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Fifty Years' 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 Observations and Reflections 
 
 ON 
 
 HISTORICAL EVENTS 
 
 GIVINtl SKETCHES OF 
 
 Eminent Citizens —Their Lives and Public Services. 
 
 By Jeriah Bonham, 
 
 Foumkrly Editor and Publisher of the " Illinois Gazette,' 
 "Farmers' Advocate," and "Rural Messenger." 
 
 PEORIA, ILLINOIS. 
 J, VV. FRANKS & sons, printers and publishers. 
 
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 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year IWH, by 
 
 JERIAH BONHAM, 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
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PEEFACB 
 
 Prefaces are generally written as the authors' apologies 
 for writing a book. We do not write ours for any such 
 purpose, but to give reasons why we are writing a second 
 volume. 
 
 We have written a book of over five hundred pages, 
 every chapter, and every paragraph in the chapter, truth- 
 fully historical, with a fullness of dates that in the outset 
 we did not expect to obtain ; in fact, we are agreeably 
 surprised at our good fortune in being able to remember 
 dates so well, or to find so many people who could refresh 
 our recollections of the past: to whom we shall ever feel 
 thankful. 
 
 In the preparation of the matter for this work we have 
 been our own most severe critic ; have used no superfluity 
 of language in order to make high rounding sentences or 
 glowing periods. The matter is submitted for the careful 
 perusal of the historical student, and those also who " know 
 it all" and can give an intelligent judgment on the merits 
 of the work. To the earnest and patient seeker and toiler 
 up the rugged path that leads to the heights of knowledge, 
 much encouragement is extended to give this work a peru- 
 sal, for the record we give of men and women who have 
 made life a grand success by persistent effort in overcoming 
 obstacles. We have yet to continue this record in the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 second volume, and to add much historical matter that the 
 limits of this volume prevent our giving now. 
 
 The next volume will contain much of eventful history 
 that the details of, as yet, are only partially collected, and 
 we need to go over the ground again to make them more 
 perfect. Some of the most thrilling events of our fifty 
 years' residence in the state are yet to assume shape and 
 form, by our again visiting the localities and scenes of their 
 enactment, conferring with surviving actors, getting the aid 
 of their recollections to add to our own to make them com- 
 plete. We intended, in this volume, to give a full history 
 in detail of the operations and final banishment from the 
 state of the combination of horse thieves, robbers, mur- 
 derers, counterfeiters and those who committed other crimes, 
 supposing we could obtain the data, dates, names, etc., 
 that we wished by writing to participants in the events with 
 ourselves. In almost every case that we have written the 
 reply is, "come and see us then' we can tell you, but must 
 have your aid to help us remember." The events we refer 
 to are the driving out the Kock River gang in 1841, and 
 the expulsion and banishment of the Reeves family from 
 Marshall county in 1843. 
 
 We have much of this history indelibly fixed on our 
 mind, but from length of time the little details, dates, names 
 of participants, all the names of the most noted outlaws, 
 can only be revived again by visiting the scenes on which 
 these great events happened. 
 
 Then there is an army of the old pioneers, some yet liv- 
 ing, but most of them passed to the beyond, with the ma- 
 jority, that the author has perfect recollections of in all parts 
 of the state. There are the pioneer preachers, Cartwright, 
 Solomon and Jacob Knapp, Zadok Hall, Henry D. Palmer 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 Jolm Brown, David Blackwell; Thomas Powell, Fathers 
 Cummings, Silliman, Root and Chenoweth, their names, 
 such a host, precludes a mention here, all in their and our 
 day that we have enjoyed their acquaintance. Then the 
 pioneers that these " fifty years " have brought us together 
 with. There are the four Strawns, Jabez Capps, the 
 Hodgsons, of Tazewell county, that sterling old patriot 
 Isaac Funk, of McLean, that we tried to find room for in 
 this volume, and then the long line of representative men 
 that deserve recognition on the historic page — such an array 
 as Owen Lovejoy, the Bryants, Wm. H. Henderson, John 
 Hamlin, Charles Ballance, Sr., all, all we have known, and 
 that sterling old pioneer educator, B. G. Roots, of Perry 
 ■county, can bring out points that other historians have not 
 yet given. The advantage the next volume will have over 
 the present will be, the author will have more time to 
 deVote to its preparation. It will be a more finished pro- 
 duction than the present volume. 
 
 Some readers will note the absence of some of the great 
 names of the state from the present volume, and ask why 
 is it? Where are they? Such names as Grant, Logan, 
 and hosts of others, names that are household words. Such 
 inquiries can be answered by calling attention to the title 
 of our book, then bearing in mind that we are only giving 
 our own recollections and others that we have been in im- 
 mediate connection with in the last fifty years ; that while 
 we have enjoyed a casual acquaintance with most of these 
 great men, all that we could note has found its way into 
 history, and not necessary for us to repeat. The author, 
 supposed to know the truth of what he relates from personal 
 knowledge, and from those who directly communicated 
 with bim, known to be reliable, must ask for a liberal 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 allowance of charity in criticism. Remember, ye critics, 
 that the work of collecting this widely different and varied 
 class of matter was only entered upon in October last,, 
 the first three months spent in visiting different parts of the 
 state to enlist the aid of others with whom we had been 
 acquainted, to get data and dates, and the past three 
 months spent in laboriously arranging the matter for the 
 press, in which we have spent from sixteen to eighteen 
 of out every twenty-four hours. The work has been 
 greatly enlarged from the first plan, which was for a book 
 of four hundred pages, but which has grown on our hands 
 to almost five hundred and forty pages reading matter,, 
 which, with the illustrations, make it about five hundred 
 and seventy. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 GUBERNATORIAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 1. Shadrach Bond 17 
 
 2. Edward Coles, . 21 
 
 3. Ninian Edwards, . . . " 27 
 
 4. John Reynolds, The " Old Ranger " 33 
 
 5. Joseph Duncan 40 
 
 6. Thomas Carlin, 49 
 
 7. Thomas Eord, 59 
 
 8. Augustus C. French, .... 66 
 Joel A. Matteson 76 
 
 10. William H. Bissell, 82 
 
 11. John Wood, 96 
 
 12. Richard Yates, . . . ' . • ■ 100 
 
 13. Richard J. Oglesby 113 
 
 14. John M. Palmer 121 
 
 15. John L. Beveridge, 134 
 
 16. Shelby M. Cullom, 146, 
 
 17. John M. Hamilton, 152 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, . 158 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas, 186 
 
10 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 DISTINGUISHED WOMEN. 
 
 Mrs. Frances A. Wood Shimer, 201 
 
 Mrs. Hannah M. C. T. Cutler, 222 
 
 Mrs. Belva A. Lockwpod, 248 
 
 Miss Mary A. West, 262 
 
 Mrs. Katherine James Dougherty, 327 
 
 KEPBESENTATIVE MEN. 
 
 Dr. Kobert Boal 268 
 
 Hon. Alson J. Streeter, 281 
 
 Hon. Edward A,. Giller, 291 
 
 Hon. Cornwall Kirkpatrick, 302 
 
 Hon. Lorenzo D. Whiting, 307 
 
 flon. Samuel L. Eichmond, 311 
 
 Hon. Augustus Adams, 315 
 
 Hon. George E. Merchant, 320 
 
 Hon. John Dougherty, 323 
 
 Gen. William H. Powell, 330 
 
 Hon. Harry D. Cook, . . . ■ 335 
 
 Hon. George C. Bestor, 339 
 
 Hon. Joseph J. Cassell, . . 344 
 
 Hon. Levi North, 347 
 
 -George W. Brown, 354 
 
 John Carroll Power, 358 
 
 Hon. David McCulloch, 3 65 
 
 Hon. George E. Warren, 3 7 
 
 Col. John Bryner, 373 
 
 Hon. Orson Bingham Galusha, .378 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 11 
 
 Gen. John C. Smith, 383 
 
 Moses Pettengill, 386 
 
 Isaac Snedeker, ■ • 393 
 
 Hon. Greenberry L. Port 400 
 
 •Captain William H. Mann, 412 
 
 Hon. James McCartney 418 
 
 Prof. H. A. Weber 420 
 
 Prof. M. A. Scoville, 421 
 
 Hon. George H. Harlow, 438 
 
 Hon. John Page, 441 
 
 ■Captain Eric Johnson, 446 
 
 Captain John D. Hatfield, 449 
 
 Hon. .Elbert Easterly 453 
 
 Hon. Joseph Gillespie, . . . . ^ . ■ . . .456 
 
 THE PRESS. 
 
 Hon. Sterling P. Bounds, 463 
 
 Hon. Enoch Emery, 471 
 
 Mark M. Aiken, 478 
 
 Hon. Andrew Shuman, 481 
 
 Hon. Welker Given, 484 
 
 Hon. Paul Selby, 496 
 
 Charles M. Eames, 501 
 
 Enoch P. Sloan ■ , • ■ ■ 503 
 
 George Burt. Jr -506 
 
 Henry A. Ford 50T 
 
 Cadet Taylor, 531 
 
 Capt. Joseph E. Osborn, 533 
 
 Mrs. Lucinda Harrison, 535 
 
12 TABLE OP CONTENTS. 
 
 PIONEERS. 
 
 Hon. Robert T. Cassell, 488 
 
 Hon. Alson S. Sherman 490 
 
 Dr. Henry Shimer, A.M., M. D., 493 
 
 Williamson Durley, 509 
 
 Nehemiah West, 521 
 
 Rev. John M. Faris, . - 525. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Election of 1858, . 527 
 
 One of Illinois' Great Industries, 420 
 
 Sorghum Sugar Industry 421 
 
 Railroad Legislation, 459- 
 
 Bishop Hill Colony, 514 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 To the Reading Public : — It is now rounding into the 
 last days of the half century since, as an active lad of six- 
 teen, full of the usual htfpes of youth, I came to this portion 
 of Illinois, as one of the members of a rather numerous 
 family, in which the boys, at that time, counted the most 
 by a large majority. 
 
 I was lithe, active and happy, disposed to look on the 
 bright side of everything, as I do in commencing to write 
 this book, for dear friend and reader, I write this book with 
 brightest anticipations, and hope that sales will reach into 
 the thousands, and that through its reading I can again 
 renew acquaintances all over the country with the many 
 readers that in former years I had through the columns of 
 the Illinois Gazette, Farmer's Advocate and Rural Messen- 
 ger, been instrumental in furnishing an infinite variety of 
 literature, political, agriculture, horticultural, pomological, 
 and on almost all other general subjects. 
 
 Then, Hope- — that anchor to man's bright anticipations 
 — leads the author to believe that the reading of his "Fifty 
 Years' Recollections" will make for him many new friends 
 and acquaintances. Why shouldn't it? Let the reader 
 take in the scope of this half century in his mind's eye, 
 look at the title of the book, then with an active imagina- 
 tion, travel with the author over these busy fifty years, and 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 realize what could be seen and noted in that time of the 
 men that have live'd and events that have happened. 
 
 The object of the author is to illustrate personal char- 
 acter, and throw light on specially interesting phases of the 
 career, either public or private, of the persons he writes 
 about ; to condense, in briefest space, much of the history 
 of individuals whose acquaintance the author has enjoyed 
 during that time. 
 
 It is evident that a work of this kind can be made one 
 of the educating influences, both to old and young — pleas- 
 ant, instructive, and inspiring to &l\ — and the perusal of 
 these " Recollections " be as much of a pleasure to the 
 reader as the writing of them has been to the author? 
 Mutual pleasure, profit, and acquaintance has been the pre- 
 vailing motive in the preparation of the volume. The book 
 is in no sense a biography of the persons noticed, but recol- 
 lections as now remembered. These have been written 
 without personal bias or partiality. In short, it is giving 
 truthful history of the occurrences related, and the work 
 can be preserved as a reference to the times noted and the 
 individuals mentioned. 
 
 Fifty years in our Country's and State's history ! What 
 eventful years, too. No fifty years in the world's history 
 can show such progress. 
 
 Birth, childhood, mature age — a useful life — has come 
 and gone to many during the cycles of these years. The 
 glorious memories of the godly and patriotic men and de- 
 voted women who have worked out the grand destinies of 
 our State and Nation should be perpetuated. What have 
 they done for us in establishing free schools, free gospel, 
 and a free press? Along with, but dependent on these, 
 have been introduced all the other educating influences. 
 
INTKODUCTOKY. 15 
 
 They have given us rich legacies to live for, vote for, and 
 fight for. They have developed a Lincoln, a Douglas, a 
 Garfield, and a host of other compeers to live and die for 
 their country. These portionless sons became the chief in- 
 tellectual pillars in the temple of our liberties. 
 
 In these years interminable forests have fallen before 
 the axe of the woodman ; the broad expanse of prairie is 
 upturned by the plow, and the fields appear in cultivated 
 beauty ; and where not one mile of railroad was built fifty 
 years ago now there are more miles operated than in any 
 other state in the Union. 
 
 In all these years the author has been a humble but busy 
 actor, doing quiet, but he hopes effective work, in advanc- 
 ing the great interests of the State in all these fields of 
 labor. He has been farmer, merchant, journalist, and now 
 I am doing what Job so earnestly prayed that his enemy 
 would do, " writing a book," hoping the public will give it 
 a careful reading and impartial criticism. 
 
 Jbeiah Bonham. 
 
GUBERNATORIAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 SHADEACH BOND. 
 
 FIEST GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Preliminaries for admission as a state— Nathaniel Pope — What 
 he did for Illinois — Proceedings in committee — The twenty- 
 seventh of February, 1818 — Committee's favorable report — 
 Bill passed eighteenth of April, 1818 — Shadrach Bond — His 
 popularity— Elected without opposition — Hon. H. S. Baker 
 tells about Bond — Formerly delegate in Congress — Register 
 Land Office— Dies April 11, 1830. 
 
 April 18th, 1818, was the auroral day that broke on 
 Illinois, opening up, in the near prospective, the opportu- 
 nity inviting her to the dignity of statehood with the other 
 states of the American Union. The preliminarie for an 
 enabling act were concluded in January previous by the 
 territorial legislature, in session at Kaskaskia, preparing 
 and forwarding to Hon. Nathaniel Pope, the territorial del- 
 egate in Congress, their petition, praying for the admission 
 of Illinois into the Union on an equal footing with the 
 original states. Congress most graciously, through their 
 committee on territories, reported a bill for the admission 
 of the state with a population of forty thousand. Delegate 
 Pope was very vigilant in watching the progress of the bill 
 at its various stages. One of his watchful foresights gave 
 2 
 
18 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 this state the present site of Chicago, which, but for him, 
 would have been left in the territory of Wisconsin. The 
 original design, " north of an east and west line drawn 
 through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan," would cut 
 this state off from fourteen of her present rich counties and 
 from the then rich lead mines of Galena. But to his vigi- 
 lance the line between the embryo state, just knocking for 
 admission, was made forty degrees, thirty minutes, or fifty 
 miles farther north. This gave us the terminus — Chicago 
 — of the Illinois and Michigan Cana*l which came with 
 that extension, and other untold blessings that we have en- 
 joyed as a state that we would have been deprived of had 
 the line been made as originally intended. By this change 
 of lines Illinois acquired a lake coast, giving an outlet to 
 the east and north and the site for the second city in the 
 Union. 
 
 We have not the exact date when these weighty pro- 
 visions and amendments were discussed in committee, to 
 which Mr. Pope was admitted by courtesy as well as right, 
 but there is a traditian that the favorable action, or agree- 
 ment to incorporate all his propositions into the bill, was 
 reached February 27th of that year, but the formality of 
 reaching a final vote, by a report of the bill from committee 
 on territories, its first, second, and third readings in the 
 House and Senate, was not reached until April 18, 1818, 
 as noted in the opening of this chapter. But really the 
 work in committee is the effective work in legislation, and 
 Illinois can positively date its birth as a state from the day 
 the proposition received favorable action and recommenda- 
 tion from the committee on territories. The constitutional 
 convention to formulate that great instrument, in pursuance 
 of the enabling act, was called to meet at Kaskaskia in 
 
SHADRACH BOND. 19 
 
 July, and completed its labors, by its members signing the 
 constitution, August 26, 1818, just six months, lacking a 
 day, from the time the bill was favorably reported from the 
 committee. 
 
 The first election for governor, lieutenant-governor, and 
 members of the General Assembly, under the constitution, 
 was held the third Thursday and the two succeeding days 
 of September, 1818. Shadrach Bond, of Randolph county, 
 was elected governor, and Pierre Menard, lieutenant gov- 
 ernor, neither of them having any opposition. Their term 
 of service was for four years. 
 
 Shadrach Bond, on whom the distinguished honor of 
 being elected the first governor of Illinois was conferred, 
 was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1773; was 
 raised a farmer, and came to Illinois in 1794. He was a 
 jolly, benevolent kind of a man, rollicking, and at times 
 very convivial. In youth he had received but a plain 
 English education ; this had been nourished by home cul- 
 ture, until he became a man noted for his correct and 
 shrewd observation, giving him a clear appreciation of 
 events. In person he was commanding, of erect bearing, 
 standing six feet in height. His complexion was dark, 
 clear hazel eyes, the outline of his features angular, with 
 jet black hair. He was a courtly man, as described to us 
 by Hon. H. S. Baker, of Alton, who, when a boy, went 
 with his father on a visit to the governor. He said the 
 governor took the occasion to give him some lessons on 
 etiquette that he always remembered. Eeynolds, in his 
 "Life and Times," says that Gov. Bond was a great favo- 
 rite with the ladies, which we well may suppose of a man 
 of his jovial disposition and courtly manners, His thorough 
 honesty, unostentatious bearing, his ministrations of benev- 
 
20 
 
 olence made him the most popular man in the state, and it 
 need not be wondered at that his candidacy was a " regular 
 walk-away," no other man having the temerity to oppose 
 him. He was a "man of state affairs;" had been a mem- 
 ber of the territorial legislature and a delegate to Congress 
 from the Indiana Territory in 1812, when the two were 
 one. It was he that procured the right of pre-emption to 
 the public lands. In 1814 he was appointed by President 
 Madison receiver of public lands at Kaskaskia. He was a 
 great favorite at Washington, particularly at the presiden- 
 tial mansion, where the c»urtly Mrs. Madison presided. 
 
 After serving his term, his friends urged him to make 
 the race for Congress, which he did; but he was getting 
 old, " and full of years and honors." He did not make an 
 active canvass, and Daniel P. Cook was popular with the 
 people, and the governor retired to private life. He was 
 appointed, in 1825, register of land office at Kaskaskia, by 
 President Adams, and held the office until he died, April 
 11, 1830, aged fifty-seven years. In his honor the county 
 of Bond was named as a tribute to his memory. 
 
EDWAED COLES. 
 
 SECOND GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Exciting contest on slavery — Tour-cornered contest — Good re- 
 sults from a divided house — Coles elected — Nativity, birth, 
 and education — His public services — Sent on a Russian 
 mission — Tour of Europe— Returns home— Comes to Illinois 
 — Emancipates his slaves — He is persecuted for righteous- 
 ness sake — Unscrupulous measures of slavery — Bitter 
 wrangling and excitement among the people — Go v.. Coles 
 gives his entire salary to the cause — " Friends of Freedom " 
 — Election day — Long distances traveled to cast a vote — 
 "William Blanchard — Victory for the Right— "All's well 
 that ends well" — Gov. Coles' term expires — Removes to 
 Philadelphia — Gets married — Age and death. 
 
 There was a state of anarchy in the new state in the 
 canvass of 1822. The question of slavery has always made 
 trouble to the state and to the citizen. Raising its hydra- 
 head means discord, confusion and distraction. The elec- 
 tion for governor that year was four-cornered ; four candi- 
 dates contesting for the honor, for as yet there was not 
 much national politics entering into any of the contests. 
 Monroe had been re-elected president in 1820 by almost 
 general consent, and history informs us that personal rival- 
 ries had quite as much to do in deciding who would be 
 governor, or any other officer, as the principles advocated. 
 But before the gubernatorial and legislative contest of 1822, 
 there was a state question that would not down. The year 
 
22 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 before Missouri had been admitted with slavery after a 
 fierce contest: a compromise plaster being applied, the 
 then potent Clay of Kentucky applied it, add it brought 
 healing in its application to Missouri, but the contest was 
 transferred to Illinois, where two-thirds of the people were 
 from the Southern States, and a large portion of these 
 believed that the proper condition in life of a colored man 
 was servitude. 
 
 Of the four men who were candidates for governor, 
 Coles and Moore were known to be anti-slaveryites and 
 Phillips and Brown to favor it. When the election returns 
 were received, Coles had 2,810, Moore 522, Phillips 2,760, 
 and Brown 2,543. Coles was elected by small plurality, 
 which probably saved the state to freedom, for in that 
 year if the line had been strictly drawn, a pro-slavery 
 man on one side, and anti-slavery on the other, slavery 
 would have prevailed. But, before the next year, when it 
 was submitted, a largely increased immigration came to 
 the central and northern counties, and the anti-slavery 
 vote was increased. This, with the executive influence in 
 its favor, turned the tide in favor of leaving the constitu- 
 tion as it was, and the governor's position was sustained. 
 
 Edward Coles, the new governor, was born in Virginia, 
 December 15, 1786, and the youngest of ten children. He 
 was impressed with the injustice and iniquity of slavery in 
 early life, while attending college. His father was a plan- 
 ter owning many slaves. Young Coles formed a resolution 
 that when his apportionment of his father's estate was allotted 
 the slave part of it he would emancipate. Upon the death 
 of his father his share of land was one thousand acres and 
 twenty-five slaves. He was the private secretary of Presi- 
 dent Madison, a courtly, refined young man, of brilliant 
 
EDWARD COLES. 23 
 
 conversational powers. His talents were employed diplo- 
 matically, and he was sent on a special mission to Russia 
 with private dispatches. While on this mission he made 
 the tour of Europe, greatly increasing his fund of informa- 
 tion. After his arrival home he concluded to come to 
 Illinois, and came out on a prospecting tour, and was at 
 Kaskaskia when the convention was in session that formed 
 the first state constitution. In the following spring, having 
 returned to Maryland, he arranged to move his slaves to 
 Illinois, and on the way told them that they were free. He 
 gave to each head of a family one hundred acres of land 
 in the neighborhood of Edwardsville, aided them with 
 some money, and exercised special care for their welfare. 
 That was his record, and the partisans who favored slavery, 
 ,beaten by a division in their two ranks, had a majority in 
 both branches of the legislature. They " made it hot" for 
 the governor, but he was firm, and directed attention to the 
 subject of slavery in clear and forcible language. This was 
 enough to fan into a flame the repressed elements of the 
 last y.ear, and an effort to introduce slavery by amending 
 the constitution was resolved upon. It required a two- 
 thirds vote in both houses to pass the proposition submit- 
 ting it to the people. 
 
 By force and intimidation, and the unseating of a mem- 
 ber, the slaveryites secured the required two-thirds, and its 
 passage was regarded as securing its triumph at the polls. 
 They were so elated that they insulted the governor by 
 marching a drunken mob to his residence with discordant 
 music, bells, horns, and unearthly yells of an ignorant 
 crowd. These demonstrations were kept up during the 
 canvass to such an exteat that they reacted against the 
 slavery movement. The very violence of the movement 
 
24 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 disgusted the better element who were in favor of slavery, 
 and from this the anti-slavery element took courage. Never 
 was such a contest waged in the state before. Davison and 
 Stuve's History says : " The young and the old, without 
 regard to sex, entered the arena of party strife ; families and 
 neighborhoods became divided and surrendered themselves 
 up to bitter warfare. Detraction and personal abuse reigned 
 supreme, while combats were not infrequent. The whole 
 country seemed to be on the verge of a resort to physical 
 force to settle the angry question." 
 
 The press teemed with angry incendiary articles, breath- 
 ing out direct vengeance on the anti-slavery advocates. 
 New papers were established. Our long-time old friend 
 and neighbor of after years, Hooper Warren, was then in 
 the heat of the fight, editing the " Spectator" at Edwards- 
 ville, and some papers at Shawneetown and Vandalia were 
 conducted in opposition to the convention scheme. The 
 governor, by this time fairly aroused, gave his entire salary 
 for his term, four thousand dollars, to aid the cause of anti- 
 slavery. The ablest talent in the new state was arrayed 
 either on one side or the other. Through efforts of Rev. 
 J. M. Peck, anti-slavery societies were formed, and organ- 
 izations to get out the anti-slavery vote in all parts of the 
 state. They were called " Friends of Freedom," and they 
 were active in the cause. The ministers were active in 
 the cause, and they met together from long distances to de- 
 vise ways to arrest the impending evil. All the means 
 known to civilization to impart ideas of the enormity of 
 slavery were made available. Meetings were called, the 
 rank and file of the people, excited to the highest pitch, 
 wrangled and argued with each other wherever they met, — 
 the excitement was so great that industry was at a stand. 
 
EDWAKD COLES. 25 
 
 " When the day of election came, the utmost exertions 
 at the polls throughout the state were used by both sides to 
 bring out a full vote. The aged, the crippled, the chronic- 
 invalids, all that could be conveyed, with their bodily in- 
 firmities, were brought and cast their votes either for or 
 against the call. People sacrificed weeks of time, traversed 
 hundreds of miles across boundless prairies, for the sacred 
 right to cast their votes for freedom. The old pioneer, 
 William Blanchard, now nearly ninety years old, then liv- 
 ( , ing on Farm Creek, two miles east of Peoria, went, with 
 several of his neighbors, all the way to Springfield, near 
 one hundred and fifty miles, to cast their votes against the 
 calling of a convention, to vote for keeping slavery out." 
 Noble old man, the only one now living of the noble band. 
 He still resides on his farm near Fon Du Lac, Tazewell 
 county. 
 
 Election over, it was at least a month before the result 
 was fully known, but good news came at last, Illinois was 
 saved from the curse of slavery, the good Governor Coles 
 and his noble co-workers were triumphant ; — Illinois was 
 a free state. 
 
 Many of our present well informed citizens are not stu- 
 dents of history, or have not sufficiently studied the history 
 of their state to be aware that such a fierce contest for free- 
 dom was ever waged in Illinois. Slavery was defeated by 
 some one thousand seven hundred majority. The aggregate 
 vote was eleven thousand six hundred and twelve ; of this, 
 four thousand nine hundred and seventy-two was for a con- 
 vention, or slavery, and six thousand six hundred and forty 
 against, making one thousand six hundred and sixty-eight 
 majority for freedom. And thus ended the most important, 
 exciting and angry election that took place at that early day 
 
26 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 in Illinois. All feeling of animosity soon subsided, and it 
 is said by the historian of that time, that a politician who- 
 favored slavery could not be found. 
 
 Gov. Coles' administration went out in a blaze of glory. 
 He had served his state well, given his term and all his 
 salary for the public weal, not only for that time but for us 
 now, and for future generations yet unborn. "The victory 
 was decisive of the question for all time." 
 
 He retired from office December 1826, at the age of forty, 
 and we believe did not accept office again. In the year , 
 1833, fifty years ago, at the age of forty-seven, he removed 
 to Philadelphia, and was married to Miss Sallie. Logan 
 Roberts, having in after years, one daughter and two sons. 
 He died July 6, 1868, aged eighty-two years, having lived 
 to see the total extinction of slavery. 
 
HON. NINIAN EDWAEDS. 
 
 THIRD GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Nativity, education and family connections —Removes to Ken- 
 tucky — Rapid advancement in official position — He is 
 appointed Governor of Illinois Territory —His long service — 
 Becomes a candidate for Governor in 1826 — After a heated 
 canvass is elected — His prominent characteristics — His. 
 contests with the banks — Characteristics of the people — 
 Contests not political, but personal — The pioneer of sixty- 
 years ago and later — Gov. Edwards' independence of action — 
 Would not descend to the arts of the demagogue — Brief ret- 
 rospective view and close cf his administration. 
 
 Ninian Edwards was born in Montgomery county, 
 Maryland in 1775. His education was such as ample 
 means can secure when aroused by a desire to excel and suc- 
 ceed on the part of the student. His family stood among' 
 the most prominent in Maryland, admitted to the highest 
 social circles, having great influence both iu their native 
 state and at the National Capital. He was a fellow school 
 mate with William Wirt, afterward Attorney General of 
 the United States. From being a student, Wirt was ad- 
 vanced to being a teacher, and young Edwards attended his 
 school as a student. When sufficiently advanced to attend 
 college he was sent to Carlisle college, Pennsylvania. There 
 he commenced the study of law. When his legal and busi- 
 ness acquirements were attained, he went to Kentucky, and 
 
28 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 being a young man of engaging manners and courtly ad- 
 dress, soon ranked among the popular young men of the stf.te, 
 and was elected to the legislature. When his term expired 
 he removed to Russelville, and more resolutely than ever 
 devoted himself to study, and rose to eminence in his pro- 
 fession, and was promoted rapidly from one success to 
 another until he had successively filled the offices of Presi- 
 ding Judge of the General Court, Circuit Court, Judge of 
 Court of Appeals, and before he was thirty-two years old 
 was selected as Chief Justice, the highest judicial position 
 in the state. 
 
 From this position, in 1809, he was appointed by Mr. 
 Madison as territorial governor of Illinois, and served until 
 the state was admitted into the Union. His great legal 
 abilities, ability as a writer, and fluency of speech as an ora- 
 tor, made him a formidable competitor to his opponents in 
 1826. Party lines were not tightly drawn, both candidates 
 professing to be Jackson men, but Thomas C. Sloe, his 
 chief competitor, enjoyed the advantage of being the regu- 
 lar Jackson nominee, while Edwards was making his can- 
 vass on his personal popularity, and on the principles of 
 state policy he proposed adopting. Another candidate, 
 miking the contest a three cornered one, was Adolphus 
 Frederick Hubbard, who, from ponderous length and 
 weight of name, thought he should be elected governor. 
 He was the outgoing lieutenant-governor, and claimed the 
 oiBce by promotion. Intellectually he was inferior to 
 both Edwards and Sloe, admitting in his speeches that he 
 was " not as great a man as my opponent, Gov. Edwards." 
 
 We can define this tri-square fight no more clearly, per- 
 haps, than by giving each man the status he claimed — Sloe 
 as a Jackson man, Edwards on the state policy and personal 
 
NINIAN EDWAKDS. 29 
 
 popularity, and Hubbard from the fact that he was Lieu- 
 tenant-governor, and as he said in some of his speeches, " I 
 do not think it will require a very extraordinary smart 
 man to govern you; for to tell you the truth, fellow-citi- 
 zens, I do not think you will be very hard to govern, no 
 how." 
 
 Edwards leaving national politics to the future, made 
 the burden of his speeches relate to state affairs. He at- 
 tacked the wretched banking system, characterizing it as 
 " humiliating to our pride and disreputable to our character," 
 "affording speculators the opportunity to riot on the neces- 
 sities of the people," " taking the honest earnings of the 
 sweat of your brows." He fought his battle and made his 
 canvass solely on the ground of financial reform, irrespective 
 of party affiliations. His forcible and instructive addresses 
 gained the ear of the people, produced a good effect, and 
 they sustaining him, he was elected. But the legislature 
 was against him, and almost all the important measures he 
 advocated were opposed in the legislature and by the differ- 
 ent rings of speculators who had controlled the banks, most 
 of them having became defunct. Thus was illustrated the 
 want of cordiality between the executive and the legislative 
 branches, and it continued through the legislative term of 
 1826-7. 
 
 But the governor's persistence in fighting the specula- 
 tors was to have its triumphs. By the election of 1828 a 
 new legislature was elected, and it was more favorable to 
 the governor's views, and we find much of the legislation at 
 that time to be in accord with his views. He was constantly 
 active to produce this state of public opinion. He wrote 
 with great facility, and his productions show a high degree 
 of literary merit. 
 
30 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 The varied composition of the homogeneous citizenship 
 of Illinois in the " Life and Times" of Edwards and Rey- 
 nolds, is aptly illustrated by historical quotations from the 
 literature of that period. It is said, ,: But little thought 
 was bestowed on governmental affairs by the masses." The 
 elective franchise was given by the voter, because he was a 
 personal friend to the candidate. This indifference, so un- 
 worthy of the citizen, was taken advantage of by the office- 
 hunter. Politics were personal, and the vote was bestowed, 
 not with regard to public welfare, but as a matter of per- 
 sonal favor. At this time, from 1818 to 1831, the people 
 voted by ballot, as it was thought it gave the voter greater 
 independence of action. But it also gave them the oppor- 
 tunity to exercise double dealing and dissimulation, both on 
 the part of the voter and the candidate, by mutual decep- 
 tion of every grade and character. Sometimes the most 
 adroit intriguer met with the most success. The voter 
 would make promises, then violate them if a greater induce- 
 ment was offered him. " To cure this evil, the legislature, 
 at its session 1829, adopted the open vote system, making 
 it imperative on the voter to call out the name of the can- 
 didate he voted for." 
 
 Then, as now, with a certain class of politicians,- " treat- 
 ing" during a political canvass was thought to be necessary 
 to success. Candidates for office would give orders to liquor 
 saloons to " treat" freely to whoever would drink at their 
 expense, for weeks before the day of election. Saturdays, 
 more commonly than other days, was " treating day," the 
 voters congregating from all parts of the country, coming 
 long distances to hear the news and " fill up," frequently 
 getting drunk and engaging in rough and tumble fights. 
 The candidates would make it a point to be there and 
 
UINIAN EDWAEDS. 31 
 
 harangue "the boys" on the " ishoos" of the campaign, and 
 the most particular one in it, their own success. Meeting 
 in the shady groves, the orators would thunder forth their 
 •claims, mounted on convenient wagons, logs or stumps. 
 From this grew the phrase " Stumping it." Men were dis- 
 cussed, not measures. The most bitter personal arraign- 
 ment of the other candidate was the stock in trade of these 
 loud-mouthed statesmen. 
 
 The shades of evening would give warning, and the 
 ■crowd would mount their horses, get in their ox carts, or 
 on foot wend their way home, hurrahing or yelling for their 
 favorite candidate, and cursing his opponent. 
 
 The pioneers, — all honor to their memories — though 
 •of rough exterior, a majority of them were well meaning, 
 .and it was not their fault that in a majority of cases they were 
 ignorant, sometimes persuading themselves it was a virtue 
 to be so. They were, for this reason, more easily duped, im- 
 bibing passionate and unreasonable prejudices, opposing as 
 innovations any public policy that promised the elevation or 
 •education of the people, and unfortunately their descend- 
 ants at an early day were no improvement on the paternal 
 stock. In many cases their isolated life made them more 
 reckless when they came from their homes and met their 
 fellow-citizens on public occasions. They were brave, and 
 to show it, many of them courted personal combats. Ar- 
 rayed in red hunting shirts, over buckskin breeches, home- 
 made skin cap, sometimes carrying a huge knife belted 
 round their waist, they were a walking challenge against all 
 -comers, — an invitation to "pitch in boys, if you doubt it" 
 kind, that led to many brawls. Candidates courted this 
 ■class, and their influence sometimes turned the scale. 
 
32 FIFTY YEAES' KECOI/LECTIONS. 
 
 Governor Edwards, in making his canvass of the state, 
 strove to pierce this armor of ignorance, violence, and spe- 
 cies of intimidation, putting his canvass above personal 
 considerations, and for the future advancement of the state's 
 great interests. He brought great legal research and acu- 
 men to his aid, never condescending to the low arts of 
 electioneering, such as wearing poorer clothes, or assuming 
 to be ignorant when he was not, as his successor, Reynolds, 
 would do ; but whenever he went out among the people to 
 address them, he wore the best clothes he had, traveled in 
 the same style as when not a candidate, in his own carriage, 
 driven by a colored coachman. His enemies tried to prej- 
 udice the people against him by charging him with being an 
 " aristocrat, living in this pomp and style," when he was 
 only pursuing the even tenor of his home-life for years, not 
 changing it to catch the applause of the multitude when he 
 became a candidate for their suffrages. As before. intimated 
 in the recollections of our historical readings, Governor 
 Edward's official term was a contest with the banks to com- 
 pel them to keep within the limits prescribed in their charters, 
 and to advance the credit of the state, so that, when he re- 
 tired from office in December, 1830, it would be found that 
 the state was in a healthy condition as to its fiscal affairs. 
 That it was so when he turned over the executive office to 
 his successor, history most conclusively shows. 
 
 He retired from official position as governor in the fifty- 
 fifth year of his age, leaving the state, as a legacy, the 
 records of his best efforts for its prosperity since his appoint- 
 ment as territorial governor in 1809, both in his official and 
 private life. 
 
JOHN REYNOLDS, THE "OLD RANGER," 
 
 FOURTH GOVEENOE OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 What was said about the " Guvnor" — Nativity, parentage and 
 educational advantages— Studies the classics — Slight evi- 
 dence of the fact — Characteristics of the population — He 
 readily adopts them —His linguistic powers of adaptation — 
 His competitor, "William Kinney — How the canvass was con- 
 ducted between them — Reynolds elected — The Black Hawk 
 "War — The soldier's friend — "Would made every man a Cap- 
 tain or General — Appoints Charley Henderson a "volunteer 
 aid" — Goes the rounds of the three month service — Elected 
 to Congress — His story of the rise of the waters without any 
 rain falling — Closing political career — Opposes Douglas in 
 1858 — Pro-slavery views — Sympathies with the South — 
 His death in 1865. 
 
 Our " Recollections" of the " Old Ranger" are not very 
 extensive. His most expressive " happenings" occurred be- 
 fore our time. He was just on his " last legs" as governor 
 when we came to the state, but had made himself so 
 renowned that everybody had something to say about the 
 "Guvnor." He was born in Pennsylvania in 1778, of 
 Irish parentage ; removed to Tennessee in 1790, and stop- 
 ping there for ten years, came to Illinois in 1800. Edu- 
 cational advantages were limited at that time in the territory, 
 and he returned to Tennessee to have the bright edges of 
 his intellect furbished up, and he tells us in his " Life and 
 Times," that he there acquired a " classical education," but 
 3 
 
34 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 no one would suspect this feet from " his life and conversa- 
 tion," " his expositions of the classics," his writings and 
 official papers. It is said of him that he would affect igno- 
 rance where he possessed ample knowledge, in order not to 
 appear " too knowing." In the portion of the state where 
 he " had his range," largely in St. Clair, Randolph, Madi- 
 son and surrounding counties, the population was largely 
 made up of Kentuckians, Tennesseeans, Virginians and 
 adjoining southern states, a large sprinkling of French, a 
 few from Ohio and Pennsylvania, and occasionally a stray 
 Yankee, whose presence was scarcely tolerated. 
 
 A large portion of this heterogenous mass was rude, 
 rough, and very ignorant, — " poor white trash," whose ances- 
 tors not being rich enough to own slaves, were not respected 
 as much as their chattels, the slaves, among slave owners. 
 This floating, listless and thriftless population, composed a 
 portion of the emigration from those states at the time, but 
 the men among them had votes, and among this class it was 
 a crime for a candidate to know too much. John Reynolds 
 being a politician, must come down to the tastes, habits of 
 life, language, expletives and jargon of "]We-uns." He 
 " imbibed" their characteristics as he did their favorite bev- 
 erage, adopted their manners, customs and speech, drank in 
 their " Shibboleth ;" he disliked polish, for their sakes con- 
 temned fashion, and in short was, to please the crowd, 
 addicted to " licker" and profanity. The historian records 
 of him, that his mind was " garnished by his various read- 
 ing, a native shrewdness, and a wonderful faculty of garrul- 
 ity, making him one of the public oddities in the annals of 
 Illinois." Most fertile was his imagination, wonderous bis 
 powers to express his ideas, not connected with logical de- 
 ductions, as this would been lost on his hearers. He could 
 
JOHN REYNOLDS. 35 
 
 " dialect" the Gaelic, the Milesian, adopt the linguistic pe- 
 culiarities of the Kentucky hunter, the Tennessee Ranger, 
 the patois of the kind of French then spoken around Kas- 
 kaskia, Cahokia or St. Louis. He was kindness personi- 
 fied, always ready to do a favor, and to forgive " those that 
 persecuted him." He was angular, walked with a swinging 
 gait, tall of stature, bony, and deeply furrowed face, and 
 under his high, narrow forehead, his eyes rolled round, 
 showing kindness. His nose " Romanized well down 
 towards his ample mouth," from which issued almost a con- 
 stant stream of volubility. He possessed the " Democratic" 
 manners of his time, a sociable and talkative disposition, 
 and his delight was to mingle with the people. At that time 
 Reynolds was not " a whole hog " Jackson man, so he ran 
 independently for governor against William Kinney, the 
 regular Jackson candidate. The Whigs, or Adams' men, 
 did not run a candidate, but generally voted for Reynolds 
 because he was the independent candidate. Kinney was 
 lieutenant-governor under Gov. Edwards, the retiring gov- 
 ernor. History tells of Kinney, that he was " remarkable for 
 intelligence and business capacity." He was a "Hardshell 
 Baptist" preacher. He was of social disposition, could re- 
 late pithy anecdotes, which served him a good purpose in 
 electioneering, was regarded one of the best political can- 
 vassers in the state, possessing unbounding energy and great 
 ambition. He was, along with his pulpit capacity, endowed 
 with a jovial turn and witty pleasantry. It was the prac- 
 tice in those days for candidates to " treat," and Mr. Kin- 
 ney would so far forget his clerical calling as to " set 'em 
 up" for the boys. But Reynolds could discount him and 
 " go one better ;" he could not only " set 'em up," but "go 
 in and have a time " with the boys and indulge in profanity. 
 
36 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 These two last political virtues of the times Kinney would 
 not indulge in, so he was " badly left" when the votes were 
 counted. Kinney preached on Sundays while making the 
 canvass of the state, while Reynolds would gather a large 
 circle of choice spirits and " gi'n a treat," and so the can- 
 vass went on between the men. Both candidates were 
 "down on the Yankees." Kinney opposed the canal 
 project, giving as a reason for it that it would open up a 
 floodtide of "Yankee" emigration to the state, which he 
 and his ultra partizans could not brook the thought of. 
 
 Reynolds professed great admiration for Jackson, though 
 not ultra, and the " whole hog" Jackson men denounced 
 him as an "outsider," and party excitement ran high ; per- 
 sonalities were indulged in, and bitter reproaches were 
 heaped on the candidates by the friends of the other by cir- 
 culating all kinds of scandalous charges. But the " una- 
 dulterated Jackson man, and the Whisky Baptist," who 
 claimed that he " fought with the sword of the Lord and 
 the spirit," was defeated, and after a wearisome campaign 
 of eighteen months Reynolds was elected. The animosities 
 engendered in the campaign followed him in his official life. 
 The majority in the legislature was against him, and an- 
 noyed him by rejecting his nominations. 
 
 In 1832 occurred the Black Hawk war, and in it the 
 " Old Ranger " merged all his political difficulties". He was 
 more of a " ranger " than a fighter, but he had good fighting 
 stock around him, among the most famous being Gen. James 
 D. Henry, who would have succeeded him as governor had 
 he lived. Reynolds left his military affairs entirely to 'his 
 generals. He mixed up with the men, and if he could have 
 done so, every man would have been promoted, he was so 
 kind. Illustrative of this, the author will relate a case in 
 
JOHN REYNOLDS. 37 
 
 point. Our good, kind and scholarly school teacher, Charles 
 Henderson, who had taught our country school for three 
 winters in Ohio,, emigrated to Illinois in the spring of 1832. 
 He came on horseback, arrived just at the time when enlist- 
 ments were" being made and men were being hurried forward 
 to the place of rendezvous. He became a "camp follower," 
 came up with the army at Beardstown, was presented to^the 
 governor, told him that he came to see the country, and if 
 there was any service he could render, himself and horse 
 were at the service of the state. " Yes," said the governor, 
 " I can take you as volunteer aid, we want a good many of 
 that kind now." " Well, governor, that will suit me," said 
 Charley, " what are the duties of the position ? " " Well, " 
 said the governor, " go along, feed your horse from the sub- 
 sistence department, yourself at my quarters,. assist me some 
 with my writing, help the quartermaster and commissary 
 when they call on you, and when we get where there is any 
 fighting to be done pitch in and fight like h — 1." 
 
 Our old school teacher accepted the conditions, went 
 along, made his services so acceptable in the department 
 assigned him, that the governor did not call on him to " fight 
 the Indians like h — 1," made the rounds of the three 
 months' service, returned to Jacksonville where a brother 
 was residing, settled himself, married a Miss McDonald, 
 raised a large family and died there about 1876. 
 
 The reader will pardon this digression. Many anec- 
 dotes are told of the governor's military career, but we are 
 admonished that since the half century ago there has been 
 other governors of whom our "recollections" are more 
 fresh, so must proceed with our history. 
 
 At the close of his gubernatorial term Reynolds was 
 elected to Congress, serving three terms, taking in the Jack- 
 
38 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 son and Van Buren administrations. In the negotiations 
 to raise funds to build the canal he was appointed financial 
 agent to England, but his service was not a success for the 
 State. 
 
 In his congressional canvass among his constituents he 
 would plead to the utmost simplicity and ignorance, to 
 bring himself down on a level with their intelligence and 
 knowledge. 
 
 On one occasion he was making a speech telling what he 
 had seen at Washington. He and President Jackson were 
 very great friends and often rode out together. On one 
 occasion they passed along the banks of the Potomac. The 
 day was fine, a bright clear sky overhead. They rode on 
 and out on the Bladensburg road. In two or three hours 
 they returned by the same route. It was high tide, and 
 the waters from the bay were flowing in. The governor 
 told his audience that he was alarmed. He said to the 
 president, " Mr. President, where the h — 1 does this flood 
 come from; there has not been a G — d d — d bit of rain 
 fell in a month," ignoring the fact to his audience that 
 he knew anything about the flowing or ebbing of the tide. 
 
 Passing over his further legislative experience, we notice 
 his change of sentiment in 1857-58. " He always claimed 
 the staunchest adhesion to the Democratic party." He 
 quarreled with Douglas, and sided with Buchanan in trying 
 to fasten slavery on Kansas by the Lecompton Constitution. 
 He was the administration standard bearer in 1858, as the 
 candidate of the Buchanan faction for Superintendent of 
 Public Instruction. The author met him while making the 
 canvass of the state. He came to the State Fair at Cen- 
 tralia that year, and was "breathing out threatening and 
 slaughter" against Douglas. He made a speech in the 
 
JOHN REYNOLDS. 39 
 
 afternoon, mingled with some profanity. Some of his old 
 anecdotes were listened to and laughed at, but he had lost 
 his power over the people. 
 
 In 1860 he attended the Charleston convention as a dele- 
 gate, and voted for Breckenridge, doing all he could against 
 Douglas. 
 
 Owing to his proslavery views no man received greater 
 attention from southern delegates than he. He was talka- 
 tive and vehement, and aided in " firing the southern 
 heart" to stick to Breckenridge. After the presidential 
 canvass was decided in 1860 he was open in maintaining 
 secession principles, going to the extent of urging the 
 Buchanan officials to seize the treasure and arms in the cus- 
 tom house and arsenal at St. Louis. He died at Belleville 
 in May, 1865, living just long enough to see the rebellion 
 crushed. His wife survived him but a few months. He 
 left no children. 
 
JOSEPH DUNCAN. 
 
 FIFTH G0VEEN0E OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Reminiscence of the author — ^Nativity, early life, and military 
 services — Comes to Jackson County at an early day — Ap- 
 pointed Major-General — Services as senator — Elected to 
 Congress — Supports General Jackson — Appointed Brigadier 
 General — Campaign at Rock Island— His difference with 
 Jackson's policy — Candidacy for governor — Elected — In- 
 augural address — State bank and branches chartered — Con- 
 ditions of the charter — Distrust, want of harmony and mis- 
 representation — Division and strife — Wild internal im- 
 provement legislation — Council of Revision — Their opin- 
 ion— Influence of lobbyists — End of term —Again a candi- 
 date in 1842. 
 
 From 1830 to 1840 embraces two full gubernatorial 
 terms and a part of another, of which the author retains a 
 very vivid general recollection, although at the opening of 
 Gov. Duncan's administration he was just "sweet sixteen," 
 engaged every day at laborious work on the farm, and ex- 
 pecting at that time to make it a life business. If, there- 
 fore, there are some mistakes in the dates on which events 
 happened, let it be attributed to the then youth of the au- 
 thor and the difficulty of obtaining the most correct infor- 
 mation. 
 
 Joseph Duncan was born at Paris, Kentucky, February 
 23, 1794. Of his parentage we find nothing in our reading, 
 nor of his earlier education. However, we know the latter 
 
JOSEPH DUNCAN. 41 
 
 was limited, and that he enlisted in the war of 1812, when 
 only eighteen years old. He was an ensign, and under 
 Croghan at Fort Stephenson, Lower Sandusky, acquitted 
 himself with credit. Coming to Illinois after the war he 
 settled in Jackson County, and soon, from his military ex- 
 perience, was elected as Major-General of militia. Soon 
 after he was elected state senator from Jackson County, and 
 is honorably mentioned as being the first member that in- 
 troduced a bill providing for a free school system. He was 
 elected to Congress in 1826, and re-elected each succeeding 
 term from that time until he was elected governor. 
 
 In 1831 he received from Gov. Reynolds the appoint- 
 ment of Brigadier-General for service in the field, that year 
 being the first demonstration made by Black Hawk, but it 
 was not attended by massacre or bloodshed. Duncan con- 
 ducted his brigade to Rock Island, the difficulties with the 
 Indians were temporarily adjusted, and the troops mustered 
 out. His long service of eight years in Congress, previous 
 service in the state, and his military record, eminently fitted 
 him for any service to which the state would call him. 
 With his naturally fine abilities, the store of knowledge re- 
 garding affairs' of state, added to his clear judgment, decis- 
 ion, moral courage and personal deportment, all pointed to 
 him as the representative man to inaugurate the grand sys- 
 tem of internal improvements that previous legislation had 
 initiated. 
 
 On the financial questions of the day in national legisla- 
 tion, Gen. Duncan had become estranged from the admin- 
 istration of President Jackson, whom in former years, in 
 1824, 1828 and 1832, had received his hearty support for 
 the presidency, the two last being successful. Jackson, ar- 
 bitrarily as he thought, had suspended the functions of the 
 
42 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 United States Bank as the financial agent of the govern- 
 ment; he had vetoed bills appropriating money for im- 
 provements of the great rivers, Mississippi, Illinois, and 
 Wabash, and for the harbor at Chicago, Duncan having the 
 interests of his constituents at heart, was obliged to break 
 with the administration, and in manly addresses sent 
 through circulars to the people of Illinois, advised them of 
 the reasons why he could not support the administration. 
 He did not canvass the state in person when a candidate for 
 governor. The public interests demanded that he should 
 remain at his post as member of Congress. The medium 
 he employed to reach the people was through the press. 
 
 Gen. Duncan was opposed in his candidacy for governor 
 by ex-Lieut. Governor Kinney, who had twice before been 
 beaten, but who hoped this time, in consequence of Duncan's 
 break with the administration, to rally the Jaeksonian 
 strength to his aid and be elected. There were also two 
 other independent candidates; Robert McLaughlin and 
 James Adams. On what issues they were presented as can- 
 dinates, further than the general wish of themselves and 
 their friends that they should be elected governor, we are . 
 not at present advised. 
 
 The vote stood, Duncan, 17,330; Kinney, 10,224; Mc- 
 Laughlin, 4,320; and Adams, 887, showing that Duncan 
 received 1,899 votes more than the combined opposition to 
 him,; — the total vote of the state cast at that election being 
 32,761 votes, proving that Duncan had lost none of his old 
 time popularity by his difference with the administration, 
 the people not choosing to guage him by a party standard 
 in respect to what they expected from him in the manage- 
 ments of the state's interests in conducting the grand sys- 
 tem of internal improvements that he had paved the way 
 
JOSEPH DUNCAN. 43 
 
 for in his eight years congressional career. In entering on 
 the duties of his office, in December, 1834, he defined his 
 state policy, and although ihe legislature was opposed to 
 him in his new departure from the Jacksonian faith, " his 
 recommendations relating to state affairs were' most fully 
 seconded and carried out." One of the measures he had 
 differed with President Jackson about, was in the banking 
 system, the other on improvements of navigable rivers and 
 harbors; the last, more particularly relating to Chicago 
 harbor. 
 
 In regard to the first, he now had an opportunity of im- 
 pressing his views of banking on the people of the state. 
 In his inaugural message he says : "Banks may be made 
 exceedingly useful in society, not only by affording an op- 
 portunity to the widow, the orphan and aged, who possess- 
 capital without the capacity of employing it in ordinary 
 business, to invest in such stocks ; but by its use the young 
 and enterprising mechanic, merchant and tradesman may 
 be enabled more successfully to carry on his business and 
 improve the country." 
 
 The legislature were not elected with reference to the 
 creation of a new bank, but taking the responsibility, they 
 created a new state bank, capital $1,500,000, privileged to 
 increase the stock to $1,000,000 more, and authorized six 
 branches. The suspended territorial bank at Shawneetown 
 was resucitated with a capital of $300,000. 
 
 The chartering of these banks was but the entering upon 
 a wild system of speculation, sanctioned by legislation, 
 which followed in the next few years, and which over- 
 whelmed the state in debt and almost financial ruin. The 
 governor, no doubt, was honest in recommending the system,, 
 not knowing the class of greedy speculators that would 
 
44 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 swarm around to control the bank. His view of it was, 
 that there would be an inadequate supply of currency, as 
 
 the charter of the old United States bank was about to ex- 
 
 * 
 
 pire, and that the organization of these banks at this oppor- 
 tune time would, with their circulation, take the place of 
 the retiring currency of the national institution. It was 
 also given out, that in order to satisfy the people, and the 
 more readily obtain their acquiescence in the Jacksonian 
 policy of hostility to rechartering the United States bank, 
 that the secretary of the treasury " had encouraged the 
 state and local banks liberally," by depositing the public 
 moneys in their vaults, thus favoring the multiplying of 
 state and local banks. We well remember the arguments 
 used in these years of 1835-36 and 1837, and the issues of 
 those banks at the time were regarded as good as gold and 
 silver. The people, without regard to party, favored the 
 circulation of their notes, showing that originally they were 
 not party measures. "The bank had the usual power to 
 receive deposits, deal in bills, gold and silver, but was pro- 
 hibited from dealing in real estate or personal property, 
 other than to dispose of such as it might be compelled to 
 buy or bid in at sales upon judgments; but it had power to 
 borrow a million dollars to loan out on real estate mort- 
 gages for five years." 
 
 This provision was to give all classes who could com- 
 mand the collaterals the chance to obtain loans on long 
 time. It commended the bank legislation to farmers, who 
 could borrow money to buy additional land, or to add im- 
 provements to that already purchased. " The principal 
 bank was located at Springfield, with branch at Vandalia ; 
 other branches might be established and discontinued as 
 the officers should determine." 
 
JOSEPH DUNCAJsT. 45 
 
 " The circulation was not to exceed two and a half 
 times the paid up capital stock. If the bank refused to re- 
 deem for ten days after demand, it was to be closed and 
 wound up." This was not so bad, if the provisions had 
 been rigidly carried out. At the extra session of Decem- 
 ber and January, 1835-6, the $100,000 of the capital stock 
 reserved for the state was authorized to be sold; addi- 
 tional branches of discount and deposit, not more than 
 three, were authorized ; and fifty days in addition to ten 
 were allowed for the redemption of notes. By act of same 
 date the bank paper was authorized to be received in pay- 
 ment of the revenue of the state, the college, school and 
 seminary debts. 
 
 But the jealousy of capitalists, the strife for the con- 
 trol of the institutions chartered, engendered, in malicious, 
 but influential citizens, intense hostility to the banks. 
 These individuals made representations that influenced the 
 treasury department at Washington to withhold the deposit 
 of government funds with the new banks, thus creating 
 "distrust and doubt as to their solvency. This caused any 
 government funds that may have been deposited with these 
 banks to be withdrawn. Party malice and private resent- 
 ments were made to outweigh the public good ; vengeful 
 machinations of disappointed partizans formed combina- 
 tions to draw specie from the vaults of the banks, and 
 through misrepresentations, to prevent any to be again de- 
 posited. ■ Scarcely were the banks in operation with their 
 enormously augmented capital stocks when the disastrous 
 financial revulsion of 1837 occurred. 
 
 Parties then became divided upon the subject of bank- 
 ing, although they were authorized and their capital stock 
 increased, irrespective of party. In May, 1837, the banks 
 
46 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 suspended specie payment. They were solvent, but the 
 drain of specie at that time could not be borne. They 
 were the fiscal agents of the state, and their suspension 
 would involve the state and all its internal improvements 
 in common ruin. A special session of the legislature was 
 called July 10, and the bank suspensions legalized. 
 
 In his special message to this legislature Gov. Dun- 
 can urgently appealed to the members to repeal the per- 
 nicious system of internal improvements by the State, and 
 let it be assumed and controlled by private enterprise. To 
 this the legislature turned a deaf ear. He made patriotic 
 appeals to the people to save the state credit by ceasing to 
 war on the financial institutions of their own creation ; 
 that the credit of the banks was the credit of the state; to 
 make war on the currency was to oppose enterprise and 
 impede the growth of the state. Even at this time, had 
 there been a union of interests in behalf of the state's 
 credit, there would have been but little loss and disaster to 
 the state, compared to the millions that followed, in the 
 persistent adherence to the wild schemes adopted by the 
 two previous legislatures. Gov. Duncan tried to save the 
 credit of the state by at once stopping the wild and reck- 
 less system of internal improvements, noted more at length 
 in another chapter of this volume, and to. take the manage- 
 ment of the banks from the control of speculators, who 
 directly or indirectly gave directions to their financial op- 
 erations. 
 
 But his efforts to stem the tide of expanding ideas and 
 wild schemes of visionary speculators, were overborne by 
 the wildest legislation of the legislature last met preceding 
 his retirement from office. The council of revision in 
 their objections to one of these stupendous internal im- 
 
JOSEPH DUNCAN. 47 
 
 provement bills that had passed the legislature, assigned 
 as a reason why they could not approve it, " that such 
 works can only be made safely and" economically in a free 
 government by-citizens, or by corporations aided or au- 
 thorized by government." The legislature, when the bill 
 was returned to them with these and further objections, 
 said that such vast public works would exercise an undue 
 influence over legislation when carried on by the state. 
 This was only too self-evident alread}', as combination and 
 ring legislation were masters of the situation, and on the 
 bill being returned to the legislature, it was passed, not- 
 withstanding the objections of the council of revision. 
 " There was a powerful lobby present, busily engaged apr 
 plying the pressure to pliant members." These lobbyists 
 were generally large contractors, or those that expected to 
 be when the improvements were authorized by the legisla- 
 ture. If these parties could not attend in person, a paid 
 attorney, glib of tongue, charged with the arguments to 
 be used, was kept at the capital to interview and cajole the 
 members. Their schemes were portrayed in glowing colors, 
 and their success driven home by oratorical efforts that, 
 from their earnestness, seemed both truthful and logical 
 arguments. Gov. Duncan's efforts to stem the tide of this 
 wild infatuation were fruitless. The schemers were bold, 
 .unscrupulous and persevering; Their wildest imaginings 
 were argued into fact. Every art of reasoning that the 
 teeming brain of man could suggest was brought into requi- 
 sition to further the success of their schemes. Doubts re- 
 garding the advantages of the system were scouted, the re- 
 sources of the State magnified, and the advantages of the 
 works set forth with a positiveness that seemed born of ac- 
 tual knowledge or the inspiration of prohhecy. 
 
48 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Bat the welcome time came to him at last; the expira- 
 tion of his term of office approached, and the election of 
 his successor was at hand. Gov. Duncan retired from 
 office enjoying the respect and esteem of the people of the 
 State that he had served so faithfully in earlier days in the 
 State Legislature, from 1826 to 1834 in Congress, and from 
 1834 to 1838 as governor. 
 
 The Whig party, with whom he acted, in 1842 again 
 nominated him for governor, but the democrats were so 
 largely in the ascendant in the state at that time that it was 
 almost a forlorn hope for that party to make a nomination. 
 This, with the popularity of Judge Ford, the democratic 
 candidate, gave not a ray of hope that he would be elected. 
 
THOMAS CARLIN. 
 
 SIXTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 The People still having great expectations — Gov. Carlin's na- 
 tivity—Educational advantages — His father moves to Mis- 
 souri — Thomas returns to Illinois — Enters the military 
 service as a Hanger — Gets married — Locates at Carrolton — 
 Enters the Black Hawk war and commands a spy battalion 
 
 — In 1834 appointed receiver of public moneys — Receives 
 democratic nomination for governor — Elected — His charac- 
 teristics — Fully endorses the internal improvement system 
 
 — Appoints Gov. Reynolds and Senator Young fund commis- 
 sioners — Legislative reproof of the acts of the commis- 
 sioners — Calls an extra session — Recommends a change — 
 Calls a halt — The legislature abolish two boards — One com- 
 missioner in their place — Illinois history — Historical remi- 
 niscences of first railroad completed in the Mississippi Valley 
 
 — Who rode on first train — The first engineer — First rail- 
 road built in United States in 1826 — First railroad from Chi- 
 cago — The author's first railroad ride — Historical narrative 
 resumed — Hard times of 1842 — Author's experience of them 
 
 — Gov. Carlin's term expires — Returns to his farm — Elected 
 to legislature— His death. 
 
 Following out conclusions from results we may safely 
 state that the people, at the election of 1838, still cherished 
 "great expectations" for the future of their grand system 
 of internal improvements. Most of the old members of the 
 legislature were re-elected, showing that the people, their 
 constituents, endorsed their action. Both candidates for 
 governor were supposed to be favorable to the system, as 
 4 
 
50 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 one openly avowed and the other tacitly admitted it. To 
 the successful candidate we propose to devote this chapter. 
 
 Thomas Carlin was born near Frankfort, Ky., July 18, 
 1789, of Irish extraction. His educational advantages were 
 limited. To make up for this deficiency when he attained 
 manhood he became a student, closely applying all his 
 leisure time — himself being his own tutor. 
 
 In 1803 his father removed to Missouri, where he died 
 in 1810. In 1812, when twenty-three years old, he came 
 to Illinois, volunteered his service as a ranger, and, as the 
 old military records of the state show, was engaged in vari- 
 ous branches of the service, making a good record as a sol- 
 dier. He married, in 1814, Rebecca Huitt, and resided on 
 the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Missouri, four 
 years, when he removed to Greene county. He was one of 
 the pioneers of that county, laid out Carrollton, and when 
 the county seat was located there, made liberal donations of 
 land for the county buildings. He was the first sheriff of 
 Greene county, and afterwards served two terms in the legis- 
 lature. In the Black Hawk war his former effective ser- 
 vices as a " ranger" were remembered, and he was given 
 command of a spy battalion, and acquitted himself gal- 
 lantly at his post of danger. In 1834 President Jackson 
 appointed him receiver of public moneys at Quincy, and he 
 removed there. He was attending to the duties of this 
 office when, in 1838, the shafts of a democratic nomination 
 for governor struck him like a lightning stroke, unexpect- 
 edly, he having no aspirations or expectations in that 
 direction. 
 
 He is described in history as a " democrat of the 
 straightest sect," " unyielding, if not obstinate in disposi- 
 tion, and possessed, in private life, an unblemished reputa- 
 
THOMAS CAELIN. 51 
 
 tion." " Above the medium height, light complexion, spare 
 looking face, high forehead, long nose, thin lips, giving his 
 mouth a compressed appearance, indicating firmness." As 
 we indicated, he did not aspire to official position, but when 
 the summons came he was not unmindful of the call of the 
 people, believing " that the voice of the people was the voice 
 of God." He was elected, and upon assuming the duties 
 of his office he very unmistakably advocated a vigorous 
 prosecution of the system of internal improvements that 
 had been inaugurated. He says " The signal success which 
 has attended our sister states in the construction of their 
 extensive systems of improvements can leave no doubt of 
 the wise policy and utility of such works. They furnish 
 the farmer the means of transporting the products of his 
 labor to market." He thought they tended to " stimulate 
 the enterprise and industry of the people." " In the prin- 
 ciples and policy of this plan, contrasted with that of joint 
 stock companies and private corporations, I fully concur," 
 concluding the sentence by saying "that the character and 
 credit of the State forbid its abandonment." 
 
 The new legislature seconded the recommendation of 
 the executive, made further appropriations and authorized 
 additional works, involving an outlay of near one million 
 dollars. The governor was also authorized to negotiate a 
 loan of $4,000,000 to prosecute the work on the canal. 
 
 The legislature, in their every act, held firmly to the 
 policy of the state owning all the public works. This was 
 in accordance with the recommendation of the governor, 
 and promised unity of action. The governor, thus en- 
 couraged, proceeded to appoint ex-Gov. Reynolds as special 
 agent to e«fiect a loan in the interest of the prosecution of 
 the public works. He, with Senator Young, whom Rey- 
 
52 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 nolds requested to be associated with him, in their anxiety 
 to raise money to carry on the state works, made some very 
 ill-advised' and bungling loans, their conditions subjecting 
 the state to heavy losses. 
 
 Of these transactions the house judiciary committee, 
 reporting Jan. 29, 1840, says: "The anxiety of the agents 
 to procure money for the state, or their eagerness to suc- 
 ceed in effecting sales where others had failed, induced 
 them to enter into contracts injurious to the best interests 
 of the state, derogatory to her dignity, and in every way 
 calculated to depreciate her securities." 
 
 Here was a legislative rebuke to the commissioners 
 who made these reckless and wasteful loans. It showed 
 that the infatuation of the people's representatives began to 
 be enlightened by the rays of financial light, and that the 
 people were beginning to clamor at all points. These 
 echoes from the people showed that in one short year's 
 time a total revolution had been effected in the minds of 
 legislature and people. 
 
 Gov. Carlin felt the force of this change in public sen- 
 timent. The magnitude of the system became appalling 
 to him, and the legislature was convened Dec. 9, 1839, 
 in extra session. On their convening, the governor 
 invoked the exercise of careful and calm consideration of 
 the entire field, by wisdom and in unity of action, in the 
 adoption of such reforms as would promote the welfare of 
 the state. This was the ,<-ame body of men, — the same 
 legislators, who but a short year before endorsed the whole 
 stupendous system, and added new works costing one 
 million dollars, now met, and asked to place the seal of 
 condemnation upon measures they had so exultingly 
 adopted. This was humiliating; they hesitated, doubtful 
 
THOMAS CART.IN. 53 
 
 what course to pursue. It was " bad medicine " to ask the 
 assembled wisdom of the state to take. We cannot say 
 they " came up smiling" to the work, but they did it. The 
 disagreeable task was performed, and the work of disman- 
 tling the towering edifice that stood a monument of the 
 ruined hopes and ambitions of the members and the specu- 
 lating lobby and contractors, was commenced. The board 
 of fund commissioners and commissioners of public works 
 were abolished. By a new act, one fund commissioner was 
 provided to perform the same duties, " except that he shall 
 not be authorized to sell state bonds or borrow money on 
 behalf of the state." In short, the duties of this commis- 
 sioner were to gather up the remnants of the wrecked sys- 
 tem that was imposing a debt, if pursued to the end of the 
 year, of $21,746,444, at an annual interest of $1,310,776. 
 His duties were to receive and take charge of the railroad 
 iron purchased in Europe, pay the duty on it; receive back 
 all bonds from parties failing to comply with their contracts, 
 register and burn the same ; audit and settle the accounts of 
 the late board of fund commissioners and the late board of 
 public works, and bring suit against each member in ar- 
 rears, if any such should be. This was a regular wrecker's 
 business that he was to be employed at, gathering up the 
 debris. It would be called a receivership at this day. 
 Thus these memorials of supreme legislative folly were to 
 be gathered in, "that the ability and resources of the 
 state" had been pledged for. We have said what the debt 
 of the state would have been if this wild system had been 
 continued to the end of the year. By stopping at once, as 
 was done, the debt was actually confined to $14,237,348. 
 The history continues : " In' 1840, after a short but event- 
 ful life of less than three years, fell, by the hands of its 
 
54 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 creator, the most stupendous, extravagant, and almost ruin- 
 ous folly of a grand system of internal improvements that 
 any community ever engaged in. While great disappoint- 
 ment pervaded the people at the failure of the splendid 
 scheme, they were not surprised nor crushed at the news of 
 its repeal. Indeed, their sobered senses had for some time 
 taught them that to this extremity it must come at last, and 
 they felt that sort of relief a man feels at the loss of half his 
 fortune — he has learned his fate and is thankful it is no 
 worse; possibly he learns a profitable lesson at the same 
 time. While the people felt chagrined there was no one 
 to blame in great part but themselves, for in many cases 
 their representatives had but obeyed the voice of the people. 
 Many names, since prominent, honored and great, are re- 
 corded in favor of the. original passage of the measure, as 
 may be seen by reference to the Journal of 1837 : Stuve's 
 and Daveson's History of Illinois, Page 44-8. The work 
 on the canal still continued, of which mention is made in 
 another part of this work. A portion of what was styled 
 at that time in magniloquent language, when giving 
 titles, and to ornament the headlines of the statutes of the 
 state and the journals of legislative proceedings, "The 
 Northern. Cross Railroad," described a? running from 
 Meredosia to Springfield, was finished at a cost to the state 
 of $1,000,000. Of this we wish to record our "recollec- 
 tion," as it was the first completed portion, part or parcel, 
 of a railroad in the Mississippi Valley. We make special 
 mention of it. We were not there, but we read the pro- 
 ceedings in the papers at the time. Eight miles of this 
 "Northern Cross" was completed in 1838, the first rail be- 
 ing laid May 9th. On the 8th of November following, the 
 first locomotive that ever turned a wheel in the great valley 
 
THOMAS CAELIN. S5 
 
 of the Mississippi was put on the track of this road at 
 Meredosia. George W. Plant, of St. Louis, was the en- 
 gineer-in-chief. The practical man at the throttle .valve, 
 however, was- William H. Delph, who continued in the 
 service of the road after the inauguration. The locomo- 
 tive ran over the track eight miles and back, carrying Gov. 
 Duncan, Murray McConnell, one of the commissioners of 
 the Public Works, James Dunlap and Thomas I. January, 
 contractors, Charles Collins and Myrom Leslie, of St. 
 Louis, and the chief engineer, Mr. Plant. 
 
 Of some of the participants in the inauguration and 
 operation of the first railroad in the Mississippi Valley see- 
 sketch of Gov. Duncan in this volume. Hon. Murray 
 McConnell, member of the house, and afterward of the 
 state senate in the legislature of this state, was mysteri- 
 ously murdered in his private office, attached to his resi- 
 dence at Jacksonville, several years ago. Mr. Plant became 
 a prominent business man of St. Louis. Col. Dunlap, a 
 prominent man of Jacksonville, was enterprising in build- 
 ing up the interests of that city, and the founder of the 
 Dunlap House. Mr. Delph, when he quit railroad engi- 
 neering, removed to Woodford county, in this state, where 
 for some years he operated an engine in a saw mill. He 
 was appointed postmaster at Metamora in 1861, by Mr. 
 Lincoln, and held the office sixteen years, resigning in 1877, 
 owing to old age, his daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Gaynor, 
 being appointed to succeed him. Of the other notables 
 mentioned we have not traced their history. Mr. Delph's 
 description of the first propelling engine is humorous, any- 
 thing the imagination can conceive of except the perfect 
 locomotive now in use. The engine would sometimes 
 
56 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 break down or give out, and after a while finally was thrown 
 aside as a failure and mules substituted in its place. 
 
 In passing, to keep in mind historical data, we remem- 
 ber that only twelve years before this, in 1826, the first 
 railroad in the United States was built, connecting Albany, 
 Troy and Schenectady, in New York. We remember rid- 
 ding over this same road in 1866, but not the primitive flat 
 strap rail, and the coach-carriage-like looking cars of 1826, 
 when the railroad system of the United States was first inaug- 
 urated. Illinois, in the crash of the internal improvement 
 system of 1838-39-40, received a set back — a check in rail- 
 road building for eleven years, before another railroad was 
 built in 1849 from Chicago to Cottage Grove, a distance of 
 twenty miles, as the author remembers taking his first 
 railroad ride between these two points in September of 
 that year. This track was completed to Elgin in 1850, 
 -then called the " Galena & Chicago Railroad," but now, a 
 part of the grand system of the Chicago & Northwestern 
 lines. 
 
 Historians sometimes make a digression to keep in view 
 prominent facts, and our readers will pardon this lengthy 
 one for the same reason. It, at one glance, brings to 
 view the beginnings and advance made in railroad build- 
 ing in our state. Resuming the historical thread of events 
 in Governor Carlin's administration brings us to 1841, 
 when, by various arrangements and financial schemes the 
 interest on the canal debt was paid, but not on the gen- 
 eral internal improvement fund debt. Much difference of 
 opinion existed among the financiers in regard to the best 
 means of preserving the financial credit of the state. Some 
 thought the irregular and illegal loans and hypothecation of 
 bonds made by state agents Reynolds and Young, should 
 
THOMAS CAELIN. 57 
 
 not draw interest further than actual cash received, while 
 others contended that interest was due on their full face. 
 It was during this year that Fund-Commissioner Whiteside 
 hypothecated eight hundred and four thousand dollars worth 
 of bonds, receiving therefor only two hundred and sixty-one 
 thousand four hundred and sixty dollars, less than one-third 
 their face, and the transaction gave rise to the endless 
 discussions that came in each succeeding legislature for 
 many years afterwards in regard to the payment of same. 
 This year, and the year 1842, were the gloomiest times, per- 
 haps, in the history of Illinois finances, the state bonds 
 going down to fourteen cents on the dollar. 
 
 In February, 1842, from causes already stated, the state 
 bank, with a circulation of $3,000,000, went down; in June 
 the Illinois bank at Shawneetown, with a circulation of 
 over $1,500,000, broke, thus rendering worthless the only 
 money there was in the country, making the pressure 
 of the times so great that it is difficult, at this day, to make 
 people realize the hardship of home living expenses, and to 
 raise money to pay taxes. The products were only saleable 
 for " store pay," and at small prices at that. The author, 
 at that time farming, remembers that when a St. Louis 
 dealer in corn passed up the Illinois river on a steamboat, 
 leaving word at the towns as he passed that for all the corn 
 the farmers would have ready to ship by time the boat re- 
 turned he would pay ten cents per bushel — in cash — there 
 was a hustling to and fro amongst the farmers to get all 
 they could to Henry before the return of the boat, we 
 among the number, delivered two wagon loads, about fifty 
 bushels, receiving five dollars for it. The fall thereafter 
 we employed a neighbor, Mr. Henry W. Lowry, to haul 
 two loads of the choicest winter wheat to Chicago, paying 
 
58 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 him twenty cents a bushel for the service. He sold the 
 wheat for forty-one cents per bushel, paying us on his 
 return twenty-one cents per bushel, cash, for our part. We 
 only note these personal recollections because they were 
 home truths at the time, so impressed on our memory from 
 the hardness of the times that we cannot forget them. 
 
 This year of hard' times brings our history up to the 
 close of Governor Carlin's administration. He was a kind,, 
 well meaning man, " did the best he could " with the war- 
 ring financial elements around him, who were " a-pulling 
 and a-hauling"to maintain their ascendancy, and get all 
 they could from the bankrupt treasury of the state. At the 
 close of his term of office, in December, 1842, he gladly 
 gave place to Gov. Ford, whose career we will trace in the 
 next chapter. He retired to his farm at Carrollton, only 
 emerging from private life to serve out an unexpired term 
 of J. D. Fry, in 1849, in the House of Representatives. 
 He died February 14, 1852, in his sixty-third year, leaving 
 a wife and seven children, out of thirteen born to them. 
 Some of his sons have attained distinction in both military 
 and civil life, whom we may have occasion to notice in this, 
 or a succeeding volume. 
 
THOMAS FORD. 
 
 SEVENTH GOVEKNOK OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Dreary outlook when elected — His birth — Early death of his 
 father — His mother moves west — Her poverty — Thomas' 
 limited educational facilities — U-oes to Transylvania Univer- 
 sity — Returns and studies law — Admitted to practice — la 
 successful — Elected prosecuting attorney — Election as- 
 judge — Personal mention — Judge of Chicago courts — 
 Elected supreme judge — Nomination and election as gov- 
 ernor — Official characteristics — Defines his state policy- 
 Approved by the people— Builds up the state credit— Mor- 
 man and Mexican wars — What was accomplished in four 
 years — A brief recapitulation — Personal appearance — His 
 ability as a writer — Did not care for money — Extract from 
 last message — His death. 
 
 Perhaps no man was ever called to the gubernatorial 
 chair at a more important epoch in the financial history of 
 our state than the subject of our sketch. It was at a time 
 when, from the effects of the reckless financial legislation of 
 the two previous state administrations, our credit was- 
 a wreck, and its fragments were floating on the sea of bank- 
 ruptcy and ruin. It was the culmination of a saturnalia of 
 eight years of the most wild and visionary schemes of 
 finance and state improvement ever devised since the days- 
 of John Law and his system of aggrandizement in the 
 palmy days of the Mississippi bubble. 
 
 In other places in our work these schemes and systems- 
 are more fully dwelt upon, and it is not our purpose to in- 
 dulge to a great extent in recapitulation. 
 
60 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Thomas Ford was a Pennsylvanian, born at Uniontown 
 in 1800. His father, Robert Ford, was killed by the In- 
 dians in 1802, when Thomas was an infant, leaving his 
 mother with very limited means and a large family, mostly 
 girls. She had been married twice, her first husband's 
 name was Forquer, and the greater part of the children 
 bore that name. With this large family she emigrated to 
 Missouri in 1804, going to St. Louis where the family re- 
 mained fcr a year or two, having much sickness. She then 
 removed to Monroe county, this state, settling near Water- 
 loo, but after a year or two removed closer to the Missis- 
 sippi river. 
 
 At this place Thomas, with his step-brother George 
 Forquer, received their first schooling, their teacher being 
 a Mr. Humphrey. Their mother was a good manager, en- 
 ergetic, and determined to give the boys as good an educa- 
 tion as strict economy and industrious application would 
 provide. She taught them to be upright and strictly truth- 
 ful, and as they grew older inculcated integrity of purpose 
 as the ruling principle when they should enter on a business 
 career. Thomas received rather an irregular education ; 
 sometimes he had opportunities of attending, and then again 
 the necessities of laboring for the support of the family 
 would compel him to quit the school for a time. But 
 though limited, he improved his opportunities when he 
 could, and became quite proficient in arithmetic, was known 
 for his correctness in the science of numbers, and was a fair 
 penman. At this time his older brother, who had set up in 
 the mercantile business, sent Thomas to Transylvania Uni- 
 versity, where he spent one term, his means not being suffi- 
 cient to take a full course. He soon after entered the law 
 ■office of Daniel P. Cook, at that time a member of Con- 
 
THOMAS POED. 61 
 
 gress. In his legal studies he gave early promise of the 
 future eminence he attained. His patron and friend, Cook, 
 encouraged him, placing his library at his disposal. 
 
 He taught school a portion of his time, and then re- 
 turned to his law books until his attainments procured him 
 an admittance to practice. He soon commanded a remu- 
 nerative class of clients and attracted considerable attention, 
 and such was his lame that in 1829 Gov. Edwards ap- 
 pointed him prosecuting attorney, and in 1831 he was re- 
 appointed by Gov. Reynolds, serving out his second term. 
 He was afterwards elected judge by the legislature. 
 
 It was after his accession to the bench that he became a 
 frequent visitor at father's cabin, thirty miles from Peoria, 
 on the road to Hennepin. He would hold court till the 
 business was finished, then mount his horse and ride tow- 
 ards Hennepin, Putnam county, his next appointment, 
 spending the night at father's place. Very frequently he 
 would arrive on Saturday evening, stay over Sunday, and 
 ride on to Hennepin on Monday morning in time to open 
 court. 
 
 Judge Ford was very plain and unassuming. His 
 clothes were not strictly after the latest style, nor his lan- 
 guage the most ornate. 
 
 He was sociable, free and easy with all the household, 
 so his visits of two or three times a year were looked for- 
 ward to with considerable pleasure. 
 
 Although he was an uncompromising Jackson democrat, 
 and father equally so as a whig, they were personally strong 
 friends, arguing their differences, if at all, very pleasantly, 
 and this friendship continued while Judge Ford remained 
 on the circuit. 
 
 The judicial positions he held were two terms as circuit 
 
<32 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 judge, one term as judge of the city court at Chicago, and 
 one term as supreme judge, with circuit duties attached, 
 altogether occupying near ten years on the bench. ' 
 
 As a jurist he was sound. He was imperturbable on the 
 bench, keeping the members of the bar and the court offi- 
 oials well in hand. His decisions on points of law were 
 given in few words, and attorneys acquiesced, receiving 
 them as conclusive. He possessed a quiet, sanguine, deter- 
 minate decision that eminently fitted him to sit in judgment 
 on matters of difference between men. He was always a 
 student, and the traits of his mind fitted him fpr close 
 thought. He had not the insinuating and moving power of 
 eloquence of the professional advocate, but as a writer on 
 law, as shown in his opinions, he was able, easily understood 
 from his plainness of language, lucid and sound argument. 
 Such was Thomas Ford to our miud when he was called 
 from the bench to govern the future great State of Illinois 
 in 1842. 
 
 As we have intimated in the outset, the financial status 
 of the state was desperate. Just for the ordinary expenses 
 of the government (not to mention the canal debt, bank 
 debt, and internal improvement debt) the state. was in debt 
 one-third of a million dollars. Auditors' warrants were 
 worth only fifty per cent., and not enough money in the 
 treasury to pay postage on official correspondence. The 
 people were unable, if ever s» willing, to pay high taxes. 
 The state had borrowed itself out of all credit. The 
 currency of the state had been annihilated ; the whole' 
 people were indebted to the merchants, the merchants to the 
 
 banks, the banks owed everybody, — none able to pay, 
 
 what could be more discouraging. 
 
 But it is not our intention to follow out in detail all 
 
THOMAS FORD. 63 
 
 these financial sinuosities. Those that are curious for such 
 details are referred to the official records. They are only- 
 mentioned in this connection to show what a burden his 
 predecessor laid down in his path for the new governor to 
 take up, and he approached the task with a manful spirit. 
 In his first utterance — his message — he says : " We must 
 convince our creditors and the world that the disgrace of 
 repudiation is not countenanced among us — that we are 
 honest and mean to pay as soon as we are able." 
 
 This honest declaration had its effect. The creditors of 
 the state now understood that there was an honest man at 
 the helm ; that a fertile brain was at work to devise ways to 
 lift the state out of the embarrassing circumstances with 
 which it was encumbered, and they were willing to watch 
 and wait to hear propositions and discuss them. 
 
 During his administration the Mormon war occurred, 
 with the exit of a large portion of that deluded people from 
 <the state, after their prophet Joe Smith had suffered death 
 by a mob. 
 
 During the latter part of his administration the Mexican 
 war was inaugurated, and vigorous measures were taken to 
 furnish Illinois' quota of men "to conquer a peace," and 
 some important battles were fought during the summer, fall 
 and fore part of the winter of 1846, and the forces on the 
 border were marching towards the interior of Mexico when 
 he delivered over the reins of government to his successor 
 in December of that year. 
 
 To give a hasty resume of the " now and then," the 
 J< Alpha and Omega" of his administration, comparing the 
 opening view with the closing, shows the,financial status of 
 the state to be in December, 1846, as follows : Instead of 
 the domestic debt for the ordinary expenses of the state, 
 
64 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 which was, as we have stated, near a third of a million dol- 
 lars, we find it reduced to $31,212. When he came into 
 office there was no money to pay postage on necessary offi- 
 cial correspondence — he leaves on retiring $9,260 in the 
 treasury ; then, auditor's warrants were worth only fifty 
 per cent. ; when he retired they were worth ninety per cent. 
 Then, the people were hopelessly in debt; when he retired 
 they were mostly free from debt. Then, the bank currency 
 had been annihilated ; when he retired the banks had been 
 put in liquidation, their depreciated currency retired, and 
 replaced by a reasonable abundance of specie and the issue 
 of solvent banks from other states. By exchanging bank 
 stock of the state for bonds, and the sale of public property, 
 about $3,000,000 had been extinguished, and by the canal, 
 to be completed the next year, $5,000,000 more was effect- 
 ually provided for in the enhanced value of the canal prop- 
 erty ; being a reduction of some $8,000,000, extinguished 
 and provided for, thus showing that the state — which was 
 on the brink of repudiation, and discredited throughout the 
 civilized world — had, during his administration, its credit 
 greatly restored, and enabled to borrow $1,600,000 to com- 
 plete the canal. 
 
 This is but a brief recapitulation of what his firmness 
 and honesty of purpose wrought out for the state in the four 
 years he stood at the helm.' 
 
 Gov. Ford, in his personality, .was short in stature, 
 slender, dark complexioned, heavy dark hair, deep set eyes, 
 sharp nose and small mouth. 
 
 His writings very forcibly expressed his thoughts, show- 
 ing that he was an accurate observer of his own times, and 
 related events truly, describing them correctly from his just 
 convictions and the standpoint from which he viewed them. 
 
THOMAS CAELIN. 65- 
 
 Soft veins of clay he may have had running through the 
 iron composition of his nature — few men that do not have 
 them — but taking him all in all, he was the best man for 
 the time and for the state during the time he held execu- 
 tive sway that could have been selected. It can truly be said 
 of him that in his care for the state he totally neglected his 
 own financial interests. " For money getting he cared for 
 little more than would afford him a decent support and 
 scarcely that; He accumulated no wealth, and on his re- 
 tirement from office he resumed the practice of law."* 
 
 He says in his valedictory message : " Without having 
 indulged in wasteful or extravagant habits of living, I re- 
 tire from office poorer than I came in, and go to private 
 life with a full determination not to seek again any place in. 
 the government." He died at Peoria, Nov. 2, 1850, in 
 very indigent circumstances. 
 
 *Davidson and Stuve's History of Illinois, 1873. 
 
AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 
 
 EIGHTH GO VERN0B OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Introductory reflection — Nativity, parentage, birth and educa- 
 tional advantages — Death of parents — Care of brothers and 
 sister — His self-sacrifice — Attends college — Beads law — 
 Removes to Illinois —Admitted to practice law — Elected to 
 the legislature — Receiver of public moneys — Elected gov- 
 ernor in 1846 — Assumes the helm of state — Constitutional 
 convention — His characteristics — Funding the state debt — 
 Recommendations adopted — Sale of railroad — What the con- 
 vention did — Low salaries — Most rigid economy— Consti- 
 tution adopted by the people — Change in time of holding 
 election — Large donations of land to the state — Emigration 
 increasing — Mexican soldiers' bounty lands — Gov. .French 
 retires from office — Public positions held afterwards — Mem- 
 ber constitutional convention in 1862. 
 
 We have now arrived at a period in the history of the 
 state when the citizen could proudly hold up his head and 
 point to honest endeavor on the part of state officers to 
 exalt the financial credit, and provide the means for paying 
 indebtedness, though recklessly incurred and the proceeds 
 squandered in unprofitable projects. 
 
 Augustus C. French, whose administration opened in 
 December, 1846, was born in the town of Hill, New Hamp- 
 shire, August 2, 1808. He was descended from Nathaniel 
 French, who emigrated from England in 1687 and settled 
 in Saybury, Mass. While yet a child he lost his father, 
 when the entire care of the family, their education and 
 
AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 67 
 
 support, devolved on the mother, an excellent woman of 
 rare christian patience and fortitude, who added to these 
 virtues rare business qualities, good sense and judgment. 
 Augustus was taught by his exemplary, industrious, and in- 
 telligent mother the rudiments of a fair education. His 
 exertions were necessary in earning a portion of the living, 
 so that he could not go from home to school. When he 
 was nineteen years old his mother died, leaving to his care 
 four younger brothers and one sister. He was both a 
 parent and a brother to the orphans. His education came 
 to him by piece meal. He attended a common school ir- 
 regularly, and when sufficiently advanced, went for a brief 
 period to Dartmouth College. For the reason that his 
 pecuniary means were absorbed by the care of his brothers 
 and sister, he could not graduate, but his brief attendance 
 was a great help to him, giving him an idea of his capabili- 
 ties. 
 
 With his other reading he read law, and discov- 
 ered his genius and adaptability to that profession. He 
 was admitted to practice, and like a great many other 
 young men, thinking that an entirely new field was the best 
 to develope his powers, came to Illinois and opened an 
 office first at Albion, Edwards county. Desiring a more 
 extensive field, the following year he removed to Paris, 
 Edgar county, and at once stepped into a lucrative practice 
 and eminence in his profession. He entered public life 
 by his election to the legislature. Here he met Stephen 
 A. Douglas, and a strong attachment sprang up between 
 them. In 1839 he was appointed receiver of public 
 ■moneys at Palestine, Crawford county, and resided there 
 when he was elected as governor. 
 
 He was the Polk and Dallas elector in 1844. His can- 
 
68 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 didacy for governor, in 1846, was just at the opening of 
 the Mexican war. It was popular and he was favorable to 
 it, and it bore him into office by a large majority. His 
 predecessor, Gov. Ford, had organized order out of chaos, 
 financially, and prepared the way for the completion of the 
 canal, which followed in May, 1848, and the state was set- 
 tling up with unprecedented rapidity. It was just the 
 time to expand a man's ideas of statesmanship, both state 
 and national. Our state was just emerging from the throes 
 of bankruptcy and planting herself on the solid basis of 
 financial credit, and the nation was extending its domain 
 by the acquisitions made by the Mexican war, of California, 
 with all of its mineral wealth of gold and silver, and its 
 lands, the finest wheat and fruit producing in the world. 
 There was a bedrock solidity for future foundations on 
 which to build up a permanent prosperity. It was under 
 this administration that a new constitution, the fundamental 
 law of the land, was to be formulated by the assembling of 
 a State Constitutional Convention, composed of the ablest, 
 wisest, and, thought to be at the time, the most honest 
 men of the State. 
 
 At such a time, December, 1846, we introduce Augustus 
 C. French as governor of the future great state of Illinois, 
 just in his prime, thirty-eight years old, of medium height, 
 well-proportioned, light complexioned, ruddy face and 
 pleasant countenance, plain of manner, "agreeable, of easy 
 approach by the most humble, neither office nor position 
 changed him in his bearing towards those he had met while 
 in the more humble walks of life." He was of a modest, 
 retiring disposition, at times it might almost be called diffi- 
 dence and timidity, yet when the occasion demanded, he was 
 out-spoken and firm to convictions of duty on all public 
 
AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 69 
 
 questions. He was chaste, earnest and persuasive as a 
 speaker, not seeking to make a display in the higher arts 
 of oratory, in business he had proved himself accurate 
 and methodical, and, as the executive of the state, was yet 
 to prove himself a man of affairs, a prudent and discreet 
 economist, honest and conscientious. It was fortunate, at 
 this peculiar juncture of affairs, that a man of his peculiar 
 genius, common sense, vigilance, and conscientious convic- 
 tions of duty, was placed at the helm. We have said that 
 the pecuniary embarrassments entailed ten years previous 
 were put in shape to be gradually extinguished, the credit 
 of the state had been in a measure restored, but it still re- 
 quired a clear, careful, executive brain to bring order out 
 of the confusion, and a steady hand at the helm of state. 
 
 To commence, on, he recommended the registration and 
 funding of the debts. The exact amount could only be 
 fixed to a certainty by calling on those holding indebted- 
 ness to make an exhibit of it, arrange the rate of interest 
 and the time of future payments, then legislate to provide 
 the fund to meet it. The canal debt having been provided 
 for, the residue of all bonds or scrip should be converted 
 into uniform transferable stock. The legislature agreed 
 to these views, passed two funding acts, one authorizing the 
 funding of the state bonds, and the other funding the state 
 scrip, with accrued interest on the debt. By this process, 
 by 1850, the entire state debt, excluding canal debt, was 
 refunded in uniform securities, which greatly simplified the 
 debt. This was satisfactory to the state and the holders of 
 the indebtedness. 
 
 In 1847 Gov. French recommended the sale of the 
 Northern Cross Eailroad, from Springfield to Meredosia, 
 (now the Wabash) the purchaser paying $100,000 for it in 
 
70 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 state indebtedness. When built it cost the state $1,000,000, 
 a loss to the state of ninety per cent. The opening of this, 
 nine years previous, we gave an account of in a former chap- 
 ter. The salt wells and canal lands granted by the gen- 
 eral government to the state were sold, and state indebt- 
 edness paid with proceeds. 
 
 We have mentioned that early in the administration of 
 Gov. French, a constitutional convention met. The mem- 
 bers to this convention were elected on the third Monday 
 of- April, 1847, and when elected, met at Springfield on the 
 first Monday of June following. The membership of the 
 convention was not strongly partizan, the members taking 
 a practical view of the matter, that in framing the new 
 organic law, affecting not only the present but future gen- 
 erations, when present political questions would be obsolete, 
 that the provisions of the constitution should be made irre- 
 spective of party predilections. 
 
 Without naming them, we can say that among our 
 acquaintances in that convention there were some of the 
 purest and best men in the state, belonging to both of the 
 great political parties of that day; men who would not 
 sway from what was right for any consideration of party 
 advantage. Up to that time a foreigner could vote after a 
 six month's residence, the same as a native-born citizen. 
 This was changed by requiring them to be naturalized, 
 and all citizens to reside in the state one year before 
 being entitled to vote. Under the old constitution the 
 judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts were elected by 
 the legislature, as was the states attorney ; under the new 
 they were made elective by the people. 
 
 These were the days of economy and reform. People 
 had become accustomed to do a great deal of work for a 
 
AUGUSTUS C. FEENCH. 71 
 
 little pay, to sell their produce for a small price, and they 
 exacted of their servants — the men whom they elected to 
 office — to do the same thing; to work for the honor of 
 holding the offices and serving their country. 
 
 The elective principle was engrafted so that every office 
 must be elective. This took -"log rolling" and party 
 wrangling from the legislature. 
 
 Profiting by the lessons of experience that had saddled 
 millions of debt upon the people, now pressing so heavily on 
 them, it was provided that no debt was allowed to be con- 
 tracted by the legislature exceeding fifty thousand dollars, 
 and that only to meet casual deficits or failure in revenue ; 
 nor was the credit of the state to be extended to any indi- 
 vidual, association, or corporation. Article fourteen, separ- 
 ately submitted, provided for " the , yearly collection of a 
 tax of two mills upon the dollar in addition to all other 
 taxes, the proceeds of which were to be paid out in the ex- 
 tinguishment of the public debt other than the canal and 
 school indebtedness, pro rata to such holders as might pre- 
 sent their evidences." 
 
 This debt provision shows that the members of the 
 convention were honest debt payers, and that they believed 
 the people were. " The Judges of the Supreme and Circuit 
 Courts were made ineligible to any other office of profit or 
 public trust in this state, of the United States, during the 
 terms for which they were elected." 
 
 We have spoken of the economical features of the new 
 constitution, showing that the new members had become 
 accustomed to the diminished prices of the times. The 
 salary of the Governor was fixed at $1,500 per annum, 
 Supreme Judges, $1,200, each, Circuit Judges, $1,000 each, 
 State Auditor, $1,000, Secretary of State and Treasurer, 
 
72 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 each $800, members of the General Assembly, $2 per day 
 for forty two days attendance, then $1 per day if they 
 remained in session longer. 
 
 Our further remarks in regard to the new constitution 
 will be general. The members had succeeded in stamping 
 the result of their labors, — the new constitution — with 
 principles that both parties could adopt. The elective 
 principle, as applied to every important office, was a thor- 
 oughly democratic idea. " The people had ample time to 
 consider its provisions and they did not fail to see its great 
 superiority over the old organic law." 
 
 If there were a few minor points that did not fully ac- 
 cord with their views, it was so far superior to the old they 
 could not afford to throw away the many safe and excellent 
 limitations for the protection of the public interests against 
 the chances of a wild, reckless and extravagant legislature 
 to involve them in ruin. Taking into consideration that 
 the advanced ideas of the present day did not then prevail, 
 the labors of the constitutional convention of 1847 was a 
 great advance from the year 1818. The vote on ics ratifi- 
 cation or rejection was taken on the first Monday in March, 
 1848, and the new constitution went into operation the first 
 day of April following. 
 
 The vote stood for its adoption 59,887 ; against adop- 
 tion 15,859 — making the majority in its favor 44,028. 
 For adoption of Article XV, — 2 mill tax, 41,017; 
 against it, 30,586, making the majority in its favor 10,431 . 
 The first election under the new constitution took place the 
 first Tuesday of November, 1848. This was the year that 
 Taylor and Fillmore were elected President and Vice-Pres- 
 ident. Gov. French was re-elected. By the new consti- 
 ■ution the time for holding the annual election was changed 
 
AUGUSTUS C. FEENCH. 73 
 
 from first Monday in August to first Tuesday in November, 
 each year. 
 
 The time of the meeting of the legislature was changed 
 from first Wednesday in December to first Wednesday in 
 January, each biennial year, the first legislature meeting in 
 January, 1849. 
 
 Thus a year of happy coincidences was inaugurated! 
 The new constitution was adopted in March, 1848. The 
 Illinois and Michigan canal was opened the latter part of 
 April, bringing prosperity and a healthy advance in the 
 markets for produce. Canal boats, laden at Chicago, 
 brought their cargoes to every port on the Illinois river and 
 St. Louis, and when their cargoes were discharged, they 
 loaded up at the same point with corn, wheat, oats or some 
 other class of produce, and were taken by swift tow boats 
 to LaSalle, from there by horse power through to Chicago"! 
 Farmers, merchants, mechanics and professional men felt 
 the impetus, and that brighter days were in store for Illi- 
 nois. The author well remembers this buoyancy of hope 
 so long deferred, but now a fixed fact. Then engaged in 
 the produce and lumber business atLacon, our recollections 
 revert to the voyages made on the "raging canal," the car- 
 goes to Chicago being wheat and corn, and from Chicago 
 to Lacon, lumber, furniture, and other articles then being 
 dealt in. 
 
 But to resume events transpiring during Gov. French's 
 administration. "In the fall of 1850 a new legislature 
 was elected, fresh from a new people — NEw'in great acces- 
 sions, and also in that they had cast off their garments of 
 despondency and were full of hope." These state Solons 
 met in January, 1851, and performed a great deal of labor, 
 giving life and vigor to measures which, with proper addi- 
 
74 FIFTY YBAES' EECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 tions since, have unfolded into great advantages to the 
 people of the state. State indebtedness was nearly at par, 
 auditor's warrants were ninety-five cents on the hundred. 
 Such was our improved condition now as compared to the 
 close of 1842 — eight years of an anxious interregnum 
 when state bonds were only worth fourteen ceuts on the 
 dollar. Surely an upward and onward advance almost un- 
 paralleled. This improved condition was brought about 
 by rigid economy, a thorough system of retrenchment 
 under the new constitution, and a wise administration of 
 affairs under Gov. French. 
 
 One progress was followed by another, and the close of 
 1850 and the opening of 1851 brought with it the magnifi- 
 cent grant from congress of 3,000,000 acres of land to the 
 state to aid in building the Illinois Central Railroad, and 
 the further donation at the same session of all the swamp 
 lands in her limits, estimated at 1,500,000 acres. It was a 
 liberal congress to Illinois, but our great state has amply 
 repaid it by the service of her gallant sons since that day. 
 The same congress also granted bounty land to the brave 
 men who had periled their lives on the bloody fields of 
 Mexico, which brought a home to many a deserving family. 
 These were encouraging and hopeful aids, that with the 
 other advantages that our state offered, brought a thronging 
 emigration, filling up our broad prairies and aiding in the 
 march to empire. 
 
 "We might mention other advances made by the state in 
 keeping abreast of the times during the six years from 1846 
 to 1852, but the niche in our "Recollections" is filled, which 
 brings us to January, 1853, when Governor French gave 
 place to his successor, with the proud consciousness that the 
 credit of the state was fully restored, and her indebtedness, 
 
AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 75 
 
 which had for years been an incubus pressing her down, 
 would be faithfully and honestly paid. Gov. Ford had 
 opened the way and let the light in, showing a path to his 
 successor, who, Joshua-like, had accepted the trust, and in 
 1853 the state was making giant strides towards wealth, 
 greatness and empire, he enjoying the proud cousoiousness of 
 having borne a faithful, just and honest part. He retired 
 with the confidence of the people, they believing he had 
 acted for the public good without regard to personal inter- 
 ests. After the expiration of of his term, he occupied for 
 some years the professor's chair of the law department of 
 McKendree College at Lebanon, and served as a member of 
 the constitutional convention of 1862, where he gave the 
 benefit of his great legal abilities to again remodeling the 
 organic and fundamental law of the state. 
 
JOEL A. MATTESON. 
 
 NINTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Retrospective — Nativity, youth and education — Enters on 
 a commercial life — Returns to farming — Attends and 
 teaches school— Visits the larger cities during vacation — 
 Journeys to the south — Engages in building railroads — 
 Takes an ocean voyage — Storm tossed — Returns through 
 Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri — Prospecting in Illinois — 
 Returns east — Gets married — Sells his farm — Comes to Illi- 
 nois — Improves a farm — Sells out and moves to Joliet — 
 Builds a woolen mill —Takes contracts on canal— Elected to 
 state senate — Chairman finance committee — Elected gov- 
 ernor — His recommendations — New school law — N. W. 
 Edwards — Conclusion. 
 
 Closing our last chapter with the prospective advance- 
 ment of the state's great interests beingdeveloped on every 
 hand, the building of the great network of railroads being 
 commenced in earnest, we come to the inauguration of 
 new men to assume the grave responsibilities of giving the 
 right direction to affairs for the next four years. 
 
 Joel A. Matteson, the new governor, was born August 
 8, 1808, in Jefferson county, New York. His father and 
 mother were Vermonters, and characterized by the indus- 
 trious, thrifty habits of New England life at that day ; were 
 in good circumstances, and on settling in New York opened 
 out farming on quite an extensive scale. Joel was their 
 only son, and his services were so much in request in as- 
 sisting in the varied labors of the farm that he was only 
 
JOEL A. MATTESON. 77 
 
 sent to the neighboring schools during the winter months ; 
 but these opportunities were improved, and he acquired a 
 fair rudimental education. 
 
 Having an ambition to enter on a commercial life he 
 opened a store at Prescott, Canada, before he attained his 
 twenty-first year, but sold out after a year's experience, and 
 returned home, and feeling the need of further education, 
 entered the village academy, and after a course that greatly 
 improved him intellectually, he taught school for one or 
 two terms, traveling in the vacations, visiting the larger 
 cities, observing the methods of commerce, and the success- 
 ful operations of mercantile life. 
 
 Returning, he did not resume teaching, his father giv- 
 ing him a farm. He spent one year improving it, and feel- 
 ing the necessity of more general knowledge of the business 
 of this country, he traveled in the south, and having the 
 means, engaged while there in railroad building by taking 
 contracts. When these were completed he took a sea voy- 
 age, during which he experienced a great storm in the Gulf 
 of Mexico. Returning from his ocean voyaging he visited 
 Georgia, looking in upon the gold mines of that state, com- 
 ing north through Nashville, then via the river route to St. 
 Louis, staying there a while, concluded to return east, but 
 before doing so, took a prospecting tour through Illinois, 
 reaching his eastern home the latter part of the year 1831. 
 Shortly after his return he married and settled down to 
 further improve his farm, which occupied his time during 
 1832 and part of the next year. He had not forgotten the 
 broad prairies of Illinois, and he sold his farm, taking his 
 wife and child, and came to Illinois and settled on gov- 
 ernment land in what is now the limits of Kendall 
 county. He had only two neighbors within ten miles, and 
 
78 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 there was not a half dozen houses between his place and 
 Chicago. He opened a farming business on an extensive 
 scale, his family boarding about twelve miles away while 
 he erected a house on his claim, sleeping at night under a 
 pole shed. He used to tell about a rattlesnake sharing his 
 bed with him, but the reptile was peaceable, so no harm 
 resulted from it. Getting his cabin ready his wife and 
 child came to the farm to live. In 1835 he bought largely 
 at the land sales at Chicago. During the speculative mania 
 in 1836, that spread all over the country, he sold his lands 
 and removed to Joliet, engaged in trade until contracts 
 were let in 1838 for building the canal, when he became a 
 large contractor, and prosecuted his work with energy. 
 
 He completed his job in 1841 ; hard times was the rule, 
 general prostration prevailing, contracts being paid in state 
 scrip. The state offered for sale several hundred tons of 
 railroad iron, and Matteson became the purchaser at a great 
 bargain. He shipped it to market, realizing a handsome 
 profit,— enough to pay off all his debts and leave him sev- 
 eral thousand dollars. Full of enterprise he built a large 
 woolen mill at Joliet, that for many years enjoyed a wide 
 reputation for the good work done. It prospered greatly 
 and was enlarged. In 1842 he first entered politics and was 
 elected Lo the state senate. From his well-known capacity 
 as a business man he was made chairman of the committee 
 on finance. He was re-elected for the two following terms, 
 and held his chairmanship, discharging his duties with 
 ability and faithfulness. Upon the resumption of work on 
 the canal, in 1845, he again became a heavy contractor, and 
 largely aided in pushing the work to completion. He 
 showed himself in all his public and private business an 
 energetic and thorough business man. 
 
JOEL A. MATTESON. 79 
 
 Summing up the strong points in Gov. Matteson's busi- 
 ness and statesmanship qualities, Stuve, in his history, says : 
 " Matteson's forte was not on the stump. His qualities of 
 head took rather the direction of effective executive ability ; 
 his turn consisted not so much in the adroit management of 
 party, or the powerful advocacy of great governmental 
 principles, as in the more solid and enduring operations 
 which cause the physical development and advancement of 
 a state, of commerce and business enterprise, into which he 
 labored 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 without a blemish. As a man, in 
 active benevolence, social virtues, and all the amiable quali- 
 ties of neighbor or citizen, he had few superiors. His mes- 
 sages present a perspicuous array of facts as to the condition 
 of the state, and are often couched in forcible and elegant 
 diction. The helm of state was confided to no unskillful 
 hands." 
 
 Most truly may it be said of him that he was a master 
 of finance, and could estimate the wants of the people with 
 ■a correctness not many men could obtain. lie saw that 
 Illinois was in the track of empire, so urged upon the legis- 
 lature the importance of granting new railroad charters, and 
 afford proper encouragement to bring new fields of labor in 
 the market. 
 
 He recommended the adoption of a free school system, 
 .and with it also the election of a superintendent of schools 
 for the state — a measure adopted before the end of his term, 
 as was also the law to maintain a system of free schools, an 
 act fraught with great good to the youth of our state. Be- 
 fore the passage of this act the secretary of state performed 
 £he duties of superintendent of public instruction. But 
 
80 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 now this responsible and important office was made a dis- 
 tinct department of the state government, the incumbent to 
 receive a salary of $1,500. To test his qualifications and 
 call them into requisition, he was required to draft a bill 
 embodying a system of free education for all the children of 
 the state, and report it to the next general assembly. 
 
 " This most important office at this juncture was by 
 Gov. Matteson bestowed upon Hon. N. W". Edwards, on ac- 
 count of his long experience in public life, and from the 
 conviction that he would carry into effect the hopes of the 
 people and the designs of the legislature in creating the 
 office. In January following he submitted a full report 
 upon the condition ef the public schools throughout the 
 state, ably urged the education of the children at the public 
 expense, and presented a well-drawn bill for a system of free 
 schools, which, with some alterations, became a law." 
 
 To derive all the benefits and advantages of the law 
 certain pre-requisites were necessary. " A free school was 
 obliged to be maintained for at least six months in the year, 
 and it was made imperative on the directors of every organ- 
 ized school district to levy such a tax annually as, if added 
 to the public fund, would be sufficient for that purpose ; and 
 it was made collectable the same as the state and county 
 tax. The local tax thus made obligatory, is the main 
 resource of our free school system. Such was the leading 
 and sagacious combination of the scheme to bring educa- 
 tion nearer to the people, and induce them to partake of it. 
 This is the course resorted to by the government to render 
 the system efficient; in fact, giving premiums to maintain a 
 free school for its youth." 
 
 The cause of education thus at once received an impetus 
 which has since not only been well maintained but has gained 
 
JOEL A. MATTESON. 81 
 
 force, until to-day the free school system of Illinois is among 
 the very best in the Union, the proudest and noblest monu- 
 ment which she has erected along the highway of her career 
 toward greatness. The ordinance of 1787 declared " knowl- 
 edge, in connection with religion and morality, to be neces- 
 sary to the good government and happiness of mankind," 
 enjoining that " schools and the means of education shall 
 forever be encouraged." Congress, in the Enabling Act for 
 this state, April 18, 1818, appropriated three per cent, of 
 the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands lying within 
 her limits for the encouragement of education, one-sixteenth 
 part thereof to be exclusively for a college or university. 
 
 Railroad building greatly flourished from 1852 to 1856. 
 During this time the Illinois Central R. R. was completed 
 the entire length of the state from south to north — from 
 Cairo to Dunleith, with a Chicago branch from Centralia 
 to Chicago. The Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, with 
 its branches ; the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy ; the Chi- 
 cago, Alton & St. Louis, and Chicago & Galena Union, 
 were all fully completed, some of them having commenced 
 their construction in 1850 and 1852, under Gov. French's 
 administration. 
 
 It was a time of general advancement of the material 
 interests of the state, and emigration flowed with a steady 
 volume to the state to fill up the new lands made accessible 
 by the completion of these roads. Great political revolu- 
 tions were being effected in the minds of the people. New 
 combinations were made on new issues. Men were aban- 
 doning old principles and making new party affiliations. 
 But of the men who were prominent in these "new depart- 
 ures" we will have occasion to speak more at length in 
 other pages of these " Recollections." 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 
 
 TENTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Introductory — Birth, parentage and early education — Studies 
 medicine — Removes to Illinois — Commences practice — 
 Abandons the medical profession — Studies law — Elected to 
 the legislature — Admitted to practice — Elected prosecuting 
 attorney — Volunteers for Mexico, elected captain — Mustered 
 in and elected colonel — Embarks for the seat of war — 
 Arrives — Is joined by First Regiment — Their long marches 
 
 — Battle of Buena Vista — Honorable mention — Mustered 
 out — Elected to Congress — Offends the chivalry — Is chal- 
 lenged by Jeff Davis — Accepts, and means fight — Amicably 
 arranged by friends —Is again elected to Congress — Opposes 
 the Kansas-Nebraska movement — Nominated for governor 
 
 — Is elected — The legislature opposes his measures — Party 
 strife on the apportionment bills — High-handed proceedings 
 
 — Supreme court decides the governor right — Same action 
 1859 — Governor's secretary treated with contempt — Gover- 
 nor again vetoes the bill — Slander still follows him — 
 Triumphantly vindicates himself — His death. 
 
 Boisterous and acrimonious were the throes of party- 
 strife in the canvass of 1856. Political combinations never 
 dreamed of had been formed from the heterogenous mass 
 that was now opposing the administration of President 
 Pierce and the election of James Buchanan to succeed him. 
 The Kansas and Nebraska question absorbed every other, 
 and public sentiment was rapidly crystalizing against it, not 
 only in Illinois, but in all the northern states. The men 
 who were candidates were only a secondary consideration. 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSBLL. 83 
 
 It was the principles they represented that were voted for. 
 William H. Bissell, the standard-bearer on the state ticket 
 for the newly organized republican party, was born April 
 25th, 1811, near Painted Post, Yates county, New York. 
 His parentage was humble, each member of the family, 
 when they attained strength, being required to labor for the 
 benefit of the family fund. 
 
 The labor of all, wisely husbanded, created a family 
 ■" educational fund," that was devoted to giving the 
 children a fair education. With only this young Bissell 
 attained manhood, and chose for his profession the healing 
 art, and accordingly made arrangements to study medicine, 
 and in the regular course graduated, came to Illinois and 
 settled in Monroe county, and from his little office was 
 subject to calls from the sick and afflicted. 
 
 His versatile powers were early remarked, for at that 
 day, in the part of Illinois where he located, very few were 
 gifted with varied literary attainments. Without scarcely 
 knowing it himself, it was discovered that he possessed 
 these, and all combining gave him a singular facility and 
 charm of speech, and he was called on to exercise it so fre- 
 quently that it seriously interfered with his professional 
 duties. He was not slow to discover this, and he deter- 
 mined to change his profession. He commenced the study 
 of law, and almost simultaneously with his studies 
 commenced his practice, with such easy facility did he 
 learn his new profession. While fully fitting himself 
 for his new duties he was elected to the legislature in 
 1840, and in the performance of the duties of his new posi- 
 tion he was perfectly in his element, he being ready in de- 
 bate, industrious and efficient. When the session closed 
 he returned home, finished bis law studies, was admitted to 
 
84 FIFTY YEAKS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 the bar, and soon rose to the front rank. "His powers of 
 oratory were captivating. With pure diction, charming 
 and inimitable gestures, clearness of statement, and a re- 
 markable vein of sly humor running through the whole, 
 his efforts before court and jury told with almost irresis- 
 tible force." 
 
 He rose rapidly to prominence, was elected prosecuting 
 attorney for the circuit, which position he so successfully 
 filled that he always succeeded in convicting the offender. 
 He gave all his cases a searching investigation. If he 
 found a man wrongfully accused he was ready to admit the 
 fact, and the case was not prosecuted, but for the guilty 
 there was no compromise with him. By his fairness he 
 gained the esteem of his brother members of the bar and 
 the confidence of the court and jury. He was tall and 
 slender in stature, of erect military bearing, which added 
 dignity to his pleasant manner and winning address. He 
 passed from one success to another in his professional and 
 public career until the breaking out of the Mexican war 
 in May, 1846. His impetuous and patriotic impulses 
 prompted him to be among the first to offer his services on 
 the call of Gov. Ford for volunteers. The Illinois quota 
 was for thirty full companies, eighty men to each company, 
 to serve for twelve months unless sooner discharged. The 
 war fever raged, and within ten days thirty-five full com- 
 panies had organized and reported. Such was the patriotic 
 furore that before the place of rendezvous was selected there 
 were seventy-five companies reported, all clamoring to be 
 accepted. Gov. Ford was compelled to make a choice of 
 -thirty, thus leaving forty-five companies doomed to disap- 
 pointment and to return to their homes. 
 
 Bissell's military bearing and his popularity caused his 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSBLL. 85 
 
 unanimous call to lead his company as captain, and he 
 reported at Alton, June 17, and the Second Regiment of 
 Illinois Foot Volunteers was organized. Upon the elec- 
 tion of regimental officers at Alton, June 30th, he was 
 elected colonel of the regiment by an almost unanimous 
 vote: Bissell 807, Don Morrison 6. The Second Regi- 
 ment took steamer at Alton for New Orleans, was there trans- 
 ferred to ocean steamers and sent across the Gulf, and on 
 August 1st arrived at Camp Erwin, Texas. At this place 
 they were joined by the First Regiment, Col. John J. 
 Hardin, and thence went forward to the great battle of Buena 
 Vista. They marched to San Antonio, Texas, and joined 
 General Wool's army of the center. They left that city 
 Sept, 26th, marching steadily, entering Santa Rosa Oct. 
 24th without opposition. Thence to Monclova, marching 
 forward to Parras, where an order for a change of the plan 
 of the campaign was received by Gen. Wool. After 
 remaining at Parras twelve days, Gen. Wool was ordered 
 to intercept Santa Anna and prevent his attack on Mon- 
 terey. December 21st he occupied Agua Nueva, thus 
 completing a six weeks' march of over one thousand miles 
 without, as yet, meeting an enemy. In January, Gen. 
 Taylor and Gen. Wool formed a junction. From this on 
 till the battle of Buena Vista the- two armies were making 
 various strategic movements, that culminated in the great 
 victory to the American arms on the 22d and 23d of Feb- 
 ruary. Of the conduct of the Illinois troops at Buena 
 Vista, Major-General Zachary Taylor, in his report of 
 March 6th, 1847, speaking of the First and Second Regi- 
 ments, in connection with the Second Kentucky, says: 
 "Col. Bissell, the only surviving colonel of these regiments, 
 merits notice for his coolness and bravery on this occasion." 
 
86 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 These regiments (First and Second Illinois) remained at 
 Buena Vista, doing some foraging duty, until the latter 
 part of May, when, in a general order from Gen. Wool, 
 they were mustered out. In this order Gen. Wool says: 
 " In taking leave of these regiments, the General cannot 
 omit to express his admiration of the conduct and gallant 
 bearing of all, and especially of Cols. Bissell and Weather- 
 ford and their officers and men, who have on all occasions 
 done honor to themselves, and heroically sustained the 
 cause of their country in the battle of Buena Vista." Col. 
 Weatherford succeeded the gallant Hardin in command of 
 the First Illinois Regiment. From Buena Vista these 
 regiments marched for Camargo, Texas, where they were 
 mustered out June 17th, 1847. Returning home they 
 were everywhere welcomed by their countrymen as the 
 heroes of the day. 
 
 In 1848 Col. Bissell was elected to Congress; was 
 re-elected in 1850, and immediately was recognized as one 
 of the leading members. His working abilities were 
 brought into full play. He was an ardent politician. It 
 was during his first congressional term that his high sense 
 of gallantry was shown in defending his adopted state from 
 imputations sought to be fastened on her troops by Mr. 
 Seddon, of Virginia, who claimed the victory on the field 
 of Buena Vista as solely due to southern troops, and par- 
 ticularly claimed for the Mississippi Rifles, a regiment com- 
 manded by Jefferson Davis, the credit of turning the for- 
 tunes of that day, when '" victory was snatched from the 
 jaws of defeat," as due solely to southern valor. The dis- 
 cussions growing out of the slavery question, " adjusting 
 it." were often seized on by these southern " fire-eaters " as 
 the occasion to menace and insult northern members and 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 87 
 
 intimidate them. These insults were submitted to by some 
 of the members with a meekness to cause one even now to 
 blush with shame. Bissell's ardent nature could not brook 
 it, and the vile slanders of Seddon were repelled in a 
 speech so replete with facts, stinging rebuke and unsur- 
 passed eloquence, as to bring to him at once national fame, 
 and a just pride from his state and from the north gen- 
 erally. Utterances so bold, oratory so accomplished, the 
 chivalry could not bear. Davis challenged him by the 
 rules of the code. Bissell accepted the challenge with the 
 deliberate intention to fight, which won him the admiration 
 of the country. 
 
 Bissell says, in his correspondence with Jeff. Davis on 
 that occasion, "My only object was to do justice to the 
 character of others, living and dead, whose conduct fell 
 under my own observation on that occasion, — a duty 
 imposed upon me by remarks made in the course of the 
 same debate." But the friends of Jeff. Davis, as soon as 
 they found that Bissell would fight, set about to arrange 
 the matter before the meeting was to come off. President 
 Taylor, Davis' father-in-law, as soon as he was informed 
 that the challenge was accepted, knew that it meant fight, 
 and set about stopping the meeting by instituting legal pro- 
 ceedings to prevent it, but the friends of the parties, Maj. 
 Cross, W. A. Richardson and Gen. Shields, on the part of 
 Bissell, and Maj. S. W. Inge and Judge Dawson on the 
 part of Davis, settled it without recourse to the dreadful 
 expedient. 
 
 In 1854, when the repeal of the Missouri compromise 
 was effected, he opposed it, and upon its consummation 
 became identified with the republican party. 
 
 On account of exposure in the army, disease gained 
 
88 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 entrance to his system, developing paralysis in his lower 
 extremities, leaving his body in good health, but depriving 
 him of locomotion except by the aid of crutches. This 
 disability, it was thought, would be a serious drawback to 
 his making the canvass in 1856, which it seemed to be the 
 determination of the anti-Nebraska, or republican party, to 
 confer on him. A republican state convention met at 
 Bloomington, May 29, 1856, John M. Palmer presiding. 
 It was a harmonious meeting. Bissell was unanimously 
 nominated for governor. A letter was read from him, stat- 
 ing that his "general health was good; thought that he 
 was recovering from his infirmity, and hoped for entire 
 restoration ; that his capacity for business was as good as 
 ever, and while he might not be able to engage in au active 
 canvass, he would not decline the nomination if tendered 
 him." Hon. John Wood, of Quhcy, was nominated for 
 lieutenant-governor ; O. M. Hatch, for secretary of state ; 
 Jesse K. DuBois, for auditor, and James Miller, for treas- 
 urer. W. H. Powell was nominated for superintendent of 
 public instruction. A strong ticket, as was proved by their 
 election the following November by a handsome majority, 
 thus cementing all the various elements of opposition into 
 the great radical republican party of the future. The 
 union was made on the great central idea advanced by Mr. 
 Lincoln in closing a speech at the republican banquet in 
 Chicago after this election, Dec. 17, 1856 : " Let by-gones 
 be by-gones, let past differences as nothing be, and with 
 steady eye on the real issue, let us re-inaugurate the good 
 old 'central ideas' of the republic. We can do it. The 
 human heart is with us,— God is with us. We shall again 
 be able, not to declare that all states, as states, are equal, 
 nor yet, that all citizens, as citizens, are equal, but to renew 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 89 
 
 the broader declaration, including both these and much 
 more, that all men ake cheated equal." 
 
 This contest of 1856 was more than ordinarily bitter, 
 acrimonious and personal. Richardson, the democratic 
 candidate for governor, canvassed the state thoroughly, but 
 Bissell, owing to his physical ailment, was unable to do so, 
 and made but one speech, which was to his old neighbors 
 at Belleville. 
 
 Bissell's character was the target of vindictive assaults, 
 and he took occasion to repel these charges in the Belleville 
 speech, which was widely published, and was so clear a vin- 
 dication from all the charges that it did him a great deal of 
 good. Bissell was elected by a plurality of four thousand 
 seven hundred and twenty-nine votes over Richardson, but 
 the legislature was politically opposed to the governor elect. 
 On January 13, 1857, before the assembled joint meeting 
 of the legislature and a large concourse of citizens, he was 
 inaugurated. His inaugural address was short. It gave a 
 cursory view of the all-absorbing slavery question, as con- 
 nected with Kansas. He paid a glowing tribute to the 
 growth of our great state, its wide extent of public improve- 
 ment, the business of the railroads, the canal, and the 
 financial condition of the state, and extinction of the public 
 debt. 
 
 But turbulence and disorder ran riot. We have said 
 that the legislature was politically opposed to the governor. 
 Much vituperation and personality was indulged in between 
 members, that shocked the better sense of all considerate 
 men not wholly devoured by partisan malignity. Bissell's 
 sensitive feelings were deeply wounded ; his high strung 
 nature, that only had the interests of the state at heart, was 
 trifled with by personal abuse. Attacks on the private 
 
90 FIFTY YEAKS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 character of the governor continued throughout the session ; 
 every device to embarrass him was resorted to. The courte- 
 sies and amenities due from the legislature to the executive 
 department were denied him. The dignity of official posi- 
 tion was sunk from view. Amid such turbulence and! 
 party strife the public interests and the good of the state 
 went for naught. The violent organization of the house 
 was not improved upon during the session. A new appor- 
 tionment of the state was one of the requirements to be 
 made at this session. Both parties presented a plan divid- 
 ing the state to suit their interests and promote their future 
 ascendency. Towards the end of the session the democrats 
 passed their bill. It was sent to the governor for his sig- 
 nature. It was near the close of the session, a great-many 
 bills were receiving executive consideration, and in the 
 hurry and pressure brought to bear on him, he affixed his 
 name approving the bill, thinking it was some other, 
 delivered it to his secretary, and -it was sent back to the 
 house where it originated. Great was the surprise of the 
 republicans whea the approval was read. It was known 
 that he intended to veto it, and when it was made known to 
 him he sent to the house to recall it. An informal note 
 explanatory of the circumstances was followed by a veto of 
 the bill. The democrats, who one hour before were so 
 exultant, were now the disappointed party. The house, 
 where It originated, refused to receive back the bill or allow 
 the veto message to be read or entered upon the journal. 
 It was held that after the governor had announced his 
 approval of the bill it became a law and passed from his 
 control. The republican members signed a protest, which 
 was spread upon the minutes, but now that party feeling 
 was perfectly aroused the protest was not allowed to stand. 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 91 
 
 On motion, it was expunged from the journal. With these 
 partisan acts, and amidst the greatest uproar, this delibera- 
 tive body adjourned sine die almost in a riotous manner. 
 The act was by mandamus carried to the Supreme Court 
 to test its validity. Judge Caton, delivering the opinion 
 of the court, held " that while a bill is in the possession 
 of and control of the executive within the period limi- 
 ted by the constitution, it has not the force of law, and he 
 may exercise a veto power, and so return it to the house 
 where it originated, with his name erased, notwithstanding 
 he had once announced his approval of it." So ended the 
 tumultuous session of 1857. At the legislative session of 
 1859 very nearly the same proceedings were enacted. An 
 apportionment bill was passed, which, if permitted to become 
 a law, would result in giving the minority on the popular 
 vote the majority of the members of the legislature. The 
 governor held it for several days under advisement. Finally 
 his veto came by the hands of his private secretary. He 
 commenced reading it, and a violent tumult ensued. The 
 speaker rapped with his gavel, crying, "silence, order;, 
 there is no quorum present. No communication can be 
 made to the house in the absence of a quorum. Doorkeeper, 
 put that man out," meaning the secretary. Others shouted 
 " Knock him down," — " Kick him out," etc., with violent 
 demonstrations, but by this time the secretary had read the 
 veto message, and delivering it and the bill to a page, turned 
 to depart. The speaker ordered the papers to be returned 
 to the secretary. A member snatched them from the boy's- 
 hand, went after the secretary into the lobby and thrust 
 them at him. Mr. Church gathered them up, folded them 
 together, walked leisurely up the aisle, and laid them on the 
 speaker's desk. That official contemptously brushed them off. 
 
92 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Finally they were pocketed by a member, the wildest dis- 
 order prevailing. When quiet was restored a call of the 
 house showed only forty two members present, less than a 
 quorum, and the house adjourned. 
 
 In Stuve's History of Illinois, p. 677, the grounds 
 which made it necessary to veto the bill are given, which, 
 as we remember them, are correct, we having part of the time 
 during the session been "a looker on in Venice," and can 
 vouch for its historical correctness. " The objections of the 
 governor to the apportionment bill were, that its effect 
 would be to continue the control of the general assembly in 
 the hands of a minority of the people; that the new county 
 of Ford was placed wholly within both the ninth and tenth 
 senatorial districts; that in the matter of giving excess, the 
 tenth section of the tenth article of the constitution was dis- 
 regarded ; that there was an unnecessary departure from 
 single districts — a glaring instance being the Thirty-second, 
 -composed of the counties of Champaign, Piatt, DeWitt, 
 Macon, Moultrie, Shelby and Effingham, to which these 
 •representatives were given, when the census showed that 
 the seven counties would divide neatly into three separate 
 districts." Thus the legislature of 1859, like that of 1857, 
 broke up in a rout, and exactly on the same question, — 
 the apportionment, and its re-passage over the governor's 
 veto prevented. 
 
 Party rancor and madness seems to have ruled the 
 hour. The very acts that in former years had been com- 
 mended in Col. Bissell by these partisans when himself a 
 •democrat, were now paraded against him since his connec- 
 tion with the republican party and election as governor. 
 Col. Bissell, before his election as governor, had differed 
 with Pierce and Douglas in regard to their policy or prin- 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 93 
 
 — - - 
 
 ciple in regard to the Kansas and Nebraska question. On 
 this difference with the administration and with Mr. Doug- 
 las, the leading spirit in the repeal of the Missouri compro- 
 mise, he was selected as the candidate of the opposition 
 (afterwards the republican party) as their candidate for gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 This independent course on the part of Bissell made him 
 the target for detraction, defamation, malice and abuse from 
 the old party ler.ders with whom he formerly affiliated. 
 With many it was personal pique and jealousy; with oth- 
 ers it was to crush him because his personal popularity pro- 
 moted the growth and success of the new party. This vitu- 
 peration followed him through his entire official career, 
 embittering his last days, which, with his bodily affliction, 
 made life a burden. They charged him with corruption, 
 combining with financial sharpers to get old and rejected 
 claims presented and funded, making them legal indebtedness 
 against the state. A direct charge of this kind was made 
 against him in regard to a portion of the bonds held by the 
 representatives or assigns of McAllister & Stebbins, and 
 perhaps of other past financial transactions of the state. 
 These charges were not directly made, but by conjecture, 
 innuendo and deductions from far fetched conclusions, pro- 
 fessing to have their foundation in extracts taken from the 
 governor's correspondence and official acts. 
 
 The closing year of his official life (and, as it proved to 
 be, of his natural life), he was under many afflictions ; but 
 these repeated charges roused him to his wonted intellectual 
 energy, and in the Illinois State Journal of January 11, 
 I860, he published a complete vindication of himself, evinc- 
 ing the rekindling of his old flame of scathing invective, 
 exposing the key to all this malice to be envy and jealousy, 
 
■94 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 showing up its animus in detail. He pronounced the 
 charges "a tissue of vile assumptions, inferences, deductions 
 and downright lies — pitiful cobwebs." He denied receiv- 
 ing one cent during his long official career that did not 
 properly and legally belong to him. 
 
 This vindication properly rounded up an active official 
 life of over twenty years, during which, in the state legisla- 
 ture, as prosecuting attorney, as a gallant soldier, member 
 of Congress for several terms, and last as governor of the 
 state, he had shed lustre on every position, vindicating his 
 state's military fame, and governing with official fidelity. 
 
 On March 18, 1860, nearly ten months before the expir- 
 ation of his term of office, he died at the early age of forty- 
 eight years, leaving Lieutenant-Governor Wood to fill the 
 high position to the end of his term. 
 
 His death was mourned as a national loss; appropriate 
 honors were rendered him by funeral orations in different 
 parts of the state, by bar and other associations; all giving 
 greatest honors to his memory and eulogistic in his praise. 
 
 Thuspassed away a man who started in life poor, without 
 educational advantages, but by persistent effort mastered 
 the science of medicine, then quitting its dull and laborious 
 routine for a profession more suitable for developing his 
 rare genius and master powers of mind, affording him a 
 wider field for his active imagination and aspiring ambition, 
 speedily attained eminence as an irresistible advocate; dis- 
 tinguished himself as a soldier; as an accomplished orator 
 took front rank in the halls of national legislation, in which 
 he was called to vindicate the honor of his companions in 
 arms; then as the standard bearer, in his own state, of the 
 new party marching towards national freedom, was elevated 
 to the highest office of his state by the partiality of a great- 
 
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 95 
 
 ful and confiding people, closing his life a brilliant success. 
 Yet in the annals of this state, as seen in chronicling his 
 wonderful history, no public man was ever subjected to 
 ■contumely so gross, abuse more harrowing, or pursued with 
 malice more vindictive; these cruelties causing him many 
 a pang, casting a shadow over his exalted position and 
 embittering the closing days of his life. • Such are fame's 
 penalties. Such is envy's revenge, and the envenomed 
 shaft of partisan spite and hate. Gov. Bissell was quite 
 happy in his domestic relations. He was twice married. 
 His first wife was Miss James, of Monroe county, by whom 
 he had two children, both daughters.- She died in 1842. 
 His second wife was a daughter of Elias K. Kane, formerly 
 United States senator. She survived him but a short time, 
 leaving no children. 
 
JOHN WOOD. 
 
 ELEVENTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Nativity and patriotic ancestry — His educational advantages — 
 Gomes west — Locates the city of Quincy — Names Adams 
 county — A lone bachelor — Marriage — A city father indeed 
 — Elected senator — Lieutenant-governor — Succeeds to the 
 governorship — Appointed peace commissioner — Quarter- 
 master-general — Enlists and commands a regiment — His 
 varied duties — Returns to private life—A long and honored 
 career. 
 
 Unswerving principle for the right, a sincere heart, 
 a patriotism that admitted of no compromise with expedi- 
 ents, a resolute determination in the performance of duty, 
 all these virtues combined characterized the subject of our 
 present sketch. 
 
 John Wood, born at Moravia, Cayuga county, New 
 York, December 20, 1798, was second child and only son 
 of Dr. Daniel Wood and Catherine Wood. Dr. Wood was 
 a surgeon and captain during the revolution, a man of great 
 attainments as a scholar and master of languages. This 
 aged veteran died in 1850 at Quincy, aged ninety-two years, 
 and is said to be the only soldier of the revolution who is 
 buried in Adams county. The mother (Mrs. Catherine 
 "Wood) of the subject of this notice died when he was only 
 five years old. 
 
 In his boyhood he enjoyed the advantages of a fair 
 common school education, and at the age of twenty set out 
 
JOHN WOOD. 97 
 
 to explore the southern states, getting back and spending 
 his first winter in Cincinnati, came to Shawneetown the 
 summer of 1819, and following down the Ohio and up the 
 Mississippi he reached Calhoun county in the winter of 
 1819-20, locating the following spring in Pike county, 
 where he farmed it for two years. The fall of 1821 he 
 visited the present site of Quincy, was pleased with the loca- 
 tion, bought a quarter section of land near by, and the fol- 
 lowing year built the first log cabin near the river — the 
 first building in the city — and thus became the pioneer of 
 Quincy and of Adams county, leading a hermit life for 
 several months, as he was a bachelor. 
 
 In 1824 he sent a petition to the Illinois legislature for 
 the establishment of a new county, and being an enthusi- 
 astic Adams man, suggested the name for the county, and 
 when organized and the county seat located, the name 
 Quincy for the county seat, thus having Quincy Adams his 
 own choice for county seat and county. At the time when 
 the county seat was located Quincy contained only four 
 adult men and two women. 
 
 In January, 1826, he married Miss Ann M. Streetor, 
 daughter of Joshua Streetor, one of the new settlers from 
 Washington county, New York, and thus broke his bach- 
 elor life in his 28th year. This estimable woman was the 
 mother of eight children, four only surviving, three sons, 
 and one daughter, all residing in Quincy; the sons named 
 Daniel C, John Jr<, and Joshua S., and the daughter Ann 
 E., wife of John Tillson. Mr. Wood was a continued 
 resident of Quincy, the home of his early adoption, during 
 all these years, identified with every measure of its progress 
 and history, and the recipient of every office in the gift of 
 the people of Adams county that he would accept. 
 7 
 
98 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Before its organization as a city he was one of the vil- 
 lage trustees, then afterwards member of the city council, 
 many times elected mayor, in 1850 was elected to the 
 state senate, and in 1856 elected lieutenant governor on the 
 ticket with Gov. Bissell. On Bissell's death in 1860 he 
 became governor, holding for near one year, until succeeded 
 by Gov. Yates in 1861, and was immediately appointed by 
 Gov. Yates as one of the five delegates from Illinois to the 
 peace convention at Washington that met in February 1861, 
 but which resulted in no substantial benefit — in fact, was a 
 failure. On his return, the rebellion breaking out, he was 
 appointed quartermaster-general of the state, and held the 
 position during the war. 
 
 In 1864, then in his 66th year, he took command, as 
 colonel, of the 137th Regiment 111. Vol. Infantry, with 
 which he served until the end of the war. 
 
 Mrs. Wood died October 8th, 1863, and in June, 1865, 
 Gov. Wood married Mrs. Mary A. Holmes, widow of Rev. 
 Joseph T. Holmes. 
 
 Gov. Wood was the presiding officer of the senate from 
 1857 to 1859, during the sessions of two turbulent legisla- 
 tures, and that body was opposed to him politically, but 
 such was their respect for his strict impartiality and integ- 
 rity that on the adjournment of each session a vote of thanks 
 was tendered him for the ability displayed in his parliamen- 
 tary rulings, and on his assuming the gubernatorial office, 
 no man ever holding that high position enjoyed the respect 
 and confidence of the people of the state more than he did. 
 During all the trying times from 1856 to 1866 he was firm 
 and true to duty, the friend and counsellor of Abraham 
 Lincoln until the president-elect left Springfield to assume 
 the reins of government, and as quartermaster-general, 
 
JOHN WOOD. 99 
 
 often at Washington during the war, he was a man full of 
 duties and active in the performance of them. 
 
 He resided from 1821, when he built the first log cabin, 
 his bachelor home, to the close of his life on the site of his 
 old home. 
 
 Politically, up to the organization of the republican 
 party, he was a whig. He passed through all the mutations 
 and changes from being the hermit settler to the proud posi- 
 tion of governor of the state, afterwards becoming an active 
 soldier, looking aftet- and caring for the bodily wants of the 
 soldier by forwarding supplies to the front, and then taking 
 command of a regiment. Sixty-two years ago a solitary 
 settler, with no neighbor within a score of miles, the world 
 of civilization away behind him, the strolling Indians 
 almost his only visitants, he lived to see growing around him, 
 by his directing hand, a thriving city, surpassed nowhere 
 in beauty. Its prosperity has been his, and its citizens 
 unite in single voice to honor the liberality, virtue and 
 sterling integrity that attach to the name and lengthened 
 life of Adams county's first pioneer settler — quincy's 
 
 FIRST CITIZEN " THE GOOD OLD GOVERNOR." * * * 
 
 He died full of years and honors June 4, 1880. 
 
RICHARD YATES. 
 
 TWELFTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Words giving expression to history — Brief family genealogy — 
 Nativity and education— Visits Lincoln at New Salem — 
 Studies law — Admitted to practice — Is successful — Enters 
 the political arena — Elected to the legislature three terms — 
 Elected to Congress in 1850 — Re-elected — Defeated in 1854 — 
 Takes an active part in the canvass of 1858 — Nomination 
 and election as governor —Incidents and pleasantries of the 
 convention — Presentation of rails — Lincoln's speech — In- 
 auguration as governor— Subjects discussed — Beginning of 
 the war — First call for troops — More offered than called for 
 
 — Other calls made — Extracts from messages and letters — 
 Letter to Lincoln — Another call— The legislature of 1863 
 
 — Proclamation — Prorogation — His last message — Four 
 years' lessons learned — The ministry — The force in the 
 field — Elected senator. 
 
 Our book — the "Recollections" — giving a sketch of 
 Illinois' great war governor, will perhaps be regarded by 
 many as only a repetition of former histories of the man, 
 and of the times when he was' making his impress on the 
 state and national legislation, and afterwards as governor of 
 the state during the war of the rebellion. 
 
 We cannot hope to present very much that is new. 
 History is only a recapitulation of the past, perhaps pre- 
 senting some new facts, and relating others in words deemed 
 by the author most fitting to give expression and point to 
 the information he is imparting. This is all we can hope to 
 
RICHARD YATES. 101 
 
 do in presenting .1 sketch of Governor and the late Senator 
 Yates. 
 
 His father, Henry Yates, was descended from Dr. 
 Michael Yates, who emigrated to America before the revolu- 
 tion, settling in Virginia. 
 
 He married Martha Marshall, a sister of John Marshall, 
 afterwards chief justice of the United States. To them was 
 born a son, Abner, who married Miss Mollie Hawes, and to 
 them was born two children, Henry and Martha. 
 
 Henry Yates moved with his parents, in 1788, to 
 Fayette county, Ky., where his father died. The family, 
 after two or three removals, settled in Gallatin county in 
 1804. Here, in after years, grew up Warsaw, and it became 
 the county seat. 
 
 Henry Yates married, July 11, 1809, his cousin Milli- 
 cent Yates. The union was a happy one, and eleven 
 children were born to them, five dying young. Six were 
 living when they removed to Sangamon county in 1831, 
 residing at Springfield for a time, then removing to Island 
 Grove, same county. 
 
 Richard was born January 18, 1818, at Warsaw, and 
 when he attained the proper age was sent to the schools of 
 the place, making encouraging progress in his rudimental 
 studies, and was in his thirteenth year when his father came 
 to the state. At this time, haviDg made such gratifying 
 progress in his studies, he was left behind at Miami Univer- 
 sity, Oxford, Ohio, and from there transferred to George- 
 town College, Kentucky, and when he had finished his 
 course there he joined his father's family at Island Grove. 
 On the opening of Illinois College at Jacksonville he was 
 among the first students that entered, and the first graduate 
 o the institution. 
 
102 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 It was during one of the vacations that he went with 
 some of his fellow students to their homes in the vicinity 
 of Salem, where he first made the acquaintance of Abraham 
 Lincoln. The college students were rigged out in " store 
 clothes," and the future great emancipator received them in 
 his home spun, and soon made them feel at home by telling 
 some of his droll and inimitable stories. 
 
 After graduating he entered the law office of John J. 
 Hardin as a student and made rapid progress in his law 
 studies, finishing them by taking a course of lectures at 
 Transylvania Law School, Lexington, Kentucky, then 
 returned to Jacksonville and commenced practice. He 
 entered at once on a successful career. He studied his 
 cases carefully, presenting them fully, and being gifted with 
 ready speech, logical in argument, and his oratory graced 
 with gems of thought, he rose rapidly to distinction. He 
 was an active campaigner in the canvass of 1840, advo- 
 cating " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " in the exciting cam- 
 paign of that year. In 1842 he was elected to the legisla- 
 ture, and afterwards re-elected for three terms. 
 
 This successful legislative experience paved the way for 
 his nomination for a seat in Congress in 1850. The 
 counties comprising the district were the same that Hardin, 
 Baker, and Lincoln had represented from 1842 to 1848, and 
 he made a personal canvass as they had done. The demo- 
 cratic candidate was Major Thomas L. Harris, the sitting 
 member. 
 
 They made the canvass of the district in company, speak- 
 ing alternately, and each arousing the enthusiasm of their 
 friends. Both were good speakers, but Yates was the most 
 fascinating and persuasive, and was elected over his military 
 competitor. 
 
RICHARD YATES. 103 
 
 He entered Congress, made a reputation in discussing 
 the great questions of the day, was nominated under the 
 new apportionment in 1852, when the democrats ungener- 
 ously threw Harris overboard and nominated John Calhoun, 
 one of their most eloquent champions in the state. The 
 canvass was a brilliant one, as we remember it, the candi- 
 dates traveling together and speaking from the same stand. 
 Yates again succeeded, and during his second term took a 
 very active part in the discussion on the repeal of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise, which he opposed with all his accus- 
 tomed arguments and eloquence. During this term was the 
 formative period of the republican party, which he pro- 
 moted by taking advanced anti-slavery ground in more 
 than one speech of great power and rare oratory, gaining a 
 national reputation. In 1854 the democrats again nomi- 
 nated Major Harris, and a majority of the people sustaining 
 Douglas in his effort to repeal that act, Mr. Yates was 
 defeated by a small majority. 
 
 The interim after closing his congressional career March 
 4, 1855 and 1860, was occupied in close application to pro- 
 fessional pursuits, except making some 'speeches in the 
 Fremont campaign of 1856, and Lincoln and Douglas con- 
 test of 1858, when he was called on to take a part in reduc- 
 ing or overcoming democratic majorities in Central Illinois. 
 
 In the gubernatorial contest of 1860 there were three 
 competitors for the honor of the nomination : Senator Nor- 
 man B. Judd, of Cook, Senator Leonard Swett, of McLean, 
 and Richard Yates, of Morgan, with nearly an equal follow- 
 ing when the convention met. Judd led in the first ballot- 
 ing, presenting his full strength at the outset. Swett's 
 came from Middle-Northern Illinois and the eastern and 
 western part of the state, with a few from Southeastern UK- 
 
104 FIFTY YEARS' KECOLIiECTIONS. 
 
 nois — a support that was sure to go for Yates if they 
 failed to secure their first choice. After several ballotings 
 it was discovered that the choice was between Yates and 
 Judd, when nearly all of Swett's friends voted for Yates 
 and he was nominated, and before the vote was announced 
 both Judd aud Swett were withdrawn and Yates' nomina- 
 tion made unanimous. Then a call came for speeches from 
 the gentlemen whose claims had just been decided before 
 the convention. Yates came first, and was greeted with 
 an uprising of the convention, with cheering and applause, 
 showing that he had a deep hold on the affections of the 
 people. His address was brief and eloquent, expressing his 
 faith in republican principles, and the great future that 
 opened out to the country in the success of the national 
 and state tickets that would be presented, concluding by 
 thanking the convention for the honor conferred on him, 
 and pledging himself, if elected, to be true to the trust 
 reposed in him. Mr. Judd and Mr. Swett made eloquent 
 but brief speeches, expressing confidence in the nominee 
 and their cordial acquiescence in the result. 
 
 Then followed in quick succession the nomination of a 
 full state ticket, and the presentation to the convention, by 
 John Hanks, of some of the rails made by Abraham 
 Lincoln the first year after he came to the state. Mr. 
 Lincoln was in the city, but not just at that time in the 
 hall; he was immediately called for, and in a short 
 time made his appearance. He entered the hall and took 
 his seat, the delegates and audience rising to cheer him. 
 Hon. Richard J. Oglesby rose when quiet was restored, and 
 addressing the presiding officer, said: "An old citizen of 
 Macon county wishes to make a presentation to the conven- 
 tion." On this announcement two old fence rails were borne 
 
EICHAED YATES. 105 
 
 forward to the stand, inscribed "Abraham Lincoln, the 
 Rail Splitter's candidate for the Presidency in 1860. Two 
 rails from a lot of three thousand, made in 1830 by Thomas 
 Hanks and Abe Lincoln, whose father was the first pion- 
 eer of Macon county." 
 
 Prolonged cheers greeted this presentation, when Mr. 
 Lincoln arose, and with a serio-comical expression told 
 the circumstances attending the making the rails used in 
 fencing a field and helping to build a cabin for his father, 
 the first work he did in Illinois. 
 
 This was only one of the pleasant and humorous little 
 episodes that transpired at the convention. It showed that 
 the people, while attending to grave matters of state, could 
 with zest join in the indulgence of a half hour's season 
 of jollity and pleasantry. 
 
 After Mr. Yates' nomination, came in a few weeks 
 the national convention at Chicago to nominate a candidate 
 for the presidency. He attended that convention and 
 contributed as much as any other man to the nomination of 
 Abraham Lincoln. . He then entered the canvass, and by 
 his great industry was instrumental in carrying the state 
 the following November by an immense majority for 
 the republican ticket; Lincoln receiving twelve thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-two over Douglas, and Yates 
 receiving twelve thousand nine hundred and forty-three 
 majority over Allen, leading Lincoln's majorityjust ninety- 
 one, and the largest vote of any other candidate on the 
 republican ticket. 
 
 January 14, 1861, he entered on his duties as governor, 
 delivering his inaugural address. In discussing national 
 affairs his words had the true ring of the patriot and ardent 
 devotion to the Union, showing that in the approaching 
 
106 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 trying period he would perform his whole duty with patri- 
 otic fidelity to the cause of the nation. 
 
 His theme was, with many other topics discussed, " the 
 perpetuity of the Constitution and the government organized 
 under it." "A Union of intelligence, of freedom, of just- 
 ice, of religion, of science and art," founded on the " loyalty 
 of the American people," and gave assurance "that the 
 whole material of the government, moral, political and 
 physical, if need be, must be employed to preserve, protect 
 'and defend the Constitution of the United States." April 
 15th following, his active duties as " War Governor" com- 
 menced. The first call for troops was made by the Presi- 
 dent, and reiterated to the people and the legislature by 
 Gov. Yates. The country was in commotion, the people 
 flew to arms in such numbers that all could not be received 
 into the service. The governor in his message to the legis- 
 lature convened April 23, 1861, says, " Party distinctions 
 vanished as a mist in a night as if by magic, and party and 
 party platforms were swept as a morning dream from the 
 minds of men, and now, men of all parties by thousands are 
 begging for places in the ranks." 
 
 Within ten days after the proclamation of the governor 
 more than ten thousand men had offered their services, 
 twice as many as the quota called for from the state. 
 Strong men, who at an hour's notice, perhaps, had left their 
 homes to enter the service of their country, wept at the 
 disappointment of being refused admission on mustering- 
 in-day. On the recommendation of the governor liberal 
 appropriations were made to place the state on a war foot- 
 ing. As soon as arms could be furnished the regiments 
 were to go into camp for drill and instruction. 
 
 Under the different calls made before Jan. 1, 1862, 
 
EICHAED YATES. 107 
 
 there were over 60,000 men received into the service, but 
 over 100,000 had been offered, Gov. Yates urging the 
 government to accept them, to spare no expense, to shun 
 no sacrifice, and relax no effort, but with a strengthened 
 purpose to uphold the majesty and integrity of the Union 
 by these men, sternly and terribly in earnest in the work. 
 
 The 16th of February gave us Donelson, with 10,000 
 prisoners, sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, and Camp 
 Butler at Springfield. This victory and glorious capture 
 was accomplished mainly by Illinois regiments urged on 
 the acceptance of the government by Gov. Yates. 
 
 We have not space to detail minor events. On the 6th 
 of July, 1862, came the welcome call for " 300,000 more," 
 Illinois' quota of this to be nine regiments, and the gov- 
 ernor issued his proclamation announcing the series of 
 successes that had crowned our army : " The Mississippi 
 had been opened from Cairo to the Gulf; the Potomac had 
 "been opened from Washington to the Chesapeake. Beaten, 
 broken, demoralized, bankrupt and scattered, the insurgents 
 have fled before our victorious legions, leaving us a large 
 area of conquered territory, and almost innumerable posts 
 in the enemy's country to garrissn with our troops." He 
 urged promptness in filling the call, quoting Douglas, " the 
 shortest road to peace is the most stupendous preparation 
 for war." " Illinoisans, look at ihe issue and do not falter; 
 your all is at stake." " The coming of the brave boys of 
 Illinois will be hailed on the banks of the Potomac and 
 James rivers with shouts of welcome. You will be hailed 
 as the brothers of the men who have faced the storm of 
 battle and gloriously triumphed at Donelson, Pea Ridge, 
 Shiloh, and other memorable fields." Gov. Yates' appeal 
 abounded "in acknowledgements to the " noble women of 
 
108 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 the state for their assistance to our soldiers in the field." In 
 the tent of the soldier, far from his home, are found the 
 bright traces of woman's enduring love and benevolence. 
 Let all loyal men and women persevere in the good work." 
 Closing, he writes : " Then rally once again for the old flag, 
 for our country,- union and liberty." 
 
 These calls kindled the old enthusiasm, and soon it was 
 announced to the country that the enlistment rolls were 
 full, the demands of the country met, the quotas filled. 
 
 July 11, 1862, Gov. Yates wrote to President Lincoln: 
 " The time has come for more decisive measures ; greater 
 vigor and earnestness must be infused into our military 
 movements; blows must be struck at the vital part of the 
 rebellion. Summon to the standard of the republic all 
 men willing to fight for the union. Our armies should be 
 directed to forage off the enemy. Mr. Lincoln, the crisis 
 demands greater and sterner measures. Accept the services 
 of all loyal men. Shall we refuse aid from that class of 
 men who are at least worthy foes of traitors ? Loyal blacks 
 who offer us their labor and seek shelter beneath our flag?" 
 Our war governor was warming up to the demands of the 
 occasion. Concluding, he said : " Illinois will respond to 
 your call. Adopt this policy and she will leap like a flam- 
 ing giant into the fight. It will bring the conflict to a 
 speedy close, and secure peace on a permanent basis." Such 
 are a few extracts from this patriotic letter, and the almost 
 prophetic advice was soon after adopted. 
 
 Within two years after the first call Illinois placed one 
 hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred and forty 
 men in the field, and they had been heard from in the roar 
 •of battle. 
 
 Coming to the year of 1863, that year of recreancy of 
 
EICHARD YATES. 109 
 
 the majority of the legislators chosen, owing to the absence 
 in the field of over 100,000 loyal voters, taken from all the 
 senatorial and representative districts, the anti-war and 
 southern sympathizing element of the state succeeded in 
 securing a majority in the legislature that was opposed to an 
 energetic prosecution of the war. They were obstruction- 
 ists. The plans submitted to them by the governor in his 
 message were ignored — even to the extent of treasonable 
 utterances in the legislative halls. 
 
 To his recommendations of " an enactment, making 
 provision for taking the votes of the volunteers of the state 
 in actual service," they gave no heed. He also asked their 
 aid " for the erection of a hospital or soldiers' home." He 
 also asked their recommendation to Congress to " increase 
 the pay of the private soldier." But other topics engrossed 
 the majority of the legislature. Parliamentary stratagems 
 were obliged to be resorted to to prevent legislation that 
 would cripple the military operations of the forces in the 
 field. 
 
 Our loyal governor was equal to the emergency. He 
 gave the disloyal majority to understand that the state could 
 dispense with their services, and by virtue of authority 
 vested in him by the constitution he prorogued the legisla- 
 ture until the 31st of December, 1864, the end of the term 
 for which they were elected. 
 
 The obstructionists were sent adrift, and he, with the 
 constitution to guide him, conducted the war operations of 
 the state until the election of a loyal legislature in 1864. 
 
 In a proclamation addressed " To the people of Illinois," 
 dated February 14th, 1864, giving general information as 
 to the conduct of the war and his plans for the care and 
 comfort of the soldier, he says, " Then fill up the ranks,— 
 
110 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 reinforce the column still advancing, — and by strength of 
 strong arms in the field and patriotic sentiment at home, fill 
 every village and hamlet claimed by traitors with the old 
 flag and anthems of victory, freedom and national 
 union." 
 
 We have now, as seen by the last quotation, entered 
 upon the eventful year of 1864, an epoch, as shown by facts 
 of history, when the people spoke by their votes, — the gov- 
 ernment by its official acts. Adverse legislation, which 
 trifled with destiny, was baffled by the decision, firmness 
 and stern promptness of the executive, thwarting schemes 
 which threatened mischief, and the people that year rose in 
 their majesty, putting the seal of their approbation on his 
 act of prorogation of June, 1863. It was a grand year in 
 the history of the state and of the republic, and traitors 
 who had raised their disloyal heads in 1863 with a brazen 
 front, seeking to tarnish the state's fair escutcheon, were in 
 1864 overwhelmed by the uprising of the people, covered 
 by the rocks and mountains of public opinion, and sunk 
 in ignominy and disgrace. 
 
 The result endorsed every recommendation of Gov. 
 Yates given in his letter to President Lincoln, from which 
 we have quoted, viz. : Military emancipation and the arm- 
 ing of the freedmen, Lincoln being elected by over 30,000 
 majority, and Oglesby elected to succeed our gallant " War 
 -Governor" by near the same majority. 
 
 In the final message of Governor Yates, January 3, 
 1865, he says : " In support of the government at home, 
 and in response to calls for troops, the state stands pre-emi- 
 nently in the lead among her loyal sisters. Every click of 
 the telegraph heralds the perseverance of Illinois' generals 
 and the indomitable courage and bravery of Illinois' sons 
 
BICHAED YATES. Ill 
 
 in every engagement of the war. One gallant Illinois boy 
 is mentioned as being the first to plant the stars and stripes 
 at Donelson ; another, at a critical moment, anticipates the 
 commands of his superior officer in hurrying forward an 
 ammunition train, and supervising hand grenades by cutting 
 short the fuses of heavy shells, and hurling them with his 
 own hands in front of an assaulting column ; and the files 
 of my office and those of the adjutant general are full of 
 letters mentioning for promotion hundreds of private sol- 
 diers who have on every field distinguished themselves by 
 personal gallantry at trying and critical periods." 
 
 And now, at the close of his administration, the 
 " Recollections" will note the progress made in the educa- 
 tion of public sentiment in the state and nation : 
 
 1. Principle is mightier than passion. It is founded 
 on eight. It has exploded the policy of " expediency " 
 and " compromise." 
 
 2. The churches have made a noble record ; the minis- 
 try clothed with new eloquence, church councils giving 
 patriotic utterances very different from the apologetic tones 
 when scripture was quoted to justify slavery. They have 
 presented the claims of the country and denounced treason 
 as a deadly sin, and are giving their prayers " without ceas- 
 ing" for their imperilled country. 
 
 3. New forms of organized benevolence sprang 
 into existence. " The Sanitary Commission " was the 
 almoner of the gifts of the people. The " Christian Com- 
 mission," to supply the spiritual wants of the soldier. The 
 " Freedman's Aid Commission," working steadily for the 
 relief of those made free, supplying stores of food, clothing 
 and medicines. " Soldier's Homes " and " Soldier's Rests" 
 at the principal centers of travel. " Soldier's Aid Socie- 
 
112 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ties," mostly auxiliary to the Sanitary Commission. The 
 women of the land were foremost in these good works, and 
 the boys and girls caught the inspiration. The ways of 
 Providence, thought at times " to be past finding out," 
 stood revealed, and when the administration of Gov. Yates 
 closed in January, 1865, nearly two hundred thousand 
 soldiers had been by his agency placed at the service of 
 the general government, all of whom but three thousand 
 and sixty-two, were volunteers. 
 
 In grateful recognition of his services the legislature 
 elected him to the United States Senate for a term of six 
 years from the 4th of March, 1865, his term expiring March 
 4, 1871. 
 
RICHARD J. OGLESBY, 
 
 THIRTEENTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Tribute to Patriotism — Nativity and early education— Studies 
 law— Enlists in the Mexican War— Goes to California — 
 Engages in mining— Beturns to Illinois — Again engages in 
 the practice of law — Travels in Foreign Lands — Returns in 
 1857 — Candidate for Congress in 1858 — Elected to State Sen- 
 ate in 1860 — Elected Colonel and goes to the front — Promo- 
 ted to Brigadier General — In command at Cairo and Bird's 
 Point —Services in Missouri — At Fort Henry — Leads the 
 attack at Fort Donelson — The Second Division at Corinth 
 — Desperate fighting — Is wounded — Slowly recovers — Great 
 war speech at Springfield — Reports for duty — Resigns, but 
 not accepted — Granted leave of absence — Resigns in 1864 — 
 Nominated for Governor— Elected— Inaugural Address- 
 Legislative Measures — End of term — Again elected Gover- 
 nor in 1872 — Resigned and elected United States Senator — 
 Retires to private life in 1879. 
 
 The sage, the statesman, the minister in the sacred desk, 
 the citizen of every profession, occupation or avocation, all 
 recognize love of country — patriotism, as the chief, the 
 cardinal virtue of a people. So it ever was, so may it ever 
 be. The good and wise of the past and present, all nations, 
 tongues and people, pagan as well as christian, teach as the 
 crowning virtue of the citizen — love of country. The sub- 
 ject of our present chapter, distinguished in civil and mili- 
 tary life, will be recognized as embodying in an eminent 
 degree this noblest quality of the human heart. 
 
114 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Richard James Oglesby was born in Oldham county, 
 Kentucky, July 25, 1824. His father was in very moder- 
 ate circumstances, and his mother dying when Richard was 
 only eight years old, he was left to the care of friends, who, 
 from want of opportunities, could not give him early edu- 
 cational advantages. However, such as were offered he 
 improved, and before coming to Illinois in 1836 he had 
 attended school more than one year. He came to Decatur 
 with an uncle and did such work as was required of him, his 
 facilities for attending school being still very limited. 
 
 He lived at Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1838, when he 
 returned to Illinois, remaining till 1840, then went to 
 Oldham county, Ky., to learn the carpenter's trade. After 
 remaining two years in Kentucky, he returned to Illinois 
 in 1842, worked at his trade and farming until the spring 
 of 1844, when he commenced the study of law at Spring- 
 field. During his apprenticeship he spent about three 
 months of the time in attending school. He was admitted 
 to the bar in 1845, and commenced practice in Sullivan, 
 Moultrie county. 
 
 When the tocsin of war was sounded from the Texas 
 border in May, 1846, he was among the first to volunteer. 
 He assisted in the organization of the Fourth Illinois Reg- 
 iment, Col. E. D. Baker, and in the election of officers was 
 elected First Lieutenant Co. C, marching with that gal- 
 lant regiment to Mexico, participating in the siege of Vera 
 Cruz, and commanding his company at the battle of Cerro 
 ■Gordo, where it lost twelve in killed and wounded out of 
 forty-one engaged. He served out his term of enlistment, 
 was honorably discharged, and returning to Decatur re- 
 sumed the practice of law for over one year, when feeling 
 the necessity of a " higher education," he went to the Louis- 
 
RICHARD J. OGIJESBY. 11 S 
 
 ville law school, studied most of one year and received a 
 diploma from that institution. On returning to Decatur in 
 the spring of 1849, with others he joined to swell the tide 
 of gold seekers in California, providing an outfit with a six 
 mule Jteam, taking the overland route from St. Joe, Mo., 
 to Sacramento, California, He mined in California for 
 over two years, meeting with fair success, when he returned 
 to Decatur the latter part of 1851 and resumed the practice 
 of law, continuing it successfully for the next five years. In 
 the spring of 1856, having a desire to see foreign countries, 
 he visited Europe, the land of the Pharaohs and the Holy 
 Land, and returned in 1857. In his journeyings he trav- 
 eled leisurely, learning much of the history, lore and tradi- 
 tions of the Orient, and the topography of ancient Syria 
 and Judea, with their history ancient and modern. Meet- 
 ing him in the summer of 1858, at Decatur, when he was 
 making the canvass for Congress against Robinson, he related 
 many incidents and adventures of his foreign trip that were 
 both instructive and entertaining. In his race for Congress 
 he reduced the democratic majority in that district from 
 four thousand to nineteen hundred, over one-half — a very 
 satisfactory result, — showing his popularity in that demo- 
 cratic stronghold. In 1860 he was nominated by the 
 republicans for the state senate, and was elected in a district 
 that was largely democratic, his election being the turning 
 point in making a republican majority in the state senate, — 
 the first time it was so since the organization of the party. 
 On the first call for troops, in April, 1861, he resigned his 
 seat in the senate, and was elected colonel of the Eighth 
 Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, April 25, 1861. 
 His regiment was stationed at Cairo until July, when he 
 was assigned to the command at Bird's Point, where he 
 
116 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 remained six months in command of two brigades of infan- 
 try, and a portion of the time was also in command of the 
 forces at Cairo. He commanded a force of four thousand 
 men sent from Bird's Point to Bloomfield, Mo., a movement 
 in connection with one made by General Grant against the 
 rebel forces at Belmont. In February, 1862, he was given- 
 command of First Brigade, First Division, Army of West 
 Tennessee, under command of General Grant. The brig- 
 ade consisted of his old regiment, the Eighteenth, Twenty- 
 ninth, Thirtieth and Thirty-first regiments infantry. 
 
 His brigade moved at the head of the. forces, and had 
 the honor of being the first to enter Fort Henry. After 
 leading the advance to Fort Donelson, doing all the skir- 
 mishing, it occupied the right of the army in the investment 
 of Fort Donelson, and was constantly under fire the twelfth, 
 thirteenth and fourteenth of February. 
 
 His command was the firsf. to be attacked by the rebels 
 on the 15th of February, maintaining the unequal contest 
 for four hours, losing five hundred killed and wounded. It 
 bore an active and gallant part in the battle, reaping great 
 honors in the victory. 
 
 After the evacuation of Corinth he was assigned to 
 the command of the Second Division of the Army of the 
 Tennessee during the absence of Brigadier-General Davis. 
 He then resumed command of his old brigade, leading 
 them through the terrible battle of Corinth, October 3d, 
 1862. Oglesby and Hackleman's brigade, of the Second 
 Division, kept the entire rebel army at bay, saving Corinth 
 to the union arms. These brigades charged the rebels. 
 Hackleman was killed, and Oglesby was carried from the 
 field, supposed to be dying from a wound received in the 
 lungs. He rallied, but for a long time wavered between 
 
RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 117 
 
 life and death. He was taken to his home in Decatur, and 
 it was not till the middle of the following January that he 
 gained strength enough to leave that city and visit Spring- 
 field, where he had been invited to make a speech in the 
 hall of the house of representatives by leading citizens of 
 the state, upon the war for the union. 
 
 He appeared in the hall, his form emaciated and his 
 face pale^ from long suffering and confinement. His voice 
 trembled until warmed up by the intensity of his feelings, 
 when he gave one of the most thrillingly eloquent speeches 
 we ever listened to. It was during the session of the anti- 
 war legislature, and many of the members were in attend- 
 ance to hear him. He denounced their opposition as 
 treason, their professions of love for the union as hypocrisy, 
 and their plan of raising men and means to carry on the 
 war as an obstruction. . He warned them of the indigna- 
 tion of the people, the wrath of a patriotic soldiery, whose 
 efforts to obtain a peace they were trying to cripple. 
 He described the terrors of Donelson, the carnage of 
 Corinth, in both his brigade leading the attack. We heard 
 that speech, and we lack words to describe its effect. It 
 encouraged the patriotic, denounced " the fire in the rear " 
 members of the legislature, who that session composed a 
 majority, the same that Gov. Yates prorogued the follow- 
 ing June. This speech made Gen. Oglesby the hero of the 
 hour, pointing him out unmistakably as the successor of 
 Gov. Yates in 1864. 
 
 For gallantry and bravery at Corinth he was promoted 
 to major-general, his commission bearing date Nov. 29, 
 1862. On the 1st of April, 1863, he had so far recovered 
 that he reported for duty, and was assigned to the command 
 of the left wing of the Sixteenth Army Corps, consisting 
 
118 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 of two divisions of infantry and one division of cavalry, 
 to occupy West Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. His 
 wound did not heal and was very painful, compelling him 
 to tender his resignation in June, 1863. Gen. Grant re- 
 fused to accept it, but gave him a leave of absence for six 
 months. He again urged the acceptance of his resignation 
 May 24, 1864, and the next day the republican state con- 
 vention, meeting at Springfield, nominated him for gov- 
 ernor, and on the 8th of November following he was elected 
 over James C. Robinson (his former competitor for con- 
 gress in 1858,) by over 32,000 majority, at that time the 
 largest majority ever given to any candidate in this state. 
 He was inaugurated governor Jan. 16, 1865. In his 
 inaugural address he said : " The state of Illinois, true to 
 instincts of loyalty and constitutional liberty, will remain 
 faithful to her allegiance and true to the union, an humble 
 participant in the proud history and pure glory of the holy 
 sisterhood of states, sharing their experience and abiding 
 their fortune to the end of time. We say the republic 
 
 SHALL NOT DIE, THE UNION SHALL NOT BE DIVIDED, 
 
 the rebellion shall not prevail, traitors shall not con- 
 quer." Speaking prophetically he said : " Although the 
 war is not over, the end approacheth. However formidable 
 the rebellion at first, we have seen the worst of it. We . 
 have measured its breadth, sounded its depths and ascended 
 to its height, and are bearing down on it and crushing it 
 out." 
 
 The important legislation of the session of 1865 was 
 marked by the ratification of the thirteenth amendment to 
 the constitution, abolishing slavery. Its passage .in con- 
 gress was announced by telegraph, and both houses were 
 prompt to ratify it, so as to give Illinois the proud distinc- 
 
KICHABD J. OGLESBY. 119 
 
 tion of being the first state in the union to place her seal 
 on the good work. An Illinois president urged it, an 
 Illinois general closed the war, making it possible to 
 abolish slavery, and an Illinois legislature the first to 
 ratify it, — a record to be proud of. This legislature also 
 signalized itself by repealing the " black laws " that had 
 disgraced our statutes since the organization of the state. 
 The law requiring the registration of voters was enacted at 
 this session. 
 
 The war being over, "the piping times of peace," plenty 
 of money and high prices for all classes of produce, made 
 1866 a prosperous year. The last of the troops were with- 
 drawn from the states lately in rebellion, the people 
 resumed their peaceful occupations, and trade and com- 
 merce flourished. A new legislature was elected in 
 November and ushered in the following January by assem- 
 bling in regular session at Springfield. It was a session 
 fruitful of many plans to promote education and educa- 
 tional institutions, public enterprises, improvements of 
 channels of transportation, a new penal institution for 
 Southern Illinois, and over these were contests for loca- 
 tions, an active lobby presenting every conceivable scheme, 
 some of them receiving favorable consideration. The act 
 establishing the state board of equalization was recom- 
 mended by Governor Oglesby, arid enacted into law. 
 After a heated contest, great competition in bids, and 
 much spirited disputation, the Industrial University was 
 located at Champaign. There was not much party discus- 
 sion at either the session of 1864 or 1865, one party being 
 so largely in the ascendancy the minority quietly conceded 
 the lead. Hon. Lyman Trumbull was re-elected United 
 States senator, and the adoption of the fourteenth amend-" 
 
120 FIFTY YBAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ment, conferring citizenship upon the blacks, and an agita- 
 tion of the question removing the capital of the state, took 
 place at this time. 
 
 The four years of Gov. Oglesby's administration passed. 
 The relations existing between the executive and legislative 
 branch were harmonious, and he delivered over the reins 
 of authority to his successor, one of the most popular retir- 
 ing governors of the state ever holding the high position, 
 if we may judge of his election to the same position in 
 November, 1872, from which he was soon transferred to the 
 senate of the United States, by being chosen by the legisla- 
 ture. On the 4th of March, 1873, he took his seat in that 
 august body, a,nd served the state most faithfully for six 
 years, his term expiring March 4, 1879, since which time 
 he has devoted his time to his private business, but is hale, 
 hearty and robust, willing to serve the state in the same 
 exalted position if the people, through their representatives, 
 should make a demand for his services. 
 
JOHN M. PALMER. 
 
 FOURTEENTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Encouragement to youthful endeavor— Nativity and humble be- 
 ginning — Limited educational facilities — Comes to Illinois 
 in 1841 — Assists in improving a farm — Death of his mother 
 
 — Attends manual labor college at Alton — Then teaches 
 school — Mercantile traveler — Meets Douglas — Is encour- 
 aged to study law — Admitted to the bar — Not at first suc- 
 cessful — Gets married — Elected county judge — Elected 
 member of constitutional convention — Elected to state sen- 
 ate — Anti-Nebraska principles — Attends Bloomington con- 
 vention of 1856 — Takes active part in canvass of 1858 and 
 1860 — Appointed peace commissioner — Volunteers for the 
 war — Elected colonel — Appointed brigadier-general — Major 
 general — Engaged in many battles — Marches with Sherman 
 — Assigned to command in Kentucky — Difficult position — 
 Military orders — Makes a speech to Kentuckians — Defines 
 their position — Privileges of the colored man and brother — 
 Mustered out — Eesumes his profession — Nominated for 
 governor — State ticket — All elected — His characteristics — 
 Meeting of the legislature —Inaugural — Lobbyists at work 
 
 — The governor closely scrutinises each bill — Exercises the 
 veto power — Constitutional convention — The good work 
 performed — Minority representation — Gov. Palmer at pro- 
 fessional work — "What might be — Author visits Springfield. 
 
 Noble impulses and high ambitions are stimulated by 
 success, and the pages of our country's history are, to him 
 who reads to be instructed, beacon lights, encouraging 
 efforts to overcome obstacles that poverty and privation 
 interpose to discourage the youth of our country from ac- 
 
122 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 quiring knowledge and attaining distinction. As an en- 
 couragement that will thrill the current of thought, stir the 
 blood, and quicken the pulses of the readers of this work, 
 we shall devote this chapter to one who rose to distinction 
 by perseverance, pluck and brawn. 
 
 John McAuley Palmer was born at Eagle Creek, Scott 
 county, Kentucky, September 13, 1817. His father, an old 
 soldier of the war of 1812, while John was yet a small 
 child, removed to Christian county in the western part of 
 the state, where lands were cheap. Here, as he grew in 
 years and stature, he was engaged in assisting his father in 
 opening a new farm, receiving the benefit of such schooling 
 as the sparsely settled country enabled his parents to give 
 him. He was self educating, a student even in their rude 
 home. He read all the books that his father's scanty 
 library afforded, then borrowed from the neighbors such 
 books as they possessed that imparted the knowledge he 
 was seeking. His father was a man possessed of good 
 judgment, governed by- principle, and early impressed on 
 the minds of his children anti-slavery sentiments, which 
 they did not forget in after years. 
 
 The family removed to Madison county, Illinois, in 1831, 
 and engaged in improving a farm, John, as he did in Ken- 
 tucky, assisting. During this time he was devoting all his 
 spare time in overcoming the disadvantages of his meager 
 education by reading, and by his application fitted himself 
 for entering the first department of a manual labor college 
 at Alton. In 1833 his mother died, which made it neces- 
 sary for his father to close housekeeping, and John, with 
 his elder brother Elihu, entered the college at Alton and 
 remained eighteen months. He advanced rapidly in his 
 studies, and at the end of this time, finding it necessary to 
 
JOHN M. PALMER. 123 
 
 replenish his exchequer, he left school and engaged in coop- 
 ering in summer, teaching in winter and as a pedestrian sales- 
 man during vacations. The year 1838 he attained his ma- 
 jority, and. while making some of his mercantile trips over 
 the country fell in with Douglas, then making his first 
 canvass for Congress. They became fast friends, were in 
 political accord, and Douglas' eloquence fired his imagina- 
 tion to the effort of rising to like eminence. Douglas 
 encouraged him to study law. The following winter, while 
 teaching, he obtained the use of some law books, devoted 
 his spare time to reading law, and when his school closed 
 in the spring he entered a law office at Carlinville, making 
 his home at the house of his brother, Rev. Elihu J. Palmer, 
 who was pastor of the Baptist church in that city. Al the 
 meeting of the supreme court in 1840 he was admitted to 
 the bar, his friend Douglas, who was much interested in his 
 behalf, being present as one of the examiners. He was not 
 immediately successful, and would have located elsewhere 
 but had not the means to travel and seek a new location. 
 This proved a blessing in disguise, and while awaiting busi- 
 ness he the more energetically applied himself to his read- 
 ing. He was poor, but industrious and honest, and his 
 reward came afterwards. 
 
 He took an active interest in public affairs, was popular, 
 and in 1842 was married to Miss Neely, one of the popular 
 young ladies of the place. 
 
 In 1843 he was elected county judge, and at the end of 
 his term in 1847 was elected to the state constitutional 
 convention, in which he took a leading part. "When the 
 deliberations of that august body closed he devoted himself 
 closely to the practice of his profession, which was now be- 
 coming lucrative. In 1852 he was elected to the state 
 
124 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTION'S. 
 
 senate for two sessions, or four years. In 1854, not forget- 
 ting the teachings of his father, he took a firm stand in 
 opposition to the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and 
 on this he and his old friend Douglas separated politically. 
 
 He was again a candidate for the senate, this time on the 
 anti-Nebraska issue; and was elected. It was at the session 
 following that Lyman Trumbull was elected to the United 
 States senate, the whigs in the legislature coming to his 
 support. In 1856 he joined his fortunes to the republican 
 party. In 1861 he was appointed one of the delegates to 
 the peace convention at Washington, but the object of- the 
 commission was a failure. The south was bent on war and 
 precipitated it. 
 
 The war being inaugurated, he tendered his services to 
 the government, and was chosen colonel of the 14th regi- 
 ment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 
 
 In the campaign of 1861 he was assigned to duty in 
 Missouri. In December of that year he was promoted to 
 brigadier general, and assigned to duty at Commerce, Mo., 
 under orders from Gen. Pope. His forces participated in 
 the capture of New Madrid, Island No. 10, and in the 
 march to Corinth. 
 
 He commanded the First Brigade of the First Division 
 of the Army of the Mississippi at the battle of Farming- 
 ton. His division at Stone River, on the 31st day of 
 December, 1862, stood like a rock. For his gallantry here 
 he was made a major-general. His soldierly qualities were 
 of a high order. He was shrewd, prompt, decisive and 
 unfaltering in execution, and his promotion to a higher rank 
 ■came no sooner than the army and country felt it was de- 
 served. At Chickamauga his and VanCleves' divisions 
 maintained their positions against fearful odds. He com- 
 
JOHN M. PALMER. 125 
 
 manded the 14th army corps in the Atlanta campaign, and 
 fought with distinction at Kenesaw and Peach Tree Cieek, 
 receiving praise and encomiums in the official reports of 
 Gen. Sherman. 
 
 Through some question of rank as to the succession to 
 Gen. McPherson's command after his death, Gen. Palmer 
 asked to be relieved, and some time after was assigned to 
 new duty. 
 
 In February, 1865, he was assigned to the command of 
 the Union forces in Kentucky, made military and civil 
 governor, as well as commanding general. It was a. delicate" 
 post. There was much restlessness. About half the people 
 were professedly unionists, the other half sympathizing with 
 the rebellion. The slaves of the unionists would escape to 
 the union lines, and then it was expected that the com- 
 mandants of posts would return them. Guerrillas were 
 active; the question of emancipation was unsettled, and 
 society was restless, troubled, and in a state of anarchy. It 
 took decision and firmness to govern this seething mass. 
 Professed union men were often found aiding the guerrillas, 
 and it was the duty of the military governor to provide a 
 tribunal to punish them. 
 
 Kentucky was again " the dark and bloody ground." 
 White and black were in commotion ; the status of the negro 
 was yet unsettled in Kentucky, and their oppression was 
 greater than ever. Both the slaves of unionists and rebels 
 were anxious to get within the union lines, — in fact to get 
 north of the Ohio river. 
 
 Gen. Palmer moved deliberately, but it was his impera- 
 tive duty to move strongly. Crafty men could not manage 
 him. April 29th he issued his first order. It instructed 
 military officers as to their duty in making arrests. People 
 
126 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 were not to be siezed for trivial words, uttered perhaps 
 unguardedly. There was supposed to be no armed enemy to 
 the government within his department, and all persons 
 patrolling the state in violation of law were to be treated 
 as robbers and guerrillas, and not permitted to surrender for 
 trial. We give extracts from the order : — 
 
 " The people of this department are to be protected 
 without regard to color. All such persons are under the 
 protection of the government. Colored people, within the 
 laws, resolutions, proclamations and orders referred to, are 
 free; and whether free or not, are to be protected from 
 cruelty and oppression in all cases. When the state of the 
 country and organization and rules of civil tribunals will 
 permit them to enforce justice, offenders against the local 
 laws will be handed over to them for trial." 
 
 Here was firmness toned with justice and mercy. The 
 order was right in spirit and conservative in tone. 
 
 At the union convention, held at Frankfort, Gen. 
 Palmer delivered an address, and pledged the whole power 
 of the government to protect union men and free speech, 
 adding, in the hearing of some ex-rebels, " The time has 
 passed in this country when free speech is to be understood 
 as the liberty of mouthing treason. Free speech does not 
 imply that the traducer of the government, and the defamer 
 of the principles upon which it is founded, shall be pro- 
 jected in his lying utterances. My idea is, that no man has 
 a right to utter treason not believing it, or to utter treason 
 believing it. In the one case he is simply a liar, in the 
 other he is a traitor." 
 
 The approach of the annual election called out order 
 No. 51, declaring the continued existence of martial law, 
 and forbidding the exercise of suffrage to all guerrillas, all 
 
JOHN M. PALMER. 127 
 
 rebel scouts and spies, and persons who by act or word 
 gave aid or comfort to persons in rebellion ; all deserters 
 from the service of the United States, " all persons who 
 were or have been, directly or indirectly, engaged in the 
 civil service »f the so-called Confederate government, or 
 so-called Provisional government of Kentucky." 
 
 To assist colored people to go where they could find 
 employment, the general set aside the statutes forbidding 
 them transportation on lines of transit, and informed muni- 
 cipal authorities that they could not and should not molest 
 persons made free by authority of the government. The 
 president was besought to remove Gen. Palmer, but the 
 administration sustained him. A suit was brought against 
 him for aiding slaves to escape, but Judge Johnston dis- 
 missed it on the ground that the requisite number of states 
 had adopted the constitutional amendment before the 
 indictment was found, and that therefore all criminal and 
 penal acts of the legislature of Kentucky relating to slavery 
 were of no avail. Thus a Kentucky court gave the first 
 judicial recognition of the amendment. A general order 
 ■ followed, proclaiming the abolition of slavery and advising 
 people of color to claim their right to travel at the bar of 
 the courts. Treason and half-confirmed loyalty was again 
 baffled. Gen. Palmer's administration in Kentucky will 
 stand approved in history. When, in 1866, Kentucky was 
 fully tranquilized, he was honorably mustered out, and 
 returned to the peaceful duties of his profession. Malicious 
 prosecutions followed him, but the loyal people of Illinois 
 and a restored union sustained him, and it is now conceded 
 that he blended respect for the state and municipal laws of • 
 Kentucky in every particular consistent with his functions 
 as a military commander. Gen. Palmer was nominated for 
 
128 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 governor of Illinois in 1868, against his own protests The 
 republican state convention was held at Peoria, May 6, 
 Hon. Franklin Oorwin, of LaSalle, presiding. Gen. 
 Palmer did not attend the convention, and it seemed that 
 none of his many friends were authorized to speak for him. 
 All the most ardent could say was that " if the nomination 
 was pressed upon him he would regard the voice of the 
 convention as a summons to duty." There were other 
 aspirants for the place, but they all knew that if Palmer 
 would accept he would be nominated ; so that none had the 
 temerity to press their claims till the matter of his accept- 
 ance was settled. He telegraphed to Gen. Rowett while 
 the convention was in session : " Do not permit me to be 
 nominated, I cannot accept." This was read to the con- 
 vention, and that body at once, in its perversity, nominated 
 him. They now placed the responsibility on him of refus- 
 ing to accept after the nomination was made. He was 
 telegraphed at once and urged to accept, and finally, con- 
 sidering it to be the duty of the hour, the voice of the 
 people having placed him within the Jeffersonian rule, 
 "neither to seek nor refuse office," he tacitly consented. 
 The other candidates on the state .ticket were John 
 Dougherty, for lieutenant-governor; Edward Rummel, 
 for secretary of state; Chas. E. Lippincott, for auditor; 
 E. N. Bates, for treasurer; Washington Bushnell, for 
 attorney general ; Newton Bateman, for superintendent of 
 public instruction. Andrew Shuman, Robert E. Logan 
 and John Reid were nominated for re-election for peniten- 
 tiary commissioners, and Gen. John A. Logan for congress- 
 man-at-large. 
 
 The author's acquaintance with Gov. Palmer has not 
 been one of intimacy, but of observation while attending 
 
JOHN M. PALMEK. 129 
 
 the sessions of the legislature from 1852 to 1860, during 
 the sessions when he was a membefoi" the.sstfate, and visit- 
 ing Springfield while he was governor. We fowadlhim <4n 
 legislative work a logical and cogent feasoner-; his- language, 
 which he never aims to make^bisilli'ant, but while present- 
 ing his array of facts and ideas^so fofcibl^an'diconvin'cing, 
 that it almost approached brilliancy/ His '.authorities ace 
 always at hand, which he marshals in'Sb.lid> array ^-showing 
 the full scope and sweep of the' - subject udder-discussion i 
 He studies his subjects well, and^wheriunderstanding them 
 has a rare capacity of presenting; thent T <to the -understands 
 ing of others. He has business T as. we'll as eMct- methods 
 in the practice of the law. Thfefiwith his long experience 
 in public affairs, both civil and- ' military*/ makes i him <■ a 
 statesman of the highest order. ' His ;mentali -develop- 
 ments establish the phrenologieallheery; A& has -a robust 
 frame, standing above the medium height; •.] no. iosteutatnmy 
 social to everybody, of correct habits, fliberalvarnddbeneiVD^- 
 lent to such an extent that, althbxrgfc'die 'has >a competence^ 
 he is not wealthy. ■'•;>-• '-'-' '- -" u ''■■ '' o; '-*-' 
 
 The session of 1869 was characterizeAbygresrt industry^ 
 not only among the members, but among the i members! ©£ 
 the "third house" — the lobby. (".{This ''.latter ointerest ywas 
 never more bold in urging legislation' in; ihe^intesestsjof 
 rings. They were reckless, audacious, oiprodigal kutheic 
 professions, and perhaps it can be'said with 'truth* they were 
 well supplied with "the sinews oft war " =in the' shape of 
 funds, to impress on members the'exoeeding importance ~<si 
 the measures they were advocating.^- Their methods wser-s 
 varied. A leading member of the senate, describing' their 
 manner of approach to the author, ^aid,"^ they 'seldanx 
 offered money outright, but would* ask <;an audience orf .a 
 
 9 
 
130 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 member to explain the measure they were advocating, 
 going into it fully, in general and particular details, grow- 
 ing very enthusiastic over it, and trying to get the member 
 warmed up in its favor. If he succeeded in making an 
 impression he would then ask the member to investigate 
 the matter for himself. The member by this time would 
 say to the lobbyist that his other legislative duties required 
 his whole time and would not permit him to further inves- 
 tigate. Then the lobbyist would say, ' he was aware that 
 the time of members was fully taken up, but that his 
 measure was of public interest and one that members 
 would but be engaged in their duty to the people in giving 
 attention to, but he did not want them to give their time 
 for nothing, it would perhaps be asking too much to do so, 
 but if the member would give it attention he would 
 fully compensate him for all the time taken.' When he 
 arrived at this point he began to draw his pocketbook, and 
 unless the member turned away he would hand over fifty 
 or a hundred dollars, according as he valued the influence 
 or vote of the member, saying, in his blandest tone, ' I do 
 not wish to trespass on yonr- valuable time, but I am 
 anxious to have you investigate the matter, and do not 
 expect you to give your time for nothing.' If the member 
 accepted the money he was sure of his support of the 
 measure; if he did not, the member could not say that the 
 money was offered as a bribe." * 
 
 This was one of " the ways that were dark " in which 
 members were approached. Of course there were other 
 methods besides regular bargain and sale of votes and influ- 
 ence, but this is given to show what a $50 or $100 bill or 
 frequently larger amounts, will do as a conscience plaster 
 to smooth the way for the support of measures that were 
 
JOHN M. PALMER. 131 
 
 special in their nature, and in which the people had no 
 interest. 
 
 Gov. Palmer, in his message, characterized special leg- 
 islation as anti-republican and dangerous to the liberties of 
 the people. Notwithstanding this warning, bills were in- 
 troduced covering every conceivable object for corporate 
 purposes, nearly all of which sought some advantage over 
 the general law of the state or the people. 
 
 The governor, it was soon found, had the industry and 
 will to examine each bill after it was passed, when sub- 
 mitted to him for his approval, and the courage to exercise 
 the restraining power of a veto, when, in his judgment, the 
 public interest was not consulted in the passage of laws. 
 Of the nearly 1,700 bills that were passed at that session, 
 none escaped his patient scrutiny. A large number of these 
 he deemed unconstitutional, contrary to public policy, and 
 at great expense of time reduced his objections to writing, 
 in terms that were respectful, and showing forcible reason- 
 ing and the judicial bearing of the case. 
 
 So many of these bills, requiring much time to examine 
 their immense mass of dry legal verbiage, were pressed on 
 the governor, that the legislature concluded its labors before 
 he could examine them, so took a recess from March 8th to 
 April 7th, one month, to give him time to examine care- 
 fully all the bills before the final adjournment. An import- 
 ant event, indicating the advance of liberal principles, was 
 the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the consti- 
 tution of the United States, giving suffrage to colored 
 people. This ratification "covered a multitude of sins" 
 committed by that legislature in the passage of hasty, 
 imprudent, and pernicious, as well as unconstitutional 
 legislation. 
 
132 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Other important matters occurred during Gov. Palmer's 
 administration with which we will close this sketch. 
 
 At the same election that he was chosen, in 1868, the 
 people voted in favor of the call for a constitutional con- 
 vention. The legislature that we have been discussing" 
 authorized the election of delegates, who were to meet at 
 Springfield, December 13, 1869. This convention, com- 
 posed of learned jurists, experienced statesmen, men coming 
 from all the professions, avocations, industries and honor- 
 able callings of the state, met and prepared with much care 
 a constitution, pronounced the best and wisest in its limita- 
 tions and restrictions of any of the states of the union. 
 Time, now thirteen years since, seems to endorse this con- 
 clusion, as the question of changing any of the provisions 
 of that constitution has never been seriously proposed by 
 any authority entitled to respect. 
 
 Space will permit but a reference to a few of the reforms 
 introduced. Special legislation, which the governor so 
 deprecated in his message, is greatly circumscribed, and 
 irrevocable private franchises and immunities are prohibited. 
 This provision destroys, in a measure, legislative rings, and 
 the professional lobbyist's " occupation is gone." The gov- 
 ernor is given a qualified veto, for the first time in the his- 
 tory of the state, with good results so far as exercised. Be- 
 fore this a bare majority of the legislature was practically 
 the supreme power in the state. Minority representation 
 in the legislature by means of cumulative voting has proven 
 a satisfactory feature of this constitution, and the more 
 noted from the fact of its being first adopted in this state. 
 No other state in the Union has yet adopted it. It is a 
 subject to which we have given some attention, and believe 
 from its first adoption that it has exactly corresponded to 
 
JOHN M. PALMER. 133 
 
 the ratio of representation to which the popular vote of the 
 state entitled the different parties. Its just features are, 
 that each senatorial and representative district can elect 
 one member of the opposite political sentiment. No part 
 of the state can present a solid front for either political 
 party, and every voter in the state has at least one repre- 
 sentative at the state capitol to whom he can appeal to pre- 
 sent his views and sentiments. Another good feature, it- 
 promotes fraternal feeling between the different sections of 
 our great state. 
 
 Our limits will not permit further mention of Governor 
 Palmer's administration of state affairs. 
 
 Since his retirement to private life he has devoted him- 
 self to professional business. He has received honorable 
 mention at the presidential conventions of his party for the 
 nomination as their candidate for the presidency. That 
 party always fails to nominate their " best man " when they 
 leave John M. Palmer off their ticket. The republicans 
 will always continue to feel thankful to them for doing so. 
 He will not seek the nomination. He invites no ( ' light- 
 ning stroke " of that kind ; no more than he did when he 
 was nominated for governor. The democracy would honor 
 themselves more than they would him by choosing him as 
 their standard bearer. While at Springfield to look in 
 upon the organization of the legislature in January, 1883, 
 we called on Gov. Palmer at his office to remind him that 
 we intended to cherish him in our " Recollections." We 
 found him surrounded by clients, and more waiting an 
 audience. A pleasant salutation, a friendly grasp of the 
 hand, and a bid to " call again," was all the time he could 
 give us. 
 
JOHN L. BEVERIDGE. 
 
 FIFTEENTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Nativity — early Education — Studies law — Admitted to practice 
 — Removes to Chicago — Enlists in the Army — Elected Cap- 
 tain—Appointed Major — His services in the Army of the 
 Potomac — Eeeruits and organizes the Seventeenth Illinois 
 Cavalry— Elected Colonel — Long term of service in Missouri 
 —Regiment engages in many battles — Promoted to Brigadier 
 General — Assigned to duty in military court— Other officers 
 of the regiment —Regiment receives the last surrender of the 
 rebellion — Mustered out — Returns to Chicago — Elected 
 Sheriff — State Senator — Lieutenant-Governor — Governor — 
 Term expires — Appointed Sub-Treasurer — Money bags by 
 the cord — " Millions in it." 
 
 Faithfulness and devotion to principle should be recog- 
 nized, and when it involves the sacrifice of business, of 
 home and its pleasures, and places in jeopardy life, health 
 and limb for the love of country, it deserves to be chroni- 
 cled on historic page and held in remembrance by a 
 grateful people. 
 
 John L. Beveridge was born at Greenwich, Washington 
 county, New York, July 6, 1824. His father was a farmer 
 in fair circumstances and John enjoyed fair educational 
 privileges until his father's family removed to Illinois in the 
 spring of 1842, when he was in his eighteenth year. They 
 settled on a farm in DeKalb county, and all the working 
 force of the family was busily engaged in opening up and 
 improving the farm. 
 
JOHN L. BEVEEIDGE. 135 
 
 He was a great reader and early developed an aptitude 
 for the law, and as the opportunities presented, improved 
 them, and in due time was admitted to practice. Such 
 was his success that he attained considerable prominence in 
 the practice of his profession in his own and adjoining 
 counties. 
 
 In 1844, wishing a wider field and scope for his varied 
 specialties of practice, he opened an office in Chicago, and 
 soon secured a good practice, which he increased until the 
 breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, when, August 27, 
 1861, he enlisted, and commenced recruiting for the Eighth 
 Illinois cavalry. 
 
 On the organization of the company he was elected cap- 
 tain of Co. F., September 17th. The next day he was 
 selected by the line officers as one of the majors of the 
 regiment. In October the regiment was ordered to Wash- 
 ington, and remained there during the winter of 1861—2. 
 In the inclement .weather and deep mud of Maryland and 
 Virginia they were schooled to the privations and severe 
 duties of camp life, hard marching and severe fighting. He 
 was an apt student, and quickly acquired skill in drill and 
 the discipline of army movements and the maneuvering of 
 the cavalry soldier. 
 
 His was no holiday soldiering. He shared in all the 
 long and weary marches, toils, dangers and battles of that 
 gallant regiment, and the checkered and varied success and 
 defeats of the Army of the Potomac. The regiment partic- 
 ipated in the battle of Williamsburg, led the advance 
 under Gen. Stoneman upon Richmond, taking part in the 
 battle of Fair Oaks, in the memorable seven days fight 
 around Richmond, and the long and weary nights on picket 
 and scout duty round that city, and ranging in their sweep, 
 
136 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Harrison's Landing. But this "On to Richmond" move- 
 ment did not succeed, the connections were not made at all 
 the points to prove it a success, and the Eighth Cavalry, 
 with the rest of that large and disappointed army, were 
 forced to retreat. Upon this retreat from James River the 
 Eighth formed the rear guard, and the battalion commanded 
 by Major Beveridge the extreme rear, beating back and 
 fighting the rebel hosts. 
 
 In the fall of 1862, in the campaigns that ended in the 
 battle of Fredericksburg, the " avenging hosts " .of the 
 Eighth Illinois Cavalry were always hovering on the flanks 
 or pitching into the wings of the rebel army. Major Bev- 
 eridge fought the enemy, in command of his regiment, 
 under that great cavalry leader, General Pleasanton, at 
 Purcellville, Uniontown, Aldie, Barber's Cross Roads and 
 Amesville, and covered the rear and right flank of the army 
 while swinging round under General Burnside to Fred- 
 ericksburg. 
 
 The Eighth were the flying couriers, we might almost 
 -say the winged messengers, at the battle of Fredericksburg, 
 Major Beveridge's battalion being the only cavalry force 
 that crossed the river on that day. This force might with 
 propriety be called the " Avengers," they followed in such 
 quick succession in the battles of Chancellorsville, leading 
 his regiment at Gettsyburg, Williamsport, Boonsboro, 
 Funkstown, Falling Waters, and five times over the 
 ground between the Rappahanock and Culpepper, either 
 chasing the enemy or beating off their attack. Such was 
 life with Major Beveridge in the Array of the Potomac. 
 Sometimes the regiment was altogether, at other times 
 divided up into battalions, making the Eighth almost 
 omnipresent in all the operations at that stirring period of 
 
JOHN L. BEVERIDGE. 137 
 
 the war. In this manner he served until the fall of 1863, 
 when it was determined to organize another cavalry regi- 
 ment from Illinois, and through Mr. Lincoln's recommen- 
 dation to the War Department, permission was obtained to 
 raise and organize another regiment, and by consent of 
 Gov. Yates Major Beveridge resigned his commission 
 Nov. 3, 1863, and returned to Illinois to recruit and organ- 
 ize the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry. He was successful, 
 and January 28, 1864, he was mustered in commissioned 
 as colonel, and was in command of twelve companies, with 
 Lieut. Col. Dennis J. Hynes, Major Hiram Hilliard, Second 
 Major Lucius C. Matlack, Third Major Philip E. Fisher. 
 
 The first duty of the new regiment was to take charge 
 of the rebel prisoners at Alton, during which time they 
 engaged in active drill. February 16, 1864, he received 
 orders to cross the river into Missouri, and there did duty. 
 during the spring and summer. They engaged in pursuit 
 of the rebel army in October, 1864, afterwards dividing 
 into squadrons and engaged in the scouting service in Mis- 
 souri. During 1865 the regiment was re-united in Kansas. 
 The second battalion, Major Matlack commanding, was 
 sent to Glasgow, Mo., in the midst of guerilla strongholds. 
 On landing at midnight dispatches were handed the Major 
 advising him of the approach of a large rebel force. 
 
 The guerrillas dreaded the 17th, and did not attack. 
 Orders came the next day from Gen. Eosencrans, directing 
 the major with one hundred and fifty of the 17th, a squad- 
 ron of the 9th Missouri cavalry, and several hundred Mis- 
 souri militia, to move out in search of the rebel Thornton, 
 who was in North Missouri with one thousand five hundred 
 men. Thornton retreated. Matlack pursued, but could 
 not catch him. Thus was inaugurated a short, vigorous 
 
138 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 campaign, requiring, for two months afterwards, scouting 
 parties, who engaged in severe skirmishing in which the 
 boys from Illinois distinguished themselves. 
 
 The main part of the regiment under command of Col. 
 Beveridge reported to Gen. McNiell, at Rolla, Mo. On 
 September 28th Price attacked Pilot Knob and was re- 
 pulsed. The rebel army was approaching Rolla, and the 
 same night they burned Cuba, twenty-four miles distant. 
 To check the enemy Col. Beveridge was ordered to move 
 out with the 17th on the 20th. At night the regiment 
 reached Cuba, and the rebel column of cavalry was driven 
 before them. This relieved Gen. Ewing, who, with eight 
 hundred men was expecting an attack, and fearful of cap- 
 ture. Col. Fletcher (since governor of Missouri) hailed 
 with delight their deliverance by the timely arrival of the 
 • Seventeenth. 
 
 The rebels under Price, 20,000 strong, were now be- 
 tween Rolla and St. Louis, on their way to capture Jefferson 
 City. They had seized the railroads and destroyed the 
 telegraph lines. No orders or positive information could 
 be obtained. Sanborn's and McNiell's brigades moved out 
 at a venture towards Jefferson City, on a race to reach there 
 before Price,if possible. Scouts reported rebel forces mov- 
 ing on a parallel line only five miles away. Federal ibrces 
 reached the city a few hours before Price, and preparations 
 were hastily made for a vigorous defence. The men worked 
 with a will, for the rebels outnumbered them three to one. 
 Col. Beveridge, with the invincible 17th, was given the post 
 of honor on the extreme right. Here an approach in force 
 of the enemy, from the nature of the ground, was thought 
 to be where they would make their attack. Gen. Fisk was 
 in chief command. All the commanders of the brigades 
 
JOHN L. BEVERIDGE. 139 
 
 were encouraging their men, and a bloody struggle was ex- 
 pected on the right. The artillery of the enemy opened on 
 the center, and finding the federal forces well posted for 
 defense, moved by in the night, heading for Booneville. 
 Early on the morning of the 5th Col. Beveridge discovered 
 the retreat of the foe, and soon was following them in pur- 
 suit. Major General Pleasanton having assumed chief 
 command, Col. Beveridge was placed in command of the 
 Second Brigade, the command of the Seventeenth devolving 
 on Major Matlack. 
 
 The enemy was found in force at Booneville. October 
 11th Gen. Sanborn directed Col. Beveridge to attack with 
 his brigade next morning at daybreak. The order of battle 
 was arranged. The Fifth Missouri cavalry was followed by 
 the Seventeenth Illinois. A vigilant foe was encountered, 
 who was driven more than a mile, the Seventeenth follow- 
 ing, moving to the front as the Fifth retired, carrying back 
 its wounded. The Seventeenth was posted to await the 
 attack of the enemy, who had been reinforced. Every de- 
 sired end was gained. The rebels' attention was diverted 
 to the front. The Seventeenth moved back in good order r 
 unobserved, over the bridge where the fight first began, 
 Major Matlack being the last man over, and with twa 
 orderlies, tearing up the plank floor so as to prevent artil- 
 lery following. Every plan was carried out, the rebels were 
 nonplussed, and they evacuated Booneville, the federals not 
 knowing exactly where to find them. The Seventeenth was- 
 ordered to move out in advance and attack any rebel force 
 it could whip on the road to Lexington. The rebels did 
 not stop at Lexington. The brigades of McNiell, Brown,. 
 Sanborn and Winslow, all under command of Pleasanton, 
 moved forward rapidly, overtaking the rebels near Inde- 
 
140 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 pendence. Col. Beveridge, now again at the head of the 
 Seventeenth, was dismounted and deployed on the left, 
 moving forward, while the Thirteenth Missouri cavalry, 
 supported by the Seventh Kansas cavalry, charged on the 
 enemy, capturing their cannon. At midnight on the 22nd 
 the whole force was again in motion, and during the day 
 the Seventeenth was ordered to attack the left flank of the 
 enemy, and proceeding cautiously, were just on the point of 
 charging and capturing the rebel wagon train when they 
 were recalled by Gen. McNiell, and its best opportunity for 
 distinction was lost for that day. 
 
 Pushing on through mud and rain they again joined 
 the main command under Pleasanton, and the enemy was 
 again overtaken, and at early dawn, October 26th, at the 
 battle of Mine Creek, Marmaduke and Cabell were cap- 
 tured with over a thousand prisoners, their arms and ten 
 pieces of artillery. The prisoners were passed to the rear. 
 The tired troopers, without stopping to rest, pursued the 
 main body under Price, trying again to get up with them. 
 Once they thought they had them. Gen. McNiell ordered a 
 sabre charge, but the rebels fled and the federals pursued. 
 Charging ahead on their jaded horses, a few miles brought 
 them out on a broad rolling prairie, and there suddenly 
 appeared in front the whole main army of Price in three 
 lines of battle with supporting columns. It was a grand 
 and imposing scene — the very picture and poetry of war, 
 every man of that fifteen thousand being in view. The fed- 
 erals hastened to form in line of battle and advanced boldly. 
 Every movement was seen. Our right attacked the rebel 
 lines. The rebels massed for a charge, moving forward 
 ■with screams of fury on the federal right wing, and were 
 greeted with shouts of defiance. The Seventeenth was 
 
JOHN L. BEVERIDGE. 141 
 
 ordered from the extreme left to strengthen the right of the 
 center. The rebel right then hurried forward to flank the 
 federal left. Col. Beveridge rode along the front of his 
 regiment to give the last directions : " Be firm now. 
 "When they are in short range empty your carbines, give 
 them your pistols next, then draw your sabres, and let every 
 man show how Illinois serves traitors.". Just then the 
 music of the federal cannon burst in full chorus from the 
 rear of the beleagured brigade, throwing shells most oppor- 
 tunely over into the charging mass of rebels, checking and 
 demoralizing it. This check permitted the Seventeenth to 
 return to its former position, when the rebel right retired 
 speedily and their whole line fell back. 
 
 Near sunset Pleasanton sent an order to charge the 
 whole line. McNiell rode up to Col. Beveridge saying : 
 " I cannot move the whole line with my voice. My aids 
 are nowhere to be found, give me a lieutenant, and do you, 
 Colonel, move forward the Seventeenth any how." Lieu- 
 tenant Pollock was detailed to convey orders to the right, 
 and away went the Seventeenth alone, half a mile in 
 advance of the center or right. With only about three 
 hundred men it pushed up in the face of the enemy, who 
 retired as it approached. The brigade encamped on the 
 enemy's ground, and the rebels fled scattering. The Sev- 
 enteenth returned to Kolla. They had left there a month 
 previous, over five hundred strong, another squadron join- 
 ing at Jefferson City. Less than one. hundred and fifty 
 mounted men came back, so destructive to the animals had 
 that continuous pursuit, been, extending over forty days. 
 The Seventeenth had carried off the honors, and the cam- 
 paign was ended. Col. Beveridge was breveted brigadier 
 general, and given a command in the department of Missouri. 
 
142 fifty year's recollections. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Hynes was made chief of cavalry of 
 North Missouri, on General Fisk's staff, but was soon after 
 given a sub-military district, with headquarters at Pilot 
 Knob. Major Hilliard was put in command of the regi- 
 ment. Major Matlaok was detailed as provost marshal, 
 district of St. Louis. Major Fisher was made chief of cav- 
 alry for district of Bolla. Honors followed those who had 
 followed the fortunes of the glorious Seventeenth. The 
 regiment was under command of Col. Hynes at Cape Girar- 
 deau in the spring of 1865. The rebellion was crushed 
 east of the Mississippi. Jeff Thompson still held out in 
 Arkansas, with a reported force of 60,000. Gen. Dodge, 
 in command of that district, sent Capt. Bennett of his staff, 
 and Lieutenant-Colonel Davis, to offer Thompson terms of 
 surrender. The Seventeenth was chosen as an escort, Col. 
 Hynes commanding, Maj. Hilliard taking part of the regi- 
 ment, each having four companies. These marched to 
 Chalk Bluffs, Arkansas, and the " peace commissioners," 
 with an escort of sixty men, went forward, and on May 9th, 
 returned with Jeff Thompson, who arranged for the sur- 
 render of his forces. The total was just 6,000. They were 
 permitted to retire to their homes. This was the last armed 
 force of the rebellion. The Seventeenth was in at the death, 
 was the last regiment to confront a rebel force, and finis 
 was written at the end of the Confederate chapter of events. 
 After this, squadrons, companies and battalions of the 
 regiment were sent to departments of the service ; some to 
 the plains of Kansas, bordering on the Indian nations; 
 some to Fort Smith to aid by their presence the authorities 
 in concluding treaties with the Indians who had aided the 
 rebellion, thus again acting as peace commissioners in 
 another department of the rebellion. 
 
JOHN L. BEVEftlDGB. 143 
 
 The regiment was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, 
 February 6, 1866. 
 
 General Beveridge, after his promotion, March 7, 1865, 
 was ordered to St. Louis to preside over a military commis- 
 sion for the trial of military offenders, and was finally 
 mustered out of service February 6, 1866, the date of 
 muster out of his old regiment. 
 
 Returning to his home he devoted his time to private 
 business and some law practice until the November elec- 
 tion of 1866, when he was elected sheriff of Cook county 
 for the next two years When his term expired, in 1868, 
 he was elected to the state senate, for a term of two years, 
 ending in 1870, then was elected to Congress for one term, 
 when he was nominated on the state republican ticket as 
 candidate for lieutenant-governor, with Governor Oglesby 
 at the head of the ticket. 
 
 The ticket was .elected by a large majority, and the fol- 
 lowing January he was installed into the office and held the 
 position as presiding officer of the senate, when Governor 
 Oglesby being elected to the United States senate, General 
 Beveridge succeeded him as governor, and was duly inau- 
 gurated, serving four years, until succeeded by Hon. Shelby 
 M. Cullom in January, 1877. 
 
 Gov. Beveridge's administration of affairs was vigorous, 
 just.and impartial, showing statesmanship of a high order. 
 We have no space to devote to mention special measures 
 that were promoted during his term. They were all in the 
 interest of the state, and he will be accorded in history a 
 place among the ablest executives of our great state. 
 
 In 1878 he was appointed by President Hayes sub- 
 treasurer at Chicago, where he is keeper of the keys to the 
 vaults that hold the millions of the government treasure 
 
144 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 that is deposited there. In October last, while in Chicago 
 on business connected with our present work, we called on 
 him at his cozy quarters in the government buildings in 
 Chicago. We had met him but once since his retire- 
 ment from his duties as governor, and did not know that 
 he could recognize old friends when so many faces are pass- 
 ing before him every day. Taking on the air of a stranger 
 we presented ourself in front of the strong door of his 
 castle — Lhe treasure box, — asked to be admitted, and was 
 shown in by the attendant to the governor's inner sanctum. 
 We didn't have to introduce ourself; not a bit of it. As 
 we entered he was on his feet in a moment, greeted us by 
 name, a chair was handed, and we sat down to talk over old 
 times, business or other matters that were presented. Soon 
 another caller was announced and was admitted, proving to 
 be Postmaster Kendall, of Geneseo, and an old friend of 
 the governor's. Soon he said to us, " Come with me to' see 
 where Uncle Sam's millions are kept," and leading the 
 way, we entered. Well, the " stacks and cords " of money 
 that are piled up there, $13,000,000 in all,— $1,000. bags of 
 silver, $5,000 bags of gold, cords of it. Then, turning to 
 another part of the vaults, he handed us four packages of 
 notes, bills — silver certificates, that is what they were, 
 $1,000 each note — $1,000,000 in each package. We 
 handled them, put them in our overcoat pocket, then didn't 
 feel a bit rich ; we wasn't a millionaire yet, but these mil- 
 lions, by any one who in time would be entitled to them, 
 could be, all four of them, put into a side pocket and carried 
 away. Such is the argument in favor of paper money, 
 based on specie; while right along side there laid the 
 wagon-loads of bags of silver, of which a $1,000 bag was 
 a heavy load to carry, and a $5,000 bag of gold, though 
 
JOHN L. BEVERIDGE. 145 
 
 not so heavy, would, in time become cumbersome, and 
 weary a man to carry it round. So much for the half- 
 hour spent in Uncle Sam's strong box with the faithful 
 custodian in charge, — our old friend, Captain, Major r 
 .Colonel, General, Senator, Member of Congress, Gov- 
 ernor, — and now Sub-Treasurer of the United States — 
 John L. Beveridge, the gentleman, the soldier and states- 
 man, whom we wish many added years of life to enjoy the= 
 trust and confidence reposed in him. 
 
 10 
 
SHELBY M. CULLOM. 
 
 SIXTEENTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Tribute to the genius of our government — Place of nativity — 
 Parents remove to Illinois — Hard work and meager educa- 
 tion — Earns money to attend Mount Morris Seminary — 111 
 health from hard study — Returns home and resumes farm 
 labor — Recovers his health — U-oes to Springfield to study 
 law — Admitted to practice — Elected city attorney — Mem- 
 ber of legislature — Again in 1860, and elected speaker — 
 Appointed government commissioner — elected to congress 
 
 — Serves three terms — Elected to legislature and again 
 speaker — Elected governor in 1876— Again in 1880— Eriendly 
 contest for the United States senatorship — His competitors 
 
 — Is elected — Resigns his office. 
 
 Our country, with its broad and yet expanding bound- 
 aries, noble institutions, its freedom of government, a 
 liberty-inherited boon from our fathers ; its people, so pros- 
 perous and happy, from the wise and- discreet management 
 of trusted public servants selected for executive positions 
 after serving their state faithfully in other branches of the 
 public service,— this regular advancement is nowhere so 
 fully exemplified as in the sketches we have given of the 
 men called to govern the state in the past sixty-five years. 
 Without an exception each rose to their high position by 
 their own efforts, through toil, privation and discourage- 
 ments, thai, but for indomitable perseverance, would have 
 been insurmountable. The subject of our present sketch is 
 no exception to this rule. 
 
SHELBY M. CULLOM. 147 
 
 Shelby M. Cullom was born Nov. 22, 1829, at Monti- 
 eello, Wayne county, Kentucky. His father and mother, 
 Richard Northcraft Cullom and Elizabeth Cullom, moved 
 from Kentucky to Tazewell county, Illinois, with their 
 family in 1830, and settled in the vicinity where Grove- 
 land now is. Young Cullom, when he attained age and 
 youthful vigor sufficient, assisted his father in working the 
 farm in summer and autumn, and feeding stock mornings 
 and evenings in winter, attending the country school dur- 
 ing the'day time. This he followed till nineteen years old, 
 when he left home and entered Mount Morris Seminary, 
 remaining there for two years, when he returned home on 
 account of poor health. 
 
 Before going to Mount Morris he drove his father's ox 
 team in breaking prairie for several months, and thereby 
 earned sufficient money to pay his school expenses. After 
 leaving the seminary he worked on his father's farm until 
 he recovered his health, when he entered the law office of 
 Stuart & Edwards at Springfield, and began the study of 
 law. He made rapid progress in his studies, and soon after 
 his admission to the bar was elected city attorney. The 
 presidential campaign of 1856 coming on, Mr. Cullom was 
 placed on the Fillmore electoral ticket, and during the same 
 canvass was nominated as the Union candidate of the 
 Fillmore and republican parties as a candidate for repre- 
 sentative to the state legislature, was elected, and at the 
 opening of the session, January 1857, was voted for as 
 speaker by his wing of the opposition party in the legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 The legislature of 1856-7 was an exceedingly strong 
 one. Gen. John A. Logan was the Ajax of the democracy, 
 leading them in their onslaught on Gov. Bissell, and Isaac 
 
148 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 N. Arnold, of Cook, and others championed the republicans. 
 It was a continuous field day from the opening to the clos- 
 ing of the session, and our young member, among others, 
 was distinguished by his industry in promoting legislation. 
 
 In 1860 he was again elected to the legislature, and 
 upon the opening of the session in January 1861, was 
 elected Speaker of the house, and presided during the session 
 with marked ability and impartiality. Before the conclu- 
 sion of this session it was very evident that the Southern 
 States would inaugurate a rebellion, and when the legisla- 
 ture adjourned in March all understood that there would 
 be a call for an extraordinary session at an early day, to 
 provide for the emergency in raising troops to resist and 
 conquer the rebels. This extra session was called by Gov. 
 Yates, by proclamation April 15th, and met April 23d, re- 
 maining in session ten days, their work being chiefly de- 
 voted to placing the state in a position of defense, and to 
 meet the requisitions of the general government to repel 
 invasion, suppress rebellion, and prepare for the exigencies 
 of war. In this hasty, but necessary, legislation, Speaker 
 Cullom rendered very efficient service, and Illinois was 
 placed on a martial footing that was maintained through- 
 out the war. 
 
 In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln on a 
 commission with Gov. Boutwell of Massachusetts, and 
 Charles A. Dana of New York, to go to Cairo, Illinois, and 
 examine into the accounts of quartermasters and commis- 
 sary officers, and settle claims against the government. In 
 this adjustment of the state's account with the general 
 government, he rendered valuable service. 
 
 In 1864 Mr. Cullom was nominated by the republicans 
 of his district as their candidate for Congress, and although 
 the district had given eighteen hundred democratic major- 
 
SHELBY M. CULLOM. 149 
 
 ity two years before, he carried it by nearly the same 
 majority, defeating John T. Stuart, his old law preceptor. 
 
 He was elected to Congress for three successive terms, 
 from 1864 to 1870, leaving his seat March 4, 1871. In the 
 convention of 1870 the republicans of the district became 
 involved in the sectional contest between Springfield and 
 Bloomington, their respective champions being General 
 McNulta of Bloomington, and Mr. Cullom of Springfield. 
 The contest in the convention was long and acrimonious, a 
 recess was taken, and when the convention again met, after 
 the first ballots showing same result, McNulta withdrew, 
 and Col. Jonathan Merriam was presented and nominated. 
 Owing to the unpleasant feeling rising from this long and 
 bitter contest the republicans were beaten in the district, 
 and the democrats have retained the ascendancy in the 
 Springfield congressional district ever sinco. 
 
 On his return from Congress in 1871 the State Na- 
 tional Bank of Springfield was organized, and he was elected 
 its president. In 1872 the republicans of the Sangamon 
 district again demanded that he should go back to the legis- 
 lature as a member of the house, and he was again returned 
 to that body, and by the unanimous call of the republican 
 members was re-elected speaker, and served with great 
 acceptability during the session of 1873. 
 
 He was again elected to the house in 1874, and presented 
 by the republicans as their candidate for speaker, but the 
 democrats and independents formed a combination and 
 elected their candidate, Mr. Cullom being defeated by only 
 a few votes majority for the coalition candidate. Mr. Cullom 
 proved a very efficient member of the house for the session 
 of 1875, commending himself by his attention to the interests 
 of the state. 
 
150 
 
 At the Republican State Convention of 1876 he was 
 nominated for governor over Governor Beveridge, who 
 again sought the honor. His democratic-independent 
 combination competitor was Hon. Lewis Steward, who 
 bringing to his support the opposition to the republicans 
 from all sources was defeated by Cullom by near seven 
 thousand majority. 
 
 Governor Cullom was inaugurated in January 1877, and 
 his executive duties were so well performed during the four 
 succeeding years that on the assembling of the Republican 
 State Convention of 1880, although his competitors were 
 among the ablest and best men in the state, he was nomi- 
 nated for re-election, and again elected over Hon. Lyman 
 Trumbull, the democratic candidate, by near 38,000 major- 
 ity, thus showing that the people of the staite endorsed his 
 previous four years administration by a largely increased 
 majority. During both these canvasses Gov. Cullom was 
 actively engaged in behalf of the principles he represented, 
 and visited almost every county in the state, speaking to 
 the people in advocacy of his state policy, which showed 
 every debt paid, a large balance in the state treasury, and 
 the people enjoying general prosperity. In 1882 it was 
 clearly manifest that a large section of the republican party 
 would ask Gov. Cullom to submit his name to the legisla- 
 ture as a candidate for the United States Senate to succeed 
 Hon. David Davis, whose term would expire March 4, 1883, 
 thus expressing renewed confidence in his ability to repre- 
 sent the state in the most august and imposing legislative 
 body in the world. 
 
 It was early understood that his chief competitor would 
 be Gen. Green B. Rauni, the able and efficient commissioner 
 of internal revenue since 1877, and that gentleman during 
 
SHELBY M. CULLOM. 151 
 
 the canvass of 1882 traversed the state, making many able 
 speeches, " building well his political fences," making his 
 impress on the constituency of the republican members to 
 be elected, and enlisted considerable enthusiasm in his favor, 
 and it was thought that his chances were exceedingly good. 
 Ex-Gov. Oglesby also did some very effective work in the 
 campaign, evincing unabated vigor as a speaker, and aroused 
 considerable enthusiasm wherever he addressed an audience. 
 He was also understood to have senatorial aspirations again, 
 " his eye to the weather gage, and his sails hoisted " to 
 catch favoring breezes by securing a republican majority in 
 the legislature, and the largest number of that majority 
 favorable to himself as senator. A republican majority was 
 secured, and then a friendly contest among the competing 
 statesmen and their friends for the legislative nomination 
 was inaugurated, and when the legislature met at Springfield 
 in January last, another " Richmond " appeared in the field in 
 the person of Hon. Thomas J. Henderson, and for some two 
 weeks quite an animated canvass among the members of the 
 legislature was carried forward by the gentlemen themselves, 
 and the friends who interested themselves in their behalf, 
 in the corridors, rooms and halls of the Leland House. It 
 was quite evident from the outset that Gov. Cullom's star 
 was in the ascendent, and when the republican legislative 
 senatorial caucus convened he was nominated and his elec- 
 tion followed on the day set apart, and on the 6th day of 
 February following he resigned the office of governor and 
 was succeeded, under the constitution, by Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor Hamilton. 
 
 He was sworn in as senator of the United States from 
 Illinois, March 4th, 1883, for six years, and his previous 
 official career promises a brilliant legislative success in 
 serving the interests of the state and nation. 
 
JOHN M. HAMILTON. 
 
 SEVENTEENTH GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ^Nativity and parentage — Youthful home in Illinois — Aptitude 
 in learning — Volunteers in the service — Experience with 
 guerillas and bushwhackers — Returns from the army- 
 Teaches school — Enters Ohio Wesleyan University — Grad- 
 uates — Teaches an academy at Henry — Goes to Blooming- 
 ton — Commences study of law — Occupies chair of professor 
 of languages — Admitted to the bar — Law partnership — 
 Very successful — Elected to state senate — His methods in 
 the canvass — Takes a leading part in legislation — Procures 
 the passage of important laws— Elected president of the 
 senate —Nominated and elected lieutenant-governor — Gives 
 general satisfaction — United States senatorship contest — 
 Gov. Cullom elected — Hamilton succeeds as governor. 
 
 It is in the light of history and fact that we have tried 
 to present the leading characteristics of the men that the 
 voice of the people have called to stand at the helm of state, 
 for each consecutive term, as constitutionally provided for, 
 in the past sixty-five years. 
 
 John Marshall Hamilton was born at Richwood, Union 
 county, Ohio, May 28th, 1847. His parents were Samuel 
 Hamilton and Nancy, formerly Miss Nancy McMorris, of 
 "Virginia. 
 
 He came to Illinois with his parents in 1854, residing 
 with them at their home farm near "Wenona, Marshall 
 county. As a boy and youth he was studious, attending 
 country school, and at Wenona, when his school studies 
 
JOHN M. HAMILTON. 153 
 
 •did not occupy his time, he assisted at the farm work just 
 as persistently and perseveringly as he did at his studies in 
 school. At fifteen years of age, when strength and stature 
 scarce fitted him for enduring the hardships of a soldier, he 
 enlisted in the 77th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
 but being so young was rejected by the officers, and after 
 remaining awhile with the regiment he returned to his 
 father's home, and in the spring of 1864 enlisted in the 
 141st Illinois Infantry, Co. I, and served with that regi- 
 ment in Kentucky and Tennessee, chiefly in guerilla war- 
 fare, until the regiment was mustered out in the fall of 
 1864. This was a more dangerous service than meeting an 
 ■enemy in the open field, as these guerillas and bushwhackers 
 were to be sought in the mountain fastnesses, very fre- 
 quently ambushing the troops, employing treacherous de- 
 coys to lead the troops into dangerous places. 
 
 Returning from the army, bronzed by camp life, and 
 still ambitious to climb the rugged heights of knowledge 
 and science, he made his arrangements to pursue his studies, 
 the war having interrupted and broke in upon them just at 
 the time when he began to be interested in them. He 
 taught district school six months and then entered the 
 Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, where he grad- 
 uated with honor in 1868, in his twenty-first year. From 
 1868 to 1869 he taught an academy at Henry, Marshall 
 county, 111. In 1869 he located at Bloomington, commenc- 
 ing the study of law. 
 
 While thus engaged he varied the tedium of his law 
 studies by filling the chair of professor of languages in the 
 Wesleyan college at Bloomington. With close application 
 to his law studies, when his duties at the college permitted, 
 he was admitted to the bar in 1870, and soon after formed 
 
154 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 a partnership with Captain J. H. Howell (recently elected 
 to Congress), which connection continued until the official 
 duties of each sundered their legal business relations 
 (one entered Congress, the other the executive chair, at the 
 same tirtte). They built up an extensive practice in the 
 twelve years from 1870 to 1882, which is in itself the best 
 evidence of the ability and energy of both members of the 
 firm. 
 
 In 1876, when in his twenty-eighth year, he was elected 
 to the state senate, showing the great partiality of the peo- 
 ple of McLean county for their almost youthful citizen. 
 He was an indomitable worker in that canvass, as in every 
 other since, and was elected over the combined opposition 
 by near 2,000 majority distancing all other candidates. It 
 was the author's pleasure to meet him while engaged in thia 
 canvass. He had not forgotten any of his farmer-boy days, 
 in his methods, while out among the boys in the " rooral 
 deestricks." John could talk agriculture, act it, illustrate 
 it by going into the fields and taking a hand, or at least, 
 showing how it was done. The farmers of that county have 
 stood by him ever since. 
 
 On taking his seat in the senate, in January, 1877, he 
 addressed himself to his duties with earnestness and indus- 
 try. His influence was soon felt in directing and guiding 
 legislation, that won for him the confidence and respect of 
 his fellow members, and his influence was so great that he 
 was generally selected to introduce important bills that 
 required tact and management in securing their passage. 
 
 The State Bar Association, through their committee, of 
 which Hamilton was a member, prepared a bill for the 
 establishment of the appellate court, and selected Mr. 
 Hamilton to introduce and procure its passage through the 
 
JOHN M. HAMILTON. 155 
 
 senate. This division of judicial labor was absolutely nec- 
 essary to relieve the supreme court of the vast amount of 
 business that was accumulating each succeeding year. The 
 establishment of this court gave the state one third more 
 circuit judges than before, with three judges elected in each 
 district, and one of these was to be selected and set apart for 
 appellate duty, and was at the same time to perform such 
 circuit duty as his terms in the appellate court would per- 
 mit, thus facilitating the legal business of the state. 
 
 He was also the champion and introducer of the bill 
 proposed by the State Medical Society, establishing the 
 state board of health, which like the other measure, has 
 proven a great benefit to the state. 
 
 In fact, during his senatorial term, scarcely a great 
 measure was passed through the senate without bearing the 
 impress of his directing and shaping hand. In the great 
 fight over the reorganization of the state militia, his genius 
 as a tactician and parliamentarian was eminently displayed. 
 
 Upon the assembling of the Thirty-First General As- 
 sembly he was the recipient of a compliment seldom ac- 
 corded to any but old members after, years of faithful ser- 
 vice. He was unanimously chosen by the republicans as 
 their choice for president pro tern, of the senate. In this 
 position he displayed rare qualifications as a presiding 
 officer by his wide and extensive knowledge of parliament- 
 ary law. He was strictly impartial in his rulings, cour- 
 teous, winning, the commendation of his fellow senators 
 without regard to political differences. As a public speaker 
 and efficient legislative manager few were more successful 
 in facilitating business. 
 
 By this great ability he rose rapidly in the good opinion 
 of the people, foreshadowing the advancement that has 
 
156 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 since been accorded him. No man has risen more rapidly 
 in the general estimation by, reason of ability, weight of 
 influence, and fearlessness. 
 
 Need we wonder then, that in casting about for a suit- 
 able and able man to be placed on the state ticket in 1880 by 
 the republicans as their candidate for lieutenant-governor, 
 that the name of John M. Hamilton would be one of the 
 most prominent. There were men of ability that contested 
 with him for the honor of the nomination, but on the as- 
 sembling of the republican convention May 21, 1880, he 
 was selected by a large majority on the first ballot, Hon. 
 Shelby M. Cullom heading the state ticket for governor. 
 
 He rendered efficient service in the campaign of 1880, 
 taking the whole state for his field of labor, resulting in 
 the success of the entire state ticket, a republican legisla- 
 ture, and the legislature of the following winter, as will be 
 seen, has advanced the interests of the state. As president 
 of the senate he won and commanded the entire respect of 
 senators for firmness and rapid dispatch of business. 
 
 He again entered the canvass of 1882, speaking about 
 thirty times from the stump in all parts of the state with 
 success, and was often named as a candidate for the United 
 States senate, but when consulted in regard to presenting 
 his name always peremptorily refused, being content to 
 serve the state where the suffrages of the people under the 
 constitution had placed him. 
 
 During the canvass of 1882 it early became apparent 
 that Governor Cullom's prospect for being chosen United 
 States senator was bright, if not positively certain. Sev- 
 eral gentlemen were more active in canvassing the state 
 than Gov. Cullom, but he had made such a good record in 
 the six years that he had exercised the functions of his 
 
JOHN M. HAMILTON. 157 
 
 high office that the large majority of republicans of the 
 state were heartily and enthusiastically in his favor for 
 United States senator. 
 
 Upon the assembling of the legislature in January, 
 1883, the senatorial contest was renewed. The several 
 aspirants had warm friends among the members and also 
 from the third estate — the lobby, — and for some days the 
 contest was animated, but conducted with the greatest' good 
 feeling between the competitors and their friends, until 
 the time of the party canvass, when Gov. Cullom was 
 nominated, and subsequently, at the joint meeting of the 
 legislature held for that purpose, was elected. 
 
 Gov. Hamilton assumed the gubernatorial office Feb- 
 ruary 6th, 1883, enjoying the respect of the people of the 
 state. It is too early in his official career to outline the 
 future, but judging from his brief, brilliant and successful 
 career, we may safely take a horoscopic view of the near 
 political future, and find outlined a satisfactory official 
 career in fulfilling the duties of his high position to the 
 satisfaction of the people of our great state. 
 
ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Early History.— Whig State Convention at Peoria, 1844.— Grand 
 Array of Talent —Congressional Canvass, 1846 — The Senato- 
 rial Canvass of 1858 — His Springfield Speech — At Chicago 
 — At Peoria — Henry. ' 
 
 There is not much in the early life of Abraham Lincoln 
 to stir the imagination of the reader. There is nothing to 
 rouse up wonderful enthusiasm in the humble processes of 
 his education; his experiences of hardships; his early 
 struggles with the rough forces of nature among which he 
 was born. Indeed, we would be trespassing on the domain 
 of history written by others if we attempted to give even a 
 brief history of his early life, which has been so well and 
 ably written by others, among them the campaign biogra- 
 phies of Scripps, Raymond and Barrett, the writings of 
 Ward H. Lamon, Esq., and Hon. Isaac N. Arnold ; also, 
 " Life of Abraham Lincoln," by J. G. Holland ; Carpenter's 
 " Reminiscences," and later, the " Life and Public Services 
 of Abraham Lincoln," by J. Carroll Power, to the excel- 
 lence of all these we bear cheerful testimony. 
 
 Our " Recollections " of Mr. Lincoln must be confined 
 in the main, to our personal acquaintance with him, which 
 commenced at the Mass Whig State Convention, held at 
 Peoria, in June, 1844. Mr. Lincoln was among the "big 
 guns " in the grand array of eminent statesmen and eloquent 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 159 
 
 speakers present on that occasion ; a galaxy of bright par- 
 ticular stars in the constellation of talent and patriotism, 
 numbering among them Gen. John J. Hardin, who after- 
 wards fell at Buena Vista, Colonel Edward D. Baker, 
 who gave up his life at Ball's Bluff during the Rebellion, 
 John T. Stuart, Stephen T. Logan, Jesse K. Dubois, U. F. 
 Linder, O. H. Browning, Joseph Gillespie, Archie Williams, 
 Jackson Griinshaw, T. Lisle Smith, Martin P. Sweet, Ben. 
 Bond, Richard Yates, T. Lyle Dickey, Lincoln B. Knowl- 
 ton, D. M. Woodson, Wm. H. Henderson, and a host of 
 others who came up to this grand council in the interests of 
 Clay and Erelinghuysen, the Whig standard bearers in 
 that memorable campaign. In addition to these there 
 were present Caleb B. Smith, Henry S. Lane, and several 
 other Indiana orators, then and since known to fame, and 
 from Missouri there were the renowned and eloquent Dr. 
 E. C. McDowell, Don Morrison, and many others. 
 
 Among all this brilliant array called to address the con- 
 vention during the two days' sessions, none attracted greater 
 and more marked attention than Mr. Lincoln. Dr. Mc- 
 Dowell, Caleb B. Smith, Edward D. Baker and Gen. 
 Hardin made their speeches before him. All made grand 
 speeches and were loudly applauded. Gen. Hardin was 
 then the member of Congress from this district, and Col. 
 Baker the candidate for the succession. 
 
 It is among the brightest recollections of that day when 
 Mr. Lincoln took the stand. He did not, on rising, show 
 his full height, stood rather in a stooping posture, his long- 
 tailed coat hanging loosely round his body, descending 
 round and over an ill-fitting pair of pantaloons that cov- 
 ered his not very symmetrical legs. He commenced his 
 speech in a rather diffident manner, even seemed for a while 
 
160 FIFTY YBAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 at a loss for words, his voice was irregular, a little tremu- 
 lous, as at first he began his argument by laying down his 
 propositions. As he proceeded he seemed to gain more 
 confidence, his body straightened up, his countenance 
 brightened, his language became free and animated, as, 
 during this time he had illustrated his argument by two or 
 three well- told stories, that drew the attention of the 
 thousands of his audience to every word he uttered. Then 
 he became eloquent, carrying the swaying crowd at his will, 
 who, at every point he made in his forcible argument, 
 were tumultuous in their applause. His subject wasj the 
 exposition of the protective system, — the tariff", — the 
 method of raising a revenue by a system of duties levied 
 on foreign importations, which at the same time would 
 afford protection to American industries. Mr. Lincoln 
 spoke a little over an hour. His arguments were unan- 
 swerable. This speech raised him to the proudest height 
 to which he had ever before attained. He had greatly 
 strengthened the Whig organization in the state and estab- 
 lished his reputation as one of the most powerful political 
 debaters in the country. 
 
 This speech showed to the people that he had thoroughly 
 mastered all the great questions of the day, and brought to 
 their discussion closeness and soundness of logic, with 
 numerous facts, clinched by the most elaborate and pow- 
 erful arguments. This conclusion, it is among my recol- 
 lections, we arrived at after enjoying this grand field 
 day, hearing the most gifted of Illinois statesmen discuss 
 all the great questions of the day, and we left with the 
 thousands of others, for their homes, with the firm belief 
 and conviction that Abraham Lincoln was the foremost 
 statesman in Illinois, and would, at that time, have been 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 161 
 
 willing to vote for him for any position from Congressman 
 to President of the United States, both of which privileges 
 were enjoyed in after years. 
 
 We have said before that Gen. John J. Hardin, of Jack- 
 sonville, was the Whig member of Congress in this district 
 in 1844, and Col. Ed. D. Baker was now the candidate to 
 succeed Hardin. He was elected and served his term, 
 which brings our " Recollections" up to the Congressional 
 canvass of 1846, when Mr. Lincoln received the nomina- 
 tion under an arrangement or understanding between the 
 friends of the three gentlemen, that neither should antago- 
 nize the nomination of the other, and that each in turn 
 should be elected for two years, from 1842 to 1848. The 
 district being whig by a large majority, it was perfectly 
 safe to make that arrangement. 
 
 After his nomination in 1846 he entered on his canvass, 
 the custom then as it is now. There being no railroads 
 at that time the candidates traveled in their own convey- 
 ances. He came to Marshall county, where at that time we 
 resided on the farm in Henry precinct, near the boundary 
 line of LaFayette precinct. Being the central location, a 
 grove of fine trees near father's house was selected as the 
 meeting place of the citizens of the two precincts located 
 on the west side of the river. 
 
 He came after dinner, accompanied by Dr. Robert Boal, 
 now of Peoria, Ira I. Fenn, Henry L. Crane, D. D. 
 Dickinson, and many other citizens of Lacon, at which 
 place he had spoken the day previous. Mr. Lincoln and 
 his friends were in high spirits. He had abundant mate- 
 rial for discussion. During the winter of 1845 Texas was 
 admitted to the Union, and the war with Mexico had 
 commenced. Mr. Lincoln opposed this war, believing it was 
 11 
 
162 . fifty year's recollections. 
 
 waged in the interest and for the spread of slavery. The 
 tariff that he had so eloquently defended in 1844 had been 
 repealed by the democrats when Polk came into power, and 
 one that did not give protection to the free industries was 
 enacted in its place ; that favored the cotton and sugar 
 planters of the south, the products of slave labor, to the 
 subversion of the industrial interests and protective policy. 
 The issues between the two parties then in the political 
 field were positive and well defined. There was a large 
 audience out to hear him, almost the entire voting popula- 
 tion of the two precincts, and Mr. Lincoln was particularly 
 happy and felicitous in his arguments on the points at issue, 
 taking nearly two hours, discussing every question to the 
 eminent satisfaction of his audience. 
 
 It is no part of these brief " Recollections " to give 
 extracts of speeches or a synopsis of the arguments used, 
 or a biography of the life of individuals, but to confine 
 these sketches to a relation of facts and incidents coming 
 under our own observation when we met the persons that 
 they most intimately relate to. Mr. Lincoln went to con- 
 gress, served his constituents well, returned and resumed 
 his law practice. In the stirring political scenes of 1854 
 and Fremont campaign of 1856 he took an active part. 
 But we hasten to the more important years of our history. 
 
 The republican state convention met at Springfield 
 June 16, 1858. We, with a number of others, attended as 
 delegates from Marshall county. Political excitement ran 
 high. The state, from east to west, from north to south, 
 was thoroughly aroused, and the issues of the day had been 
 so thoroughly discussed that counties away down in Egypt 
 that never before he.d sent delegates to a republican or whig 
 ■convention, now appeared with a full representation of live 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 163 
 
 wide-awake republicans, and every county in the state was 
 represented. Men had actually made great sacrifices of 
 time and money to reach the state capital from the remote 
 southeastern counties of the state lying between the Illi- 
 nois Central Railroad the Wabash and the Ohio rivers. 
 There were over six hundred delegates ; these, with their 
 alternates and the spectators, over one thousand earnest men, 
 made a peaceful invasion of Springfield, intent only on 
 their country's good by effecting a change of men and 
 measures. 
 
 Two months before the democratic convention had met 
 and endorsed Douglas and his Kansas-Nebraska policy. 
 The senatorial succession to Mr. Douglas absorbed every 
 other question, and no one was thought of or spoken of 
 but Mr. Lincoln. Cook, with its large delegation, bore 
 aloft a banner inscribed "Cook county, for Abraham 
 Lincoln," that was hailed and cheered on every hand, and 
 when it was borne in the members of the convention rose 
 to their feet and gave three cheers for their candidate. As 
 soon as quiet was restored the following resolution was 
 read, its adoption moved and seconded, and unanimously 
 adopted by a rising vote and prolonged cheers : " Resolved, 
 That Hon. Abraham Lincoln is our first and only choice 
 for United States senator, to fill the vacancy about to be 
 created by the expiration of Mr. Douglas' term of office." 
 The anxiety of the delegates to see and hear their chosen 
 leader and champion was intense. After the business of 
 the convention was concluded it was announced that he 
 would address the members and citizens at the state house 
 in the evening. 
 
 The speech was prepared with unusual care, every para- 
 graph and sentence carefully weighed. The firm bed-rock 
 
164 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 foundation of his principles, the issues of the campaign on 
 which he proposed to stand and fight his battles, were well 
 considered and his arguments incontrovertible. That was 
 a memorable speech, in which were culminated all the 
 grand thoughts and ideas he had ever uttered, embody- 
 ing divinity, statesmanship, law and morals, and even 
 fraught with prophecy. On his way to the hall he said to 
 a friend, " It is truth, and the nation is entitled to it." 
 
 The hall of the house of representatives was crowded 
 to its utmost capacity when Mr. Lincoln arrived, and he- 
 was received with a prolonged shout, waving of handker- 
 chiefs and swinging of hats. He bowed his acknowledge- 
 ments from the speaker's desk, and was introduced by the 
 president of the convention, Hon. Gustavus A. Koerner r 
 and rising to his full height he surveyed the vast audience, 
 and commenced slowly and deliberately at first, his voice 
 increasing in force and power as he advanced. 
 
 We wish we had space right here to give that speech. 
 Every gesture had meaning, backed by the appropriate 
 words to enforce it. The logic was irresistible, the analysis- 
 so keen, so condensed, yet so profoundly impressive con- 
 cerning the politics of the day, so plainly and intelligently 
 expressed in every part, that no proper idea can be given 
 of it through any description of ours. We would advise 
 the readers of these " Recollections " to procure it, read it r 
 and they that have read it read it again. " A house 
 divided against itself cannot stand," was uttered with all 
 the impressiveness of gospel truth. 
 
 As he advanced in his argument he towered to his full 
 height, forgetting himself entirely as he grew warm at his- 
 work. His audience applauded, and such was the enthusi- 
 asm that at times the speaker could hardly proceed, the- 
 people were so wonderfully wrought up in their feelings. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 165 
 
 Men and women who heard that speech will remember 
 the wonderful transformation wrought in Mr. Lincoln's 
 appearance. The plain, homely man towered up majesti- 
 cally, his face warmed as with angelic fire, the long, bent, 
 angular figure, like the strong oak of the forest, stood erect, 
 and his eyes flashed with inspiration. 
 
 Coming to the conclusion of this grand speech, in the 
 closing paragraph he concentrated advice, admonition, a 
 retrospect of the past, a forecaste of the future, a prophecy 
 of what has since been fulfilled. We cannot do it justice 
 by any description, and the reader of these " Recollections" 
 will thank us for giving it place right here : 
 
 " Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted 
 by, its own undoubted friends — those whose hands are free, 
 whose hearts are in the work — who do care for the result. 
 Two years ago the republicans of the nation (referring to 
 the Fremont campaign of 1856) mustered over thirteen 
 hundred thousand strong. We did this under the single 
 impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every 
 external circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant 
 and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, 
 and formed and fought the battle through, under the con- 
 stant hot fire of a disciplined, proud and pampered enemy. 
 Did we brave all then to falter now — now, when that same 
 enemy is wavering, dissevered and beligerent? The 
 
 RESULT IS NOT DOUBTFUL. We SHALL NOT PAIL if we 
 
 stand firm. We shall not fail. Wise counsels may 
 accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but sooner or later, the 
 
 VICTORY IS SURE TO COME." 
 
 The last sentence was uttered with all the positive im- 
 pressiveness of an inspired oracle. There was not in the 
 entire speech a single appeal to partisan prejudice, nothing 
 to merely catch the applause of his hearers, but he appeared 
 before them as an honest, patriotic man, discussing the 
 
166 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 gravest questions of the day, and enforcing them by facta 
 drawn from the past, with a grand future in prospect. 
 
 The members of the convention, and the vast concourse 
 of other citizens, carried with them to their homes some- 
 thing to think about — some inspiration to work for the 
 cause. Every man was a worker, many were orators, and 
 soon the land resounded with eloquent appeals to the people 
 to rouse and set right the political wrongs that the 
 Buchanan administration were fastening on the country. 
 
 Invitations to speak came from every part of the state, 
 and Mr. Lincoln set about arranging his appointments for 
 the campaign. Mr. Douglas was to speak at Chicago, July 
 9th, and Mr. Lincoln was urged to be present and reply to 
 him, and when the time arrived, he sat near Mr. Douglas 
 on the platform, and took notes of the speech and of the 
 line of argument advanced. He patiently listened while 
 the gur-r-eat pur-r-rinciple of " popular sov'reiguty " was 
 eloquently expounded. In arguing his side of the question, 
 Mr. Douglas misrepresented the republicans and their plat- 
 form, and particularly the high ground taken and main^ 
 tained by Mr. Lincoln in his Springfield speech. 
 
 On the conclusion of this three-hour speech it was an- 
 nounced that Mr. Lincoln would reply to it on the follow- 
 ing evening. 
 
 He spoke from the same platform that Mr. Douglas did 
 the evening before, The distinguished speaker was given 
 a grand ovation. He was introduced to the audience by 
 Chas. L. Wilson, Esq., of the Chicago Daily Journal. Mr. 
 Lincoln came forward amid a storm of long continued, 
 applause. It was some time before silence could be restored, 
 the people were so enthusiastic. He was feeling well, in 
 the best mood for illustrating his argument by a good story 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 167 
 
 to offset Douglas' positions, and getting all his points before 
 his hearers, he treated them fully and fairly. Douglas had 
 accused him of trying to array the north against the south, 
 in the declaration made at Springfield, " I believe this gov- 
 ernment cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half 
 free." Mr. Douglas had made what he thought was his 
 strongest point, by insisting that our government had en- 
 dured eighty-two years " half slave and half free," and that 
 the chances were equally favorable for its perpetuity in the 
 future. Mr. Lincoln in reply said : 
 
 " I am not unaware that this government has endured 
 eighty-two years, half slave and half free. I know that I 
 am tolerably well acquainted with the history of the 
 country, and I know that it has endured eighty-two years, 
 half slave and half free, I believe — and that is what I 
 meant to allude to there — I believe it has endured, because, 
 during all that time, until the introduction of the Nebraska 
 bill, the public mind did rest in the belief that slavery was 
 in the course of ultimate extinction. That was what gave 
 us the rest we had through that period of eighty-two years ; 
 at least, so I believe. I have always hated slavery, I 
 think, as much as any abolitionist — I am an old line whig 
 
 — I have always hated it, but I have always been quiet 
 about it until this new era of the introduction of the Ne- 
 braska bill began. I always believed that everybody was 
 against it, and that it was in the course of ultimate extinc- 
 tion. History led the people to believe so; and such was 
 the belief, of the framers of the constitution itself, else why 
 did these old men, about the time of the adoption of the 
 constitution, decree that slavery should not go into new 
 territory, where it had not already gone? Why declare 
 that within twenty years the African slave trade, by which 
 slaves are supplied, might be cut off by congress? Why 
 were ALL these acts ? I might enumerate more of them 
 
 — but enough. What were they but a clear indication 
 that the framers of the constitution intended and expected 
 
168 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 the ultimate extinction of the institution. I said in the 
 speech that Judge Douglas has quoted from, that I think 
 the opponents of slavery will resist the further spread of it, 
 and place it where our fathers originally placed it. I have 
 said a hundred times, and I have now no inclination to take 
 it back, that I believe there is no right, and ought to be no 
 inclination in the people of the free states, to enter into the 
 slave states and interfere with the question of slavery at all. 
 I have said that always ; Judge Douglas has heard me say 
 it, and when it is said that I am in favor of interfering 
 with slavery where it exists, I know it is unwarranted by 
 anything I ever have intended, and, I believe by anything 
 I have ever said." . 
 
 We have given several paragraphs of this great speech 
 to show the range of thought and argument of these two 
 chieftains who led the opposing political hosts in the con- 
 test of 1858. Many young men and women, who have 
 grown up since that eventful contest, will read these " Rec- 
 ollections," and these brief expositions will enlighten them 
 in regard to the political issues before the war, and the 
 reasons given by the south for secession. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln comprehended the questions in their full 
 compass — their far-reaching consequences, and closed his 
 address by reiterating the charge made in his Springfield 
 speech, that Mr. Douglas was a party to the conspiracy for 
 deceiving the people with the idea that the settlers could 
 exclude slavery from their limits. Mr. Douglas had passed 
 the charge in silence, and Mr. Lincoln said, "On his own 
 tacit admission I renew the charge." 
 
 Mr. Douglas went from Chicago to Bloomington, mak- 
 ing much as usual of his great doctrme of " popular sover- 
 eignty." Mr. Lincoln was on hand, in " pursuit of knowl- 
 edge under difficulties," determined to find out the exact 
 position taken by his competitor, so that he might hear the 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 169 
 
 arguments and meet them in the canvass he had deter- 
 mined upon. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln wanted closer work than Mr. Douglas had 
 given him, and July # 24, 1858, addressed to him the follow- 
 , ing brief letter : 
 
 " Hon. S. A. Douglas — My Dear Sir : Will it be 
 agreeable to you to make an arrangement for you and my- 
 self to divide the time and address the same audiences the 
 present canvass? Mr. Judd, who will hand you this, is 
 authorized to receive your answer ; and, if agreeable to you, 
 to enter into terms of such arrangement. 
 
 Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln." 
 
 Mr. Douglas replied, declining the arrangement Mr. 
 Lincoln proposed, but intimated his readiness to meet his 
 •challenger at Ottawa, LaSalle county, August 21st, 1858 ; 
 at Freeport, Stephenson county, August 27th ; Jonesboro, 
 Union county, September 15th; Charleston, Coles county, 
 September 18th; Galesburg, Knox county, October 7th; 
 Quincy, Adams county, October 13th, and Alton, Madison 
 county, October 15th, thus proposing seven joint discus- 
 sions at leading points in the state, which were accepted by 
 Mr. Lincoln. The terms proposed in this letter and 
 accepted by Mr. Lincoln, were that at Ottawa Mr. Douglas 
 should speak an hour, then Mr. Lincoln should speak an 
 hour and a-half, leaving Mr. Douglas the closing speech of 
 half an hour. At Freeport Mr. Lincoln should have the 
 •opening and closing, and Mr. Douglas speak one hour and 
 a-half, and so on alternately till the conclusion of the 
 arrangement. 
 
 From the time this arrangement for joint meetings was 
 made to the first meeting at Ottawa was near three weeks. 
 During this time the two great men, — Illinois' gifted 
 intellectual gladiators, kept themselves in training by play- 
 
170 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ing practice games in the cities in different parts of the 
 state, — they engaged zealously in independent work. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln began his work at Beardstown, the place 
 celebrated twenty-five years before by his leading his com- 
 pany to the seat of the Black Hawk War, on Bock Biver. 
 From here he went to Bath and Havana, in Mason county, 
 then to Lewistown and Canton in Fulton county, then to 
 Peoria and on northeast to Henry, Marshall county, making 
 speeches at all these places, immense audiences being 
 attracted to listen to his utterances upon the gijeat questions 
 of the day. Mr. Douglas was equally busy and active, 
 whetting up his popular sovereignty blade and waxed mighty 
 in the fight. 
 
 At Peoria Mr. Lincoln met with the citizens of the 
 adjoining county of Tazewell in large numbers, and a large 
 delegation from Lacon and other points of Marshall 
 county. The author was at that time the senior editor of 
 the Illinois Gazette at Lacon, and in company with Dr. 
 Boal, Judge Fort, John A. McCall, Charles G. Gapen, 
 Judge Boice and many others, met Mr. Lincoln at the 
 Peoria House previous to the hour of speaking. The dele- 
 gation found him quite anxious as to the prospect of carrying 
 our legislative districts, both senatorial and representa- 
 tive. 
 
 There had been a very few de'fections in the republican 
 party, the most notable being Hon. John T. Lindsay, 
 formerly a citizen of Marshall, but now a prominent citizen 
 of Peoria. He had been a life-long whig, came into the 
 republican party when it organized, and had been one of its 
 most trusted members. His sudden somersault into the 
 democratic party created great surprise. But his loss was- 
 made good by many coming out from among the democrats 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 171 
 
 and joining their political fortunes with the republicans,. 
 and we could give Mr. Lincoln the assurance that both 
 our senator and Marshall and Putnam's representative 
 would be elected. 
 
 There were a number of old-time whigs in Tazewell 
 county, strong personal friends of Mr. Lincoln, but from 
 southern birth and association rather prejudiced against 
 taking the advanced ground enunciated in Mr. Lincoln's 
 speeches. The most prominent among these was John 
 Durham, Esq., now a citizen of Peoria. Mr. Lincoln was 
 anxious that these old friends of his should be present and 
 hear him, and made inquiry soon after his arrival whether 
 Mr. Durham was in the city. J He spoke in the afternoon in 
 the court house to an audience that filled every seat, and 
 standing room was at a premium. Hon. William Kellogg, 
 at that time member of Congress, and the republican candi- 
 date for re-election, and Hon. Robert G. Ingersoll, his 
 democratic competitor, were present as listeners, as were all 
 the leading republicans and democrats of Peoria and vicin- 
 ity. Mr. Lincoln felt from assurances given him from 
 this part of the political field that all was going well for 
 him. He was in a capital humor for telling stories to illus- 
 trate his arguments, and told one on a former moss-back, 
 rock-rooted democratic member from Wabash county, who 
 was a fellow-member with him when in the legislature. He 
 was a man inflated with the idea of his own importance, his 
 mind was a store-house of " g-r-e-a-t p-r-inciples," and he 
 was a member of the judiciary committee, a " strict con- 
 structionist" of the old antedeluvian type, and held himself 
 up to his fellow members as the " constitutional adviser " 
 of the house. In short he found something " unconstitu- 
 tional" in every measure that was brought forward for 
 
172 FIFTY years' kecollections. 
 
 discussion, and for that reason would move its reference to 
 his committee, so that its unconstitutionality could be 
 eliminated. A measure was brought forward in which Mr. 
 Lincoln's constituents were interested. The member from 
 Wabash rose, arranged his legal and constitutional batteries 
 and discharged them, as he thought, with annihilating effect 
 upon its unconstitutional points. Mr. Lincoln told the 
 story to illustrate the little quibbling points made by Mr. 
 Douglas in arguing the " Dred Scott decision " in regard to 
 the rights and power of citizens of a territory voting slavery 
 ■" up or down." But to the story : 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, assuming that quizzicd expression of 
 features at all times so easy for him to simulate, a mirthful 
 twinkle in his gray eyes, said : " Mr. Douglas reminds me 
 of the point I made on the member from Wabash. An old 
 friend of mine, a peculiar looking old fellow, with shaggy, 
 overhanging eyebrows and a pair of spectacles under them 
 (a personal description of the member), which enabled him 
 to scan closely the most minute objects. One morning, 
 just after the old man got up, he imagined, on looking out 
 of his door, that he saw a squirrel on a tree near his house. 
 So he took down his rifle and fired at the squirrel, but the 
 squirrel paid no attention to the shot. He loaded and fired 
 again and again, until, at the thirteenth shot, he set his gun 
 down impatiently and said to his boy, who was looking on, 
 ' Boy, there is something wrong about that rifle.' ' Rifle's 
 all right, I know 'tis,' responded the boy, 'but where's 
 your squirrel?' 'Don't you see him, humped up about 
 half way up the tree?' inquired the old man, peering over 
 his spectacles and looking mystified. ' No, I don't,' 
 responded the boy ; and then, turning and looking into his 
 father's face, he exclaimed, ' I see your squirrel ; you've 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 173 
 
 been firing at a louse on your eyebrow.'" The story 
 needed neither application nor explanation. The audience • 
 .roared with laughter and cheered in its appreciation of its 
 points and his power of adapting them to the case in hand. 
 This set at rest the little quibbles that Douglas was making 
 against his arguments, in trying to raise discordant points. 
 Then proceeding with his truths and combination of truths, 
 he proceeded to show where Douglas had " left a niche in 
 the Nebraska bill to receive the Dred Scott decision," 
 which declared in effect that a territorial legislature could 
 not abolish slavery. We have no further space to quote from 
 the Peoria speech. His arguments were a reiteration of 
 the grand truths enunciated in his Springfield speech, with 
 perhaps some change of terms and language, with new 
 illustrations to enforce them. Many of our old citizens 
 will still remember that speech. It convinced the doubt- 
 ing, confirmed the wavering, and converted many from the 
 democratic faith that were open to receive the truths so 
 plainly told. 
 
 The next day Mr. Lincoln spoke at Henry, and the 
 republicans of Marshall, Putnam, Stark and a portion of 
 Bureau were out in force, and along with them came many 
 democrats, both of the Douglas and Buchanan school, who 
 were willing to listen to republican truths. Judge Boice, 
 of Henry, presided, and Mr. Lincoln, on being introduced, 
 was soon in the midst of his argument, with an audience 
 more largely in accordance with his principles than greeted 
 him at many other points which he visited, as Marshall, 
 Putnam and Bureau counties were largely composed of 
 people who came from the east fully imbued with anti- 
 slavery sentiments and from the first, even away back in 
 old whig times, were restive under the slavery platform 
 
174 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 imposed on them by party conventions. Mr. Lincoln's 
 presence among them was the occasion of a great ovation 
 to him. He was met at the depot by thousands, and to the 
 strains of music was escorted to the hotel. 
 
 He talked for the enlightenment of the democratic por- 
 tion of his audience as follows : 
 
 "I say to you, gentlemen, that it would be more to the 
 purpose for Judge Douglas to say that he did not repeal 
 the Missouri Compromise ; that he did not make slavery 
 1 possible where it was impossible before ; that he did not 
 leave a niche in the Nebraska bill for the Dred Scott 
 decision to rest in; that he did not vote down a clause giv- 
 ing the people the right to exclude slavery if they wanted 
 to; that he did not refuse to give his individual opinion 
 whether a territorial legislature could exclude slavery; 
 that he did not make a report to the senate in which he 
 said that the rights of the people in this regard were held 
 in abeyance and could not be immediately exercised ; that 
 he did not make a hasty endorsement of the Dred , Scott 
 decision over at Springfield ; that he does not now endorse 
 that decision ; that the decision does not take away from 
 the territorial legislature the power to exclude slavery, and 
 that he did not, in the original Nebraska bill, so couple the 
 words ' state ' and ' territory ' together that what the 
 supreme court has done in forcing open all the territories 
 for slavery, it might yet do in forcing open all the states ; 
 — I say it would be vastly more to the point for Judge 
 Douglas to say he did not do some of these things, did not 
 forge some of these links of overwhelming testimony, than 
 to go to vociferating about the country that possibly he 
 may be obliged to hint that somebody is a liar." 
 
 The Henry meeting was a great success. The people 
 gave a hearty reception to the principles of the platform, 
 set the ball rolling, which showed in the result at the 
 polls in November. The republican senator, Hon. George 
 C. Bestor, the member of the legislature, Hon. J. A. McCall, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 175 
 
 and the entire republican county ticket in Marshall county 
 — every candidate was elected, which the republicans 
 thought was glory enough to repay them for the hard fight 
 they had made. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln went from Henry to his Ottawa joint dis- 
 cussion. This we did not attend, and only know particu- 
 lars in regard to it by results at the polls in November, the 
 republicans carrying their ticket, state, congressional, legis- 
 lative and county, in the LaSalle district. 
 
 The next speech delivered when the author was 
 present was at Alton, Oct. 15, 1858, the last speech the 
 two made together, — closing the joint addresses. 
 
 Mr. Douglas opened by speaking one hour, in which he 
 displayed considerable irritability. The campaign was 
 wearing on him, as no doubt by this time he began to see 
 that the political scepter he had so long held over the peo- 
 ple of the state was about to depart from him. As it was 
 the last joint discussion of the campaign, he took occasion 
 to review the arguments of Mr. Lincoln at each place, 
 Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg and 
 Quincy, in the order they occurred, trying to show that Mr. 
 Lincoln's arguments were not the same at Freeport as they 
 were at Jonesboro, in the south part of the state. His 
 whole hour was taken up in this recapitulation. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln sat taking in the speech with seeming im- 
 mobility, and when Mr. Douglas concluded, he rose, his 
 time being one hour and a half. He, as in the opening of 
 all of his speeches, spoke slow but distinct, did not, rise to 
 his full height, leaning forward in a stooping posture at 
 first, his person displaying all the angularities of limb and 
 face; for the first five or ten minutes he was both awkward 
 and diffident, as in almost monotonous tones he commenced 
 
176 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 to untangle the meshes of Douglas' sophistry. Proceeding, 
 he gained confidence gradually, his voice rang out in clear- 
 ness, rose in strength, his tall form towered to its full 
 height, his face assumed almost angelic brightness, and such 
 an outburst of inspiring eloquence and argument without 
 a break in its force or power for the whole time allotted 
 him to speak. He could be heard to the outskirts of the 
 vast throng. As he proceeded the people became enthusi- 
 astic, but. his voice could be heard above their cheers. 
 Frequently throughout the speech he would turn towards 
 Douglas and very emphatically say, "You know these things 
 to be so, Mr. Douglas," if they were affirmative proposi- 
 tions, or, " You know these things are not so, Mr. Douglas," 
 if they were negative propositions. At one time in his ad- 
 dress he bent his tall form over Douglas, pouring in his elo- 
 quent remonstrance so sharply that Douglas rose to explain, 
 but Lincoln would none of it. He said, "sit down Mr. 
 Douglas ; I did not interrupt you and will not be inter- 
 rupted. You can reply to me, if you can, in your closing 
 speech," and his solid, argumentative and logical statement 
 of facts rang out, his audience becoming more enthusiastic 
 as he proceeded. He warned the people against being 
 diverted from the great question at issue by sophistical con- 
 trivances, as were trying to be impressed on them by the 
 " gur-reat pur-rinciple " fantastically called " popular sov- 
 ereignty." 
 
 We remember his line or argument throughout that 
 great ninety-minute speech, the closing one he made in the 
 seven joint discussions. Could give an outline of it, but it 
 is not necessary as the speeches of both these great states- 
 men have been published and are accessible to the student 
 of history in the libraries of the state. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 177 
 
 Time passed on, the election of November 7, 1858,. 
 came, chronicled elsewhere in this work, and its results had 
 a wider influence in shaping the country's history than, 
 probably any election since the formation of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 We could give our recollection of a great many connect- 
 ing political events to bridge over the time, bringing the 
 opening events of 1860. Mr. Lincoln, after the close of 
 the canvass in early November, retired to his home at 
 Springfield, his mind absorbed in the future of the great 
 questions that the people of Illinois had for themselves as 
 a state decided at the election, but which were to be con- 
 sidered and voted on in the other states in 1859. 
 
 He gave the questions more close attention than ever, 
 as he was receiving hundreds of letters from eastern, mid- 
 dle, western, northern and some from southern states, in 
 regard to the political contests in their states for 1859-60. 
 He knew he would be called on to aid by his argumentative 
 powers in the canvass of several of these states, and he set 
 about to prepare himself. 
 
 The state legislature met in January, and the formality 
 of electing a United States senator was enacted in a joint 
 legislative meeting. The press of the country was dis- 
 cussing, prospectively, the probabilities of the presidential 
 question for 1860. As a " star in the east," one of the re- 
 publican papers at Augusta, Maine, wrote an article in Feb- 
 ruary, 1859, suggesting Mr. Lincoln's name in connection 
 with the nomination for the presidency in 1860. Soon after 
 this, a paper published in Washington county, "Pennsyl- 
 vania, threw out some " advance thoughts " on the subject, 
 and at different times during the spring and summer of 
 1859, " lines of thought" were written in other papers east 
 12 
 
178 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 and west, showing that popular sentiment was " doing its 
 perfect work " in preparing the way for Mr. Lincoln's nom- 
 ination. 
 
 Of individual effort through personal influence, and 
 combinations of individuals in consultation caucuses, we 
 have not much record for the next few months after the 
 election of 1858. Hon. R. W. Miles, of Knox county, 
 gives an account of a meeting held in the library room of 
 the capitol at Springfield, in January, 1859, when Mr. 
 Lincoln's name was discussed as One of the probable states- 
 men whose names would be presented. A gentleman pres- 
 ent, making a short speech, said : " We are going to bring 
 out Abraham Lincoln as a candidate- for president," Mr. 
 Lincoln protested against it. This shows that he did not 
 seek but rather held in check those of his friends who so 
 early sought to present his name. We also believe that our 
 friend Beatty, of the Republican- Register, Galesburg, pre- 
 sented the name of Mr. Lincoln at a very early date after 
 the election in 1858. 
 
 Sometime in the autumn of 1859 the Chicago Tribune, 
 began to discuss presidential "possibilities and probabili- 
 ties," and very frequently after that mentioned Mr. Lincoln's 
 name as the most fitting and also the most available candi- 
 date to present for the campaign of 1860. 
 
 We remember in discussing this question, shortly after 
 the election, with several leading republicans of Marshall 
 county and personally strong friends of Mr. Lincoln, in 
 arguing the reasons given in the Gazette for Mr. Lincoln's 
 candidacy, they thought his time " was not yet," that the 
 most that could be expected for him in 1860 was to elect 
 him governor of the state, and through that he would 
 eventually reach the United States senate, making his 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 179 
 
 record for the presidency, if ever, some ten to fourteen 
 years ahead — either for 1868 or 1872. 
 
 In January, 1860, the author bought out the office outfit, 
 type, good will and subscription of the Farmer's Advo- 
 cate at Chicago, and from that time was engaged in the 
 interests of agriculture and all the productive industries of 
 the country. In our rural ramblings we paid attention 
 to the " speech of the people," who began thus early to 
 express their preferences on the presidential question, and 
 in Illinois there was only two men the people felt much 
 interest in. These were Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham 
 Lincoln, and the indications were that on the National field 
 they would create as much enthusiasm as they did two 
 years before over the prairies of Illinois, and from the 
 indications, all the "political pointers" gave positive assur- 
 ance that these two men would be placed in front of the 
 two great political columns to lead on their hosts in the 
 contest. 
 
 The newspapers of the land were pretty generally warm- 
 ing up. The great speeches of Lincoln at Leavenworth, 
 Cincinnati, Columbus, Cooper Institute, New York, Hart- 
 ford, Meriden and New Haven, Conn., Woonsocket.'R. I., 
 and several other places in the east were copied into the 
 leading papers in the east, and now his name was the prop- 
 erty of the Nation, and gaining force, momentum and 
 power. So when he returned to his home in the west no 
 man in the United States seemed to fill the public mind 
 as much as he. 
 
 He was not unmindful of these particular demonstra- 
 tions. Certain it is, they made a deep impression on his 
 mind. Spring came on apace. April had come and gone. 
 The democratic national convention had been held at 
 
180 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Charleston. It had split on Douglas. Its sessions had 
 been " unfriendly " to him, and his adherents had adjourned 
 to meet at Baltimore. The southern division adjourned to 
 meet at Richmond. 
 
 The republican convention was announced to meet at 
 Chicago June 16th, and the great " Wigwam," half a square 
 long and a third of a square wide, was erected to accommo- 
 date the delegates with seats on the main floor, and so far 
 as possible the crowd in the galleries. The time came apace. 
 The people and their representatives were there, from Cali- 
 fornia's " Golden Gate" to Maine — all the loyal states and 
 fragmentary delegations from Virginia, Tennessee, and two 
 or three other southern states. The " hosts of freedom " 
 made a descent on Chicago, and right heartily were they 
 received. Their mission was a friendly one, "the healing 
 of the nation " the eud in view. It was estimated that 
 there was twenty-five thousand strangers in the city. The 
 "Suckers," the "Hoosiers," the "Hawkeyes" and the 
 " Badgers," were there in force, and " they came to stay " 
 for Lincoln. 
 
 Joshua R. Giddings was there testing the kind of tim- 
 ber that the platform was to be built from. The committee 
 on Platform came very near rejecting the words the old 
 Apostle of Freedom proposed to insert in the " Articles of 
 Faith " of the party, and the old veteran was thinking the 
 convention would not insert and adopt principles that were 
 dear to him, that he had contended for in Congress for 
 years; but good counsels prevailed and his "plank" went 
 in, and " Uncle Joshua " remained a delegate of the con- 
 vention. When the platform was adopted it was hailed 
 with demonstrations of wildest enthusiasm. Then came 
 the nominations, and after that the ballotings. The bal- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 181 
 
 loting went on, and on the third ballot Abraham Lincoln 
 being nominated, a storm of wild uncontrollable enthu- 
 sium descended. It was prolonged, repeated, everybody 
 was on their feet, throwing hats and cheering. Immedi- 
 ately a life size portrait of Lincoln was held up to the sight 
 of the audience, and the roar of artillery was heard outside, 
 and each discharge was echoed back by those on the inside. 
 It fell to Mr. Evarts, of New York, to do the graceful act 
 of moving that the nomination of Abraham Lincoln be 
 made unanimous. While doing this he shed tears, and 
 when he closed, Gov. Andrew, of Massachusetts, and Carl 
 Schurz, of Wisconsin, seconded the motion, and then fol- 
 lowed another outburst of enthusiasm. 
 
 There was among the Illinoisans, both from the city 
 and country, but one continuous outburst of enthusiasm and 
 congratulation. Mr. Lincoln was their favorite — the 
 people's idol. It was not thought strange if a man said and 
 did some foolish things — the day was given up to congrat- 
 ulations. Shouting and singing, and one hundred guns 
 were fired from the top of the Tremont House. Ribboned 
 and festooned rails were carried round. If such an expres- 
 sion is admissible, we could say truthfully that the people 
 were frenzied with delight. The click of the telegraph car- 
 ried the news north, south, east, west, and the outgoing 
 trains found bonfires surrounded by excited crowds at every 
 village, to welcome and say " well done" to the returning 
 delegates. That day, the days, weeks and months follow- 
 ing, are, and long will be remembered. The author was 
 on the outgoing train on the Chicago & Eock Island rail- 
 road the next morning, and sat with Governor Kirk- 
 wood, of Iowa, who was a returning delegate from the 
 convention. On the same train was Thurlow "Weed, of 
 
182 FIFTY YEAKS' KECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 New York, with other delegates, who, while as far west 
 as Chicago, concluded to go and see further into the width 
 and breadth of our broad prairie states of Illinois and Iowa. 
 Mr. "Weed said he wanted to see the country " where 
 candidates for president grew, expanded and developed 
 without the polishing aid of eastern refinemenL, and the aid 
 of the educating influence of her colleges." He was 
 referred to the derivation of the name of the state, " Mini," 
 — the country of men — and accepted the authority as con- 
 clusive. The trip was pleasant, the prairie breeze gentle as 
 a zephyr that 20th day of June, 1860, the green prairie and 
 broad cultivated fields spread out for miles on either side 
 of the railroad. It was a grand day for the distinguished 
 strangers to look out upon the wide expanse from Chicago 
 to Rock Island. The trip had its pleasant episodes. At 
 "every station were large crowds assembled and the inquiry 
 would be made " who's aboard?" When told " Sam Kirk- 
 wood," or "Thurlow Weed," they would call them out if 
 but for a word, or to see them, and the train would go on 
 its way leaving a cheering crowd. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was thus placed before the people — 
 the nation, — for the highest official trust in their gift to 
 bestow. He was in his fifty-second year, — at his prime in 
 manhood, clear in intellect, his great powers cultivated in 
 the school of a rough experience, his acquisitions of knowl- 
 edge gathered from the scantiest sources, their develop- 
 ment at times almost a revelation to himself; raising himself 
 by the excellence of his manly qualities of head and heart, 
 forcing recognition when really not seeking it. In starting 
 in life, from earliest childhood to full manhood, his years 
 had been spent in the wilderness, subjected to hardest toil 
 and darkest obscurity, and living almost in penury. 
 
' ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 183 
 
 From this lowly estate he had raised himself without, 
 powerful influence or wealthy patrons, despising the tricks 
 of the demagogue, without the aid of social or high official 
 position, into national recognition and to the affectionate- 
 regard of the nation, and of good people throughout the 
 civilized world. 
 
 During the following August the author was at Spring- 
 field and called at Mr. Lincoln's room at the state house, 
 and found him quite alone for once, two of his children- 
 only being in, "Tad" being one of them. It was in the 
 " heated term," and Mr. Lincoln, always accommodating 
 himself to circumstances, was dressed to suit the weather, 
 with shirt, linen pants, without vest, with a long-tailed 
 linen coat overshadowing the whole. He was not " putting 
 on style," no attendant was at the door to carry in our 
 card. The door was open and we walked right in, was at 
 once recognized and seated, the boys still continuing their 
 play round the floor. " Tad " was spinning a top, and Mr. 
 Lincoln, as we came in, had just finished adjusting the 
 string for him so it would give the top greater force when 
 it was whirled off on the floor. He said he was having a 
 little season of relaxation with the boys, which he could 
 not always enjoy now, as so many callers and so much 
 correspondence occupied his time. Then the political 
 situation was referred to, the prospects, and we found him 
 much encouraged, — pleased with the situation. The 
 Douglas-Breckenridge division of the democracy was dis- 
 cussed, with its bearings on the canvass. Altogether we 
 found the great man well pleased with the outlook, content 
 to wait the November outcome. As ours was a social call 
 only at Springfield, in the interest of the Advocate, a 
 half-hour finished our interview, and we did not meet Mr. 
 
18 1 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Lincoln again until the next January at the opening of 
 the session of the legislature. He bided his time at his 
 home; a wise candidate. He was quiet under the most 
 flagrant abuse and misrepresentation. He could afford to 
 be; his cause was just; the platform of the party and his 
 record was before the country ; both were true. 
 
 The November election was only a formal record of the 
 will of the people. A remembrance of all the incidents that 
 came under the observation of the author in that campaign 
 would fill a volume. 
 
 The meeting of the legislature in January, 1861, brought 
 to the capital a large number of people. Many distin- 
 guished men from all parts of the loyal states came to see 
 the new president, some by his invitation, others because 
 they wanted to see Mr. Lincoln, and also look in on the 
 legislature. Over half the gentlemen selected by Mr. 
 Lincoln for his cabinet visited him at his home for con- 
 sultation. Calling at his house on the. first Thursday in 
 January, we found Hon. Gideon Welles there, whom he 
 selected as secretary of the navy; Edward Bates, of St. 
 Louis, his attorney-general, visited him ; Hon. George 
 Ashmun, president, of the convention that nominated him, 
 visited him for consultation, as he was an old personal 
 friend, they having served in congress together from 1846 
 to 1848. There was a constant stream of visitors, and it 
 was necessary for him to have regular hours of meeting 
 them. The author, attending the sessions of the legisla- 
 ture, met Mr. Lincoln frequently, and was at the depot on 
 that dreary morning, February 11, 1861, when he took his 
 departure from Springfield, never to look upon it again. 
 Notwithstanding the unpleasantness of the morning a large 
 -crowd of people gathered at the depot, many crowding for- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 185 
 
 ward to get a shake of his hand. When the time for 
 departure came he took a position on the rear platform of 
 the car and delivered a farewell address to his neighbors 
 and friends that for genuine feeling, pathos, friendship for 
 his neighbors, sympathy and deepfelt sorrow at parting, 
 and reliance on a Supreme Power in the trying scenes on 
 which he was entering, has not its equal for forcible expres- 
 sion in the English language. 
 
 This was the last time we met Abraham Lincoln in life. 
 Our busy editorial life, with its incessant toil, prevented 
 our going to Washington during the war. The damning 
 deed of the assassin had been done, taking the life of the 
 Nation's Chief, and the sacred remains were returned to 
 the state of his adoption. When the mourning retinue 
 arrived at Chicago, and the body laid in state for two days 
 in the City Hall, we were one of the humble mourners 
 among the thousands that passed by to view all that was 
 mortal of the Nation's Defender, the Great Emancipator 
 being returned to his home for sepulchure. 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 
 
 Historical Reflections — Birth and Early Life— Education — He 
 comes West — Teaches School — Admitted to Practice Law 
 
 — Chosen Attorney General— Elected to the Legislature- 
 Appointed Register of Land Offlce— Candidate for Congress 
 
 — His Canvass with Judge Brown — Humors of the canvass 
 
 — "Divil ava discint" — Is beaten — Is again a Candidate 
 Succeeds — Elected to U. S. Senate — His Senatorial canvass 
 with Lincoln — His Death. 
 
 The lives of great men require careful study. The 
 events connected therewith closely identify them, in all 
 their leading incidents, with the people who forced great- 
 ness on them. A faithful portraiture of so prominent a 
 man as the subject of our notice cannot be without great 
 interest, absorbing beyond that excited by events connected 
 with men less actively engaged than he was in the stirring 
 scenes of his public career. 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas was born at Brandon, Vermont, 
 April 23, 1813. His father died when Stephen was only 
 three months old, leaving a sufficient competence, so that 
 the child and youth was comfortably cared for and given a 
 fair rudimental education in the common schools of the 
 country. In these he was noted for readiness, diligence, 
 and ' retentive memory. He was kind and amiable, and 
 won the love and esteem of his teachers. In temper he 
 was lively and vivacious. 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 187 
 
 At the age of fifteen he wished to prepare himself for 
 college, but on "sitting down to count the cost," in a 
 friendly council with his mother, it was decided, much to 
 his disappointment, that the family treasury could not 
 honor the draft. " That 's the state of the exchequer, then, 
 is it?" said Stephen; then thinking a moment, he said: 
 " I'll learn a trade so I can earn my own living," and the 
 same day started out to find a situation as an apprentice, 
 which he succeeded in doing in a furniture manufactory. 
 Here he ingeniously wrought for eighteen months, making 
 good progress, when sufficient means were acquired to give 
 him the necessary "preparation," and he entered "the acad- 
 emy at Brandon. He made rapid progress in the class of 
 studies to which he directed his attention. He attended 
 one year, when his mother removed to Canandaigua, N.Y., 
 and Stephen entered the academy there as a student. Stay- 
 ing there another year he was prepared to enter on other 
 studies, and deciding on the law for a profession, he entered 
 the office of one of the leading attorneys there, Mr. Hub- 
 bell, and studied until 1833. 
 
 Then, fully equipped mentally, "as the law directs," the 
 mighty West, with all its vast opportunities, opened out on 
 his vision. On his journey he stopped at Cincinnati, Louis- 
 ville, St. Louis, and on to Jacksonville. Casting about, he 
 " received a call " to teach a school at Winchester, obtain- 
 ing forty pupils for a three months' tutelage, at $3.00 for 
 the quarter, which, he says, " was the first quarterage I ever 
 received." He devoted his evenings and spare time to 
 perfecting his law studies, and at the close of his school he 
 was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court and opened 
 an office at Jacksonville. 
 
 In 1834, while not yet twenty -two years of age, he was- 
 
188 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 elected by the legislature Attorney General of the State. 
 In 1836 he was elected to the legislature from Morgan 
 County, and first met Abraham Lincoln at the opening of 
 the session, at Vandalia, in December of that year. 
 
 After the adjournment of the legislature in 1837, he was 
 appointed by President Van Buren register of the Land 
 Office at Springfield, and removing there, he and Mr. Lin- 
 coln became neighbors. In 1838 the democrats nominated 
 him for Congress from the Springfield district, against 
 Major John T. Stuart, the whig candidate, the district 
 taking in the whole of Northern Illinois from Sangamon 
 and Morgan counties, including Chicago, Galena, and all 
 the country from the Mississippi to the eastern boundary of 
 the State. Really a "from Dan to Beersheba" district. 
 Both candidates entered the canvass to traverse this vast 
 territory. It was while Mr. Douglas was "looking after 
 his political fences" in this campaign that we first met him. 
 He was accompanied on his canvass by Hon. Thomas C. 
 Brown, of Galena, one of the associate judges of the Su- 
 preme Court of this state. 
 
 It was near sunset that two horsemencame up the road 
 from toward Peoria, approaching father's cabin. One was 
 a tall man, of commanding presence, sitting upon his horse 
 erect, and the other astride of a powerful horse, but appear- 
 ing, as they came up the road, to be a youth of sixteen. 
 They approached our fourteen-feet square log cabin. Fa- 
 ther, mother, self and other members of the family were 
 sitting in the shed stoop that fronted the road, and had ob- 
 served the travelers coming some minutes before they came 
 in front. Judge Brown asked father if they could stay all 
 night, at the same time mentioning his own and Mr. Doug- 
 las' name. They were told they could stay if they would 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 189 
 
 accept such accommodation as the cabin afforded. So the 
 great notables were our guests — a big judge and a pros- 
 pective congressman. Their horses were bountifully pro- 
 vided for, and in a very short time the big and little great 
 men were invited around our plentiful board, for we have 
 said in another page of this book that father was an old 
 hotel (they called it tavern at that day) keeper, and mother 
 preserved the reputation of the house by her rare skill in 
 cooking, every eatable and drinkable being set up in the 
 most appetizing style, her motto being, that cooking could 
 be done just as well in a log cabin as in the best-appointed 
 hotels. Our "distinguished guests" were pleased; they 
 said so, and the family were all pleased because our guests 
 were. It made no difference if they were democrats and 
 father and the boys were whigs (the latter not then voters). 
 The stories went round about even between the Judge, 
 Douglas, and my father, while we boys listened, unless we 
 were spoken to, and the big men were sociable with all the 
 children. 
 
 One story we remember, Douglas told about himself, of his 
 campaigning experience. He had been up at Joliet, where 
 there were hundreds of men working on the canal. Most 
 of them were the broadest kind of Erin-go-braa;h fellows, 
 just from the " ould sod," and, of course, in those days, all 
 these were democrats. Douglas said : " I had an apprecia- 
 tive audience ; they cheered me ; in fact, they were too 
 friendly. I was extolling the patriotism of Ireland, the 
 virtues of her people, the bravery of her sons, and beauty 
 of her daughters; I even referred to myself as being 
 descended from a long line of patriotic sires of Irish de- 
 scent. When I had said that," continued Mr. Douglas, 
 " a great, big, burly Irishman, over six foot high, rose and 
 
190 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 said : " Do you say Mr. Dooglas, that you discinded from 
 the- great McDooglases of Ireland ?" Mr. Douglas assented. 
 " Coming forward where I was talking the big man patron- 
 izingly leaned over me, spreading out his brawny arms, " 
 said, " What a divil of a discint," which closed his speech, 
 but said Mr. Douglas, " I expect to get all their votes." 
 
 Douglas and his friend Judge Brown remained as guests 
 until next day, when they departed on their mission. Soon 
 the election came off. Douglas received the votes of the 
 " canal ring " as the thousands of laborers on the canal were 
 at that time called, but there were not quite enough of them 
 to elect him. He was beaten by just five majority for 
 Major Stuart, was urged to contest the election, and did 
 go into the investigation, having for its objects to prove 
 illegal voting for Stuart, but the more he investigated he 
 found that it was likely to increase Stuart's majority, and 
 he was disappointed in his congressional aspirations for 
 that time. 
 
 But with the politician's hopefulness ever rising to 
 cheer the young aspirant, with the expressed hope of " bet- 
 ter luck next time," he devoted himself more assiduously 
 than ever to his law practice. His tact and skill gave him 
 a wide professional reputation, and the fact of his having 
 been a member of the legislature, attorney-general, register 
 of the land office, and an almost successful candidate for 
 congress over half the territorial limits of the state, made 
 him the best known man in the state. He largely increased 
 this acquaintance by making a thorough canvass of the 
 state in the presidential campaign of 1840. • It was called 
 the " Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign," he addressing 
 two hundred and seven meetings from the beginning to the 
 close of the canvass. 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 191 
 
 Gov. Carlin appointed him secretary of state in Decem- 
 ber, 1840, and during that session the supreme court of the 
 state was reorganized by adding four additional members, 
 and Douglas was elected to a seat and assigned to the 
 Quincy circuit. 
 
 He was so social and so anxious to stand well with the 
 boys, that when a suit was pending he would keep track of 
 all the proceedings, decide all points of law, leave the bench, 
 go back among the bystanders recognizing Tom, or Jack, 
 or Bill, distribute or take a cigar, enjoy a social smoke with 
 them, sit down familiarly with them, often in their laps, at 
 the same time keeping track of what all the members of the 
 bar were doing. A judge with this elasticity of talent 
 could not fail to be popular. He was preparing his way 
 for his congressional career, which, when commenced 
 never was broken until the time of his death. He was 
 elected to congress in 1 843, after serving nearly three years 
 on the bench. He served three terms in the house of rep- 
 resentatives and was a studious toiler, unceasing in his at- 
 tention to business, and his knowledge of public affairs be- 
 came vast, complete and accurate. 
 
 When he entered Congress, the question which had for 
 years in one shape or another been brought up for consid- 
 eration, was to refund to General Jackson the fine imposed 
 upon him by Judge Hall for placing New Orleans under 
 martial law at the time he was making preparation to 
 defend that city from the British in January 1815. Douglas 
 studied all the legal points involved, both in civil and mili- 
 tary law, brought the batteries qf his legal arsenal to bear 
 on the question, and made such a masterly exposition of the 
 " military necessity " that compelled General Jackson to 
 declare martial law, that it attracted the attention of mili- 
 
192 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 tary and civil officials all over the United States and 
 Europe. Jackson himself, in thanking Douglas for this 
 effort and the success attending it, said to him, " I knew 
 when I proclaimed and enforced martial law that I was 
 doing right, but never until I read your speech could I 
 express the reason which actuated my conduct." In 1847 
 Douglas entered the senate of the United States, the goal 
 of his ambition — except being president. To this he bent 
 every other interest, as it was a noble ambition and worthy 
 of any man. To promote the interest of the people was to 
 promote his own, and after his successful labor in securing 
 the grant of land to aid in building the Illinois Central 
 railroad, and the large degree of popularity awarded to 
 him for his agency and great influence, he cast about for 
 other measures that would impress them still more favora- 
 bly. He aided in the compromise measures of 1850-51, 
 that he was sure would hold the South to his support, and 
 not drive away any from the border or northern states. 
 
 To his mind the question would commend itself to the 
 whole country, and having that fixed, his fertile genius 
 commenced to evolve other problems that he would have 
 the credit of originating — almost claim as his own by right 
 of discovery, that he could present to the country as the 
 original inventor, claiming copyright, and, as patent, bearing 
 the great seal of approval by the people. It must have a 
 high sounding and patriotic title,— hence Popular Sover- 
 eignty — the rule or government of the masses, to suit the 
 North and not be objectionable at the South. This was the 
 process of reasoning that, brought to his mind the repeal 
 of the Missouri compromise, removing the statutory line, 
 taking down the bars, and giving free access to first comers 
 in sufficient numbers to impress their policy or institutions 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 193 
 
 on the new territories before admission as states. The 
 time, too, was well chosen to accomplish this patriotic and 
 popular idea. The presidential election of 1852 was passed 
 and there was a state of quietude, on the surface at least,, 
 of the political waters, but in Douglas' case " still waters 
 run deep," and he prepared to launch his " popular sover- 
 eignty " barque to navigate them, with the probabilities 
 strongly in favor that his port of entry would be the presi- 
 dential mansion on the 4th of March 1857, and failing 
 that, to sail the same craft for a positive successful landing 
 in 1861. . 
 
 Here is the programme, as gathered from Douglas him- 
 self in various brief conversations from 1854 to 1860, 
 which our recollection enables us to give in substance, 
 which history will verify. After various preliminary propo- 
 sitions and discussions, which it is not here necessary to 
 introduce, Mr. Douglas introduced, January 23, 1854, the 
 Kansas-Nebraska bill, which, in unexpected and ultimate 
 consequences to him, was then beyond his political ken. 
 The bill divided the territory from latitude 37 degrees to 
 latitude 43 degrees and 30 minutes into two territories, the 
 southern to be called Kansas, and the northern Nebraska ; 
 the territory between latitude 36 degrees and 30 minutes, 
 and 37 degrees was now left to the Indians. It was de- 
 clared to be the purpose of the act to carry out propositions 
 and principles embracing all questions as to slavery in the 
 territories, or the states to be formed from them, these to be 
 left to the people or their representatives residing therein. 
 
 Here was where the " squatter sovereignty " wedge was 
 
 introduced, and further explaining that " it being the true 
 
 intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into 
 
 any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to 
 
 10 
 
194 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate 
 their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only 
 to the constitution of the United States." To this there 
 was an amendment offered by Chase, of Ohio, " allowing 
 the people to prohibit slavery therein, if they saw fit." 
 This was voted down 36 to 10. March 3, 1854, the bill 
 passed the senate by a vote of 37 to 14, and was not taken 
 up in the house until May 8th, and was passed May 24th, 
 the vote being 113 for to 100 against. May 30 President 
 Pierce approved it, and Mr. Douglas' pet bill became a law, 
 and thus were these two territories thrown open" to settle- 
 ment on equal terms, leaving the settlers at liberty to intro- 
 duce or exclude slavery as they should think proper. 
 
 This we believe was the gist of the law as Mr. Douglas 
 expounded and defended it before the people from 1854 to 
 1860. Its ultimate and unexpected consequences were fatal 
 to his political prospects. 
 
 In 1856, the south finding that they could not make 
 Mr. Douglas the supple and pliant instrument to carry out 
 their designs, nominated Buchanan, whom they could use 
 the ultra southern wing gradually drawing away, although 
 the Kansas-Nebraska mil was endorsed by the Cincinnati 
 convention of 1856 as a kind of plaster, so that Douglas 
 would not feel his defeat so keenly. Buchanan, in his letter 
 of acceptance, endorsed it, saying " that the people of a 
 territory, like those of a state, shall decide for themselves 
 whether slavery shall not exist within their limits" 
 
 After using Douglas' popularity to carry him into the 
 presidential chair he basely deserted the platform on which 
 he was nominated, adopted ultra southern views, and on the 
 meeting of congress he boldly and in shameless defiance of 
 his previous pledges to the country, urged the admission of 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 195 
 
 Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. Buchanan said, 
 in answer to a deputation that called on him to remonstrate 
 against this measure, " slavery exists in Kansas under the 
 constitution of the United States. This point has at last 
 been decided by the highest tribunal known to our laws. 
 How it could be seriously doubted is a mystery." 
 
 Douglas tells the circumstances of his disagreement 
 with the president in a speech at Chicago, to which we 
 listened in the canvass of 1860. It was at the great mass 
 meeting held on the then vacant block west of Elizabeth 
 street, between Madison and Washington, near the closing 
 of the campaign. Douglas shall tell it himself: 
 
 " If you look into the Lecompton constitution you will 
 find that the original document made Kansas a slave state, 
 and then the schedule submitted another clause to the peo- 
 ple to vote for or against ; if they voted for it, Kansas was 
 a slave state, and if they voted against it still it was a slave 
 state. When I reached Washington, three days before the 
 meeting of Congress, I went directly to the president, and 
 had a talk with him upon this subject, in which I implored 
 him as a friend not to send the constitution into Congress 
 for acceptance. 
 
 " I told him that it was a violation of every pledge we 
 had ever made to the people ; a violation of the fundamen- 
 tal principles of the democratic party, and a violation of 
 the principles of all parties in all republican governments ; 
 because it Was an attempt to force a constitution upon an 
 unwilling people. He begged me not to s$y anything upon 
 the subject until we should hear the news' as to how the 
 vote stood on the slavery clause. The vote, you remem- 
 ber, was to be taken on the slavery clause on the 21st of 
 December, three or four weeks subsequent to this conven- 
 tion. I told the president that if he would withhold his 
 recommendation until the vote was taken on that clause I 
 would withhold my speech against the measure. He said 
 
196 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 he-must recommend it in his message, and I replied that if 
 he did I would denounce it the moment his message was 
 read. At last the President became somewhat excited 
 upon the subject, and arose and said to me : ' Mr. Doug- 
 las, I desire you to remember that no democrat ever 
 yet differed from an administration of bis own choice with- 
 out being crushed.' Then he added, ' Beware of the fate of 
 Talmadge and Rives.' I arose and said, ' Mr. President, 
 I wish you to remember that General Jackson is dead, sir.' 
 From that day to this he and I have been trying the ques- 
 tion whether General Jackson is dead. And one thing is 
 certain, — the people of Illinois decided in 1858 that James 
 Buchanan was not General Jackson." 
 
 That is the history of the Buchanan-Douglas political 
 leave-taking just before the assembling of congress in 
 1857. Douglas fully felt the gravity of the situation on 
 his own future prospects. It meant that he had two fights 
 on his hands instead of one — he must fight the adminis- 
 tration and the steadily growing republican party. 
 
 At the opening of congress the Lecomptonites, assured 
 of the aid of the administration, demanded that Kansas 
 should be admitted under that constitution, threatening dis- 
 union if not unconditionally complied with. Douglas, the 
 champion of popular sovereignty, determined to be true to 
 his pledges, promptly stepped forward and fought the 
 battle of freedom for Kansas, single-handed, from his own 
 party in the senate, the Illinois delegation sustaining him, 
 and popular-sovereignty democrats standing side by side 
 with republicans. Thus the recreant president and his 
 allies were defeated in their attempt to force slavery on 
 Kansas. Douglas delivered his celebrated anti-Lecompton 
 speech March 22d, 1858, listened to with great interest by 
 the dignitaries and representatives of foreign courts in 
 Washington, and was congratulated by all parties. He 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 197 
 
 spoke for three hours, warming up by degrees, expounding 
 the meaning and intenL of the law. He referred to himself 
 personally, not vain-gloriously taking credit for what he 
 had done, but for the purpose of vindicating himself from 
 the aspersions cast on him by his former political asso- 
 ciates. He went through his public course. He showed 
 what his acts had been ; echoed his own words ; said he 
 was proud of what he had done ; called attention to his 
 acts, and defied his fault-finding democratic brethren to 
 show that every public act of his- life had not been recog- 
 nized as the policy and principles of the democratic party. 
 He defined his position in the present crisis, — what the 
 duty of. a senator from a sovereign state was, and the 
 responsibility he owed to the people whose voice he repre- 
 sented. He lifted the head and heart of the audience with 
 him. He held the multitude chained with that peculiar 
 eloquence which, based on common sense, and the rights of 
 man, reaches its destination without the aid of rhetorical 
 flourishes. Such eloquence does not dazzle, it convinces; 
 it does not stretch the fancy, but solidifies the head ; it does 
 not hold the breath, but makes one breathe freer, for it 
 cheers the heart. The applause which broke from the 
 galleries and rolled from side to side of the chamber was a 
 noble testimony to the principles enunciated. He was 
 there as the defender of the people, the representative of the 
 state, not the vassal of the executive to do its bidding, but 
 consulting the interests of the people. He stood forth as 
 the champion of state sovereignty. He grew in enthusiasm 
 with the progress of his speech, and the effect was electrical. 
 Time wore on after this triumphant speech, bringing 
 the canvass of 1858 between him and Mr. Lincoln, to 
 which we have given considerable space. We have seen 
 
198 
 
 that their principal subject of discussion was slavery and 
 the territories, one insisting that Congress for the Ameri- 
 can people had. the right to exclude it, and should do so ; 
 Mr. Douglas insisting that each territory should be left to 
 settle its own domestic institutions in its own way subject 
 only to the constitution of the United States. Both these 
 men were working better than they knew. Both were 
 teaching and making more prominent, and more than ever 
 sacred, the majesty of majorities. This discussion has aptly 
 been called " The battle of the giants," Mr. Lincoln secur- 
 ing the presidency, and Mr. Douglas his re-election to the 
 senate. 
 
 But with a page or two more our recollections of these 
 two great patriotic Hercules must close. The limits of 
 these sketches have been drawn out at greater length than 
 at first intended. They were both patriots. Douglas wished 
 to be president because in that exalted station he could 
 best serve the country, and he bent all his great powers of 
 head and heart to achieve his noble ambition. Lincoln was 
 made president because he had no ambition in that direct- 
 ion. He had no claims on the people, but the people had 
 on him, and the spontaneous demand went up from the 
 loyal majorities that he should be president. He was not 
 disobedient to the call of his country. Both men fulfilled 
 their destiny, well rounded up" their years and honors. Mr. 
 Douglas at the close of the extra session of Congress in 
 April, 1861, hastened to Springfield where the legislature was 
 in session, to assure the assembled representatives of the 
 people of the aid of his powerful influence to rouse the people 
 to meet the emergency promptly. Before leaving Washing- 
 ton he had called on Mr. Lincoln to assure him of his 
 earnest co-operation in measures taken to raise forces to 
 put down the rebellion. 
 
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 199 
 
 He gave Gov. Yates the same assurance when he arrived' 
 at Springfield, and was invited by the legislature and lead- 
 ing citizens to address a meeting at Representative HalL 
 He denounced the rebellion as a " wide-spread conspiracy to 
 overthrow the best government the sun ever shown upon," 
 urged all " as one man to rush to the defense of that we 
 hold most dear," giving, the reason why he urged the people 
 to quick action, he continued : " I have plead and implored 
 for compromise. Now that all else has failed, there is but 
 one course left, and that is to rally as one man under the 
 flag. What single act has been done to justify this attempt 
 to overthrow the Republic?" "The will of the majority 
 constitutionally expressed, should govern." " It is a crime 
 against the freedom of the world to attempt to blot the 
 United States out of the map of Christendom." " Gentle- 
 men, it is our duty to defend our constitution and protect 
 our flag." " Let me say to my old friends you will be false 
 and unworthy of your principles if you allow political 
 defeat to convert you into traitors to your national flag. 
 The shortest way to peace is the most stupendous and 
 unanimous preparation for war." 
 
 From Springfield he hastened to Chicago. Men of all 
 parties hailed his coming. He spoke this time, and the 
 last, in the "Wigwam," then consecrated to patriotic meet- 
 ings. It was an effort worthy the last of the patriot states- 
 man's life. It was oracular, prophetic, commanding, 
 beseeching and persuading. Its arguments were unan- 
 swerable. It was like the words of the prophets of old, 
 appealing to conscience, the heart, and love of country. 
 The words of these speeches rang out all over the country, 
 were read in all families, and the united country heard 
 it passed from lip to lip, " Douglas sustains Lincoln," and 
 
200 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 the voice of treason was shamed into silence. We give, in 
 closing, some of these last words. " The present secession 
 movement is the result of an enormous conspiracy, formed 
 more than a year ago. The conspiracy is now known." 
 " There are only two sides to the question. Every man 
 must be for the United States or against it. There can be 
 no neutrals in this war; only patriots — or traitors. 
 Thank God, Illinois is not divided on this question. I 
 know the rebels expected to present a united South against 
 a divided North." We give the closing paragraph of this 
 greatest and last speech : " I express it as my con- 
 viction before God that it is the duty of every American 
 citizen to rally round the flag of his country. Illinois has 
 a proud position, united, firm, determined never to permit 
 the government to be destroyed." 
 
 These words were the seal of his usefulness here on 
 earth. When he closed he returned to his rooms at the 
 Tremont House. He had been laboring and suffering from 
 the effects of a severe cold, was hoarse, spoke with diffi- 
 culty, and the effort was too much for him. His hoarseness 
 increased. He laid down to die, while the loyal millions 
 at home and in the field were reading his patriotic utter- 
 ances he was wrestling with the throes of death. 
 

 
 ; IcS* ■ J : StNX 
 
DISTINGUISHED WOMEN 
 
 MES. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMEE. 
 
 FOUNDER OF MOUNT CARROLL SEMINARY. 
 
 Introductory — Student of history — Great results from small be- 
 ginnings — Two determined women — One improvement fol- 
 lows another — More land bought — Miss Wood married — 
 Dissolution of partnership — Miss Ada C. Joy — Dr. Henry 
 Shimer — Ornithological collection — Scientific attainments — 
 Library — Different departments — The faculty — Present 
 board of instruction— Description of buildings — Internal 
 arrangements — Water supply — Plumbing — Ventilation — 
 Ruttan system — Sewerage — Gas making — Student's pas- 
 times — Promenades — Architectural lecture — Well arranged 
 grounds — What one woman has done — Encouragement for 
 others to do likewise. 
 
 The author of these " Recollections " need not offer an 
 apology for the introduction into the work of so many 
 pages, yes, whole chapters, to educational institutions, 
 their controling force, the master minds of the educators of 
 this state, the Archimedean levers that give power to all 
 other industries, professions and callings of our great 
 country. 
 
 We have no partiality for one institution over another, 
 but are acquainted with the system and educational plans 
 of some of the institutions of this state more than we are 
 
202 fifty years' recollections. 
 
 with others, which enables us to write understanding^ 
 of their merits. In the course of our newspaper and edi- 
 torial work since 1858, education, educators and their 
 work, has been part of our study, in fact we have been 
 a student all these years, not in these institutions but out 
 of them, noting the good they do, and the wide-spreading 
 influence they command, by the better class of men and 
 women that are trained by their teachings to enter upon 
 life's duties with clearer and better defined purposes be- 
 cause of this teaching. 
 
 Of one of these great institutions that has been built up 
 within thirty years we propose to speak, — Mount Carroll 
 Seminary, built, controlled, managed architecturally, educa- 
 tionally and financially by the genius of women. It has 
 been a progressive institution, coming up through these 
 years from small beginnings to one completed whole, among 
 the best in the land. 
 
 In the year 1853 two young ladies, Miss Frances A. 
 Wood and Miss Cinderella M. Gregory, graduates of the 
 Normal school at Albany, New York, came to Mt. Carroll, 
 seeking an opening in the educational field in the west.. 
 They arranged for a room, their first term commencing May 
 11, 1853, with eleven pupils, but increased to forty before 
 the close of the term. This select school continued in these 
 quarters for over one year, still growing in popularity,. 
 Misses "Wood and Gregory working together as educators, 
 while Miss Wood financiered the embryo seminary. 
 
 A charter for the " Mount Carroll Seminary" had been, 
 obtained by the citizens at the session of the state legisla- 
 ture in 1852. The success that marked the labors of Misses 
 Wood and Gregory led the board of corporators to pro- 
 pose to them to organize formally under their charter, sub- 
 
MRS. PRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 203 " 
 
 ject to the management of the board. To this the ladies 
 consented, on conditions that a suitable building should be 
 erected for the accommodation of the school. The board at 
 once organized a stock company and opened the books for 
 subscriptions. About three thousand dollars worth of stock 
 was subscribed and the corporators proceeded with the 
 work, purchasing five acres of ground at a cost of five 
 hundred dollars, and during the summer of 1854 erected a 
 building forty-two by forty-six feet, two and a half stories 
 and basement. In October, 1854, the school was removed 
 to this building and duly organized under the charter, the 
 board of trustees assuming control, and Misses Wood and 
 Gregory taking charge as salaried teachers. The success in 
 increasing the stock and making collections of that already 
 subscribed came short of the expectations of the board, and 
 as the spring opened, the time for enclosing the grounds, 
 with the finishing of many needed improvements, found 
 them without the funds for' the work. As only about one 
 thousand dollars of the stock subscribed had been paid in, 
 it will be seen the building and furnishing thus far had 
 been done mainly on borrowed capital. The creditors were 
 getting uneasy. Something must be done. The board 
 was disheartened and wanted to get the property off their 
 hands. They offered it to Misses Wood and Gregory at the 
 cost of the work done, and as an inducement offered to donate 
 the five acres of ground and furniture, in consideration of 
 which the ladies were to obligate themselves to continue 
 the school ten years. The conditions were accepted and 
 the property, with the charter, transferred by the board to 
 Misses Wood and Gregory. 
 
 After a year or two the ladies assumed the debt made 
 for the purchase of the furniture also, as a condition for 
 
204 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 release from the obligation entered into to continue the 
 school a given time. Thus the only money-value aid re- 
 ceived by Misses Wood and Gregory from the citizens or 
 public, was in the five acres of ground donated by two 
 prominent members of the board, Messrs. Rinewalt and 
 Halderman, the original owners of the land, which they 
 bought of the government at $1.25 per acre, occupied as 
 farm land at $7.50 per acre till the site was in demand for 
 the seminary grounds, when it advanced in value to $100 
 per acre. Thus, after an experience of six months under 
 the management of a board of trustees, the school was again 
 in the hands of its founders, with a debt of $4,500 for the 
 building, and later, the debt for the furniture assumed. 
 Fortunately Miss Wood had a small patrimony coming 
 from her father's estate, and some responsible friends east 
 as backers ; yet what a task was before these young women ! 
 As it was now regarded as a " private enterprise," no board 
 of trustees to give it a promise of success or permanency, 
 •of course nothing was to be expected from the public in the 
 payment of stock subscribed or other pecuniary aid. Pat- 
 ronage, however, was given as far as the conduct of the 
 school proved to ment it, and it came only thus, as it was 
 the determined policy of the founders not to solicit pupils, or 
 ■" beg funds," but to lend all their energies to the making of 
 a school that should merit confidence, and thus be cer- 
 tain of a liberal patronage. Thus has this school been 
 throughout all these thirty years, an exception to nearly, 
 and so far as the author knows, quite all the schools in 
 the country, in that its managers have never asked any 
 man, woman or child for his or her patronage — have never 
 employed an agent in any capacity to solicit pupils or funds 
 for the support of the school. Nevertheless, the seminary 
 
MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 205 
 
 grew in reputation, a large increase of students, as the 
 years came and went, until 1857, when more room was 
 needed, an addition to their building demanded — Miss 
 Wood prepared the plans and specifications for an addition 
 twenty-two by sixty feet on the southeast part of the 
 original building. Mechanics were employed and paid by 
 the day, and the closest economy exercised in every partic- 
 ular. This addition was raised two and a-half stories above 
 the basement, added twenty-three private rooms, and cost 
 about the same as the first — $4,500. Every business man 
 of those years (1857 aDd 1858) can recall the fearful 
 "panic" that crushed so many and embarrassed all. It 
 came with almost crushing force upon the seminary enter- 
 prise just in the midst of the building of this first addition. 
 What ready money there was for the work was closely 
 locked in bank, with no certainty of its ever being available. 
 Collections that would have been ready at call and depended 
 upon to be put into the work it was impossible to get. The 
 rooms were in demand for the opening of the next school 
 year. What was to be done? " Prudence," perhaps, would 
 have said, " suspend the building work." These ladies 
 said, the rooms must be ready. To this end Miss Wood 
 (now Mrs. Shimer) spent the summer vacation in actual 
 labor in every way possible to forward the work. She 
 bought the material for painting the building, at wholesale, 
 mixed her own paints and put upon this entire building 
 (except the cornice, the building being of brick), painting 
 every one of the twenty-three rooms herself, three coats of 
 paint. The glass and putty she bought in the same way, 
 and glazed, with her own hands, every window, ( forty of 
 them). The wall paper she put upon every one of the 
 twenty-three rooms herself alone. Thus she labored, not 
 
206 fifty year's recollections. 
 
 from penuriousness, but what seemed to her necessity. The 
 money was not at command to pay for this labor. She 
 would not increase debts with a possibility of the laborer 
 losing his earnings. The accommodations for pupils must 
 be ready or the school would be seriously embarrassed in its 
 next year's work. And they were ready, and the 
 school opened. 
 
 Just then came another crisis — the housekeeper was 
 taken down with severe illness. Teachers were more 
 easily obtained than competent housekeepers. Miss 
 Wood placed a supply in the schoolroom, and took her 
 post in the kitchen. For six weeks she did the cooking 
 and administered the domestic affairs of the institution and 
 at the same time filled the place of nurse to the sick house- 
 keeper. 
 
 Success and popularity attended the seminary. Pluck 
 and determination had made it a success. Its patronage 
 increased, the debts were paid, and new plans devised for 
 further enlargement. Miss Wood planned and worked on 
 the outside — in the schoolroom, in the kitchen when 
 neoessary; painted and papered, contracted for material, 
 managed everything with a skill commanding admiration 
 and defied opposition. Miss Gregory was no less earnest 
 among the students, and the good work went on. By 
 enlargements and improvements in the years from 1857 to 
 1864, the building and accessories had cost $14,000, and 1865 
 opened with yet a larger demand for room. A second addi- 
 tion was built southwest of the original building, and so 
 joined the first addition as to give the two the appearance 
 of one building, both being raised to the height of the 
 original building, and covering an area of fifty by seventy 
 feet, or altogether fifty-two by one hundred and sixteen 
 
MRS. PRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 207 
 
 feet. At the same time the rooms and internal arrange- 
 ments of the first two buildings were materially changed, 
 making them much more commodious and convenient. 
 These improvements beginning in 1865, were completed in 
 1867. In this work the same system was pursued, and 
 under the same management as in the addition made in 
 1857. Other lands were purchased, increasing the sem- 
 inary domain proper to twenty-five acres. On the added 
 grounds the work of hedging, tree planting and other 
 agricultural improvements went on, as on the first five 
 iicres, till the entire campus is almost a grove, with open 
 spaces of beautiful, well-kept lawn, with fruit and flower 
 gardens. 
 
 During these busy years Miss Wood was married to Dr. 
 Henry Shimer. 
 
 In our visits to the seminary, which were frequent 
 from 1870 to 1875, we found Dr. Shimer distributing his 
 vast scientific acquirements as lecturer, hearing a class in 
 mathematics, discoursing to students or visitors on ento- 
 mology, ornithology, and the kindred science to the last, — 
 taxidermy. An industrious student of natural history, he 
 has collected a choice cabinet for the use of the seminary. 
 Those critical and competent to judge in such matters have 
 given it as their opinion that his ornithological collection is 
 not equaled in any other educational institution in the 
 northwest, perhaps not in the country. He, being in those 
 years engrossed in scientific educational duties, and later 
 in his practice as a physician, has no time to devote to the 
 business details of the institution, but that is left in the 
 hands of the one who has shaped, fashioned, guided and 
 directed it in its present magnificent success, — Mrs. 
 Francis A. Wood Shimer. 
 
208 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 There is a library of over three thousand volumes, and 
 being added to on each recurring year. It is the depository 
 of all the public documents published at Washington, 
 about forty volumes being added every session of Congress. 
 To this feature of the institution it is indebted to Hon. E. 
 B. Washburn, when in Congress many years ago, and it 
 has been continued ever since. 
 
 In 1870 the partnership between Mrs. Wood Shimer 
 and Miss Gregory was dissolved, Mrs. Shimer becoming 
 sole proprietor and manager of the institution. Soon after, 
 Miss Ada C. Joy, of Maine, an accomplished and thorough 
 educator, became associate principal. In addition to her 
 accomplishments as teacher she has fine executive ability, 
 and great tact and skill in the management of such a work. 
 Up to the time of Miss Joy's engagement with her Mrs. 
 Shimer had no assistance whatever in the financial part of 
 the enterprise, which, with her large and increasing business, 
 she now very much needed. In this Miss Joy proved her- 
 self equal to the emergency, as she quickly acquired a 
 knowledge of business details, and has become a valuable 
 co-laborer in this sphere of work as in the duties more 
 especially devolving upon her position. 
 
 From 1870 the continued increasing wants of the school ' 
 demanded more room, till in 1875 a third addition was pro- 
 jected and completed in the fall of 1876. This is forty by 
 one hundred feet, and joined to the northeast corner of the 
 first or original building. It is five stories, including a 
 sixteen-room attic devoted to practice rooms for the music 
 conservatory. In all, this addition has seventy-one rooms. 
 Mrs. Shimer was again in this, as in the previous buildings 
 erected, the sole architect, contractor, builder and financier. 
 The modern improvements introduced in this building, and 
 
MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 209 
 
 its much greater size than any of the three previous struc- 
 tures, together with the superior workmanship put upon it, 
 made its cost to far exceed all the others. Then there were 
 essential changes and improvements made in the other 
 buildings, especially the first (original) one. As the family 
 increased, the dining room was enlarged by the removal of 
 one partition after another till now it occupies the|space of 
 seven rooms — the entire first floor of the original building. 
 Furnaces with the same system of ventilation as in the last 
 addition were also placed in this. With the improvements 
 in buildings and grounds came added improvements in 
 the working methods of the school. 
 
 The Normal Department is a valuable feature of 
 the Seminary. The principal, a graduate of the New York 
 Normal school, knowing full well the value of that system to 
 those having teaching in view, has given prominence to 
 this department. Hundreds of teachers have gone out from 
 this seminary, now filling prominent positions in public and 
 graded schools, seminaries, academies and colleges. Under 
 Mrs. Shimer's liberal management of the seminary, provi- 
 sion was early made to give free tuition to one teacher 
 from each township in Carroll county, and one from each 
 county in the state. Another valuable feature, showing the 
 broad scope of the beneficent educational designs of its pro- 
 jectors, is the labor department, affording the means to 
 many of the most worthy young women of securing an 
 education, fitting themselves for positions of usefulness. It 
 gives opportunity to those who could not otherwise enjoy 
 the advantages of a seminary to work their way — young 
 women of energy and character earning their own education. 
 There are at this writing many in this department doing a 
 large part of the domestic labor of the institution. Thus 
 14 
 
210 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 are teachers provided and educational advantages dispensed 
 to many young women who could not otherwise obtain it. 
 
 At the head of the domestic departments as housekeeper, 
 it is the aim to have a lady in the true sense of the word, 
 one who can not only do, but direct and instruct the 
 students in the best methods of housekeeping in all its 
 details. To this end the present most competent and effi- 
 cient incumbent, Mrs. Mary G. Nias, is laboring with en- 
 ergy and zeal, and with most happy results, as may be seen 
 in the well ordered house and the neat and bountifully 
 furnished tables, on which is uniformly found, not only an 
 abundance but a nice variety, and all most wholesome and 
 healthful. In addition to the instruction given to the 
 young ladies in the manual labor department, Mrs. Nias 
 gives lessons to all in the best methods of making and 
 caring for a home and family. 
 
 The Mt. Carroll Seminary for the first fourteen years 
 received both sexes, having as many young men in attend- 
 ance as young women. As a " mixed school " it was an 
 eminent suocess. The young men here " fitted for college," 
 took a high rank in the different institutions they afterward 
 entered and graduated from, doing credit to the seminary 
 faculty, which at that time was made up almost exclusively 
 of lady teachers. As an instance, one of the young men 
 fitted here for college was admitted, on examination, to the 
 senior year at one of the oldest eastern colleges, from which 
 he graduated in one year. His preparation in mathematics 
 had been entirely under the instruction of lady teachers. 
 
 Thus the seminary ever maintained a high standard of 
 instruction and scholarship, having an extended course in 
 studying in which is required the greatest possible thorough- 
 ness. 
 
MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 211 
 
 Young men were ultimately excluded from the seminary, 
 much to the regret of all concerned, solely for the want of 
 room to accommodate all. 
 
 While this institution has won for itself an enviable 
 reputation as A thoroughly practical school, in that its 
 literary and scientific course is among the best, and that its 
 students become thoroughly imbued with the idea of having 
 a purpose and aim in life, and of gaining a thorough prepa- 
 ration for some sphere of usefulness, the ornamental 
 branches have by no means been neglected. The music 
 and art departments are not excelled in any institution of 
 the kind West or East. 
 
 ^ From a small beginning (the seminary having brought to 
 this county the first new piano ever here), with three pupils 
 in music, the music department has become so large as to 
 employ five to seven teachers and professors of music, and 
 furnished with nearly forty instruments — pianos, organs, 
 guitars, etc. The success and popularity of the conserva- 
 tory of music is largely due to Mrs. B. F. Dearborn Hazzen, 
 who has been identified with it for the past fifteen years, 
 and who deservedly ranks among the very best in the pro- 
 fession, her specialty being voice building. Her " method " 
 is of the best, her skill and tact in understanding the needs 
 of different voices and so adapting her instruction as to 
 safely develop them, are quite wonderful. Then as a lady, 
 an educator, and one so closely identified with the institu- 
 tion and its principal, especially through seasons of great 
 trial, Mrs. Dearborn Hazzen may be regarded as almost one 
 of the founders. Her husband, Prof. H. W. Hazzen, ex- 
 cels also in his department, literature. There is probably 
 no better scholar in literature in the state, if in the West,. 
 and as a teacher and lecturer he is winning a high standing. 
 
212 
 
 Miss Kendall, for teu years at the head of the instrumental 
 music, ranks with the best. The different assistants of the 
 conservatory use the same methods as the heads of the de- 
 partments, and all are subject to their supervision and 
 direction, thus all students of music here enjoy directly or 
 indirectly the benefit of the superior culture and experience 
 of the principal of the vocal department and the director of 
 the instrumental department. 
 
 The instruments in use here are first class, nearly all 
 the pianos being changed for new ones during the last year. 
 The graduates of the conservatory are in demand for first 
 class positions as teachers, church singers and organists. 
 
 Thus we might fill pages in noticing the different 
 features of interest and the many advantages this seminary 
 offers to the young women of the country. Industry and 
 economy were necessary in their accomplishment. These 
 virtues have been exercised without stint. When likely to 
 fail by the men-management invoked to its aid in its incep- 
 tion, two women — both educators, but one combining 
 financial skill, great head and iron will, stepped into the 
 breach — put both soul and strength into the work, and 
 have brought the seminary up to its present high position, 
 an honor not only to the state in which it has been built 
 up, but to the national government, which is based upon 
 the intelligence and virtue of its citizens. 
 
 Description of Buildings. — Four buildings, as else- 
 where described, all so connected as to give the appearance 
 of one, present a west and north front of two hundred 
 and fifty-six feet. The original building gives a dining 
 room forty-two by forty-six feet on the first floor. The 
 second floor is used for library, office, reception room and 
 music room. Third floor for society and reading room and 
 
MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 213 
 
 private rooms. Fourth floor for private and trunk rooms. 
 The second and third buildings give, on the first floor, 
 school and recitation rooms, thirty-two by seventy feet, and 
 four private rooms. The second and third floors are occu- 
 pied for private rooms, and the fourth floor for studio and 
 music practice rooms. 
 
 The fourth building, completed in 1877, has on the 
 first floor a kitchen, laundry, dry room, ironing room, 
 furnace room, foul air room, workshop, private room for 
 employes, six dry earth closets, slop closet and dry earth 
 vault and closet, the whole ventilated by the same system 
 as the entire building, and thus kept as perfectly free from 
 offense as can be. The value of these arrangements in a 
 sanitary point of view cannot be over-estimated. The 
 second floor has conservatory, principal's rooms, sick and 
 nurse rooms, bath rooms, water and slop closets, on one 
 side of main hall ; on the opposite side, the entire length 
 of the building (one hundred feet) is devoted to parlors 
 and rooms for the musical conservatory, the space being 
 divided into five rooms, each communicating by folding 
 doors, making a most spacious music hall when thrown 
 into one room. 
 
 The third and fourth floors are devoted to private rooms 
 for students, all of which are neatly furnished, carpeted 
 throughout with Brussels and three-ply carpets, bed (all 
 with best woven wire mattresses), and all with convenient 
 drawers, closets, cupboards, etc. Bath rooms, water and 
 slop closets on each floor. The fifth floor has fifteen prac- 
 tice rooms for music, a sun-bath room, trunk rooms and 
 tank rooms, furnished with a thirty-five barrel tank for hard 
 or well water, and the same for soft cistern water. The 
 water supply is complete, of the best, purest water. The 
 
214 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 hard water is from a well one hundred and thirty feet deep, 
 fifty feet being in solid rock, and the remaining eighty feet 
 tubed with heavy galvanized iron. There is no possibility 
 of surface water or any impurities getting into the well. 
 The cistern water supplied to the soft-water tank is from 
 nine very large cisterns, connected by pipes at the bottom. 
 The two cisterns receiving the water from the different 
 buildings are furnished with the most complete filters, built 
 in with brick, covered with charcoal, gravel, sand, etc. 
 
 Thus the purest water is secured for both tanks. The 
 water, from both well and cisterns, is raised by pumps, 
 operated by wind power. The wind mill, with a sixteen- 
 feet wheel, is built immediately over the well, and near the 
 line of the cisterns. The pumps are set so that the mill 
 works both pumps at the same time, thus quickly forcing 
 an abundant supply of water to the fifth floor. The wind- 
 mill house is a neat octagon structure, all enclosed with sid- 
 ing, painted and furnished with windows and blinds. It is 
 separated into three stories, making convenient rooms for 
 tools, etc. From the tanks in the attic, the water, both 
 hard and soft, is carried to closets on each floor, and to the 
 basement, where the soft water is heated in two eighty-gal- 
 lon circulating boilers, connected with the kitchen range, 
 and by its own pressure returned ( both the hot and cold 
 soft water) to the bath rooms on each floor, and to the 
 rooms of the first building erected. The different bath 
 rooms are furnished with metalic and rubber tubes for 
 plunge baths, wood and tin tubes for sitz baths, Brown's 
 steam tub for electrical vapor baths, and a complete shower 
 bath, hot or cold, as may be desired. 
 
 The system of plumbing is complete^ no lead or galvan- 
 ized pipes being allowed to convey impure water to poison 
 
MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 215 
 
 stealthily, but surely, those using such water. The warm- 
 ing, ventilation and sewerage are as complete and perfect 
 in that line as far as discovered. The well water is also 
 carried under ground to the gardens, supplying fountains 
 and hydrants for all needed garden uses. The warming 
 and ventilating is constructed on the Ruttan improved sys- 
 tem. The furnaces are so constructed that it is impossible- 
 to make the outer casing red-hot, and consequently the air 
 is never " burned," thus obviating the objection urged, 
 against heating the furnaces. The. supply of pure air from 
 outside flues is abundant. This is amply warmed by contact 
 with outer cases of furnaces, and from this goes to a sheet- 
 iron reservoir, about seventy feet long by five feet wide, 
 and two feet deep, and from this reservoir supplied to the 
 nine stacks of brick flues, each stack having seven or eight 
 independent flues, each of which supplies heat to a room. 
 Every flue has a damper in the basement, which system of 
 dampers, in connection with the registers in each room, 
 gives almost perfect control of the heating of the building. 
 Every room is furnished with a thermometer, which the 
 occupants are expected to observe, and when the tempera- 
 ture is seventy degrees Fahrenheit the register is to be 
 closed. If it falls to sixty-five degrees with register open, 
 the occupant can report to the fireman, and more heat will 
 be supplied. Thus a very nearly equal temperature may, 
 with very little care, be enjoyed at all times, which is con- 
 ducive alike to health and comfort. 
 
 The system of ventilation deserves special mention. 
 All the floors throughout the building are hollow, as also 
 the main partitions from attic to basement. Under every 
 window is a space of perforated base, which gives an open- 
 ing from every room and hall to the hollow under the 
 
216 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 floor, which communicates with the hollows in the parti- 
 tions and is thus carried down to the " foul air room " in 
 the basement, which opens directly to a ventilating chim- 
 ney, some three by six feet in capacity, out at the apex of 
 the roof. The draft of this great chimney upon the entire 
 volume of air in the building naturally tends to exhaust 
 the same from the building. The ventilating openings 
 being at the base of the room, where the coldest air and 
 foulest air tends to accumulate, this is of course the first to 
 be drawn off. The pure air from the outside, freshly 
 warmed, is drawn in through the register to supply the air 
 exhausted. As the rooms warm, which they do very 
 rapidly, and warm air is drawn off by this great chimney 
 draft and passes through the hollows under the floors and 
 down the hollow partitions, the warmth is given out to the 
 floors and partitions, till the entire building is of an equal 
 temperature, the floors and ceilings of the rooms being 
 within a degree or two of the same temperature — a great 
 improvement on the old plan of stove-heated, unventilated 
 rooms, where "the head is baked and the feet frozen." 
 With this system of complete ventilation, capable of chang- 
 ing the entire atmosphere of the building every thirty min- 
 utes, it is apparent that there is no need of open windows, 
 exposing to cold currents, but on the contrary the more 
 closely the windows and doors are kept closed the more 
 perfect will be the ventilation. Hence, every means are 
 used to make the building close. The walls of brick are 
 thick and hollow, and then furred and lathed to secure 
 warmth and dryness. The windows are all furnished with 
 double sash and outside blinds, all of which contribute to 
 the warmth. This system of warming and ventilating can 
 hardly be improved upon, and our " Recollections " should 
 be read carefully in order to fully understand it. 
 
MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 217 
 
 The sewerage, as well as closet arrangement, should be 
 noticed, as the healthfulness of a large number together is 
 so directly dependent on the successful arrangement of 
 these details. The slops from kitchen, laundry, bath 
 rooms and private rooms are all emptied into iron sinks in 
 the different closets, and thence conveyed by iron pipes 
 down from the building into cement sewer pipes, laid deep 
 under ground, and thence to a ravine some fifty rods from 
 the seminary. The waste-water pipes are all abundantly 
 supplied with stench traps, and to make the whole more 
 secure, ventilated by carrying a tin flue from the upper end 
 of the waste pipe out by the chimney to the top of the 
 building. Thus there is no offense, no poisoning the air 
 or earth, to be conveyed into the water at some remote time 
 to cause sickness and epidemics. 
 
 With such complete sanitary arrangements Mt. Carroll 
 Seminary will continue to enjoy the immunity from sick- 
 ness that it is already noted for. An elevator conveys all 
 baggage from basement to any floor required. Clothes flues 
 and dirt flues convey all clothes to the laundry and all dirt 
 to the dirt closet in the basement. With the added con- 
 veniences of water and slop closets on every floor, very 
 much of the running up and down stairs is avoided. The 
 entire buildings are fitted for gas. The gas house, of brick, 
 is about eight rods from the seminary, where the gas is 
 manufactured for lighting (at present out of use, a new 
 machine soon to be put in). 
 
 For exercise, in addition to the ample grounds and the 
 grapevine arbor, three hundred feet long, we will notice 
 the piazzas running the length and width of the first build- 
 ing and length end width of the last building, giving five 
 hundred feet for promenade, which is thoroughly enjoyed 
 
218 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 by the young ladies, as we ' recollect ' to remember witness- 
 ing their one hundred yard races in the arbor, shaded by 
 the luxuriant grape vines ; all the more enjoyable when 
 they can stop at convenience and pluck the juicy clusters 
 of grapes hanging through the latticed arbor, the vines 
 being in full fruitage when we last visited the classical 
 shades of the seminary. 
 
 Since that time improvements have steadily gone on. 
 Three greenhouses, each sixty feet long, twenty, twelve and 
 ten feet respectively in width, now ornament the seminary 
 grounds. Adjoining these is a two-story cottage with seven 
 rooms, furnishing convenient quarters for gardener and 
 laborers employed on the grounds and seminary farm, for 
 now, in addition to the twenty-five acres connected with the 
 buildings, there are about three hundred and fifty acres of 
 farm, pasture and wood land, all of which are made tribu- 
 tary to the support, comfort and pleasure of the seminary 
 and its occupants. The vines and trees of various fruits on 
 the farm and grounds are now numbered by thousands, the 
 products of which are, in their season, furnished to teachers, 
 students, and the entire household as free as water. Never, 
 as yet, have any been sold, all being used by the seminary 
 household. Thus an abundant supply of fresh fruits and 
 vegetables, early and late, contribute largely to the health 
 as well as the enjoyment of the students. Yet another 
 valuable improvement is found in a refrigerator of the 
 Birdsall & Baker patent. It is a building eighteen by 
 twenty-four feet on the ground, and thirty-two feet high, 
 giving two stories of cold storage space, and sixteen feet 
 deep of ice room. The cold storage space is partitioned 
 into eight rooms which are kept at an uniform temperature 
 of about twenty-eight degrees summer and winter. These 
 
MRS. FBANCES A. WOOD SHIMEE. 219 
 
 cold rooms are devoted to the storage of the various sup- 
 plies of the house needing a low temperature, as fruits, 
 meats, eggs, etc. There is stored during May and June 
 (the two best months in the year for making butter), a sup- 
 ply of six to eight thousand pounds of the best creamery 
 butter. At the low and uniform temperature it is kept, 
 no change takes place, and the last jar comes out as fresh 
 and sweet as the first. Thus all the supplies for the tables 
 can be kept any desired length of time in a wholesome and 
 healthful condition. About three hundred tons of ice is 
 stored in this refrigerator and an ice-house near it for the 
 uses named. Cows are kept to supply milk for the house- 
 hold. Beef is grown and fattened on Iowa lands, which 
 will be shipped to the seminary farm and slaughtered as 
 needed, and kept fresh in the refrigerator. But we forbear 
 further details, as we think we have given some idea of the 
 completeness of the appointments here. 
 
 We have been thus minute in our description because 
 we think our readers will thank us for this lecture on archi- 
 tecture, and particularly from the fact that the architect is 
 . a woman, in short, we most emphatically declare that the 
 superstructure and architecture of Mount Carroll Seminary 
 in all its parts, intellectually, financially and architecturally, 
 has been woman's work, Mrs. Shimer being the moving 
 spirit, the superintending power through which, and by 
 which, the whole has culminated in a grand success^ from 
 the quarrying of the rock for the foundation to the finish- 
 ing stroke of the painter and the final furnishing of the 
 vast educational pile. 
 
 She has asked no board of trustees to advise with their 
 counsel — • only to confound and distract. Let other women 
 be self reliant and go and do likewise. 
 
220 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 The completion of the building is not all that has been 
 •done. Look at the pleasant surroundings — the grounds 
 with their wealth of fruitful trees, shrubs and vines. 
 
 Beginning with five acres of naked prairie, not a tree or 
 shrub upon it, not even a fence to enclose it, she has 
 added to it till now there are twenty-five acres enclosed 
 with hedges and ornamental borders of evergreens and every 
 variety of deciduous trees, planted with vineyards and 
 orchards, embracing every variety of fruit grown in this 
 latitude ; flower gardens laid out and planted, walks, play- 
 grounds and game grounds provided for, macadamized and 
 graveled drives laid, arbors and shady seats, fountains set 
 in their midst, all projected, material procured, and work 
 done under the immediate supervision of the same woman. 
 Her own landscape gardener, orchardist and planter, every 
 tree and shrub and plant passed through her hands, placing 
 nearly every root in the ground herself, with, in most cases, 
 inexperienced boys to do the digging, whom she was edu- 
 cating for higher work. During these years of laying out 
 grounds, and planting hedges and trees, being at all times 
 financier, book-keeper, secretary, treasurer, steward and 
 general overseer, this same woman carried on her im- 
 provements out of doors through the day^ and attended to 
 the duties of her other offices at night, thus, much of her 
 life, taking only four or five hours sleep out of the twenty- 
 four. If a change of cooks was necessary at any time 
 she filled the vacancy for weeks, or till suited with a new 
 one. If the cook was sick, as sometimes happened, she 
 became cook and nurse. Such was the experience of many 
 of the early years of this enterprise. 
 
 Say not that women' are dependent. Every girl in the 
 
MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER. 221 
 
 country should'be educated to be self-reliant and capable of 
 being self-sustaining. Till this is the aim of every school 
 for young" ladies, our institutions are sadly deficient. "We 
 have visited'other educational institutions of the state, have 
 taken observations of their systems, and will in the next 
 volume, with equal pleasure, give space to what we know 
 about other educators and the institutions they control. 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. TRACY CUTLER, 
 
 TEACHER, LECTURER AND PHYSICIAN. 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTORY, GIVING THE LIFE WORK OP HER HUSBAND, JOHN MARTIN 
 
 TRACY, Philanthropist, Counselor and Martyr. 
 
 Among the early emancipators of the great West was 
 John Martin Tracy, born at Bridgewater, Vermont, Sep- 
 tember 16, 1809. The family were of Connecticut stock. 
 The grandfather of Tracy died during the revolution and 
 his father emigrated to Vermont. Only a year or two be- 
 fore this his youngest son was born. Abel Tracy was. a 
 deacon of the Presbyterian church, strict in observance o'f 
 church duties, his house always open for the entertainment 
 of the traveling ministers of the church. 
 
 The son received a religious education. He was pre- 
 cocious in his acquirement of knowledge, and his con- 
 science became super-sensitive on moral questions. 
 
 When Martin was ten years old his father removed to 
 Orleans county, New York, where he resided for nine years, 
 when he went to Peru, Huron county, Ohio, with Martin 
 and two daughters, his wife having fallen a victim to the 
 insalubrious climate of Western New York. 
 
 John Martin Tracy was a reader on all subjects. What 
 books his limited means prevented his buying he borrowed 
 from his neighbors. His retentive memory was a recepta- 
 cle in which knowledge was stored for future use. He read 
 Hosea Ballou's liberal views and Alexander Campbell's 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 223 
 
 profound teachings of " one faith and one baptism," with 
 other great subjects that agitated the world at that time. 
 
 He was particularly drawn to read the views of the 
 great advocates of emancipation, and after preaching the 
 bible doctrine of the Christian church for some time he 
 •broke off his connection with them because the views of his 
 great exemplar, Alexander Campbell, tolerated slavery. 
 He gave up preaching as his life work. The circumstances 
 attending the severing of his connection with the ministry 
 of that church are these : He attended an association of 
 leading members of the church at Mentor, where a brother- 
 in-law and sister of Alexander Campbell resided. Among 
 those in attendance was the venerable father of Mr. Camp- 
 bell and a young Virginian by the name of Martin 
 Slaughter. This young man had just made a profession of 
 his faith, been baptised, was an ardent disciple, and deter- 
 mined to do whatever was required of him. Taking an 
 early opportunity, when the elders were gathered, to ask 
 them in regard to his duty, he informed this eminent coun- 
 cil of the church that his father had at his death left as a 
 part of his legacy twenty -slaves. These constituted the 
 bulk of his fortune. Now, he desired to know whether he 
 •could keep these human beings as slaves and yet be a 
 Christian; or ought he to set them free. 
 
 He wanted to do his duty even at the cost of the right 
 hand or the right eye. The ministers questioned him. 
 Could he not be more useful to these poor negroes by keep- 
 ing them, instructing them in the doctrines of the church, 
 than by setting them free? They advised their young 
 brother not to impoverish himself, to be a kind master to 
 his slaves, to profit by their labor and do good by its pro- 
 ceeds. 
 
224 FIFTY YEAKS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Mr. Tracy, being among the youngest of the ministers, 
 listened to these sophistries with ill-concealed indignation, 
 walking the floor with flashing eyes. When all had given 
 their counsel he came to the front and addressing the breth- 
 ren in clear ringing tones, said : '" Do you know that you 
 are counseling this young brother to his destruction ? That 
 is what you are doing. You know that he cannot hold 
 slaves and be a true disciple of Christ. You are counsel- 
 ing as though he could serve God and mammon. If he 
 follows your suggestions he cannot be a righteous man." 
 He was interrupted by the appealing voices of many of the 
 elders : " Brother Tracy, you are too extreme, too severe." 
 Tracy replied, " I am only as extreme as the truth and as 
 severe as justice." The council soon broke up without 
 coming to any satisfactory conclusion. 
 
 How strangely these things sound to-day, when the 
 veriest child understands this question so well. What came 
 of this want of decision, or rather of a wrong decision of 
 this church council? Martin Slaughter went forth, his 
 conscience quieted. When the Kansas troubles broke out 
 he was living on the borders of 'Missouri, had sold some of 
 his slaves, bought land when it was cheap, raised hemp, sold 
 it at a large profit, bought more slaves, gone on adding land 
 and slaves till the great struggle for the extension of slavery 
 began. Then he was Capt. Slaughter, known as one of the 
 most active border ruffians, leading a company into Kansas 
 to crush out the free state men. When the war of the re- 
 bellion was inaugurated he was a most determined enemy 
 of the government. This all followed from the pernicious 
 counsel given under sanction of the church. This radical 
 departure of Mr. Tracy " from the faith of the fathers" of 
 the church made his pulpit labors less acceptable, and from 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 225 
 
 this time his efforts as a lecturer were largely directed 
 towards forming that sentiment oi justice that would event- 
 ually lead to the overthrow of slavery by moral suasion. 
 Some few years were passed in this labor of love, and with 
 other faithful workers, he, on several occasions, was mobbed, 
 because he did not keep his views on the vexed question of 
 slavery to himself. 
 
 In 1837-38 he spent a portion of his time in New York, 
 there making the acquaintance of Gerritt Smith and other 
 prominent workers and reformers. 
 
 Returning to Ohio all his energies were bent in the 
 direction of emancipation, lecturing on this subject while 
 teaching school. The little leisure given him from his 
 school labors was occupied in thoroughly informing him- 
 self in regard to the first principles of government, to see 
 if it really gave any sanction to slavery. While consider- 
 ing this matter he found a book, " The Life of Granville 
 Sharpe," one of the old anti-slavery men of England. This 
 eminent man had studied law at an advanced age to know 
 whether the constitution of England permitted slave-hold- 
 ing, until he became fully satisfied that the sentiment of 
 Cowper was true. It ran thus : " Slaves cannot breathe 
 in England. If their lungs receive our air, that moment 
 are they free. They touch our country and their shackles 
 fall." 
 
 These investigations convinced Mr. Tracy that it would 
 be of great moment to him to become thoroughly informed 
 in reference to the laws and institutions, as well as the more 
 intimate history of the formation of the government. To 
 do this he must study law, so he entered as a student with 
 Joel W. Wilson, a democratic lawyer, at Fitchville, who 
 was for some years a member of the Ohio senate. _ 
 
 15 
 
226 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 It was during these readings and daily discussions that 
 his wife began to call his attention to the limitations of 
 women under the English common law, which our courts 
 retained and decided by wherever they were not set aside 
 by actual enactment. Think of a law that permitted entire 
 personal control on the part of the husband, and left the 
 wife in entire subjection to his will. Where was the mercy 
 of a law which permitted a man to " bind out " his children 
 without the consent of the mother, and permitted him to 
 will them from her at his decease ? Again and again these 
 points were discussed, the wife always insisting that these 
 laws had their origin in ages and countries where women 
 were objects of traffic, and that the cause of injustice to 
 women should be just as zealously opposed as the oppression 
 of the slave. At this point the author will blend the life 
 and actions of this well-mated pair into a harmonious whole 
 — true helpmates of one another. 
 
 Our subjects illustrate the power of industry, study, in- 
 domitable perseverance, resulting in final success and the 
 accomplishment of great good in every field of labor where 
 they were called. 
 
 Hannah M. Conant was born at Becket, Berkshire 
 county, Mass., and with only a rudimental education, 
 acquired in the country schools of that day, was married in 
 1834 to Rev. John Martin Tracy, in Geauga county, Ohio. 
 He was a close student, taught school and studied law 
 at the same time, and preached on Sabbaths. In these 
 studies he found a helpmeet indeed, his young wife joining 
 him in his studies, and besides keeping the house in order, 
 occasionally taking his place in the schoolroom when his 
 duties as minister called him to preach on other days in the 
 week. 
 
MES. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 227 
 
 Between lecturing, teaching and studying law, they 
 were called to reside at Fitchville, Sandusky, Oberlin, and 
 Plymouth, Ohio. While residing at Sandusky Mr. Tracy 
 was admitted to the bar. He studied in the office of F. D. 
 Parrish. His keen incisive intellect soon made itself felt, 
 and he could have taken a high stand at Sandusky, as he 
 was offered a partnership with his preceptor, then the lead- 
 ing attorney at Sandusky. But John M. Tracy had studied 
 law only as a means to aid him in the philanthropic work 
 to which he had determined to devote his life, in which 
 resolve he was seconded by the hearty co-operation of his 
 devoted wife. She had kept pace with him in all his studies ; 
 in fact, they had been fellow-students from the time of 
 their marriage, making rapid advances, whether their 
 studies were law, divinity, or the classics. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Tracy had, in the course of their varied reading, become 
 thoroughly imbued with the principles, of the liberty party. 
 When he moved from Sandusky to Oberlin he and his 
 wife entered into the full spirit that animated that com- 
 munity of emancipationists. There was but little law bus- 
 iness at Oberlin, a very limited amount of conveyancing, 
 so there was no field for the display of his legal abilities, 
 but there were anti-slavery meetings to attend, and he was 
 called to lecture at other places, altogether yielding but 
 little recompense, but they both felt that they were just 
 entering on their life-work — fulfilling their mission. They 
 •did not forget their studies, that opened out to their vision 
 yet wider fields of labor. To aid them financially they 
 received into their house a few students to board. Their 
 motto was " plain living and high thought," and the couple 
 were doubtless richer in true enjoyment than many who 
 were rolling in wealth. When at home from his lecturing 
 
228 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 tours Mr. Tracy read law to his wife, and she was ready to 
 listen and discuss principles while at the same time direct- 
 ing household affairs. Part of his self-imposed duties were 
 to teach the ignorant blacks who sought the projection of 
 the friendly people of Oberlin in their flight from bondage. 
 In the attic of the house they occupied they gave asylum 
 to a poor colored man, Samuel Grey, an escaped slave. 
 This man had been hired by his master, a Kentuckian, to 
 do- a job of chopping. When the work was done some one 
 whispered him that he was a free man. This friend had 
 also told him of Oberlin, and he went there with the sub- 
 lime purpose of obtaining an education that would fit him 
 for usefulness. He did not know his letters when he 
 reached Oberlin, but he knew how to chop, and the forest 
 around the village invited the labor of the axeman. His 
 services were in demand, and after a hard day's labor he 
 sat down in his little attic and by firelight tried to learn. 
 When Mr. Tracy found him he had already mastered the 
 alphabet and was trying to spell out a few words of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 In the evenings when Mr. Tracy wanted a little relax- 
 ation from reading Maddox's Chancery, he would go up to 
 the poor man's room and assist him in mastering the diffi- 
 culties of learning to read and write, and his student made 
 good progress, and in after years fitted himself for mission- 
 ary labor in Africa, where he fell a victim to his severe 
 labors and to the unhealthy climate. 
 
 The work done for such as Samuel Grey was not done 
 without self denial. It was a severe test of self abnegation 
 of christian humility, to sit down by this unwashed freed- 
 man and teach him his first lesson. The following autumn 
 they left Oberlin and again engaged in teaching. During 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 229 
 
 the years of wedded life of this well mated pair they had 
 been blessed with additions to their household of two 
 daughters. The eldest daughter was now near six years 
 old. 
 
 Both Mr. and Mrs. Tracy engaged in teaching, Mrs. 
 Conant, Mrs. Tracy's mother, keeping the youngest child, 
 the eldest going to school to be taught by her mother. 
 She taught the district school five days in the week, spend- 
 ing Saturday and Sunday with her parents. Mr. Tracy 
 taught in an adjoining town, performing missionary labor 
 among the people to prepare them to work for emancipa- 
 tion. When the winter term of each school expired they 
 found an opening in the village of Plymouth, Huron county, 
 where he felt that his services might be required in defend- 
 ing free men of color who were sometimes arrested as 
 slaves. 
 
 Some time previous to this the Fugitive Slave Law of 
 Ohio was enacted, so graphically depicted by Mrs. Stowe 
 in Uncle Tom's Cabin in the escape of Eliza. This law, 
 from which the national fugitive law was patterned, made 
 it a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment to give shel- 
 ter or aid to a fugitive slave. To protect the oppressed 
 when arrested, and to shield those who set this inhuman 
 law at defiance, was now the mission of these devoted phil- 
 anthropists. Most of the people in the village and sur- 
 rounding country were at this time pro-slavery in their 
 politics, so that few sympathised with Mr. Tracy in his 
 labors of love. However, a fair amount of legal business 
 came to him, and his prospects were brightening. In the 
 village was a Mr. Bly, noted for his enterprise in keeping 
 one of the stations of the " Underground Railroad." His 
 teams and himself were always at the service of the 
 
230 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 oppressed to forward them to the land of freedom '■ — CaDada. 
 One day near the middle of August Mr. Tracy received 
 a call from a son-in-law of Mr. Bly with a message from 
 that gentleman. He informed Mr. Tracy that Mr. Bly was 
 sick, that there was three fugitives awaiting the cover of 
 night, and wished him to forward them on to the next station. 
 Mr. Tracy returned to his home, told his wife, remark- 
 ing, " I will do as I would be done by if I were fleeing 
 from such a bondage. " At sundown he procured a horse 
 and went to Mr. Bly's. Soon as it was dark he started 
 out with the slaves. About half past three in the morning 
 he returned so much exhausted that his wife was alarmed. 
 " What is the matter?" she asked. He replied : 
 
 "I have just escaped with my life. I have been pur- 
 sued by a mob headed by a slave hunter. I heard their 
 shout and told the colored men to save themselves by flight. 
 I had told them on the way how to find the next station. 
 They sprang over the fence into a meadow and made for 
 the woods that lay back of it, while I turned down a lane 
 hoping to escape my pursuers. I went into a cabin that 
 stood at the end of the lane and inquired in regard to the 
 roads. Presently the mob came on and. surrounded the 
 house. Some came in demanding the slaves. The occu- 
 pants of the house denied any knowledge of them, the mob 
 insisting that they were with Tracy and must be hidden 
 there. The man became angry and finally ordered all out 
 of the house. There I was alone with twelve brutal men, 
 one of them armed with pistol and bowie-knife, threatening 
 my life unless I told him where the slaves were concealed. 
 I told him they were gone, they were fleeing for liberty and 
 would not be taken. The men, most all of them, I knew 
 were under the influence of liquor, in a condition of mind 
 to be very unreasonable. They surrounded me, throwing 
 dust and sand over me. I was nearly suffocated. Then 
 they insisted I should go and show them the direction the 
 
MRS. DE. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 231 
 
 slaves had taken. They proposed sending two who were- 
 less drunk and brutal than the rest, and I consented to go, 
 trusting I could escape from them and get home by another 
 road. I went with them through the thick, tall grass,, 
 drenched with dew till I could scarcely stand. Then the 
 men said we had best return and they would assure the 
 slaveholder that we had made all diligent search. I tried 
 to mount my horse, but they made such a tumult that it 
 frightened him so I could not ride. At this the two men 
 took me into the buggy with them and we came back to 
 New Haven where they all stopped, while I was permitted 
 to get my horse and ride home." 
 
 This was the experience of the early day abolitionists, 
 those who were sowing the seed that in after years returned 
 such abundant fruit. This experience proved the martyr- 
 dom of John Martin Tracy 
 
 For a day or two he kept up and tried to attend to 
 business, but soon took to his bed, and August 30, 1843, 
 gave up his life to the cause to which years before he had 
 devoted it. His last words to his stricken wife were in 
 answer to her question as to" their children : " Teach them to 
 love the poor," and gave direction in regard to his funeral, 
 which was to be plain and unostentatious. His wishes 
 were observed, the reading consisting of appropriate pas- 
 sages of scripture selected for the occasion by himself while 
 living, and the remains were attended by the bereaved 
 widow and a few faithful friends to their last resting place. 
 Mrs. Tracy was now thrown upon her own knowledge of 
 ' business for providing for self and children, but being utterly 
 without pecuniary means her lot must have been hard in- 
 deed but for the kindly care and protection of her parents. 
 Nothing could exceed their care and self denial. The father 
 set about building a log cabin, as he had not yet built a 
 frame house for himself. He felt that his daughter should 
 
232 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 have a home for herself where she could use her own per- 
 sonal authority and influence over her children without in- 
 terference from others. How lovingly he wrought, how 
 pleased he was to hew the logs and smoothe the chinks 
 that the walls would not seem unsightly. The cabin was 
 finished, the widow and two fatherless daughters installed 
 in their plain but comfortable quarters, when four months 
 after the death of Mr. Tracy " unto her a son was born, a 
 child given." When the fatherless grandson saw the light 
 in that comfortable log cabin, how fond and tender was 
 grandfather Conant in watching over the feeble mother, 
 whose existence for a long time seemed to hang balanced 
 between life and death. He watched with more than 
 fatherly care and fondness over the sick mother and helpless 
 little ones. 
 
 The son was named after his martyred father, John 
 Martin Tracy, and we will have occasion to speak further 
 of him before we close this chapter of our " Recollections." 
 
 As soon as the mother's energies began to rally came 
 the question of future business to provide for self and 
 children. She must manage in some way to earn a com- 
 petence to pay living expenses and doctor's bill. But how ? 
 She could sew, but in that new settlement there was little 
 to do. She had teaching talent, but could not then make 
 it available, the home care of these three fatherless children 
 cut off that resource. She had in the years gone by written 
 some articles for Cassius M. Clay's paper under a pseudonym, 
 but she had no claim upon the press, no thought of making 
 her writings remuuerative. Still while the little girls slept 
 and she sat with one foot on the rocker of the cradle in 
 which slept her babe, she sometimes employed herself 
 writing fugitive articles, sometime poems, sometimes remin- 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. G. T. CUTLER. 233 
 
 iscences, and at other times a phantasy. But she did it in 
 haste ana resumed her sewing or knitting, feeling that she 
 must not waste the precious moments. 
 
 One day a friend called, and chancing to notice the well 
 filled portifolio, he said, " By the way, what are you doing 
 with your writings? I remember you were once very fond 
 of your pen," and immediately he opened the literary recep- 
 tacle and taking up a paper began to read. He said, 
 " These papers are of value and will be a sure source of 
 help if you will use them, and as I shall be passing through 
 Cleveland, I will call on Mr. Harris, the editor of the 
 Herald. Who knows what will come of it? " 
 
 Mrs. Tracy called to mind that she had written some 
 anonymous articles for the Herald in former years when he 
 was a young editor of the country paper. She selected an 
 article or two and sent them by this friend, which resulted 
 in a life-long friendship with the editor and his family and 
 opened up a moderate source of income, which enabled her 
 to pay all the obligations that had so heavily weighed on her 
 mind, besides giving her enough for the necessaries of life, 
 which required money to provide. It was like the fountain 
 which Hagar found in the desert, and she felt sure that ten- 
 der guardians were still around her. The notice that fol- 
 lowed these efforts was of more importance still, as other 
 publishers requested contributions, for which they were 
 willing to pay liberally. 
 
 These openings also prepared the way for invitations to 
 address public meetings on the great questions of the day. 
 While residing at Rochester, Loraine county, she assisted in 
 organizing the first women's temperance society. This was 
 before the Martha Washington organization. 
 
 At the same time and place she assisted in the organiza- 
 
234 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 tion of the Women's Anti-Slavery Society. At first there 
 were only three women who dared avow their faith in the 
 right of the slave to freedom. Many advised Mrs. Tracy 
 to not agitate this question further, because it was unpopu- 
 lar, and through it her husband had lost his life. But in 
 spite of their well-meaning counsel the more did she speak 
 in behalf of those poor oppressed men, who had not the 
 right to even petition for their freedom. The fruit of this 
 discussion of the subject was gathered in after years, the 
 public sentiment became so strong that the anti-slavery 
 candidates were elected to the legislature, that aided the 
 election of a free soil United States senator from Ohio. In 
 later years these principles became so popular in that town- 
 ship that on the election of Buchanan in 1856 there was 
 only one vote cast for him in the place. 
 
 In the spring of 1848, without in any manner seeking 
 the place, she was offered the position of matron in the 
 Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Columbus. She had spent the 
 previous summer at Oberlin reviewing her studies, expect- 
 ing to teach, but this opening changed all her plans. She 
 went to Columbus, and while there was able to do much in 
 a quiet way towards the overthrow of the Fugitive Slave 
 Law of the state, as well as towards the election of Salmon 
 P. Chase to the United States senate, and Spaulding as 
 supreme judge. So quietly, yet so efficiently she wielded 
 influence, that few of those interested knew that they were 
 indebted to her knowledge of the principles of law and 
 constitutional history for the very opinions upon which 
 they based their final action. 
 
 As she could have but one of her children with her she 
 resigned her position as matron after two years' service, 
 . and accepted the principalship of the female department of 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 235 
 
 the High School at Columbus, and for a year she had her 
 children with her, keeping house, teaching and studying 
 the movements of the times politically. This, in connec- 
 tion with considerable editorial work for a magazine, so ex- 
 hausted her energies that she was compelled to resign her 
 position in school. 
 
 In 1851 the great World's, Exposition in London was 
 opened, and Col. Samuel Medary, wishing a special corres- 
 pondent to represent his paper, engaged her services. Few 
 lady correspondents were then sent abroad, but he trusted 
 to her powers of observation and was not disappointed. 
 
 During the year she spent abroad, quite unexpectedly,. 
 and with almost no previous preparation, she came before a 
 London audience as the advocate of Woman's Rights, giv- 
 ing the first pronounced lecture on that subject ever given 
 in England. Her knowledge of common law enabled her 
 to bring the cause clearly and searchingly before many 
 enlightened people, as many members of parliament, the 
 nobility, the great authors and leading merchants of 
 England attended the lecture. She feared that her words, 
 before such an audience, would fall by the wayside; yet 
 they bore fruit. Greater opportunities came to her by 
 being invited to address colleges, schools, professions and 
 labor organizations representing many avocations. She- 
 also lectured on physiology and temperance in many places. 
 She had carried with her credentials as a delegate to the 
 World's Peace Convention, but she arrived a day too late 
 to participate in its deliberations, but heard some of the 
 closing proceedings. 
 
 This convention gave rise to the organization of many 
 Olive Branch societies, and she attended many of these 
 meetings, where she met Joseph Sturges and his excellent 
 
236 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 family, Mr. Gladstone, since the Premier of England, and 
 many other known leaders of English reform. But Anna 
 Knight, one of the band of earnest workers in West India 
 emancipation, interested her more than all others. Miss 
 Knight had known Clarkson and Wilberforce, and during 
 the struggle for that great work she had gone from house to 
 house to secure signatures tp petitions. Her experience 
 then had aroused her to a keen sense of woman's subject 
 condition, and she had for some time endeavored to bear 
 testimony in the Society of Friends on this subject, but the 
 elders had shirked it and her friends had tried to dissuade 
 her from her efforts. Her sister said to her: " When thy 
 views become popular, Anna, I doubt not we will then be 
 proud of thy advocacy." With characteristic readiness 
 Anna replied, " Truth demands singleness of heart and eye. 
 When all men praise, thy advocacy will be of small 
 moment." But set aside and baffled as she so often found 
 herself, some opportunities came which she never lost, and 
 in season and out of season she urged justice for women. 
 
 When Mrs. Tracy suggested that as a beginning it 
 might be wise to first insist on higher education her reply 
 was, " I tell thee, get the vote. Get the vote, and then 
 thee can help thyself to all that it implies." This true 
 friend greatly encouraged Mrs. Tracy in her work, and the 
 strong, clear convictions have often helped to strengthen 
 her purposes since. 
 
 The spirit of criticism that so filled the minds of many 
 of the anti-slavery people of England was often hard to 
 bear, and when our nation disgraced itself by the passage 
 of the Fugitive Slave Bill, the feeling of humiliation was, 
 indeed, painful, and it led her on one public occason to tell 
 the people the story of Queen Elizabeth and Sir John 
 
MRS. DE. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 237 
 
 Hawkins : how by royal permit he went to Africa and 
 bought slaves and brought them to and sold them in the 
 colonies, thus beginning the great iniquity in the profits of 
 which the crown shared. She also told the poor disfran- 
 chised voters, who stood thrilling with wonder at such bold 
 utterances, that the time was coming when the right of suf- 
 frage would be theirs, and by it they could say whether 
 bread should be cheap or high priced for them and their 
 families, and whether the bread of knowledge should be for 
 them as well as for the rich. Such outspoken utterances 
 were not likely to bring any great amount of wealth or 
 fame. One theatrical manager thought he saw in her im- 
 passioned manner the elements of a great actress, and en- 
 deavored to secure her to the stage. This offer was almost 
 indignantly refused, feeling that her life was dedicated to. 
 higher aims. She returned to America just in time to 
 attend the great Free Soil Convention held at Pittsburg in 
 1852, and by urgent invitation spoke of " Human Rights 
 and their guaranties," showing how America was pledged 
 to stand before the world a clear and consistent Republic, a 
 light for all the nations. On her return home she was mar- 
 ried to Col. Samuel Cutler, a nephew of Pliny Cutler, of 
 Boston, an acknowledged pillar of the South Church. Im- 
 mediately after their marriage they removed to Dwight, 
 Illinois, purchasing land near the recently surveyed route 
 of the Chicago and St. Louis railroad, where, with little 
 experience in farm life, they began improving a new prairie 
 farm. But as Mrs. Cutler had never, during her married 
 life, been led to consider money getting as an end, only a 
 means, she had stipulated that she should not be restricted 
 from pursuing any course that her own conscience might 
 approve or dictate. Her first care was for the education 
 
238 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 of their children, and as there were no schools near she 
 taught them herself, insisting on their being ready to give 
 their evenings entirely to this object. The children were 
 bright and active, and they advanced more rapidly than 
 most scholars in regular schools, adding to their studies a 
 weekly or semi-weekly paper, which was read on Saturday 
 evening by the editor. With no more than the ordinary 
 privations of new settlers time sped on with cheerfulness 
 and some genius with which to overcome them. 
 
 Mrs. Cutler, becoming acquainted, was invited to lec- 
 ture on temperance and physiology, and sometimes on other 
 topics, and felt that more good could be done in this way 
 than any other in establishing a high moral standard in the 
 neighborhood while yet in the formative state of its 
 .society. At the breaking out of the Kansas troubles her 
 her old enthusiasm was enlisted to prevent the fastening of 
 the institution of slavery on that territory, soon to be a 
 state. 
 
 She had been invited to preside over a Woman's Tem- 
 perance Convention at Chicago, and on her way there 
 met with a messenger from Kansas going to Washington 
 with dispatches. He was relating the story of the burning 
 of Lawrence, the murder of free state men and the suffer- 
 ing of their families. She listened and questioned. She 
 felt that unless these wrongs were redressed the nation was 
 virtually a ruin. 
 
 The temperance convention was a success, but during 
 the deliberations Mrs. Cutler was thinking and planning 
 for the preservation of Kansas as a free state.- She feared 
 that the men of the North were not sufficiently awake to 
 the imminence of the crisis, and she accordingly, after 
 counseling with some few earnest women, engaged Metro- 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 239 
 
 politan . Hall for a Woman's Kansas Aid Convention two 
 weeks from that time. During this time all the papers in 
 Chicago gave the meeting a wide notice, some ridiculing, 
 some approving the same. 
 
 The convention was held, committees appointed, and 
 Mrs. Frances D. Gage, Mrs. Josephine Griffing, Mrs. Cut- 
 ler and others were enlisted in the work of gathering sup- 
 plies and forwarding them to the needy sufferers in Kansas. 
 Two weeks later a National Kansas Aid Convention 
 was held at Buffalo, and an organization effected headed by 
 Gerritt Smith, Thurlow Weed and other men of national 
 fame. Mr. Amy, late governor of New Mexico, was the 
 receiving agent stationed at Chicago, and the Women's 
 Society was soon consolidated with the National Aid . 
 Society. Generous contributions were secured by these 
 -efforts for- the present relief of Kansas, pending the action 
 •of the government, and it may have been that this action 
 was indeed the pivot of, and in the end made possible,- the 
 salvation of the nation as a republic. 
 
 During the progress of these great national events Mrs. 
 Cutler saw more and more clearly the importance of secur- 
 ing political rights to woman, as only by this could they 
 possess the moral influence so essential to the integrity of 
 the nation by securing right and wholesome laws affecting 
 temperance and kindred reforms. With the aid and 
 co-operation of Mrs. F. D. Gage she canvassed the state, 
 obtaining petitions for changes in the law giving to women 
 personal and property rights, and by these efforts some 
 important changes were effected. She also aided in similar 
 movements in the states of Ohio and New York, attended 
 many conventions, went home and worked faithfully to 
 pick up all the dropped stitches, set the machinery in 
 
240 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 order, and then for a brief time engaged again in this work 
 and the temperance efforts which the times demanded. 
 
 By pen and speech she contributed to the success at the 
 polls, in 1858 and 1860, of the great party that she deemed 
 most loyal to the old flag and to the Union. She attended 
 the session of the Illinois legislature of 1861, held frequent 
 consultations with Mr. Lincoln previous to his departure 
 for "Washington, was at the depot to wish him God-speed 
 and a safe journey, and heard the last farewell address of 
 Mr. Lincoln to his fellow-citizens from the rear platform of 
 the ear before entering to take his departure. She went 
 from thence to her home, watching with eager interest the 
 movements at the national capital and the secession move- 
 ments at the South. When at last the blow was struck at 
 the old flag she felt that all must now be consecrated to 
 save the nation's life. 
 
 Her young son, whose birth was noted a short time 
 after his father's death, now a youth of near eighteen years 
 of age, was at the North Western University making rapid 
 progress in his studies. 
 
 The students had many of them responded to the first 
 call of the president for troops. The boy wrote to his 
 mother asking permission to enlist in the Nineteenth Illi- 
 nois Volunteer Infantry, Col. Turchin's regiment, and 
 quoting from Schiller, '' He has not died young who has 
 lived long enough to die for his country." Her answer was 
 worthy a Roman matron or one of the revolutionary 
 mothers : " I have nothing too sacred for God and my coun- 
 try ; I consent, you may go," and John Martin Tracy, a 
 worthy son of a martyr father, enlisted for the war. Col. 
 Cutler's sons also soon enlisted, showipg that every one in 
 the family fit for military duty was off for the war. Col. 
 
MBS. DE. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLEE. 241 
 
 Cutler was in feeble health, age beginning to tell on his 
 system. 
 
 Mrs. Conant, the aged mother, now a widow, was with 
 them, and when the sore need came, often took care of the 
 house while Mrs. Cutler went out to other places to raise 
 sanitary supplies for the state hospital at Springfield. 
 
 Finding much to do in connection with the Freedman's 
 Aid movement, she learned that there was a large number 
 of refugees coming to Chicago for whom there had been no 
 provision made. This led to the formation of the Western 
 Union Aid Commission, of which she was president, and 
 Mrs. Mary Cobb, secretary, their operations extending to 
 the close of the war. This commission became auxiliary 
 to the eastern society under the presidency of General O. 
 O. Howard, and did much for the relief of the refugees, 
 both white and black, who came north after Gen. Sherman's 
 order on leaving Atlanta. 
 
 To show how impersonal was her zeal for the cause of 
 freedom, let it be here stated that many thousand dollars 
 worth of supplies were sent to the Southwest, which were 
 equally distributed among unionists and rebels. While 
 prosecuting this work she met Rev. Dr. Eddy, then of the 
 Baptist church at Bloomington, 111. He related an inter- 
 view with Mr. Lincoln and several of the old anti-slavery 
 men. Mr. Lincoln said, " What are you old abolitionists 
 doing, I expected you to be punching me up with petitions 
 for immediate emancipation, but I get not even a protest." 
 
 " Mr. President," said the spokesman, " We have feared 
 to embarrass you with our importunities, feeling that you 
 best knew the situation of matters." 
 
 " Hurry me up ; hurry me up, I want to say that I 
 am unable to resist the pressure. Now, if there was an 
 16 
 
242 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 immense petition presented to Congress asking for eman- 
 cipation as a war measure, I would see that it was made 
 a principal plank in the Baltimore platform — but a little 
 petition would damn the whole thing." 
 
 The report of this conversation caused Mrs. Cutler to go 
 to work in the west, and Mrs. Lucy Stone, Miss Anthony, 
 Mrs. .Stanton and others in the east, and with zealous aid 
 from patriotic men and women in all the loyal states they 
 obtained the desired petitions, which Cbas. Sumner presented 
 to the senate. Mrs. Cutler had gone to Washington on 
 this and some other business, and met with the great Massa- 
 chusetts statesman just after the presentation. With face 
 perfectly irradiated, he said to her: "I have jusl pre- 
 sented that great petition. It took four men to carry it to 
 the presiding officer's desk, it was so immense. It was 
 respectfully received and properly referred. It is the great- 
 est thing yet." 
 
 While at Washington Mrs. Cutler met an old friend, 
 Ex-Gov. Bebb, formerly of Ohio (then of Illinois). He 
 asked her to address the Union League that evening, as the 
 regular speaker had been summoned home on account of 
 sickness in his family. She consented and spoke before a 
 most distinguished audience, taking for her subject the pre- 
 vailing catchwords of the democratic party at that time, 
 " The Union as it was, the Constitution as it is." Taking 
 up the history of the first Union, a loose confederacy of 
 states, she followed the history of " the more perfect union," 
 by which a great nation had grown out of these minor 
 organizations, still preserving to the state?* their rights with 
 natural limits, but conforming all to the great purposes laid 
 down in the Declaration -of Independence, which had been 
 accepted and endorsed as the first national document. 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 243 
 
 From this she showed the original intent to establish a 
 government based on such natural rights as all theoretically 
 conceded, and hence the existence of slavery under the con- 
 stitution had been from the first in violation of the very 
 objects that had led to its formation. This was confirmed 
 by article eighth of the amendment, which denounced slave 
 trading as piracy, and under which one man out of the 
 many so engaged had been executed — the slaver Gordon. 
 This case had shown that the courts recognized this as law. 
 Slavery was an old colonial institution forced upon the un- 
 willing colonies, and it was said that in Jefferson's first 
 draft of the Declaration he had instanced it as one of the 
 grievances of the colonies. But individual interest was at 
 first so strong that the early statesmen thought but to grant 
 time and opportunity for adjustment, and so left it with the 
 expectation that after 1808 it would soon expire of itself. 
 But like an old pirate in the hold of a ship, spared because 
 he was already dying of consumption, he had recovered and 
 now sought to overthrow the crew and sail the ship of state 
 in the interest of piracy. 
 
 She denied that our forefathers were a set of insincere 
 compromisers. They sincerely organized a government for 
 the equal protection of all, and it was now the duty, as it 
 was the opportunity, of their children to accomplish what 
 they had begun. She cited the opinion of John Quincy 
 Adams, that the president, as commander in chief of the 
 army, had the right to proclaim unconditional emancipa- 
 tion when the public safety should in his opinion demand 
 it. This is but a brief summary of an address, which at a 
 dinner given on the following day, by one of the senators, 
 was discussed by Preston King, Judge Holt and other 
 jurists, as the most able and conclusive argument that they 
 
244 
 
 had ever listened to upon that subject. Gov. Bebb assured 
 her that though he had for twenty years considered himself 
 a constitutional lawyer, he had never heard the question 
 handled with such ability. She was by no means moved 
 by this commendation, further than to thankfulness that 
 the knowledge gained in earlier years had not been buried 
 in the grave of the martyr, but might yet avail to direct the 
 policy of the government, so that it might accept the mani- 
 fest destiny of Providence, and not rush blindly ' upon its- 
 destruction by refusing to make the nation a nation of free- 
 men. While in Washington in company with Dorothea 
 A. Dix, she called at the surgeon general's office, and rep- 
 resented to the acting official the importance of having the 
 examining surgeon in the various states empowered to 
 continue sick furloughs, so that the hopeless invalids should 
 not be marked as deserters, or in extreme cases to grant 
 discharges. The request, or advice, was acted upon, and 
 thus many a poor soldier was permitted to remain at 
 home till sufficiently recovered to safely return to duty. 
 
 These things accomplished, she quietly returned to the 
 performance of domestic duty in her humble home. 
 
 In former years she had, among other studies, given 
 some attention to medicine as well as law and divinity. 
 So in all the places she had resided, more particularly since 
 coming to Illinois, she had been called to minister to sick 
 neighbors, who insisted on calling her in preference to the 
 regular physicians, so her life was full of activity and use- 
 fulness. 
 
 In all this there is nothing remarkable, only the out- 
 growth of the times called for the highest activity of both 
 body and mind. Finding at the close of the war that the 
 people of the southwest were in need of seed-corn, the 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. G. T. CUTLUR. 245 
 
 Union Aid Society set about raising a supply, and for- 
 warded about six thousand bushels to be distributed by 
 faithful agents to avert the famine impending if seed was 
 not furnished. This closed the immediate demands of the 
 war. 
 
 At the taking of Fort Wagner one of Col. Cutler's 
 sons was killed. This so shocked and unnerved his father 
 (who was in feeble health, and gradually declined until 
 the spring of 1865, when he was stricken with paralysis), 
 that it was found inexpedient to remain on the farm near 
 Dwight, and they removed to Cobden, Union county, Illi- 
 nois. Here his health was improved, and Mrs. Cutler was 
 soon called to practice medicine by some of her old neigh- 
 bors and friends who had preceded her to that region and 
 were building up the great horticultural interests that have 
 made that county so famous. 
 
 Of the soldier boy, J. Martin Tracy, these " Recollec- 
 tions " will record that he served his country well, was 
 employed by his commanding officer as a confidential 
 bearer of dispatches, was sent on secret and dangerous ser- 
 vice, requiring great discretion and prudence, in discovering 
 the enemy's positions, at times entering their lines dis- 
 guised in butternut suit and slouched wool hat, where he 
 used the vernacular of " we uns," talking the broadest 
 southern dialect, obtaining useful information, folding his 
 butternut suit and like " the Arabs, quietly stealing away." 
 
 After the war he completed his studies, made the tour 
 of Europe, studied portrait painting, became an eminent 
 artist, returned to the United States, settling down by 
 marrying the girl of his choice, organizing a family " as the 
 law directs " by regularly increasing the census report. No 
 young man of the author's acquaintance can show a better 
 record, well worthy a martyr father and heroic mother. 
 
246 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 In addition to practicing medicine Mrs. Cutler man- 
 aged a small fruit farm, but finding her medical practice 
 increasing so fast she gave up fruit culture, and for some 
 time devoted herself entirely to her professional duties. 
 Finding this was to be her life work, she said, " I must be 
 as thoroughly prepared for it as men are," and went to 
 Cleveland, attended lectures, read medicine, and graduated 
 from the Women's Homcepathic College of Medicine and 
 Surgery when past fifty years of age. 
 
 Since her graduation, with only occasional vacations of 
 travel, study, visiting friends, of which she has hosts in all 
 parts of the Union and Europe, she has devoted herself to 
 professional duties with gratifying success. Her devotion 
 to the cause of human advancement is not in the least 
 abated by professional success. She is still ardently 
 enlisted by pen and speech in the promotion and final adop- 
 tion of woman suffrage, with all the reforms that it implies, 
 as in former years. Her children are not among those who 
 have had cause to comj)lain that their mother has forgotten 
 or neglected their welfare in her wider interest in affairs of 
 state, but their education was provided for, and as they 
 attained man and woman's estate they have taken their 
 several places in a manner which proves that a mother can 
 do her duty to her children, to her country and her race, 
 and not neglect either. Our own acquaintance with Mrs. 
 Cutler commenced when Col. Cutler moved to Illinois. 
 Our business and journalistic duties often called us to 
 Dwight, as hers called her to Chicago. When the author 
 purchased and assumed charge of the Farmer's Advocate 
 in 1860, Mrs. Cutler was enlisted as a contributor, giving 
 varied and entertaining letters from all the fields of labor 
 in which she was engaged. She was frequently at Chicago, 
 and while there was a welcome visitor in our family. 
 
MRS. DR. HANNAH M. C. T. CUTLER. 247 
 
 She was also one of the valued correspondents of the 
 Rural Messenger after the publication of that paper 
 commenced, in 1868, and while the relation of editor, pub- 
 lisher and contributor existed, we had the most ample 
 opportunity of storing our mind with these " Recollections," 
 and when concluding them can say the half has not been- 
 told, as we have been compelled to abbreviate, leave un- 
 written and only give a brief synopsis of the long and 
 useful career of the subjects of these chapters. We could 
 diversify the relation of our " Recollections " by anecdote, 
 reminiscence ami incident, but our space precludes the pos- 
 sibility of giving them place, much as they deserve to be 
 recorded. We do not know that Mrs. Dr. Cutler would 
 take kindly to the suggestion, but we do know that if she 
 would " write a book," giving a full history of the life of 
 her illustrious, devoted and martyred husband, and her 
 own checkered and useful one, it would be a valuable and 
 interesting contribution to the literature of the day. 
 
MRS. BELVA A. LOCKWOOD. 
 
 COUNSELLOR-AT-LAW AND ADVOCATE. 
 
 Place and humble condition of birth — Studious habits — Teaches 
 school — Married — Death of her husband — Her thrift as a 
 farmer — Again attends school — Her father's opinion of 
 women's sphere — Contributes to the press — Graduates with 
 high honors — Teaches school again — Patriotic and good to 
 the poor — Purchases seminary — "Work for the Union — 
 Goes to Washington — Spends a year in observation and 
 travel — Continues her studies in other branches — Masters 
 all the sciences — Teaches select school in Union League 
 Hall — Marries Dr. E. Lockwood — Daughter born — Devotes 
 her attention to advancing wages of women — Important 
 legislation — Studies law — Making the tour of the southern 
 states — Takes measures to secure her diploma — Practices 
 law — Magruder says she can not — Called to practice in 
 other states — Admitted to practice in supreme court. 
 
 Among the proud galaxy of American women now in 
 the prime of life, filling the full measure of a well-earned 
 distinction that she has wrought out by her own unaided 
 -efforts, is the subject of our chapter — Mrs. Belva A. 
 Lockwood, of Washington, D. C. It can be truthfully 
 said of her that she stands between the past and present, — 
 the past, the age of prejudice against women occupying 
 positions of usefulness in the various professions of life, 
 the same as men — the present, when that right is every- 
 where accorded (although in some cases grudgingly), and 
 
MES. BELVA *A. LOCKWOOD. 249 
 
 women take their places in every sphere their qualifications 
 fit them to fill. 
 
 While at Washington during the winter of 1878-9, it 
 was our good fortune to make the acquaintance of this ex- 
 cellent woman, and it affords us pleasure to transmit to our 
 pages the impressions and knowledge there obtained of 
 woman's capacity for business in any field in which she can 
 usefully employ her talents. 
 
 Belva A. Lockwood was born at Royalton, Niagara 
 county, N. Y., October 29, 1830. Her parents' name was 
 Bennett, and she was the second of five children, all raised 
 on the farm. She attended the district school, was attentive 
 and studious, and as a matter of course with industrious 
 scholars, she always stood at the head of her class, and at 
 twelve years of age she had mastered grammer, geography, 
 arithmetic, algebra and philosophy. 
 
 She was contemplative, read the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, thought a great deal of the miraculous interpositions 
 therein revealed and wondered if the same faith there 
 taught would not be attended with blessing and happy 
 results. She studied nature in the solitudes of the forest, 
 along the limpid streams, running over the hills, some- 
 times jotting down her thoughts and observations in her 
 note book. She was always the leader among her young 
 companions, championing their cause, or if obstacles were 
 presented, she set about to remove them. 
 
 Her teachers always remembered her as being the most 
 daring and generous girl of the school. Before she was 
 fifteen she was called to teach in her own district, and dis- 
 charged her duties so faithfully that her services were con- 
 tinued. The remuneration for the first term of teaching 
 was five dollars, the second six, the third seven, and the 
 
250 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 fourth eight dollars per month. She had now arrived at the 
 age of eighteen, with powers matured by observation and 
 the practical duties of life over those of most women of 
 twenty-five. 
 
 A thrifty young farmer of the neighborhood named 
 Uriah McNall, paid his addresses to her, and he being agree- 
 able to her a^d to her parents, they were married. She 
 entered immediately on her household duties, taking the 
 whole responsibility upon herself from the start. But mis- 
 fortune came. The active young husband met with a serious 
 accident while operating a saw mill, which enfeebled his sys- 
 tem and finally resulted in consumption. While harassed 
 with the care of an invalid husband she became the mother 
 of a daughter, which increased her cares. Mr. McNall 
 growing more feeble, she was aroused to fears that he would 
 not recover, which were only too well founded, for after 
 lingering for two years he died, leaving her a widow before 
 she was twenty-two. 
 
 Most women under these circumstances give up busi- 
 ness; if on a farm they rent it or sell it. Not so with Mrs. 
 McNall. She entered with wonderful energy on her busi- 
 ness, was well acquainted with all the details of trade, 
 selling and buying stock, measuring the lumber she sold, • 
 weighing grain, writing her own orders or receipts in a 
 business manner, then going the rounds of her domestic 
 duties, making a dress or bonnet as well as any modiste, 
 cooking meals, and all the usual routine. She astonished 
 all by the easy facility with which she managed the wildest 
 young horses, "breaking" them into harness or mounting 
 them on saddle and ridiug fearlessly. She was full of 
 energy, but after one year's management of the farm she 
 sold off her stock, farm tools and utensils, and determined 
 
MRS. BELVA A. LOCEWOOD. 251 
 
 to complete her education. She entered the academy at 
 Gosport, studied geometry, German, anatomy, physiology, 
 bookkeeping and other studies, kept her own house, board- 
 ing five other persons, all students, at the same time. 
 
 When these studies were mastered she received a press- 
 ing invitation to teach from her old neighbors, they offering 
 her twelve dollars per mouth and board for herself and 
 child. The little girl was a great favorite, going to school 
 with her mother every day. Mrs. McNall taught two years. 
 Then she determined on a course at college, and entered 
 Genesee Wesleyan College at Lima, New York, thus putting 
 in force the dream of her childhood — a thorough education. 
 
 She was now in her proper element, and vividly did she 
 recall her girlhood school days, when she had had a longing 
 to pursue an academic or collegiate course, and her father 
 had said to her in answer to her repeated requests concern- 
 ing the same, " Girls should attend to household duties and 
 get married ; only boys should go to college." 
 
 She now had the means to continue her studies. She 
 diversified her toil up the hill of science by writing for the 
 village papers and Moore's Rural New Yorker, the popular 
 exponent of the agricultural classes in the East. 
 
 When teaching her first terms of school, from fifteen to 
 eighteen, she had contributed both prose and poetry to the 
 Western Literary Messenger, Boston Olive Branch, Ladies' 
 Repository, and other papers, only in a few instances signing 
 her name. 
 
 In her young days of " sweet sixteen," she had read 
 essays at school exhibitions, and on one occasion Judge 
 Baker, after listening to her at Middleport, said, " That 
 effort is worthy of a man." The young girl orator did not 
 then see the force of the compliment. She had always been- 
 
252 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 far ahead of all the young men in her classes and had yet to 
 learn its full import. But let us return to her college life. 
 She was now becoming widely known as an author, and 
 while at Lima she was elected president of the Women's 
 Literary Society, one of the college institutions. 
 
 She was also invited to prepare a history of Christian 
 Missions, which was read in the college chapel to a crowded 
 house. Absorbed as she was in her studies, she yet found 
 time to teach a bible class and to visit sick companions and 
 minister to them. 
 
 As the college commencement approached she prepared 
 -to present herself for her degrees. The Wesleyan was the 
 .second college that had admitted women to its sacred pre- 
 cincts, and many earnest thinkers were not yet prepared to 
 believe that woman was capable of comprehending all that 
 man could master. 
 
 The faculty, on her examination, were surprised at her 
 accomplishments, for instead of being placed in the sopho- 
 more class, to her surprise aud gratification she was placed 
 in the list of juniors. This so encouraged her that she de- 
 nied herself to all society, and in due course entered the sen- 
 ior class, and graduated with honor June 27, 1857. 
 
 Scarcely had she left college when, without her knowl- 
 edge, she was elected preceptress of Lockport Union School, 
 in which position she remained for four years, educating 
 her sister and daughter at the same time. 
 
 In this school the same energy, unflagging industry, 
 executive ability and commanding talent characterized her, 
 and she filled the position to the entire satisfaction of the 
 official board, the patrons and students. She was, at the 
 same time foremost in prompt and efficient work in the 
 missions and Sunday schools and benevolent socities, keep- 
 
MES. BELVA A. LOCKWOOD. 253 
 
 ing up a " ragged school " at her own expense all these 
 years. ' 
 
 At the time of the Kansas troubles she was president of 
 a relief society, and spent much time and money in the 
 cause. She resigned her position at Lockport and accepted 
 •one as preceptress in the Gainsville Seminary, but after one 
 year's service the edifice burned, and she built up a school 
 at Hornellsville, Steuben county, New York. 
 
 After this she purchased the seminary building at 
 Oswego, New York, and sustained a flourishing school for 
 young ladies, and some time after sold the institution for 
 twice as much as it cost her, and placed her daughter at the 
 Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, where she had herself taught 
 eleven years before. 
 
 These were the years of the war of the rebellion, and 
 Mrs. McNall had during the whole time been president of 
 the Aid Society that equipped for service the Twenty- 
 Eighth Regiment New York Volunteers, and throughout 
 the war her sympathies were ever with the armies of the 
 Union. 
 
 After the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865 
 Mrs. McNall closed up her business in New York, and in 
 the spring of 1866 went to Washington, remaining several 
 months, visiting every place of interest in and about Wash- 
 ington, Georgetown and the surrounding suburbs, taking a 
 trip down the Potomac, stopping at all the principal places. 
 
 She then visited Richmond, finally sailing to New York, 
 going from there to Chicago, returning through Ohio, stop- 
 ping at Harper's Ferry. Her sister accompanied her on her 
 western trip and to Washington. In 1867 she hired Union 
 League Hall and commenced a select school. She rented 
 three halls, using one for school purposes, and rented the 
 
254 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 others to temperance, religious and political organizations. 
 Mrs. McNall had always been a student, and whatever 
 she was engaged in, she always found time to study instead 
 of reading romances, and it is wonderful how much she 
 accomplished. At this time she studied and mastered 
 International Law, studied Spanish and read several German 
 works. 
 
 She was now proficient in history, astronomy, botany, 
 zoology, mineralogy, physiology, algebra, trigonometry, 
 surveying, differentia, integral calculation, mechanics, 
 acoustics, optics, mathematics, astronomy, rhetoric, logic, 
 evidences of Christianity, political economy, mental philos- 
 ophy, moral philosophy, Kame's elements of criticism, 
 Butler's analogy, Latin, French and German. 
 
 After her school was opened and in a flourishing condi- 
 tion, her daughter Lura came to Washington, having com- 
 pleted her education. She immediately entered the school 
 and took charge of the French and Latin classes 
 
 Ou March 11, 1868, Mrs. McNall married Dr. 
 Ezekial Lockwood, and this, like her first marriage, was a 
 happy one. One daughter was born of this marriage in 
 1869, a bright but fragile flower that drooped and died 
 in July 1871. 
 
 So absorbed was Mrs. Lockwood in her labors of use- 
 fulness and charity that she neglected to a great degree 
 the calls of society and ceremony. Time seemed too short 
 to be frittered away in follies that narrow the mind, and 
 she could not lead that aimless life. 
 
 She was, with other benevolent women, engaged in 
 reformatory work. The temperance cause received atten- 
 tion, and through her efforts seven hundred names were 
 obtained favorable to restrictive legislation. 
 
MRS. BELVA A. LOCKWOOD. 255 
 
 The women in the government department were paid 
 much less than men for the same work performed, and 
 seeing that a special effort to right this wrong was needed, 
 she was one of the most prominent workers in securing 
 signers to a petition to secure equal pay. 
 
 To Mrs. Lockwood, more than any other person, is due 
 the success of the Universal Franchise Association which 
 awakened so much thought on the subject of justice to 
 women. The course of lectures favorable to that great 
 object was managed almost entirely by her. The " moral 
 and constitutional argument" for the enfranchisement of 
 women that was presented to Congress with the Territorial 
 Bill, was written entirely by her, and is considered the best 
 that has ever been presented to that body. 
 
 In 1870 she commenced the study of law, having 
 received the degree of A. M. from the University of Syra- 
 cuse, New York. 
 
 She studied law at the National University at Wash- 
 ington, after being refused admission to the law school of 
 Columbian College. Fifteen women were admitted, but 
 only two, Belva A. Lockwood and Lydia S. Hall, com- 
 pleted the cours~e. 
 
 The ensuing summer Mrs. Lockwood made a tour of 
 the southern states, contributing, on the prevailing ques- 
 tions of the day, to the Golden Age. Her articles were 
 largely devoted to dispelling the prejudices that still existed 
 against northern people and convincing them that northern 
 capital, directed by skilled labor and Yankee ingenuity, 
 was what was needed to build up the waste places of the 
 south ; a course since adopted by them and followed by 
 results promised in her communications. 
 
 The faculty of the National University, where she had 
 
256 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 studied, in the last quarter of the term denied these ladies 
 the privilege of attending lectures, and finally refused to 
 award them their justly earned diplomas — a piece of 
 stupidity and injustice they had occasion to regret in after 
 years. 
 
 This injustice Mrs. Lockwood brought to the attention 
 of President Grant, then ex-officio president of the National 
 University Law School, in a letter remarkable alike for its 
 pungency, brevity and bravery : 
 
 Washington, D. C, Sept. 3, 1873. 
 To the President : 
 
 Dear Sir — You are ostensibly president of the Na- 
 tional University Law School of this District. If you are 
 its president I desire to say that I have passed through the 
 curriculum of study of this school and am entitled to and 
 demand my diploma. If you are not its president then I 
 demand that you take your name from its papers and cease 
 to be what you are not. Yours respectfully, 
 
 Belva A. Lockwood. 
 
 On the following week, on Sept. 23, 1873, she was 
 rewarded by receiving her diploma, and on motion of W. 
 B. Wedgewood, made to the district court, she was 
 admitted to the bar. She immediately began active prac- 
 tice, and for five years was recognized by the courts of the 
 District of Columbia as a leading and successful prac- 
 titioner. 
 
 In 1878 she was called upon to defend a client before 
 the circuit court of Prince George county, Maryland, pre- 
 sided over by a Judge Magruder, whose extreme conserva- 
 tism marked him as a rare old relic of prejudice of the 
 by-gone days— since designated by the bar " Past Century 
 Magruder," an apt designation that our own talented 
 
MES. BELVA A. LOCKWOOD. 257 
 
 stateswoman, Mrs. Myra Bradwell, of the Chicago Legal 
 News, has the honor of prefixing to this specimen — pre- 
 historic judge. Mrs. Lockwood presented her brief and 
 asked for permission to practice before that court, which 
 the learned judge would not permit to be read, except 
 through counsel. This profound jurist, in giving his 
 opinion on which he based her rejection, gave a medley of 
 natural, physiological, astronomical and scriptural knowl- 
 edge, too profound for comprehension. We give it below : 
 
 " There are certain immutable laws of nature which 
 cannot be controverted. The waters of the earth have 
 their bounds, and the eternal rocks are immovable. 
 Woman was made after man, out of a rib from his side. 
 She was intended as a help-meet for him ; her physical 
 formation is sufficient argument against her appearing in 
 public. The woman is the weaker sex, home is her appro- 
 priate sphere ; she should not seek to go beyond her fire- 
 side. Woman was a star in her orbit. One star differed 
 from another ; there was one glory of the stars, one glory 
 of the sun. The true mission of woman is to nurse the 
 sick, administer consolation to the afflicted." The judge 
 closed with a prayer that the day would never come when 
 women would be admitted to practice in Maryland. This 
 was erudition and legal wisdom that the good citizens of 
 that judicial district in Maryland could not see the force 
 of, and at the next judicial election Judge Magruder was 
 relegated to private life, and Mrs. Lockwood is now a 
 recognized practitioner before that court. 
 
 Since then Mrs. Lockwood has been called to conduct 
 important law cases in the federal court of the western dis- 
 trict of Texas, and also of the federal court, Baltimore, Md., 
 involving some |j>50,000. 
 IT 
 
258 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Mrs. Lockwood was denied recognition at the bar of the 
 supreme court, and determined to scale the last round in the 
 ladder of success and secure recognition at that bar. She 
 prepared a bill providing for the admission of women to 
 practice before that court. It was presented to the house 
 by Hon. J. M. Glover, of Missouri, and was referred to the 
 committee on judiciary. The committee, through their 
 chairman, Hon. Proctor Knott, invited her to appear at 
 their meeting when they were discussing and considering 
 the bill. She appeared and m'ade one of the most memora- 
 ble and convincing arguments on the justness of the meas- 
 ure, which is now passed into history. -Bluff Ben Butler 
 arrived just as she was concluding her address, and when 
 she was through he arose and characteristically remarked, 
 " If there is a man on this committee who does not believe 
 that this woman has as good a right to practice law as he 
 has let him say so now, or forever after hold his peace." 
 Hon. Geo. F. Hoar the same day presented the bill to the 
 house, and it was passed by a two-thirds majority. A simi- 
 lar bill was passed in the senate. Like the house bill it 
 was referred to the judiciary committee. The senate com- 
 mittee thought that no special legislation was necessary. 
 This passed the matter over until the next session. Senator 
 McDonald, backed by Mr. Hoar, enlisted in its favor and 
 made a great speech. Two petitions in its behalf were pre- 
 sented, one from the bar of the District of Columbia and 
 one from the State of New York. The bill was still op- 
 posed by many senators, but Senators Sargent and Mc- 
 Creery joining their efforts with those of the gentlemen 
 named it was put upon its passage on the 15th of February, 
 J 879, and became a law by a majority of twenty-one. 
 
 On March 3, 1879, Hon. A. G. Riddle made a motion 
 
MRS. BBLVA A. LOCKWOOD. 259 
 
 before the supreme court for her admission to practice, and 
 the court granted the request. On the 6th of the same 
 mouth she was, on motion of Hon. Thomas J. Durant, ad- 
 mitted to the bar of the United States Court of Claims. 
 
 Mrs. Lockwood's heroic struggles were finally crowned 
 with success, and she was now the peer of the greatest law- 
 yer in the land, all judicial barriers were broken down. 
 Upon this achievement she received many congratulatory 
 letters from all parts of the United States. Among others 
 who wrote were Matilda Joslyn Gage, Clemence S. Lozier, 
 M. D., Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and her 
 friend and pastor, Rev. A. F. Mason. Mrs. Lockwood has 
 been interested in and taken an active part in the thorough 
 mental, moral and physical training of the young women. 
 From a very early age up to the date of her admission to 
 the bar, of the supreme court in September, 1873, she was a 
 teacher, and as such was accustomed to give daily practical 
 instructions in calisthenics and gymnastics. She owes much 
 ■of her strong, vigorous health and suppleness of limb to 
 •this daily exercise and a practice of daily walking. In 1868, 
 while employed as a teacher at Union League Hall, she be- 
 •came interested in the " Women's Rights Movement," and 
 since that time has done what she could for the advance- 
 ment of women in the arts, sciences and professions. 
 
 She has spoken on " "Woman's right to the ballot " in 
 all the great commercial and literary centers of the country, 
 Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Indianapolis 
 and Chicago. Her last address on that question, " The dis- 
 franchisement of the women of Utah," was made at Lincoln 
 Hall, January 23, 1883, and the day following, before the 
 judiciary committee of the House of Representatives. 
 
 She is a member of the " Universal Peace Union," an 
 
260 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 organization composed mainly from the Society of Friends, 
 and a kindred society to this in the interest of universal 
 peace, the " National Arbitration League," which has for 
 its objects the settlement of all international questions by 
 arbitration, thus avoiding war between nations. 
 
 Her lecture on this subject, delivered first in Washing- 
 ton, has been repeated in Providence and in many of the 
 interior cities of New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. 
 
 During President Hayes' administration a memorial on 
 this question was prepared and presented to the president, 
 asking him to appoint a commission to negotiate with 
 foreign nations, and a bill was introduced in Congress for 
 an appropriation to pay the expenses of such a commission. 
 
 This effort was followed by her through the Arbitra- 
 tion League, by strenuous efforts to have President Arthur, 
 and later through Congress, confirm the calling of the 
 Peace Convention of the American States, as recommended 
 by Hon. James G. Blaine. 
 
 Her letter on this subject was first published in the New 
 York Tribune and copied into many other leading papers 
 of the country. It sets forth that war is a relic of barbar- 
 ism that must pass away before enlightened civilization, and 
 that the day is not far distant when all difficulties between 
 nations will be settled by reason and justice and not by the 
 sword. 
 
 For nearly two years past Mrs. Lockwood has, in dis^ 
 patching her business, and for the healthful exercise afforded, 
 been riding a trycicle. She believes the bicycle and try. 
 cicle will largely take the place of horses in the large cities 
 and in the country where the roads will admit of their use, 
 and that horseback riding will go out of use. 
 
 For the last ten years, and since overcoming the preju- 
 
MES. BBLVA A. LOCKWOOD. 261 
 
 dices of judges, law universities and the bar, she has enjoyed 
 an extensive practice of law in all the courts, civil and 
 criminal. She also has an extensive practice before the de- 
 partments of the government, the court of claims and 
 supreme court of the United States. 
 
 Her law labors have been engrossing and absorbing, 
 and she has calls to go to distant cities. She recently ap- 
 peared in the United States court at Boston in the cele- 
 brated case of Burgess vs. Graffamel, et al. Her appear- 
 ance before the courts there was the first made by a woman 
 attorney in staid New England, and was heralded widely 
 through the press of the country. 
 
 To make the event notable a reception was given her by 
 the ladies and gentlemen of Providence, Rhode Island, on 
 the evening following. Since that time both Massachusetts 
 and Connecticut have admitted women to the bar. 
 
 When we were in Washington, some four years ago, 
 there were two young ladies and one gentleman studying 
 law in her office, they assisting her greatly in the prepa- 
 ration of papers for the courts. The receptacles for legal 
 papers were alphabetically arranged, and a quiet and orderly 
 dispatch of business was going forward all the time. 
 
MISS MARY A. WEST. 
 
 PRESIDENT ILLINOIS STATE WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE 
 
 UNION. 
 
 Various gifts and talents, natural and acquired, and the 
 application and industry to use them for the advancement 
 of the mental and moral culture of our race, are the 
 distinguishing traits illustrating and exemplifying the char- 
 acter of the subject of this sketch. 
 
 Mary Allen West was born July 31, 1837, in the 
 vicinity of the present city of Galesburg, Knox county, 
 Illinois. Her parents were Nehemiah and Catherine West, 
 members of the colony of advance settlers that came to 
 that county in the spring of 1836, and the pioneers in the 
 laying out and building up of the interests of Galesburg. 
 Mr. West soon after removed to Galesburg, and was among 
 the foremost men in the formative period of what soon 
 became a great educational center. At an early age Mary 
 commenced attending the district school, and soon 
 developed an aptitude for acquiring knowledge that seemed 
 almost phenomenal — the desire for study was almost a 
 passion with her. While yet a child, her extensive knowl- 
 edge in regard to general history, as well as some of the 
 sciences, was remarked upon by all who were acquainted 
 with the family. Her spcial qualities were cultivated, and 
 the girls of her own age were never so well pleased as when 
 they could visit Mary, or be visited by her, as they were 
 
MISS MARY A. WEST. 263 
 
 always sure to learn something new and useful, and be 
 well entertained at the same time. She grew to woman- 
 hood, educated entirely in the common school at Gales- 
 burg and Knox Seminary. 
 
 The moral and intellectual atmosphere of her child- 
 hood's home undoubtedly had much to do with the forma- 
 tion of her character. The home band, the father and 
 mother, were conscientious Christians, of great intellec- 
 tual force, and the children drank in from this fountain 
 solid precepts to govern their youthful action, that followed 
 them when grown to maturer years. As all parents should' 
 do, they made the home for their children bright and 
 pleasant, — the morals and the family education were para- 
 mount to everything else. To illustrate this, several years 
 ago the author was visiting at the family home of Miss 
 West while her aged mother was still living, and the con- 
 versation reverted to the subject of youthful education. 
 Mrs. West said that when Mary was yet a small girl, when 
 visited by girls of her own age Mary would read to them, 
 or form them into groups, school fashion, and thus enter- 
 tain her company, and at the same time there would be no 
 break in her own studies, her girl friends, when leaving, 
 having probably learned something useful, and at the same 
 time been highly entertained. Thus passed the childhood 
 years of Mary Allen West. 
 
 When Miss West was only thirteen she presented her- 
 self for the required examination to enter Knox Seminary, 
 and it was satisfactory, but the rules of that institution 
 admitted no student under the age of fifteen. She was 
 obliged to wait, but while doing so engaged in teaching for 
 the most part of the time until the advanced age of fifteen 
 would admit her to its charmed intellectual circle, and 
 
264 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 she graduated with all the honors at seventeen, immediately 
 entering upon the great work of her life — teaching. As a 
 teacher she is pre-eminent, whether in the social circle, the 
 schoolroom, at her desk swaying the sceptre, as director- 
 general of the educational interests of Knox county as 
 superintendent of schools, or since she gave up that respon- 
 sible position. She has assumed part of the business and 
 editorial management of the Union Signal, of Chicago, 
 the exponent of the State Women's Christian Temperance 
 Union of Illinois. This is more particularly her recent 
 work. To follow out all the departments of her varied 
 useful labors would fill more space than the limits of our 
 work will permit. 
 
 With her duties as a teacher she has contributed 
 much to the educational, religious, temperance and secular 
 press. Although residing at Galesburg, she edited " Our 
 Home Monthly," of Philadelphia, for two years. The 
 u Christian Union " has been favored by her with many 
 rare gems on many subjects, — but all in the interests of 
 education. A great many of these able contributions she 
 has given as a free offering to promote the interest in 
 which they were written. She was for some time the 
 Illinois correspondent of the New England Journal of 
 Education, Boston, and has been offered positions on various 
 editorial staffs. Besides these many labors of love and 
 duty she is engaged in literary work not yet given to the 
 world, which we can promise, when it does appear, will be 
 the most full and complete yet given of that class, being a 
 historical work. 
 
 At the session of the legislature, April, 1873, a law was 
 enacted making women eligible to all school offices in the 
 state. Immediately leading citizens of Knox county, hav- 
 
MISS MARY A. WEST. 265 
 
 ing at heart the educational interest, asked permission to 
 present her name as a candidate. She declined the honor, 
 but notwithstanding this refusal she was brought forward 
 as a candidate and elected over two opposing candidates by 
 a good round majority for four years, and so well did she 
 perform her duties that at the end of her first term, in 
 1877, she was again elected by acclamation, none appearing 
 to contest the honor against her. She served her last term 
 and then positively declined to serve longer, her other work 
 in the great moral educational world was so pressing that it 
 called her to broader fields; but before recording the 
 present, the reader will permit a retrospective of the busy 
 life of Mary Allen West. Her educational work is found 
 in the records of the State Teachers' Institute, the State 
 Association of County Superintendents, she is a member 
 of the examining committee of the State Teachers' Asso- 
 ciation, also a member of the International Council of 
 Education of the Permanent Exposition in Philadelphia. 
 During the war she did a noble work. She was, during 
 the entire existence of the Soldier's Aid Society, either the 
 recording or corresponding secretary. Knox county boys, 
 wherever they were, particularly the sick and wounded, 
 were followed by her inquiries as to their welfare. She has 
 represented her <»ty, county and state, at state, national and 
 international conventions ; was a member of the Centennial 
 •Commission ; has been, and still is interested in the Social 
 Science movement, and at one time a vice-president. This 
 has been her work of years outside of Knox county. Her 
 home labors have been most arduous, but cheerfully 
 taken up and performed. As characteristic, in her teaching 
 experience to the ignorant and down trodden, was her con- 
 nection with the colored school. The first years of the war 
 
266 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 a great many contrabands came to Galesburg. She taught 
 them, seeking them out, giving them much time, working 
 under many difficulties. Her colored school numbered 
 more than one hundred of all ages. 
 
 She has counseled with all the women's organizations 
 for promoting missionary work, was president of the 
 " Prairie Gleaners," a home mission band, has ever been a 
 devoted Sunday school worker, conducting a large bible 
 class for young ladies, and making Sunday visitations to the 
 jail when criminals where confined there. Added to these, 
 and perhaps crowning the whole of them, has been her 
 devotion to the temperance cause. She organized and 
 superintended the central division of the Band of Hope, 
 and the local Women's Christian Temperance Union, and was 
 vice-president of the Ninth Congressional District, (now the 
 tenth). Has delivered many temperance addresses, and 
 very often, when the gentlemen thought it too stormy or 
 inclement to fill their appointments in a country neighbor- 
 hood, she would brave rain, cold and Knox county mud 
 when there was work to be done for temperance. 
 
 Many men owe their reformation to the thoughtful 
 advice, and sometimes, more substantial aid, given them by 
 Miss West. She has been helpful to the young of her own 
 sex — many young girls acknowledging that her sustaining 
 hand and noble encouragement to endeavor, has helped 
 them to attain a higher education and lead a nobler life. 
 
 At the last annual meeting of the Illinois State 
 Women's Christian Temperance Union she was elected 
 president, and to her other active duties she is now giving 
 her attention to the organization and building up of the 
 temperance cause throughout the state. 
 
 We met her at the meeting of the State Educational 
 
MISS MARY A. WEST. . 267 
 
 Society at Springfield, early in January, where she displayed 
 the same earnestness in this field of labor as in the. temper- 
 ance work. 
 
 As soon as the society adjourned she engaged in the 
 work of getting material from the ample resources of the 
 state library to aid her in the preparation of the great work 
 in which she is now engaged, that will appear within the 
 next two or three years. 
 
 Miss West is an exception to many women of great liter- 
 ary fame. She posesses in an eminent degree, great house- 
 keeping abilities, of this the author being the judge. She 
 handles the pallet and brush with considerable skill, and 
 in her spare hours, has perfected some paintings, showing 
 taste and critical judgment in matters of art. That she has 
 accomplished so much in life she ascribes largely to the 
 fact that she never let a moment go to waste. Of her edu- 
 cational — her school-house labors, both as teacher and 
 superintendent of schools, we could greatly enlarge, be- 
 cause we have been in positions to know. But the limits 
 of our work, the vast amount of other matter that yet 
 awaits our preparation for this and succeeding volumes, 
 precludes further mention. 
 
BEPBESENTATIVE MEN. 
 
 DR. ROBERT BOAL. 
 
 EX-PRESIDENT ILLINOIS MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Nativity — Education — First practice — Moves to Illinois — His 
 large practice — His interest in public affairs — Oratorical 
 efforts — Deep interest in politics — Elected to state senate — 
 Services to the state — Elected to legislature 1854-56 — Long 
 services to the state — Trustee of Deaf and Dumb Asylum — 
 Enrolling Surgeon Fifth Congressional District — Removes 
 to Peoria — Organization of Illinois State Medical Society — 
 Elected president — Author's recollections — Their object — 
 Advances in medical science — Opinion of eminent physi- 
 cias-^The past and present • — Now and then — Synopsis of 
 Dr. Boal's address — A contribution to science. 
 
 Robert Boal was born Nov. 15, 1806, in Dauphin county, 
 near Harrisburg, Pennyslvania. He was the son of Thomas 
 and Elizabeth Crain Boal. His father was a farmer, resi- 
 ding there till 1810, when he moved to Cincinnati. When 
 Robert attained the proper age he was sent to r the city 
 schools and made fair progress in the primary and rudimen- 
 tal studies until the age of fifteen, when he entered -Cincin- 
 nati College, taking only such studies as would fit him for 
 entering on his medical course. In 1824 he entered Ohio 
 Medical College, having the full benefit of medical lectures 
 during his course of studies, and graduating in 1828, he 
 
DB. BOBEBT BOAL. 269 
 
 immediately commenced the practice of medicine at Reading, 
 Ohio, ten miles north of Cincinnati, continuing there until 
 1834, when he removed to Cincinnati, continuing his prac- 
 tice there till 1836. 
 
 In the fall of 1834 he came to Illinois on a prospecting 
 tour, and some of his Cincinnati friends having become in- 
 terested in the new city of Lacon he concluded, after visit- 
 ing the place, to identify himself with the interests of the 
 embryo city, and returning to Cincinnati early in the spring 
 of 1836, made his preparations to remove to his new field 
 of labor, that in after years became the scene of his success- 
 ful practice, and he was not long in securing the esteem and 
 confidence of the people among whom he had formed a 
 wide acquaintance. He was gifted with unusual oratorical 
 talent and took a deep interest in public affairs as they 
 related to the advancement of the interests of the new city, 
 and as well in state, and national affairs. 
 
 In the movement to organize the new county of Mar- 
 shall in 1838, he lent, the influence of his voice and pen to 
 promote it, and through his and others' efforts the new 
 county was organized early in 1839, resulting in making 
 Lacon the county seat. He also took an active part in the 
 political campaign of 1840, that resulted in the election of 
 William H. Harrison to the presidency. He was an ardent 
 whig and outspoken in the advocacy of his principles, and 
 throughout the surrounding counties his services on the 
 stump were in great request to promote the success of local 
 objects and the interests of the state and nation. His prac- 
 tice was not neglected, and in seasons of unusual sickness 
 every other consideration was merged in alleviating the suf- 
 ferings and pains of the sick and afflicted. His professional 
 services were alike commanded by the poor as well as those 
 
270 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 in better circumstances. The contents of his medicine case 
 were open to all, no matter what the prospect was for future 
 remuneration. His time, together with the services of Dr. 
 Wilcox, his partner, was fully occupied in attending the 
 calls made on them for medical services. 
 
 Outside of professional services he had many calls to 
 speak in aid of the benevolent organizations and reforms of 
 the day, and no man gave his money or time more freely. 
 
 In obedience to the call of the people in 1844 he was 
 nominated and elected to the state senate on the whig ticket, 
 a great many of the opposite political party voting for him. 
 He co-operated with the best men of the state of both par- 
 ties in building up the ruined credit of the state, and aiding 
 legislation that resulted in finishing the Illinois and Michi- 
 gan Canal. Although keeping fully abreast of all the politi- 
 cal movements of the day, he did not enter official life 
 again until 1854, when he was elected «to the house of repre- 
 sentatives, and re-elected in 1856, serving four years, giving 
 much time in the Kansas-Nebraska agitation to enlighten- 
 ing the people, resulting in the organization of the republi- 
 can party. At the end of his legislative service in 1857 he 
 was appointed by Gov. Bissell one of the trustees of the Deaf 
 and Dumb Institution at Jacksonville, and was successively 
 re-appointed by Gov. Yates in 1861, by. Gov. Oglesby in 
 1865, Gov. Palmer in 1869, and Gov. Beveridge in 1873; a 
 continuous service of over seventeen years that he gave to 
 this benevolence and charity. Most of this time he was 
 president of the board of trustees. Abounding in good • 
 works, he was never idle. 
 
 In 1863 he was appointed surgeon of the board of en- 
 listment of the Fifth Illinois Congressional District, com- 
 posed of the counties of Peoria, Knox, Marshall, Putnam, 
 
DR. ROBERT BOAL. 271 
 
 Bureau, Henry and Stark, with headquarters at Peoria. 
 New regiments were being constantly organized and 
 mustered in, and his duties were arduous, and he gave to 
 them unremitting attention. 
 
 He was one of the charter members in organizing the 
 Illinois State Medical Society, and its president in 1882, 
 and before the conclusion of this chapter will be found a 
 synopsis of his address, which we give in connection with 
 crur own and others' observations on the advances of medi- 
 cal science in the last half century. 
 
 In these "Recollections" we propose to present the 
 foremost representative men of the state from every indus- 
 try, avocation and profession. For near the full half cen- 
 tury spent in this state it has been our pleasure, to which 
 we refer with no little pride, to know as friend, neighbor, 
 companion, business adviser and physician, Dr. Robert 
 Boal, the oldest, ablest, and for length of years, the most 
 successful physician in the state. His is a history that a 
 whole volume could with profit be given to its relation. 
 He is a man of most intelligent and broad views, and of 
 long and honorable fame in a profession noted all over the 
 state for men distinguished for intelligence and earnestness, 
 who entered on their professional career with the heroic 
 purpose of alleviating human suffering and prolonging 
 human life; — to what higher ambition can a life be devoted 
 than advancing medical science by observation and experi- 
 ence, observing, studying and minutely recording develop- 
 ments that occur in their practice. 
 
 Medical culture in the last fifty years has made an 
 indelible impress upon the whole world of science, letters 
 and religion — in a word, upon humanity. It would not be 
 amiss in the presentation of our representative to note some 
 of the advances made. 
 
272 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Great progress and improvement has been made in 
 surgery. 
 
 An eminent American authority says : " The contrast 
 between the surgery of former times and that of the present 
 day forms one of the brightest pages in the history of 
 human progress. Redeemed and purified by the genius of 
 modern discovery, it is no longer a handicraft, but science 
 and art reduced, if not to perfection, to principles as accu- 
 rate as any that have been introduced into the study of the 
 natural sciences, of which it forms one of the most inter- 
 esting and useful branches. Surgery can no longer be sep- 
 arated from medicine. No surgeon can practice his pro- 
 fession with credit to himself or benefit to his fellow-creat- 
 ures if he is not an enlightened physician, deeply grounded 
 in the doctrine of disease and its cure." 
 
 Another eminent physician, Dr. J. D. Hills, of New 
 York, says : " By the aid of anaesthetics, an American con- 
 tribution to science and humanity, surgical operations have 
 become painless, and many are now performed successfully 
 which without anaesthetics would have been impossible, 
 from the fatal shock to the system. 
 
 "Operations are successfully made in cases of railroad 
 injuries and gun-shot wounds, which could not have been 
 accomplished without the aid of anaesthesia. By the com- 
 bined use of anaesthetics and the elastic bandage, amputa- 
 tions, exsections, resections and operations in many cases 
 of aneurism, are rendered not only painless but bloodless. 
 
 "The exploring.trochar and aspirator enables us to pene- 
 trate the viscera of the thorax and abdomen with compara- 
 tive safety, and remove pathological secretions and deposits 
 not unfrequently occurring in the pleura, lungs, liver, kid- 
 neys or ovaries. The suffering, pain and diseases which the 
 
DR. ROBERT BOAL. 273 
 
 progress made in obstetrics and gynecology enables us to 
 mitigate, if not entirely relieve, should entitle the depart- 
 ment of medicine to be numbered among the greatest bene- 
 factors to suffering humanity." 
 
 In his annual address as president of the Illinois State 
 Medical Society, delivered at Quincy, May 16, 1882, Dr. 
 Boal gave some interesting reminiscences of the past, pre- 
 senting his subject, " Past and Present ; Then and Now." 
 He says : 
 
 " Fifty years ago the agencies and facilities for obtain- 
 ing a professional education were few and far between. 
 Then but two medical colleges were in existence west of 
 the Alleghany mountains — the medical department of 
 Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, and the 
 Medical College of Ohio, founded by that giant in the pro- 
 fession, the late Dr. Dan Drake — now towns of fifteen or 
 twenty thousand inhabitants boast of at least one medical 
 college. Then a faculty composed of five or six professors 
 was deemed a large and imposing one, in numbers at least, 
 whatever else might be said as to its qualifications in other 
 respects; now, in every medical school, however obscure, 
 a long list of professors of every conceivable subject in the 
 profession is published, and the doctrine of division of labor 
 has been carried out to an extent hitherto unknown. 
 
 "If, half a century ago, our educational facilities were 
 meagre and inadequate, now, on the other extreme, our 
 colleges are multiplied until the supply is greater than the 
 demand. In many cases these institutions have lowered 
 the standard of professional qualifications to such a degree 
 as to send forth illiterate and incompetent men, thereby 
 imposing on the public and bringing reproach upon the 
 profession.' The remedy rests mainly with the profession. 
 Let it discountenance, as far as practicable, the establish- 
 ment of colleges where they are not needed. Let it, in the 
 name of humanity, demand such regulations and enactments 
 as will deprive these small, obscure, and numerous institu- 
 ]8 
 
274 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 tions of the power of conferring degrees in medicine, and 
 accrediting the illiterate and incompetent to the community. 
 It is to be hoped that the progress of the age and its re- 
 quirements will wake up the public to the fact that for its 
 protection and safety such reform is needed. 
 
 " Then the practice of medicine in all its departments 
 was pursued by the same individual ; now we have special- 
 ists for every branch of the science and art of medicine. 
 Then every practitioner was physician, surgeon, obstetri- 
 cian, gynecologist, opthalmogist, and dentist ; now all these 
 are special subjects of study and practice, and as a result, 
 wonderful advances have been made in these branches of 
 the profession, and life has been rendered more tolerable 
 and happy through the skill thus acquired. 
 
 "Then calomel, antimony, and venesection were the 
 common and indispensable remedies ; that they were useful 
 and potent remedial agents, and, in their day, did much 
 good, is true ; but it is equally true that their lavish and in- 
 discriminate employment did great harm. Where is the 
 physician of the present day who would have the temerity 
 to repeatedly bleed a patient and keep him nauseated' for 
 days upon tartar emetic to cut short a Gase of pneumonia or 
 jpleuritis? Where is one to be found who would admin- 
 ister scruple or half-drachm doses of calomel, or a corres- 
 pondingly large amount of antimony, every three or four 
 hours ? Now we have a better knowledge of disease and a 
 better practice founded on it. Then every practitioner 
 was his own druggist and pharmacist, made his own pills 
 and tinctures, compounded all his own medicines, and gen- 
 erally carried all he required, as, with saddle-bags on his 
 arm or astride his horse, he wended his way from house to- 
 house, administering to the sick and ailing, always welcome, 
 regartied as an angel of mercy, although his homely garb 
 and rough appearance looked anything but angelic. 
 
 "The life of a doctor of that day was one of peril, toil and 
 privation; now it is one of comparative safety, ease and 
 comfort; then the country was thinly settled and his 
 rides were long and solitary ; now it is populous, the doc- 
 
DE. BOBEKT BOAL. 275 
 
 tor's excursions are short and he seldom lacks companion- 
 ship ; then his patients were scattered over a wide extent 
 of territory, and his travel was mostly performed on horse- 
 back, and its extent and duration was measured only by 
 the power of endurance of himself and horse ; now the area 
 over which even the country physician travels is limited to 
 a few square miles, and he jogs along in his buggy or car- 
 riage without discomfort or fatigue ; then, often on his 
 errands of mercy he swam his horse over swollen streams, 
 or made long detours to enable him to cross or avoid the 
 still more treacherous sloughs, sometimes following for 
 miles a trail" or path which he was liable to lose at any 
 moment, with no living thing around him ; now the swollen 
 streams are bridged, the sloughs have been drained, the 
 broad highway has succeeded the trail and bridle path ; 
 then, often whole days and nights were spent in the saddle 
 without rest except a few snatches of sleep, sometimes taken 
 on horse-back, sometimes in the lonely cabin of the settler; 
 now in the abundance of the material with which the pro- 
 fession is supplied, no such sacrifice of ease and comfort is 
 required ; then at the call of sickness or pain he promptly 
 responded, whether in sunshine or storm, in summer's heat, 
 or winter's cold, traversing in his long jourtieys great 
 stretches of prairie, blackened by the annual fires which 
 swept over it, his vision resting on ncH^ng ^ave the black 
 and cheerless plain spread out before him. The country 
 was ?new, the doctors young and few in number, and no 
 deroffnd for services could be refused on any pretext save 
 ilrom absolute inabilty to mount a horse. Necessity made 
 hjm self-r^iant an«l courageous. 
 
 "Now, cultivated fields, neat and opanfortable farm 
 ho"Us«3 have taken the place -otf burnt prairies, doctors are 
 plenty, and many of tbjgm are no longer young. Then the 
 doctor was poor in purse, for his services were often paid 
 for in promises — very seldom money,— greenbacks were 
 uaknow%, fees were small. The best and most reliable 
 circulating medium was the products of the 'country, and 
 with this th£ doctor wa= generally paid. Now, while few 
 
276 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 physicians are rich, nearly all make a comfortable living, 
 their services command fair prices, and when paid, the 
 money is good. 
 
 " Then, the dependence on each other, and the kindly 
 life of a new country, gave the doctor a strong hold on the 
 affections of the people where he lived and labored. They 
 loved him while living, mourned for him when dead. The 
 doctor did not know as much as we do now, yet, perhaps, 
 knew some things of which we were ignorant, and which it 
 would be profitable to learn. 
 
 " Then the practice consisted mainly in the adminis- 
 tration of calomel and jalap in a large dose when first 
 called to a case, and then continuing the use of calomel 
 alone in small and repeated doses, followed by nitrate of 
 potash and James' powder or tartrate of antimony as a 
 febrifuge. Many doctors of that day labored under the 
 delusion that when their patient's salivary glands were 
 swollen, his mouth sore and running a stream, then the 
 disease was subdued and convalescence followed. So 
 deeply rooted was this belief in the minds of most of the 
 practitioners of that day that the death of a patient treated 
 to a profuse salivating was a mystery they could not 
 fathom. 
 
 " Quinine was sparingly used. The people had a preju- 
 dice against it, and its remedial powers, as we now know 
 them, were little understood; now, instead of large and 
 nauseous doses, clumsy pharmacy and crude substances of 
 that day, we have their active principles, and our pills, ex- 
 tracts and various other preparations are so elegant in form 
 and disguised in taste as to be acceptable to the most fas- 
 tidious stomach. Then the doctor, next to the minister, 
 was the trusted friend and counselor of every family to 
 whom he ministered. His advice was sought, not only 
 professionally, but upon almost every other matter. He 
 shared their joys, soothed their sorrows, and every pass- 
 ing year added to and cemented the attachment between 
 them; now, the doctor is regarded more in the light of a 
 tradesman or mechanic, and is employed from the same 
 
DE. ROBERT BOAL. 277 
 
 consideration that a grocer, tailor or shoemaker is. The 
 strong ties of gratitude and affection which then bound 
 physician and patient together have almost ceased to exist. 
 Their relation is now placed on a mere commercial basis, 
 and for this the profession is more to blame than the public. 
 "Then, woman was not known or recognized as a 
 ' practitioner of medicine; now, the profession numbers in 
 its ranks many intelligent, educated and able physicians of 
 the other sex. Then they were not admitted to any med- 
 ical college in the land ; now, schools have been estab- 
 lished for their instruction, and the barriers which custom 
 and education erected have been broken down, and the 
 tendency of the times is to enlarge and widen their sphere 
 of labor. As teachers and practitioners some are the peers, 
 and others will compare favorably in qualifications with 
 those of the sterner sex. In some branches of medicine 
 they are excelled by few of their male associates. And 
 here let it'be said to the credit of the Illinois State Medi- 
 cal Society, that it was among the first to recognize the 
 professional equality of the sexes by admitting women as 
 members and selecting fr-om their number one of its vice- 
 presidents. By this act it honored women, honored 
 itself, and set an example worthy of imitation by others. 
 
 " In the department of surgery what wonderful ad- 
 vances have been made. Then, disease and pain rested 
 like a dark shadow over its victims, irradiated by no gleam 
 of hope. Then the surgeon required a keen eye, a steady 
 hand and a stout heart to pursue his cruel task, — amid the 
 groans and anguish of the gagged and bound sufferer 
 writhing in unutterable pain; now, thanks to advanced 
 knowledge and the skill thus acquired, but above all to 
 that greatest of modern discoveries, ansesthetics, human 
 suffering has been alleviated, — the knife has lost its terror, 
 for the pain it inflicts is no longer felt, and the most 
 formidable diseases and injuries which fifty years ago 
 were left to end in death, are in many cases amenable to 
 cure. Then the removal of any of the internal organs, or 
 of tumors or growths upon external parts of the body, was 
 
278 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 never undertaken or even thought of by the wildest 
 imagination ; now many of the organs formerly regarded 
 as essential to life have been removed wholly or in part 
 with surprisingly successful results, and the lives of thous- 
 ands in all parts of the world have been prolonged. Then 
 the sufferer endured unmitigated anguish; NOW it is no 
 longer felt ; every part of the human body is explored, and 
 organs are exposed which it was then thought could not be 
 done without causing death. All morbid growths, both 
 internal and external, which were then regarded as incur- 
 able, are now either arrested in their development or 
 removed. Electricity in its several forms has been brought 
 into use, not only for this, but many other purposes, with 
 wonderful success, and the limit of its' power and employ- 
 ment has not yet been reached. Then the surgery of the 
 eye and ear was confined to a few simple operations, with • 
 uncertain results; now these wonderful and delicate organs 
 are treated with so much skill and success that cure of 
 disease and restoration of function is the rule, accidents 
 and organic disease the exception. Then surgical instru- 
 ments and appliances were comparatively few, and often 
 clumsily constructed ; now they are wonderful examples of 
 artistic skill and ingenious invention. Our ophthalmoscopes, 
 laryngoscopes, spectoscopes and other ingenious inventions 
 now light many of the dark caverns of the human body, 
 and reveal to sight hidden organs and their morbid condi- 
 tions, thus rendering their treatment or removal more cer- 
 tain and practicable. 
 
 Then little was known of that branch of medicine and 
 surgery that bears the hard Greek name, gynecology. The 
 revelations of the speculum and other improved modes of 
 examination and exploration were unknown; now every 
 medical college, however small or obscure, has its professor 
 of gynecology, and the medical and surgical diseases of 
 women are made a special study, and thanks to the knowl- 
 edge and skill thus acquired, suffering women all over the 
 civilized world have been rescued from pain and disease, 
 and given a new hold upon life. No department of the pro- 
 
DR. ROBERT BOAL. 279 
 
 fesslon has made greater progress than this, and no labors 
 and investigations have been attended with more beneficial 
 results. For what it has done it deserves commendation. 
 Then, in chemistry, pharmacy, the collateral sciences and 
 their applications to medicines, to arts, to the alleviation of 
 suffering and the prolongation of human life, our knowledge 
 was comparatively meagre and unsatisfactory ; now, chem- 
 istry has given us that greatest of all modern discoveries as 
 applied to medicine, anaesthetics. It has given us disin- 
 fectants and antiseptics, by which noxious gases and other 
 germs of disease are neutralized or destroyed, health pro- 
 moted and life saved. 
 
 Pharmacy now furnishes the palatable and elegant prep- 
 arations we daily prescribe instead of the nauseous ones 
 then in use. Little attention was then paid to that 
 department of medicine ; now, colleges are established for 
 the education of pharmacists, and instead of ignorant dis- 
 pensers and compounders of medical agents, we have an 
 intelligent body of men thoroughly educated for their 
 work. Then, of hygiene, or the laws which promote 
 individual and public health little was known or under- 
 stood ; now, we know the influence which foul air and bad 
 sewerage has in causing and disseminating disease. Then 
 little attention was paid to the prevention, introduction and 
 spread of epidemic and contagious disease ; now, a more 
 effective quarantine rigidly enforced, a more complete isola- 
 tion of the infected, and other prophylactic measures which 
 a better knowledge of the laws of health have caused to be 
 adopted, have deprived them of much of their terror and 
 added greatly to the sum of human life. 
 
 " In many other particulars the past and present, the 
 then and now, might be drawn. The advances in physi- 
 ology, pathology and the wonderful revelations of the mi- 
 croscope are of themselves fruitful themes for consideration. 
 But I am admonished to refrain from trespassing upon your 
 time or exhausting your patience by continuing the subject. 
 Let me say in conclusion, that judging from the past thus 
 imperfectly sketched, the future for the profession of medi- 
 
280 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 cine is full of promise. It is not, perhaps, too much to say 
 that we may hopefully look forward to the time when one 
 obstacle after another will be overcome, one new and useful 
 discovery after another be made, until no physical evil but 
 death will be beyond the reach of human skill. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen of the society, indebted to your 
 kindness for the position I occupy to-day, appearing before 
 you as one of the only two now living who aided in the 
 formation of this society, with the memories of half a 
 century thronging around me, worn and weary with the 
 journey of a long life now near its end, I heartily thank 
 you for this, the last earthly honor I shall probably ever 
 receive. I trust that our present session may be interesting 
 and profitable, and that during the coming years, and long 
 before another generation passes away, the Illinois State 
 Medical Society will have achieved a reputation and exerted 
 an influence in the profession worthy of the great state 
 whose name it bears. For yourselves, individually, let me 
 express the hope that each and all will prove loyal to the 
 profession, and by neither word nor act bring disgrace upon 
 it, but strive to elevate and make it what it is and ought to 
 be, the highest and noblest of human pursuits." 
 
 Only a small part of this eloquent address can be given, 
 but it is sufficient to show the vigorous and comprehensive 
 grasp of mind he possessed of the practical principles of 
 his profession. 
 
 Dr. Boal, now in the seventy-seventh year of his age, 
 enjoys robust health, has a large practice, and a competence 
 although not wealthy, respected and honored by his profes- 
 sional brethren in this and other states, "full of years and 
 honors," bidding fair to enjoy yet other years of usefulness 
 and the respect and esteem of people in all conditions of 
 life, for whose health he has practiced his profession to 
 promote for fifty years past — the oldest practicing physician 
 in the state. 
 
i/»7 & Arft^C^Ct^ 
 
HON. ALSON J. STREETER. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMIST, FINANCIER AND FARMER. 
 
 In attending public meetings in different parts of the 
 state, and county and state conventions in the last fifteen 
 years, we have had occasion to note the men who seemed 
 "to be the controlling power to whom their fellow workers 
 in the cause looked for direction, counsel and leadership. 
 Among these, the most prominent in labor and financial 
 reform for which he is the advocate, was always found the 
 subject of our present sketch. 
 
 Alson Jenness Streeter was born in Rensalear county, 
 New York, in January 1823, his father, Roswell Streeter, 
 in Windham county, Massachusetts, where the Streeter 
 family have lived for many generations. His mother, Eli- 
 nor Kynson Streeter, was a native of Rhode Island. There 
 were six sons and two daughters, Alson J. being the eldest. 
 His father moved to Alleghany county, New York, when he 
 was four years old, where h'e resided for eight years. This 
 was a rough, mountainous country, poor soil, where the 
 principal crop raised was potatoes on the hillsides, where 
 the little soil had to be preserved by walling it about with 
 stones, then planting the potatoes in the enclosure. This 
 was the only method of getting soil enough together to cover 
 up the seed potatoes. 
 
 The principal occupation of the citizens was making 
 shingles from pine blocks with froe and drawing knife, at 
 
282 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 which young Streeter became very expert, and as we shall 
 see, did him good service in after years. 
 
 There was a school house three or four miles distant, 
 and to this, when a school was kept, he attended one to 
 three months in the year. When he wa*s twelve years old 
 his father moved to Lee county, Illinois, settling twelve 
 miles east of Dixon. The family came to Peoria by water, 
 the first stages of the journey by raft down the Alleghany 
 river, into the Ohio to Cairo, young Streeter pulling an oar 
 aiding his father. From Pittsburg came round to Peoria 
 by steamer, and from there across the prairies in midwinter, 
 arriving at their destination early in 1834. The Indians 
 were still in the Rock River country, the government sur- 
 vey of the land not completed, and the few settlers then 
 there sought shelter in the scattering groves. The prairies 
 were like the wide sea, the groves like small islands in the 
 boundless expanse. The people believed the prairies would 
 never be settled. Very little money was then in circula- 
 tion, and furs and pelts were from necessity used as a 
 substitute. Alson, adjusting himself to the circumstances, 
 was soon the possessor of a few steel traps, a fish spear, a gun 
 and canoe, and became a youthful Nimrod and fisherman. 
 Helped his father in putting in the crops, " tending them," 
 then he pursued the chase after the animals for the skins 
 and furs, and sought the finny tribes beneath the waters of 
 the swift running Rock River. He brought down the wild 
 geese and ducks, and sand-hill cranes, and the bounding 
 deer were not safe when within the range of his rifle. In 
 the summer season he drove the oxen to the breaking plow, 
 as other future governors were then doing. His " noon- 
 ings," and when the oxen were resting, he read what few 
 books he could obtain. While yet in his minority he 
 
HON. ALSON J. STEEETEE. 283 
 
 attended three months for two winters at Inlet Grove, in a 
 rude log school house, such as described in other sketches. 
 He tried to excel in his scholarship and was fairly success- 
 ful. His father was poor, could neither read nor write. He 
 died in 1850. After Alson became of age he began to 
 " skirmish" for himself and thought over the question 
 what should be done, concluding from his readings that 
 every man was the architect of his own fortune, and he had 
 two willing hands to wield the tools, a good constitution 
 and energy to do, that have since moved things. 
 
 He felt the need of education, but he was poor, and 
 his language of the rough frontier vernacular. He heard 
 of Knox College, then just opened at Galesburg, and 
 was told there was a manual labor department, giving 
 young men the advantage of " working out " their educa- 
 tion. Believing in improving opportunities, and gathering 
 up his scanty wardrobe, he started across the wide unin- 
 habited prairies for his educational Mecca — -Galesburg, one 
 hundred miles distant. He reached there, possessing 
 thirteen dollars upon his arrival. He found the manual 
 labor part of the institution was not in " working order." 
 What was he to do? To buy his books would take near all 
 his money, then he would have nothing to pay board. But 
 he was fruitful in expedients. He boarded himself in a 
 garrett, studied hard, chopped wood Saturdays, and morn- 
 ings and evenings did odd jobs. When the summer vaca- 
 tion came, as he was an expert with a grain cradle and 
 scythe, he found steady employment until the fall term com- 
 menced. This was in the hard times of the '40's ; the 
 building material was hand-made, "scored and hewed" for 
 the frame work, sawed at the rude saw mills for the siding, 
 and the shingles split by the froe and shaved to proper 
 
284 FIFTY YEARS RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 thickness. Young Streeter's knowledge of making shingles 
 here came in place, and there was plenty of good shingle 
 timber within four or five miles. He bought trees in the 
 timber, cut them down, sawed them into blocks on Satur- 
 days, and hired them hauled to town. He then had work 
 for every spare hour. His shingles were in demand, he was 
 a "building contractor" as far as shipping shingles was 
 concerned. In this way he earned the means to attend 
 Knox College for about three years. 
 
 In January, 1849, he quit school, joined the great emi- 
 gration to California, buying one-third of an outfit drawn 
 by an ox team. The company started in March, arriving 
 in California the following September. On this long route 
 he turned Nimrod again, his early hunting experience gave 
 him position in supplying the commissary department of the 
 expedition. He remained in California until January, 
 1851, mining and trading, coming back to Galesburg via 
 Panama. 
 
 In 1853 he drove a herd of young cattle from Galesburg 
 to California for a market, and sold them as soon as he 
 arrived there, and returned by steamer in the winter of 
 1853. In 1854 he bought another drove, went through 
 and sold them, and returned in 1855, making a profitable 
 venture in both his California trips. 
 
 On his return he bought two hundred and forty acres of 
 land, where he has since lived, two miles northwest of New 
 Windsor, in Mercer county. This purchase at that time 
 "was surrounded by a wide range of grazing lands, and he 
 bought with a view of making a stock farm. He stocked 
 up the farm and has been raising stock ever since, adding to 
 his farm and grazing land until now he owns near 4,000 
 acres, and another farm in Missouri of 1,600 acres. The 
 
HON. ALSON J. STEEETEE. 285 
 
 farm is mostly grazing land and is stocked to its full 
 capacity. His herds are now almost as numerous as Abra- 
 ham's on the plains of Mamre, comprising seventy-five head 
 of full-blooded Short Horns and five hundred head of high 
 grade cattle, eighty horses, four hundred stock hogs, and 
 other live stock, managed by his son Frank, a young man 
 of wonderful executive ability, who now has sole charge and 
 gives direction to the farm and stock matters. He is con- 
 tinually preparing stock for market, and his sales off the 
 farm last year were over $25,000. A model farmer — a 
 successful stock grower indeed. 
 
 When attending school Mr. Streeter possessed a fertile 
 imagination, was a ready speaker in the college discussions, 
 but for many years afterwards, being so absorbed in trade 
 and the improvement of his farm, did not cultivate his talent 
 much. He was an extensive reader, well advised in regard 
 to the questions of the day, and commenced his public life 
 by serving several terms on the county board of supervisors. 
 
 Before the war he was a democrat, and during the war a 
 Avar democrat. He took an active part in the raising of 
 troops and was in demand to speak at war meetings. He 
 was an active "Home Guard," aiding by his voice and sub- 
 stance in forwarding men to the front, and he bent all his 
 energies to the work. The days were too short for him, 
 and he often worked half the night. Labor could with 
 difficulty be obtained, and the more necessary it was for 
 him to exert himself. The war passed, he had done his 
 duty in time and means, and his farm work engrossed his 
 attention. 
 
 In 1872 he was elected to the legislature. On taking 
 his seat he was placed on the committee on education and 
 agriculture, and took an active part in shaping the railroad 
 
286 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 legislation at that session, especially the law "to prevent 
 extortion and unjust discrimination." That legislature 
 also authorized the revision of our statutes. 
 
 About this time the " Granger Movement " was sweep- 
 ing over the land, and he joined it. He has been a granger 
 in principle since childhood. 
 
 In 1873-74 he severed all his old party affilliations, 
 thinking the best interest of the country, and especially of 
 the industrial classes, was in organizing a new political 
 party — a party of positive convictions on the labor ques- 
 tion, and a protection against the aggressions of organized 
 capital. He has always been with the minority party, and 
 remained there when the inducement to come over was 
 -held out by the majority. Perhaps he may always be in 
 the minority, but be that as it may, an active and vigilant 
 minority is one of the best safe-guai'ds the people can have. 
 The grange movement prepared the way for the National 
 party, since called the Greenback party. Mr. Streeter was 
 earnestly engaged in the formative period of that move- 
 ment, attended the National Convention at Indianapolis, 
 in 1876, that nominated Peter Cooper, and since then has 
 attended the conventions of that party, both state and 
 national. In 1878 he wajs the greenback candidate for 
 congress in the tenth congressional district; Hon. D. P. 
 Phelps, of "Warren county, was the democratic caiididate, 
 and Hon. B. F. Marsh, of Hancock, the republican candi- 
 date. The only ijpn issue in the district was the financial 
 Issiw He prepared for the canvass, threw Ihe glove, 
 punched his gauntlet at both his competitors, but neither 
 would join issue, both claiming to be genuine greenbackars, 
 even better than Streeter was, thus " out Heroding Herod 
 himself," claiming to discount him in presenting his own 
 
HON. ALSON J. STEEETEE. 287 
 
 principles. This gave the anomaly of three candidates in 
 the same district all professing to be greenbackers. Mr. 
 Streeter received 3,600 votes and the others near 7,000 
 each, Marsh receiving a small plurality. Mr. Streeter's 
 able canvass gave him prominence, and in 1880 he was pre- 
 sented at the Greenback State Convention as the candidate 
 for governor, and spent four months in canvassing the 
 state, speaking once, sometimes twice every day. He 
 received 28,808 votes, 3,000 more than was given to Gen. 
 Weaver for president the same year on the same ticket, the 
 largest vote ever polled by that organization in the state. 
 
 Since 1880 he has spent considerable time in addressing 
 public meetings, mostly in Illinois and Iowa, on the subject 
 of finance and transportation. He has given his services 
 freely, never asking pay, but in some cases his expenses 
 have been paid when he was not a candidate himself, and 
 has been liberal in his means in aid of advancing and pro- 
 moting the principles of the National party. Ever since 
 1874 he has been actife in the political field, both state and 
 national, and when not in active campaign work has written 
 many articles for the* press in advocacy of his principles, 
 and if life and health continues, hfe work in this direction, 
 is not done. 
 
 By birth, education and prinfcipias his sympathies are 
 all with the- masses — the laboring men, and although a 
 majority of the people have nfft yet appreciated his efforts, 
 still he will work on, even if not rewarded by success. 
 
 fr. Streeter puts the matter rather te*feely and to the 
 in itom-e of his public addresses, to which we have 
 listened and given a synoj^is to the press : " If I had 
 taken the other side, and in time of the war, instead of put- 
 ting money into lands on which to raise cattle and grain, 
 
288 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 meat and bread, for the army, I had put my money into 
 bonds and started a national bank, and thereby drawn 
 double interest on my money invested, and then obtained 
 one or two railroad charters and then fooled the people 
 along the line into the belief that I was their friend, desir- 
 ing to build a railroad for their special benefit, and by 
 this deception persuaded them into the belief that it was 
 for the advancement of their interests and not mine, that 
 they give the right of way, and take stock enough to 
 build half or two-thirds of the whole road, and when 
 they had done it, cheat them out of the whole, take 
 the road to myself and then claim the right to fix the 
 rates for transportation at what the traffic would bear, 
 I say if I had taken this course there is no telling 
 what I now would be rated at financially, possibly a 
 millionaire. In 1878, when contraction of the currency had 
 forced prices down to the ragged edge of despair, when farm- 
 ers were making nothing because corn was selling at twenty 
 and twenty-five cents per bushel, and hogs at two or two 
 and a quarter cents per pound, when the land was filled 
 with tramps, and labor was a drug in the market, when 
 able bodied men were a nuisance that some said should be 
 abated by bullets, I then saw in the railroad commissioners' 
 reports that the railroads of Illinois were then making 
 more money than they ever did when times were good. 
 We were making nothing, the railroads were setting the 
 lawful rates at defiance everywhere and making all the 
 money. 
 
 I made complaint to the commission, made specific 
 charges, others joined with me, charging that the C, B. & 
 Q,., on which we resided, and over which we shipped our 
 stock and produce, were overcharging us on everything. This 
 correspondence ran on for six months ; the commission found 
 the charges true, but finally refused to prosecute, and the 
 robbery went on. Since then I have made my complaints 
 from time to time for overcharge, but in no case did the 
 commissioners enter proceedings according to law." 
 
HON. ALSON J. STREETEE 289 
 
 Several of these complaints were made in the past year, 
 and the correspondence with the Railroad Commission is 
 found in the Western Rural. Mr. Streeter continues :. "If 
 any one thinks I am unfriendly to railroads they are mis- 
 taken. I have helped, by influence and with my means, to 
 build the roads, and would do it again ; and should any 
 means be adopted that would in the least cripple their effi- 
 ciency I would be the first to. propose relief." 
 
 There is nothing brilliant in Mr. Streeter's style of ora- 
 tory. He uses common language to give force to his argu- 
 ments, and the audience always understand that he is in 
 earnest and means just what he says. This forcefulness is 
 the key to the fact that when he is a candidate himself he 
 always polls more votes than any other name on the ticket. 
 In energy there is always the pressure of a steam engine to 
 do just what he undertakes, and it has been the ruling 
 principle of his life. When a boy, as a trapper, hunter or 
 fisherman, he did with his might what he could to develop 
 the business and turn the proceeds into the family excheq- 
 uer. As an ox-driver, turning over the tough sod of the 
 Illinois prairies, he was content to stand in his lot. When 
 the few months' attendance at school was doled .out to him 
 in the Inlet log school house, "he improved each shining 
 hour." Then when attaining his majority, the age of free- 
 dom from parental control, higher aspirations seized him, 
 he took his way across the boundless prairie to seek the 
 classic shades of Knox college, arriving there only to find 
 that he could not exercise his brawn and strength to pay 
 his way. He bravely entered, "took his chances" on 
 getting employment to earn money to pay the rent of his 
 garret and for his scant store of provisions, and when vaca- 
 tion came, boldly going ^o the harvest fields to swing the 
 19 
 
290 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 cradle and scythe to earn, at good wages, a store of wealth 
 to pay expenses through the next term ; then the discov- 
 ery that an old art, a skill learned when he was a mere 
 child — a handicraft as a shingle-maker — would earn him 
 ample means to pay his way through college, shows the 
 indomitable perseverance that has since characterized him 
 as a man. His California ventures were all attended with 
 a measure of success and the proceeds carefully saved 
 and when sufficient accumulations were earned carefully 
 and with great prudence invested in lands and as suc- 
 cess has attended him since from year to year, the same 
 judgment and prudence has guided him. The balance 
 sheet has been kept in his favor both financially and mor- 
 ally, he standing among the elders in the church, aiding all 
 the moral reforms of the age, and a member of several be- 
 nevolent organizations, having in one attained the degree of 
 Royal Arch Mason. In his three long tedious and perilous 
 trips to California are woven many incidents and reminis- 
 cences, of dangers encountered, escapes from Indians, pri- 
 vations, hardships, and his return by the Panama or 
 isthmus route, full of perils to health and life, all would fill 
 a volume that would read like romance, yet true in every 
 particular. 
 
 We present him as the representative, recognized as such 
 by the organization, of the National Greenback party of the 
 state, and also as one of the leading farmers and stock- 
 growers, whose accumulations have been so wisely invested 
 in land, giving him one of the finest and most improved 
 domains in the state. 
 

 \J^z^I>)nn^iJ-t 
 
 :,7fe 
 
EDWARD A. GILLER. 
 
 MASTER OF ILLINOIS STATE GRANGE. 
 
 Near fifteen years ago a movement, sustained by many 
 prominent and influential farmers of this state, was organ- 
 ized for social, educational and business purposes. Like a 
 great many other movements that grew into national im- 
 portance the Grange organization was at first only local in 
 its benefits pecuniarily, socially, and in a business point of 
 view, but soon the advantages of united action were recog- 
 nized and made so evident that larger and greater efforts 
 were made to make the organization since known as the 
 "Patrons of Husbandry," the combined membership under 
 one head called " The Grange," and a single member called 
 a " Granger " and collectively called " Grangers." 
 
 It was thought on its first inception that it was the 
 popular movement of the day, and meant in the near future 
 the political ascendency of those who could commend them- 
 selves to the masses by their activity for the " good of the 
 Order," and thousands came into the movement, hoping that 
 this flood-tide of popular favor would carry them forward 
 to preferment, place, power, positions of trust, political pat- 
 ronage- and " spoils and plunder." A few did get official 
 positions, and it was found that they were no better than 
 the professed party-spoils men. This result did not give 
 assurance that the farmers' movement could be used as a 
 political factor, and soon the office-hunting hangers-on were 
 
292 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 not found in tfieir accustomed places, and " the places that 
 knew them knew them no more forever." 
 
 In the course of three or four years the Grange move- 
 ment was happily rid of this brawling class of office-hunt- 
 ing political dead-beats, and men of stability and character 
 came to the front in their organization. Among that num- 
 ber is the subject of our sketch, Edward A. Giller, master 
 of the Illinois State Grange of the "Patrons. of Hus-* 
 bandry," who was born at Manchester, England, September 
 11th, 1821, who came to Illinois in his twenty-first year, 
 having served an apprenticeship to the carriage-painting, 
 business in his father's manufactory, besides being a very 
 good worker in wood at the same business. His educa- 
 tional opportunities were limited to reading, writing and 
 a slight acquaintance with mathematics. 
 
 After arriving in New York he came to Pittsburg and 
 visited some cousins there, then took passage on a steamer 
 for St. Louis, and from there found his way to Greene 
 county, this state, hired out to a farmer at five dollars per 
 month, and to " do his own washing and mending." He says 
 he did not get rich at this, but saved money enough so that 
 in the spring of 1844 he went to the Galena lead mines. 
 Again "he did not strike it rich," and in the following fall 
 went to New Orleans, was unsuccessful in finding employ- 
 ment, and came back to Natchez and spent the winter, took 
 a job of cutting cord wood at seventy-five cents per cord, 
 and had just five dollars — a family souvenir — in his pocket 
 when he struck the job, and saved enough to not be under 
 the necessity of spending his pocket piece, and in the spring 
 of 1845 came back to Whitehall. Here he resumed the 
 business he had learned when a boy ; painted signs and 
 any other work of that kind that came to his hand, 
 
EDWARD A. GILLER. 293 
 
 worked at wagon and carriage making, was in fact a "gen- 
 eral utility man," until the Mexican war broke out in May, 
 1846. By this time he had become thoroughly " Yankee- 
 ized;" the sound of "Yankee Doodle" fired his patriotic 
 blood and he volunteered for the war, as he expresses it, 
 "thinking that I was just the right kind of material to be 
 shot at." 
 
 He enlisted in the First Regiment Illinois Foot Vol- 
 unteers, commanded by the gallant John J. Hardin, and 
 mustered into service at Alton, June 23d of that year. He 
 was elected sergeant-major of the regiment, and gave to 
 the duties of that position the attention and industry 
 necessary to a faithful performance of its duties. In this 
 regiment we remember also the names of Wm. A. Richard- 
 son, afterwards United States senator ; T. Lyle Dickey, Col. 
 Fourth Regiment Cavalry, in 1861 ; W. H. L. Wallace, 
 who fell gallantly fighting at Pittsburg Landing in the late 
 war, and Benj. M. Prentiss, also holding important com- 
 mand in the rebellion. He participated in the hardships of 
 the voyage down the Mississippi by steamboat to New Or- 
 leans, and from there across the gulf to Camp Erwin, near 
 Victoria, Texas. From thence the regiment marched across 
 the country to San Antonio, under the rays of a tropical 
 sun, and joined Gen. Wool's army of the center. Septem- 
 ber 26th they left that city, marching steadily forward, 
 reaching Santa Rosa on the 24th of October, with no 
 opposition. Thence the regiment marched to Monclova, 
 and from there to Parras, Mexico. After remaining at 
 this place twelve days, General Wool started to intercept 
 Santa Anna, to divert or prevent his attack on Monterey, 
 and on the 21st of December occupied Agua Nueva, thus 
 completing a six weeks' march of one thousand miles. 
 
294 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 They rested here till in January, 1847, when Gen. Taylor 
 formed a junction with Gen. Wool. The united forces of 
 Taylor and Wool marched in search of the Mexicans, and 
 the usual maneuvering of both armies, either to bring on 
 or prevent a battle, was performed until the 22d day of 
 February, when the battle of Buena Vista was commenced 
 by the Mexicans with a force of 20,000 men, the American 
 force being about 7,000. The battle was ended on the 23d 
 in a complete but dearly won victory for the Americans, 
 Hardin's and Bissell's regiments covering themselves with 
 glory. Mr. Giller was engaged in this battle, his duties 
 calling him to the side of Col. Hardin, " that warm-hearted, 
 generous, impulsive man, — nature's nobleman, and the 
 bravest of the brave." In describing the incidents in the 
 battle, as it progressed, Major Giller says : 
 
 " Well do I remember his last words to me, — they are 
 engraved indelibly on the tablets of my memory. It was 
 just after the left battalion of our regiment had charged 
 and routed a body of Mexicans who had opened fire upon us 
 as we were moving by the flank to assist the Second Illi- 
 nois, who were so sorely beset after the Indiana regiment 
 fell back. He called me to his side just as we were 
 starting from the hill we had been guarding, which was 
 really the key to the position. At the foot of this hill was 
 Washington's battery. He said to me: 'Major, you just 
 keep right by me, so that if I have any orders to transmit 
 you can attend to it." We had scattered the Mexicans by 
 a bayonet charge, and down the hill they went pell-mell 
 with our boys after them, and the first thing we knew our 
 boys were badly scattered, and each man or squad of men 
 had more or less Mexican prisoners. Col. Hardin took in 
 the situation at a glance. I had remained at his side. He 
 said to me, ' Major, go and order Capt. Zabriskie to gather 
 the troops together and report here immediately; then 
 detail a guard of two men and take these prisoners to 
 
EDWARD A. GILLEE. 295 
 
 camp.' These were the last words I heard the brave man 
 utter. I obeyed the order at once, detailed Corporals 
 Flynn and Fisher, and after breaking the stocks of the guns 
 of the prisoners, I formed them in line,, placing Fisher 
 near the head, Flynn near the center, I bringing up the 
 rear, and we marched them to camp. That order from the 
 colonel saved my life. But for this order I would have 
 been with him in that disastrous charge, which proved so 
 fatal and took from us Hardin, Clay, McKee, Fletcher, and 
 hosts of other gallant men and brave soldiers. The Mexi- 
 can prisoners we had in charge were a cowardly set. When 
 delivering up their arms they would fall down on their 
 knees and beg for their lives, — they evidently thought we 
 were going to kill them* (perhaps they thought of the 
 Alamo and Goliad). My fellow-soldier, Corporal Flynn, 
 was the father of the gallant Col. Flynn, now one of Scott 
 county's most honored sons." 
 
 Like most old soldiers Major Giller is fond of fighting 
 his battles o'er again. He tells of a circumstance that 
 came near terminating his life and usefulness the day before 
 the battle : 
 
 " I had been unwell some time before, and Huey, our 
 hospital steward, gave me by mistake two grains of mor- 
 phine, instead of a half grain, as directed by Surgeon Pey- 
 ton. But the mistake was discovered in time to take a 
 neutralizing medicine; this saved me from 'taking the 
 sleep that knows no waking ' — the only bad result being 
 that I was very sore and tender about my waist, so than on 
 the days of the battle I could not wear my sword, but car- 
 ried a rifle and discharged my duty as a soldier, though 
 sore from the effects of the opiate." 
 
 With the exception of sending out an occasional 
 foraging party his regiment performed no further service 
 during the war. They remained at Buena Vista till the 
 latter part of May, when they marched for Camargo and 
 mustered out at that place June 17, 1847. 
 
296 
 
 He returned to Whitehall " safe and sound," he was 
 popular, a Mexican war hero, had won the title of " Major," 
 which sticks to him to this day. He was installed soon 
 after his return as assistant postmaster at Whitehall, the 
 postmaster, Judge Worcester, having been elected to the 
 Constitutional Convention of 1847. When the judge 
 returned Major Giller went to work at his trade, received 
 three hundred dollars per year and his board, he was pru- 
 dent and economical, and saved from this two hundred and 
 seventy-six dollars. This was a credit mark from which to 
 start on life's journey, and March 1, 1848, was married to 
 Miss Ladd, a daughter of Timothy Ladd, who was born on 
 the farm now owned by Major Giller, March 3, 1830. 
 
 He bought one hundred and twenty acres of land, went 
 in debt one thousand dollars, improved his farm by day 
 and worked in the shop till late every night and on rainy 
 days. His wife was a farmer's daughter, and in the Major's 
 concise way of putting things, " both worked like heroes — 
 result, got out of debt, kept buying more land," until now 
 his home, the original one hundred and twenty acres, has 
 enlarged, swelled out by " accretions " honestly bought and 
 paid for, to five hundred acres in a high state of cultivation, 
 tile drained throughout, and worth one hundred dollars per 
 acre, is stocked with finest improved breeds of horses, mules, 
 cattle, sheep, and swine. In addition to it owns another 
 large farm of near five hundred acres, two aud one-half 
 miles from Roodhouse and three miles from Whitehall 
 and occupied by one of his sons, and equally well improved 
 by tiling, well stocked and worth one hundred dollars per 
 acre. His and Mrs. Giller's married life has been blessed, 
 by " increasing and multiplying" in accordance with Divine 
 injunction, with eleven children. Three died young, and 
 
EDWARD A. GILLEE. 297 
 
 the oldest son, Marcus Robert, died three years ago aged 
 thirty years, has seven still living, four boys and three girls. 
 Oldest daughter married, resides in Morris county, Kansas, 
 with her husband, have twelve hundred and eighty acres of 
 land, making stock growing their business. They have 
 two children. Major Giller's oldest son, George Alfred, 
 resides near Kirksville, Missouri, owns five hundred and 
 sixty acres, and rents three hundred acres more ; engaged 
 in the stock and dairy business. This son has three children. 
 Next son, Charles H. resides on the Roodhouse farm 
 mentioned, and has one child. The next son, William M., 
 is " climbing the hill of science," attending school at Ann 
 Arbor, Michigan, and bids fair to turn his various attain- 
 ments to good account. One son, Edward A., aged ten, " a 
 chip of the old block," and two daughters, aged fourteen 
 and eighteen are at home, all bright, healthy children. None 
 of the masculine- portion of this healthy and muscular fam- 
 ily use any beverage that will intoxicate, or tobacco in any 
 form, thus assisting to bring the beer and tobacco trade to 
 an end. None of the members of this model family are 
 connected by membership with a church organization, yet 
 they are strictly moral, profanity being strictly inhibited 
 from early youth. In communicating with Major Giller 
 he informs the author that : 
 
 " When the farmer's movement was first inaugurated I 
 took an active part in it, but as you are aware, it went by 
 the board, too many men had axes to grind — political and 
 personal. With others I then went to work and organized 
 a grange, and have never regretted it. I was elected the 
 first master of "Social Grange No. 1,308," have served on 
 the most important committees of the state grange for a 
 number of years, and in January, 1882, was elected Master 
 of the State Grange of Illinois. 
 
298 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 " I was opposed to keeping such men as you, editors, 
 authors, ministers, school teachers, and representative men 
 from other industrial pursuits out of our organization ; but 
 the line had to be drawn somewhere. If we were going to 
 get our farmers and their wives to come into the grange and 
 ' tell what they knew about farming/ they would not do 
 it if persons so much better qualified with the gift of 
 speech than themselves were present, and the result proves 
 that the founders of our order ' builded better than they 
 knew.' The subject is a theme that opens up such a wide 
 field for thought and discussion it would take a chapter to 
 give it." 
 
 Major Giller has enjoyed the confidence of his fellow- 
 citizens in an eminent degree. Has been treasurer of his 
 township lor over thirty years, has made life a grand suc- 
 cess, and ascribes the greater credit of it to his excellent 
 wife, whose benevolent countenance sheds the beams of its 
 benignant rays over the home in resplendent love and care 
 for all present. His farming operations have been con- 
 ducted systematically, the best implements, the best system 
 of drainage and tiling, the best improved stock and the best 
 grains. He says in describing his success in raising corn, 
 " I have not failed in raising a crop of corn in thirty-three 
 years. I have land that has cleared me one hundred dol- 
 lars per acre above all expenses in three years. No guess 
 work about it; mark you, I speak from the book." A 
 granger, truly " in whom there is no guile," a representa- 
 tive man of his class in this state. It is not wonderful 
 that the grangers are showing an increased membership, 
 having added six hundred during the last year. 
 
 We make short extracts from his annual address deliv- 
 ered at the meeting of the State Grange at Decatur, in Jan- 
 uary : 
 
EDWARD A. GILLER. 29& 
 
 '' During the past year I have visited different portions 
 of the state and in every instance have received a most 
 cordial welcome. From careful observation I am led to the 
 conclusion that the organization in this state is on a much 
 firmer foundation than ever before, and the work it is ac- 
 complishing is of such a character that it is making an im- 
 pression for good in every neighborhood where there is a 
 prosperous grange. The novelty of the grange movement 
 has passed away. Those who become members now do so 
 from principle, and become earnest workers in the cause. 
 They are composed of earnest men and women who are de- 
 sirous of educating themselves and elevating their calling, 
 so that those now entering upon the stage of action will not 
 be ashamed to own that they are the sons and daughters of 
 American farmers. 
 
 " The great question of transportation is one that ought 
 to call forth our most earnest thought. Rivers, canals and 
 railroads are to the nation what the arteries are to the 
 human body — the channels through which the life-blood 
 courses — and we ought to do everything in our power to pro- 
 tect them. We have been unjustly charged with being 
 enemies to railroads, when in truth we are their greatest 
 friends. Time will show that the legislation brought about 
 by our efforts will prove to them a blessing in disguise. 
 The American people will tolerate no masters. They, and 
 they alone must be the sovereigns, and the question had to 
 be solved as to whether the creator or the creature 
 should be supreme. If the decision of the courts are only 
 followed by wise legislation all will be well. It was well for 
 these huge corporations that it was so settled. We are desir- 
 ous that capital shall have its fair share of the profits, but 
 there we stop. The grange is not opposed to railroads, 
 but is opposed to all extortions and monopolies. On this 
 question you are expected to speak in no uncertain tones. 
 The best thought of the members should be given to this 
 as well as all other important matters. 
 
 " Progression is the order of the day. After the farm- 
 ers' boy or girl leaves school they need some place of meet- 
 
300 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 ing where they cau use the lessons they have learned, and 
 what place more appropriate than the Grange. Here they 
 can train themselves to preside over any deliberative body, 
 and educate themselves to vote intelligently on the different 
 questions that arise; and here, too, the sisters get that train- 
 ing which enables them to teach the rising generation cor- 
 rectly. Every farmer's wife and daughter in the land,, if 
 alive to their best interests, ought, if possible, to be a live, 
 active member of the Grange. No other organization treats 
 her so fairly and justly, and in it she is a tower of strength, 
 if for educational purposes only. No neighborhood that 
 wishes to keep Up with the times can afford to be without 
 an active Grange organization." 
 
 Major Giller is a poet. His effusions are clear cut, as 
 natural and original as the products springing from the soil 
 of his fertile farms. They grace the periodicals of the day 
 that are fortunate enough to secure him as a contributor, 
 and are always sought for as desirable contributions to 
 the literature of the day. We give two verses that close 
 ■very appropriately his annual address : 
 
 " Step to the front, then, ye men who have nerve, 
 Step to the front, then, ye women so true; 
 For brave men and women there always is work, 
 If we only are willing our duty to do. 
 
 "The giants of old were as naught when compared 
 AVith the foes who at present the toilers must fight: 
 Then 'up guards and at them,' ere yet 'tis too late, 
 In the van let the Patrons strive for the right;" 
 
 At the last state fair at Peoria, through Major Giller's 
 industrious efforts, a large tent pavilion was erected at a 
 central and convenient locality on the fair, grounds, as the 
 headquarters of the organization, and there the author had 
 the pleasure of meeting representative members of the 
 Order from all parts of the state. It is to be hoped that 
 
EDWARD A. GILDER. 301 
 
 this feature will be continued at the fairs hereafter. Let 
 the pavilion be spread larger and broader. The needs of 
 the organization will justify it, and the " good of the 
 order" throughout the state demand it. 
 
 The following list of prominent farmers throughout the 
 state compose the Deputy Masters of the State Grange of 
 Illinois, appointed by Hon. Edward A. Giller, Master: 
 
 Henry Burner, Robinson, Crawford Co. ; W. C. Trott, 
 Bloomington, McLean Co.;. T. J. Baldwin, Whitehall, 
 Greene Co. ; James Knight, Harrisburg, Saline Co. ; Sam- 
 uel Gordon, Duhlap, Peoria Co. ; H. G. W. Whittenberg, 
 Richview, Washington Co. ; A. J. Sweezy, Rockford, 
 Winnebago Co.; E. G. Patterson, Mattoon, Coles Co.; 
 L. J. Nifong, Girard, Macoupin Co.; Geo. W.English, 
 New Salem, Pike Co. ; A. T. Strange, Walshville, Mont- 
 gomery Co. ;' George Ball, Girard, Macoupin Co. ; G. M. 
 Curtiss, Nora, Jo Daviess Co.; Horace Wells, "Virden, 
 Macoupin Co.; Wm. H. H. Holdridge, Tonica, LaSalle 
 Co. ; J. E. Bradley, Hammond, Moultrie Co. ; Oliver 
 Wilson, Magnolia, Putnam Co.; Silas Andrus, Mount 
 Carmel, Wabash Co. ; M. M. Stookey, Birkner, St. Clair 
 Co.; Thomas Buckle, Villa Ridge, • Pulaski Co.; S. J. 
 Davis, DuQuoin, Perry Co. ; Thos. Hawes, Downs, McLean 
 Co. ; C. H. Frost, Gaff, Douglas Co. ; H. Vanderhoff, New- 
 ton, Jasper Co. ; James McGrew, Xenia, Wayne Co. 
 
CORNWALL KIRKPATEICK. 
 
 AETIST, MODELER AND MANUFACTURER. 
 
 " As clay in the hands of the potter," is impressed on 
 our minds when called to contemplate the skill required, 
 the scientific knowledge to properly blend the material, the 
 component parts in the formation of the many articles, use- 
 ful and ornamental, that are fashioned into shape and 
 comeliness by the ingenuity of those skilled in the potter's 
 art. It requires a genius for conception rarely concentrated 
 in one mind, a fertility of imagination to create and direct all 
 the fantastic shapes required in modeling the porcelain and 
 stoneware clays of Illinois. But this combination of skill 
 in this — one of the great industries of the country — is 
 found fully developed in one of the leading manufacturers 
 of this state — a man whom from his enterprise and public 
 spirit is a public benefactor, not only of his own part of the 
 state, but of the whole country. 
 
 Cornwall Kirkpatrick was born at Frederickton, Knox 
 county, Ohio, December 23rd, 1814, his parents soon after 
 removing to Urbana in that state. He had few educational 
 advantages, leaving home and school at twelve years of age 
 to learn the business that he has through much labor and 
 constant application finally made such a great success. 
 
 He was married January 1, 1839, to the eldest daughter 
 of Capt. Alexander Vance, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and soon 
 
CORNWALL KIEKPATEICK. 303 
 
 after built a pottery at Covington, Ky., and remained there 
 until 1848, when he sold out. While at Covington he 
 served two terms in the city council. He then moved to 
 Point Pleasant, Ohio, bought a large pottery, and as a resi- 
 dence bought the historical house of that place, in which 
 Gen. Grant was born. His establishment was burned by 
 an incendiary fire November 30, 1851, and he immediately 
 set about rebuilding, and by the first of February following 
 commenced business in his new place, which he had built 
 most substantially of stone, immediately on the banks of the 
 Ohio river. 
 
 In the fall of 1853 he sold out and removed to Cincin- 
 nati, engaged in manufacturing ware in the Fulton pottery 
 for the following four years, and served two terms in the 
 city council from the Seventeenth ward. He sold out at 
 Cincinnati in December, 1857, and removed to Mound City, 
 Illinois, and built and operated the Mound City Pottery, 
 managed by a manufacturing company that, through finan- 
 cial mismanagement of parties who handled the funds, 
 proved an unfortunate venture. 
 
 On the first of November, 1859, in company with his 
 brother Wallace Kirkpatrick, he removed to Anna, Union 
 county, and built pottery works, and has since been making 
 grand success in manufacturing stoneware in all its depart- 
 ments. 
 
 In selecting Anna as the point for their future extensive 
 operations, the inducements were the faith they had in the 
 reports of the state geologist and their own practical experi- 
 ence, that they could be fortunate enough to discover the 
 range of the choice porcelain, potter's and fire clays 
 believed to exist in unlimited quantities in portions of 
 Union county. While they were investigating, testing and 
 
304 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 making their experiments during the first year's operations 
 at Anna, they brought their clay from Grand Chain, on the 
 Ohio river, to Cairo by boat, then re-loading it on the cars 
 of the Illinois Central, brought it to Anna. This was ex- 
 pensive, and quickened their investigations, and in the 
 second year of their operations they discovered the exten- 
 sive beds of porcelain and fire clays about four miles from 
 Anna, and since the St. Louis and Cairo Narrow Guage R. 
 E,. has been completed, Kaolin Station is located near their 
 clay banks. On making this advantageous discovery they 
 secured, by purchase or lease, the entire control of this 
 valuable product, and besides what they use in their own 
 manufactory they ship large quantities to Cincinnati for the 
 manufacture of the white granite and C. C. wares, and to 
 the iron and steel works of Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, 
 and to the copper works at Detroit, for fire clays, and to 
 other places for paper making, for paints, and for improving 
 the quality and the weights of candies and confectionaries. 
 
 These clay banks range from twenty-five to seventy feet 
 in thickness, and are found at different places within a radi- 
 us of two miles,, the .finer qualities lying north and the 
 coarser qualities south, taking the depot at Kaolin as the 
 center ; one of the principal pits being within a few hundred 
 feet of the depot. It can thus be seen at a glance the in- 
 numerable uses that these fine clays are adapted to. They 
 enter into the composition of our iron and steel, they com- 
 pose part of the amalgam in the composition when smelt- 
 ing copper, add material, weight and quality to our confec- 
 tionary, and enter into the ingredients from which our paper 
 is made. A great deal of our finest crockery (fine plates, 
 cups and saucers, Chinaized, but a long way. from China), 
 is manufactured from this product. The transmutations we 
 
COBNWALL KIEKPATEICK. 305 
 
 read of in the " Arabian Nights " are as nothing compared 
 to the varied transformation of this wonderful clay. Messrs. 
 Kirkpatrick are transforming it into gold, silver, bank notes 
 and greenbacks in their business transactions every day by 
 the same honest methods that farmers turn their labor into 
 money, or as any other of the professions, occupations and 
 industries honestly pursued will produce wealth — by hard 
 work and close attention to business. 
 
 It is like visiting an art studio to go through their ex- 
 tensive works, both of the brothers being finished artists in 
 the accomplishment of modeling the Kaolin product into 
 all kinds of beautiful and fantastic shapes. Seemingly a 
 great many of their products are the result of a free fancy, 
 take form and shape for their own amusement when first 
 conceived, but result very advantageously in discovering 
 new forms of beauty — or may be, grotesqueness. . It was 
 in Mr. Kirkpatrick' s fertile fancy that the celebrated Rail- 
 road and River Guide originated, in the form of a stone pig 
 bottle, with the map of the Illinois Central Railroad en- 
 graved on one side. It was only a momentary inspiration 
 of his, and the clay took the ' form and shape of a pig. 
 Then the railroad map was obtained, and the design was so 
 unique, so apropos, that thousands of them were manufac- 
 tured and sent all over the country, east, west, north and 
 south. 
 
 . No man in Union county is more liberal and public 
 spirited than Mr. Kirkpatrick. He gives time and atten- 
 tion to public interests. Soon after making Anna his home 
 he was called into the city council, and afterwards three 
 times in succession elected mayor. In 1873 he was ap- 
 pointed by Gov. Beveridge one of the trustees of the 
 Southern Illinois Insane Asylum, located at Anna, and at 
 20 
 
306 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 the organization of the board was elected secretary, and he 
 still holds the position. In him the institution has found 
 one of its most faithful guardians. The benevolent orders 
 make him the almoner of their bounties. He is treasurer 
 and conductor of the Odd Fellows' lodge, and secretary of 
 the Encampment of Masonic lodges. 
 
 Since the organization of the Southern Illinois Fair As- 
 sociation at Anna he has had the leading direction of its 
 affairs in the arrangement of the grounds, and his rare 
 judgment and taste will at no distant day make the fair 
 grounds the most attractive park in the county. The artifi- 
 cial lake is a very fine conception, and useful as well as 
 ornamental, as it has furnished the citizens with clear, pure 
 ice in great abundance for summer use. 
 
 Mr. Kirkpatrick frequently represents Anna Lodge No, 
 520, Masons, and Egyptian chapter No. 45, R. A. Masons, 
 in the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter at Springfield and 
 Chicago, and for the last fifteen years has been on the com- 
 mittee of chartered lodges in the Grand Lodge of Masons. 
 
 In educational matters he has always been among the 
 foremost, and in no enterprise that will advance the inter- 
 ests of the people is he backward. He is now in his sixty- 
 ninth year, but his business vigor is not abated. His regu- 
 larity in life, his equanimity of temperament, his abstemi- 
 ous and plain habits of living, using the good things of life 
 to add bodily vigor, but abstaining from everything that 
 would abuse or injure the natural powers he is endowed 
 with, will no doubt bring him to the enjoyment of many 
 more years of life. 
 
HON. LORENZO D. WHITING. 
 
 SENIOR SENATOR, ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. 
 
 If long service in public life be taken by a legislator as 
 an approval of the representative's acts while serving his 
 constituents, then the subject of our sketch stands forth as 
 the most thoroughly endorsed amongst our many able 
 statesmen and lawmakers. 
 
 Lorenzo Dow Whiting was born at Arcadia, Wayne 
 county, New York, November 19, 1819, son of Samuel and 
 Zilpha Whiting, his mother being a lineal descendent of 
 Cotton Mather. His grand-father, Samuel Whiting, was a 
 soldier in the revolution. 
 
 When a boy, Lorenzo enjoyed the benefits of the schools 
 as they were conducted at that time, and when sufficiently 
 advanced in the rudimentary departments he was sent to 
 Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, where so many of our great 
 men and noble women have received their education. He 
 came to Bureau county, 111., in 1849, and has since resided 
 on a farm near Tiskilwa, and engaged in teaching at that 
 place for several terms. He had taught several terms of 
 school and been elected justice of the peace and superin- 
 tendent of public instruction before coming to Illinois, and 
 was, for five terms in succession, elected supervisor of the 
 township, and took an active and leading part in the drain- 
 age of the Winnebago Swamps, a work so largely done 
 by Bureau county. 
 
308 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 In 1868 he was elected to the legislature, taking his 
 seat in the house January, 1869. He served his constitu- 
 ency so well that when the members of the constitutional 
 convention were elected in 1869, and met in 1870, he was 
 one of the returned members, and so satisfactorily did his 
 services prove that he was elected to the state senate 
 at the election of November, 1870, and at the expiration of 
 each succeeding term since he has been re-elected in dis- 
 tricts that have been three times changed, thus numbering 
 in all five elections to the state Senate. 
 
 Mr. Whiting is gifted with that virtue in well doing, 
 patience and endurance (we will not say long suffering), 
 which always, when backed by perseverance, as Lincoln 
 says, " pegging away," is always crowned with success in 
 the end. In the last political campaign of Owen Lovejoy 
 he edited the Bureau County Republican, and is a prolific 
 writer on all subjects that tend to promote the advance of 
 the country to greatness, wealth and power. What he does 
 is done with a will and with the determination to suc- 
 ceed. He is almost the pioneer in the movement to build 
 the Hennepin canal, and has probably, with perhaps one or 
 two exceptions, attended more meetings and written more- 
 articles in the papers, made more speeches, written more 
 memorials and reports, than any other man in the state tc- 
 promote this enterprise. The same care and time has been 
 given to the improvements of the Illinois river. Coming 
 to his legislative action and his acts in the convention, 
 we find that he was the first to assert the doctrine — in 
 the constitutional convention — that the state should control 
 the railroads, and supported it in a speech (see page 147 r 
 1st volume debates). Practically he is an anti-monopo- 
 list, and at the time of the great Granger agitation, from 
 
HON. LORENZO D. WHITING. 309 
 
 1872 to 1875, attended many of the meetings, but was not 
 in favor of organizing a separate party, so did not lose his 
 identity with the republican-party. He was active in pass- 
 ing and sustaining present railroad laws relating to " extor- 
 tion and unjust discrimination," and was opposed to the 
 so-called "grab law" of 1869, and "Lake Front" act of 
 the same session. The present drainage laws owe a great 
 many of their best provisions to his formative hand, and 
 he has always given his influence to the passage of acts 
 promoting the interests of farmers. The movement that 
 has been agitated, and that will probably culminate in 
 the passage of a law to inaugurate a road system for the 
 entire state, that will operate to give the country better 
 roads, meets his approbation and support, his own elaborate 
 but well arranged road-law at this writing being just ready 
 to pass to its third reading in the senate. He is in favor 
 of a declaratory statute "that where the outlet of drainage 
 is in a drainage depression, on a man's own land, he may 
 drain and it will be no trespass on his lower neighbor — 
 or lands below," and has a bill pending declaratory of this 
 principle. He is also in favor of amendments, or a new 
 revenue law, to reach all values once, and to relieve encum- 
 bered lands from double taxation. He is also in favor of 
 authorizing county boards to maintain their ditches, made 
 under Swamp Land Act, by special assessment on lands 
 benefited, and his bill for this purpose has just passed the 
 senate unanimously. He, at this writing, has a bill pending 
 for the state to survey certain inland streams, so as to show 
 to land owners their interest in straightening and clearing 
 the channels, preparatory to a new law enabling them to 
 combine for this purpose. He is in favor of "compulsory 
 education ;" has always favored temperance legislation that 
 
310 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 can be executed. When we last met Senator Whiting and 
 a number of others of our Solon's, — men of practical wis- 
 dom, discretion, versed in affairs of state, we proposed to 
 him the advocacy of our measure for the correction and 
 reformation of all the abuses and evils the body politic is 
 now heir to, — " compulsory voting " — which is no less than 
 compelling every citizen of the state to vote at all elections. 
 This was only a suggestion, a subject for thoughtful study, 
 that has a great many good reasons in its favor, which we 
 do not propose giving in this place. 
 
 Our acquaintance with Senator Whiting dates back to 
 near 1850, but was not intimate till the winter of 1860, 
 since which time we have been somewhat familiar with his 
 " goings to and fro." He has been married twice ; his 
 first marriage at Clayville, N. Y., to Miss Lucretia 
 C. Clement, to whom were born three children, now living; 
 his second marriage to Miss Eriphy C. Robinson, formerly 
 of Brooklyn, New York. His daughter, Miss Lilian 
 Whiting, educated at Galesburg aTnd Mt. Carroll Seminary, 
 is one of the editorial staff of the Boston Traveller, and 
 eastern correspondent of the Inter- Ocean and several other 
 western papers and magazines. She has already achieved 
 quite a literary reputation, and bids fair to take rank 
 among the rising authors of the future. 
 
HON. SAMUEL L. RICHMOND. 
 
 LATE JUDGE OF THE TWENTY-THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT. 
 
 The memory of an upright judge is a legacy that should 
 be transmitted down through the annals of time and blazon 
 the historical page. It is a mournful pleasure for the author, 
 who was an early friend and neighbor of this departed 
 jurist, to bear testimony to his worth, warm friendship and 
 faithful service. 
 
 Samuel Lee Richmond was born at Poultney, Vermont, 
 June 15, 1824. When eight years old his family moved to 
 Ohio, and Samuel assisted in the labors of the farm, attend- 
 ing the country schools in winter, attaining a fair rudimen- 
 tal education. His ambition being stimulated by reading 
 he determined to teach and study law, and in 1845 he went 
 to Kentucky, taught school during the day and studied law 
 in the evenings in the office of Hon. Garrett Davis, of that 
 state, was admitted to practice in Kentucky, then returned 
 to Ohio and entered the study of law to more fully qualify 
 himself, and was admitted to the bar of that state. He thus 
 spent three years in teaching and studying law in Kentucky 
 and Ohio, and in the twenty-fourth year of his age was- 
 married. May 23, 1848, to Miss Susan, daughter of Elijah. 
 Hunt, of Licking county, Ohio. After his marriage he- 
 practiced law in the office of Lieutenant-Governor Ford, at 
 Burton, Geauga county, Ohio. 
 
312 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 He came to Illinois in 1848 and settled at Princeton as 
 partner of Joseph L. Taylor, staying there two years. 
 He came to Lacon in 1850, where a broader and wider field 
 for his varied talents opened out before him. Some im- 
 portant legal cases were pending in both the county and 
 circuit courts, and he was retained in several of them. He 
 displayed such ability in their management that he at once 
 stepped into a good practice, and soon removing his family 
 to that city, commenced what, in after years, proved a suc- 
 cessful career as counsel and jurist. He was industrious, 
 careful and painstaking in the preparation of his cases, and 
 when his cause and case was right and just always was suc- 
 cessful, and as must always be the case when employed on 
 the wrong side, he made pleas and arguments that almost 
 made the wrong appear the better side. He was honest 
 with his clients, canvassed their cases closely, and if he 
 found they were not strong and well founded, and the evi- 
 dence to be presented was not strong enough, he would ad- 
 vise them to settle the suit before going into a trial. If he 
 could not effect an arrangement or settlement between the 
 litigants, and the cause came to trial, he used all the force, 
 ingenuity and tact at command to gain his client's cause. 
 
 As the years passed on his fame grew, and soon he eon- 
 troled as much of the legal business as any other attorney 
 on the circuit. In 1855-56 he had made accumulations 
 sufficient to induce him with others to seek investments in 
 real estate, and in connection with Hon. John Burns and 
 others, real estate was purchased at St. Paul, and additions 
 added to that city that it was supposed would greatly ad- 
 vance in value in the near future. To manage the invest- 
 ment in person he removed to St. Paul in 1856, and their 
 real estate seemed to promise well, but the financial crash 
 
HON. SAMUEL L. RICHMOND. 313 
 
 of 1857 came, and with it the bright prospects of realizing 
 any advance on their investments ended. Like thousands 
 of others that had made purchases of real estate in all 
 of the "future great" cities at that time — not even 
 excepting Chicago, — the bright visions of the investors 
 vanished; a shrinkage of value so sweeping that it in- 
 volved the loss of the payments already made — and at 
 the end of 1857 and beginning of 1858 the purchasers 
 found it to their interest to give up the real estate 
 trade at the sacrifice of payments first made. Mr. Rich- 
 mond was not disheartened, although the accumulations 
 of years had been sacrificed, but bravely took up the 
 task of retrieving his losses by returning to the practice of 
 law. He came from St. Paul to Galena, practicing there 
 one year, then returned to Lacon — among the people who 
 knew him so well — to again recover a practice and a foot- 
 hold among them. lie resumed practice and soon recovered 
 his old professional standing at the bar and among the liti- 
 gants on the circuit. In 1861 he was elected to the judge- 
 ship of the twenty-third judicial circuit, and held the office 
 by re-election for nearly twelve years. In February, 1873, 
 he went to Champaign county by invitation of Judge 
 Gallagher and the members of the bar of that circuit, to 
 hold a special term of court. He opened court at the time 
 appointed, February 10th, and held until the following Fri- 
 day, when feeling unwell, at the suggestion of the members 
 of the bar he adjourned court until Monday following, 
 taking Saturday and Sunday for rest. Monday came, but 
 not the expected recuperation and health, and court stood 
 adjourned until Tuesday, which brought no relief. On 
 Tuesday evening about ten o'clock he had a spasm, result- 
 ing from rheumatism of the heart. He was from this time 
 
314 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 unconscious, and his family and friends were telegraphed 
 for. On Wednesday morning he seemed to be easier, and 
 reason and consciousness returning he expressed a wish 
 to see his family, and was informed that they had been noti- 
 fied. He expressed himself that he did not " want to 
 put them to the trouble to come," and this was his last 
 intelligent utterance. After a few moments he relapsed 
 into a spasm and it was followed by almost instant death. 
 Thus died, away from home and family, Samuel L. Rich- 
 mond, the upright judge of unsullied honor and integrity. 
 Mrs. Richmond had left their home at the same time 
 he did to go to the bedside of a dying father in Ohio,, 
 and strange coincidence, just the day previous to Judge 
 Richmond's death his father-iu-law, Elijah Hunt, Esq. 
 departed this life, and when the message to the stricken 
 wife came to her she was bending over the grave of her 
 father. The remains were taken charge of by members of 
 the bar and a committee appointed to attend them to Lacon. 
 At Peoria a committee of the Marshall county bar met 
 them, and the sorrowing cavalcade conveyed the remains 
 to the late residence before the arrival of the sorrowing 
 widow or the eldest son, who was at the time in one of 
 the western territories. 
 
 Thus passed from earth, at the zenith of his great powers 
 of mind, at the age of forty-eight, a man whose services on 
 the bench had been eminently satisfactory to the people, 
 ranking among the ablest judges in the state, leaving to 
 his family his unsullied honor and integrity never ques- 
 tioned, his ermine unblemished, and it is at this shrine of 
 friendship we bear mournful testimony to the worth and 
 air judicial fame of an old neighbor. 
 
^"Plllf 
 
 Hon. Augustus 'Adams 
 
 Marseilles, 111. 
 
HON. AUGUSTUS ADAMS. 
 
 PIONEER, FOUNDER, INVENTOR AND MANUFACTURER. 
 
 With resources inexhaustible, its latitude extending- 
 from the semi-tropical climate of our southern border to 
 the severe winters of northern Dakota and Minnesota, its 
 products varied and distributed to suit the peculiar latitude 
 required by each kind of fruit or grain, its subterranean depths 
 containing the coal, the iron and other more precious mine- 
 rals, with oil spontaneously flowing from the rocks, its 
 timber forests' and its grainery-filling prairie regions that 
 are almost limitless — our country has embodied from its 
 earliest infancy the necessary requisites for the development 
 of the genius of the inventor and the enterprising manufac- 
 turer. 
 
 It is one of the missions of our work to introduce these 
 pioneer benefactors by whose lives and genius many are made 
 wealthy, enjoy greater immunity from the labor drudgery 
 of the earlier years of our nation's history, and who have 
 conduced to make business a pleasure in these modern days 
 instead of a burdensome exaction of bodily strength' as it 
 was twenty-five and fifty years ago. 
 
 Among this class of pioneers — prominent in Illinois for 
 forty-five years past, and for near sixty years a worker and 
 inventor, — we introduce one whom all will recognize as- 
 standing in the front rank. 
 
316 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Augustus Adams was born at Genoa, Cayuga county, 
 New York, May 10, 1806, where during his boyhood he at- 
 tended the public schools of that early day until eleven 
 years old. 
 
 His father dying at this time he was obliged to depend 
 upon his own resources for support. But as a boy he was 
 diligent, it might almost be said "in season and out of 
 season;" he possessed an inquiring turn of mind — powers 
 of investigation that he improved, and this was his founda- 
 tion for future growth. His summers were spent on the 
 farm, as hired help, but all his spare time was devoted to 
 study by which he acquired a rich store of general informa- 
 tion. By this incessant application, when arrived at 
 maturer years, he had attained the necessary qualifications 
 for teaching school, and his winters for several years were 
 so employed. 
 
 While thus laudably engaged he discovered that he pos- 
 sessed an inventive genius, and with that excellent judg- 
 ment and foresight which has characterized his life, he recog- 
 nized that no field of labor offered greater inducements for 
 the exercise of his inventive faculties than manufacturing, 
 and closely following the developments of the agricultural 
 resources of the west, he discovered that labor-saving 
 machinery must play an important part in handling the 
 enormous crops. With the accumulations saved from his 
 years of toil he was enabled in 1829 to start a foundry and 
 machine shop at Pine Valley, Chemung county, New York, 
 which he continued to operate until the autumn of 1837. 
 
 But the West, with its boundless field for development, 
 had been his objective point in these years of successful 
 endeavor, and in the fall of 1838 he came to Elgin, Illinois, 
 his family following him in 1840, and in 1841, with 
 
HON. AUGUSTUS ADAMS. 317 
 
 James T. Gifford as a partner, he established the first 
 foundry and machine shop west of Lake Michigan. This 
 establishment, though operated in a crude way as compared 
 with the improved methods of the present, continued in 
 successful operation until 1859. For use in this foundry 
 he purchased the first pig-iron and hard coal ever brought 
 to Chicago for foundry purposes. Thus Elgin, Illinois, 
 may be justly styled "the cradle" of western manufacto- 
 ries, and "Augustus Adams "The Pioneer Inventor and 
 Founder." 
 
 There he invented and manufactured the first harvester 
 on which grain was -bound and carried together, the 
 "Hinge Sickle Bar," now used on mowing machines of all 
 classes, and commenced the manufacture of the Adams Corn 
 Shellers, which, with the improvements of following years, 
 have made his name a household word wherever corn is 
 raised. 
 
 In 1857 he moved to Sandwich, Illinois, where he com- 
 menced the manufacture of " The Adams Patent Self-feed- 
 ing Corn Shellers" under the firm name of A. Adams & 
 Sons. In 1867, owing to the ready acceptance of these 
 machines, it became necessary to largely increase the 
 facilities for manufacturing them. Additional capital was 
 secured, and the business reorganized under the state laws 
 with Augustus Adams as president of the company. A 
 few years later, recognizing the superior advantages of the 
 Illinois river at Marseilles, Illinois, and its greater economy 
 for manufacturing purposes as compared with steam power, 
 he, in 1870, established his younger sons there, organizing 
 and incorporating under the state laws as The Marseilles 
 Manufacturing Company, with Mr. Adams as its president, 
 which position he still holds. Having resigned the presi- 
 
318 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 deney of the Sandwich company, his interests are now cen- 
 tered in the Marseilles Manufacturing Company, their pro- 
 ducts having acquired a national reputation. 
 
 It was while Mr. Adams was engaged in these enter- 
 prises that the author's pleasant acquaintance with him 
 commenced. Until weight of years prevented we always 
 found him at the state fairs, where his genial greeting made 
 him popular with the '' press gang," the reporters always in 
 their line of duty called to note the blue ribbons that 
 adorned the displays of machinery that he exhibited. He 
 was liberal with the representatives of the press, knowing 
 it was the lever that moved the world forward in favor of 
 the improvements of the age. We have also met him at 
 Springfield when engaged in the weightier duties of the 
 state, sitting in his place among the law makers of the land. 
 As we have noted his close application to business, even 
 when a youth, the same earnestness governed him while a 
 legislator in modeling the laws in the interest of the people. 
 Among the positions that his fellow-citizens have honored 
 him with, we mention his election in 1847 as a delegate to 
 the Constitutional Convention of Illinois, that engrafted so 
 many good and wise provisions into our organic law. In 
 1850 he was elected a member of the house of representa- 
 tives of Illinois, and in 1854 was elected to the senate. 
 When the Northern Insane Asylum was authorized by an 
 act of the legislature he was appointed by Gov. Palmer as 
 one of the commissioners to locate the institution. 
 
 In his political views he was always a staunch republi- 
 can, orthodox in religion, and a member of the Congrega- 
 tional church. 
 
 He was married October 21, 1833, to Lydia A. Phelps, 
 by whom he has had eight sons and one daughter. Mrs. 
 
HON. AUGUSTUS ADAMS. 319 
 
 Adams died December 14, 1867. He was again married, 
 January 13, 1869, to Mrs. L. M. Mosher. 
 
 This sage, patriot and pioneer in western enterprise has 
 now retired from active business, full of years and honors, 
 where in a quiet home, in ease and comfort, he can review a 
 long and useful life. 
 
 His oldest son, Darius, died April 16, 1872. All the 
 others are engaged in the business originally planned and 
 established by himself, and the old veteran is enabled to re- 
 view with pleasure the development of the great manufac- 
 turing interests of the west, wherein he, as much as any 
 other man, has acted a very conspicuous part, particularly 
 in the establishment of the thriving manufacturing industries 
 at Sandwich and Marseilles, not forgetting the almost half 
 century ago when he founded manufacturing in embryo at 
 Elgin, from which sprang the two flourishing manufactur- 
 ing companies with whose history the prime of his life has 
 been identified. 
 
GEORGE E. MERCHANT. 
 
 GENERAL MANAGER OF TIIE ROCHESTER AND PITTSBURG 
 RAILROAD COMPANY. 
 
 Rapid advancement made from one responsible position 
 to another that requires a higher order of talent, shows 
 natural and acquired aptness of adaptation to the new duties 
 required. In our considerable experience with railroads 
 and the men who manage them we have very pleasant re- 
 membrances of the progress made to position and fame in 
 their management by the subject of our sketch. 
 
 George E. Merchant was born at Worcester, Mass., 
 November 25, 1842. His father, William Merchant, was 
 engaged in mercantile business, and died in 1849. In the 
 spring of 1850, when George was in his eighth year, his 
 mother, with his younger brother William, came to the 
 west and located at Fort Madison, Iowa, where the winter 
 months were spent at school, making fair progress in the 
 primary studies. In 1851 they removed to Mount Palatine, 
 Putnam county, Illinois, remaining there four years, George 
 attending the seminary at that place, at that time a very 
 flourishing institution of learning. They resided here four 
 years and then removed to Tonica, LaSalle county, in 1859, 
 •where he continued to attend school. In 1859, being then 
 seventeen years old, he obtained a situation as clerk in the 
 store of John Wadleigh, then, as at present, one of the 
 leading merchants at New Rutland, same county, where he 
 served faithfully until 1865. 
 
GEORGE E. MERCHANT. 321 
 
 In 1865 his railroad experience commenced, and also- 
 our acquaintance with him. He was appointed agent for 
 the Illinois Central Railroad at that place, and served the 
 company with great acceptability until January, 1872 r 
 when he resigned to enter the service of the Chicago and 
 .Rock River Railroad as agent at Rock Falls, Illinois, the 
 principal station on that road. He held that position until 
 February, 1872, when he resigned to accept the position of 
 General Freight and Ticket Agent of the Dakota Southern 
 Railroad, with headquarters at Sioux City, Iowa. This 
 position he held until Feb. 1, 1875, when he resigned to 
 accept the position of Traffic and Traveling Freight Agent 
 for the Illinois Central Railroad, with headquarters at Du- 
 buque, Iowa. After faithfully serving this road for one year 
 he received a pressing call to take charge of the Dakota 
 Southern Railroad as General Superintendent, with head- 
 quarters again at Sioux City, showing the estimation of his 
 services by being advanced to the management of that road. 
 In March, 1880, this road was sold to the Chicago, Mil- 
 waukee and St. Paul Railroad, he retaining his position of 
 General Superintendent until Feb. 1, 1881, when he was 
 called to his present responsible position as General Mana- 
 ger of the Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad, one of the 
 most prosperous short-line railroads in the country. It 
 employs his varied talents to great advantage, as he super- 
 intends in person every detail in the business of the road 
 that it is possible for one man to do. He possesses rare 
 executive ability, and from the time he entered the service 
 of the Illinois Central in 1865 he has at no time been un- 
 employed, but has been promoted from one position of trust 
 and honor to another, always giving the best satisfaction to 
 
 21 
 
322 FIFTY YEAKS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 the patrons of the roads and to the great corporations 
 themselves. 
 
 Mr. Merchant has been very happy in his family rela- 
 tions. In 1864 he married Miss Fannie E. Sherburne, of 
 Lacon, Illinois, and they have been blessed with three 
 children : Maude L., now in her fifteenth year, Nellie S., 
 twelve years old, and Gerald E., aged five years. Mrs. 
 Merchant is the sister of the enterprising merchant, Milton 
 M. Sherburne, of Sullivan,, Illinois, formerly of Sparland, 
 and yet has pleasant recollections of her girlhood days 
 spent on the prairies of Illinois. 
 
HON. JOHN DOUGHERTY. 
 
 LATE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is noted for the full space of 
 time of half a century of service to the state, a period marked 
 by eras, epochs and stages in the developement of our state 
 from infancy to robust manhood, that for length of years 
 few of our statesmen were blessed with. 
 
 John Dougherty was born at Duck Creek, near Mari- 
 etta, Ohio, May 6, 1806. He was the youngest son of 
 Charles Dougherty, a native of Ireland, who left that coun- 
 try in 1798, and Elizabeth Wolf, a resident of Lancaster 
 county, Pennsylvania. Charles Dougherty, a fine classical 
 scholar, was educated for the priesthood. His love of 
 country led his too ardent nature into the political compli- 
 cations and revolutionary movements of that year, into 
 which so many brave Irishmen were drawn, which failing, 
 many were banished from their country or suffered mar- 
 tyrdom on the scaffold. Coming to the United States his 
 course of reading led him to renounce his former religious 
 views, in which he was educated, and he became an ardent 
 and devoted Methodist. 
 
 In 1808 he left Ohio and settled at Cape Girardeau, 
 Mo., and soon fell a victim to malarial fever, leaving three 
 sons and one daughter. His widow remained there until 
 1812, leaving there after the disastrous earthquakes that 
 
324 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 occurred in 1811-12. She removed to Union county, Illi- 
 nois, with her children. 
 
 John Dougherty, when old enough to attend school, was 
 afforded such limited means of education as the country 
 schools at that day affurded. 
 
 After leaving school he worked a year at the lead mines- 
 in Washington county, Missouri, and after this taught 
 school for two and a half years at Fredericktown, Missouri. 
 He then returned to Illinois, and on March 5th, 1829, was 
 married to Miss Katharine James, second daughter of 
 George and Elizabeth James, of Union county. 
 
 Looking around for a vocation he became acquainted 
 with Col. Alexander P. Field, who invited him to read law 
 in his office, which occupied his time and earnest attention 
 for the next two years. Under such a competent instructor 
 he made rapid advance and progress in his studies and 
 was admitted to the bar in 1831, and soon became recog- 
 nized as one of the rising young lawyers of the state. He 
 was employed in the most difficult and intricate cases in the 
 courts, as he was always employed by one side or the other 
 in important criminal cases. He early entered political life, 
 and in 1832 was elected to the legislature, re-elected in 
 1834 and 1836, and participated in the stirring times of 
 those years in the internal improvement, banking and canal 
 legislation so graphically described in another chapter of 
 this work. Like other good men at that day he may have 
 made mistakes in choosing sides on the questions that were 
 presented, as most of the statesmen of that day did who 
 voted money lavishly for improvements, believing they 
 were promoting the interests of their constituents. 
 
 In 1840 he was again elected to the house, which ses- 
 sion was the darkest period in the financial history of the 
 
HON. JOHN DOXfGHERTY. 325 
 
 state, the banks all suspended or broken, work on the canal 
 stopped, and the extensive railroad system that had been 
 planned, all a wreck, and general financial desolation pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 From 1842 to 1850 he served continuously in the state 
 senate, and aided very much by his long legislative experi- 
 ence the effort of Gov. Ford to re-establish the credit of the 
 state, and adopting measures to secure the completion of the 
 canal, which he happily saw consumated in 1847. In re- 
 viewing his legislative action for the sixteen years he was 
 a member of the legislature (eight in the house eight in the 
 senate), from 1832 to 1850, we find that he was the most 
 active, strong aud persistent advocates of the system of 
 free schools, since adopted, which has been for years the 
 pride and glory of our state. 
 
 We can also note in a general way, without going into 
 general detail as to date, that even in his earlier legislative, 
 action he exerted his influence to engraft into the statutes 
 of the state a law that would give equal advantages to women 
 in protecting her interests. 
 
 He was again elected to the house in 1856, at this time- 
 sustaining the administration of Mr. Buchanan, but the latter 
 part of 1860 and opening of 1861, when secession raised its 
 hydra head, before Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, he took a 
 bold and outspoken stand for the Union, cutting loose 
 from a great many of his former political friends, many of 
 whom who were his close neighbors, but who at that time 
 sympathised with the South. 
 
 On many occasions he periled his life by his loyalty, 
 traveling night and day giving his counsel, encouragement, 
 and making loyal speeches, and it was largely through his 
 influence that enlistments for the Union army were made 
 
326 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 possible in Southern Illinois. In his section of the state 
 fully half of the people were disloyal at the opening of the 
 war, and Union men were marked for their vengeance, and 
 some were assassinated. In 1864 he was chosen one of 
 the electors on the republican ticket and canvassed the 
 state. He was elected lieutenant-governor in 1868, and 
 again on the electoral ticket in 1872. 
 
 When retiring from the office of lieutenant-governor 
 the senate unanimously gave expression to its sense of his 
 ability, impartiality and fine sense of honor, in a series of 
 resolutions which were sent to him at his home. Encomi- 
 ums were written by the press of the state praising his 
 ability as a presiding officer, and no man ever retiring from 
 official position carried with him the regards of the people 
 without respect to party as did Gov. Dougherty. 
 
 In the words of one who knew him well, "He was one 
 of the noblest old Romans of the state. He was kind 
 hearted, a lover of justice, the friend of the poor, the enemy 
 of the oppressor. He performed every duty conscien- 
 tiously." Another paper says of him, " He belonged to the 
 olden school of gentlemen who are fast passing away." 
 " The members of the senate looked to him as to a father. 
 The life and character of the governor was such that there 
 can be no question but he was revered and honored for his 
 virtues of firmness and honesty." 
 
 In the reorganization of judiciary and the judicial dist- 
 ricts in 1877, he w^s elected circuit judge, his term expiring 
 a short time before his death, which occurred September 
 7, 1879, in the seventy -fourth year of his age, rendering up 
 a long and useful life with faculties unimpaired. In the 
 eulogy given him it is said, " From his character as a judge 
 
HON. JOHN DOUGHERTY. 327 
 
 there can be no question but he has gone to the shining 
 shore — the land beyond, where all is peace and rest." 
 
 In our frequent visits to Southern Illinois after the com- 
 pletion of the Illinois Central Railroad we met Governor 
 Dougherty frequently, and also at Springfield when he was 
 presiding officer of the senate, and have from this acquaint- 
 ance given our estimate of him as a man, a legislator and a 
 patriot. But he shone more resplendently in his family cir- 
 cle — his home. There, with his aged wife, his daughter 
 and grandchildren, his genial, hospitable home-nature shone 
 most resplendently. In the abandon of his enjoyment he 
 was almost child-like, no stiffness or formality, visitors 
 were made to feel that while they stayed it was their privi- 
 lege to be sociable — " one of the family." Gov. Dougherty 
 was not accumulative in the matter of acquiring a large store 
 of this world's possessions. Competence and contentment 
 seemed all he desired, and beyond a comfortable home we 
 believe he left no large estate, personal or in realty. His 
 life, official and private, for its lofty patriotism and virtues, 
 should be emulated. 
 
 KATHARINE JAMES DOUGHERTY. 
 
 One of the mothers in Israel in the shaping and mould- 
 ing of society in the early times of Southern Illinois, and a 
 true helpmeet to her husband, Hon. John Dougherty, in 
 his long and eventful career, was this wifely woman, of 
 Martha Washington virtues and Spartan fortitude. Martha 
 James, the daughter of George and Elizabeth James, born 
 near Bowling Green, Kentucky, March 4, 1808. Her 
 father came to Illinois in 1811 and made a home, until 
 warned by some friendly Indians to move his family to a 
 
328 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 place of safety, as there was a plot to massacre all the white 
 settlers. He returned to Kentucky and remained until the 
 conclusion of peace in 1814-15, when he returned to Illi- 
 nois. He was a large stockgrower, the range of the rich 
 bottoms and glades of Illinois was invitingly tempting to 
 him, and presented business reasons why he should return 
 to Illinois. On his return he settled in Union county, on 
 the rich alluvial bottoms of the Mississippi that presented so 
 many attractions to him in a business point of view. Here 
 he was very fortunate, his herds increasing and multiplying 
 as they did to Abraham and Lot in patriarchal times. He 
 lived twelve years after his return to Illinois, and died in 
 1826, leaving his widow, with family, four sons and two 
 daughters. 
 
 Katharine, the youngest, his favorite child, was married 
 March 5. 1829, to John Dougherty, and the young couple 
 set out to make their way in the world with a fund of en- 
 ergy and industry, supplemented with mutual love and re- 
 spect, which grew more endearing as the years advanced 
 and children were given to bless them. To them were born 
 ten children, three of whom died in infancy, leaving five 
 sons and two daughters to grow to man and woman's estate. 
 
 Their eldest son, "William La Fayette, was at one time 
 United States marshal, and died in 1864 from the effects of 
 a fall from his carriage. Another son, Alexander N., 
 studied law and attained some prominence at the bar, died 
 at Jonesboro, May, 1879. The eldest surviving son resides 
 at Jonesboro, serving the city as police magistrate. George 
 M., formerly editor and publisher of the Jonesboro Adver- 
 tiser, is now in the employ of the Illinois Central railroad 
 company at Cairo, and John J., the youngest child, is now 
 a lieutenant in the United States army, stationed at Brook- 
 
HON. JOHN DOUGHERTY. 329 
 
 lyn, New York. The daughters, the eldest is the wife of 
 Wm. Fountain, Esq., DuQuoin, Illinois, and the youngest, 
 Mrs. Helen Schuchardt, occupies the home residence of her 
 late father and mother at Jonesboro. 
 
 From those who knew Katharine James in the pristine 
 days of her girlhood and as the mature woman when mar- 
 ried, who remember her kindly ways, social disposition, her 
 goodness of heart, we gather that she was a girl of more 
 than average beauty of face and form, and of peculiarly 
 lovely and gentle disposition. Throughout all the tnore 
 than half century of wedded life she was her husband's 
 confidential adviser, encouraging him in his duties and in 
 the employment of his great talents to advance the interests 
 of the state. She was her children's guide to all that is best 
 in life, and a friend to all who knew her. To her the sweet 
 scriptural benison can be truthfully applied : " Her children 
 rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he prais- 
 eth her." She died March 28, 1882, at the family residence 
 at Jonesboro, which had been her husband's residence since 
 their marriage, fifty-three years and twenty-three days, aged 
 seventy-two years and twenty-four days. 
 
GENERAL WILLIAM H. POWELL. 
 
 MANUFACTURER, INVENTOR, AND CAPITALIST. 
 
 The development of the industries of the country is 
 the glory of the state, and the enterprise that prompts the 
 pioneers to invest their earnings and accumulations of for- 
 mer years should be recognized by the people. One of this 
 class of citizens we present in this sketch. 
 
 William H. Powell was born in New South Wales, 
 May 10, 1825, and came to America with his parents in 
 1832, stopping one year near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
 when they removed to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was 
 given very limited educational privileges for a short time, 
 and at a very early age was placed in a rolling mill and 
 nail factory at Nashville to learn the business, and remained 
 there until his eighteenth year, learning the height and 
 depth and length and breadth of the manufacture of iron 
 and nail making, that has, in the years since then, placed 
 him in the front rank- in both these departments as a man- 
 ufacturer. 
 
 When in his eighteenth year, in 1843, he removed to 
 Wheeling, West Virginia, and engaged in the same busi- 
 ness, still applying himself to studying every detail of the 
 business, and all the processes of iron-making for the next 
 four years. When but twenty-two years old he built the 
 Benwood Nail Works, and was superintendent, very suc- 
 cessfully managing the business until 1853, when he severed 
 
GENERAL WILLIAM H. POWELL. 331 
 
 his connection with the Benwood works, and removed to 
 Ironton, Ohio, and built the Bellfonte Nail Works, and 
 operated them until August, 1861, when he entered the 
 service as captain of a company in the Second Regiment 
 West Virginia Cavalry, a regiment organized in Ohio, but 
 from the fact that so many more men were offering than 
 could be accepted from Ohio, the regiment was tendered as 
 part of the quota from West Virginia. He performed very 
 arduous services during the war that our space prevents 
 enumerating in detail, was promoted, passing through all 
 the grades of promotion for meritorious conduct up to 
 major-general, commanding the Second Division Cavalry 
 under Sheridan in all the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 
 1864, continuing in the service until the close of the war. 
 
 When he was mustered out in 1865 he returned to his 
 business at Ironton and greatly increased the facilities of 
 the Bellfonte works by his inventive genius Having 
 sold out his interest at Ironton, he returned to West Vir- 
 ginia in 1867, and built the Clifton Nail Works on the 
 Ohio River, and was superintendent until 1870, when, by 
 being thrown from a buggy, he received almost fatal inju- 
 ries which incapacitated him from business, and from which 
 he slowly recovered. He removed to Kansas City, Mo., 
 and while regaining strength he engaged in the commission 
 business, remaining there until 1875, when he removed to 
 Belleville, Illinois, again engaging in the nail business, con- 
 tinuing there ever since, aiding in developing that industry 
 in connection with others. 
 
 When General Powell returned to Ohio after the war 
 a seat in the United States Senate was pressed upon him by 
 the republicans of Ohio, but his private business demanded 
 his attention and he declined it. Other official positions 
 
332 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 were also declined, his manufacturing interests demanding 
 his unremitting attention. 
 
 Im March, 1882, the Western Nail Company of Belle- 
 ville was organized with General Powell, President, Con- 
 rad Rienecke, Vice-President and Treasurer, and Benjamin 
 J. West, Jr., Secretar}'. The building of their extensive 
 works was commenced April 15th, and pushed with such 
 energy that they were completed, and they commenced 
 making nails, Sept. 4, 1882, with a rolling-mill capacity of 
 twenty-eight tons of nail plate per day, with fifty-six nail 
 machines, having a capacity of three thousand kegs per 
 week, with room to add one hundred and twenty-five 
 nail machines. As the trade demands they will be added. 
 
 As we have noted from his life-long experience, Gen. 
 Powell, the president of the company, is a thoroughly 
 practical man in the nail manufacturing business — has 
 made it a study. C. Rienecke, the vice-president . and 
 treasurer, is a thoroughly practical, self-made man, owning 
 two large coal mines near Belleville. 
 
 The nail works are located on the Louisville and Nash- 
 ville Railway, within the corporate limits of Belleville, 
 fourteen miles southeast of St. Louis, and are supplied with 
 coal from a shaft three hundred feet from the works, and 
 the best of water from a reservoir only a little over one 
 hundred yards away. 
 
 While at Belleville refreshing our remembrance of the 
 olden time, calling on Gov. Koerner, Col. John Thomas, 
 John Hay, Superintendent Raab, and many others posted in 
 the annals of Southern Illinois, we visited this busy hive 
 of industry, the Western Nail Company, and for nearly 
 two hours was shown through these extensive works, with 
 all their Plutonian grandeur, heated like the furnaces in 
 
GENERAL WILLIAM H. POWELL. 333 
 
 which were cast the Hebrew children, with the sizzling of 
 pig iron, bar iron, rolled iron, from the cutting of the rail- 
 road iron by large shears. When it is put on hand-cars in 
 packages of 750 pounds, new iron being added in proper 
 quantities to restore the railroad iron to proper strength — 
 to add new life, these amalgamated parcels are wheeled in 
 front of the furnace, where it is melted into a mass at white 
 heat and started on its journey through the slab roller, on 
 to the hot shears, cut into ten blocks, and from this wheeled 
 to the wash-heating furnace, remaining there about fifteen 
 minutes, then taken from the -wash-heating furnace and 
 rolled through seven or eight nail plate rollers, each one 
 making it thinner until the proper thinness is reached for 
 making nails, when they are cut into the proper width by 
 passing through the nail plate shears, and from these are 
 carted on hand trucks to the front of the nail machines. 
 There is also a nail plate heating furnace for tempering the 
 plate for large nails. We were also taken to a separate 
 apartment which contained a ten-horse power electric 
 machine, sufficient for ten lights, that serve to light the 
 immense expanse of the building in all its parts. The 
 average day's work per man (mostly boys) is two or three 
 kegs a day for barrel nails; heaviest nails, from sixty-five 
 to seventy kegs per day, and ten penny nails from twenty 
 to twenty-two kegs a day — a fair day's work. When we 
 were there the works were turning out some 3,000 kegs per 
 week, with fifty-six machines. Other machines were being 
 added, so that January 1, 3,500 kegs per week would be 
 made, and now (April, 188H) there are one hundred nail 
 machines in operation, turning out fully 5,000 kegs per 
 week. 
 
 It gives us pleasure to record this evidence of the 
 
334 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 growth of manufactures in the west, especially when man- 
 aged by men who gained their knowledge in the dear school 
 of experience. 
 
 Superintendent Powell, a cousin of the general, has the 
 general oversight of the whole works, and to his courtesy 
 we are indebted for the pleasure of looking through the 
 entire works. General Powell started the rounds with us, 
 but a pressing business call requiring his attention the 
 balance of the sight-seeing, illustrated by full explanation 
 showing the operation of the machinery in cutting the 
 nails, are due to the superintendent in charge. 
 
 This large industry is due entirely to the enterprise 
 of General Powell, who to-day, we presume, has more 
 intimate practical knowledge of the nail business than any 
 other man in the United States, and it is one of the mis- 
 sions of our work to give prominence to the representative 
 men of the country in every branch of industry. This 
 •company, having their own coal and water from the subter- 
 ranean depths beneath their works, are prepared to meet all 
 demands on them for their products. Their advantages 
 place them out of reach of all competition from any 
 quarter at any time. 
 
 The present value of their works, with new machines 
 just added, is $150,000. Monthly pay-rolls, $11,000 to 
 to $13,000 ; employes paid every two weeks. 
 
HON. HARRY D. COOK. 
 
 CITIZEN, LEGISLATOR AND SOLDIER. 
 
 Few men are blessed with such pleasant memories from 
 those who from association and acquaintance knew him, and 
 from his sterling qualities of head and heart, learned to 
 love him, than our our old friend whose well-rounded life it 
 is a pleasure to record. 
 
 Harry DeWitt Cook was born in Washington county, 
 New York, March 6, 1817. When quite youthful his father 
 removed to Oneida county, same state, and Harry received 
 but the most common rudimental education. He learned 
 the builder's and carpente'r's trade, and on attaining his 
 twenty-first year he took charge of a canal boat on the 
 Erie canal. He was married January 21, 1841, to Joanna 
 Hall, and followed the building and carpenter business for 
 the next ten years, making quite a reputation for the work 
 he done. He removed to Illinois in the spring of 1851, 
 and engaged in the construction department of the Illinois 
 Central Railroad when it was put under contract. He- was 
 employed in bridge building for that road, owning a farm 
 in McLean county. 
 
 On the completion of the Central Railroad he was ap- 
 pointed station agent at Kappa, Woodford county, and 
 while serving the interests of the road was engaged in the 
 grain trade, in which he continued until 1860. During the 
 years from 1851 to 1860 Mr. Cook became widely known 
 
336 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 for his social qualities, his rare good hnmor, his strict integ- 
 rity in business aud general intelligence on public matters. 
 He contributed to the success of the republicans in 1856 
 and 1858-60, and when an efficient and influential man was 
 required to carry the legislative district, composed of the 
 counties of Putnam, Marshall and Woodford, in 1860, he 
 was nominated as the republican candidate for the legisla- 
 ture, and thoroughly canvassed the district, was elected 
 by a handsome majority, and the following January took 
 his seat among the lawmakers. He brought to the per- 
 formance of his duties rare industry and intelligence, no old 
 member being so ready in discussing all the great ques- 
 tions that came before the legislature at that session than 
 he. At the extra session in April, 1861, called by Gov. 
 Yates, he rendered most important service in making pro- 
 vision for the troops then being organized and hurried to 
 the front. He became thoroughly imbued with the military 
 spirit and assisted in the organization of the Fourth Illi- 
 nois Cavalry, and was elected captain of Company G, the 
 members of the company being mainly composed of his 
 neighbors who knew his worth, military genius and capacity 
 for leadership. 
 
 He served over three years, the greater part of the time 
 in most dangerous service — scouting through Southwestern 
 Tennessee and Northern Mississsippi, and such was his 
 thoroughness that he was promoted to major. If we gave 
 the history of his long service it would be the history of 
 the regiment. He was mustered out in October, 1864, and 
 in three days after his arrival at home he was, in Novem- 
 ber, 1864, again elected a member of the house of represen- 
 tatives from his old district, and when the legislature 
 assembled he was made chairman of the ccmmittee on 
 
HON. HAEEY D. COOK. 337 
 
 military affairs, and rendered efficient service in getting the 
 military accounts of the state in good shape to settle with 
 the general government. On the adjournment of the legis- 
 lature he was appointed by Gov. Oglesby state military 
 agent, with rank of colonel. After spending a few months 
 until the war was fully closed in visiting hospitals, looking 
 after Illinois soldiers, he was stationed at Washington, and 
 took charge of the collection of soldiers' claims, settling 
 several thousand claims without any expense to the claim- 
 ants, the state paying him for the service. 
 
 In 1869 he undertook the collection of the disallowed 
 war claims of the state against the government, and col- 
 lected nearly $600,000, a task that could be accomplished 
 only by one having thorough knowledge of the history of 
 these claims. In the same year he removed with his 
 family to Normal, bought quite a little domain and erected 
 a comfortable house. In 1873, having completed the 
 settlement of the claims of the state with the government, 
 his accounts were settled, he having spent four years in the 
 service. 
 
 In April, 1873, without any solicitation on his part, he 
 was appointed by Gov. Beveridge one of the railroad and 
 warehouse commissioners for the state. On the organiza- 
 tion of the board he was made chairman. He served most 
 efficiently for about eight months. The work was very 
 laborious and exhausting on him ; so many details in pre- 
 paring the schedules, organizing the railroad management 
 or service to make it correspond to the new legislation 
 enacted during the winter, that it overtaxed his powers of 
 endurance and brought on ailments that were fastened on 
 his system by exposure at the battle of Fort Donelson, and 
 other exposure and hardships, and he died at his home in 
 22 
 
338 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Normal, November 9th, 1873, leaving a wife and four 
 •children, two sons and two daughters; also an adopted 
 daughter, Mrs. W. H. McClellan, of El Paso. 
 
 Thus passed away one of the most genial and com- 
 panionable men that we ever numbered among the list of 
 oat friends. We knew him as a business man, while in the 
 service of the railroad, as a merchant and produce dealer, 
 and watched his course with much pride as a legislator, as 
 during his first term we stood in the relation of one of his 
 constituents. In the army he was the soldiers' friend, they 
 trusted him, and as the state agent at Washington he 
 secured many a soldier's claim that but for his knowledge 
 might have been lost. 
 
 He was a model Christian gentleman, — acted it in his 
 deportment. It was a principle that governed him in his 
 business, in his politics, as a legislator, a soldier, and after 
 the war as a faithful servant of the state. In every posi- 
 tion of duty to family, fellowman or his country, he per- 
 formed well his part. 
 
HON. GEORGE C. BESTOR, 
 
 LATE MAYOR, POSTMASTER AND SENATOR. 
 
 Of no mau whose memory is associated with the affairs 
 •of Peoria can it be more truly said " He being dead yet 
 sleepeth " than of the late George "C. Bestor. He was a 
 man deservedly popular with all who knew him, and be- 
 loved by all who were intimate enough with him to 
 appreciate his worth. Geo. C. Bestor was born in Wash- 
 ington, D. G., on the 16th of April, 1811. His father, 
 Harvey Bestor, removed from Massachusetts and settled in 
 Washington at an early day, and many of the family con- 
 nections are residing there at the present time. His father 
 was assistant postmaster general under Hon. Francis 
 Granger, and was highly respected for his talents and 
 virtues. George inherited his father's traits of character 
 and gave early promise of the ability and integrity 
 which marked his future career. As a boy he manifested 
 -those noble and generous qualities which endeared him to 
 so many friends, and that conscientiousness in the discharge 
 of duties which inspired confidence in his honor and integ- 
 rity. At the age of sixteen he was appointed assistant 
 document clerk of the house of representatives upon the 
 recommendation of many of the leading statesmen of that 
 time in Washington, and held the position eight years, or 
 until 1835, when he came to Illinois. 
 
340 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Being a young man of energy and enterprise, in the 
 twenty-fifth year of his age he resolved to strike out into a 
 new country where a better field was open for his ambition 
 and his talents to achieve for himself a successful career. 
 Peoria was then one of the most promising points in the 
 West. It had begun to grow in population. The beauty 
 and desirableness of the location were attracting emigration! 
 from all parts of the country. Here was a desirable and 
 promising field for a young man of talents and enterprise,, 
 and here Mr. Bestor came to make his future home, arriv- 
 ing in Peoria on the 3d of August, 1835. 
 
 After settling here for many years iie was engaged in 
 the real estate business, dealing in military lands, in which 
 he accumulated a large property. From 1835 to 1840 a 
 co-partnership existed between him and Mark M. Aiken, 
 in the real estate business, during which time they made 
 an abstract of the Edwardsville and Pike county records, a 
 voluminous and carefully prepared work, showing the accu- 
 racy, system and thoroughness of everything that passed 
 under the hand of Mr. Bestor. On the 18th of February f 
 1837, he was elected trustee of the town of Peoria, and re- 
 elected on the 5th of November, 1839. On the 4th day of 
 April, 1842, he was appointed postmaster of Peoria by 
 President Tyler, and again on the 27th of March, 1861, by 
 President Lincoln, lie was elected police justice in 1843. 
 He was three times elected mayor of the city of Peoria, 
 filling the seventh, ninth and tenth places in the list of 
 mayors with credit to himself and satisfaction to his con- 
 stituents. 
 
 For several years Mr. Bestor was financial agent, and 
 afterwards president, of the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad 
 Company_(now the Peoria and Burlington branch of the 
 
HON. GEORGE C. BESTOR. 341 
 
 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad), and during the 
 time he held that position succeeded in extricating the com- 
 pany from its financial difficulties. He was also a director 
 of the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad at the time of 
 his death. 
 
 Before the organization of the republican party Mr. 
 Bestor was an earnest and devoted whig. He fought the 
 opposition with zeal and energy, and when defeated was 
 always ready to renew the contest. He was a personal 
 iriend of Henry Clay, to whom he was ardently and 
 strongly attached. In 1852 he was a delegate to the Whig 
 National Convention that nominated General Scott. In 
 1858 he was elected to the state senate by a majority which 
 at that time was entirely unexpected in a district so strongly 
 democratic. That was the year of the Lincoln and Douglas 
 joint campaign of Illinois for the United States senatorship. 
 Mr. Bestor espoused the cause of Mr. Lincoln, and while in 
 the senate had the opportunity of voting for him in opposi- 
 tion to Judge Douglas for United States senator. In the 
 campaign which followed in 1860 he did his share towards 
 electing Mr. Lincoln to the presidency. During that four 
 years in the senate he was on the committees on canal and 
 canal lands, banks and corporations, penitentiary, swamp 
 lands and military, and was chairman of the committees on 
 internal navigation. 
 
 The Springfield Journal of that date, speaking of Mr. 
 Bestor in the senate, says : 
 
 " Senator Bestor is a first-rate business man, and is one 
 of the best tacticians in the senate. He does not inflict 
 long speeches upon that body. He is universally popular, 
 and his social qualities are such as to draw around him 
 hosts of friends. He possesses a fund of anecdotes which 
 
342 FIFTY YEAES RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 he relates with inimitable grace. As a citizen he stands 
 deservedly high. He is fond of his home and its surround- 
 ings, and his hand and heart are open to his friends." 
 
 Almost everybody in Illinois knew Mr. Bestor, and 
 none knew him but to love and respect him. His name is 
 identified with the early history of Peoria, and no man con- 
 tributed more to its development. His genius and enter- 
 prise are stamped upon its growth. At the commencement 
 of the late civil war he was an ardent patriot, and his tal- 
 ents, his energies and his means were devoted to the cause 
 of the Union. He was widely known as an influential man 
 in politics. Mr. Lincoln esteemed him highly, and Judge 
 Douglas, whom he opposed, said of him, "There is no man 
 in Illinois I respect more; what he is, he is." He was 
 zealous in the support of the principles of his party, a warm 
 and ardent friend and courteous and manly opponent. 
 
 As a man George C. Bestor had few superiors. He 
 was endowed with all the noble attributes of our nature. 
 Genial, generous and affectionate. His manners were as 
 soft and gentle as a woman, and his artlessness was that of 
 childhood. His heart was always open to the demands of 
 charity, and the poor will bless his memory. 
 
 For several years before his death Mr. Bestor had spent 
 much time in Washington, prosecuting a claim before Con- 
 gress for one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, 
 for gun-boats built for the government during the war. 
 The construction of these boats had reduced him almost to 
 poverty, and it is thought that the trouble and anxiety 
 growing out of this, and what he believed to be the unjust 
 delay of his country in meeting his reasonable demands, 
 added to his feeble state of health, hastened his death. 
 
 He died at the National Hotel in the City of Washing- 
 
HON. GEOEGE C. BESTOB. 343 
 
 ton, on the 14th day of May, 1872. None of his family 
 were present at the time of his death except Mrs. Bestor. 
 
 He was twice married. First on the 20th of October, 
 1835, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Miss Mary Jane Thomas, 
 and second on the 13th of September, 1848, to Miss Sarah 
 E. Thomas, sister of his former wife. He left by his first 
 wife four children, now living, and the same number by his 
 second marriage. 
 
 The death of Mr. Bestor was a great loss to the com- 
 munity at large, but especially to Peoria, with whose inter- 
 ests his life has been so long identified. 
 
 Few men have been so long in public or have closed 
 their career with a more honorable record. From sixteen 
 years of age until the time of his death, a period of forty- 
 five years, he was connected with public affairs, and in all 
 the responsible offices he filled preserved his integrity un- 
 sullied to the last. His example will long be remembered, 
 and his noble qualities in the various stations of life will 
 exert their influences on generations yet to come. He was 
 a true man, a friend and benefactor to the poor, a generous, 
 confiding, faithful friend, an ardent patriot, and an affec- 
 tionate husband and father. 
 
 His death is mourned by his friends everywhere, but 
 most deeply at the hearthstone, where he was the adored 
 idol of his wife and children. 
 
 While his body lay in the parlor of the National Hotel, 
 preparatory to being forwarded home, his friends from Illi- 
 nois gathered around his remains. There were present of 
 his old friends, Judge Merriman, Hon. E. C. Ingersoll and 
 Col. A. C; Babcock, and Representatives Stevens, Snapp, 
 Farwell and others. At five p. m. his remains were shipped 
 forward to Peoria and interred in the family lot at Spring- 
 dale Cemetery. 
 
HON. JOSEPH J. CASSELL. 
 
 LATE JUDGE OF THE CITY COURT OF EL PASO. 
 
 The lawyer and jurist of to-day — the present time — to 
 be competent to meet the requirements of his profession 
 must be a thorough and diligent student — must keep pace 
 with the advances made in his profession and its collateral 
 branches. A legal and judicial light, bidding fair to attain 
 the first magnitude, went out on a bleak November day of 
 1880. 
 
 Joseph J. Cassell, to whose memory this sketch of a 
 short but noble life is dedicated, was born in Wood- 
 ford county, Illinois, October 7th, 1841. He was the 
 son of Hon. Robert T. Cassell and Rebecca Perry Cassell. 
 He was a close student, even while attending the common 
 schools, and early read law in his father's office before 
 attending schools where the higher branches were taught. 
 He took a regular course of study and graduated at the 
 Chicago University, and afterwards completed a regular 
 legal course in the law department of that institution, 
 was admitted to the bar in 1864, and for a time practiced as 
 a member of the well-known legal firm of Ingersoll, Cas- 
 sell & Harper. In the year 1867 he removed to El Paso 
 and formed a law partnership with his brother-in-law, John 
 T. Harper, which continued until 1873. He was married 
 to Miss Mae A. McNeal July 23, 1868, and from this union 
 
HON. JOSEPH J. CASSELL. 345 
 
 was born four children, two of whom survive, both boys. 
 This union was very pleasant and harmonious. 
 
 Mr. Cassell possessed large elements of popularity, was 
 genial in manner, sociable, related an anecdote well when 
 surrounded by an appreciative circle, and when left to him- 
 self was inclined to hard study, and was practical and earnest 
 when roused to action, possessing powers of eloquence. He 
 was twice elected judge of the recorder's court, which posi- 
 tion he held at the time of his death. He was the candi- 
 date for elector in 1876, on the republican ticket, for the 
 Eighth Congressional district. In 1879 he was spoken of 
 for the circuit judgeship in the Peoria, Putnam, Marshall, 
 Stark and Woodford circuit, but yielded the precedence to 
 Judge N. W. Laws. In 1880 he was nominated by the re- 
 publicans of his senatorial district for senator. He was in 
 feeble health, and gave to the canvass so much of his 
 strength that the exertion was too much of a tax on his 
 vital powers and he was forced to take to his bed before the 
 election took place. He was devoted to his principles, 
 assiduous for the success of his party, and where he lived 
 he was considered its ablest champion, its Achilles — its 
 strong arm. He did effective work; in his labor he was 
 indefatigable. But it was in his social relations to his 
 neighbors and friends that his character was most resplend- 
 ent. He forgave injuries and never forsook a friend. He 
 kept an open house for the destitute and showered favors 
 on the needy. The community and county in which he was 
 born will never cease to honor his integrity, admire his 
 warm and liberal qualities, and remember him with fondest 
 regrets and most tender recollections. No man ever lived 
 more in and for his family than he. His love for them was 
 unbounded. He was a play-fellow with his children, com- 
 
346 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 ing down at his home to their childish pranks, becoming a 
 real companion to them, and in their childish sorrow shared 
 it with them. By his devoted wife he was loved with an 
 affection that few experience, and that some cannot appre- 
 ciate. His hearth and family circle looked gladness — his- 
 home a perpetual summer. 
 
 Such was Joseph J. Cassell, faithful to his clients as ai 
 lawyer, just and incorruptible as a judge, for his chosen 
 principles an outspoken advocate, a friend to his state and 
 kind, and true to his family obligations as a youth dutiful 
 to his parents, kind to his brothers, and shedding in his. 
 career a gentle halo over all mankind. 
 
HON. LEVI NORTH. 
 
 ARTIST, POLITICAL ECONOMIST AND LEGISLATOR. 
 
 If a life spent in pursuits useful to others is worthy of 
 respect and remembrance, then the following sketch 
 deserves a place here. 
 
 Levi North was born in Turin, Lewis county, N. Y., 
 March 12, 1821. His father, about eight years after, 
 moved to Highmarket, an adjoining town, where he 
 remained till in the spring of 1834, when he settled near 
 Mount "Vernon, Ohio. Here Levi completed his school 
 education in a log schoolhouse, at the age of fourteen years, 
 with the exception of a couple of months in Lowville 
 (N. Y.) Academy, in 1837. His father was a farmer, and 
 he learned to chop wood and do ordinary farm labor, but 
 not being very robust he preferred mechanical labor, and 
 engaged more or less in mechanical pursuits. 
 
 At seventeen he discovered by accident that he had a 
 marked ability for drawing, and through the friendly encour- 
 agement of others he was led to practice it, and finally to 
 undertake portrait painting. But there was no one near to 
 teach him either drawing or painting, and he had no money 
 to defray the expense of obtaining instruction abroad. He 
 therefore read all he could find on the subject and pursued 
 his studies without assistance. The next year he quit farm 
 life and depended thenceforth upon his art. He studied 
 
348 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 from life. He never even had the benefit of a good picture 
 to look at until his twentieth year. 
 
 With such a meagre education he had to rely upon such 
 reading as an itinerant portrait painter could get from bor- 
 rowed books in a country where books were scarce. But 
 his occupation brought him into contact with the best 
 educated and most intelligent as well as best class of people, 
 and from them he imbibed a wide- range of ideas not 
 accessible to young men in general. For these opportuni- 
 ties he was duly grateful. He spent the winter of 1841-42 
 in Columbus, where the legislature and the state and 
 United States courts being in session, he saw much of the 
 grand public men of those days. This awakened a new 
 train of thought. He discovered new needs. He had 
 already found time to read widely of anatomy, physiology 
 and medicine — he wanted to know something of law. So, 
 after teaching a village school in the winter of 1843, he 
 entered the law office of Hon. E. W. Cotton, at Mt. Ver- 
 non, and studied as he could find opportunity, working 
 meanwhile at his art and teaching another winter, till, in 
 October, 1845, he was admitted to the bar. He did not 
 study law with a view to practicing that profession, but 
 merely as an accomplishment well calculated to enlarge his 
 mind and to better fit him to associate with his employers. 
 His artist life had been spent to a great extent among pro- 
 fessional men, and he came to, respect their intelligence and 
 broad views. 
 
 He remained in Ohio till May, 1847, when he came to 
 Peoria, where he spent a year mostly in pursuit of his art. 
 He then went to Princeton, where he spent the years in 
 various kinds of business until 1853, when he became clerk 
 for the late Judge Kelsey, who was a real estate dealer. 
 
HON. LEVI NORTH. 349 
 
 He was shortly afterwards elected police magistrate, and 
 served four years. This brought him again in contact with 
 lawyers and legal business. He then drifted into law 
 practice, and has ever since been a fairly successful lawyer. 
 In 1860 he moved to Kewanee, and shortly after became 
 the partner of Judge John H. Howe and continued with 
 him till 1869, when Judge Howe was appointed Chief 
 Justice of Wyoming Territory. 
 
 Mr. North was always a vigorous hater of all shams,, 
 whether in business, morals, religion or politics, and in a 
 corresponding degree he loves honesty wherever it is found. 
 Position, power, wealth, reputation, are to him nothing. 
 Faithfulness and honesty — downright honesty — commands 
 his most sincere respect. In religion, therefore, he believes 
 that only is good which makes men live better lives. Good 
 works is the only evidence he will receive to show that any 
 man's religion is a good one for its possessor, or indeed, 
 good for any one. It was natural that any person having 
 such a mind, though brought up as Mr. North was, a dem- 
 ocrat, should care little for his party as such. He faithfully 
 believed in the fundamental principles of that party as pro- 
 fessed at the time he became an interested spectator of 
 political management, but in 1843 he became fully satisfied 
 that, while those principles were true and wise, his party, 
 as such, utterly disregarded them, as it has done ever since. 
 He has no gala-day principles, none that were too nice for 
 every-day use, none whose practice should be delayed, or 
 whose application should not be to all men alike. His 
 logical mind and strong love of justice could only see that 
 all men were equal in their rights before the law, and that 
 sex and color were not grounds for exception. He became 
 an outspoken abolitionist, and as he could perceive no 
 
350 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 action of either the Whig or Democratic parties looking 
 toward the abolition of slavery, or in any manner restrain- 
 ing its extension, he joined his fortunes with the Liberty 
 Party, organized only the year before. Henceforth he was 
 an active worker in the cause of the slave. In 1844 he 
 delivered a score of speeches and voted for James G. 
 Birney for president. Personal consequences of every kind 
 calculated to influence so young a man were paraded be- 
 fore him to induce him to unite again with each of the pro- 
 slavery parties, but he was prepared for any sacrifice and 
 remained firm to his convictions. He has never wavered 
 in his adhesion to advanced principles of justice. 
 
 Others before him had championed emancipation in 
 Peoria, but none advocated it without meeting demonstra- 
 tions of the mob spirit. Samuel Davis, Moses Pettingill, 
 Mark M. Aiken, D. D. Irons, and a gentleman by the name 
 of Adams, constitute about all of the outspoken friends of 
 the slave in the city in 1847. In December of that year 
 Mr. North met Rev. D. J. Suow, a traveling lecturer for the 
 American Colonization Society, in debate, each defending 
 his own party principles, objects and plans. Here, by skill- 
 ful manceuvering, he arranged to have Mr. Snow speak last, 
 and thereby he gained an opportunity to present his party's 
 principles, objects and plans in a clear orderly manner, 
 without interruption, and with good effect, thus using Mr. 
 Snow to secure him an audience and the requisite good 
 order. He was always proud of this as being the first 
 abolition speech ever delivered in peace in Peoria. 
 
 In September, 1848, while coming round the lakes on a 
 steamer, Abraham Lincoln, then a member of Congress, 
 with his family, including the present secretary of war. then 
 a little boy, was aboard. A young man, the late D. D. 
 
HON. LEVI NORTH. 351 
 
 Driscoll, from Stark county, also a passenger, proposed a 
 political debate and made provision for it in the cabin. 
 Mr. North was to defend the free soil party's cause and he 
 supposed Mr. Driscoll was to defend the whig cause. 
 But when the time arrived Mr. Driscoll introduced to him 
 and the audience Hon. Abraham Lincoln. The debate 
 was held in the afternoon of one day and the evening of the 
 next. Mr. North always expressed a high opinion of Mr. 
 Lincoln personally, and of his fairness and ability in that 
 debate, but thinks he could then be entirely at home only 
 in discussion with democrats. Democratic principles and 
 practices Mr. Lincoln seemed to fully understand. The 
 principles and history of the liberty party he had no knowl- 
 edge of at the time, and he seemed not to comprehend the 
 ideas of free soilers. Indeed, in Sangamon county, where ne 
 lived, there was but one abolition voter until about the 
 organization of the free soil party, and one could count 
 them all in that part of the state on his fingers. 
 
 From that time forward Mr. North wrote much for the 
 press. He was fearless in the defence of what he deemed 
 right, and in attacking bad measures and practices of all 
 parties. He had no faculty for worshiping the political 
 gods of his time. He believed the noblest statesmen of the 
 last half century were Mr. Sumner and Mr. Chase. The 
 most of the rest were fractional men, able and useful often 
 in the advocacy of measures, but not steadily reliable in 
 their judgement concerning what those measures should be. 
 They were advocates, sometimes on the right side and some- 
 times on the wrong, and geuerally looking only to present 
 effects of great measures instead of probable future results. 
 Such he considered the advocates of high protective tariffs 
 and the loose railroad laws of the country to be. They 
 
352 
 
 served the selfish interests of the few rather than the highest 
 interests of all, and this did not rise to the dignity of true 
 statesmanship. 
 
 In 1870 he was elected to the House of Representatives 
 of the Illinois legislature. Here, during the winters of 
 1871—72, he made himself useful in the revision and adop- 
 tion of the statutes to the new constitution. He led the 
 majority in the struggle against extreme high salaries for 
 state officers. He maintained that while a reasonable com- 
 pensation was due to our public servants, the extreme high 
 salaries proposed for our officers (the question of judicial 
 salaries was then under consideration) would tempt the 
 worse class of aspirants to seek those places and furnish the 
 means to purchase them through the aid of corruption. 
 And he said that even a half of the salary he was now will- 
 ing to pay had given us better judges and governors than 
 he really had an expectation of obtaining in the future. He 
 was not willing to compete for judges in the market with 
 railroads, nor did he want the class of men they would em- 
 ploy. The great advocate always found it difficult to be- 
 come an unpartisan judge. 
 
 He was an active worker for the license law passed in 
 1872, requiring the keepers of saloons to give bond for the 
 payment of damages in case of certain injuries caused by 
 the sale of intoxicating liquors. He was an active and 
 influential worker in favor of our present system of peni- 
 tentiary management, and estimates with some pride that 
 while it is more humane, it saves to the state nearly a hun- 
 dred thousand dollars each year that would have been lost 
 by the adoption of either of the three other proposed plans. 
 But he lays no claim to having originated it. He gives the 
 credit of this to Gov. Palmer and Senator Snapp, but it 
 was voted for by republicans only. 
 
HON. LEVI NORTH. 353 
 
 As a lawyer he always held that the duties of his pro- 
 fession did not require him to do a dishonest act. He 
 believed that professional life did not require him to belittle 
 his manhood, and that a lawyer could never rightfully 
 become a journeyman liar, for it was as dishonest and 
 degrading, and everyway as deserving of censure to lie and 
 cheat in the interest of a client as if done for himself. But 
 he held that lawyers were fully as honest as their patrons 
 desired them to be, and on the whole were far better men 
 than the majority of the public who supported them. If 
 the bar ever became better it would be the result of more 
 correct and honest maxims of conduct among the people. 
 Notwithstanding his low estimate of the bar in general, it 
 always seemed to him that law was the noblest and most 
 useful of the professions in the hands of high-minded men. 
 In this estimate the author has drawn on his remembrance 
 of Mr. North while residing at Peoria, Princeton and 
 Kewanee, both as a citizen and professionally. There are 
 other prominent citizens of Henry county deserving like 
 recognition, sketches of whom are prepared, but for want 
 of space deferred until the appearance of the next volume. 
 
 23 
 
GEO. W. BROWN. 
 
 INVENTOR AND MANUFACTURER. 
 
 It is remarkable how great a majority of the men who 
 have risen to distinction and Conferred lasting benefits 
 upon humanity, commenced life poor and with nothing but 
 ability and pluck with which to work out success. Among 
 those to whom we will call special attention is Mr. George 
 W. Brown, of Galesburg, 111., the inventor and extensive 
 manufacturer of corn planters. Mr. Brown commenced 
 life in poverty. He was born in Clifton Park township, 
 Saratoga county, New York, on the 29th day of October, 
 1815. He remained on the farm where he was born until 
 he was fourteen years of age, when he began to learn the 
 trade of a carpenter, a trade which he followed for many 
 years. He remembers the first boat that passed through 
 the Erie canal, bearing DeWitt Clinton and other distin- 
 guished persons. He assisted in building the railroad from 
 Albany to Schenectady, sixteen miles, which was the only 
 road in the United States, except a line of about the same 
 length running out of Baltimore ; the cars run at that time 
 were a little larger than a stage coach. The first train over 
 the line carried several distinguished excursionists, among 
 them the venerable Thurlow Weed. Mr. Brown was the 
 first track-master of this road. Before he was of age Mr. 
 Brown married Maria Turpening, who has been in a true 
 sense a helpmate. Both were at the time of the union 
 
GEO. W. BROWN. 355 
 
 Methodists, and have remained members of the same church 
 until this day. Some near relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
 having gone to Illinois and sent back glowing accounts of 
 the new country, they determined to go there and'build up 
 their fortunes. There being no railroads they bought a 
 team and wagon, loaded all of their worldly effects and 
 started out on their long journey. During almost the en- 
 tire trip it rained and the roads were almost impassable, but 
 in July, 1836; they located on a farm near what is now 
 Tylerville, nine miles northwest from Galesburg. He 
 traded his team for eighty acres of land, built a log house 
 for himself and several of his neighbors by working at his 
 trade while his wife conducted the farm. There are many 
 houses now in the vicinity of Tylerville, Shanghai, and that 
 section of the country, that were built by Mr. Brown when 
 he was following the carpenter's trade. Being both a 
 farmer and a mechanic Mr. Brown gave much thought to 
 improving farm machinery. Crude as the cultivator of 
 1848 was, he conceived the idea of remodeling it into a corn 
 planter. His idea was to drop three rows at once, setting 
 the shovels the required distance apart for the rows, while 
 a man walking behind the planter should operate the slide 
 which permitted the kernels of corn to drop into the furrow 
 prepared by the shovel. The wheels that followed to do 
 the covering were sections of logs sawed off and attached to 
 the planter. In the spring of 1851 Mr. Brown completed 
 the first corn planter of the present style, and planted corn 
 with it in May of that year. 
 
 In 1852 he planted about 25 acres of corn, and demon- 
 strated that he had invented the principle which has been 
 the foundation of subsequent planters. He was without 
 means, had sold his property and about all his personal 
 
356 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 effects to complete one machine and get his patents, but 
 with prophetic eye he saw that it must be used. It was the 
 coming idea in machinery, and he sold his farm, went 
 deeply into debt for more money, and took the chances of 
 success. He had made a name for honesty and integrity, 
 and his' creditors gave him more time and he persevered. 
 
 He began manufacturing in Shanghai, a few miles from 
 Galesburg, and in 1853 completed twelve machines, one of 
 which planted that year three hundred acres of corn. In 
 1854 he made one hundred machines, and in 1855 three 
 hundred machines, after which he moved his shop to Gales- 
 burg. Mr. Brown knew the machine would plant corn and 
 do it well ; the few farmers who had planted with it and 
 seen the growth from the planting, knew it would, but 
 these were so few that the great army of farmers knew 
 nothing about it and were skeptical. The planters were in- 
 troduced by sending out agents with one on a wagon to 
 demonstrate that it was practical. This made the expense of 
 introducing them very great ; in fact, it is stated by those 
 who claim to know, that it was more than ten years before 
 Mr. Brown had made a dollar out of his invention. From 
 that time forward success was waiting his nod, and the busi- 
 ness increased with remarkable rapidity. With the increased 
 popularity of his invention Mr. B. encountered new obsta- 
 cles, other manufacturers appropriated his ideas and devices 
 and began the manufacture. His only protection against 
 these infringers was the courts, and to these he appealed 
 and established the validity of his patents, which made 
 those who had trespassed on his inventions pay him tribute. 
 
 This business has steadily grown until now it is the 
 largest, finest and best equipped corn planter manufactory 
 in the world. In 1880 this business was incorporated 
 
GEO. W. BROWN. 
 
 357 
 
 under the name of George W. Brown & Co., with a paid up 
 ■capital of $300,000. Its officers are, George W. Brown, 
 President; I. S. Perkins, Vice-President; L. Stevens, Sec- 
 retary ; Jas. E. Brown, Treasurer ; M. T. Perrin, Supt. 
 
 Of late years other implements have been added to this 
 business, such as check-rowers, stalk-cutters, plow sulkies, 
 listers and cultivators, of which many thousand are annually 
 made and sold, many of which find a market outside of our 
 own country. Russia, Japan, Germany, England, Aus- 
 tralia, New Zealand, South America and Mexico, each have 
 been benefited by this wonderful production. 
 
 
 
 ■'mil 
 
 Brown's Corn Planter Works, Galesburq, Illinois. 
 
 The above cut shows the present style of Brown's Corn 
 Planter Works, which are wholly composed of brick and 
 stone with slate roofs, making them nearly fire-proof. 
 They are provided with steam heating, steam pump and 
 water pipes throughout, for extinguishing fire, and they 
 have all the modern machinery necessary for the success of 
 this great manufacturing interest. Some idea of the growth 
 
358 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 and magnitude of this business may be formed when it is 
 known that over three hundred workmen are employed, re- 
 ceiving in wages annually about $140,000, and consuming 
 in material more than half a million feet of lumber, three 
 thousand tons of coal, four hundred tons of castings, two 
 hundred and fifty tons of wrought iron and steel, twenty 
 tons of paint and oil, besides large quantities of bolts and 
 screws, and numerous other articles not named. 
 
 With Mr. Brown's successes have grown also a spirit of 
 enterprise and benevolence. The evidence of his public 
 spirit is found in many things about the city of his adop- 
 tion. Brown's hotel, built by him, is an honor to its builder 
 and the city. The Methodist church has received liberally 
 from him, and no deserving charity is turned away from 
 him without help. He is a conscientious manufacturer, a 
 desirable citizen, a good neighbor, and a consistent Chris- 
 tian gentlemen. 
 
JOHN CARROLL POWER. 
 
 STATE AND NATIONAL HISTORIAN. 
 
 A faithful chronicler of historic facts deserves to live in 
 the memory of the people. Such a man, tried and true, we 
 present in the person represented by our present sketch. 
 
 John Carroll Power was born September 19, 1819, in 
 Fleming county, Kentucky. His grandfather and six of 
 his grand-uncles were soldiers in the revolution from Lou- 
 don county, Virginia. They were a lucky seven and served 
 their country to the end of the war, sometimes all being 
 engaged at the same time. After the cruel war was over 
 this branch of the family crossed the Alleghauies on pack 
 horses, embarked on boats at Fort DuQuesne (Pitts- 
 burg), and floated down the Ohio, landing at Limestone 
 (Maysville), and settled on territory afterwards organized 
 as Fleming county, and here the subject of our sketch was 
 born. 
 
 His father owned a few slaves, among them a woman 
 and three children. His uncle owned her husband, the 
 brothers agreeing not to make a sale that would separate 
 the husband and wife. For some cause the woman and 
 children were sold to a neighbor under pledge that they 
 should not be sold, causing separation of husband, wife and 
 children. 
 
 This man dealer took advantage of the sympathetic 
 feelings of the brothers to drive a close bargain, for he soon 
 after sold them for double what he gave. They were 
 
360 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 bound, thrown into a wagon, drawn to the Ohio, placed on 
 a boat, and never again heard from by the husband, who 
 was more intelligent than the man who had sold his wife 
 and children. This woman had cared for the children of 
 the elder Power with the tenderness of a mother, and from 
 the time of this legal abduction he abhorred slavery and 
 always expected it would pass away with an almost Egyp- 
 tian destruction in the redemption of the bondmen, but his 
 powers of prescience were not sufficiently acute to penetrate 
 the near future to know that it would be accomplished in 
 his day. 
 
 There was not such an institution as a public school in 
 Kentucky at that time, and he left his native state in his 
 twenty-second year with but the simplest rudiments of an 
 education. Mr. Power takes pleasure in attributing to a 
 great extent the measure of success he has attained, both 
 morally and mentally, to his selection of a wife. 
 
 He was married May 14, 1845, to Miss Sarah A. Harris, 
 at Aurora, Indiana, a short distance below Cincinnati. 
 Miss Harris was bom there October 1st, 1824, of English 
 parentage. Her grandfather on the maternal side was 
 rector of a simple parish church of England, near Man- 
 chester, for more than a third of a century. Mrs. Power 
 being a graduate, of a female college, her husband solicited 
 her aid in mental culture, which was cheerfully rendered 
 and " polished off our diamond in the rough," she teaching 
 and he receiving instruction, both better than they knew, 
 for he soon discovered a strong inclination to fix his 
 thoughts on paper, and through the press became a teacher 
 in turn ; " not hiding his light under a bushel," but letting 
 his thoughts run fancy free. He thus was not long in dis- 
 covering his vocation. He thus continued to cultivate 
 
/ /r-f / a £> 
 
JOHN CARROLL POWERS. 361 
 
 habits of study, but he says without any thought of be- 
 coming an author till well advanced in life. 
 
 But finally the " divine afflatus " seized him and carried 
 him a willing captive, leastwise he was not unmindful of 
 the promptings of his genius, and his first effort in author- 
 ship was a success. He wrote an essay on " Self-education," 
 for which the Illinois State Agricultural Society awarded 
 him a medal in 1858. This was revised and published in 
 " Harkness' Magazine," the editor expressing the opinion 
 that those who read it would find it " one of the most 
 profitable, instructive, and mentally and morally invigorat- 
 ing essays they ever read." This was high praise from a 
 source competent to judge. 
 
 His next effort, the " History of the Rise and 
 Progress of Sunday Schools," published in 1864 by Sheldon 
 & Co., of New York, was his first publication in. book 
 form. After an additional study of twenty years he has it 
 re-written and nearly ready for the press, under the title of 
 " History of Sunday Schools and Life of William Fox, 
 Founder of the First Sunday Society in the World." He 
 has written several books and pamphlets on various sub- 
 jects, also magazine articles on a variety of topics. An 
 open letter by him to the postmaster-general on the subject 
 of addressing mail matter, is a brief and interesting maga- 
 zine article. 
 
 After four years of incessant labor by him, and two 
 years by his estimable wife, he brought out his " History 
 of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County." It is a book 
 of 800 octavo pages, a work well done, giving great satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Thousands will remember him as the genial custodian 
 of the National Lincoln Monument at Springfield, Illinois. 
 
362 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 It has been said of Power that he can give a visitor more- 
 information about Lincoln and the monument in twenty 
 minutes than could possibly be obtained in any other way in 
 as many hours. His position there is due to the fact that 
 he has written a history of the monument combined with 
 the life of Lincoln, which is now in its third edition. His 
 nine years' service as custodian has enabled him to become 
 conversant with every event in the history of the monu- 
 ment, and almost every' incident in the life of Lincoln. 
 
 Now that the monument is completed he is preparing 
 to combine with the history a more elaborate life of Lin- 
 coln than anything heretofore published. But good men 
 are subject to criticism, and Mr. Power is no exception. 
 Some people are determined not to be pleased with any- 
 thing, so some people criticize his kind efforts to entertain 
 them when they visit the monument. In a humorous reply 
 to a censorious newspaper attack by a visitor at the monu- 
 ment, Mr. Power relates in his book on Lincoln and the 
 monument the best joke we remember to have seen about 
 sleeping in church, and it is all the better for being at his 
 own expense. He says : " One of my weaknesses from 
 boyhood has been sleeping in church. I was compelled to 
 do it in self-defense. Perhaps you ask, how ? For fifteen 
 years or more I was required to attend services on Saturday 
 and Sunday in each month at a genuine Simon-pure, old- 
 fashioned, hard-shell Baptist church in Kentucky. Such a 
 church was never known to exist north of the Ohio, and I 
 doubt if it can exist in the south much longer. During all 
 these fifteen years I sat under the same sermon, from the 
 
 same man, Rev. Joel M. . It was full three hours 
 
 long, all in that blessed tone so dear to the hearts of the 
 elder sisters of the congregation. It made no difference 
 
JOHN CAEEOLL POWEES. 363- 
 
 whether his text was in Genesis or Revelations, the sermon, 
 was all the same with the exception of a sentence or two at 
 the opening and closing. The sermon abounded in the 
 stereotyped phrases such as " mourning like a dove," and 
 " chattering like a swallow," accompanied with tones and 
 gestures as though he was trying to imitate the birds. 
 These long sittings were more than my youthful flesh could 
 endure, hence it became absolutely necessary as a means of 
 self-defense, to wear away part of the time in sleep. I 
 never realize so fully at any time that I am a monument of 
 mercy as when I am thinking of that sermon and how I 
 survived it. But it was not all evil. There was one re- 
 deeming feature in it, the benefit of which I am enjoying at 
 the present time. I used to preach that sermon on odd 
 Sundays to congregations of boys and negroes assembled 
 behind barns and under shade trees, and that is the way 
 that I acquired that Demosthenian eloquence which you so 
 much admire. Although the habit of sleeping in church 
 was acquired* strictly in self-defense, it has proved to be 
 sometimes quite annoying. After marriage myself and wife 
 became members of a Presbyterian church, less than one 
 hundred miles from Cincinnati, and at one time made our 
 home in the family of the pastor, Rev. L. R. B. He could 
 not fail to observe my weakness, and would occasionally 
 remind me of it. I would retort by saying thai? it was his 
 duty to preach such sermons as would keep me awake. He 
 would usually speak my name as though it had a plural 
 termination, which it has not. The seating in the church 
 was promiscuous, consequently upon one very warm day I 
 found myself under the necessity of occupying quite a con- 
 spicuous place in front of the pulpit. It required unusual 
 exertions to retain an upright position, but I did not be- 
 come so sound asleep as to prevent my knowing when the 
 
364 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 minister closed his sermon, opened his hymn book and read 
 
 distinctly from one of Dr. Watts' good old hymns : — 
 
 " My drowsy Powers, why sleep ye so. 
 Awake my sluggish soul, 
 Nothing has half thy work to do, 
 Yet nothing half so dull. 
 
 "By the time the reading of the first verse was done I was 
 aroused and felt as though all eyes were upon me, but pre- 
 served a respectful demeanor. We walked home together, 
 but the events of the morning were not alluded to until all 
 were seated at the dinner table. 
 
 " Assuming a serious expression of countenance, for I 
 really thought he had selected that hymn as applicable to 
 my case, I said: Brother B. I think I have just cause to 
 complain of you. 'Why so?' said he, with an inquiring 
 look. Because, sir, you to-day took occasion to 'point a 
 moral and adorn a tale' by pointing out my infirmity publicly 
 when you could just as well have done it privately. With a 
 puzzled expression of countenance he said, ' I do not under- 
 stand you, please explain.' Well, sir, at the -close of your 
 sermon this morning, seeing I had been asleep as usual, you 
 could not wait until our arrival at home to reprove me, but 
 under pretense of reading a hymn called aloud, ' My 
 drowsy Powers, why sleep ye so?' I then found the 
 selection of the hymn was entirely unpremeditated on his 
 part, and therefore will not attempt to describe what en- 
 sued, but any allusion to the subject after that was sure to 
 provoke the most unbounded mirth." 
 
 The accompanying portrait is an excellent likeness as 
 he looked in 1876 when first engraved, and as it appears in 
 his " Life of Lincoln." He now shows just a little more 
 the advance of years, but intellectually just in his prime, 
 and his plans for the future in his literary work take in a 
 wide range, requiring energy to accomplish. 
 
hon. david Mcculloch. 
 
 JUDGE OF APPELLATE AND CIRCUIT COURTS. 
 
 If official position could be assigned to those most cap- 
 able of performing their duties from their natural and 
 acquired abilities, and added to these the moral force of 
 right and integrity as the ruling principle that governs the 
 man, then we could write that David McCulloch would be 
 entitled to fill the highest judicial positions in our state and 
 nation. 
 
 He was born in Cumberland county, Penn., January 
 25, 1832, graduated at Marshall College in that state 
 before he attained his majority, and soon after came to Illi- 
 nois, where he engaged in teaching at Peoria until the year 
 
 1855, when he commenced the study of law in the office of 
 Manning & Merriman, and was admitted to practice in 
 
 1856. In November, 1855, he was elected as superintend- 
 ent of the schools of Peoria county, and held the office till 
 1861, being twice re-elected. During these years he made 
 many suggestions in regard to necessary changes in the 
 school law, and had the pleasure of seeing them adopted by 
 the legislature. These suggestions became a part of the 
 new free-school system of the state, and went into opera- 
 tion during the latter term of his office, and it was his 
 pleasant duty to give them the right direction in his own 
 county, which he did, 'receiving the approval of the leading 
 educators of the county and state, and among them none 
 
366 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 were warmer in their commendation than Hon. Newton 
 Jiateman, then state superintendent of public instruction. 
 
 In 1860, having remained in the office of Manning & 
 Merriman until that time, dividing the time between his 
 law practice and his official duties, he opened an office of 
 his own, but during the following year, Mr. Merriman hav- 
 ing been elected to the circuit judgeship, he formed a 
 partnership with Mr. Manning, which lasted till July 4, 
 1862, when Mr. Manning died. He then formed a partner- 
 ship with the late Charles P. Taggart, which continued 
 until 1869, when it was dissolved owing to the failing 
 health of Mr. Taggart, who went to California. 
 
 During the last two years of this partnership Mr. 
 McCulloch performed the duties of state's attorney, to 
 which Mr. Taggart had been elected, as the bad health of 
 the latter prevented him from performing its duties. 
 
 After a partnership of short duration with Capt. J. M. 
 Bice, Mr. McCulloch formed a partnership with John 
 S. Stevens, Esq., which continued until Mr. Stevens' ap- 
 pointment as postmaster in 1876. 
 
 He was just as watchful and discriminating in regard to 
 any defects in the general law as he was in the school laws, 
 and through his suggestions to members of the legislature 
 important changes were made from time to time. Some 
 amendments were drawn by himself and are still part of the 
 law. 
 
 His active mind embraced a wide range, and he con- 
 ferred with leading members of the bar from other parts of 
 the state in regard to needed changes in laws, and additions 
 thereto. 
 
 As early as 1876, from his extensive practice, in the 
 supreme court, he discovered the overcrowded condition of 
 
HON. JOHN McCULLOCH. 367 
 
 that branch of the judiciary ; that it was clogged, business 
 delayed, suitors put off from term to term at great expense, 
 in short, it in many cases retarded the administering of 
 justice. It was found that legislation was imperatively de- 
 manded to increase the judicial force of the state. An ap- 
 pellate court was provided for by the constitution, to be 
 composed of judges of the circuit courts. But the circuit 
 courts" were generally behind in their business, so there 
 were no judges to spare for this intermediate court. What 
 was to be done to end this perplexity ? In this state of 
 the question Mr. McCulloch, in 1876, addressed a commu- 
 nication to the Legal News, of Chicago, proposing a remedy 
 that would reach the case. This letter was published in 
 October of that year, and elicited the attention of the bar 
 in different parts of the state. 
 
 At the same time came the proposition from Stephen V. 
 Moore, of Kankakee, proposing the formation of a state 
 bar association'. The result of these different presentations 
 of the question was, that a meeting of the bar of the state 
 was held at Springfield, January 1, 1876, and a state bar 
 association was formed, and steps taken to reform the judi- 
 cial system of the state, the legislature then being in session. 
 A committee, of which Judges Puterbaugh, McCulloch and 
 Thorntou were members, was appointed to draft the neces- 
 sary bills. 
 
 These bills provided for thirteen new judges, and most 
 of the other features of the bills were adopted, and the 
 appellate courts organized, all in accordance with the plan 
 first suggested by McCulloch's letter. The result has been 
 most satisfactory. 
 
 The first election under this law was held August 6th, 
 1877, when Judge McCulloch was [elected by a handsome 
 
368 
 
 majority. Id June, 1879, when there were three judges to- 
 elect, he led all the rest, having the highest majority of the 
 three. He was designated by the supreme court as one of 
 the appellate judges, being assigned to the Third Appellate 
 Court District, which position he has since held, having 
 been re-appointed in 1882, also at times performing some 
 circuit duties. He was chosen president of the State Bar 
 Association in recognition of his services in bringing about 
 these great reforms, which position he held for one year. 
 
 In June, 1882, a supreme judge was to be chosen. The 
 republican convention that met at Galva in May to select a 
 candidate, after a number of ballots chose Judge McCul- 
 loch as their candidate. From the numerical majority of 
 that party in the district it was supposed that he would be 
 elected, but issues foreign to the question of the fitness of 
 the men presented as candidates were forced into the can- 
 vass. Outside pressure was brought to bear against Judge 
 McColloch, and thousands of dollars were distributed over 
 the district to defeat him. This combination of all the dis- 
 tracting and heterogeneous elements in and out of the dis- 
 trict, together with the fact that the election occurred at 
 the most busy season of the year among the farmers, so 
 that in the agricultural districts there was a very meagre 
 attendance at the polls, all conspired to defeat him, and the 
 people of the state at large are deprived of the services of 
 one of the most pure and upright jurists in her borders. 
 
 Judge McCulloch is now in his fifty-second year, in the 
 prime of manhood and mental strength, by nature a student,, 
 the traits of his mind fitting him for close thought and a 
 happy way of expressing just what is proper for the place 
 or the occasion. As a writer his expositions of law are 
 
hon. john Mcculloch. 369 
 
 sound, lucid and able, combining plainness, solidity and 
 impregnability to criticism. 
 
 Judge McCulloch's relations with the bench and bar of 
 the state are most pleasant. His associates on the appellate 
 bench are Judges C. L. Higbie, of Pittsfield, and Oliver L. 
 Davis, of Danville. Their place of meeting is at Spring- 
 field, and their official duties require their attention nearly 
 one-half the time, either on the bench or in chambers, look- 
 ing up authorities and writing out opinions. Their rulings 
 and decisions are seldom reversed by the supreme court. 
 The same can be said in regard to his associates on the 
 circuit bench, Judges Laws and Burns, and the members of 
 the bar throughout the circuit. Their personal and pro- 
 fessional relations are most cordial and pleasant. 
 
 24 
 
HON. GEORGE E. WARREN. 
 
 LATE REPRESENTATIVE STATE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 If long and faithful citizenship in this state entitles a 
 man to just recognition from his fellow-citizens, then the 
 subject of our sketch should enjoy that mead of praise. 
 
 George E. Warren was born at Worthington, Franklin 
 county, Ohio, August 16, 1817. His father, Dr. Thomas 
 Warren, was a native of New Hampshire ; moved to Bristol, 
 R. I., in 1810, and married Miss Martha, daughter of 
 Charles DeWolf, a wealthy merchant and ship owner of that 
 port. 
 
 In 1814 they removed to Ohio, and there resided till the 
 spring of 1818, and then returned to Bristol, where Dr. 
 Warren resided till the fall of 1835. His wife died in 1829, 
 he with his family, then consisting of a daughter and two 
 sons, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only survi- 
 vor, again removed to the west in 1835, landing at Alton 
 when that city was increasing in population very rapidly. 
 
 Before coming to Illinois young Warren received the 
 benefit of a good educational course at Brown University, 
 Providence, R. I., entering that institution when he was 
 fourteen years old and remaining there until his senior year. 
 After removal to Illinois he commenced the study of law 
 with Woodson & Hodge, at Carrolton, . and was also 
 appointed deputy of the circuit and county courts, under 
 M. O. Bledsoe, who held both these positions. His health 
 having become seriously impaired, in order to recuperate it 
 
HON. GEORGE E. WAKREN. 371 
 
 amid the scenes of youthful days, among friends in Rhode 
 Island, in the spring of 1837, he returned to that state, 
 and the following August was married to Miss Harriet S., 
 ■daughter of S. S. Allen, Esq., then collector of the port of 
 Bristol. 
 
 He returned to the west in the autumn of that year, and 
 in the spring of 1838 settled at Alton, where he completed 
 his kw studies and was admitted to the bar in 1839. 
 
 Owing to the financial depression then prevalent over 
 the country the place offered but little encouragement to 
 the young practitioner, and his father and guardian having 
 purchased for him a large farm near Jerseyville with money 
 bequeathed by his grandfather, Charles De Wolf, in the 
 spring of 1840 he moved to this farm and commenced its 
 improvement. In 1841 he was elected justice of the peace 
 and held the position for eight years, when he was elected 
 the first county judge of Jersey county under the new 
 •state constitution. He performed the duties of that office 
 to the entire satisfaction of the people for eight years, till 
 the fall of 1857, full two terms, making a continuous 
 official service of sixteen years as justice and judge. He 
 then resumed his law practice, following it steadily alone 
 till 1862. He then admitted his son-in-law, Hon. W. H. 
 Pogue, as a partner, which business relation still exists. 
 
 In March, 1875, he was elected mayor of Jerseyville 
 on the anti-license ticket, and served very acceptably, the 
 ■city prospering under his administration. But his fellow- 
 citizens still called for him to come up higher, and at the 
 general election in November, 1878, he was elected to the 
 state legislature from the fortieth representative district, 
 and took his seat at the opening of the general assembly in 
 January, 1879, and during the session acquitted himself 
 
372 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 with great ability and to the entire satisfaction of a large 
 majority of his constituents. 
 
 Judge Warren has always possessed' a competence, and 
 never aimed at the acquisition of great wealth or political 
 notoriety, his official positions coming to him unsought. 
 He is domestic in his habits, and seeks and finds satisfac- 
 tion in the enjoyment of a quiet home life, — the family 
 circle and the society of congenial friends. He- is 
 literary in his tastes, and has a fund of knowledge to 
 " draw on at sight " that is a great satisfaction to him. In 
 acquiring this he has always been a close student, and his 
 mind is a rich storehouse of practical knowledge. He has 
 always been a firm believer in the Christian religion, owing 
 this strong faith largely to the training of a Christian 
 mother. He appreciates the truths of the Bible as a divine 
 revelation, and at the early age of sixteen united with the 
 Protestant Episcopal church. There being no church of 
 this faith at Jerseyville, he, with his wife, in March, 1852, 
 united with the First Presbyterian church of that city, and 
 has been one of the elders since 1866. In politics he was 
 a whig, but on the disruption of that party he became a 
 republican, yielding a conscientious approval to the prin- 
 ciples of that party. 
 
 In his worthy wife he finds a hearty coadjutor in- 
 Christian and benevolent work, to which they are both 
 devoted. 
 
 He has four sons and four daughters, seven of them 
 married and have children, and the judge, as one of the 
 patriarchs in Israel, has a full score of grandchildren. One 
 daughter resides at Washington, D. C. The others all 
 reside at Jerseyville and in its immediate vicinity. 
 
JOHN BRYNER. 
 
 LATE COLONEL FORTY-SEVENTH ILLINOIS REGIMENT. 
 
 AmoDg the active and efficient patriotic men in our state 
 on the opening of the rebellion, none made their influence 
 and usefulness more felt in the sphere in which they acted 
 than the subject of our sketch. 
 
 John Bryner was born in Center county, Pennsylvania, 
 October 6, 1820, and came to Peoria in 1845. After serv- 
 ing in several clerical capacities he, in 1847, entered into 
 business with William McLean, under the firm name of 
 McLean & Bryner, in the leather trade, which continued 
 till 1861. During these years he was called to fill many 
 important positions of trust and honor. He was elected 
 sheriff of Peoria county, and served two terms with such 
 acceptance as to meet the general approval of the people. 
 On the organization of the "National Blues" in 1856 he 
 was elected first lieutenant, in which capacity he acted till 
 the year before the breaking out of the rebellion, when he 
 was elected captain, and when the call was made for volun- 
 teers he assisted in the organization and outfit of companies 
 for other regiments, until the second call for 300,000 men, 
 when he commenced the organization of the Forty-Seventh 
 Volunteer Infantry. July 27, 1861, he was commissioned 
 colonel of the regiment, and from that time to'the muster- 
 ing in of the regiment, August 16th, he was continually 
 
374 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 receiving and recruiting the companies that were to com- 
 pose his regiment. 
 
 From that date till September 23d the regiment was 
 perfecting its drill and waiting orders. On this date march- 
 ing orders were received and the men went by rail to 
 St. Louis, going into quarters at Benton Barracks, receiv- 
 ing their clothing and arms complete. 
 
 His regiment remained here until October 9th, when it 
 moved by rail' to Jefferson City, Mo., remaining there 
 doing garrison duty until December 22d, then moving by 
 rail to Otterville, there doing garrison duty until February 
 2, 1862, then marching north to Missouri river, crossing at 
 Boonville, marching down the north side of the river to 
 St. Charles, where it' arrived February 18th, crossed the 
 riveragain at St. Charles, and moved by rail to St. Louis, 
 embarking on the steamer War Eagle for Cairo, arriving 
 there Feb. 23d. 
 
 Feb. 25th moved by steamer to Commerce, Mo., disem- 
 barking, joined Pope's command, then organizing for a 
 campaign against Island No. 10 and New Madrid. March 
 2nd marched for New Madrid, settling down before the 
 enemy's works at that place March 4th. Here was the first 
 opportunity the regiment had been afforded of coming face 
 to face with the enemy, but the time had been improved by 
 Col. Bryner at all points where he had been doing garrison 
 duty, to perfect his regiment by a thorough course of mili- 
 tary drill which he was thoroughly qualified to give them. 
 
 On the night of March 10th, the Forty-Seventh with 
 the Eleventh Missouri Infantry, marched ten miles below 
 New Madrid, taking along a battery of light artillery. 
 Their objective point was Point Pleasant, to blockade 
 the river, cutting off the enemy's communication by the 
 
JOHN BEYNEE. 375 
 
 river below New Madrid and Island No. 10. Here they 
 were brigaded with the Eleventh Missouri and Twenty-^ 
 Sixth Illinois Infantry, the Eighth Regiment Wisconsin 
 Volunteer Infantry, (the Eagle, or " Old Abe" regiment), 
 and placed under the command of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. 
 Plummer. Col. Bryner remained with the regiment at 
 Point Pleasant until April 7th. During this time the ene- 
 my were compelled to evacuate New Madrid, that place 
 was occupied by the brigade, and on the 9th they were paid 
 four month's services by Maj. Witherell, U. S. A. 
 
 April 10th the regiment embarked on the 'Steamer 
 Aleck Scott and dropped down the river nearly to Fort 
 Pillow, returning on the morning of the 11th to. Tipton- 
 ville, Tennessee, twenty miles below New Madrid. Re- 
 maining here till the 12th, they moved up the river to 
 Cairo, drew clothing, and steamer took on coal. On the 
 20th they moved up the Tennessee River to Hamburg 
 Landing, Tenn., arriving on the 22d, disembarking, en- 
 camped near the river, and during the next fifteen days 
 accompanied General Pope's army in their advance in the 
 direction of Corinth, where the enemy were posted in 
 strength. This march was very fatiguing, Col. Bryner's 
 duties being to build a corduroy road through extensive 
 swamps. May 9th they engaged the enemy at Farmington, 
 Miss. In the fight Lieut. -Col. Daniel L. Miles was killed. 
 May 28th the 47th participated in an engagement near 
 Corinth. On the night of the 29th the enemy evacuated 
 Corinth, and the regiment accompanied Gen. Pope's com-, 
 mand in pursuit of the retreating forces as far as Boones- 
 ville, Miss., returning to Camp Clear Creek, six miles 
 south of Corinth, June 11th, 1862, where in a few days 
 they received two months' pay from Major Etting, U. S. A. 
 
376 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 July 3d the regiment marched to Rienzi, Miss., remaining 
 there until the 18th of August. Here Col. Bryner, in 
 consequence of his arduous and incessant duties, was com- 
 pelled by ill health to leave the regiment. His resignation 
 having been accepted, he reluctantly took leave of the regi- 
 ment. Through his ability as a tactician, strictness as a 
 disciplinarian, and constant regular drill when in camp, the 
 47th became under his command one of the most efficient 
 regiments in the service. The officers regarded him as a 
 brother,, and for the men he had a fatherly regard, he was so 
 careful of their comfort, health and. welfare. 
 
 Although compelled to leave his chosen command, when 
 he arrived at home such was his experience, his superior 
 skill, that, though an invalid, he was called on to assist in 
 the organization of new regiments. The 85th, 86th, 103d, 
 108th and 112th were organized and fitted for the field 
 under his careful and vigilant eye, he having charge of the 
 camp at Peoria during the time they were filling up and 
 getting ready to take the field. When the 139th — a hun- 
 dred-day regiment, was organized, he accepted a commis- 
 sion as first lieutenant, and was assigned as assistant 
 quartermaster, and his health having in a measure im- 
 proved he accompanied the 139th to Cairo and went into 
 camp with them. 
 
 While here he received a most pressing request from 
 his old regiment, the 47th, then a battalion of four com- 
 panies under command of Major Bonham, to return to 
 them, every officer and man joining in the request. He 
 accepted the tender, and obtaining leave of Gov. Oglesby, 
 raised six new companies, going into camp at Springfield, 
 the four veteran companies having been ordered to join 
 Gen. A. J. Smith's forces, then in front of Fort Spanish at 
 Mobile. 
 
JOHN BRYNER. 377 
 
 After the completion of the organization of the six 
 companies he was taken suddenly ill at Springfield, where 
 he died March 19th, 1865, thus rounding up a four years' 
 service, faithful in health and sickness, as much a martyr to 
 the cause of his country as if he had fallen in some of the 
 battles in which he had participated while at the front. 
 
 His remains were brought home to Peoria, where appro- 
 priate civic and military ceremonies were rendered to them, 
 then followed to their last resting place by a large cortege. 
 
 Bryner Post, G. A. R., organized October 8th, 1879, 
 was named in his honor. Col. Bryner was married to Miss 
 Rebecca North, at Mififlinton, Pa., Sept. 15th, 1842, the 
 marriage being solemnized by Rev. John Hutchinson of 
 that place. There were eight children born to them, four 
 sons and four daughters, only three of whom survive. B. 
 C. Bryner, his son, who was but a youth during the war, 
 enlisted in the 47th regiment and served one year in com- 
 pany I. He was for several years assistant postmaster in 
 this city under Postmasters Stevens and Cockle, but for 
 more than a year past has occupied a responsible position 
 in the insurance office of Callender & Co. 
 
OESON BINGHAM GALUSHA. 
 
 PRESIDENT ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Among the great productive interests of our rich, grand 
 and patriotic state that have assumed importance in the last 
 quarter of a century is that of horticulture, the " art which 
 does mend nature," and like all other great industries that 
 contribute wealth, luxury, comfort and pleasure to our 
 people, there are among the prominent citizens of the state 
 men who have given their time, means, talents, and all the 
 great faculties with which they were endowed to the ad- 
 vancement of this science, along with the more important 
 one of agriculture. 
 
 Conspicuous among the earnest workers we find Hon. 
 Orson B. Galusha, of Morris, Grundy county, Illinois. He 
 was born at Shaftsbury, Bennington county, Vermont, 
 December 2nd, 1819. His father, Jonas Galusha, Jr., was 
 the son of Governor Jonas Galusha, who served several 
 terms as governor of that state, and at this time was serv- 
 ing his second term. Jonas Galusha, Jr., resided on the^ 
 estates of his father, the governor, and managed them for 
 him, they being divided into several farms. Here he re- 
 sided until Orson was sixteen years old, the lad assisting to 
 some extent in the labor of the farm and attending district 
 school, and one year attending Bennington Seminary. 
 
 Jonas Galusha, Jr., then removed to Rochester, "N. Y., 
 and his son Orson was placed under the tuition of Dr. 
 
ORSON BINGHAM GALTJSHA. 379 
 
 Chester Dewey, at the Rochester Collegiate Institute, where 
 he pursued his studies for three years. He also varied his 
 student life by serving as assistant teacher at the Fitzhugh 
 Street Seminary. 
 
 In 1839 the family removed to Grand Rapids, Mich., 
 where he was left at the age of twenty-two, his mother 
 having died there and his father and brother returning to 
 Rochester. In the summer season he worked on the farm, 
 and in the winter taught school until 1843, when he mar- 
 ried Miss Mary J. Hinsdale, third daughter of Judge 
 Mitchell Hinsdale, of Kalamazoo, Mich., afterwards con- 
 tinuing farming for five years. In 1849 he sold his farm 
 in Michigan and removed to Lisbon, Grundy county, Illi- 
 nois, and bought a small farm of 120 acres, and at once en- 
 gaged in the nursery business and cultivating small fruits. 
 Here he remained near twenty years, gaining rich experi- 
 ence and practical knowledge of fruit growing and the 
 nursery business. 
 
 In 1868 he sold his Lisbon farm and bought another 
 near Morris, the county seat, where his facilities for selling 
 his fruits and nursery stock were much better. To this 
 place he removed a large part of his nursery stock and 
 established the " Eclectic Small Fruit Nursery," and his 
 fruit farm is known as the " Evergreen Fruit Farm," on ac- 
 count of the evergreen shelter-belts and evergreen timber 
 plantation upon it. 
 
 Here he has " practiced what he preached" on the fruit 
 question, been very successful in both nursery business and 
 fruit growing. Several years ago, on account of impaired 
 health, he left his fruit farm for a short residence at Normal, 
 in this state. After a few years residence at Normal he 
 "returned to his first love," to the shades of his beautiful, 
 evergreen home near Morris. 
 
380 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 But we have only been giving the farm work and labor 
 performed by Mr. Galusha. Along with this his has been 
 a life-work in trying to advance the interest of the people 
 in the chosen business in which he was laboring — the culti- 
 vation of the soil; horticulture and agriculture fruit 
 growing and farming. 
 
 His life has been one of continuous service to the pub- 
 lic, and often of so much gratuitous service as to seriously 
 interfere with efforts to accumulate property. In Michigan, 
 soon after attaining his majority, he was elected township 
 clerk and school inspector, which positions he held during 
 most of his residence in that state. While residing at 
 Lisbon the question of agricultural education was agitated, 
 in which he took a deep interest. He corresponded with 
 agricultural papers east and west, he attended meetings 
 and addressed them on the subject. He was one of the 
 pioneers in the movement favoring a system of state 
 agricultural colleges or industrial universities, and when 
 the movement culminated in the establishment in each 
 state of an agricultural institution, his interest increased in 
 the work to see that it was founded on a permanent and 
 independent basis, and in connection with such men as 
 Prof. J. B. Turner, Smiley Shepherd, M. L. Dunlap and 
 others, aided in defeating a scheme by the trustees of some 
 existing colleges 1 to attach agricultural and mechanical 
 departments to their waning institutions and thus establish 
 them upon a permanent and popular basis. 
 
 He was the first member of the board of trustees 
 appointed by the governor in his district, which position he 
 held for six years, until the board was reduced in numbers 
 by act of the legislature. He was the first recording secre- 
 tary of the board, and always active and influential in 
 
ORSON BINGHAM GALUSHA. 381 
 
 efforts to bring the institution into the special line of work 
 for which the agricultural colleges were established. It 
 was our duty as well as a great pleasure to lend the. aid of 
 the columns of the Farmer's Advocate and Rural 
 Messenger to Mr. Galusha and his co-workers when they 
 were struggling for the establishment of the Industrial 
 University. So we know whereof we write when we speak 
 of their great labors. During this whole time there were 
 other fields of labor, hardly less important, that were 
 receiving the benefit of , his great capacity for organization. 
 
 In 1856 he, with a few others, organized the Illinois 
 State Horticultural Society at Decatur, with the late Dr. E. 
 S. Hull, of Alton, as president, and Mr. Galusha as corres- 
 ponding secretary. He continued to occupy this and other 
 important positions in the society until 1861, when he was 
 elected to the presidency of the society. 
 
 Subsequent to this year, and until the year 1869, he was 
 for the most part of the time giving gratuitious services to 
 the society by serving on its ad-interim committee, travel- 
 ing thousands of miles annually, collecting facts in horti- 
 culture and making suggestions to growers of fruits and 
 trees, formulating the information gained into reports which 
 were published by the society. 
 
 In 1869 he was again elected secretary of the society,, 
 which position he held until December, 1882, with the 
 exception of one year, when, on account of his severe ill- 
 ness at the time of electing officers he refused to take the 
 place. 
 
 In December, 1882, he was at his own request, and in 
 accordance to previous notice given to the society, excused 
 from further services as secretary. But the society, unwill- 
 ing to lose his services and counsel, elected him to the 
 
382 FIFTY YEARS RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 presidency by a unanimous vote. He also served the state 
 as a member of the state board of agriculture from the 
 year 1864 to 1868, and for several years before and subse- 
 quent to this served the state agricultural society as super- 
 intendent of the pomological and horticultural departments 
 at the state fairs. 
 
 In all these years of usefulness it has been our pleasant 
 recollection of Mr. Galusha to find him an untiring worker 
 in all the great organizations that he has been connected 
 with. We have met him on fruit-growers' excursions in 
 our own state and in Michigan, at state, county and horti- 
 cultural fairs, always the same urbane gentleman, untiring 
 in his industry, faithful to his numerous trusts, and of 
 advanced ideas in educational and all great interests that 
 would promote all the great industrial enterprises of the 
 country. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Galusha, in their married life, have had 
 but two children, one son and one daughter. The eldest, a 
 son, died at the age of four years, at Grand Rapids, Mich. 
 The daughter is now the wife of Wm. Hawley Smith, one 
 of the proprietors of the Saturday Evening Call, Peoria. 
 
JOHN C. SMITH. 
 
 STATE TREASURER OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Among the men that are selected to fill important offices 
 of trust and responsibility in our state from year to year, 
 none merited the recognition more than the able, efficient 
 and honest incumbent of the office of state treasurer, who 
 was installed in his present office in January, 1883, having 
 been elected to that responsible position at the November 
 election. 
 
 John C. Smith was born at Philadelphia, Pa., February 
 13, 1832. His early years were spent in his native state. 
 His education was limited to the common schools, but he 
 made fair progress until his seventeenth year, when he was 
 apprenticed to the carpenter business until he was twenty- 
 one years of age, when he set up for himself, proving him- 
 self a master builder. He spent one year at his business at 
 Cape May, then came to Chicago, resuming his occupation 
 as builder and contractor, continuing until 1855, when he 
 removed to Galena and engaged in erecting a number of 
 large buildings, some of the finest in that city. 
 
 His skill was so great that his services were sought 
 where permanence and durability was required, and in 
 1850-1 he went to Dubuque, Iowa, as assistant superinten- 
 dent in the construction of the custom house at that place. 
 
 At the outbreak of the rebellion he resigned this posi- 
 tion and returned to Galena, taking an active part in 
 
384 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 recruiting and encouraging enlistments. In 1862, on a call 
 being made for additional troops, he recruited Company I, 
 Ninety-Sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, and was elected 
 as captain. From this position he was successively promo- 
 ted to major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel, taking part in 
 the battles of the Cumberland, and was twice breveted for 
 meritorious conduct on the field. 
 
 In the desperate assault at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, 
 June, 1864, he was severely wounded while leading his 
 brigade, and while yet suffering from his wounds, returned 
 in time to participate in the battle of Nashville just previ- 
 ous to expiration of his term of service. He was mustered 
 out and returned to his former home at Galena, remaining 
 there several years, connected a considerable portion of the 
 time in assisting in collecting the revenue. 
 
 In 1874 he removed to Chicago, establishing himself in 
 the commission business, and the following year he was 
 appointed chief grain inspector by Gov. Beveridge, and 
 served with great satisfaction in this very difficult position. 
 
 In 1876 he was selected as one of the Centennial com- 
 missioners for this state to represent our interests at the 
 great Philadelphia exposition of 1876, filling the duties of 
 his department with marked ability. 
 
 In 1878 he was elected state treasurer by a vote of 
 215,283, as opposed. to 169,965 cast for his competitor, 
 Cronkite, making his majority 45,318, leading his ticket by . 
 nearly 10,000 votes. His career from the time he first 
 appeared in public life has recommended him to the people. 
 He will always be found right, at whatever sacrifice to 
 himself. 
 
 During his term as state treasurer one of his confiden- 
 tial clerks, having charge of funds, was temporarily diverted 
 
JOHN C. SMITH. 385 
 
 from their oversight, and $15,000 of state funds were stolen. 
 Gen. Smith at once borrowed the money and replaced it, 
 before the loss was known to the public. It was duty with 
 him, no matter how much he suffered financially himself. 
 
 At the close of his official term he returned to Chicago^ 
 and engaged in the commission business, and also organ- 
 ized a merchant's delivery company, of which he was direc- 
 tor and treasurer. 
 
 Iu 1880 he was one of the most prominent aspirants for 
 the gubernatorial nomination on the republican ticket, but, 
 did not receive the nomination. In the canvass of 1882 he 
 was again presented as a candidate for state treasurer, and 
 again succeeded, leading his ticket several thousand votes. 
 He numbers thousands of personal friends among his polit- 
 ical opponents, who, when Gen. Smith is a candidate, 
 always forego their political predilections and vote for 
 him because of his honesty and capacity for business. 
 
 25 
 
MOSES PETTENGILL. 
 
 MERCHANT, MANUFACTURER AND PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 If the prestige of a long and useful life, divided between 
 business and doing good, blending profitable pursuits and 
 the dispensing of the accumulations at the same time, re- 
 ceiving and giving, dealing justly in business affairs, yet 
 making commercial transactions a benificence to those with 
 whom he had dealings, will commend a man to the grateful 
 consideration of a large portion of the people of this state, 
 then we have in the sketch we propose giving the charac- 
 teristics blended in the subject of this chapter. 
 
 Moses Pettengill was born in Salisbury, New Hamp- 
 shire, April 16, 1802. His parents were Benjamin and 
 Hannah Pettengill, and Moses is the seventh of thirteen 
 children. His grand-father, Andrew Pettengill, was an 
 officer in the war of the revolution, and received his death 
 wound at the battle of Bennington, Vt. Mr. Pettengill's 
 youthful days were spent in hard toil on his father's farm 
 in the summers, and attending the village school through 
 the winters. He also attained some knowledge of me- 
 chanics from working at intervals in a machine shop, that 
 was of great value to him through his long and successful 
 career. From these incessant labors his health became im- 
 paired, and for several years he was an invalid. When he 
 recovered sufficient strength he entered the village academy, 
 and when he attained a sufficient proficiency he taught in 
 
MOSES PETTENGILL. 387 
 
 that institution, and in succession taught at Lowell, Mass., 
 Saratoga Springs, and at Lewiston, New York. Outside of 
 his teaching he was studying very closely the principles of 
 mercantile life. 
 
 Quitting teaching at the age of twenty-five he engaged 
 in mercantile life at Rochester, New York. Following it 
 one year he lost the accumulations of all his years of labor 
 by fire in 1828. Not having the means to continue busi- 
 ness he went on a prospecting tour to many leading cities 
 of the middle states, then returning, and after teaching one 
 term he opened a store at Brockport, New York, taking as 
 a partner Mr. Little, and soon afterward admitting Col. 
 Sanborn, his brother-in-law. Business prospered with the 
 firm, and in 1833 Mr. Pettengill was married to Miss Lucy, 
 daughter of Deacon Amos Pettengill, of Salisbury, New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 During these years of prosperous merchandising he 
 heard frequent favorable reports from Illinois, and desiring 
 to see for himself he left Brockport in November, 1833, for 
 Peoria, and after a long and circuitous route by canal, lake, 
 river, and by overland, horse-back and stage, they reached 
 their destination on the last Saturday in December, 1833. 
 Mr. Pettengill's observant eye soon took in the advantages 
 of the new city, and he made some real estate investments 
 that are now some of the best business lots in Peoria, and 
 still owned by him. Peoria then contained not over two 
 hundred inhabitants, and these resided or boarded in about 
 thirty log cabins, only one or two buildings being dignified 
 as " frame houses." 
 
 Mr. Pettengill spent about two weeks in prospecting, 
 getting acquainted with the people, then purchasing a horse 
 took his departure homeward, going by Chicago across the 
 
388 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 then almost wilderness country of Michigan, Indiana, and 
 Northern Ohio, getting back to Brockport the latter part of 
 February, and intent on an early removal, closed out his 
 business at Brockport and within the next month settled 
 up his affairs there. 
 
 In April, 1834, he started with his wife in company 
 with Jacob Gale, for Peoria, making the journey round the 
 lakes to Chicago and across the country. They arrived at 
 Peoria June 1, 1834. In company with Mr- Gale he began 
 the erection of a store on the lot he had bought, and pur- 
 chased another lot adjoining that had a log cabin on it, of 
 the most primitive kind, in which to reside. In the follow- 
 ing November, under the firm name of Pettengill & Gale, 
 they opened the fir.st hardware and stove store in Peoria, 
 and early in 1834 Mr. Pettengill bought Mr. Gale's interest, 
 and added to the business the manufacture of sheet iron 
 and copperware, the first industry of this kind in Central 
 Illinois. Mr. Pettengill and his estimable wife, with nine 
 others, organized the first church at Peoria in December, 
 1834. It was a New School Presbyterian, or afterwards 
 Congregational Church, and he has continued a member 
 until this time Through his efforts, aided by others, the 
 first church was erected and completed early in 1836. In 
 the summer of 1836, in order to enlarge his business, he 
 sold half his interest to A. P. Bartlett, which arrangement 
 proved very satisfactory, lasting until 1844, when Mr. Pet- 
 tengill again became sole owner. During these eight years 
 the firm built the first three story brick store, corner Wash- 
 ington and Main. In 1844 he built another large three 
 story brick store on same site where his stone front hank 
 building was built in 1872. In May, 1844, his store, with 
 a large part of his goods, was burned, but was soon rebuilt 
 and fresh goods added, business continuing to prosper. 
 
MOSES PETTENGILL. 389 
 
 In November his son, Moses P., died, aged near five 
 years. Mr. Pettengill continued his business alone for the 
 next six years, and went east to buy goods each year, very 
 frequently driving all the way through with his carriage, 
 taking his wife along. From 1850 to 1854, Isaiah Bab- 
 cock was a partner with him in business, and the business, 
 from the close attention given it, was prosperous. He also 
 during these four years branched out in the manufacture of 
 agricultural implements with a Mr. Lazell, under the firm 
 name of Pettengill & Lazell, which was the largest in- 
 terest of this kind in that part of the state. During the 
 latter part of this time he formed a partnership with several 
 other "parties, the company going into the lumber business. 
 
 All his enterprises seemed to prosper, he being fortunate 
 in the selection of his partners; turning his profits each 
 year into capital, and having unlimited credit, an unerring 
 judgment of the different classes of business that would 
 pay the best legitimate profits, all his manufacturing and 
 commercial interests prospered. 
 
 He made some very judicious purchases of real -estate 
 during these years. One of these was a block of four acres 
 on the West Bluff, on which, in 1862, he built a dwelling and 
 improvements costing $5,000. In the spring of 1863, all 
 of his enterprises requiring so much attention, he concluded 
 to sell out his hardware, sheet iron and copper manufactur- 
 ing business, established in 1834. 
 
 His wife died Feb. 29, 1864, after over thirty years of 
 domestic happiness, during which time she had been really 
 a helpmate to him in his business, at home, and in the 
 church and social circles. 
 
 May 17, 1865, he was again married to Mrs. Hannah 
 W. Tyner, of Hoyleton, Illinois, sister to Prof. J. A. Bent, 
 
390 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 since of Wheaton college. Mrs. Tyner was a native of 
 Middlebury, Vermont, a woman educated, given to benev- 
 olence, good works, and a valuable assistant to her husband 
 in all the christian and educational work that Mr. Pettengill 
 has been engaged in. He ;was chosen a delegate to the 
 National Congregational Council which met at Boston, 
 Mass., in June, 1865, and Mrs. Pettengill accompanied 
 him to that imposing Church Congress. While east they 
 visited many parts of the. New England states, and returned 
 at [..the end of the summer. On the night of December, 
 13, 1865, his residence was destroyed by fire, a large por- 
 tion of the furniture being consumed. On its site, three 
 years afterwards, was completed his elegant brick dwelling 
 costing $ 12,000. In 1870, he, with other parties, organized 
 a company to manufacture soap for the wholesale trade, 
 which continued for two years, when he, with his nephew, 
 bought out the other parties and continued the business. 
 
 For several years past Mr. Pettengill has retired from 
 active participation in business, but he has considerable of 
 his large capital invested in various paying enterprises and 
 in real estate. The firm of Moses Pettengill & Co., com- 
 posed of Mr. Pettengill as the senior partner, his adopted 
 son, Blanchard T. Pettengill, and his nephew, J. A. Bent, 
 Jr., as the other partners, control a large portion of the 
 convict labor at the Jeffersonville penitentiary, Indiana, 
 and utilize it in the manufacture of boots and shoes. 
 
 The same firm control the labor of over one hundred 
 and sixty convicts in the penitentiary at Chester, Illinois, at 
 the same business. The products of both manufactories 
 meet ready sale over the entire west, the goods being made 
 of the best material, by the finest machinery, and under the 
 immediate superintendence of Mr. Bent, aided by P. W. 
 
MOSES PETTENGILL. 391 
 
 Forbish in the cutting department, T. P. King in the 
 fitting and sewing department, G. D. Emerson in charge 
 of upper-leather department, Thomas Barber in charge of 
 sole-leather department, and J. A. Smith in charge of the 
 machinery department, all operated by a twenty-five horse- 
 power engine from Ide's machine works, Springfield, 111. 
 This force manufactures forty cases per day, one-eighth 
 of the product are shoes, and seven-eighths boots ; twelve 
 pairs of boots in each case, and thirty-six pairs of shoes. 
 
 Prom this hasty statement a good idea can be formed of 
 the extent of the firm's business in "boots and shoes from 
 the product manufactured at both prisons. 
 
 The author, in his tour through southern Illinois re- 
 freshing his '' recollections" in regard to the trades and 
 industries of the state, devoted one day to looking through 
 this vast establishment, and hopes that this relation of how 
 the state employs its convict labor may be instructive and 
 entertaining historical reading. 
 
 It requires a vast capital to conduct these enterprises, 
 which is furnished largely by Mr. Pettengill. His son and 
 nephew conduct the large wholesale house at Peoria. No 
 doubt the business is very profitable, and Mr. Pettengill 
 finds a large field for the distribution of his wealth in 
 educational and religious enterprises. The church which he 
 assisted in founding in Peoria comes in for a large share of 
 his benefactions. To its building fund on Thanksgiving 
 Day, 1879, he gave $4,000, has since given more, and dur- 
 ing the last year (1882) he built a Ladies' Female Semi- 
 nary at Peoria costing nearly $25,000, a free offering to the 
 cause of education. He is by nature benevolent, and has 
 assisted a great many young men in business. 
 
ISAAC SNEDEKER. 
 
 FARMER, HORTICULTURIST AND PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 From the substantial virtues, solid attainments and wide 
 experience of the subject of our sketch, we can commend 
 . his example as worthy to be practiced by others. 
 
 Isaac Snedeker was born at Four Mile Ferry, near 
 Trenton, New Jersey, November 22d, 1812, the youngest 
 •of four sons of Isaac and Catharine Snedeker. "His youth- 
 ful days were spent at home under the paternal roof, and 
 when sufficiently grown aided in the work of the farm, and 
 •each year attended the neighboring schools a portion of 
 the time, making fair progress in his studies until his eight- 
 eenth year, when a desire to do something for himself was 
 developed by his leaving home and interesting himself 
 in the public works, aiding in building the Trenton Water 
 Works, and when these were finished engaging on the 
 Delaware and Raritan Canal, and from this to the building 
 of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, spending the earlier 
 years of his manhood in the practical duties required of 
 him. When these great works were completed he engaged 
 in literary pursuits, and was employed in gathering the 
 material and data for compiling the New Jersey Historical 
 ■Gazetteer and Map of the State, spending several years in 
 this work until it was completed, when he settled on a farm 
 in Monroe county, New York. He was early known for 
 his public spirit, giving aid to the building up of churches 
 
394 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 and educational institutions. He connected himself with 
 the Methodist church, and with others established the 
 Pennington church in his neighborhood and erected Penn- 
 ington Chapel, which bore the impress of his architectural 
 direction and was an ornament to the surrounding neigh- 
 borhood, — a model for other church buildings to copy 
 from. He was one of the stewards of that church until his 
 removal from the state. 
 
 He was active in the military organizations of New 
 York, and was commissioned by Governor Marcy, August 
 1, 1836, as one of the official staff of the Fifty-second 
 Regiment, New York Infantry, Col. E. Sutherland com- 
 manding, with rank from June 18, 1836, holding the office 
 until July 17, 1841, when he resigned and was honorably 
 mustered out by Brigadier-General Lathrop. He resided 
 in New York until the spring of 1844, when he came to 
 Jerseyville, Illinois, where, in connection with his brother 
 Samuel, he engaged in farming, each taking charge of parts 
 of the business that their peculiar genius best fitted them 
 for, and for years their farming investments were very 
 successfully managed. 
 
 He early identified himself with the reformatory and 
 educational interests of his new location, and particularly 
 in promoting the temperance work — becoming identified 
 with the Sons of Temperance and one of its most active 
 members. 
 
 He was also opposed to the institution of slavery while 
 in New York, and was president of an Anti- slavery 
 society. He believed it a wrong, and opposed it with might 
 and power, and at an early day was instrumental in organ- 
 izing an anti-slavery society in Jersey county, when it 
 required nerve, firmness and pluck to dare to advocate their 
 
ISAAC SNEDEKER. 395 
 
 principles. He was frequently threatened, and even life 
 endangered, because of his outspoken principles. 
 
 In June, 1846, he was married to Miss Caroline Sunder- 
 land, daughter to John Sunderland, of Trenton, New 
 Jersey, and sister of his brother Samuel's wife. The union 
 was a happy one all through the years of his useful life. 
 
 In October, 1849, Joseph Crabb, a justice of the peace, 
 committed three young men, all nearly as white as himself, 
 to the county jail, under the authority of the black laws of 
 Illinois. Mr. Snedeker had them taken out on a writ of 
 Habeas Corpus and taken before the circuit court, and 
 they were discharged. It is claimed that this was the first 
 time that the Black Laws, under the new constitution of 
 1848, had been tested, and the first time a negro had been 
 released from a common jail by a writ of Habeas Corpus in 
 Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Snedeker's first vote was cast for Henry Clay, and 
 he voted twice for Abraham Lincoln, a warm personal 
 friendship existing between them. 
 
 At the opening and during the war there was a strong 
 disloyal element in Jersey county, and it required pluck 
 and courage to stand true to principle. Mr. Snedeker dared 
 to come out boldly and advocate the cause' of the Union, 
 and in him the soldier boys had a firm friend. The author 
 recalls an incident that occurred during the war — the 
 darkest days of the Rebellion, when _the Union Leagues- 
 and the Knights of the Golden Circle were meeting nightly 
 to learn of the advancement or discouragements for either 
 side ; when several Union men's barns had been burned, and 
 horse stealing from the Union men was a common occur- 
 •rence ; when strange men were seen in the mid-hours of the 
 night, gathered together in strange out-of-the-way places, and 
 
396 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 a band of guerillas and bushwhackers were encamped about 
 six miles northeast of Jersey ville on Phillis Creek, who had 
 threatened to burn the city; when a leading citizen and 
 politician had gone out to them with a flag of truce to im- 
 portune them not to burn and destroy property. 
 
 At this time, when general alarm prevailed, one night 
 near midnight several pistol shots were heard near Mr. 
 Suedeker's house. He rose quickly, not knowing but it 
 was these guerrillas arrived to carry their threats into 
 execution, as he was amongst the loyal citizens who had 
 been threatened by the band of bushwhackers. When Mr. 
 Suedeker went to the door to reconnoitre he heard the 
 clashing of swords, the clatter of carbines and the hoofs of 
 horses on the hard road, and a clear shout calling out the 
 name of Isaac Snedeker to come out. He did not know 
 whether it was friend or foe, his family was alarmed, all 
 were greatly afraid, but he boldly called to the men in the 
 dakness, asking " who was there." The men on the road 
 again repeated " Come out doors." He stepped out in his 
 shirt sleeves, walked towards the troopers, not yet knowing 
 whether friends or foes were hailing him. The command 
 immediately came in a clear, ringing tone, "come this way 
 and not another word." He knew by this time that it was 
 friendly voices, and he called out, " Advance friends." 
 The troopers came towards the house, and he called to his 
 wife and family that these were friends. The doors were 
 opened and a hundred or more good loyal men entered, 
 having been sent from Alton to disperse the camp on 
 Phillis Creek, and had rode out in the night to be on hand 
 for an early attack in the morning. The troopers were a 
 company of the Seventeenth Cavalry, stationed at Alton ' 
 for the double purpose of guarding rebel prisoners and pro- 
 
ISAAC SNEDEKEB. 397 
 
 tecting union men from rebel sympathizers. The troopers — 
 rough riders, the Boys in Blue — were welcome guests 
 at the house of Isaac Snedeker. " Boys, come in, you must 
 have your supper, your horses must be fed," and the con- 
 tents of the pork and flour barrels, and all the substantials 
 and luxuries were arrayed in order, made to do duty, and 
 the soldier boys were fed, their horses had for once good 
 clean oats or sound corn to eat — men and horses reveled 
 in high feed. Many of these soldier boys, yet alive, will 
 recall the pleasure as well as the adventures of the night 
 at Farmer Snedeker's. Arrangements were made for an 
 early attack on the guerrilla camp and a plan of attack de- 
 vised, and early next morning the camp was surrounded ; 
 some were captured and others put to flight. 
 
 The close and results of the war rejoiced him much. 
 His old-time abolition friends and neighbors were called in 
 and a grand jollification enjoyed, participated in by large 
 numbers. The day was passed in social enjoyment, a 
 recital of the events and incidents of the underground rail- 
 road experiences. It was a feast, a jollification, and it was 
 estimated that there were near five hundred present — a 
 happy, good time, "a feast of reason and flow of soul." 
 
 Mr. Snedeker was one of the chief promoters of the 
 objects of the Illinois State Horticultural Society, a regular 
 attendant on its sessions, and in connection with O. B. 
 Gajusha, Dr. E. S. Hull, Jonathan Huggins, A. Hilliand, 
 W. H. Mann, Hon. A. M. Brown, D. B. Wier, Dr. A. G. 
 Humphrey, H. G. Minkler, M. M. Hooton, Dr. J. Long, M. 
 L. Dunlap and Hon. John M. Pearson, was instrumental in 
 promoting the cultivation of fruit in all parts of the state. 
 He never failed to attend the annual meeting of the 
 society and take an active part in their deliberations, im- 
 
398 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 pressing his practical knowledge and embodying it in 
 their reports. His labors in this connection were not con- 
 fined to this state, but he attended the Missouri State Horti- 
 cultural Society's meetings, and took part in its delibera- 
 tions. 
 
 The author's first acquaintance with Mr. Snedeker was 
 at these annual re-unions of the state society and at the 
 monthly meetings of the Alton Horticultural Society, 
 which once or oftener each year met and were entertained 
 at his house, he and Mrs. Snedeker making the large 
 assemblage of lady and gentlemen fruit-growers as happy 
 as they did the soldiers when they came to rout the guer- 
 rillas from Jersey county. 
 
 He was eminently a social man. Blessed with abund- 
 ance, he was never so happy as when dispensing hospitality 
 to his friends. In his family relations he was most happy. 
 He has two sons living. Hon. Orville A. Snedeker, receiv- 
 ing his education in the public schools of Jerseyville, 
 entered ShurtlefF College, Upper Alton, and graduated, 
 after which he spent two years in Chicago in mercantile 
 life and reading law, then he returned to Jerseyville and 
 spent a year in the law office of Judge R. A. King, after 
 which he was admitted to practice law in the supreme 
 court. He then opened a law office in his native town, 
 where he is known as a business man and lawyer. No 
 higher encomium need be bestowed on him than the esteem 
 in which he is held by the citizens and neighbors. He was 
 married in 1873 to Miss Emma A. Dalzell, of Philadelphia, 
 Penn. 
 
 The other son, Samuel J. Snedeker, is a typical farmer, 
 and occupies the old homestead, just east of the city. It is 
 a fine farm of several hundred broad acres, with the appli- 
 
ISAAC SNEDEKER. 399 
 
 cation, energy and industry to manage it successfully. He 
 married, in 1875, Miss Ann E. Dalzell, of Philadelphia, a 
 sister of his brother's wife. He has four children, and is 
 a prosperous farmer. 
 
 Isaac Snedeker departed this life July 4th, 1877, at his 
 home, after a sickness of nearly one year, terminating in 
 cancer of the stomach. He contained within himself all 
 the good qualities of head and heart that ennobles a man, 
 and should be emulated. Of him it can truly be said 
 " Being dead, he yet speaketh," for he will live in the 
 remembrance of a large circle of friends for many years. 
 Mrs. Caroline Snedeker resides with her son Orville in 
 Jerseyville, enjoying good health, the companionship of 
 the families of old neighbors and relatives, enjoying the 
 evening sunshine of life while awaiting the Master's 
 summons. 
 
 Samuel Snedeker, brother of Isaac, and for so many 
 years connected with him in their business and farming 
 operations, both accumulating large estates, died at Jersey- 
 ville several years ago. Jacob, another brother, is still 
 living near Bunker Hill, Illinois. There are two sisters 
 of these brothers : Catherine, married to Jacob J. Wells, 
 of Egypt, Monroe county, New York, and Mary K., wife 
 of Luman Curtiss, of Carrollton, Greene county, this state. 
 
GREENBERRY L. FORT. 
 
 LATE REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, CITIZEN, SOLDIER ANI> 
 STATESMAN. 
 
 Right pleasant it is to refer to one whom we have known 
 since childhood days, and later as a companion and school- 
 mate. We bring our personal recollections down through 
 succeeding years when his matured mind, stored by acquire- 
 ments, fitted him to fill responsible places of honor, and the 
 laborious duties connected with the trust imposed on him. 
 Such a sketch we present of the subject of this chapter. 
 
 Greenberry Lafayette Fort was born Oct. 11, 1825, at 
 French Grant, Sciota county, Ohio. He was the son of 
 Benjamin and Margaret Fort, who in 1834 came to Round 
 Prairie, Putnam county, (now Marshall) in this state. "They 
 embarked on board a steamer and came down the Ohio and 
 by way of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to Peoria. 
 Here they arranged with a keel boatman to transport them- 
 selves and their goods a distance of nearly twenty-five miles 
 up the river to Crow Creek landing near by where some 
 of their old neighbors, Timothy and Roderick Owen, had 
 settled. They made the trip in due time and found their 
 friends waiting to receive them. When arrived, they soon 
 made arrangements for the transportation of their goods to 
 where Mrs. Fort's two brothers, the Messrs. Devers, were 
 living. The Devers were also the brother-in-laws of Capt. 
 Robert Barnes and Henry B. Barnes, having each married 
 
GRBENBEEEY L. FOKT. 401 
 
 sisters of the Barnes, and all from the same neighborhood 
 in Ohio. So the Owen's, Dever's, Barnes', and now Mr. 
 Fort's family made an " Ohio settlement " in that neighbor- 
 hood in Illinois. 
 
 With this reference to the family connection, and 
 they are all deserving of mention, we will confine our sketch 
 to the name at the head of this chapter. 
 
 The first business of the family was to build a house on 
 the land the father had bought, then he enclosed it with 
 a fence, and at the proper season, prepared to break the 
 prairie and plant the crop. 
 
 Greenberry was then too young to assist much in the 
 heavier class of work, he '' did what he could " by dropping 
 corn, driving the prairie team, and any work that a boy of 
 his age could do. A school house of the most primitive 
 kind was soon erected by the action and strength of the 
 whole neighborhood, for farmers of the intelligence of those 
 we have named would not remain long without a school- 
 house for their children to attend. Young Greenberry 
 attended the first term of school held at this union school- 
 house, built after the prevailing fashion of that day, on 
 the broad guage principle, the fireplace occupying the whole 
 end of the house, with chimney at the top for the smoke to 
 emerge, puncheon floor, benches made from small logs split 
 in two, and the broad side hewed smooth, puncheon wri- 
 ting desks extending along the whole of one side and end 
 of the house, the wiudows just a log cut out the whole 
 length, and a single row of eight by ten sash set with glass,, 
 extending the whole length, the house being kept comfort- 
 able by a huge log fire built at the chimney end of the 
 house. This, in short, is a brief description of this school- 
 house where several future congressmen, members of legis- 
 
 •26 
 
402 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 lature, circuit judges, county officials, editors, etc., received 
 their first "send off" in the direction of their future 
 greatness. 
 
 It was at this " seat of learning " that young Green- 
 berry made his first essays for an education, attending in 
 the winter season, working on the farm in summer, and 
 helping in the gathering of the crops in the autumn, pre- 
 paratory to entering school again. Thus the years rolled 
 on, and he grew strong and " nervy," helpful to others as 
 well as himself, for it is said of him that when home-work 
 was completed he always stood ready to help a neighbor. 
 In 1845 he first attended Rock River Seminary at 
 Mount Morris, Ogle county, and continued several terms 
 until he graduated, and returning to Lacon he commenced 
 the study of law in the office of Hon. Silas Ramsey, 
 county judge, then a prominent lawyer and afterwards a 
 member of the legislature, and in the war of the Rebellion 
 major in the regular army. Greenberry L. Fort was ad- 
 mitted to the bar in 1849-50, and commenced practice. His 
 first brief was made in the Woodford Circuit Court, Judge 
 David Davis, late vice-president, being the presiding 
 judge. His client was Dr. Harlow Barney, and his op- 
 posing counsel Abraham Lincoln. Fort, having the right 
 side, won the suit, it being the first acquaintance he had 
 with Mr. Lincoln. They were always after that strong 
 friends. His case being before such an eminent and able 
 judge, his opposing counsel so distinguished, and he gaining 
 his first case, it augured well for the young counselor, and 
 his wide acquaintance gave promise of his stepping into a 
 large practice at the outset. 
 
 In 1850 the whig party was in a minority of some 200 
 in Marshall county, but they sometimes succeeded by pre- 
 
GREENBERRY L. FORT. 403 
 
 senting the most popular man, and they were casting their 
 horoscope over the political horizon to discern the "coming 
 man " for sheriff, who could defeat the democratic cham- 
 pion, Addison Ramsey, a former sheriff, who had some very 
 strong and devoted friends in his own party, and some that 
 were opposed to his again being elected. 
 
 The whigs, after a long consultation, finally united in 
 asking the popular young attorney to become their candi- 
 date. From the fact of his having grown up in the county, 
 his large connection by relationship with leading and in- 
 fluential families, some of them being democrats, they in 
 turn using their influence with others — and another added 
 reason, that he had a large following among the young men 
 of the county of both parties — all these reasons pointed to 
 him as combining all the influences that would secure suc- 
 cess. His name was announced, and a personal as well as 
 political canvass was made, and when the votes were counted 
 he was "counted in" by a majority of four votes — thus 
 overcoming two hundred political majority against him in 
 the county. 
 
 He entered on the duties of his office, administered the 
 duties faithfully, increasing his popularity with the people, 
 and when his term of office expired, he was nominated in 
 1852 as a candidate for circuit clerk, and this time elected 
 by a large majority. His duties as sheriff had been per- 
 formed so unexceptionally that his popularity was largely 
 increased. 
 
 In 1854 his father died, at the age of 80 years, and the 
 following year, his aged mother, both honored and respected 
 by all who knew them. When his term expired in 
 1856 he was nominated for county judge, a judicial position 
 he was eminently qualified to fill from his long official ex- 
 
404 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 perience and his fine legal attainments. We need not say- 
 that his four years' services as circuit clerk were performed 
 with dispatch, increasing the regard and respect of the peo- 
 ple for his honesty and fidelity. 
 
 His candidacy with the people was popular and he was 
 elected to the judgeship. It was during his term that the 
 great senatorial canvass of 1858 between Abraham Lincoln 
 and Stephen A. Douglas occurred. The contest was very 
 animated, and Judge Fort entered the canvass, making 
 many addresses in different parts of the senatorial and rep- 
 resentative district, and his great influence was shown in 
 the result. 
 
 It was during this year that he was married to Miss 
 Clara E., daughter of Dr. Robert Boal, the oldest and lead- 
 ing physician of the place, now of Peoria. 
 
 The presidential campaign of 1860 also brought it» 
 duties and requirements. He had been the recipient of the 
 official favors of the people for ten years without a break. 
 His influence was greater than ever, and the demands of the 
 campaign required patriotic endeavor, an unselfish giving 
 of time and means to the cause. His eloquent voice and 
 the arguments at his command were required, and he 
 gave them. The canvass through, the victory won, the 
 people's choice, Abraham Lincoln, elected, the winter of 
 1860-61 was passed in closing his judicial career as judge. 
 He had been no careless observer of passing events. 
 Southern secession had raised its hydra head and only- 
 waited the organization of its forces to show an armed 
 front — a defiance of the law by force of arms. 
 
 He had set his affairs in order, and w_hen Sumter was 
 fired on he stepped into the ranks, and a company was 
 organized, Company B, 11th Regiment Illinois Volunteer 
 
GEEENBEEBY L. FOET. 405 
 
 Infantry. Capt. Fred. W. Shaw, who so gallantly fell at 
 the head of his company at Donelson, was elected captain, 
 and Judge Fort was elected first lieutenant, and the regi- 
 ment was mustered in at Springfield April 22d, in the 
 three months' service. This term of service was the train- 
 ing school of the regiment, and was spent in the vicinity 
 of Cairo, at Villa Ridge and at Bird's Point. Returning, 
 he recruited Company I for the same regiment for three 
 years, and in order to get them forward promptly, furnished 
 the funds to facilitate their equipment from his own means, 
 and the Eleventh was again soon on the march, this 
 time to the gory fields of Fort Henry, Donelson, Shiloh, 
 Vicksburg, and numerous other battles of the war. 
 
 His business qualifications were of such high order that 
 after the battle of Fort Donelson President Lincoln selected 
 him as quartermaster, and he was detached from his regi- 
 ment to be sent wherever duty called, to look after the for- 
 warding of supplies. His position was one of peculiar 
 trust, often determining great movements. Added to this 
 he was* made the custodian of rebel property captured, to 
 dispose of it and turn the proceeds into the treasury. 
 When the army was operating in the rear of Vicksburg a 
 large amount of rebel cotton was captured. The sale of it 
 was entrusted to him, and he realized over half a million 
 dollars from it. At Holly Springs his papers, government 
 vouchers and baggage were captured by the rebels, and 
 without them his accounts would be confused and uncertain. 
 At great labor and expense to himself he made out dupli- 
 cates of everything. His care and oversight over a wide 
 field of the army's operations were extensive and very often 
 dangerous, as he passed from brigade to division and from 
 division to army corps. The Army of the Tennessee was 
 
406 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 his charge until after the capture of Vicksburg, then he pre- 
 pared for the Red River expedition. After that was pro- 
 vided for, the various raiding expeditions in every direction 
 claimed his attention. 
 
 When Sherman's " March to the Sea " was determined 
 on, he was appointed chief quartermaster of the Fifteenth 
 Army Corps, commanded by Gen. J. A. Logan, giving 
 his attention to details and fulfilling its duties. He 
 staid "close up to the boys" throughout that memorable 
 campaign, and witnessed the surrender of General Johnson 
 at Greensboro, and joined in the triumphant march to 
 Washington, witnessing the grand review. 
 
 It was at this grand ovation to the Nation's soldiery 
 that many thousands of officers and privates laid aside " the 
 pomp and circumstance of glorious war " and departed 
 •from Washington to their different states to the points 
 assigned, to receive their pay and honorable discharge — 
 and what was more gratifying to them, the grand welcome 
 from their fellow-citizens. Not so with Col. Fort. The 
 country had yet further need for his services and he was 
 sent to Texas, to the " Southwestern Department," to close 
 up the accounts of the government with all the regiments 
 in that branch of the service. This duty required his ser- 
 vices until late in the spring of 1866, when he settled his 
 accounts with the government, and they were found correct. 
 During his administration of the quartermaster's duties in 
 the different departments to which he was called, millions 
 of dollars passed through his hands, and every cent was re- 
 ligiously accounted for. On his return to his home in the 
 early summer of 1866 he resumed the practice of law at 
 Lacon and giving attention to private business, which was 
 large. But his respite from public service was short. The 
 
GKEENBEEKY L. FORT. 407 
 
 people of his senatorial district knew the man, and when 
 the republican convention met in September following to 
 select a candidate, Col. Fort was chosen without any effort 
 on his part ; " the office sought the man," and at the No- 
 vember election he was elected from the district composing 
 the counties of Peoria, Marshall, Woodford and Putnam, 
 and in January, 1867, he took his seat among the people's 
 representatives. 
 
 In this new field he took front rank among the "work- 
 ing members, many of the laws then passed bearing the 
 impress of his formative hand. He was a member of 
 several of the most important committees. As chairman of 
 the penitentiary committee he secured the passage of the 
 law giving convicts credit for good behavior, to be placed 
 to their credit on the time of their sentence. 
 
 When his term expired he declined a re-election, and 
 was succeeded by Hon. Mark Bangs, also a citizen of Lacon 
 and a strong personal friend. He retired from public life 
 and devoted himself to his law practice and the management 
 of his large private business. Col. Fort was a man of 
 business, careful and attentive in the management of his 
 private affairs, as he was in his public life. He carefully 
 applied his earnings at the outset of his official life to in- 
 vestments in real estate, some at that time bought at gov- 
 ernment price, and in after years made investments in Ne- 
 braska and other western lands. So he found in 1870 that" 
 he had a large estate to manage, and as he was improving 
 his lands it was necessary for him to have some respite from 
 official duties. 
 
 In 1872, under the new apportionment, the counties of 
 Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Livingston, Woodford and Mar- 
 shall were formed into the Eighth Congressional District, 
 
408 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 anil the people of the new district began to cast about for 
 the man to represent their interests in Congress. Almost 
 all of the counties had their " favorite sons." Kankakee 
 presented her brilliant Starr, Iroquois her gleaming, sharp 
 and shining Blades, Livington presented her Senatorial 
 Ajax Strevell, and Marshall the impregnable, invulnera- 
 ble and strong Fort. The other two counties held in re- 
 serve as " dark horses," men who, Barkis-like, were 
 " willin " to have a lightning stroke in the shape of a nomi- 
 nation to Congress, our old friend Bayne, of Woodford, 
 being on the tender hooks of expectancy. 
 
 Such was the political situation when the Congressional 
 Convention met at Fairbury in August, 1872. The 
 aspirants with their friends were early on the ground. It 
 was an animated but friendly contest. Each competitor, 
 while making his best effort to succeed, was on the most 
 •cordial terms with his opponents. After many ballotings 
 -and consultations it was manifest that there would be a 
 break. Livingston county was the vulnerable point. 
 Strevell's friends were willing to yield, and from Col. 
 Fort's general acquaintance in that county it was under- 
 stood who would get the votes of that delegation. 
 
 The Livingston aud Ford delegations came over to 
 Fort, and the other aspirants, understanding what the 
 result would be soon, withdrew, and he received the unan- 
 imous nomination of the convention, thus showing that he 
 still held his old place in the affections of the people. 
 
 He was elected in the following November, and contin- 
 ued to be re-elected to each succeding Congress until 1878, 
 his last term ending March 4, 1881. His record in Con- 
 gress was satisfactory to his entire constituency, even his 
 political opponents conceded honesty of purpose, many of 
 
GREENBERRY L. FORT. 409 
 
 them at each recurring election casting their votes for him. 
 In 1880 he absolutely declined a re-election. His am- 
 bition for political preferment, never strong, was fully 
 satisfied. A great many of his friends in many parts of the 
 state, through the press and public meetings, presented his 
 name as a candidate for governor in 1880, but he took no 
 active part in the matter. At the Republican State Con- 
 vention he received a very flattering vote, but the majority 
 on the third ballot nominated Hon. S. M. Culloni. 
 
 His record in Congress was most successful. He 
 made his impress on the legislation of the country on all 
 the important questions that were settled during the time 
 he was in congress. The currency question, remonetization 
 of silver, resumption and many others, as presented, received 
 his careful attention. His methods were honest, open and 
 frank. He was a man of business, careful and attentive, 
 possessing wonderful judgment and a thorough knowledge 
 of men. 
 
 In summing up his qualities as a legislator a journalist 
 says of him: " Without bluster or pretension he steadily 
 pursued his way, and accomplished greater results than any 
 congressman in the West. His manner was dignified but 
 approachable and courteous, and his personal popularity 
 absolutely unbounded." 
 
 Although never seeking office no man ever had more 
 official honors thrust upon him. When his name was pre- 
 sented as a candidate from an authoritative body — a 
 convention met for that purpose — then he entered the can- 
 vass. He was always successful, from the time he was 
 elected sheriff until his last election to Congress, he never 
 knew or felt the sensation or feeling of disappointment 
 supposed to attach to a defeated candidate. 
 
410 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 He went into the army from pure patriotism, volunteer- 
 ing in the ranks, but the men knew " in whom to trust,"' 
 and called him to direct affairs. It was no management on 
 his part that he was taken from his company and appointed ■ 
 a' quartermaster; the position came to him unsought, with- 
 out his knowledge, and came directly from the man that 
 knew him so well — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 The author speaks feelingly, having a knowledge of the 
 matters whereof he writes, and speaks from facts learned in 
 youthful days sitting on the same benches, writing at the- 
 same desk, warming at the same broad fireplace at the old 
 school house described at the beginning of this chapter, the 
 author being seven years the senior, but all the same a 
 boy. of that period, full of sympathy for boy-kind, and par- 
 ticipating with the younger scholars in all their sports. 
 
 Col. Fort died at Lacon January 13, 1883, from 
 embolism, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. Death came 
 suddenly, and after his prostration he never rallied to con- 
 sciousness. When the stroke came he was engaged near 
 his residence in his ordinary business, just at the moment 
 training a young colt, when it was noticed that his head 
 dropped, he threw up his arms and fell backward to the 
 ground, living a few hours, but not conscious. Mrs. Fort 
 and son Robert were absent on a visit to her two brothers 
 in Chicago. The sad news was wired to her. She returned 
 by special train furnished by President Blackstone of the 
 Chicago & Alton railroad, but the honored husband was 
 unconscious, and died soon after her and her son's arrival. 
 
 Thus passed from life, in the zenith of his powers of 
 mind and great usefulness, Greenberry L. Fort, the warm: 
 friend, the useful citizen, the incorruptible official, — strick- 
 en suddenly while supposed to be in robust health, his- 
 
GREENBEKKY L. FOET. 411 
 
 death came to his old neighbors, to the people of the state 
 and country suddenly, like a clap of thunder from a clear 
 sky. All sorrowed for him. He was an intimate personal 
 friend of thousands, and although the weather was very 
 inclement there was a large attendance at his funeral. 
 The services were short but impressive and appropriate,, 
 and all that was mortal of the citizen, soldier, and the 
 statesman was laid away, leaving pleasant memories long 
 to be remembered by all who knew him. 
 
CAPT. WILLIAM H. MANN. 
 
 HORTICULTURIST, FARMER AND STOCK GROWER. 
 
 Away back in the fifties, when people of our then young 
 state first commenced thinking of divesting themselves of 
 the swaddling clothes of the frontier and launching out in 
 improved methods of farming, and devising plans that 
 would improve, and at the same time beautify, there 
 came to this state a young man of plain habits, correct 
 morals, endowed with good judgment, and of most indus- 
 trious application to business. These qualities drew him to 
 us, and since that time we have numbered him among our 
 valued friends. 
 
 William H. Mann was born in Adair county, Ken- 
 tucky, April 21, 1827, and was the youngest of a family of 
 five children. His mother died when he was but two 
 years old. When he was four years old his father moved 
 to Montgomery county, ^Illinois, and enlisted in the force 
 then being organized to defend the settlers against Black 
 Hawk and his murderous hordes in the northwest part of 
 the state. His father inherited the old Daniel Boone hos- 
 tility to the Indian, and whenever there was a chance he 
 improved the opportunity to rid the community of them.. 
 He was a brave soldier and a good man. When William 
 was eight years old his father died, and with one of His 
 brothers and only sister he returned to Kentucky, where 
 part of the time he did such work as boys can do, attend- 
 
CAPT. WILLIAM H. MANN. 413 
 
 ing a few weeks each year such schools as that part of the 
 state afforded. 
 
 At twelve years old he went to Lewis county, Missouri, 
 and worked on a farm for his board and clothing, going to 
 school only six months during the six years he staid there. 
 Then he returned again to Kentucky, where most of his 
 friends resided. 
 
 After visiting friends a short time he went to Texas, 
 and soon after arriving there enlisted in a company of 
 Texas Rangers, entered the United States service when the 
 Mexican war was declared, participated in several engage- 
 ments, and when his term of service expired he was hon- 
 orably discharged. 
 
 While in Texas he was induced to prepare and pack 
 for market a few bushels of Osage Orange seed ; a tedious 
 operation. When the seeds were packed he started north 
 with them, landing in Peoria in February, 1848. This 
 was the pioneer introduction of the Osage Orange to the 
 Western prairies, and dates the commencement of that en- 
 terprise. Mr. Mann failed to sell his seed, as nurserymen 
 and farmers were not then acquainted with the value of the 
 shrub, and did not know whether it could be acclimated. 
 Here he became acquainted with Messrs. Harkness & 
 Overman, then the most extensive nurserymen in that part 
 of the state. 
 
 They encouraged him to engage in the growing of 
 hedge plants. He did so, and it was a success, and. the 
 business has been successfully carried on ever since ; some 
 years producing fifty million plants. He located near 
 Bloomington on part of the land now occupied by the city 
 of Normal, and in connection with Mr. Overman he en- 
 gaged in the general nursery business, being a general 
 
414 FIFTY YEARS RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 benefactor to the whole country, supplying fruit trees, 
 hedge plants, and trees for shade and ornament. 
 
 In October, 1851, he married Miss Elizabeth Abraham, 
 of Bloomington, a practical, industrious, intelligent young 
 lady, to whom he ascribes a great part of the credit of his 
 great success in the years since then. To them have been 
 born nine sous, six of them still living. 
 
 When the success of the Osage Orange was assured as 
 a hedge shrub Mr. Mann engaged extensively in the Osage 
 seed business, making almost annual trips to Texas to 
 make his contracts. From his hundreds of bushels of seed 
 he supplied growers of plants and nurserymen throughout 
 the prairie portion of Illinois and some in other western 
 states. He extended operations to other counties planting 
 a nursery in Marshall county and another in LaSalle county. 
 
 The years of the fifties rolled on, he enjoying the pros- 
 perity due to incessant and laborious attention to business, 
 his operations extending in proportion. The year 1860, that 
 portentious year, big with events of the future, fore- 
 shadowed by the result of the presidential election, stopped 
 further communication with the south of a commercial 
 character till the year after the war. It also suspended the 
 trade in Osage Orange seed, but the stock of plants that he 
 was growing advanced greatly in price, as did other nursery 
 stock during the war. 
 
 On the breaking out of the war Mr. Mann contributed 
 his aid to fill up the first quotas of troops by time given 
 and means furnished: Known in nearly every county of 
 Central and Northern Illinois for his public spirit and in- 
 fluence, it is nothing strange that when a company for a 
 regiment then being organized was being raised in his 
 neighborhood, the eyes of all should be directed towards 
 
CAPT. WILLIAM H. MANN. " 415 
 
 him to command it, and Company I, Ninety-fourth Illinois 
 Volunteer Infantry, Col. W. W. Orme commanding, chose 
 him as captain, he never losing a day from duty during the 
 two years he remained in the service. 
 
 After serving thus faithfully he resigned his commission 
 for the purpose of organizing a colored regiment, but at 
 the time there were so many permissions granted for that 
 purpose, the quota required in that branch of the service 
 was filled, and his patriotic intention of furnishing the gov- 
 ernment a regiment and commanding it cculd not be carried 
 out. Captain Mann was a favorite with his superior 
 officers, always at his post, and as he never used intoxica- 
 ting liquors they knew he could be trusted. 
 
 He returned from the war and resumed his place in 
 conducting the business that his partner, the late C. R. 
 Overman, had successfully carried forward during his ab- 
 sence. When the war was over he resumed business rela- 
 tions with Texas, and again visited that state, the scene of 
 his first military experience. His old friends there who 
 survived the war recognized that genial and honest face, 
 covered by the great broad-brimmed hat. They knew that 
 his advent among them meant honest trading, prompt pay 
 in Yankee money — the much-desired and sought after 
 greenbacks, and this " bridged over the bloody chasm," 
 and again for years the trade was established so important 
 to the farming interests in the prairie states. In 1868 he 
 was attracted to the great artesian belt in Iroquois county, 
 and made a large purchase of land adjoining the new city 
 of Gilman, at the junction of the Illinois Central and 
 Wabash railroads. 
 
 He sold his property at Normal, removing his family to 
 his new purchase, and inaugurated large improvements, 
 
416 FIFTY YEAES' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 planted out over two hundred acres in fruit-seeds of all 
 kinds that are hardy in this climate, also many acres in 
 Osage seed to supply the largely increasing demand. He 
 commenced at once the erection of a large brick house on 
 the most elevated portion of his land, immediately adjoin- 
 ing the city and overlooking it and the surrounding country 
 for miles. This house was fitted up with all the modern 
 improvements, he intending it for his permanent home. In 
 the fifteen years past he has prospered, and his sons have 
 grown up around him. He has given each a good practical 
 education, they inheriting from both father and mother 
 business tact and industry. 
 
 Several years ago he added the business of importing 
 and breeding Norman horses to his enterprises, and to that, 
 some four years ago, the importation of Holstein cattle. 
 In all his business ventures he has been a successful man. 
 His stud of horses and herd of Holsteins carry off large 
 premiums at the fairs. 
 
 In benevolent donations he has been liberal. His 
 church connections since he arrived at man's estate have 
 been with the Church of the Disciples, or Christian Church. 
 In politics he is an unwavering republican. As in his 
 army experiences offices of trust have been thrust upon 
 him. Soon after his removal to Gilman he was, by unani- 
 mous designation of his fellow-citizens, appointed postmas- 
 ter, and held that office until he resigned it two years ago. 
 
 In December, 1881, Mr. Mann visited Florida, and was 
 so well pleased with it that in October last he removed 
 there, leaving his extensive business at Gilman in charge 
 of his sons. He will make that state his permanent home. 
 He has purchased a large body of land, embracing several 
 clear water lakes, on the line of the Florida Southern 
 
CAPT. WILLIAM H. MANN. 417 
 
 Railway, fifteen miles west of the St. Johns river, where he 
 has laid out a town, a railroad station, established a post- 
 office, Mannville, and will plant out two hundred acres of 
 orange trees as soon as the work can be done, besides other 
 fruits that his superior judgment will enable him to select 
 that will succeed in that locality. 
 
 It is the province of our work to recognize merit in 
 individuals in their success in conducting great industries. 
 In Capt. Mann we have one of this type. Without 
 educational advantages, an orphan, an untutored boy, com- 
 mencing life as a soldier boy, where the merit was in well 
 performing his part, he entered upon a business life when 
 scarcely attained to full manhood ; he filled a place in the 
 advancement and improvement of the country that proba- 
 bly no other man would have filled. He succeeded, and 
 when the dark days of '61 came, that tried men's love of 
 country — their patriotism — he stepped into the ranks. His 
 early army experience pointed to him to lead the little 
 band, and the soldier boys were not disappointed in their 
 choice. 
 
 27 
 
hon. james McCartney. 
 
 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 James McCartney was born in Perry county, Pa., Feb. 
 14, 1835. He was of Scotch ancestry, but his parents were- 
 of North Ireland birth. 
 
 When the subject of our sketch was only six years old 
 his father moved to Lawrence county, Pa., and resided 
 there for about five years, then moved to Trumbull county, 
 Ohio, and engaged in farming. During the winter months 
 James went to school, advanced rapidly in his studies, 
 and entered the high school with the greatest energy 
 and diligence and when winter terms of school offered an 
 an opportunity he obtained a position as a teacher. When 
 his term expired, he in turn became a student at the North 
 Western Seminary, at Farmington, Ohio, and during his 
 college life here he often visited Hiram College, Ohio, then 
 presided over by Jas. A. Garfield. In 1856 he entered the 
 law office of Matthew Birchard, at Warren, Ohio, and 
 commenced the study of law, where he remained about one 
 year, and in October, 1857, went to Monmouth, Illinois, 
 in the office of Harding & Reed, where he finished 
 reading, and was admitted to the bar in 1858, and immedi- 
 ately entered into partnership with Mr. Reed. In 1859 
 he removed to Galva, Henry county, Illinois, and success- 
 fully practiced law until the war broke out. On the 19th 
 -of April, 1861, he enlisted in a company raised at Galva, 
 
Hon. James McCartney, Attorney-General, 
 
HON. JAMES M'CAETNEY. 419 
 
 and was elected first lieutenant. The company was mus- 
 tered into service as Company D, Seventeenth Illinois 
 Infantry. After serving faithfully until after the battle of 
 Fort Donelson his health failed from exposure, and he was 
 compelled to resign his commission. He visited the Lake 
 Superior regions, and recovering his health, returned and 
 again entered the service as first lieutenant in Company G. 
 112th Illinois Infantry, Col. Thomas J. Henderson com- 
 manding. He was soon after promoted to a captaincy and 
 served through the war, and mustered out with the regi- 
 ment at Camp Douglas in July, 1865. "While in the 
 service he was engaged on special duty as judge-advocate 
 of court martials, and for nearly a year as assistant adjutant 
 general of the Third Brigade, Third Division Cavalry 
 Corps, Army of the Ohio. After being mustered out of the 
 service in 1865, he immediately went to Fairfield, Wayne" 
 county, 111., and again commenced the practice of law, in 
 which he has engaged ever since. 
 
 At the Republican State Convention held at Springfield 
 May 21, 1880, he was nominated for attorney -general and 
 was elected, proving by the general satisfaction given that 
 he is very acceptable to the people. 
 
 He possesses great legal ability, competent in every 
 respect to fill the position of chief legal adviser to the state. 
 Personally we have enjoyed much pleasure in his company, 
 and always found him deeply engaged in giving considera- 
 tion to his official duties, which are very laborious. 
 
 He has been called to Washington to argue cases before 
 the supreme court in which the state was interested, and 
 takes rank among the ablest lawyers of the state. 
 
ONE OF ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 
 
 THE SUGAR INTEREST. 
 
 In giving place to successful results from scientific re- 
 search we deem it due to the pioneers in a new industry 
 to give prominence and encouragement to their enterprise. 
 
 As soon as the publication of our work was decided 
 upon, we wrote to Professors Weber and Scovell to furnish 
 for publication a full statement of the advancement made in 
 perfecting the manufacture of sugar from the sorghum cane. 
 They have cheerfully responded to our request, and before 
 giving their very satisfactory article place, we will give a 
 brief sketch of these eminent scientists. 
 
 H. A. Weber, Ph. D., was born at Clinton ville, near 
 Columbus, Ohio, July 12th, 1845. He attended Otterbien 
 University at Westerville, Ohio, from 1861 to 1863, then 
 went to Europe and entered the Polytechnic School at 
 Kaiserstantern, in the Palatinate, from 1863 to 1866, and 
 from these scientific schools was advanced in 1866 to the 
 University of Munich, Bavaria; attended until 1868, where 
 he studied chemistry under Baron Von Liebig and Dr. 
 Reischauer, and mineralogy under Von Kobell, graduating 
 at all these institutions with honors. Returning to the 
 United States he engaged in the chemical department of the 
 Geological Survey of Ohio from 1869 to 1874. In the 
 latter year he accepted the chair of professor of chemistry 
 and mineralogy at the Industrial University at Champaign,. 
 
ONE OF ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 421 
 
 •filling it acceptably until the fall of 1882, and during the 
 autumn of last year was engaged in the manufacture of 
 sugar. ' We give place to his able paper on the experi- 
 ments in growing and manufacturing the sorghum product 
 into sugar. 
 
 M. A. Scovell, M. S., was born at Broadway, New 
 Jersey, February 26, 1855, and entered the Illinois Indus- 
 trial University in 1871, and graduated in the school of 
 chemistry with the degree of B. S., in 1875, and at once 
 occupied the position of First Assistant in the Chemical 
 Department until 1878, then was offered and accepted the 
 chair of Professor of Agricultural Chemistry from 1878 to 
 1882, when with Prof. Weber he engaged in developing the 
 sorghum sugar manufacturing interests. We give the suc- 
 cessful results reached in the very able paper given below : 
 
 THE SORGHUM SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
 By Prof. H. A. Weber, Ph. D. 
 
 Through the results obtained in the manufacture of 
 sugar on a commercial scale in the sugar works at Cham- 
 paign, 111., and Rio Grande, N. J., in the season of 1882, a 
 new impetus has been given to the sorghum industry. 
 The production of good, marketable sugar by the process 
 employed at the Champaign sugar works is no longer a 
 matter of experiment, but an assured success. The high 
 degree of interest with which the press and the public in 
 general followed the development of these results, is the 
 best proof of the great importance which is universally 
 attached to this new industry. Sugar has long ceased to be 
 regarded as a luxury, but is everywhere considered as one 
 of the most necessary and indispensable articles of food. 
 For the supply of this important substance the American 
 people have hitherto been almost entirely dependent upon 
 foreign countries, only about one-ninth of the demand 
 
422 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 being produced at home. During the running season the 
 works at Champaign were visited by persons from all parts 
 of the country, as well as by representatives of foreign 
 countries, and even the most skeptical minds, on observing 
 the quantity and quality of the sugar and the ease and cer- 
 tainty with which it was manufactured, were convinced 
 that the enterprise was practicable, and that before many 
 years the United States would produce its home demand 
 for sugar and syrup. Any enterprise by which this desir- 
 able end can be reached should receive the hearty support 
 of all that are interested in public welfare. From the 
 results already obtained, coupled with the proverbial enter- 
 prise of the American people, it may be safely claimed that 
 at no distant day the production of sugar from sorghum or 
 northern cane will be one of the leading industries of the 
 land, bestowing its wide-spread benefits upon the farmer, 
 the laborer, the manufacturer and the public in general. 
 
 The establishment of the sugar factory at Champaign 
 was the result of the experiments with sorghum cane made 
 by Professors Weber and Scovell in the seasons of 1880 
 and 1881. The object of these investigations was to de- 
 termine whether or not the production of sugar from 
 sorghum was feasible in the great corn belt of the north- 
 west, in which Champaign, where the experiments were 
 made, is located. Up to this time the production of sugar 
 from sorghum was an open question. In France the sub- 
 ject had been investigated many years before, and was 
 dropped in favor of the sugar beet. In our own country 
 scientists as well as practical manufacturers of sorghum 
 syrup were arrayed upon two sides. One class ignored 
 entirely the idea of making sugar profitably, while the 
 other claimed that it was feasible. The advocates of sugar 
 production, however, had the great disadvantage in the 
 controversy of not being able to uphold their theory by 
 well-established facts and results. So also the opinions 
 were divided on almost every important point in the treat- 
 ment of the cane and juice. From the many conflicting 
 reports in regard to the whole subject and its minor details 
 
ONE OF ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 423 
 
 no definite conclusions could be drawn, and it was found 
 necessary, in order to prosecute the work in an intelligent 
 manner, to treat it as an entirely new field of investigation. 
 
 The work of Professors Weber and Scovell occupied 
 two distinct fields : first, scientific researches in which the 
 nature of sorghum cane was studied, and second, practical 
 experiments in making sugar. The results of their labor- 
 ious investigations have been given to the public in full 
 and need not be referred to here in detail. 
 
 From their reports the following conclusions may be 
 drawn with reference to the manufacture of crystalizable 
 sugar : v 
 
 1. Seed should be planted as early as possible. 
 Wherever late maturing varieties ripen about one-half of 
 the land should be planted with early amber, and the other 
 half with one or all of the following late varieties, the 
 preference being in the order given : Link's Hybrid, Early 
 Orange, Siberian. Kansas Orange is also a good late 
 variety for making sugar, but is very liable to fall flat in a 
 storm, and hence cannot be recommended for general plant- 
 ing. 
 
 2. Sorghum requires hot summer weather for rapid 
 and complete development, and whenever extremely hot 
 summers prevail, as in the great corn-belt of the north- 
 west, the development of the cane holds pace with the for- 
 mation of the seed, and the maximum quantity of cane 
 sugar is reached when the seed is in the hardening dough. 
 After this stage is reached the quantity of cane sugar slowly 
 diminishes. Hence under these conditions the proper time 
 to begin harvesting is when the seed is in the hardening 
 dough. In seasons like that of 1882 with its unprece- 
 dented low summer temperature, and in such portions of 
 the country where the average summer temperature is con- 
 siderably lower than in this section, the amount of <" me 
 sugar may increase for two or three weeks after the har- 
 dening dough stage is reached. In these cases, the proper- 
 time for harvesting the crop should be determined by peri- 
 odic analyses of the cane. 
 
424 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 3. After the cane is cut the cane sugar or crystalizable 
 sugar is gradually changed into invert or uncrystalizable 
 sugar, and in the course of time no trace of crystalizable 
 sugar remains in the stalks. For this reason it is evident 
 that the cane should be crushed as fast as it is cut. Cane 
 which is cut iu the evening or afternoon may be kept until 
 the next morning without any serious loss in sugar. 
 
 4. If possible the leaves should be removed from the 
 cane, as they tend to lessen the amount of sugar, and in- 
 crease the amount of impurity in the juice, but if the 
 necessary labor for stripping by hand can not be obtained, 
 the cane may be crushed with the leaves on. In no case, 
 however, should the stripping be done far in advance of 
 the cutting. All cane should be cut on the same day on 
 which it is stripped, especially if it is not thoroughly ripe. 
 An example will explain the reason of this precaution. A 
 plot of cane was analyzed when it was in the hardening 
 dough, a portion of which had been stripped a week before. 
 The specific gravity 6f the juice of the unstripped cane 
 was 1.058, while that of the stripped cane was 1.037. The 
 percentage of cane sugar in the former was 8.31, while in 
 the latter it was only 4.11. A week later another analysis 
 of stripped cane was made, which revealed almost the en- 
 tire absence of cane sugar, and a still lower specific 
 gravity. 
 
 5. Topping the cane soon after the heads begin to 
 appear, and before the seeds show any sign of becoming 
 milky, not only hastens the maturity of the cane, but in- 
 creases the specific gravity of the juice and the percentage 
 of cane sugar. Sorghum seed contains over sixty-three per 
 •cent, of starch, and it was supposed that by topping the cane 
 at the proper time the material which was to produce this 
 starch might be retained in the stalks in the form of sugar. 
 The truth of this theory was strikingly shown by actual 
 experiment. 
 
 6. Sprouting the seed before planting does not hasten 
 the maturity of the same. Six experiments were made in the 
 season of 1882 at various times and with different varieties 
 
ONE OF ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 425 
 
 •of seed, in order to test this question, but in no case could 
 the slightest advantage be noticed from sprouting the seed. 
 
 7. The percentage of sugar in the juice from the lower 
 half of the cane is about two per cent, higher than in that 
 obtained from the upper half, but the upper part should not 
 be discarded as unfit for making sugar. Not more than 
 twelve to eighteen inches of the top should be removed. 
 
 8. In order to study the effects of different varieties of 
 soil upon the quality of the cane, a large nu'mber of analyses 
 were made of fields of cane grown upon virgin prairie, 
 prairie which had been under cultivation, timber land 
 and Mississippi sand land. The average results did not show 
 any greater discrepancies than might have been due to 
 locality and mode of planting and cultivation, hence 
 sorghum can be grown successfully upon all the varieties 
 of soil specified. The co-efficient of purity was by far 
 greater in the juice, from the sand land than from any of 
 the other varieties of soil. 
 
 9. Fresh barn-yard manure has a very deleterious 
 effect upon the quality of sorghum cane. When liberally 
 supplied it not only diminishes the percentage of sugar, but 
 increases the amount of foreign matter (salts and albumi- 
 noids) to such an extent as to make a good defecation of the 
 
 juice impossible, and to render the sugar and molasses when 
 made unfit for use. 
 
 10. The application of superphosphate was found highly 
 beneficial. Not only did the plat on which it was used 
 mature about sixteen days earlier than one which was 
 planted at the same time and the same seed for comparison, 
 but the percentage of sugar was greatly increased. In a 
 very few days after the seed was up this plat gave evi- 
 dence of a most vigorous or rapid growth. The stalks were 
 strong and firm, and the leaves broad and thrifty. This 
 plat would have borne horse cultivation before the weeds 
 would have gotten a start, and before the plat planted at 
 the same time without the fertilizer would have permitted. 
 
426 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 EXPERIMENT IN SUGAR MAKING — 1880. 
 
 The object of these investigations was to determine 
 ■whether any method of the manufacture of the juice into 
 syrup could be found which would insure the subsequent 
 crystalization of the sugar. With this end in view, and in 
 order to have as many data as possible for subsequent ex- 
 perimentation another year, a large variety of methods 
 were employed, without waiting for the final result of each, 
 and without any reference to their practicability of being 
 used on a large scale. The apparatus employed was a two- 
 horse Victor mill, with three upright rollers, a Cook's evap- 
 orator, a small Hedge's centrifugal, scales, tubs, pails, &c. 
 
 1. Experiment with Early Amber, September 18. — The 
 cane was quite ripe. Before crushing it was stripped and 
 topped, and yielded 48 per cent, of juice, having a specific 
 gravity of 1.066. The juice was evaporated without the 
 addition of lime or other neutralizing agent and thoroughly 
 skimmed, the syrup when cold weighing eleven pounds to 
 the gallon. No crystalization of sugar occurred. 
 
 2. Experiment with Early Amber, September 20. — In 
 this experiment milk of lime was added to the juice in the 
 cold as soon as it came from the mill, the addition being 
 made gradually and with constant stirring until a piece of 
 of reddened litmus paper was changed to purple when held 
 in the juice. Then a solution of tannin and finally an 
 equivalent amount of gelatine was added. The liquor was 
 then boiled, thoroughly skimmed and concentrated to syrup. 
 It being difficult to control the heat with the evaporator 
 employed, the syrup was scorched and tasted like extract of 
 licorice. The syrup .crystal i zed readily. 
 
 3. Experiment with Early Amber, September 21. — As 
 in experiment No. 1, the juice was evaporated in its natural 
 state to a syrup, which, upon evolving, weighed eleven 
 pounds to the gallon. No crystalization of the sugar took 
 place. This syrup was afterwards concentrated farther, but 
 still no crystalized sugar separated. Failing to make the 
 sugar crystalize this syrup was subjected to an analysis, and 
 
ONE OF ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 427 
 
 it was found that the ratio of grape sugar to caue sugar was 
 as 1 to 2.2, while in the juice from which the syrup was 
 made the ratio of grape to cane sugar was as 1 to 4. This 
 proves that a large portion of the cane sugar was changed 
 to uncrystalizable sugar during the process of evaporation, 
 which accounts for the failure of the sugar to crystalize. 
 
 4. Experiment with Early Amber, September 22. — 
 The juice was rendered alkaline with milk of lime and then 
 neutralized with aluminum sulphate. On evaporation of 
 the liquor to a syrup, which weighed 11 to 11J to the gal- 
 lon, a good crystalization of sugar ensued. 
 
 5. Experiment with Orange, September 23. — The- 
 juice was neutralized with milk of lime, tannin and gelatine 
 added, and evaporated to a syrup weighing twelve pounds to 
 the gallon. The color of the syrup was very dark. In a 
 day or two the sugar began to crystalize, and a melado was 
 obtained which yielded 49.1 per ceut. by weight of brown 
 sugar. The sugar was separated by the centrifugal machine. 
 
 The products of this experiment, calculated for one acre 
 of cane, were as follows : 
 
 (jallons of juice 754 
 
 Gallons of syrup 120.6 
 
 Pounds of sugar 710.6 
 
 6. Experiment with Orange, September 24. — The juice 
 was neutralized with milk of lime, tannin, gelatine and 
 aluminum sulphate added, and then evaporated to a syrup 
 of eleven pounds to the gallon. The color of the syrup 
 was very light, and the sugar began to crystalize in two 
 days after the syrup was made. 
 
 7. Experiment with Orange, September 27. — In this- 
 experiment the juice was merely neutralized with lime and 
 evaporated to a syrup weighing eleven to twelve pounds 
 per gallon. The syrup obtained was of a dark color, but it 
 began to granulate in a few days forming a very heavy 
 melado. 
 
 8. Experiment with Orange, September 27. — The juice 
 was treated with milk of lime, and then sulphurous acid 
 
428 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 was used to neutralize any lime remaining uncombined in 
 the juice. Ou evaporating to a heavy syrup the sugar 
 began to crystalize while the syrup was cooling. 
 
 9. Experiment with Orange, October 1. — The juice 
 was treated with milk of lime and aluminum sulphate and 
 evaporated to a heavy syrup. Granulation ensued in three 
 days after the syrup was made. 
 
 10. Experiment with Orange, October 1. — As in ex 
 periment No. 3, with early Amber, here also the juice was 
 evaporated in the usual manner employed for making 
 sorghum syrup without the addition of lime or other neut- 
 ralizing agents. After allowing the syrup to stand five 
 weeks, only a few crystals of sugar were formed. An anal- 
 ysis of the syrup was then made, and the percentage of cane 
 sugar was found to be 38.90, while that .of the grape sugar 
 was 26.91 per cent. Here, again, an undue proportion of 
 cane sugar was found to be invested, which explains why 
 no granulation took place. This same experiment was 
 repeated later in the fall after the cane had been ripe for a 
 long time, and a like result was obtained. 
 
 11. A part of the Early Amber was saved for a final 
 experiment at the close of the season when the juice had 
 become quite acid. It was neutralized with milli of lime, 
 and then treated with sulphate of aluminum. The syrup 
 obtained was very dark, but a very good granulation was 
 obtained. 
 
 EXPERIMENTS IN SUGAR MAKING IN 1881. 
 
 The object of the experiments in 1880 to determine a 
 reliable method for producing granulation in sorghum 
 syrup was more readily attained than was expected. By 
 careful examination of the experiments as described, it will 
 be seen that wherever the juice was neutralized with milk 
 of lime, whether other re-agents were used or not, granulation 
 ensued, providing a melado or mush sugar which yielded 
 in some cases nearly fifty per cent, of dry sugar, but when 
 the juice was evaporated in its natural coudition without 
 neutralization, little or no crystalization of sugar occurred. 
 
ONE OF ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 42& 
 
 The cause of this failure to granulate was shown to be due 
 to the fact that in the latter case the cane sugar was largely 
 converted into grape or uncrystalizable sugar. In those 
 experiments in which other re-agents, as tannin, gelatine, 
 sulphurous acid and aluminum sulphate were employed in 
 connection with milk of lime, the results did not show any 
 marked advantage over those in which lime was used alone, 
 except where sulphurous acid or aluminum sulphate was 
 added to counteract the evil effects of an excess of lime, the 
 syrup and sugar obtained were of a lighter color, all of the 
 melado was tough and gummy, and the sugar could be sep- 
 arated in the centrifugal machine only with great difficulty. 
 Besides, the sugar in all the experiments when purged, was 
 of a gummy nature and had the characteristic sorghum 
 taste and odor. 
 
 One important point, however, was established by those 
 experiments, namely, that the granulation of the syrup 
 could not be relied upon unless the juice was neutralized 
 before evaporation, and that when properly neutralized 
 and defecated, the production of a melado rich enough in 
 sugar to yield 710 pounds of dry sugar to the acre of ordi- 
 nary cane was ensured. 
 
 This result, in connection with the information imparted 
 by the scientific investigations made, practically solved the 
 problem of manufacturing sugar from sorghum. There was 
 now nothing left to do but to make an improvement in the 
 process of manufacturing the sugar by which the foreign 
 matter in the juice, which is not eliminated by the ordinary 
 method of defecation, should be removed. This improve- 
 ment in the art of making sugar from sorghum was found in 
 use of bone-black or its equivalent for the purification the 
 of the juice. This subject will be referred to further on, 
 when discussing the process of making sugar on a large 
 scale. 
 
 Of the experiments in making sugar in 1881, only one 
 need be cited here. In the year before an approximate 
 analysis of cane was made, which revealed the fact that 
 only a little more than one-third of the sugar actually 
 
430 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 present in the cane was obtained in the form of dry sugar. 
 The remainder was either lost in the bagasse, or was con- 
 tained in the molasses drained from sugar. To recover a 
 portion at least of this great waste of sugar was one of the 
 objects of these further experiments. 
 
 Experiment with Early Amber. — The cane selected for 
 this experiment was grown upon virgin prairie, and the 
 juice had the following composition: 
 
 Specific gravity 1.072 
 
 Cane sugar, per cent 13.66 
 
 Grape sugar, per cent 3.00 
 
 The cane was stripped and topped before crushing. 
 The juice obtained was carefully neutralized with milk of 
 lime in the cold, then heated to the boiling point and 
 skimmed. The liquor was then evaporated to about one- 
 half of its original volume, while any scum that arose was 
 removed. It was next filtered through bone coal and then 
 evaporated to crystalization. In order to recover the 
 sugar left in the bagasse, this was packed into large barrels 
 as it came from the mill and completely exhausted with 
 water. The percolate thus obtained was treated like juice. 
 The sugar began to crystalize while the syrup cooled. 
 Two days afterwards it was separated from the molasses 
 with the centrifugal machine. The results of this experi- 
 ment are'here given in detail: 
 
 CALCULATIONS FOR ONE ACRE. 
 
 Pounds of stripped cane with tops 18,535.3 
 
 Pounds of stripped cane without tops 15,765.9 
 
 Pounds of juice obtained 6,545.6 
 
 Per cent, of juice of stripped and topped cane ' 41.5 
 
 Pounds of melado from juice 1,298.7 
 
 Pounds of melado from bagasse 253!9 
 
 Total weight of melado ' \^r-,%6 
 
 Pounds of sugar from juice '...'.' 504 
 
 Pounds of sugar from bagasse 104 7 
 
 Total weight of sugar 608 '7 
 
 Pounds of molasses from j uice 794/7 
 
 Pounds of molasses from bagasse '.." 1492 
 
 , Total weight of molasses ' Q439 
 
ONE OP ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 431 
 
 CALCULATIONS TOE. ONE TON OF STRIPPED AND TOPPED CANE. 
 
 Pounds of juice 830.4 
 
 Pounds of sugar 77.2 
 
 Pounds of molasses 119.7 
 
 The sugar and molasses obtained were of good quality 
 and entirely free from any unpleasant taste or odor. The 
 same may be said of all of the products obtained from the 
 various experiments made in the manner described above, 
 with the single exception of that in which the cane was 
 grown upon an abandoned barn-yard, containing large 
 quantities of fresh manure. The quality of the sugar 
 especially created an unusual degree of interest wherever 
 it was shown, many persons doubting that it was made 
 from sorghum. 
 
 The next thing to be considered more in detail is the 
 nature of sorghum juice and the method for making sugar 
 employed in the experiments just described and shown in 
 the season of 1882, to be perfectly adapted to the manu- 
 facture of sugar on a large scale. 
 
 PROCESS OE MANUFACTURING SUGAR. 
 
 Sorghum juice in its normal condition has an acid 
 reaction and contains, according to the varieties of the 
 plant and to different conditions of climate, cultivation, 
 etc., from 8 to 14 per cent, of cane sugar, from 2 to 5 per 
 cent, of glucose or grape sugar, and from 1 J to 3 per cent, 
 of foreign matter, consisting of nitrogenous substances 
 (albuminoid), gum, vegetable acids, mineral salts, chloro- 
 phyl and starch, the last two ingredients being held in 
 suspension. 
 
 When this juice in its natural state is heated and evap- 
 orated, as done in the ordinary way of making syrup, the 
 following changes take place : As the temperature rises to 
 the boiling point a portion of the nitrogenous matter co- 
 agulates, carrying with it all of the bodies held in suspen- 
 , sion exceptiug the starch. This substance is contained in 
 the juice in the form of minute white grains, many times 
 
432 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 smaller than the starch grains contained in sorghum seed. 
 When the temperature of the liquid rises to 60 degrees 
 centigrade, these grains swell and burst, forming what is 
 known as starch paste. On continued boiling this starch 
 paste becomes soluble and remains in the syrup in the form 
 of the worst kind of gummy matter. The greater part of 
 the nitrogenous matter, as well as the gum, mineral salts 
 and vegetable acids also remain. Even if no other change 
 had taken place it would be impossible under these condi- 
 tions to make the production of sugar a success, as the 
 melado obtained would be unmanageable and the sugar and 
 molasses, if separated, would be unmarketable. But in 
 addition to these difficulties comes the fact that the cane and 
 grape sugar are no longer iu the same proportion in which 
 they originally existed in the juice. It is well known to 
 chemists that a solution of cane sugar acidulated with a 
 mineral acid, as hydrochloric or sulphuric, is rapidly 
 changed into inverted or grape sugar on the application of 
 heat. The vegetable acids always present, even in fresh 
 sorghum juice, act in a similar manner, the amount of inver- 
 sion which they produce depending upon the acidity of the 
 juice and the length of time employed in defecating and 
 evaporating. These considerations lead to the first and 
 most essential step in the treatment of sorghum juice for 
 the production of sugar, namely the neutralization of the 
 acids. A great many chemicals could be employed for this 
 purpose, but milk of lime is the best and at the same time 
 the cheapest. As the acidity of the juice varies in differ- 
 ent kinds of sorghum and at different times in the same 
 variety, no definite proportion of juice and lime can be es- 
 tablished. The point of neutralization must be found by 
 trial with the aid of litmus paper. This part of the pro- 
 cess requires skill and care. That the acids should be neu- 
 tralized has already been shown. On the other hand an 
 undue excess of lime prevents thorough defecation by elimi- 
 nating caustic alkalies, which dissolve up a portion of the 
 coagulated albuminoids, and also cause too great a discolora- 
 tion of the syrup. The best results are obtained when the 
 
433 
 
 juice is rendered as nearly neutral as possible. When thus 
 neutralized no appreciable loss of cane occurs upon subse- 
 quent defecation and evaporation. If, however, the juice 
 were evaporated to crystalization without further purifica- 
 tion, the other difficulties mentioned above would still ob- 
 tain, excepting, that by the use of lime, a greater propor- 
 tion of the nitrogenous matter would be precipitated in the 
 process of defecation. 
 
 The liquor, after defecation therefore, contains cane 
 sugar, grape sugar, nitrogenous matter, gum, soluble starch 
 and mineral salts. Upon the crystalization of the cane 
 sugar, as well as its separation from the molasses, the other 
 constituents have an injurious effect, and they exhibit this 
 effect in the following order : First, nitrogenous matter; 
 second, gum and soluble starch ; third, grape sugar and 
 mineral salts. For further purification the liquor, after 
 being concentrated to a density of 20 to 30 degrees Beaume, 
 is filtered through bone-black. The nitrogenous matter, 
 gum and soluble starch, which are by far the most injurious, 
 belong to a class of bodies known as colloids. These sub- 
 stances are tenaciously retained by bone-black when their 
 solutions came in contact with it. The mineral salts are 
 also to a great extent removed by filtration through bone- 
 black. When thus filtered the liquor no longer presents 
 any obstacle for the production of the very best marketable 
 sugar in paying quantities and on a large scale. During 
 the season of 1882 twenty-six strikes of melado were 
 made in the vacuum pan, and in every case the granulation 
 was effected in the pan itself. The crystals were started 
 with part of a charge and built up as is done in sugar 
 houses. The melado, as it leaves the vacuum pan, should 
 either be purged by means of centrifugals as soon as it has 
 cooled down to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or should be 
 put into crystalizing wagons and kept in a room where 
 temperature should be maintained at about the same point. 
 
 28 
 
434 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 THE SEED PRODUCT. 
 
 Sorghum has one great advantage over all other sugar 
 producing plants in that it yields an abundant crop of ripe 
 grain. As soon as the results in the production of sugar, 
 as described, warranted the conclusion that the establish- 
 ment of an immense industry based upon the cultivation of 
 sorghum was feasible, the question , of the best use to be 
 made of the seed became an important one. 
 
 According to the analysis of Professors Weber and 
 Scovell, sorghum seed has the following composition in 100 
 parts : 
 
 Starch 63.09 
 
 Sugar , 0.56 
 
 Fiber .* 6.35 
 
 Albuminoid 7,35 
 
 Oil 3.08 
 
 Tannin 5.42 
 
 Ash 0.64 
 
 Water 12.51 
 
 Total 99.00 
 
 Although in its general composition sorghum seed 
 resembles corn or other grain, as the analysis shows, yet it 
 is a question whether the large amount of tannin contained 
 in it would not prevent its liberal use as a food for animals. 
 There is one use, however, to which the seed is eminently 
 adapted, on account of the large percentage of starch and 
 the comparatively small amount of albuminoids which it 
 contains, namely, the manufacture of glucose. A number 
 of experiments in this connection were tried, and it was 
 found that glucose could be made directly from the seed, 
 without the tedious and expensive process of producing 
 starch first. In this manner the manufacture of glucose 
 from the seed can be carried on in the same works and 
 with the same machinery used in making sugar and 
 molasses from the stalks, after the season for crushing the 
 cane is over, thus giving employment to the works for 
 nearly the whole year, and putting the sorghum sugar 
 industry on a firmer basis. An average field of sorghum 
 
ONE OP ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 435 
 
 will yield about twenty bushels of seed per acre, arid the 
 results of trials in making glucose show that four gallons 
 per bushel can readily be obtained. 
 
 MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR IN 1882. 
 
 In the fall of 1881 Professor Weber received an invita- 
 tion to address a meeting of the Champaign Citizens' Asso- 
 ciation, and lay before them the results of the investiga- 
 tions which he and his colleague had been making. As a 
 result of this meeting a number of enterprising citizens of 
 Champaign organized the Champaign Sugar Company, in 
 order to give the process of making sugar from sorghum a 
 trial on a large scale. 
 
 In the following spring a sugar plant was erected and 
 land rented for the cultivation of cane. The season of 
 1882 was the most unfavorable one known for the raising 
 of cane. The unusual amount of rainfall, together with 
 the low summer temperature, prevented the proper cultiva- 
 tion of the crop and caused the cane to mature slowly and 
 imperfectly. The average of a large number of analyses 
 made this year showed a percentage of cane sugar in the 
 juice of 8.20, as against 12.08 the year before. 
 
 Harvesting the cane began September 21, and was 
 finished on November 17. Owing to the lateness of the 
 season, one field of Orange was worked up before it was 
 ripe, and another field was cut and shocked. The former 
 and a great portion of the latter was manufactured into 
 •syrup only. 
 " The method of manufacture was as follows : 
 
 The cane was unloaded from the wagons directly on a 
 cane carrier 60 feet in length," which brought it to the first 
 mill, having 4-feet rollers 24 inches in diameter. The 
 bagasse from this mill was carried by an intervening apron 
 to the second mill of the same dimensions. In passing 
 from the first to the second mill the bagasse was saturated 
 with a spray of hot water, by which means a great saving 
 of sugar was accomplished. The juice from the two mills 
 ran into a common tank, from which it was pumped into 
 
436 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 the juice tanks at the top of the main building. From 
 these tanks the juice was drawn into defecators holding 
 over 600 gallons each, where it was carefully neutralized 
 with lime, heated to the boiling point, and skimmed. After 
 settling for half an hour or more, the liquor was drawn off 
 into evaporators made of copper, and concentrated to 20 to 
 30 degrees Beaume. The heating of defecators and evapo- 
 rators was done by means of copper coils. . From the 
 evaporator the semi-syrup was run into settling tanks, and 
 any sediment allowed to subside. It was next passed 
 through the bone-coal filters. These were four in number, 
 12 feet high and 2 feet in diameter. The liquor was next 
 drawn into a vacuum pan and evaporated to meladoor mush 
 sugar. The melado was drawn off into crystalizing wagons 
 and swung out as soon as it could be done with one cen- 
 trifugal machine. 
 
 The results of the season's work are as follows: 
 
 No. of acres of cane worked up 244}-£ 
 
 No. of acres worked for sugar 185 
 
 N o. of acres worked for syrup only 59 
 
 No. of tons of stripped and topped cane 2,282 
 
 No. of tons worked for sugar 1,724 
 
 Average number of tons per acre 9% 
 
 No. of pounds of sugar manufactured 86,600 
 
 • No. of gallons of syrup and molasses 25,650 
 
 No. of pounds of sugar per acre 465^ 
 
 This statement includes all kinds of cane brought to 
 the mill, some of which was quite poor. It also embraces 
 the products for the whole season, in the latter part of 
 which, on account of the cold weather and not having a 
 suitable crystalizing room, a 'large amount of sugar was 
 lost, since the melado had to be mixed with hot water in 
 order to make it of a proper consistency to be run into the 
 centrifugal machine. 
 
 The best results were obtained from a field of Orange 
 cane of 12 J acres. 
 
ONE OF ILLINOIS' GREAT INDUSTRIES. 437 
 
 The products of this field were as follows : 
 
 No. of tons stripped and topped cane 151 
 
 No. of pounds of sugar made 9,600 
 
 No. of gallons of molasses 1,450 
 
 No. of pounds of sugar per acre 768 
 
 No. of gallons of molasses per acre 116 
 
 The average quality of sugar was that of extra yellow 
 C. It polarized about 98 per cent, of cane sugar, sold at 
 the works by the barrel at 8 to 8J cents per pound, and re- 
 tailed at the groceries side by side with New Orleans sugar 
 of the same grade, bringing the same prices. 
 
HON. GEORGE H. HARLOW. 
 
 EX-SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 Few young men of twenty to twenty-five years ago 
 entered with more head, heart and soul, into whatever they 
 found to do, whether his own private business or of state 
 or national concern, than the man we now present, whose 
 name has been so identified with public affairs that it is 
 almost a household word. 
 
 George H. Harlow was born at Sackett's Harbor, New 
 York, Sept. 5, 1830, the eldest son of David and Mercy 
 Harlow. Received his education in the village schools, and 
 at the age of seventeen commenced to learn the builder's 
 trade, preparatory to advancing to a thorough, knowledge 
 of architecture, which study he finished under O. L. 
 Wheelock, the well known architect, then of Watertown, 
 New York, but for many years past, of Chicago. Young 
 Harlow came to Illinois in March, 1854; settled at Pekin, 
 Tazewell county, intending to follow his profession as an 
 architect and builder, but after one year's work went into 
 the mercantile business, and followed it successfully until 
 1860, when he was elected clerk of the circuit court of 
 Tazewell county. He was always an active worker in poli- 
 tics; his first vote was given for Gen. Winfield S. Scott for 
 president. In 1856 he voted for Fremont and Bissell, 
 warmly supporting Lincoln for senator in 1858, and for 
 president in 1860. 
 
HON. GEORGE H. HARLOW. 439 
 
 In 1860 he was nominated and elected clerk of the 
 circuit court. His county was supposed to be hopelessly- 
 democratic at that time, and the incumbent of the clerk's- 
 office, M. C. Young, was very popular, and young Harlow 
 was supposed to be leading a forlorn hope, but the result 
 proved that work and pluck could win, and Harlow was 
 elected by a good round majority. 
 
 The war coming on, he took an active part in aiding 
 the raising of volunteers. In 1862 when the cause of the- 
 Union was apparently the most gloomy and disheartening,, 
 and traitors and treason were rampant all over the North,, 
 and the "Knights of the Golden Circle" and "Sons of 
 Liberty" were active in sowing the seeds of disloyalty ii> 
 the North and border states, crippling the efforts of loyal 
 men, Harlow and a few other loyal men of Tazewell county, 
 met and organized the first Council of the " Union League of 
 America," an organization ■ that was destined to, and did 
 exert a powerful influence in the political history of this 
 country. Harlow was elected secretary of the first council, 
 and afterwards the secretary of the state council, with head- 
 quarters at Springfield. From this the order spread into 
 every loyal state and territory, and was the means of giving 
 aid, support, and incalculable benefit to the army, and 
 through its influence Lincoln received his nomination for 
 re-election in 1864. 
 
 In 1864 Harlow was nominated for re-election, but 
 owing to the large number of soldiers absent in the field 
 the opposition to the republicans defeated him. In 1 865 
 he was elected assistant secretary of the state senate, but in 
 two weeks afterwards was appointed by Gov. Oglcsby as 
 his private secretary and assistant inspector general of Illi- 
 nois, with rank as colonel, and had special charge of Camp 
 
440 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Butler, and held this position during the war. In 1868 
 he was a candidate for secretary of state, but for reasons 
 that were deemed politic and advisable at the time, the 
 place was given to Edward Rummel, and on his election 
 Harlow was made assistant secretary of state, which position 
 he held for over three years. In 1872 he was nominated 
 and elected to the office of secretary of state, his term being 
 for four years, and in 1876 he was re-elected, and his term 
 of office expired in January, 1881, having held the office 
 for eight years, and almost a continuous succession of 
 official positions from 1860 until 1881. 
 
 At the close of his second term he removed to Chicago, 
 entered into the commission business, and became an active 
 member of the board of trade, known for his energy in trade 
 and efficiency in promoting the interest of those commit- 
 ting their business to his charge, as he was in attending to 
 the business of the state for so many years. 
 
HON. JOHN PAGE. 
 
 EARLY PIONEER OF WOODFORD COUNTY. 
 
 From 1835 to 1855 no man probably in the limits of 
 Woodford county made a deeper impress on the social, 
 moral, business and political elevation of the county than 
 John Page, whose career we will briefly sketch. 
 
 He was born at Gilmanton, New Hampshire, October 
 28, 1787, and came of an old and numerously connected 
 family, tracing their family tree away back in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, among the best Puritan stock of 
 England. Owing to their religious privileges being 
 abridged, the Pages came to America in 1630 with Gov. 
 Winthrop, and it was a John Page that came at that time 
 bringing a family of sons, and some were born to him after 
 he came. He settled in Dedham, Mass. We will not 
 trace the family genealogy by name, but say in passing 
 that they furnished some good fighting stock in the revolu- 
 tion and in the war of 1812, in Mexico, and the war of the 
 rebellion. Of this family John Page, a grandson of the 
 first-named, settled at Gilmanton, N. H., about 1720, one 
 of the original founders of the town. He married Mary 
 Winslow, and to them were born a goodly number of sons 
 and daughters, their descendants scattering ,out and settling 
 at different places in New Hampshire. We find one of the 
 family representing New Hampshire in the United States 
 
442 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 senate from 1828 to 1834, as mentioned in "Benton's 
 Thirty Years in the United States Senate." 
 
 John Page, the subject of our sketch, married Betsy 
 "Wilson, April 15, 1811, and from his stern integrity and 
 business capacity, became a man of note in his county. 
 He was justice of the peace; public administrator, surveyor, 
 and served three terms in the legislature of New Hamp- 
 shire. 
 
 He came to Illinois as the agent of a newly organized 
 colony " to spy out this goodly land," and on his report 
 that it was " fair to look upon " the colony came to Wood- 
 ford county in 1835, purchasing a large tract of land in 
 what is now Metamora township. Mr. Page was a man 
 noted for plainness of speech, a " Quaker in whom there 
 was no guile." He early attracted attention for his capacity 
 to transact business, " a man of affairs." He was one of 
 " Nature's noblemen." In his new field in Illinois he was 
 called to exercise his talents as a surveyor, settling estates 
 and various other classes of business. We first met him 
 when we were in attendance as a delegate to a whig sen- 
 atorial convention at -Metamora in 1844. He was of the 
 opposite politics, but attended the convention as a spectator, 
 and seemed to be much interested. The contest was an 
 animated one. It was Putnam, Marshall, Woodford and 
 two or three delegates from Washington, Tazewell county, 
 against Tremont, Pekin and the balance of Tazewell 
 county. Several ballotings took place before a choice 
 could be made, but finally the Putnam, Marshall and 
 Woodford interest prevailed, and their candidate, Dr. Robt. 
 Boal, then of Lacon, was nominated, and at the election 
 afterwards was elected. 
 
 The sectional interests of the citizens of Metamora were 
 
HON. JOHN PAGE. 443 
 
 gratified in the choice, but some of them, through political 
 predilection, opposed it. This was the year of the great 
 floods in Illinois, "the wet year." and also of ''Polk and 
 Dallas " and " Clay and Frelinghuysen." The country was 
 new, the streams not bridged, and "ye delegates" from the 
 north end of the district became water-bound, the raging 
 Crow Creek laid between them and their homes, and the- 
 rains were still desending ; but good friends took our dele- 
 gation in "out of the wet," and we fared sumptuously until 
 the raging streams subsided, and had an opportunity of be- 
 coming better acquainted with " Uncle Johnny Page," the 
 Quaker. 
 
 As the years advanced the people dfd too. In 1848 he 
 was elected to the legislature, his opponent being Jesse 
 Lynch, of Putnam county. "Jess" was a talker, a regular 
 political " Boanerges," had the whole political exegesis at his 
 tongue's end, could talk the " sights " off " Uncle Johnny," 
 and entered the contest, confident of succeeding. He chal- 
 lenged Mr. Page to canvass the district, but Mr. Page 
 chose to conduct the canvass " Quaker fashion," in a more 
 quiet way, " as the spirit moved him." 
 
 On one occasion, it is recorded, when they met, " Jess " 
 thought to lay the old Quaker in the shade by his much 
 eloquence, and was argumentative, tantalizing, using invec- 
 tive, every style of oratory in turn. When he closed 
 "Uncle Johnny" rose, and looking at Lynch, said: "I 
 am a candidate for the legislature ; perhaps thee is running 
 for Congress from the way thee branches out." 
 
 When election came round it was found that Lynch 
 " was not heard for his much speaking," the people decided 
 that Mr. Page "should go" by a large majority. Mr. 
 Page was a " working member." It is not recorded that 
 
444 FIFTY YEABS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 he made many speeches, but he accomplished more than 
 those that did. He voted what he thought was right, if his 
 was the only vote on that side. His sage .experience was 
 such that he was consulted and advised with by both par- 
 ties. His blunt honesty secured for him the friendship of 
 Abraham Lincoln, although they were of opposite political 
 faith. 
 
 After this session he declined any further official posi- 
 tions, as the infirmities of old age was creeping on him, and 
 after a well-spent and useful life he died at Metamora, 
 October 1, 1855, in his sixty-eighth year. Mrs. Page sur- 
 vived him some seventeen years. She died December 16, 
 1872. 
 
 Jesse Lynch, the fiery and impetuous competitor of Mr. 
 Page, still lives, residing at Chenoa. He has not lost a 
 whit of his youthful fire and humor. We met him last 
 September at the Pioneers' Barbacue at Mt. Pulaski, called 
 him up to the stand, he was introduced to the large audi- 
 ence and made them one of his wittiest and humorous 
 speeches, abounding in pioneer stories that roused the 
 echoes of the shady grove. He practices law but never 
 went to the legislature. 
 
 Mr. Page's family consisted of ten children, all born at 
 Gilmanton, N. H. ; three daughters, seven sons. Of this 
 large family, two sons, John W. and Adino, are engaged 
 in the merchandising and banking business at Mettamora. 
 Another son is engaged in business at Peoria, and his 
 grandson, Hon. Samuel S. Page, formerly States Attorney 
 of Woodford County, is now engaged in a lucrative law 
 practice at Peoria — one of the firm of Worthington & 
 Page. 
 
HON, JOHN PAGE. 445 
 
 His youngest son, Benjamin E., was a member of the 
 108th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was 
 killed at Fort Spanish, Mobile, March 28th, 1865, just a 
 few days before the fall of that place and the close of the 
 war. He had been a good soldier, passing through many of 
 the most severe battles of the War. He was a young man 
 of much strength of character, good sense and judgment 
 — qualities inherited from his father, and was much la- 
 mented by his fellow soldiers and by all who knew him at 
 home. 
 
ERIC JOHNSON. 
 
 Captain Eric Johnson was born in the Province of 
 Westmanland, Sweden, July 15, 1838. He came with his 
 parents to Henry County in the summer of 1846, when 
 eight years old. His childhood and youth were spent at 
 home at the Bishop Hill Colony. Two winters' attendance 
 at a country school was alt the educational advantages en- 
 joyed. 
 
 Upon the division or individualization of the colony in 
 1860, the eleven acres that fell to his lot were 'located one 
 mile west of Galva, and in the spring of 1861 he moved to 
 Galva, and; renting some more land, he commenced life on 
 his own account as a farmer. But his country's call for 
 volunteers called him from his peaceful avocation of farm- 
 ing into the ranks of the patriotic volunteers that went for 
 the defense of pur imperiled country. On the 16th of 
 September he entered as a private in Company D, 57th 
 Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 
 
 At the subsequent organization of the company at Camp 
 Bureau, Princeton, Illinois, he was elected first lieutenant, 
 and after the battle of Shiloh was promoted to the cap- 
 taincy. Severe sickness, contracted in the service, com- 
 pelled him to resign before the close of the war. In 1864 
 he became editor and publisher of the Galva Union. In 
 1865 he retired from the newspaper business and was 
 
ERIC JOHNSON. 447 
 
 •engaged in merchandising until the summer of 1868, when 
 he became editor and publisher of the Altona Mirror, at 
 Altona, 'Knox county, and in the autumn following he 
 again became proprietor of the Union at Galva. In 1871 
 he retired from the newspaper business. 
 
 In the campaign of 1870 he was unanimously nominated 
 for representative to the state legislature. However, inter- 
 preting too conscientiously the provisions in the new con- 
 stitution requiring a two years' residence in the district, he 
 withdrew his name from the ticket on his own motion. 
 Several members-elect proved to be barred for the same 
 reason, but their seats were not questioned, because it was 
 held that the provision in the constitution could not affect 
 the first legislature, as no district had been two years in 
 existence. 
 
 Upon the convening of the legislature in 1871 he was 
 elected journal clerk of the house, in which capacity he 
 served during the regular, called and adjourned sessions of 
 1871 and '72. • 
 
 In 1872, having always l3een a great admirer of Horace 
 Greeley, he supported him for president, and was the can- 
 didate for elector in his district. 
 
 In 1873 he followed Greeley's advice and went west, 
 and made Kansas his home for two years, but the grass- 
 hoppers and drouth convinced him that Illinois was a bad 
 state to emigrate from, and in the spring of 1876 he 
 returned to Illinois, settling again at Galva. In 1879-80 
 he, in connection with C. F. Peterson, of Chicago, com- 
 piled and published a history of the Swedish settlements in 
 Illinois, a work of 500 pages, printed in the Swedish 
 language. In 1880 lie warmly espoused the cause of Gar- 
 field and Arthur. In November, 1880, commenced the 
 
448 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 publication of the " Swedish Citizen," at Moline, Illinois, 
 In July, 1881, Mr. Joseph E. Osborn became connected 
 with him in the publication, and in June, 1882, Mr. Osborn 
 purchased his interest in the Citizen, becoming sole pro- 
 prietor. Captain Johnson possesses an active mind and 
 industrious habits, and cannot retire from business, and so 
 in August, 1882, he received an appointment as clerk in 
 the war department at Washington. 
 
 He was married January 31, 1863, to Miss Mary O. 
 Trail, and now has a family of seven children. He is a 
 member of the Congregational church, active in benevolent 
 and temperance work, and ready at all times and places to- 
 serve his country in civic or military life. 
 
CAPT. JOHN D. HATFIELD. 
 
 FARMER, SOLDIER AND MERCHANT. 
 
 '• Honor and merit from no condition rise, 
 Act well your part and there the credit lies." 
 
 John D. Hatfield was born July 4, 1834, in Park 
 County, Indiana, and came to Illinois in 1845, with his 
 father's family, settling in Radnor, Peoria County, and 
 pursuing the occupation of a farmer and attending the 
 country schools in winter, in this manner passing his life 
 until reaching manhood. On arriving at manhood he went 
 to Marshall County to reside, still working at farming until 
 the war commenced. 
 
 November 2nd, 1861, he enlisted in Company H 53d 
 Volunteer Infantry, in the ranks, company commanded 
 by Captain John W. McClanahan. The regiment was 
 commanded by Colonel W. H. H. Cushman, and organized 
 at Ottawa, laying there in camp and drilling until March 1, 
 1862, then moved to Chicago, and from there was ordered 
 to St. Louis, thence to Cairo, and as soon as transportation 
 could be secured, was sent forward to join Buell at Savan- 
 nah, Tenn., then on the march to join Grant. The regiment 
 took part in the battle of Shiloh on the 6th and 7th of 
 April, 1862, thence to Corinth, taking part in the siege 
 and other operations of the army, the movements bringing 
 the 53rd to Grand Junction, Tenn. 
 29 
 
450 FIFTT years' recollections. 
 
 During the summer of 1862, the regiment were at 
 Memphis, thence to Bolivar. October 5th, 1862, the regi- 
 ment took part in the battle of Hatchie and Hatfield was 
 wounded in the lower jaw with a ball and thirteen buck- 
 shot, a very dangerous and painful wound. He was sent 
 home and remained there until his recovery in February, 
 1863, when he received his commission as First Lieutenant 
 for meritorious conduct and returned to his regiment at 
 Memphis, and in the movements approaching Vicksburg 
 and until its final surrender July 4, 1862, was performing 
 active duty with his company. After the fall of Vicksburg 
 the regiment marched with other forces under command of 
 Sherman to Jackson. Here, on July 12th, the regiment 
 went into the fight 200 strong and came out with only 62. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Earl was killed. The carnage was fear- 
 ful. Lieutenant Hatfield was taken prisoner, and through 
 much privation and suffering was taken across the country 
 and over the rough railroads to Libby Prison at Richmond, 
 and with many other prisoners, was kept there, suffering 
 much. A plan of escape was devised by the prisoners. A 
 tunnel was dug and 109 of the prisoners escaped February 
 9th, 1864, Captain Hatfield being one of the lucky ones. 
 Among others that escaped at the same time were Captain 
 Mark M. Bassett, Co. E, 53d Regiment, now of Peoria, 
 and Lieutenant Henry P. Crawford, of the Second Illinois 
 Cavalry. When they came out of the tunnel Hatfield and 
 Bassett became separated. Bassett and Crawford stayed 
 together, wandering around for four nights, when they 
 were recaptured and again tHrust into prison, this time in a 
 dungeon. They were afterwards taken to Columbus, South 
 Carolina, where they again escaped, this time succeeding in 
 .reaching the Union lines. After being almost starved for 
 
CAPT. JOHN D. HATFIELD. 451 
 
 six days and nights, only getting one meal during the time, 
 furnished him by a colored man, he succeeded in reaching 
 the Union lines at "Williamsburg. From here he was sent 
 to Washington. After rest and recuperation he was sent 
 home for sixty days and rejoined his regiment at Ottawa, 
 which was home on veteran furlough. At the expiration 
 of the furlough the regiment, with Captain Hatfield, re- 
 joined its command at Cairo, and took boat up the Tennessee 
 river for Florence, joined Sherman at Rome, Georgia, and 
 engaged in the Atlanta campaign. Captain Hatfield here 
 received his final promotion to the captaincy of his com- 
 pany, and with it bore his share of the toils and perils of 
 the campaign, taking a prominent part in the desperate 
 charges and assaults of the 20th, 21st and 22d of July, 
 losing in the three-days' fight 101 men. 
 
 After these bloody days they rested for a few days 
 at Eastport, then going in pursuit of Hood northward, re- 
 turning to Marietta November 6th. On the 16th he started 
 with his regiment " On the march to the sea," from thence 
 participated in the Carolina campaign, to Goldsboro, thence • 
 to Raleigh and to Richmond, the scene of his imprison- 
 ment in Libby, from Richmond " On to Washington," and 
 he participated in the grand review of May 24th, thence 
 proceeding to Louisville, Ky., where the regiment was 
 mustered out of the service July 22nd, and sent to Camp 
 Douglas, Chicago, for final payment and discharge on the 
 29th, 1865. 
 
 Capt. Hatfield came back to Marshall county and en- 
 gaged in farming, and was quite successful. April 26, 1866, 
 he was married to Miss Nellie M. Shepherdson, of War- 
 wick, Massachusetts. 
 
 In 1868 he commanded a company of "Tanners" in 
 
452 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 the campaign of that summer and autumn, and has partici- 
 pated in public affairs, always public spirited, urging 
 measures which would contribute to the public interests. 
 
 In 1876 he sold his large farm in Saratoga, Marshall 
 county, and removed to Bradford, Stark county, and in 
 1880 had the honor of commanding the "Wide Awakes" 
 in the Garfield campaign. In 1882 his fellow-citizens 
 elected him as one of the county board of supervisors for 
 Stark county. He is largely engaged in the produce and 
 stock trade at Bradford, enjoying among the business men 
 a reputation for uprightness in his commercial transactions. 
 He has a comfortable home, presided over by a regular 
 " Warwick " of housekeepers, the woman from the " Old 
 Bay State," chosen at the close of his eventful war experi- 
 ence, and to this household have been added from time to 
 time " olive branches," some three or four, making a very 
 pleasant household in which to make a short visit, and it 
 has been our privilege to enjoy his hospitality both while 
 residing on his farm and since he moved to Bradford. 
 
HON. ELBERT EASTERLY. 
 
 CITIZEN, FAESEEK AND PUBLIC OFFICIAL. 
 
 If integrity and uprightness in a citizen long known 
 and respected by his fellow-citizens should be recognized, 
 then here we have a man indeed in whom there was no 
 guile, and whose virtues should be transmitted down 
 through history for the example and emulation of his fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 Elbert Easterly was born near Greenville, Greene 
 county, Tennessee, July 10th, 1828, and came to Illinois in 
 May, 1847. His parents, Casper and Elizabeth Easterly, 
 came to Jackson county from Greenville, Tenn., September 
 1850. His father died October 3rd, 1863, and his mother 
 died September 16, 1863. On the third day of March, 
 1854, he married Miss. Ellen Hinchcliffe, whose parents, 
 Joseph and Sarah Hinchcliffe, were natives of England, 
 and settled in Jackson county in 1829. Both are now dead. 
 
 Mr. Easterly settled on a farm four miles southeast of 
 Murphysboro, and by his own exertions succeeded in mak- 
 ing it one of the most productive in Jackson county. He 
 was early entrusted by his fellow-citizens with important 
 public trusts and official positions — justice of the peace, 
 assessor, one of the associate judges of the county at an 
 •early date when the county court was composed of three 
 judges, one presiding and two associates. He held this 
 position several terms. 
 
454 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 In every public enterprise he was among the foremost, 
 either in church or temporal matters. He took a more 
 than ordinary interest in the advancement of his chosen 
 calling — agriculture and horticulture, and after the county 
 agricultural society was organized, served on its board of 
 'management until the time of his death. 
 
 At the inauguration of the farmer's ^movement in 1873 
 he identified himself with those combined for the protection 
 of the agricultural interests of the country. He was. presi- 
 dent of the Jackson County Farmer's Club, and took an 
 active part in promoting its objects in protesting against 
 monopoly in all its forms. 
 
 In 1874, when there was an effort made by designing 
 men to merge the farmer's organization of the state into 
 political clubs to promote the schemes of political wire- 
 workers who wanted to ride into office by the influence of 
 the farmer's clubs, he entered his protest, and through his 
 influence at the meeting of the county club in April, 1874, 
 a series of resolutions were adopted by the members 
 that the farmers of Jackson county would not sym- 
 pathize or countenance partizan political action outside of 
 the old political organization. The action of the Jackson 
 county farmers and these resolutions were published in the 
 leading papers of both political parties of the state, and 
 had great influence in checking the demagogical movement 
 then being made to carry the farmer's movement into par- 
 tisan politics. , 
 
 In 1872, at an election held to fill the vacancy caused 
 by the death of Hon. William Schwartz, as representative 
 to the state legislature, the republicans nominated Mr. Eas- 
 terly as their candidate, and he received many more votes 
 than his party strength, yet failed of an election but twenty- 
 
HON. ELBEKT EASTERLY. 455 
 
 seven majority against him, the county being more than 
 one hundred democratic. 
 
 Mr. Easterly was a devoted christian, holding a license 
 as a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
 
 After a protracted and painful illness he died February 
 25, 1875, in the forty-seventh year of his age, respected by 
 all who knew him. 
 
 He was- peculiarly happy in his family relations, very 
 social, and given to hospitality, and no man in his county 
 numbered more or warmer friends. 
 
 He was blessed with eleven children, seven boys and 
 four daughters ; four sons died. Two of his sons have- 
 been residents for three years past of the Pacific coast, before 
 reaching there making the tour of the western states and 
 territories. Two daughters are married, Jennie, eldest 
 daughter, to Don Johnson, and they reside on a large farm 
 near Carbondale. Second daughter, Alice, married to 
 Samuel H. Coad, of Murphysboro, 111., who is engaged 
 in the mercantile business. Two daughters and the young- 
 est son, Elbert, are attending the Southern Illinois Normal 
 University completing their education. 
 
HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 
 
 PIONEER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 
 
 Intending to give a full sketch of Judge Gillespie in 
 volume II, we only produce a portion of his pioneer life as 
 introductory to an article written by him on the early rail- 
 road legislation of Illinois, resulting in the grant of land 
 to aid the Illinois Central Railroad in building. We 
 visited Edwardsville in December last, and were pleased to 
 find this old Gamaliel of the Illinois Bar at leisure to give 
 us an audience of two or three hours, which we devoted to 
 refreshing our recollections of the early history of the 
 state, and we know that the historical part of our work is 
 more full and complete by reason of that interview. 
 
 Judge Gillespie gave us some reminiscences of his early 
 frontier experience in a trip he made in company with his 
 brother Matthew from Edwardsville to the Galena Lead 
 Mines in 1827. They left home Feb. 22d to seek their 
 fortunes at the mines. The winter up to that time had 
 been very open, raining a great deal of the time, the prai- 
 ries were covered with water, the broad sloughs full and 
 the streams overflowing, no bridges across the streams, they 
 being compelled to swim nearly every stream on the route, 
 and camp in open air at night. They reached Springfield 
 at the end of the third day out, not entering a house on 
 the route. They rested here, then struck across the 
 broad prairie in the direction of Fort Clark (Peoria), 
 
HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 457 
 
 not finding a house to lodge in on the route. Ar- 
 rived at Peoria, found it filled by a conglomeration of 
 Indians, French voyageurs, frontier adventurers and just a 
 few people who "came to stay." Whisky was one 
 essential part of the refreshments offered, and muscular 
 Strength, either fighting or wrestling, was the chief pastime 
 with a large portion of the population. 
 
 He related that the hardest fight he ever witnessed be- 
 tween two men, was between two boatmen on the night of 
 their arrival at Fort Clark. It was to test which was the 
 " better man," no other principle being involved. 
 
 From Fort Clark they struck northward across the 
 prairie to Boyd's Grove, then on past where Princeton now 
 is, thence to Paw Paw Grove, and on to Dixon on Rock 
 river, the ferry at that time being kept by a French Indian 
 trader by the name of Ogee. Here he met Isaac Funk, 
 with another man named Phelps, who were on a trading 
 trip, going to Galena, and part of their " produce " was a 
 barrel of whisky. Gillespie; from much exposure, was 
 very sick. He went to Phelps for " sumthin' warmin' " to 
 get the chills out of his system, internally and externally. 
 Phelps said : " Yes, I've sumthin' hottern' brimstun." 
 Gillespie told him that was just what he wanted, and was 
 furnished with enough to set his yearning stomach all 
 right. Dixon was occupied at the time by a band of 
 Winnebago Indians, and the Gillespie boys bivouacked 
 with them and made a bargain to be ferried over Rock 
 River next morning. During the night' it turned very 
 cold and the Indians would not or could. not ferry them 
 over. As they had paid the Indians they determined they 
 should fulfill their promise, so they took canoes and ferried 
 themselves over. Getting north of Rock river they built a 
 
458 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 large fire to keep warm by, and when the weather moder- 
 ated a little they pushed out towards Galena, arriving there 
 on the nineteenth day out. They remained in the lead 
 mine district for three years; did not "strike it rich." His 
 description of the miners' life, their huts, their methods of 
 cookiog, the internal arrangement of their houses, the free 
 and easy life they led, all was interesting. 
 
 He tells about hard times. When he returned from th& 
 lead mines in the fall of 1829, he came down the Missis- 
 sippi from Galena in a skiff to Quincy, and crossed the 
 country on foot to Phillips' Ferry, on the Illinois River, 
 walking home about one hundred miles. He had but one 
 dollar when he started, and offered to pay his way at every 
 place at which he stopped over night or took a meal, and 
 found no one that could change the dollar until he reached 
 Carrollton, Green County. Nothing was produced in the 
 settled part of the state in that day except beeswax and 
 peltries. These would bear transportation, so could be 
 turned into money. No sale in large quantities could 
 be made of produce. The only ,way of turning that into 
 money was to build flat boats and descend to New Orleans 
 to market their surplus products. This made Lincoln a 
 flat-boatman before he was grown to manhood, and Gil- 
 lespie a famed. oarsman, so with a frail skiff he run the 
 Mississippi from Galena to Quincy. A life of such rugged 
 toil made them the self-reliant men they afterwards became. 
 
 But we could give history that he furnished to fill 
 more than a chapter. We defer it till the next volume 
 and fill out balance of space with accounts of railroad 
 legislation that inaugurated the building of the Illinois 
 Central and other railroads, from which our readers can re- 
 fresh their memories in regard to measures that introduced- 
 
HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 45& 
 
 the great system of railroads throughout the state. In 
 the Black Hawk war Judge Gillespie was a member of 
 Captain Erastus Wheeler's Company of Mounted Volun- 
 teers in the regiment commanded by that famous Indian 
 fighter, Col. Sam Whitesides ; has been a member of both 
 branches of the state legislature for many sessions, been 
 circuit judge, held many other responsible offices, and is a 
 regular cyclopedia of state and national history. 
 
 Edwaedsville, December 20, 1882. 
 Jeeiah Bonham, Esq., 
 
 Dear Sir: — I promised to give you my recollections 
 touching some points in the history of railroad legislation 
 in this state. In reference to the first system, I was 
 hostile to that, for two reasons : first, the state was by no 
 means prepared for it, and secondly, it was to be managed 
 exclusively by politicians. That system broke down, leav- 
 ing the state hopelessly encumbered with a debt of 
 $17,000,000, and not a mile of railroad in running order. 
 This banished all hopes of improvement in that line for a 
 number of years. The bare mention of the word " railroad" 
 would have the same effect upon our people that flaunting 
 a red rag would have upon a turkey gobbler. After a 
 while, however, applications for railroad charters began to 
 be applied for, under which the roads were to be built and 
 operated by private capital. I believe the Chicago and 
 Galena proved to be a success, and a furore began to grow 
 up. Everybody became willing to grant charters, so the 
 roads were constructed with private means. From being 
 hostile the people became first indifferent, and then enthus- 
 iastic, almost frantic, for railroads. A man who was not 
 for every project that was presented to the legislature in 
 the precise shape it was asked for was regarded as a public 
 enemy. A great many people in and out of the legislature 
 were for exempting railroads from taxation entirely, and it 
 became, as many of us thought, an imperative duty to see 
 that no charter passed without the taxation feature fully 
 
460 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 assured. It was when things were in this state that the 
 question of chartering the Illinois Central road came up. 
 Mr. Rantoul came out from Boston with a charter in his 
 pocket, which proposed to exempt the company from taxa- 
 tion, in consideration of which the state was to get a per- 
 centage of the gross earning of the road, which was fixed 
 at seven per cent., although it was stated that when Rantoul 
 first came out he was willing to allow ten per cent. The 
 bill, however, passed the house for the payment of seven 
 per cent, and no taxation. The friends, par excellence, of 
 the measure looked upon what were called the " state policy 
 men " as enemies of the Central, and as intending to strangle 
 it. When the bill came into the senate it was referred to a 
 select committee. Rantoul declared that if it was altered 
 in any respect whatever he would pick up his traps and 
 return to Boston. The majority of the senate was not to 
 be dragooned into measures. His threats had the effect, 
 however, of putting the immense delegations from every 
 county through which the road was to pass into a perfect 
 fury. We were threatened and insulted on our way to our 
 boarding houses and denounced in unmeasured terms. 
 Next morning the committee reported, to strike out seven 
 and insert five as the per centage to be paid; next, that the 
 company should pay taxes at the rate of seventy-five cents 
 on the hundred dollars, and if that was not equal to two 
 per cent, ot the gross earnings it should be made up to 
 that amount, so that the state was to receive seven per 
 cent, in bonus and taxation together. The only difference 
 between those propositions and the original bill was that 
 the amendment retained the taxation feature. There was 
 not a man among the thirteen who voted for this amend- 
 ment who was not an ardent friend of the Central railroad 
 scheme, but under no circumstances would they consent to 
 allow a charter for a road to pass which exempted the com- 
 pany from the payment of what was deemed its proper pro- 
 portion of taxes. They considered that the building of a 
 railroad along the back bone of the state in anticipation of 
 the settlement of the country was compensated for by the 
 2,600,000 acres of fertile lands. The men who favored 
 
HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 461 
 
 this modification were classed as enemies of the Central 
 railroad. Another step taken by the same set of men sub- 
 jected them to the odium of being enemies to the building 
 of railroads, and that was the controversy between the 
 Michigan Central and the Michigan Southern and Northern 
 Indiana. The Southern had applied to the legislature of 
 Michigan for permission to cross a corner of that state, so 
 as to get into Chicago, which was refused at the instance 
 of the Michigan Central. The Central applied to our legis- 
 lature to go to Chicago, which was refused until the legis- 
 lature of Michigan should give the Southern the like per- 
 mission, the result of which action was that both roads got 
 into Chicago. This was likewise classed as illiberal on the 
 part of our state. Another instance arose between the 
 Terre Haute & Alton and what was called the Atlantic & 
 Mississippi, since known as the Brough or Vandalia road. 
 The T. H. & A. was chartered first and subscriptions of 
 about $1,000,000 paid in and expended by counties, cities 
 and citizens along the line, when the charter was applied 
 for of the A. & M. to run virtually between the same 
 termini. The latter being the shortest route, and backed 
 by Indiana and Missouri, it became evident that if chartered 
 it would take the wind out of the T. H. & A., and it was 
 deemed to be the best policy to hold the A. & M. back 
 until the T. H. & A. should be out of danger of total 
 destruction. It was believed that you could build a 
 straight road after you had built a crooked one, but never 
 a crooked one after a straight one, between the same ter- 
 mini. Indiana contended that she had the right to control 
 the entrance of roads into our state, and Missouri claimed 
 the right of determining their exit, which would leave 
 nothing under the control of Illinois. 
 
 As we were powerless so far as Indiana was concerned, 
 and had to hitch to the roads just as she would send them 
 to us, some were of opinion that we might try our hand in 
 favoring commercial points on the western side of our state, 
 for instance, Quincy and Alton, but this did not suit Mis- 
 souri} she wanted to cast the benefit of roads crossing our 
 state into the lap of St. Louis and Hannibal, and because we 
 
■462 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 endeavored to pursue this policy we were denounced as 
 dogs in the manger, barbarians and the like, both in the east 
 and west. Illinois had just power enough to hold back the 
 Hannibal project until a branch of the Great Western was 
 built to Quincy, and the Brough road until the T. H. & A. 
 was out of danger, then capital asserted its control. It was 
 a blessed thing for Chicago that she was out of the way of 
 rivals in Indiana and Missouri, and was left to grow up in 
 peace. Illinois for a long time was about in the condition 
 of a rabbit that had been seized by two dogs, each tugging 
 away to get the most of it. We soon outgrew these compe- 
 ting interests in railroad enterprises, and everything has 
 ,gone on swimmingly. Roads are constructed now without 
 let or hindrance. It may be said to the credit of railroad 
 legislation in Illinois that she has more miles in operation 
 than any other state in the Union, and that she owes not one 
 «ent on their account. On the contrary she is receiving 
 what is accounted to be the one-seventh of the gross earn- 
 ings of the Central road. The amount, however, does not 
 seem to have kept pace with the growth of the country, nor 
 with the increase in the earnings of other roads, and it is 
 apprehended by many that the state has not been the gainer 
 by the outside connections of that road. When the road 
 was chartered the pooling process was unknown and unan- 
 ticipated. The blending of the earnings of this road will 
 account for the reason why, when the gross earnings of other 
 roads are increasing with such rapidity, the Central should 
 remain stationary, or rather be retrograding. I think there 
 would be nothing unjust or illiberal in holding the Central 
 to a strict account of its gross earnings. That road was the 
 recipient from the state of what was equal to $26,000,000 
 to aid in its construction, for it had the authority to dispose 
 of its land, not only for agricultural purposes, but for town 
 sites ; besides its lands were exempted from the burden of 
 taxation, while they belonged to it, and its mode of selling 
 by bond instead of a deed, kept the lands for many years 
 exempt from taxation after they should have been subject 
 to the common burdens. The course of the company in 
 that regard deserves severe criticism. 
 
Hon. Sterling P. Rounds, Public Printer. 
 
 Washington, D. C- 
 
THE PEESS 
 
 HON. STERLING P. ROUNDS. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC PRINTING. 
 
 Among the many men of great talent and business ca- 
 pacity that have been employed by the government to 
 superintend its great printing interests since the establish- 
 ment of that department in 1820, perhaps no man that has 
 been selected has combined more practical knowledge of the 
 business than Sterling P. Rounds, born June 27, 1828, at 
 Berkshire, Franklin county, Vermont. 
 
 The founders of the family came early in colonial times 
 to Rhode Island, removing in latter years to New Hamp- 
 shire and finally to Vermont. In whatever place they 
 located they were known as enterprising and patriotic citi- 
 zens. In the revolution they were patriots, making hon- 
 orable records, whether .in the ranks as private soldiers or 
 winning their way to rank and position as officers. When 
 the revolutionary stock, in years of honor and probity, were 
 gathered to their fathers, their sons transmitted the hon- 
 ' orable record down to the present generation by active and 
 gallant service in the war of 1812-13. They were a pro- 
 lific stock, and we find some of them more enterprising 
 than the others, joining the tide of western emigration and 
 answering the roll calls in the Mexican war, and still later 
 
464 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 in the Rebellion, sealing their patriotism with wounds and 
 some of them with their lives. With this proven record, in 
 whatever community they chose to establish themselves, 
 they were soon known as " stalwarts among the stalwarts," 
 unflinching in principle, their courage questioned by none^ 
 willing at all times to sacrifice everything for national 
 honor, freedom, justice, and a grander and brighter future 
 for the country. 
 
 When the subject of our sketch came west he was just 
 entering his teens, had been kept well in hand at school,, 
 where he had proven himself a painstaking and successful 
 student, a little ahead of the average of his age. He came 
 with his parents to Kenosha, Southern Wisconsin, in 1840,. 
 at that time the residence of some of the future great men 
 of the state. His parents' ambition was that Sterling 
 should, when arrived at the proper age, study law. With 
 this end in view he was given studies that lead in that 
 direction, including the higher mathematics and languages,, 
 under the tuition of the future Gov. Harvey. He readily 
 mastered all the studies given him, but did not take kindly 
 to the idea of becoming a disciple of Blackstone. For it 
 he had neither inclination nor taste. While studying he 
 had occasionally permitted his hands to handle type, had 
 got the stain of printer's ink on his fingers, and he was 
 almost irresistibly drawn to the "shooting stick," a 
 " press "-ure was laid on him to adopt the " rule " that 
 would make him a " type" of those whose " lever and ful- 
 crum " moves the world. 
 
 Young Rounds in 1840 entered the office of the Ameri- 
 can, that Mr. Harvey had purchased, became an apprentice 
 and for five years was " general utility" boy in all depart- 
 ments, carried papers, was " devil in chief," became thor- 
 
HON. STEELING P. ROUNDS. 465 
 
 oughly versed iu the " black art," and before the term of 
 his apprenticeship had expired was promoted to the fore- 
 manship of the office. 
 
 His genius was great, he. was a good printer, his fame 
 went abroad, and he was offered the foremanship of the 
 official state paper at Madison, Wis., then owned by "W. 
 W. Wynian, in the fall and winter of 1844, and accepted. 
 Mr. Rounds journeyed to the Capital, having faith in his 
 own powers. The management was surrendered into his- 
 hands, and he filled the place with ability until the opening 
 of a larger field of usefulness. Gen. Rufus King com- 
 menced the publication of the Sentinel in the winter of 
 1845-6, the first daily published in Wisconsin, and secured 
 Mr. Rounds as a special compositor to set the editorials 
 from the editorial manuscript, which required much greater 
 skill than ordinary " copy." 
 
 Here he staid until the establishment of a new paper at 
 Racine, in the winter of 1846-47, during the Mexican war,, 
 by Edward Bliss, who made him the offer of better pay. 
 He assumed the formanship of this sheet, and for two years 
 was at the head of the establishment, the typographical 
 " director-general." 
 
 Yet he was not content. This ambitious Alexander in 
 the art typographical yet yearned for other fields to con- 
 quer. "No pent up Utica confined his powers." He had 
 learned all he could in an ordinary office, and desired to 
 "know it all," to become an expert. His stalking am- 
 bition would not be satisfied with anything short of being 
 the head of the profession. " Upon what meat did this 
 young disciple of Franklin feed," that no common position, 
 would satisfy him. He cast his eye t,o the east, and was 
 soon installed in the famous establishment of the Com- 
 30 
 
466 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 mercial Advertiser, Buffalo, N. Y., controlled by Jewett, 
 Thomas & Co., the then acknowledged head of the printing 
 establishments in America. 
 
 Here Mr. Rounds' ambition was gratified. He worked 
 under the most critical instructions for two years — in fact a 
 second apprenticeship — graduated and won a diploma, 
 which pronounced him "a first-class and accomplished 
 printer in the best sense of the word." 
 
 Then " Westward Ho," again. His old friend Bliss 
 visited him, and held out flattering inducements to him to 
 return to Racine. Bliss had established a weekly literary 
 and temperance paper, called the " Old Oaken Bucket," 
 under the patronage of the Sons of Temperance, and 
 wanted Rounds to share the pleasure — and the profits — 
 in prospect of the publication with him. 
 
 This was according to Mr. Rounds' principles, and the 
 arrangement was made, and having purchased a large stock 
 of material, newspaper and job type, he returned to Racine. 
 Bliss wielded a trenchant pen, and dealt out to the liquor 
 traffic powerful denunciations on the exceeding sinfulness 
 of their calling, and was aided in the literary department 
 by the powerful and scholastic editorials of Rev. A. C. 
 Barry, making the paper a pronounced success, while the 
 mechanical skill and taste of Mr. Rounds produced the 
 best specimen of the " art typographical " ever seen west 
 of Buffalo, ranking him as the head of the profession — 
 acknowledged by all from the blue waters of Lake Michi- 
 gan to the Pacific coast. 
 
 This reputation deserved a wide field and the Racine 
 office was removed to Milwaukee in 1849. The Commer- 
 cial Advertiser was purchased and the two papers consoli- 
 dated, and here, as elsewhere, Mr. Rounds maintained his 
 
HON. STEELING P. BOUNDS. 467 
 
 reputation, but the financial part of the business was unfor- 
 tunate, and he disposed of his interest and came to Chicago 
 in December, 1851, then just beginning to bloom out as the 
 commercial as well as the literary center of the northwest. 
 
 At Chicago he formed a business arrangement with J. 
 J. Langdon, then having the largest business facilities of 
 the kind in the city, and under the skillful management of 
 Rounds the business doubled within a year. Three or four 
 years of marked prosperity and the office was sold to Isaac 
 Cook in 1855-56, who established the Chicago Times, with 
 J. W. Sheahan as editor. 
 
 Mr. Rounds at once purchased a new and better ap- 
 pointed office and entered upon its management as sole 
 proprietor, soon culminating in the " Printer's Warehouse," 
 the most extensive establishment in the west, with custom- 
 ers from Ohio to the Pacific, which, under intelligent and 
 liberal management was organized as the " Round's Type 
 and Press Company," and enjoying an immense trade. 
 
 It is the business of our " Recollections " to record his- 
 tory, and we know whereof we write. Sterling P. Rounds 
 was the organizer of the priating business in Chicago. His 
 printing business doubled, and doubled again, until it 
 became not only the widest known but the greatest in the 
 Northwest. His stock kept pace with the demand, teach- 
 ing what could be done with means and energy. 
 
 His " Pioneer Electrotype Foundry " and " Printer's 
 Cabinet " were established in 1856, they being now in their 
 twenty-seventh year. The Cabinet is the acknowledged 
 authority in all that pertains to printing. It combines the 
 finest specimens of typography to be found, and to it more 
 than any other publication can be ascribed the great im- 
 provement in the printing business. Mr. Rounds controlled 
 
468 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 the manufacture of the Chicago Taylor Press, which for 
 cheapness, usefulness and reliability, filled a much and long 
 needed want, to the great benefit of the printer and the 
 public. 
 
 In 1865 he established a bindery, and the vast business 
 seemed to be complete. Mr. Rounds' house was the only 
 one west of New York that could furnish everything, — 
 type, press, material for the publication of book, and " set 
 up," electrotype, print, fold, stitch, bind and finish, under 
 the same roof, for circulation. The undertaking of so much 
 enabled him to work off some of his superfluous energy.. 
 The nerve and brain power was there, and the years came 
 and went with ever increasing and extending business 
 until the fatal hour when the riot of flame, October 9th, 
 1871, reduced, by a cyclone of fire, $125,000 in stock and 
 buildings to ashes, leaving nothing remaining of business 
 except his manufactory of presses on the West Side, which 
 the fire did not reach. With others, he felt the great blow 
 that prostrated him. Only for a brief time he bowed 
 before it. He had health, unimpaired credit, experience, 
 and a true and devoted wife to sustain him. He buckled 
 on his business armor, made a brave fight, and a hard 
 struggle brought him through before the hard times ^of 
 1873, '74 and '75 came around. Mr. Rounds mastered the 
 situation then, and passed through the financial storm 
 unharmed. 
 
 The flames destroyed every newspaper office in the city. 
 Mr. Rounds had just completed seven presses, which, with 
 the requisite type and material, were boxed and marked 
 ready for shipment to customers. He ordered them 
 unpacked and put in working order, and during the several * 
 weeks necessary for publishers to procure new presses 
 
HON. STEELING P. ROUNDS. 469 
 
 from the east he printed the Tribune, Times, Post, Journal, 
 and some other publications without advancing prices, — 
 an act of neighborly and fraternal kindness that was grace- 
 fully acknowledged by the entire press of the city. 
 
 Years have passed since the great fire and the financial 
 collapse of the country of 1873, and Mr. Rounds has. held 
 on his way. His business has largely increased, and when 
 his name was mentioned in connection with the high posi- 
 tion that he now fills the entire press of the Northwest, and 
 most of the Eastern and Southern, received it with appro- 
 bation and endorsement. 
 
 He was not only backed by the solid united press of the 
 country, but by the solid endorsement of the Illinois dele- 
 gation in Congress, by the state officials, municipal author- 
 ities of cities and business men all over the country who 
 knew his unsullied reputation. His call to the place 
 approached unanimity, and he has not disappointed the 
 expectations of the country. TSfi is a most practical man, 
 has the largest experience, the ripest judgment, the most 
 sterling honesty, and a clear-headed decision of purpose. 
 
 Mr. Rounds has held many positions of trust; has been 
 president of the Illinois State Press Association, president 
 of the Northwestern Type Foundry Association, and of the 
 Employing Printers' Association, and everywhere has made 
 his example and influence for good respected and felt. 
 
 In social life he has won countless friends. He has 
 ever been ready to give aid to the deserving poor. None 
 ever appeared to him in vain, and many now flourishing 
 publishers owe their start and success in life to him. He is 
 genial, cordial and friendly to all, so much so, as in scrip- 
 ture phrase, to " draw all men unto him." This feeling has 
 grown with his growth, deepened and ripened as life ad- 
 
470 FIFTY YEAKS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 vanced, been the motive power that has brought him to his 
 present high position of public printer of the United States, 
 a post of imperative duties, responsibilities, perplexities and 
 ceaseless demands upon nerve, muscle and brain, all neces- 
 sary in the executive head of the largest printing, ruling, 
 and binding establishment in the world. This, as all who 
 know anything of the workings of the public printing 
 office are aware, requires rare discrimination under the im- 
 mense pressure brought to bear upon one at the head of a 
 department. 
 
 Our portrait of Mr. Rounds on adjoining page shows 
 him to be of massive frame, a touch of the Websterian 
 in head, brow and eyes, at his best in physical health 
 and mental vigor, not likely to break down under any 
 strain of business. 
 
 Such are our personal remembrances of Mr. Rounds 
 after years of acquaintance with him, and we record them 
 among our pleasant recollections of residence, social and 
 business relations while we lived in Chicago and engaged in 
 the publishing business, that in some considerable degree 
 fits us to make this public record of one so eminently de- 
 serving. 
 
HON. ENOCH EMEEY. 
 
 EDiTOB, STATESMAN AND POLITICAL ECONOMIST. 
 
 The name of this eminent journalist gives rise to 
 emotion of both pleasure and sadness; the first, from the 
 many, very many occasions within the past twenty-five 
 years that the author has met him while engaged in the 
 same profession, and sadness, because our friend has passed 
 from the scenes of former triumphs and usefulness to the 
 beyond while yet in years of manhood's prime, whilst 
 so much is yet to be accomplished. 
 
 Enoch Emery was born at Canterbury, New Hamp- 
 shire, August 31, 1822, the fifteenth child of a family of 
 sixteen children born to Nathan Emery and wife, of that 
 village. Enoch, from quite a lad, possessed the gift of a 
 versatility of talent, and at an early age was thrown upon his 
 own resources, which gave him a checkered experience at 
 the outset of life, but were only those experienced by hun- 
 dreds of others in entering on the realities that are to be 
 encountered before success is accomplished. 
 
 The record he hands down to us shows persistence in 
 overcoming obstacles and difficulties. He was a canal boat- 
 man, as Lincoln was a flat-boatman and Garfield a driver- 
 boy on the canal. After this he went to Boston, gathering 
 experience and ideas from the crowds that came and went 
 at a restaurant. He then went to Lowell and was pro- 
 moted to a clerkship in a hotel. His leisure was spent in 
 
472 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 varied reading that early developed a literary talent, and 
 he wrote some fugitive sketches for the papers that attracted 
 attention. He wrote a story in competition for a prize — 
 which was the best that was written, — but did not draw 
 the money, it being understood in advance who would draw 
 the prize. But the story was published and attracted 
 marked attention. Finally he was employed on the 
 editorial staff of the paper, but the field was not large 
 enough for him, and he set up for himself, establishing the 
 American Citizen. In this way he could best show his 
 individuality. But finding the east to be too much of a 
 "pent up Utica" for the expanding powers of his mind and 
 genius, he came west in the spring of 1858, and wishing to 
 show "what he knew about farming," he spent the summer 
 of 1858 ou a farm in Macon county. That was the " wet 
 year," and his labor was almost in vain; " the rains de- 
 scended, the floods came," the farming land was a quag- 
 mire, and the crop was scarcely worth the gathering. 
 
 -It was while passing down the Illinois Central Railroad 
 on the way to the State Fair at Centralia that the author 
 first met Mr. Emery. It was the year big with events. 
 ■"There were giants in those days," — the year of the mem- 
 orable canvass of Lincoln and Douglas so often referred 
 to in these pages. Politicians were all agog, and the people 
 of the state had almost all turned politicians. Mr. Emery 
 was going to the fair with thousands of others. He was 
 full of the subject that engrossed everybody — politics. So 
 was every passenger on the train, — the author among the 
 Test. Most naturally we fell into conversation, and " a 
 fellow-feeling made us wondrous kind," and the political 
 situation was talked over more than a failure of the crops. 
 But arriving at the Fair, amid the exciting scenes of many 
 
HON. ENOCH EMERY. 473 
 
 thousand people, he took in the sights of a western agricul- 
 tural show for the first time, heard the a Old Ranger " 
 make a speech defending Buchanan and denouncing 
 Douglas, — altogether it was quite an exciting time, and 
 Emery probably for the first time took in this phase of 
 western life. He returned to his farm, and shortly after 
 " had a call" to join his brother in assisting to conduct the 
 railroad hotel and eating house at Chenoa. While doing 
 this he was corresponding, — writing for the papers, and 
 was offered a position on the Chicago Tribune, but he did 
 not' accept. Nathan Geer, then the publisher of the 
 Transcript at Peoria, secured him as a local writer on 
 that paper, and he filled the position with marked accept- 
 ance. 
 
 In July, 1860, Mr. Emery and Edward A. Andrews 
 became the proprietors of the Transcript, and new life was 
 infused into it by the vigorous editorials of the new editor- 
 in-chief. The war came on and the paper flourished 
 because it advocated the cause of the loyal masses and the 
 soldiers in the field. As we are writing general history it 
 is not our province, nor have we the space to speak of all 
 of Mr. Emery's business arrangements with others. It is 
 his marked characteristics that we wish to record in these 
 '" Recollections," so they can be transmitted down through 
 these historical pages, not as the partisan but as the man — 
 the patriot. 
 
 A contemporary brings out some of the strong points 
 in Mr. Emery's character. It says : 
 
 " He put his whole soul in his work. It was a labor of 
 love with him. A man of firm convictions, when he became 
 convinced he was right there was no power to swerve him 
 from what he believed to be his duty. He worked inces- 
 
474 FIFTY tears' recollections. 
 
 santly for his political convictions. In the canvass he was- 
 always busy, he had abounding and unfaltering faith, was 
 unselfish, and eschewed all thoughts of pecuniary gain, 
 lending every energy to the consumation of the end in view."" 
 
 The Call, the leading literary paper of Illinois, gives 
 this just estimate of Mr. Emery's leading characteristics. 
 
 " His leading characteristic was that he had opinions of 
 his own, and had the manhood to assert them, cost what it 
 might. He took his position squarely upon an issue and 
 fought it out on that line. Men knew always where to find' 
 him. To his friends, and to principles in which he believed, 
 he was as loyal as truth itself. To principles which seemed 
 to him untrue, he was a vigorous opposer, and in all this 
 there was a manner that one could but admire. He fought 
 a square fight, and threw himself into the conflict with all 
 his admirable power at high pressure. Politically, he was a 
 great power, and many are the reminiscences of the able work 
 he did. Socially, he was a host in himself. Possessed of 
 a brilliant mind, drilled by long discipline in private study 
 and social converse, he was a charming talker and the life of 
 any circle in which he was thrown. Quick at repartee, apt, 
 witty, and fond of a joke, few could equal him in passing a 
 pleasant hour at table or in the parlor. He had a great 
 fondness for literature, a quick judge of the merits of 
 authors or of books. His literary tastes were of a high 
 order, and the finest expressions of pathos or sentiment 
 found in him an ardent admirer." 
 
 Of Mr. Emery as a writer it can be said his claims rest 
 on the solid basis of real excellence, with a delicate sense 
 of just what was proper to say on the subject matter in 
 hand, a style easy and familiar, making what he wrote a 
 vehicle of instructicn, suited to correct error, throw light 
 on ignorance, ridicule vice, augment and purify the moral 
 feeling, refine the taste with his lively fancy, briefly and 
 tersely expressed, by original ideas in appropriate words. 
 
HON. ENOCH EMERY. 475 
 
 He was eminently just with the men with whom he 
 acted in political life. This justice was tempered with out- 
 spoken candor, as it was some times necessary to criticise 
 the action of his co-workers, which was always done 
 frankly and fearlessly, they in almost every case acknowl- 
 edging the justness of his motives in the exceptions taken 
 to their course, even if they were not convinced of their 
 error. 
 
 In his editorial experience, taking in the contest of 
 1860 and the whole period of the rebellion, with the after 
 years of reconstruction, under the recalcitrancy of Johnson, 
 the contests of 1868, '72, '76, and '80, he stood at the helm 
 assisting to direct the ebb and flow of popular feeling, 
 understanding the hidden mechanism by which parties are 
 moved, these matters necessarily being the subject of con- 
 stant thought and of familiar every-day conversation, fitting 
 him more fully for the place he filled as editor-in-chief of 
 the leading journal of Northern-Central Illinois.' In this- 
 more than a score of years, he devoted time, talent, money, 
 and reputation to political work, showing the practical 
 working of ihe government in subordinating men and 
 events to the advancement of principles that he believed, if 
 carried out, would promote the best interests of the people. 
 This long experience, cIosg study, and means of knowledge 
 at his command, gave him an intimate knowledge of the 
 complex relations, both state and federal, of our form of 
 government, enabling him to have an inside view of public 
 affairs and public men. The public only saw the outside, 
 and many times, indeed, the two sides were very different. 
 This whole time he was an active participant, saw the 
 secret springs and hidden machinery by which men and 
 parties were to be moved and measures promoted or 
 
476 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 thwarted, as was dictated by lofty patriotism and honest 
 ambition to promote the public good. 
 
 His political opponents thought that at times he was 
 unnecessarily harsh in his judgments and severe in his criti- 
 cisms, but he wrote as he believed, in the spirit of truth, 
 only, saying what was necessary to give a clear exposition 
 of his views. 
 
 His animosities were ever directed to bringing out the 
 good points of those with whom he differed. To do this it 
 was necessary for him to expose the points he deemed them 
 wrong in. His editorial ambition was to be clear in state- 
 ment, reliable as to facts, candid in conclusions, just in his 
 views, frank with political friend or foe, in which judg- 
 ment we believe his cotemporaries and posterity will con- 
 cur. 
 
 He was favored by official appointments quite fre- 
 quently. In 1865 he was appointed Postmaster of Peoria 
 by Mr. Lincoln, and was removed by Johnson for refusing 
 to endorse his policy. In 1869, he was appointed Collector 
 of Internal Revenue by President Grant, and held the 
 office two years. He was frequently a member of the City 
 Council and of the County Board of Supervisors, always a 
 vigorous worker and looking closely to the interests of the 
 people. 
 
 In 1880 he was supported by the Peoria County dele- 
 gation and by some others for nomination as a candidate 
 for Congress, but the Knox and Fulton delegation were 
 more united, and finally Hon. John H. Lewis was nomi- 
 nated, who was elected and served very acceptably. 
 
 Mr. Emery was twice married. He first married Miss 
 Mary Sargent Moon, who died after his removal to Peoria. 
 
HON. ENOCH EMERY. 477 
 
 In 1877, he married Miss Mary W. Whitesides, then 
 County Superintendent of Schools, and one child is the 
 result of this union, a bright, active boy, named Philip 
 Enoch. He performed other literary work besides his edi- 
 torial duties. He wrote three books, " Emery's Compen- 
 dium of Facts " and " The Smugglers," afterwards drama- 
 tized as " The Brotherhood of the Border" or, " Gipsy 
 Secret," and " Myself." 
 
MARK M. AIKEN. 
 
 PIONEER, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER. 
 
 One of the noted and most respected citizens of Peoria, 
 •devoted to the interests of the city and the promotion of 
 sound principles in both religion and politics, the best 
 known citizen of the county, and among the oldest surviv- 
 ing, is Mark M. Aiken, born at Deering, Hillsboro county, 
 N. H., June 21st, 1808. He is the son and eldest child of 
 Nathaniel and Susanna Maria Aiken. ' He is from North 
 of Ireland stock, his original emigrating to America in 
 1719, settling at Londonderry, New Hampshire. Mr. Aiken 
 is a second cousin of Horace Greeley and in his youthful 
 days received a common school education at the same 
 school where attended Parker Pillsbury, a man who has 
 made his mark in the literary and religious world. 
 
 Mark, possessing an enterprising disposition, a business 
 turn of mind, turned his attention to business when yet 
 only a youth. Armed with testimonials of his correct 
 habits he went to New York at the age of sixteen. A ma- 
 ternal uncle was so impressed with the boy's capacity for 
 business that he introduced him to the Harper Bros., who 
 were so well pleased with his spirit and pluck that they 
 gave him an opportunity to learn the business. He stayed 
 with them until his twenty -second year, boarding with John 
 Harper, one of the members of that extraordinary firm. 
 His health failing they fitted him out with a lot of books 
 
MARK M. AIKEN. 479 
 
 and sent him to Charleston, S. C. He sold the books at 
 -satisfactory prices, his health was improved and he returned. 
 In 1832 he started a job printing office in New York, and 
 finding his remote relation, Horace Greeley, about this time, 
 they went into a kind of limited partnership. Aiken did 
 the office work and Greeley looked up the business outside. 
 This business continued one year. They then divided the 
 stock, Greeley taking part and S. D. Childs, Mark's brother- 
 in-law, taking the other part. Then young Aiken tramped 
 west. He took a lot of medical books from Prof. A. Sid- 
 ney Doane, of the New York Medical College, and started 
 ■out, stopping at leading places and cities to sell the works. 
 He came to Pittsburg, there taking a steamer came to St. 
 Louis. He stopped but a short time there, but the fame of 
 the Military Tract Country called him to wish to see it. 
 He had acquired patents for two or three tracts of land in 
 payment for work while running the job office, and he 
 wanted to see what kind of land its was. Others had em- 
 ployed him to look after their landed interests, and before 
 he was aware of it he was a real estate dealer. He arrived 
 by steamer at Peoria October 28, 1833, and has been a resi- 
 dent and substantial citizen ever since. He engaged in 
 business alone for the first three years, and in 1836 formed 
 a co-partnership with the late Geo. C. Bestor. 
 
 This arrangement continued for four years and proved 
 satisfactory. After the expiration of his term with Mr. 
 Bestor he always conducted his business alone. He has 
 taken a deep interest in educational matters and the ad- 
 vancement of the city's financial prosperity. He has been 
 school inspector, commissioner for opening new streets, con- 
 demning property for public purposes, assessor at an early 
 •day, internal revenue inspector, and in recent years has 
 
480 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 filled the position as a member of the board of health. 
 Ever since he came to the state and up to the war he was a 
 radical anti-slavery man, acting with the abolitionists until 
 the organization of the republican party. Mr. Aiken is 
 now in his seventy-fifth year, and his mental faculties are 
 unimpaired. Always a lover of liberty, he contributed to 
 " aid the oppressed and let them go free," even before the 
 war, and his benevolence is known far and wide. He aided 
 early church building in Peoria by donations of lots on 
 which to build them. He has always been willing to aid all 
 who would help themselves. He has sage and wise coun- 
 sels to give with financial aid to the deserving, and is 
 known as guide, counselor and friend to multitudes since 
 his advent in Peoria fifty years ago. 
 
HON. ANDREW SHUMAN. 
 
 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHICAGO DAILY JOURNAL- 
 
 The American people live in an atmosphere of intel- 
 lectual freedom that gives play to choice of profession or 
 occupation according to the capacity or inclination of its- 
 citizens. Here is exhibited a wide field for inventive 
 genius, whether the outgoing desires be in the direction of 
 intellectual culture or for an active or sedentary life. This 
 field for choice is well illustrated in the person and pro- 
 fession of the subject of our sketch. 
 
 Hon. Andrew Shuman, ex-Lieutenant Governor, was 
 born November 8th, 1830, in Lancaster County, Penn. 
 His father died when he was only seven years old and he 
 was left to the care of an uncle, who could give him but 
 limited educational advantages; but they were well im- 
 proved, and when he had attained his fourteenth year he 
 was placed in a drug store to learn the business, but seems 
 not to have liked the business. It did not give scope to 
 his literary desires, the yearnings of his young nature for 
 books and newspapers for obtaining knowledge. So his 
 term was short as a compounder of drugs. 
 
 When he was fifteen years old he entered the office of 
 the Lancaster Union and Sentinel, and here made rapid 
 advances in word-making by the skillful manipulation of 
 the type. ■■ In 1846 he went with his employer to Auburn, 
 New York, and was engaged in the office of the Advertiser, 
 31 
 
482 FIFTY YEARS RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 and made such progress in acquiring a perfect knowledge of 
 the business that on the attainment of his eighteenth year 
 he established a small literary paper, the Auburnian, per- 
 forming all the work himself. This seems to have been a 
 very good school for the attainment of practical knowledge, 
 which was impressed on him the more as he found out that 
 financially it could not be made to pay. So at the end of 
 the year the enterprise was given up, but he had gained 
 useful knowledge, acquired some fame, lost some money, 
 and valuable time, but the experience was a treasure to 
 draw on for future business. At the age of nineteen he 
 entered the office of the Cayuga Chief, at Auburn, as a part- 
 ner, but soon withdrew, and finding that this, his chosen 
 field of labor, would probably be his life work, and feeling 
 the necessity of a more thorough preparation, he entered 
 Hamilton College in his twenty-first year, earning the 
 money to pay his tuition and other expenses by working at 
 the printing business during vacation. During his junior 
 year at college he accepted the editorial chair of the Daily 
 Journal at Syracuse at the urgent request of the friends of 
 the late Gov. Seward. Here he served for near four years, 
 finishing his college studies, and feeling that he was now 
 prepared for a wider field of labor. Obeying Greeley's 
 injunction, " Go west, young man," he came to Chicago 
 in 1856, and was at once given scope and play for his 
 genius as assistant editor of the Chicago Daily Journal, 
 where he is to-day, having served as probationary assis- 
 tant for five years, during the exciting years of 1858 and 
 1860, aiding in the great result of those years. He was 
 promoted in 1861 to the chair of editor-in-chief, assuming 
 the full direction of the paper. He was elected in 1864 
 to the Commissionership of the Illinois Penitentiary at 
 
HON. ANDREW SHUMAN. 483 
 
 Joliet, and held the office till 1871, then declining to take 
 the office longer, he gave his exclusive attention to his edi- 
 torial duties for the next five years. 
 
 In 1876, he was elected as Lieutenant Governor of the 
 state on the Republican state ticket, receiving over 22,000 
 majority. As presiding officer of the senate he was very 
 popular, and on retiring received the unanimous thanks of 
 the senate for his fairness and impartiality in the discharge 
 of his duties. On retiring from office he became the part- 
 ner of John R. Wilson in publishing the Journal, and has 
 since bought a half interest, controlling the policy of the 
 paper and adding much to its former circulation and use- 
 fulness. 
 
 Mr. Shuman, now in his 53d year, just in the full en- 
 joyment of his brilliant mental powers, has the best of 
 health, and bids fair to be the presiding genius in his 
 chosen field of labor for many years to come. 
 
HON. WELKER GIVEN. 
 
 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE PEORIA TRANSCRIPT. 
 
 Welker Given,- who so successfully and satisfactorily 
 filled the editorial chair of the Transcript during 1881, was 
 born at Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, May 17th, 
 1853, and came from a family somewhat prominent in public 
 affairs, and was from his early youth familiar with matters 
 of public interest. He was named for an uncle — Judge 
 Welker, now United States District Judge in Ohio, who 
 served six years in Congress and was lieutenant-governor of 
 Ohio, elected on the same ticket with Salmon P. Chase. 
 The father of Welker Given, Brig.-Gen. Given in the late 
 war, is now circuit judge of the Des Moines District, Iowa. 
 
 In early childhood Welker was in delicate health, so 
 much so that he could not attend school as other boys at 
 his age. Such education as he received at that early age 
 was at home. He was early introduced to public affairs, 
 and in the war accompanied his father to the front when he 
 was a mere child, was under fire at Stone River when only 
 ten years old, noticed the order and regularity of business 
 in his father's quarters, and official etiquette and courtesies, 
 the forms and rules of business in official papers, orders to 
 officers, etc. 
 
 At twelve years of age he served as page in the Ohio 
 Senate, and became interested in politics and legislation, 
 and at that early age did some reporting for the papers, 
 
HON. WELKER GIVEN. 485 
 
 principally paragraphical and sometimes personals on the 
 members, laconic squibs and reflections on legislation, some 
 of these appearing as editorial matter in the Ohio State 
 Journal. After the war his father was appointed deputy 
 commissioner of internal revenue at Washington, and 
 Welker accompanied the family to that city, where he 
 resided several years. During these years he was a student 
 at Columbian College, and advanced rapidly in his studies, 
 at leisure times contributed articles to the press, attended 
 many of the famous debates in Congress, and became ac- 
 quainted with many prominent men. This wide range of 
 literary life gave him a varied experience with men, and the 
 subjects that were brought to his attention embraced all the 
 questions of the day, past, present, and prospective. 
 
 In 1872 he removed with his father's family to Des 
 Moines, Iowa. A trouble with the eyesight kept him out 
 of active business for several years. With restored health 
 he entered his chosen profession of journalism, beginning 
 at the bottom of the ladder. 
 
 He commenced as reporter on the Des Moines Register, 
 and was advanced from one position to another until he had 
 held every editorial position on the paper, including editor- 
 in-chief when the regular chief was absent. His editorial 
 labors had brought him before the people, and his services 
 were required in the political field — on the stump. He 
 made many speeches in the campaign qf 1876 that gave him 
 a reputation which has increased with the years. He has 
 engaged actively in nearly every important canvass since. 
 His varied talent has procured him invitations to make ad- 
 dresses before literary societies, decoration and Fourth of 
 July patriotic occasions commemorative of past achieve- 
 ment and patriotism and the future greatness of our country. 
 
486 FIFTY YEAKS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 He was also in request for social occasions and re-unions in 
 response to sentiments. 
 
 In 1879 he was appointed by the Republican State 
 Committee as their secretary, and in 1880 was editor-in- 
 chief of the Iowa City Daily Republican, and left that posi- 
 tion to succeed the late Enoch Emery as editor-in-chief of 
 the Transcript, and the people of this state know with what 
 ability and faithfulness he gave his talents to that work. 
 It was while he was engaged on that paper that the author 
 became acquainted with Welker Given. In his sanctum, 
 at his editorial labors, we remember with fresh distinctness, 
 his quiet bearing and friendly greeting, his mild geniality, 
 showing a delicate discrimination as to the subjects he chose 
 to converse upon. He assumed no scholastic superiority, 
 though he possessed it, and it was through the columns of 
 the paper that he showed the depth, power, and broadness 
 of sweep of the intellect that fulminated the trenchant 
 editorials that appeared daily in the paper. 
 
 Mr. Given was so unobtrusive and undemonstrative in 
 his personal intercourse that he made but a limited-personal 
 acquaintance in Peoria, but wherever the Transcript circu- 
 lated and was read there he was appreciated for the manful- 
 ness and nobleness of his sentiments. 
 
 But his Iowa friends, among whom he had labored in 
 the council and the field, pressed their claims on him so 
 persistently to return that he concluded to do so at the end 
 of the year. He left the Transcript against the most per- 
 sistent urging of the manager to retain his place. He was 
 called to the position of acting editor-in-chief of the Daily 
 Register, Des Moines, the leading paper of the state. In 
 the campaign of 1881 he wrote an editorial for the Register 
 which was afterwards published separately and circulated as 
 
HON. WELKBR GIVEN. 487 
 
 a campaign document. In January, 1882, on the accession 
 of Gov. Sherman, he was appointed private secretary to the 
 governor, without any knowledge that the appointment was 
 to be made, and only accepted when strongly urged to do so. 
 Mr. Given has studied law, but never with a view of prac- 
 ticing, only as an adjunct to his editorial duties, these re- 
 quiring that he discuss constitutional and law questions 
 when they are presented. 
 
 In the line of his editorial duties he has written legal 
 arguments that have been accepted by counsel without 
 changing a syllable, and which, on their application to the 
 case argued, secured the reversal of important cases in the 
 Supreme Court of Iowa. Outside of his editorial leaders 
 he has published articles in Eastern magazines anonymously, 
 that have attracted marked attention. 
 
 He has always been a Republican, and his labors as a 
 journalist have always been to unite and strengthen the 
 party on the plane of its best sentiment and the moral ap- 
 proval of the best class of people. This was his endeavor 
 while in Peoria. 
 
 Mr. Given has had advantages of position, but not of 
 wealth, and his successful career as a journalist will assure 
 other young men that equally strict application, closeness 
 of study and observation, will assure as great success to 
 them. 
 
 Since the above was written Mr. Given has accepted an 
 offer to return to the editoral chair of the Transcript under 
 a permanent engagement. He entered upon his duties May 
 1st, 1883. 
 
HON. ROBERT T. CASSELL. 
 
 PIONEER AND LEGISLATOR. 
 
 Among the early pioneers of Woodford county "that 
 was known and read of all men," was a young Kentuckian 
 that all the people delighted to honor as "Bob" Cassell, 
 just as the pioneers of Sangamon county delighted to call 
 the inimitable Lincoln " Abe." Young Cassell was known 
 far and near, over ten counties; perhaps more for his jovial 
 disposition, genial conversational powers, frankness of 
 manner — at times approaching brusqueness. 
 
 He was born at Lexington, Kentucky, October 26, 
 1816, where he resided until the spring of 1831, when his 
 father moved with his family to Jacksonville, this state, 
 where Robert T. finished his common school education, he 
 attending during the years until about twenty years old. 
 " Bob," early in life, was quite a cavalier among the young 
 ladies, inheriting the true Kentucky gallantry, and in 1835 
 he was married to Miss Nancy Butler, of Sangamon 
 county, a sister of Hon. William Butler, afterward elected 
 State Treasurer on the Republican ticket in 1860. The 
 fruit of this marriage, one son, William J. Cassell, born in 
 1837, who stilj resides at Metamora. The same year his 
 young wife died in Sangamon county, mourned by her 
 youthful husband and many friends; dear to all for her 
 gentle ways and many virtues. 
 
 In 1835 his father died, leaving a large tract of land 
 in the territory, now Woodford county (then Tazewell). 
 
HON. EOBERT T. CASSELL. 489 
 
 Young Cassell, in settling his father's estate, visited that 
 portion of the State frequently, and while here, as usual, 
 he looked with favor on one with whom in future years he 
 enjoyed rare connubial happiness. He was married again 
 to Miss Rebecca A. Perry in 1839, and to them was born 
 seven children, three boys and four girls, — his sons, Judge 
 Joseph J. Cassell (see sketch), Frank Cassell and Martin 
 H. Cassell, the latter now Postmaster at El Paso. 
 
 Mr. Cassell read law in the office of Captain Edward 
 Jones of Pekin, and was admitted to the bar in 1851, and 
 has practiced law in Woodford and adjoining counties 
 until the present time. In 1874 his wife died at Eureka. 
 In 1866, he was elected to the House on the Republican 
 ticket, the district composed of the counties of Woodford, 
 Marshall, Bureau and Putnam, and made a good record as 
 a legislator. In 1868 he was appointed United States 
 Special Agent, making his home most of the time at 
 Chicago and Philadelphia. After holding this office a lit- 
 tle over two years he resigned. 
 
 He formed a law partnership with Henry Grove of 
 Peoria, who was a very successful practitioner. This con- 
 nection lasted six years and was very successful. After it 
 was closed Mr. Cassell formed a partnership with E. C. 
 and R. G. Ingersoll, the firm known as Ingersoll, Cassell 
 and Harper, and continued for six years. During the 
 years before the war Mr. Cassell was busy looking after 
 his real estate matters, and held some official positions, was 
 Justice of the Peace from 1850 to 1860. He has resided 
 in Metamora, Eureka and El Paso, and now resides with 
 liis son William at Metamora, and still practices his pro- 
 fession, and now, in the 67th year of his age, enjoying fair, 
 good health. 
 
HON. ALSON S. SHERMAN. 
 
 EX-MAYOR, AND ONE OF CHICAGO'S FIRST PIONEERS. 
 
 Alson Smith Sherman, born April 21, 1811, in Barre r 
 Washington county, Vermont. His father, Nathaniel 
 Sherman, and mother, Deborah Webster, were descended 
 from the old New England stock of the Shermans and the 
 Websters that were such stalwart patriots in the revolution. 
 Alson grew up with but the ordinary means of education, 
 and learned the architect and builder's trade for a business. 
 He was married February 26, 1833, to Miss Aurora Abbott,. 
 in Vermont, and removed to Chicago in November, 1836, 
 where there was a wide field for the exercise of his energies 
 and enterprising disposition. He immediately engaged in 
 the business of supplying building material, stone and lime, 
 and with this engaging in contracting. His powers of con- 
 ducting and managing large enterprises gave him a wide 
 acquaintance, which spread over the city and country as the 
 people increased from the thousands of emigration each 
 year. As his acquaintance enlarged so did his influence 
 increase. 
 
 As soon as Chicago organized a city government he 
 was called into her council, and was for some time chief 
 of the fire department. Was elected mayor of the city two 
 terms in succession, 1844-45, and after these terms expired, 
 was elected the first water commissioner under the act of 
 legislature authorizing the erection of water works. When 
 
HON. ALSON S. SHERMAN. 491 
 
 the canal was building he did all he could to push it through 
 to completion, and in anticipation of the event he built 
 some canal boats to navigate it, and one of his boats was 
 the first to enter the lock to take a departure down the 
 " raging waters." He opened stone quarries at Lemont, 
 and built the first boat 'to freight stone from the quarry into 
 the city. His extensive stone quarries made it necessary 
 for him to shape the stone for fitting into the building, and 
 he built the first mill for sawing stone in the city, and also 
 is supposed to be the first one in the state. He brought 
 from his quarries the first boat-load of stone ever brought 
 to the city of Chicago. In connection with his stone busi- 
 ness he established the first marble works in the city, and 
 made the first marble mantle ever manufactured in Chicago. 
 Built the first patent lime kiln (called a draw kiln) ever 
 erected in the city, and cut the first building front from the 
 Lemont stone ever carved for a Chicago house of that 
 materir.l. 
 
 In writing us in regard to the early progress of Chicago 
 he says : " You will percieve that I am largely entitled to 
 the name of Pioneer in many things." Mr. Sherman is a 
 man of first principles, first in good works and good 
 deeds, not a selfish streak about him. It was on one of his' 
 canal boats that the author shipped his first load of wheat 
 from Lacon*to Chicago, and for a return cargo the same 
 boat brought back the piooeer load of lumber, when he es- 
 tablished the lumber business there in 1848, soon after 
 opening the canal. Accompanying that boat load of wheat 
 through the canal was our first experience in canal naviga- 
 tion, and our distinct recollection is that the atmosphere 
 was cloudy, with musquitoes of "imj>roved variety" for size 
 and capacity for blood sucking. But we* survived them, got 
 
492 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 through safely, discharged our first boat load of wheat 
 and loaded up our first load of lumber on one of Sher- 
 man's boats, the first one built for use on the canal, a well 
 connected string of coincidences throughout. And this was 
 not all. He is to-day, after all these years, enjoying a 
 green old age, and with his good wife Aurora, Feb. 26, 1883, 
 enjoyed their first golden wedding at Waukegan, where 
 he resides. Numerous old friends from Chicago and other 
 parts of the state and at Waukegan calling to congratulate 
 the old pioneer, who still holds first place in the affections 
 of his family, his friends, and the younger generation now 
 following after them. From the commencement of our ac- 
 quaintance early in 1848, to the present time, we have 
 known him in business, in his relations of friendship and in 
 his family, and always found him first in all the virtues 
 that enable and the friendships that hold like hooks of steel 
 to those whom years of acquaintance have proved true. 
 
S~£~ fun D 1 J 
 
 HENRY SHIMER, A. M , M. D. ; 
 Mount Carroll Illinois. 
 
HENRY SHIMER, A.M., M.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS, NATURAL SCIENCES AND 
 PHYSICIAN. 
 
 If devotion to science, pursued with all the ardor of an 
 enthusiast scaling its rugged heights, following it in its sub- 
 terranean depths, investigating the habits of animal and 
 insect life, then patiently mastering the principles of two or 
 more of the leading professions, giving attention to each, 
 will give rank and position to the individual, then, indeed, 
 has it been earned by the subject of our present sketch. 
 
 Henry Shimer was born at West Vincent, Chester 
 county Pa., Sept. 28, 1828, and experienced the usual rugged 
 labor of farm life that attaches to the occupation, going 
 to school in winters; when grown to sufficient strength, he 
 varied his occupation by working at the mason trade. la 
 this manner he grew up strong and self-reliant, studious 
 when at school, constant in his labors on the farm or hand- 
 ling the trowel. When arrived at the age of eighteen he 
 engaged in teaching winters. In this manner his time past 
 until his twenty-sixth year, when in March, 1854, he 
 started west, and arrived at Mount Carroll, the scene of his 
 future triumphs and successes. He possessed an investiga- 
 ting turn of mind and there was ample field before him to 
 gratify his love of study, and he found it by the wayside, 
 in the hills and mountains, on the broad prairies, in the 
 orchards and groves, among the animals and feathered 
 
494 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 bribes, the fishes in the streams, and the minerals and rocks 
 under and on the earth, — all these were his study, which he 
 patiently pursued. 
 
 His exploring trips extended from Minnesota to Texas, 
 and to the western frontiers, on two different occasions 
 traveling over one thousand miles on foot, taking his time, 
 examining the country carefully. Besides these extended 
 trips he has taken four others over three hundred miles 
 each, all on foot, and numberless lesser excursions in the 
 interest of science, in which he examined the country care- 
 fully, stopping at times to ply his trade, wielding the 
 plummet and trowel ; his travels altogether not being much 
 short of 5,000 miles. 
 
 After spending about four years in this practical way 
 he returned to Mount Carroll and engaged in teaching in 
 the seminary, pursuing his studies of mathematics, natural 
 sciences and medicine, finally graduating at the Chicago 
 Medical College, March 1, 1866, since which time he has 
 been engaged in the study and practice of medicine, lectur- 
 ing on and teaching natural sciences in the seminary, j 
 
 The doctor is an enthusiast in all he undertakes, and a 
 close student, devoting the time which most men less ardent 
 would require for rest in reading, study and experiment. 
 He has a large and growing practice. We have listened to 
 his lectures before the Illinois State Horticultural Society 
 at t'aeir meetings at Rockford and other places, on the sub- 
 ject of entomology, and for some time he filled the position 
 of State Entomologist. 
 
 His favorite sciences, besides his chosen profession of 
 medicine, are geology, mineralogy, ornithology, entomology 
 and botany. He is an expert as a taxidermist, has over 
 one thousand mounted specimens of birds found in Illinois 
 
495 
 
 and this climate, with quite a collection of rare ones from 
 foreign lands and the southern and eastern states. 
 
 His collection of geological, mineral, entomological and 
 botanical specimens are very fine, which are all referred to 
 in our descriptive sketch of Mount Carroll Seminary and 
 of the labors and enterprise of Mrs. Francis A. Wood 
 Shimer, its founder. 
 
 He was married to Miss Francis A. Wood December 
 22, 1857, and has since constituted one of the board of 
 instruction in that institution, teaching classes in mathe- 
 matics and lecturing on his favorite sciences. 
 
HON. PAUL SELBY. 
 
 VETERAN EDITOR AND POSTMASTER. 
 
 For leDgth of service in the editorial work, and the 
 many and various fields of labor, the subject of our present 
 sketch has enjoyed a rare experience. 
 
 Paul Selby was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, July 
 20, 1825, his father, Dr. William H. Selby, a native of 
 Anne, Arundel county, Md., and mother, Mary Young 
 Selby, of Fairfield county, Conn. Both of his parents 
 were of English ancestry, and Mr. Selby is the fifth of 
 six children, five sons and one daughter, who all reached 
 years of maturity. He grew to the age of twelve years in 
 the county of his nativity, attending the common district 
 schools, and in 1837 his father removed to Iowa, settling 
 in Van Bureu county, and in 1843 his father died, and in 
 the following year, when nineteen years old, young Selby 
 came to Jonesboro, Illinois, and thence to Washington 
 county, and engaged in teaching in winter of 1844-45, ten 
 miles east of Nashville, near the present city of Ashley, 
 and next summer went to Madison county, receiving a cer- 
 tificate from Hon. E. M. West. Commenced teaching 
 near Edwardsville. Remained there over three years, 
 teaching in different places, at the same time studying 
 for college. 
 
 In the fall of 1848 he went to Jacksonville and entered 
 on a course of classical study at Illinois College in the 
 
HON. PAUL SELBY. 497 
 
 preparatory department in the study of languages. Re- 
 mained in Illinois College until March, 1852, and left as a 
 junior, and afterwards favored with degree of A.M. from 
 his Alma Mater. 
 
 Entered the newspaper business in connection with A. 
 0. Clayton, a fellow student, a practical printer, and pur- 
 chased from Dr. E. C. Roe the Morgan Journal, a weekly 
 newspaper, now the Daily Journal. The new publishers 
 took possession of the paper March 1, 1852, and issued 
 their first number. During the next few years the paper 
 took an active part in the discussions of the interests of 
 the State Institutions, located at Jacksonville. In 1854, 
 the agitation of the slavery question, which had been par- 
 tially composed by the adoption of the Compromise meas- 
 ures of 1850, was renewed with greater bitterness than 
 ever in consequence of Douglas introducing the propo- 
 sition to repeal the Missouri Compromise. The Journal 
 was in favor of maintaining the faith of the Nation and 
 preserving the territories to freedom. It maintained that 
 " Freedom should be the rule and slavery the exception." 
 These views naturally brought the paper in harmony with 
 the opponents of slavery extension, and as the elements ar- 
 rayed against the measures of the Democratic party grad- 
 ually took form and crystalized into the Republican party, 
 the Journal found itself in full sympathy with the new 
 organization. In 1855, during the State Fair, the new 
 party, which had been gathering its adherents, held its first 
 State Convention in Springfield for consultation. Only a 
 small attendance, but included such names as Owen Love- 
 joy and a great many men since famous in the state. Selby 
 attended as a member of that Convention. During the 
 next winter the Journal suggested a meeting of anti- 
 32 
 
498 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Nebraska editors of the state with a view to consultation 
 and devising a general line of policy. 
 
 The convention met February 21, 1856. Among those 
 present were Dr. Charles H. Ray, of the Chicago Tribune; 
 Ceo. Schneider, of Staats Zeitung, Chicago ; O. P. "Wharton, 
 Rock Island Advertiser; T. J. Pickett, Peoria Republican; 
 V. Y. Ralston, Quincy Whig; B. F. Shaw, Dixon Tele- 
 graph; W. J. Usrey, Decatur Chronicle; A. N. Ford, Illinois 
 Gazette, Lacon; Charles Faxon, Princeton Post. Paul 
 Selby presided. Resolutions were adopted recommending 
 the holding of a state convention at Bloomington, May 
 29th, following,- for the purpose of state organization, and 
 a state central committee to carry this recommendation 
 into effect was appointed. 
 
 The Bloomington convention was called, and put in 
 nomination a full state ticket, led by Col. Bissell for gover- 
 nor, which was elected the following November. 
 
 In the spring of 1859 Mr. Selby removed to Springfield, 
 where he spent the next summer, and prepared a review of 
 the Matteson canal scrip fraud, which was published in 
 pamphlet form and widely circulated throughout the state, 
 exciting no small influence in the politics of the state in the 
 next few years. 
 
 In the fall of 1859 he accepted the invitation to teach a 
 school for boys at Plaquemine, La., and removed south with 
 his family, consisting of wife and daughters. Taught one 
 year, then accepted the principalship of a collegiate insti- 
 tution for boys and girls, at Amite, La. This year norther- 
 ners in the south were subjected to suspicion, but although 
 Mr. Selby was the object of some violent threats on accouut 
 of his opinions, and anti-slavery sentiments, he was not 
 disturbed. 
 
HON. PAUL SELBY. 499 
 
 Iii June, 1861, the term of his institution closed, being 
 satisfied that he and his family could not remain much 
 longer south in safety, he sold what property he could, and 
 packing the remainder and shipping it to a friend at Plaque- 
 mine, on the evening of July 3d, 1861, he left New Orleans 
 for the north, via Canton, Miss., Jackson, Tenn., and 
 Columbus, Ky., arriving at Springfield on the morning of 
 July 6th. He met with no serious difficulty on the way, 
 though many refugees were subjected to great trouble and 
 loss. Going to Cairo soon after he took a position in con- 
 nection with one of the military offices, which he retained 
 until the next spring. 
 
 He returned to Springfield July 1, 1862, and accepted 
 the position of associate editor on the staff of the Illinois 
 State Journal, which he retained until November, 1865, 
 after the close of the war. 
 
 > In November, 1865, his wife having died, he accepted 
 an offer of a position in the custom house at New Orleans, 
 and in June following returned north, and after a few 
 weeks' vacation accepted a place as writing editor on the 
 Chicago Evening Journal, which he soon relinquished to ac- 
 cept one on the Republican, then under the management of 
 Smith, Denslow & Ballantyne, and starting out with pros- 
 pects very flattering. After remaining with the Republican 
 some eighteen months he went to Quincy and accepted a 
 position on the Whig, owned by Phillips & Bailache, and 
 remained there until January 1, 1874. 
 
 In 1874 he returned to Springfield and assumed his old 
 place on the Journal, which he has ever since retained. In 
 the summer of 1880 D. L. Phillips, Mr. Selby's former as- 
 sociate on the Journal, and from 1877 postmaster at Spring- 
 
500 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 field, died, and Mr. Selby was appointed postmaster, enter- 
 tering upon his duties July 4th, 1880. 
 
 Mr. Selby has been married twice, first in 1858, to Miss- 
 Erra A. Post, of Jacksonville, who died in November, 
 1865, then he married a second time in December, 1870, to 
 Mrs. Mary J. Hitchcock, of Quincy. By his first wife two 
 children were born to him, daughters, both of whom survive. 
 By his second marriage he had two children, son and 
 daughter, both dying in infancy. . 
 
CHAELES M. EAMES. 
 
 JACKSONVILLE DAILY JOURNAL. 
 
 Charles M. Eames was born at Jacksonville, November 
 6th, 1845, son of T. D wight and A. M. Eames, of that city. 
 He early entered the schools, but from the fact of having 
 delicate health never completed his education fully. He 
 entered the freshman class of the Illinois College in Sep- 
 tember, 1863, and did his first journalistic work as a 
 county fair reporter in October, 1866, and was the Jackson- 
 ville reporter for the Chicago Republican and Springfield 
 Journal in 1868, and later in the same year was city editor 
 of the Quincy Whig for six months. After practicing the 
 journalistic profession he for a while gave it up and en- 
 gaged in the wholesale and retail book and stationery busi- . 
 ness in Jacksonville for eight years. 
 
 In 1876 he bought Horace Chapin's half interest in the 
 Daily and Weekly Journal, and in 1878 bought the other 
 half interest of M. F. Simmons, and filled succcessively 
 the positions of city editor, news editor, political editor and 
 business manager. At present he is sole proprietor and 
 managing editor, devoting most of his time to the business. 
 He was married November 14, 1876, to Carrie M. Hall, of 
 "Wallingford, Conn., and three children have been the result 
 of this marriage. 
 
 Mr. Eames is active in sustaining the benevolent efforts 
 of the following orders : He became an Odd Fellow in 
 
502 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 1868, a Good Templar in 1866, a Mason in 1871, a Knight 
 Templar in 1881, and a Royal Templar of Temperance in 
 1880. He gave his first presidential vote for Grant in 
 1868, and voted for every republican candidate since. In 
 1880 he was a member of the republican city, county, state 
 and national conventions, and in the latter voted with the 
 " 306." Mr. Eames is very active in all the religious and 
 benevolent works of the churches ; was a delegate to the 
 Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly of the Presby- 
 terian church, with which denomination he has been since 
 1863. He has been Ruling Elder since 1879, and Sunday 
 School Superintendent since 1871, State Sunday School 
 Statistician Secretary from 1880-82, and District Sunday 
 School President for four years. 
 
 For a man that does not enjoy first-class health Mr. 
 Eames performs an immense amount of labor, so many 
 duties requiring his attention that he is obliged to economize 
 his time very closely to fill all the responsibilities he has 
 assumed! 
 
ENOCH P. SLOAN. 
 
 PIONEER EDITOR AND FAITHFUL OFFICIAL. 
 
 Steadiness and consistency to principle is one of the 
 cardinal virtues, and when exemplified practically in life 
 will always command respect and attention. 
 
 Enoch P. Sloan was born at Cambridge, Dorchester 
 County, Maryland, January 22, 1822. His father died 
 when he was but one year old, and his mother when he was 
 but five years old, and he was left to the care of his oldest 
 sister, who was married to John S. Zieber, who resided at 
 Princess Ann, Somerset County. In this brother-in-law's 
 family he was kindly cared for, and given an opportunity 
 to attend the few terms of school that offered up to enter- 
 ing his eleventh year. He then entered Mr. Zieber's 
 printing office to learn the business, and when he came to 
 Peoria in the fall of 1839, Mr. Sloan, then in his eighteenth 
 year, came with him and continued work in Mr. Zieber's 
 office, who had established the Democratic Press, until he 
 was twenty-one years of age. He then arranged with Mr. 
 Zieber to assist in conducting his paper, and continued to 
 do so till 1846, when he sold to Thomas Phillips from 
 Pittsburg, Pa., Mr. Sloan still continuing to assist the new 
 proprietor. In 1849 Washington Cockle bought the 
 paper, and Mr. Sloan continued his connection with the 
 paper until 1851, when he bought the establishment of 
 Mr. Cockle, and thus after twelve years' connection with 
 
504 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 the paper became the proprietor, still continuing to ad- 
 vocate the principles of the Democratic party, and the 
 election of Franklin Pierce to the Presidency in 1852 over 
 General Scott. He did faithful and efficient service to 
 the party for the next five years, when they called him " to 
 come up higher," and in the fall of 1856 he was elected 
 'Circuit Clerk of the county, and again re-elected in 1860, 
 his term of office expiring in December, 1864. 
 
 In the war of the rebellion he was a Douglas democrat, 
 sustaining the government in the efforts made to raise men 
 and money for its vigorous prosecution. For this zeal he 
 suffered political ostracism from many of the leading men 
 of the democratic party in the county and state, but he was 
 true to the Union, and sustained the policy of the govern- 
 ment that ended the war in 1865. Mr. Sloan wrote much 
 during the war in the advocacy of a vigorous policy to 
 close it. 
 
 On retiring from office Mr. Sloan was admitted to the 
 bar, having given all his leisure time to the study of law 
 during his term of office. The real estate laws of the state 
 more particularly engaged his atteution, and while he was 
 circuit clerk he found that a large part of the real estate 
 litigation in Peoria county arose from the conflicting titles 
 of claimants under the old French grants. This deter- 
 mined him to give special attention to this branch of the 
 legal business. He also compiled a most complete abstract 
 of titles of all the lands in the city, which enables him to 
 trace titles on the shortest notice, and almost his entire law 
 business has been relating to real estate. 
 
 He has also given a great deal of his time and talent to 
 literary matters, not forgetting his old editorial experience. 
 He was an active participant as a contributor to various 
 
ENOCH P. SLOAN. 505 
 
 publications in the interest of temperance and good morals, 
 aiding by contributions T. H. Van Court in publishing the 
 lempe? - ance Advocate. 
 
 The interests and welfare of the city of his adoption has 
 received his earnest attention ever since he was identified 
 with her growth. He has served several terms in the city 
 council, always, from his intimate knowledge of public 
 affairs, being called to take a leading part. Educational 
 matters have always received his careful attention. He has 
 been elected to serve on the board of education for several 
 terms, and the thorough course adopted bears the impress of 
 his shaping genius. * 
 
 In the last few years Mr. Sloan has given a great deal 
 of time and thought to reformatory work in promoting the 
 great temperance cause that has demanded the attention of 
 philanthropists in reforming the inebriate, and preventing 
 the spread of intemperance in our country. He has zeal- 
 ously co-operated with all the organizations and individuals 
 having these objects in view, and by speech and pen has 
 sought to influence public opinion on this most important 
 public question. He has delivered unanswerable argu- 
 ments on the legal points involved in the question, main- 
 taining the rights of the people to the full control of the 
 question, and in the exercise of that power to prohibit the 
 manufacture and traffic in all intoxicating beverages. i 
 
 Mr. Sloan is now in his sixty -second year, is well pre- 
 served in health, his intellectual powers equal in vigor to 
 his palmiest days, gives his business earnest attention, but 
 finds time to devote to his books and literary enjoyment, 
 and bids fair to enjoy many years of usefulness to himself 
 ^nd the country. 
 
GEORGE BURT JR. 
 
 PROPRIETOR, PUBLISHER AND EDITOR HENRY REPUBLICAN. 
 
 George Burt, Jr., was born March 29, 1836, at Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, and moved with his family to Henry in 
 May, 1846. Learned the printer's art in the Free Trader's 
 office, Ottawa, and Journal office, LaSalle, Illinois. After 
 this he worked in the best newspaper and book offices in 
 Peoria, Syracuse, New York, Rochester, New York City ;. 
 Hartford, Connecticut; Springfield, Massachusetts; Provi- 
 dence, Rhode Island. He located in Henry, purchased the 
 Republican office in September, 1865, of which he has been 
 sole proprietor and editor to the present time. He has a 
 power press, owns his own buildings, has a complete office, 
 newspaper and job presses, all propelled by steam. Mr. 
 Burt is from regular Yankee stock, his father, George Burt, 
 Sr., was long one of the leading citizens of Marshall 
 county, and from the time he came to that portion of that 
 county we were well acquainted with him until business- 
 called us to duties elsewhere. 
 
HENRY A. FORD. 
 
 HISTORIAN, EDUCATOR AND PUBLISHER. 
 
 Among the young workers and toilers in ascending the 
 mount of literary fame at an early day, coming under our 
 own observation, was the subject of our present sketch. 
 
 Henry A. Ford was born in Ithica, New York, Sept. 25, 
 1835, came to Illinois in his infancy, his father being the 
 pioneer publisher and editor of the Lacon Herald, afterwards 
 the Illinois Gazette. Henry was educated in the public 
 schools at Lacon, afterwards attending the Henry Academy, 
 Walnut Grove Academy, (now Eureka College) and finished 
 his education at Amherst College, and afterward taking a 
 law course at Michigan University, when he went to teach- 
 ing as one of the Faculty in Kalamazoo Commercial Col- 
 lege, and when his engagement ceased there, he removed to 
 Niles, Berrien county, Michigan, and was at once elected 
 superintendent of schools of that county. While engaged ' 
 in educational work in Michigan, published the Michigan 
 Teacher, and Northern Indiana Teacher. In 1866 he published 
 Ford's History of Putnam and Marshall counties, Illinois, 
 a work valued very highly by the old settlers of these two 
 counties, and in the years since then has been engaged in 
 general literary work over a wide field. We might say in 
 passing that he was connected with one of the Michigan 
 regiments in the war of the rebellion, we believe the cap- 
 tain of a company. 
 
508 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Although raised and reared in Illinois, his early educa- 
 tion and his first editorial labors done here, yet a large 
 portion of his educational and literary work has been done 
 in other states. He has been on the editorial staff of the 
 Illinois Gazette, Kalamazoo Telegraph, South Bend (Ind.) 
 Register, Cleveland Leader, and now engaged on the edi- 
 torial staff of the Detroit Evening News, and in general, 
 historical and literary work that will be given to the world 
 when his labors are completed. For general historical 
 knowledge Mr. Ford has few of any superiors. He and 
 his wife, Mrs. Kate Brearley Ford, compiled the " History 
 of Cincinnati and Hamilton County," " History of Louis- 
 ville and Counties about the Falls of the Ohio," Kentucky; 
 " History of Penobscott County," Maine, and edited a vol- 
 ume of sermons, " In Memoriam," delivered by Rev. \V. 
 T. Higgins, and a volume of sermons "To young men." 
 
 He has just issued a volume, "' The Poems of History," 
 a work of rare literary merit. In literary work Mr. Ford 
 is a life toiler, and we only regret that his sketch came to 
 hand so late that we cannot give the amount and extent of 
 his labors a more extended and detailed notice, particularly 
 his army experiences. He was as a youth, studious, and 
 possessed a mature mind while yet a boy, assisting his 
 father in the typographical labor of his printing office, and 
 when very youthful wrote well, and was an excellent com- 
 positor. 
 
PIONEEBS 
 
 WILLIAMSON DUELEY. 
 
 PIONEER, MERCHANT, FARMER AND FAITHFUL OFFICIAL. 
 
 WITH THE AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 In visiting the scenes of former years, before entering 
 on the preparation of this work, to compare recollections 
 with the old pidneers, we enlisted the services of our and 
 fathers' old friend, Williamson Durley, to write us a sketch 
 of his eventful life, which will be all the more interesting 
 because given in his own language. 
 
 When at Hennepin we looked over some of the old 
 tomes in the records of the past, now filed away in the 
 musty receptacles of the circuit clerk's office. Capt. Jeff 
 Durley, the present efficient circuit clerk, in charge, a 
 younger brother of Williamson, the writer of our sketch. 
 The Captain has a war record that will be given in volume 
 II, is now about 60 years of age, and has quite a patriarchal 
 head in its flowing whiteness. The first time we visited 
 Hennepin was in April, 1836, when just past 18 years old, 
 to testify in a suit pending between the Wauhob heirs and 
 Virgil Lancaster. Thomas Ford was the presiding judge, 
 Oaks Turner, circuit clerk. Judge John D. Caton was 
 Wauhob's counsel, and Ira I. Fenn one of the counsel for 
 
510 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Lancaster. On the way to court, staid all night at Hart's, 
 ahout three miles south of Hennepin, one of the old pioneer 
 families, the old people excellent folks, but some of the 
 boys bore a very hard name at the time. But to Mr. 
 Durley's history : 
 
 " Williamson Durley was born in Caldwell County, 
 Kentucky, in January, 1810. My father moved with his 
 family from Kentucky to Sangamon County, Illinois, in 
 1829. 
 
 '' The first settlements made by the whites had only 
 been made two years before that time, and we had to under- 
 go many privations in the early settlement of the country. 
 The first year my father had te go seventy miles to mill. 
 The first year after the settlement of the country the In- 
 dians came among us to hunt in the fall and winter, but 
 were friendly. I lived with my father and mother on the 
 farm until I was twenty-one years old. My opportunities 
 for getting an education were very limited, as we had no 
 organized system of education in those times. Our school 
 houses were built (when we had any) by the neighborhood 
 joining together and cutting logs and hauling them together 
 and building a log house, covering it with clapboards with 
 poles laid on the boards to hold them to their place. The 
 floor was made of split puncheons hewed on one side, and 
 and the seats were made (without backs) out of a proper- 
 sized tree, split in two pieces, with one side hewed and 
 legs put in them. And when a man came along where 
 there was a place to keep (the word keep being used instead 
 of teach) school, (it was not thought then that women 
 could keep school), he went around the neighborhood with 
 a subscription paper to see how many scholars he could get 
 signed to send to school, each scholar to pay a stipulated 
 sum for a time named. The qualification required of the 
 teacher was that he should be able to write his own sub- 
 scription paper. The above described schools were the 
 only kind we had in the early settlements of Illinois. I 
 never went to any other kind "of schools. In the first set- 
 
WILLIAMSON DUELEY. 511 
 
 tlement of Sangamon County people made their calculation 
 •on having the fever and ague in the fall of the year. 
 
 " In the winter of -1831 I left my father to work for 
 myself, and got employment in a store in Springfield at 
 ten dollars per month and board. I worked there six 
 months and then volunteered as a soldier in the Black 
 Hawk war of 1831, under the command of General Dun- 
 can, rendezvoused at Rushville, Illinois. Sixteen hundred 
 mounted riflemen marched from there to Rock Island 
 through a country entirely uninhabited. We remained 
 only a few days. During that time a treaty of peace was 
 made with the Indians, and then we returned to Spring- 
 field and were discharged in July, 1831. 
 
 " I settled in Putnam County, Illinois, August 8th, 
 1831, and opened a small variety store opposite the mouth 
 of Bureau Creek in a log cabin, on the eighth day of 
 August, 1831, in company with my uncle, James Durley. 
 
 "The county seat having been established in May, 1831, 
 at what is now called Hennepin, on congress land, the 
 county court entered the land at $1.25 per acre and laido'ut 
 the town. The first sale of lots was made in September 
 1831, at which time James Durley and myself bought a 
 town lot, and having built a house upon it moved our store 
 there in November, 1831. In 1832 the Indian war broke 
 out again, and we all had to gather into forts or block- 
 houses, which caused great suffering among many families, 
 some being killed by the Indians, others losing their crops. 
 But peace was made in the fall of 1832, and the country 
 commenced settling again. I was married to Elizabeth 
 Winters, late of Miami county, Ohio, on the second day of 
 December, 1834, and we have lived happily together since 
 that time up to the writing of this, November, 1882. 
 
 " In 1836 Putnam county embraced nearly all the ter- 
 ritory now composing the counties of Putnam, Bureau, 
 Stark and Marshall. At that early day there were schemes 
 of dismemberment dividing the county, and this sectional 
 question was paramount to everything else. State and 
 
512 FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 national politics cut no figure when it came to be compared 
 to a future county line or a prospective county seat. 
 
 "To protect her interests in the legislature, Hennepin 
 placed in nouiination Thomas Atwater, a leading lawyer of 
 the place, and on general principles, other parts of this 
 broad extent of territory placed in nomination Col. John 
 Strawn, the largest farmer in the county, to represent their 
 interests. Both were democrats, so the fight was purely sec- 
 tional and persona], conducted in a friendly social way. The 
 candidates treated 'the boys,' Col. Strawn making a personal 
 canvass over the district, asking the people to come and see , 
 him and 'eat peaches,' adding the 'spiritual influences' where 
 ' they would do the most good.' The colonel was the military 
 commandant. It was his pride that year to 'call out the 
 troops.' He commenced the canvass early. The latter part 
 of March, 1836, by a military order he called the officers 
 and men of the Fortieth Regiment, Fourth Brigade, First 
 Division of Illinois Militia together for exercise and drill, 
 to meet at Hennepin. They met, but there were more 
 officers than privates present, and in the forenoon the colo- 
 nel held officer's drill, dismissing them with the order to 
 assemble again at 2 p. m., sharp, on the street in front of 
 Burnham's grocery store for general parade and drill. At 
 that time quite a crowd came together, the colonel in full 
 regimentals and flowing spirits, ordered everybody to fall 
 into line, (boys and old men included), complimented them 
 on their soldierly appearance, with some reference to the 
 black HAWK war, and other recitals of what they had 
 done for their country. When he had reached this point 
 two men came from the grocery store bearing pails of sweet- 
 ened whisky; started along the lines distributing from tin 
 cups, with patriotic exhortations from the colonel to ' drink 
 and be merry,' with other encouraging assurances that the 
 prospects for his election were good. 
 
 In this year, 1836, I sold out my store, and in March, 
 1837, moved on to my farm where I lived forty-five years, 
 within two miles of Hennepin, engaged in farming. From 
 1840 to 1846, I was also engaged in mercantile business. 
 
WILLIAMSON DTJRLEY. 513 
 
 Since which time I have devoted more of my time to farm- 
 ing. In 1841 I was elected one of the county commis- 
 sioners of Putnam county, and served in succession eleven 
 years. 
 
 " In September, 1862, I was appointed United States 
 Assistant Revenue Assessor for Putnam county, and served 
 four years and resigned. I can say that in all my transac- 
 tions with men I have tried to act honestly, and have a 
 hope to live with the Lord when called from this existence." 
 
 Williamson Durley. 
 
 34 
 
BISHOP HILL COLONY. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF OLOF JOHNSON. 
 
 National characteristics — Moral and religious character — Ee- 
 ligious persecution — Mr. Jansson killed — One common in- 
 terest — Poverty and sickness — Cholera breaks out among 
 them — Beginning of prosperity — Broom corn production — 
 Great success — Olof Johnson — His skill as a business 
 manager — Nativity, birth and marriage — Bapid growth and 
 business prosperity of Calva — The commercial business of 
 the colonists — Wild cat currency — Western Exchange bank 
 
 — The bills printed but never issued — Financial crash of 
 1857 — American Central Railway — Personal retrospection 
 
 — The colonists' real and personal estate apportioned — Their 
 individual prosperity — Extent of their former estate — 
 Their loyalty — Their numbers in the state — Mr. Johnson 
 dies — His family. 
 
 In our social and business intercourse with communities 
 and nationalities in this state, perhaps the most pleasurable 
 to our remembrance comes up the settlement of the Swedish 
 community in Henry county, known to the country as the 
 "Bishop Hill Colony," and in justice to the wide influence 
 that nationality has exercised on the morals, the politics, 
 and the business and social relations of the state we propose 
 to devote a chapter of our " Recollections " to this deserv- 
 ing element in our prosperity. 
 
 The easy facility with which the Scandinavian nation- 
 alities conform themselves to the genius of our institutions, 
 their moral and law-abiding training before coming to our 
 
BISHOP HILL COLONY. 515 
 
 shores, make them the most desirable people, next to native- 
 born citizens, to claim permanent citizenship and identi- 
 fying themselves with all our great interests, financial, 
 moral, political and social. 
 
 Statistically we find by referring to the best authority 
 that prior to 1846 there was not more than twenty-five to 
 fifty citizens of Swedish nationality scattered at different 
 points over the state. The founders of this widely known 
 and desirable foreign element came to Henry county in the 
 fall of 1846, and like our own pilgrim fathers, had left their 
 own native shores because they were denied the privilege of 
 worshipping God according to the dictates of their own 
 conscience. The colony numbered at first about eight hun- 
 dred, aud were under the leadership of Eric Jansson 
 {father of Capt. Eric Johnson, of Galva), who was mur- 
 dered in 1850, by an adventurer by the name of Roof, who 
 had found a temporary home in the colony, and had mar- 
 ried a cousin of Miss Jansson. 
 
 The religious tenets and beliefs of Mr. Jansson and his 
 followers were not originally communistic, but when they 
 faced the stern necessity of fleeing from religious persecu- 
 tion they found but few of their number were possessed of 
 worldly lucre, and the majority poor and without the means 
 of defraying the expenses of the journey across the ocean 
 and thence to their new home. It was then that a burning 
 religious zeal and enthusiasm suggested the plan and induced 
 those who possessed the wealth to place their individual 
 means in a common fund, in order that all who were one in 
 Christ, according to their religious belief, should be trans- 
 ported to their place of refuge in the new world, where per- 
 secution for conscience sake was unknown. 
 
 After these religious emigrants had arrived and pitched 
 
516 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 their tents on our fertile prairies, the same necessity com- 
 pelled them to continue as one family, to provide for and 
 assist each other, and it did not take many weeks before 
 they were all on a common level so far as money and this 
 world's goods are concerned. This common fund was ex- 
 hausted, and it was only by united efforts, labor and toil 
 that they could manage to exist, which at that day was not 
 so easily done as now, because there were no convenient 
 market for the products of their soil. 
 
 Owing to lack of houses and the crowded condition in 
 which they lived, unaccustomed to the climate and food, 
 the colonists suffered severely from sickness, and their 
 ranks were decimated by death. To add to the discourage- 
 ment of climatic disease, and make their isolation and 
 desolation more complete, the Asiatic cholera broke out 
 among them in 1849, and its ravages took away one hund- 
 red and forty-three during that year. In 1850 the colonists 
 having become more acclimated, and built better houses, 
 they enjoyed better health than any year since they settled, 
 which greatly encouraged them. In 1851 they resolved on 
 a mixed cultivation of products, something that was more 
 light in weight and more valuable in the market. They 
 decided to plant a great part of their farms to broom-corn, 
 and become the pioneers of this industry in the state, that 
 since then has brought them so much wealth, and not only 
 them, but in every part of the west where this industry has 
 been intelligently organized, it has enriched the farmers. 
 This experiment proved so satisfactory that in 1852 a con- 
 tract was entered into with Messrs. Dougal & Co., of Peoria, 
 for the raising of broom corn a term of years at $50 per 
 ton. A. M. Davenport was sent to instruct the colonists 
 in the mystery of raising, curing and preparing the product 
 for market. 
 
BISHOP HILL COLONY. S17 
 
 This new industry became the means of lifting the col- 
 ony out of financial embarrassment, and placed them 
 on the high road to wealth and affluence. The number of 
 acres planted increased from year to year, and one year 
 when the price was unusually high, the handsome sum of 
 $30,000 was realized. 
 
 The business manager for the colony was 
 
 OLOP JOHNSON, 
 
 who in many respects was well suited for the responsible 
 position. He was a man of more than average ability, a 
 keeii zest for business was his natural bent of mind. Had 
 he enjoyed the advantages of education and a disciplined 
 business training, he would have been one of the most suc- 
 cessful business men of his time, considering the financial 
 backing and commercial credit the colony gave him. He 
 was bold, self confident and shrewd, but too sanguine. 
 
 Nothing pleased him more than to be engaged in busi- 
 ness affairs on a large scale and of a speculative character. 
 He was open-hearted and generous, and never could do too 
 much for a friend^ but he demanded of his friends im- 
 plicit acquiescence to his wishes, aud to acknowledge his 
 superior judgment. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was .born in the Parish of Sodesala, 
 province of Helsingland, Sweden, June 30, 1820, and was 
 amongst the first settlers at Bishop Hill. He was married 
 in 1843 to a very estimable young woman of the same 
 province, and they were well adapted intheir temperaments 
 to enjoy life together. 
 
 The early and rapid, growth of Galva was in a great 
 measure due to the public enterprise and spirit of Olof 
 Johnson. As business manager-of the colony, under his 
 direction, were built the first substantial business houses of 
 
518 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 Galva. The buying and shipping of grain and stock was 
 entered into on an extensive scale, as was also pork pack- 
 ing, the latter proving an unprofitable venture from lack 
 of experience in properly curing the pork and was abandoned 
 after the first season's trial. Galva became a desirable mar- 
 ket for the surrounding country. A general merchandise 
 store, lumber yard and bank, all under the management of 
 Olof Johnson, came in rapid succession. Then came the 
 era of " Wildcat Currency," The fertile mind of Johnson 
 saw in this a hopeful bonanza. The " Western Exchange 
 Bank " (Nebraska) charter was purchased. A new issue of 
 bills were elaborately electrotyped, and signed with the 
 Bishop Hill Colony as backers, ready to be issued when 
 the financial crisis of 1857 came and cruelly exploded the 
 bubble, and the new issue never made their appearance in 
 commercial circles. 
 
 A little before the bank scheme and preparatory to it 
 was launched a grand railway project called the " American 
 Central Railway." This was to be a trunk line between 
 the east and west. Olof Johnson for the Bishop Hill 
 Colony, took the contract to grade that part of the road 
 from the Indiana State Line to the Mississippi River at 
 New Boston, and as part payment $1,000,000 in stock was 
 taken in the railway project. Considerable of the grading 
 had been done when the cruel crisis came and crushed out 
 this enterprise. Both the railway project and the banking 
 enterprise was no doubt entered into with the best of inten- 
 tions and the brightest hopes of a brilliant success, and had 
 the times proved propitious, would, without doubt, made 
 the colony immensely rich. As it unfortunately turned 
 out, considerable loss followed, but not to the extent to 
 ruinously embarrass the colony. 
 
BISHOP HILL COLONY. • 519 
 
 During these years, from the time of the opening of the 
 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, while we were 
 in business in Chicago, we had business relations with Mr. 
 Johnson, and we outline his character by what is written as 
 it was unfolded to us in our transactions for a term of 
 years. His banking operations he thought perfectly legiti- 
 mate at the time, as did a great many other bankers in 
 Chicago and elsewhere. We sold a great deal of the broom 
 corn raised by the colony, consigned to the Chicago market, 
 also the flour made at " Bishop Hill Mills," corn and other 
 produce. His gigantic railroad .operations were thought to 
 be a great benefit to the country, and he was thought to be 
 a public benefactor in the prosperous days of his enter- 
 prises, but when the financial "cyclone" of 1857 came and 
 these enterprises were forced to cease operations, there were 
 those that impugned his integrity, but without cause. He 
 was not "a cool, calculating and evil disposed person," as 
 some charged on him when overtaken by financial misfor- 
 tune. Although the colony lost money in the crash, it was 
 only a shrinkage of values. Mr, Johnson surrendered his 
 trust to them, leaving the property unincumbered and in 
 good shape to be divided to each individual member. 
 
 In 1860, community life, after a fourteen years' exist- 
 ence, having served its purpose, outlived its usefulness and 
 no longer a necessity, the colony was individualized, and 
 its real and personal property equally and equitably divided 
 among its members ; and now that portion of Henry county, 
 that for years was known as the Swede settlement, " Bishop 
 Hill Colony," is one of tht most flourishing portions of our 
 grand state. The substantial and elegant farm houses, large, 
 spacious and costly barns that mark the former domain of 
 the discouraged and persecuted colonists, that embraced 
 
520 FIFTY YEAKS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 twelve thousand acres, denotes financial thrift, solidity and 
 business success that always follow in the train of persever- 
 ing industry and frugality. The village — city, it ought to 
 be — of Bishop Hill, is one of the most beautifully located 
 and attractive in Northwestern Illinois. The old, substan- 
 tial brick buildings of "ye old colonial times," give the 
 place an appearance quite different from that of any other 
 town. With the exception of three or four families the 
 entire population are Swedish and their descendants. The 
 Swedes were intensely loyal in the rebellion, furnishing, in 
 all the calls for volunteers, their full proportion of men for 
 the suppression of the great rebellion. 
 
 We have, in the commencement of this chapter, noted 
 the small number of this nationality residing in the state in 
 1846. Now, from the most reliable authority, it is placed 
 at 100,000, including their descendants. 
 
 Olof Johnson, to whom a large part of this chapter has 
 been devoted as the then representative of the interests of 
 the colony, died at Galva, Illinois, July 18, 1870. His 
 widow survives him, as does also three daughters. He left 
 his family in moderately comfortable circumstances, and 
 they reside in the elegant family residence at Galva. One 
 of his daughters married Peter Larson, Esq., of Galva, one 
 of the successful merchants of that place. 
 
NEHEMIAH WEST. 
 
 ONE OF THE PIONEER FOUNDERS OF GALESBURG. 
 
 In September, 1839, just after we attained our majority, 
 "a-foot and alone," land-excursion fever seized us, and we 
 organized the strength of our forces and started on foot 
 across the prairies and groves of Illinois, our objective point 
 being Iowa, to view the native grandeur of that new terri- 
 tory just opened up to settlement. We struck due west to 
 Burlington, crossing the Mississippi at that point. In pass- 
 ing west our route led past the newly laid out city of Gales- 
 burg, which had only been located two or three years before, 
 and the improvements were of the most primitive kind. 
 We viewed " this city of the plains " in embryo, and passed 
 on. We present a sketch of the earliest pioneer of the 
 place, the man who bought the land on which the city now 
 stands, as one of the locating committee appointed for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Nehemiah West was born in New York, Aug. 26, 1800, 
 and there spent the first thirty-six years of his life. In 
 1824 he was married to Catharine Neely, daughter of Capt. 
 Abram Neely, who served his country during the entire 
 Revolutionary War. For nearly a quarter of a century 
 she was his loving helper in all his labors, for his family, 
 for humanity, and for God, and survived him more than 
 thirty years to train up the children he left to her care. 
 She lived to see all of them who survived her grow to 
 Christian manhood and womanhood, each filling an office of 
 
522 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 trust to which elected by the votes of their fellow-citizens, 
 then died, full of years and honor, March 31, 1880. 
 
 In 1835, when the plan of founding a Christian college 
 in the West took possession of the brain of Rev. G. W. 
 Gale, of Utica, N. Y., Mr. West was one chosen to make 
 this idea a fact. He, with two others, were commissioned 
 to go West, explore the country, and fix upon a site for the 
 proposed colony. They went, carefully examining the 
 country from Cincinnati to Chicago, thence to St. Louis, 
 and chose a location in Knox County, III., just on the 
 divide between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Their 
 report was accepted, aod Mr. West, with three others, were 
 sent back in the fall to purchase, if possible, a township of 
 land on the site. The purchase was made embracing 20,000 
 acres, and preparations made for removing thither in the 
 spring. In May, 1836, Mr. West with his family, including 
 his brother, John G. West, and Abram Tyler, his brother- 
 in-law, Mr. Hugh Conger, with his family, and Mr. .Barber 
 Allen, twenty-two persons in all, started from New York 
 for Illinois with their own teams, arriving at their promised 
 land June 2, 1836. The terminus of their journey was 
 Log City, five miles" from the present site of Galesburg. 
 It then consisted of one log cabin purchased by Mr. West 
 the fall previous. Other cabins soon sprang up around it 
 as other colonists came to fill them. 
 
 From this centre went out the grand influences and 
 workers that made Knox College and Galesburg what it 
 was and is. These were men of faith and prayer, as well 
 as work. They laid the foundations deep and broad, and on 
 them builded better than they knew. The plan of the col- 
 lege had been made in New York, and its board of trustees 
 elected, of whom Mr. West was one. The city that was to 
 be, was platted and lots set apart in it for the college, semi- 
 nary, church, public school and cemetery. 
 
 It remained for our Log City friends to carry these 
 plans into execution, and transform this city on paper to a 
 village upon land. Houses were built " out on the prairie," 
 as Galesburg was then called, farms fenced, winter wheat 
 sown, and by spring many families moved out there. 
 
NBMEMIAH WEST. 523 
 
 This winter was a season of beginnings in Log City, in 
 all of which Mr. West was active. Here, in a log cabin, 
 was started the school destined to grow into Knox College ; 
 here also the old First Church had its birth, and Mr. West 
 was elected one of its ruling elders, an office he held till his 
 death. Here was organized an anti-slavery society, the 
 first, we believe, in the state, and here temperance was dis- 
 cussed in such a practical way that admission to the old 
 First Church meant a total abstinence pledge, and a clause 
 was inserted in all the deeds given by Knox College for 
 ever prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic 
 liquor on any land bought from it. As the title to all the 
 colony lands was vested in Knox College, this made Gales- 
 burg a prohibition town for the first twenty years of its 
 existence, and would clean. liquor out of it to-day if the 
 sons had half the back bone of their fathers. 
 
 Early the next spring Mr. West and Mr. James Knox 
 were sent to Vandalia, then the state capital, to secure a 
 charter for Knox College. This being secured the Board 
 of Trustees was organized, Mr. West being retained on it 
 and made one of its executive committee. He performed 
 the arduous duties connected with this office until his death, 
 February 17, 1847. To his wise forethought and conse- 
 crated common sense Galesburg and Knox College owe 
 much of their success. For common sense was the pre- 
 dominant characteristic of Nehemiah West, and early in 
 life it was consecrated, with all his powers, to the cause of 
 God and humanity. He was a man of strong convictions 
 and moral back bone. He was a staunch temperance man 
 before the days of the Washingtonians, and braved and 
 bore the ridicule of his neighbors by having a barn raising 
 without whisky, a thing before unheard of. 
 
 He was an Old Line Abolitionist when that was a term 
 of reproach, not a title of honor as it is now. His home 
 was a station on the Underground Railroad and he was one 
 of its most efficient conductors. Many a load of frightened 
 fugitives did he carry to the next station, the home of 
 Owen Lovejoy, in Princeton. The fall before he died he 
 
524 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 was the anti-slavery candidate for the legislature, and then 
 the acceptance of such a nomination meant ostracism and 
 mob violence. He was secretary of the first anti-slavery 
 convention known in this part of the state, held in an 
 "upper chamber" over Curtenius & Griswold's store, in 
 Peoria, while a pro-slavery mob raged through the streets. 
 The house in which Mr. West and others of that Spartan 
 band spent that night was attacked by the mob and his 
 brother-in-law, Rev. Levi Spencer, seriously injured. Mr. 
 West's little daughter, who witnessed these exciting scenes 
 with her father, lived to see the leader of this mob, who 
 then stood over her with a club, the captain of a "Wide 
 Awake" company which paraded the streets of Galesburg 
 in honor of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Thus we see Mr. West was identified with the grand 
 movements which so largely shaped the history of Illinois 
 in its early days. He battled bravely " for free speech, free 
 labor and free men." Freedom of the press was equally 
 dear to him, and he was one of the supporters of the National 
 Era, that first anti-slavery paper that dared live in the 
 United States. During all its terrible struggle for life in 
 Cincinnati he daily prayed for it as he knelt at the family 
 altar, and on the very day of his death his dimming eyes 
 unclosed and lighted up with much of their wonted fire 
 when its first number, issued at Washington, was laid upon 
 his bed. How he loved education and religion Knox Col- 
 lege and the old First Church of Galesburg testify. What 
 he was to his family only God and his loved ones know. 
 
 "He stootl four square to every wind that blew." 
 
REV. JOHN M. FAEJS. 
 
 HIS MINISTERIAL WORK AND LABORS. 
 
 It is not the intention of this work to unduly eulogize 
 personal efforts in advancing Christianity and morality, but 
 to truthfully outline the faithful performance of duty as- 
 sumed as a life-work when young in years, but having a 
 perfect understanding of the responsibilities assumed. 
 
 John M. Faris was born in Ohio county, Virginia, May 
 23, 1818, and spent childhood and early youth at home 
 with his parents, working on the farmland attending the 
 country schools. He made such progress in the primary 
 branches that at sixteen he entered the sophomore class of 
 Washington College, Penn., and graduated with a share of 
 first honors in 1837, when nineteen years of age. In No- 
 vember of the same year he entered the Theological Semi- 
 nary at Alleghany, Penn., and graduated in September, 
 1840. Soon after graduating he married Miss Ann E. 
 "Wallace, of Alleghany, and settled down to his life-work 
 as a minister at the early age of twenty-two. He was 
 called to the pastoral charge of'the Presbyterian church at 
 Barlow, Ohio, in May, 1841, ministered to them until No- 
 vember, 1844, when he received a call to Fredericktown, 
 Ohio, where he labored successfully for eleven years, build- 
 ing up and strengthening the church greatly. 
 
 From here the educational interest of the church re- 
 quired his services, and he accepted the Financial Agency 
 for the Theological College of the Synod of Wheeling, to 
 which he gave two years of hard and successful service. 
 
526 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 This completed his seventeenth year in the ministry. 
 Closing his engagement with the Wheeling Synod he came 
 to Illinois, and was called to the First Presbyterian Church 
 at Rockford, January 1, 1858. He made his labors very 
 acceptable to this church for five years, when the educa- 
 tional interests of his church again required the genius of 
 his great financial skill, January 1, 1863, he was called to 
 the aid of the Presbyterian Female Seminary at Chicago. 
 It was while engaged industriously on this charge that the 
 author's acquaintance commenced. He is possessed of 
 that frank, candid and openness of manner that commends 
 man to his fellowmen, and whiph so well fits him for raising 
 funds for educational work, and his^ three years' labors 
 were blessed with success that placed the institution on a 
 permanent financial basis. In November, 1866, he re- 
 moved to Union County, Illinois, purchasing a fruit farm 
 some four miles from the city of Anna, where his family 
 have since resided. 
 
 In the spring of 1869 he again entered the service of 
 the church, devoting his talents and energy to her financial 
 interests, dividing his time between the Presbyterian Theo- 
 logical Seminary at Chicago and the Westminster College, 
 Missouri. The secret of Mr. Faris' great success, and the 
 demand for his services, is his great plainness, his frank and 
 open social qualities and his prompt business ways. He is 
 still in the gospel harness, and when we were spending a 
 half week in the interest of our work, gathering together 
 the links of our remembrance, weaving the web of this 
 .history, we met him, just returned from one of his monthly 
 trips. He is now in the forty-third year of his ministry 
 and bids fair to reach his semi-centennial. His vigor in 
 the work is not the least abated, and no flagging in his zeal. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 ELECTION OF 1858. 
 
 Great Excitement— Great Triumph— First Editorial proposing 
 Abraham Lincoln as a Candidate for President. 
 
 It is probable that there never was a more exciting 
 election held in the State of Illinois, or probably in the 
 United States, than the November election of 1858. I 
 believe every voter still living has yet a vivid recollection 
 of the intense patriotic enthusiasm and excitement of that 
 day. The day was foggy, misty and lowering, but it did 
 not rain much. This forbidding state of the atmosphere 
 made no difference with the people. They were abroad 
 early, intent on voting themselves, and then to see to it 
 that no other voter, who would vote "right," should neg- 
 lect the glorious privilege. It was even said that some 
 voters carried out the injunction "to vote early and often," 
 but of this I will not affirm. There was " a hurrying to 
 and fro," and every voter was sought out and urged to go 
 to the polls. The sick, the halt, lame and blind, swelled 
 the long lines of voters at the place of voting. They were 
 sought out, made comfortable by wrappings and coverings, 
 placed in carriages and vehicles, and kind arms supported 
 them to and from the place of voting. 
 
 What caused this great commotion the country through? 
 
528 FIFTY YEABS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 the voters of to-day will inquire. The reply is, it was patri- 
 otism; principles as high and holy and lofty as ever 
 actuated and moved the human heart. It was as pure, 
 noble, and self-sacrificing as moved many of the same 
 voters to go to the battle field in 1862, and for four years 
 following. Freedom was at stake in our territories, and 
 that was the turning point. Men represented principle, and 
 in our own glorious state Lincoln led on our conquering 
 legions. 
 
 " They rallied from the hillside, 
 Gathered from the plain, 
 
 Shouting the battle-cry of Freedom." 
 
 and that day Illinois was redeemed and still maintains her 
 proud position. 
 
 With pride I can call to mind the humble part borne by 
 myself in that great contest, and the exultation I felt when 
 it was known that Illinois, by her popular vote, in the 
 most closely contested election ever held within her borders, 
 had elected the Republican state ticket. It was as good as 
 a revelation from the Divinity that freedom was from 
 henceforth safe, and slavery and oppression must recede in 
 darkness. With many others I felt exultant. Though 
 Lincoln could not go to the senate, I felt that there was 
 yet future triumphs for him on another field — and that 
 field the Nation. 
 
 I felt prophetic ; the possibilities of the near future 
 loomed up and flashed on me, when I took my pen to write 
 the result. 
 
 I had no plan, no form of set phrases of speech in which 
 to announce the result. The Gazette was just waiting to go 
 to press ; only lacked the announcement of the result of 
 election. I wrote hastily ; it seemed to me carelessly, and 
 
THE ELECTION OF 1858. 529 
 
 when completed, ready for the compositor, it ran, exactly 
 without change since, as found below, the first editorial 
 ever proposing that Abraham Lincoln should be nominated 
 as the Republican candidate for the Presidency for the can- 
 vass of 1860 : 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN FOB PRESIDENT IN 1860. 
 
 The contest just closed, and the glorious result of yes- 
 terday's election, showing by the popular vote that Illinois 
 is redeemed from Democratic domination by the election of 
 the entire Republican state ticket, although the Legislature 
 will be Democratic by reason of the unfair apportionment 
 of the state in the Senatorial and Representative districts 
 by a former Democratic Legislature, in gerrymandering the 
 state, so that the counties where large Republican majorities 
 prevail are massed together, while counties where there 
 are but small Republican majorities are swallowed up by 
 attaching them to counties that are largely Democratic, 
 thus insuring the election of Democrats to the Legislature 
 and thwarting the will of the people, by securing the re- 
 election to the Senate of the United States of Stephen A. 
 Douglas to misrepresent them for six years more from the 
 4th of March next, instead of Abraham Lincoln, the orator 
 and statesman, whom the popular voice has declared should 
 be entitled to that high office. 
 
 To him, the Republican standard-bearer, their chosen 
 leader in the brilliant and glorious contest just closed, we 
 are indebted for this glorious result. 
 
 The masterly manner in which he conducted the canvass, 
 both in the joint discussions with Douglas, and his grand 
 speeches made to the people in all parts of the state, has 
 attracted the attention of the whole country and the world 
 to the man that gave utterance to the sublimest truths yet 
 enunciated, as principles now adopted as the future plat- 
 form of the Republican party, and marks him as the 
 leading statesman of the age, possessing the confidence of 
 the people in his inflexible honesty, and his fitness to lead 
 35 
 
530 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 the people in yet other contests, in which the field will be 
 the nation, and his leadership to conduct the hosts of free- 
 dom to victory in 1860. What man now fills the full 
 measure of public expectation as the statesman of to-day 
 and of the near future, as does Abraham Lincoln ? And 
 in writing our own preference for him, we believe we but 
 express the wish of a large majority of the people that he 
 should be the standard-bearer of the Republican party for 
 the presidency in 1860. 
 
 We know there are other great, names that will be pre- 
 sented for this great honor — names that have a proud prom- 
 inence before the American people — but in statesmanship 
 Lincoln is the peer of the greatest of them. 
 
 There are McLean, Seward, Chase, Bates, Cameron, and 
 possibly others who will be presented before the convention 
 meets, and their friends will urge their claims with all the 
 pertinacity that devoted friendship and political interests 
 may dictate, and their claims as available candidates will be 
 fully canvassed. And possibly they possess all these in an 
 eminent degree ; but Abraham Lincoln more so, both as to 
 eminent statesmanship and also availability. 
 
 The friends of all the statesmen named, if they fail in 
 securing their choice, would rally on Lincoln as their next 
 choice, thus showing his acceptability to all. 
 
 In the next campaign of 1860 the issues are already 
 sharply defined. These will be, as they have been in our 
 state canvass, slavery and slavery extension on the one 
 hand, and freedom and free territory on the other. 
 
 Douglas will lead the cohorts of slavery. Lincoln 
 should lead the hosts of freedom in this " irrepressible 
 conflict." Who has earned the proud position as well as 
 he? as he is in himself the embodiment and exponent of 
 our free institutions. These two men have fought the 
 battles over the plains of Illinois. What so proper as 
 their being the champions of the two principles on the 
 national field? — Illinois Gazette, Nov. 4, 1858. 
 
CADET TAYLOR. 
 
 EX-PRESIDENT ILLINOIS PRESS ASSOCIATION, AND CHIEF CLERK 
 IN GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 Almost every sketch we have given in our " Recollec- 
 tions " has marked the career of a self-made man. The 
 brief one given below is no exception to the rule. It shows 
 patient toil, constant work, an ■"' upward and onward " de- 
 termination to succeed. 
 
 Cadet Taylor was born near Magnolia, Putnam county, 
 Illinois, September 30, 1848. His father was a farmer, and 
 his sons were inured to the hard toil of a farm life. 
 
 In 1855 his father moved to Wenona, and Cadet at- 
 tended the public schools, and when sufficiently advanced 
 was sent to Dover University and State Normal. Between 
 the times of his terms of attending school he was obliged 
 to earn the money to pay the expenses of his course. He 
 drove team from the Vermilion coal fields, a hard and la- 
 borious work. He done this when only from twelve to 
 fourteen years old. When advanced older he went into 
 business, for himself in a small way, and in 1866-67 began 
 his experience as a printer in the Wenona Index office, then 
 owned by Capt. Wm. Parker, who was also postmaster, and 
 young Taylor become his assistant. In 1868 he became a 
 partner in the publishing of the paper, and in 1870 pur- 
 chased the office, and assuming the editorial control of the 
 paper when only twenty-two years old, began to carve 
 
532 FIFTY years' recollections. 
 
 out his own successful career in the newspaper world. His 
 work has borne some fruit. 
 
 In 1871 he was appointed postmaster at Wenona by 
 President Grant, and held the office through all the succeed- 
 ing administrations until he resigned the office in 1882 to 
 accept the office of chief clerk in the Government Printing 
 Office, at Washington, D. C., tendered him by Hon. S. P. 
 Rounds, the superintendent of public printing, whose career 
 and success is chronicled in other pages of this work. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was secretary of the Illinois Press Associa- 
 tion for three terms, and then elected president for two 
 terms, in all five years service that he was honored with this 
 mark of their highest regard and esteem. He is devoted to 
 his profession, proud of the fact that there is such a grand 
 organization of men as the Illinois Press Association. He 
 has been a hard toiler, has earned all his honors by persist- 
 ent effort, and held them by deserving and manly effort to 
 serve the public. 
 
 His appointment to his present high position was un- 
 sought. It was a call to " come up higher," which he ac- 
 cepted. He is now in his thirty-fifth year, in the full vigor 
 of manhood, bidding fair for as many more years of active 
 life. 
 
CAPT. JOSEPH E. OSBORN. 
 
 EDITOR AND PUBLISHER. 
 
 Among the " Young America " push and pluck citizens 
 of Swedish birth of our state the author has found none 
 more determined to make name and fame among the people 
 than the subject of the present sketch. 
 
 Joseph E. Osborn was born in Gefle, Sweden, July 12, 
 1843, and came to this country with his father's family in 
 1849. He was fortunate in his educational aspirations, hav- 
 ing received collegiate training in Columbus, Ohio, and 
 Springfield, Illinois. His father was the first Swedish 
 Lutheran minister to emigrate to America, and was the 
 founder of the Swedish Lutheran Augustana Synod, and 
 the Augustana College at Rock Island, one of the flourish- 
 ing educational institutions sustained by the Swedish 
 nationality in Illinois. 
 
 Young Osborn, when only eighteen years old, enlisted 
 in Battery "G," Second Illinois Light Artillery, in Au- 
 gust, 186L He served during the whole war; served on 
 General Ord's staff as commandant of the United States 
 Ordnance Depot at Columbus, Ky v for eight months, was 
 transferred to Company G, United States Heavy Artillery, 
 colored, as second lieutenant, and kept in the service for 
 one year after the war closed. 
 
 Captain Osborn learned the printing business in his 
 youth, is now publisher and editor of The Qitizen, Moline, 
 
534 FIFTY YEABS' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Illinois, and is a very efficient worker in all that will ad- 
 vance the prosperity of the country. His paper, The Citi- 
 zen, gives out no uncertain sound on any of the great re- 
 formatory questions of the day, whether moral or political. 
 He is a staunch republican, as are almost all his nation- 
 ality. He is a fluent speaker, giving his aid to sustaining 
 his principles on the rostrum in all the political campaigns. 
 Educational matters connected with the success of Au- 
 gustana College at Rock Island and Moline, receives much 
 attention, both personal and editorial, and the institution is 
 in the most flourishing condition. 
 
MRS. LUCINDA HARRISON. 
 
 APIARIST AND AUTHOR ON BEE CULTURE. 
 
 The lady whose name stands prominent among the suc- 
 sessful bee culturists of the present time, is a native of Ohio, 
 born in 1831, and came to Illinois with her parents, 
 Alpheus Richardson and his wife, when a child, they being 
 among the pioneer settlers of Peoria county. Her early 
 advantages for an education were limited. She received a 
 few month's tuition at a private school. This gave her all 
 the scholastic training she received, but she was a close 
 student, and commenced teaching as a means of livelihood 
 and self culture. While busily engaged in teaching she 
 made the acquaintance of a prosperous young farmer, Robt. 
 Dodds, of Woodford county, and their minds and disposi- 
 tions running in the same channel, they were married, and our 
 successful school teacher was transferred to the home duties 
 of a farmer's wife with all their laborious cares and responsi- 
 bilities. Her labors were varied by the cultivation of small 
 fruits, as the state of her health made it necessary for her to 
 have outdoor occupation, air and sunshine. 
 
 With the cultivation of small fruit she added bee cul- 
 ture, and in this she has been eminently successful. She 
 commenced her press contributions to Colman's Rural 
 World, St. Louis, and to the Germantown Telegraph, at first 
 in the pomological, horticultural and house-keeping depart- 
 ments of those papers. 
 
536 FIFTY years' RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 But it is as a writer on bee culture that she has gained 
 a national reputation. Her contributions to Gleanings in 
 Bee Culture, and the American Bee Journal, have elicited 
 high commendation from apiarists from all over the United 
 States. She also contributes instructive papers and descrip- 
 tive articles on the practical operations of conducting the 
 apiary to the columns of the Prairie Farmer, and for several 
 years past has had charge of the apiary department of that 
 paper. This, combined with her eminent success in the 
 practical management of the apiary, has given her a reputa- 
 tion, and made her an authority on the management of bees 
 that is second to none in the country. 
 
 Her first husband dying, after engaging several years in 
 happy farm life, in 1866 she was again married to Lovell 
 Harrison, one of the substantial citizens of Peoria. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison combines a thorough knowledge of the 
 natural history and habits of the honey bee, combining 
 familiarity with the minutest details in the management of 
 the apiary, which has placed her in the front rank among 
 lady bee keepers of our land. She is a member of the 
 North American Bee Keeper's Association, and at the 
 annual meeting of that organization held at Lexington, 
 Kentucky, in October, 1881, was elected vice-president for 
 the State of Illinois. 
 
 Her apiary at present consists of over one hundred col- 
 onies of Italian bees, and is considered one among the best 
 managed in the state.