13th Illinois General Assembly

Last updated December 14, 2025

The 13th Illinois General Assembly, consisting of the Illinois Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives, met from December 5, 1842, to March 6, 1843 (1st session).^[1]

On January 14, 1841, during the 12th Illinois General Assembly, the ratio of population per Senate seat was fixed at 12,000, and for Representatives at 4,000 resulting in a Senate of forty-one members and a House of one hundred twenty-one members.^[2] This arrangement lasted until February 25, 1847, when a new apportionment was made.^[3]

Senate

The reapportionment of the Senate created problems as it made no accounting for the sixteen senators whose terms did not expire creating a number of disputes.^[4] Holdover senators combined with newly elected senators led to 4 senators in districts where the new apportionment had only allocated 3 senators (Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, and Randolph counties). As the situation was deemed too difficult to solve and was not challenged, the Senate retained all 4 senators and the Senate had 42 members for the length of the term.^[4]

Seats in District	Counties represented^[5]^[6]	Senator	Remarks
1	Sangamon	Edward D. Baker	Disputed. Baker was the holdover senator with two years remaining on his term. His district had been reduced from 4 counties (Sangamon, Menard, Logan, and Christian) to just Sangamon. Harrison won election as Senator in the new district. The issue was referred to the Select Committee for resolution and it was decided that it would be unfair to have two senators representing Sangamon county and Harrison was excluded.^[4] No one contested the decision.^[4]
1	Sangamon	Reuben Harrison
1	McLean · Livingston · DeWitt· Piatt · Macon	Robert F. Barnett
1	Rock Island · Henry · Whiteside · Lee	John Buford
1	St. Clair	Seth Catlin
1	Greene · Calhoun	Alfred W. Cavarly	Disputed. English ultimately resigned.^[4]
1	Greene · Calhoun	Revel W. English	Disputed. English ultimately resigned.^[4]
1	Perry · Clintin · Washington	John Crain
1	Tazewell · Marshall · Putnam	Richard N. Cullom
1	White	William H. Davidson
1	Hancock	Jacob C. Davies
1	Union · Alexander	John Dougherty
1	Fayette · Effingham · Clay	Akins Evans
1	Vermilion · Champaign	William Fithian
1	Scott · Cass	James Gilham	Disputed^[4]
1	Scott · Cass	T. M. Kilpatrick	Disputed^[4]
1	Macoupin · Jersey	John Harris
1	Jo Daviess · Stephenson · Carroll	George W. Harrison
1	Morgan	John Henry
1	Cook · Lake	Samuel Hoard	Disputed^[4]
1	Cook · Lake	John Pearson	Disputed^[4]
1	Crawford · Lawrence · Jasper	John Houston
1	Monroe · Randolph ★	James A. James	Disputed^[4] ★ Both senators were retained effectively allocating the district 2 senators
1	Monroe · Randolph ★	Jacob Feaman
1	Bond · Montgomery · Christian	Benjamin Johnson
1	Gallatin	George Leviston
1	Fulton · Peoria	David Markley
1	Will · DuPage · Iroquois	Joel A. Matteson
1	Knox · Mercer	William McMurty
1	Kane · McHenry · Boone · DeKalb	Ira Minard
1	Edgar	Nelson W. Nunnally
1	Clark · Coles	Nathaniel Parker
1	Jackson · Williamson · Franklin	Braxton Parrish
1	Adams	James H. Ralston	Resigned
1	Ogle · Winnebago	Spooner Ruggles
1	LaSalle	Michael Ryan
1	Wayne · Wabash · Edwards	Rigson B. Slocumb
1	Madison	George Smith
1	Warren · McDonough · Henderson	Wyatt B. Stapp
1	Peoria · Stark · Bureau	W. W. Thompson
1	Brown · Schuyler	Jacob Vandeventer
1	Shelby	Peter Warren
1	Pope · Hardin · Johnson	George W. Waters
1	Jefferson County · Hamilton · Marion	Robert A. D. Wilbanks
1	Pike	Thomas Worthington
1	Menard · Logan · Mason	Lewis B. Wynne

House

Seats in District	Counties represented^[5]^[6]	Representative	Remarks
1	Lake	Richard Murphy
3	Cook	Isaac N. Arnold
		Hart L. Stewart
		Lott Whitcomb
1	Iroquois	Isaac Courtwright
1	DuPage	Addison Collins
2	Will	Jeduthan Hatch
2	Will	David L. Gregg
3 ^[7]	Kane · McHenry · Boone · DeKalb	William M. Jackson
		Henry Madden
		Alfred E. Ames
3	LaSalle	Elisha Bibbens
		William H. Cushman
		James H. Woodworth
1	Peoria	Levi A. Hannaford
1	Stark · Bureau	John H. Bryant
1	Stark · Bureau	Cyrus Langworthy
2	Tazewell	Pierre Menard
2	Tazewell	Middleton Tackerberry
1	Marshall · Putnam	Robert F. Bell
1	Stephenson · Carroll	Hubbard Graves
1	Jo Daviess	John McDonald	One of two "John McDonald's" serving in the House
1	Rock Island · Henry	Joshua Harper
1	Whiteside · Lee	Aaron C. Jackson
1	Winnebago	Darius Adams
1	Ogle	Leonard Andrus
1	Schuyler	Samuel Horner
1	Brown	Stephen D. Hambaugh
1	Brown · Schuyler	Peter C. Vance
5	Adams	Orville H. Browning
		Peter B. Garrett
		Abraham Jonas
		Richard W. Starr
		Almeron Wheat
2	Hancock	Thomas H. Owen
2	Hancock	William Smith
1	McDonough	Hugh Erwin
2	Warren · Henderson	Maximilian Haley
2	Warren · Henderson	William S. Stockton
1	Knox	Julius Manning
1	Knox · Mercer	Reuben H. Spicer
3	Fulton	Horace Turner
		Harry L. Miller
		Joseph L. Sharpe
1	Fulton · Peoria	Samuel Hackleton
4	Sangamon	James N. Brown
		William Caldwell
		Stephen T. Logan
		William Hickman
1	Menard	Elisha Bone
1	Logan · Mason	Charles F. Ewing
1	McLean	Mahlon Bishop
1	McLean · Livingston	Andrew McMillan
1	DeWitt	James K. Scott
1	Piatt · Macon	Samuel G. Nesbitt
4	Morgan	Newton Cloud
		David Epler
		William Weatherford
		Richard Yates Sr.
3	Pike	William Blair
		Benjamin D. Brown
		Alexander Starne
1	Cass	John W. Pratt
2	Scott	Lorenzo Edwards
2	Scott	Edward Mitchell
2	Macoupin	Robert W. Glass
2	Macoupin	Sergeant Gobble
1	Jersey	Samuel T. Kendall
2	Greene	John Greene †	Died February 3, 1843
2	Greene	Alfred Hinton
1	Greene · Calhoun	John McDonald	One of two "John McDonald's" serving in the House
3	Madison	Robert Aldrich
		John Bailhache
		Curtis Blakemen
3	St. Clair	Gustavus Koener
		Philip Penn
		Amos Thompson
3	Monroe · Randolph	Jacob J. Danner
		Andrew J. Dickenson
		William McBride
1	Bond	James N. Davis
1	Montgomery	Easton Whitten
1	Christian	H. M. Vandeveer
2	Fayette · Effingham	Thomas M. Loy
2	Fayette · Effingham	John Shirley
1	Clay	Peter Greene
1	Shelby	Jonathan B. Howard
1	White	John S. Lawler
1	Wabash	John Compton
1	Wayne	Edward Wist
1	Edwards	William Pickering
2	Lawrence	William G. Anderson
2	Lawrence	Jesse K. DuBois
2	Crawford · Jasper	Guy W. Smith
2	Crawford · Jasper	William Wilson
2	Clark	Willis Dougherty
2	Clark	James Lockard
3	Coles	Joseph Fowler
		George M. Hanson
		Orlando B. Fricklin
1	Edgar	Hall Simms
2	Vermilion	John Canaday
2	Vermilion	James Norris
1	Champaign	Mathew W. Busey
2	Union · Alexander	John Cochran
2	Union · Alexander	James J. Hunsacker
1	Pope · Hardin	Philip Vineyard
1	Johnson	Andrew J. Kuykendall
1	Williamson	John T. Davis
1	Jackson	Richard A. Bradley
1	Franklin	Achilles D. Dollins
3	Gallatin	Thomas S. Hick
		John A. McClernand
		Abner Flanders
1	Hamilton	John Douglas
1	Hamilton · Jefferson · Marion	William Brinkley
1	Jefferson	Stephen G. Hicks
1	Marion	James Marshall
1	Perry	John D. Burklow
2	Clinton · Washington	Elias S. Dennis
2	Clinton · Washington	John White

Works cited

Moses, John (1892). Illinois, historical and statistical.
Blue Book of the State of Illinois. 1919.
Blue Book of the State of Illinois - Illinois Legislative Roster — 1818-2024 (PDF). 2024.
Laws of the state of Illinois, passed by the twelfth general assembly : at their session, began and held at Springfield, on the seventh of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty. William Walters Public Printers. 1841. pp. 23–25.
Pease, Theodore Calvin (1923). Statistical Series: Illinois Election Returns (1818-1848) (PDF). Vol. 1. Illinois State Historical Library.

References

↑ Illinois Blue Book 1919, p. 532-534.
↑ Moses, p. 1155
↑ Moses, p. 1155
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Clyne, Kathleen M. Jr. (April 1914). "Senatorial Disputes Resulting from the Apportionment Act of 1841". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984). 7 (1): 51–55.
1 2 Illinois Blue Book 1919, pp. 532–534.
1 2 Illinois State Laws 1841, pp. 23–25.
↑ Chosen from the counties where their elected Senator, Ira Minard, does not reside

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[FOOTNOTEIllinois_Blue_Book1919532-534-1] Illinois Blue Book 1919, p. 532-534.

[2] Moses, p. 1155

[3] Moses, p. 1155

[Clyne-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Clyne, Kathleen M. Jr. (April 1914). "Senatorial Disputes Resulting from the Apportionment Act of 1841". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984). 7 (1): 51–55.

[FOOTNOTEIllinois_Blue_Book1919532–534-5] 1 2 Illinois Blue Book 1919, pp. 532–534.

[FOOTNOTEIllinois_State_Laws184123–25-6] 1 2 Illinois State Laws 1841, pp. 23–25.

[7] Chosen from the counties where their elected Senator, Ira Minard, does not reside

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13th Illinois General Assembly

Contents

Senate

House

Works cited

References