Dorr Township, Illinois-- Named for the Arrested Governor Who Wasn't From Illinois

In February I had a lot of entries about the 15th Illinois Infantry Regiment in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog.  The regiment had several companies from McHenry County where I live, including Company A that was mainly from Woodstock, Illinois, where our McHenry County Civil War Round Table meets every second Tuesday of the month.

We have a meeting this Tuesday, March 12 on Jonathan Letterman (no relation to David) who is credited as "The Father of Battlefield Medicine."

Anyway, I found a site that gave the residences of every member of Company A.  Most had Woodstock as their residence, and others had other McHenry County towns.  But. there were a few other places listed that after some research, I found to be McHenry County townships: Seneca, Greenwood Dorr and Hartland.  I had to look up the townships of McHenry County as I did not know most of them other than Burton, where we live, Richmond and McHenry.

When I looked up Dorr Township at its official site, I found it was named after Governor Thomas Wilson Dorr who had a "dramatically colorful record in the annals of American history, serving a jail sentence from which he was later acquitted by a Supreme Court decision."

Well, being from Illinois, I am well aware of the penchant for our governors finding themselves imprisoned.

So, I looked up Illinois' Governor Dorr.  Only, Illinois has never had a Governor Dorr.

The Plot Thickens.  --Cooter