Perseverance

Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site, Cahokia
Built as a residence about 1740, the Cahokia Courthouse became a county courthouse in 1793. It was the center of territorial political and legal activity for twenty-four years. It is the oldest courthouse in Illinois, built in the French vernacular architecture style of vertical log construction known as poteaux-sur-solle ("post-on-sill"). When the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 outlawed slavery white masters brought their slaves to court, where they "voluntarily" entered into indentures of service for set numbers of years. Few slaves had any choice, and indentures for ninety-nine years were common, even amongst infants and children.

Visitor information
Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site
107 Elm Street
Cahokia, IL 62206
(618) 332-1782
https://dnrhistoric.illinois.gov/experience/sites/site.cahokia-courthouse.html

Holy Family Church, Cahokia
The Church of the Holy Family at Cahokia was founded in 1699 by Canadian Catholic missionaries. The log church, built in 1799, is a National Historic Landmark and is the oldest church west of the Allegheny Mountains. Constructed of black walnut timbers in the traditional French Creole style, it is one of only five built in this style that still exist in North America.

The mission at Cahokia, along with the Jesuit mission at Kaskaskia, was one of the largest slave holders in the Illinois Country. However, the presence of Catholic clergy in the Illinois Country affected the living conditions of the slaves who lived there. The missionary priests saw to it that slaves were baptized and often married; they attended church and were reared in the Catholic faith. Holy Family Church records document these ceremonies amongst enslaved Africans, noting that white masters often were in attendance or served as godparents.

Both the French Code Noir and the influence of the Catholic clergy made it clear that the early Illinois slaveholding French recognized their slaves as human beings, with souls in need of salvation, resulting in a more paternalistic, though still inherently racist, attitude toward their care and governance.

Visitor information
Church of the Holy Family
116 Church Street
Cahokia, IL 62206-1852
Phone: (618) 337-4548
Fax: (618) 332-1699
Email: holyfamilycahokia@yahoo.com

Nicholas Jarrot House State Historic Site, Cahokia, Illinois
The Nicholas Jarrot House, now a National Historic Landmark, was built between 1807 and 1810 by Nicholas Jarrot and his wife Julie Jarrot, who lived in the home with their six children. Jarrot was a French-born businessman and land speculator who amassed large tracts of land in Randolph and St. Clair counties. The Jarrot family was among the local elite, and their lifestyle relied heavily upon slave or "indentured" labor.

Census documents reveal the Jarrots owned between ten and twelve slaves at the time of Nicholas Jarrot's death in 1820. After her husband's death, Julie Jarrot began to sell some of the family slaves. When part of her husband's estate was auctioned in 1821, at least seven slaves were sold: "1 Yellow woman Mary...355.00," "1 Black Man Francis...550.50," "1 Ditto John Mary and his Wife Suset & Child...900.00," "1 Black Girl Kezzett...351.00," and "1 Ditto Louis...533.00." By 1830, Julie Jarrot's household included only three slaves, which continued to be the case in 1840.

In 1843, one of her slaves sued her in court for back wages. The case, which essentially boiled down to whether or not Joseph "Peter" Jarrot's pedigree made him a slave, went all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the 1787 Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery in the Illinois Territory, and any slave born after 1787 had been born free, setting the precedent for all Illinois slaves to seek their freedom.

Julie Jarrot continued to live in the home until 1850, and the house remained in the Jarrot family until 1943. Today the home is owned by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and is open for special events.

• Illinois Servitude and Emancipation Records, Illinois State Archives
  http://www.ilsos.gov/isa/servemansrch.jsp