was regarded as "an unbeliever," he is
+said to have wept bitterly lest it should be thought that, in his work
+for the church and humanity, he had been influenced by an "infidel";
+and, sometime before his death, he exacted a promise of his sons and
+the few friends who were acquainted with the nature of his compact
+with Jefferson that they would not make it known while he lived.<a id="footnotetag30" name="footnotetag30"></a><a href="#footnote30">[30]</a>
+Under the influence of this feeling on the part of their father, the
+family kept the facts to themselves and a few confidential friends
+until after the lapse of a century, when the time came to commemorate
+the achievements of their ancestor.</p>
+
+<p>How much of the current tradition is fact and how much fiction is hard
+to determine, as so little of the original documentary material is now
+available. The collection of materials herewith presented consists of
+what purport to be authentic copies of the original documents in
+question. They are put in this form in the belief that their
+significance warrants it, and in the hope that their publication may
+elicit further light on the subject. These materials consist of three
+sorts, viz.; a transcript of the Diary of James Lemen, Sr., a
+manuscript History of the confidential relations of Lemen and
+Jefferson, prepared by Rev. John M. Peck, and a series of letters from
+various public men to Rev. James Lemen, Jr. The Diary and manuscript
+"History" were located by the compiler of this collection among the
+papers of the late Dr. Edward B. Lemen, of Alton, Illinois. These
+documents are now in the possession of his son-in-law, Mr. Wykoff, who
+keeps them in his bank vault. The collection of letters was published
+at various times by Mr. Joseph B. Lemen, of Collinsville, Illinois, in
+<i>The Belleville Advocate</i>, of Belleville, Illinois. The Diary is a
+transcript of the original, attested by Rev. James Lemen, Jr. The
+"History" is a brief sketch, in two chapters, prepared from the
+original documents by Dr. Peck while he was pastor of the Bethel
+Church, in June, 1851, and written at his dictation by the hand of an
+assistant, as the document itself expressly states. Mr. Joseph Lemen,
+who is responsible for the letters, is the son of Rev. James Lemen,
+Jr., and one of the editors of the Lemen Family History. The editor of
+<i>The Belleville Advocate</i> states that Mr. Lemen has contributed to
+various metropolitan newspapers in the political campaigns of his
+party, from those of Lincoln to those of McKinley.<a id="footnotetag31" name="footnotetag31"></a><a href="#footnote31">[31]</a> He also
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page24" name="page24"></a>(p. 24)</span> contributed extended sketches of the Baptist churches of St.
+Clair county for one of the early histories of that county. He took an
+active part in promoting the movement to commemorate his grandfather,
+James Lemen, Sr., in connection with the centennary anniversaries of
+the churches founded at New Design and Quentin Creek (Bethel).</p>
+
+<p>The originals of these materials are said to have composed part of a
+collection of letters and documents known as the "Lemen Family Notes,"
+which has aroused considerable interest and inquiry among historians
+throughout the country. The history of this collection is somewhat
+uncertain. It was begun by James Lemen, Sr., whose diary, containing
+his "Yorktown Notes" and other memoranda, is perhaps its most
+interesting survival. While residing in the station fort on the
+Mississippi Bottom during the Indian troubles of his early years in
+the Illinois country, he made a rude walnut chest in which to keep his
+books and papers. This chest, which long continued to be used as the
+depository of the family papers, is still preserved, in the Illinois
+Baptist Historical Collection, at the Carnegie Library, Alton,
+Illinois. It is said that Abraham Lincoln once borrowed it from Rev.
+James Lemen, Jr., for the sake of its historical associations, and
+used it for a week as a receptacle for his own papers. Upon the death
+of the elder Lemen the family notes and papers passed to James, Jr.,
+who added to it many letters from public men of his wide circle of
+acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>As the older portions of the collection were being worn and lost, by
+loaning them to relatives and friends, copies were made of all the
+more important documents, and the remaining originals were then placed
+in the hands of Dr. J. M. Peck, who was at the time pastor of the
+Bethel Church, to be deposited in the private safe of a friend of his
+in St. Louis. As the slavery question was then (1851) at white heat,
+it is not surprising that Dr. Peck advised the family to carefully
+preserve all the facts and documents relating to their father's
+anti-slavery efforts "until some future time," lest their premature
+publication should disturb the peace of his church. As late as 1857 he
+writes of "that dangerous element in many of the old letters bearing
+on the anti-slavery contest of 1818," and adds, "With some of those
+interested in that contest, in fifty years from this time, the
+publication of these letters would create trouble between the
+descendants of many of our old pioneer families."<a href="#footnote6">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>A <span class="pagenum"><a id="page25" name="page25"></a>(p. 25)</span> man by the name of J. M. Smith is suggested by Dr. Peck as
+the custodian of the originals. When this gentleman died, the
+documents in his care are supposed to have been either lost or
+appropriated by parties unknown to the Lemen family. Mr. Joseph B.
+Lemen relates that a certain party at one time represented to the
+family that he had located the papers and offered, for a suitable
+consideration, to recover them. This proved to be merely a scheme to
+obtain money under false pretenses.<a href="#footnote6">[6]</a> Various other accounts are
+current of the disposition of the original papers; but as yet none of
+them have been located.</p>
+
+<p>The transcripts of the collection, made by James Lemen, Jr., came into
+the hands of his son, Joseph Bowler Lemen, who is responsible for the
+publication of various portions of the story, including some of the
+letters entire. Even these copies, however, are not accessible at the
+present time, except that of the Lemen Diary, as located by the
+present writer. Joseph Lemen's account of the fate of the elusive
+documents is given in full at the end of this publication. He there
+states that every paper of any value was copied and preserved, but
+even these copies were dissipated to a large extent. He also claims
+that all the facts contained in these documents have been published in
+one form or another, "except a very few, including Rev. James Lemen's
+interviews with Lincoln, as written up by Mr. Lemen on ten pages of
+legal cap paper." This Joseph B. Lemen is now far advanced in years,
+has long been a recluse, and has the reputation of being "peculiar."
+In a personal interview with him, the present writer could elicit no
+further facts regarding the whereabouts of the "Lemen Family Notes."
+Nevertheless, the discovery of the copy of the Lemen Diary and the
+manuscript of Dr. Peck's "History" gives encouragement to hope for
+further discoveries, which should be reported to the Chicago
+Historical Society.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>DOCUMENTS <span class="pagenum"><a id="page26" name="page26"></a>(p. 26)</span></h3>
+
+<h5>I. DIARY OF REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.</h5>
+
+<p class="left50">Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.</p>
+
+<p>The within notes are a true copy of the notes kept by the Rev. James
+Lemen, Sr., when in the siege at Yorktown. The original notes were
+fading out.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">By his son, <span class="smcap">Rev. James Lemen, Jr.</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Near Yorktown, Va. Sep. 26, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>My enlistment of two years expired some time ago, but I joined my
+regiment to-day and will serve in this siege.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Quarters, near Yorktown, Sept. 27, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>I was on one of the French ships to-day with my captain. There is a
+great fleet of them to help us, it is said, if we fight soon.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Sept. 30, 1781, Near Yorktown.</p>
+
+<p>Our regiment has orders to move forward this morning, and the main
+army is moving.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Near Yorktown. Oct. 3, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>I was detailed with four other soldiers to return an insane British
+soldier who had come into our lines, as we don't want such prisoners.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Near Yorktown. Oct. 4, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>I carried a message from my Colonel to Gen. Washington to-day. He
+recognized me and talked very kindly and said the war would soon be
+over, he thought. I knew Washington before the war commenced.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Near <span class="pagenum"><a id="page27" name="page27"></a>(p. 27)</span> Yorktown. Oct. 4, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Washington and La Fayette looking at a French soldier and an
+American soldier wrestling, and the American threw the Frenchman so
+hard he limped off, and La Fayette said that was the way Washington
+must do to Cornwallis.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Near Yorktown. Oct. 5, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>Brother Robert is sick to-day, but was on duty. There was considerable
+firing to-day. There will be a great fight soon.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Near Yorktown. Oct. 15, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>I was in the assault which La Fayette led yesterday evening against
+the British redoubt, which we captured. Our loss was nine killed and
+thirty-four wounded.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Near Yorktown. Oct. 15, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>Firing was very heavy along our lines on Oct. 9th and 10th. and with
+great effect, but this redoubt and another was in our way and we
+Americans under La Fayette captured one easily, but the French
+soldiers who captured the other suffered heavily. They were also led
+by a Frenchman.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Yorktown. Oct. 19, 1781.</p>
+
+<p>Our victory is great and complete. I saw the surrender to-day. Our
+officers think this will probably end the war.</p>
+
+<hr class="small">
+
+<p class="left50">Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.</p>
+
+<p>I have examined the within notes and find them to be correct copies of
+notes kept by Rev. James Lemen, Sr., which were fading out. He
+originally kept his confidential notes, as to his agreement with
+Thomas Jefferson, in a private book, but as this is intended for
+publication at some future time, they are all copied together.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">By his son, <span class="smcap">Rev. James Lemen, Jr.</span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Harper's Ferry, Va. Dec. 11, 1782.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote5">[5]</a>Thomas Jefferson had me to visit him again a short time ago, as he
+wanted me to go to the Illinois country in the North West, after a
+year or two, in order to try to lead and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page28" name="page28"></a>(p. 28)</span> direct the new
+settlers in the best way and also to oppose the introduction of
+slavery in that country at a later day, as I am known as an opponent
+of that evil, and he says he will give me some help. It is all because
+of his great kindness and affection for me, for which I am very
+grateful, but I have not yet fully decided to do so, but have agreed
+to consider the case.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Dec. 20, 1782.</p>
+
+<p>During the war, I served a two years' enlistment under Washington. I
+do not believe in war except to defend one's country and home and in
+this case I was willing to serve as faithfully as I could. After my
+enlistment expired I served again in the army in my regiment under
+Washington, during the siege of Yorktown, but did not again enlist, as
+the officers thought the war would soon end.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">May 2, 1784.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote6">[6]</a>I saw Jefferson at Annapolis, Maryland, to-day and had a very
+pleasant visit with him. I have consented to go to Illinois on his
+mission and he intends helping me some, but I did not ask nor wish it.
+We had a full agreement and understanding as to all terms and duties.
+The agreement is strictly private between us, but all his purposes are
+perfectly honorable and praiseworthy.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Dec. 28, 1785.</p>
+
+<p>Jefferson's confidential agent gave me one hundred dollars of his
+funds to use for my family, if need be, and if not to go to good
+causes, and I will go to Illinois on his mission next Spring and take
+my wife and children.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Sept. 4, 1786.</p>
+
+<p>In the past summer, with my wife and children I arrived at Kaskaskia,
+Illinois, and we are now living in the Bottom settlement. On the Ohio
+river my boat partly turned over and we lost a part of our goods and
+our son Robert came near drowning.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">May 10, 1787.</p>
+
+<p>I am very well impressed with this new country, but we are still
+living in the Bottom, as the Indians are unsafe. We prefer living on
+the high lands and we shall get us a place there soon. People are
+coming into this new country in increasing numbers.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New <span class="pagenum"><a id="page29" name="page29"></a>(p. 29)</span> Design, Ill. Feb. 26, 1794.</p>
+
+<p>My wife and I were baptized with several others to-day in Fountain
+Creek by Rev. Josiah Dodge. The ice had to be cut and removed first.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design, May 28, 1796.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday and to-day, my neighbors at my invitation, gathered at my
+home and were constituted into a Baptist church, by Rev. David Badgley
+and Joseph Chance.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design, Jan. 4, 1797.</p>
+
+<p>We settled here some time ago and are well pleased with our place. It
+is more healthy than the Bottom country. A fine sugar grove is near us
+and a large lake with fine fish, and soil good, but the Indians are
+not yet to be trusted. We have been here now a number of years and
+have quite a farm in cultivation and fairly good improvements.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design, Jan. 6, 1798.</p>
+
+<p>I have just returned with six of my neighbors from a hunt and land
+inspection upon what is called Richland country and creek. We had made
+our camp near that creek before. On the first Sunday morning in
+December held religious services and on Monday went out to see the
+land. We found fine prairie lands some miles north, south and east and
+some timber lands along the water streams mostly. Game is plentiful
+and we killed several deer and turkeys. It is a fine country.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design, May 3, 1803.</p>
+
+<p>As Thomas Jefferson predicted they would do, the extreme southern
+slave advocates are making their influence felt in the new territory
+for the introduction of slavery and they are pressing Gov. William
+Henry Harrison to use his power and influence for that end. Steps must
+soon be taken to prevent that curse from being fastened on our people.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design, May 4, 1805.</p>
+
+<p>At our last meeting, as I expected he would do, Gov. Harrison asked
+and insisted that I should cast my influence for the introduction of
+slavery here, but I not only denied the request, but I informed him
+that the evil attempt would encounter my most active opposition in
+every possible and honorable manner that my mind could suggest or my
+means accomplish.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New <span class="pagenum"><a id="page30" name="page30"></a>(p. 30)</span> Design, May 10, 1805.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing President Jefferson's hostility against the introduction of
+slavery here and the mission he sent me on to oppose it, I do not
+believe the pro-slavery petitions with which Gov. Harrison and his
+council are pressing Congress for slavery here can prevail while he is
+President, as he is very popular with Congress and will find means to
+overreach the evil attempt of the pro-slavery power.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Jan. 20th 1806.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote15">[15]</a>As Gov. William Henry Harrison and his legislative council have
+had their petitions before Congress at several sessions asking for
+slavery here, I sent a messenger to Indiana to ask the churches and
+people there to get up and sign a counter petition to Congress to
+uphold freedom in the territory and I have circulated one here and we
+will send it on to that body at next session or as soon as the work is
+done.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design. Sept. 10, 1806.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote19">[19]</a>A confidential agent of Aaron Burr called yesterday to ask my aid
+and sympathy in Burr's scheme for a Southwestern Empire with Illinois
+as a province and an offer to make me governor. But I denounced the
+conspiracy as high treason and gave him a few hours to leave the
+territory on pain of arrest.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design. Jan 10, 1809 [1810].</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote20">[20]</a>I received Jefferson's confidential message on Oct. 10, 1808,
+suggesting a division of the churches on the question of slavery and
+the organization of a church on a strictly anti-slavery basis, for the
+purpose of heading a movement to finally make Illinois a free State,
+and after first trying in vain for some months to bring all the
+churches over to such a basis, I acted on Jefferson's plan and Dec.
+10, 1809, the anti-slavery element formed a Baptist church at Cantine
+creek, on an anti-slavery basis.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design. Mar. 3, 1819.</p>
+
+<p>I was reared in the Presbyterian faith, but at 20 years of age I
+embraced Baptist principles and after settlement in Illinois I was
+baptized into that faith and finally became a minister of the gospel
+of that church, but some years before I was licensed to preach, I was
+active in collecting and inducing <span class="pagenum"><a id="page31" name="page31"></a>(p. 31)</span> communities to organize
+churches, as I thought that the most certain plan to control and
+improve the new settlements, and I also hoped to employ the churches
+as a means of opposition to the institution of slavery, but this only
+became possible when we organized a leading church on a strictly
+anti-slavery basis, an event which finally was marked with great
+success, as Jefferson suggested it would be.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design. Jan 10, 1820.</p>
+
+<p>My six sons all are naturally industrious and they all enjoy the
+sports. Robert and Josiah excel in fishing, Moses in hunting, William
+in boating and swimming and James and Joseph in running and jumping.
+Either one of them can jump over a line held at his own height, a
+little over six feet.</p>
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design. Jan. 12, 1820.</p>
+
+<p>A full account of my Indian fights will be found among my papers.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design. Dec. 10, 1820.</p>
+
+<p>Looking back at this time, 1820, to 1809, when we organized the
+Canteen creek Baptist Church on a strictly anti-slavery basis as
+Jefferson had suggested as a [center] from which the anti-slavery
+movement to finally save the State to freedom could be directed, it is
+now clear that the move was a wise one as there is no doubt but that
+it more than anything else was what made Illinois a free State.</p>
+
+
+<p class="left50 p2">New Design, Ill. Jan. 4, 1821.</p>
+
+<p>Among my papers my family will find a full and connected statement as
+to all the churches I have caused to be formed since my settlement in
+Illinois.</p>
+
+<hr class="small">
+
+<p>There were many of our family notes which were faded out and Rev. J.
+M. Peck retained some when he made father's history and many were
+misplaced by other friends, but we have had all copied [that] are now
+in our possession which are of interest.</p>
+
+<p class="left50"><span class="smcap">Rev. James Lemen, Jr.</span>,<br>
+  (Son of Rev. James Lemen, Sr.).</p>
+
+<p class="left50 p2">Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.</p>
+
+<p>My father's account of his Indian fights and statement of all the
+churches he caused to be founded in Illinois, above mentioned,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page32" name="page32"></a>(p. 32)</span> were loaned to Rev. John M. Peck a short time before his death
+and have not been returned, but the information contained has already
+been published except a few confidential facts as to his relations
+with Jefferson in the formation of the Canteen Creek Baptist Ch., now
+the Bethel Baptist Church.</p>
+
+<p class="left50"><span class="smcap">Rev. James Lemen, Jr.</span><br>
+  (Son of James Lemen, Sr.)</p>
+
+
+<h2>II. PECK'S HISTORY OF THE JEFFERSON-LEMEN COMPACT</h2>
+
+<p class="left50">Rock Spring, Ill., June 4, 1851.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the confidential relation of Rev. James Lemen, Senior,
+and Thomas Jefferson, and Lemen's mission under him, which I have
+prepared for his son, Rev. James Lemen, Junior, at his request from
+the family notes and diaries.</p>
+
+<p class="left50"><span class="smcap">J. M. Peck</span>,<br>
+  Per A. M. W.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Chapter I.</span></h4>
+
+<p>The leading purpose of Thomas Jefferson in selecting James Lemen, of
+Virginia, afterwards James Lemen, Senior, to go to Illinois as his
+agent, was no doubt prompted by his great affection for Mr. Lemen and
+his impression that a young man of such aptitude as a natural leader
+would soon impress himself on the community, and as the advantages in
+the territory were soon to be great, Jefferson was desirous to send
+him out, and with the help of a few friends he provided a small fund
+to give him, and also his friend who was going to Indiana on a like
+mission, to be used by their families if need be, and if not to go to
+good causes. There was also another motive with Jefferson; he looked
+forward to a great pro-slavery contest to finally try to make Illinois
+and Indiana slave states, and as Mr. Lemen was a natural born
+anti-slavery leader and had proved himself such in Virginia by
+inducing scores of masters to free their slaves through his prevailing
+kindness of manner and Christian arguments, he was just Jefferson's
+ideal of a man who could safely be trusted with his anti-slavery
+mission in Illinois, and this was an important factor in his
+appointment.</p>
+
+<p>The last meeting between Mr. Lemen and Jefferson was at Annapolis,
+Maryland, on May 2, 1784, a short time before he <span class="pagenum"><a id="page33" name="page33"></a>(p. 33)</span> sailed as
+envoy to France, and all the terms between them were fully agreed
+upon, and on Dec. 28, 1785, Jefferson's confidential agent gave Mr.
+Lemen one hundred dollars of his funds, and in the summer of 1786 with
+his wife and children he removed and settled in Illinois, at New
+Design, in what is now Monroe County. A few years after his settlement
+in Illinois Mr. Lemen was baptized into the Baptist church, and he
+finally became a minister of the people of that faith. He eventually
+became a great organizer of churches and by that fact, reinforced by
+his other wonderful traits as a natural leader, he fully realized
+Jefferson's fondest dreams and became a noted leader.</p>
+
+<p>In 1789 Jefferson returned from his mission to France and his first
+thought was of Mr. Lemen, his friend in Illinois, and he lost no time
+in sending him a message of love and confidence by a friend who was
+then coming to the West. <a href="#footnote5">[5]</a>After Jefferson became President of the
+United States he retained all of his early affection for Mr. Lemen,
+and when S. H. Biggs, a resident of Illinois, who was in Virginia on
+business and who was a warm friend of both Jefferson and Mr. Lemen,
+called on him in 1808, when President, he inquired after him with all
+the fondness of a father, and when told of Mr. Lemen's purpose to soon
+organize a new church on a strictly anti-slavery basis Jefferson sent
+him a message to proceed at once to form the new church and he sent it
+a twenty-dollar contribution. Acting on Jefferson's suggestion, Mr.
+Lemen promptly took the preliminary steps for the final formation of
+the new church and when constituted it was called the Baptist Church
+of Canteen Creek and Jefferson's contribution, with other funds, were
+given to it. This church is now called the Bethel Baptist Church, and
+it has a very interesting history.</p>
+
+<p>But in view of the facts and circumstances the church might properly
+have been called the "Thomas Jefferson Church," and what volumes these
+facts speak for the beneficent and marvelous influence which Mr. Lemen
+had over Jefferson, who was a reputed unbeliever. The great love he
+had for James Lemen not only induced him to tolerate his churches but
+he became an active adviser for their multiplication.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote30">[30]</a>The original agreement between Jefferson and Mr. Lemen was
+strictly confidential; on the part of Jefferson, because, had it been
+known, his opponents would have said <span class="pagenum"><a id="page34" name="page34"></a>(p. 34)</span> he sent paid emissaries
+to Illinois and Indiana to shape matters to his own interests, and the
+extreme South might have opposed his future preferment, if it were
+known that he had made an anti-slavery pact with his territorial
+agents; and it was secret on the part of Mr. Lemen because he never
+wished Jefferson to give him any help and his singularly independent
+nature made him feel that he would enjoy a greater liberty of action,
+or feeling at least, if it were never known that his plans and
+purposes to some extent were dictated and controlled by another, not
+even by his great and good friend Jefferson; so the agreement between
+them was strictly private. <a href="#footnote30">[30]</a>And there was another circumstance
+which finally determined Mr. Lemen to always preserve the secrecy, and
+that was that some of Mr. Jefferson's opponents shortly before Mr.
+Lemen's death informed him that he had become an absolute unbeliever,
+and this so impressed his mind that he wept bitterly for fear, if the
+fact should ever be known that he had an agreement with Jefferson,
+that they would say that he was in alliance with an unbeliever in the
+great life work he had performed, and he exacted a promise from his
+sons, his brother-in-law, Rev. Benjamin Ogle, and Mr. Biggs, the only
+persons who then knew of the agreement, that they would never divulge
+it during his lifetime, a pledge they all religiously kept, and in
+later years they told no one but the writer and a few other trusted
+friends who have not, and never will, betray them. But the writer
+advised them to carefully preserve all the facts and histories we are
+now writing and to tell some of their families and let them publish
+them at some future time, as much of the information is of public
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>As to Jefferson's being an absolute unbeliever, his critics were
+mistaken. He held to the doctrine that the mind and the reason are the
+only guides we have to judge of the authenticity and credibility of
+all things, natural and divine, and this appears to have been the
+chief basis on which Jefferson's critics based their charges against
+him. But while these harsh criticisms in some measure misled Mr. Lemen
+he never lost his great love for Jefferson and to the latest day of
+his life he always mentioned his name with tenderness and affection. I
+had hoped to complete this history in one chapter, but there appear to
+be notes and materials enough for another. By oversight the notes of
+Mr. Lemen's war record were not given me, but he honorably served an
+enlistment of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page35" name="page35"></a>(p. 35)</span> two years under Washington, and returned to his
+regiment at the siege of Yorktown and served until the surrender of
+Cornwallis, but did not re-enlist.</p>
+
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Chapter II.</span></h4>
+
+<p>At their last meeting at Annapolis, Maryland, on May 2, 1784, when the
+final terms in their agreement as to Mr. Lemen's mission in Illinois
+were made, both he and Jefferson agreed that sooner or later, there
+would be a great contest to try to fasten slavery on the Northwestern
+Territory, and this prophesy was fully verified in spite of the fact
+that Congress, at a later period, passed the Ordinance of 1787 forever
+forbidding slavery; two contests arose in Illinois, the first to
+confirm the territory and the second to confirm the state to freedom.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote17">[17]</a>From 1803 for several successive congresses Gen. William Henry
+Harrison, then governor of the Northwestern Territory, with his
+legislative council petitioned that body to repeal the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787 and to establish slavery in the
+territory, but without avail, and finally recognizing that the
+influence of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., was paramount with the people of
+Illinois, he made persistent overtures for his approval of his
+pro-slavery petitions, but he declined to act and promptly sent a
+messenger to Indiana, paying him thirty dollars of the Jefferson fund
+given him in Virginia to have the church and people there sign a
+counter petition, meanwhile circulating one in Illinois among the
+Baptists and others; and at the next session of Congress Gen.
+Harrison's pro-slavery petitions for the first time encountered the
+anti-slavery petitions of the Baptist people and others, and the
+senate, before which the matter went at that time, voted to sustain
+the anti-slavery petitions and against the repeal of the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, and for the time the contest ended.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote21">[21]</a>The next anti-slavery contest was in the narrower limits of the
+territory of Illinois, and it began with the events which called the
+Bethel Baptist Church into existence. When Mr. Lemen received
+President Jefferson's message in 1808 to proceed at once to organize
+the next church on an anti-slavery basis and make it the center from
+which the anti-slavery forces should act to finally make Illinois a
+free state, he decided to act on it; but as he knew it would create a
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page36" name="page36"></a>(p. 36)</span> division in the churches and association, to disarm criticism
+he labored several months to bring them over to the anti-slavery
+cause, but finding that impossible he adopted Jefferson's advice and
+prepared to open the contest. The first act was on July 8, 1809, in
+regular session of the Richland Creek Baptist Church, where the people
+had assembled from all quarters to see the opening of the anti-slavery
+contest, when Rev. James Lemen, Sr., arose and in a firm but friendly
+Christian spirit declared it would be better for both sides to
+separate, as the contest for and against slavery must now open and not
+close until Illinois should become a state. A division of both the
+association and the churches followed, but finally at a great meeting
+at the Richland Creek Baptist Church in a peaceful and Christian
+manner, as being the better policy for both sides, separation was
+adopted by unanimous vote and a number of members withdrew, and on
+Dec. 10, 1809, they formed the "Baptist Church at Canteen Creek," (now
+Bethel Baptist Church). Their articles of faith were brief. They
+simply declared the Bible to be the pillar of their faith, and
+proclaimed their good will for the brotherhood of humanity by
+declaring their church to be "The Baptist Church of Christ, Friends to
+Humanity, denying union and communion with all persons holding the
+doctrine of perpetual, involuntary, hereditary slavery."</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote23">[23]</a>The church, properly speaking, never entered politics, but
+presently, when it became strong, the members all formed what they
+called "The Illinois Anti-Slavery League," and it was this body that
+conducted the anti-slavery contest. It always kept one of its members
+and several of its friends in the Territorial Legislature, and five
+years before the constitutional election in 1818 it had fifty resident
+agents&mdash;men of like sympathies&mdash;in the several settlements throughout
+the territory quietly at work, and the masterly manner in which they
+did their duty was shown by a poll which they made of the voters some
+few weeks before the election, which, on their side only varied a few
+votes from the official count after the election. <a href="#footnote17">[17]</a>With people
+familiar with all the circumstances there is no divergence of views
+but that the organization of the Bethel Church and its masterly
+anti-slavery contest saved Illinois to freedom; but much of the credit
+of the freedom of Illinois, as well as for the balance of the
+territory, was due to Thomas Jefferson's faithful and efficient aid.
+True to his promise to Mr. Lemen that slavery should <span class="pagenum"><a id="page37" name="page37"></a>(p. 37)</span> never
+prevail in the Northwestern Territory or any part of it, he quietly
+directed his leading confidential friends in Congress to steadily
+defeat Gen. Harrison's pro-slavery petitions for the repeal of the
+anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787, and his friendly aid to
+Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and friends made the anti-slavery contest of
+Bethel Church a success in saving the state to freedom.</p>
+
+<p>In the preparation of this history, to insure perfect reliability and
+a well-connected statement, I have examined, selected, and read the
+numerous family notes myself, dictating, while my secretary has done
+the writing, and after all was completed we made another critical
+comparison with all the notes to insure perfect accuracy and
+trustworthiness.</p>
+
+<p>I have had one copy prepared for Rev. James Lemen, Jr., and one for
+myself. I should have added that of the one hundred dollars of the
+Jefferson funds given him Rev. James Lemen, Sr., used none for his
+family, but it was all used for other good causes, as it was not Mr.
+Lemen's intention to appropriate any of it for his own uses when he
+accepted it from Jefferson's confidential agent in Virginia.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>III. "HOW ILLINOIS GOT CHICAGO"</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(Communication from Joseph B. Lemen, under head of "Voice of the
+     People," in <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> some time in December, 1908.)</p>
+
+<p class="left50 p2">O'Fallon, Ill., Dec. 21, 1908.</p>
+
+<p>Editor of the Tribune:&mdash;In October, 1817, the Rev. James Lemen, Sr.,
+had a government surveyor make a map showing how the boundary of
+Illinois could be extended northward so as to give a growing state
+more territory and a better shape and include the watercourses by
+which Lake Michigan might be connected with the Mississippi river.
+With these advantages marked in the margin of the map, he gave his
+plan and map to Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate in congress,
+to secure the adoption of the plan by that body, which he did.</p>
+
+<p>The facts were noted in the Rev. J. M. Peck's pioneer papers and
+others, and in commenting on them some of our newspapers have recently
+charged Nathaniel Pope with carelessness in not publishing Mr. Lemen's
+share in the matter, but unjustly. Mr. Lemen and Mr. Pope were ardent
+friends, and as the former was a preacher and desired no office, and
+he wished and sought for no private preferment and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page38" name="page38"></a>(p. 38)</span> promotion,
+he expressly declared that as Mr. Pope had carried the measure through
+Congress with such splendid skill he preferred that he should have the
+credit and not mention where he got the map and plan.</p>
+
+<p>Rev. Benjamin Ogle, Mr. Lemen's brother-in-law, and others mentioned
+this fact in some of their papers and notes. The omission was no fault
+of Mr. Pope's and was contrary to his wish.</p>
+
+<p>The present site of Chicago was included in the territory added, and
+that is how Illinois got Chicago.</p>
+
+<p class="left50"><span class="smcap">Pioneer.</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>IV. ADDRESS TO THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(From <i>The Illinois Intelligencer</i>, August 5, 1818.)</p>
+
+<p class="p2">The undersigned, happening to meet at the St. Clair Circuit Court,
+have united in submitting the following Address to the Friends of
+Freedom in the State of Illinois.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling it a duty in those who are sincere in their opposition to the
+toleration of slavery in this territory to use all fair and laudable
+means to effect that object, we therefore beg leave to present to our
+fellow-citizens at large the sentiments which prevail in this section
+of our country on that subject. In the counties of Madison and St.
+Clair, the most populous counties in the territory, a sentiment
+approaching unanimity seems to prevail against it. In the counties of
+Bond, Washington, and Monroe a similar sentiment also prevails. We are
+informed that strong exertions will be made in the convention to give
+sanction to that deplorable evil in our state; and lest such should be
+the result at too late a period for anything like concert to take
+place among the friends of freedom in trying to defeat it, we
+therefore earnestly solicit all true friends to freedom in every
+section of the territory to unite in opposing it, both by the election
+of a Delegate to Congress who will oppose it and by forming meetings
+and preparing remonstrances against it. Indeed, so important is this
+question considered that no exertions of a fair character should be
+omitted to defeat the plan of those who wish either a temporary or
+unlimited slavery. Let us also select men to the Legislature who will
+unite in remonstrating to the general government against ratifying
+such a constitution. At a crisis like this thinking will not do,
+<i>acting</i> is necessary.</p>
+
+<p>From <span class="pagenum"><a id="page39" name="page39"></a>(p. 39)</span> St. Clair county&mdash;Risdon Moore, Benjamin Watts, Jacob
+Ogle, Joshua Oglesby, William Scott, Sr., William Biggs, Geo. Blair,
+Charles R. Matheny, James Garretson, and <a id="footnotetag34" name="footnotetag34"></a><a href="#footnote34">[34]</a>William Kinney.</p>
+
+<p>From Madison County&mdash;Wm. B. Whiteside.</p>
+
+<p>From Monroe County&mdash;James Lemen, Sr.</p>
+
+<p>From Washington&mdash;Wm. H. Bradsby.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>V. RECOLLECTIONS OF A CENTENNARIAN</h3>
+
+<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Dr. Williamson F. Boyakin</span>, Blue Rapids, Kansas (1807-1907)<br>
+(<i>The Standard</i>, Chicago, November 9, 1907.)</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2">The Lemen family was of Irish [Scotch] descent. They were friends and
+associates of Thomas Jefferson. It was through his influence that they
+migrated West. When the Lemen family arrived at what they designated
+as New Design, in the vicinity of the present town of Waterloo, in
+Monroe county, twenty-five miles southeast of the city of St. Louis,
+Illinois was a portion of the state of Virginia. [Ceded to U. S. two
+years previous.]</p>
+
+<p>Thomas Jefferson gave them a kind of carte blanche for all the then
+unoccupied territory of Virginia, and gave them $30 in gold to be paid
+to the man who should build the first meeting house on the western
+frontier.<a id="footnotetag32" name="footnotetag32"></a><a href="#footnote32">[32]</a> This rudely-constructed house of worship was built on a
+little creek named Canteen [Quentin], just a mile or two south of what
+is now called Collinsville, Madison county, Illinois.</p>
+
+<p>In the mountains of Virginia there lived a Baptist minister by the
+name of Torrence. This Torrence, at an Association in Virginia,
+introduced a resolution against slavery. In a speech in favor of the
+resolution he said, "All friends of humanity should support the
+resolution." The elder James Lemen being present voted for it and
+adopted it for his motto, inscribed it on a rude flag, and planted it
+on the rudely-constructed flatboat on which the family floated down
+the Ohio river, in the summer of 1790 [1786], to the New Design
+location.<a id="footnotetag33" name="footnotetag33"></a><a href="#footnote33">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>The distinguishing characteristic of the churches and associations
+that subsequently grew up in Illinois [under the Lemen influence] was
+the name "The Baptized Church of Christ, Friends to Humanity."</p>
+
+<p>One <span class="pagenum"><a id="page40" name="page40"></a>(p. 40)</span> of these Lemen brothers, Joseph, married a Kinney, sister
+to him who was afterwards governor [lieutenant governor] of the state.
+This Kinney was also a Baptist preacher, a Kentuckian, and a
+pro-slavery man.<a href="#footnote34">[34]</a> When the canvass opened in 1816, 17, and 18 to
+organize Illinois into a state, the Lemens and the Kinneys were
+leaders in the canvass. The canvass was strong, long, bitter. The
+Friends to Humanity party won. The Lemen brothers made Illinois what
+it is, a free state.</p>
+
+<p>The Lemens were personally fine specimens of the genus homo&mdash;tall,
+straight, large, handsome men&mdash;magnetic, emotional, fine speakers.
+James Lemen [Junior] was considered the most eloquent speaker of the
+day of the Baptist people. Our present educated preachers have lost
+the hold they should have upon the age in the cultivation of the
+intellectual instead of the emotional. Religion is the motive power in
+the intellectual guidance of humanity. These Lemens were well balanced
+in the cultivation of the intellect and the control of the emotions.
+They were well educated for their day, self-educated, great lovers of
+poetry, hymnal poetry, having no taste for the religious debates now
+so prevalent in some localities. They attended no college
+commencements [?]. James Lemen, however, at whose grave the monument
+is to be erected, was for fourteen consecutive years in the Senate of
+the State Legislature, and would have been elected United States
+senator, but he would not accept the position when offered. [This was
+James, Jr., not his father.]</p>
+
+<p>Personally of fine taste, always well and even elegantly dressed, they
+rode fine horses, owned fine farms, well cultivated. They lived in
+rich, elegant style [?]. They were brimful and overflowing with
+spontaneous hospitality. All were married, with several sisters, and
+were blessed with large families. Almost all of them, parents and
+descendants, have passed away. Old Bethel, the church house, and the
+graveyard, in sight of the old mound, are yet there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;Dr. Boyakin was a physician, Baptist minister, and newspaper
+editor for many years in Illinois. He delivered the G. A. R. address
+at Blue Rapids, Kansas, on his one hundredth birthday. He has confused
+some things in these "recollections," especially the story concerning
+the origin of the name "Friends to Humanity," but for his years his
+statements are unusually in accord with the facts.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>VI. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page41" name="page41"></a>(p. 41)</span> IN MEMORY OF REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.</h3>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By A Well-Wisher</span><br>
+(<i>The Standard</i>, Chicago, November 16, 1907)</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2">When James Lemen's early anti-slavery Baptist churches went over to
+the cause of slavery, it looked as if all were lost and his
+anti-slavery mission in Illinois had failed. At that crisis Mr. Lemen
+could have formed another sect, but in his splendid loyalty to the
+Baptist cause he simply formed another Baptist church on the broader,
+higher grounds for both God and humanity, and on this high plane he
+unfurled the banner of freedom. In God's good time the churches and
+state and nation came up to that grand level of right, light, and
+progress.</p>
+
+<p>Of James Lemen's sons, under his training, Robert was an eminent
+Baptist layman, and Joseph, James, Moses, and Josiah were able Baptist
+preachers. [William, the "wayward" son, also became a useful minister
+in his later years.] Altogether they were as faithful a band of men as
+ever stood for any cause. This is the rating which history places upon
+them. The country owes James Lemen another debt of gratitude for his
+services to history. He and his sons were the only family that ever
+kept a written and authentic set of notes of early Illinois; and the
+early historians, Ford, Reynolds, and Peck, drew many of their facts
+from that source. These notes embraced the only correct histories of
+both the early Methodist and the early Baptist churches in Illinois
+and much other early matter.<a id="footnotetag35" name="footnotetag35"></a><a href="#footnote35">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;This communication was probably from Dr. W. F. Boyakin.</p>
+
+
+<h2>VII. STATEMENT REGARDING JOSEPH B. LEMEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Joseph B. Lemen has written editorially for <i>The New York Sun</i>, <i>The
+New York Tribune</i>, <i>The Chicago Tribune</i>, <i>and The Belleville
+Advocate</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"During the McKinley campaign of 1896 he wrote editorials from the
+farmers' standpoint for a number of the metropolitan newspapers of the
+country at the personal request of Mark Hanna.</p>
+
+<p>"He also wrote editorials for the metropolitan newspapers during the
+first Lincoln campaign."</p>
+
+<p class="left50">&mdash;Editor, <i>Belleville Advocate</i>.<br>
+  December, 1912.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VIII. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page42" name="page42"></a>(p. 42)</span> HISTORIC LETTER OF REV. J. M. PECK ON THE OLD LEMEN
+FAMILY NOTES</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(From <i>Belleville Advocate</i>, January, 1908)<br>
+  (Clipping in I.B.H.C., K11)</p>
+
+<p class="p2">To the Editor of the Belleville Advocate:</p>
+
+<p>We herewith send the Advocate a copy of a letter of the eminent
+historian and great Baptist divine, the late Rev. J. M. Peck, to his
+old ministerial associate, the late Rev. James Lemen, concerning the
+anti-slavery labors of his father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and also his
+views as to the old Lemen family notes, which will perhaps interest
+your readers. It seems quite appropriate for the Advocate to print
+these old pioneer matters, as it is one of the old pioneer landmarks.
+Rev. James Lemen took the paper when it started, under its first name,
+and it has come to his family or family members at his old home ever
+since.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">By order of the Family.<br>
+  [<span class="smcap">Joseph B. Lemen.</span>]</p>
+
+
+<h4>REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR., AND HIS ANTI-SLAVERY LABORS</h4>
+
+<p class="left50">Rev. James Lemen,<br>
+<span class="add2em">Ridge Prairie, Illinois</span></p>
+
+<p>Dear Brother: At my recent very enjoyable visit at your house you made
+two important requests, which I will now answer. The first was as to
+my estimate or judgment of your father's anti-slavery labors, and the
+second was as to what disposition you had better make of your vast
+stock of old family notes and papers. Considering your questions in
+the order named, I will write this letter, or more properly, article,
+under the above heading of "Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and His
+Anti-Slavery Labors," as the first question is the most important, and
+then in conclusion I will notice the second.</p>
+
+<p>In considering your father's anti-slavery labors, I will proceed upon
+the facts and evidence obtained outside your old family notes, as it
+might be presumed that the trend of the notes on that matter would be
+partial. Not that the facts I would use are not found in your family
+notes, for they appear to cover about every event in our early state
+and church history; but that I would look for the facts elsewhere to
+prove the matter, and indeed I can draw largely from my own <span class="pagenum"><a id="page43" name="page43"></a>(p. 43)</span>
+knowledge of the facts upon which your father's success as an anti-slavery
+leader rested. Not only from my own personal observation, but
+scores of the old pioneers, your father's followers and helpers, have
+given me facts that fully establish the claim that he was the chief
+leader that saved Illinois to freedom. Not only the state, but on a
+wider basis the evidence is very strong that Rev. James Lemen, Sr.,
+largely shared in saving the Northwestern Territory for free states.
+This was the estimate that General [Governor] William Henry Harrison
+placed on his labors in his letter to Captain Joseph Ogle after his
+term of the governorship had expired. <a href="#footnote17">[17]</a>In his letter to Captain
+Ogle he said that, though he and Mr. Lemen were ardent friends, he
+[Lemen] set his iron will against slavery here and indirectly made his
+influence felt so strongly at Washington and before Congress, that all
+efforts to suspend the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787
+failed.</p>
+
+<p>But James Lemen was not only a factor which saved the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, but there is no doubt, after putting
+all the facts together, ... that his anti-slavery mission to the
+Northwestern Territory was inspired by the same cause which finally
+placed the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance, and that Lemen's
+mission and that clause were closely connected. Douglas, Trumbull, and
+Lincoln thought so, and every other capable person who had [been] or
+has been made familiar with the facts.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the old pioneers to whom the facts were known have informed me
+that all the statements as to Rev. James Lemen's anti-slavery teaching
+and preaching and forming his anti-slavery churches, and conducting
+the anti-slavery contest, and sending a paid agent to Indiana to
+assist the anti-slavery cause, were all true in every particular; and
+so the evidence outside and independently of that in the Lemen family
+notes is conclusive that Mr. Lemen created and organized the forces
+which finally confirmed Illinois, if not the Northwestern Territory,
+to freedom. But there was just one fact that made it possible for the
+old pioneer leader practically single handed and alone to accomplish
+such results; and that was because President Jefferson's great power
+was behind him, and through his secret influence Congress worked for
+the very purpose that Jefferson, more than twenty years before, had
+sent Lemen to Illinois, or the Northwestern Territory, to secure,
+namely, the freedom of the new <span class="pagenum"><a id="page44" name="page44"></a>(p. 44)</span> country. The claim that Mr.
+Lemen encompassed these great results would, of course, be ridiculous
+were it not known that the power of the government through Jefferson
+stood behind him. Hence Douglas, Trumbull, and others are correct, and
+I quite agree with them, that when you publish the old family notes on
+the matter, if, for reasons you state, you do not wish to publish
+Jefferson's letters to your father which concern the subject, it will
+be sufficient just to say he acted by and under his advice and aid,
+and people will accept it, as it is self-evident, because it is
+preposterous to hold that Mr. Lemen could have accomplished such
+results without some great power behind him. In conclusion, it is my
+judgment that your father's anti-slavery labors were the chief factor
+leading up to the free state constitution for Illinois.</p>
+
+<p>Now as to your old family notes. They are valuable. In their
+respective fields, they embrace by far the most trustworthy history in
+our state. They ought to be preserved, but your generous nature will
+not permit you to say no; and your friends, as you say, are carrying
+them off, and they will all be lost, and presently the vast and
+priceless collection will have disappeared, which will be an
+unspeakable loss. Like your friends, Dr. B. F. Edwards and J. M.
+Smith, I would advise you to make copies of all to keep for use, and
+then give Smith the old collection to keep and hold in St. Louis in
+his safe, and leave them there for good. This will save you an
+infinite amount of worry, as people will not trouble you to see the
+mere copies. It would be a good disposition to make of them, and thus
+bury that dangerous element in many of the old letters bearing on the
+anti-slavery contest of 1818. With some of those interested in that
+contest, in fifty years from this time, the publication of these
+letters would create trouble between the descendants of many of our
+old pioneer families.</p>
+
+<p>There is a danger lurking in many of these old collections where you
+would not suspect it. In 1851, when I wrote the first or preliminary
+part of the Bethel church history from your old family notes, now
+generally referred to as the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen
+Anti-Slavery Pact," and part second as the history proper of the
+church in the letter which was simply the history from its
+organization in 1809 to my pastorate of 1851, I carefully omitted all
+mention of the anti-slavery contest which gave the church its origin.
+I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page45" name="page45"></a>(p. 45)</span> did this so that that part of its history could then be
+recorded in the church book, which could not have been done had I
+mentioned the anti-slavery contest; because the bitterness of that
+period had not yet fully disappeared; and the full history of the
+church, with the causes creating, and the results flowing from its
+organization, if recorded or published then, would have aroused
+considerable ill feeling against the church in some parts of the
+state. So part second, or the history proper, was only recorded at
+that time. But having lately completed part third of the Bethel church
+history, showing the results of its organization, I sent it with a
+copy of part first, or the history of the Jefferson Lemen Anti-Slavery
+Pact, to our worthy and noble Christian brother, the Bethel church
+clerk, James H. Lemen, and the other brother whose name you suggested,
+and they can place them in safe keeping somewhere until after your old
+family notes are published, and then they should be recorded in the
+church book with the church history proper and all the papers be
+placed with the other church papers. I shall also send them a copy of
+this letter to be finally placed with the church papers, as it is in
+part the history of the founder of that church, all parties agreeing
+that your father created, though of course he did not formally
+constitute, it. The old church, when all the facts become known, will
+become noted in history, as it stands as the monument of the contest
+which began by putting the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of
+1787, and which concluded by making Illinois and her neighboring
+sisters free states.</p>
+
+<p>As to the more valuable letters in your family notes and collections,
+I have kept them securely for you. Douglas' and Lincoln's letters take
+very correct views as to your father's anti-slavery labors, and
+Jefferson's two letters to your father disclose his great friendship
+for him, and show that he placed the greatest confidence and trust in
+him. Poor Lovejoy's letter reads as if he had a presentment of his
+coming doom. There is no more interesting feature in all your old
+family notes than Lincoln's views at your many meetings with him, and
+your copy of his prayer is beautiful. Some of his views on Bible
+themes are very profound; but then he is a very profound thinker. It
+now looks as if he would become a national leader. Would not he and
+your father have enjoyed a meeting on the slavery question? I put all
+the letters with the other papers you gave me in a safe <span class="pagenum"><a id="page46" name="page46"></a>(p. 46)</span> in
+St. Louis, in a friend's care, where I sometimes put my papers. Your
+son, Moses, was with me and the check is given in his name. This will
+enable you to tell your friends that the papers are not now in your
+custody, and they will not bother you to see them. Hoping to see you
+soon, I remain as ever.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">Fraternally yours,<br>
+  Rock Spring, Ill.<br>
+  July 17, 1857.<br>
+  <span class="smcap">J. M. Peck.</span></p>
+
+
+<h3>PIONEER LETTERS</h3>
+
+<h6>IX. SENATOR DOUGLAS'S LETTER</h6>
+
+<p class="center">(From <i>Belleville Advocate</i>, April 10, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,&mdash;K11)</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="left50">Springfield, Illinois. Mar. 10, 1857</span><br>
+Rev. James Lemen,<br>
+<span class="add2em">Collinsville, Illinois,</span></p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir:&mdash;In a former letter I wrote you fully as to my views as to
+the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact," and that there is no doubt
+but that the anti-slavery contest of your father, Rev. James Lemen,
+Sr., and the organizing of Bethel church as one of the results,
+eventually led to our free state constitution. I also thank you again
+for the privilege of reading Jefferson's letters to your father, and
+other papers in connection with the matter, but desire to add a
+thought or two, or more properly expound [expand] some points in my
+recent letter.</p>
+
+<p>The anti-slavery pact or agreement between the two men and its far
+reaching results comprise one of the most intensely interesting
+chapters in our national and state histories. Its profound secrecy and
+the splendid loyalty of Jefferson's friends which preserved it, were
+alike necessary to the success of the scheme as well as for his future
+preferment; for had it been known that Jefferson had sent Lemen as his
+special agent on an anti-slavery mission to shape matters in the
+territories to his own ends, it would have wrecked his popularity in
+the South and rendered Lemen's mission worse than useless.</p>
+
+<p>It has always been a mystery why the pressing demands of Governor
+Harrison and his Council for the repeal of the anti-slavery clause in
+the Ordinance of 1787 which excluded slavery <span class="pagenum"><a id="page47" name="page47"></a>(p. 47)</span> from the
+Northwest Territory, could make no headway before a encession [?] of
+pro-slavery Congress; but the matter is now clear. The great
+Jefferson, through his confidential leaders in Congress [held that
+body back, until Mr. Lemen, under his orders], had rallied his friends
+and sent in anti-slavery petitions demanding the maintenance of the
+clause, when the Senate, where Harrison's demands were then pending,
+denied them. So a part of the honor of saving that grand clause which
+dedicated the territory to freedom, belongs to your father. Indeed,
+considering Jefferson's ardent friendship for him and his admiration
+and approval of his early anti-slavery labors in Virginia, which
+antedated the Ordinance of 1787 by several years, there is but little
+doubt but that your father's labors were a factor of influence which
+quickened if it did not suggest to Jefferson the original purpose
+which finally resulted in putting the original clause in the
+Ordinance.</p>
+
+<p>This matter assumes a phase of personal interest with me, and I find
+myself, politically, in the good company of Jefferson and your father.
+With them, everything turned on whether the people of the territory
+wanted slavery or not. Harrison and his council had informed Congress
+that the people desired it; but Jefferson and Lemen doubted it, and
+when the latter assisted in sending in great anti-slavery petitions,
+Jefferson's friends in Congress granted the people their wish, and
+denied Harrison's pro-slavery demands. That is, the voice and wishes
+of the people in the territory were heard and respected, and that
+appears to me to be the correct doctrine.</p>
+
+<p>Should you or your family approve it, I would suggest that the facts
+of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact" be fully written up and
+arranged for publication, since they embrace some exceedingly
+important state and national history, and, in fact, will necessitate a
+new or larger personal history of Jefferson, as these facts will add
+another splendid chapter to the great story of his marvellous career.
+If you think the publication of Jefferson's letters and suggestions to
+your father would rather tend to dwarf the legitimate importance of
+his great religious movement in the formation of our early churches,
+on account of the wonderful political results of the "anti-slavery
+pact" it would be sufficient to command belief everywhere just to
+simply state that in his anti-slavery mission and contest he acted
+under Jefferson's advice <span class="pagenum"><a id="page48" name="page48"></a>(p. 48)</span> and help; because the consequences
+were so important and far reaching that it is self-evident he must
+have had some great and all-prevailing power behind him.</p>
+
+<p>I was greatly pained to learn of your illness, in your last letter,
+but hope this will find you comfortable.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">Yours in confidence,<br>
+<span class="add2em smcap">S. A. Douglas</span>.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote this letter in Springfield, but by an over-sight neglected to
+mail it there. But if you write me in a fortnight, direct to
+Springfield, as I expect to be there then.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">Yours Secv. [<i>sic</i>] D.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3>X. ANNOUNCEMENT BY J. B. LEMEN</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(From <i>Belleville Advocate</i>, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,&mdash;K11)</p>
+
+<p>It was our purpose in this letter [communication] to send the Advocate
+a copy of one of Abraham Lincoln's letters, and some other matter from
+him and Douglas, from the old family notes of Rev. James Lemen never
+yet published; but increased illness, and their greater length,
+prevented making the copy. In their place, however, we send a copy
+each of Governor Edward's and Congressman Snyder's letters. The
+prophetic utterances in this letter as to what would fall on Mexico's
+treachery and slavery's insolence, were so literally fulfilled that
+they emphasized anew Congressman Snyder's wonderful capabilities in
+sizing up public questions correctly and reading the coming events of
+the future, and prove him to have been a statesman of wonderful
+powers. The next, which will be the concluding article in this series,
+will contain the copy of Lincoln's letter and the other matter above
+referred to.</p>
+
+<p>The typos made one or two slight errors in Senator Douglas's letter in
+last week's issue. For "expound" the reader should have read "expand,"
+and at another point the letter should read that "Jefferson, through
+his confidential leaders in Congress, held that body back until Mr.
+Lemen, under his orders, had rallied his friends and sent in
+anti-slavery petitions, etc,"</p>
+
+<p class="left50">[<span class="smcap">Joseph B. Lemen.</span>]</p>
+
+
+<h3>XI. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page49" name="page49"></a>(p. 49)</span> GOV. NINIAN EDWARDS TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(From <i>Belleville Advocate</i>, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,&mdash;K11)</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="left50">Vandalia, Ill., Dec. 24, 1826.</span><br>
+Rev. James Lemen,<br>
+<span class="add2em">Collinsville, Illinois,</span></p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir:&mdash;Having great respect for your influence and reposing
+perfect confidence in your capable judgment on public affairs, I would
+be very much pleased to have you call as soon as you arrive here, as I
+desire to have your views and advice on some important matters. It is
+my hope, as it will be my pride, that the term upon which I enter
+shall be marked with a degree of educational interest and progress not
+hitherto attained in our young commonwealth; and I wish to ask for
+your counsel and aid in assisting to impress upon the General Assembly
+the importance of such subjects, and the necessity of some further and
+better legislation on our school matters; and I also wish to consult
+with you in regard to the matter of the proposed Illinois and Michigan
+Canal.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">Sincerely your friend,<br>
+<span class="add2em smcap">Ninian Edwards</span>.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3>XII. HON. ADAM W. SNYDER TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(From <i>Belleville Advocate</i>, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,&mdash;K11)</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="left50">City of Washington, Jan. 5, 1838.</span><br>
+Rev. James Lemen,<br>
+<span class="add2em">[Collinsville, Illinois]</span></p>
+
+<p>My Dear Friend:&mdash;To the letter which I wrote you a few days since I
+wish to add that the members of the Illinois delegation in Congress
+have read the letter you recently wrote me, and they are all willing
+and ready to assist in pressing the cause of the class of claimants
+whom you mentioned upon the attention of the government for a more
+liberal and generous allowance of lands. I have no further news to
+communicate, except that I believe Mexico's treachery and insolence
+will sooner or later call down upon her a severe chastisement from
+this country; and that our Southern friends in Congress are growing
+exasperatingly and needlessly sensitive on the slavery question,
+claiming that Jefferson's <span class="pagenum"><a id="page50" name="page50"></a>(p. 50)</span> views would sustain their
+positions, not knowing the splendid secret of your father's (Rev.
+James Lemen, Sr.) anti-slavery mission under Jefferson's orders and
+advice, which saved Illinois and we might say the Northwest Territory,
+to freedom. In fact, the demands of slavery, if not controlled by its
+friends, will eventually put the country into a mood that will no
+longer brook its insolence and greed.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">Yours in esteem and confidence,<br>
+  <span class="add2em smcap">A. W. Snyder</span>.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3>XIII. ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LETTER</h3>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Belleville Weekly Advocate</i>, April 24, 1908</p>
+
+<p class="p2">The following letter and remarks from Abraham Lincoln, hitherto
+unpublished, comprise the fifth letter of the series of old "Pioneer
+Letters" which Mr. J. B. Lemen of O'Fallon is sending to the
+Advocate.&mdash;Ed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="left50">Springfield, Illinois. March 2, 1857.</span><br>
+Rev. James Lemen,<br>
+<span class="add2em">[O'Fallon, Illinois,]</span></p>
+
+<p>Friend Lemen: Thanking you for your warm appreciation of my views in a
+former letter as to the importance in many features of your collection
+of old family notes and papers, I will add a few words more as to
+Elijah P. Lovejoy's case. His letters among your old family notes were
+of more interest to me than even those of Thomas Jefferson, written to
+your father. Of course they [the latter] were exceedingly important as
+a part of the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact,"
+under which your father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., as Jefferson's
+anti-slavery agent in Illinois, founded his anti-slavery churches,
+among which was the present Bethel church, which set in motion the
+forces which finally made Illinois a free state, all of which was
+splendid; but Lovejoy's tragic death for freedom in every sense marked
+his sad ending as the most important single event that ever happened
+in the new world.</p>
+
+<p>Both your father and Lovejoy were pioneer leaders in the cause of
+freedom, and it has always been difficult for me to see why your
+father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and aggressive leader, who
+boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the territory and the state
+free, never aroused nor encountered any of that mob violence which
+both in St. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page51" name="page51"></a>(p. 51)</span> Louis and Alton confronted or pursued Lovejoy,
+and which finally doomed him to a felon's death and a martyr's crown.
+Perhaps the two cases are a little parallel with those of John and
+Peter. John was bold and fearless at the scene of the Crucifixion,
+standing near the cross receiving the Savior's request to care for his
+mother, but was not annoyed; while Peter, whose disposition to shrink
+from public view, seemed to catch the attention of members of the mob
+on every hand, until finally to throw public attention off, he denied
+his master with an oath; though later the grand old apostle redeemed
+himself grandly, and like Lovejoy, died a martyr to his faith. Of
+course, there was no similarity between Peter's treachery at the
+Temple and Lovejoy's splendid courage when the pitiless mob were
+closing around him. But in the cases of the two apostles at the scene
+mentioned, John was more prominent or loyal in his presence and
+attention to the Great Master than Peter was, but the latter seemed to
+catch the attention of the mob; and as Lovejoy, one of the most
+inoffensive of men, for merely printing a small paper, devoted to the
+freedom of the body and mind of man, was pursued to his death; while
+his older comrade in the cause of freedom, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., who
+boldly and aggressively proclaimed his purpose to make both the
+territory and the state free, was never molested a moment by the
+minions of violence. The madness and pitiless determination with which
+the mob steadily pursued Lovejoy to his doom, marks it as one of the
+most unreasoning and unreasonable in all time, except that which
+doomed the Savior to the cross.</p>
+
+<p>If ever you should come to Springfield again, do not fail to call. The
+memory of our many "evening sittings" here and elsewhere, as we called
+them, suggests many a pleasant hour, both pleasant and helpful.</p>
+
+<p class="left50">Truly yours,<br>
+  <span class="add2em smcap">A. Lincoln</span>.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3>XIV. THE LEMEN MONUMENT AND REV. LEMEN'S PART IN EARLY ILLINOIS
+HISTORY</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(From <i>Belleville Advocate</i>, Tuesday, April 6, 1909. Clipping in
+     I.B.H.C.,&mdash;K11)</p>
+
+<p class="p2">The monument to be erected by the Baptist people of Illinois and
+others at the grave of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., near Waterloo in Monroe
+county, is not only to honor his memory <span class="pagenum"><a id="page52" name="page52"></a>(p. 52)</span> as a revolutionary
+soldier, territorial leader, Indian fighter, and founder of the
+Baptist cause in Illinois, but it is also in remembrance of the fact
+that he was the companion and co-worker with Thomas Jefferson in
+setting in motion the forces which finally recorded the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, which dedicated the great Northwest
+territory to freedom and later gave Illinois a free state
+constitution.</p>
+
+<p>Only recently the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Chicago,
+after a critical examination of James Lemen's military and civil
+record, by unanimous vote, appropriated twenty-five dollars for his
+monument fund; and we give below a copy of the papers which they used
+and which will interest our readers, the first being Gen. Ainsworth's
+letter:</p>
+
+<p class="center">WAR DEPARTMENT<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Adjutant General's Office</span></p>
+
+<p class="left50">Washington, Feb. 13, 1908.</p>
+
+<p>The records show that James Lemen served as private in Captain George
+Wall's Company of the Fourth Virginia Regiment, commanded at various
+times by Major Isaac Beall and Colonels James Wood and John Neville in
+the Revolutionary war. Term of enlistment, one year from March 3,
+1778.</p>
+
+<p class="left50"><span class="smcap">F. C. Ainsworth</span>, Adjt. Gen.</p>
+
+<p>("In January 1779, James Lemen had his term of enlistment extended for
+two years and was transferred to another regiment. After his term
+expired he rejoined his old regiment and served through the siege at
+Yorktown. He was in several engagements.")</p>
+
+<p class="left50">[J. B. L.]</p>
+
+
+<h3>XV. REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(Written by Rev. John M. Peck, in 1857. Published in <i>Belleville
+     Advocate</i>, April 6, 1909. Clipping in I.B.H.C.,&mdash;K11)</p>
+
+<p class="p2">Rev. James Lemen, Sr., a son of Nicholas Lemen and Christian Lemen,
+his wife, was born at the family home near Harper's Ferry, Virginia,
+on November 20, 1760. He acquired a practical education and in early
+manhood married Miss Katherine Ogle, of Virginia, and they reared a
+family. He enlisted for a year as a soldier of the Revolutionary War,
+on March 3, 1778, but had his term extended to two years, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page53" name="page53"></a>(p. 53)</span>
+was in several engagements. Sometime after his enlistment expired he
+rejoined his old comrades and served through the siege at Yorktown.</p>
+
+<p>From childhood, in a singular manner, James Lemen was the special
+favorite and idol of Thomas Jefferson, who was a warm friend of his
+father's family. Almost before Mr. Lemen had reached manhood,
+Jefferson would consult him on all matters, even on great state
+affairs, and afterwards stated that Mr. Lemen's advice always proved
+to be surprisingly reliable.</p>
+
+<p>Our subject was a born anti-slavery leader, and by his Christian and
+friendly arguments he induced scores of masters in Virginia to free
+their slaves; this quickly caught Jefferson's attention and he freely
+confessed that Mr. Lemen's influence on him had redoubled his dislike
+for slavery and, though himself a slaveholder, he most earnestly
+denounced the institution. The following paragraphs from a letter he
+wrote to James Lemen's brother, Robert, who then lived near Harper's
+Ferry, Virginia, on September 10, 1807, will disclose that Mr. Lemen's
+influence was largely concerned in connection with Jefferson's share
+in the Ordinance of 1787, in its anti-slavery clause. The paragraph is
+as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If your brother, James Lemen, should visit Virginia soon, as I learn
+he possibly may, do not let him return until he makes me a visit. I
+will also write him to be sure and see me. <a href="#footnote5">[5]</a>Among all my friends who
+are near, he is still a little nearer. I discovered his worth when he
+was but a child and I freely confess that in some of my most important
+achievements his example, wish, and advice, though then but a very
+young man, largely influenced my action. This was particularly true as
+to whatever share I may have had in the transfer of our great
+Northwestern Territory to the United States, and especially for the
+fact that I was so well pleased with the anti-slavery clause inserted
+later in the Ordinance of 1787. Before any one had ever mentioned the
+matter, James Lemen, by reason of his devotion to anti-slavery
+principles, suggested to me that we (Virginia) make the transfer and
+that slavery be excluded; and it so impressed and influenced me that
+whatever is due me as credit for my share in the matter is largely, if
+not wholly, due to James Lemen's advice and most righteous counsel.
+<a href="#footnote18">[18]</a>His record in the new country has fully justified my course in
+inducing him <span class="pagenum"><a id="page54" name="page54"></a>(p. 54)</span> to settle there with the view of properly
+shaping events in the best interest of the people. If he comes to
+Virginia, see that he calls on me."</p>
+
+<p>James Lemen did not visit Virginia and President Jefferson did not get
+to see him, but his letters to him showed what a great affection he
+had for his friend and agent. On May 2, 1778 [1784], at Annapolis,
+Md., Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen made their final agreement under
+which he was to settle in Illinois to shape matters after Jefferson's
+wishes, but always in the people's interest and for freedom, and
+particularly, to uphold the anti-slavery policy promised by Jefferson
+and later confirmed by the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of
+1787 which principle both Jefferson and Mr. Lemen expected would
+finally be assailed by the pro-slavery power, and the facts confirmed
+their judgment. In 1786 Mr. Lemen with his wife and young family
+settled finally at New Design, now in Monroe county. <a href="#footnote3">[3]</a>He was a judge
+under the early Territorial law. He finally united with the Baptist
+church and immediately set about collecting the Baptists into
+churches, having the first church constituted at his house.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lemen created the first eight Baptist churches in Illinois, having
+them especially declare against slavery and intemperance. When General
+William Henry Harrison became Governor, he and his Territorial Council
+went over to pro-slavery influences and demands, and carried Mr.
+Lemen's seven churches, which he had then created, with them. For some
+months he labored to call them to anti-slavery grounds, but failing,
+he declared for a division and created his eighth church, now Bethel
+church, near Collinsville, on strictly anti-slavery grounds; and this
+event opened the anti-slavery contest in 1809 which finally in 1818
+led to the election of an anti-slavery Convention which gave Illinois
+a free state constitution. <a href="#footnote32">[32]</a>Jefferson warmly approved Mr. Lemen's
+movement and sent his new church twenty dollars, which, with a fund
+the members collected and gave, was finally transferred to the church
+treasury without disclosing Jefferson's identity. This was done in
+order not to disturb his friendly relations with the extreme South.
+But Jefferson made no secret of his antipathy for slavery, though
+unwilling that the fact should be known that he sent James Lemen to
+the new country especially to defend it against slavery, as he knew it
+would arouse the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page55" name="page55"></a>(p. 55)</span> resentment of the extreme pro-slavery
+element against both him and his agent and probably defeat their
+movement.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footnote24">[24]</a>James Lemen also first suggested the plan to extend the boundary
+of Illinois northward to give more territory and better shape, and had
+a government surveyor make a map showing the great advantages and gave
+them to Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate, asking him to
+present the matter, which he did, and Congress adopted the plan. The
+extension gave the additional territory for fourteen counties and
+Chicago is included.</p>
+
+<p>James Lemen was a noted Indian fighter in Illinois, ever ready with
+his trusty rifle to defend the homes of the early settlers against the
+savage foe, and in every way he fully justified Jefferson's judgment
+in sending him to look after the best interests of the people in the
+new territory.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lemen possessed every moral and mental attribute in a high degree,
+and if any one was more marked than another it was his incomparable
+instinct against oppression, which his wonderful anti-slavery record
+accentuated as his chief endowment, though in all respects he was well
+equipped for a leader among men. That instinct, it might be said,
+fixed his destiny. At Jefferson's request he settled in the new
+territory to finally oppose slavery. That was before the Ordinance of
+1787 with its anti-slavery clause, but Mr. Lemen had Jefferson's
+assurance beforehand that the territory should be dedicated to
+freedom; though they both believed the pro-slavery power would finally
+press for its demands before stated, and the facts proved they were
+right. The reasons which necessitated the secrecy of the
+Jefferson-Lemen anti-slavery pact of May 2, 1784, under which Mr.
+Lemen came to Illinois on his anti-slavery mission at Jefferson's
+wish, and which was absolutely necessary to its success at first, no
+longer exists; and the fear of James Lemen's sons that its publication
+would so overshadow his great church work in Illinois with Jefferson's
+wonderful personality, as to dwarf his merits, is largely groundless.
+Senator Douglas, who with others is familiar with all the facts, says
+that when the matter is fully published and well known, it will give
+to both Mr. Lemen and Jefferson their proper shares of credit and
+fame; and, while it will add a new star to Jefferson's splendid fame,
+it will carry James Lemen along with him as his worthy co-worker and
+companion. The <span class="pagenum"><a id="page56" name="page56"></a>(p. 56)</span> subject of our sketch died at his home near
+Waterloo, Monroe county, on January 8th, 1823, and was buried in the
+family cemetery near by.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XVI. OLD LEMEN FAMILY NOTES, JAMES LEMEN HISTORY, AND SOME RELATED
+FACTS</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(MS. Document in I.B.H.C.,&mdash;C102. By Jos. B. Lemen)</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2">In 1857, to save the old "Lemen Family Notes" from loss by careless
+but persistent borrowers, Dr. B. F. Edwards, of St. Louis, and Rev. J.
+M. Peck, advised Rev. James Lemen, Jr., to make copies of all and then
+give the original stock to a friend whom they named to keep as his own
+in a safe vault in St. Louis, if he would pay all storage charges. But
+at that time he only gave the most important ones to Rev. J. M. Peck
+to place temporarily in a safe in St. Louis where he sometimes kept
+his own papers; though some years later he acted on their advice and
+making copies of all papers and letters of any value, gave the whole
+original stock to the party mentioned (we do not recall his name, but
+it is among our papers) [possibly the J. M. Smith mentioned in Dr.
+Peck's communication to James Lemen, Jr., July 17, 1857] and he placed
+them in the safe. Shortly after this their holder died, and they
+passed into the hands of others who removed them to another safe
+somewhere in St. Louis; but having no further title in the papers, and
+having copies of all for use, the family finally lost all traces of
+the papers and the parties holding them, and have only heard from them
+two or three times in more than 40 years.</p>
+
+<p>A few years ago, when a history of Rev. James Lemen, Jr., and his
+father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., was in contemplation, a reputed agent
+of the parties whom he then claimed held the old family notes,
+informed us that the family could have them at any time they wished;
+and we promised some of our friends who wished to see them that after
+we had used them in connection with the proposed history, the old
+stock of papers would be placed where they could see and copy them, if
+they wished. It was intended to have a few of the more important
+letters photographed for the James Lemen history; though it was said
+that some years before some one had a few of them photographed and
+they were so indistinct as to be worthless; but we hoped for better
+results. But it <span class="pagenum"><a id="page57" name="page57"></a>(p. 57)</span> finally developed that the reputed agent
+would expect us to pay him (contrary to our first impressions) quite a
+round sum of money for the restoration and use of the papers before he
+would deliver them to us. This awakened suspicions as to his
+reliability and a detective, to whom we sent his name and number for
+investigation, informed us that no such man could be found; and
+undoubtedly he was some dishonest person seeking to obtain money under
+false pretenses. And so the family, as for many years past, now knows
+nothing as to the parties who hold the papers or where they are. A
+singular fatality seems to have awaited all the papers placed at Dr.
+Peck's disposal or advice. His own papers were generally destroyed or
+lost, and the old "Lemen Family Notes" placed some years after his
+death, partly as he had advised, cannot be found. But while Dr. Peck's
+lost papers are a distinct and irreparable loss, no loss is sustained
+in the misplacement of the old Lemen notes, as every line or fact of
+any value in them was copied and the copies are all preserved; and
+nearly all the more important ones have been published, except a very
+few, including Rev. James Lemen's interviews with Lincoln, as written
+up by Mr. Lemen on ten pages of legal cap paper, and that paper will
+probably be published soon, if it is not held specially for the James
+Lemen history.</p>
+
+<p>As to that history, it will be delayed for some time, as the writer,
+who was expected to see to its preparation, was named by the State
+Baptist Convention as a member of the Baptist State Committee to
+assist with the James Lemen monument; and much of the matter intended
+for the history was published in connection with the labors of the
+State Committee. One object of the history was to secure or to
+influence that degree of recognition of the importance of the services
+of Rev. James Lemen, Sr. and his sons, with a few co-workers of the
+latter, in the early history and interests of both the Baptist cause
+and the State, on the part of the Baptists, to which the family
+thought them entitled. But since the Baptists, the "Sons of the
+Revolution," and others have placed a monument at the grave of the old
+State leader and Baptist pioneer, the Rev. James Lemen, Sr., it is
+felt that the object for making the history has already been in part
+realized. Another circumstance which has delayed it, is the poor
+health of the writer; so the prospect is that the making of the
+history will be delayed for some time.</p>
+
+<p>This <span class="pagenum"><a id="page58" name="page58"></a>(p. 58)</span> is written entirely from memory, as the papers and dates
+to which we refer are not before me, but we will retain a copy and if
+there proves to be any errors in this one, we will have them
+corrected. There was such a demand for them that some of Dr. Peck's,
+Lovejoy's, Douglas's, Lincoln's and some other letters were published,
+and some of them are included in the papers we send.</p>
+
+<p>Some years ago some one claimed that the old family notes had been
+found, which led to statements in the papers that they would soon be
+placed where people could see and read them; but it proved to be a
+mistake. For the loss of the papers the family do not believe there
+was any fault with the parties originally holding them, as in fact
+they had the right to hold them where they pleased, according to the
+agreement; but that from sudden deaths and other circumstances, they
+were misplaced.</p>
+
+<p>It should be added that every paper of any value, which was given to
+the St. Louis parties to hold was copied and the copies preserved,
+except mere personal, friendship letters, and of these there was quite
+a large stock; also that much of Dr. Peck's writings and many letters
+of his and others were loaned out and could not be given to the St.
+Louis parties to keep, but all of any real value have been copied or
+published, except the Lemen-Lincoln interviews and some others, and
+that even some of these copies are loaned out, among them copies of
+letters from Dr. Peck, Douglas, Lincoln, Lovejoy, if I recall
+correctly, and others; though the facts or information in them have
+already been published, except such facts as will be held for the
+James Lemen history, and we have copies of them, so nothing will be
+lost.</p>
+
+<p><span class="left50">(Signed)</span> <span class="smcap">Joseph B. Lemen</span>.<br>
+O'Fallon, Illinois,<br>
+<span class="add2em">January 10, 1911.</span></p>
+
+<p>[N. B. The above communication accompanied the gift of the walnut
+chest made by the elder James Lemen at Ft. Piggott, which was sent to
+the custodian of the Baptist Historical Collection at Shurtleff
+College, early in the year 1913&mdash;<span class="smcap">Compiler.</span>]</p>
+
+
+
+<h2>REFERENCES <span class="pagenum"><a id="page59" name="page59"></a>(p. 59)</span></h2>
+
+
+<p><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a>
+<b>Note 1:</b> See p. <a href="#page26">26</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a>
+<b>Note 2:</b> Reynolds "My Own Times" and "Pioneer History of
+Illinois."</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a>
+<b>Note 3:</b> See "Territorial Records of Illinois" (Illinois State Historical
+Library, <i>Publication</i>, III.), and compare p. <a href="#page54">54</a>
+<i>post</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a>
+<b>Note 4:</b> See Biographical sketches in "Lemen Family
+History."</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a>
+<b>Note 5:</b> See pp. <a href="#page33">33</a>, <a href="#page53">53</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a>
+<b>Note 6:</b> See pp. <a href="#page27">27</a>, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a>
+<b>Note 7:</b> See pp. <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page56">56</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a>
+<b>Note 8:</b> Peck, J. M., "Annals of the West," <i>in loco</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a>
+<b>Note 9:</b> See p. <a href="#page54">54</a> <i>post</i>, and Hinsdale, "Old Northwest."</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a>
+<b>Note 10:</b> Alvord, "Cahokia Records," Introduction.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a>
+<b>Note 11:</b> Reynolds, "My Own Times," p. 208.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a>
+<b>Note 12:</b> McMaster, "People of United States," II: 30, 31; III: 108; St.
+Clair Papers.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a>
+<b>Note 13:</b> Blake, "History of Slavery," p. 431.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a>
+<b>Note 14:</b> See p. <a href="#page29">29</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a>
+<b>Note 15:</b> See p. <a href="#page30">30</a>, and compare No. <a href="#footnote16">16</a> below.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a>
+<b>Note 16:</b> Blake, "History of Slavery," <i>in loco</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote17" name="footnote17"></a>
+<b>Note 17:</b> See pp. <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote18" name="footnote18"></a>
+<b>Note 18:</b> See p. <a href="#page53">53</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote19" name="footnote19"></a>
+<b>Note 19:</b> See p. <a href="#page30">30</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote20" name="footnote20"></a>
+<b>Note 20:</b> See p. <a href="#page30">30</a>, and compare, Patterson, "Early Illinois," Fergus
+Historical Coll., No. 14, pp. 141-2.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote21" name="footnote21"></a>
+<b>Note 21:</b> See pp. <a href="#page30">30</a>, <a href="#page35">35</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote22" name="footnote22"></a>
+<b>Note 22:</b> Reynolds, "My Own Times," p. 170.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote23" name="footnote23"></a>
+<b>Note 23:</b> See p. <a href="#page36">36</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote24" name="footnote24"></a>
+<b>Note 24:</b> See p. <a href="#page55">55</a>, and compare reference No. <a href="#footnote19">19</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote25" name="footnote25"></a>
+<b>Note 25:</b> See p. <a href="#page37">37</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote26" name="footnote26"></a>
+<b>Note 26:</b> See "Centennial History of Madison Co.," I: 52-55.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote27" name="footnote27"></a>
+<b>Note 27:</b> See p. <a href="#page38">38</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote28" name="footnote28"></a>
+<b>Note 28:</b> See p. <a href="#page47">47</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote29" name="footnote29"></a>
+<b>Note 29:</b> See p. <a href="#page50">50</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote30" name="footnote30"></a>
+<b>Note 30:</b> See p. <a href="#page34">34</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote31" name="footnote31"></a>
+<b>Note 31:</b> See p. <a href="#page41">41</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote32" name="footnote32"></a>
+<b>Note 32:</b> See p. <a href="#page54">54</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote33" name="footnote33"></a>
+<b>Note 33:</b> <i>Cf.</i> Smith, J. A., "History of the Baptists," p. 40; Benedict,
+"History of the Baptists," II: 246-8.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote34" name="footnote34"></a>
+<b>Note 34:</b> See p. <a href="#page39">39</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote35" name="footnote35"></a>
+<b>Note 35:</b> See pp. <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page56">56</a> and Peck, J. M., "Father Clark," <i>in loco</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Jefferson-Lemen Compact, by Willard C. MacNaul
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Jefferson-Lemen Compact
+       The Relations of Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen in the
+       Exclusion of Slavery from Illinois and Northern Territory
+       with Related Documents 1781-1818
+
+Author: Willard C. MacNaul
+
+Release Date: April 29, 2007 [EBook #21251]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEFFERSON-LEMEN COMPACT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected,
+all other inconsistencies are as in the original. Author's spelling
+has been maintained.
+Missing page numbers correspond to blank pages.
+Page numbers are in format {p.xx}.]
+
+
+
+
+                    The Jefferson-Lemen Compact
+
+
+                         The Relations of
+                 Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen
+              in the Exclusion of Slavery from Illinois
+                    and the Northwest Territory
+                      with Related Documents
+                            1781-1818
+
+
+                      A Paper read before the
+                     Chicago Historical Society
+                         February 16, 1915
+
+                                By
+                         Willard C. MacNaul
+
+
+                        [Illustration: Arms]
+
+
+                  The University of Chicago Press
+                              1915
+
+
+                          Copyright by
+                   CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
+                              1915
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS {p.03}
+
+
+  INTRODUCTION
+
+     1. Sketch of James Lemen.................................. 7
+
+     2. Lemen's Relations with Jefferson in Virginia........... 9
+
+     3. Lemen's Anti-Slavery Mission in Illinois--
+          Slavery in Illinois until 1787...................... 11
+          Prohibition of Slavery by Ordinance of 1787......... 11
+          The Slavery Conflict under Gov. St. Clair
+            (1787-1800)....................................... 12
+          The Slavery Conflict under Gov. Harrison
+            (1801-1809)....................................... 13
+          Slavery Question in the Movement for Division
+            of Indiana Territory in 1808-9.................... 16
+          James Lemen's Anti-Slavery Influence in the
+            Baptist Churches until 1809....................... 16
+          Slavery under Gov. Ninian Edwards (1809-1818)....... 19
+          Slavery in the Campaign for Statehood in 1818....... 19
+
+     4. Available Materials Relating to the Subject........... 23
+
+     5. Account of the "Lemen Family Notes"................... 24
+
+
+  DOCUMENTS
+
+     I. Diary of James Lemen, Sr.............................. 26
+
+    II. History of the Relations of James Lemen
+          and Thos. Jefferson, by J. M. Peck.................. 32
+
+   III. How Illinois Got Chicago, by Jos. B. Lemen............ 37
+
+    IV. Address to the Friends of Freedom..................... 38
+
+     V. Recollections of a Centennarian, by
+          Dr. W. F. Boyakin................................... 39
+
+    VI. In Memory of Rev. Jas. Lemen, Sr...................... 41
+
+   VII. Statement by Editor of _Belleville Advocate_.......... 41
+
+  VIII. Letter of Rev. J. M. Peck on the Old Lemen
+          Family Notes........................................ 42
+
+
+  PIONEER LETTERS {p.04}
+
+    IX. Letter of Senator Douglas to Rev. Jas. Lemen, Sr...... 46
+
+     X. Announcement by J. B. Lemen........................... 48
+
+    XL. Letter of Gov. Ninian Edwards to Jas. Lemen, Jr....... 49
+
+   XII. Letter of A. W. Snyder to Jas. Lemen, Sr.............. 49
+
+  XIII. Letter of Abraham Lincoln to Jas. Lemen, Jr........... 50
+
+   XIV. The Lemen Monument--Lemen's War Record................ 51
+
+    XV. Sketch of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., by J. M. Peck........ 52
+
+   XVI. Old Lemen Family Notes, Statement by Jos. B. Lemen.... 56
+
+        References............................................ 59
+
+
+
+
+NOTE {p.05}
+
+
+The materials here presented were collected in connection with the
+preparation of a history of the first generation of Illinois Baptists.
+The narrative introduction is printed substantially as delivered at a
+special meeting of the Chicago Historical Society, and, with the
+collection of documents, is published in response to inquiries
+concerning the so-called "Lemen Family Notes," and in compliance with
+the request for a contribution to the publications of this Society. It
+is hoped that the publication may serve to elicit further information
+concerning the alleged "Notes," the existence of which has become a
+subject of more or less interest to historians. The compiler merely
+presents the materials at their face value, without assuming to pass
+critical judgment upon them.
+
+                                        W. C. M.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION {p.07}
+
+RELATIONS OF JAMES LEMEN AND THOMAS JEFFERSON IN THE EXCLUSION OF
+SLAVERY FROM ILLINOIS AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY
+
+
+In view of the approaching centennary of statehood in Illinois, the
+name of James Lemen takes on a timely interest because of his
+services--social, religious, and political--in the making of the
+Commonwealth. He was a native of Virginia, born and reared in the
+vicinity of Harper's Ferry. He served a two-years' enlistment in the
+Revolutionary War under Washington, and afterwards returned to his
+regiment during the siege of Yorktown. His "Yorktown Notes" in his
+diary give some interesting glimpses of his participation in that
+campaign.[1] His Scotch ancestors had served in a similar cause under
+Cromwell, whose wedding gift to one of their number is still cherished
+as a family heirloom.
+
+Upon leaving the army James Lemen married Catherine Ogle, daughter of
+Captain Joseph Ogle, whose name is perpetuated in that of Ogle county,
+Illinois. The Ogles were of old English stock, some of whom at least
+were found on the side of Cromwell and the Commonwealth. Catherine's
+family at one time lived on the South Branch of the Potomac, although
+at the time of her marriage her home was near Wheeling. Captain Ogle's
+commission, signed by Gov. Patrick Henry, is now a valued possession
+of one of Mrs. Lemen's descendants. James and Catherine Lemen were
+well fitted by nature and training for braving the hardships and
+brightening the privations of life on the frontier, far removed from
+home and friends, or even the abodes of their nearest white kinsmen.
+
+During, and even before the war, young Lemen is reputed to have been
+the protege of Thomas Jefferson, through whose influence he became a
+civil and religious leader in the pioneer period of Illinois history.
+Gov. Reynolds, in his writings relating to this period,[2] gives
+various sketches of the man and his family, and his name occurs
+frequently in {p.08} the records of the times. He was among the first
+to follow Col. Clark's men to the Illinois country, where he
+established the settlement of New Design, one of the earliest American
+colonies in what was, previous to his arrival, the "Illinois county"
+of the Old Dominion. Here he served, first as a justice of the peace,
+and then as a judge of the court of the original county of St. Clair,
+and thus acquired the title of "Judge Lemen."[3] Here, too, he became
+the progenitor of the numerous Illinois branch of the Lemen family,
+whose genealogy and family history was recently published by Messrs.
+Frank and Joseph B. Lemen--a volume of some four hundred and fifty
+pages, and embracing some five hundred members of the family.
+
+True to his avowed purpose in coming to Illinois, young Lemen became a
+leader of anti-slavery sentiment in the new Territory, and,
+undoubtedly, deserves to be called one of the Fathers of the Free
+State Constitution, which was framed in 1818 and preserved in 1824.
+His homestead, the "Old Lemen Fort" at New Design, which is still the
+comfortable home of the present owner, is the birthplace of the
+Baptist denomination in Illinois; and he himself is commemorated as
+the recognized founder of that faith in this State, by a granite shaft
+in the family burial plot directly in front of the old home. This
+memorial was dedicated in 1909 by Col. William Jennings Bryan, whose
+father, Judge Bryan, of Salem, Illinois, was the first to suggest it
+as a well-deserved honor.
+
+James Lemen, Sr., also became the father and leader of the noted
+"Lemen Family Preachers," consisting of himself and six stalwart sons,
+all but one of whom were regularly ordained Baptist ministers. The
+eldest son, Robert, although never ordained, was quite as active and
+efficient in the cause as any of the family. This remarkable family
+eventually became the nucleus of a group of anti-slavery Baptist
+churches in Illinois which had a very important influence upon the
+issue of that question in the State. Rev. James Lemen, Jr., who is
+said to have been the second American boy born in the Illinois
+country, succeeded to his father's position of leadership in the
+anti-slavery movement of the times, and served as the representative
+of St. Clair county in the Territorial Legislature, the Constitutional
+Convention, and the State Senate. The younger James Lemen was on terms
+of intimacy with Abraham Lincoln at Springfield, and {p.09} his
+cousin, Ward Lamon, was Lincoln's early associate in the law, and also
+his first biographer. Various representatives of the family in later
+generations have attained success as farmers, physicians, teachers,
+ministers, and lawyers throughout southern Illinois and other sections
+of the country.[4]
+
+The elder James Lemen was himself an interesting character, and,
+entirely apart from his relations with Jefferson, he is a significant
+factor in early Illinois history. His fight for free versus slave
+labor in Illinois and the Northwest derives a peculiar interest,
+however, from its association with the great name of Jefferson. The
+principles for which the latter stood--but not necessarily his
+policies--have a present-day interest for us greater than those of his
+contemporaries, because those principles are the "live issues" of our
+own times. Jefferson is to that extent our contemporary, and hence his
+name lends a living interest to otherwise obscure persons and remote
+events. The problem of free labor versus slave labor we have with us
+still, and in a much more complex and widespread form than in
+Jefferson's day.
+
+According to the current tradition, a warm personal friendship sprang
+up between Jefferson and young Lemen, who was seventeen years the
+junior of his distinguished patron and friend. In a letter to Robert,
+brother of James Lemen, attributed to Jefferson, he writes: "Among all
+my friends who are near, he is still a little nearer. I discovered his
+worth when he was but a child, and I freely confess that in some of my
+most important achievements his example, wish, and advice, though then
+but a very young man, largely influenced my action." In a sketch of
+the relations of the two men by Dr. John M. Peck we are told that
+"after Jefferson became President of the United States, he retained
+all of his early affection for Mr. Lemen"; and upon the occasion of a
+visit of a mutual friend to the President, in 1808, "he inquired after
+him with all the fondness of a father."[5]
+
+Their early relations in Virginia, so far as we have any account of
+them, concerned their mutual anti-slavery interests. Peck tells us
+that "Mr. Lemen was a born anti-slavery leader, and had proved himself
+such in Virginia by inducing scores of masters to free their slaves
+through his prevailing kindness of manner and Christian arguments."
+Concerning {p.10} the cession of Virginia's claims to the Northwest
+Territory, Jefferson is thus quoted, from his letter to Robert Lemen:
+"Before any one had even mentioned the matter, James Lemen, by reason
+of his devotion to anti-slavery principles, suggested to me that we
+(Virginia) make the transfer, and that slavery be excluded; and it so
+impressed and influenced me that whatever is due me as credit for my
+share in the matter, is largely, if not wholly, due to James Lemen's
+advice and most righteous counsel."[5]
+
+Before this transfer was effected, it appears that Jefferson had
+entered into negotiations with his young protege with a view to
+inducing him to locate in the "Illinois country" as his agent, in
+order to co-operate with himself in the effort to exclude slavery from
+the entire Northwest Territory. Mr. Lemen makes record of an interview
+with Jefferson under date of December 11, 1782, as follows: "Thomas
+Jefferson had me to visit him again a short time ago, as he wanted me
+to go to the Illinois country in the Northwest after a year or two, in
+order to try to lead and direct the new settlers in the best way, and
+also to oppose the introduction of slavery into that country at a
+later day, as I am known as an opponent of that evil; and he says he
+will give me some help. It is all because of his great kindness and
+affection for me, for which I am very grateful; but I have not yet
+fully decided to do so, but have agreed to consider the case." In May,
+1784, they had another interview, on the eve of Jefferson's departure
+on his prolonged mission to France. Mr. Lemen's memorandum reads: "I
+saw Jefferson at Annapolis, Maryland, to-day, and had a very pleasant
+visit with him. I have consented to go to Illinois on his mission, and
+he intends helping me some; but I did not ask nor wish it. We had a
+full agreement and understanding as to all terms and duties. The
+agreement is strictly private between us, but all his purposes are
+perfectly honorable and praiseworthy."[6]
+
+Thus the mission was undertaken which proved to be his life-work. He
+had intended starting with his father-in-law, Captain Ogle, in 1785,
+but was detained by illness in his family. December 28, 1785, he
+records: "Jefferson's confidential agent gave me one hundred dollars
+of his funds to use for my family, if need be, and if not, to go to
+good causes; and I will go to Illinois on his mission next spring and
+take my wife and children."
+
+Such {p.11} was the origin and nature of the so-called
+"Jefferson-Lemen Secret Anti-Slavery Compact," the available evidence
+concerning which will be given at the conclusion of this paper.[7] The
+anti-slavery propaganda of James Lemen and his circle constituted a
+determining factor in the history of the first generation of Illinois
+Baptists. To what extent Lemen co-operated with Jefferson in his
+movements will appear as we proceed with the story of his efforts to
+make Illinois a free State.
+
+The "Old Dominion" ceded her "county of Illinois" to the National
+domain in 1784. Jefferson's effort to provide for the exclusion of
+slavery from the new Territory at that date proved abortive.
+Consequently, when James Lemen arrived at the old French village of
+Kaskaskia in July, 1786, he found slavery legally entrenched in all
+the former French possessions in the "Illinois country." It had been
+introduced by Renault, in 1719, who brought 500 negroes from Santo
+Domingo (then a French possession) to work the mines which he expected
+to develop in this section of the French Colonial Empire.[8] It is a
+noteworthy fact that slavery was established on the soil of Illinois
+just a century after its introduction on the shores of Virginia. When
+the French possessions were taken over by Great Britain at the close
+of the colonial struggle in 1763, that country guaranteed the French
+inhabitants the possession of all their property, including slaves.
+When Col. Clark, of Virginia, took possession of this region in 1778,
+the State likewise guaranteed the inhabitants the full enjoyment of
+all their property rights. By the terms of the Virginia cession of
+1784 to the National Government, all the rights and privileges of the
+former citizens of Virginia were assured to them in the ceded
+district. Thus, at the time of Lemen's arrival, slavery had been
+sanctioned on the Illinois prairies for sixty-seven years. One year
+from the date of his arrival, however, the Territorial Ordinance of
+1787 was passed, with the prohibition of slavery, as originally
+proposed by Jefferson in 1784.[9] Thus it would seem that the desired
+object had already been attained. By the terms of the famous "Sixth
+Article of Compact," contained in that Ordinance, it was declared that
+"there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said
+Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the
+accused shall have been duly convicted." This looks like a sweeping
+and final disposition of {p.12} the matter, but it was not accepted
+as such until the lapse of another fifty-seven years. But neither
+Jefferson nor his agents on the ground had anticipated so easy a
+victory. Indeed, they had foreseen that a determined effort would be
+made by the friends of slavery to legalize that institution in the
+Territory. Almost at once, in fact, the conflict commenced, which was
+to continue actively for thirty-seven years. Like the Nation itself,
+the Illinois country was to be for a large part of its history "half
+slave and half free"--both in sentiment and in practice.
+
+Two attempts against the integrity of the "Sixth Article" were made
+during Gov. St. Clair's administration. The trouble began with the
+appeals of the French slave-holders against the loss of their
+slaves.[10] As civil administration under the Territorial government
+was not established among the Illinois settlements until 1790, both
+the old French inhabitants and the new American colonists suffered all
+manner of disabilities and distresses in the interval between 1784 and
+1790, while just across the Mississippi there was a settled and
+prosperous community under the Spanish government of Louisiana. When,
+therefore, the French masters appealed to Gen. St. Clair, in 1787, to
+protect them against the loss of the principal part of their wealth,
+represented by their slaves, he had to face the alternative of the
+loss of these substantial citizens by migration with their slaves to
+the Spanish side of the river. And, in order to pacify these
+petitioners, St. Clair gave it as his opinion that the prohibition of
+slavery in the Ordinance was not retroactive, and hence did not affect
+the rights of the French masters in their previously acquired slave
+property. As this view accorded with the "compact" contained in the
+Virginia deed of cession, it was sanctioned by the old Congress, and
+was later upheld by the new Federal Government; and this construction
+of the Ordinance of 1787 continued to prevail in Illinois until 1845,
+when the State Supreme Court decreed that the prohibition was
+absolute, and that, consequently, slavery in any form had never had
+any legal sanction in Illinois since 1787.[11]
+
+It does not appear that Mr. Lemen took any active measures against
+this construction of the anti-slavery ordinance at the time. He was,
+indeed, himself a petitioner, with other American settlers on the
+"Congress lands" in Illinois, for the recognition of their claims,
+which were menaced {p.13} by the general prohibition of settlement
+then in effect.[12] Conditions in every respect were so insecure prior
+to the organization of St. Clair county in 1790, that it was hardly to
+be expected that any vigorous measure could be taken against
+previously existing slavery in the colony, especially as the Americans
+were then living in station forts for protection against the hostile
+Indians. Moreover, Jefferson was not in the country in 1787, and hence
+there was no opportunity for co-operation with him at this time. Mr.
+Lemen was, however, improving the opportunity "to try to lead and
+direct the new settlers in the best way"; for we find him, although
+not as yet himself a "professor" of religion, engaged in promoting the
+religious observance of the Sabbath on the part of the "godfearing"
+element in the station fort where, with his father-in-law, he resided
+(Fort Piggott). In 1789 Jefferson returned from France to become
+Secretary of State in President Washington's cabinet, under the new
+Federal Government. He had not forgotten his friend Lemen, as Dr. Peck
+assures us that "he lost no time in sending him a message of love and
+confidence by a friend who was then coming to the West."
+
+St. Clair's construction of the prohibition of slavery unfortunately
+served to weaken even its preventive force and emboldened the
+pro-slavery advocates to seek persistently for the repeal, or, at
+least, the "suspension" of the obnoxious Sixth Article. A second
+effort was made under his administration in 1796, when a memorial,
+headed by Gen. John Edgar, was sent to Congress praying for the
+suspension of the Article. The committee of reference, of which the
+Hon. Joshua Coit of Connecticut was chairman, reported adversely upon
+this memorial, May 12, 1796.[13] It is not possible to state
+positively Lemen's influence, if any, in the defeat of this appeal of
+the leading citizens of the old French villages. But, as it was in
+this same year that the first Protestant church in the bounds of
+Illinois was organized in his house, and, as we are informed that he
+endeavored to persuade the constituent members of the New Design
+church to oppose slavery, we may suppose that he was already taking an
+active part in opposition to the further encroachments of slavery,
+especially in his own community.
+
+The effort to remove the prohibition was renewed under Gov. Wm. Henry
+Harrison, during the connection of the Illinois {p.14} settlements
+with the Indiana Territory, from 1800 to 1809. Five separate attempts
+were made during these years, which coincide with the term of
+President Jefferson, who had removed St. Clair to make room for Gen.
+Harrison. Harrison, however, yielded to the pressure of the
+pro-slavery element in the Territory to use his power and influence
+for their side of the question. Although their proposals were thrice
+favorably reported from committee, the question never came to a vote
+in Congress. The first attempt during the Indiana period was that of a
+pro-slavery convention, called at the instigation of the Illinois
+contingent, which met at Vincennes, in 1803, under the chairmanship of
+Gov. Harrison. Their memorial to Congress, requesting merely a
+temporary suspension of the prohibition, was adversely reported from
+committee in view of the evident prosperity of Ohio under the same
+restriction, and because "the committee deem it highly dangerous and
+inexpedient to impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the
+happiness and prosperity of the Northwestern country, and to give
+strength and security to that extensive frontier." Referring to this
+attempt of "the extreme southern slave advocates ... for the
+introduction of slavery," Mr. Lemen writes, under date of May 3, 1803,
+that "steps must soon be taken to prevent that curse from being
+fastened on our people." The same memorial was again introduced in
+Congress in February, 1804, with the provisos of a ten-year limit to
+the suspension and the introduction of native born slaves only, which,
+of course, would mean those of the border-state breeders. Even this
+modified proposal, although approved in committee, failed to move
+Congress to action. Harrison and his supporters continued nevertheless
+to press the matter, and he even urged Judge Lemen, in a personal
+interview, to lend his influence to the movement for the introduction
+of slavery. To this suggestion Lemen replied that "the evil attempt
+would encounter his most active opposition, in every possible and
+honorable manner that his mind could suggest or his means
+accomplish."[14]
+
+It was about this time that the Governor and judges took matters in
+their own hands and introduced a form of indentured service, which,
+although technically within the prohibition of _involuntary_
+servitude, amounted practically to actual slavery. Soon after, in
+order to give this institution a more secure legal sanction, by
+legislative enactment, the {p.15} second grade of territorial
+government was hastily and high-handedly forced upon the people for
+this purpose. It was probably in view of these measures that Mr. Lemen
+recorded his belief that President Jefferson "will find means to
+overreach the evil attempts of the pro-slavery party." Early in the
+year 1806 the Vincennes memorial was introduced into Congress for the
+third time and again favorably reported from committee, but to no
+avail. It was about this time, as we learn from his diary, that Mr.
+Lemen "sent a messenger to Indiana to ask the churches and people
+there to get up and sign a counter petition, to uphold freedom in the
+Territory," circulating a similar petition in Illinois himself.[15]
+
+A fourth attempt to bring the proposal before Congress was made in
+January, 1807, in a formal communication from the Governor and
+Territorial Legislature. The proposal was a third time favorably
+reported by the committee of reference, but still without action by
+the House. Finally, in November of the same year, President Jefferson
+transmitted to Congress similar communications from the Indiana
+government. This time the committee reported that "the citizens of
+Clark county [in which was located the first Baptist church organized
+in Indiana], in their remonstrance, express their sense of the
+impropriety of the measure"; and that they also requested Congress not
+to act upon the subject until the people had an opportunity to
+formulate a State Constitution[16]. Commenting upon the whole
+proceedings, Dr. Peck quotes Gov. Harrison to the effect that, though
+he and Lemen were firm friends, the latter "had set his iron will
+against slavery, and indirectly made his influence felt so strongly at
+Washington and before Congress, that all the efforts to suspend the
+anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787 failed."[17] Peck adds
+that President Jefferson "quietly directed his leading confidential
+friends in Congress steadily to defeat Gen. Harrison's petitions for
+the repeal."[17]
+
+It was about this time, September 10, 1807, that President Jefferson
+thus expressed his estimate of James Lemen's services, in his letter
+to Robert Lemen: "His record in the new country has fully justified my
+course in inducing him to settle there with the view of properly
+shaping events in the best interest of the people."[18] It was during
+this period of the Indiana agitation for the introduction of slavery,
+{p.16} as we learn from an entry in his diary dated September 10,
+1806, that Mr. Lemen received a call from an agent of Aaron Burr to
+solicit his aid and sympathy in Burr's scheme for a southwestern
+empire, with Illinois as a Province, and an offer to make him
+governor. "But I denounced the conspiracy as high treason," he says,
+"and gave him a few hours to leave the Territory on pain of
+arrest."[19] It should be noted that at this date he was not himself a
+magistrate, which, perhaps, accounts for his apparent leniency towards
+what he regarded as a treasonable proposal.
+
+The year 1809, the date of the separation of Illinois from the Indiana
+Territory, marks a crisis in the Lemen anti-slavery campaign in
+Illinois.[20] The agitation under the Indiana government for the
+further recognition of slavery in the Territory was mainly instigated
+by the Illinois slave-holders and their sympathizers among the
+American settlers from the slave states. The people of Indiana proper,
+except those of the old French inhabitants of Vincennes, who were
+possessed of slaves, were either indifferent or hostile towards
+slavery. Its partisans in the Illinois counties of the Territory, in
+the hope of promoting their object thereby, now sought division of the
+Indiana Territory and the erection of a separate government for
+Illinois at Kaskaskia. This movement aroused a bitter political
+struggle in the Illinois settlements, one result of which was the
+murder of young Rice Jones in the streets of Kaskaskia. The division
+was advocated on the ground of convenience and opposed on the score of
+expense. The divisionists, however, seem to have been animated mainly
+by the desire to secure the introduction of slavery as soon as
+statehood could be attained for their section. The division was
+achieved in 1809, and with it the prompt adoption of the system of
+indentured service already in vogue under the Indiana government. And
+from that time forth the fight was on between the free-state and
+slave-state parties in the new Territory. Throughout the independent
+territorial history of Illinois, slavery was sanctioned partly by law
+and still further by custom. Gov. Ninian Edwards, whose religious
+affiliations were with the Baptists, not only sanctioned slavery, but,
+as is well known, was himself the owner of slaves during the
+territorial period.
+
+It was in view of this evident determination to make of Illinois
+Territory a slave state, that James Lemen, with Jefferson's approval,
+took the radical step of organizing a {p.17} distinctively
+anti-slavery church as a means of promoting the free-state cause.[21]
+From the first, indeed, he had sought to promote the cause of
+temperance and of anti-slavery in and through the church. He tells us
+in his diary, in fact, that he "hoped to employ the churches as a
+means of opposition to the institution of slavery."[21] He was reared
+in the Presbyterian faith, his stepfather being a minister of that
+persuasion; but at twenty years of age he embraced Baptist principles,
+apparently under the influence of a Baptist minister in Virginia,
+whose practice it was to bar from membership all who upheld the
+institution of slavery. He thus identified himself with the struggles
+for civil, religious, and industrial liberty, all of which were then
+actively going on in his own state.
+
+The name of "New Design," which became attached to the settlement
+which he established on the upland prairies beyond the bluffs of the
+"American Bottom," is said to have originated from a quaint remark of
+his that he "had a 'new design' to locate a settlement south of
+Bellefontaine" near the present town of Waterloo.[22] The name "New
+Design," however, became significant of his anti-slavery mission; and
+when, after ten years of pioneer struggles, he organized The Baptist
+Church of Christ at New Design, in 1796, he soon afterwards induced
+that body--the first Protestant church in the bounds of the present
+State--to adopt what were known as "Tarrant's Rules Against Slavery."
+The author of these rules, the Rev. James Tarrant, of Virginia, later
+of Kentucky, one of the "emancipating preachers," eventually organized
+the fraternity of anti-slavery Baptist churches in Kentucky, who
+called themselves "Friends to Humanity."
+
+From 1796 to 1809 Judge Lemen was active in the promotion of Baptist
+churches and a Baptist Association. He labored to induce all these
+organizations to adopt his anti-slavery principles, and in this he was
+largely successful; but, with the increase of immigrant Baptists from
+the slave states, it became increasingly difficult to maintain these
+principles in their integrity. And when, in the course of the campaign
+for the division of the Territory in 1808, it became apparent that the
+lines between the free-state and the slave-state forces were being
+decisively drawn, Lemen prepared to take a more radical stand in the
+struggle. With this design in view he asked and obtained the formal
+sanction of {p.18} his church as a licensed preacher. In the course
+of the same year, 1808, he is said to have received a confidential
+message from Jefferson "suggesting a division of the churches on the
+question of slavery, and the organization of a church on a strictly
+anti-slavery basis, for the purpose of heading a movement to make
+Illinois a free state."[21] According to another, and more probable,
+version of this story, when Jefferson learned, through a mutual friend
+(Mr. S. H. Biggs), of Lemen's determination to force the issue in the
+church to the point of division, if necessary, he sent him a message
+of approval of his proposed course and accompanied it with a
+contribution of $20 for the contemplated anti-slavery church.
+
+The division of the Territory was effected early in the year 1809, and
+in the summer of that year, after vainly trying to hold all the
+churches to their avowed anti-slavery principles, Elder Lemen, in a
+sermon at Richland Creek Baptist church, threw down the gauntlet to
+his pro-slavery brethren and declared that he could no longer maintain
+church fellowship with them. His action caused a division in the
+church, which was carried into the Association at its ensuing meeting,
+in October, 1809, and resulted in the disruption of that body into
+three parties on the slavery question--the conservatives, the
+liberals, and the radicals. The latter element, headed by "the Lemen
+party," as it now came to be called, held to the principles of The
+Friends to Humanity, and proposed to organize a branch of that order
+of Baptists. When it came to the test, however, the new church was
+reduced to a constituent membership consisting of some seven or eight
+members of the Lemen family. Such was the beginning of what is now the
+oldest surviving Baptist church in the State, which then took the name
+of "The Baptized Church of Christ, Friends to Humanity, on Cantine
+(Quentin) Creek." It is located in the neighborhood of the old Cahokia
+mound. Its building, when it came to have one, was called "Bethel
+Meeting House," and in time the church itself became known as "Bethel
+Baptist Church."
+
+The distinctive basis of this church is proclaimed in its simple
+constitution, to which every member was required to subscribe:
+"Denying union and communion with all persons holding the doctrine of
+perpetual, involuntary, hereditary slavery." This church began its
+career as "a family church," in the literal sense of the word; but it
+prospered nevertheless, {p.19} until it became a numerically strong
+and vigorous organization which has had an active and honorable career
+of a hundred years' duration. Churches of the same name and principles
+multiplied and maintained their uncompromising but discriminating
+opposition to slavery so long as slavery remained a local issue; after
+which time they were gradually absorbed into the general body of
+ordinary Baptist churches.
+
+During the period of the Illinois Territory, 1809 to 1818, Elder Lemen
+kept up a most energetic campaign of opposition to slavery, by
+preaching and rigorous church discipline in the application of the
+rules against slavery. He himself was regularly ordained soon after
+the organization of his anti-slavery church. His sons, James and
+Joseph, and his brother-in-law, Benjamin Ogle, were equally active in
+the ministry during this period, and, before its close, they had two
+churches firmly established in Illinois, with others of the same order
+in Missouri.
+
+"The church, properly speaking, never entered politics," Dr. Peck
+informs us, "but presently, when it became strong, the members all
+formed what they called the 'Illinois Anti-Slavery League,' and it was
+this body that conducted the anti-slavery contest."[23] The contest
+culminated in the campaign for statehood in 1818.
+
+At the beginning of that year the Territorial Legislature petitioned
+Congress for an Enabling Act, which was presented by the Illinois
+Delegate, Hon. Nathaniel Pope. As chairman of the committee to which
+this petition was referred, he drew up a bill for such an act early in
+the year. In the course of its progress through the House, he
+presented an amendment to his own bill, which provided for the
+extension of the northern boundary of the new state. According to the
+provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, the line would have been drawn
+through the southern border of Lake Michigan. Pope's amendment
+proposed to extend it so as to include some sixty miles of frontage on
+Lake Michigan, thereby adding fourteen counties, naturally tributary
+to the lake region, to counterbalance the southern portion of the
+State, which was connected by the river system with the southern slave
+states. Gov. Thomas Ford states explicitly that Pope made this change
+"upon his own responsibility, ... no one at that time having suggested
+or requested it." This statement is directly contradicted in {p.20}
+Dr. Peck's sketch of James Lemen, Sr., written in 1857. He therein
+states that this extension was first suggested by Judge Lemen, who had
+a government surveyor make a plat of the proposed extension, with the
+advantages to the anti-slavery cause to be gained thereby noted on the
+document, which he gave to Pope with the request to have it embodied
+in the Enabling Act.[24] This statement was repeated and amplified by
+Mr. Joseph B. Lemen in an article in _The Chicago Tribune_.[25] It is
+a well-known fact that the vote of these fourteen northern counties
+secured the State to the anti-slavery party in 1856; but as this
+section of the State was not settled until long after its admission
+into the Union, the measure, whatever its origin, had no effect upon
+the Constitutional Convention. However, John Messinger, of New Design,
+who surveyed the Military Tract and, later, also the northern boundary
+line, may very well have made such a plat, either on his own motion or
+at the suggestion of the zealous anti-slavery leader, with whom he was
+well acquainted. As Messinger was later associated with Peck in the
+Rock Spring Seminary, and in the publication of a sectional map of
+Illinois, it would seem that Peck was in a position to know the facts
+as well as Ford.
+
+In the campaign for the election of delegates to the Constitutional
+Convention, slavery was the only question seriously agitated. The
+Lemen churches and their sympathizers were so well organized and so
+determined in purpose that they made a very energetic and effective
+campaign for delegates. Their organization for political purposes, as
+Peck informs us, "always kept one of its members and several of its
+friends in the Territorial Legislature; and five years before the
+constitutional election in 1818, it had fifty resident agents--men of
+like sympathies--quietly at work in the several settlements; and the
+masterly manner in which they did their duty was shown by a poll which
+they made of the voters some few weeks before the election, which, on
+their side, varied only a few votes from the official count after the
+election."[23]
+
+It is difficult to determine from the meager records of the
+proceedings, even including the Journal of the Convention recently
+published, just what the complexion of the body was on the slavery
+question. Mr. W. Kitchell, a descendant of one of the delegates,
+states that there were twelve delegates that favored the recognition
+of slavery by a {p.21} specific article in the Constitution, and
+twenty-one that opposed such action. Gov. Coles, who was present as a
+visitor and learned the sentiments of the prominent members, says that
+many, but not a majority of the Convention, were in favor of making
+Illinois a slave state.[26] During the session of the Convention an
+address to The Friends of Freedom was published by a company of
+thirteen leading men, including James Lemen, Sr., to the effect that a
+determined effort was to be made in the Convention to give sanction to
+slavery, and urging concerted action "to defeat the plans of those who
+wish either a temporary or an unlimited slavery."[27] A majority of
+the signers of this address were Lemen's Baptist friends, and its
+phraseology points to him as its author.
+
+James Lemen, Jr., was a delegate from St. Clair county and a member of
+the committee which drafted the Constitution. In the original draft of
+that instrument, slavery was prohibited in the identical terms of the
+Ordinance of 1787, as we learn from the recently published journal of
+the Convention. In the final draft this was changed to read: "Neither
+slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter be introduced," and
+the existing system of indentured service was also incorporated. These
+changes were the result of compromise, and Lemen consistently voted
+against them. He was nevertheless one of the committee of three
+appointed to revise and engross the completed instrument.
+
+The result was a substantial victory for the Free-State Party; and had
+the Convention actually overridden the prohibition contained in the
+original Territorial Ordinance, as it was then interpreted, it is
+evident, from the tone of the address to The Friends of Freedom, that
+the Lemen circle would have made a determined effort to defeat the
+measure in Congress.[27]
+
+Dr. Peck, who, like Gov. Coles, was a visitor to the Convention, and
+who had every opportunity to know all the facts, in summing up the
+evidence in regard to the matter, declares it to be "conclusive that
+Mr. Lemen created and organized the forces which confirmed Illinois,
+if not the Northwest Territory, to freedom." Speaking of the current
+impression that the question of slavery was not much agitated in
+Illinois prior to the Constitutional Convention, Gov. Coles says: "On
+the contrary, at a very early period of the settlement of Illinois,
+the question was warmly agitated by zealous {p.22} advocates and
+opponents of slavery," and that, although during the period of the
+independent Illinois Territory the agitation was lulled, it was not
+extinguished, "as was seen [from] its mingling itself so actively both
+in the election and the conduct of the members of the Convention, in
+1818."[26]
+
+Senator Douglas, in a letter to James Lemen, Jr., is credited with
+full knowledge of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Compact" and a
+high estimate of its significance in the history of the slavery
+contest in Illinois and the Northwest Territory. "This matter assumes
+a phase of personal interest with me," he says, "and I find myself,
+politically, in the good company of Jefferson and your father. With
+them everything turned on whether the people of the Territory wanted
+slavery or not, ... and that appears to me to be the correct
+doctrine."[28] Lincoln, too, in a letter to the younger James Lemen,
+is quoted as having a personal knowledge of the facts and great
+respect for the senior Lemen in the conflict for a free state in
+Illinois. "Both your father and Lovejoy," he remarks, "were pioneer
+leaders in the cause of freedom, and it has always been difficult for
+me to see why your father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and
+aggressive leader, who boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the
+Territory and the State free, never aroused nor encountered any of
+that mob violence which, both in St. Louis and in Alton, confronted
+and pursued Lovejoy."[29] Of the latter he says: "His letters, among
+your old family notes, were of more interest to me than even those of
+Thomas Jefferson to your father."
+
+Jefferson's connection with Lemen's anti-slavery mission in Illinois
+was never made public, apparently, until the facts were published by
+Mr. Joseph B. Lemen, of the third generation, in the later years of
+his life, in connection with the centennary anniversaries of the
+events involved. However, the "compact" was a matter of family
+tradition, based upon a collection of letters and notes handed down
+from father to son. Jefferson's reasons for keeping the matter secret,
+as Dr. Peck explains, were, first, to prevent giving the impression
+that he was seeking his own interests in the territories, and, second,
+to avoid arousing the opposition of his southern friends who desired
+the extension of slavery. Lemen, on the other hand, did not wish to
+have it thought that his actions were controlled by political
+considerations, or subject {p.23} to the will of another. Moreover,
+when he learned that Jefferson was regarded as "an unbeliever," he is
+said to have wept bitterly lest it should be thought that, in his work
+for the church and humanity, he had been influenced by an "infidel";
+and, sometime before his death, he exacted a promise of his sons and
+the few friends who were acquainted with the nature of his compact
+with Jefferson that they would not make it known while he lived.[30]
+Under the influence of this feeling on the part of their father, the
+family kept the facts to themselves and a few confidential friends
+until after the lapse of a century, when the time came to commemorate
+the achievements of their ancestor.
+
+How much of the current tradition is fact and how much fiction is hard
+to determine, as so little of the original documentary material is now
+available. The collection of materials herewith presented consists of
+what purport to be authentic copies of the original documents in
+question. They are put in this form in the belief that their
+significance warrants it, and in the hope that their publication may
+elicit further light on the subject. These materials consist of three
+sorts, viz.; a transcript of the Diary of James Lemen, Sr., a
+manuscript History of the confidential relations of Lemen and
+Jefferson, prepared by Rev. John M. Peck, and a series of letters from
+various public men to Rev. James Lemen, Jr. The Diary and manuscript
+"History" were located by the compiler of this collection among the
+papers of the late Dr. Edward B. Lemen, of Alton, Illinois. These
+documents are now in the possession of his son-in-law, Mr. Wykoff, who
+keeps them in his bank vault. The collection of letters was published
+at various times by Mr. Joseph B. Lemen, of Collinsville, Illinois, in
+_The Belleville Advocate_, of Belleville, Illinois. The Diary is a
+transcript of the original, attested by Rev. James Lemen, Jr. The
+"History" is a brief sketch, in two chapters, prepared from the
+original documents by Dr. Peck while he was pastor of the Bethel
+Church, in June, 1851, and written at his dictation by the hand of an
+assistant, as the document itself expressly states. Mr. Joseph Lemen,
+who is responsible for the letters, is the son of Rev. James Lemen,
+Jr., and one of the editors of the Lemen Family History. The editor of
+_The Belleville Advocate_ states that Mr. Lemen has contributed to
+various metropolitan newspapers in the political campaigns of his
+party, from those of Lincoln to those of McKinley.[31] He also {p.24}
+contributed extended sketches of the Baptist churches of St. Clair
+county for one of the early histories of that county. He took an
+active part in promoting the movement to commemorate his grandfather,
+James Lemen, Sr., in connection with the centennary anniversaries of
+the churches founded at New Design and Quentin Creek (Bethel).
+
+The originals of these materials are said to have composed part of a
+collection of letters and documents known as the "Lemen Family Notes,"
+which has aroused considerable interest and inquiry among historians
+throughout the country. The history of this collection is somewhat
+uncertain. It was begun by James Lemen, Sr., whose diary, containing
+his "Yorktown Notes" and other memoranda, is perhaps its most
+interesting survival. While residing in the station fort on the
+Mississippi Bottom during the Indian troubles of his early years in
+the Illinois country, he made a rude walnut chest in which to keep his
+books and papers. This chest, which long continued to be used as the
+depository of the family papers, is still preserved, in the Illinois
+Baptist Historical Collection, at the Carnegie Library, Alton,
+Illinois. It is said that Abraham Lincoln once borrowed it from Rev.
+James Lemen, Jr., for the sake of its historical associations, and
+used it for a week as a receptacle for his own papers. Upon the death
+of the elder Lemen the family notes and papers passed to James, Jr.,
+who added to it many letters from public men of his wide circle of
+acquaintance.
+
+As the older portions of the collection were being worn and lost, by
+loaning them to relatives and friends, copies were made of all the
+more important documents, and the remaining originals were then placed
+in the hands of Dr. J. M. Peck, who was at the time pastor of the
+Bethel Church, to be deposited in the private safe of a friend of his
+in St. Louis. As the slavery question was then (1851) at white heat,
+it is not surprising that Dr. Peck advised the family to carefully
+preserve all the facts and documents relating to their father's
+anti-slavery efforts "until some future time," lest their premature
+publication should disturb the peace of his church. As late as 1857 he
+writes of "that dangerous element in many of the old letters bearing
+on the anti-slavery contest of 1818," and adds, "With some of those
+interested in that contest, in fifty years from this time, the
+publication of these letters would create trouble between the
+descendants of many of our old pioneer families."[6]
+
+A {p.25} man by the name of J. M. Smith is suggested by Dr. Peck as
+the custodian of the originals. When this gentleman died, the
+documents in his care are supposed to have been either lost or
+appropriated by parties unknown to the Lemen family. Mr. Joseph B.
+Lemen relates that a certain party at one time represented to the
+family that he had located the papers and offered, for a suitable
+consideration, to recover them. This proved to be merely a scheme to
+obtain money under false pretenses.[6] Various other accounts are
+current of the disposition of the original papers; but as yet none of
+them have been located.
+
+The transcripts of the collection, made by James Lemen, Jr., came into
+the hands of his son, Joseph Bowler Lemen, who is responsible for the
+publication of various portions of the story, including some of the
+letters entire. Even these copies, however, are not accessible at the
+present time, except that of the Lemen Diary, as located by the
+present writer. Joseph Lemen's account of the fate of the elusive
+documents is given in full at the end of this publication. He there
+states that every paper of any value was copied and preserved, but
+even these copies were dissipated to a large extent. He also claims
+that all the facts contained in these documents have been published in
+one form or another, "except a very few, including Rev. James Lemen's
+interviews with Lincoln, as written up by Mr. Lemen on ten pages of
+legal cap paper." This Joseph B. Lemen is now far advanced in years,
+has long been a recluse, and has the reputation of being "peculiar."
+In a personal interview with him, the present writer could elicit no
+further facts regarding the whereabouts of the "Lemen Family Notes."
+Nevertheless, the discovery of the copy of the Lemen Diary and the
+manuscript of Dr. Peck's "History" gives encouragement to hope for
+further discoveries, which should be reported to the Chicago
+Historical Society.
+
+
+
+
+DOCUMENTS {p.26}
+
+I. DIARY OF REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.
+
+
+                              Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.
+
+The within notes are a true copy of the notes kept by the Rev. James
+Lemen, Sr., when in the siege at Yorktown. The original notes were
+fading out.
+
+                              By his son, REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              Near Yorktown, Va. Sep. 26, 1781.
+
+My enlistment of two years expired some time ago, but I joined my
+regiment to-day and will serve in this siege.
+
+
+                              Quarters, near Yorktown, Sept. 27, 1781.
+
+I was on one of the French ships to-day with my captain. There is a
+great fleet of them to help us, it is said, if we fight soon.
+
+
+                              Sept. 30, 1781, Near Yorktown.
+
+Our regiment has orders to move forward this morning, and the main
+army is moving.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 3, 1781.
+
+I was detailed with four other soldiers to return an insane British
+soldier who had come into our lines, as we don't want such prisoners.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 4, 1781.
+
+I carried a message from my Colonel to Gen. Washington to-day. He
+recognized me and talked very kindly and said the war would soon be
+over, he thought. I knew Washington before the war commenced.
+
+
+                              Near {p.27} Yorktown. Oct. 4, 1781.
+
+I saw Washington and La Fayette looking at a French soldier and an
+American soldier wrestling, and the American threw the Frenchman so
+hard he limped off, and La Fayette said that was the way Washington
+must do to Cornwallis.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 5, 1781.
+
+Brother Robert is sick to-day, but was on duty. There was considerable
+firing to-day. There will be a great fight soon.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 15, 1781.
+
+I was in the assault which La Fayette led yesterday evening against
+the British redoubt, which we captured. Our loss was nine killed and
+thirty-four wounded.
+
+
+                              Near Yorktown. Oct. 15, 1781.
+
+Firing was very heavy along our lines on Oct. 9th and 10th. and with
+great effect, but this redoubt and another was in our way and we
+Americans under La Fayette captured one easily, but the French
+soldiers who captured the other suffered heavily. They were also led
+by a Frenchman.
+
+
+                              Yorktown. Oct. 19, 1781.
+
+Our victory is great and complete. I saw the surrender to-day. Our
+officers think this will probably end the war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.
+
+I have examined the within notes and find them to be correct copies of
+notes kept by Rev. James Lemen, Sr., which were fading out. He
+originally kept his confidential notes, as to his agreement with
+Thomas Jefferson, in a private book, but as this is intended for
+publication at some future time, they are all copied together.
+
+                              By his son, REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.
+
+
+                              Harper's Ferry, Va. Dec. 11, 1782.
+
+[5]Thomas Jefferson had me to visit him again a short time ago, as he
+wanted me to go to the Illinois country in the North West, after a
+year or two, in order to try to lead and {p.28} direct the new
+settlers in the best way and also to oppose the introduction of
+slavery in that country at a later day, as I am known as an opponent
+of that evil, and he says he will give me some help. It is all because
+of his great kindness and affection for me, for which I am very
+grateful, but I have not yet fully decided to do so, but have agreed
+to consider the case.
+
+
+                              Dec. 20, 1782.
+
+During the war, I served a two years' enlistment under Washington. I
+do not believe in war except to defend one's country and home and in
+this case I was willing to serve as faithfully as I could. After my
+enlistment expired I served again in the army in my regiment under
+Washington, during the siege of Yorktown, but did not again enlist, as
+the officers thought the war would soon end.
+
+
+                              May 2, 1784.
+
+[6]I saw Jefferson at Annapolis, Maryland, to-day and had a very
+pleasant visit with him. I have consented to go to Illinois on his
+mission and he intends helping me some, but I did not ask nor wish it.
+We had a full agreement and understanding as to all terms and duties.
+The agreement is strictly private between us, but all his purposes are
+perfectly honorable and praiseworthy.
+
+
+                              Dec. 28, 1785.
+
+Jefferson's confidential agent gave me one hundred dollars of his
+funds to use for my family, if need be, and if not to go to good
+causes, and I will go to Illinois on his mission next Spring and take
+my wife and children.
+
+
+                              Sept. 4, 1786.
+
+In the past summer, with my wife and children I arrived at Kaskaskia,
+Illinois, and we are now living in the Bottom settlement. On the Ohio
+river my boat partly turned over and we lost a part of our goods and
+our son Robert came near drowning.
+
+
+                              May 10, 1787.
+
+I am very well impressed with this new country, but we are still
+living in the Bottom, as the Indians are unsafe. We prefer living on
+the high lands and we shall get us a place there soon. People are
+coming into this new country in increasing numbers.
+
+
+                              New {p.29} Design, Ill. Feb. 26, 1794.
+
+My wife and I were baptized with several others to-day in Fountain
+Creek by Rev. Josiah Dodge. The ice had to be cut and removed first.
+
+
+                              New Design, May 28, 1796.
+
+Yesterday and to-day, my neighbors at my invitation, gathered at my
+home and were constituted into a Baptist church, by Rev. David Badgley
+and Joseph Chance.
+
+
+                              New Design, Jan. 4, 1797.
+
+We settled here some time ago and are well pleased with our place. It
+is more healthy than the Bottom country. A fine sugar grove is near us
+and a large lake with fine fish, and soil good, but the Indians are
+not yet to be trusted. We have been here now a number of years and
+have quite a farm in cultivation and fairly good improvements.
+
+
+                              New Design, Jan. 6, 1798.
+
+I have just returned with six of my neighbors from a hunt and land
+inspection upon what is called Richland country and creek. We had made
+our camp near that creek before. On the first Sunday morning in
+December held religious services and on Monday went out to see the
+land. We found fine prairie lands some miles north, south and east and
+some timber lands along the water streams mostly. Game is plentiful
+and we killed several deer and turkeys. It is a fine country.
+
+
+                              New Design, May 3, 1803.
+
+As Thomas Jefferson predicted they would do, the extreme southern
+slave advocates are making their influence felt in the new territory
+for the introduction of slavery and they are pressing Gov. William
+Henry Harrison to use his power and influence for that end. Steps must
+soon be taken to prevent that curse from being fastened on our people.
+
+
+                              New Design, May 4, 1805.
+
+At our last meeting, as I expected he would do, Gov. Harrison asked
+and insisted that I should cast my influence for the introduction of
+slavery here, but I not only denied the request, but I informed him
+that the evil attempt would encounter my most active opposition in
+every possible and honorable manner that my mind could suggest or my
+means accomplish.
+
+
+                              New {p.30} Design, May 10, 1805.
+
+Knowing President Jefferson's hostility against the introduction of
+slavery here and the mission he sent me on to oppose it, I do not
+believe the pro-slavery petitions with which Gov. Harrison and his
+council are pressing Congress for slavery here can prevail while he is
+President, as he is very popular with Congress and will find means to
+overreach the evil attempt of the pro-slavery power.
+
+
+                              Jan. 20th 1806.
+
+[15]As Gov. William Henry Harrison and his legislative council have
+had their petitions before Congress at several sessions asking for
+slavery here, I sent a messenger to Indiana to ask the churches and
+people there to get up and sign a counter petition to Congress to
+uphold freedom in the territory and I have circulated one here and we
+will send it on to that body at next session or as soon as the work is
+done.
+
+
+                              New Design. Sept. 10, 1806.
+
+[19]A confidential agent of Aaron Burr called yesterday to ask my aid
+and sympathy in Burr's scheme for a Southwestern Empire with Illinois
+as a province and an offer to make me governor. But I denounced the
+conspiracy as high treason and gave him a few hours to leave the
+territory on pain of arrest.
+
+
+                              New Design. Jan 10, 1809 [1810].
+
+[20]I received Jefferson's confidential message on Oct. 10, 1808,
+suggesting a division of the churches on the question of slavery and
+the organization of a church on a strictly anti-slavery basis, for the
+purpose of heading a movement to finally make Illinois a free State,
+and after first trying in vain for some months to bring all the
+churches over to such a basis, I acted on Jefferson's plan and Dec.
+10, 1809, the anti-slavery element formed a Baptist church at Cantine
+creek, on an anti-slavery basis.
+
+
+                              New Design. Mar. 3, 1819.
+
+I was reared in the Presbyterian faith, but at 20 years of age I
+embraced Baptist principles and after settlement in Illinois I was
+baptized into that faith and finally became a minister of the gospel
+of that church, but some years before I was licensed to preach, I was
+active in collecting and inducing {p.31} communities to organize
+churches, as I thought that the most certain plan to control and
+improve the new settlements, and I also hoped to employ the churches
+as a means of opposition to the institution of slavery, but this only
+became possible when we organized a leading church on a strictly
+anti-slavery basis, an event which finally was marked with great
+success, as Jefferson suggested it would be.
+
+
+                              New Design. Jan 10, 1820.
+
+My six sons all are naturally industrious and they all enjoy the
+sports. Robert and Josiah excel in fishing, Moses in hunting, William
+in boating and swimming and James and Joseph in running and jumping.
+Either one of them can jump over a line held at his own height, a
+little over six feet.
+
+
+                              New Design. Jan. 12, 1820.
+
+A full account of my Indian fights will be found among my papers.
+
+
+                              New Design. Dec. 10, 1820.
+
+Looking back at this time, 1820, to 1809, when we organized the
+Canteen creek Baptist Church on a strictly anti-slavery basis as
+Jefferson had suggested as a [center] from which the anti-slavery
+movement to finally save the State to freedom could be directed, it is
+now clear that the move was a wise one as there is no doubt but that
+it more than anything else was what made Illinois a free State.
+
+
+                              New Design, Ill. Jan. 4, 1821.
+
+Among my papers my family will find a full and connected statement as
+to all the churches I have caused to be formed since my settlement in
+Illinois.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There were many of our family notes which were faded out and Rev. J.
+M. Peck retained some when he made father's history and many were
+misplaced by other friends, but we have had all copied [that] are now
+in our possession which are of interest.
+
+                              REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.,
+                              (Son of Rev. James Lemen, Sr.).
+
+
+                              Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.
+
+My father's account of his Indian fights and statement of all the
+churches he caused to be founded in Illinois, above mentioned,
+{p.32} were loaned to Rev. John M. Peck a short time before his death
+and have not been returned, but the information contained has already
+been published except a few confidential facts as to his relations
+with Jefferson in the formation of the Canteen Creek Baptist Ch., now
+the Bethel Baptist Church.
+
+                              REV. JAMES LEMEN, Jr.
+                              (Son of James Lemen, Sr.)
+
+
+II. PECK'S HISTORY OF THE JEFFERSON-LEMEN COMPACT
+
+                              Rock Spring, Ill., June 4, 1851.
+
+The history of the confidential relation of Rev. James Lemen, Senior,
+and Thomas Jefferson, and Lemen's mission under him, which I have
+prepared for his son, Rev. James Lemen, Junior, at his request from
+the family notes and diaries.
+
+                              J. M. PECK,
+                                 Per A. M. W.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The leading purpose of Thomas Jefferson in selecting James Lemen, of
+Virginia, afterwards James Lemen, Senior, to go to Illinois as his
+agent, was no doubt prompted by his great affection for Mr. Lemen and
+his impression that a young man of such aptitude as a natural leader
+would soon impress himself on the community, and as the advantages in
+the territory were soon to be great, Jefferson was desirous to send
+him out, and with the help of a few friends he provided a small fund
+to give him, and also his friend who was going to Indiana on a like
+mission, to be used by their families if need be, and if not to go to
+good causes. There was also another motive with Jefferson; he looked
+forward to a great pro-slavery contest to finally try to make Illinois
+and Indiana slave states, and as Mr. Lemen was a natural born
+anti-slavery leader and had proved himself such in Virginia by
+inducing scores of masters to free their slaves through his prevailing
+kindness of manner and Christian arguments, he was just Jefferson's
+ideal of a man who could safely be trusted with his anti-slavery
+mission in Illinois, and this was an important factor in his
+appointment.
+
+The last meeting between Mr. Lemen and Jefferson was at Annapolis,
+Maryland, on May 2, 1784, a short time before he {p.33} sailed as
+envoy to France, and all the terms between them were fully agreed
+upon, and on Dec. 28, 1785, Jefferson's confidential agent gave Mr.
+Lemen one hundred dollars of his funds, and in the summer of 1786 with
+his wife and children he removed and settled in Illinois, at New
+Design, in what is now Monroe County. A few years after his settlement
+in Illinois Mr. Lemen was baptized into the Baptist church, and he
+finally became a minister of the people of that faith. He eventually
+became a great organizer of churches and by that fact, reinforced by
+his other wonderful traits as a natural leader, he fully realized
+Jefferson's fondest dreams and became a noted leader.
+
+In 1789 Jefferson returned from his mission to France and his first
+thought was of Mr. Lemen, his friend in Illinois, and he lost no time
+in sending him a message of love and confidence by a friend who was
+then coming to the West. [5]After Jefferson became President of the
+United States he retained all of his early affection for Mr. Lemen,
+and when S. H. Biggs, a resident of Illinois, who was in Virginia on
+business and who was a warm friend of both Jefferson and Mr. Lemen,
+called on him in 1808, when President, he inquired after him with all
+the fondness of a father, and when told of Mr. Lemen's purpose to soon
+organize a new church on a strictly anti-slavery basis Jefferson sent
+him a message to proceed at once to form the new church and he sent it
+a twenty-dollar contribution. Acting on Jefferson's suggestion, Mr.
+Lemen promptly took the preliminary steps for the final formation of
+the new church and when constituted it was called the Baptist Church
+of Canteen Creek and Jefferson's contribution, with other funds, were
+given to it. This church is now called the Bethel Baptist Church, and
+it has a very interesting history.
+
+But in view of the facts and circumstances the church might properly
+have been called the "Thomas Jefferson Church," and what volumes these
+facts speak for the beneficent and marvelous influence which Mr. Lemen
+had over Jefferson, who was a reputed unbeliever. The great love he
+had for James Lemen not only induced him to tolerate his churches but
+he became an active adviser for their multiplication.
+
+[30]The original agreement between Jefferson and Mr. Lemen was
+strictly confidential; on the part of Jefferson, because, had it been
+known, his opponents would have said {p.34} he sent paid emissaries
+to Illinois and Indiana to shape matters to his own interests, and the
+extreme South might have opposed his future preferment, if it were
+known that he had made an anti-slavery pact with his territorial
+agents; and it was secret on the part of Mr. Lemen because he never
+wished Jefferson to give him any help and his singularly independent
+nature made him feel that he would enjoy a greater liberty of action,
+or feeling at least, if it were never known that his plans and
+purposes to some extent were dictated and controlled by another, not
+even by his great and good friend Jefferson; so the agreement between
+them was strictly private. [30]And there was another circumstance
+which finally determined Mr. Lemen to always preserve the secrecy, and
+that was that some of Mr. Jefferson's opponents shortly before Mr.
+Lemen's death informed him that he had become an absolute unbeliever,
+and this so impressed his mind that he wept bitterly for fear, if the
+fact should ever be known that he had an agreement with Jefferson,
+that they would say that he was in alliance with an unbeliever in the
+great life work he had performed, and he exacted a promise from his
+sons, his brother-in-law, Rev. Benjamin Ogle, and Mr. Biggs, the only
+persons who then knew of the agreement, that they would never divulge
+it during his lifetime, a pledge they all religiously kept, and in
+later years they told no one but the writer and a few other trusted
+friends who have not, and never will, betray them. But the writer
+advised them to carefully preserve all the facts and histories we are
+now writing and to tell some of their families and let them publish
+them at some future time, as much of the information is of public
+interest.
+
+As to Jefferson's being an absolute unbeliever, his critics were
+mistaken. He held to the doctrine that the mind and the reason are the
+only guides we have to judge of the authenticity and credibility of
+all things, natural and divine, and this appears to have been the
+chief basis on which Jefferson's critics based their charges against
+him. But while these harsh criticisms in some measure misled Mr. Lemen
+he never lost his great love for Jefferson and to the latest day of
+his life he always mentioned his name with tenderness and affection. I
+had hoped to complete this history in one chapter, but there appear to
+be notes and materials enough for another. By oversight the notes of
+Mr. Lemen's war record were not given me, but he honorably served an
+enlistment of {p.35} two years under Washington, and returned to his
+regiment at the siege of Yorktown and served until the surrender of
+Cornwallis, but did not re-enlist.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+At their last meeting at Annapolis, Maryland, on May 2, 1784, when the
+final terms in their agreement as to Mr. Lemen's mission in Illinois
+were made, both he and Jefferson agreed that sooner or later, there
+would be a great contest to try to fasten slavery on the Northwestern
+Territory, and this prophesy was fully verified in spite of the fact
+that Congress, at a later period, passed the Ordinance of 1787 forever
+forbidding slavery; two contests arose in Illinois, the first to
+confirm the territory and the second to confirm the state to freedom.
+
+[17]From 1803 for several successive congresses Gen. William Henry
+Harrison, then governor of the Northwestern Territory, with his
+legislative council petitioned that body to repeal the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787 and to establish slavery in the
+territory, but without avail, and finally recognizing that the
+influence of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., was paramount with the people of
+Illinois, he made persistent overtures for his approval of his
+pro-slavery petitions, but he declined to act and promptly sent a
+messenger to Indiana, paying him thirty dollars of the Jefferson fund
+given him in Virginia to have the church and people there sign a
+counter petition, meanwhile circulating one in Illinois among the
+Baptists and others; and at the next session of Congress Gen.
+Harrison's pro-slavery petitions for the first time encountered the
+anti-slavery petitions of the Baptist people and others, and the
+senate, before which the matter went at that time, voted to sustain
+the anti-slavery petitions and against the repeal of the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, and for the time the contest ended.
+
+[21]The next anti-slavery contest was in the narrower limits of the
+territory of Illinois, and it began with the events which called the
+Bethel Baptist Church into existence. When Mr. Lemen received
+President Jefferson's message in 1808 to proceed at once to organize
+the next church on an anti-slavery basis and make it the center from
+which the anti-slavery forces should act to finally make Illinois a
+free state, he decided to act on it; but as he knew it would create a
+{p.36} division in the churches and association, to disarm criticism
+he labored several months to bring them over to the anti-slavery
+cause, but finding that impossible he adopted Jefferson's advice and
+prepared to open the contest. The first act was on July 8, 1809, in
+regular session of the Richland Creek Baptist Church, where the people
+had assembled from all quarters to see the opening of the anti-slavery
+contest, when Rev. James Lemen, Sr., arose and in a firm but friendly
+Christian spirit declared it would be better for both sides to
+separate, as the contest for and against slavery must now open and not
+close until Illinois should become a state. A division of both the
+association and the churches followed, but finally at a great meeting
+at the Richland Creek Baptist Church in a peaceful and Christian
+manner, as being the better policy for both sides, separation was
+adopted by unanimous vote and a number of members withdrew, and on
+Dec. 10, 1809, they formed the "Baptist Church at Canteen Creek," (now
+Bethel Baptist Church). Their articles of faith were brief. They
+simply declared the Bible to be the pillar of their faith, and
+proclaimed their good will for the brotherhood of humanity by
+declaring their church to be "The Baptist Church of Christ, Friends to
+Humanity, denying union and communion with all persons holding the
+doctrine of perpetual, involuntary, hereditary slavery."
+
+[23]The church, properly speaking, never entered politics, but
+presently, when it became strong, the members all formed what they
+called "The Illinois Anti-Slavery League," and it was this body that
+conducted the anti-slavery contest. It always kept one of its members
+and several of its friends in the Territorial Legislature, and five
+years before the constitutional election in 1818 it had fifty resident
+agents--men of like sympathies--in the several settlements throughout
+the territory quietly at work, and the masterly manner in which they
+did their duty was shown by a poll which they made of the voters some
+few weeks before the election, which, on their side only varied a few
+votes from the official count after the election. [17]With people
+familiar with all the circumstances there is no divergence of views
+but that the organization of the Bethel Church and its masterly
+anti-slavery contest saved Illinois to freedom; but much of the credit
+of the freedom of Illinois, as well as for the balance of the
+territory, was due to Thomas Jefferson's faithful and efficient aid.
+True to his promise to Mr. Lemen that slavery should {p.37} never
+prevail in the Northwestern Territory or any part of it, he quietly
+directed his leading confidential friends in Congress to steadily
+defeat Gen. Harrison's pro-slavery petitions for the repeal of the
+anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787, and his friendly aid to
+Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and friends made the anti-slavery contest of
+Bethel Church a success in saving the state to freedom.
+
+In the preparation of this history, to insure perfect reliability and
+a well-connected statement, I have examined, selected, and read the
+numerous family notes myself, dictating, while my secretary has done
+the writing, and after all was completed we made another critical
+comparison with all the notes to insure perfect accuracy and
+trustworthiness.
+
+I have had one copy prepared for Rev. James Lemen, Jr., and one for
+myself. I should have added that of the one hundred dollars of the
+Jefferson funds given him Rev. James Lemen, Sr., used none for his
+family, but it was all used for other good causes, as it was not Mr.
+Lemen's intention to appropriate any of it for his own uses when he
+accepted it from Jefferson's confidential agent in Virginia.
+
+
+
+
+III. "HOW ILLINOIS GOT CHICAGO"
+
+     (Communication from Joseph B. Lemen, under head of "Voice of the
+     People," in _The Chicago Tribune_ some time in December, 1908.)
+
+
+                              O'Fallon, Ill., Dec. 21, 1908.
+
+Editor of the Tribune:--In October, 1817, the Rev. James Lemen, Sr.,
+had a government surveyor make a map showing how the boundary of
+Illinois could be extended northward so as to give a growing state
+more territory and a better shape and include the watercourses by
+which Lake Michigan might be connected with the Mississippi river.
+With these advantages marked in the margin of the map, he gave his
+plan and map to Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate in congress,
+to secure the adoption of the plan by that body, which he did.
+
+The facts were noted in the Rev. J. M. Peck's pioneer papers and
+others, and in commenting on them some of our newspapers have recently
+charged Nathaniel Pope with carelessness in not publishing Mr. Lemen's
+share in the matter, but unjustly. Mr. Lemen and Mr. Pope were ardent
+friends, and as the former was a preacher and desired no office, and
+he wished and sought for no private preferment and {p.38} promotion,
+he expressly declared that as Mr. Pope had carried the measure through
+Congress with such splendid skill he preferred that he should have the
+credit and not mention where he got the map and plan.
+
+Rev. Benjamin Ogle, Mr. Lemen's brother-in-law, and others mentioned
+this fact in some of their papers and notes. The omission was no fault
+of Mr. Pope's and was contrary to his wish.
+
+The present site of Chicago was included in the territory added, and
+that is how Illinois got Chicago.
+
+                              PIONEER.
+
+
+
+
+IV. ADDRESS TO THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM
+
+     (From _The Illinois Intelligencer_, August 5, 1818.)
+
+
+The undersigned, happening to meet at the St. Clair Circuit Court,
+have united in submitting the following Address to the Friends of
+Freedom in the State of Illinois.
+
+Feeling it a duty in those who are sincere in their opposition to the
+toleration of slavery in this territory to use all fair and laudable
+means to effect that object, we therefore beg leave to present to our
+fellow-citizens at large the sentiments which prevail in this section
+of our country on that subject. In the counties of Madison and St.
+Clair, the most populous counties in the territory, a sentiment
+approaching unanimity seems to prevail against it. In the counties of
+Bond, Washington, and Monroe a similar sentiment also prevails. We are
+informed that strong exertions will be made in the convention to give
+sanction to that deplorable evil in our state; and lest such should be
+the result at too late a period for anything like concert to take
+place among the friends of freedom in trying to defeat it, we
+therefore earnestly solicit all true friends to freedom in every
+section of the territory to unite in opposing it, both by the election
+of a Delegate to Congress who will oppose it and by forming meetings
+and preparing remonstrances against it. Indeed, so important is this
+question considered that no exertions of a fair character should be
+omitted to defeat the plan of those who wish either a temporary or
+unlimited slavery. Let us also select men to the Legislature who will
+unite in remonstrating to the general government against ratifying
+such a constitution. At a crisis like this thinking will not do,
+_acting_ is necessary.
+
+From {p.39} St. Clair county--Risdon Moore, Benjamin Watts, Jacob
+Ogle, Joshua Oglesby, William Scott, Sr., William Biggs, Geo. Blair,
+Charles R. Matheny, James Garretson, and [34]William Kinney.
+
+From Madison County--Wm. B. Whiteside.
+
+From Monroe County--James Lemen, Sr.
+
+From Washington--Wm. H. Bradsby.
+
+
+
+
+V. RECOLLECTIONS OF A CENTENNARIAN
+
+     By DR. WILLIAMSON F. BOYAKIN, Blue Rapids, Kansas (1807-1907)
+     (_The Standard_, Chicago, November 9, 1907.)
+
+
+The Lemen family was of Irish [Scotch] descent. They were friends and
+associates of Thomas Jefferson. It was through his influence that they
+migrated West. When the Lemen family arrived at what they designated
+as New Design, in the vicinity of the present town of Waterloo, in
+Monroe county, twenty-five miles southeast of the city of St. Louis,
+Illinois was a portion of the state of Virginia. [Ceded to U. S. two
+years previous.]
+
+Thomas Jefferson gave them a kind of carte blanche for all the then
+unoccupied territory of Virginia, and gave them $30 in gold to be paid
+to the man who should build the first meeting house on the western
+frontier.[32] This rudely-constructed house of worship was built on a
+little creek named Canteen [Quentin], just a mile or two south of what
+is now called Collinsville, Madison county, Illinois.
+
+In the mountains of Virginia there lived a Baptist minister by the
+name of Torrence. This Torrence, at an Association in Virginia,
+introduced a resolution against slavery. In a speech in favor of the
+resolution he said, "All friends of humanity should support the
+resolution." The elder James Lemen being present voted for it and
+adopted it for his motto, inscribed it on a rude flag, and planted it
+on the rudely-constructed flatboat on which the family floated down
+the Ohio river, in the summer of 1790 [1786], to the New Design
+location.[33]
+
+The distinguishing characteristic of the churches and associations
+that subsequently grew up in Illinois [under the Lemen influence] was
+the name "The Baptized Church of Christ, Friends to Humanity."
+
+One {p.40} of these Lemen brothers, Joseph, married a Kinney, sister
+to him who was afterwards governor [lieutenant governor] of the state.
+This Kinney was also a Baptist preacher, a Kentuckian, and a
+pro-slavery man.[34] When the canvass opened in 1816, 17, and 18 to
+organize Illinois into a state, the Lemens and the Kinneys were
+leaders in the canvass. The canvass was strong, long, bitter. The
+Friends to Humanity party won. The Lemen brothers made Illinois what
+it is, a free state.
+
+The Lemens were personally fine specimens of the genus homo--tall,
+straight, large, handsome men--magnetic, emotional, fine speakers.
+James Lemen [Junior] was considered the most eloquent speaker of the
+day of the Baptist people. Our present educated preachers have lost
+the hold they should have upon the age in the cultivation of the
+intellectual instead of the emotional. Religion is the motive power in
+the intellectual guidance of humanity. These Lemens were well balanced
+in the cultivation of the intellect and the control of the emotions.
+They were well educated for their day, self-educated, great lovers of
+poetry, hymnal poetry, having no taste for the religious debates now
+so prevalent in some localities. They attended no college
+commencements [?]. James Lemen, however, at whose grave the monument
+is to be erected, was for fourteen consecutive years in the Senate of
+the State Legislature, and would have been elected United States
+senator, but he would not accept the position when offered. [This was
+James, Jr., not his father.]
+
+Personally of fine taste, always well and even elegantly dressed, they
+rode fine horses, owned fine farms, well cultivated. They lived in
+rich, elegant style [?]. They were brimful and overflowing with
+spontaneous hospitality. All were married, with several sisters, and
+were blessed with large families. Almost all of them, parents and
+descendants, have passed away. Old Bethel, the church house, and the
+graveyard, in sight of the old mound, are yet there.
+
+NOTE.--Dr. Boyakin was a physician, Baptist minister, and newspaper
+editor for many years in Illinois. He delivered the G. A. R. address
+at Blue Rapids, Kansas, on his one hundredth birthday. He has confused
+some things in these "recollections," especially the story concerning
+the origin of the name "Friends to Humanity," but for his years his
+statements are unusually in accord with the facts.
+
+
+
+
+VI. {p.41} IN MEMORY OF REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.
+
+     BY A WELL-WISHER
+     (_The Standard_, Chicago, November 16, 1907)
+
+
+When James Lemen's early anti-slavery Baptist churches went over to
+the cause of slavery, it looked as if all were lost and his
+anti-slavery mission in Illinois had failed. At that crisis Mr. Lemen
+could have formed another sect, but in his splendid loyalty to the
+Baptist cause he simply formed another Baptist church on the broader,
+higher grounds for both God and humanity, and on this high plane he
+unfurled the banner of freedom. In God's good time the churches and
+state and nation came up to that grand level of right, light, and
+progress.
+
+Of James Lemen's sons, under his training, Robert was an eminent
+Baptist layman, and Joseph, James, Moses, and Josiah were able Baptist
+preachers. [William, the "wayward" son, also became a useful minister
+in his later years.] Altogether they were as faithful a band of men as
+ever stood for any cause. This is the rating which history places upon
+them. The country owes James Lemen another debt of gratitude for his
+services to history. He and his sons were the only family that ever
+kept a written and authentic set of notes of early Illinois; and the
+early historians, Ford, Reynolds, and Peck, drew many of their facts
+from that source. These notes embraced the only correct histories of
+both the early Methodist and the early Baptist churches in Illinois
+and much other early matter.[35]
+
+NOTE.--This communication was probably from Dr. W. F. Boyakin.
+
+
+
+
+VII. STATEMENT REGARDING JOSEPH B. LEMEN
+
+
+"Joseph B. Lemen has written editorially for _The New York Sun_, _The
+New York Tribune_, _The Chicago Tribune_, _and The Belleville
+Advocate_.
+
+"During the McKinley campaign of 1896 he wrote editorials from the
+farmers' standpoint for a number of the metropolitan newspapers of the
+country at the personal request of Mark Hanna.
+
+"He also wrote editorials for the metropolitan newspapers during the
+first Lincoln campaign."
+
+                              --Editor, _Belleville Advocate_.
+  December, 1912.
+
+
+
+
+VIII. {p.42} HISTORIC LETTER OF REV. J. M. PECK ON THE OLD LEMEN
+FAMILY NOTES
+
+  (From _Belleville Advocate_, January, 1908)
+  (Clipping in I.B.H.C., K11)
+
+
+To the Editor of the Belleville Advocate:
+
+We herewith send the Advocate a copy of a letter of the eminent
+historian and great Baptist divine, the late Rev. J. M. Peck, to his
+old ministerial associate, the late Rev. James Lemen, concerning the
+anti-slavery labors of his father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and also his
+views as to the old Lemen family notes, which will perhaps interest
+your readers. It seems quite appropriate for the Advocate to print
+these old pioneer matters, as it is one of the old pioneer landmarks.
+Rev. James Lemen took the paper when it started, under its first name,
+and it has come to his family or family members at his old home ever
+since.
+
+                              By order of the Family.
+                              [JOSEPH B. LEMEN.]
+
+
+REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR., AND HIS ANTI-SLAVERY LABORS
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  Ridge Prairie, Illinois
+
+Dear Brother: At my recent very enjoyable visit at your house you made
+two important requests, which I will now answer. The first was as to
+my estimate or judgment of your father's anti-slavery labors, and the
+second was as to what disposition you had better make of your vast
+stock of old family notes and papers. Considering your questions in
+the order named, I will write this letter, or more properly, article,
+under the above heading of "Rev. James Lemen, Sr., and His
+Anti-Slavery Labors," as the first question is the most important, and
+then in conclusion I will notice the second.
+
+In considering your father's anti-slavery labors, I will proceed upon
+the facts and evidence obtained outside your old family notes, as it
+might be presumed that the trend of the notes on that matter would be
+partial. Not that the facts I would use are not found in your family
+notes, for they appear to cover about every event in our early state
+and church history; but that I would look for the facts elsewhere to
+prove the matter, and indeed I can draw largely from my own {p.43}
+knowledge of the facts upon which your father's success as an
+anti-slavery leader rested. Not only from my own personal observation,
+but scores of the old pioneers, your father's followers and helpers,
+have given me facts that fully establish the claim that he was the
+chief leader that saved Illinois to freedom. Not only the state, but
+on a wider basis the evidence is very strong that Rev. James Lemen,
+Sr., largely shared in saving the Northwestern Territory for free
+states. This was the estimate that General [Governor] William Henry
+Harrison placed on his labors in his letter to Captain Joseph Ogle
+after his term of the governorship had expired. [17]In his letter
+to Captain Ogle he said that, though he and Mr. Lemen were ardent
+friends, he [Lemen] set his iron will against slavery here and
+indirectly made his influence felt so strongly at Washington and
+before Congress, that all efforts to suspend the anti-slavery clause
+in the Ordinance of 1787 failed.
+
+But James Lemen was not only a factor which saved the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, but there is no doubt, after putting
+all the facts together, ... that his anti-slavery mission to the
+Northwestern Territory was inspired by the same cause which finally
+placed the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance, and that Lemen's
+mission and that clause were closely connected. Douglas, Trumbull, and
+Lincoln thought so, and every other capable person who had [been] or
+has been made familiar with the facts.
+
+Many of the old pioneers to whom the facts were known have informed me
+that all the statements as to Rev. James Lemen's anti-slavery teaching
+and preaching and forming his anti-slavery churches, and conducting
+the anti-slavery contest, and sending a paid agent to Indiana to
+assist the anti-slavery cause, were all true in every particular; and
+so the evidence outside and independently of that in the Lemen family
+notes is conclusive that Mr. Lemen created and organized the forces
+which finally confirmed Illinois, if not the Northwestern Territory,
+to freedom. But there was just one fact that made it possible for the
+old pioneer leader practically single handed and alone to accomplish
+such results; and that was because President Jefferson's great power
+was behind him, and through his secret influence Congress worked for
+the very purpose that Jefferson, more than twenty years before, had
+sent Lemen to Illinois, or the Northwestern Territory, to secure,
+namely, the freedom of the new {p.44} country. The claim that Mr.
+Lemen encompassed these great results would, of course, be ridiculous
+were it not known that the power of the government through Jefferson
+stood behind him. Hence Douglas, Trumbull, and others are correct, and
+I quite agree with them, that when you publish the old family notes on
+the matter, if, for reasons you state, you do not wish to publish
+Jefferson's letters to your father which concern the subject, it will
+be sufficient just to say he acted by and under his advice and aid,
+and people will accept it, as it is self-evident, because it is
+preposterous to hold that Mr. Lemen could have accomplished such
+results without some great power behind him. In conclusion, it is my
+judgment that your father's anti-slavery labors were the chief factor
+leading up to the free state constitution for Illinois.
+
+Now as to your old family notes. They are valuable. In their
+respective fields, they embrace by far the most trustworthy history in
+our state. They ought to be preserved, but your generous nature will
+not permit you to say no; and your friends, as you say, are carrying
+them off, and they will all be lost, and presently the vast and
+priceless collection will have disappeared, which will be an
+unspeakable loss. Like your friends, Dr. B. F. Edwards and J. M.
+Smith, I would advise you to make copies of all to keep for use, and
+then give Smith the old collection to keep and hold in St. Louis in
+his safe, and leave them there for good. This will save you an
+infinite amount of worry, as people will not trouble you to see the
+mere copies. It would be a good disposition to make of them, and thus
+bury that dangerous element in many of the old letters bearing on the
+anti-slavery contest of 1818. With some of those interested in that
+contest, in fifty years from this time, the publication of these
+letters would create trouble between the descendants of many of our
+old pioneer families.
+
+There is a danger lurking in many of these old collections where you
+would not suspect it. In 1851, when I wrote the first or preliminary
+part of the Bethel church history from your old family notes, now
+generally referred to as the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen
+Anti-Slavery Pact," and part second as the history proper of the
+church in the letter which was simply the history from its
+organization in 1809 to my pastorate of 1851, I carefully omitted all
+mention of the anti-slavery contest which gave the church its origin.
+I {p.45} did this so that that part of its history could then be
+recorded in the church book, which could not have been done had I
+mentioned the anti-slavery contest; because the bitterness of that
+period had not yet fully disappeared; and the full history of the
+church, with the causes creating, and the results flowing from its
+organization, if recorded or published then, would have aroused
+considerable ill feeling against the church in some parts of the
+state. So part second, or the history proper, was only recorded at
+that time. But having lately completed part third of the Bethel church
+history, showing the results of its organization, I sent it with a
+copy of part first, or the history of the Jefferson Lemen Anti-Slavery
+Pact, to our worthy and noble Christian brother, the Bethel church
+clerk, James H. Lemen, and the other brother whose name you suggested,
+and they can place them in safe keeping somewhere until after your old
+family notes are published, and then they should be recorded in the
+church book with the church history proper and all the papers be
+placed with the other church papers. I shall also send them a copy of
+this letter to be finally placed with the church papers, as it is in
+part the history of the founder of that church, all parties agreeing
+that your father created, though of course he did not formally
+constitute, it. The old church, when all the facts become known, will
+become noted in history, as it stands as the monument of the contest
+which began by putting the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of
+1787, and which concluded by making Illinois and her neighboring
+sisters free states.
+
+As to the more valuable letters in your family notes and collections,
+I have kept them securely for you. Douglas' and Lincoln's letters take
+very correct views as to your father's anti-slavery labors, and
+Jefferson's two letters to your father disclose his great friendship
+for him, and show that he placed the greatest confidence and trust in
+him. Poor Lovejoy's letter reads as if he had a presentment of his
+coming doom. There is no more interesting feature in all your old
+family notes than Lincoln's views at your many meetings with him, and
+your copy of his prayer is beautiful. Some of his views on Bible
+themes are very profound; but then he is a very profound thinker. It
+now looks as if he would become a national leader. Would not he and
+your father have enjoyed a meeting on the slavery question? I put all
+the letters with the other papers you gave me in a safe {p.46} in St.
+Louis, in a friend's care, where I sometimes put my papers. Your son,
+Moses, was with me and the check is given in his name. This will
+enable you to tell your friends that the papers are not now in your
+custody, and they will not bother you to see them. Hoping to see you
+soon, I remain as ever.
+
+                              Fraternally yours,
+                              Rock Spring, Ill.
+                              July 17, 1857.
+                              J. M. PECK.
+
+
+
+
+PIONEER LETTERS
+
+IX. SENATOR DOUGLAS'S LETTER
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 10, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+                              Springfield, Illinois. Mar. 10, 1857
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  Collinsville, Illinois,
+
+Dear Sir:--In a former letter I wrote you fully as to my views as to
+the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact," and that there is no doubt
+but that the anti-slavery contest of your father, Rev. James Lemen,
+Sr., and the organizing of Bethel church as one of the results,
+eventually led to our free state constitution. I also thank you again
+for the privilege of reading Jefferson's letters to your father, and
+other papers in connection with the matter, but desire to add a
+thought or two, or more properly expound [expand] some points in my
+recent letter.
+
+The anti-slavery pact or agreement between the two men and its far
+reaching results comprise one of the most intensely interesting
+chapters in our national and state histories. Its profound secrecy and
+the splendid loyalty of Jefferson's friends which preserved it, were
+alike necessary to the success of the scheme as well as for his future
+preferment; for had it been known that Jefferson had sent Lemen as his
+special agent on an anti-slavery mission to shape matters in the
+territories to his own ends, it would have wrecked his popularity in
+the South and rendered Lemen's mission worse than useless.
+
+It has always been a mystery why the pressing demands of Governor
+Harrison and his Council for the repeal of the anti-slavery clause in
+the Ordinance of 1787 which excluded slavery {p.47} from the
+Northwest Territory, could make no headway before a encession [?] of
+pro-slavery Congress; but the matter is now clear. The great
+Jefferson, through his confidential leaders in Congress [held that
+body back, until Mr. Lemen, under his orders], had rallied his friends
+and sent in anti-slavery petitions demanding the maintenance of the
+clause, when the Senate, where Harrison's demands were then pending,
+denied them. So a part of the honor of saving that grand clause which
+dedicated the territory to freedom, belongs to your father. Indeed,
+considering Jefferson's ardent friendship for him and his admiration
+and approval of his early anti-slavery labors in Virginia, which
+antedated the Ordinance of 1787 by several years, there is but little
+doubt but that your father's labors were a factor of influence which
+quickened if it did not suggest to Jefferson the original purpose
+which finally resulted in putting the original clause in the
+Ordinance.
+
+This matter assumes a phase of personal interest with me, and I find
+myself, politically, in the good company of Jefferson and your father.
+With them, everything turned on whether the people of the territory
+wanted slavery or not. Harrison and his council had informed Congress
+that the people desired it; but Jefferson and Lemen doubted it, and
+when the latter assisted in sending in great anti-slavery petitions,
+Jefferson's friends in Congress granted the people their wish, and
+denied Harrison's pro-slavery demands. That is, the voice and wishes
+of the people in the territory were heard and respected, and that
+appears to me to be the correct doctrine.
+
+Should you or your family approve it, I would suggest that the facts
+of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact" be fully written up and
+arranged for publication, since they embrace some exceedingly
+important state and national history, and, in fact, will necessitate a
+new or larger personal history of Jefferson, as these facts will add
+another splendid chapter to the great story of his marvellous career.
+If you think the publication of Jefferson's letters and suggestions to
+your father would rather tend to dwarf the legitimate importance of
+his great religious movement in the formation of our early churches,
+on account of the wonderful political results of the "anti-slavery
+pact" it would be sufficient to command belief everywhere just to
+simply state that in his anti-slavery mission and contest he acted
+under Jefferson's advice {p.48} and help; because the consequences
+were so important and far reaching that it is self-evident he must
+have had some great and all-prevailing power behind him.
+
+I was greatly pained to learn of your illness, in your last letter,
+but hope this will find you comfortable.
+
+                              Yours in confidence,
+                                   S. A. DOUGLAS.
+
+I wrote this letter in Springfield, but by an over-sight neglected to
+mail it there. But if you write me in a fortnight, direct to
+Springfield, as I expect to be there then.
+
+                              Yours Secv. [_sic_] D.
+
+
+
+
+X. ANNOUNCEMENT BY J. B. LEMEN
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+It was our purpose in this letter [communication] to send the Advocate
+a copy of one of Abraham Lincoln's letters, and some other matter from
+him and Douglas, from the old family notes of Rev. James Lemen never
+yet published; but increased illness, and their greater length,
+prevented making the copy. In their place, however, we send a copy
+each of Governor Edward's and Congressman Snyder's letters. The
+prophetic utterances in this letter as to what would fall on Mexico's
+treachery and slavery's insolence, were so literally fulfilled that
+they emphasized anew Congressman Snyder's wonderful capabilities in
+sizing up public questions correctly and reading the coming events of
+the future, and prove him to have been a statesman of wonderful
+powers. The next, which will be the concluding article in this series,
+will contain the copy of Lincoln's letter and the other matter above
+referred to.
+
+The typos made one or two slight errors in Senator Douglas's letter in
+last week's issue. For "expound" the reader should have read "expand,"
+and at another point the letter should read that "Jefferson, through
+his confidential leaders in Congress, held that body back until Mr.
+Lemen, under his orders, had rallied his friends and sent in
+anti-slavery petitions, etc,"
+
+                              [JOSEPH B. LEMEN.]
+
+
+
+
+XI. {p.49} GOV. NINIAN EDWARDS TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+                              Vandalia, Ill., Dec. 24, 1826.
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  Collinsville, Illinois,
+
+Dear Sir:--Having great respect for your influence and reposing
+perfect confidence in your capable judgment on public affairs, I would
+be very much pleased to have you call as soon as you arrive here, as I
+desire to have your views and advice on some important matters. It is
+my hope, as it will be my pride, that the term upon which I enter
+shall be marked with a degree of educational interest and progress not
+hitherto attained in our young commonwealth; and I wish to ask for
+your counsel and aid in assisting to impress upon the General Assembly
+the importance of such subjects, and the necessity of some further and
+better legislation on our school matters; and I also wish to consult
+with you in regard to the matter of the proposed Illinois and Michigan
+Canal.
+
+                              Sincerely your friend,
+                                   NINIAN EDWARDS.
+
+
+
+
+XII. HON. ADAM W. SNYDER TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, April 17, 1908. Clipping,
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+                              City of Washington, Jan. 5, 1838.
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  [Collinsville, Illinois]
+
+My Dear Friend:--To the letter which I wrote you a few days since I
+wish to add that the members of the Illinois delegation in Congress
+have read the letter you recently wrote me, and they are all willing
+and ready to assist in pressing the cause of the class of claimants
+whom you mentioned upon the attention of the government for a more
+liberal and generous allowance of lands. I have no further news to
+communicate, except that I believe Mexico's treachery and insolence
+will sooner or later call down upon her a severe chastisement from
+this country; and that our Southern friends in Congress are growing
+exasperatingly and needlessly sensitive on the slavery question,
+claiming that Jefferson's {p.50} views would sustain their positions,
+not knowing the splendid secret of your father's (Rev. James Lemen,
+Sr.) anti-slavery mission under Jefferson's orders and advice, which
+saved Illinois and we might say the Northwest Territory, to freedom.
+In fact, the demands of slavery, if not controlled by its friends,
+will eventually put the country into a mood that will no longer brook
+its insolence and greed.
+
+                              Yours in esteem and confidence,
+                                   A. W. SNYDER.
+
+
+
+
+XIII. ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LETTER
+
+     _Belleville Weekly Advocate_, April 24, 1908
+
+
+The following letter and remarks from Abraham Lincoln, hitherto
+unpublished, comprise the fifth letter of the series of old "Pioneer
+Letters" which Mr. J. B. Lemen of O'Fallon is sending to the
+Advocate.--Ed.
+
+                              Springfield, Illinois. March 2, 1857.
+
+  Rev. James Lemen,
+  [O'Fallon, Illinois,]
+
+Friend Lemen: Thanking you for your warm appreciation of my views in a
+former letter as to the importance in many features of your collection
+of old family notes and papers, I will add a few words more as to
+Elijah P. Lovejoy's case. His letters among your old family notes were
+of more interest to me than even those of Thomas Jefferson, written to
+your father. Of course they [the latter] were exceedingly important as
+a part of the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact,"
+under which your father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., as Jefferson's
+anti-slavery agent in Illinois, founded his anti-slavery churches,
+among which was the present Bethel church, which set in motion the
+forces which finally made Illinois a free state, all of which was
+splendid; but Lovejoy's tragic death for freedom in every sense marked
+his sad ending as the most important single event that ever happened
+in the new world.
+
+Both your father and Lovejoy were pioneer leaders in the cause of
+freedom, and it has always been difficult for me to see why your
+father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and aggressive leader, who
+boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the territory and the state
+free, never aroused nor encountered any of that mob violence which
+both in St. {p.51} Louis and Alton confronted or pursued Lovejoy, and
+which finally doomed him to a felon's death and a martyr's crown.
+Perhaps the two cases are a little parallel with those of John and
+Peter. John was bold and fearless at the scene of the Crucifixion,
+standing near the cross receiving the Savior's request to care for his
+mother, but was not annoyed; while Peter, whose disposition to shrink
+from public view, seemed to catch the attention of members of the mob
+on every hand, until finally to throw public attention off, he denied
+his master with an oath; though later the grand old apostle redeemed
+himself grandly, and like Lovejoy, died a martyr to his faith. Of
+course, there was no similarity between Peter's treachery at the
+Temple and Lovejoy's splendid courage when the pitiless mob were
+closing around him. But in the cases of the two apostles at the scene
+mentioned, John was more prominent or loyal in his presence and
+attention to the Great Master than Peter was, but the latter seemed to
+catch the attention of the mob; and as Lovejoy, one of the most
+inoffensive of men, for merely printing a small paper, devoted to the
+freedom of the body and mind of man, was pursued to his death; while
+his older comrade in the cause of freedom, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., who
+boldly and aggressively proclaimed his purpose to make both the
+territory and the state free, was never molested a moment by the
+minions of violence. The madness and pitiless determination with which
+the mob steadily pursued Lovejoy to his doom, marks it as one of the
+most unreasoning and unreasonable in all time, except that which
+doomed the Savior to the cross.
+
+If ever you should come to Springfield again, do not fail to call. The
+memory of our many "evening sittings" here and elsewhere, as we called
+them, suggests many a pleasant hour, both pleasant and helpful.
+
+                              Truly yours,
+                                   A. LINCOLN.
+
+
+
+
+XIV. THE LEMEN MONUMENT AND REV. LEMEN'S PART IN EARLY ILLINOIS
+HISTORY
+
+     (From _Belleville Advocate_, Tuesday, April 6, 1909. Clipping in
+     I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+The monument to be erected by the Baptist people of Illinois and
+others at the grave of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., near Waterloo in Monroe
+county, is not only to honor his memory {p.52} as a revolutionary
+soldier, territorial leader, Indian fighter, and founder of the
+Baptist cause in Illinois, but it is also in remembrance of the fact
+that he was the companion and co-worker with Thomas Jefferson in
+setting in motion the forces which finally recorded the anti-slavery
+clause in the Ordinance of 1787, which dedicated the great Northwest
+territory to freedom and later gave Illinois a free state
+constitution.
+
+Only recently the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Chicago,
+after a critical examination of James Lemen's military and civil
+record, by unanimous vote, appropriated twenty-five dollars for his
+monument fund; and we give below a copy of the papers which they used
+and which will interest our readers, the first being Gen. Ainsworth's
+letter:
+
+  WAR DEPARTMENT
+  Adjutant General's Office
+
+                              Washington, Feb. 13, 1908.
+
+The records show that James Lemen served as private in Captain George
+Wall's Company of the Fourth Virginia Regiment, commanded at various
+times by Major Isaac Beall and Colonels James Wood and John Neville in
+the Revolutionary war. Term of enlistment, one year from March 3,
+1778.
+
+                              F. C. AINSWORTH, Adjt. Gen.
+
+("In January 1779, James Lemen had his term of enlistment extended for
+two years and was transferred to another regiment. After his term
+expired he rejoined his old regiment and served through the siege at
+Yorktown. He was in several engagements.")
+
+                              [J. B. L.]
+
+
+
+
+XV. REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.
+
+     (Written by Rev. John M. Peck, in 1857. Published in _Belleville
+     Advocate_, April 6, 1909. Clipping in I.B.H.C.,--K11)
+
+
+Rev. James Lemen, Sr., a son of Nicholas Lemen and Christian Lemen,
+his wife, was born at the family home near Harper's Ferry, Virginia,
+on November 20, 1760. He acquired a practical education and in early
+manhood married Miss Katherine Ogle, of Virginia, and they reared a
+family. He enlisted for a year as a soldier of the Revolutionary War,
+on March 3, 1778, but had his term extended to two years, and {p.53}
+was in several engagements. Sometime after his enlistment expired he
+rejoined his old comrades and served through the siege at Yorktown.
+
+From childhood, in a singular manner, James Lemen was the special
+favorite and idol of Thomas Jefferson, who was a warm friend of his
+father's family. Almost before Mr. Lemen had reached manhood,
+Jefferson would consult him on all matters, even on great state
+affairs, and afterwards stated that Mr. Lemen's advice always proved
+to be surprisingly reliable.
+
+Our subject was a born anti-slavery leader, and by his Christian and
+friendly arguments he induced scores of masters in Virginia to free
+their slaves; this quickly caught Jefferson's attention and he freely
+confessed that Mr. Lemen's influence on him had redoubled his dislike
+for slavery and, though himself a slaveholder, he most earnestly
+denounced the institution. The following paragraphs from a letter he
+wrote to James Lemen's brother, Robert, who then lived near Harper's
+Ferry, Virginia, on September 10, 1807, will disclose that Mr. Lemen's
+influence was largely concerned in connection with Jefferson's share
+in the Ordinance of 1787, in its anti-slavery clause. The paragraph is
+as follows:--
+
+"If your brother, James Lemen, should visit Virginia soon, as I learn
+he possibly may, do not let him return until he makes me a visit. I
+will also write him to be sure and see me. [5]Among all my friends who
+are near, he is still a little nearer. I discovered his worth when he
+was but a child and I freely confess that in some of my most important
+achievements his example, wish, and advice, though then but a very
+young man, largely influenced my action. This was particularly true as
+to whatever share I may have had in the transfer of our great
+Northwestern Territory to the United States, and especially for the
+fact that I was so well pleased with the anti-slavery clause inserted
+later in the Ordinance of 1787. Before any one had ever mentioned the
+matter, James Lemen, by reason of his devotion to anti-slavery
+principles, suggested to me that we (Virginia) make the transfer and
+that slavery be excluded; and it so impressed and influenced me that
+whatever is due me as credit for my share in the matter is largely, if
+not wholly, due to James Lemen's advice and most righteous counsel.
+[18]His record in the new country has fully justified my course in
+inducing him {p.54} to settle there with the view of properly shaping
+events in the best interest of the people. If he comes to Virginia,
+see that he calls on me."
+
+James Lemen did not visit Virginia and President Jefferson did not get
+to see him, but his letters to him showed what a great affection he
+had for his friend and agent. On May 2, 1778 [1784], at Annapolis,
+Md., Thomas Jefferson and James Lemen made their final agreement under
+which he was to settle in Illinois to shape matters after Jefferson's
+wishes, but always in the people's interest and for freedom, and
+particularly, to uphold the anti-slavery policy promised by Jefferson
+and later confirmed by the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of
+1787 which principle both Jefferson and Mr. Lemen expected would
+finally be assailed by the pro-slavery power, and the facts confirmed
+their judgment. In 1786 Mr. Lemen with his wife and young family
+settled finally at New Design, now in Monroe county. [3]He was a judge
+under the early Territorial law. He finally united with the Baptist
+church and immediately set about collecting the Baptists into
+churches, having the first church constituted at his house.
+
+Mr. Lemen created the first eight Baptist churches in Illinois, having
+them especially declare against slavery and intemperance. When General
+William Henry Harrison became Governor, he and his Territorial Council
+went over to pro-slavery influences and demands, and carried Mr.
+Lemen's seven churches, which he had then created, with them. For some
+months he labored to call them to anti-slavery grounds, but failing,
+he declared for a division and created his eighth church, now Bethel
+church, near Collinsville, on strictly anti-slavery grounds; and this
+event opened the anti-slavery contest in 1809 which finally in 1818
+led to the election of an anti-slavery Convention which gave Illinois
+a free state constitution. [32]Jefferson warmly approved Mr. Lemen's
+movement and sent his new church twenty dollars, which, with a fund
+the members collected and gave, was finally transferred to the church
+treasury without disclosing Jefferson's identity. This was done in
+order not to disturb his friendly relations with the extreme South.
+But Jefferson made no secret of his antipathy for slavery, though
+unwilling that the fact should be known that he sent James Lemen to
+the new country especially to defend it against slavery, as he knew it
+would arouse the {p.55} resentment of the extreme pro-slavery element
+against both him and his agent and probably defeat their movement.
+
+[24]James Lemen also first suggested the plan to extend the boundary
+of Illinois northward to give more territory and better shape, and had
+a government surveyor make a map showing the great advantages and gave
+them to Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate, asking him to
+present the matter, which he did, and Congress adopted the plan. The
+extension gave the additional territory for fourteen counties and
+Chicago is included.
+
+James Lemen was a noted Indian fighter in Illinois, ever ready with
+his trusty rifle to defend the homes of the early settlers against the
+savage foe, and in every way he fully justified Jefferson's judgment
+in sending him to look after the best interests of the people in the
+new territory.
+
+Mr. Lemen possessed every moral and mental attribute in a high degree,
+and if any one was more marked than another it was his incomparable
+instinct against oppression, which his wonderful anti-slavery record
+accentuated as his chief endowment, though in all respects he was well
+equipped for a leader among men. That instinct, it might be said,
+fixed his destiny. At Jefferson's request he settled in the new
+territory to finally oppose slavery. That was before the Ordinance of
+1787 with its anti-slavery clause, but Mr. Lemen had Jefferson's
+assurance beforehand that the territory should be dedicated to
+freedom; though they both believed the pro-slavery power would finally
+press for its demands before stated, and the facts proved they were
+right. The reasons which necessitated the secrecy of the
+Jefferson-Lemen anti-slavery pact of May 2, 1784, under which Mr.
+Lemen came to Illinois on his anti-slavery mission at Jefferson's
+wish, and which was absolutely necessary to its success at first, no
+longer exists; and the fear of James Lemen's sons that its publication
+would so overshadow his great church work in Illinois with Jefferson's
+wonderful personality, as to dwarf his merits, is largely groundless.
+Senator Douglas, who with others is familiar with all the facts, says
+that when the matter is fully published and well known, it will give
+to both Mr. Lemen and Jefferson their proper shares of credit and
+fame; and, while it will add a new star to Jefferson's splendid fame,
+it will carry James Lemen along with him as his worthy co-worker and
+companion. The {p.56} subject of our sketch died at his home near
+Waterloo, Monroe county, on January 8th, 1823, and was buried in the
+family cemetery near by.
+
+
+
+
+XVI. OLD LEMEN FAMILY NOTES, JAMES LEMEN HISTORY, AND SOME RELATED
+FACTS
+
+     (MS. Document in I.B.H.C.,--C102. By Jos. B. Lemen)
+
+
+In 1857, to save the old "Lemen Family Notes" from loss by careless
+but persistent borrowers, Dr. B. F. Edwards, of St. Louis, and Rev. J.
+M. Peck, advised Rev. James Lemen, Jr., to make copies of all and then
+give the original stock to a friend whom they named to keep as his own
+in a safe vault in St. Louis, if he would pay all storage charges. But
+at that time he only gave the most important ones to Rev. J. M. Peck
+to place temporarily in a safe in St. Louis where he sometimes kept
+his own papers; though some years later he acted on their advice and
+making copies of all papers and letters of any value, gave the whole
+original stock to the party mentioned (we do not recall his name, but
+it is among our papers) [possibly the J. M. Smith mentioned in Dr.
+Peck's communication to James Lemen, Jr., July 17, 1857] and he placed
+them in the safe. Shortly after this their holder died, and they
+passed into the hands of others who removed them to another safe
+somewhere in St. Louis; but having no further title in the papers, and
+having copies of all for use, the family finally lost all traces of
+the papers and the parties holding them, and have only heard from them
+two or three times in more than 40 years.
+
+A few years ago, when a history of Rev. James Lemen, Jr., and his
+father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., was in contemplation, a reputed agent
+of the parties whom he then claimed held the old family notes,
+informed us that the family could have them at any time they wished;
+and we promised some of our friends who wished to see them that after
+we had used them in connection with the proposed history, the old
+stock of papers would be placed where they could see and copy them, if
+they wished. It was intended to have a few of the more important
+letters photographed for the James Lemen history; though it was said
+that some years before some one had a few of them photographed and
+they were so indistinct as to be worthless; but we hoped for better
+results. But it {p.57} finally developed that the reputed agent would
+expect us to pay him (contrary to our first impressions) quite a round
+sum of money for the restoration and use of the papers before he would
+deliver them to us. This awakened suspicions as to his reliability and
+a detective, to whom we sent his name and number for investigation,
+informed us that no such man could be found; and undoubtedly he was
+some dishonest person seeking to obtain money under false pretenses.
+And so the family, as for many years past, now knows nothing as to the
+parties who hold the papers or where they are. A singular fatality
+seems to have awaited all the papers placed at Dr. Peck's disposal or
+advice. His own papers were generally destroyed or lost, and the old
+"Lemen Family Notes" placed some years after his death, partly as he
+had advised, cannot be found. But while Dr. Peck's lost papers are a
+distinct and irreparable loss, no loss is sustained in the
+misplacement of the old Lemen notes, as every line or fact of any
+value in them was copied and the copies are all preserved; and nearly
+all the more important ones have been published, except a very few,
+including Rev. James Lemen's interviews with Lincoln, as written up by
+Mr. Lemen on ten pages of legal cap paper, and that paper will
+probably be published soon, if it is not held specially for the James
+Lemen history.
+
+As to that history, it will be delayed for some time, as the writer,
+who was expected to see to its preparation, was named by the State
+Baptist Convention as a member of the Baptist State Committee to
+assist with the James Lemen monument; and much of the matter intended
+for the history was published in connection with the labors of the
+State Committee. One object of the history was to secure or to
+influence that degree of recognition of the importance of the services
+of Rev. James Lemen, Sr. and his sons, with a few co-workers of the
+latter, in the early history and interests of both the Baptist cause
+and the State, on the part of the Baptists, to which the family
+thought them entitled. But since the Baptists, the "Sons of the
+Revolution," and others have placed a monument at the grave of the old
+State leader and Baptist pioneer, the Rev. James Lemen, Sr., it is
+felt that the object for making the history has already been in part
+realized. Another circumstance which has delayed it, is the poor
+health of the writer; so the prospect is that the making of the
+history will be delayed for some time.
+
+This {p.58} is written entirely from memory, as the papers and dates
+to which we refer are not before me, but we will retain a copy and if
+there proves to be any errors in this one, we will have them
+corrected. There was such a demand for them that some of Dr. Peck's,
+Lovejoy's, Douglas's, Lincoln's and some other letters were published,
+and some of them are included in the papers we send.
+
+Some years ago some one claimed that the old family notes had been
+found, which led to statements in the papers that they would soon be
+placed where people could see and read them; but it proved to be a
+mistake. For the loss of the papers the family do not believe there
+was any fault with the parties originally holding them, as in fact
+they had the right to hold them where they pleased, according to the
+agreement; but that from sudden deaths and other circumstances, they
+were misplaced.
+
+It should be added that every paper of any value, which was given to
+the St. Louis parties to hold was copied and the copies preserved,
+except mere personal, friendship letters, and of these there was quite
+a large stock; also that much of Dr. Peck's writings and many letters
+of his and others were loaned out and could not be given to the St.
+Louis parties to keep, but all of any real value have been copied or
+published, except the Lemen-Lincoln interviews and some others, and
+that even some of these copies are loaned out, among them copies of
+letters from Dr. Peck, Douglas, Lincoln, Lovejoy, if I recall
+correctly, and others; though the facts or information in them have
+already been published, except such facts as will be held for the
+James Lemen history, and we have copies of them, so nothing will be
+lost.
+
+                              (Signed) JOSEPH B. LEMEN.
+
+  O'Fallon, Illinois,
+  January 10, 1911.
+
+[N. B. The above communication accompanied the gift of the walnut
+chest made by the elder James Lemen at Ft. Piggott, which was sent to
+the custodian of the Baptist Historical Collection at Shurtleff
+College, early in the year 1913--COMPILER.]
+
+
+
+
+REFERENCES {p.59}
+
+
+  1. See p. 26.
+
+  2. Reynolds "My Own Times" and "Pioneer History of Illinois."
+
+  3. See "Territorial Records of Illinois" (Illinois State Historical
+  Library, _Publication_, III.), and compare p. 54 _post_.
+
+  4. See Biographical sketches in "Lemen Family History."
+
+  5. See pp. 33, 53.
+
+  6. See pp. 27, 28.
+
+  7. See pp. 23, 42, 56.
+
+  8. Peck, J. M., "Annals of the West," _in loco_.
+
+  9. See p. 54 _post_, and Hinsdale, "Old Northwest."
+
+  10. Alvord, "Cahokia Records," Introduction.
+
+  11. Reynolds, "My Own Times," p. 208.
+
+  12. McMaster, "People of United States," II: 30, 31; III: 108; St.
+  Clair Papers.
+
+  13. Blake, "History of Slavery," p. 431.
+
+  14. See p. 29.
+
+  15. See p. 30, and compare No. 16 below.
+
+  16. Blake, "History of Slavery," _in loco_.
+
+  17. See pp. 35, 36, 43.
+
+  18. See p. 53.
+
+  19. See p. 30.
+
+  20. See p. 30, and compare, Patterson, "Early Illinois," Fergus
+  Historical Coll., No. 14, pp. 141-2.
+
+  21. See pp. 30, 35.
+
+  22. Reynolds, "My Own Times," p. 170.
+
+  23. See p. 36.
+
+  24. See p. 55, and compare reference No. 19.
+
+  25. See p. 37.
+
+  26. See "Centennial History of Madison Co.," I: 52-55.
+
+  27. See p. 38.
+
+  28. See p. 47.
+
+  29. See p. 50.
+
+  30. See p. 34.
+
+  31. See p. 41.
+
+  32. See p. 54.
+
+  33. _Cf._ Smith, J. A., "History of the Baptists," p. 40; Benedict,
+  "History of the Baptists," II: 246-8.
+
+  34. See p. 39.
+
+  35. See pp. 42, 56 and Peck, J. M., "Father Clark," _in loco_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Jefferson-Lemen Compact, by Willard C. MacNaul
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