Illinois became a Territory in 1809
Illinois became a State in 1818
Pope County was formed in 1816 out of Gallatin & Johnson Counties.
Gallatin & Johnson County were both formed in 1812 out of Randolph
County.
Randolph County was formed in 1795 out of the NW Territory, ST. Clair

During the Revolutionary War, George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia and
Cahokia, securing the lands north of the Ohio River in the United
States. Virginia claimed all the land north of the Ohio River for
itself, but ceded it to the United States in 1784. In 1787 Illinois
became part of the Northwest Territory. Three years later Illinois
became part of the Indiana Territory. …
The first settlers came by way of the Ohio River from North Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and Pennsylvania and settled in
the southern part of the state…. At statehood in 1818, most of the
population still resided in the southern part of the state.
Source 1

Northwest Territory
…In 1787 the U S Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance which set up
the Northwest Territory and provided for its government. The territory
included all of what is now OH, IN, IL, MI, WI and part of MN. … The
capitol was established at Marietta (Now in OH). In the year following,
about 20,000 pioneers entered the Northwest Territory, most coming
across from KY or down the OH River. … In 1790, the governor of the
Territory visited the settlements at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and found
only about 750 people in the Cahokia - Kaskaskia region. The period of
lawlessness had taken its toll on the population. Shortly thereafter the
governor made Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Prairie du Rocher joint county
seats of ST. Clair County, a county set up for the southwestern part of
the IL Country. …In the year 1795, in the treaty of Greenville large
tracts of land were ceded to the U S . Included were several important
areas in the IL country:… and land at Fort Massac on the southern tip of
IL. The next year, 1795, saw the southern part of St. Clair County split
off as Randolph County with the county seat of Kaskaskia. The County
seat of ST. Clair County now became Cahokia. In 1797, about 150 VA.
Baptists came to the Cahokia - Kaskaskia area to the village of New
Design
By 1798, the Northwest Territory qualified to enter the second stage of
its government. A lower legislative house was elected, and an upper
house was appointed . In May of 1800, most of the land west of the
present IN - OH line was split off from the Northwest Territory. It was
constituted as a new territory, the IN Territory, with Vincennes as its
capital.. (Most of the settlers came in after 1800 due to liberalized
regulations for buying land). In 1804, U S land offices were opened at
Vincennes and Kaskaskia. However there were no land sales at Kaskaskia
for about 10 years, because the officials were busy settling claims for
lands granted during the French and British periods. Even so, there was
considerable migration into IL…
In 1809, the IL Territory (IL, WI, part of MN) was split from the IN
Territory, with its capitol at Kaskaskia. Two counties made up the
Territory, Randolph covering the lower fourth of the area, and ST. Clair
all the rest. During the IL territorial period (1809 - 18), 13 more
counties would be created, almost all in the south, where settlement was
occurring.

War of 1812
The U S set aside the large triangle of IL land between the IL and MS
Rivers for the awarding of 160 - acres of bounty land to veterans of
the War of 1812. In late 1817 the land was made available and within
four months, over 18,000 land patents were issued. …Most of these were
sold by the veterans or their widows to speculators….
Source 2 p 15, 16, 17, 18

Sources

1. The Handy Book for Genealogists United States of America Eighth
Edition By the Everton Publishers, Inc.
2. Ohio Genealogical Research by George K Schweitzer, Ph.D., Sc.D.

I think my Hathaway ancestor may have come into Pope County before IL
claimed statehood. Which is why I have not seen any documentation. His
life may have ended as a result of lawlessness. And that is why I have
not seen any documentation until his widow shows up in the 1820 census.

Contributed by "SkiFri" Cindy L Skiles Frie