I B RAR.Y 

OF THE 
UNIVERSITY 

or ILLINOIS 

977.354 



P83& 



ILLINOIS HISTDRICAl SURVEY 



/ y* 






RECORJD 




Tazewell and Mason Counties, 



{ ILLINOIS, -f 



Containlnn Biographical Sketches of 



Prominent and Representative Citizens of the Counties, 

Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the 

Governors of the State and the Presidents of the United States, 



CHICAGO: 
PIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING CO. 

1894, 




FIE greatest of English historians, MACAULAT,and one of the most brilliant writers of 
the present century, has said: "The history of a country is best told in a record of the 
lives of its people." In conformity with this idea the PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAI 
KEIORD of this county has *;3en prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and 
taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, out 
corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by then 
enterprise and industry, brought the county to rank second to none among those 
comprising this great and noble State, and from their lips have the story of their life 
struggles: No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelli 
gent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy .the 
imitation of coining 'generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by 
industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited 
advantages for securing an education, have become learned men and women, with an 
influence extending throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who 
have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have 
become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and 
records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very 
many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way," contend 
to have it said of them as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy "they have done what 

- they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left the plow and the 
anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's 

-; call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace 
once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every woman is a lesson that should not 
be lost upon those who follow after. 

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the fact 
that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would otherwise be 
inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work and every opportunity possible 

* given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publishers flatter them- 
selves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence. In addition to the biograph 
ical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given. 

The faces of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this the 
publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the 
information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some member of 
the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested 
; one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made 
at their residence or place of business. 

July, 1894. BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING Co. 







portraits and J||iographies 



OF THE 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINIOS, 



AND OF THE 



Presidents of the United States. 



LIBRARY 
Of THE 
UNIVERSITY OF 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



HE Father of our Country was born in West- 
moreland County, Va. , February 22, 1732. 
His parents were Augustine and Mary (Ball) 
Washington. The family to which he belonged 
has not been satisfactorily traced in England. 
His great-grandfather, John Washington, emi- 
grated to Virginia about 1657, and became a 
prosperous planter. He had two sons, Lawrence 
and John. The former married Mildred Warner, 
and had three children, John, Augustine and 
Mildred. Augustine, the father of George, first 
married Jane Butler, who bore him four children, 
two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, reached 
maturity. Of six children by his second mar- 
riage, George was the eldest, the others being 
Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and 
Mildred. 

Augustine Washington, the father of George, 
died in 1743, leaving a large landed property. 
To his eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an 
estate on the Potomac, afterwards known as Mt. 
Vernon, and to George he left the parental resi- 
dence. George received only such education as 
the neighborhood schools afforded, save for a 
short time after he left school, when he received 
private instruction in mathematics. His spelling 
was rather defective. Remarkable stories are 
told of his great physical strength and develop- 
ment at an early age. He was an acknowledged 
leader among his companions, and was early 
noted for that nobleness of character, fairness and 
veracity which characterized his whole life. 

When George was fourteen years old he had a 
desire to go to sea, and a midshipman's warrant 
was secured for him, but through the opposition 
of his mother the idea was abandoned. Two 



years later he was appointed surveyor to the im- 
mense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business 
he spent three years in a rough frontier life, 
gaining experience which afterwards proved very 
essential to him. In 1751, though only nineteen 
years of age, he was appointed Adjutant, with the 
rank of Major, in the Virginia militia, then being 
trained for active service against the French and 
Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West 
Indies with his brother Lawrence, who went there 
to restore his health. They soon returned, and 
in the summer of 1752 Lawrence died, leaving a 
large fortune to an infant daughter, who did not 
long survive him. On her demise the estate of 
Mt. Vernon was given to George. 

Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie as Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia 
was reorganized, and the province divided into 
four military districts, of which the northern was 
assigned to Washington as Adjutant-General. 
Shortly after this a very perilous mission, which 
others had refused, was assigned him and ac- 
cepted. This was to proceed to the French post 
near Lake Erie, in northwestern Pennsylvania. 
The distance to be traversed was about six hun- 
dred miles. Winter was at hand, and the journey 
was to be made without military escort, through 
a territory occupied by Indians. The trip was a 
perilous one, and several times he nearly lost his 
life, but he returned in safety and furnished a full 
and useful report of his expedition. A regiment 
of three hundred men was raised in Virginia and 
put in command of Col. Joshua Fry, and Maj. 
Washington was commissioned Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel. Active war was then begun against the 
French and Indians, in which Washington took 



20 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



a most important part. In the memorable event 
of July 9, 1755, known as" Braddock's defeat," 
Washington was almost the only officer of dis- 
tinction who escaped from the calamities of the 
day with life and honor. 

Having been for five years in the military serv- 
ice, and having vainly sought promotion in the 
royal army, he took advantage of the fall of Ft. Du- 
quesue and the expulsion of the French from the 
valley of the Ohio to resign his commission. Soon 
after he entered the Legislature, where, although 
not a leader, he took an active and important 
part. January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha 
(Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy widow of John 
Parke Custis. 

When the British Parliament had closed the 
port of Boston, the cry went up throughout the 
provinces, ' ' The cause ot Boston is the cause of 
us all! " It was then, at the suggestion of Vir- 
ginia, that a congress of all the colonies was 
called to meet at Philadelphia September 5, 
1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably 
if possible. To this congress Col. Washington 
was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the 
congress re-assembled, when the hostile inten- 
tions of England were plainly apparent. The 
battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought, 
and among the first acts of this congress was the 
election of a commander-in-chief of the Colonial 
forces. This high and responsible office was con- 
ferred upon Washington, who was still a member 
of the congress. He accepted it on June 19, but 
upon the express condition that he receive no sal- 
ary. He would keep an exact account of ex- 
penses, and expect congress to pay them and 
nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch 
to trace the military acts of Washington, to whom 
the fortunes and liberties of the people of this 
country were so long confided. The war was 
conducted by him under every possible disadvan- 
tage; and while his forces often met with reverses, 
yet he overcame every obstacle, and after seven 
years of heroic devotion and matchless skill he 
gained liberty for the greatest nation of earth. 
On December 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting 
address of surpassing beauty, resigned his com- 
mission as Commander-in-Chief of the army to the 



Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He 
retired immediately to Mt. Veruon and resumed 
his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning 
all connection with public life. 

In February, 1789, Washington was unani- 
mously elected President, and at the expiration 
of his first term he was unanimously re-elected. 
At the end of this term many were anxious that he 
be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third 
nomination. On March 4, 1797, at the expiration 
of his second term as President, he returned to his 
home, hoping to pass there his few remaining 
years free from the annoyances of public life. 
Later in the year, however, his repose seemed 
likely to be interrupted by war with France. At 
the prospect of such a war he was again urged to 
take command of the army, but he chose his sub- 
ordinate officers and left them the charge of mat- 
ters in the field, which he superintended from his 
home. In accepting the command, he made the 
reservation that he was not to be in the field until 
it was necessary. In the midst of these prepara- 
tions his life was suddenly cut off. December 1 2 
he took a severe cold from a ride in the rain, 
which, settling in his throat, produced inflamma- 
tion, and terminated fatally on the night of the 
1 4th. On the i8th his body was borne with mili- 
tary honors to its final resting-place, and interred 
in the family vault at Mt. Vernon. 

Of the character of Washington it is impossible 
to speak but in terms of the highest respect and 
admiration. The more we see of the operations 
of our government, and the more deeply we feel 
the difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common 
interest, the more highly we must estimate the 
force of his talent and character, which have bee:i 
able to challenge the reverence of all parties, 
and principles, and nations, and to win a fame as 
extended as the limits of the globe, and which we 
cannot but believe will be as lasting as the exist- 
ence of man 

In person, Washington was unusually tall, erect 
and well proportioned, and his muscular strength 
was great. His features were of a beausiful sym- 
metry. He commanded respect without any ap- 
pearance of haughtiness, and was ever serious 
without being dull. 



LIBRARY 
Of TH 

of IUJNOIS 




. 




JOHN ADAMS. 



(TOHN ADAMS, the second President and the 
I first Vice-President of the United States, was 
Q) born in Braintree (now Quincy) Mass. , and 
about ten miles from Boston, October 19, 1735. 
His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated 
from England about 1640, with a family of eight 
sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of 
John were John and Susannah (Boylston) 
Adams. His father, who was a farmer of limited 
means, also engaged in the business of shoe- 
making. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical 
education at Harvard College. John graduated 
in 1755, and at once took charge of the school at 
Worcester, Mass. This he found but a ' ' school 
of affliction," from which he endeavored to gain 
relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the 
study of law. For this purpose he placed himself 
under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. 
He had thought seriously of the clerical profes- 
sion, but seems to have been turned from this by 
what he termed ' ' the frightful engines of ecclesi- 
astical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvin- 
istic good nature, ' ' of the operations of which he 
had been a witness in his native town. He was 
well fitted for the legal profession, possessing a 
clear, sonorous voice, being ready and fluent of 
speech, and having quick perceptive powers. He 
gradually gained a practice, and in 1764 married 
Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a 
lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his 
marriage, in 1765, the attempt at parliamentary 
taxation turned him from law to politics. He 
took initial steps toward holding a town meeting, 
and the resolutions he offered on the subject be- 
came very popular throughout the province, and 
were adopted word for word by over forty differ- 
ent towns. He moved to Boston in 1768, and 
became one of the most courageous and promi- 
nent advocates of the popular cause, and. was 
chosen a member of the General Court (the Leg- 
islature) in 1770. 

Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first dele- 



gates from Massachusetts to the first Continent- 
al Congress, which met in 1774. Here he dis- 
tinguished himself by his capacity for business 
and for debate, and advocated the movement for 
independence against the majority of the mem- 
bers. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a res- 
olution in Congress that the Colonies should 
assume the duties of self-government. He was a 
prominent member of the committee of five ap- 
pointed June 1 1 to prepare a declaration of inde- 
pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, 
but on Adams devolved the task of battling it 
through Congress in a three-days debate. 

On the day after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was passed, while his soul was yet warm 
with the glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter 
to his wife, which, as we read it now, seems to 
have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy. 
"Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question 
was decided that ever was debated in America; 
and greater, perhaps, never was or will be de- 
cided among men. A resolution was passed 
without one dissenting colony, 'that these United 
States are, and of right ought to be, free and in- 
dependent states.' The day is passed. The 
Fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch 
in the history of America. I am apt to believe it 
will be celebrated by succeeding generations as 
the great anniversary festival. It ought to be 
commemorated as the day of deliverance by 
solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It 
ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, 
sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations 
from one end of the continent to the other, from 
this time fonvard forever. You will think me 
transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I 
am well aware of the toil and blood and treas- 
ure that it will cost to maintain this declaration 
and support and defend these States; yet, through 
all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and 
glory. I can see that the end is worth more than 
all the means, and that posterity will triumph, 



JOHN ADAMS. 



although you and I may rue, which I hope we 
shall not." 

In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed 
a delegate to France, and to co-operate with Ben- 
jamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then 
in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance in 
arms and money from the French government. 
This was a severe trial to his patriotism, as it 
separated him from his home, compelled him to 
cross the ocean in winter, and exposed him to 
great peril of capture by the British cruisers, who 
were seeking him. He left France June 17, 
1779. In September of the same year he was 
again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold him- 
self in readiness to negotiate a treaty of peace and 
of commerce with Great Britain, as soon as the 
British cabinet might be found willing to listen 
to such proposals. He sailed for France in No- 
vember, and from there he went to Holland, where 
he negotiated important loans and formed im- 
portant commercial treaties. 

Finally, a treaty of peace with England was 
signed, January 2 1 , 1783. The re-action from the 
excitement, toil and anxiety through which Mr. 
Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After 
suffering from a continued fever and becoming 
feeble and emaciated, he was advised to go to 
England to drink the waters of Bath. While in 
England, still drooping and desponding, he re- 
ceived dispatches from his own government urg- 
ing the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to 
negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health 
was delicate, yet h immediately set out, and 
through storm, on sea, on horseback and foot, he 
made the trip. 

February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. 
Adams envoy to the Court of St. James. Here 
he met face to face the King of England, who 
had so long regarded him as a traitor. As Eng- 
land did not condescend to appoint a minister to 
the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he 
was accomplishing but little, he sought permis- 
sion to return to his own country, where he ar- 
rived in June, 1788. 

When Washington was first chosen President, 
John Adams, rendered illustrious by his signal 
services at home and abroad, was chosen Vice- 



President. Again, at the second election of Wash- 
ington as President, Adams was chosen Vice- 
President. In 1796, Washington retired from 
public life, and Mr. Adams was elected President, 
though not without much opposition. Serving 
in this office four years, he was succeeded by Mr. 
Jefferson, his opponent in politics. 

While Mr. Adams was Vice- President the 
great French Revolution shook the continent of 
Europe, and it was upon this point that he was 
at issue with the majority of his countrymen, led 
by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy 
with the French people in their struggle, for he 
had no confidence in their power of self-govern- 
ment, and he utterly abhorred the class of atheist 
philosophers who, he claimed, caused it. On the 
other hand, Jefferson's sympathies were strongly 
enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence 
originated the alienation between these distin- 
tinguished men, and the two powerful parties were 
'thus soon organized, with Adams at the head of 
the One ' whose sympathies were with England, 
and Jefferson leading the other in sympathy with 
France. 

The Fourth of July, 1826, which completed the 
half-century since the signing of the Declaration 
of Independence, arrived, and there were but 
three of the signers of that immortal instrument 
left upon the earth to hail its morning light. 
And, as it is well known, on that day two of 
these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coinci- 
dence so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For 
a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly 
failing, and on the morning of the Fourth he 
found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On 
being requested to name a toast for the cus- 
tomary celebration of the day, he exclaimed 
"Independence forever!" When the day was 
ushered in by the ringing of bells and the firing 
of cannons, he was asked by one of his attend- 
ants if he knew what day it was ? He replied, 
' ' O yes, it is the glorious Fourth of July God 
bless it God bless you all!" In the course of 
the day he said, "It is a great and glorious 
day. ' ' The last words he uttered were, ' ' Jeffer- 
son survives." But he had, at one o'clock, 
resigned his spirit into the hands of his God. 



LIBRARY 

Of THf 

UNIVEKSm Of ILLINOIS 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



'HOMAS JEFFERSON was bom April 2, 

1743, at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va. 

His parents were Peter and Jane (Ran- 
dolph) Jefferson, the former a native of Wales, 
and the latter born in London. To them were 
born six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas 
was the elder. When fourteen years of age his 
father died. He received a most liberal educa- 
tion, having been kept diligently at school from 
the time he was five years of age. In 1760 he 
entered William and Mary College. Williams- 
burg was then the seat of the Colonial court, and 
it was the abode of fashion and splendor. Young 
Jefferson, who was then seventeen years old, lived 
somewhat expensively, keeping fine horses, and 
going much into gay society; yet he was ear- 
nestly devoted to his studies, and irreproachable in 
his morals. In the second year of his college 
course, moved by some unexplained impulse, he 
discarded his old companions and pursuits, and 
often devoted fifteen hours a day to hard study. 
He thus attained very high intellectual culture, 
and a like excellence in philosophy and the lan- 
guages. 

Immediately upon leaving college he began the 
study of law. For the short time he continued 
in the practice of his profession he rose rapidly, 
and distinguished himself by his energy and 
acuteness as a lawyer. But the times called for 
greater action. The policy of England had awak- 
ened the spirit of resistance in the American Col- 
onies, and the enlarged views which Jefferson had 
ever entertained soon led him into active politi- 
cal life. In 1 769 he was chosen a member of the 
Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1772 he mar- 



ried Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beautiful, 
wealthy, and highly accomplished young widow. 

In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, 
where, though a silent member, his abilities as a 
writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he 
was placed upon a number of important com- 
mittees, and was chairman of the one appointed 
for the drawing up of a declaration of independ- 
ence. This committee consisted of Thomas Jef- 
ferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger 
Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, 
as chairman, was appointed to draw up the paper. 
Franklin and Adams suggested a few verbal 
changes before it was submitted to Congress. On 
June 28, a few slight changes were made in it by 
Congress, and it was passed and signed July 4, 
1776. 

In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to 
Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia. At one 
time the British officer Tarleton sent a secret 
expedition to Monticello to capture the Governor. 
Scarcely five minutes elapsed after the hurried 
escape of Mr. Jefferson and his family ere his 
mansion was in possession of the British troops. 
His wife's health, never very good, was much 
injured by this ' excitement, and in the summer 
of 1782 she died. 

Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. 
Two years later he was appointed Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to France. Returning to the United 
States in September, 1789, he became Secretary 
of State in Washington's cabinet. This position 
he resigned January i, 1794. In 1797, he was 
chosen Vice-President, and four years later was 
elected President over Mr. Adams, with Aaron 



28 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



Burr as Vice-President. In 1804 he was re- 
elected with wonderful unanimity, George Clin- 
ton being elected Vice-President. 

The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second ad- 
ministration was disturbed by an event which 
threatened the tranquillity and peace of the Union; 
this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated 
in the late election to the Vice-Presidency, and 
led on by an unprincipled ambition, this extraor- 
dinary man formed the plan of a military ex- 
pedition into the Spanish territories on our south- 
western frontier, for the purpose of fprming there 
a new republic. This was generally supposed 
to have been a mere pretext; and although it has 
not been generally known what his real plans 
were, there is no doubt that they were of a far 
more dangerous character. 

In 1809, at the expiration of the second term 
for which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he de- 
termined to retire from political life. For a period 
of nearly forty years he had been continually be- 
fore the public, and all that time had been em- 
ployed in offices of the greatest trust and respon- 
sibility. Having thus devoted the best part of 
his life to the service of his country, he now felt 
desirous of that rest which his declining years re- 
- quired, and upon the organization of the new ad- 
ministration, in March, 1809, he bade farewell for- 
tver to public life and retired to Monticello, his 
famous country home, which, next to Mt. Vernon, 
was the most distinguished residence in the land. 

The Fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth an- 
niversary of the Declaration of American Inde- 
pendence, great preparations were made in every 
part of the Union for its celebration as the nation's 
jubilee, and the citizens of Washington, to add to 
the solemnity of the occasion, invited Mr. Jeffer- 
son, as the framer and one of the few surviving 
signers of the Declaration, to participate in their 
festivities. But an illness, which had been of 
several weeks' duration and had been continually 
increasing, compelled him to decline the invita- 
tion. 

On the ad of July the disease under which he 
was laboring left him, but in such a reduced 
state that his medical attendants entertained no 
hope of his recovery. From this time he was 



perfectly sensible that his last hour was at hand. 
On the next day, which was Monday, he asked 
of those around him the day of the month, and 
on being told it was the 3d of July, he ex- 
pressed the earnest wish that he might be per- 
mitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniver- 
sary. His prayer was heard that day whose 
dawn was hailed with such rapture through our 
land burst upon his eyes, and then they were 
closed forever. And what a noble consummation 
of a noble life! To die on that day the birth- 
day of a nation the day which his own name 
and his own act had rendered glorious, to die 
amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole 
nation, who looked up to him as the author, un- 
der God, of their greatest blessings, was all that 
was wanting to fill up the record of his life. 

Almost at the same hour of his death, the kin- 
dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear 
him company, left the scene of his earthly honors. 
Hand in hand they had stood forth, the cham- 
pions of freedom ; hand in hand, during the dark 
and desperate struggle of the Revolution, they 
had cheered and animated their desponding coun- 
trymen; for half a century they had labored to- 
gether for the good of the country, and now hand 
in hand they departed. In their lives they had 
been united in the same great cause of liberty, 
and in their deaths they were not divided. 

In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather 
above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes 
were light, his hair, originally red, in after life be- 
came white and silvery, his complexion was fair, 
his forehead broad, and his whole countenance 
intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great 
fortitude of mind as well as personal courage, and 
his command of temper was such that his oldest 
and most intimate friends never recollected to 
have seen him in a passion. His manners, though 
dignified, were simple and unaffected, and his 
hospitality was so unbounded that all found at 
his house a ready welcome. In conversation he 
was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic, and his 
language was remarkably pure and correct. He 
was a finished classical scholar, and in his writ- 
ings is discernible the care with which lie formed 
his style upon the best models of antiquity. 



LIBRARY 

OfTHE 

UNIYERSIIY Of ILUNttS 






. 











JAMES MADISON. 



(TAMES MADISON, "Father of the Consti- 

I tution, ' ' and fourth President of the United 
G) States, was born March 16, 1757, and died 
at his home in Virginia June 28, 1836. The 
name of James Madison is inseparably connected 
with most of the important events in that heroic 
period of our country during which the founda- 
tions of this great republic were laid. He was 
the last of the founders of the Constitution of the 
United States to be called to his eternal reward. 

The Madison family were among the early emi- 
grants to the New World, landing upon the shores 
of the Chesapeake but fifteen years after the settle- 
ment of Jamestown. The father of James Madison 
was an opulent planter, residing upon a very fine 
estate called Montpelier, in Orange County, Va. 
It was but twenty-five miles from the home of Jef- 
ferson at Monticello, and the closest personal and 
political attachment existed between these illustri- 
ous men from their early youth until death. 

The early education of Mr. Madison was con- 
ducted mostly at home under a private tutor. At 
the age of eighteen he was sent to Princeton Col- 
lege, in New Jersey. Here he applied himself to 
study with the most imprudent zeal, allowing him- 
self for months but three hours' sleep out of the 
twenty-four. His health thus became so seriously 
impaired that he never recovered any vigor of 
constitution. He graduated in 1771, with a feeble 
body, but with a character of utmost purity, and 
a mind highly disciplined and richly stored with 
learning, which embellished and gave efficiency 
to his subsequent career. 

Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study 
of law and a course of extensive and systematic 
reading. This educational course, the spirit of 
the times in which he lived, and the society with 
which he associated, all combined to inspire him 
with a strong love of liberty, and to train him for 
his life-work as a statesman. 

In the spring of 1776, when twenty-six years of 



age, he was elected a member of the Virginia Con- 
vention to frame the constitution of the State. The 
next year (1777), he was a candidate for the Gen- 
eral Assembly. He refused to treat the whisky -lov- 
ing voters, and consequently lost his election; but 
those who had witnessed the talent, energy and 
public spirit of the modest young man enlisted 
themselves in his behalf, and he was appointed to 
the Executive Council. 

Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were 
Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison re- 
mained member of the Council, and their apprecia- 
tion of his intellectual, social and moral worth 
contributed not a little to his subsequent eminence. 
In the year 1780 he was elected a member of the 
Continental Congress. Here he met the most il- 
lustrious men in our land, and he was immediately 
assigned to one ot the most conspicuous positions 
among them. For three years he continued in Con- 
gress, one of its most active and influential mem- 
bers. In 1784, his term having expired, he was 
elected a member of the Virginia legislature. 

No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the 
utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no 
national government, and no power to form trea- 
ties which would be binding, or to enforce law. 
There was not any State more prominent than 
Virginia in the declaration that an efficient na- 
tional government must be formed. In January, 
1786, Mr. Madison carried a resolution through 
the General Assembly of Virginia, inviting the 
other States to appoint commissioners to meet in 
convention at Annapolis to discuss this subject. 
Five States only were represented. The conven- 
tion, however, issued another call, drawn up by 
Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their 
delegates to Philadelphia in May, 1787, to draft 
a Constitution for the United States, to take the 
place of the Confederate League. The delegates 
met at the time appointed. Every State but 
Rhode Island was represented. Georp e Washing- 



JAMES MADISON. 



ton was chosen president of the convention, and the 
present Constitution of the United States was then 
and there formed. There was, perhaps, no mind 
and no pen more active in framing this immortal 
document than the mind and the pen of James 
Madison. 

The Constitution, adopted by a vote of eighty-one 
to seventy-nine, was to be presented to the several 
States for acceptance. But grave solicitude was 
felt. Should it be rejected, we should be left but a 
conglomeration of independent States, with but 
little power at home and little respect abroad. Mr. 
Madison was elected by the convention to draw up 
an address to the people of the United States, ex- 
pounding the principles of the Constitution, and 
urging its adoption. There was great opposition 
to it at first, but at length it triumphed over all, 
and went into effect in 1789. 

Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre- 
sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became 
the avowed leader of the Republican party. While 
in New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. 
Todd, a young widow of remarkable power of fas- 
cination, whom he married. She was in person 
and character queenly, and probaby no lady has 
thus far occupied so prominent a position in the 
very peculiar society which has constituted our 
republican court as did Mrs. Madison. 

Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under 
Jefferson, and at the close of his administration 
was chosen President. At this time the encroach- 
ments of England had brought us to the verge of 
war. British orders in council destroyed our com- 
merce, and our flag was exposed to constant insult. 
Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in 
his taste, retiring in his disposition, war had no 
charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be 
roused. It makes one's blood boil, even now, to 
think of an American ship brought to upon the 
ocean by the guns of an English cruiser. A 
young lieutenant steps on board and orders the 
crew to be paraded before him. With great non- 
chalance he selects any number whom he may 
please to designate as British subjects, orders them 
down the ship's side into his boat, and places them 
on the gundeck of his man-of-war, to fight, by 
compulsion, the battles of England. This right 



of search and impressment no efforts of our Gov- 
ernment could induce the British cabinet to re- 
linquish. 

On the 1 8th of June, 1812, President Madison 
gave his approval to an act of Congress declaring 
war against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the 
bitter hostility of the Federal party to the war, the 
country in general approved; and Mr. Madison, 
on the 4th of March, 1813, was re-elected by a 
large majority, and entered upon his second term 
of office. This is not the place to describe the 
various adventures of this war on the land and on 
the water. Our infant navy then laid the found- 
ations of its renown in grappling with the most 
formidable power which ever swept the seas. The 
contest commenced in earnest by the appearance 
of a British fleet, early in February, 1813, in 
Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole coast 
of the United States under blockade. 

The Emperor of Russia offered his services as 
mediator. America accepted; England refused. 
A. British' force of five thousand men landed on the 
banks of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into 
Chesapeake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of 
Bladensburg, upon Washington. 

The straggling little city of Washington was 
thrown into consternation. The cannon of the 
brief conflict at Bladensburg echoed through the 
streets of the metropolis. The whole population 
fled from the city. The President, leaving Mrs. 
Madison in the White House, with her carriage 
drawn up at the door to await his speedy return, 
hurried to meet the officers in a council of war. 
He met our troops utterly routed, and he could not 
go back without danger of being captured. But 
few hours elapsed ere the Presidential Mansion, 
the Capitol, and all the public buildings in Wash- 
ington were in flames. 

The war closed after two years of fighting, and 
on February 13, 1815, the treaty of peace was 
signed at Ghent. On the 4th of March, 1817, his 
second term of office expired, and he resigned the 
Presidential chair to his friend, James Monroe. 
He retired to his beautiful home at Montpelier, and 
there passed the remainder of his days. On June 
28, 1836, at the age of eighty-five years, he fell 
asleep in death. Mrs. Madison died July 12, 1849. 



LIBRARY 

or rm 



JAMES MONROE. 



(TAMES MONROE, the fifth President of the 
I United States, was born in Westmoreland 
G) County, Va., April 28, 1758. His early life 
was passed at the place of his nativity. His an- 
cestors had for many years resided in the province 
in which he was born. When he was seventeen 
years old, and in process of completing his educa- 
tion at William and Mary College, the Colonial 
Congress, assembled at Philadelphia to deliberate 
upon the unjust and manifold oppressions of Great 
Britain, declared the separation of the Colonies, 
and promulgated the Declaration of Independence. 
Had he been born ten years before, it is highly 
probable that he would have been one of the 
signers of that celebrated instrument. At this 
time he left school and enlisted among the pa- 
triots. 

He joined the army when everything looked 
hopeless and gloomy. The number of deserters 
increased from day to day. The invading armies 
came pouring in, and the Tories not only favored 
the cause of the mother country, but disheartened 
the new recruits, who were sufficiently terrified 
at the prospect of contending with an enemy 
whom they had been taught to deem invincible. 
To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who went 
right onward undismayed through difficulty and 
danger, the United States owe their political 
emancipation. The young cadet joined the ranks 
and espoused the cause of his injured country, 
with a firm determination to live or die in her 
strife for liberty. Firmly, yet sadly, he shared in 
the melancholy retreat from Harlem Heights 
and White Plains, and accompanied the dispirited 
army as it fled before its foes through New Jersey. 
In four months after the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, the patriots had been beaten in seven 
battles. At the battle of Trenton he led the van- 
guard, and in the act of charging upon the enemy 
he received a wound in the left shoulder. 



As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was 
promoted to be captain of infantry, and, having re- 
covered from his wounds, he rejoined the army. 
He, however, receded from the line of promotion 
by becoming an officer on the staff of L,ord Ster- 
ling. During the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, 
in the actions of Brandywine, Germantown and 
Monmouth, he continued aide-de-camp; but be- 
coming desirous to regain his position in the 
army, he exerted himself to collect a regiment for 
the Virginia line. This scheme failed, owing to 
the exhausted condition of the State. Upon this 
failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at 
that period Governor, and pursued with consid- 
erable ardor the study of common law. He did 
not, however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for 
the green bag, but on the invasion of the enemy 
served as a volunteer during the two years of his 
legal pursuits. 

In 1782 he was elected from King George 
County a member of the Legislature of Virginia, 
and by that body he was elevated to a seat in the 
Executive Council. He was thus honored with 
the confidence of his fellow-citizens at twenty- 
three years of age, and having at this early period 
displayed some of that ability and aptitude foi 
legislation which were afterward employed with 
unremitting energy for the public good, he was 
in the succeeding year chosen a member of the 
Congress of the United States. 

Deeply as Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of 
the old Confederacy, he was opposed to the new 
Constitution, thinking, with many others of the 
Republican party, that it gave too much power to 
the Central Government, and not enough to the 
individual States. Still he retained the esteem 
of his friends who were its warm supporters, and 
who, notwithstanding his opposition, secured its 
adoption. In 1789 he became a member of the 
United States Senate, which office he held for 



JAMES MONROE. 



four years. Every month the line of distinction 
between the two great parties which divided the 
nation, the Federal and the Republican, was 
growing more distinct. The differences which 
now separated them lay in the fact that the Repub- 
lican party was in sympathy with France, and 
also in favor of such a strict construction of the 
Constitution as to give the Central Government as 
little power, and the State Governments as much 
power, as the Constitution would warrant; while 
the Federalists sympathized with England, and 
were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- 
stitution, which would give as much power to the 
Central Government as that document could pos- 
sibly authorize. 

Washington was then President. England had 
espoused the cause of the Bourbons against the 
principles of the French Revolution. All Europe 
was drawn into the conflict. We were feeble and 
far away. Washington issued a proclamation of 
neutrality between these contending powers. 
France had helped us in the struggles for Our 
liberties. All the despotisms of Europe were now 
combined to prevent the French from escaping 
from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse than that 
which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more mag- 
nanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at 
whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in 
their extremity. It was the impulse of a gener- 
ous and noble nature, and Washington, who could 
appreciate such a character, showed his calm, se- 
rene, almost divine, greatness, by appointing that 
very James Monroe who was denouncing the pol- 
icy of the Government, as the minister of that 
Government to the Republic of France. Mr. 
Monroe was welcomed by the National Conven- 
tion in France with the most enthusiastic dem- 
onstration. 

Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. 
Monroe was elected Governor of Virginia, and 
held the office for three years. He was again 
sent to France to co-operate with Chancellor Liv- 
ingston in obtaining the vast territory then known 
as the province of Louisiana, which France had 
but shortly before obtained from Spain. Their 
united efforts were successful. For the compara- 
tively small sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the 



entire territory of Orleans and district of Loui- 
siana were added to the United States. This was 
probably the largest transfer of real estate which 
was ever made in all the history of the world. 

From France Mr. Monroe went to England to 
obtain from that country some recognition of our 
rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against 
those odious impressments of our seamen. But 
England was unrelenting. He again returned to 
England on the same mission, but could receive 
no redress. He returned to his home and was 
again chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon 
resigned to accept the position of Secretary of 
State under Madison. While in this office war 
with England was declared, the Secretary of War 
resigned, and during these trying times the 
duties of the War Department were also put upon 
him. He was truly the armor-bearer of President 
Madison, and the most efficient business man in 
his cabinet. Upon the return of peace he re- 
signed the Department of War, but continued in 
the office of Secretary of State until the expira- 
tion of Mr. Madison's administration. At the 
election held the previous autumn, Mr. Monroe 
himself had been chosen President with but little 
opposition, and upon March 4, 1817, he was in- 
augurated. Four years later he was elected for 
a second term. 

Among the important measures of his Presi- 
dency were the cession of Florida to the United 
States, the Missouri Compromise, and the famous 
" Monroe doctrine." This doctrine was enun- 
ciated by him in 1823, and was as follows: " That 
we should consider any attempt on the part of 
European powers to extend their system to any 
portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our 
peace and safety," and that " we could not view 
any interposition for the purpose of oppressing or 
controlling American governments or provinces 
in any other light than as a manifestation by 
European powers of an unfriendly disposition 
toward the United States." 

At the end of his second term, Mr. Monroe re- 
tired to his home in Virginia, where he lived un- 
til 1830, when he went to New York to live witli 
his son-in-law. In that city he died, on the 4th 
of July, 1831. 



LIBRARY 

Of THE 

UNIYERSIIY OF ILLINOIS 







J. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



(JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, the sixth President 

I of the United States, was born in the rural 
O home of his honored father, John Adams, in 
Quincy, Mass., on the nth of July, 1767. His 
mother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over 
his childhood during the almost constant ab- 
sence of his father. When but eight years of 
age, he stood with his mother on an eminence, 
listening to the booming of the great battle on 
Bunker's Hill, and gazing out upon the smoke 
and flames billowing up from the conflagration of 
Charlestown. 

When but eleven years old he took a tearful 
adieu of his mother, to sail with his father for Eu- 
rope, through a fleet of hostile British cruisers. 
The bright, animated boy spent a year and a-half 
in Paris, where his father was associated with 
Franklin and Lee as Minister Plenipotentiary. 
His intelligence attracted the notice of these dis- 
tinguished men, and he received from them flat- 
tering marks of attention. 

John Adams had scarcely returned to this 
country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. 
Again John Quincy accompanied his father. At 
Paris he applied himself to study with great dil- 
igence for six months, and then accompanied his 
father to Holland, where he entered first a school 
in Amsterdam, then the University at Leyden. 
About a year from this time, in 1781, when the 
manly boy was but fourteen years of age, he was 
selected by Mr. Dana, our Minister to the Rus- 
sian court, as his private secretary. 

In this school of incessant labor and of ennobl- 
ing culture he spent fourteen months, and then 
returned to Holland, through Sweden, Denmark, 
Hamburg and Bremen. This long journey he 
took alone in the winter, when in his sixteenth 
year. Again he resumed his studies, under a pri- 
vate tutor, at The Hague. Then, in the spring of 
1782, he accompanied his father to Paris, travel- 
ing leisurely, and forming acquaintances with the 
most distinguished men on the continent, examin- 



ing architectural remains, galleries of paintings, 
and all renowned works of art. At Paris he 
again became associated with the most illustrious 
men of all lands in the contemplation of the 
loftiest temporal themes which can engross the 
human mind. After a short visit to England he 
returned to Paris, and consecrated all his energies 
to study until May, 1785, when he returned to 
America to finish his education. 

Upon leaving Harvard College at the age of 
twenty, he studied law for three years. In June, 
1 794, being then but twenty-seven years of age, 
he was appointed by Washington Resident Min- 
ister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in 
July, he reached London in October, where he 
was immediately admitted to the deliberations oi 
Messrs. Jay & Pinckney, assisting them in nego- 
tiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain. 
After thus spending a fortnight in London, he 
proceeded to The Hague. 

In July, 1797, he left The Hague to go to Por- 
tugal as Minister Plenipotentiary. On his way to 
Portugal, upon arriving in London, he met with 
despatches directing him to the court of Berlin, but 
requesting him to remain in London until he 
should receive his instructions. While waiting 
he was married to an American lady, to whom he 
had been previously engaged Miss Louisa Cath- 
erine Johnson, a daughter of Joshua Johnson, 
American Consul in London, and a lady en- 
dowed with that beauty and those accomplish- 
ments which eminently fitted her to move in the 
elevated sphere for which she was destined. He 
reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797, 
where he remained until July, 1799, when, hav- 
ing fulfilled all the purposes of his mission, he so 
licited his recall. 

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen 
to the Senate of Massachusetts from Boston, and 
then was elected Senator of the United States for 
six years, from the 4th of March, 1804. His rep- 
utation, his ability and his experience placed 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



him immediately among the most prominent and 
influential members of that body. 

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the 
Presidential chair, and he immediately nominated 
John Quincy Adams Minister to St. Petersburg!!. 
Resigning his professorship in Harvard Col- 
lege, he embarked at Boston in August, 1809. 

While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense 
student. He devoted his attention to the lan- 
guage and history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; 
to the European system of weights, measures and 
coins; to the climate and astronomical observa- 
tions; while he kept up a familiar acquaintance 
with the Greek and Latin classics. In all the 
universities of Europe, a . more accomplished 
scholar could scarcely be found. All through 
life the Bible constituted an important part of his 
studies. It was his rule to read five chapters 
every day. 

On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe took 
the Presidential chair, and immediately appointed 
Mr. Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave; of 
his numerous friends in public and private life in 
Europe, he sailed in June, 1819, for the United 
States. On the i8th of August, he again crossed 
the threshold of his home in Quincy. During the 
eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr. 
Adams continued Secretary of State. 

Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's 
second term of office, new candidates began to be 
presented for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. 
Adams brought forward his name. It was an 
exciting campaign, and party spirit was never 
more bitter. Two hundred and sixty electoral 
votes were cast. Andrew Jackson received ninety- 
nine; John Quincy Adams eighty-four; William 
H. Crawford forty-one; and Henry Clay thirty- 
seven. As there was no choice by the people, 
the question went to the House of Representa- 
tives. Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to 
Mr. Adams, and he was elected. 

The friends of all the disappointed candidates 
now combined in a venomous and persistent as- 
sault upon Mr. Adams. There is nothing more 
disgraceful in the past history of our country than 
the abuse which was poured in one uninterrupted 
stream upon this high-minded, upright and pa- 



triotic man. There never was an administration 
more pure in principles, more conscientiously de- 
voted to the best interests of the country, than 
that of John Quincy Adams; and never, perhaps, 
was there an administration more unscrupulously 
and outrageously assailed. 

On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired 
from the Presidency, and was succeeded by An- 
drew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected 
Vice-President. The slavery question now be- 
gan to assume portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams 
returned to Quincy and to his studies, which he 
pursued with unabated zeal. But he was not 
long permitted to remain in retirement. In No- 
vember, 1830, he was elected Representative in 
Congress. For seventeen years, or until his death, 
he occupied the post as Representative, towering 
above all his peers, ever ready to do brave battle 
for freedom, and winning the title of "the Old 
Man Eloquent." Upon taking his seat in the 
House, he announced that he should hold hiin- 
,se.Lf -bound to no party. Probably there never 
was a member more devoted to his duties. He 
was usually the first in his place in the morning, 
and the last to leave his seat in the evening. 
Not a measure could be brought forward and es- 
cape his scrutiny. The battle which Mr. Adams 
fought, almost singly, against the pro-slavery 
party in the Governmsnt was sublime in its 
moral daring and heroism. For persisting in 
presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery, 
he was threatened with indictment by the grand 
jury, with expulsion from the House, with assas- 
sination ; but no threats could intimidate him, and 
his final triumph was complete. 

On the 2ist of February, 1848, he rose on the 
floor of Congress with a paper in his hand, to 
address the speaker. Suddenly he fell, again 
stricken by paralysis, and was caught in the arms 
of those around him. For a time he was sense- 
less, as he was conveyed to the sofa in the ro- 
tunda. With reviving consciousness, he opened 
his eyes, looked calmly around and said ' ' This 
is the end of earth;" then after a moment's pause 
he added, " I am content." These were the last 
words of the grand "Old Man Eloquent." 



LJBfj/WY 



ANDREW JACKSON. 



(31 NDREW JACKSON, the seventh President 
LJ of the United States, was born in Waxhaw 
/ I settlement, N. C., March 15, 1767, a few 
days after his father's death. His parents were 
poor emigrants from Ireland, and took up their 
abode in Waxhaw settlement, where they lived 
in deepest poverty. 

Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally called, 
grew up a very rough, rude, turbulent boy. His 
features were coarse, his form ungainly, and there 
was but very little in his character made visible 
which was attractive. 

When only thirteen years old he joined the 
volunteers of Carolina against the British invasion. 
In 1781, he and his brother Robert were captured 
and imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British 
officer ordered him to brush his mud-spattered 
boots. "lam a prisoner of war, not your serv- 
ant," was the reply of the dauntless boy. 

Andrew supported himself in various ways, such 
as working at the saddler's trade, teaching school, 
and clerking in a general store, until 1784, when 
he entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, 
however, gave more attention to the wild amuse- 
ments of the times than to his studies. In 1788, 
he was appointed solicitor for the Western District 
of North Carolina, of which Tennessee was then 
a part. This involved many long journeys amid 
dangers of every kind, but Andrew Jackson never 
knew fear, and the Indians had no desire to re- 
peat a skirmish with "Sharp Knife." 

In 1791, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman 
who supposed herself divorced from her former 
husband. Great was the surprise of both parties, 
two years later, to find that the conditions of the 
divorce had just been definitely settled by the 
first husband. The marriage ceremony was per- 
formed a second time, but the occurrence was 
often used by his enemies to bring Mr. Jackson 
into disfavor. 



In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee 
then containing nearly eighty thousand inhabi- 
tants, the people met in convention at Knoxville 
to frame a constitution. Five were sent from 
each of the eleven counties. Andrew Jackson 
was one of the delegates. The new State was 
entitled to but one member in the National House 
of Representatives. Andrew Jackspn was chosen 
that member. Mounting his horse, he rode to 
Philadelphia, where Congress then held its ses- 
sions, a distance of about eight hundred miles. 

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- 
cratic party, and Jefferson was his idol. He ad- 
mired Bonaparte, loved France, and hated Eng- 
land. As Mr. Jackson took his seat, Gen. Wash- 
ington, whose second term of office was then 
expiring, delivered his last speech to Congress. 
A committee drew up a complimentary address in 
reply. Andrew Jackson did not approve of the 
address, and was one of the twelve who voted 
against it. He was not willing to say that Gen. 
Washington's administration had been "wise, 
firm and patriotic. ' ' 

Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States 
Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned 
home. Soon after he was chosen Judge of the 
Supreme Court of his State, which position he 
held for six years. 

When the War of 1812 with Great Britain com- 
menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. 
Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there 
was an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jack- 
son, who would do credit to a commission if one 
were conferred upon him. Just at that time Gen. 
Jackson offered his services and those of twenty- 
five hundred volunteers. His offer was accepted, 
and the troops were assembled at Nashville. 

As the British were hourly expected to make 
an attack upon New Orleans, where Gen. Wil- 
kinson was in command, he was ordered to de- 



44 



ANDREW JACKSON. 



scene' the river with fifteen hundred troops to aid 
Wilkinson. The expedition reached Natchez, 
and after a delay of several weeks there without 
accomplishing anything, the men were ordered 
back to their homes. But the energy Gen. Jack- 
son had displayed, and his entire devotion to the 
comfort of his soldiers, won for him golden opin- 
ions, and he became the most popular man in the 
State. It was in this expedition that his tough- 
ness gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory." 

Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip 
Col. Thomas Benton for a remark that gentleman 
made about his taking part as second in a duel 
in which a younger brother of Ben ton's was en- 
gaged, he received two severe pistol wounds. 
While he was lingering upon a bed of suffering, 
news came that the Indians, who had combined 
under Tecumseh from Florida to the Lakes to ex- 
terminate the white settlers, were committing the 
most awful ravages. Decisive action became nec- 
essary. Gen. Jackson, with his fractured bone 
just beginning to heal, his arm in a sling, and 
unable to mount his horse without assistance, 
gave his amazing energies to tha raising.;-bf "an! 
army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Ala. 

The Creek Indians had established a strong 
fort on one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, 
near the center of Alabama, about fifty miles be- 
low Ft. Strother. With an army of two thousand 
men, Gen. Jackson traversed the pathless wilder- 
ness in a march of eleven days. He reached their 
fort, called Tohopeka or Horse-shoe, on the 2jili 
of March, 1814. The bend of the river enclosed 
nearly one hundred acres of tangled forest and 
wild ravine. Across the narrow neck the Indians 
had constructed a formidable breastwork of logs 
and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, with 
an ample supply of arms, were assembled. 

The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly 
desperate. Not an Indian would accept quarter. 
When bleeding and dying, they would fight those 
who endeavored to spare their lives. From ten 
in the morning until dark the battle raged. The 
carnage was awful and revolting. Some threw 
themselves into the river; but the unerring bul- 
lets struck their heads as they swam. Nearly 
every one of the nine hundred warriors was 



killed. A few, probably, in the night swam 
the river and escaped. This ended the war. 

This closing of the Creek War enabled us to 
concentrate all our militia upon the British, who 
were the allies of the Indians. No man of less 
resolute will than Gen. Jackson could have con- 
ducted this Indian campaign to so successful an 
issue. Immediately he was appointed Major- 
General. 

Late in August, with an army of two thousand 
men on a rushing march, Gen. Jackson went to 
Mobile. A British fleet went from Pensacola, 
landed a force upon the beach, anchored near the 
little fort, and from both ship and shore com- 
menced a furious assault. The battle was long 
and doubtful. At length one of the ships was 
blown up and the rest retired. 

Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his 
little army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, 
and the battle of New Orleans, which soon ensued, 
was in reality a very arduous campaign. This 
won for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. 
Here his troops, which numbered about four 
thousand men, won a signal victory over the 
British army of about nine thousand. His loss 
was but thirteen, while the loss of the British was 
twenty-six hundred. 

The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be 
mentioned in connection with the Presidency, 
but in 1824 he was defeated by Mr. Adams. 
He was, however, successful in the election of 
1828, and was re-elected for a second term in 
1832. In 1829, just before he assumed the reins 
of government, he met with the most terrible 
affliction of his life in the death of his wife, whom 
he had loved with a devotion which has perhaps 
never been surpassed. From the shock of her 
death he never recovered. 

His administration was one of the most mem- 
orable in the annals of our country applauded 
by one party, condemned by the other. No man 
had more bitter enemies or warmer friends. At 
the expiration of his two terms of office he retired 
to the Hermitage, where he died June 8, 1845. The 
last years of Mr. Jackson's life were those of a de- 
voted Christian man. 



LIBRARY 

Of FHf 

UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 






-. 





MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



|ARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth Presi- 
dent of the United States, was born at Kin- 
derhook, N. Y., December 5, 1782. He 
died at the same place, July 24, 1862. His body 
rests in the cemetery at Kinderhook. Above it is 
a plain granite' shaft, fifteen feet high, bearing a 
simple inscription about half-way up on one face. 
The lot is unfenced, unbordered or unbounded 
by shrub or flower. 

There is but little in the life of Martin Van 
Buren of romantic interest. He fought no battles, 
engaged in no wild adventures. Though his life 
was stormy in political and intellectual conflicts, 
and he gained many signal victories, his days 
passed uneventful in those incidents which give 
zest to biography. His ancestors, as his name indi- 
cates, were of Dutch origin, and were among the 
earliest emigrants from Holland to the banks of 
the Hudson. His father was a farmer, residing 
in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, also 
of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- 
ligence and exemplary piety. 

He was decidedly a precocious boy, developing 
unusual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At 
the age of fourteen, he had finished his academic 
studies in his native village, and commenced the 
study of law. As he had not a collegiate educa- 
tion, seven years of study in a law-office were re- 
quired of him before he could be admitted to the 
Bar. Inspired with a lofty ambition, and con- 
scious of his powers, he pursued his studies with 
indefatigable industry. After spending six years 
in an office in his native village, he went to the city 
of New York, and prosecuted his studies for the 
seventh year. 

In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty -one years 



of age, commenced the practice of law in his na- 
tive village. The great conflict between the Federal 
and Republican parties was then at its height. 
Mr. Van Buren was from the beginning a politi- 
cian. He had, perhaps, imbibed that spirit while 
listening to the many discussions which had been 
carried on in his father's hotel. He was in cordial 
sympathy with Jefferson, and earnestly and elo- 
quently espoused the cause of State Rights, though 
at that time the Federal party held the supremacy 
both in his town and State. 

His success and increasing reputation led him 
after six years of practice to remove to Hudson, 
the county seat of his county. Here he spent 
seven years, constantly gaining strength by con- 
tending in the courts with some of the ablest men 
who have adorned the Bar of his State. 

Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mr. 
Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for 
beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short 
years she sank into the grave, a victim of con- 
sumption, leaving her husband and four sons to 
weep over her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. 
Van Buren was an earnest, successful, assiduous 
lawyer. The record of those years is barren in 
items of public interest. In 1812, when thirty 
years of age, he was chosen to the State Senate, 
and gave his strenuous support to Mr. Madison's 
administration. In 1815, he was appointed At- 
torney-General, and the next year moved to Al- 
bany, the capital of the State. 

While he was acknowledged as one of the most 
prominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had 
the moral courage to avow that true democracy did 
not require that ' 'universal suffrage' ' which admits 
the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right 



4 8 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



of governing the State. In true consistency with 
his democratic principles, he contended that, while 
the path leading to the privilege of voting should 
be open to every man without distinction, no one 
should be invested with that sacred prerogative 
unless he were in some degree qualified for it by 
intelligence, virtue, and some property interests in 
the welfare of the State. 

In 1821 he was elected a member of the United 
States Senate, and in the same year he took a 
seat in the convention to revise the Constitution of 
his native State. His course in this convention 
secured the approval of men of all parties. No 
one could doubt the singleness of his endeavors to 
promote the interests of all classes in the com- 
munity. In the Senate of the United States, he 
rose at once to a conspicuous position as an active 
and useful legislator. 

In 1827, John Quincy Adams being then in the 
Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected 
to the Senate. He had been from the beginning 
a determined opposer of the administration, adopt- 
ing the "State Rights" view in opposition to what 
was deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams. 

Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governor 
of the State of New York, and accordingly resigned 
his seat in the Senate. Probably no one in the 
United States contributed so much towards eject- 
ing John Q. Adams from the Presidential chair, 
and placing in it Andrew Jackson, as did Martin 
Van Buren. Whether entitled to the reputation 
or not, he certainly was regarded throughout the 
United States as one of the most skillful, sagacious 
and cunning of politicians. It was supposed that 
no one knew so well as he how to touch the secret 
springs of action, how to pull all the wires to 
put his machinery in motion, and how to organize 
a political army which would secretly and stealth- 
ily accomplish the most gigantic results. By these 
powers it is said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, Mr. 
Clay, and Mr. Webster, and secured results which 
:ew then thought could be accomplished. 

When Andrew Jackson was elected President 
he appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. 
This position he resigned in 1831, and was im- 
mediately appointed Minister to England, where 
he went the same autumn. The Senate, however, 



when it met, refused to ratify the nomination, and 
he returned home, apparently untroubled. Later 
he was nominated Vice- President in the place of 
Calhoun, at the re-election of President Jackson, 
and with smiles for all and frowns for none, he 
took his place at the head of that Senate which had 
refused to confirm his nomination as ambassador. 

His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal 
of President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated 
favorite; and this, probably, more than any other 
cause secured his elevation to the chair of the 
Chief Executive. On the 2oth of May, 1836, Mr. 
Van Buren received the Democratic nomination 
to succeed Gen. Jackson as President of the United 
States. He was elected by a handsome majority, 
to the delight of the retiring President. ' 'Leaving 
New York out of the canvass," says Mr. Parton, 
' 'the election of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency 
was as much the act of Gen. Jackson as though 
the Constitution had conferred upon him the power 
to appoint a successor." 

His administration was filled with exciting 
events'. 'The insurrection in Canada, which 
threatened to involve this country in war with 
England, the agitation of the slavery question, 
and finally the great commercial panic which 
spread over the country, all were trials of his wis- 
dom. The financial distress was attributed to 
the management of the Democratic party, and 
brought the President into such disfavor that he 
failed of re-election, and on the 4th of March, 
1841, he retired from the presidency. 

With the exception of being nominated for the 
Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats in 1848, 
Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate until 
his death. He had ever been a prudent man, of 
frugal habits, and, living within his income, had 
now fortunately a competence for his declining 
years. From his fine estate at Lindenwald, he 
still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics 
of the country. From this time until his death, 
on the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty 
years, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of 
leisure, of culture and wealth, enjoying in a 
healthy old age probably far more happiness than 
he had before experienced amid the stormy scenes 
of his active life. 



LIBRARY 

Of THE 

UNIVERSITY OF HUNKS 







I 




WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



fDGjILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, the ninth 
\A/ President of the United States, was born 
V Y at Berkeley, Va. , February 9, 1773. His 
father, Benjamin Harrison, was in comparatively 
opulent circumstances, and was one of the most 
distinguished men of his day. He was an inti- 
mate friend of George Washington, was early 
elected a member of' the Continental Congress, 
and was conspicuous among the patriots of Vir- 
ginia in resisting the encroachments of the British 
crown. In the celebrated Congress of 1775, Ben- 
jamin Harrison and John Hancock were both 
candidates for the office of Speaker. 

Mr. Harrison was subsequently chosen Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, and was twice re-elected. His 
son William Henry, of course, enjoyed in child- 
hood all the advantages which wealth and intel- 
lectual and cultivated society could give. Hav- 
ing received a thorough common-school educa- 
tion, he entered Hampden Sidney College, where 
he graduated with honor soon after the death of 
his father. He then repaired to Philadelphia to 
stud}' medicine under the instructions of Dr. Rush 
and the guardianship of Robert Morris, both of 
whom were, with his father, signers of the Dec- 
laration of Independence. 

Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and 
notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, 
he abandoned his medical studies and entered the 
army, having obtained a commission as Ensign 
from President Washington. He was then but 
nineteen years old. From that time he passed 
gradually upward in rank until he became aide 
to Gen. Wayne, after whose death he resigned 
his commission. He was then appointed Secre- 
tary of the Northwestern Territory. This Terri- 
tory was then entitled to but one member in Con- 



gress, and Harrison was chosen to fill that position. 
In the spring of 1800 the Northwestern Terri- 
tory was divided by Congress into two portions. 
The eastern portion, comprising the region now 
embraced in the State of Ohio, was called "The 
Territory northwest of the Ohio." The western 
portion, which included what is now called Indi- 
ana, Illinois and Wisconsin, was called "the Indi- 
ana Territory." William Henry Harrison, then 
twenty-seven years of age, was appointed by John 
Adams Governor of the Indiana Territory, and 
immediately after also Governor of Upper Loui- 
siana. He was thus ruler over almost as. exten- 
sive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe. 
He was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and 
was invested with powers nearly dictatorial over 
the then rapidly increasing white population. The 
ability and fidelity with which he discharged 
these responsible duties may be inferred from the 
fact that he was four times appointed to this 
office first by John Adams, twice by Thomas 
Jefferson, and afterwards by President Madison. 

When he began his administration there were 
but three white settlements in that almost bound- 
less region, now crowded with cities and resound- 
ing with all the tumult of wealth and traffic. 
One of these settlements was on the Ohio, nearly 
opposite Louisville; one at Vincennes, on the 
Wabash ; and the third was a French settlement. 

The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrison 
reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians. 
About the year 1806, two extraordinary men, 
twin brothers of the Shawnee tribe, rose among 
them. One of these was called Tecumseh, or 
"the Crouching Panther;" the other Olliwa- 
checa, or ' ' the Prophet. ' ' Tecumseh was not 
only an Indian warrior, but a man of great sagac- 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



ity, far-reaching foresight and indomitable perse- 
verance in any enterprise in which he might en- 
gage. His brother, the Prophet, was an orator, 
who could sway the feelings of the untutored In- 
dians as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath 
which they dwelt. With an enthusiasm unsur- 
passed by Peter the Hermit rousing Europe to the 
crusades, he went from tribe to tribe, assuming 
that he was specially sent by the Great Spirit. 

Gov. Harrison made many attempts to con- 
ciliate the Indians, but at last war came, and at 
Tippecanoe the Indians were routed with great 
slaughter. October 28, 1812, his army began its 
march. When near the Prophet's town, three 
Indians of rank made their appearance and in- 
quired why Gov. Harrison was approaching them 
in so hostile an attitude. After a short confer- 
ence, arrangements were made for a meeting the 
next day to agree upon terms of peace. 

But Gov. Harrison was too well acquainted 
with the Indian character to be deceived by such 
protestations. Selecting a favorable spot for his 
night's encampment, he took every precaution 
against surprise. His troops were posted in a 
hollow square and slept upon their arms. The 
wakeful Governor, between three and four 'oT'clock- 
in the morning, had risen, and was sitting 
in conversation with his aides by the embers 
of a waning fire. It was a chill, cloudy morning, 
with a drizzling rain. In the darkness, the In- 
dians had crept as near as possible, and just then, 
with a savage yell, rushed, with all the despera- 
tion which superstition and passion most highly 
inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the 
little army. The savages had been amply pro- 
vided with guns and ammunition by the English, 
and their war-whoop was accompanied by a 
shower of bullets. 

The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as 
the light aided the Indians in their aim, and 
Gen. Harrison's troops stood as immovable as 
the rocks around them until day dawned, when 
they made a simultaneous charge with the bayo- 
net and swept everything before them, completely 
routing the foe. 

Gov. Harrison now had all his energies tasked 
to the utmost. The British, descending from the 



Canadas, were of themselves a very formidable 
force, but with their savage allies rushing like 
wolves from the forest, burning, plundering, scalp- 
ing, torturing, the wide frontier was plunged into 
a state of consternation which even the most vivid 
imagination can but faintly conceive. Gen. Hull 
had made an ignominious surrender of his forces at 
Detroit. Under these despairing circumstances, 
Gov. Harrison was appointed by President Madi- 
son Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern 
Army, with orders to retake Detroit and to protect 
the frontiers. It would be difficult to place a man 
in a situation demanding more energy, sagacity 
and courage, but he was found equal to the 
position, and nobly and triumphantly did he meet 
all the responsibilities. 

In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member 
of the National House of Representatives, to rep- 
resent the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved 
an active member, and whenever he spoke it was 
with a force of reason and power of eloquence 
which arrested the attention of all the members. 

In 1819, Harrison was elected to the Senate of 
Ohio, and in 1824, as one of the Presidential Elec- 
tors of that State, he gave his vote for Henry 
Clay. The same year he was chosen to the Uni- 
ted States Senate. In 1 836 his friends brought 
him forward as a candidate for the Presidency 
against Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the 
close of Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nom- 
inated by his party, and Mr. Harrison was unani- 
mously nominated by the Whigs, with John Tyler 
for the Vice-Presidency. The contest was very 
animated. Gen. Jackson gave all his influence to 
prevent Harrison's election, but his triumph was 
signal. 

The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Web- 
ster at its head as Secretary of State, was one of 
the most brilliant with which any President had 
ever been surrounded. Never were the prospects 
of an administration more flattering, or the hopes 
of the country more sanguine. In the midst of 
these bright and joyous prospects, Gen. Harrison 
was seized by a pleurisy-fever, and after a few 
days of violent sickness died, on the 4th of April, 
just one month after his inauguration as President 
of the United States. 



01 



JOHN TYLER. 



(JOHN TYLER, the tenth President of the 
I United States, and was born in Charles 
G/ City County, Va., March 29, 1790. He was 
the favored child of affluence and high social po- 
sition. At the early age of twelve, John entered 
William and Mary College, and graduated with 
much honor when but seventeen years old. After 
graduating, he devoted himself with great assi- 
duity to the study of law, partly with his father 
and partly with Edmund Randolph, one of the 
most distinguished lawyers of Virginia. 

At nineteen years of age, he commenced the 
practice of law. His success was rapid and as- 
tonishing. It is said that three months had not 
elapsed ere there was scarcely a case on the 
docket of the court in which he was not retained. 
When but twenty-one years of age, he was almost 
unanimously elected to a seat in the State Legis- 
lature. He connected himself with the Demo- 
cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures 
of Jefferson and Madison. For five successive 
years he was elected to the Legislature, receiving 
nearly the unanimous vote of his county. 

When but twenty-six years of age, he was 
elected a Member of Congress. Here he acted ear- 
nestly and ably with the Democratic party, oppos- 
ing a national bank, internal improvements by 
the General Government, and a protective tariff; 
advocating a strict construction of the Constitu- 
tion and the most careful vigilance over State 
rights. His labors in Congress were so arduous 
that before the close of his second term he found 
it necessary to resign and retire to his estate in 
Charles City County to recruit his health. He, 
however, soon after consented to take his seat in 
the State Legislature, where his influence was 
powerful in promoting public works of great 
utility. With a reputation thus constantly in- 
creasing, he was chosen by a very large majority 
of votes Governor of his native State. His ad- 
ministration was a signally successful one, and his 
popularity secured his re-election. 



John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed 
man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of 
the United States. A portion of the Democratic 
party was displeased with Mr. Randolph's way- 
ward course, and brought forward John Tyler as 
his opponent, considering him the only man in 
Virginia of sufficient popularity to succeed 
against the renowned orator of Roanoke. Mr. 
Tyler was the victor. 

In accordance with his professions, upon tak- 
ing his seat in the Senate he joined the ranks of 
the opposition. He opposed the tariff, and spoke 
against and voted against the bank as unconsti- 
tutional; he strenuously opposed all restrictions 
upon slavery, resisting all projects of internal im- 
provements by the General Government, and 
avowed his sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's view 
of nullification; he declared that Gen. Jackson, 
by his opposition to the milliners, had abandoned 
the principles of the Democratic party. Such 
was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress a record in 
perfect accordance with the principles which he 
had always avowed. 

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice 
of his profession. There was a split in the Demo- 
cratic party. His friends still regarded him as a 
true Jeffersonian, gave him a dinner, and show- 
ered compliments upon him. He had now at- 
tained the age of forty-six, and his career had been 
very brilliant. In consequence of his devotion to 
public business, his private affairs had fallen into 
some disorder, and it was not without satisfac- 
tion that he resumed the practice of law, and de- 
voted himself to the cultivation of his plantation. 
Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, for 
the better education of his children, and he again 
took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia. 

By the southern Whigs he was sent to the 
national convention at Harrisburg in 1839 to nom- 
inate a President. The majority of votes were 
given to Gen Harrison, a genuine Whig, much 
to the disappointment of the South, which wished 



JOHN TYLER. 



for Henry Clay. To conciliate the southern 
Whigs and to secure their vote, the convention 
then nominated John Tyler for Vice-President. 
It was well known that he was not in sympathy 
with the Whig party in the North; but the Vice- 
President has very little power in the Govern- 
ment, his main and almost only duty being to 
preside over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it 
happened that a Whig President and, in reality, 
a Democratic Vice-President were chosen. 

In 1841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice- 
President of the United States. In one short 
month from that time, President Harrison died, 
and Mr. Tyler thus found himself, to his own 
surprise and that of the whole nation, an occu- 
pant of the Presidential chair. Hastening from 
Williamsburg to Washington, on the 6th of 
April he was inaugurated to the high and re- 
sponsible office. He was placed in a position of 
exceeding delicacy and difficulty. All his long 
life he had been opposed to the main principles of 
the party which had brought him into power. 
He had ever been a consistent, honest man, with 
an unblemished record. Gen. Harrison had se- 
lected a Whig cabinet. Should he retain them, 
and thus surround himself with counselors whose 
views were antagonistic to his own ? or, on the 
other hand, should he turn against the party 
which had elected him, and select a cabinet in 
harmony with himself, and which would oppose 
all those views which the Whigs deemed essen- 
tial to the public welfare ? This was his fearful 
dilemma. He invited the cabinet which Presi- 
dent Harrison had selected to retain their seats, 
and recommended a day of fasting and prayer, 
that God would guide and bless us. 

The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for 
the incorporation of a fiscal bank of ihe United 
States. The President, after ten days' delay, re- 
turned it with his veto. He suggested, however, 
that he would approve of a bill drawn up upon 
such a plan as he proposed. Such a bill was ac- 
cordingly prepared, and privately submitted to 
him. He gave it his approval. It was passed 
without alteration, and he sent it back with his 
veto. Here commenced the open rupture. It is 
said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this meas- 



ure by a published letter from the Hon. John M. 
Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who se- 
verely touched the pride of the President. 

The opposition now exultingly received the 
President into their arms. The party which 
elected him denounced him bitterly. All the 
members of his cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster, 
resigned. The Whigs of Congress, both the 
Senate and the House, held a meeting and issued 
an address to the people of the United States, 
proclaiming that all political alliance between the 
Whigs and President Tyler was at an end. 

Still the President attempted to conciliate. He 
appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs 
and Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong 
party men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary 
to resign, forced out by the pressure of his Whig 
friends. Thus the four years of Mr. Tyler's un- 
fortunate administration passed sadly away. No 
one was satisfied. The land was filled with mur- 
murs and vituperation. Whigs and Democrats 
alike assailed him. More and more, however, he 
brought himself into sympathy with his old 
friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his 
term he gave his whole influence to the support 
of Mr. Polk, the Democratic candidate for his 
successor. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, President Tyler re- 
tired from the harassments of office, to the regret 
of neither party, and probably to his own unspeak- 
able relief. The remainder of his days were 
passed mainly in the retirement of his beautiful 
home Sherwood Forest, Charles City County, 
Va. His first wife, Miss Letitia Christian, died 
in Washington in 1842; and in June, 1844, 
he was again married, at New York., to Miss Julia 
Gardiner, a young lady of many personal and 
intellectual accomplishments. 

When the great Rebellion rose, which the 
State Rights and nullifying doctrines of John C. 
Calhoun had inaugurated, President Tyler re- 
nounced his allegiance to the United States, and 
joined the Confederates. He was chosen a mem- 
ber of their Congress, and while engaged in 
active measures to destroy, by force of arms, the 
Government over which he had once presided, he 
was taken sick and soon died. 



LIBRARY 
OF f Hf 
UNlVEftSllv Of 



JAMES K. POLK. 



(TAMES K. POLK, the eleventh President of j 

I the United States, was born in Mecklenburgh 
Q) County, N. C., November 2, 1795. His 
parents were Samuel and Jane (Knox) Polk, the 
former a son of Col. Thomas Polk, who located 
at the above place, as one of the first pioneers, in 
1735. In 1806, with his wife and children, and 
soon after followed by most of the members of the 
Polk family, Samuel Polk emigrated some two or 
three hundred miles farther west, to the rich val- 
ley of the Duck River. Here, in the midst of the 
wilderness, in a region which was subsequently 
called Maury County, they erected their log huts 
and established their homes. In the hard toil of 
a new farm in the wilderness, James K. Polk 
spent the early years of his childhood and youth. 
His father, adding the pursuit of a surveyor to 
that of a farmer, gradually increased in wealth, 
until he became one of the leading men of the 
region. His mother was a superior woman, of 
strong common sense and earnest piety. 

Very early in life James developed a taste for 
reading, and expressed the strongest desire to ob- 
tain a liberal education. His mother's training 
had made him methodical in his habits, had taught 
him punctuality and industry, and had inspired 
him with lofty principles of morality. His health 
was frail, and his father, fearing that he might not 
be able to endure a sedentary life, got a situation 
for him behind the counter, hoping to fit him for 
commercial pursuits. 

This was to James a bitter disappointment. He i 
had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasKS 
were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this 
uncongenial occupation but a few weeks, when, 
at his earnest solicitation, his father removed 
him and made arrangements for him to pros- 
ecute his studies. Soon after he sent him to Mur- 
freesboro Academy. With ardor which could 
scarcely be surpassed, he pressed forward in his 



studies, and in less than two and a-half years, in 
the autumn of 1815, entered the sophomore class 
in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel 
Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplary of 
scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allow- 
ing himself to be absent from a recitation or a 
religious service. 

Mr. Polk graduated in 1818, with the highest 
honors, being deemed the best scholar of his class, 
both in mathematics and the classics. He was 
then twenty-three years of age. His health was 
at this time much impaired by the assiduity with 
which he had prosecuted his studies. After a 
short season of relaxation, he went to Nashville, 
and entered the office of Felix Grundy, to study 
law. Here Mr. Polk renewed his acquaintance 
with Andrew Jackson, who resided on his planta- 
tion, the "Hermitage," but a few miles from 
Nashville. They had probably been slightly ac- 
quainted before. 

Mr. Folk's father was a JefFersonian Republican 
and James K. adhered to the same political faith. 
He was a popular public speaker, and was con- 
stantly called upon to address the meetings of his 
party friends. His skill as a speaker was such 
that he was popularly called the Napoleon of the 
stump. He was a man of unblemished morals, 
genial and courteous in his bearing, and with that 
sympathetic nature in the joys and griefs of oth- 
ers which gave him hosts of friends. In 1823, 
he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee, 
and gave his strong influence toward the election 
of his friend, Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of 
the United States. 

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah 
Childress, of Rutherford County, Tenn. His 
bride was altogether worthy of him a lady of 
beauty and culture. In the fall of 1825 Mr. Polk 
was chosen a member of Congress, and the satis- 
faction he gave his constituents may be inferred 



6o 



JAMES K. POLK. 



from the fact, that for fourteen successive years, 
or until 1839, he was continued in that office. He 
then voluntarily withdrew, only that he might 
accept the Gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. In 
Congress he was a laborious member, a frequent 
and a popular speaker. He was always in his 
seat, always courteous, and whenever he spoke 
it was always to the point, without any ambitious 
rhetorical display. 

During five sessions of Congress Mr. Polk was 
Speaker of the House. Strong passions were 
roused and stormy scenes were witnessed, but he 
performed his arduous duties to a very general 
satisfaction, and a unanimous vote of thanks to 
him was passed by the House as he withdrew on 
the 4th of March, 1839. 

In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, 
as a candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. 
He was elected by a large majority, and on Octo- 
ber 14, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. 
In 1841 his term of office expired, and he was 
again the candidate of the Democratic party, but 
was defeated. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was in- 
augurated President of the United States.- The 
verdict of the country in favor of the annexation 
of Texas exerted its influence upon Congress, 
and the last act of the administration of President 
Tyler was to affix his signature to a joint resolu- 
tion of Congress, passed on the 3d of March, ap- 
proving of the annexation of Texas to the Union. 
As Mexico still claimed Texas as one of her 
provinces, the Mexican Minister, Almonte, im- 
mediately demanded his passports and left the 
country, declaring the act of the annexation to be 
an act hostile to Mexico. 

In his first message, President Polk urged that 
Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be 
received into the Union on the same footing with 
the other States. In the mean time, Gen. Taylor 
was sent with an army into Texas to hold the 
country. He was first sent to Nueces, which the 
Mexicans said was the western boundary of Tex- 
as. Then he was sent nearly two hundred miles 
further west, to the Rio Grande, where he erected 
batteries which commanded the Mexican city of 
Matamoras, which was situated on the western 



banks. The anticipated collision soon took place, 
and war was declared against Mexico by President 
Polk. The war was pushed forward by his ad- 
ministration with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, 
whose army was first called one of ' ' observation, ' ' 
then of "occupation," then of "invasion," was 
sent forward to Monterey. The feeble Mexicans 
in every encounter were hopelessly slaughtered. 
The day of judgment alone can reveal the misery 
which this war caused. It was by the ingenuity 
of Mr. Folk's administration that the war was 
brought on. 

' ' To the victors belong the spoils. ' ' Mexico 
was prostrate before us. Her capital was in our 
hands. We now consented to peace upon the 
condition that Mexico should surrender to us, in 
addition to Texas, all of New Mexico, and all of 
Upper and Lower California. This new demand 
embraced, exclusive of Texas, eight hundred 
thousand square miles. This was an extent of 
territory equal to nine States of the size of New 
York. Thus slavery was securing eighteen ma- 
jestic States to be added to the Union. There 
were some Americans who thought it all right; 
there were others who thought it all wrong. In 
the prosecution of this war we expended twenty 
thousand lives and more than $100,000,000. Of 
this money $15,000,000 were paid to Mexico. 

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired 
from office, having served one term. The next 
day was Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was 
inaugurated as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to 
the Capitol in the same carriage with Gen. Tay- 
lor, and the same evening, with Mrs. Polk, he 
commenced his return to Tennessee. He was 
then but fifty-four years of age. He had always 
been strictly temperate in all his habits, and his 
health was good. With an ample fortune, a 
choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic 
ties of the dearest nature, it seemed as though 
long year.= of tranquillity and happiness were be- 
fore him. But the cholera that fearful scourge 
was then sweeping up the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi, and he contracted the disease, dying on the 
1 5th of June, 1849, in the fifty-fourth year of his 
age, greatly mourned by his countrymen. 



LIBRARY 
OF THE 

umvu&m 



ZACHARY TAYLOR. 



7ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth President of 
I. the Uuiteci States, was born on the 24th of 
/~) November, 1784, in Orange County, Va. 
His father, Col. Taylor, was a Virginian 'of 
note, and a distinguished patriot and soldier of 
the Revolution. When Zachary was an infant, 
his father, with his wife and two children, emi- 
grated to Kentucky, where he settled in the path- 
less wilderness, a few miles from Louisville. In 
this frontier home, away from civilization and all 
its refinements, young Zachary could enjoy but 
few social and educational advantages. When 
six years of age he attended a common school, 
and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, 
rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of 
character. He was strong, fearless and self-reli- 
ant, and manifested a strong desire to enter the 
army to fight the Indians, who were ravaging the 
frontiers. There is little to be recorded of the 
uneventful years of his childhood on his father's 
large but lonely plantation. 

In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for 
him a commission as Lieutenant in the United 
States army, and he joined the troops which were 
stationed at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. 
Soon after this he married Miss Margaret Smith, 
a young lady from one of the first families of 
Maryland. 

Immediately after the declaration of war with 
England, in 1812, Capt. Taylor (for he had then 
been promoted to that rank) was put in command 
of Ft. Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles 
above Vincennes. This fort had been built in the 
wilderness by Gen. Harrison, on his march to 
Tippecanoe. It was one of the first points of at- 
tack by the Indians, led by Tecumseh. Its garri- 
son consisted of a broken company of infantry, 
numbering fifty men, many of whom were sick. 

Early in the autumn of 1812, the Indians, 
stealthily, and in large nnmbers, moved upon the 



fort. Their approach was first indicated by the 
murder of two soldiers just outside of the stockade. 
Capt. Taylor made every possible preparation to 
meet the anticipated assault. On the 4th of Sep- 
tember, a band of forty painted and plumed sav- 
ages came to the fort, waving a white flag, and 
informed Capt. Taylor that in the morning their 
chief would come to have a talk with him. It 
was evident that their object was merely to ascer- 
tain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. 
Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, 
kept them at a distance. 

The sun went down; the savages disappeared; 
the garrison slept upon their arms. One hour 
before midnight the war-whoop burst from a 
thousand lips in the forest around, followed by 
the discharge of musketry and the rush of the 
foe. Every man, sick and well, sprang to his 
post. Every man knew that defeat was not 
merely death, but, in the case of capture, death by 
the most agonizing and prolonged torture. No 
pen can describe, no imagination can conceive, the 
scenes which ensued. The savages succeeded in 
setting fire to one of the block-houses. Until six 
o'clock in the morning this awful conflict con- 
tinued, when the savages, baffled at every point 
and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. 
Capt. Taylor, for this gallant defense, was pro- 
moted to the rank of Major by brevet. 

Until the close of the war, Maj. Taylor was 
placed in such situations that he saw but little 
more of active service. He was sent far away 
into the depths of the wilderness to Ft. Craw- 
ford, on Fox River, which empties into Green 
Bay. Here there was little to be done but to 
wear away the tedious hours as one best could. 
There were no books, no society, no intellectual 
stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful years 
rolled on. Gradually he rose to the rank of 
Colonel. In the Black Hawk War, which re- 



6 4 



ZACHARY TAYLOR. 



suited in the capture of that renowned chieftain, 
Col. Taylor took a subordinate, but a brave and 
efficient, part. 

For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged 
in the defense of the frontiers, in scenes so re- 
mote, and in employments so obscure, that his 
hame was unknown beyond the limits of his own 
immediate acquaintance. In the year 1836, he 
was sent to Florida to compel the Seminole Indi- 
ans to vacate that region, and retire beyond the 
Mississippi, as their chiefs by treaty had prom- 
ised they should do. The services rendered here 
secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of 
the Government, and as a reward he was ele- 
vated to the high rank of Brigadier-General by 
brevet, and soon after, in May, 1838, was ap- 
pointed to the chief command of the United 
States troops in Florida. 

After two years of wearisome employment 
amidst the everglades of the Peninsula, Gen. Tay- 
lor obtained, at his own request, a change of 
command, and was stationed over the Department 
of the Southwest. This field embraced Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Establishing 
his headquarters at Ft. Jessup, in Louisiana, he 
removed his family to a plantation which he pur- 
chased near Baton Rouge. Here he remained 
for five years, buried, as it were, from the world, 
but faithfully discharging every duty imposed 
upon him. 

In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the 
land between the Nueces and Rio Grande, the 
latter river being the boundary of Texas, which 
was then claimed by the United States. Soon 
the war with Mexico was brought on, and at Palo 
Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Gen. Taylor won 
brilliant victories over the Mexicans. The rank 
of Major-General by brevet was then conferred 
upon Gen. Taylor, and his name was received 
with enthusiasm almost everywhere in the na- 
tion. Then came the battles of Monterey and 
Buena Vista, in which he won signal victories 
over forces much larger than he commanded. 

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena 
Vista spread the wildest enthusiasm over the 
country. The name of Gen. Taylor was on 
every one's lips. The Whig party decided to 



take advantage of this wonderful popularity in 
bringing forward the unpolished, unlettered, hon- 
est soldier as their candidate for the Presidency. 
Gen. Taylor was astonished at the announce- 
ment, and for a time would not listen to it, de- 
claring that he was not at all qualified for such 
an office. So little interest had he taken in poli- 
tics, that for forty years he had not cast a vote. 
It was not without chagrin that several distin- 
guished statesmen, who had been long years in 
the public service, found their claims set aside in 
behalf of one whose name had never been heard 
of, save in connection with Palo Alto, Resaca de 
la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista. It is said 
that Daniel Webster, in his haste, remarked, " It 
is a nomination not fit to be made." 

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a 
fine writer. His friends took possession of him, 
and prepared such few communications as it was 
needful should be presented to the public. The 
popularity of the successful warrior swept the 
land. He was triumphantly elected over two 
opposing candidates, Gen. Cass and Ex-Presi- 
dent Martin Van Buren. Though he selected an 
excellent cabinet, the good old man found himself 
in a very uncongenial position, and was at times 
sorely perplexed and harassed. His mental suf- 
ferings were very severe, and probably tended to 
hasten his death. The pro-slavery party was 
pushing its claims with tireless energy; expedi- 
tions were fitting out to capture Cuba ; California 
was pleading for admission to the Union, while 
slavery stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. 
Taylor found the political conflicts in Washington 
to be far more trying to the nerves than battles 
with Mexicans or Indians. 

In the midst of all these troubles, Gen. Taylor, 
after he had occupied the Presidential chair but 
little over a year, took cold, and after a brief 
sickness of but little over five days, died, on the 
9th of July, 1850. His last words were, "I am 
not afraid to die. I am ready. I have endeav- 
ored to do my duty." He died universally re- 
spected and beloved. An honest, unpretending 
man, he had been steadily growing in the affec- 
tions of the people, and the Nation bitterly la- 
mented his death. 



LIBRARY 
OHHE 
UNIVERSITY Of 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 



FILLMORE, thirteenth President 
of the United States, was born at Summer 
Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y. , on the jth of 
January, 1800. His father was a farmer, and, owing 
to misfortune, in humble circumstances. Of his 
mother, the daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, of 
Pittsfield, Mass., it has been said that she pos- 
sessed an intellect of a high order, united with 
much personal loveliness, sweetness of disposi- 
tion, graceful manners and exquisite sensibilities. 
She died in 1831, having lived to see her son a 
young man of distinguished promise, though she 
was not permitted to witness the high dignity 
which he finally attained. 

In consequence of the secluded home and limited 
means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender 
advantages for education in his early years. The 
common schools, which he occasionally attended, 
were very imperfect institutions, and books were 
scarce and expensive. There was nothing then 
in his character to indicate the brilliant career 
upon which he was about to enter. He was a 
plain farmer's boy intelligent, good-looking, 
kind-hearted. The sacred influences of home 
had taught him to revere the Bible, and had laid 
the foundations of an upright character. When 
fourteen years of age, his father sent him some 
hundred miles from home to the then wilds of 
Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. 
Near the mill there was a small village, where 
some enterprising man had commenced the col- 
lection of a village library. This proved an in- 
estimable blessing to young Fillmore. His even- 
ings were spent in reading. Soon every leisure 
moment was occupied with books. His thirst for 
knowledge became insatiate, and the selections 
which he made were continually more elevating 
and instructive. He read history, biography, 
oratory, and thus gradually there was enkindled 



in his heart a desire to be something more than a 
mere worker with his hands. 

The young clothier had now attained the age 
of nineteen years, and was of fine personal appear- 
ance and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so hap- 
pened that there was a gentleman in the neigh- 
borhood of ample pecuniary means and of benev- 
olence, Judge Walter Wood, who was struck 
with the prepossessing appearance of young Fill- 
more. He made his acquaintance, and was so 
much impressed with his ability and attainments 
that he advised him to abandon his trade and de- 
vote himself to the study of the law. The young 
man replied that he had no means of his own, 
no friends to help him, and that his previous edu- 
cation had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood 
had so much confidence in him that he kindly 
offered to take him into his own office, and to 
lend him such money as he needed. Most grate- 
fully the generous offer was accepted. 

There is in many minds a strange delusion 
about a collegiate education. A young man is 
supposed to be liberally educated if he has gradu- 
ated at some college. But many a boy who loi- 
ters through university halls and then enters a 
law office is by no means as well prepared to 
prosecute his legal studies as was Millard Fill- 
more when he graduated at the clothing-mill at 
the end of four years of manual labor, during 
which every leisure moment had been devoted to 
intense mental culture. 

In 1823, when twenty-three years of age, he 
was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas. 
He then went to the village of Aurora, and com- 
menced the practice of law. In this secluded, 
quiet region, his practice, of course, was limited, 
and there was no opportunity for a sudden rise in 
fortune or in fame. Here, in 1826, he married a 
lady of great moral worth, and one capable of 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 



adorning any station she might be called to fill, 
Miss Abigail Powers. 

His elevation of character, his untiring industry, 
his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advo- 
cate, gradually attracted attention, and he was 
invited to enter into partnership, under highly ad- 
vantageous circumstances, with an elder member 
of the Bar in Buffalo. Just before removing to 
Buffalo, in 1829, he took his seat in the House of 
Assembly of the State of New York, as a Repre- 
sentative from Erie County. Though he had 
never taken a very active part in politics, his vote 
and sympathies were with the Whig party. The 
State was then Democratic, and he found himself 
in a helpless minority in the Legislature; still the 
testimony comes from all parties that his courtesy, 
ability and integrity won, to a very unusual de- 
gree, the respect of his associates. 

In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a 
seat in the United States Congress. He entered 
that troubled arena in the most tumultuous hours 
of our national history, when the great conflict 
respecting the national bank and the removal of 
the deposits was raging. 

His term of two years closed, and he returned 
to his profession, which he pursued with increas- 
ing reputation and success. After a lapse of two . 
years he again became a candidate for Congress; , 
was re-elected, and took his seat in 1837. His 
past experience as a Representative gave him 
strength and confidence. The first term of service 
in Congress to any man can be but little more 
than an introduction. He was now prepared for 
active duty. All his energies were brought to 
bear upon the public good. Every measure re- 
ceived his impress. 

Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, 
and his popularity filled the State. In the year 
1847, when he had attained the age of forty- 
seven years, he was elected Comptroller of the 
State. His labors at the Bar, in the Legisla- 
ture, in Congress and as Comptroller, had given 
him very considerable fame. The Whigs were 
casting about to find suitable candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice- President at the approaching elec- 
tion. Far away on the waters of the Rio Grande, 
there was a rough old soldier, who had fought 



one or two successful battles with the Mexicans, 
which had caused his name to be proclaimed in 
trumpet-tones all over the land as a candidate for 
the presidency. But it was necessary to associate 
with him on the same ticket some man of repu- 
tation as a statesman. 

Under the influence of these considerations, the 
names of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore 
became the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their 
candidates for President and Vice-President. The 
Whig ticket was signallj' triumphant. On the 
4th of March, 1849, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated 
President, and Millard Fillmore Vice-Presideut, 
of the United States. 

On the gth of July, 1850, President Taylor, 
about one year and four months after his inaugura- 
tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the 
Constitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus be- 
came President. He appointed a very able cabi- 
net, of which the illustrious Daniel Webster was 
Secretary of State; nevertheless, he had serious 
difficulties to contend with, since the opposition 
had a majority in both Houses. He did all in his 
power to conciliate the South; but the pro-slavery 
party in the South felt the inadequacy of all 
measures of transient conciliation. The popula- 
tion of the free States was so rapidly increasing 
over that of the slave States, that it was inevitable 
that the power of the Government should soon 
pass into the hands of the free States. The fa- 
mous compromise measures were adopted under 
Mr. Fillmore' s administration, and the Japan ex- 
pedition was sent out. On the 4th of March, 
1853, he, having served one term, retired. 

In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the 
Presidency by the "Know-Nothing" party, but 
was beaten by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. 
Fillmore lived in retirement. During the terri- 
ble conflict of civil war, he was mostly silent. It 
was generally supposed that his sympathies were 
rather with those who were endeavoring to over- 
throw our institutions. President Fillmore kept 
aloof from the conflict, without any cordial words 
of cheer to one party or the other. He was thus 
forgotten by both. He lived to a ripe old age, 
and died in Buffalo, N. Y., March 8, 1874. 



LIBRARY 

or rw 

f ILLINOIS 



HRANKUN PIERCE, the fourteenth Presi- 
ly dent of the United States, was born in Hills- 
I borough, N. H., November 23, 1804. His 
father was a Revolutionary soldier, who with his 
own strong arm hewed out a home in the wilder- 
ness. He was a man of inflexible integrity, of 
strong, though uncultivated, mind, and was an un- 
compromising Democrat. The mother of Frank- 
lin Pierce was all that a son could desire an in- 
telligent, prudent, affectionate, Christian woman. 

Franklin, who was the sixth of eight children, 
was a remarkably bright and handsome boy, 
generous, warm-hearted and brave. He won 
alilce the love of old and young. The boys on 
th? play-ground loved him. His teachers loved 
him. The neighbors looked upon him with pride 
and affection. He was by instinct a gentleman, 
always speaking kind words, and doing kind 
deeds, with a peculiar, unstudied tact which 
taught him what was agreeable. Without de- 
veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural 
devotion to books, he was a good scholar, and in 
body and mind a finely developed boy. 

When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, 
he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me. 
He was one of ihe most popular young men in 
the college. The purity of his moral character, 
the unvarying courtesy of his demeanor, his rank 
as a scholar, and genial nature, rendered him a 
universal favorite. There was something pe- 
culiarly winning in his address, and it was evi- 
dently not in the slightest degree studied it was 
the simple outgushing of his own magnanimous 
and loving nature. 

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin 
Pierce commenced the study of law in the office 
of Judge Woodbury, one of the most distinguished 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



lawyers of the State, and a man of great private 
worth. The eminent social qualities of the young 
lawyer, his father's prominence as a public man, 
and the brilliant political career into which Judge 
Woodbury was entering, all tended to entice Mr. 
Pierce into the fascinating yet perilous path of 
political life. With all the ardor of his nature he 
espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson for the Presi- 
dency. He commenced the practice of law in 
Hillsborough, and was soon elected to represent 
the town in the State Legislature. Here he 
served for four years. The last two years he was 
chosen Speaker of the House by a very large 
vote. 

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was 
elected a member of Congress. In 1837, being 
then but thirty-three years old, he was elected to 
the Senate, taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren 
commenced his administration. He was the 
youngest member in the Senate. In the year 
1834, he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a 
lady of rare beauty and accomplishments, and one 
admirably fitted to adorn every station with which 
her husband was honored. Of the three sons who 
were born to them, all now sleep with their par- 
ents in the grave. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing 
fame and increasing business as a lawyer, took up 
his residence in Concord, the capital of New 
Hampshire. President Polk, upon his accession 
to office, appointed Mr. Pierce Attorney-General 
of the United States; but the offer was declined 
in consequence of numerous professional engage- 
ments at home, and the precarious state of Mrs. 
Pierce's health. He also, about the same time, 
declined the nomination for Governor by the 
Democratic party. The war with Mexico called 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



Mr. Pierce into the army. Receiving the appoint- 
ment of Brigadier-General, he embarked with a 
portion of his troops at Newport, R. I., on the 
27th of May, 1847. He took an important part 
in this war, proving himself a brave and true sol- 
dier. 

When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his na- 
tive State, he was received enthusiastically by the 
advocates of the Mexican War, and coldly by his 
opponents. He resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession, very frequently taking an active part in 
political questions, giving his cordial support to 
the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party. 
The compromise measures met cordially with his 
approval, and he strenuously advocated the en- 
forcement of the infamous Fugitive Slave Law, 
which so shocked the religious sensibilities of the 
North. He thus became distinguished as a 
' ' Northern man with Southern principles. ' ' The 
strong partisans of slavery in the South conse- 
quently regarded him as a man whom they could 
safely trust in office to carry out their plans. 

On the I2th of June, 1852, the Democratic con- 
vention met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate 
for the Presidency. For four days they contin- 
ued in session, and in thirty-five ballotings no one 
had obtained a two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus 
far had been thrown for Gen. Pierce. Then the 
Virginia delegation brought forward his name. 
There were fourteen more ballotings, during which 
Gen. Pierce constantly gained strength, until, at 
the forty-ninth ballot, he received two hundred 
and eighty-two votes, and all other candidates 
eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was the Whig can- 
didate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with great una- 
nimity. Only four States Vermont, Massachu- 
setts, Kentucky and Tennessee cast their elec- 
toral votes against him. Gen. Franklin Pierce 
was therefore inaugurated President of the United 
State_s on the 4th of March, 1853. 

His administration proved one of the most 
stormy our country had ever experienced. The 
controversy between slavery and freedom was 
then approaching its culminating point. It be- 
came evident that there was to be an irrepressible 
conflict between them, and that this nation 
could not long exist ' ' half slave and half free. ' ' 



President Pierce, during the whole of his admin- 
istration, did everything he could to conciliate the 
South; but it was all in vain. The conflict every 
year grew more violent, and threats of the disso- 
lution of the Union were borne to the North on 
every Southern breeze. 

Such was the condition of affairs when Presi- 
dent Pierce approached the close of his four- 
years term of office. The North had become 
thoroughly alienated from him. The anti-slavery 
sentiment, goaded by great outrages, had been 
rapidly increasing; all the intellectual ability and 
social worth of President Pierce were forgotten in 
deep reprehension of his administrative acts. The 
slaveholders of the South also, unmindful of the 
fidelity with which he had advocated those meas- 
ures of Government which they approved, and 
perhaps feeling that he had rendered himself 
so unpopular as no longer to be able to accepta- 
bly serve them, ungratefully dropped him, and 
nominated James Buchanan to succeed him. 

On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce re- 
turned to his home in Concord. His three chil- 
dren were all dead, his last surviving child hav- 
ing been killed before his eyes in a railroad acci- 
dent; and his wife, one of the most estimable and 
accomplished of ladies, was rapidly sinking in 
consumption. The hour of dreadful gloom soon 
came, and he was left alone in the world without 
wife or child. 

When the terrible Rebellion burst forth which 
divided our country into two parties, and two 
only, Mr. Pierce remained steadfast in the prin- 
ciples which he had always cherished, and gave 
his sympathies to that pro-slavery party with 
which he had ever been allied. He declined to 
do anything, either by voice or pen, to strengthen 
the hand of the National Government. He con- 
tinued to reside in Concord until the time of his 
death, which occurred in October, 1869. He was 
one of the most genial and social of men, an hon- 
ored communicant of the Episcopal Church, and 
one of the kindest of neighbors. Generous to a 
fault, he contributed liberally toward the allevia- 
tion of suffering and want, and many of his 
towns-people were often gladdened by his material 
bounty. 



LIBRARY 
Of THf 

UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



(I AMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth President ! 

I of the United States, was born in a small 
\~) frontier town, at the foot of the eastern ridge 
of the Alleghanies, in Franklin County, Pa., on 
the 23d of April, 1791. The place where the 
humble cabin home stood was called Stony Bat- 
ter. His father was a native of the north of Ire- 
land, who had emigrated in 1783, with little prop- 
erty save his own strong arms. Five years after- 
ward he married Elizabeth Spear, the daughter 
of a respectable farmer, and, with his young bride, 
plunged into the wilderness, staked his claim, 
reared his log hut, opened a clearing with his 
axe, and settled down there to perform his obscure 
part in the drama of life. When James was eight 
years of age, his father removed to the village of 
Mercersburg, where his son was placed at school, 
and commenced a course of study in English, 
Latin and Greek. His progress was rapid, and 
at the age of fourteen he entered Dickinson Col- 
lege, at Carlisle. Here he developed remarkable 
talent, and took his stand among the first scholars 
in the institution. 

In the year 1809, he graduated with the high- 
est honors of his class. He was then eighteen 
years of age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health, 
fond of athletic sports, an unerring shot, and en- 
livened with an exuberant flow of animal spirits. 
He immediately commenced the study of law in 
the city of Lancaster, and was admitted to the 
Bar in 1812, when he was but twenty-one years 
of age. 

In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a 
candidate for Congress. He was elected, and for 
ten years he remained a member of the Lower 
House. During the vacations of Congress, he 



occasionally tried some important case. In 1831 
he retired altogether from the toils of his profes- 
sion, having acquired an ample fortune. 

Gen. Jackson, upon his elevation to the Presi- 
dency, appointed Mr. Buchanan Minister to Rus- 
sia. The duties of his mission he performed 
with ability, and gave satisfaction to all parties. 
Upon his return, in 1833, he was elected to a seat 
in the United States Senate. He there met as 
his associates Webster, Clay, Wright and Cal- 
houn. He advocated the measures proposed by 
President Jackson, of making reprisals against 
France to enforce the payment of our claims 
against that country, and defended the course of 
the President in his unprecedented and wholesale 
removal from office of those who were not the 
supporters of his administration. Upon this 
question he was brought into direct collision with 
Henry Clay. He also, with voice and vote, ad- 
vocated expunging from the journal of the Senate 
the vote of censure against Gen. Jackson for re- 
moving the deposits. Earnestly he opposed the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 
and urged the prohibition of the circulation of 
anti-slavery documents by the United States 
mails. As to petitions on the subject of slavery, 
he advocated that they should be respectfully re- 
ceived, and that the reply should be returned 
that Congress had no power to legislate upon the 
subject. "Congress," said he, "might as well 
undertake to interfere with slavery under a for- 
eign government as in any of the States where it 
now exists." 

Upon Mr. Folk's accession to the Presidency, 
Mr. Buchanan became Secretary of State, and as 
such took his share of the responsibility in the 



7 6 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



conduct of the Mexican War. Mr. Polk assumed 
that crossing the Nueces by the American 
troops into the disputed territory was not wrong, 
but for the Mexicans to cross the Rio Grande 
into Texas was a declaration of war. No candid 
man can read with pleasure the account of the 
course our Government pursued in that movement. 

Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly 
with the party devoted to the perpetuation and 
extension of slavery, and brought all the energies 
of his mind to bear against the Wilmot Proviso. 
He gave his cordial approval to the compromise 
measures of 1850, which included the Fugitive 
Slave Law. Mr. Pierce, upon his election to the 
Presidency, honored Mr. Buchanan with the mis- 
sion to England. 

In the year 1856, a national Democratic Con- 
vention nominated Mr. Buchanan for the Presi- 
dency. The political conflict was one of the most 
severe in which our country has ever engaged. 
All the friends of slavery were on one side; all 
the advocates of its restriction and final abolition 
on the other. Mr. Fremont, the candidate of the 
enemies of slavery, received one hundred and 
fourteen electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received 
one hundred and seventy-four, and was elected. 
The popular vote stood 1,340,618 for Fremont, 
1,224,750 for Buchanan. On March 4, 1857, 
the latter was inaugurated. 

Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only 
four years were wanting to fill up his three-score 
years and ten. His own friends, those with 
whom he had been allied in political principles 
and action for years, were seeking the destruc- 
tion of the Government, that they might rear 
upon the ruins of our free institutions a nation 
whose corner-stone should be human slavery. In 
this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hopelessly 
bewildered. He could not, with his long-avowed 
principles, consistently oppose the State Rights 
party in their assumptions. As President of the 
United States, bound by his oath faithfully to 
administer the laws, he could not, without per- 
jury of the grossest kind, unite with those en- 
deavoring to overthrow the Republic. He there- 
fore did nothing. 

The opponents of Mr. Buchanan's administra- 



tion nominated Abraham Lincoln as their stand- 
ard-bearer in the next Presidential canvass. 
The pro-slavery party declared that if he were 
elected and the control of the Government were 
thus taken from their hands, they would sece:l: 
from the Union, taking with them as they retired 
the National Capitol at Washington and the 
lion's share of the territory of the United States. 

As the storm increased in violence, the slave- 
holders claiming the right to secede, and Mr. 
Buchanan avowing that Congress had no power 
to prevent it, one of the most pitiable exhibitions 
of governmental imbecility was exhibited that the 
world has ever seen. He declared that Congress 
had no power to enforce its laws in any State 
which had withdrawn, or which was attempting 
to withdraw, from the Union. This was not the 
doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with his hand 
upon Ms sword-hilt, he exclaimed: "The Union 
must and shall be preserved!" 

South Carolina seceded in December, 1860, 
nearly three months before the inauguration of 
President Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in 
listless despair. The rebel flag was raised in 
Charleston; Ft. Sumter was besieged; our forts, 
navy-yards and arsenals were seized; our depots 
of military stores were plundered, and our cus- 
tom-houses and post-offices were appropriated by 
the rebels. 

The energy of the rebels and the imbecility of 
our Executive were alike marvelous. The na- 
tion looked on in agony, waiting for the slow 
weeks to glide away and close the administration, 
so terrible in its weakness. At length the long- 
looked-for hour of deliverance came, when Abra- 
ham Lincoln was to receive the scepter. 

The administration of President Buchanan was 
certainly the most calamitous our country has ex- 
perienced. His best friends can not recall it with 
pleasure. And still more deplorable it is for his 
fame, that in that dreadful conflict which rolled 
its billows of flame and blood over our whole 
land, no word came from his lips to indicate his 
wish that our country's banner should triumph 
over the flag of the Rebellion. He died at his 
Wheatland retreat, June i, 1868. 



LIBRARY 
Of THt 

UNIVtKSIlY Of ILUflOJS 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



BRAHAM LINCOLN, the sixteenth Presi- 
t_l dent of the United States, was born in Hardin 
| I County, Ky., February 12, 1809. About 
the year -i 780, a man by the name of Abraham 
Lincoln left Virginia with his family and moved 
into the then wilds of Kentucky. Only two years 
after this emigration, and while still a young man, 
he was working one day in a field, when an Indian 
stealthily approached and killed him. His widow 
was left in extreme poverty with five little chil- 
dren, three boys and two girls. Thomas, the 
youngest of the boys, and the father of President 
Abraham Lincoln, was four years of age at his 
father's death. 

When twenty-eight years old, Thomas Lincoln 
built a log cabin, and married Nancy Hanks, the 
daughter of another family of poor Kentucky 
emigrants, who had also come from Virginia. 
Their second child was Abraham Lincoln, the sub- 
ject of this sketch. The mother of Abraham was 
a noble woman, gentle, loving, pensive, created 
to adorn a palace, but doomed to toil and pine, and 
die in a hovel. " All that I am, or hope to be," 
exclaimed the grateful son, " I owe to my angel- 
mother. ' ' When he was eight years ot age, his 
father sold his cabin and small farm and moved 
to Indiana, where two years later his mother died. 

As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly 
family was the usual lot of humanity. There 
were joys and griefs, weddings and funerals. 
Abraham's sister Sarah, to whom he was tenderly 
attached, was married when a child of but four- 
teen years of age, and soon died. The family 
was gradually scattered, and Thomas Lincoln 
sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, and emi- 
grated to Macon County, 111. 

Abraham Lincoln was then twenty-one years 
of age. With vigorous hands he aided his father 
in rearing another log cabin, and worked quite 
diligently at this until he saw the family com- 
fortably settled, and their small lot of enclosed 
prairie planted with corn, when he announced to 



his father his intention to leave home, and to gc 
out into the world and seek his fortune. Littk 
did he or his friends imagine how brilliant that 
fortune was to be. He saw the value of educa- 
tion and was intensely earnest to improve his 
mind to the utmost of his power. Religion he 
revered. Hie morals were pure, and he was un- 
contaminated by a single vice. 

Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired 
laborer among the farmers. Then he went to 
Springfield, where he was employed in building 
a large flat-boat. In this he took a herd of swine, 
floated them down the Sangamon to Illinois, and 
thence by the Mississippi to New Orleans. What- 
ever Abraham Lincoln undertook, he performed 
so faithfully as to give great satisfaction to his 
employers. In this adventure the latter were 
so well pleased, that upon his return they placed 
a store and mill under his care. 

In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk 
War, he enlisted and was chosen Captain of a 
company. He returned to Sangamon County,- 
and, although only twenty-three years of age, was 
a candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated. 
He soon after received from Andrew Jackson the 
appointment of Postmaster of New Salem. His 
only post-office was his hat. All the letters he 
received he carried there, ready to deliver to those 
he chanced to meet. He studied surveying, and 
soon made this his business. In 1834 he again 
became a candidate for the Legislature and was 
elected. Mr. Stuart, of Springfield, advised him 
to study law. He walked from New Salem to 
Springfield, borrowed of Mr. Stuart a load oi 
books, carried them back, and began his legal 
studies. When the Legislature assembled, he 
trudged on foot with his pack on his back one 
hundred miles to Vandalia, then the capital. In 
1836 he was re-elected to the Legislature. Here 
it was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 
he removed to Springfield and began the practice 
of law. His success with the jury was so great 



8o 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



that lie was soon engaged in almost every noted 
case in the circuit. 

In 1854 the great discussion began between Mr. 
Lincoln and Mr. Douglas on the slavery ques- 
tion. In the organization of the Republican party 
in Illinois, in 1856, he took an active part, and at 
once became one of the leaders in that party. 
Mr. Lincoln's speeches in opposition to Senator 
Douglas in the contest in 1858 for a seat in the 
Senate, form a most notable part of his history. 
The issue was on the slavery question, and he 
took the broad ground of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, that all men are created equal. Mr. 
Lincoln was defeated in this contest, but won a 
far higher prize. 

The great Republican Convention met at Chi- 
cago on the 1 6th of June, 1860. The delegates 
anfl strangers who crowded the city amounted to 
twenty-five thousand. An immense building 
called "The Wigwam," was reared to accommo- 
date the convention. There were eleven candi- 
dates for whom votes were thrown. William H. 
Seward, a man whose fame as a statesman had 
long filled the land, was the most prominent. It 
was generally supposed he would be the nomi- 
nee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received the 
nomination on the third ballot. 

Election day came, and Mr. Lincoln received 
one hundred and eighty electoral votes out of two 
hundred and three cast, and was, therefore, con- 
stitutionally elected President of the United States. 
The tirade of abuse that was poured upon this 
good and merciful man, especially by the slave- 
holders, was greater than upon any other man 
ever elected to this high position. In February, 
1861, Mr. Lincoln started for Washington, stop- 
ping in all the large cities on his way, making 
speeches. The whole journey was fraught with 
much danger. Many of the Southern States had 
already seceded, and several attempts at assassi- 
nation were afterward brought to light. A gang 
in Baltimore had arranged upon his arrival to 
"get up a row," and in the confusion to make 
sure of his death with revolvers and hand-gren- 
ades. A detective unravelled the plot. A secret 
and special train was provided to take him from 
Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected 



hour of the night. The train started at half-past 
ten, and to prevent any possible communication 
on the part of the Secessionists with their Con- 
federate gang in Baltimore, as soon as the train 
had started the telegraph-wires were cut. Mr. 
Lincoln reached Washington in safety and was 
inaugurated, although great anxiety was felt by 
all loyal people. 

In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave 
to Mr. Seward the Department of State, and to 
other prominent opponents before the convention 
he gave important positions; but during no other 
administration had the duties devolving upon the 
President been so manifold, and the responsibilities 
so great, as those which fell to his lot. Knowing 
this, and feeling his own weakness and inability 
to meet, and in his own strength to cope with, 
the difficulties, he learned early to seek Divine 
wisdom and guidance in determining his plans, 
and Divine comfort in all his trials, both personal 
and national. Contrary to his own estimate of 
himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the most cour- 
ageous of men. He went directly into the rebel 
capital just as the retreating foe was leaving, with 
no guard but a few sailors. From the time he 
had left Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had 
been made for his assassination, and he at last 
fell a victim to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, 
with Gen. Grant, was urgently invited to attend 
Ford's Theatre. It was announced that they 
would be present. Gen. Grant, however, left the 
city. President Lincoln, feeling, with his char- 
acteristic kindliness of heart, that it would be a 
disappointment if he should fail them, very re- 
luctantly consented to go. While listening to 
the play, an actor by the name of John Wilket 
Booth entered the box where the President and 
family were seated, and fired a bullet into his 
brain. He died the next morning at seven 
o' clock. 

Never before in the history of the world was 
a nation plunged into such deep grief by the death 
of its ruler Strong men met in the streets and 
wept in speechless anguish. His was a life which 
will fitly become a model. His name as the 
Savior of his country will live with that of Wash- 
ington's, its Father. 



LIBRARY 
Of THE 

UNIVEKSm OF ILLINOIS 




/y 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



Gl NDREW JOHNSON, seventeenth President 
LJ of the United States. The early life of An- 
/ I drew Johnson contains but the record of pov- 
erty , destitution and friendlessness. He was born 
December 29, 1808, in. Raleigh, N. C. His par- 
ents, belonging to the class of "poor whites" 
of the South, were in such circumstances that they 
could not confer even the slightest advantages of 
education upon their child. When Andrew was 
five years of age, his father accidentally lost his 
life, while heroically endeavoring to save a friend 
from drowning. Until ten years of age, Andrew 
was a ragged boy about the streets, supported by 
the labor of his mother, who obtained her living 
with her own hands. 

He then, having never attended a school one 
day, and being unable either to reader write, was 
apprenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gen- 
tleman was in the habit of going to the tailor's 
shop occasionally, and reading to the boys at 
work there. He often read from the speeches of 
distinguished British statesmen. Andrew, who 
was endowed with a mind of more than ordinary 
ability, became much interested in these speeches; 
his ambition was roused, and he was inspired with 
a strong desire to learn to read. 

He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, 
and with the assistance of some of his fellow- 
workmen learned his letters. He then called upon 
the gentleman to borrow the book of speeches. 
The owner, pleased with his zeal, not only gave 
him the book, but assisted him in learning to com- 
bine the letters into words. Under such difficul- 
ties he pressed onward laboriously, spending usu- 
ally ten or twelve hours at work in the shop, and 
then robbing himself of rest and recreation to de- 
vote such time as he could to reading. 

He went to Tennessee in 1826, and located at 



Greenville, where he married a young lady who 
possessed some education. Under her instructions 
he learned to write and cipher. He became 
prominent in the village debating society, and a 
favorite with the students of Greenville College. 
In 1828, he organized a working man's party, 
which elected him Alderman, and in 1830 elected 
him Mayor, which position he held three years. 

He now began to take a lively interest in 
political affairs, identify ing himself with the work- 
ing-class, to which he belonged. In 1835, he 
was elected a member of the House of Represent- 
atives of Tennessee. He was then just twenty- 
seven years of age. He became a very active 
member of the Legislature, gave his support to 
the Democratic party, and in 1840 "stumped the 
State," advocating Martin Van Buren's claims to 
the Presidency, in opposition to 'those of Gen. 
Harrison. In this campaign he acquired much 
readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased 
his reputation. 

In 1841, he was elected State Senator; in 1843, 
he was elected a Member of Congress, and by suc- 
cessive elections held that important post for ten 
years. In 1 853 , he was elected Governor of Tenn- 
essee, and was re-elected in 1855. In all these 
responsible positions, he discharged his duties 
with distinguished ability, and proved himself the 
warm friend of the working 'classes. In 1857, Mr. 
Johnson was elected United States Senator. 

Years before, in 1845, he had warmly advocated 
the annexation of Texas, stating, however, as his 
reason, that he thought this annexation would 
probably prove "to be the gateway out of which 
the sable sons of Africa are to pass from bondage 
to freedom, and become merged in a population 
congenial to themselves." In 1850, he also sup- 
ported the compromise measures, the two essen- 



8 4 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



tial features of which werp, that the white people 
of the Territories should be permitted to decide 
for themselves whether they would enslave the 
colored people or not, and that the free States of 
the North should return to the South persons who 
attempted to escape from slavery. 

Mr. Johnson was never ashamed of his lowly 
origin: on the contrary, he often took pride in 
avowing that he owed his distinction to his own 
exertions. "Sir," said he on the floor of the 
Senate, "I do not forget that I am a mechanic; 
neither do I forget that Adam was a tailor and 
sewed fig-leaves, and that our Savior was the son 
of a carpenter. ' ' 

In the Charleston-Baltimore convention of 1860, 
he was the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for 
the Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of 
the Southern Democracy became apparent, he took 
a decided stand in favor of the Union, and held 
that "slavery must be held subordinate to the 
Union at whatever cost." He returned to Tenn- 
essee, and repeatedly imperiled his own life to 
protect the Unionists of that State. Tennessee 
having seceded from the Union, President Lincoln, 
on March 4, 1862, appointed him Military Gov- 
ernor of the State, and he established the most 
Stringent military rule. His numerous proclama- 
tions attracted wide attention. In 1864, he was 
elected Vice- President of the United States, and 
upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 1865, 
became President. In a speech two days later he 
said, "The American people must be taught, if 
they do not already feel, that treason is a crime 
and must be punished; that the Government will 
not always bear with its enemies; that it is strong 
not only to protect, but to punish. * * The 
people must understand that it (treason) is the 
blackest of crimes, and will surely be punished. ' ' 
Yet his whole administration, the history of which 
is so well known, was in utter inconsistency with, 
and in the most violent opposition to, the princi- 
ples laid down in that speech. 

In his loose policy of reconstruction and general 
amnesty, he was opposed by Congress, and he 
characterized Congress as a new rebellion, and 
lawlessly defied it in everything possible to the ut- 
most. In the beginning of 1868, on account of 



"High crimes and misdemeanors," the principal 
of which was the removal of Secretary Stanton in 
violation of the Tenure of Office Act, articles of 
impeachment were preferred against him, and the 
trial began March 23. 

It was very tedious, continuing for nearly three 
months. A test article of the impeachment was 
at length submitted to the court for its action. It 
was certain that as the court voted upon that ar- . 
ticle so would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices 
pronounced the President guilty. As a two-thirds 
vote was necessary to his condemnation, he was 
pronounced acquitted, notwithstanding the great 
majority against him. The change of one vote 
from the not guilty side would have sustained the 
impeachment. 

The President, for the remainder of his term, 
was but little regarded. He continued, though 
impotently, his conflict with Congress. His own 
party did not think it expedient to renominate 
him for the Presidency. The Nation rallied with . 
enthusiasm, unparalleled since the days of Wash- 
ington, around the name of Gen. Grant. Andrew 
Johnson was forgotten. The bullet of the assassin 
introduced him to the President's chair. Not- 
withstanding this, never was there presented to a 
man a better opportunity to immortalize his name, 
and to win the gratitude of a nation. He failed 
utterly. He retired to his home in Greenville, 
Tenn. , taking no very active part in politics until 
1875. On January 26, after an exciting struggle,' 
he was chosen by the Legislature of Tennessee 
United States Senator in the Forty-fourth Congess, 
and took his seat in that body, at the special ses- 
sion convened by President Grant, on the 5th of 
March. On the 27th of July, 1875, the ex-Presi- 
dent made a visit to his daughter's home, near 
Carter Station, Tenn. When he started on his 
journey, he was apparently in his usual vigorous 
health, but on reaching the residence of his child 
the following day, he was stricken with paralysis, 
which rendered him unconscious. He rallied oc- ; 
casionally, but finally passed away at 2 A. M., 
July 31 , aged sixty-seven years. His funeral was 
held at Greenville, on the 3d of August, with 
every demonstration of respect. 



LIBRARY 
of rm 

UNIVEKSm OF ILLINOIS 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



HLYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth Presi- 
dent of the United States, was born on the 
2gth of April, 1822, of Christian parents, in 
a humble home at Point Pleasant, on the banks 
of the Ohio. Shortly after, his father moved to 
Georgetown, Brown County,. Ohio. In this re- 
mote frontier hamlet, Ulysses received a common- 
school education. At the age of seventeen, in 
the year 1839, he entered the Military Academy 
at West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid, 
sensible young man, of fair ability, and of sturdy, 
honest character. He took respectable rank as a 
scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated about the 
middle in his class, and was sent as Lieutenant of 
Infantry to one of the distant military posts in the 
Missouri Territory. Two years he passed in these 
dreary solitudes, watching the vagabond Indians. 

The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was 
sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His 
first battle was at Palo Alto. There was no 
chance here for the exhibition of either skill or 
heroism, nor at Resaca de la Palma, his second 
battle. At the battle of Monterey, his third en- 
gagement, it is said that he performed a signal 
service of daring and .skillful horsemanship. 

At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant 
returned with his regiment to New York, and 
was again sent to one of the military posts on the 
frontier. The discovery of gold in Califorria 
causing an immense tide of emigration to flow to 
the Pacific shores, Cnpt. Grant was sent with a 
battalion to Ft. Dallas, in Oregon, for the protec- 
tion of the interests of the immigrants. But life 
was wearisome in those wilds, and he resigned 
his commission and returned to the States. Hav- 
ing married, he entered upon the cultivation of a 
small farm near St. Louis, Mo., but having little 



skill as a farmer, and finding his toil not re- 
munerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering 
into the leather business, with a younger brother 
at Galena, 111. This was in the year 1860. As 
the tidings of the rebels firing on Ft. Sumter 
reached the ears of Capt. Grant in his counting- 
room, he said: "Uncle Sam has educated me 
for the army; though I have served him through 
one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the 
debt. I am still ready to discharge my obliga- 
tions. I shall therefore buckle on my sword and 
see Uncle Sam through this war too. ' ' 

He went into the streets, raised a company of 
volunteers, and led them as their Captain to 
Springfield, the capital of the State, where their 
services were offered to Gov. Yates. The Gov- 
ernor, impressed by the zeal and straightforward 
executive ability of Capt. Grant, gave him a desk 
in his office to assist in the volunteer organiza- 
tion that was being formed in the State in behalf 
of the Government. On the 1 5th of June, 1861, 
Capt. Grant received a commission as Colonel of 
the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. 
His merits as a West Point graduate, who had 
served for fifteen years in the regular army, were 
such that he was soon promoted to the rank of 
Brigadier-General, and was placed in command at 
Cairo. The rebels raised their banner at Padu- 
cah, near the mouth of the Tennessee River. 
Scarcely had its folds appeared in the breeze ere 
Gen. Grant was there. The rebels fled, their 
banner fell, and the Stars and Stripes were un- 
furled in its stead. 

He entered the service with great determina- 
tion and immediately began active duty. This 
was the beginning, and until the ' surrender of 
Lee at Richmond he was ever pushing the enemy 



88 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



with great vigor and effectiveness. At Belmont, 
a few days later, he surprised and routed the 
rebels, then at Ft. Henry won another victory. 
Then came the brilliant fight at Ft. Donelson. 
The nation was electrified by the victory, and the 
brave leader of the boys in blue was immediately 
made a Major-General, and the military district 
of Tennessee was assigned to him. 

Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well 
how to secure the results of victory. He imme- 
diately pushed on to the enemies' lines. Then 
came the terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, 
Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. 
Pemberton made an unconditional surrender of 
the city with over thirty thousand men and one 
hundred and seventy-two cannon. The fall of 
Vicksburg was by far the most severe blow which 
the rebels had thus far encountered, and opened 
up the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf. 

Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with 
Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and pro- 
ceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown 
from his horse, and received severe injuries, from 
which he was laid up for months. He then 
rushed to the aid of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas 
at Chattanooga, and by a wonderful series of 
strategic and technical measures put the Union 
army in fighting condition. Then followed the 
bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout Moun- 
tain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels 
were routed with great loss. This won for him 
unbounded praise in the North. On the 4th of 
February, 1864, Congress revived the grade of 
lieutenant-general, and the rank was conferred 
on Gen. Grant. He repaired to Washington to 
receive his credentials and enter upon the duties 
of his new office. 

Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took charge 
of the army to concentrate the widely-dispersed 
National troops for an attack upon Richmond, 
the nominal capital of the rebellion, and endeavor 
there to destroy the rebel armies which would be 
promptly assembled from all quarters for its de- 
fense. The whole continent seemed to tremble 
under the tramp of these majestic armies, rushing 
to the decisive battle-field. Steamers were crowd- 
ed with troops. Railway trains were burdened 



with closely-packed thousands. His plans were 
comprehensive, and involved a series of cam- 
paigns, which were executed with remarkable 
energy and ability, and were consummated at the 
surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865. 

The war was ended. The Union was saved. 
The almost unanimous voice of the nation de- 
clared Gen. Grant to be the most prominent in- 
strument in its salvation. The eminent services 
he had thus rendered the country brought him 
conspicuously forward as the Republican candi- 
date for the Presidential chair. 

At the Republican Convention held at Chicago, 
May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated 
for the Presidency, and at the autumn election 
received a majority of the popular vote, and two 
hundred and fourteen out of two hundred and 
ninety-four electoral votes. 

The National Convention of the Republican 
party, which met at Philadelphia on the 5th 01 
June, 1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomination for 
a second term by a unanimous vote. The selec- 
tion was emphatically indorsed by the people five 
months later, two hundred and ninety-two elect- 
oral votes being cast for him. 

Soon after the close of his second term, Gen. 
Grant started upon his famous trip around the 
world. He visited almost every country of the 
civilized world, and was everywhere received 
with such ovations and demonstrations of respect 
and honor, private as well as public and official, 
as were never before bestowed upon any citizen 
of the United States. 

He was the most prominent candidate before 
the Republican National Convention in 1880 for 
a renomination for President. He went to New 
York and embarked in the brokerage business 
under the firm name of Grant & Ward. The 
latter proved a villain, wrecked Grant's fortune, 
and for larceny was sent to the penitentiary. 
The General was attacked with cancer in the 
throat, but suffered in his stoic-like manner, never 
complaining. He was re-instated as General of 
the Army, and retired by Congress. The cancer 
soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, 
the nation went in mourning over the death 01 
the illustrious General. 



UBftAOT 

OF fHt 

UNIVERSITY Of IUINWS 




,. \ u. 




RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



QUTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nineteenth 
|^ President of the United States, was born in 
p\ Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822, almost 
three months after the death of his father, Ruther- 
ford Hayes. His ancestry on both the paternal and 
maternal sides was of the most honorable char- 
acter. It can be traced, it is said, as far back as 
1280, when Hayes and Rutherford were two 
Scottish chieftains, fighting side by side with 
Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. Both 
families belonged to the nobility, owned extensive 
estates, and had a large following. Misfortune 
overtaking the family, George Hayes left Scotland 
in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son 
George was born in Windsor, and remained there 
during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, 
married Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of 
his marriage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. 
Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was 
a manufacturer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. 
Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel and grandfather 
of President Hayes, was born in New Haven, in 
August, 1756. He was a farmer, blacksmith and 
tavern-keeper. He emigrated to Vermont at an 
unknown date, settling in Brattleboro, where he 
established a hotel. Here his son, Rutherford 
Hayes, the father of President Hayes, was born. 
He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia 
Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors 
emigrated thither from Connecticut, they having 
been among the wealthiest and best families of 
Norwich. Her ancestry on the male side is 
traced back to 1635, to John Birchard, one of the 
principal founders of Norwich. Both of her grand- 
fathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. 

The father of President Hayes was an industri- 
ous, frugal, yet open-hearted man. He was of a 



mechanical turn of mind, and could mend a plow, 
knit a stocking, or do almost anything else that 
he chose to undertake. He was a member of the 
church, active in all the benevolent enterprises 
of the town, and conducted his business on Chris- 
tian principles. After the close of the War of 
1812, for reasons inexplicable to his neighbors, he 
resolved to emigrate to Ohio. 

The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day, 
when there were no canals, steamers, or rail- 
ways, was a very serious affair. A tour of in- 
spection was first made, occupying four months. 
Mr. Hayes decided to move to Delaware, where 
the family arrived in 1817. He died July 22, 
1822, a victim of malarial fever, less than three 
months before the birth of the son of whom we 
write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore bereavement, 
found the support she so much needed in her 
brother Sardis, who had been a member of the 
household from the day of its departure from 
Vermont, and in an orphan girl, whom she had 
adopted some time before as an act of charity. 

Rutherford was seven years old before he went 
to school. His education, however, was not neg- 
lected. He probably learned as much from his 
mother and sister as he would have done at 
school. His sports were almost wholly within 
doors, his playmates being his sister and her asso- 
ciates. These circumstances tended, no doubt, to 
foster that gentleness of disposition and that del- 
icate consideration for the feelings of others which 
were marked traits of his character. 

His uncle, Sardis Birchard, took the deepest 
interest in his education; and as the boy's health 
had improved, and he was making good progress 
in his studies, he proposed to send him to college. 
His preparation commenced with a tutor at home; 



9 2 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



but lie was afterwards sent for one year to a pro- 
fessor in the Wesleyan University in Middletown, 
Conn. He entered Kenyon College in 1838, at 
the age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head 
of his class in 1842. 

Immediately after his graduation he began the 
study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, 
Esq., in Columbus. Finding his opportunities 
for study in Columbus somewhat limited, he de- 
termined to enter the Law School at Cambridge, 
Mass., where he remained two years. 

In 1845, after graduating at the Law School, he 
was admitted to the Bar at Marietta, Ohio, and 
shortly afterward went into practice as an at- 
torney-at-law with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fre- 
mont. Here he remained three years, acquiring 
but a limited practice, and apparently unambitious 
of distinction in his profession. 

In 1849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his am- 
bition found a new stimulus. For several years, 
however, his progress was slow. Two events 
occurring at this period had a powerful influence 
upon his subsequent life. One of these was his 
marriage with Miss Lucy Ware Webb, daughter 
of Dr. James Webb, of Chillicothe; the other was 
his introduction to the Cincinnati Literary Club, 
a body embracing among its members such men 
as Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Gen. John 
Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many others 
hardly less distinguished in after life. The mar- 
riage was a fortunate one in every respect, as 
everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of 
our Presidents was more universally admired, 
reverenced and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and 
no one did more than she to reflect honor upon 
American womanhood. The LiteraryClub brought 
Mr. Hayes into constant association with young 
men of high character and noble aims, and lured 
him to display the qualities so long hidden by his 
bashfulness and modesty. 

In 1856 he was nominated to the office of Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas, but he declined to 
accept the nomination. Two years later, the of- 
fice of City Solicitor becoming vacant, the City 
Council elected him for the unexpired term. 

In 1 86 1, when the Rebellion broke out, he was 
at the zenith of his professional life. His rank at 



the Bar was among the first. But the news of 
the attack on Ft. Sumter found him eager to 
take up arms for the defense of his country. 

His military record was bright and illustrious. 
In October, 1861, he was made Lieutenant- Colo- 
nel, and in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of 
the Seventy-ninth Ohio Regiment, but he refused 
to leave his old comrades and go among strangers. 
Subsequently, however, he was made Colonel of 
his old regiment. At the battle of South Moun- 
tain he received a wound, and while faint and 
bleeding displayed courage and fortitude tt 
won admiration from all. 

Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, 
after his recovery, to act as Brigadier-General, 
and placed in command of the celebrated Kanawha 
division, and for gallant and meritorious services 
in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and 
Cedar Creek, he was promoted Brigadier-General. 
He was also breveted Major-General, "for gallant 
and distinguished services during the campaigns 
of 1864, in West Virginia." In the course of his 
arduous services, four horses were shot from un- 
der him, and he was wounded four times. 

In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress 
from the Second Ohio District, which had long 
been Democratic. He was not present during the 
campaign, and after the election was importuned 
to resign his commission in the army; but he fi- 
nally declared, " I shall never come to Washing- 
ton until I can come by way of Richmond. ' ' He 
was re-elected in 1866. 

In 1867, Gen. Hayes was elected Governor of 
Ohio, over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popular 
Democrat, and in 1869 was re-elected over George 
H. Pendleton. He was elected Governor for the 
third term in 1875. 

In 1876 he was the standard-bearer of the Re- 
publican party in the Presidential contest, and 
after a hard, long contest was chosen President, 
and was inaugurated Monday, March 5, 1877. 
He served his full term, not, however, with satis- 
faction to his party, but his administration was an 
average one. The remaining years of his life 
were passed quietly in his Ohio home, where he 
passed away January 17, 1893. 



LIBRARY 

Of (Ht 

UNIYERSm Of ILLINOIS 



r 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



(TAMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth President 

I of the United States, was born November 19, 

(/ 1831, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga 

i County, Ohio. His parents were Abram and 

Eliza (Ballon) Garfield, both of New England 

ancestry, and from families well known in the 

early history of that section of our country, but 

who had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, 

early in its settlement. 

The house in which James A. was born was 
not unlike the houses of poor Ohio fanners of 
that day. It was about 20 x 30 feet, built of logs, 
with the spaces between the logs filled with clay. 
His father was a hard-working farmer, and he 
soon had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, 
and a log barn built. The household comprised 
the father and mother and their four children, 
Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In May, 
1823, the father died from a cold contracted in 
helping to put out a forest fire. At this time 
James was about eighteen months old, and 
Thomas about ten years old. No one, perhaps, 
can tell how much James was indebted to his 
brother's toil and self-sacrifice during the twenty 
years succeeding his father's death. He now 
lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live in Solon, 
Ohio, near their birthplace. 

The early educational advantages young Gar- 
field enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the 
most of them. He labored at farm work for 
others, did carpenter work, chopped wood, or did 
anything that would bring in a few dollars to aid 
his widowed mother in her struggles to keep the 
little family together. Nor was Gen. Garfield 
ever ashamed of his origin, and he never forgot 
the friends of his struggling childhood, youth and 
manhood; neither did they ever forget him. 
When in the highest seats of honor, the humblest 
friend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as 
ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the sym- 
pathy of one who had known all the bitterness of 



want and the sweetness of bread earned by the 
sweat of the brow. He was ever the simple, 
plain, modest gentleman. 

The highest .ambition of young Garfield until 
he was about sixteen years old was to be cap- 
tain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious 
to go aboard a vessel, but this his mother strongly 
opposed. She finally consented to his going to 
Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that 
he should try to obtain some other kind of em- 
ployment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. 
This was his first visit to the city. After making 
many applications for work, and trying to get 
aboard a lake vessel and not meeting with suc- 
cess, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos 
Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. 
He remained at this work but a short time, when 
he went home, and attended the seminary at 
Chester for about three years. He then entered 
Hiram and the Eclectic Institute, teaching a few 
terms of school in the mean time, and doing other 
work. This school was started by the Disciples 
of Christ in 1850, of which body he was then a 
member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in 
order to help pay his way. He then became both 
teacher and pupil. Soon "exhausting Hiram," 
and needing a higher education, in the fall of 1854 
he entered Williams College, from which he grad- 
uated in 1856, taking one of the highest honors of 
his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram Col- 
lege as its President. As above stated, he early 
united with the Christian, or Disciples, Church at 
Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealoua 
member, often preaching in its pulpit and places 
where he happened to be. 

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage, Novem- 
ber 11, 1858, with Miss Lucretia Rudolph, who 
proved herself worthy as the wife of one whom 
all the world loved. To them were born seven 
children, five of whom are still living, four boys 
and one girl. 



9 6 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 
1856, in Hiram and the neighboring villages, and 
three years later he began to speak at county 
mass-meetings, and became the favorite speaker 
wherever he was. During this year he was 
elected to the Ohio Senate. He also began to 
study law at Cleveland, and in 1861 was admitted 
to the Bar. The great Rebellion broke out in the 
early part of this year, and Mr. Garfield at once 
resolved to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to 
defend the Old Flag. He received 'his commission 
as Lieutenant- Colonel of the Forty-second Regi- 
ment of Ohio Infantry August 14, 1861. He 
was immediately put into active service, and be- 
fore he had ever seen a gun fired in action, was 
placed in command of four regiments of infantry 
and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the 
work of driving out of his native State the able 
rebel officer, Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky. 
This work was bravely and speedily accomplished, 
although against great odds, and President Lin- 
coln commissioned him Brigadier-General, Janu- 
ary 10, 1862; and "as he had bee.i the youngest 
man in the Ohio Senate two years before, so now 
he was the youngest General in the army." He 
was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, in its 
operations around Corinth and its march through 
Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of 
the general court martial for the trial of Gen. 
Fitz-John Porter. He was next ordered to re- 
port to Gen. Rosecrans, and was assigned to the 
" Chief of Staff. " The military history of Gen. 
Garfield closed with his brilliant services at Chick- 
amauga, where he won the rank of Major-General. 

Without an effort on his part, Gen. Garfield 
was elected to Congress in the fall of 1862, from 
the Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of 
Ohio had been represented in Congress for sixty 
years mainly by two men Elisha Whittlesey and 
Joshua R. Giddings. It was not without a strug- 
gle that he resigned his place in the army. At 
the time he entered Congress he was the youngest 
member in that body. There he remained by 
successive re-elections until he was elected Presi- 
dent, in 1880. Of his labors in Congress, Senator 
Hoar says: "Since the year 1864 you cannot 
'think of a question which has been debated in 



Congress, or discussed before a tribunal of the 
American people, in regard to which you will not 
find, if you wish instruction, the argument on 
one side stated, in almost every instance better 
than by anybody else, in some speech made in 
the House of Representatives or on the hustings 
by Mr. Garfield." 

Upon January 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elect- 
ed to the United States Senate, and on the- 8th of 
June, of the same year, was nominated as the 
candidate of his party for President at the great 
Chicago Convention. He was elected in the fol- 
lowing November, and on March 4, 1881, was 
inaugurated. Probably no administration ever 
opened its existence under brighter auspices than 
that of President Garfield, and every day it grew 
in favor with the people. By the ist of July 
he had completed all the initiatory and prelimi- 
nary work of his administration, and was prepar- 
ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Will- 
iams College. While on his way and at the 
depot, in company with Secretary Elaine, a man 
Stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and fired 
directly at his back. The President tottered and 
fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second 
shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his 
victim, but inflicting no further injury. It has 
been very truthfully said that this was ' ' the shot 
that was heard around the world. ' ' Never before 
in the history of the nation had anything occur- 
red which so nearly froze the blood of the people 
for the moment as this awful deed. He was 
smitten on the brightest, gladdest day of all his 
life, at the summit of his power and hope. For 
eighty days, all during the hot months of July 
and August, he lingered and suffered. He, how- 
ever, remained master of himself till the last, and 
by his magnificent bearing taught the country 
and the world one of the noblest of human les- 
sons how to live grandly in the very clutch of 
death. Great in life, he was surpassingly great 
in death. He passed serenely away September 
19, 1883, at Elberon, N. J., on the very bank of 
the ocean, where he had been taken shortly be- 
fore. The world wept at his death, as it rarely 
ever had done on the death of any other great 
and noble man. 



LIBRARY 

OF (HI 

UNIVBBI!> Of ILLINOIS 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first Presi- 
I ( dent of the United States, was born in Frank- 
\J lin County, Vt., on the 5th day of October, 
1830, and was the eldest of a family of two sons 
and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. 
William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who emi- 
grated to this country from County Antrim, Ire- 
land, in his eighteenth year, and died in 1875, in 
Newtonville, near Albany, after a long and suc- 
cessful ministry. 

Young Arthur was educated at Union College, 
Schenectady, where he excelled in all his studies. 
After his graduation he taught school in Ver- 
mont for two years, and at the expiration of that 
time came to New York, with $500 in his pocket, 
and entered the office of ex -Judge E. D. Culver 
as a student. After being admitted to the Bar, he 
formed a partnership with his intimate friend and 
room-mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the inten- 
tion of practicing in the West, and for three 
months they roamed about in the Western States 
in search of an eligible site, but in the end re- 
turned to New York, where they hung out their 
shingle, and entered upon a successful career al- 
most from the start. Gen. Arthur soon after mar- 
ried the daughter of Lieut. Herndon, of the 
United States Navy, who was lost at sea. Con- 
gress voted a gold medal to his widow in recog- 
nition of the bravery he displayed on that occa- 
sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. 
Arthur's nomination to the Vice-Presidency, leav- 
ing two children. 

Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celeb- 
rity in his first great case, the famous Lemmon 
suit, brought to recover possession of eight slaves 
who had been declared free by Judge Paine, of 
the Superior Court of New York City. It was in 



1852 that Jonathan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to 
New York with his slaves, intending to ship them 
to Texas, when they were discovered and freed. 
The Judge decided that they could not be held by 
the owner under the Fugitive Slave Law. A howl 
of rage went up from the South, and the Virginia 
Legislature authorized the Attorney-General of 
that State to assist in an appeal. William M. 
Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed to 
represent the people, and they won their case, 
which then went to the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Charles O' Conor here espoused 
the cause of the slaveholders, but he, too, was 
beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, and a long 
step was taken toward the emancipation of the 
black race. 

Another great service was rendered by Gen. 
Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jen- 
nings, a respectable colored woman, was put off 
a Fourth Avenue car with violence after she had 
paid her fare. Gen. Arthur sued on her behalf, 
and secured a verdict of $500 damages. The next 
day the company issued an order to admit colored 
persons to ride on their cars, and the other car 
companies quickly followed their example. Be- 
fore that the Sixth Avenue Company ran a few 
special cars for colored persons, and the other lines 
refused to let them ride at all. 

Gen. Arthur was a delegate to the convention 
at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. 
Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of 
the Second Brigade of the State of New York, 
and Gov. Morgan, of that State, appointed him 
Engineer-in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was 
made Inspector- General, and soon afterward be- 
came Quartermaster-General. In each of these 
offices he rendered great service to the Govern- 



100 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



ment during the war. At the end of Gov. Mor- 
gan's term he resumed the practice of law, form- 
ing a partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then 
Mr. Phelps, the District Attorney of New York, 
was added to the firm. The legal practice of this 
well-known firm was very large and lucrative, 
as each of the gentlemen composing it was an able 
lawyer, and possessed a splendid local reputa- 
tion, if not, indeed, one of national extent. 

Mr. Arthur always took a leading part in State 
and city politics. He was appointed Collector of 
the Port of New York by President Grant, No- 
vember 21, 1872, to succeed Thomas Murphy, 
and he held the office until July 20, 1878, when 
he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. 

Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential 
ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the 
famous National Republican Convention held at 
Chicago in June, 1880. This was perhaps the 
greatest political convention that ever assembled 
on the continent. It was composed of the lead- 
ing politicians of the Republican party, all able 
men, and each stood firm and fought vigorously 
and with signal tenacity for his respective can- 
didate that was before the convention for the 
nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield received the 
nomination for President, and Gen. Arthur for 
Vice-President. The campaign which followed 
was one of the most animated known in the his- 
tory of our country. Gen. Hancock, the stand- 
ard-bearer of the Democratic party, was a popular 
man, and his party made a valiant fight for his 
election. 

Finally the election came, and the country's 
choice was Garfield and Arthur. They were in- 
augurated March 4, 1881, as President and Vice- 
President. A few months only had passed ere 
the newly-chosen President was the victim of the 
assassin's bullet. Then came terrible weeks of 
suffering those moments of anxious suspense, 
when the hearts of all civilized nations were 
throbbing in unison, longing for the recovery of 
the noble, the good President. The remarkable 
patience that he manifested during those hours 
and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible 
suffering man has ever been called upon to en- 
dure, was seemingly more than human. It was 



certainly godlike. During all this period of 
deepest anxiety Mr. Arthur's every move was 
watched, and, be it said to his credit, that his every 
action displayed only an earnest desire that the 
suffering Garfield might recover to serve the re- 
mainder of the term he had so auspiciously be- 
gun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested in 
deed or look of this man, even though the most 
honored position in the world was at any moment 
likely to fall to him. 

At last God in his mercy relieved President 
Garfield from further suffering, and the world, as 
never before in its history over the death of any 
other man, wept at his bier. Then it became the 
duty of the Vice-President to assume the respon- 
sibilities of the high office, and he took the oath 
in New York, September 20, 1881. The position 
was an embarrassing one to him, made doubly so 
from the fact that all eyes were on him, anxious 
to know what he would do, what policy he would 
pursue, and whom he would select as advisers. 
The duties of the office had been greatly neglected 
during the President's long illness, and many im- 
portant measures were to be immediately decided 
by him; and to still further embarass him he did 
not fail to realize under what circumstances he 
became President, and knew the feelings of many 
on this point. Under these trying circumstances, 
President Arthur took the reins of the Govern- 
ment in his own hands, and, as embarrassing as 
was the condition of affairs, he happily surprised 
the nation, acting so wisely that but few criticized 
his administration. He served the nation well 
and faithfully until the close of his administra- 
tion, March 4, 1885, and was a popular candidate 
before his party for a second term. His name 
was ably presented before the convention at Chi- 
cago, and was received with great favor, and 
doubtless but for the personal popularity of one 
of the opposing candidates, he would have been 
selected as the standard-bearer of his party for 
another campaign. He retired to private life, car- 
rying with him the best wishes of the American 
people, whom he had served in a manner satisfac- 
tory to them and with credit to himself. One 
year later he was called to his final rest. 



LIBRARY 
Of fHt 
WHVBBI7Y Of 



STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND. 



(STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND, the 
r\ twenty -second President of the United States, 
\~J was born in 1837, ' n the obscure town of 
Caldwell, Essex County, N. J., and in a little 
two-and-a-half-story white house, which is still 
standing to characteristically mark the humble 
birthplace of one of America's great men, in 
striking contrast with the Old World, where all 
men high in office must be high in origin and 
born in the cradle of wealth. When the subject 
of this sketch was three years of age, his father, 
who was a Presbyterian minister with a large 
family and a small salary, moved, by way of the 
Hudson River and Erie Canal, to Fayetteville, N. 
Y., in search of an increased income and a larger 
field of work. Fayetteville was then the most 
straggling of country villages, about five miles 
from Pompey Hill, where Governor Seymour 
was born. 

At the last-mentioned place young Grover com- 
menced going to school in the good, old-fashioned 
way, and presumably distinguished himself after 
the manner of all village boys in doing the 
things he ought not to do. Such is the dis- 
tinguishing trait of all geniuses and independent 
thinkers. When he arrived at the age of four- 
teen years, he had outgrown the capacity of the 
village school, and expressed a most emphatic de- 
sire to be sent to an academy. To this his fa- 
ther decidedly objected. Academies in those 
days cost money ; besides, his father wanted him 
to become self-supporting by the quickest pos- 
sible means, and this at that time in Fayetteville 
seemed to be a position in a country store, where 
his father and the large family on his hands had 



considerable influence. Grover was to be paid 
$50 for his services the first year, and if he proved 
trustworthy he was to receive $100 the second 
year. Here the lad commenced his career as 
salesman, and in two years he had earned so good 
a reputation for trustworthiness that his employ- 
ers desired to retain him for an indefinite length 
of time. 

But instead of remaining with this firm in 
Fayetteville, he went with the family in their re- 
moval to Clinton, where he had an opportunity 
of attending a High School. Here he industri- 
ously pursued his studies until the family re- 
moved with him to a point on Black River known 
as the "Holland Patent," a village of five or six 
hundred people, fifteen miles north of Utica, N. Y. 
At this place his father died, after preaching but 
three Sundays. This event broke up the family, 
and Grover set out for New York City to accept, 
at a small salary, the position of under- teacher 
in an asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully 
for two years, and although he obtained a good 
reputation in this capacity, he concluded that 
teaching was not his calling in life, and, revers- 
ing the traditional order, he left the city to seek 
his fortune, instead of going to the city. He first 
thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as there was some 
charm in that name for him; but before proceed- 
ing to that place he went to Buffalo to ask advice 
of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted stock- 
breeder of that place. The latter did not speak 
enthusiastically. "What is it you want to do, 
my boy?" he asked. "Well, sir, I want to study 
law," was the reply "Good gracious!" remarked 
the old gentleman; " do you, indeed? Whatever 



104 



STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND. 



put that into your head ? How much money 
have you got?" "Well, sir, to tell the truth, I 
haven't got any." 

After a long consultation, his uncle offered him 
a place temporarily as assistant herd-keeper, at 
$50 a year, while he could look around. One 
day soon afterward he boldly walked into the of- 
fice of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and 
told them what he wanted. A number of young 
men were already engaged in the office, but Gro- 
ver's persistency won, and he was finally per- 
mitted to come as an office boy and have the use 
of the law library, receiving as wages the sum of 
$3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for his 
board and washing. The walk to and from his 
uncle's was a long and rugged one; and although 
the first winter was a memorably severe one, his 
shoes were out of repair, and as for his overcoat he 
had none; yet he was, nevertheless, prompt and 
regular. On the first day of his service there, his 
senior employer threw down a copy of Black- 
stone before him, with a bang that made the dust 
fly, saying "That's where they all begin." A 
titter ran around the little circle of clerks, and 
students, as they thought that was enough to 
scare young Grover out of his plans; but in due 
time he mastered that cumbersome volume. 
Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleve- 
land exhibited a talent for .executiveness rather 
than for chasing principles through all their 
metaphysical possibilities. ' 'L,et us quit talking 
and go and do it, ' ' was practically his motto. 

The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland 
was elected was that of Sheriff of Erie County, 
N. Y., in which Buffalo is situated; and in such 
capacity it fell to his duty to inflict capital punish- 
ment upon two criminals. In 1881 he was 
elected Mayor of the City of Buffalo, on the 
Democratic ticket, with especial reference to bring- 
ing about certain reforms in the administration 
of the municipal affairs of that city. In this of- 
fice, as well as in that of Sheriff, his performance 
of duty has generally been considered fair, with 
possibly a few exceptions, which were ferreted 
out and magnified during his Presidential cam- 
paign. As a specimen of his plain language in 
a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an 



iniquitous street-cleaning contract: "This is a 
time for plain speech, and my objection to your 
action shall be plainly stated. I regard it as the 
culmination of a most bare-faced, impudent and 
shameless scheme to betray the interests of the 
people and to worse than squander the people's 
money." The New York Sun afterward very 
highly commended Mr. Cleveland's administra- 
tion as Mayor of Buffalo, and thereupon recom- 
mended him for Governor of the Empire State. 
To the latter office he was elected in 1882, and 
his administration of the affairs of State was 
generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, 
if any, were made very public throughout the na- 
tion after he was nominated for President of the 
United States. For this high office he was 
nominated July n, 1884, by the National Demo- 
cratic Convention at Chicago, when other com- 
petitors were Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. 
Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. 
Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc. ; and he was 
elected by the people, by a majority of about a 
thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Re- 
publican statesman, James G. Elaine. President 
Cleveland resigned his office as Governor of New 
York in January, 1885, in order to prepare for 
his duties as the Chief Executive of the United 
States, in which capacity his term commenced at 
noon on the 4th of March, 1885. 

The silver question precipitated a controversy 
between those who were in favor of the continu- 
ance of silver coinage and those who were op- 
posed, Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, 
even before his inauguration. 

On June 2, 1886, President Cleveland married 
Frances, daughter of his deceased friend and part- 
ner, Oscar Folsom, of the Buffalo Bar. Their 
union has been blessed by the birth of two daugh- 
ters. In the campaign of 1888, President Cleve- 
land was renominated by his party, but the 
Republican candidate, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, 
was victorious. In the nominations of 1892 
these two candidates for the highest position in 
the gift of the people were again pitted against 
each other, and in the ensuing election Presideat 
Cleveland was victorious by an overwhelming 
majority. 



LIBRARY 

OFFHt 

UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



HENJAMIN HARRISON, the twenty-third 

IC\ President, is the descendant of one of the 
d/ historical families of this country. The first 
known head of the family was Maj.-Gen. Harrison, 
one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted followers and 
fighters. In the zenith of Cromwell' s power it be- 
came the duty of this Harrison to participate in 
the trial of Charles I., and afterward to sign the 
death warrant of the king. He subsequently 
paid for this with his life, being hung October 13, 
1660. His descendants came to America, and 
the next of the family that appears in history is 
Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great-grandfa- 
ther of the subject of this sketch, and after whom 
he was named. Benjamin Harrison was a mem- 
ber of the Continental Congress during the years 
1774, 1775 and 1776, and was one of the original 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. He 
was three times elected Governor of Virginia. 

Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the 
distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a 
successful career as a soldier during the War of 
1812, and with a clean record as Governor of the 
Northwestern Territory, was elected President of 
the United States in 1840. His career was cut 
short by death within one month after his in- 
auguration. 

President Harrison was born at North Bend, 



Hamilton County, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His 
life up to the time of his graduation from Miami 
University, at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful 
one of a country lad of a family of small means. 
His father was able to give him a good education, 
and nothing more. He became engaged while at 
college to the daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of 
a female school at Oxford. . After graduating, he 
determined to enter upon the study of law. He 
went to Cincinnati and there read law for two 
years. At the expiration of that time young Har- 
rison received the only inheritance of his life his 
aunt, dying, left him a lot valued at $800. He 
regarded this legacy as a fortune, and decided to 
get married at once, take this money and go to 
some Eastern town and begin the practice of law. 
He sold his lot, and, with the money in his pocket, 
he started out with his young wife to fight for a 
place in the world. He decided to go to Indian- 
apolis, which was even at that time a town of 
promise. He met with slight 'encouragement at 
first, making scarcely anything the first year. 
He worked diligently, applying himself closely to 
his calling, built up an extensive practice and 
took a leading rank in the legal profession. 

In 1860, Mr. Harrison was nominated for the 
position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- 
gan his experience as a stump speaker. He can- 



io8 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by 
a handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the 
Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its 
Colonel. His regiment was composed of the raw- 
est material, but Col. Harrison employed all his 
time at first in mastering military tactics and drill- 
ing his men, and when he came to move toward 
the East with Sherman, his regiment was one of 
the best drilled and organized in the army. At 
Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and 
(br his bravery at Peachtree Creek he was made 
a Brigadier-General, Gen. Hooker speaking of 
him in the most complimentary terms. 

During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the 
field, the Supreme Court declared the office of 
Supreme Court Reporter vacant, and another 
person was elected to the position. From the 
time of leaving Indiana with his regiment until 
the fall of 1864 he had taken no leave of absence, 
but having been nominated that year for the same 
office, he got a thirty-day leave of absence, and 
during that time made a brilliant canvass of the 
State, and was elected for another term. He then 
started to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was 
stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a most 
trying attack made his way to the front in time to 
participate in the closing incidents of the war. 

In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-election 
as Reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 
1876 he was a candidate for Governor. Although 
defeated, the brilliant campaign he made won for 
him a national reputation, and he was much sought 
after, especially in the East, to make speeches. 
In 1880, as usual, he took an active part in the 
campaign, and was elected to the United States 
Senate. Here he served for six years, and was 
known as one of the ablest men, best lawyers and 
strongest debaters in that body. With the ex- 
piration of his senatorial term he returned to the 
practice of his profession, becoming the head of 
one of the strongest firms in the State. 

The political campaign of 1888 was one of the 
most memorable in the history of our country. 
The convention which assembled in Chicago in 
June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief stand- 
ard-bearer of the Republican party was great in 
every particular, and on this account, and the at- 



titude it assumed upon the vital questions of the 
day, chief among which was the tariff, awoke a 
deep interest in the campaign throughout tin: 
nation. Shortly after the nomination, delegations 
began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his 
home. This movement became popular, and from 
all sections of the country societies, clubs and. 
delegations journeyed thither to pay their re- 
spects to the distinguished statesman. 

Mr. Harrison spoke daily all through the sum- 
mer and autumn to these visiting delegations, 
and so varied, masterly, and eloquent were his 
speeches that they at once placed him in the fore- 
most rank of American orators and statesmen. 
Elected by a handsome majority, he served his 
country faithfully and well, and in 1892 was nom- 
inated for re-election; but the people demanded a 
change and he was defeated by his predecessor 
in office, Grover Cleveland. 

On account of his eloquence as a speaker and 
his power as a debater, Gen. Harrison was called 
upon at an early age to take part in the dis- 
cussion of the great questions that then began to 
agitate the country. He was an uncompromising 
anti-slavery man, and was matched against some 
of the most eminent Democratic speakers of his 
State. No man who felt the touch of his blade 
desired to be pitted with him again. With all 
his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for ora- 
torical effect, but his words always went like bul- 
lets to the mark. He is purely American in his 
ideas, and is a splendid type of the American 
statesman. Gifted with quick perception, a logi- 
cal mind and a ready tongue, he is one of the 
most distinguished impromptu speakers in the 
nation. Many of these speeches sparkled with the 
rarest eloquence and contained arguments of great 
weight, and many of his terse statements have 
already become aphorisms. Original in thought, 
precise in logic, terse in statement, yet withal 
faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the 
sound statesman and brilliant orator of the day. 
During the last days of his administration Presi- 
dent Harrison suffered an irreparable loss in the 
death of his devoted wife, Caroline (Scott) Har- 
rison, a lady of many womanly charms and vir- 
tues. They were the parents of two children. 



LIBRARY 

Of THE 

UMVEMSin Of ILUNOB 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 





HADRACH BOND, the first 
Governor of Illinois after its 
organization as a State, serving 
from 1818 to 1822, was born in 
Frederick County, Maryland, 
in the year 1773, and was 
raised a farmer on his father's 
plantation, receiving only a plain 
English education. He emigrated 
to this State in 1794, when it was a 
part of the "Northwest Territory," 
continuing in the vocation in which 
he had been brought up in his native 
State, in the " New Design," near 
Eagle Creek, in what is now Monroe 
County. He served several terms as 
a member of the General Assembly 
of Indiana Territory, after it was organized as such, 
and in 1812-14 he was a Delegate to the Twelfth 
and Thirteenth Congresses, taking his seat Dec. 3, 
1812, and serving until Oct. 3, 1814. These were 
the times, the reader will recollect, when this Gov- 
ernment had its last struggle with Great Britain. 
The year 1812 is also noted in the history of this 
State as that in which the first Territorial Legislature 
was held. It convened at Kaskaskia, Nov. 25, and 
adjourned Dec. 26, following. 

While serving as Delegate to Congress, Mr. Bond 
was instrumental in procuring the right of pre-emp- 
tion on the public domain. On the expiration of his 
term at Washington he was appointed Receiver of 
Public Moneys at Kaskaskia, then the capital of the 
Territory. In company with John G. Comyges, 



Thomas H. Harris, Charles Slade, Michael Jones, 
Warren Brown. Edward Humphries and Charles W 
Hunter, he became a proprietor of the site of the 
initial city of Cairo, which they hoped, from its favor-- 
able location at the junction of the two great 
rivers near the center of the Great West, would 
rapidly develop into a metropolis. To aid the enter- 
prise, they obtained a special charter from the Legis- 
lature, incorporating both the City and the Bank of 
Cairo. 

In i8r8 Mr. Bond was elected the first Governor 
of the State of Illinois, being inaugurated Oct. 6 
that year, which was several weeks before Illinois 
was actually admitted. The facts are these : In 
January, 1818, the Territorial Legislature sent a peti- 
tion to Congress for the admission of Illinois as a 
State, Nathaniel Pope being then Delegate. The 
petition was granted, fixing the northern line of the 
State on the latitude of the southern extremity of 
Lake Michigan; but the bill was afterward so amend- 
ed as to extend this line to its present latitude. In 
July a convention was called at Kaskaskia to draft a 
constitution, which, however, was not submitted to 
the people. By its* provisions, supreme judges, pros 
ecuting attorneys, county and circuit judges, record- 
ers and justices of the peace were all to be appointed 
by the Governor or elected by the Legislature. This 
constitution was accepted by Congress Dec. 30. At 
that time Illinois comprised but eleven counties, 
namely, Randolph, Madison, Gallatin, Johnson, 
Pope, Jackson, Crawford, Bond, Union, Washington 
and Franklin, the northern portion of the State be- 
ing mainly in Madison County. Thus it appears 
that Mr. Bond was honored by the naming of a 



i r 



SHADRACH BOND. 



county before he was elected Governor. The present 
county of Bond is of small limitations, about 60 to 80 
miles south of Springfield. For Lieutenant Governor 
the people chose Pierre Menard, a prominent and 
worthy Frenchman, after whom a county in this State 
is named. In this election there were no opposition 
candidates, as the popularity of these men had made 
their promotion to the chief offices of the Slate, even 
before the constitution was drafted, a foregone con- 
clusion. 

The principal points that excited the people in 
reference to political issues at this period were local 
or "internal improvements," as they were called, 
State banks, location of the capital, slavery and the 
personal characteristics of the proposed candidates. 
Mr. Bond represented the " Convention party," for 
introducing slavery into the State, supported by Elias 
Ke.it Kane, his Secretary of State, and John Mc- 
Lean, while Nathaniel Pope and John P. Cook led 
the anti-slavery element. The people, however, did 
not become very much excited over this issue until 
1820, when the famous Missouri Compromise was 
adopted by Congress, limiting slavery to the south 
of the parallel of 36 30' except in Missouri. While, 
this measure settled the great slavery controversy, 
so far as the average public sentiment was tempor- 
arily concerned, until 1854, when it was repealed 
under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, the issue 
as considered locally in this State was not decided 
until 1824, after a most furious campaign. (See 
sketch of Gov. Coles.) The ticket of 1818 was a 
compromise one, Bond representing (moderately) the 
pro-slavery sentiment and Menard the anti-slavery. 

An awkward element in the State government 
under Gov. Bond's administration, was the imperfec- 
tion of the State constitution. The Convention 
wished to have Elijah C. Berry for the first Auditor 
of Public Accounts, but, as it was-believed that the 
new Governor would not appoint him to the office, 
the Convention declared in a schedule that "an 
auditor of public accounts, an attorney general and 
such other officers of the State as may be necessary, 
may be appointed by the General Assembly." The 
Constitution, as it stood, vested a very large appoint- 
ing power in the Governor ; but for the purpose of 
getting one man into office, a total change was made, 
*nd the power vested in the Legislature. Of this 
provision the Legislature took advantage, and de- 



clared that State's attorneys, canal commissioners, 
bank directors, etc., were all " officers of the State '' 
and must therefore be appointed by itself independ- 
ently of the Governor. 

During Gov. Bond's administration a general law 
was passed for the incorporation of academies and 
towns, and one authorizing lotteries. The session of 
1822 authorized the Governor to appoint commis- 
sioners, to act in conjunction with like commissioners 
appointed by the State of Indiana, to report on the 
practicability and expediency of improving the navi- 
gation of the Wabash River ; also inland navigation 
generally. Many improvements were recommended, 
some of which have been feebly worked at even till 
the present day, those along the Wabash being of no 
value. Also, during Gov. Bond's term of office, the 
capital of the State was removed from Kaskaskia to 
Vandalia. In 1820 a law was passed by Congress 
authorizing this State to open a canal through the 
public lands. The State appointed commissioners 
lo explore the route and prepare the necessary sur- 
veys and estimates, preparatory to its execution; 
but, being unable out of its own resources to defray 
the expenses of the undertaking, it was abandoned 
until some time after Congress made the grant of 
land for the purpose of its construction. 

On the whole, Gov. Bond's administration was 
fairly good, not being open to severe criticism from 
any party. In 1824, two years after the expiration 
of his term of office, he was brought out as a candi- 
date for Congress against the formidable John P. 
Cook, but received only 4,374 votes to 7,460 for the 
latter. Gov. Bond was no orator, but had made 
many fast friends by a judicious bestowment of his 
gubernatorial patronage, and these worked zealously 
for him in the campaign. 

In 1827 ex-Gov. Bond was appointed by the Leg- 
islature, with Wm. P. McKee and Dr. Gershom 
Jayne, as Commissioners to locate a site for a peni- 
tentiary on the Mississippi at or near Alton. 

Mr. Bond was of a benevolent and convivial dis- 
position, a man of shrewd observation and clear ap- 
preciation of events. His person was erect, stand- 
ing six feet in height, and after middle life became 
portly, weighing 200 pounds. His features were 
strongly masculine, complexion dark, hair jet and 
eyes hazel ; was a favorite with the ladies. He died 
April n, 1830, in peace and contentment 



LIBRARY 

of m 

UNIVERSITY Of HUNUIS 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



)>war& Coles 





DWARD COLES, second 
Governor of Illinois, 1823- 
6, was born Dec. 15, 1786, 
in Albemarle Co., Va., on 
the old family estate called 
"Enniscorthy," on the 
Green Mountain. His fath- 
er, John Coles, was a Colonel in the 
Revolutionary War. Having been fit- 
ted for college by private tutors, he 
was sent to Hampden Sidney, where 
he remained until the autumn of 1805, 
when he was removed to William and 
Mary College, at Williamsburg, Va. 
This college he left in the summer of 
1807, a short time before the final and graduating 
examination. Among his classmates were Lieut. 
Gen. Scott, President John Tyler, Wm. S. Archer, 
United States Senator from Virginia, and Justice 
Baldwin, of the United States Supreme Court. The 
President of the latter college, Bishop Madison, was 
a cousin of President James Madison, and that cir- 
cumstance was the occasion of Mr. Coles becoming 
personally acquainted with the President and re- 
ceiving a position as his private secretary, 180915. 
The family of Coles was a prominent one in Vir- 
ginia, and their mansion was the seat of the old- 
fashioned Virginian hospitality. It was visited by 
such notables as Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Madison, 
Monroe, the Randolphs, Tazewell, Wirt, etc. At the 
age of 23, young Coles founa himself heir to a plant- 
ation and a considerable number of slaves. Ever 
since his earlier college days his attention had been 
drawn to the question of slavery. He read every- 



thing on the subject that came in his way, and 
listened to lectures on the rights of man. The more 
he reflected upon the subject, the more impossible 
was it for him to reconcile the immortal declaration 
"that all men are born free and equal " with the 
practice of slave-holding. He resolved, therefore, to 
free his slaves the first opportunity, and even remove 
his residence to a free State. One reason which de- 
termined him to accept the appointment as private 
secretary to Mr. Madison was because he believed 
that through the acquaintances he could make at 
Washington he could better determine in what part 
of the non-slaveholding portion of the Union he would 
prefer to settle. 

The relations between Mr. Coles and President 
Madison, as well as Jefferson and other distinguished 
men, were of a very friendly character, arising from 
the similarity of their views on the question of slavery 
and their sympathy for each other in holding doc- 
trines so much at variance with the prevailing senti- 
ment in their own State. 

In 1857, he resigned his secretaryship and spent a 
portion of the following autumn in exploring the 
Northwest Territory, for the purpose of finding a lo- 
cation and purchasing lands on which to settle his 
negroes. He traveled with a horse and buggy, with 
an extra man and horse for emergencies, through 
many parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, 
determining finally to settle in Illinois. At this time, 
however, a misunderstanding arose between our 
Government and Russia, and Mr. Coles was selected 
to repair to St. Petersburg on a special mission, bear- 
ing important papers concerning the matter at issue 
The result was a conviction of the Emperor (Alex- 



1.0 



EDWARD COLES. 



ander) of the error committed by his minister at 
Washington, and the consequent withdrawal of the 
the latter from the post. On his return, Mr. Coles 
visited other parts of Europe, especially Paris, where 
he was introduced to Gen. Lafayette. 

In the spring of 1819, he removed with all his 
negroes from Virginia to Edwardsville, 111., with the 
intention of giving them their liberty. He did not 
make known to them his intention until one beautiful 
morning in April, as they were descending the Ohio 
River. He lashed all the boats together and called 
all the negroes on deck and made them a short ad- 
dress, concluding his remarks by so expressing him- 
self that by a turn of a sentence he proclaimed in 
the shortest and fullest manner that they were no 
longer slaves, but free as he was and were at liberty 
to proceed with him or go ashore at their pleas- 
ure. A description of the effect upon the negroes is 
best desctibed in his own language : 

" The effect upon them was electrical. They stared 
at rne and then at each other, as if doubting the ac- 
curacy or reality of what they heard. In breathless 
silence they stood before me, unable to utter a word, 
but with countenances beaming with expression which 
no words could convey, and which no language 
can describe. As they began to see the truth of 
what they had heard, and realize their situation, there 
came on a kind of hysterical, giggling laugh. After 
a pause of intense and unutterable emotion, -bathed 
in tears, and with tremulous voices, they gave vent to 
their gratitude and implored the blessing of God 
on me." 

Before landing he gave them a general certificate 
of freedom, and afterward conformed more particu- 
larly with the law of this State requiring that each 
individual should have a certificate. This act of 
Mr. Coles, all the more noble and heroic considering 
the overwhelming pro-slavery influences surrounding 
him, has challenged the admiration of every philan- 
thropist of modern times. 

March 5, 1819, President Monroe appointed Mr. 
Coles Registrar of the Land Office at Edwardsvihe, 
at that time one of the principal land offices in the 
State. While acting in this capacity and gaining 
many friends by his politeness and general intelli- 
g^nce, the greatest struggle that ever occurred in 
Illinois on the slavery question culminated in the 
furious contest characterizing the campaigns and 
elections of 1822-4. 1 the summer of 1823, when a 
new Governor was to be elected to succeed Mr. 
Bond, the pro-slavery element divided into factions, 
putting forward for the executive office Joseph 
Phillips, Chief Justice of the State, Thomas C. 
Browne and Gen. James B. Moore, of the State Mil- 
itia. The anti-slavery element united upon Mr. 
Coles, and, after one of the most bitter campaigns, 
succeeded in electing him as Governor. His plural- 
ity over Judge Phillips was only 59 in a total vote of 



over 8,000. The Lieutenant Governor was elected 
by the slavery men. Mr. Coles' inauguration speech 
was marked by calmness, deliberation and such a 
wise expression of appropriate suggestions as to 
elicit the sanction of all judicious politicians. But 
he compromised not with evil. In his message to 
the Legislature, the seat of Government being then 
at Vandalia, he strongly urged the abrogation of the 
modified form of slavery which then existed in this 
State, contrary to the Ordinance of 1787. His posi- 
tion on this subject seems the more remarkable, when 
it is considered that he was a minority Governor, the 
population of Illinois being at that time almost ex- 
clusively from slave-holding States and by a large 
majority in favor of the perpetuation of that old relic 
of barbarism. The Legislature itself was, of course, 
a reflex of the popular sentiment, and a majority of 
them were led on by fiery men in denunciations of 
the conscientious Governor, and in curses loud and 
deep upon him and all his friends. Some of the 
public men, indeed, went so far as to head a sort of 
mob, or " shiveree " party, who visited the residence 
of the Governor and others at Vandalia and yelled 
and groaned and spat fire. 

The Constitution, not establishing or permitting 
slavery in this State, was thought therefore to be 
defective by the slavery politicians, and they desired 
a State Convention to be elected, to devise and sub- 
mit a new Constitution ; and the dominant politics 
of the day was "Convention" and "anti-Conven- 
tion." Both parties issiled addresses to the people, 
Gov. Coles himself being the author of the address 
published by the latter party. This address revealed 
the schemes of the conspirators in a masterly man- 
ner. It is difficult for us at this distant day to esti- 
mate the critical and extremely delicate situation in 
which the Governor was placed at that time. 

Our hero maintained himself honorably and with 
supreme dignity throughout his administration, and 
in his honor a county in this State is named. He 
was truly a great man, and those who lived in 
this State during his sojourn here, like those who 
live at the base of the mountain, were too near to see 
and recognize the greatness that overshadowed them. 

Mr. Coles was married Nov. 28, 1833, by Bishop 
De Lancey, to Miss Sally Logan Roberts, a daughter 
of Hugh Roberts, a descendant of Welsh ancestry, 
who cams to this country with Wm. Penn in 1682. 

After the expiration of his term of service, Gov. 
Coles continued his residence in Edwardsville, sup- 
erintending his farm in the vicinity. He was fond 
of agriculture, and was the founder of the first agri- 
cultural society in the State. On account of ill 
health, however, and having no family to tie him 
down, he spent much of his time in Eastern cities. 
About 1832 he changed his residence to Philadel- 
phia, where he died July 7, 1868, and is buried at 
Woodland, near that city. 



LIBRARY 

Of tHt 

UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



119 





INI AN EDWARDS, Governor 
from 1827 to 1830, was a son 
of Benjamin Edwards, and 
was born in Montgomery 
County, Maryland, in March, 
1775. His domestic train- 
ing was well fitted to give 
his mind strength, firmness and 



honorable principles, and a good 
foundation was laid for the elevated 
character to which he afterwards 
attained. His parents were Bap- 
tists, and very strict in their moral 
principles. His education in early 
youth was in company with and 
partly under the tuition of Hon. Wm. 
Wirt, whom his father patronized ? 
and who was more than two years 
older. An intimacy was thus 
formed between them which was lasting for life. He 
was further educated at Dickinson College, at Car- 
lisle, Pa. He next commenced the study of law, but 
before completing his course he moved to Nelson 
County, Ky., to open a farm for his father and to 
purchase homes and locate lands for his brothers and 
sisters. Here he fell in the company of dissolute 
companions, and for several years led the life of a 
spendthrift. He was, however, elected to the Legis- 
lature of Kentucky as the Representative of Nelson 
bounty before he was 21 years of age, and was re- 
lectecl by an almost unanimous vote. 



In 1798 he was licensed to practice law, and the 
following year was admitted to the Courts of Tennes- 
see. About this time he left Nelson County for 
Russellville, in Logan County, broke away from his 
dissolute companions, commenced a reformation and 
devoted himself to severe and laborious study. He 
then began to rise rapidly in his profession, and soon 
became an eminent lawyer, and inside of four years 
he filled in succession the offices of Presiding Judge 
of the General Court, Circuit Judge, fourth Judge of 
the Court of Appeals and Chief Justice of the State, 
all before he was 32 years of age! In addition, in 
1802, he received a commission as Major of a battal- 
ion of Kentucky militia, and in 1804 was chosen a 
Presidential Elector, on the Jefferson and Clinton 
ticket. In 1806 he was a candidate for Congress, 
but withdrew on being promoted to the Court of 
Appeals. 

Illinois was organized as a separate Territory in 
the spring of 1809, when Mr. Edwards, then Chief 
Justice of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, received 
from President Madison the appointment as Gover- 
nor of the new Territory, his commission bearing date 
April 24, 1809. Edwards arrived at Kaskaskia in 
June, and on the i ith of that month took the oath of 
office. At the same time he was appointed Superin- 
tendent of the United States Saline, this Government 
interest then developing into considerable proportions 
in Southern Illinois. Although during the first three 
years of his administration he had the power to make 
new counties and appoint all the officers, yet he always 
allowed the people of each county, by an informal 



NINIAM EDWARDS. 



vote, to select their own officers, both civil and mili- 
tary. The noted John J. Crittenden, afterward 
United States Senator from Kentucky, was appointed 
by Gev. Edwards to the office of Attorney General of 
the Territory, which office was accepted for a short 
time only. 

The Indians in 1810 committing sundry depreda- 
tions in the Territory, crossing the Mississippi from 
the Territory of Louisiana, a long correspondence fol- 
lowed between the respective Governors concerning 
the remedies, which ended in a council with the sav- 
ages at Peoria in 1812, and a fresh interpretation of 
the treaties. Peoria was depopulated by these de- 
predations, and was not re-settled for many vej.rs 
afterward. 

As Gov. Edwards' term of office expired by law in 
1812, he was re-appointed for another term of three 
years, and again in 1815 for a third term, serving 
until the organization of the State in the fall of 1818 
and the inauguration of Gov. Bond. At this time 
ex-Gov. Edwards was sent to the United States 
Senate, his colleague being Jesse B. Thomas. As 
Senator, Mr. Edwards took a conspicuous part, and 
acquitted himself honorably in all the measures that 
came up in that body, being well posted, an able de- 
bater and a conscientious statesman. He thought 
seriously of resigning this situation in 1821, but was 
persuaded by his old friend, Wm. Wirt, and others to 
continue in office, which he did to the end of the 
term. 

He was then appointed Minister to Mexico by 
President Monroe. About this time, it appears that 
Mr. Edwards saw suspicious signs in the conduct of 
Wm. H. Crawford, Secretary of the United States 
Treasury, and an ambitious candidate for the Presi- 
dency, and being implicated by the latter in some of 
his statements, he resigned his Mexican mission in 
order fully to investigate the charges. The result 
was the exculpation of Mr. Edwards. 

Pro-slavery regulations, often termed "Black Laws," 
disgraced the statute books of both the Territory and 
'.he State of Illinois during the whole of his career in 
ihis commonwealth, and Mr. Edwards always main- 
tained the doctrines of freedom, and was an important 
actor in the great struggle which ended in a victory 
for his parfy in 1824. 

In i826--7 the Winnebago and other Indians com- 
mitted sorre depredations in the northern part of the 



State, and the white settlers, who desired the lands 
and wished to exasperate the savages into an evacu- 
ation of the country, magnified the misdemeanors of 
the aborigines and thereby produced a hostility be- 
tween the races so great as to precipitate a little war, 
known in history as the "Winnebago War." A few 
chases and skirmishes were had, when Gen. Atkinson 
succeeded in capturing Red Bird, the Indian chief, 
and putting him to death, thus ending the contest, at 
least until the troubles commenced which ended in 
the " Black Hawk War " of 1832. In the interpre- 
tation of treaties and execution of their provisions 
Gov. Edwards had much vexatious work to do. The 
Indians kept themselves generally within the juris- 
diction of Michigan Territory, and its Governor, 
Lewis Cass, was at a point so remote that ready cor- 
respondence with him was difficult or impossible. 
Gov. Edwards' administration, however, in regard to 
the protection of the Illinois frontier, seems to hava 
been very efficient and satisfactory. 

For a considerable portion of his time after his re- 
moval to Illinois, Gov. Edwards resided upon his 
far'rij rrear'Kaslfaskia, which he had well stocked with 
horses, cattle and sheep from Kentucky, also with 
fruit-trees, grape-vines and shrubbery. He estab- 
lished saw and grist-mills, and engaged extensively 
in mercantile business, having no less than eight or ten 
stores in this State and Missouri. Notwithstanding 
the arduous duties of his office, he nearly always pur- 
chased the goods himself with which to supply the 
stores. Although not a regular practitioner of medi- 
cine, he studied the healing art to a considerable ex- 
tent, and took great pleasure in prescribing for, and 
taking care of, the sick, generally without charge. 
He was also liberal to the poor, several widows and 
ministers of the gospel becoming indebted to him 
even for their homes. 

He married Miss Elvira Lane, of Maryland, in 
1803, and they became the affectionate parents of 
several children, one of whom, especially, is weli' 
known to the people of the " Prairie State," namel/ v 
Ninian Wirt Edwards, once the Superintendent c< 
Public Instruction and still a resident of Springfield 
Gov. Edwards resided at and in the vicinity of Kas- 
kaskia from 180910 1818; in Edwardsville (named 
after him) from that time to 1824; and from the lat- 
ter date at Belleville, St. Clair County, until his 
death, July 20, 1833, of Asiatic cholera. Edwards 
County is also named in his honor. 



LIBRARY 

Of mt 

UMVEftSIlT Of ILLINOkS 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



123 








: OHN REYNOLDS, Governor 1831- 
4, was born in Montgomery Coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, Feb. 26, 1788. 
His father, Robert Reynolds and 
his mother, nee Margaret Moore, 
were both natives of Ireland, from 
which country they emigrated to 
the United States in 1785, land- 
ing at Philadelphia. The senior 
Reynolds entertained an undying 
hostility to the British Govern- 
ment. When the subject of this 
sketch was about six months old, 
his parents emigrated with him to 
Tennessee, where many of their 
relatives had already located, at the base of the 
Copper Ridge Mountain, about 14 miles northeast of 
the present city of Knoxville. There they were ex- 
oosed to Indian depredations, and were much molest- 
ed by them. In 1794 they moved into the interior 
of the State. They were poor, and brought up their 
children to habits of manual industry. 

In 1800 the family removed to Kaskaskia, 111., with 
eight horses and two wagons, encountering many 
Hardships on the way. Here young Reynolds passed 
the most of his childhood, while his character began 
to develop, the most prominent traits of which were 
ambition and energy. He also adopted the principle 
and practice of total abstinence from intoxicating 
liquors. In 1807 the family made another removal. 



this time to the " Goshen Settlement," at the foot of 
the Mississippi bluffs three or four miles southwest 
of Edwardsville. 

On arriving at his 2oth year, Mr. Reynolds, seeing 
that he must look about for his own livelihood and 
not yet having determined what calling to pursue, 
concluded first to attend college, and he accordingly 
went to such an institution of learning, near Knox- 
ville, Tenn., where he had relatives. Imagine his 
diffidence, when, after passing the first 20 years of 
his life without ever having seen a carpet, a papered 
wall or a Windsor chair, and never having lived in a 
shingle-roofed house, he suddenly ushered himself 
into the society of the wealthy in the vicinity of 
Knoxville! He attended college nearly two years, 
going through the principal Latin authors; but it 
seems that he, like the rest of the world in modem 
times, had but very little use for his Latin in after 
life. He always failed, indeed, to exhibit any good 
degree of literary discipline. He commenced the 
study of law in Knoxville, but a pulmonary trouble 
came on and compelled him to change his mode 
of life. Accordingly he returned home and re- 
cuperated, and in 1812 resumed his college and 
law studies at Knoxville. In the fall of 1812 he was 
admitted to the Bar at Kaskaskia. About this time 
he also learned the French language, which he 
practiced with pleasure in conversation with his 
family for many years. He regarded this language 
as being superior to all others for social intercourse. 



124 



JOHN REYNOLDS. 



From his services in the West, in the war of 1812, 
he obtained the sobriquet of the " Old Ranger." He 
was Orderly Sergeant, then Judge Advocate. 

Mr. Reynolds opened his first law office in the 
winter and spring of 1814, in the French village of 
Cahokia, then the capital of St. Clair County. 

In the fall of 1818 he was elected an Associate 
Justice upon the Supreme Bench by the General 
Assembly. In 1825 he entered more earnestly than 
ever into the practice of law, and the very next year 
was elected a member of the Legislature, where he 
acted independently of all cliques and private inter- 
ests. In 1828 the Whigs and Democrats were for 
the first time distinctively organized as such in Illi- 
nois, and the usual party bitterness grew up and 
raged on all sides, while Mr. Reynolds preserved a 
Judicial calmness and moderation. The real animus 
.if the campaign was " Jackson " and " anti-Jackson," 
'he former party carrying the State. 

In August, 1830, Mr. Reynolds was elected Gov- 
ernor, amid great excitement. Installed in office, he 
did all within his power to advance the cause of edu- 
cation, internal improvements, the Illinois & Mich- 
igan Canal, the harbor at Chicago, settling the coun- 
try, etc.; also recommended the winding up of the 
State Bank, as its affairs had become dangerously 
complicated. In his national politics, he was a 
moderate supporter of General Jackson. But 'the 
most celebrated event of his gubernatorial admin- 
istration was the Black Hawk War, which occurred 
in 1832. He called out the militia and prosecuted 
the contest with commendable diligence, appearing 
in person on the battle-grounds during the most 
critical periods. He was recognized by the President 
as Major-General, and authorized by him to make 
treaties with the Indians. By the assistance of the 
general Government the war was terminated without 
much bloodshed, but after many serious fights. This 
war, as well as everything else, was materially re- 
tarded by the occurrence of Asiatic cholera in the 
West. This was its first appearance here, and was 
the next event in prominence during Gov. Reynolds' 
Verm. 

South Carolina nullification coming up at this time, 
t was heartily condemned by both President Jackson 
and Gov. Reynolds, who took precisely the same 
grounds as the Unionists in the last war. 

On the termination of his gubernatorial term in 
..834, Gov. Reynolds was elected a Member of Con- 
gress, still considering himself a backwoodsman, as 
r.e had scarcely been outside of the State since he 
became of age, and had spent nearly all his youthful 
days >n the wildest region of the frontier. His first 
move in Congress was to adopt a resolution that in 
all elections made by the House for officers the votes 
should be given viva zwe, each member in his place 
naming aloud the person for whom he votes. This 
created considerable heated discussion, but was es- 



sentially adopted, and remained the controlling prin- 
ciple for many years. The ex-Governor was scarcely 
absent from his seat a single day, during eight ses- < 
sions of Congress, covering a period of seven years, 
and he never vacillated in a party vote; but he failed 
to get the Democratic party to foster his " National 
Road" scheme. He says, in "My Own Times" (a 
large autobiography he published), that it was only 
by rigid economy that he avoided insolvency while in 
Washington. During his sojourn in that city he was 
married, to a lady of the place. 

In 1837, while out of Congress, and in company 
with a few others, he built the first railroad in the 
Mississippi Valley, namely, one about six miles long, 
leading from his coal mine in the Mississippi bluff to 
the bank of the river opposite St. Louis. Hiving not 
the means to purchase a locomotive, they operated it 
by horse-power. The next spring, however, the com- 
pany sold out, at great sacrifice. 

In 1839 the ex-Governor was appointed one of the 
Canal Commissioners, and authorized to borrow 
money to prosecute the enterprise. Accord' ugly, he 
repaired to Philadelphia and succeeding in obtaining 
a million dollars, which, however, was only a fourth 
of what was wanted. The same year he and his 
wife made at our of Europe. This year, also, Mr. 
Reyn&lds had'the rather awkward little responsibility 
of 'introducing to President Van Buren the noted 
Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, as a " Latter-Day 
Saint!" 

In 1846 Gov. Reynolds was elected a member of 
the Legislature from St. Clair County, more particu 
larly for the purpose of obtaining a feasible charter 
for a macadamized road from Belleville to St. Louis, 
a distance of nearly 14 miles. This was immediately 
built, and was the first road of the kind in the State. 
He was again elected to the Legislature in 1852, when 
he was chosen Speaker of the House. In 1860, aged 
and infirm, he attended the National Democratic 
Convention at Charleston, S. C., as an anti-Douglas 
Delegate, where he received more attention from the 
Southern Delegates than any other member. He 
supported Breckenridge for the Presidency. After 
the October elections foreshadowed the success of 
Lincoln, he published an address urging the Demo- 
crats to rally to the support of Douglas. Immedi- 
ately preceding and during the late war, his corre- 
spondence evinced a clear sympathy for the Southern 
secession, and about the first of March, i86r, he 
urged upon the Buchanan officials the seizure of the 
treasure and arms in the custom-house and arsenal 
at St. Louis. Mr. Reynolds was a rather talkative 
man, and apt in all the Western phrases and catch- 
words that ever gained currency, besides many cun- 
ning and odd ones of his own manufacture. 

He was married twice, but had no children. He 
died in Belleville, in May, 1865, just after the close 
of the war. 



LIBRARY 

OF m 

Of 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 





-w- 




ILLIAM LEE D. EWING, 
Governor of Illinois Nov. 3 
to 17, 1834, was a native 
of Kentucky, and probably 
of Scotch ancestry. He had 
a fine education, was a gentle- 
man of polished manners and 
refined sentiment. In 1830 John Rey- 
nolds was elected Governor of the State, 
and Zadok Casey Lieutenant Governor, 
and for the principal events that followed, 
and the characteristics of the times, see 
sketch of Gov. Reynolds. The first we 
see in history concerning Mr. Ewing, in- 
forms us that he was a Receiver of Public 
Mor eys at Vandalia soon after the organization of 
tfti.s State, and that the public moneys in his hands 
v/ere deposited in various banks, as they are usually 
tf. tin present day. In 1823 the State Bank was 
ubbed, by which disaster Mr. Ewing lost a thousand- 
dollar deposit. 

The subject of this sketch had a commission as 
Colonel in the Black Hawk War, and in emergencies 
n? acted also as Major. In the summer of 1832, 
Vhen i ;-ras rumored among the whites that Black 
Hawk ar.d nis men had encamped somewhere on 
Rock River, Gen. Henry was sent on a tour of 
reconnoisance, and with orders to drive the Indians 
from the State. After some opposition from his 
subordinate officers, Henry resolved to proceed up 
Rock River in search of the enemy. On the ipth of 
'uly, early in the morning, five baggage wagons, 



camp equipage and all heavy and cumbersome arti- 
cles were piled up and left, so that the army might 
make speedy and forced marches. For some miles 
the travel was exceedingly bad, crossing swamps 
and the worst thickets ; but the large, fresh trail 
gave life and animation to the Americans. Gen. 
Dodge and Col. Ewing were both acting as Majors, 
and composed the " spy corps " or vanguard of the 
army. It is supposed the army marched nearly 50 
miles this day, and the Indian trail they followed 
became fresher, and was strewed with much property 
and trinkets of the red-skin's that they had lost or 
thrown away to hasten their march. During the 
following night there was a terrific thunder-storm, and 
the soldiery, with all their appurtenances, were thor- 
oughly drenched. 

On approaching nearer the Indians the next day. 
Gen. Dodge and Major Ewing, each commanding a 
battalion of men, were placed in front to bring on the 
battle, but the savages were not overtaken this day 
Forced marches were continued until they reached. 
Wisconsin River, where a veritable battle ensued, 
resulting in the death of about 68 of Black Hawk's 
men. The next day they continued the chase, and 
as soon as he discovered the trail of the Indians 
leading icvvurd the Mississippi, Maj. Ewing formed 
his battalion in orde r of battle and awaited the order 
of Gen. Henry. The latter soon appeared on the 
ground and ordered a charge, which directly resulted 
in chasing the red warriors across the great river. 
Maj. Ewing and his command proved particularly 
efficient in war, as it seems they were the chief actors 
in driving the main body of the Sacs and Foxes, in- 



128 



WILLIAM L. D. EWING. 



eluding Black Hawk himself, across the Mississippi, 
while Gen. Atkinson, commander-in-chief of the ex- 
pedition, with a body of the army, was hunting for 
them in another direction. 

In the above affair Maj. Ewmg is often referred to 
as a " General," which title he had derived from his 
connection with the militia. 

It was in the latter part of the same year (1832) 
that Lieutenant Governor Casey was elected to Con- 
gress and Gen. Ewing, who had been elected to the 
Senate, was chosen to preside over that body. At 
the August election of 1 834, Gov. Reynolds was also 
elected to Congress, more than a year ahead of the 
time at which he could actually take his seat, as was 
then the law. His predecessor, Chailes Slade, had 
just died of Asiatic cholera, soon after the elec- 
tion, and Gov. Reynolds was chosen to serve out his 
unexpired term. Accordingly he set out for Wash- 
ington in November of that year to take his seat in 
Congress, and Gen. Ewing, by virtue of his office .as 
President of the Senate, became Governor of the 
State of Illinois, his term covering only a period of 
15 days, namely, from the 3d to the iyth days, in- 
clusive, of November. On the 171)1 the Legislature 
met, and Gov. Ewing transmitted to that body his 
message, giving a statement of the condition of the 
affairs of the State at that time, and urging a contin- 
uance of the policy adopted by his predecessor ; and 
on the same day Governor elect Joseph Duncan 
was sworn into office, thus relieving Mr. Ewing from 



the responsible situation. This is the only time that 
such a juncture has happened in the history of Illi- 
nois. 

On the agth of December, 1835, Gen. Ewing was 
elected a United States Senator to serve out the 
unexpired term of Elias Kent Kane, deceased. The 
latter gentleman was a very prominent figure in the 
early politics of Illinois, and a county in this State is 
named in his honor. The election of Gen. Ewing to 
the Senate was a protracted struggle. His competi- 
tors were James Semple, who afterwards held several 
important offices in this State, and Richard M. 
Young, afterward a United States Senator and a 
Supreme Judge and a man of vast influence. On 
the first ballot Mr. Semple had 25 votes, Young 19 
and Ewing 18. On the eighth ballot Young was 
dropped ; the ninth and tenth stood a tie ; but on 
the 1 2th Ewing received 40, to Semple 37, and was 
accordingly declared elected. In 1837 Mr. Ewing 
received some votes for a continuance of his term in 
Congress, when Mr. Young, just referred to, was 
elected. In 1842 Mr. Ewing was elected State 
Auditor on the ticket with Gov. Ford. 

Gen. Ewing was a gentleman of culture, a lawyer 
by profession, and was much in public life. In person 
he was above medium height and of heavy build,' 
with auburn hair, blue eyes, large-sized head and] 
short face. He was genial, social, friendly and 
affable, with fair talent, though of no high degree of 
originality. He died March 25, 1846. 




LIBRARY 

or m 

UNIVEfiSllY Of 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



131 





- l6> 



OSEPH DUNCAN, Governor 
1834-8, was born at Paris, 
Ky., Feb. 23, 1794. At the 
tender age of 19 years he en- 
listed in the war against Great 
Britain, and as a soldier he 
acquitted himself with credit. He 
was an Ensign under the daunt- 
less Croghan at Lower Sandusky, 
or Fort Stephenson. In Illinois 
he first appeared in a public capa- 
city as Major-General of the Militia, 
a position which his military fame 
had procured him. Subsequently 
he became a State Senator from 
Jackson County, and is honorably 
mentioned for introducing the first bill providing for 
a free-school system. In 1826, when the redoubt- 
able John P. Cook, who had previously beaten such 
men as John McLean, Elias Kent Kane and ex- 
Gov. Bond, came up for the fourth time for Congress, 
Mr. Duncan was brought forward against him by his 
friends, greatly to the surprise of all the politicians. 
As yet he was but little known in the State. He was 
an original Jackson man at that time, being attached 
to his political fortune in admiration of the glory of 
his military achievements. His chances of success 
against Cook were generally regarded as hopeless, 
Imt he entered upon the campaign undaunted. His 
speeches, though short and devoid of ornament, were 
full of good sense. He made a diligent canvass of 
the State, Mr. Cook being hindered by the condition of 
his health. The most that was expected of Mr. 
Duncan, under the circumstances, was that he would 



obtain a respectable vote, but without defeating Mr 
Cook. The result of the campaign, however, was a 
source of surprise and amazement to both friends 
and foes, as Mr. Duncan came out 641 votes ahead! 
He received 6,321 votes, and Mr. Cook 5,680. Un- 
til this denouement, the violence of party feeling 
smoldering in the breasts of the people on account 
of the defeat of Jackson, was not duly appreciated. 
Aside from the great convention struggle of 1824, no 
other than mere local and personal considerations 
had ever before controlled an election in Illinois. 

From the above date Mr. Duncan retained his 
seat in Congress until his election as Governor in 
August, 1834. The first and bloodless year of the 
Black Hawk War he was appointed by Gov. Rey- 
nolds to the position of Brigadier-General of the 
volunteers, and he conducted his brigade to Rock 
Island. But he was absent from the State, in Wash- 
ington, during the gubernatorial campaign, and did 
not personally participate in it, but addressed circu- 
lars to his constituents. His election was, indeed, 
attributed to the circumstance of his absence, be- 
cause his estrangement from Jackson, formerly his 
political idol, and also from the Democracy, largely 
in ascendency in the State, was complete; but while 
his defection was well known to his Whig friends, 
and even to the leading Jackson men of this State, 
the latter were unable to carry conviction of that fact 
to the masses, as mail and newspaper facilities at 
that day were far inferior to those of the present 
time. Of course the Governor was much abused 
afterward by the fossilized Jackson men who re- 
garded party ties and affiliations as nbove all 
other issues that could arise ; but he was douut less 



JOSEPH DUNCAN. 






sincere in his opposition to the old hero, as the latter 
fiad vetoed several important western measures 
which were dear to Mr. Duncan. In his inaugural 
message he threw off the mask and took a bold stand 
against the course of the President. The measures 
f.e recommended in his message, however, were so 
desirable that the Legislature, although by a large 
majority consisting of Jackson men, could not refrain 
from endorsing them. These measures related 
mainly to banks and internal improvements. 

It was while Mr. Duncan was Governor that the 
people of Illinois went whirling on with bank and in- 
ternal improvement schemes that well nigh bank- 
rupted the State. The hard times of 1837 came on, 
and the disasters that attended the inauguration of 
ihese plans and the operation of the banks were mu- 
tually charged upon the two political parties. Had 
any one man autocratic power to introduce and 
carry on any one of these measures, he would proba- 
bly have succeeded to the satisfaction of the public ; 
but as many jealous men had hold of the same plow 
handle, no success followed and each blamed the other 
for the failure. In this great vortex Gov. Duncan 
was carried along, suffering the like derqgation ; ofr. 
character with his fellow citizens. 

At the height of the excitement the Legislature 
" provided for " railroads from Galena to Cairo, Alton 
to Shawneetown, Alton to Mount Carmel, Alton to the 
eastern boundary of the State in the direction of 
Terre Haute, Quincy via Springfield to the Wabasli, 
Bloomington to Pekin, and Peoria to Warsaw, in all 
about 1,300 miles of road. It also provided for the 
improvement of the navigation of the Kaskaskia, 
Illinois, Great and Little Wabash and Rock Rivers ; 
also as a placebo, $200,000 in money were to be dis- 
jibuted to the various counties wherein no improve 
ments were ordered to be made as above. The 
estimate for the expenses for all these projects was 
)laced at a little over $10,000,000, which was not 
more man half enough ! That would now be equal to 
saddling upon the State a debt of $225,000,000! It 
was sufficient to bankrupt the State several times 
over, even counting all the possible benefits. 

One of the most exciting events that ever occurred 
in this fair State was the murder of Elijah P. Love- 
ioy in the fall of 1837, at Alton, during Mr. Duncan's 
term as Governor. Lovejoy was an " Abolitionist," 
editing the Observer at that place, and the pro- 
slavery slums there formed themselves into a. mob, 



and after destroying successively three presses be- 
longing to Mr. Lovejoy, surrounded the warehouse 
where the fourth press was stored away, endeavoring 
to destroy it, and where Lovejoy and his friends 
were entrenching themselves, and shot and killed the 
brave reformer! 

About this time, also, the question of removing th; 
State capital again came up, as the 20 years' limit for 
its existence at Vandalia was drawing to a close 
There was, of course, considerable excitement over 
the matter, the two main points competing for it be- 
ing Springfield and Peoria. The jealousy of the lat- 
ter place is not even yet, 45 years afterward, fully 
allayed. 

Gov. Duncan's term expired in 1838. In 1842 
he was again proposed as a candidate for the Execu- 
tive chair, this time by the Whig party, against .Ulara 
W. Snyder, of St. Clair County, the nominee of the 
Democrats. Charles W. Hunter was a third candi 
date for the same position. Mr. Snyder, however, died 
before the campaign had advanced very far, and his 
party substituted Thomas Ford, who was elected 
receiving 46,901 votes, to 38,584 for Duncan, and 
pqp.for -Hunter. The cause of Democratic success 
at this time is mainly attributed to the temporary 
support of the Mormons which they enjoyed, and the 
want o. r any knowledge, on the part of the masses, 
ihat Mr. Ford was opposed to any given |x>licy en- 
tertained in the respective localities. 

Gov. Duncan was a man of rather limited educa- 
tion, but with naturally fine abilities he profited 
greatly by his various public services, and gathered 
a store of knowledge regarding public affairs which 
served him a ready purpose. He possessed a clear 
judgment, decision, confidence in himself and moral 
courage to carry out his convictions of tight. In his 
deportment he was well adapted to gain the admira 
tion of the people. His intercourse with them was 
both affable and dignified. His portrait at the Gov- 
ernor's mansion, from which the accompanying was 
made, represents him as having a swarthy complex- 
ion, high cheek bones, broad forehead, piercing black 
eyes and straight black hair. 

He was a liberal patron of the Illinois College at 
Jacksonville, a member of its Board of Trustees, and 
died, after a short illness, Jan. 15, 1844, a devoted 
member of the Presbyterian Church, leaving a wife 
but no children. Two children, born to them, had 
died in infancy. 



LIBRARY 

Of Wl 

UNIYERSm Of ILLINOIS 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



'35 





HOMAS CARLIN, the sixth 
Governor of the State of 
Illinois, serving from 1838 
to 1842, was also a Ken- 
tuckian, being born near 
Frankfort, that State, July 
18, 1789, of Irish paternity. 
The opportunities for an education 
being very meager in his native 
place, he, on approaching years of 
jud"ment and maturity, applied 
himself to those branches of learn- 
ng that seemed most important, 
,nd thus became a self-made man ; 
.nd his taste for redding and 
tudy remained with him through 
ife. In 1803 his father removed 
jp Missouri, then a part of " New Spain," where he 
Hied in 1810. 

In 1812 young Carlin came to Illinois and partici- 
pated in all the "ranging" service incident to the 
rar of that period, proving himself a soldier of un- 
daunted bravery. In 1814 he married Rebecca 
puitt, and lived for four years on the bank of the 
Mississippi River, opposite the mouth of the Mis- 
jojri, where he followed farming, and then removed 
10 Greene County. He located the town site of Car- 
k'.ton, in that county, and in 1825 made a liberal 
lunation of land for county building purposes. He 
vas the first Sheriff of that county after its separate 
organization, and afterward was twice elected, as a 
Jackson Democrat, to the Illinois Senate. In the 
Black Hawk War he commanded a spy battalion, a 
post of considerable danger. In 1834 he was ap- 
pointed by President Jackson to the position of 
Receiver of Public Moneys, and to fulfill the office 



more conveniently he removed to the city of Quincy. 

While, in 1838, the unwieldy internal improvement 
system of the State was in full operation, with all its 
expensive machinery, amidst bank suspensions 
throughout the United States, a great stringency in 
the money market everywhere, and Illinois bonds 
forced to sale at a heavy discount, and the " hardest 
times" existing that the people of the Prairie State 
ever saw, the general election of State officers was 
approaching. Discreet men who had cherished the 
hope of a speedy subsidence of the public infatua- 
tion, met with disappointment. A Governor and 
Legislature were to be elected, and these were now 
looked forward to for a repeal of the ruinous State 
policy. But the grand scheme had not yet lost its 
dazzling influence upon the minds of the people. 
Time and experience had not yet fully demonstrated 
its utter absurdity. Hence the question of arresting 
its career of profligate expenditures did not become 
a leading one with the dominant party during the 
campaign, and most of the old members of the Leg 
islature were returned at this election. 

Under these circumstances the Democrats, in State 
Convention assembled, nominated Mr. Carlin for the 
office of Governor, and S. H. Anderson for Lieuten- 
ant Governor, while the Whigs nominated Cyrus Ed- 
wards, brother of Ninian Edwards, formerly Governor, 
and W. H. Davidson. Edwards came out strongly 
for a continuance of the State policy, while Caritr 
remained non-committal. This was the first time 
that the two main political parties in this State were 
unembarrassed by any third party in the field. The 
result of the election was: Carlin, 35,573; Ander- 
son, 30,335 ; Edwards, 29,629 ; and Davidson, 28,- 

7*5- 

Upon the meeting of the subsequent Legislature 

(1839), the retiring Governor (Duncan) in his rues- 



'36 



THOMAS CARLTN. 



sage spoke in emphatic terms of the impolicy of the 
internal improvement system, presaging the evils 
threatened, and uiged that body to do their utmost 
to correct the great error; yet, on the contrary, the 
Legislature not only decided to continue the policy 
but also added to its burden by voting more appro- 
priations and ordering more improvements. Although 
the money market was still stringent, a further loan 
of $4,000,000 was ordered for the Illinois & Mich- 
igan Canal alone. Ch'cago at that time began to 
loom up and promise to be an important city, even 
the great emporium of the West, as it has since in- 
deed came to be. Ex-Gov. Reynolds, an incompe- 
tent financier, was commissioned to effect the loan, 
and accordingly hastened to the East on this respons- 
ible errand, and negotiated the loans, at considera- 
ble sacrifice to the State. Besides this embarrassment 
to Carlin's administration, the Legislature also de- 
clared that he had no authority to appoint a Secretary 
of State until a vacancy existed, and A. P. Field, a 
Whig, who had already held the post by appointment 
.hrough three administrations, was determined to 
keep the place a while longer, in spite of Gov. Car- 
lin's preferences. The course of the Legislature in 
this regard, however, was finally sustained by the 
Supreme Court, in a quo warranto case brought up 
before it by John A. McClernand, whom the Gov- 
ernor had nominated for the office. Thereupon that 
dignified body was denounced as a "Whig Court!" 
endeavoring to establish the principle of life-tenure 
of office. 

A new law was adopted re-organizing the Judici- 
ary, and under it five additional Supreme Judges 
were elected by the Legislature, namely, Thomas 
Ford (afterward Governor), Sidney Breese, Walter B. 
Scales, Samuel H. Treat and Stephen A. Douglas 
all Democrats. 

It was during Cov. Carlin's administration that the 
noisy campaign of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " oc- 
curred, resulting in a Whig victory. This, however, 
did net affect Illinois politics very seriously. 

Another prominent event in the West during Gov. 
Carlin's term of office was the excitement caused by 
the Mormons and their removal from Independence, 
Mo., to Nauvoo, 111., in 1840. At the same time 
they began to figure somewhat in State politics. On 
account of their believing as they thought, accord- 
ing to the New Testament that they should have 



" all things common," and that consequently " all 
the earth " and all that is upon it were the" Lord's " 
and therefore the property of his " saints," they 
were suspected, and correctly, too, of committing 
many of the deeds of larceny, robbery, etc., that 
were so rife throughout this country in those days. 
Hence a feeling of violence grew up between the 
Mormons and "anti-Mormons." In the State of 
Missouri the Mormons always supported the Dem- 
ocracy until they were driven out by the Democratic 
government, when they turned their support to the 
Whigs. They were becoming numerous, and in the 
Legislature of 1840-1, therefore, it became a matter 
of great interest with both parties to conciliate these 
people. Through the agency of one John C. Ben- 
nett, a scamp, the Mormons succeeded in rushing 
through the Legislature (both parties not daring to 
oppose) a charter for the city of Nauvoo which vir- 
tually erected a hierarchy co-ordinate with the Fed- 
eral Government itself. In the fall of 1841 the 
.Governor of Missouri made a demand upon Gov. 
Carlin for the body of Joe Smith, the Mormon leader, 
as; a"' fugitive from justice. Gov. Carlin issued th 
writ, but for some reason it was returned unserved. 
It was again issued in 1842, and Smith was arrested, 
but was either rescued by his followers or discharged 
by the municipal court on a writ of habeas corpus. 

In December, 1841, the Democratic Convention 
nominated Adam W. Snyder, of Belleville, for Gov- 
ernor. As he had been, as a member of the Legisla- 
ture, rather friendly to the Mormons, the latter 
naturally turned their support to the Democratic 
party. The next spring the Whigs nominated Ex- 
Gov. Duncan for the same office. In the meantime 
the Mormons began to grow more odious to the 
masses of the people, and the comparative prospects 
of the respective parties for success became very 
problematical. Mr. Snyder died in May, and 
Thomas Ford, a Supreme Judge, was substituted as 
a candidate, and was elected. 

At the close of his gubernatorial term, Mr. Carlin 
removed back to his old home at Carrollton, where 
he spent the remainder of his life, i.z before his ele- 
vation to office, in agricultural pursuits. In 1849 
he served out the unexpired term of J. D. Fry in the 
Illinois House of Representatives, and died Feb. 4, 
1852, at his residence at Carrollton, leaving a wife 
and seven children. 



LIBRARY 

Of m 

UNIVEKSUY Of ILLINOIS 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



139 





aba! 








jfe jUfeJfe .V*.t. ^tA.t<?fat.t.!.fe-t .ti -fafe jfepfafeifeMi Afab4gfefeA jfeAAjfe^ 
^^^^^^** 





HOMAS FORD, Governor 
from 1842 to 1846, and au- 
thor of a very interesting 
history of Illinois, was born 
at Uniontown, Pa., in the 
year 1 800. His mother, after 
the death of her first hus- 
band (Mr. Forquer), married Rob- 
ert Ford, who was killed in 1802, 
by the Indians in the mountains 
of Pennsylvania. She was conse- 
quently left in indigent circum- 
stances, with a large family, mostly 
girls. With a view to better her 
condition, she, in 1804, removed to 
Missouri, where it had been cus- 
tomary by the Spanish Govern- 
ment to give land to actual settlers; but upon her 
arrival at St. Louis she found the country ceded to 
the United States, and the liberal policy toward set- 
tlers changed by the new ownership. After some 
sickness to herself and family, she finally removed to 
Illinois, and settled some three miles south of Water- 
loo, but the following year moved nearer the Missis- 
sippi bluffs. Here young Ford received his first I 



schooling, under the instructions of a M". Humphrey, 
for which he had to walk three miles. His mother, 
though lacking a thorough education, was a woman 
of superior mental endowments, joined to energy 
and determination of character. She inculcated in) 
her children those high-toned principles which dis- 
tinguished her sons in public life. She exercised a 
rigid economy to provide her children an education ; 
but George Forquer, her oldest son (six years older 
than Thomas Ford), at an early age had to quit 
school to aid by his labor in the support of the family. 
He afterward became an eminent man in Illinois 
affairs, and but for his early death would probably 
have been elected to the United States Senate. 

Young Ford, with somewhat better opportunities, 
received a better education, though limited to the 
curriculum of the common school of those pioneer 
times. His mind gave early promise of superior en- 
dowments, with an inclination for mathematics. His 
proficiency attracted the attention of Hon. Daniel P. 
Cook, who became his efficient patron and friend. 
The latter gentleman was an eminent Illinois states- 
man who, as a Member of Congress, outamedagrant 
of 300,000 acres of land to aid in completing the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal, and after whom the 
county of Cook was named. Through the advice of 



THOMAS FORD. 



this gentleman, Mr. Ford turned his attention to the 
study of law; but Forquer, then merchandising, re- 
garding his education defective, sent him to Transyl- 
vania University, where, however, he remained but 
one term, owing to Forquer's failure in business. On 
his return he alternated his law reading with teach- 
ir.g school for support. 

In 1829 Gov. Edwards appointed him Prosecuting 
Attorney, and in 1831 he was re-appointed by Gov. 
Reynolds, and after that he was four times elected a 
Judge by the Legislature, without opposition, twice a 
Circuit Judge, once a Judge of Chicago, and as As- 
sociate Judge of the Supreme Court, when, in 1841, 
the latter tribunal was re-organized by the addition 
of five Judges, all Democrats. Ford was assigned to 
the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and while in this capacity 
he was holding Court in Ogle County he received a 
notice of his nomination by the Democratic Conven- 
tion for the office of Governor. He immediately re- 
signed his place and entered upon the canvass. In 
August, 1842, he was elected, and on the 8th of De- 
cember following he was inaugurated. 

All the offices which he had held were unsolicited 
by him. He received them upon the true Jefferson- 
jan principle, Never to ask and never to refuse 
office. Both as a lawyer and as a Judge he. stood. . 
deservedly high, but his cast of intellect fitted him 
rather for a writer upon law than a practicing advo- 
cate in the courts. In the latter capacity he was void 
of the moving power of eloquence, so necessary to 
success with juries. As a Judge his opinions were 
round, lucid and able expositions of the law. In 
practice, he was a stranger to the tact, skill and in- 
sinuating address of the politician, but he saw through 
'.he arts of demagogues as well as any man. He was 
plain in his demeanor, so much so, indeed, that at 
one time after the expiration of his term of office, 
during a session of the Legislature, he was taken by 
a stranger to be a seeker for the position of door- 
keeper, and was waited upon at his hotel near mid- 
night by a knot of small office-seekers with the view 
of effecting a " combination ! " 

Mr. Ford had not the " brass " of the ordinary 
politician, nor that impetuosity which characterizes a 
political leader. He cared little for money, and 
hardly enough for a decent support. In person he 
was of small stature, slender, of dark complexion, 
with black hair, sharp features, deep-set eyes, a 
pointed, aquiline nose having a decided twist to one 
side, and a small mouth. 

The three most important events in Gov. Ford's 
administration were the establishment of the high 
financial credit of the State, the " Mormon War "and 
;he Mexican War. 

In the first of these the Governor proved himself 
to be eminently wise. On coming into office he found 
the State badly paralyzed by the ruinous effects of 
the notorious " internal improvement " schemes of 



the preceding decade, with scarcely anything to 
show by way of "improvement." The enterprise 
that seemed to be getting ahead more than all the 
rest was the Illinois & Michigan Canal. As this 
promised to be the most important thoroughfare, 
feasible to the people, it was well under headway in 
its construction. Therefore the State policy was 
almost concentrated upon it, in order to rush it on tc 
completion. The bonded indebtedness of the State 
was growing so large as to frighten the people, and 
they were about ready to entertain a proposition for 
repudiation. But the Governor had the foresight to 
recommend such measures as would maintain the 
public credit, for which every citizen to-day feels 
thankful. 

But perhaps the Governor is remembered more for 
his connection with the Mormon troubles than for 
anything else; for it was during his term of office 
that the " Latter-Day Saints" became so strong at 
Nauvoo, built their temple there, increased their num- 
bers throughout the count-y, committed misdemean- 
ors, taught dangerous doctrines, suffered the loss of 
their leader, Jo Smith, by a violent death, were driven 
out of Nauvoo to the far West, etc. Ha.ving been a 
Judge for so many years previously, Mr. Ford of 
course was non-committal concerning Mormon affairs, 
and Avas therefore claimed by both parties and also 
accused by each of sympathizing too greatly with the 
other side. Mormonism claiming to be a system of 
religion, the Governor no doubt was " between two 
fires," and felt compelled to touch the matter rather 
" gingerly," and doubtless felt greatly relieved when 
that pestilential people left the State. Such compli- 
cated matters, especially when religion is mixed up 
with them, expose every person participating in 
them to criticism from all parties. 

The Mexican War was begun in the spring of 
1845, and was continued into the gubernatorial term 
of Mr. Ford's successor. The Governor's connection 
with this war, however, was not conspicuous, as it 
was only administrative, commissioning officers, etc. 

Ford's " History of Illinois " is a very readable and 
entertaining work, of 450 small octavo pages, and is 
destined to increase in value with the lapse of time. 
It exhibits a natural flow of compact and forcible 
thought, never failing to convey the nicest sense. In 
tracing with his trenchant pen the devious operations 
of the professional politician, in which he is inimit- 
able, his account is open, perhaps, to the objection 
that all his contemporaries are treated as mere place- 
seekers, while many of them have since been judged 
by the people to be worthy statesmen. His writings 
seem slightly open to the criticism that they exhibit 
a little splenetic partiality against those of his con- 
temporaries who were prominent during his term of 
office as Governor. 

The death of Gov. Ford took place at Peoria, 111., 
Nov. 2, 1850. 



LIBRARY 
Oft* 

UNWiRSm Of ILLINOIS 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



143 




Augustus C. French. 





jUGUSTUS C. FRENCH, 
Governor of Illinois from 
1846 to 1852, was born in 
the town of Hill, in the 
State of New Hampshire, 
Aug. 2, 1808. He was a 
descendant" in the fourth 
generation of Nathaniel 
French, who emigrated from England 
in 1687 and settled in Saybury, Mass. 
In early life young French lost his 
father, but continued to receive in- 
struction from an exemplary and 
Christian mother until he was 19 years 
old, when she also died, confiding to 
his care and trust four younger broth- 
ers and one sister. He discharged his trust with 
parental devotion. His education in early life was 
such mainly as a common school afforded. For a 
brief period he attended Dartmouth College, but 
from pecuniary causes and the care of his brothers 
and sister, he did not graduate. He subsequently 
read law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1831, and 
shortly afterward removed to Illinois, settling first at 
Albion, Edwards County, where he established him- 
self in the practice of law. The following year he 
removed to Paris, Edgar County. Here he attained 
eminence in his profession, and entered public life 
by representing that county in the Legislature. A 
strong attachment sprang up between him and Ste- 
phen A. Douglas. 

In 1839, Mr. French was appointed Receiver of 
the United States Land Office at Palestine, Craw- 
ford (x>unty, at which place he was a resident when 



elevated to the gubernatorial chair. In 1844 he was 
a Presidential Elector, and as such he voted for 
James K. Polk. 

The Democratic State Convention of 1846, meet- 
ing at Springfield Feb. 10, nominated Mr. French 
for Governor. Other Democratic candidates were 
Lyman Trumbull, John Calhoun (subsequently of 
Lecompton Constitution notoriety), Walter B. Scales. 
Richard M. Young and A. W. Cavarly, an array of 
very able and prominent names. Trumbull was per- 
haps defeated in the Convention by the rumor that 
he was opposed to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, 
as he had been a year previously. For Lieutenant 
Governor J. B. Wells was chosen, while other candi- 
dates were Lewis Ross, Wm. McMurtry, Newton 
Cloud, J. B. Hamilton and W. W. Thompson. The 
resolutions declared strongly against the resuscita- 
tion of the old State Banks. 

The Whigs, who were in a hopeless minority, held 
their convention June 8, at Peoria, and selected 
Thomas M. Kilpatrick, of Scott County, for Governor, 
and Gen. Nathaniel G. Wilcox, of Schuyler, for 
Lieutenant Governor. 

In the campaign the latter exposed Mr. French's 
record and connection with the passage of the in- 
ternal improvement system, urging it against his 
election ; but in the meantime the war with Mexico 
broke out, regarding which the Whig record was un- 
popular in this State. The war was the absorbing 
and dominating question of the period, sweeping 
every other political issue in its course. The elec- 
tion in August gave Mr. French 58,700 votes, and 
Kilpatrick only 36,775. Richard Eells, Abolitionist 
candidate for the same office, received 5,152 vots. 



AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 



By the new Constitution of 1848, a new election for 
State officers was ordered in November of that year, 
before Gov. French's term was half out, and he was 
re-elected for the term of four years. He was there- 
fore the incumbe.it for six consecutive years, the 
only Governor of this State who has ever served in 
that capacity so long at one time. As there was no 
organized opposition to his election, he received 67,- 
453 votes, to 5,639 for Pierre Menard (son of the 
first Lieutenant Governor), 4,748 for Charles V. 
Dyer, 3,834 for W. L. D. Morrison, and 1,361 for 
James L. D. Morrison. But Wm. McMurtry, of 
Knox County, was elected Lieutenant Governor, in 
place of Joseph B. Wells, who was before elected 
and did not run again. 

Governor French was inaugurated into office dur- 
ing the progress of the Mexican War, which closed 
during the summer of 1847, although the treaty of 
Guadalupe Hidalgo was not made until Feb. 2, 
1848. The policy of Gov. French's party was com- 
mitted to that war, but in connection with that affair 
he was, of course, only an administrative officer. 
During his term of office, Feb. 19, 1847, the Legisla- 
ture, by special permission of Congress, declared that 
all Government lands sold to settlers should be 'irh-' 
mediately subject to State taxation ; before this they 
were exempt for five years after sale. By this ar- 
rangement the revenue was materially increased. 
About the same time, the distribution of Government 
Jand warrants among the Mexican soldiers as bounty 
threw upon the market a great quantity of good 
lands, and this enhanced the settlement of the State. 
The same Legislature authorized, with the recom- 
mendation of the Governor, the sale of the Northern 
Cross Railroad (from Springfield to Meredosia, the 
first in the State and now a section of the Wabash, 
St. Louis & Pacific). It sold for $100,000 in bonds, 
although it had cost the State not less than a million. 
The salt wells and canal lands in the Saline reserve 
in Gallatin County, granted by the general Govern- 
ment to the State, were also authorized by the 
Governor to be sold, to apply on the State debt. In 
1850, for the first time since 1839, the accruing State 
revenue, exclusive of specific appropriations, was 
sufficient to meet the current demands upon the 
treasury. The aggregate taxable property of the 
State at this time was over $100,000,000, and the 
population 851,470. 



In 1849 the Legislature adopted the township or- 
ganization law, which, however, proved defective 
and was properly amended in 1851. At its session 
in the latter year, the General Assembly also pas=>ed 
a law to exempt homesteads from sate on executions 
This beneficent measure^ had been repeatedly utge<J 
upon that body by Gov. French. 

In 1850 some business men in St. Louis com- 
menced to build a dike opposite the lower part of 
their city on the Illinois side, to keep the Mississippi 
in its channel near St. Louis, instead of breaking 
away from them as it sometimes threatened to do. 
This they undertook without permission from the 
Legislature or Executive authority of this State ; and 
as many of the inhabitants thera complained that 
the scheme would inundate and ruin much valuable 
land, there was a slight conflict of jurisdictions, re- 
sulting in favor of the St. Louis project ; r>.nd since 
then a good site has existed there for a city (East St. 
Louis), and now a score of railroads center there. 

It was in September, 1850, that Congress granted 
to this State nearly 3,000,000 acres of land in aid of 
the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
which constituted the most important epoch in the 
railroad we might say internal improvement his- 
tory of the State. The road was rushed on to com- 
pletion, which accelerated the settlement of the in- 
terior of the State by a good class of industrious citi- 
zens, and by the charter a good income to the State 
Treasury is paid in from the earnings of the road. 

In 1851 the Legislature passed a law authorizing 
free stock banks, which was the source of much leg- 
islative discussion for a number of years. 

But we have not space further to particularize 
concerning legislation. Gov. French's administra- 
tion was not marked by any feature to be criticised, 
while the country was settling up as never before. 

In stature, Gov. French was of medium height, 
squarely built, light complexioned, with ruddy face 
and pleasant countenance. In manners he was 
plain and agreeable. By nature he was somewhat 
diffident, but he was often very outspoken in his con- 
victions of duty. In public speech he was not an 
orator, but was chaste, earnest and persuasive. In 
business he was accurate and methodical, and in his 
administration he kept up the credit of the State. 

He died in 1865, at his home in Lebanon, St 
Clair Co., HI. 



LIBRARY 

of m 

UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 





iOEL A. MATTESON, Governor 
1853-6, was born Aug. 8, 1808, 
in Jefferson County, New York, 
to which place his father had re- 
moved from Vermont three years 
before. His father was a farmer 
in fair circumstances, but a com- 
mon English education was all 
that his only son received. Young 
Joel first tempted fortune as a 
small tradesman in Prescott, 
Canada, before he was of age. 
He returned from that place to 
his home, entered an academy, 
taught school, visited the prin- 
cipal Eastern cities, improved a farm his father had 
given him, made a tour in the South, worked there 
in building railroads, experienced a storm on the 
Gulf of Mexico, visited the gold diggings of Northern 
Georgia, and returned via Nashville to St. Louis and 
through Illinois to his father's home, when he mar- 
ried. In 1833, having sold his farm, he removed, 
with his wife and one child, to Illinois, and entered 
a claim on Government land near the head of Au 
Sable River, in what is now Kendall County. At 
that time there were not more than two neighbors 
within a range of ten miles of his place, and only 
\hree or four houses between him and Chicago. He 
opened a large farm. His family was boarded 12 



miles away while he erected a house on his claim, 
sleeping, during this time, under a rude pole shed. 
Here his life was once placed in imminent peril by 
a huge prairie rattlesnake sharing his bed. 

In 1835 he bought largely at the Government land 
sales. During the speculative real-estate mania which 
broke out in Chicago in 1 836 and spread over the State, 
he sold his lands under the inflation of that period 
and removed to Joliet. In 1838 he became a heavy 
contractor on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Upon 
the completion of his job in i84r, when hard times 
prevailed, business at a stand, contracts paid in State 
scrip; when all the public works except the canal 
were abandoned, the State offered for sale 700 tons 
of railroad iron, which was purchased by Mr. Mat- 
teson at a bargain. This he accepted, shipped and 
sold at Detroit, realizing a very handsome profit, 
enough to pay off all his canal debts and leave him a 
surplus of several thousand dollars. His enterprise 
next prompted him to start a woolen mill at Joliet, 
in which he prospered, and which, after successive 
enlargements, became an enormous establishment. 

In 1842 he was first elected a State Senator, but, 
by a bungling apportionment, j&Sn Pearson, a Senator 
holding over, was found to be in the same district, 
and decided to be entitled to represent it. Mat- 
teson's seat was declared vacant. Pearson, however 
with a nobleness difficult to appreciate in this day of 



JOEL A. MATTESON. 



greed for office, unwilling to represent his district 
under the circumstances, immediately resigned his 
unexpired term of two years. A bill was passed in a 
few hours ordering a new election, and in ten days' 
time Mr. Matteson was returned re-elected and took 
his seat as Senator. From his well-known capacity 
as a business man, he was made Chairman of the 
Committee on Finance, a position he held during 
this half and two full succeeding Senatorial terms, 
discharging its important duties with ability and faith- 
fulness. Besides his extensive woolen-mill interest, 
when work was resumed on the canal under the new 
loan of $1,600,000 he again became a heavy con- 
tractor, and also subsequently operated largely in 
building railroads. Thus he showed himself a most 
energetic and thorough business man. 

He was nominated for Governor by the Demo- 
cratic State Convention which met at Springfield 
April 20, 1852. Other candidates before the Con- 
vention were D. L. Gregg and F. C. Sherman, of 
Cook ; John Dement, of Lee ; Thomas L. Harris, of 
Menard ; Lewis W. Ross, of Fulton ; and D. P. Bush, 
of Pike. Gustavus Koerner, of St. Clair, was nom- 
inated for Lieutenant Governor. For the same offices 
the Whigs nominated Edwin B. Webb and Dexter A':'. 
Knowlton. Mr. Matteson received 80,645 votes at 
the election, while Mr. Webb received 64,408. Mat- 
teson s forte was not on the stump; he had not cul- 
tivated the art of oily flattery, or the faculty of being 
all things to all men. His intellectual qualities took 
rather the direction of efficient executive ability. His 
turn consisted not so much in the adroit manage- 
ment of party, or the powerful advocacy of great gov- 
ernmental principles, as in those more solid and 
enduring operations which cause the physical devel- 
opment and advancement of a State, of commerce 
and business enterprise, into which he labored with 
success to lead the people. As a politician he was 
just and liberal in his views, and both in official and 
private life he then stood untainted and free from 
blemish. As a man, in active benevolence, social 
rirtues and all the amiable qualities of neighbor or 
citizen, he had few superiors. His messages present 
a perspicuous array of facts as to the condition of the 
State, and are often couched in forcible and elegant 
diction. 

The greatest excitement during his term of office 
was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by Con- 



gress, under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas in 
1854, when the bill was passed organizing the Terri- 
tory of Kansas and Nebraska. A large portion of 
the Whig party of the North, through their bitter op- 
position to the Democratic party, naturally drifted 
into the doctrine of anti-slavery, and thus led to what 
was temporarily called the " Anti-Nebraska " party, 
while the followers of Douglas were known as " Ne- 
braska or Douglas Democrats." It was during this 
embryo stage of the Republican party that Abraham 
Lincoln was brought forward as the "Anti-Nebraska" 
candidate for the United States Senatorship, while 
Gen. James Shields, the incumbent, was re-nom- 
inated by the Democrats. But after a few ballotings 
in the Legislature (1855), these men were dropped, 
and Lyman Trumbull, an Anti-Nebraska Democrat, 
was brought up by the former, and Mr. Matteson, 
then Governor, by the latter. On the nth ballot 
Mr. Trumbull obtained one majority, and was ac- 
cordingly declared elected. Before Gov. Matteson 's 
term expired, the Republicans were fully organized 
as a national party, and in 1856 put into the field a 
full national and State ticket, carrying the State, but 
not the nation. 

: "; Tlie Legislature of 1855 passed two very import- 
ant measures, the present free-school system and a 
submission of the Maine liquor law to a vote of the 
people. The latter was defeated by a small majority 
of the popular vote. 

During the four years of Gov. Matteson 's admin- 
istration the taxable wealth of the State was about 
trebled, from $137,8^,079 to $349,951,272; the pub- 
lic debt was reduced from $17,398,985 to $12,843,- 
T44; taxation was at the same time reduced, and the 
State resumed paying interest on its debt in New 
York as fast as it fell due ; railroads were increased 
in their mileage from something less than 400 to 
about 3.000; and the population of Chicago was 
nearly doubled, and its commerce more than quad- 
rupled. 

Before closing this account, we regret that we have 
to say that Mr. Matteson, in all other respects an 
upright man and a good Governor, was implicated 
in a false re-issue of redeemed canal scrip, amount- 
ing to $224,182.66. By a suit in the Sangamon Cir- 
cuit Court the State recovered the principal and all 
the interest excepting $27,500. 

He died in the winter of 1872-3, at Chicago. 



LiBRWtt 

of rw 

UNIVEKSIh Of ILLINOIS 



GO VKKNORS OF ILLINOIS. 





-- <**SS4 

ILLIAM H. BISSELL, Gov- 
- ernor 1857-60, was born 
April 25, 1811, in the 
State of New York, near 
Painted Post, Yates County. 
His parents were obscure, 
honest, God-fearing people, 
who reared their children under the daily 
example of industry and frugality, accord- 
ing to the custom of that class of Eastern 
society. Mr. Bissell received a respecta- 
ble but not thorough academical education. 
By assiduous application he acquired a 
knowledge of medicine, and in his early 
manhood came West and located in Mon- 
roe County, this State, where he engaged in the 
practice of that profession. But he was not enam- 
ored of his calling: he was swayed by a broader 
ambition, to such an extent that the mysteries of the 
healing art and its arduous duties failed to yield him 
further any charms. In a few years he discovered 
his choice of a profession to be a mistake, and when 
he approached the age of 30 he sought to begin 
anew. Dr. Bissell, no doubt unexpectedly to him- 
self, discovered a singular facility and charm of 
speech, the exercise of which acquired for him a 
ready local notoriety. It soon came to be under- 



stood that he desired to abandon his profession and 
take up that of the law. During terms of Court he 
would spend his time at the county seat among the 
members of the Bar, who extended to him a ready 
welcome. 

It was not strange, therefore, that he should drift 
into public life. In 1840 he was elected as a Dem- 
ocrat to the Legislature from Monroe County, and 
was an efficient member of that body. On his re- 
turn home he qualified himself for admission to the 
Bar and speedily rose to the front rank as an advo- 
cate. His powers of oratory were captivating. With a 
pure diction, charming and inimitable gestures, 
clearness of statement, and a remarkable vein of sly 
humor, his efforts before a jury told with irresistible 
effect. He was chosen by the Legislature Prosecut- 
ing Attorney for the Circuit in which he lived, and 
in that position he fully discharged his duty to the 
State, gained the esteem of the Bar, and seldom 
failed to convict the offender of the law. 

In stature he was somewhat tall and slender, and 
with a straight, military bearing, he presented a dis- 
tinguished appearance. His complexion was dark, 
his head well poised, though not large, his address 
pleasant and manner winning. He was exemplary 
in his habits, a devoted husband and kind parent. 
He was twice married, the first time to Miss James, 



WILLIAM H. BISSELL, 



of Monroe County, by whom he had two children, 
both daughters. She died soon after the year 1840, 
and Mr. B. married for his second wife a daughter 
of Elias K. Kane, previously a United States Senator 
from this State. She survived him but a short time, 
and died without issue. 

When the war with Mexico was declared in 1 846, 
Mr. Bissell enlisted and was elected Colonel of his 
regiment, over Hon. Don Morrison, by an almost 
unanimous vote, 807 to 6. Considering the limited 
opportunities he had had, he evinced a high order of 
military talent. On the bloody field of Buena Vista 
he acquitted himself with intrepid and distinguished 
ability, contributing with his regiment, the Second 
Illinois, in no small degree toward saving the waver- 
ing fortunes of our arms during that long and fiercely 
contested battle. 

After his return home, at the close of the war, he 
was elected to Congress, his opponents being the 
Hons. P. B. Fouke and Joseph Gillespie. He served 
two terms in Congress. He was an ardent politician. 
During the great contest of 1850 he voted in favor 
of the adjustment measures; but in 1854 he opposed 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise act and 
therefore the Kansas-Nebraska bill of Dougla's, and ' 
thus became identified with the nascent Republican 
party. 

During his first Congressional term, while the 
Southern members were following their old practice 
of intimidating the North by bullying language, 
and claiming most of the credit for victories in the 
Mexican War, and Jefferson Davis claiming for the 
Mississippi troops all the credit for success at Buena 
Vista, Mr. Bissell bravely defended the Northern 
troops ; whereupon Davis challenged BisseH to a duel, 
which was accepted. This matter was brought up 
against Bissell when he was candidate for Governor 
and during his term of office, as the Constitution of 
this State forbade any duelist from holding a State 
office. 

In 1856, when the Republican party first put forth 
a candidate, John C. Fremont, for President of the 
United States, the same party nominated Mr. Bissell 
for Governor of Illinois, and John Wood, of Quincy, 
for Lieutenant Governor, while the Democrats nomi- 
nated Hon. W. A. Richardson, of Adams County, 
for Governor, and Col. R. J. Hamilton, of Cook 
County, for Lieutenant Governor. The result of the 



election was a plurality of 4,729 votes over Richard- 
son. The American, or Know-Nothing, party had a 
ticket in the field. The Legislature was nearly bal- 
anced, but was politically opposed to the Governor. 
His message to the Legislature was short and rathei 
ordinary, and was criticised for expressing the sup- 
posed obligations of the people to the incorporators 
of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and for re- 
opening the slavery question by allusions to the 
Kansas troubles. Late in the session an apportion- 
ment bill, based upon the State census of 1855, was 
passed, amid much partisan strife. The Governor 
at first signed the bill and then vetoed it. A furious 
debate followed, and the question whether the Gov- 
ernor had the authority to recall a signature was 
referred to the Courts, that of last resort deciding in 
favor of the Governor. Two years afterward another 
outrageous attempt was made for a re-apportionment 
and to gerrymander the State, but the Legislature 
failed to pass the bill over the veto of the Governor. 

It was during Gov. Bissell's administration that 
the notorious canal scrip fraud was brought to light, 
'implicating ex-Gov. Matteson and other prominent 
!Sta.te,offieials. The principal and interest, aggregat- 
ing $255,500, was all recovered by the State except- 
ing $27,500. (See sketch of Gov. Matteson.) 

In 1859 an attempt was discovered to fraudu- 
lently refund the Macalister and Stebbins bonds and 
thus rob the State Treasury of nearly a quarter of a 
million dollars. The State Government was impli- 
. cated in this affair, and to this day remains unex- 
plained or unatoned for. For the above, and other 
matters previously mentioned, Gov. Bissell has been 
severely criticised, and he has also been most shame- 
fully libelled and slandered. 

On account of exposure in the army, the remote 
cause of a nervous form of disease gained entrance 
into his system and eventually developed paraplegia, 
affecting his lower extremities, which, while it left 
his body in comparative health, deprived him of loco- 
motion except by the aid of crutches. While he was 
generally hopeful of ultimate recovery, this myste- 
rious disease pursued him, without once relaxing its 
stealthy hold, to the close of his life, March 18, 
1860, over nine months before the expiration of his 
gubernatorial term, at the early age of 48 years. He 
died in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, of 
which he hart been a member since 1854. 



LIBRARY 

Of !Ht 

UNIVEftSUY Of ILUNOiS 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



'55 








;OHN WOOD, Governor 1860-1, and 
the first settler of Quincy, 111., 
was born in the town of Sempro- 
nius (now Moravia), Cayuga Co., 
N. Y., Dec. 20, 1798. He -was 
the second child and only son of 
Dr. Daniel Wood. His mother, 
nee Catherine Crause, was of 
German parentage, and died 
while he was an infant. Dr. 
Wood was a learned and skillful 
physician, of classical attain- 
ments and proficient in several 
modern lauguages, who, after 
serving throughout the Revolu- 
tionary War as a Surgeon, settled on the land granted 
him by the Government, and resided there a re- 
spected and leading influence in his section until his 
death, at the ripe age of 92 years. 

The subject of this sketch, impelled by the spirit 
of Western adventure then pervading everywhere, 
left his home, Nov. 2, 1818, and passed the succeed- 
ing winter in Cincinnati, Ohio. The following sum- 
mer he pushed on to Illinois, landing at Shawneetown, 
and spent the fall and following winter in Calhoun 
County. In 1820, in company with Willard Keyes, 
he settled in Pike County, about 30 miles southeast 
of Quincy, where for the next two years he pursued 
farming. In 182 r he visited "the Bluffs" (as the 
present site of Quincy was called, then uninhabited) 
and, pleased with its prospects, soon after purchased 
a quarter-section of land near by, and in the follow- 
ing fall (1822) erected near the river a small cabin, 



1 8 x 20 feet, the first building in Quincy, of which 
he then became the first and for some months the 
only occupant. 

About this time he visited his old friends in Pike 
County, chief of whom was William Ross, the lead- 
ing man in building up the village of Atlas, of that 
county, which was thought then to be the possible 
commencement of a city. One day they and others 
were traveling together over the country between the 
two points named, making observations on the com- 
parative merits of the respective localities. On ap- 
proaching the Mississippi near Mr. Wood's place, 
the latter told his companions to follow him and he 
would show them where he was going to build a city. 
They went about a mile off the main trail, to a high 
point, from which the view in every direction was 
most magnificent, as it had been for ages and as yet 
untouched by the hand of man. Before them swept 
by the majestic Father of Waters, yet unburdened by 
navigation. After Mr. Wood had expatiated at 
length on the advantages of the situation, Mr. Ross 
replied, " But it's too near Atlas ever to amount to 
anything!" 

Atlas is still a cultivated farm, and Quincy is a 
city of over 30,000 population. 

In 1824 Mr. Wood gave a newspaper notice, 
as the law then prescribed, of his intention to apply 
to the General Assembly for the formation of a new 
county. This was done the following winter, result- 
ing in the establishment of the present Adams 
County. During the next summer Quincy was se- 
lected as the county seat, it and the vicinity then 
containing but four adult male residents and half 



'5 



JOHN WOOD. 



that number of females. Sinoe that period Mr. 
Wood resided at the place of his early adoption un- 
til his death, and far more than any other man was 
he identified with every measure of its progress and 
history, and almost continuously kept in public posi- 
tions. 

He was one of the early town Trustees, and after 
the place became a city he was often a member of 
the City Council, many times elected Mayor, in the 
face of a constant large opposition political majority. 
In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1856, 
on the organization of the Republican party, he was 
chosen Lieutenant Governor of the State, on the 
ticket with Wm. H. Bissell for Governor, and on the 
death of the latter, March 18, 1860, he succeeded to 
the Chief Executive chair, which he occupied until 
Gov. Yates was inaugurated nearly ten months after- 
ward. 

Nothing very marked characterized the adminis- 
tration of Gov. Wood. The great anti-slavery cam- 
paign of 1860, resulting in the election of the honest 
Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the Presidency of the 
United States, occurred during the short period 
while Mr. Wood was Governor, and the excitement 
and issues of that struggle dominated over every 
other consideration, indeed, supplanted them in a 
great measure. The people of Illinois, during all 
that time, were passing the comparatively petty strifes 
under Bissell's administration to the overwhelming 
issue of preserving the whole nation from destruction. 

In 1861 ex-Gov. Wood was one of the five Dele- 
gates from Illinois to the " Peace Convention " at 
Washington, and in April of the same year, on the 
breaking out of the Rebellion, he was appointed 



Quartermaster-General of the State, which position 
he held throughout the war. In 1864 he took com- 
mand as Colonel of the i37th 111. Vol. Inf., with 
whom he served until the period of enlistment ex- 
pired. 

Politically, Gov. Wood was always actively identi- 
fied with the Whig and Republican parties. Few 
men have in personal experience comprehended so 
many surprising and advancing local changes as 
vested in the more than half century recollections of 
Gov. Wood. Sixty-four years ago a solitary settler 
on the " Bluffs," with no family, and no neighbor 
within a score of miles, the world of civilization away 
behind him, and the strolling red-man almost his 
only visitant, he .lived to see growing around him, 
and under his auspices and aid, overspreading the 
wild hills and scraggy forest a teaming city, second 
only in size in the State, and surpassed nowhere in 
beauty, prosperity* and promise ; whose people recog- 
nize as with a single voice the proverbial honor and 
liberality that attach to the name and lengthened 
life of their pioneer settler, "the old Governor." 

Gov. Wood was twice married, first in January, 
;. i-8i6;:to Ann M. Streeter, daughter of Joshua Streeter, 
formerly of Salem, Washington Co., N. Y. They had 
eight children. Mrs. W. died Oct. 8, 1863, and in 
June, 1865, Gov. Wood married Mrs. Mary A., widow 
of Rev. Joseph T. Holmes. Gov. Wood died June 4, 
1880, at his residence in Quincy. Four of his eight 
children are now living, namely: Ann E., wife of 
Gen. John Tillson; Daniel C., who married Mary J. 
Abernethy; John, Jr., who married Josephine Skinner, 
and Joshua S., who married Annie Bradley. The 
last mentioned now resides at Atchison, Kansas, and 
all the rest are still at Quincy. 




LIBRARY 

Of TW 

UNIVERSITY Of IUJ&WS 




" 







HCHARD YATES, the "War 
Governor," 1861-4, was born 
Jan. 18, 1818, on the banks of 
the Ohio River, at Warsaw, 
Gallatin Co., Ky. His lather 
moved in 1831 to Illinois, and 
after stopping for a time in 
Springfield, settled at Island 
Grove, Sangamon County. Here, 
after attending school, Richard joined 
the family. Subsequently he entered 
Illinois College at Jacksonville, 
where, in 1837, he graduated with 
first honors. He chose for his pro- 
fession the law, the Hon. J. J. Har- 
din being his instructor. After ad- 
mission to the Bar he soon rose to distinction as an 
advocate. 

Gifted with a fluent and ready oratory, he soon 
appeared in the political hustings, and, being a 
passionate admirer of the great Whig leader of the 
West. Henry Clay, he joined his political fortunes to 
he party of his idol. In 1840 he engaged with great 
<=.rdor in the exciting " hard cider " campaign for 
Garrison. Two years later he was elected to the 
Legislature from Morgan County, a Democratic 
stronghold. He served three or four terms in the 
Legislature, and such was the fascination of his ora- 
r nry that by 1850 his large Congressional District, 
extending from Morgan and Sangamon Counties 
i.orth to include LaSalle, unanimously tendered him 
tn^ Whig nomination for Congress. His Democratic 
opponent was Maj. Thomas L. Harris, a very pop- 
v-lar man who had won distinction at the battle of 
Cerro Gordo, in the Mexican War, and who had 
oeates. Hull. Stephen T. Logan for the same position. 



two years before, by a large majority. Yates war 
elected. Two years later he was re-elected, over 
John Calhoun. 

It was during Yates second term in Congress that 
the great question of the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise was agitated, and the bars laid down for re- 
opening the dreaded anti-slavery question. He took 
strong grounds against the repeal, and thus became 
identified with the rising Republican party. Conse- 
quently he fell into the minority in his district, which 
was pro-slavery. Even then, in a third contest, he 
fell behind Major Harris only 200 votes, after the 
district had two years before given Pierce 2,000 
majority for President. 

The Republican State Convention of 1860 met at 
Decatur May 9, and nominated for the office of Gov- 
ernor Mr. Yates, in preference to Hon. Norman B. 
Judd, of Chicago, and Leonard Swett, of Blooming- 
ton, two of the ablest men of the State, who were 
also candidates before the Convention. Francis A. 
Hoffman, of DuPage County, was nominated for 
Lieutenant Governor. This was the year when Mr. 
Lincoln was a candidate for President, a period re- 
membered as characterized by the great whirlpool 
which precipitated the bloody War of the Rebellion. 
The Douglas Democrats nominated J. C. Allen cf 
Crawford County, for Governor, and Lewis W. Ross, 
of Fulton County, for Lieutenant Governor. The 
Breckenridge Democrats and the Bell-Everett party 
had also full tickets in the field. After a most fear- 
ful campaign, the result of the election gave Mr. 
Yates 172,196 votes, and Mr, Allen 159,253. Mr. 
Yates received over a thousand more votes than did 
Mr. Lincoln himself. 

Gov. Yates occupied the chair of State during the 



i6o 



RICHARD YATES. 



most critical period of our country's history. In the 
fate of the nation was involved that of each State. 
The life struggle of the former derived its sustenance 
from the loyalty of the latter; and Gov. Yates 
seemed to realize the situation, and proved himself 
both loyal and wise in upholding the Government. 
He had a deep hold upon the affections of the 
people, won by his moving eloquence and genial 
manners. Erect and symmetrical in person, of pre- 
possessing appearance, with a winning address and a 
magnetic power, few men possessed more of the ele- 
ments of popularity. His oratory was scholarly and 
captivating, his hearers hardly knowing why they 
were transported. He was social and convivial. In 
the latter respect he was ultimately carried too far. 
- The very creditable military efforts of this State 
during the War of the Rebellion, in putting into the 
field the enormous number of about 200,000 soldiers, 
were ever promptly and ably seconded by his excel- 
lency ; and the was ambitious to deserve the title of 
"the soldier's friend." Immediately after the battleof 
Shiloh he repaired to the field of carnage to look 
after the wounded, and his appeals for aid were 
promptly responded to by the people. His procla-; 
mations calling for volunteers were impassionate 
appeals, urging upon the people the duties and re- 
quirements of patriotism; and his special message 
in 1863 to the Democratic Legislature of this State 
pleading for material aid for the sick and wounded 
soldiers of Illinois regiments, breathes a deep fervor 
of noble sentiment and feeling rarely equaled in 
beauty or felicity of expression. Generally his mes- 
sages on political and civil affairs were able and com- 
prehensive. During his administration, however, 
there were no civil events of an engrossing character, 
although two years of his time were replete with 
partisan quarrels of great bitterness. Military ar- 
rests, Knights of the Golden Circle, riot in Fulton 
County, attempted suppression of the Chicago Times 
and the usurping State Constitutional Convention of 
1862, were the chief local topics that were exciting 
during the Governor's term. This Convention assem- 
bled Jan. 7, and at once took the high position that 
'he law calling it was no longer binding, and that it 
:,ad supreme power; that it represented a virtual 
assemblage of the whole people of the State, and was 
sovereign in the exercise of all power necessary to 
effect a peaceable revolution of the State Government 



and to the re-establishment of one for the "happiness, 
prosperity and freedom of the citizens," limited only 
by the Federal Constitution. t Notwithstanding the 
law calling the Convention required its members to 
take an oath to support the Constitution of the State 
as well as that of the general Government, they 
utterly refused to take such oath. They also as- 
sumed legislative powers and passed several import- 
ant "laws!" Interfering with the (then) present 
executive duties, Gov. Yates was ^ revoked to tell 
them plainly that " lie did not acknowledge the right 
of the Convention to instruct him in the performance 
of his duty." 

In 1863 the Governor astonished the Democrats 
by " proroguing " their Legislature. This body, after 
a recess, met June 2, that year, and soon began to 
waste time upon various partisan resolutions ; and, 
while the two houses were disagreeing upon the 
question of adjourning sine die, the Governor, having 
the authority in such cases, surprised them all by 
adjourning them " to the Saturday next preceding the 
. first Monday in January, 1865 ! " This led to great 
excitement and confusion, and to a reference of the 
'Govecnor's act to the Supreme Court, who decided in 
his favor. Then it was the Court's turn to receive 
abuse for weeks and months afterward. 

During the autumn of 1864 a conspiracy was de- 
tected at Chicago which had for its object the liber- 
ation of the prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, the 
burning of the city and the inauguration of rebellion 
in the North. Gen. Sweet, who had charge of the 
camp at the time, first had his suspicions of danger 
aroused by a number of enigmatically worded letters 
which passed through the Camp postoffice. A de- 
tective afterward discovered that the rebel Gen. 
Marmaduke was in the city, under an assumed 
name, and he, with other rebel officers Grenfell, 
Morgan, Cantrell, Buckner Morris, and Charles 
Walsh was arrested, most of whom were convicted 
by a court martial at Cincinnati and sentenced to 
imprisonment, Grenfell to be hung. The sentence 
of the latter was afterward commuted to imprison- 
ment for life, and all the others, after nine months' 
imprisonment, were pardoned. 

In March, 1873, Gov. Yates was appointed a Gov 
ernment Director of the Union Pacific Railroad, in 
which office he continued until his decease, at St. 
Louis, Mo., on the 27th of November following. 



LIBRARY 

OF (H 

UNIVEKSUY Of ILLINOIS 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



163 




^2@flg!!^ 



Richard JT. Ogles 





.ICHARD J. OGLESBY, Gov- 
ernor 1865-8, and re-elected 
in 1872 and 1884, was born 
July 25, 1824, in Oldham Co., 
Ky., the State which might 
be considered the " mother of 
Illinois Governors." Bereft of 
his parents at the tender age 
of eight years, his early education 
was neglected. When 12 years of 
age, and after he had worked a year 
and a half at the carpenter's trade, 
he removed with an uncle, Willis 
Oglesby, into whose care he had 
been committed, to Decatur, this 
State, where he continued his ap- 
prenticeship as a mechanic, working six months for 
Hon. E. O. Smith. 

In 1844 he commenced studying law at Spring- 
field, with Judge Silas Robbins, and read with him 
one year. He was admitted to the Bar in 1845, and 
commenced the practice of his chosen profession at 
Sullivan, the county seat of Moultrie County. 

The next year the war with Mexico was com- 
menced, and in June, 1846, Mr. Oglesby volunteered, 
was elected First Lieutenant of Co. C, Fourth Illinois 
Regiment of Volunteers, and participated in the bat- 
tles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. 

On his return he sought to perfect his law studies 
by attending a course of lectures at Louisville, but 
on the breaking out of the California "gold fever " in 
1849, he crossed the plains and mountains to the 
new Eldorado, driving a six-mule team, with a com- 



pany of eight men, Henry Prather being the leader. 

In 1852 he returned home to Macon County, and 
was placed that year by the Whig party on the ticket 
of Presidential Electors. In 1856 he visited Europe, 
Asia and Africa, being absent 20 months. On his 
return home he resumed the practice of law, as a 
member of the firm of Gallagher, Wait & Oglesby. 
In 1858 he was the Republican noaiinee for the 
Lower House of Congress, but was defeated by the 
Hon. James C. Robinson, Democrat. In 1860 he 
was elected to the Illinois State Senate ; and on the 
evening the returns of this election were coming in, 
Mr. Oglesby had a fisticuff encounter with " Cerro 
Gordo Williams," in which he came out victorious, 
and which was regarded as " the first fight of the 
Rebellion." The following spring, when the war 
had commenced in earnest, his ardent nature 
quickly responded to the demands of patriotism and 
he enlisted. The extra session of the Legislature 
elected him Colonel of the Eighth Illinois Infantry, 
the second one in the State raised to suppress the 
great Rebellion. 

He was shortly entrusted with important com- 
mands. For a time he was stationed at Bird's Point 
and Cairo ; in April he was promoted Brigadier Gen- 
eral ; at Fort Donelson his brigade was in the van, 
being stationed on the right of General Grant's army 
and the first brigade to be attacked. He lost 500 
men before re-inforcements arrived. Many of these 
men were from Macon County. He was engaged in 
the battle of Corinth, and, in a brave charge at this 
place, was shot in the left lung with an ounce ball, 
and was carried from the field in expectation of im- 



i6 4 



RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 



mediate death. That rebel ball he carries to this 
day. On his partial recovery he was promoted as 
Major General, for gillantry, his commission to rank 
from November, 1862. In the spring of 1863 he 
was assigned to the command of the i6th Army 
Corps, but, owing to inability from the effects of his 
wound, he relinquished this command in July, that 
year. Gen. Grant, however, refused to accept his 
resignation, and he was detailed, in December follow- 
ing, to court-martial and try the Surgeon General of 
the Army at Washington, where he remained until 
May, 1864, when he returned home. 

The Republican, or Union, State Convention of 

1864 was held at Springfield, May 25, when Mr. 
Oglesby was nominated for the office of Governor, 
while other candidates before the Convention were 
Allen C. Fuller, of Boone, Jesse K. Dubois, of Sanga- 
mon, and John M. Palmer, of Macoupin. Wm. 
Bross, of Chicago, was nominated for Lieutenant 
Governor. On the Democratic State ticket were 
James C. Robinson, of Clark, for Governor, and S. 
Corning Judd, of Fulton, for Lieutenant Governor. 
The general election gave Gen. Oglesby a majority 
of about 31,000 votes. The Republicans had also a 
majority in both the Legislature and in the repre- 
sentation in Congress. 

Gov. Oglesby was duly inaugurated Jan. 17, 1865. 
The day before the first time set for his installation 
death visited his home at Decatur, and toik from it 
his only son, an intelligent and sprightly lad of six 
years, a great favorite of the bereaved parents. This 
caused the inauguration to be postponed a week. 

The political events of the Legislative session of 

1865 were the election of ex-Gov. Yates to the 
United States Senate, and the ratification of the 131)1 
amend. nent to the Constitution of the United States, 
abolishing slavery. This session also signalized 
itself by repealing the notorious " black laws," part 
of which, although a dead letter, had held their place 
upon the statute books since 1819. Also, laws re- 
quiring the registration of voters, and establishing a 
State Board of Equalization, were passed by this Leg- 
islature. But the same body evinced that it was cor- 
ruptly influenced by a mercenary lobby, as it adopted 
some bad legislation, over the Governor's veto, nota- 
bly an amendment to a charter for a Chicago horse 
railway, granted in 1859 for 25 years, and now 
sought to be extended 99 years. As this measure 
was promptly passed over his veto by both branches 
of the Legislature, he deemed it useless further to 
attempt to check their headlong career. At this 
session no law of a general useful character or public 
interest was perfected, unless we count such the 
turning over of the canal to Chicago to be deepened. 
The session of 1867 was still more productive of 
private and special acts. Many omnibus bills were 
proposed, and some passed. The contests over the 
.ocation of the Industrial College, the Capital, the 



Southern Penitentiary and the canal enlargement 
and Illinois River improvement, dominated every! 
thing else. 

During the year 1872, it became evident that if 
the Republicans could re-elect Mr. Oglesby to the 
office of Governor, they could also elect him to the 
United States Senate, which they desired to do. 
Accordingly they re-nominated him for the Execu- 
tive chair, and placed upon the ticket with him for 
Lieutenant Governor, John L. Beveridge, of Cook 
County. On the other side the Democrats put into 
the field Gustavus Koerner for Governor and John 
C. Black for Lieutenant Governor. The election 
gave the Republican ticket majorities ranging from 
35>334 to 56,174, the Democratic defection being 
caused mainly by their having an old-time Whig and 
Abolitionist, Horace Greeley, on the national ticket 
for President. According to the general understand- 
ing had beforehand, as soon as the Legislature nist 
it elected Gov. Oglesby to the United States Senate, $ 
whereupon Mr. Beveridge became Governor. Sena- 
tor Oglesby 's term expired March 4, 1879, having 
served his party faithfully and exhibited an order of 
statesmanship beyond criticism. 

During the campaign of 1884 Mr. Oglesby was 
.nominated for a "third term" as Executive of the 
State of Illinois, against Carter H. Harrison, Mayor 
^of 'Chicago, nominated by the Democrats. Both 
gentlemen "stumped " the State, and while the peo-j 
pie elected a Legislature which was a tie on a join: i 
ballot, as between the two parties, they gave the 
jovial " Dick" Oglesby a majority of 15,018 for Gov-i 
ernor, and he was inaugurated Jan. 30, 1885. The 
Legislature did not fully organize until this date, on 
account of its equal division between the two main 
parties and the consequent desperate tactics of each ' 
party to checkmate the latter in the organization of 
the House. 

Gov. Oglesby is a fine-appearing, affable man, with 
regular, well defined features and rotund face. In 
stature he is a little above medium height, of a large J 
frame and somewhat fleshy. His physical appear- j 
ance is striking and prepossessing, while his straight- 
out, not to say bluff, manner and speech are wel. 
calculated favorably to impress the average masses. 
Ardent in feeling and strongly committed to the pol- 
icies of his party, he intensifies Republicanism 
among Republicans, while at the same time hisjovia. 
and liberal manner prevents those of the oppo?ite 
party from hating him. 

He is quite an effective stump orator. With vehe- 
ment, passionate and scornful tone and gestures 
tremendous physical power, which in speaking he 
exercises to the utmost; with frequent descents la 
the grotesque; and with abundant homely compari- 
sons or frontier figures, expressed in the broadest 
vernacular and enforced with stentorian emphar.is, 
he delights a promiscuous audience beyond measure 



or 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



u>t 





J Q gjy J PA L HER 






jlOHN Me AULEY PALMER, Gov- 
ernor 1869-72, was born on 
Eagle Creek, Scott Co., Ky , 
Sept. 13, 1817. During his in- 
fancy, his father, who had been 
a soldier in the war of 1812, re- 
moved to Christian Co., Ky., 
where lands were cheap. Here 
the future Governor of the great 
Prairie State spent his childhood 
and received such meager school- 
ing as the new and sparsely set- 
tled country afforded. To this 
he added materially by diligent 
reading, for which he evinced an 
eaily aptitude. His father, an ardent Jackson man, 
was also noted for his anti-slavery sentiments, which 
he thoroughly impressed upon his children. In 1831 
he emigrated to Illinois, settling in Madison County. 
Here the labor of improving a farm was pursued for 
al'Ut two years, when the death of Mr. Palmer's 
mother broke up the family. About this time Alton 
College was opened, on the "manual labor " system, 
and in the spring of 1834 young Palmer, with his 
elder brother, Elihu, entered this school and remained 
1 8 months. Next, for over three years, he tried 
variously coopering, peddling and school-teaching. 

During the summer of 1838 he formed the ac- 
quaintance of Stephen A. Douglas, then making his 



first canvass for Congress. Young, eloquent and in 
political accord with Mr. Palmer, he won his confi- 
dence, fired his ambition and fixed his purpose. The 
following winter, while teaching near Canton, he be- 
gan to devote his spare time to a desultory reading 
of law, and in the spring entered a law office at Car- 
linville, making his home with his elder brother, 
Elihu. (The latter was a learned clergyman, of con- 
siderable orginality of thought and doctrine.) On 
the next meeting of the Supreme Court he was ad- 
mitted to the Bar, Douglas being one of his examiners. 
He was not immediately successful in his profession, 
and would have located elsewhere than Carlinville 
had he the requisite means. Thus his early poverty 
was a blessing in disguise, for to it he now attributes 
the success of his life. 

From 1839 on, while he diligently pursued his 
profession, he participated more or less in local 
politics. In 1843 he became Probate Judge. In 
1847 he was elected to the State Constitutional Con 
vention, where he took a leading part. In 1852 lu 
was elected to the State Senate, and at the special 
session of February, 1854, true to the anti-slaverj 
sentiments bred in him, he took a firm stand in op- 
position to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
and when the Nebraska question became a party 
issue he refused to receive a re-nomination for thi 
Senatorship at the hands of the Democracy, issuinj 
a circular to that effect. A few weeks afterward 



i68 



JOHN MC AULEY PALMER. 



however, hesitating to break with his party, he par- 
ticipated in a Congressional Convention which nomi- 
T. L. Harris against Richard Yates, and which 
unqualifiedly approved the principles of the Kansas- 
Nebraska act. But later in the campaign he made 
the plunge, ran for the Senate as an Anti-Nebraska 
Democrat, and was elected. The following winter 
fle put in nomination for the United States Senate 
Mr. Trumbull, and was one of the five steadfast men 
who voted for him until all the Whigs came to their 
support and elected their man. 

In 1856 he was Chairman of the Republican State 
Convention at Bloomington. He ran for Congress in 
1859, but was defeated. In 1860 he was Republican 
Presidential Elector for the State at large. In 1861 
fie was appointed one of the five Delegates (all Re- 
publicans) sent by Illinois to the peace congress at 
Washington. 

When the civil conflict broke out, he offered his 
services to his country, and was elected Colonel of the 
/4th 111. Vol. Inf., and participated in the engagements 
at Island No. 10; at Farmington, where he skillfully 
extricated his command from a dangerous position ; 
at Stone River, where his division for several hours, 
Dec. 31, 1862, held the advance and stood like a : 
rock, and for his gallantry there he was made Major 
General; at Chickamauga, where his and Van Cleve's 
divisions for two hours maintained their position 
when they were cut off by overpowering numbers. 
Under Gen. Sherman, he was assigned to the I4th 
Army Corps and participated in the Atlanta campaign. 
At Peach-Tree Creek his prudence did much to avert 
disaster. In February, 1865, Gen. Palmer was as- 
signed to the military administration of Kentucky, 
which was a delicate post. That State was about 
half rebel and half Union, and those of the latter 
element were daily fretted by the loss of their slaves. 
He, who had been bred to the rules of common law, 
trembled at the contemplation of his extraordinary 
power over the persons and property of his fellow 
men, with which he was vested in his capacity as 
military Governor ; and he exhibited great caution in 
the execution of the duties of his post. 

Gen. Palmer was nominated for Governor of Illi- 
nois by the Republican State Convention which met 
at Peoria May 6, 1868, and his nomination would 
probably have been made by acclamation had he not 
persistently declared that he could not accept a can- 



didature for the office. The result of the 
election gave Mr. Palmer a majority of 44,707 over. 
John R. Eden, the Democratic nominee. 

On the meeting of the Legislature in January, 
1869, the first thing to arrest public attention was 
that portion pf the Governor's message which took 
broad Slate's rights ground. This and some minor 
points, which were more in keeping with the Demo- 
cratic sentiment, constituted the entering wedge fir 
the criticisms and reproofs he afterward received 
from the Republican party, and ultimately resulted 
in his entire aleniation from the latter element. The 
Legislature just referred to was noted for the intro- 
duction of numerous bills in the interest of private 
parties, which were embarrassing to the Governor. 
Among the public acts passed was that which limited 
railroad charges for passenger travel to a maximum 
of three cents per mile ; and it was passed over the 
Governor's veto. Also, they passed, over his veto, 
the "tax-grabbing law" to pay r^ilrocd subscriptions, 
the Chicago Lake Front bill, etc. The new State 
Constitution of 1870, far superior to the old, was a 
peaceful " revolution " which took place during Gov. 
Palmer's term of office. The suffering caused by the 
'great Chicago Fire of October, 1871, was greatly 
alleviated by the prompt responses of his excellency. 
Since the expiration of Gov. Palmers 's term, he has 
been somewhat prominent in Illinois politics, and 
has been talked of by many, especially in the Dem- 
ocratic party, as the best man in the. State for a 
United States Senator. His business during life has 
been that of the law. Few excel him in an accurate 
appreciation of the depth and scope of its principles- 
The great number of his able veto messages abun- 
dantly testify not only this but also a rare capacity to 
point them out. He is a logical and cogent reasoner 
and an interesting, forcible and convincing speaker, 
though not fluent or ornate. Without brilliancy, his 
dealings are rather with facts and ideas than with 
appeals to passions and prejudices. He is a patriot 
and a statesman of very high order. Physically he is 
above the medium height, of robust frame, ruddy 
complexion and sanguine-nervous temperament. He 
has a large cranial development, is vivacious, social 
in disposition, easy of approach, unostentatious in his 
habits of life, democratic in his habits and manners 
and is a true American in his fundamental principle? 
of statesmanship. 



LSBRAflY 

Of m 

UNIVERSm Of &UMXS 



GV VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



171 





OHN LOWRiE BEVER- 
IDGE, Governor 187 3-6, was 
born in the town of Green- 
wich, Washington Co., N. Y., 
July 6, 1824. His parents 
were George and Ann Bever- 
idge. His father's parents, An- 
drew and Isabel Bcveridge, be- 
fore their marriage emigrated 
from Scotland just before the 
Revolutionary War, settling in 
Washington County. His father 
was the eldest of eight brothers, the 
youngest of whom was 60 years of 
age when the first one of the num- 
ber died. His mother's parents, 
James and Agnes Hoy, emigrated 
from Scotland at the close of the 
Revolutionary War, settling also in 
Washington Co., N. Y., with their 
first-born, whose " native land " was 
the wild ocean. His parents and 
grandparents lived beyond the time 
allotted to man, their average age 
being over 80 years. They belonged to the " Asso- 
ciate Church," a seceding Presbyterian body of 



America from the old Scotch school ; and so rigid 
was the training of young Beveridge that he never 
heard a sermon from any other minister except that 
of his own denomination until he was in his igth 
year. Later in life he became a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, which relation he still 
holds. 

Mr. Beveridge received a good common-school ed- 
ucation, but his parents, who could obtain a livelihood 
only by rigid economy and industry, could not send 
him away to college. He was raised upon a farm, 
and was in his i8th year when the family removed 
to De Kalb County, this State, when that section was 
very sparsely settled. Chicago had less than 7,000 
inhabitants. In this wild West he continued as a 
farm laborer, teaching school during the winter 
months to supply the means of an education. In the 
fall of 1842 he attended one term at the academy at 
Granville, Putnam Co., 111., and subsequently several 
terms at the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, 
Ogle Co., 111., completing the academic course. At 
this time, the fall of 1845, his parents and brothers 
were anxious to have him go to college, even though 
he had not money sufficient; but, njt willing to bur- 
den the family, he packed his trunk and with only 
in money started South to seek his fortune 



JOHN L. E VE RIDGE. 



Poor, alone, without friends and influence, he thus 
entered upon the battle of life. 

First, he taught school in Wilson, Overton and 
Jackson Cos., Tenn., in which experience he under- 
went considerable mental drill, both in book studies 
and in the ways of the world. He read law and was 
admitted to the Bar, in the South, but did not learn 
to love the institution of slavery, although he ad- 
mired many features of Southern character. In De- 
cember, 1847, he returned North, and Jan. 20, 1848, 
he married Miss Helen M. Judson, in the old Clark- 
Street M. E. church in Chicago, her father at that 
time being Pastor of the society there. In the spring 
of 1848 he returned with his wife to Tennessee, 
where his two children, Alia May and Philo Judson, 
were born. 

In the fall of 1849, through the mismanagement 
of an associate, he lost what little he had accumu- 
lated and was left in debt. He soon managed to 
earn means to pay his debts, returned to De Kalb 
Co., 111., and entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession at Sycamore, the county seat. On arrival 
from the South he had but one-quarter of a dollar in 
money, and scanty clothing and bedding for himself,, 
and family. He borrowed a little money, practiced 
.aw, worked in public offices, kept books for some of 
the business men of the town, and some railroad en- 
gineering, till the spring of iS^4, when he removed 
to Evanston, 1 2 miles north of Chicago, a place then 
but recently laid out, under the supervision of the 
Northwestern University, a Methodist institution. 
Of the latter his father-in-law was then financial 
agent and business manager. Here Mr. Beveridge 
prospered, and the next year (1855) opened a law 
office in Chicago, where he found the battle some- 
what hard; but he persevered with encouragement 
and increasing success. 

Aug. 12, 1 86 1, his law partner, Gen. John F. 
Farnsworth, secured authority to raise a regiment of 
cavalry, and authorized Mr. Beveridge to raise a 
company for it. He succeeded in a few days in rais- 
ing the company, of course enlisting himself along 
with it. The regiment rendezvoused at St. Charles, 
HI., was mustered in Sept. 18, and on its organiza- 
tion Mr. B. was elected Second Major. It was at- 
tached, Oct. 1 1 , to the Eighth Cavalry and to the 
Army of the Potomac. He served with the regiment 
until November, 1863, participating in some 40 bat- 



tles and skirmishes : was at Fair Oaks, the seven days 
fight around Richmond, Fredericksburg, Chancellors - 
ville and Gettysburg. He commanded the regiment 
the greater part of the summer of 1863, and it was while 
lying in camp this year that he originated the policy 
of encouraging recruits as well as the fighting capac- 
ity of the soldiery, by the wholesale furlough system 
It worked so well that many other officers adopted 
it. In the fall of this year he recruited another com- 
pany, against heavy odds, in January, 1864, was 
commissioned Colonel of the i-jth 111. Cav., and 
skirmished around in Missouri, concluding with the 
reception of the surrender of Gen. Kirby Smith's 
army in Arkansas. In 1865 he commanded various 
sub-districts in the Southwest. He was mustered 
out Feb. 6, 1866, safe from the casualties of war and 
a stouter man than when he first enlisted. His men 
idolized him. 

He then returned to Chicago, to practice law, with 
no library and no clientage, and no political experi- 
ence except to help others into office. In the fall of 
1866 he was elected Sheriff of Cook County, serving 
dne.term; next, until November, 1870, he practiced 
'law., and -.dosed up the unfinished business of his 
office." He was then elected State Senator; in No- 
vember, 1871, he was elected Congressman at large; 
in November, 1872, he was elected Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor on the ticket with Gov. Oglesby; the latter be- 
ing elected to the U. S. Senate, Mr. Beveridge became 
Governor, Jan. 21, 1873. Thus, inside of a few 
weeks, he was Congressman at large, Lieutenant 
Governor and Governor. The principal events oc- 
curring during Gov. Beveridge 's administration were: 
The completion of the revision of the statutes, begun 
in 1869; the partial success of the "farmers' move- 
ment;" " Haines' Legislature " and Illinois' exhibit at 
the Centennial. 

Since the close of his gubernatorial term ex-Gov. 
Beveridge has been a member of the firm of Bever- 
idge & Dewey, bankers and dealers in commercial 
paper at 7 1 Dearborn Street (McCormick Block), 
Chicago, and since November, 1881, he has also been 
Assistant United States Treasurer- office in the 
Government Building. His residence is still at Ev- 
anston. 

He has a brother and two sisters yet residing Jn 
De Kalb County James H. Beveridge, Mrs. Jennet 
Henry and Mrs. Isabel French. 



LIBRARY 

Of m 

UNIVERSITY Of ILLINUIS 



GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 





HELBY M. CULLOM, Gover- 
nor 1877-83,15) the sixth child 
of the late Richard N. Cullom, 
and was born Nov. 22, 1829,111 
Wayne Co., Ky., where his fa- 
ther then resided, and whence 
both the Illinois and Tennessee 
branches of the family originated. In 
the following year the family emi- 
grated to the vicinity of Washington, 
Tazewell Co., 111., when that section 
was very sparsely settled. They lo- 
cated on Deer Creek, in a grove at 
the time occupied by a party of In- 
dians, attracted there by the superior 
hunting and fishing afforded in that 
vicinity. The following winter was 
known as the " hard winter," the snow [being very 
deep and lasting and the weather severely cold ; and 
the family had to subsist mainly on boiled corn or 
hominy, and some wild game, for several weeks. In 
the course of time Mr. R. N. Cullom became a prom- 
inent citizen and was several times elected to the 
Legislature, both before and after the removal of the 
capital from Vandalia to Springfield. He died about 
'873- 

Until about 19 years of age young Cullom grew up 

to agricultural pursuits, attending school as he had 

opportunity during the winter. Within this time, 

Swever, he spent several months teachin<* chool, 



and in the following summer he " broke prairie " with 
an ox team for the neighbors. With the money ob- 
tained by these various ventures, he undertook a 
course of study at the Rock River Seminary, a 
Methodist institution at Mt. Morris, Ogle County: 
but the sudden change to the in-door life of a stu- 
dent told severely upon his health, and he was taken 
home, being considered in a hopeless condition. While 
at Mt. Morris he heard Hon. E. B. Washburne make 
his first speech. 

On recovering health, Mr. Cullom concluded to 
study law, under the instruction of Abraham Lincoln, 
at Springfield, who had by this time attained some 
notoriety as an able lawyer ; but the latter, being ab- 
sent from his office most of the time, advised Mr. 
Cullom to enter the office of Stuart & Edwards. 
After about a year of study there, however, his health 
failed again, and he was obliged to return once more 
to out-door life. Accordingly he bought hogs for 
packing, for A. G. Tyng, in Peoria, and while he re- 
gained his health he gained in purse, netting $400 in 
a few weeks. Having been admitted to the Bar, he 
went to Springfield, where he was soon elected City 
Attorney, on the Anti-Nebraska ticket. 

In 1856 he ran on the Fillmore ticket as a Presi- 
dential Elector, and, although failing to be elected as 
such, he was at the same time elected a Representa- 
tive in the Legislature from Sangamon County, by a 
local coalition of the American and Republican par- 
ties. On the organization of the House, he received 
the vote of the Fillmore men for Speaker. Practicing 



I 7 6 



SHELB Y M. CULLOM. 



law until i %5o, he was again elected to the Legisla- 
ture, as a Republican, while the county went Demo- 
cratic on the Presidential ticket. In January follow- 
ing he was elected Speaker, probably the youngest 
man who had ever presided over an Illinois Legis- 
lature. After the session of 1 86 1, he was a candidate 
for the State Constitutional Convention called for 
that year, but was defeated, and thus escaped the 
disgrace of being connected with that abortive party 
scheme to revolutionize the State Government. In 
1862 he was a candidate for the State Senate, but 
was defeated. _ The same year, however, he was ap- 
pointed by President Lincoln on a Government 
Commission, in company with Gov. Boutwell of 
Massachusetts and Cnarles A. Dana, since of the 
New York Sun, to investigate the affairs of the 
Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments at 
Cairo. He devoted several months to this duty. 

In 1864 he enteied upo'n a larger political field, 
being nominated as the Republican candidate for 
Congress from the Eighth (Springfield) District, in 
opposition to the incumbent, JohnT. Stuart, who had 
been elected in 1862 by about 1,500 majority over 
Leonard Swett, then of Bloomington, now of Cfiicago. 
The result was the election of Mr. Cullom in Novem- 
ber following by a majority of 1,785. In 1866 he 
was re-elected to Congress, over Dr. E. S. Fowler, by 
the magnificent majority of 4,103! In 1868 he was 
again a candidate, defeating the Hon. B. S. Edwards, 
another of his old preceptors, by 2,884 votes. 

During his first term in Congress he served on the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs and Expenditures in 
the Treasury Department; in his second term, on 
the Committees on Foreign Affairs and 0:1 Territories ; 
and in his third term he succeeded Mr. Ashley, of 
Ohio, to the Chairmanship of the latter. He intro- 
duced a bill in the House, to aid in the execution of 
law in Utah, which caused more consternation among 
the Mormons than any measure had previously, but 
which, though it passed the House, failed to pass the 
Senate. 

The Republican Convention which met May 25, 
1876, nominated Mr. Cullom for Governor, while the 
other contestant was Gov. Beveridge. For Lieuten- 
ant-Governor they nominated Andrew Shuman, editor 
of the Chicago Journal. For the same offices the 
Democrats, combining with the Anti-Monopolists, 
olaced in nomination Lewis Steward, a wealthy 



farmer and manufacturer, and A. A. Glenn. The 
result of the election was rather close, Mr. Cullom 
obtaining only 6,800 majority. He was inaugurated 
Jan. 8, 1877. 

Great depression prevailed in financial circles at 
this time, as a consequence of the heavy failures of 
1873 and afterward, the effect of which had seemed 
to gather force from that time *o the end of Gov. 
Cullom's first administration. This unspeculative 
period was not calculated to call forth any new 
issues, but the Governor's energies were at one time 
put to task to quell a spirit of insubordination that 
had been begun in Pittsburg, Pa., among the laboring 
classes, and transferred to Illinois at Chicago, East 
St. Louis and Braidwood, at which places laboring 
men for a short time refused to work or allow others 
to work. These disturbances were soon quelled and 
the wheels of industry again set in motion. 

In May, 1880, Gov. Cullom was re-nominated by 
the Republicans, against Lyman Trumbull, by the 
Democrats; and although the former party was some- 
what handicapped in the campaign by A zealous 
faction opposed to Grant for President and to Grant 
4iien' : ffir office generally, Mr. Cullom was re-elected 
by about 314,565, to 277,532 for the Democratic State 
ticket. The Greenback vote at the same time was 
about 27,000. Both Houses of the Legislature again 
became Republican, and no representative of the 
Greenback or Socialist parties were elected. Gov. 
Cullom was inaugurated Jan. 10, iS8i. In his mes- 
sage he announced that the last dollar of the State 
debt had been provided for. 

March 4, 1883, the term of David Davis as United 
States Senator from Illinois expired, and Gov. Cul- 
lon was chosen to succeed him. This promoted 
Lieutenant-Governor John M. Hamilton to the Gov- 
ernorship. Senator Cullom's term in the United 
States Senate will expire March 4, 1889. 

A.S a practitioner of law Mr. C. has been a member 
of the firm of Cullom, Scholes & Mather, at Spring- 
field ; and he has also been President of the State 
National Bank. 

He has been married twice, the first time Dec. 
Ut, 1855, to Miss Hannah Fisher, by whom he had 
t\4o daughters; and the second time May 5, 1863, 
to Julia Fisher. Mrs. C is a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, with which religious body Mr. 
C. is also in sympathy. 



LIBRARY 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF HLINW.S 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



179 



M&9M$*9|IHHIK+4IIN^^ 





OHN MARSHALL HAMIL- 
TON, Governor 1883-5, was 
born May 28, 1847, in a log 
house upon a farm about two 
miles from Richwood, Union 
County, Ohio. His father was 
Samuel Hamilton, the eldest son 
SHI of Rev. Wm. Hamilton, who, to- 
ffl*m& gether with his brother, the Rev. 
Samuel Hamilton, was among the 
early pioneer Methodist preachers in 
Ohio. The mother of the subject of 
this sketch was, before her marriage, 
Mrs. Nancy McMorris, who was 
born and raised in Fauquier or Lou- 
} doun County, Va., and related to the 
two large families of Youngs and Marshalls, well 
known in that commonwealth ; and from the latter 
family name was derived the middle name of Gov. 
Hamilton. 

In March, 1854, Mr. Hamilton's father sold out 
his little pioneer forest home in Union County, O., 
and, loading his few household effects and family 
(of six children) into two emigrant covered wagons, 
moved to Roberts Township, Marshall Co., 111., being 
2 1 days on the route. Swamps, unbridged streams 
and innumerable hardships and privations met them 
on their way. Their new home had been previously 
selected by the father. Here, after many long years 
of toil, they succeeded in paying for the land and 
aiaking a comfort "M*> home. John was, of course, 



brought up to hard manual labor, with no schooling 
except three or four months in the year at a common 
country school. However, he evinced a capacity 
and taste for a high order of self-education, by 
studying or reading what books lie could borrow, as 
the family had but very few in the house. Much of 
his study he prosecuted by the light of a log fire in 
the old-fashioned chimney place. The financial 
panic of 1857 caused the family to come near losing 
their home, to pay debts ; but the father and two 
sons, William and John, " buckled to " and perse- 
vered in hard labor and economy until they redeemed 
their place from the mortgage. 

When the tremendous excitement of the political 
campaign of 1860 reached the neighborhood of Rob- 
erts Township, young Hamilton, who had been 
brought up in the doctrine of anti-slavery, took a zeal- 
ous part in favor of Lincoln's election. Making special 
efforts to procure a little money to buy a uniform, he 
joined a company of Lincoln Wide-Awakes at Mag- 
nolia, a village not far away. Directly after the 
ensuing election it became evident that trouble 
would ensue with the South, and this Wide-Awake 
company, like many others throughout the country, 
kept up its organization and transformed itself into a 
military company. During the ensuing summer they 
met often for drill and became proficient ; but when 
they offered themselves for the war, young Hamilton 
was rejected on account of his youth, he being then 
but 14 years of age. During the winter of 1863-4 he 
attended an academy at Henry, Marshall County, 



r8o 



JOHN MARSHALL HAMILTON. 



and in the following May he again enlisted, for the 
fourth time, when he was placed in the i4ist 111. 
Vol. Inf., a regiment then being raised at Elgin, 111., 
for the loo-day service. He took with him 13 other 
lads from his neighborhood, for enlistment in the 
service. This regiment operated in Southwestern 
Kentucky, for about five months, under Gen. Paine. 

The following winter, 1864-5, Mr. Hamilton taught 
school, and during the two college years 1865-7, he 
went through three years of the curriculum of the 
Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. The 
third year he graduated, the fourth in a class of 46, 
in the classical department. In due time he received 
the degree of M. A. For a few months he was the 
Principal of Marshall " College " at Henry, an acad- 
emy under the auspices of the M. E. Church. By 
this time he had commenced the study of law, and 
after earning some money as a temporary Professor 
of Latin at the Illinois Wesleyan University at 
B'.oomington, he entered the law office of Weldon, 
Tipton & Benjamin, of that city. Each member of 
this firm has since been distinguished as a Judge. 
Admitted to the Bar in May, 1870, Mr. Hamilton 
was given an interest in the same firm, Tipton. hav- 
ing been elected Judge. In October following he 
formed a partnership with J. H. Rowell, at that time 
Prosecuting Attorney. Their business was then 
small, but they increased it to very large proportions, 
practicing in all grades of courts, including even the 
U. S. Supreme Court, and this partnership continued 
nbroken until Feb. 6, 1883, when Mr. Hamilton 
was sworn in as Executive of Illinois. On the 4th 
f March following Mr. Rowell took his seat in Con- 
gress. 

In July, 1871, Mr. Hamilton married Miss Helen 
M. Williams, the daughter of Prof. Wm. G. Williams, 
Professor of Greek in the Ohio Wesleyan University. 
Mr. and Mrs. H. have two daughters and one son. 

In 1876 Mr. Hamilton was nominated by the Re- 
publicans for the State Senate, over other and older 
competitors. He took an active part " on the stump " 
in the campaign, for the success of his party, and was 
elected by a majority of 1,640 over his Democratic- 
Greenback opponent. In the Senate he served on 
the Committees on Judiciary, Revenue, State Insti- 
tutions, Appropriations, Education, and on Miscel- 
lany ; and during the contest for the election of a 
U. S. Senator, the Republicans endeavoring to re- 



elect John A. Logan, he voted for the war chief on 
every ballot, even alone when all the other Republi- 
cans had gone over to the Hon. E. B. Lawrence and 
the Democrats and Independents elected Judge 
David Davis. At this session, also, was passed the 
first Board of Health and Medical Practice act, of 
which Mr. Hamilton was a dhampion, against eu ' 
much opposition that the bill was several times 
"laid on the table." Also, this session authorized 
the location and establishment of a southern peni- 
tentiary, which was fixed at Chester. In the session 
of 1879 Mr. Hamilton was elected President pro tern. 
of the Senate, and was a zealous supporter of John 
A. Logan for the U. S. Senate, who was this time 
elected without any trouble. 

In May, 1880, Mr. Hamilton was nominated on 
the Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor, his 
principal competitors before the Convention being 
Hon. Wm. A. James, ex-Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, Judge Robert Bell, of w abash 
County, Hon. T. T. Fountain, of Perry County, and 
Hon. M. M. Saddler, of Marion County. He engaged 
actively in the campaign, and his ticket was elected 
by , a -majority of 41,200. As Lieutenant Governor, 
he presided almost continuously over the Senate in 
the 32d General Assembly and during the early days 
of the 33d, until he succeeded to the Governorship. 
When the Legislature of 1883 elected Gov. Cullom 
to the United States Senate, Lieut. Gov. Hamilton 
succeeded him, under the Constitution, taking the 
oath of office Feb. 6, 1883. He bravely met all the 
annoyances and embarrassments incidental upon 
taking up another's administration. The principal 
events with which Gov. Hamilton was connected as 
the Chief Executive of the State were, the mine dis- 
aster at Braidwood, the riots in St. Clairand Madison 
Counties in May, 1883, the appropriations for the 
State militia, the adoption of the Harper high-license 
liquor law, the veto of a dangerous railroad bill, etc. 

The Governor was a Delegate at large to the 
National Republican Convention at Chicago in June, 

1884, where his first choice for President was John 
A. Logan, and second choice Chester A. Arthur; but 
he afterward zealously worked for the election of Mr. 
Elaine, true to his party. 

Mr. Hamilton's term as Governor expired Jan. 30, 

1885, when the great favorite "Dick" Oglesby was 
inaugurated. 



LIBRARY 
OF IHt 
UNIVERSITY OF 



GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



183 








)SEPH WILSON FIFER. This 
distinguished gentleman was 
elected Governor of Illinois 
November 6, 1888. He was 
popularly known during the 
campaign as "Private Joe. ' ' He 
had served with great devotion 
to his country during the Re- 
bellion, in the Thirty-third 
Illinois Infantry. A native of 
Virginia, he was born in 1840. 
His parents, John and Mary 
(Daniels) Fifer, were American 
born, though of German de- 
scent. His father was a brick 
and stone mason, and an old 
Henry Clay Whig in politics. John and Mary 
Fifer had nine children, of whom Joseph was the 
sixth, and naturally, with so large a family, it was 
all the father could do to keep the wolf from the 
door, to say nothing of giving his children any- 
thing like good educational advantages. 

Joseph attended school for a while in Virgina, 
but it was not a good school, and when his father 
removed to the West, in 1857, Joseph had not ad- 
vanced much further than the "First Reader." 
Our subject was sixteen then and suffered a great 
misfortune in the loss of his mother. After the 



death of Mrs. Fifer, which occurred in Missouri, 
the family returned to Virgina, but remained only 
a short time, as during the same year Mr. Fifer 
came to Illinois. He settled in McLean County 
and started a brickyard. Here Joseph and his 
brothers were put to work. The elder Mr. Fifer soon 
bought a farm near Bloomington and began life 
as an agriculturist. Here Joe worked and attended 
the neighboring school. He alternated farm- work, 
and brick-laying, going to the district school for 
the succeeding few years. It was all work and no 
play for Joe, yet it by no means made a dull boy 
of him. All the time he was thinking of the great 
world outside, of which he had caught a glimpse 
when coming from Virginia, yet he did not know 
just how he was going to get out into it. He 
could not feel that the woods around the new farm 
and the log cabin, in which the family lived, were 
to hold him. ^ 

The opportunity to get out into the world was 
soon offered to young Joe. He traveled a dozen 
miles barefoot, in company with his brother George, 
and enlisted in Company C, Thirty-third Illinois 
Infantry, he being then twenty years old. In a 
few days, the regiment was sent to Camp Butler, 
and then over into Missouri, and saw some vigor- 
ous service there. After a second time helping to 
chase Price out of Missouri, the Thirty-third Regi- 



184 



JOSEPH W. FIFEE. 






ment went down to Milliken's Bend, and for several 
weeks "Private Joe" worked on Grant's famous 
ditch. The regiment then joined the forces oper- 
ating against Port Gibson and Vickshurg. Joe 
was on guard duty in the front ditches when the 
flag of surrender was run up on the 4th of July, 
and stuck the bayonet of his gun into the embank- 
ment and went into the city with the vanguard of 
Union soldiers. 

The next day, July 5, the Thirty-third joined 
the force after Johnston, who had been threatening 
Grant's rear; and finally an assault was made on him 
at Jackson, Miss. In this charge "Private Joe" fell, 
terribly wounded. He was loading his gun, when 
a minie-ball struck him and passed entirely 
through his body. He was regarded as mortally 
wounded. His brother, George, who had been 
made a Lieutenant, proved to be the means of sav- 
ing his life. The Surgeon told him that unless he 
had ice his brother could not live. It was fifty miles 
to the nearest point where ice could be obtained, 
and the roads were rough. A comrade, a McLean 
Coun<ty man, who had been wounded, offered to 
make the trip. An ambulance was secured and 
the brother soldier started on the journey. He re- 
turned with the ice, but the trip, owing to the 
roughness of the road, was very hard on him. Af- 
ter a few months' careful nursing, Mr. Fifer was able 
to come home. The Thirty-third came home on a 
furlough, and when the boys were ready to return 
to the tented field, young Fifer was ready to go 
with them, for he was determined to finish his 
term of three years. He was mustered out in Oct- 
ober, 1864, having been in the service three years 
and two months. 

"Private Joe" came out of the army a tall, tan- 
ned, and awkward young man of twenty-four. 
About all he possessed was ambition to be some- 
body and pluck. Though at an age when most 
men have finished their college course, the young 
soldier saw that if he was to be anybody he must 
have an education. Yet he had no means to ena- 
ble him to enter school as most young men do. 
He was determined to have an education, however, 
and that to him meant success. For the following 
four years he struggled with his books. He en- 



tered Wesleyan University January 1, 1865. He 
was not a brilliant student, being neither at the 
heatl nor at the foot of his class. He was in great, 
earnest, however, studied hard and came forth with 
a well-stored and disciplined mind. 

Immediately after being graduated, he entered 
an office at Bloomington as a law student. He 
had previously read law a little, and as he continued 
to work hard, with the spur of poverty and prompt- 
ings of ambition ever with him, he was ready to 
hang out his professional shingle in 1869. Being 
trustworthy, he soon gathered about him some in- ' 
fluential friends. In 1871 he was elected Corpora- j 
tion Counsel of Bloomington. In 1872 he was j 
elected State's Attorney of McLean County. This '_ 
office he held eight years, when he took Ids seat in ] 
the State Senate. He served for four years. His 
ability to perform abundance of hard work made 
him a most valued member of the Legislature. 

Mr. Fifer was married in 1870 to Gertie, daugh- 
ter of William J. Lewis, of Bloomington. Mr. Fifer 
is six feet in height and is spare, weighing only one 
hundred and fifty pounds. He has a swarthy com- 
plexion, keen black eyes, quick movement, and pos- 
sesses a frank and sympathetic nature, and natur- 
lly makes friends wherever he goes. During the 
late gubernatorial campaign his visits throughout 
the State proved a great power in his behalf. His 
faculty of winning the confidence and good wishes 
of those with whom he comes in personal contact 
is a source of great popularity, especially during a 
political battle. As a speaker he is fluent, his lan- 
guage is good, voice clear and agreeable, and man- 
ner forcible. His manifest earnestness in what he 
says, as well as his tact as a public speaker, and his 
eloquent and forceful language, make him a most 
valuable campaign orator and a powerful pleader 
at the bar. At the Republican State Convention, 
held in May, 1888, Mr. Fifer was chosen as its 
candidate for Governor. He proved a popular 
nominee, and the name of "Private Joe" became 
familiar to everyone throughout the State. He 
waged a vigorous campaign, was elected by a good 
majority, and in due time assumed the duties of 
the Chief Executive of Illinois. 



LIBRARY 

OF I Hi 

UNIVtfftsm Of ILLINOIS 











fl. 




GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 



187 




fllfeeld. 





fOHN P. ALTGELD, the present 
Governor of Illinois, is a native 
of Prussia, born in 1848. Shortly 
after his birth his parents emi- 
grated to America, locating on 
a farm near Mansfield, Ohio. 
When but a mere lad, young 
Altgeld had to walk from the 
farm to Mansfield with butter, 
eggs and garden produce, which 
he peddled from house to house. 
About 1856, his parents moved 
to the city of Mansfield, and for 
a time our subject was engaged 
morning and evening in driv- 
ing cattle to and from the pas- 
ture, a distance of eight miles. When fourteen 
years of age he hired out as a farm hand, and con- 
tinued in that avocation the greater part of his 
lime until he was sixteen years of age, when he 
enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Sixty- 
fourth Ohio Infantry, and served until the close of 
the war. On being mustered in, the regiment was 
sent to Washington and was actively engaged in 
the various campaigns in and around that city 
until the surrender of Lee. In the fall of 1864, 
young Altgeld was taken sick, while with his regi- 
ment in the front, and the surgeon desired to send 
him to a hospital iu Washington; but he asked to 



be allowed to remain with the regiment, and soon 
recovering from his sickness was actively engaged 
until the close of the war. He was mustered out 
at Columbus, Ohio, in the spring of 1865. The 
succeeding summer he worked with his father on 
a farm, during which time he became connected 
with the Sunday-school and was given charge >J 
the Bible class. Before entering the army he had 
but very limited educational advantages, having 
attended school but a part of two summers and 
one winter. He had at home, however, studied 
the German language and had become familiar 
with some German authors. Determining to fit 
himself for a useful life, he resolved to attend a 
select school at Lexington, Ohio, and in a little 
eight-by-ten room, meagrely furnished, he kept 
"bachelor's hall," and in time was so far advanced 
that he secured a certificate as teacher, and for 
two years was engaged in that profession. At the 
end of that time he left home and traveled exten- 
sively over the country, working at odd jobs, un- 
til he finally reached Savannah, Mo., where he en- 
tered a law office, and in 1870 was admitted to the 
Bar. In the fall of 1872, he ran as Prosecuting 
Attorney for Andrews County, Mo., and was de- 
feated by four votes. He ran again in 1874 and 
was elected. But life in the small town of Savan- 
nah was a little too monotonous for him, and he 
determined to locate in Chicago. In October, 



188 



JOHN P. ALTGELD. 



1875, he resigned the office of Prosecuting Attor- 
ney, moved to Chicago, and at once commenced 
the practice of law. For some years after he had 
but little to do with politics, confining himself to 
his practice and dealing in real estate. One year 
after his arrival in Chicago he found himself with- 
out a dollar, and in debt some $400. By a streak of 
good luck, as it might be termed, he won a case in 
court, from which he received a fee of $900, and 
after paying his debt he had $500 left, which he 
invested in real estate. This venture proved a 
successful one, and from that time on the profits 
of one transaction were invested in others, and 
to-day he is numbered among the millionaire resi- 
dents of the great metropolis of the West. 

In 1884, Mr. Altgeld was nominated for Con- 
gress, but was defeated by three thousand votes. 
In 1886, he was nominated and elected Judge of 
the Superior Court of Cook County. His services 
as Judge were such as to commend him to the peo- 
ple. Early in the year 1892, by the solicitation of 



many friends, he announced himself as a candi- 
date for Governor. At the convention held 
April 27, he received the nomination and at once 
entered upon an active canvass. Alone, he traveled 
all over the entire State, and visited and consulted 
with the leading politicians of every section. He 
made few public speeches, however, until near the 
close of the campaign, but it was very evident that 
he was master of the situation at all times. When 
the votes were counted at the close of election 
day, it was found that he had a majority of the 
votes, and so became the first Democratic Governor 
of Illinois since 1856. 

Born in poverty, alone, single-handed and un- 
aided, he faced the world, and with a determina- 
tion to succeed, he pressed forward, until to-day he 
has a National reputation, and is the envied of 
many. The lesson of his life is worthy of careful 
study by the young, and shows what can be done 
by one who has the desire in his heart to attain a 
front rank among the noted men of the country. 





Tazewell and 



^fason Counties, 



* ILLINOIS. 







INTRODUCTORY 






HE time has arrived when it 
becomes the duty of the 
people of this county to per- 
petuate the names of their 
pioneers, to furnish a record 
of their early settlement, 
and relate the story of their 
progress. The civilization of our 



f 
! Xp and the duty that men of the pres- 
! SJYIP ent t ' me owe to t' 16 ' 11 ancestors, to 
themselves and to their posterity, 
demand that a record of their lives 
and deeds should be made. In bio- 
graphical history is found a power 
to instruct man by precedent, to 
enliven the mental faculties, and 
to waft down the river of time a 
safe vessel in which the names and actions of the 
people who contributed to raise this country from its 
primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly 
the great and aged men, who in their prime entered 
the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their 
heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- 
maining who can relate the incidents of the first days 
}f settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an 
actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- 
vation of events without delay, before all the early 
settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time. 

To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind 
from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, 
in spite of their best works and the most earnest 
efforts of their friends to perserve the memory .of 
their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion 
and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- 
tion o the nmount of intelligence they possessed. 
Tin pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the 
names ;md deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- 
mations made by the au'heologists of Egy[)t from 
buried. Meirphis indicate a desire of those people 



to perpetuate the memory of their achievements 
The erection of the great obelisks were for the same 
purpose. Coining down to a later period, we find tht 
Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- 
ments, and carving out statues to chronicle theii 
great achievements and carry them down the ages. 
It is also evident that the Mound-bu'lders, in piling 
up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea 
to leave something to show that they had lived. All 
these works, though many ot them costly in the ex- 
treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- 
ters of those whose memory they were intended to 
perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of 
the people that then lived. The great pyramids and 
some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; 
the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- 
bling into dust. 

It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- 
gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating 
a full history immutable in that it is almost un- 
limited in extent and perpetual in its action ; and 
this is through the art of printing. 

To the present generation, however, we are in- 
debted for the introduction of the admirable system 
of local biography. By this system every mun, thongl 
he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, 
has the means to perpetuate his life, his histoiy, 
through the coming ages. 

The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the 
physical man is left. The monument which Irs chil- 
dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme, 
tery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his 
life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, 
which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated 
by a record of this kind. 

To preserve the lineaments of our companions we 
engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- 
lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we 
think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to 
wait until they are dead or until ihose who know 
them are gone: -to do this we are aOi.uned only to 
publish t) the woild the history of those whose live? 
are unwc r thy of public record. 



LiBRAKY 

w INI 

Of ILLINOIS 




LYMAN LACEY. 




mOGRAPtflCAL. 




ON. LYMAN LACEY. In the course of 
his active and honorable official career 
Judge Lacey has become widely known as 
one of the most eminent jurists of Illinois. 
His record is that of an impartial, able and learned 
judge, a fearless advocate, successful attorney and 
progressive citizen, and since coming to Havana, 
in 1856, his name has been inseparably associated 
with many of the leading measures for the devel- 
opment of the city. Since 1873 he has served as 
Judge of the Circuit Court, and four years after 
entering upon the duties of that office he was ap- 
pointed Judge of the Appellate Court of the Third 
District, which important position he still holds. 

In Dryden Four Corners, Tompkins County, N. 
Y., May 9, 1832, the subject of this sketch was 
born to John and Chloe (Hurd) Lacey, natives re- 
spectively of New Jersey and New York. The first 
representative of the Lacey family in America 
came from England prior to the Revolutionary 
War and settled in New Jersey, where were born 
many of his descendants. The great-grandfather 
of our subject, Richard Lacey, was a farmer and 
land owner in New Jersey, and during the Revolu- 
tionary War was Captain of a company of minute 
men organized to repel the British forces and pre- 
vent them from stealing cattle and provisions 
from the patriots. 

The grandfather of our subject, who also bore 
the name of Richard, served as the assistant of 
Surgeon-General Shippen during the battle of 
Monmouth, N. J., at which time there were seven 
hundred men wounded and three hundred and 
fifty killed. He was born in New Jersey, and was 
one of eight brothers included in the large family 
of his parents. When establishing a home of his 
own, he married Miss Susannah Smith, a native of 



New Jersey, and they became the parents of one 
son and three daughters, all of whom are deceased. 
The father of our subject, the last survivor of the 
family, was born January 8, 1804, in Hunterdon 
County, N. J., and died in Fulton County, 111., 
December 23, 1892, aged eighty-eight years, ten 
months and twenty-six days. 

John Lacey was six years of age when he accom- 
panied his parents on their removal to Tompkins 
County, N. Y.. and there he passed his boyhood 
days. He was trained to habits of industry and 
perseverance, and his father being a farmer, he 
naturally chose agriculture for his life occupation. 
His education was limited to the common schools 
of that early day, but being fond of reading good 
books, he kept himself well posted alike upon lit- 
erary and general subjects. Like the majority of 
self-made men, he met with marked success in all 
his undertakings, and ranked among the most 
prominent agriculturists of his county. He also 
owned the celebrated mineral springs of Tompkins 
County, N. Y. 

The parents of our subject were married in New 
York in 1831, and to them were born nine chil- 
dren, of whom our subject was the eldest. When 
he was about four years of age, the family removed 
to Oakland County, Mich., where they made their 
home for a year and a-half. In the fall of 1837 
they came to Fulton County, III., where the father 
both entered and purchased land, becoming the 
owner of a large and valuable estate. He was 
very successful as a farmer in the Prairie State, 
and at the time of his decease was the possessor of 
fifteen hundred acres. 

During his residence in Fulton County, John 
Lace}' served two 3'ears as Supervisor of Pleasant 
Township. For the same length of time he was 



204 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Assessor, and also filled the office of Justice of 
the Peace for several years. He took great inter- 
est in political affairs, and was a firm believer v in 
the principles of Democracy. .January 15, 1879, 
he was bereaved by the death of his wife, who for 
about forty-eight years had been his efficient help- 
mate, aiding him in their struggles through life 
and enjoying with him their successes. She was a 
woman of well balanced mind, and was beloved 
by all who kn^w her. 

At the time our subject's parents settled in Ful- 
ton County, their nearest neighbor was five miles 
away. In his boyhood the Judge would often 
circulate petitions in order to get the people to 
contribute toward hiring a teacher for the winter 
monlhs. His desire for knowledge has never 
grown less', and even at the present time, in the 
midst of the manifold cares of public life, he keeps 
himself well informed upon events transpiring in 
the world about him. He remained at home until 
reaching his twentieth .year, when, in the fall of 
1852, he entered the Illinois College at Jackson- 
ville, 111., and was graduated from that institu- 
tion with the Class of '55, receiving the degree of 
Bachelor of Science. Since that time he has been 
honored by his Alma Mater with the title of Mas- 
ter of Arts. 

After completing his studies in college, Mr. La- 
cey devoted himself to reading law in the office of 
Hon. Lewis W. Ross, of Lewistown, this state, and 
was there admitted to the Bar in 1856. In the fall 
of the same year he came to Havana, where he 
formed a partnership with William Walker, at that 
time the most prominent lawyer in the place, and 
now a resident of Lexington, Mo. The firm con- 
ducted business under the title of Walker & Lacey 
for two years, when the partnership was dissolved 
by mutual agreement. Our subject then continued 
the practice of his profession alone fora time, and 
in 1865 took Charles A. Harnden into the office 
with him, the firm name becoming Lacey & Harn- 
den. This partnership lasted for three .years, and 
would have continued much longer had not the 
failing health of the junior partner rendered it 
inadvisable for him to continue longer in active 
practice. Subsequently Mr. Lacey was in partner- 
ship with E. A. Wallace, which connection existed 



until our subject was chosen a member of the 
judiciary. 

Elected to the Circuit Bench January 2, 1873, 
Judge Lacey has since been the incumbent of the 
office, having been successively re-elected for four 
terms of six years each. In 1877 he was appointed 
by the Supreme Court to the position of Judge of 
the Appellate Court of the Third District, which 
office he filled very soon after the establishment of 
that court. The first term of the Appellate Court 
was held at Springfield the third Monday in No- 
vember, 1877, and Judge Lacey remained on the 
Bench during that term in company with his asso- 
ciates, Oliver L. Davis, of Danville, and Hon. 
Chauncey L. Higby, of Pittsfield. He also served 
as Judge during the May and November terms of 
1878, and in June, 1879, when a re-election of Cir- 
cuit Judge took place, he was appointed by the 
Supreme Court to the Appellate Bench of the Sec- 
ond District, his associates during that year being 
George W. Pleasants, of Rock Island County, and 
Nathaniel J. Pilsbury, of Pontiac. He has served 
in this position each successive year since his first 
appointment to the present time, and has remained 
on the Bench for a longer period than any other 
judge. 

Under the constitution the Appellate Judges are 
required to perform the duties of their office for 
the same compensation as though they were only 
Judges of the Circuit Court, and the sole advan- 
tage over the latter position is that it is a much 
more honorable appointment, and the duties of 
that court are similar to the Supreme Court. In 
1885 the Appellate Judges were not compelled to 
file opinions in any except reversed cases, but 
since that time written opinions are required by 
an amended statute to be filed in all cases. There 
are now forty-nine volumes of Appellate Court re- 
ports published, in nearly all of which will be 
found the opinions of Judge Lacey. 

In 1862 our subject was elected to the Lower 
House of the State Legislature, representing the 
counties of Mason and Menard. At that time the 
House was composed on the Democratic side of 
many young lawyers who have since become noted 
in the field of law and politics. Of these were 
Judge M. W. Fuller, now Chief Justice of the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



205 



United States; Judge Burr, who was several times 
elected to Congress, afterward to the Circuit 
Bench, and died in office; and Judge Congor, who 
for many years was Circuit and Appellate Judge. 
Recognizing his practical knowledge of agriculture, 
the Supervisors of Mason County appointed Judge 
Lacey Drainage Commissioner, and under his di- 
rection were constructed over forty miles of drain 
in that county for the benefit of the drainage of 
the wet lands. Mr. Lacey owns several farms in 
Mason and Fulton Counties, the improvements of 
which he personally superintends. 

Prior to his election to the Bench, the Judge was 
one of the prime movers in securing the charter 
for the Havana, Mason City, Lincoln & Eastern 
Railroad Com pan 3% and was one of the charter 
members and incorporators in procuring the build- 
ing of over one hundred miles of railroad under 
that charter. He drew up all the petitions for 
subscriptions from Mason County and the various 
townships through which the road runs, writing the 
notices for election, and canvassing the county 
and township for votes in order to get the project 
before the people. Afterward the Board of Direc- 
tors of the Railroad Company appointed him one of 
the committee to receive contracts for the building 
of the road, and in their interest he made several 
journeys to New York and Philadelphia in order to 
place the contract. He also canvassed in and 
through Fulton, Schuyler, McDonough and Han- 
cock Counties for subscriptions toward the build- 
ing of the Havana, Mason City, Lincoln & Eastern 
Railroad, and it was largely through his efforts 
that the people were prevailed upon to vote a sub- 
scription ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 in the 
various townships. Unfortunately, however, the 
panic of 1873 prevented the road from being ex- 
tended west from Havana to the Mississippi, which 
otherwise would have been done the next 3'ear. 
Judge Lacey was Director of the Springfield & 
North-western Railway Company, and took an 
active part in securing the building of the road 
from Havana to Springfield, which has been in 
operation since 1873. He likewise procured the pass- 
age through the Legislature of the charter of the 
Illinois River Bridge Company, of Havana, and 
largely aided in procuring the subscription of 



about 160,000, which was generously donated by 
the citizens of Havana, his personal contribution 
being $500. 

On one occasion, when quite a young man, 
Judge Lacey- was a candidate for Congress on the 
Democratic ticket, in a strongly Democratic dis- 
trict, but failed to get the nomination, for which 
he has always been exceedingly thankful. Since 
his election to the Bench he has devoted his ener- 
gies to the proper fulfillment of the duties of that 
office, and has neither time nor opportunity to en- 
gage in public enterprises, although he is greatly 
interested in all measures tending toward the ad- 
vancement of the county. 

While engaged in the practice of law, Judge 
Lacey had the largest clientage in the county, 
and during many sessions of the court had more 
cases on the docket than all the other lawyers com- 
bined. The good health he has always enjoyed 
is largely due to the fact that by farm work in 
youth he developed an excellent physique and a 
robust constitution. After leaving college he de- 
voted himself perseveringly to the task of learn- 
ing the German language, and soon mastered the 
tongue sufficiently to be able to read German al- 
most as readily as English. He has read the works 
of a large number of the great German writers in 
history, poetry, romance and science. 

May 9, 1860, Judge Lyman Lacey and Miss Caro- 
line A. Potter, of Beardstown, this state, were 
united in marriage. The lady survived her union 
only three years, and at her death, September 12, 
1863, left one son, Lyman, Jr., now a prominent 
attorney-at-law in Havana. The Judge was again 
married, May 19, 1865, his wife being Miss Mattie 
A. Warner, of this city. To them were born seven 
children: Charles, Frank, Mattie, Edward, Alice G. 
John and Fannie F., the last two dying in infancy. 
Mrs. Lacey is a lady of culture, very popular 
among her associates, and is prominent in the so- 
cial affairs of the city. 




P. KROLL, Superintendent and 
yeast maker of the American Distilling 
Company, was born in this city September 
2, 1859, while his father, Jacob Kroll, is a native 
of Germany. The latter is a miller by trade, and 



206 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



coming to America when a single man, located in 
this city and engaged in milling, which business 
he is still carrying on, at the age of sixty-two 
years. His wife was Miss Margaret Kiel prior to 
her marriage, and was also born in German}'. 

Of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob 
Kroll, our subject is the eldest but one. He at- 
tended the public schools of Pekin until reaching 
his fifteenth year, when he began work in the Ris- 
inger Distillery. Later he found employment in 
the Hamburg Distillery, where he was yeast maker, 
and continued to hold that position until 1890, 
when the company was compelled to close out its 
business. Our subject then accepted the same posi- 
tion with the American Distilling Company, in^ 
winch he is a stockholder. It was organized in the 
spring of 1892, since which time Mr. Kroll has 
been its Superintendent, and has the entire over- 
sight of the establishment. 

George P. Kroll and Miss Frances A. Leach were 
united in marriage in this city in 1888. The lady 
was born here, and is the daughter of Anson and 
Amanda M. Leach, early residents of this locality. 
In social affairs our subject is a charter member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America, and takes a 
prominent part in all matters calculated to benefit 
the city. lie is one of the wide-awake business 
men, and has the high regard of all with whom he 
has been brought in contact. 



I. 



H--M-************ 



EH. HURLEY. The gentleman whose name 
we place at the head of this sketch is the 
efficient agent for the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Railroad Company, stationed at Pekin. 
lie is a native of Iowa, having been born in Van 
Buren County, November 11, 1847, and is the son 
of Dr. John Hurley, who is a native of Champaign 
County, Ohio. 

The paternal grandfather of our subject, David 
Hurley, was born in New Jerse}'. Early in life he 
removed to Ohio, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing. Later he removed to Louisa County, Iowa, 



where he was also an agriculturist, and where he 
remained until his death. Dr. John Hurley com- 
pleted his medical studies in the Medical College 
at Cincinnati, Ohio, and removing to Iowa, was en- 
gaged in practice in Louisa County. He was one 
of the pioneer phj'sicians, and his services were in 
demand throughout Van Buren, Davis and Louisa 
Counties. During the late war he was surgeon of 
the Forty-fifth Iowa Infantry, and departed this 
life in the last-named county. 

Mrs. Jane (Hearn) Hurley, the mother of our 
subject, was born in Salisbury, Md., and was the 
daughter of Ebenezer Hearn, also a native of that 
state, whence he later removed to Iowa and en- 
gaged in farming in Van Buren County. To Dr. 
and Mrs. Jane Hurley was born a family of four 
sons and one daughter, namely: A. E., who is . 
a civil engineer in Iowa; E. H., of this sketch; 
David, who is foreman in the car shops of the Santa 
Fe Road at Albuquerque, N. Mex.; J. E., Assistant 
Superintendent of the Chicago Division of the 
Santa Fe, located at Ft. Madison, Iowa, and Jose- 
phine, now Mrs. C. E. Toole, of Davis County, Iowa. 

E. H., of this sketch, received his primary educa- 
tion in the common schools of Wapello, Louisa 
County, Iowa, and later attended first the Ml. 
Pleasant and afterward the Wesleyan Methodist 
Episcopal College. When eighteen years of age 
he began the study of civil engineering, and soon 
began operations in the field for the Burlington, 
Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway Compan}', and 
later was in the employ of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railroad in some four or five 
different states. la 1880 Mr. Hurley went to Mex- 
ico, and in the city of that name acted as assistant 
engineer, having in charge a party of workmen in 
the field. Three years later he returned north, 
and going to Kansas City, Mo., began railroad con- 
tracting and building on his own account. He was 
thus employed for about eight years, during which 
time he was on the road all the time, superintend- 
ing his workmen. His operations covered a large 
territory, and included the states of Arkansas, 
Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Wis- 
consin and Illinois. In 1891 Mr. Hurley came to 
Pekin, and in March of that year was appointed to 
the position of assistant agent in the freight de- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



207 




partment of the Santa Fe route. In August, 1893, 
he was made agent of the company, which posi- 
tion he is still occupying, giving entire satisfac- 
tion to his employers. 



jILLIAM BLAND. The original of this 
sketch, to which our attention is now di- 
rected, is a prominent business man who 
has already made a name for himself among the 
railroad men of the cit}' of Pekin. He is one of 
the best informed freight men along the lines of 
the Big Four Road, which he represents as agent, 
and is highly respected and regarded as a man of 
sound judgment. 

A native of Ohio, our subject was born in Mil- 
ford Centre, Union County, November 10, 1852, 
and is the son of Peter Bland, also a native of that 
place, while his father, Solomon Bland, came from 
Virginia. During the late war Peter Bland served 
in an Ohio regiment, and on the close of hostili- 
ties returned to his farming pursuits, which he 
carried on until his decease, in 1870. He was a 
Republican in politics, and was regarded as a man 
of true worth in his community. The lady to 
whom he was married was Miss Eliza Reed; she 
was also a native of the Buckej'e State, where her 
decease occurred in 1861. She became the mother 
of seven children, of whom William, our subject, 
was the third in order of birth. He passed the 
first seventeen years of his life on his father's 
farm, in the meantime prosecuting his studies, 
first in the district school, and later at Marysville. 
When ready to earn his own livelihood, he learned 
the art of telegraphy at Milford, on the Pan 
Handle Road, and nine months later removed to 
Indianapolis, where he secured a position as opera- 
tor on the Big Four. After holding that position 
for some time, he was transferred to the freight 
department as clerk, and for three years there- 
after was Chief Clerk. 

In 1884 Mr. Bland came to Pekin as agent for 
the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western, which 
road in 18!)0 was changed to the Cleveland, Cin- 
cinnati, Chicago & St. Louis. He has since been 



in their employ as passenger and freight agent, 
which position he is filling with distinguished 
ability. He is a man of unassuming manner, hon- 
est in all his dealings with his follow-men, and 
possesses the confidence of his employers. 

In 1884 while residing in Indianapolis, our sub- 
ject was married to Miss Lillie Campbell. She 
departed this life two years later, and January 16, 
1890, Mr. Bland chose for his second companion 
Miss Gertie, daughter of A. Pautz. Their union 
has been blessed by the birth of a son and daugh- 
ter, Willis and Mabel. Socially, our subject is a 
charter member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, and is likewise connected with the 
National Union. In politics he has always sup- 
ported the Republican party, and is recognized as 
one of the prominent and valued residents of the 
city. 




]JE W. CRESS, widely known as one 
of the largest importers of thoroughbred 
horses in Tazewell County, and numbered 
among the successful citizens of Washington, was 
born in Woodford County, 111., April 5, 1846. His 
father, Andrew Cress, was the son of a soldier in 
the War of 1812, and was born in Virginia Au- 
gust 7, 1809. Thence in 1833 he came to Wood- 
ford County, 111., and in the year following was 
united in marriage with Miss Mary Kindig. also a 
native of the Old Dominion. 

Becoming the owner of large tracts of land in 
Woodford County, Andrew Cress engaged in 
stock-raising and amassed a large fortune. He 
was one of the most generous, cordial, kind- 
hearted and refined gentlemen to be found in Illi- 
nois, and the success which he attained was the re- 
sult of merit. His death was sudden and the re- 
sult of an accident, he having been thrown from a 
sleigh and run over by a team which was trying 
to pass him. His loss was deeply mourned by all 
who knew him, for his many noble qualities of 
character won him the esteem of his large circle of 
acquaintances. 

Of five sons, two are older than the subject of 
this sketch. Benjamin K., a resident of Wood- 



208 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ford County, is extensively engaged in stock- 
raising. P. M. is engaged in the stock importing 
business. A. J., who formerly imported stock, is 
now living retired on his farm one and one-half 
miles from Washington. C. P. has also retired 
from the importing business; he now makes his 
home in Washington and is engaged in the grocery 
business. The five sons were educated in the local 
schools and in youth were thoroughly trained in 
the stock business, which they chose for their life 
occupation. 

In 1881, at the age of twent3'-two years, the 
subject of this sketch settled on a farm near Wash- 
ington and with one of his brothers engaged in 
the stock importing business. Scon the firm of 
Cress Bros, became known as the largest importers 
in this part of the state. After some time the3' 
dissolved partnership and our subject entered into 
business alone. He was the first to import Shet- 
land ponies into this section. His large stables 
are situated in Washington near his elegant resi- 
dence. 

In the public affairs of the cit3' and county, Mr. 
Cress has filled many positions of trust and re- 
sponsibility. For twelve years he was a member 
of the Board of Education. For three terms in suc- 
cession he served as Alderman, but before the ex- 
piration of the third term he was elected Mayor. 
In that responsible position he served with credit 
to himself and to the satisfaction of his constitu- 
ents. Socially, he is a Knight Templar Mason 
and is the present Master of Taylor Lodge of 
Washington. In the Eastern Star he is a promi- 
nent member, being Worthy Patron of that order, 
and is now Past Chancellor of the Knights of 
Pythias. With his family he holds membership in 
the Christian Church. 

February 20, 1868, Mr. Cress was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Celia A. Thompson, a native of 
Ohio. Her parents, William P. and Mary (Kizer) 
Thompson, were born respectively in Pennsylva- 
nia and Virginia, and came to Illinois in 1850. 
The mother is now deceased; the father resides in 
Washington. The only brother of Mrs. Cress, 
Elijah M. Thompson, is a prominent farmer living 
in Hancock County, 111. Mr. and Mrs. Cress have 
had five children, one of whom, a son, died in in- 



fancy. Oriana is the wife of James C. Crane, of St. 
Louis; Laura I., Maona and Clyde L. are at home 
with their parents. The children are refined and 
well educated, the eldest daughter having been a 
student at the Normal School at Normal, and for 
three years prior to her marriage engaged in 
teaching; the other daughters are graduates of the 
high school. 



ENRY DUISDIEKER. The genial and popu- 
lar proprietor of the Deimonico Restaurant 
in Pekin is agent for theFleischmann Com- 
pressed Yeast Company. He was born in 
Leer, Ostfriesland, Germany, July 17, 1848, and is 
the son of Christ Duisdieker, also a native of that 
country, where he was a prominent railroad con- 
tractor, and died while completing work at Ilons- 
dorf in Lauenburg. His wife, Mrs. Wilhelmina 
(I)umpelman) Duisdieker, was born in Schwelm, 
Prussia, whence she later removed to Hanover 
with her parents, and is still living in that place. 

Our subject has one brother living, Edward, who 
occupies a position in the State Bank of Hanover. 
The former was given a good education in his na- 
tive tongue, and when fourteen years of age was 
confirmed in the Lutheran Church in Leer. Go- 
ing to Hanover, he learned the trade of a gardener 
in the King's garden, after which he was for two 
years employed at Graf, Schwiechel. He then se- 
cured a better position at Lammershagen, near 
Kiel, Holstein, where he remained until drafted 
into the army. A soldier's life not being exactly 
suited to his tastes, he went to England and from 
there came to America. 

The first work secured by Mr. Duisdieker in this 
country was as gardener in Brooklyn, N. Y., but 
after a short sojourn there he came west to Chi- 
cago, and from there proceeded to Morns, III., 
where he was employed as gardener for a year. 
At the end of that time- he went to St. Louis and 
was employed as clerk for different firms until 
1881, when he returned to Germany on a visit. 

Mr. Duisdieker remained in his native land for 
nine months, and while at home was told that he 
had relatives living in Pekin, this state. In the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



209 



fall of that year lie again came to the New World, 
this time his destination being Pekin, and the fol- 
lowing year lie bought out the New City Bak- 
ery, which he operated with great success for two 
years, and then changed the name to the Delmonieo 
Restaurant. It is first-class in every respect, and 
its proprietor takes great pride in keeping it one 
of the best in the city. 

In the year 1883 Miss Augustus Kucken became 
the wife of our subject. She was born in Dayton, 
Ohio, and was the daughter of William Kucken. 
Mrs. Duisdieker was drowned in the"Frankie Fol- 
som" wreck at Peoria, in July, 1892. The body 
was recovered and buried in Daylon, Ohio. She 
was a member of Rebecca Degree, I. (). O. F., of 
Pekin. In social affairs our subject is a Royal 
Arch Mason, an Odd Fellow and a United Work- 
man. In religious affairs he belongs to the Luth- 
eran Church, and in politics always casts a Repub- 
lican vote. He ranks as a noticeable illustration 
of that indomitable push and energy which char- 
acterize men of will and determination, and is 
looked upon by the business men of Pekin as one 
worth}- of the front rank. 



|EORGE E. BARNES, who carries on general 
on section 30, Forest City Town- 
i a native of the Old Granite State, 
his birth having occurred in Lineboro, on the 
5th of September, 1832. The family was founded 
in America by three brothers who crossed the At- 
lantic from England, one settling in the south, one 
in Pennsylvania, and one in New England. The 
last was the ancestor of our subject. The grand- 
parents, William and Abigail Barnes, were both na- 
tives of New Hampshire, and the father, Nathan 
Barnes, was born in Ilillsboro County, N. II. He 
married Sarah E. Evans, a native of the Granite 
State. Her parents, however, were born, reared 
and married in Massachusetts. 

Nathan Barnes removed from Lineboro to Green- 
field, N. II., where he followed farming with his 
father until 1851, when he became a resident of 
Bunker Hill, III. His death occurred in 1871, but 
his widow still survives him. Both belonged to 




the Baptist Church, in which Mr. Barnes long 
served as Deacon. He was also much interested 
in the cause of education, and lived an honorable, 
upright life, which made his word as good as his 
bond. In the family were ten children, seven of 
whom are yet living, and three of the sons served 
in the Civil War: Asaph, who is now living in Ma- 
coupin County; Almun, of Mason County; and 
Joseph, of Sumner County, Kan. 

Mr. Barnes of this- sketch was reared and edu- 
cated in Greenfield, N. II., and with his father came 
to Illinois, lie began earning his own livelihood 
on attaining his majority, but lived at home until 
twenty-three years of age. On the 7th of Novem- 
ber, 1854, he wedded Clarissa II. Hovey, daughter 
of Peres Gilbert Ilovey, who was born September 
25, 1795. His father, Gideon Ilovey, was a son of 
Daniel mid Content (Ramsdell) Hovey, and was a 
Lieutenant of Captain Town's Cam]) at Lexing- 
ton. His death occurred in 1776. He was a son 
of Daniel and Mchitable (Bridges) Hovey, and 
Daniel's parents were Daniel and Mercy Hovey. 
The father was born June 22, 1665, and in 1722 
bought a farm on Long Hill, where he and his de- 
scendants lived for more than a hundred years. 
He was a carpenter by trade, and died March 7, 
1742. His wife died March 30, 1743. The mother 
of Mrs. Barnes, Clarisa (Packard) Hovey, was born 
Decemter 2, 1803, and was a daughter of Mayo 
Packard, of Oxford, Mass. He was born Septem- 
ber 25, 1795. 

The parents of Mrs. Barnes were married Decem- 
ber 4, 1821, and to them were born the following 
children: Daniel W., Gideon, Mrs. Mary G. Lan- 
caster, Clarissa H., James II., Mrs. Eliza J. Ness, 
Mrs. Olive J. Wilson and Mrs. Sarah II. Manley. 
Mrs. Barnes was born September 3, 1835, and was 
educated in Bunker Hill. Seven children graced 
the union of our subject and his wife, four yet 
living: Alice, who is the wife of Walter Lancaster, 
of Nebraska, and has two children; Edward J. t 
who married Nellie Allen, and has one child; Nel- 
lie, wife of John Evans, of Forest City Township, 
by whom she has two children; and Leona, at 
home. Two of the family died in infancy, and 
George P. died at the age of thirty-two. 

Mr. and Mrs. Barnes came to Mason County 



210 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



thirty-seven years ago and settled upon the farm 
which is still their home. It wasswampy land, but 
our subject drained it and transformed it into a fine 
farm. It comprises one hundred and sixty-nine 
and a-half acres, and is improved with all modern 
conveniences and accessories. He successfully car- 
ries on general farming, and reaps therefrom a 
good income. In politics he is a Republican, and 
for more than twelve years he has served as School 
Director. Both he and his 'wife are members of 
the Baptist Church, and are highly respected peo- 
ple, who have many warm friends in the commu- 
nity. 




JLLIAM J. CONZELMAN, a popular 
younar business man of Pekin, and well 

J n 

known as aft expert accountant, is head 
bookkeeper for the Globe Distilling Company. 
Born in St. Louis, Mo., May 20, 1865, he is the son 
of Dr. John Conzelman, a native of Stuttgart, 
Wurtemberg, Germany, and a graduate of a medi- 
cal college at that place. When a young man he 
crossed the Atlantic and opened an office in St. 
Louis, where for forty consecutive years he con- 
ducted a large and lucrative professional practice. 
During the late war he served for two years as sur- 
geon in a Missouri regiment and aided the Union 
cause to the full extent of his ability, being a man 
of loyal spirit, who ever displayed the utmost de- 
votion to his adopted home. 

A man of great benevolence and kindly spirit, 
Dr. Conzelman often responded to calls from the 
destitute, although there could be no hope for re- 
muneration. He was as careful in the treatment 
of his patients among the poor as among the rich, 
and in his efforts to aid them in regaining health 
was self-sacrificing to the extreme. When he died, 
in 1888, at the age of sixty-four years, the poor 
and needy mourned his loss as much as did the 
wealthy and prosperous. A Republican in polit- 
ical views, he was a prominent; member of that 
party, and was active in its councils. 

As School Director, Dr. Conzelman deserves 



special mention. He was one of the founders of 
the public school library in St. Louis, and was also 
the prime factor in securing the introduction of 
the German language in the St. Louis schools. To 
this day the impetus given the schools of that city 
by his tireless efforts is resulting in great good to 
the cause of education there. Himself a man of 
broad education, he appreciated its value and was 
desirous of giving the children of his city the best 
opportunities possible. He was a fluent linguist, 
and was able to converse in eleven different lan- 
guages. While a resident of Germany the degrees 
of A. B., A. M. and M. D. were conferred upon 
him. 

In Hermann, Mo., occurred the marriage of Dr. 
Conzelman and Miss Louisa Graf. The latter was 
born in Switzerland, and at the age of ten years 
accompanied her father, Jacob Graf, to the United 
States, where he engaged in farming near Her- 
mann, Mo. She is still living and makes her home 
in the West End, St. Louis. Her family numbered 
ten children, and nine of the number are now liv- 
ing. Of these the fifth in order of birth is Will- 
iam J. He was educated in the public and high 
schools of St. Louis, and in 1882 was graduated 
from Central High School in the classical course. 

Entering upon a business career, Mr. Conzelman 
became an employe of the Simmons Hardware 
Company, with whom he remained for seven years, 
being salesman and bookkeeper. In 1889 he ac- 
cepted a position as salesman for E. II. Lindley, 
but two years later entered the real-estate business 
in St. Louis, continuing thus engaged for two 
years. In April, 1892, he came to Pekin, and was 
with the Star &. Crescent Company until the Globe 
Distilling Company was formed, when he entered 
the employ of the latter firm and has since been 
head bookkeeper. 

October, 21, 1891, at Pekin, Mr. Conzelman was 
united in marriage with Miss Bertha, daughter of 
John and Ernestine Herget, prominent residents 
of this city. Mrs. Conzelman was born and edu- 
cated in Pekin and is a highly accomplished lady, 
possessing refined tastes and superior culture. In 
her beautiful home often gather for social inter- 
course the friends whom she and her husband have 
drawn around them by their genial natures and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



211 



kindly hospitality. They stand high in social cir- 
cles and are active in religious work as members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Polit- 
ically, he gives his support to the Republican 
party and the principles for which it stands. 



eHRISTIAN HELLEMANN, JB., owns and 
operates a good farm of one hundred and 
thirty acres on section 26, Elm Grove 
Township, Tazewell County, and is regarded as 
one of the wide-awake and enterprising young 
men of the community. His land is under a high 
state of cultivation, and the neat and thrifty ap- 
pearance of the place indicates the careful super- 
vision of the owner. The farm is also improved with 
a good residence, barns and other outbuildings, 
which add to its value and attractive appearance. 

Mr. Helleruann was born in Tremont December 
17, 1860, and is one of six children whose parents 
were Christian and Dorothy (Stamme) Hellemann. 
The father was born in Brunswick, Germany, No- 
vember 13, 1831, and landed in this country on 
his twenty-second birthday. He located in St. 
Louis, where he lived for a year, and then spent 
two years in farm work. In the spring of 1857 
he came to Illinois and entered the employ of Col. 
Peter Mcnard, of Elm Grove Township. He was 
married September 18, 1859, to Miss Stamme, a 1 
native of Hanover, Germany, who crossed the 
Atlantic in 1857. They began their domestic life 
upon a farm, and since 1869 have resided upon 
the farm which is yet their home. The six chil- 
dren of the family are: Julia, wife of Charles 
Giffhorn, of Columbia, 111.; Mary, wife of John 
Paupenhausen; Frederick, at home; Matilda, wife 
Fred Becker, of Tremont; Anna, at home; and 
Christian, .of this sketch. 

Our subject has spent his entire life in Taze- 
well County and is one of its well known citizens. 
He was educated in the common schools, and at 
the age of twenty-two he started out in life for 
himself, giving his attention to the pursuit to 
which he was reared. He has made it his life woVk. 
On the 21st of June, 1887, he was united in mar- 



riage with Miss Jeanette McLean, daughter of 
Franklin J.and Mary J. (Sample) McLean. She 
was born in Elm Grove Township, as was her fa- 
ther, and is one of five children, three of whom 
are now deceased. Her sister Mary J. now resides 
with Mrs. Hellemann. Mabel died in February, 
1886. Annie Laura and Annie Belle both died in 
infancy. Our subject and his wife have three sons, 
Frank McLean, Charles Frederick and John Chris- 
tian. 

In 1891 Mr. Hellemann was elected Township 
Clerk of Elm Grove Township and has since been 
twice elected to that office, which he now fills with 
credit to himself and satisfaction to his constitu- 
ents. He was also Township Collector in 1885 
and 1886, and in the spring of 1894 he was elected 
Supervisor of the township. His right of franchise 
is exercised in support of the Democracy. In the 
county where his entire life has been passed he is 
widely known and enjoys the confidence and good 
will of all. 




AMUEL G. EYRSE, Vicc-President of the 
State Bank of San Jose, and a prominent 
citizen of this village, is the son of Henry 
and Margaret (Gillespie) Eyrse, natives of 
Virginia. In the Old Dominion he was born June 
3, 1830, and is one of a family of seven chil- 
dren. Only three now survive: himself; John 11., 
of Peoria, 111.; and Mrs. Mary E. Gay, of Pekin, 
111. The mother of this family died in Virginia in 
1835. The father came to Illinois in 1856 and 
died in Pekin two years afterward. He and his 
good wife were devoted members of the Presbyte- 
rian Church. 

At the age of nine years our subject, on account 
of his mother's death, was compelled to go among 
strangers, and few advantages fell to his lot in 
childhood, for his hours were passed in dreary and 
unceasing toil. After having assisted in farm 
work until a lad of fifteen, he then commenced to 
learn the trade of a carpenter, which he followed 
for four years in Virginia. In 1849 he went to 
Ohio and sojourned a short time in Cincinnati, 
from which place he went to Lafayette, I nd. In 



212 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



1850 he came toPekin, III., where the ensuing four 
years were spent. The year 1854 witnessed his 
arrival in Mason County, where he settled in 
Allen's Grove Township, and worked at his trade 
here for two years. 

In connection with his brother, our subject in 
1851. entered one hundred and sixty acres in Taze- 
well County, but three years later he disposed of his 
interest in the property and purchased one hun- 
dred and sixty acres in Allen's Grove Township, 
Mason County. He has since engaged in farming, 
and buys and ships grain in large amounts. As he 
has prospered he has added to his first purchase 
until he now owns four hundred and three acres. 
In 1892, when the State Bank of San Jose was es- 
tablished, he was one of the Directors and stock- 
holders, and in 1894 was chosen V ice-President, 
which honored position he is now filling. The 
bank was opened with a capital stock of $25,000 
and does business in a substantial brick structure, 
the second floor of which is utilized as an opera 
house. 

In the Old Dominion occurred the marriage of 
Mr. Kyrse and Miss Mary .1. Cross, their wedding 
being solemnized March 6, 1856. This lady is a 
daughter of Thomas and Mary (Cross) Cross, na- 
tives of Virginia, where her birth occurred Janu- 
aiy 22, 1835. She is one of two children, the 
other, Thomas II., being now a resident of Chero- 
kee County, Kan. Mr. and Mrs. Eyrse are the 
parents of seven children, of whom the following 
survive: Martha E.; Marietta, the wife of Henry 
Connett, of Mason County; Henry T., who married 
Clara Patterson and lives in this county; Charles 
S., James H. and John L., who reside with their 
parents. George W. is deceased. The children 
were given excellent educational privileges and 
received such home training as will make them 
honored citizens. Mrs. Eyrse is identified with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church at San Jose. 

In politics a Democrat, Mr. Eyrse has filled a 
number of local offices, but is not solicitous for 
office, preferring to devote his energies to business 
interests. Beginning in life poor, without friends, 
compelled to spend his childhood days among 
strangers, his life affords an illustration of what 
industry and good management will accomplish. 



He has succeeded beyond the cherished dreams of 
youth and has gained not only material prosperity, 
but also the confidence of his associates and the 
esteem of all who know him. 




DAM KUMPF, a successful business man 
of Pekin,und the present Alderman of the 

// (i First Ward, was born in Waterloo, Mon- 
roe County, 1 11., July 17, 1852. He is the 
son of Michael Kumpf, a native of German}' and 
a wagon-maker by trade, who in early manhood 
crossed the Atlantic and proceeded direct to Illi- 
nois, where he engaged in work at his trade and 
carried on a wagon shop. The year 1868 wit- 
nessed his arrival in Tazewell County from his 
former home in Waterloo, and settling in Pekin, 
he followed his chosen occupation until his death 
which occurred in this city in 1883. His widow, 
now a resident of Pekin, was born in Germany 
and bore the maiden name of Catherine Stetzer. 

In the family of Michael and Catherine Kumpf 
there were six sons and two daughters, of whom 
Adam is the eldest. In the public schools of Water- 
loo he gained a practical education and at the age 
of fourteen commenced to work at the trade of a 
wagon-maker, following that occupation for seven 
years. When the family came to Pekin in 1868 
he accompanied them hither and secured employ- 
ment in the wood department of the Smith it 
Weyrich Header Works. After one year spent in 
that way he entered the restaurant and saloon 
business, for a time remaining in the employ of 
others, and in 1878 embarking in that enterprise 
for himself. Since that year he has followed that 
business with such success that he has gained an 
enviable reputation in his chosen line and has also 
secured flattering pecuniary results. 

Having invested his earnings with good judg- 
ment, Mr. Kumpf is now the owner of a commo- 
dious and attractive new residence on St. Mary's 
Street, in addition to three substantial houses in 
this city. His home is presided over by his amia- 
ble wife, with whom he was united at Pekin in 
1877. In maidenhood she was known as Chris- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



213 



tina Nagel. A native of Germany, she was brought 
to the United States in childhood, and was reared 
to womanhood in Pekin. Three children have 
blessed the union, Annie, Emma and Louis Adam. 
A Democrat in politics, Mr. Kumpf is prominent 
in the ranks of his chosen party, and since the 
spring of 1893 lias served as Alderman of the First 
Ward. In the City Council he has rendered ac- 
ceptable service as member and Chairman of va- 
rious committees. Socially he is connected with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has 
represented the lodge in the Grand Lodge. He is 
also identified with the encampment. The Knights 
and Ladies of Honor have in him one of their in- 
fluential members, and he is also prominently 
connected with the Masonic fraternity and the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was 
commissioned Sergeant of the Fourth Regiment 
and has been active in the various fraternal or- 
ganizations of the city. 



S****** *+**+!+ 




HI LIP MARQUARDT. The life of this 
gentleman shows in a striking manner 
what can be accomplished by persistence 
and diligence, ' coupled with excellent 
judgment and honesty. From the position of a 
poor boy lie has arisen to an honorable rank as a 
business man and progressive citizen, and to-day 
Pekin has no resident more highly esteemed than 
is he. A member of the firm of Marquardt & Lam- 
pitt, he does an extensive business as a contractor 
in brick and stone work. 

In Sandbach, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, the 
subject of this biographical sketch was born July 
16, 1845. His father, Philip, and his grandfather, 
Philip, were born in the same city as was he, and 
both were expert stone cutters. The father died 
at the age of thirty-two years, in 1852, his death 
being caused by the accidental falling of a stone 
upon him. The mother, Elizabeth, was a daughter 
of Philip Marquardt, who though bearing the same 
name was not related to the other family. He was 



a farmer and served in the war of 1813-15. Mrs. 
Elizabeth Marquardt passed away at the age of 
forty-two years. 

In the parental family there were six children, 
but only two are now living, our subject and Adam, 
the latter being a farmer at North Falls, Stanton 
County, Neb. The former, who was third in order 
of birth, was reared in his native land, and under 
the tutelage of his mother's second husband, John 
Marquardt, learned the trade of a stone mason. 
From the age of thirteen he worked at his trade 
in Sandbach and Frankfort-on-the-Main. In the 
spring of 1864, he took passage on a steamer, and 
without delay or any event of importance made 
the journey from Bremen to New York. 

Proceeding directly west to Pekin, Mr. Marquardl 
worked at his trade for a time. In 1870 ho em- 
barked in business as a contractor for stone and 
brick work, and later was for a time with the firm 
of Snyder, Jansen <fe Co. In 1892 he formed a 
partnership with Ed F. Lampitt, and the firm of 
Marquardt & Lampitt has since carried on a flour- 
ishing and profitable business. In 1893 he erected 
the brick water tower at Morton, which is seventy 
feet high, and also helped to build the stone tower 
in Pekin. Some of the finest and most substantial 
brick buildings of Pekin stand as monuments to 
the ability and efficient work done by Mr. Mar- 
quardt, and he also built the abutments for several 
bridges on the Mackinaw River. For six months 
he was employed at Carbondale, Osage County, 
Kan., where he erected three residences for fann- 
ers formerly residents of Pekin. 

In the German-American Building and Loan 
Association Mr. Marquardt is a Director, and is 
also a member of the Mutual Loan and Homestead 
Association. His residence at the corner of Sec- 
ond and Catherine Streets is presided over by his 
estimable wife, whom he married at Pekin in 1867. 
She was born in Germany and bore the maiden 
name of Catherine Hofmann. They were the par- 
ents of twelve children, six of whom are now liv- 
ing, namely: Mary and Carl (twins), Louis, Philip, 
George and Leonard. The three eldest sons are 
brick-masons by trade and are engaged in that oc- 
cupation in Pekin. 

Socially, Mr. Marquardt is identified with the 



214 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is 
Past Grand. He is also an officer in the Order of 
Druids, and is connected with the Mutual Aid of 
Illinois. Politically, he gives his support to the 
principles of the Republican party. 




DAM SAAL. The industrial interests of 
Pekin are ably represented by the subject 
of this sketch, who is a successful con- 
tractor and plasterer, to which trades he 
adds that of manufacturing cement, concrete and 
artificial stone pavements. He is a native of Ger- 
many, his birth occurring in Hesse-Darmstadt, 
February 9, 1850. 

Grandfather Saal was a weaver of fancy goods 
in Germany, as was also the father of our subject, 
who bore the name of Henry. The latter came to 
America with his family, which consisted of his 
wife and five children, the trip being made across 
the Atlantic in 1857. He at once located in this 
ciiy, where his death occurred in June, 1893. His 
wife, Mrs. Margaret (Vogel) Saal, is also a native of 
the Fatherland, and is the daughter of George 
Vogel, who was a fanner. She is still living in 
this city, having reached the age of three-score 
years and ten. The brother and sisters of our 
subject are, Kate, Lizzie, Maggie and Jacob. They 
are all married and all live in Pekin with the ex- 
ception of the eldest daughter, who makes her 
home in Cedar Creek, Cass Count}', Neb. 

Adam, of this sketch, was given a good educa- 
tion in Germany, and was a lad of fifteen years 
when he came to America. After locating in Pe- 
kin, he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a 
plasterer, and afterward worked with his instructor 
for two years, when he began business on his own 
account, and is now the largest contractor in his 
line of work in the city. About 1888 he began 
the manufacture of artificial stone work, and plies 
his trade in Delavan, McLean, Mackinaw and the 
surrounding towns. He uses the very best ma- 
terials when making the pavements, and never 
fails to give entire satisfaction. 

Mr. Saal also owns considerable real estate in 



the city, and besides his own residence, which is 
located at No. 827 Catharine Street, is the proprie- 
tor of nine other dwellings. The lady to whom he 
was married in this city in 1871 is Miss Lizzie 
Kraeger; she is also a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, 
and came to America when fourteen years of age. 
Their union was blessed by the birth of a sou and 
daughter, Henry and Lizzie. 

Mr. Saal has contributed liberally to all worthy 
enterprises, and is classed among the most influen- 
tial and respected citizens in the community. He 
served as Alderman of the Third Ward for four 
years, during which time he was Chairman of the 
Fire and Water Committees. He has been Tax 
Collector of Pekin Township and city for two years, 
and in his political affiliations is a strong Demo- 
crat. Socially he is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, Mod- 
ern Woodman, and a member of the Order of Red- 
men. In the conduct of his business affairs he 
gives to each department of work his personal at- 
tention, and the care and method ever exercised 
have contributed to place him among the foremost 
in his H'ae'of'work in the city. 



REDBRICK P. SIEBENS, stockholder and 
Director of the T. <fe H. Smith Company, 
which he also serves in the capacity of Su- 
perintendent of the wagon department, is a man 
who owes his success in life mainly to his own un- 
assisted efforts, and is practically self made. He 
was born in Germany April 15, 1851, and is the 
son of Jurjeu Siebens, a native of Canhusen, Ost- 
friesland, that country, which is also the birth- 
place of his father, Frederick. The latter was a 
farm laborer, and died in Pekin when well ad- 
vanced in years. 

The father of our subject worked at farming in 
his native land, and when emigrating to America, 
in 1868, was accompanied by his wife and three 
sons. The voyage was made on a sailing-vessel, 
which landed them in Baltimore, Md., August 2, 
1868, after a voyage of eight weeks and two days. 



LIBRARY 

of m 

UNIVtKSlU Of ILLINOIS 




HON. JOHN HERGET. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



217 



About a week later they came to Pekin, where the 
father engaged as a gardener, and where he lived 
until his decease, in 1872. In his native land lie 
had married Miss Wipke, daughter of Garralt Bild- 
hoff, who was a farmer. Mrs. Siebens is still liv- 
ing and makes her home in this city. With her 
husband she was a member of the German Re- 
formed Church; she was the mother of three sons, 
of whom our subject is the first born, his brothers 
being Garralt, who is living in Sioux City, Iowa, 
where he has charge of a manufacturing company, 
and Harry, engaged in working for the T. & H. 
Smith Company. 

Frederick P., of this sketch, was given a fine 
education in his native tongue, after which he 
worked out on farms until the removal of his par- 
ents to the New World. On arriving in Pekin, he 
found employment in the wood department of the 
T. & II. Smith Company, and a year later became 
an employe in the blacksmith department, where 
he learned to manufacture the iron work used on 
both wagons and plows. The factory was burned, 
and after it was rebuilt, Mr. Siebens confined him- 
self to wagon work until 1883, when he was made 
foreman of the blacksmith department. He held 
that position until the fall of 1892, when he was 
appointed Superintendent of both the wood and 
iron department, having in the former sixty work- 
men, and in the latter one hundred and fifty men 
under his charge. In 1890, when the firm was re- 
organized and reincorporuted, our subject became 
one of the stockholders and Directors. Aside from 
this he owns stock in the American Home and 
Loan Association of Pekin, and thus ranks among 
the prominent and influential men of the city, and 
is j ustly regarded as a man of true worth. 

The lady to whom our subject was married in 
this city April 25, 1881, WHS Miss Carrie Voight,a 
native of Racine, Wis. She was the daughter of 
Charles Voight, a fanner near Pekin, where Mrs. 
Siebens was reared to mature years. By her union 
with our subject, she .has become the mother of six 
children, Freddie, Charlie, Grace, Louis, and two 
who died unnamed. 

Mr. Siebens is a charter member of the Modern 
AVoodmen of America, and in politics he is and al- 
ways has been a Republican. Probably there js no 
2 




man who is more popular in the city than he, and 
he has won this kind feeling by his genial manner 
and good judgment in mingling with his fellow- 
men. 



ON. JOHN HKRGET, who as Mayor of Pe- 
kin rendered efficient service in the inter- 
est of his fellow-citizens, is one of the old- 
est surviving settlers of this place, as well 
as one of its most influential business men. He is 
well known throughout Tazewell County as one 
of its public-spirited citizens and as one who has 
been variously identified with its interests for 
many years. By his energetic and resolute force 
of character and talent- for affairs he has given an 
impetus to the growth of this section of country, 
and is still actively forwarding its advancement in 
important directions. 

A native of Germany, Mr. Herget was born in 
Hergershausen, Hesse-Darmstadt, October 27, 1830. 
His father, Philip, was born in the same place in 
1800 and served as an officer in the German army, 
after which he followed his trade of a wagon-maker, 
together with farming pursuits. Our subject was 
the first member of the family who emigrated to 
America, and so well was he pleased with this 
country that he returned to Germany and brought 
back with him in 1869 his father, brother-in-law 
and sister. The mother, whose maiden name was 
Margaret Reuling and who was born in Hergers- 
hausen, was the daughter of George Reuling, a 
well-to-do farmer of Hesse-Darmstadt; she died in 
1836. The father died in Pekin, in September, 
1871. 

The three children born to Philip and Margaret 
Ilerget are: John, of this sketch; George, who is 
interested in business with our subject; and Mary, 
the wife of Nicholas Reuling, of Pekin. The father 
was again married, choosing as his wife Miss Anna 
Kline, and they had five children. Margareta be- 
came the wife of Adam George, and both are now 
deceased. Four are now living, all residents of 
Pekin, as follows: Mary, who married John Krager; 
Philip, who is carrying on the business of a malt- 
ster; Catharine, wife of John Block, who at pres- 



218 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ent is interested with Smith, Hippin & Co. in the 
grain business; and Madeline, wife of George 
Meisinger. 

The subject of this sketch was reared in the city 
of his birth, where he learned the trade of a wagon- 
maker under his father's instructions. In 1849 he 
came to America, the journey being made by a 
sailing-vessel to London, England, and thence to 
New York. From the latter city he proceeded to 
Columbia, Lancaster County, Pa., where he spent 
one year. Removing thence to Gettysburg, Pa., 
he engaged at the trade of a carriage-maker until 
1853. 

During the year last-named Mr. Herget was 
united in marriage with Miss Ernestine Schreck, 
who was born in Saxony, near Saxe-AVeimer, and 
thence came to Pennsylvania in 1852 with her 
parents. In August, 1853, Mr. Herget came west 
to Pekin, the journey being made by rail to San- 
dusky, Ohio, thence by the Lakes to Detroit, from 
that city by rail to La Salle and from there by 
boat to Pekin. In this city he worked at his trade 
in the T. & H. Smith Carriage Manufactory un- 
til February, 1860, when he embarked with his 
brother in the grocery business, the firm name be- 
ing J. & G. Herget. The first site of the store was 
at the present location of the German-American 
Bank. 

In 1870 the firm erected a double store, to which 
in the following year they removed. Here they 
engaged in the wholesale grocery and liquor bus- 
iness until 1891, when they retired from the former 
and have since devoted their attention to the liquor 
business, and are also engaged in rectifying and 
distilling. Mr. Herget assisted in the organization 
of the Star & Crescent Distillery, and continued 
with that enterprise until 1892, when it was sold 
out to Samuel Woolner. In addition to other en- 
terprises he has an interest in the firm of N. 
Reuling & Co., dry-goods merchants of Pekin, and 
is also a stockholder in the Farmers' National 
Bank. A Republican in politics, he has served as 
Alderman and has frequently been elected Super- 
visor. In 1873 and 1874 he occupied the responsi- 
ble position of Mayor of Pekin, and during his 
terms of office many reforms were instituted and 
many needed improvements introduced. He is 



recognized as one of the most influential men in 
this part of the state. 

In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Ilerget there were 
eight children, as follows: Mary, who died in 
1866; Emma, the wife of John Nolle, of Pekin; 
Lena, Mrs. D. D. Velde, of this city; Martha, wife 
of George Steinmetz; Bertha, the wife of W. J. 
Counzelman; George, John and Carl, prominent 
citizens of Pekin. The family is identified with 
St. Paul's Evangelical Church, in which Mr. Iler- 
get is serving as Trustee. 



C. HALL. It has often been said that in- 
vincible determinati n will accomplish any 
desired result, and already are the effects 
of its constant exercise visible in the life of this 
gentleman, who has won a respected position for 
himself in the community by reason of industry, 
perseverance and a genial nature. He is at pres- 
ent residing in the city of Delavau, where he is a 
member of the City Council and also the owner of 
a valuable estate in the township of that name. 

Our subject is a native of this place, and was 
born November 28, 1846, to the Hon. Ira B. and 
Sarah A. Hall, of whom a more complete sketch 
will be found on another page in this volume. 
Ira B. Hall is a very prominent man of Tazewell 
County, being Vice-President of the Tazewell 
County National Bank and ex-member of the 
Legislature. He is a native of Rhode Island and 
an old resident of this city. 

O. C. Hall, of this sketch, received his early train- 
ing in the schools of Delavan, after which he at- 
tended Bryant <fe Stratum's Commercial College 
in Peoria. For the succeeding four or five years 
he was engaged in the insurance business at Dela- 
van, and at the same time carried on a lively 
trade in stock, which in fact has been his princi- 
pal business. He has charge of his father's fine 
estate adjoining the city, which under his efficient 
management is classed among the finest in the 
county. 

Prior to the organization of the city our sub- 
ject was President of the Village Board for two 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



219 



terms, and since its incorporation lias been for 
several years a member of the City Council, in 
which body he is a very influential member. In 
all positions he has been faithful to the trust re- 
posed in him, and as a business man and neigh- 
bor he commands the high regard of a host of life- 
time friends. 

O. C. Hall was married April 10, 1873, to Miss 
Clara P. James, who was born in Rhode Island 
and is the daughter of O. II. P. James, a well- 
to-do resident of Delavan. Mr. and Mrs. Hall 
have become the parents of two children: Charles 
E., a graduate of the Delavan High School; and 
Katlie G., who is at present a student in that in- 
stitution. Our subject is, like his father, a strong 
Democrat in politics, and socially is a Chapter 
Mason. 




E R. SHAKER, M. D. In the study 
of the career of those who have been the 
architects of their own fortunes in the var- 
ious departments of business or professional life, 
there may often be encountered suggestions of in- 
estimable value to those who are just starting out 
in life for themselves. The men whom we are ac- 
customed to call self-made are well represented in 
Morton, and among this class prominent mention 
belongs to the gentleman with whose name we in- 
troduce this sketch, and who is widely known and 
highly esteemed as a physician of this section of 
the state. 

Our subject was Itorn two miles eastof Washing- 
ton, this county, September 15, 1858, and is the 
son of George A. and CatlR'rine (Myers) Shafer, 
the former of whom was born in Fail-field County, 
Ohio, which was also the birthplace of his father, 
who was the first white child born in Fail-field 
County. The great-grandfather of our subject was 
a native of Pennsylvania, and was one of the first 
to locate a farm in the above county. The grand- 
mother of our subject was likewise one of the first 
white children born in that portion of the Buckeye 
State. 

The father of our subject being reared to farm 
pursuits, he followed that occupation throughout 



his active life, and soon after his marriage in Ohio 
emigrated to this state, first locating in Shelby 
County, where he entered two hundred and forty 
acres of land from the Government. Two years 
later he disposed of this property, and coming to 
Tazewell County, purchased a quarter-section of 
prairie land near Washington. This he lived upon 
until 1872, when he sold out and removed to 
Christian County, where he farmed for some time, 
but is now living in retirement in the town of As- 
sumption. With his wife he was a member of the 
United Brethren Church. In politics he was first 
a Democrat, then a Whig, afterward a Republican, 
and now votes with the Prohibition party. 

The parental family included seven children, 
namely: Silas A., Josephus C.; Samuel, who is 
now deceased; our subject, Jennie, Ida, and Ola, 
who makes her home with the Doctor. Our subject 
received his education in the schools of Washing- 
ton and Assumption. He began the study of medi- 
cine in 1877, and two years later went to Chicago, 
where he took a course of instruction in the Ben- 
nett Medical College, from which he was graduated 
with the Class of '81. After receiving his diploma 
he came to Morton, and May 13 of that year be- 
gan the practice of his profession, and now has a 
very extensive patronage, which covers a large 
territory. 

Dr. Shafer is a member of the Illinois State Ec- 
lectic Medical Association, and has been Corres- 
ponding Secretary of the same for eight year?. 
He was honored May 2, 1893, by being appointed 
a member of the Advisory Council of the World's 
Congress Auxiliary, on the Congress of Eclectic 
Physicians and Surgeons, which met at Chicago 
during the World's Fair. He was married in 1882, 
in Long Island, to Miss Emma J., daughter of Dr. 
Harmon A. and Mary E. (Weber) Buck. Their 
home has been blessed by the advent of two daugh- 
ters, Viola and Violet, twins. 

In social matters Dr. Shafer belongs to Lodge 
No. 768, M. W. A., and in politics is a stanch Re- 
publican. He and his wife are consistent members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in that 
denomination in Morton the former is Steward and 
Trustee. In 1890, he completed a large store in 
the village, in which he has put a fine assortment 



220 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of drugs, and is now doing the leading business in 
that line in the place. He is also the owner of a 
quarter-section of land in Kansas, and is a stock- 
holder in the Assumption Coal Mining Company. 




NDREW E. WOOLF, of Delavan, claims 
New York as the state of his nativit}-, his 
birth having occurred in Pellamville, 
_ Westchester County, October 29, 1840. 

His grandfather, Anthony Woolf, was born in 
Hesse-Cassel, Germany, November 19, 1761, and 
when a young man was taken from his bed by the 
British'and forced on board a ship that setsail for 
America. He was told that they were going to 
fight the Indians and French, but when the shores 
of the New World were reached he found that he 
was expected to join the British army against those 
struggling for independence. Immediately he de- 
serted, and hid among the hills of New Jersey until 
he found a place of safety. He then began work- 
ing as a farm hand for $25 per year, and finally 
purchased a tract of land in Westchester County, 
N. Y. He lived to become quite wealthy, and be- 
fore his death gave to each of his children a farm. 
On the 27th of January, 1797, lie was made a citi- 
zen of the United States in the City Hall of New 
York, and the quaint old certificate given to him 
at that time is now framed and hangs in our sub- 
ject's parlor. Anthony Woolf was the father of 
the following children: Elizabeth, Ann, Abigail, 
Sarah, James, Hannah, Andrew and John. 

Andrew Woolf was the father of our subject. 
He was born in the Manor of Fordan, Westchester 
County, N. Y. The land which his father gave 
him became quite valuable and he disposed of it 
at a handsome price. He then embarked in the 
real-estate business and laid out Claremont, a 
suburb of New York City, from which he made a 
fortune. In 1866 he came to the west and bought 
for each of his four boys a farm in Tazewcll 
County. He died February 12, 1877. His wife, 
who bore the maiden name of Mary De Voe, was 
born in the Manor of Fordan, July 1, 1805, and 
was a daughter of John and Sarah De Voe, natives 



of Westchester County, N. Y. Her father at one 
time owned the land which Mr. Woolf laid out as 
the town of Claremont. Mr. and Mrs. Woolf were 
married November 15, 1823, and after her hus- 
band's death, the lady lived with our subject until 
called to her final rest, December 9, 1885. She left 
him considerable property and some interesting 
and valuable relics, including a Bible that has been 
in the family for more than a century, and a small 
jar, which was imported full of tea in 1618 and 
which came down to him in direct line from his 
Great-great-grandmother De Voe. 

Andrew E. Woolf is the youngest of six chil- 
dren, four sons and two daughter. The latter, 
Sarah and Phoebe, became the wives of George 
and pjd Morris, respectively, and both died in New 
York. The eldest brother, John D., was born Au- 
gust 9, 1824, and resides in Delavan. Anthony, 
born December 25, 1826, is one of the extensive 
farmers of Boy n ton Township. William II., born 
October 25, 1837, is now a large farmer living 
near Iowa City, Iowa. 

Under the parental roof Andrew E. Woolf was 
reared to manhood, but having attained his ma- 
jority he left home, and on the 16th of January, 
1864, he married Miss Johanna Lucas Reed, who 
was born in Pike County, Ohio, June 7, 1846. 
Her father, John Reed, was also a native of the 
Buckeye State and was a son of Judge Samuel 
Reed, who for many 3 - ears was on the Circuit 
Bench of Ohio. His first wife was a niece of 
Aaron Burr. John Reed was united in marriage 

o 

with Rebecca A. Smith, a native of Virginia, and 
after his death his widow became the wife of D. P. 
Withrow. She was called to the home beyond 
December 24, 1872. The brothers and sisters of 
Mrs. Woolf are: Samuel J.,who died at the age of 
fourteen years; Mary Elizabeth, wife of William 11. 
Woolf, of Iowa City, Iowa; and William, a farmer 
of the same place. 

Mr. and Mrs. Woolf have two daughters. Alice 
L. is -now completing her musical education in 
the Conservatory of Music in Peoria. Her tal- 
ent in this direction she inherits from her mother's 
people. Her maternal grandparents were both 
fine singers, and Mrs. Woolf has for fifteen years 
been a member of the choir of the Presbyterian 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



221 



Church. Emma R., the second daughter, is also 
finely educated in music. She is now the wife of 
J. M. Allen, confidential clerk in the great 
drug house of Myers Bros., of St. Louis. He also 
has charge of raining interests in the western 
mountains. Mrs. Allen possesses the musical abil- 
ity of the family and sings in a Presbyterian 
Church of St. Louis. They have one child, a son. 
When the boy was quite 3'oung his parents were 
making a trip on the Santa Fe Road to the mines 
in the west. An elderly gentleman on the train, 
attracted by the prattle of the bright little fellow, 
asked the parents his name and was told that he 
had yet been given no name. Upon finding out who 
the father was, the gentleman said, "My name is 
Hanley. I am the Superintendent of this road. I 
have no children, and if you will name that boy 
Hanley Morton Allen, I will deposit $1,000 to his 
credit to be his at the age of twenty-one and will 
also pay his way through either Yale or Harvard 
College." The name was given to the boy. 

Mr. Woolf continued his farming interests until 
1880, when he abandoned that work and has since 
given his entire time and attention to looking 
after his extensive property interests in town. He 
is a man of most excellent business ability, saga- 
cious and far-sighted, and though he had property 
left to him he has largely increased it through his 
well directed efforts. Both he and his wife are 
members of the Presbyterian Church, and to both 
church and charitable work they contribute lib- 
erally. 




OILMAN BAILEY. The social, political 
and business history of this section is 
filled with the deeds and doings of self- 
made men, and no man in Tazewell Coun- 
ty is more deserving of the name than D. G. 
Bailey, who is one of the largest land owners in 
Delavan Township. He marked out his own career 
in liis youth and has steadily followed it up to the 
present time, his prosperity being attributable to 
his earnest and persistent endeavor, as well as to 
the fact that he always consistently tries to do as 
he would be done by. He is honest and upright 



in word and deed, energetic and pushing, and of a 
decidedly practical turn of mind. 

Our subject is a native of this county, having 
been born in Pekin, December 4, 1839, and is a sou 
of David Bailey, a native of Hillsboro, N. H., where 
his birth occurred June 12, 1801. That gentle- 
man was next to the youngest son of Joseph Bailey, 
who was born February 8, 1772, in Rowley, Mass., 
and liis father bore the name of Daniel Bailey, 
whose ancestors came over in the "Mayflower." 

The grandfather of our subject late in life re- 
moved to New Hampshire, and died at Ilillsboro 
when ninety-two years of age. He had been twice 
married, and by his first union reared a family of 
sons, of whom Samuel G. was born November 27, 
1794; Daniel M. December 11, 1796; Nathaniel 
March 31, 1799; James August 13, 1800, and 
David June 12, 1801. By his second marriage he 
became the father of one son, J. Gordon, who is 
now living in Delavan, and is the only one of the 
family of Joseph Bailey who is now living. The 
father and uncles of our subject were, with scarcely 
an exception, merchants, and came to Pekin about 
1819. Nathaniel was a merchant first in Boston, 
afterward in New Orleans, later in St. Louis, from 
which latter city he removed to Pekin, and from 
there finally went to Texas, where he carried on 
business for thirty years prior to his decease. He 
left one child, a daughter, Emma, who married Dr. 
McClenney and now lives in Brownsville, Tex. 

Daniel Bailey, another uncle of our subject, was 
a prominent merchant of Boston for about ten 
years, and like his older brother from there went 
to New Orleans and St. Louis, and after making his 
home in Pekin lived here until his decease. Sam- 
uel was at his death a prominent lawyer of Alton, 
this state. James died in Houston, Tex., where he 
was engaged in the mercantile trade. 

David Bailey, the father of our subject, came to 
Pekin when in his eighteenth year, and was en- 
gaged as a merchant in this place on the outbreak 
of the Black Hawk War. He then entered the serv- 
ice as a Captain of militia, and was soon promoted 
to be Major, and afterward Colonel of his regi- 
ment, having charge of the army stationed at Ft. 
Dearborn. While there he met and afterward 
married Miss Sarah Ann Brown, who was born in 



222 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Connecticut May 25, 1811; she was the daughter 
of Rufus Brown, one of the earliest settlers of the 
city of Chicago. When locating there he pur- 
chased a quarter-section of land in what is now the 
heart of the city, but later disposed of this property 
because the land was loo marshy to be farmed to 
advantage. He then removed about sixteen miles 
out of the city, where he resided until his death. 
One of Mrs. Bailey's brothers went to California 
in 1849, and another became a prominent merchant 
in New York City. 

After the close of the Black Hawk War, Col. 
David Bailey located on a farm near Pekin, where 
his wife died January 15, 1847, and where also his 
death occurred seven years later. He was a prom- 
inent Mason socially, and a leading member of the 
Presbyterian Church. Our subject was the only 
son of the first marriage, but had one sister who 
was older and one sister younger than himself. 
Cynthia Ann when fourteen years of age went 
on a visit to an uncle in Texas, and while there 
was taken sick and died. The youngest of the 
family, Caroline R., married S. T. Webster, who 
for twelve years was Superintendent of the Grand 
Trunk Railroad, with headquarters in Chicago, 
and for many years prior to his decease was a 
prominent Hoard of Trade man. He died leaving 
a family of five children, who with their mother 
make their home in Evanston. 

D. Gilman Bailey, of this sketch, was educated 
in the schools of Pekin and Peoria, after which he 
engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1867 
he was united in marriage with Miss Frances Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Daniel Crabb, who was one of 
the pioneers of Dillon Township and one of the 
largest land owners in Tazewell County. For 
many years prior to his decease he was a banker in 
Delavan. For a more extended sketch of Mr. 
Crabb the reader is referred to the biography of 
his son, .1. W. Crabb, Mayor of Delavan and Presi- 
dent of the Tazewell County Bank, which will be 
found on another page in this volume. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have been born four 
children. Carrie L. is the wife of T. A. Wittan, a 
leading attorney of Kansas City, Mo.; Emma .!., 
Maggie M. and James G. are at home. The daugh- 
ters are very accomplished young ladies, and com- 




pleted their educations at Northfield, Mass. Our 
subject is still engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
ing, and has several estates in different parts of the 
county. Since 1877, however, he has lived in a 
beautiful suburban residence adjoining the city of 
Delavan. He is a stanch supporter of Republican 
principles, and like all the members of his family 
for generations back is a Presbyterian in religious 
belief. 



ARIUS WHITE ORENDORFF, one of 
the representative farmers of Tazewell 
County, now living in Hopedale Town- 
ship, has a wide acquaintance in this 
community, and we feel assured that this record 
of his life wilt prove of interest to many of our 
readers. He was born in Ilopedale Township 
March 31, 1828, and is descended from Christian 
Orendorff, who was born in Germany November 
15, 1726, and in that country married a Miss 
Miller. In the middle of the century he crossed 
the Atlantic and settled in Lancaster County, Pa., 
but later went to Shaftsbury, Md., where he died 
December 10, 1797. He was a man of prominence, 
became quite wealthy and owned several mills. 

Christopher Orendorff, the grandfather of our 
subject, was born Nov.ember 23, 1752, and was a 
teamster in the Revolutionary War. He held mem- 
bership with the German Reformed Church. In 
early life he went to Logan County, Ky., and mar- 
ried an English lady. His brother Christian served 
in the Revolution, was taken prisoner, and while 
a captive fell in love with the daughter of an Eng- 
lish officer, whom he afterward married. Another 
brother, Henry, became a Revolutionary soldier, 
and was an extensive farmer of Shepherdstown, 
Va. The spelling of the name has been consider- 
ably changed by various branches of the family. 

The father of our subject was born February 5, 
1784, acquired an excellent education and be- 
came a civil engineer. He also engaged in the 
milling business with his brother John in Ken- 
tucky, and in 1826 came with his brother Enoch 
to Illinois on a tour of inspection. So well pleased 
was he that he purchased large tracts of land, be- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



223 



coming the owner of six thousand acres. In 
182V he brought his family to the west and lo- 
cated on the farm now occupied by our subject. 
Here he built the first brick house of Tazewell 
County. It is still standing, and is occupied by 
a married daughter of D. W. Orendorff. Another 
brother, Esau, also came to Tazewell County, and 
it is said that the three Orendorff brothers got 
possession of more land than any other three 
men in the county. Aaron Orendorff died Feb- 
ruary 18, 1846. 

The mother of our subject bore the maiden 
name of Martha McDowell. She was born in North 
Carolina January 29, 1790, and was a daughter 
of Joseph and Martha (White) McDowell. They 
were of Scotch lineage, and the father had a 
brother who served as a General in the Revolu- 
tion. Mrs. Orendorff had three brothers who were 
preachers in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 
Her death occurred June 27, 1849. She had be- 
come the mother of nine children. Thomas H., 
born August 22, 1814, in Tennessee, was a tanner 
by trade, laid out the town of Hopedale in 1852, 
and there died December 18, 1878, leaving one 
son, Green Pope, who was born November 24, 
1844, and is now a resident of Lacon, Ala. Jo- 
seph M., born January 26, 1816, died in Rush- 
ville, 111., June 18, 1842. Delilah J., born Janu- 
ary 5, 1818, became the wife of Samuel McClure 
January 7, 1848. His death occurred in 1858, 
and she died in Hopedale January 8, 1871. Mary 
H., born August 20, 1820, was married Novem- 
ber 29, 1849, to David Van Devanter, and died 
November 23, 1857. Abigail C., born March 13, 
1823, became the wife of Mathias Mount, and 
died June 2, 1853. Her son, Jasper Mount, is 
now Postmaster of Hopedale. Cyrus W., born 
August 18, 1825, died December 21, 1848. Min- 
erva, born May 17, 1830, was married August 
28, 1848, to Alfred Reid, who died January 30, 
1883, and she is now living in Delavan. Solon, 
born December 26, 1832, was married April 22, 
1858, to Lydia E. Teft. He followed farming 
near Ilopednle until 1882, when he went to Pu- 
eblo, Colo. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on a 
farm and acquired a good education. On the 



12th of July, 1855, he married Mary Jane Walter, 
of De Witt County, 111., who was born in Ohio 
and came with her parents to this state during her 
girlhood. Their family numbers five children. 
Phoebe Jane, who was born August 7, 1856, was 
married March 6, 1879, to William M. Mount; he 
is extensively engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
ing in Dillon Township, and has served as Chair- 
man of the County Board of Supervisors. Lelia 
Leduska, born December 12, 1858, is the wife of 
Adolph Johnson, and lives on the home farm. 
Flora Ellen, born June 26, 1860; Martha A., No- 
vember 1, 1862, and Lydia M., April 15, 1864, are 
at home. The last-named is an artist of some note. 
Mr. Orendorff has usually followed farming, 
but has been interested in other business enter- 
prises. He established the first store in Hope- 
dale, and owned and operated a woolen mill for 
some years. This he removed to Arkansas, where 
he carried on business for three years, and then 
sold out. He was also engaged in merchandising 
and in the furniture and lumber business, but is 
now giving his attention to the management of 
his fine farm. He has four hundred acres in 
Hopedale Township, and two hundred and forty 
acres in Arkansas. Success has crowned his efforts 
and made him one of the wealthy citizens of 
Tazewell County. He has held several local of- 
fices, including that of Justice of the Peace, has 
been a life-long Democrat, is a Master Mason, and 
belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 



JOHN T. CLEMENTS occupies an honorable 
place among the intelligent, capable farmers 
I of Tazewell County, in whose social and 
public life he is a prominent factor. He 
is at present residing upon a fine farm of one 
hundred and twenty acres located on sections 29 
and 30, Dillon Township, on which he has placed 
an admirable line of improvements until it now 
ranks among the best in the vicinity. 

Our subject was born in Henry County, Ky., 
July 26, 1830, and is the son of Roger T. Clements, 
also a native of the Blue Grass State, which was 



224 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



likewise the native home of his father, who bore 
the name of John Clements. The latter was a 
large and wealthy slave-holder in Kentucky, and 
one of his brothers fought as a soldier in the War 
of 1812. His wife, the grandmother of our sub-, 
ject, lived to be more than a hundred years of 

age- 
When but a year old our subject was taken by 
his parents to Indiana, and lived in Boone County 
until 1864, when they came to this state and 
made a settlement in Christian County, where the 
father's death occurred in 1867. The mother of our 
subject, whose maiden name was Nancy Higgins, 
was also a native of Kentucky and the (laughter 
of Robert Higgins, who died in that state when 
comparatively a young man. Her mother, how- 
ever, attained the advanced age of one hundred, 
while the mother of Mr. Clements was a lady of 
seventy-six years when she departed this life at 
the home of her sister in Christian County. 

John T. Clements, of this sketch, was the eld- 
est but one in his parents' family of eight chil- 
dren, of whom we make the following men- 
tion: Thomas, the eldest, spent several years of 
his life in this state; he is now living, however, 
in Kentucky. ,1. N. was a soldier in the late war, 
and is now living on a farm near Crawfordsville, 
this state; William died when five years of age; 
Milton, who also fought as a soldier in the Civil 
War, went to Barber County, Kan., and during 
the Indian troubles was gent to Newton for sup- 
plies; while en route he was caught in a storm, 
and losing his way, was so long without shelter 
that his feet were frozen and had to be amputated. 
He is ,now living on a farm in that state and 
draws a pension from the Goverment .of $72 per 
month. Rebecca, the eldest sister of our subject, 
married William Smith; she went to Iowa to live 
and died there. Laonice was the wife of John Hub- 
ble, a miller of Indianapolis; she is now deceased. 
Ellen is now Mrs. John Everman and makes her 
home in Christian County, this state, where her 
husband is a well-to-do farmer. 

The subject of this sketch grew to man's estate 
on his father's farm, and in the meantime was 
given a good education in the select schools. He 
taught school for some time prior to coming to 



Illinois, and in 1852, when making his advent into 
Tazewell County, located in the northeastern part 
of Pekin, which city was his home for about three 
years. At the end of that time he moved upon a 
farm five miles south of the city, which lie was 
occupied in cultivating until 1865, the date of 
his settlement upon his present estate in Dillon 
Township. 

On the 20th of August, 1854, Mr. Clements was 
married to Miss Tamzon B., the daughter of John 
Bowlby. She was born in New Jersey and came 
to Illinois in 1850. By her union with our sub- 
ject have been born five children: Robert, now de- 
ceased; Frank, a carpenter in Green Valley; Harry, 
also residing in that place; Jennie, who died when 
twenty-three years of age; and Minnie, the wife 
of Charles Nicely, a hardware merchant in Green 
Valley. 

In religious affairs our subject is a consistent 

-member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 

politics he is a true-blue Republican, but is in no 

sense an 6'fHce-seeker, although at one time he filled 

the responsible position of Justice of the Peace. 



OHN W. MATTHEESSON is connected with 
one of the leading industries of Pekin, being 
Superintendent and a Director of the Pekin 
Plow Company. He is one of the worthy 
citizens that Germany has furnished to Tazewell 
County. He was born in Nesse, Ostfriesland, Ger- 
many, April 9, 1848, and is a son of William J. 
and Christina (Seeberg) Mattheesson, who were 
also natives of Germany. Both the paternal and 
maternal grandfathers were blacksmiths. The fa- 
ther of our subject also carried on business along 
that line until his death, which occurred in his na- 
tive land in 1892, at the age of seventy -seven. In 
the following spring his widow crossed the At- 
lantic, and is now living with her children, at the 
age of seven ty -three. In the family were four sons 
and a daughter, and three of the brothers live in 
Pekin. 

John W. Mattheesson, the eldest, attended the 
public schools until fourteen years of age, when 



LIBRARY 

Of fHt 

UNIVERSm Of lUJNWS 




CONRAD LUPPEN. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



227 



lie was apprenticed to the blacksmith's trade. 
When his term had expired he engaged in work as 
a journeyman. The year 1866 was an important 
one in his life, for it was then that he came to the 
New World. Accompanied by his brother Harm, 
he hoarded a sailing-vessel at Bremen, and at 
length reached New York City, whence he made 
his way to Peoria, 111., where he was employed 
in the Peoria Plow shops until the spring of 
the following year. He then came to Pekin, and 
secured work with the T. & H. Smith Company as 
a blacksmith in the plow department, thus serv- 
ing for four years, when he established a smithy 
of his own in Kickapoo, Peoria County. After a 
year, however, he returned to Pekin and became 
a blacksmith with Weber & Fre}", in whose employ 
he remained four years, when he began business 
for himself on Elizabeth Street. Later he was 
with the firm of Schleder, Glouz & Co. for two 
years, and in 1879 he became Superintendent of 
the Pekin Plow Works, with which he has since 
been connected. In 1890, the business was incor- 
porated under the name of the Pekin Plow Com- 
pany, with a capital stock of $100,000. Since that 
time Mr. Mattheesson has also been one of its di- 
rectors. The business has been steadily increased, 
and they now have a room for manufacturing 
plows, a grinding room, Mulshing room, drop room, 
dipping room, harrow room, ware houses and of- 
fices. The machinery is run by steam power, 
furnished by two engines, one of sixty-four horse 
power and the other of twelve horse power. They 
manufacture plows, cultivators and harrows of all 
kinds, having three hundred and seventy-two dif- 
ferent patterns, and employ about two hundred 
men during the busy season. 

Mr. Mattheesson was married in Pekin in 1869 
to Miss Ada Sampen, who was born in Ostfriesland, 
Germany. They have six children, William J. 
(senior partner in the grocery firm of Mattheesson 
& Co.), Tina, .John, Christina, Harm inn and Ru- 
dolph. 

Our subject exercises his right of franchise in 
support of the Republican party, and has served 
for four terms as Alderman from the Third Ward. 
He is President of the German Mutual Aid Socie- 
ty, and for the past four years has been President 



of the Working Men's Society, tie belongs to 
the Knights of Honor, the Legion of Honor, the 
Modern Woodmen of America and the Mutual 
Protective Association of Druids. He also holds 
membership with the German Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and is a pleasant and accommodating gen- 
tleman, both widely and favorably known. His 
success in business is the result of his own well di- 
rected efforts and is therefore justly dese'rved. 



ONRAD LUPPEN, Cashier of and co-part- 
' rr ner in the bank of Teis Smith & Co., of 
Pekin, is also President of the People's 
Bank in Manito, 111., and a stockholder in the wagon 
manufactory of T. & II. Smith & Co., and in the 
grain and commission firm of Smith, Hippin it Co. 
He was born in Pekin December 6, 1851, and is a 
son of Luppe Luppen, one of the oldest and most 
prominent settlers of this place. The father was 
born in the County of Emden, Hanover, Germany, 
August 20, 1823, and is a son of Peter Otten Lup- 
pen, a native of Germany and a cooper by trade. 
His last days were spent in Pekin. 

The father of our subject was educated in the 
common schools, and learned the trades of ma- 
chinist and blacksmith in his native land. He per- 
fected himself in those occupations in Holland, 
becoming an expert workman in iron and wood 
of- every description. In 1848 he married Cath- 
erine Conrad Smith, a native of Hanover, and a 
sister of Hon. D. C. Smith, ex-Member of Congress 
from this district. In 1848 he came to Pekin, and 
with three brothers-in-law began the manufacture 
of wagons, buggies and plows. As their trade in- 
creased they steadily enlarged their facilities until 
their works were the largest of the kind in this 
vicinity. Mr. Luppen, Sr., is also connected with 
the Pekin Plow Works, the T. & H. Smith Wagon 
Works, the Teis Smith Bank, and the Smith- 
Hippin Company. He is now the only surviving 
member of a firm which established business in 
1849. He is a natural genius and inventor, and 
always gives his attention to the manufacturing 
department, and the inventions and improvements 
are the result of his skill. An invention from a 
thought is worked out in metal, and the improve- 



228 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ment is tested on the machinery in the fields until 
it operates perfectly. Mr. Luppen has thus made 
many useful improvements which have benefited 
the farmer as well as himself. In politics he was 
formerly an Abolitionist, and is now a strong Re- 
publican. He is a charter member of the German 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Conrad Luppen was the only child born to his 
parents, but by a former marriage his mother had a 
daughter, Susan, wife of Habbe Velde, of Pekin. 
Conrad prepared for college in Warren ton, Mo., 
and then entered the Wesleyan University of 
Bloomington, where for two years he pursued the 
classical course. He then embarked in business, 
spending two years in the wagon factory as a 
machinist, after which he became a clerk in the 
Teis Smith & Co.'s Bank. In 1875 he became a 
partner, and served as Teller for a number of years, 
since which time he has filled the position of 
Cashier. The bank, which was established in 1866, 
is the oldest in Tazewell Count}'. Mr. Luppen 
and his father own a large interest. Our subject 
was one of the organizers of the People's Bank of 
Manito, which was established in September, 1893, 
and has since been its President. Wilh the vari- 
ous other interests already mentioned he is promi- 
nently connected, and also owns some valuable 
real estate, including his beautiful home on Prince 
Street, situated on a slight eminence, amid lovely 
surroundings. 

In Lewiston, 111., in 1880, Mr. Luppen married 
Miss Rosella, daughter of Elijah Barnes, one of 
the pioneers of Fulton County, Jll. They have two 
children, Mary and Luppe. In his political opin- 
ions, Mr. Luppen is a stanch Republican, and at 
present is serving his third term as Alderman, 
during which time man}' improvements in Pekin 
have been made. In his religious connections he 
is an active member of the German Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 



ft WILLIAM LAUTERBACH, the genial and 



pleasant proprietor of the Columbia Hotel 
of Pekin, and one of the well known citi- 
zens of this place, claims Germany as the land of 
his birth, which occurred in Stotternheim, Saxony, 



September 11, 1845. His father, Andrew Lauter- 
bach, was a farmer in Saxony, and was a member of 
the Lutheran Church. He died in his native land 
at the age of fifty-six. His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Selma Ludvig, was also a native 
of Saxony, and there died in April, 1892. The 
grandmothers on both sides reached a very ad- . 
vanced age. In the family were six children, of 
whom four are yet living. The sons all came to 
America, and Herman was drowned in the Illinois 
River, at Pekin, in 1869. William is the next 
younger. Louis died in Pekin in 1892. August 
is a banker of Colby, Kan. Selma is the wife of 
P. Prill, of Pekin. Louisa is married and lives in 
Saxony. 

William Lauterbach was reared on a farm and 
attended the common schools until fourteen years 
of age, after which he served as waiter in a hotel 
for a time. In 1863, he returned home in order 
to make preparations for emigrating to America, 
and in July boarded the steamer " Herman" at ; 
Bremen. He landed at New York City, started 
westward, spent two weeks in Chicago, and then 
came to Pekin, where he remained until the 1st of 
February, 1864, when he enlisted in the Union 
army, as a member of Company D, Ninth Illinois 
Cavalry. He was engaged in skirmishing along 
the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, and took 
part in Wilson's raid and the battle of Selma, Ala. 
At that place he was honorably discharged on the 
1st of November, 1865, and in Springfield, 111., re- 
ceived his pay. 

Mr. Lauterbach then returned to Pekin, where 
he engaged in business as a barber until 1872. 
During that time he was united in marriage with 
Annie Sassman, a native of Germany, and to them 
were born three children, Herman, August and 
Selma. In 1872, our subject purchased the Cen- 
tral House, which he carried on for two years, 
when he again opened a barber shop, which he con- 
ducted until 1881. In that year he returned to 
his native land, visited his old home and mother, 
and spent four months in traveling in Germany. 

In February, 1882, Mr. Lauterbach sold his bar- 
ber shop and bought the Central Hotel, of which 
he was proprietor until May 1, 1893, when he dis- 
posed of that property, and in July following he 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



229 



began the erection of the Columbia Hotel, on the 
corner of Fourth and Margaret Streets, one block 
from the Big Four depot and two blocks from the 
Santa Fe de|>ot. The hotel is 65x52 feet and three 
stories in height and is a well appointed home. 

Socially he is connected with Joe Hannah Post 
No. 1 15, G. A. R., and is a member of the Druids 
and the Harugari. In his political views he is 
a Democrat, and in religious belief he is a Lu- 
theran. A man of pleasant, genial manner, he is 
well fitted for his chosen work and is winning a 
well deserved success. 




i>ILLIAM H. GREEN, who follows farming 
on section 3, Deer Creek Township, Taze- 
well County, was born in Worcestershire, 
England, July 22, 1843. His grandfather, John 
Green, was a native of the same locality and was 
a farmer by occupation. He owned a farm of 
one hundred acres, which had been in the posses- 
sion of the family for three hundred years. With 
the Church of England he held membership. On 
his death his eldest son, John, inherited the prop- 
erty. There were two other sons in the family, 
one of whom started for Australia, but changing 
his mind, came to the United States. Since then 
nothing has been heard of him. The third, Will- 
iam Green, became the father of our subject. -He 
was educated in the schools of his native land, 
and when about twenty-eight years of age mar- 
ried Sarah Hands. Her father served in an official 
capacity under the British Government, and owned 
property in one of the large cities ot England. 

In 1846 William Green, Si 1 ., emigrated with his 
family to the United States and located in Iowa 
County, Wis., before that state was admitted to 
the Union. He there entered two hundred acres 
of Government land and began the development 
of a farm, which he continued to cultivate until 
1850, when, in eompan}* with eleven others, he 
crossed the plains to California. For three years 
he engaged successfully in mining, and then by 
way of the water route returned to his home and 
family in Wisconsin. In 1867 he removed to 
Bremer County, Iowa, where he purchased three 



hundred acres of land and spent his remaining 
days. While visiting our subject he suffered an 
attack of la grippe, and after an illness of two 
weeks passed away, in February, 1889, at the age 
of seventy-five years. That was the first time 
sickness had ever confined him to his bed. His 
wife still survives him, and is now living with her 
daughter in Kansas. In politics he was a Repub- 
lican. The family numbered seven children: Ce- 
lena, wife of Richard Rundle; William H.; Harriet, 
wife of Ennie Ellis; Walter; Sarah, wife of Wal- 
lace Parkhurst; Mary, wife of Edward Lock wood; 
and John. The children are all living, and now 
have families of their own. 

Mr. Green, whose name heads this record, re- 
mained with his parents until nineteen years of 
age, and was educated in the common schools. In 
August, 1863, he responded to the call of his 
adopted country for troops, and joined the boys 
in blue of Company C, Thirty-first Wisconsin In- 
fantry. Under General Sherman he participated 
in the battles of Atlanta, Savannah, Averysboro 
and Benton ville. At the last place he was wounded 
by a gunshot in the left leg, and was captured and 
sent to Libby Prison, where he remained for six 
weeks, being the last prisoner to be released from 
that place. He was sent to Annapolis, transferred 
to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, and as soon as he 
was able was sent to Madison, Wis., where he was 
honorably discharged June 25, 1865, with the 
rank of Corporal. 

Soon after his return, Mr. Green went to LaSalle 
County, 111., where he engaged in coal mining for 
two years. He then went to Tremont, Tazewell 
County, where he worked two years. He later 
rented land and carried on farming for two years. 
On the expiration of that period he went to Haw- 
ley, Kan., where he secured a soldier's claim of 
one hundred and sixty acres. Upon it he made 
his home for four years, after which he returned 
to Tazewell County, and after a decade spent on a 
rented farm, bought his present home, comprising 
three hundred and forty-eight acres of rich and 
valuable land, which now pays to him a golden 
tribute in return for the care and cultivation he 
bestows upon it. 

In Tremont was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 



230 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Green and Miss Mar}', daughter of Frank and 
Mary Robinson, but the lady lived only two 3'ears. 
Our subject then wedded Miss Martha J. Smith, 
daughter of Samuel and Mary J. (Graves) Smith. 
They were pioneers of Tazewell County, and their 
daughter was born in Morton Township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Green have no children of their own, but 
have given homes to Emma and Arthur C. Gin- 
gerich, children of Mrs. Mary Gingerich, a sister 
of Mrs. Green. Our subject and his wife are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are 
charitable and benevolent people, in whom the 
poor and needy find a friend. Their many excel- 
lencies of character have gained them the high re- 
gard of all witli whom they have been brought in 
contact, and throughout the community they have 
a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Mr. 
Green was formerlj' a member of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, and in politics is a Republican. 






^ILLIAM CRANSON COVERT. The gen- 
tleman whose sketch we now purpose to 
place before the public is conductor on a 
local freight on the Santa Fe Road running be- 
tween Pekin and Streator. He is a native of New 
York, and was born in Ovid, Seneca County, No- 
vember 25, 1848. His father, J. I. Covert, was 
also a native of the above county, and his father, 
J. J. Covert, was likewise born in New York. The 
Covert family are descended from French Hugue- 
nots, and trace their ancestors back to one of two 
brothers who came hither prior to the Revolution 
and made his home in New York. The grandfa- 
ther was a soldier in the War of 1812, and came 
west to Michigan with his wife when advanced in 
years, and died in Genesee County. 

The father of our subject followed the carpen- 
ter's trade in his native state, and in 1852 removed 
to Genesee County. Mich., where he plied his 
trade and at the same time cultivated a small farm. 
He was a well informed man, and being an ardent 
advocate of Abolition principles, was greatly in 
demand as a "stump speaker." He was a talented 



musician, being able to play on almost any instru- 
ment; was a composer of considerable note, and 
also taught vocal music. He found his religious 
home in the Baptist Church, in which faith he was 
reared, and to which faith he was ever devoted. 

The mother of our subject, Mrs. Ardilla (Clark) 
Covert, was born in Virginia and removed to New 
York with her father, where she was married. She 
is still living, making her home in Flint. Mich., at 
the age of seventy-five j'ears. Her family in- 
cluded four daughters and one son, of whom Will- 
iam, of this sketch, was the third in order of birth. 
He was reared in Grand Blanc Township, on the 
Fentonville Plank Road in Michigan, and received 
a good district-school education. He remained on 
his father's farm until reaching his twentietli year, 
in the meantime being employed in driving the 
stage between Flint and Fentonville and also in 
teaming in the lumber district. 

On attaining his majority, our subject engaged 
as baggageman for the Flint <fe Pere Marquette 
Railroad in Saginaw, and later was made switch- 
man in the company's yards at Flint. Not being 
satisfied with that kind of work, he six months 
later began braking on a local freight train, and 
two months later went to Jackson, Mich., where 
he found work braking on the Ft. Wayne, Jack- 
son & Saginaw Railroad. Soon thereafter he was 
made passenger conductor on the train running 
between Jackson and Ft. Wayne, after which he 
held the same position on a local freight train. He 
remained in the employ of that company until 
1881, after which he ran a local freight for eight 
months, first between Ft. Wa}'ne, Cincinnati and 
Louisville, and later between Ft. Wayne, Conners- 
ville and Rushville. Mr. Covert then engaged 
to work on the Nickel Plate Road, his run being 
between Ft. Wayne and Chicago on a through 
freight train, which position he held for six years. 

In 1889 our subject changed to the Santa Fe, 
having charge of the freight running between Chi- 
cago and Chillicothe. He made his headquarters 
at the latter place until February, 1892, when he 
was transferred to Pekin, and now is conductor 
on the train running between Pekin and Streator. 
It will thus be seen that he has been a railroad 
man for over a quarter of a century, and during 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



231 



all those years has never had an accident, although 
lie has had some very narrow escapes. 

The lady to whom our subject was married in 
Ft. Wayne, Ind., November 14, 1878, was Miss 
'Frances, daughter of Conrad Pipenbrink. They 
have become the parents of six children: Eva 
Blanch, Edith C., Inez M., William C., Harry A. 
and Lillian C. During the late war our subject 
was very desirous of joining the ranks of the 
Union army, and on three different occasions made 
attempts to enlist his services, but as many times 
was prevented by his family. lie is a Republican 
in politics, and is a man of decided beliefs and 
force of will. Socially he belongs to the Order of 
Railway Conductors, and those who have been ac- 
quainted with him since boyhood are numbered 
among his stanchest friends, a fact which indicates 
the honorable, upright life which he has led. 




OLOMON PUTERBAUGII, who is now 
living a retired life in Mackinaw, has be- 
come through his own earnest and well 
directed efforts one of the wealthiest citi- 
zens of Tazewell County. He may well be called 
a self-made man, for his success is due entirely to 
his own resources and is the just reward of his la- 
bors. His life record is as follows: He was born 
in Miami County, Ohio, September 9, 1822, and is 
a son of Jacob and Hannah (Ilittle) Puterbaugh. 
His grandfather, John Puterbaugh, was a native 
of Germany, who, when a young man. crossed the 
Atlantic to the New World. He located in Penn- 
sylvania, and there his eight children were born. 
They were, Catherine, wife of Solomon Siioup; 
Daniel, Jacob, Samuel, Andrew, Henry, John and 
David. The father removed with the family to 
Ohio, and there the children grew to manhood and 
womanhood. 

The father of our subject was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, on the line dividing that state from Mary- 
land, in 1796. He received his education in the 
common schools, removed to Miami County, Ohio, 
and in 1839 came to Tazewell Count}', locating 
upon the farm which is now the home of our sub- 



ject. The year previous he had chosen this loca- 
tion. He successfully carried on farming and 
stock-raising, and accumulated about one thou- 
sand acres of land. In politics he was a Whig, 
and in religious belief he was a Dunkard. lie 
gave freely of his means to church and benevolent 
work, and his life was filled with many good deeds. 
In 1858 he was called to the home beyond, and his 
wife passed away during the war. One of their 
children died in early childhood; Catherine is 
the deceased wife of Daniel Newcomb; Elizabeth is 
the widow of Thomas L. Matthews, of Clinton 111.; 
Solomon is the next younger; Daniel is a retired 
farmer of Mackinaw; Serena is the deceased wife 
of J. L. Hatcher; Harriet died in childhood; Samuel . 
H. is Superintendent of the County Farm of Taze- 
well County; S. D., deceased, who was a law part- 
ner of Col. Robert J. Ingersoll, was a prominent at- 
torney of Peoria and Chicago; heserxred as Circuit 
Judge, and wrote many law books which are used 
as authority; Jane is the deceased wife of J. B. 
Ketchum; Harriet is the deceased wife of J. R. 
Russell; and George, who was also a law partner 
of Colonel Ingersoll, is now a Supreme Judge of 
California. 

Solomon Puterbaugh remained with his parents 
until after lie had attained his majorit}', and then 
hired out at $44 per year. Six months later he 
married Eliza A. Ho well, daughter of Elijah and 
Marie (McAllister) llowell. She was born in 
White County, 111., lived in Kentucky between the 
ages of two and six years, and then came to Mack- 
inaw. Her father vvas a farmer, and died in 1838. 
Her mother, who ever remained faithful to his 
memory, passed away in 1873. In their family were 
five children. To Mr. and Mrs. Puterbaugh were 
born four children: John II. and llowell J., who are 
farmers and stock-raisers of Tazewell County; and 
Ben and Hannah M., who are deceased. The sons are 
young men of great enterprise and business abil- 
ity, and will no doubt win the success which has 
characterized their father's career. 

Upon his marriage, Mr. Puterbaugh received 
one hundred and thirty acres of land from his fa- 
ther, and until three years ago retained possession 
of that farm. He was principally engaged in stock 
dealing, and was very successful in his uudertak- 



232 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ings. Investing his gains in land, he accumu- 
lated over one thousand acres. For a number 
of years he has been interested in Porter Bros. 
& Pnterbaugh'a Bank, of Mackinaw, of which 
he .is President, but for the past twenty years 
has practically lived retired, enjoying the fruits 
of his former toil. He and his wife are num- 
bered among the leading members and active 
workers in the Christian Church, and Mr. Pu- 
terbaugh is now serving as Deacon. He is the old- 
est Sunday-school Secretary of the county, and 
has held that office longer than any other incum- 
bent. In politics he is a stalwart Republican. The 
best interests of the community have ever found 
in him a friend, and his support and co-operation 
are never withheld from anything which he be- 
lieves will prove of benefit to the community. His 
long residence in Tazewell Count}' has made him 
widely known, and his honorable, upright life has 
gained him the confidence and esteem of all with 
whom business or social relations have brought 
him in contact. 



^j| OHN ALLEN, who carries on farming in 
Delavan Township, is one of the self-made 
men of Tax.ewell County; without capital 
he started out in life for himself, and has 
steadily worked his way upward to a position of 
affluence. His life has been well spent and his ex- 
ample is worthy of emulation. He was born near 
Plainfleld, in Somerset County, N. J., December 3, 
1828, and is a son of David Allen, who was born 
in the same locality December 22, 1787. He was 
a soldier in the War of 1812, and his brother John 
served as Colonel in that war. Joseph Allen, the 
great-grandfather of our subject, became the owner 
of the farm on which the grandfather, father, and 
our subject were all born. The place is still in the 
possession of the family. David Allen there spent 
his entire life, his death there occurring at the age 
of eighty-five. He had married Susan Townely, an 
English lady, whose father was a soldier in the 
British army during the early part of the Revolu- 
tion, during which time he was twice wounded. It 
is said that he turned traitor, and nothing was 



ever heard of him afterward. So Mrs. Allen was 
reared by strangers on Manhattan Island, and 
there lived until arriving at womanhood; she was 
married in 1878. 

In the Allen family were four sons and three 
daughters. Aaron and Elias, aged respectively 
seventy-six and seventy, are now living on 
the old homestead; David is living in Dillon 
Township, at the age of sixty-eight 3'ears; and 
Mary is the wife John Spencer, of New Jersey. 
The other son of the family is John Allen, whose 
name heads this record. He received but limited 
school privileges, and when twenty years of age 
began learning the carpenter's trade in Newark, 
N. J. He afterward followed that occupation in 
New York City, and in 1857 came to Illinois, 
where his brother David had located five years 
previous. Here he worked at his trade for a few 
years, and in 1860, with the capital he had ac- 
quired, made his first purchase of land, compris- 
ing eighty acres of the farm which has since been 
his home. To this he has added from time to time 
and is now recognized as one of the prosperous 
farmers of the community. 

Mr. Allen was married in 1854 to Miss Susan 
Hammond, of New York City, and to them were 
born three children, two yet living. On the 15th 
of January, 1864, while Mr. Allen was away with 
a load of grain, his wife went to the well to water 
some of the stock. It was icy around the curb, 
and losing her footing, she fell head lirst into the 
well. Her little children were the only people 
near, and they were unable to render assistance. 
They made their way through deep snow to the 
nearest neighbor and gave the alarm, but it was of 
no avail, as life had been some time extinct when 
the lady was rescued. This was a very sad blow 
to the husband and children. The son, George E., 
married Miss Nelia Ray, and has two children, 
Eugene and Susie. For some years he was exten- 
sively engaged in farming, but is now living re- 
tired at his fine home in Delavan. The daughter, 
Hattie, is the wife of Edward Brawner, who owns 
a farm adjoining that of our subject. They have 
four children, Clara, George, Emma and Edward. 
After his children were grown and married, Mr. 
Allen married again, wedding Hannah A. Drake, 






PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



233 



who for more than twenty years had been his 
housekeeper. She is also a native of New Jersey. 
Mr. Allen has always been a hard working, in- 
dustrious man, and has accumulated a comfortable 
fortune through his own exertions. He certainly 
deserves great credit for his success in life. He 
has always been a Republican in politics, and has 
held some local oltices, but they were thrust upon 
him, not accepted from choice. 




ATHIAS T. WOOD, attorney and real-es- 
tate dealer of Hopcdale, 111., was born in 
* Tremont Township, Tazewell County, Jan- 
uary 16, 1842, and is of English and Ger- 
man descent. His grandfather, Ebenezer Wood, 
was a native of England and married a German 
lady. His father, Stephen Wood, was born on 
Long Island, N. Y., emigrated to Ohio in an early 
day, and in 1833 became a resident of Mackinaw 
Township, Tazewell County, 111. Later he removed 
to Tremont Township, and in 1856 went to Linn 
County, Kan., where he lived during the trouble- 
some times preceding the Civil War. When the 
south attacked Ft. Sumter he immediately offered 
his services to the Government and faithfully de- 
fended the Stars and Stripes through the struggle 
that ensued. He married Elizabeth Trout, a na- 
tive of Virginia. Her parents were natives of 
Germany, and during her girlhood they removed 
to Tennessee, whence she came to Illinois, where 
she met and married Stephen Wood. She died 
when our subject was a child of five years, and Mr. 
Wood died in 1889. In the family were three 
children, but the sister died at the age of four 
years. Klias, the brother of our subject, served 
four years in the Civil War as a member of the 
Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and took part in 
many important battles. He is now a farmer of 
Elmwood, Peoria County. The father of this fam- 
ily was a second time married and had several 
children, including Charles, a farmer of Gitard, 
Kan.; Henry, of Pueblo, Colo.; and Lewis, a harness- 
maker of Michigan. 

Mathias T. Wood went with his father to Kan- 
sas in 1856, but returned to Illinois in 1859. He 



worked on a ferry boat at Havana for a time 
and then came to Hopedale, where he attended 
school through the following winter. In the 
spring he began working on the farm of Henry 
Smith, and was thus employed at the time of the 
breaking out of the late war. On the 25th of 
July, 1861, he joined the boys in blue of Company 
D, Seventh Illinois Infantry, and did service in 
Missouri and Arkansas, following Forest. The 
troops went into winter quarters at Port Holt, Ky., 
and in the spring of 1862 Mr. Wood took part in 
the battles of Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson. He 
was also in the thickest of the fight at Shiloh, took 
part in the siege of Corinth and then did garrison 
duty until the battle of luka. He served as a dis- 
patch courier at the second battle of Corinth, and 
while carrying a message to General Oglesby saw 
the General shot. His time being about half out he 
could not obtain a leave of absence so his Colonel 
permitted him to take some condemned horses 
back to Illinois and bring him a saddle horse. He 
rejoined his regiment at Corinth and was engaged 
in scouting until he started with Sherman on the 
march from Atlanta to the sea. Ere that march 
was completed he was taken ill and was honorably 
discharged, his time having expired about a month 
previous. For three years he was unable to engage 
in any work. 

During his furlough Mr. Wood had married Miss 
Mary liolfson, a school teacher. Pie engaged in 
different lines of business until 1870, when he 
commenced the study of law, and since 1877 he has 
been continuously engaged in legal practice in 
Hopedale, in connection with the real-estate and 
insurance business. He is now serving as Justice 
of the Peace of his township, and has been a mem- 
ber of the Republican Central Committee. Since 
casting his first Presidential vote for Abraham 
Lincoln he has been a stanch Republican, and is 
now his party's candidate for County Sheriff. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Wood were born four children. 
Anna L. is the wife of Frank L. Zipf, a prosperous 
merchant of Hopedale; William, who graduated 
from the high school, is studying law. Although 
but a young man he is Chairman of the Town- 
ship Republican Central Committee; Frank and 
Letta, aged seventeen and eleven years, respective- 



234 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ly, are attending school. They also lost one 
child, Maggie, who died at the age of seventeen. 
The parents are both members of the Methodist 
Church. Mr. Wood takes a very active part in 
church and benevolent work, and for seventeen 
years has been a teacher in the Sunday-school. He 
is a prominent member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and has served as Chaplain of his post 
since its organization. He is also Chaplain of the 
Odd Fellows' society to which he belongs. Mr. 
Wood is truly a self-made man. Without special 
educational or other advantages he has steadily 
worked his way upward to a position of promi- 
nence and has also acquired considerable property. 



rj=TtfRANKLIN FIELD, one of the enterprising 
substantial farmers of Tazewell Coun- 




ty, now living on section 18, Deer Creek 
Township, was born in Washington Township -en- 
the 8th of April, 1840. His grandparents, Anthony 
and Sarah (Franklin) Field, were both born near 
the city of New York. The former was born Oc- 
tober 24, 1757, and at a very early age enlisted in 
the Colonial army. After several months' service 
in the Revolutionary War lie received an honora- 
ble discharge. He was for two years a soldier in 
the War of 1812, and took part in the battle of 
Plaltsburg. After being mustered out he returned 
to his family in Vermont, to which state he had 
previously moved, and carried on business as a 
farmer and stock-dealer. lie accumulated a large 
tract of land and made his home thereon until his 
death, in 1855. His wife, who was born November 
4, 1772, also passed away in 1855. They were 
married in 1795, and Mrs. Field was an own 
cousin of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. The Field fam- 
ily is of English origin, and was founded in Amer- 
ica by the great-grandparents of our subject. 

Anthony Field, father of our subject, was one of 
a family of fourteen children, two of whom are 
living in Vermont. lie and his twin brother, 
Joshua, were born in Addison County, Vt., August 
15, 1808, but were reared in Rutland County, 
where the father lived during his active life. He 



acquired a good education and remained with his 
parents until after he had attained his majority. 
For about six years he engaged in business as a 
stock-dealer in Vermont, after which he emigrated 
to Tazewell County, III., in 1838, making the jour- 
ney by way of the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois 
Rivers to Peoria, whence he came to his des- 
tination. His family then consisted of his wife 
and one child, for in his native state he had wed- 
ded Mary A. Hathaway. Having purchased one 
hundred and sixty acres of land on section 34, 
Washington Township, Mr. Field at once em- 
barked in the stock business. He had but little 
capital, but as the result of good business qualifi- 
cations, economy and industry he became quite 
wealthy, accumulating seven hundred and twenty 
acres of land in Illinois and three hundred and 
twenty acres in Kansas. He ever gave freely to 
enterprises calculated to prove of public benefit, 
and it seemed that he could not do too much to 
enhance the happiness of his family. He was niar- 
ried/irgwst'l 1, 1836, to Mary, daughter of Austin 
and Esther Hathaway. She was born in Franklin 
County, Vt., in 1819, and they became the parents 
of ten children who grew to mature years. They 
were, Elizabeth, deceased wife of Charles Pratt; 
Franklin; Henry and Benjamin, deceased; Adelia, 
deceased wife of Martin Lewis; George A., a rail- 
road engineer of Missouri; Harvey, who has also 
passed away; Emrna, deceased wife of Joseph Zin- 
ser; Stephen, who has departed this life; and Mary 
E., wife of Sturgis Small. The father died De- 
cember 19, 1878, and the mother was called to the 
home beyond October 25, 1880. 

Franklin Field acquired his education in private 
schools and in the old-time log schoolhouses. He 
began farming on his father's land and gradually 
worked into the stock business, which he has fol- 
lowed continuously since. When twenty-three 
years of age he married Sarah M. Van Camp, who 
was born in what is now Deer Creek Township, 
Tazewell County. Her parents were William and 
Elizabeth (Martany) Van Camp, the former a na- 
tive of New Jersey, and the latter of Ohio. Seven 
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Field: Lizzie, 
now the wife of B. F. Ay res, by whom she has one 
son, Herbert R.; Charles, who married Myrtle 



LIBRARY 
Of JHt 

OF (UJftCNS 




REV. GEO. W MIN1ER. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



237 



Small and lias one son, George M.; Martha; Mil- 
dred and Willard, twins; and Ollie A. and Delia, 
at home. The mother of this family passed away 
January 15, 1892, and her death was widely 
mourned throughout the community, for she had 
the esteem of all who knew her. 

Krom his father Mr. Field received a tract of 
land in Iroquois County, and after improving it 
for a time he sold it and bought of his father the 
farm on which he now lives. He accumulated 
several hundred acres of land, but has now dis- 
posed of all except two hundred and eighty acres. 
The enterprise and industry which characterized 
his efforts brought him a competence which is well 
deserved and which makes him one of the wealthy 
farmers of the neighborhood. He has reared an 
intelligent and highly respected family and has 
lived a life that has won him universal confidence 
and esteem. His fellow-townsmen have frequent- 
ly honored him with local offices, and at this writ- 
ing he is serving as a member of the County Board 
of Supervisors. He exercises his right of franchise 
in support of the Republican party. 





EV. GEORGE W. MINIER,oneof the early 
settlers of Tazewell County, and a pioneer 
Christian preacher of western Illinois, now 
makes his home on section 13, Little Mack- 
inaw Township. He was born in Ulster Town- 
ship, Bradford County, Pa., October 8, 1813, and 
is a son of John Minier, also a native pf the Key- 
stone State. The grandfather, Daniel Minier, was 
of German descent and served under General 
Washington in the Revolutionary War. During 
the greater part of his life he followed farming 
in Bradford County, Pa. In religious belief he 
was a Methodist. He married Polly Waggoner, 
who died at the age of ninety-six, and they be- 
came the parents of five sons and five daughters. 
John Minier, the second child, was born in Ly- 
coming County, Pa., and during his boyhood went 
to Bradford County, where he married Rachel, 
daughter of Obediah Brown; the latter was a 
3 



Lieutenant in the Colonial army and aided in 
the capture of. Burgoyne at the battle of Sara- 
toga. For some years John Minier followed farm- 
ing in the Keystone State, and in 1839 emigrated 
to Bureau County, III., where his death occurred 
about two years later. His wife passed away about 
1858, at the age of eighty-seven. In religious 
belief he was a Univers'alist. In their family were 
ten children, and with one exception all grew to 
mature years. Three sons and a daughter are yet 
living: Robert B., a farmer of Henry County, III.; 
Theodore L., a banker and ex-State Senator of 
Elmira, N. Y.; George W.; andMrs. Mahala Burn- 
ham, of Bradford County, Pa. 

Our subject was reared in Bradford County, 
and was educated in the public schools and Athens 
Academ}'. He often walked six miles to and 
from school. When his college course was com- 
pleted he engaged in teaching in Chemung, N. Y., 
for three years, and in 1837 emigrated to Chi- 
cago, 111., where he mef'Long John Wentworth." 
He then went to Bureau County and engaged in 
surveying the state road from Peru to Galesburg. 
In 1839 he was employed as a civil engineer on 
the main line of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
and aided in the survey of the Illinois River. 
His work along that stream brought on an attack 
of ague, which lasted for fourteen months, after 
which he resumed teaching near Princeton, 111. 
Three years were spent as a teacher in Magnolia, 
Putnam County, after which he became a preacher 
of the Christian Church, and continued in the 
work of the ministry in McLean and Tazewell 
Counties for many years. He was also at the 
head of a female college in Bloomington, which 
he sold in 1850 to Dr. Finley. The following 
year he came to Tazewell County, and with a 
land warrant secured one hundred and sixty acres 
of Government land at eighty-three cents per 
acre. It was a tract of unbroken prairie, but he 
cleared and improved it, and has since made his 
home thereon. In connection with farming, he 
has also continued his work as a Christian minister. 
January 1, 1839, Mr. Minier married Sarah Ire- 
land, of Bureau County, 111., daughter of Jonathan 
Ireland, who was born in Virginia and who came 
to Illinois in 1834. His daughter was also born in 



238 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the Old Dominion. Mr. and Mrs. Minier became 
the parents of twelve children, ten of whom are 
yet living: T. L., of Minier, 111.; Leonidas, a rail- 
road employe of Chicago; Eliza Jane, wife of James 
Edmiston, state agent for the Union Central Life 
Insurance Company at Lincoln, Neb.; Emily, wife 
of John II. Spears, an attorney at Chicago; Era- 
ogene, wife of George G.' Sanborn, a wholesale 
importer of Philadelphia; George, a farmer of 
Nebraska; Horace M., general agent for the Union 
Central Life Insurance Company, living in Waco, 
Tex.; Thomas C., a graduate of the Illinois Wes- 
leyan University, ^ho now follows farming in 
Nebraska; Theophilus I., an agriculturist of Ne- 
braska; and Mary, at home. 

Rev. Mr. Minier was ordained a minister of 
the Christian Church in 1842, and has since en- 
gaged in preaching. He was pastor of the churches 
in Lincoln, Atlanta, Eminence, Bethel, Arming- 
ton, Washington, Stouts Grove, Blue Mound, 
Hayworth, Shirley, Hudson, White Oak Grove, 
Antioch, Concord, Minier, Delavan and Emden. 
Earnestly has he labored along this line, and the 
lives of many noble men and women arc evidence 
that his labors have not been in vain. In early 
life he was a Democrat in politics, but was a 
stanch Republican from the organization of the 
party until a short time since, when he joined the 
Prohibition party, and was the first man ever 
nominated in the United States for Congress on 
the Prohibition ticket. He was a warm personal 
friend of Abraham Lincoln. 

For man}' years Rev. Mr. Minier has been iden- 
tified with the Horticultural Society of Illinois, 
was its President two years, and for five years 
was Vice-President of the State Agricultural So- 
ciety. He is a charter member of the Forestry As- 
sociation of North America, and served one year 
as its President. Throughout life he has been a 
member of the Sons of Temperance and is a Di- 
rector in the American Bible Union. He is a 
member of the Peace Congress of the United 
States and was elected a delegate to the World's 
Convention in London, where he was to read a 
paper. Being prevented from going, he however 
sent the article which he had prepared, and which 
was read before that body. He took a warm in- 



terest in organizing the State University of Illi- 
nois, and his support and co-operation are given 
to whatever is calculated to prove of public bene- 
fit. His library is a fine one, containing many 
choice volumes. He has always been a great 
reader and student, and from three until ten A. M. 
he devotes his time to reading, writing and agri- 
cultural pursuits. He has now reached the uge 
of eighty-one years, yet his mental faculties re- 
main unimpaired. 



eHRISTIAN HELLEMANN.an honored Her- 
man citizen of Tazewell County, who now 
resides on a valuable farm on section 13, 
Elm Grove Township, was born in the province of 
Brunswick, Germany, November 13, 1831, and is 
the eldest in a family of five children whose 
parents were Christian and Fredcricka (Spandau) 
Hellemann. By occupation the father was a farm- 
er, and followed that pursuit throughout life. 
He was killed by a falling tree in the year 1848, 
and his widow, who survived him for many years, 
died in 1891, at the advanced age of eighty-four. 
They never left their native land, but continued 
there to reside until called to the home beyond. 

Mr. Hellemann, of this sketch, was reared in the 
Fatherland, but when a young man of twenty- 
three resolved to seek a home and fortune beyond 
the Atlantic, and on the 29th of November, 1854, 
landed in New Orleans. He was the only member 
of his family that emigrated from Germany. On 
reaching this country he at once started for the 
west, and took up his residence in St. Louis, where 
for two years he followed various pursuits in or- 
der to earn an honest livelihood. The year 1857 
witnessed his arrival in Tazewell County, 111. He 
located in Tremont Township, where he lived for 
six years, and during part of that time worked as 
a farm hand by the month. Soon, however, he 
rented land and engaged in farming for himself. 
In this way he succeeded in getting a start in life, 
and thereby laid the foundation upon which his 
present fortune was built. After renting land for 
a few years, during which time he was economical 



POETRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



239 



and industrious and laid 113- some capital, he pur- 
chased a farm, in 1866. It was a small tract of only 
thirty acres, and was located in Tremont Township, 
one mile east of the village of that name. There 
he made his home for three years, when he pur- 
chased the farm on which he now resides, in Elm 
Grove Township. When he became its owner in 
1869, it comprised but sixty acres, but from time 
to tune he has added to this amount as he has 
prospered, until he now owns two hundred and 
seventeen acres in Elm Grove Town hip, while his 
landed possessions altogether comprise three hun- 
dred and seventy-seven acres. 

Mr. Hellemann has found a faithful companion 
and helpmate in his wife. He was married Sep- 
tember 18, 1859, to Dorothy Stamme, a native of 
Hanover, Germany, and to them were born six 
children, two sons and four daughters: Christian, 
who is represented elsewhere in this work; Julia, 
wife of Charles G iff horn, of Monroe County, 111.; 
Mary, wife of John Paupenhausen, of P^lm Grove; 
Frederick, at home; Matilda, wife of Fred Becker, 
of Tremont; and Anna, who completes the family. 

In politics, Mr. Hellemann has been a Republican 
since the organization of the party. By virtue of 
his energy and ability he has made an unqualified 
success in his chosen vocation, and is regarded as 
one of the intelligent and well informed men of 
the community, as well as one of the very success- 
ful farmers. Since coming to America, he has 
made several visits to the land of his birth, and 
has also sent his children at different times, thus 
giving them the advantages of education by ex- 
tended travel. 



~//fl\< ' , a representative farmer of Del- 

ffl avan Township, Tazewell County, was 
1ft born near South Orange, N. J., March 17, 
1834. The family was founded in Amer- 
ica by Edward Ball, a native of Scotland, who lo- 
cated on a farm which is now the site of Newark, 
N. J. This was in 1667. By occupation he was 
a surveyor, and was a man of considerable promi- 
nence. His son Thomas was the father of Aaron, 
and he the father of Joseph Ball, and. the latter 



was the father of Joseph B. Ball, the grandfather 
of our subject. The last-named was a shoemaker 
by trade, and lived and died near South Orange, 
N. J. 

Amzi Ball, the fattier of our subject, was there 
born November 15, 1806, and in 1835 emigrated 
to Ohio. The following year he went to Indiana, 
and in 1851 came to Tazewell County, where he 
spent his remaining days upon a farm, his death 
occurring May 8, 1890. He served as a member 
of the New Jersey Militia for eleven 3'ears, and 
was a leading and influential citizen. He was 
married March 19, 1833, to Miss Maria Meeker, 
daughter of Benjamin Meeker. She was born Sep- 
tember 19, 1812, and is now living with our sub- 
ject. She is a bright and cheerful old lady, and 
her eighty-two years rest lightly upon her, her 
faculties being quite well preserved. 

A. W. Ball was about seventeen years of age 
when he came to Tazewell County. He acquired 
a good education, which was completed in Tre- 
mont Academy, after which he engaged in teach- 
ing school for about four years. On the 27th of 
December, 1855, he married Elizabeth Ann Mose- 
ley, who was born and reared in Tazewell County, 
although her parents were natives of Kentucky. 
She died June 7, 1889, leaving three children, 
two sons and a daughter. The eldest, C. II., is a 
Lieutenant in the Illinois National Guards, and is 
a prominent Odd Fellow and Knight of Pythias. 
He was graduated from the Jacksonville Business 
College, and is now the head clerk in the large 
mercantile establishment belonging to W. V. Mc- 
Kinstry, of Delavan. He married Ilattie E., daugh- 
ter of A. Stubbs, the Delavan miller, and their 
union has been blessed with one child, Arthur W. 
Gertrude II., born January 22, 1862, is the wife 
of Frank H. Watkins, who is engaged in farming 
on the old homestead, and they have three chil- 
dren: Nellie I., George W. and Charles E. Joseph 
Harrison, the youngest of the family, who was 
born' March 20, 1866, married Mary E. Mourer, 
who is a native of Indiana. He had charge of the 
Collins Plow Company's exhibit at the World's 
Fair, and still travels for the company. 

Throughout his entire life Mr. Ball has followed 
farming, although of late years he has left the 



240 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



management of the place largely to his son-in- 
law, and has devoted his entire time and atten- 
tion to the care of his aged mother, to whom he 
is greatly attached. He is a prominent Knight 
Templar Mason, and has served as Master of the 
blue lodge, and is a member of the Knights of 
Honor. One of the valued citizens of the com- 
munity, all who know him respect him, and it is 
with pleasure that we present his sketch to our 
readers. It may also be interesting to note that 
Mary Ball, the mother of George Washington, was 
a cousin of Joseph Ball, the great-grandfather of 
our subject, and his grandmother was Eunice Har- 
rison, a cousin of William Henry Harrison. 



OSEPH M. COOPER who owns and operates 
two hundred and twenty acres of valuable 
land on section 1, Morton Township, Taze- 
well County, is recognized as one of the 
leading agriculturists of the community, and is well 
worthy of representation in the history of his na- 
tive county. He was born on the farm which is 
still his home September 22, 1858, and is a son of 
Thomas and Margaret A. (Strickland) Cooper. 
His grandparents were William and Mary (Bcal) 
Cooper. The former was born at Ft. Washington, 
now Cincinnati, in the year 1806, and there died 
in the year 1832. His father, who also bore the 
name of William, was born near Richmond, Va., 
and served his country in the Indian War dur- 
ing the reign of "Mad Anthony." The paternal 
grandfather of our subject was a contractor on 
canals and roads and became quite well-to-do. He 
died when his son Thomas was quite young, and 
his widow afterward became the wife of Mr. Wood. 
By the first union were born only two children, 
Thomas and Jesse, both of Pekin. 

Thomas started out in life for himself at the 
age of twelve years. He was apprenticed to a 
machinist, but ran away and began working on 
the river and canal. At the age of fourteen he 
came to Tazewell County, where he worked one 
year, after which he returned to Cincinnati and 
engaged in boating on the Ohio and Mississippi 



Rivers to New Orleans. At the age of seventeen 
he enlisted for the Mexican War under General 
Scott, and look part in all the engagements with 
that commander. At the time of the capture of 
the City of Mexico he was wounded, being shot 
in the side. On the close of the war he was mus- 
tered out and returned to his home in the north. 
Soon afterward he came to Tazewell County and 
purchased the farm now belonging to our subject. 
He married Miss Margaret Strickland, a native of 
Kentucky, and a daughter of Thomas and Susan 
A. (Bondurant) Strickland, the former a native 
of Tennessee, and the latter of Kentucky. Her 
mother was of French descent. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Cooper were born three sons 
and two daughters: Mary; James, a land agent of 
North Dakota; Mattie D., wife of P. II. Gupton.a 
grain dealer of Nebraska; William I)., a land 
agent of Washington; and Joseph M., of this 
sketch. The parents are members of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Cooper belongs to 
the Masonic fraternity. In politics he is a Dem- 
ocrat, and since 1873 has held office. In that 
year he was elected County Treasurer, which po- 
sition he filled for ten years. He served as Rev- 
enue Collector for the Eighth District during 
President Cleveland's first administration, and 
was three times Mayor of Pekin, in which place 
he has made his home for the past twenty -one 
years. He came to this county a poor man, but 
by well directed efforts acquired a handsome com- 
petency, becoming the owner of three hundred 
acres of valuable land. 

Joseph M. Cooper, whose name heads this rec- 
ord, was reared under the parental roof, his boy- 
hood days being passed amidst play and work, 
and in the high school of Pekin he completed his 
education. He remained with his father until 
1885, and during that time engaged in business 
as the proprietor of an elevator in Cooper for 
three years. He then came to the farm on which 
he has since resided, and devotes his time to gen- 
eral farming and stock-raising. He has met with 
good success in his undertakings, and the neat and 
thrifty appearance of his place well indicates to 
the passer-by his careful supervision. 

The lady who bears the name of Mrs. Cooper 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



241 



was in her maidenhood Ida B. Robison, a daugh- 
ter of Frank and Mary Robison. The union of 
our subject and his wife has been blessed by one 
son, Frank L. The parents hold an enviable po- 
sition in social circles, and have many warm 
friends throughout the neighborhood. Mr. Cooper 
is a Knight Templar Mason, and he and his wife 
belong to the Order of the Eastern Star. In poli- 
tics lie is a supporter of the Democracy, and for 
four years served as Deputy Treasurer under his 
father. lie is now serving as Justice of the Peace, 
and by his prompt and faithful discharge of the 
duties devolving upon him he has won the com- 
mendation of all concerned. 



SLONNEGER, one of the enterprising 
farmers of Tazewell County, now living on 
section 1, Morton Township, claims Ohio as 
the state of his nativity, his birth having 
occurred in Butler Count}', December 12, 1839. 
His paternal grandfather was a German farmer of 
limited means. In his family were the. following 
children: Barbara, wife of David Summers; Mary, 
wife of John Schatz; Fannie, who married Michael 
Oswold, and after his death became the wife of 
Jacob Smith; Peter; John, of Ohio; Christian and 
Jacob. The father of this family died, and the 
mother afterward married Mr. Rumsayer, by whom 
she had a daughter, Fannie. 

Jacob Slonneger, father of our subject, was born 
in Switzerland in 1813, and in 1825 came with the 
family to America. His mother was then for the 
second time a widow, and with her he remained 
until he had attained his majority. The family- 
located in Butler County, Ohio, and he there fol- 
lowed farming for some time. With the excep- 
tion of a short period spent in the grocery busi- 
ness in Collinsville, Ohio, he always carried on 
agricultural pursuits. In 1836 he married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Benjamin King. She was born 
in Baden, Germany, as were her parents, and at 
the age of eighteen came with her father to Amer- 
ica. To Mr. and Mrs. Slonneger were born eleven 
children: Christian, John, Jacob, Joseph; Samuel 



and William, twins, who died at the age of six 
months; Fannie, deceased wife of Christ Bluch; 
Barbara, wife of Charles F. Sealman; Anna, wife 
of Dan Kopendorffer; Mary Magdalina; and Mary, 
widow of John Jacobs. The mother of this fam- 
ily passed away in 1857. She was a member of the 
Mennonite Church, as was also Mr. Slonneger. For 
his second wife he married Miss Schinbler, and to 
them were born five children, four yet living, 
Lydia, David, Philip and Fritz. The father was 
called to his final rest May 8, 1880. 

In the common schools of" Ohio, the subject of 
this sketch acquired his education, and with his 
father remained until eighteen years of age, when 
he began working as a farm hand by the month. 
He was thus employed until twenty-four years of 
age, at which time he married Magdelene Summers, 
a native of the Buckeye State, and a daughter of 
Peter Summers, who was born in Alsace, France. 
To them were born two children, one yet living, 
Alfred F., who makes his home near Spring Bay. 

For about a year Mr. Slonneger rented land. In 
1869 he came to Illinois, locating in McLean Coun- 
ty, where for three years he worked by the month. 
His first wife having died three years after their 
marriage, he then wedded Mary Belsey, daughter 
of Peter and Lena (Springer) Belsey. They then 
made a trip to Germany, in hopes of benefiting 
his wife's health, and spent one year and twelve 
days abroad. They then returned to McLean 
County, and in 1877 came to the farm on which 
Mr. Slonneger now makes his home. His wife de- 
parted this life in 1878. Three children were born 
of that union: Eddie and Maggie, now deceased; 
and Bertha. The lady who is now Mrs. Slonneger 
bore the maiden name of Barbara Zimmerman. 
She was born in Butler County, Ohio, and is a 
daughter of Chris and Barbara (Kinsinger) Zim- 
merman, the former a native of Alsace, France; 
and the latter of Bavaria, Germany. The children 
of the third marriage are, Clifford, Chester, Fritz, 
Willis and John. 

Mr. Slonneger is a member of the Odd Fellows 'so- 
ciety of Washington, 111., and of the D. O. H. Lodge 
of that place. He exercises his right of franchise 
in support of the Democracy, and for eight years 
has served as Justice of the Peace. He has led a 



242 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



bus}' and useful life, his time and attention being 
largely devoted to agricultural interests, and those 
who know him esteem him highly for his sterling 
worth and strict integrity. 



lESSE B. COOPER, Supervisor of Pekin 
Township, is also Overseer of the Poor and 
Township Treasurer. He has also been 
Deputy Collecfor of Internal Revenues at 
Pekin, and by a systematic and thorough method 
of work has attained a success which is justly de- 
served. He was born in Clifton, a suburb of Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, February 25, 1831, and is the son 
of William Cooper, a native of Hamilton County, 
that slate. 

Grandfather Jacob Cooper was born in West- 
moreland County, Va., and removed to Cincinnati 
in 1791, when that city was known as Ft. Wash- 
ington. He served in the Indian Wars, and re- 
ceived from the Government a grant of one thou- 
sand acres of land, which was located where now 
stands the Queen City, and built a log house on 
the present site of the court house. He was of Eng- 
lish descent, an Episcopalian in religion, and died 
while residing in Hamilton County. 

The father of our subject was a contractor and 
builder and assisted in the construction of the 
Miami Canal, and his brother was President of the 
company that had charge of the work. His death 
occurred in 1833 from cholera. He was a Jack- 
sonian Democrat in politics, and when establish- 
ing a home of his own was married to Miss Mary 
Beal, who was born in New York State. Mrs. 
Cooper was the daughter of Jesse Beal, also a 
native of that state, whence he later removed to 
Hamilton County, Ohio, where he was a farmer. 
In 1820 he located near Vincennes, Ind., and after 
a residence there of two years returned to Hamil- 
ton County, and in 1847 came to this county, 
where he led a retired life until his death. The 
Beal family were of German descent and were 
Methodists in religion. 

After the death of her husband the mother of 
our subject came to this county, in 1855, and made 



her home with her son until December, 1889, when 
she died, aged eighty years. She reared a family 
of two children, Jesse B. and Thomas. The former 
lived in Cincinnati until he was seven years of 
age and then removed with his mother to Marietta, 
where she was married to Joseph Wood, a butcher 
by trade. Jesse attended the schools of that city, 
and after obtaining a high-school education, aided 
his step-father in his trade until 1849. when he 
came to Illinois, but remained here only five 
months. He then returned to Marietta, and in 
1851 again came to the Prairie State and was en- 
gaged in the manufacture of brick in Washington. 

November 11, 1851, Mr. Cooper was married in 
Washington, 111., to Miss Melinda C., daughter of 
Charles Bunn, who was born in Ross County, Ohio, 
of which state her father was also a native. Her 
grandfather, Harmon Bunn, was born in Penn- 
sylvania and in early life removed to Ohio, where 
he was a farmer. The father of Mrs. Cooper was 
likewise an agriculturist, and in 1838 came to Illi- 
nois, settling in Petersburg, Menard County; he 
later removed to Pontiac, thence to Washington 
County, and locating in the city of that name, be- 
gan practicing dentistry. Later, when on a visit 
to Ohio, he was thrown from a horse and killed. 
His wife, Mrs. Mary (Cummings) Bunn, was like- 
wise born in the Buckeye State, and was the 
daughter of James Cummings, a native of Scot- 
land, who, after coming to America, followed farm 
pursuits in Ohio. Mrs. Bunn died in Washington 
aged seventy -seven years. 

Our subject after his marriage returned to Ma- 
rietta and engaged with his step-father in the 
butcher's business until the latter died, in August, 
1854. In April, 1855, he made a permanent loca- 
tion in this state, and renting a farm near Wash- 
ington, was engaged in its cultivation until 1867. 
That year he moved into the city, and opening a 
market, carried on a thriving trade as a retailer 
and also engaged in shipping stock until 1872. 
In the last named year he was appointed by 
the Supervisor of Tazewell County as Superin- 
tendent of the Poor Farm, of which position he 
was the incumbent for nine years. The County 
Farm included two hundred and eight acres of 
timber land, one-half of which Mr. Cooper cleared 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



243 



and placed under a fine state of improvement. 
In 1881 he was petitioned to continue as its Sup- 
erintendent, but refused to do so, and coming 
to Pekin purchased a farm of seventy-five acres 
located northeast of the city. This he planted 
with small fruit trees, including plums, peaches, 
etc., and was engaged in the nursery business un- 
til the spring of 1893, when he rented the prop- 
erty. It is one of the largest fruit farms in the 
county, and during the summer season Mr. Coop- 
er engaged from one hundred and twenty-five 
to two hundred people to pick the small fruits. In 
the fall of 1892 lie erected a beautiful residence at 
No. 905 Broadway, where he is preparing to spend 
his declining years. 

The six children comprising the family of Mr. 
and Mrs. Cooper are: M. Ada, now Mrs. Waugliop, 
of Washington Township, this county; William, en- 
gaged in farming in Arapahoe County, Colo.; Kate, 
Mrs. Scriven, of Russell County, Kan.; Clara, Mrs. 
Eckley, of Keithsburg, 111.; Charles, a carpenter in 
Montana; and John, who is following railroading. 

In 1885 Mr. Cooper was elected Supervisor for 
a term of two years, and in 1891 was re-elected to 
that position; in 1893 he was made Overseer of 
the Poor of Pekin Township, of which he is also 
Treasurer. Socially he is a Mason of high stand- 
ing, and is connected witli the lodge in Washing- 
ton, of which he was High Priest. He is a Knight 
Templar and holds membership witli Peoria Com- 
mandery No. 3. He is a Democrat in politics and 
has been a delegate to state and national conven- 
tions. Mrs. Cooper is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and her life has been replete 
with good deeds. 



UDGE JACOB RAPP. Among those of 
foreign birth who are closely associated 
|l with the business interests of this county, 
and who were early settlers of the same, we 
should not fail to present an outline of the career of 
Mr. Rapp, for he has fully borne out the reputation 
of that class of industrious, energetic and thrifty 
men of German nativity who have risen to prom- 



inence in different portions of this country. He 
has been a resident here since 1860, and has held 
the oflice of Justice of the Peace since 1884. In 
1893 he was elected Police Magistrate of Pekin, 
and in both offices has rendered efficient service, 
and it is therefore with genuine pleasure that we 
include his sketch in this work. 

Nicholas Rapp, the father of our subject, was a 
carpet weaver and grocer in Hesse-Darmstadt, 
Germany, where he spent his entire life. He was 
married in that country to Miss Eva Maaser, who 
was likewise born there and who is still living in 
Germany. Their family included three sons and 
three daughters, of whom Jacob, of this sketch, is 
the only one who makes his home in America, and 
is the eldest but one. 

The subject of this sketch was also born in Hesse- 
Darmstadt, February 22, 1845. He received his 
education in the Fatherland, and remained there 
until July, 1860, when he departed for Havre, 
France, and there embarked on the sailing-vessel 
" Nicholas," which arrived in New York harbor 
after a voyage of forty-two days. Thence young 
Rapp came by way of Philadelphia and Chicago 
to tliis city, where he apprenticed himself to [earn 
the barber's trade, working in the shop of John 
Monath until 1864. 

In September of the above year our subject vol- 
unteered his services in the Union army, and be- 
coming a member of Company K, One Hundred 
and Forty-sixth Illinois Infantry, was mustered 
into service at Camp Butler, and with his regi- 
ment fought in the states of Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee. He remained a soldier until the close of 
the war, when he was mustered out at Springfield 
as Corporal, and in July, 1865, returned home. 
His first work was to purchase the barber shop of 
his former employer and start in business with a 
Mr. Snapp, which partnership continued for six 
years. Our subject then removed to his present 
location, and for two years carried on the business 
with Mr. Lauterbach. since which time he has op- 
erated-alone. 

In the spring of 1884 Mr. Rapp was elected 
Justice of the Peace of Pekin Township, and was 
successively elected to that position in 1888 and 
1892. The following year he assumed the duties 



244 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of Police Magistrate of the city, and is considered 
one of the honorable and useful members of the 
community. 

Jacob Rapp was married in 1865 to Miss Annie 
McCarthy, who was born in La Fayette, Ind. The 
six children of whom they have become the parents 
are: Lulu, Mrs. W. G. Wilds, who was drowned 
on the " Frances Folsoni" at Peoria; Mamie, Mrs. 
P. Burns, who makes her home in this city; Katie, 
Annie and George, who reside with their parents; 
and William, who died when eighteen months old. 
Mrs. Annie Rapp departed this life in 1884, and 
two years later our subject was married to Miss 
Mary Brady, a native of Ireland. 

In social affairs Mr. Rapp is an Odd Fellow, be- 
longing to the encampment; he is a member of 
Joe Ilanna Post No. 117, G. A. R.,and is also con- 
nected with the society of Druids and the Modern 
Woodmen. Fie is a prominent Democrat in poli- 
tics, and has served on various county committees. 




GRACE F. REASON. A residence of more 
than thirty years in Mason County, during 
a portion of which time he has conducted 
a successful business in Mason City, has 
fully established Mr. Reason in the esteem and 
confidence of the people. The firm of Ely & Rea- 
son, of which he is the junior member, deals in 
agricultural implements, steam threshers, wind 
mills, etc., and has one of the most complete and 
valuable stocks of the kind in the county. In ad- 
dition to this enterprise, Mr. Reason is also serv- 
ing as Treasurer of Mason City, and is the owner 
of a valuable farm in Salt Creek Township. 

The famity with which our subject is identified 
originated in England, but was represented in 
America early in^the Colonial era. The father of 
our subject, John M. Reason, was born in Mary- 
land, and became a pioneer of Warren County, 
Ohio, where he followed the occupation of a farmer. 
The mother bore the maiden name of Sarah Mar- 
tindale, and was a native of Maryland. Horace F. 
was born in Warren County, Ohio, July 23, 1844, 



and there spent the days of boyhood and youth, 
receiving a good education in the common schools. 
At the age of sixteen years, Mr. Reason left 
home, and coming west unaccompanied by any 
relatives or friends, has since hewed a way in life 
for himself. He was a youth of but seventeen 
when he enlisted in the Union army and became 
one of the boys in blue comprising Company K, 
Eighty-fifth Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. 

C. J. Dilworth, and assigned to the Army of the 
Cumberland. With his regiment he took part in 
the battles of Perryville, Stone River, Chicka- 
mauga. Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and 
the march to the sea. At the close of the war he 
was mustered out, June 5, 1865, at Washington, 

D. C. 

Returning to Mason County, our subject com- 
menced the active prosecution of farming enter- 
prises, in which he continued successfully engaged 
until 1884. At that time, in partnership with S. 
S. Young, he embarked in business under the firm 
title, of Reason & Young. One year later the firm, 
.by., mutual- consent, dissolved, and shortly after- 
ward Mr. Reason formed a connection with J. A. 
Clegg in the grocery business, the firm name being 
Clegg & Reason. Three years later the firm dis- 
solved, and in 1889 the present partnership in the 
agricultural implement business was formed with 
G. C. Ely, and the firm of Ely <fe Reason has since 
conducted a successful business. Their sales are 
made to farmers of Mason and adjoining counties, 
and their reputation as honorable business men is 
such that they have the confidence of all with whom 
they come in contact. 

A Republican in political views, Mr. Reason has 
filled a number of important local oflices, and at 
present, as above stated, is filling the position of 
City Treasurer, having been elected in 1893. For 
three years he was Supervisor of Salt Creek Town- 
ship, and has for two years served in the same ca- 
pacity in Mason City Township, and was re-elected 
for the same office in April, 1894, for two years. 
In local, state and national issues he is interested 
and well posted, and also possesses a wide range 
of information upon general topics. Socially, lie 
is a member of Wilfred Lodge No. 142, K. I 1 ., and 
Duvol Post No. 123, G. A. R. His wife, whom he 



UBRAKY 

OF fHt 

UNJVERSn Y OF UJNUS 




JOHN F. SCHIPPER, 

[DECEASED. j 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



247 



married in February of 1868, was formerly Miss 
Esther A. Melton, being a daughter of Austin P. 
Melton, of Mason County. 






F. SCHIPPER, deceased, was for many 
years identified with the business interests 
of Pekin, and in every relation of life was 
known as a most liberal, influential and 
public-spirited man. His high moral character and 
unswerving devotion to right principles gave him 
a prestige among his fellow-citizens which it is the 
privilege of few men to enjoy. 

Mr. Schipper was born December 22, 1838, at 
"Wundel" the old family home, near Wirdummer, 
Ostfriesland, Germany. His parents, Frederick 
and Cliarlotta (Johnson) Schipper, occupied the 
old family place, which for over two hundred 
years had been in possession of the Schipper fam- 
ily, and is now owned and occupied by the young- 
est son, Gerhart. The father filled responsible 
positions under Napoleon I., and afterward with 
the German army, fighting with the latter against 
Napoleon at the great battle of Waterloo. He died 
at the old home in 1876, at the advanced age of 
eighty-five years, an honored and wealthy citizen, 
surviving his wife by many years. 

John F. Schipper, the subject of this sketch, was 
the third of five sons, and remained at home until 
he was seventeen years of age. He then entered a 
business college, where by his studious habits and 
eager desire for knowledge he obtained a most ex- 
cellent education. His college life ended, he sought 
and obtained a position in a dry-goods store in 
Emden, and subsequently spent two years in Rot- 
terdam, Holland. Here his health failed, and he 
returned home with the intention of going to Ja- 
pan. To this his father objected and in 1865 he 
came to America. Pekin became his home, and for 
the first six months he was employed as clerk in 
the store of M. Heisel, but the amount of courage, 
enterprise and brains with which he was endowed, 
pre-eminently fitted him for a business career, and 
together with C. Bonk, a partnership was formed, 



which under the firm name of C. Bonk & Co., on 
Margaret Street, became one of the leading dry- 
goods stores of the city. 

Upon the death of Mr. Bonk, Henry Block was 
taken into partnership under the firm name of 
Schipper & Block. In 1874 they moved to Court 
and Third Streets. Their increased business led 
them to build a large double store at the corner of 
Court and Capitol Streets, to which they removed. 
A few years later a branch store was established at 
Peoria, and in an increditably short time was at 
the head, becoming the largest dry-goods enter- 
. prise in the state outside of Chicago. Mr. Schip- 
per was also President of the Schipper & Block 
Carpet Company located at Peoria. As an outlet 
to his untiring encrg}-, other enterprises engaged 
his attention. He was a large stockholder and 
Director in the Teis Smith <fe Co.'s Bauk, had ex- 
tensive interests in Wyoming and Colorado, and 
with several others bought and assumed control 
of the Pekin Gas Works. 

On the 3d of November, 1869, Mr. Schipper was 
united in marriage with Miss Anna Look, daugh- 
ter of Mr. and Mrs. I be Look. She was born' and 
grew to womanhood in Pekin. Her parents were 
born in Germany, but came to America at an early 
age. The family located in Limestone, Peoria 
County, where the grandfather (also an old Water- 
loo veteran) died. Mr. Look was engaged in the 
wholesale and retail grocery business in Pekin for 
twenty-live years. He was a stanch Republican, 
and a leading and influential citizen whose word 
was as good as his bond. He died in Pekin in 
1876, at the age of fifty-one years. Mrs. Look, 
nee Miss Lena Steen, came to America with her 
parents, of whom she was deprived at an early 
ao-e, as both fell victims to cholera, at that time so 

o ' 

prevalent in this country. Mrs. Look survived 
her husband a number of years. Her death oc- 
curred in Pekin in 1889, at the age of fifty-six 
years. 

Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Look, 
of whom but four sons and one daughter reached 
mature years, Mrs. John F. Schipper being the 
eldest. She is a most estimable lady, beloved by 
many friends, and widely known in the commu- 
nity in which she resides as a lady of culture and 



248 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



refinement, well fitted to adorn the high social 
circle in which she moves. Her marriage with Mr. 
Schipper proved a particularly happy union. All 
of the many who have so often shared the hospi- 
tality of their beautiful home bear testimony of 
the genial happy character of its host and hostess. 

Six children came to bless their union, three 
daughters and three sons. Charlotta, the eldest 
daughter, died at the age of two years; Martena, at 
the age of one year, and Leonora, a bright, win- 
some girl, died at the age of seventeen. The loss 
of her husband and children has fallen with al- 
most crushing force upon Mrs. Schipper. The care 
and education of her three remaining children, 
Karl, I be and Frederick, is now the one all-ab- 
sorbing interest of her life. 

During 1873 Mr. and Mrs. Schipper went to 
Europe, visiting the World's Exposition at Vienna 
and the country seat of the Schipper famil}', mak- 
ing extended travels in Germany and other parts 
of Europe during their stay of six months. In 
1892 they visited the Pacific Coast, enjoying to- 
gether the delights of the varied and beautiful 
scenery of that region. 

Mr. Schipper took a deep interest in all educa- 
tional pursuits and in whatever added to the in- 
terests of the community in which he lived. He 
was a large-spirited, philanthropic citizen, affable 
and agreeable without ostentation. He was not a 
politician, but took a deep interest in all that .re- 
lated to the good government of the country of 
his adoption. In religion he was a Lutheran, but 
was too free from narrow inindedness to be either 
sectarian or partisan. He was several times elected 
Alderman, and served two different terms as 
School Inspector. In each capacity he served 
faithfully and efficiently. 

In 1893, with a hope of regaining his failing 
health, accompanied by Mrs. Schipper, his children 
and a nurse, he went to Block Island, near Rhode 
Island. Here the best medical aid which could be 
procured was obtained, but ever}' effort proved 
unavailing, and at Louisville, Ky., on his way 
homeward, his spirit took its flight, on the 25th of 
September, 1893. The news of his death caused 
widespread grief among his many friends and ac- 
quaintances in Pekin,and on the day on which he 



was laid to rest, a vast concourse came together to 
pay the last tribute to him, who by his upright- 
ness and nobility of character had won for him- 
self an unsullied name and a high place in the 
hearts of his fellow-men. 




A. WALLACE ranks among the 
prominent lawyers of the state, and since 
locating in Havana has won for himself an 
enviable reputation as an attorney. He is a mem- 
ber of the firm of Wallace & Lacey, which partner- 
ship was entered into many years ago, and enjoys 
the confidence of the people, who repose the great- 
est trust in his ability. He is a native of the 
Granite State, and was born in Hillsboro County, 
June 7, 1843. His father, John W. Wallace, was 
likewise a native of New Hampshire, where he was 
born in 1804, and died there in 1878. He in turn 
was the son of Josiah Wallace, an old Revolution- 
ary soldier. 

Mrs. Ann C. (Brackett) Wallace, the mother of 
our subject, also was born in New Hampshire, and 
was the daughter of James Brackett, who was torn 
in 1777, and died in 1859. She departed this life 
in 1890, when in her eighty-fourth year. E. A., of 
this sketch, after attending the common schools in 
his native place, went to Henniker, N. II., and en- 
tered the academy of that place, where he took a 
thorough course. On attaining his majority, he 
began reading law with F. N. Blood, a prominent 
attorney of Hillsboro County, and in 1865 entered 
the law department of Harvard, from which uni- 
versity he was graduated with the Class of '67. 
That same year he was admitted to the Bar in Bos- 
ton, Mass., and November 4 came to Havana, 
where he formed a partnership with Judge Lyman 
Lacey, which connection existed until the latter 
was elected Judge of the Circuit Court in 1873. 

Mr. Wallace practices his profession in all the 
courts, both state and federal, and is without ques- 
tion one of the most prominent attorneys in the 
state. He is a pronounced Democrat in politics, 
and socially is a member of Havana Lodge No. 88, 
F. & A. M., Havana Chapter No. 86, R. A. M., and 
Damascus Commandery No. 42, K. T. He has al- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



249 



ways taken a prominent part in public improve- 
ment of all kinds, and in 1885 drafted the Farm 
Drainage Bill, which passed into effect July 1 of 
that year, and under which there have been sixty 
thousand acres of land reclaimed from the swamps 
in this county and made tillable. He was the 
projector of the water works and electric light 
plant of this city, and taken all in all, is one of 
Havana's most public-spirited citizens. He is a 
genial, affable and pleasant gentleman, and has an 
excellent knowledge of law. 

In 1869 K. A. Wallace and Miss Gertrude E., 
daughter of Holly W. and Ellen M. Lightcup, were 
united in marriage. Her parents were natives of 
Ohio, and early settlers of tins county, where they 
were engaged in merchant tailoring. 






AVID B. McLEAN is a wide-awake and 
representative citizen of Tazewell County 
and successfully follows farming in Elm 
Grove Township. He was born in County 
Down, Ireland, February 14, 1834, and is of Scotch 
lineage. He is the only survivor in a family of 
three children, one of whom died in infancy, 
while Franklin J. died at the age of thirty-seven. 
His father, Hugh S. McLean, was born on Christ- 
mas Day of '1807. He married Janet Breck en ridge, 
who also came of an old Scotch family. The Mc- 
Lean clan was a prominent one of that country. 
The paternalgrandparents were William and Mar- 
garet (McGowan) McLean. They spent much of 
their lives in the North of Ireland, where the 
former died at an extreme old age, and the latter at 
the age of ninety-nine. 

In 1834, when our subject was four months old, 
his parents emigrated to the New World and 
spent three years in New York City, where Hugh 
McLean served as Superintendent in Kipps Bay 
Glass Bottle Factory. lie was an expert glass- 
worker and was therefore capable of holding the re- 
sponsible position which he filled. On the expira- 
tion of three years he emigrated to Pekin, 111., 
July 25, 1837, and the next da}' came to Elm 



Grove Township, making a contract to work on the 
farm of Josiah L. James for two years. He con- 
tinued in the employ of that gentleman until 
1846, when he began working for Isaac Leonard. 
In 1850 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres 
of land, the farm on which our subject now re- 
sides. His death occurred July 28, 1852, at the 
age of forty-five, and his wife passed away March 
22, 1878, at the age of seventy- four. 

Mr. McLean of this sketch has lived in Elm 
Grove Township since the age of three and a-half 
years, and his home has always been on the farm 
on which he now resides. During his boyhood 
he attended a private school for six years, con- 
ducted by James J. Kellogg, at Tremont. He 
being the eldest son of the family, upon his fa- 
ther's death he assumed the management of the 
farm, which he has since conducted. He was then 
only eighteen years of age, but he soon gave evi- 
dence of good business and executive ability. 

On the 31st of March, 1859, Mr. McLean was 
united in marriage with Miss Lydia Williams, of 
Greene County, Ind., daughter of William Will- 
iams, who came of an old Carolina family. She was 
one of six children. To Mr. and Mrs. McLean 
have been born the following children: Janet B., 
wife of L. L. Barnhouse, of Tremont Township, 
Tazewell County; Alice, wife of Joseph B. Grote- 
vant, of Livingston County; Hugh S., of Cook 
County; William F., Charles E. and John, at home. 

In politics Mr. McLean has always been a stanch 
Republican. At the age of twenty-one he was 
elected School Director and filled that office for 
twenty-one years, when he declined to serve 
longer. He was Town Clerk for nineteen years, 
School Trustee nine years, Justice of the Peace 
twelve years, and is now serving as Township 
Supervisor. Socially he was made a Mason in 
March, 1877, in Tremont Lodge No. 462, A. F. <fe 
A. M. The same year he was elected Senior 
Warden, which position he filled three years. He 
then served as Master one year, and was afterward 
Senior Deacon four years; he then again served as 
Master three years, and has since been Senior Dea- 
con. He also belongs to Pekin Chapter No. 25, 
R. A. M. Mr. McLean is always true to the trust 
reposed in him, whether public or private. In the 



250 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



various offices which he lias filled, he has discharged 
his duties with a promptness and a fidelity which 
have won him the high commendation of all con- 
cerned. He is one of the most prominent citizens 
of this community and well deserves representa- 
tion in the history of his native county. 




OBERT A. DUNHAM, deceased, was born 
' n ^ ort ' iurn ' >ei 'l anc ' County, Pa., April 15, 
1806, and was a son* of Thomas Dunham. 
lle was left an orphan when quite young. 
His early boyhood days were spent upon a farm 
in the Keystone State, and his school privileges 
were received before the age of sixteen years. He 
prepared himself for teaching and followed that 
profession for several terms in Pennsylvania. He 
also served a three years' apprenticeship to the 
tailor's trade under James Hutchinson,of Milton, 
a little town on the Susquehanna River, and when 
his time had expired went to Danville, where he 
worked under the instruction of E. Moore. Later he 
went to northern Pennsylvania, and as he then had 
only twenty-five cents, had to engage in the first 
work which presented itself. This was in a hotel, 
and he had to sue his employer for his wages, 
amounting to $200. Later he had to take 1100 
out in trade, so he decided to open a tailoring es- 
tablishment of his own. He located in Towanda, 
Pa., where he remained for eight years, carrying a 
full line of men's furnishing goods, clothing, etc., 
making suits to order. 

In 1833, Mr. Dunham determined to come west, 
and purchasing a horse and buggy, made the trip 
across the country. He finally determined to lo- 
cale in Mackinaw. His buggy, of the old style 
wooden spring pattern, was probably the first in 
the county. This he traded for a gold watch, 
which he sold for $80, and with this money he 
made a partial payment upon the farm which is 
now the home of his widow. For nearly a year 
lie engaged in tailoring in Mackinaw, and then 
returned to Pennsylvania to settle up his business, 
and in June, 1835, made a permanent location in 
Tazewell County. On the second trip he brought 



with him a large wagon well stocked with goods 
and opened a general mercantile store, which he 
carried on for two years, and then removed to his 
farm. 

In Pennsylvania, Mr. Dunham had married Miss 
Keeler, and to them was born a son, Llewellyn, 
but the mother and child both died. On the llth 
of July, 1839, our subject wedded Miss Sidney 
Ann Holse}', a native of Pennsylvania, by whom 
he had seven children, three of whom are yet liv- 
ing, Lyman P.; Frances, wife of Homer Miller; 
and Clarinda. 

From early life, Mr. Dunham was an earnest 
worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his 
wife is also a consistent member. He ever labored 
for the test interests of the community in which 
he lived, doing all in his power to uplift humanity, 
and was well known for his charity and benevo- 
lence. During the late war, although too old to 
enter the service, he was an ardent supporter of 
the Union and gave freely of his means towards 
sustaining the cause of the north. He was always 
opposed to slavery, and when the Republican 
part}' was formed to prevent its further extension 
he joined its ranks. Previously he was a Whig. 
In business he was successful and -accumulated 
considerable property, comprising four hundred 
and fifteen acres of valuable farm land. He pass- 
ed away in 1886, and in his death the county lost 
one of its valued citizens and honored pioneers. 
His wife, a most estimable lady, still survives him 
and has reached the advanced age of seventy-eight. 

Their eldest son, Lyman P. Dunham, was born 
on the old home farm near Mackinaw in 1848, 
and finished his education in Eureka. He remain- 
ed with his parents until twenty-nine years of age, , 
when he married Ida M. Miller, a native of Taze- 
well County, and a daughter of P. J. F. and Martha 
(Adams) Miller, the former born in Culpeper 
County, Tenn., and the latter in this county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Dunham have two children, Myrtle E. 
and Mabel. The parents are members of the 
Christian Church of Mackinaw, and they are among 
the most highly respected citizens of the com- 
munity. With the exception of a few months 
spent as a clerk in Mackinaw, Mr. Dunham has al- 
ways followed fanning. For a time he rented a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



251 



part of the old homestead, and upon his father's 
death lie came into possession of one hundred and 
forty acres of good land, which is now a well im- 
proved farm. The fields are well tilled, every- 
thing about the place is kept in good repair, and 
their home is a pleasant and comfortable residence. 
Mr. Dunham is regarded as one of the practical 
and industrious agriculturists of the community, 
and is one of the representative citizens of his 
native county. In politics he is a stalwart Re- 
publican. 



OSEPH C. ELLSWORTH, a successful agri- 
culturist residing on section 20, Forest City 
Township, Mason County, is the son of 
William and Sarah (Medaris) Ellsworth, the 
former a native of Virginia, born March 24, 1797, 
and the latter a native of North Carolina, born 
October 24, 1795. The parents were married in 
Ohio January 21, 1819, after which they settled in 
Shelby Count}' upon a tract of unimproved land. 
There the father built and operated two sawmills. 

Coming to .Illinois in the fall of 1843 William 
Ellsworth settled in Lewistown, Fulton County, 
where he sojourned for five years. In 1849 he 
came to Havana and remained in Forest City 
Township until his death, October, 14, 1867. His 
wife had passed away five days before his demise. 
Their family consisted of nine children, of whom 
the following six now survive: T. II., J. C., W. E., 
IS. R., J. F. and J. M., the eldest seventy-three, and 
the youngest sixty years of age. For over forty 
years the parents were members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, after which the}' united with 
the Wesleyan Church, and the father was licensed 
to preach in the latter denomination. 

In Shelby County, Ohio, Januaiy 1, 1823, the 
subject of this notice was born and there he was 
educated in the pioneer log school house. In ad- 
dition to gaining a practical knowle