upon survey to cover almost thirty thousand acres. In
territorial times Edgar paid more taxes than any one else in the
territory. In 1790 Edgar was appointed chief justice of the Kaskaskia
district of St. Clair county; in 1800 he was "Lieutenant-Colonel
Commandant of the First Regiment of Militia of the County of Randolph"; in
1802 he was commissioned an associate judge of the Criminal Court of
Randolph county, by Governor Harrison. He had never studied law "but
common sense, a good education, and experience in business with perfect
honesty made him a very respectable officer." Edgar's correspondence with
Clark and Hamtramck show him to have been a leader in Illinois during its
period of anarchy preceding the establishment of government in 1790. He
offered to board a garrison on the credit of the United States, if a
garrison should be sent to protect Illinois. At a time when slaveholding
was regarded as eminently respectable by the people of Illinois, Edgar
held slaves, and in 1796 he was one of four who petitioned Congress to
introduce slavery into the territory. He was a member of the legislature
of the Northwest Territory, was worshipful master of the first Lodge of
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Illinois, constituted at Kaskaskia in
1806, and was major-general of militia, in which capacity he presided at
reviews with much dignity. In person Gen. Edgar was large and portly. He
was definitely charged with forgery by the commissioners to settle land
titles at Kaskaskia. In one case a letter signed in a fair hand by one who
had made his mark to a deed was produced by Edgar. The letter was an offer
of the illiterate owner to sell his land to Edgar. There is no indication
that this conduct of the hospitable and popular man changed the esteem in
which he was held by his contemporaries.(547)

John Rice Jones, the first lawyer in Illinois, was eminently successful.
He was born in Wales in 1759, received a collegiate education at Oxford,
England, and afterward took regular courses in both medicine and law. In
1783 he was a lawyer in London and owned property in Wales. The next year
he came to Philadelphia where he practiced law and became acquainted with
Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, Myers Fisher, and other distinguished
men. In 1786 he came to Kentucky and joined Clark's troops against the
Wabash Indians. A garrison was irregularly established at Vincennes and
Jones was made commissary-general. He sold seized Spanish