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HURCH
AND
CHICAGO
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Gc 977.302 C43wils 1994670
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAC GENEA OG" COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01073 0130
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018
https://archive.org/details/newchurchchicago00will
HON. JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMMON.
THE
NEW CHURCH
AND
CHICAGO
A HISTORY
W. B. CONKEY COMPANY 1906
COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY THE WESTERN NEW CHURCH UNION
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
1
1994670
To Mr. Charles Henry Cutler, the honored presi- dent of The Chicago Society of the New Jerusalem, for his original, consistent, and lasting interest in the successful completion of this history, the com- piler will remain very thankful.
The A. T. Andreas Company having granted special privilege in the use of its very comprehensive history of Chicago, is appreciatively remembered. ;
For the Chicago Historical Society, for the com- petent aid and material, graciously furnished, and remembering the delightful hours spent in its charming home, Dearborn avenue and Ontario street, there will remain memory of interesting ex- perience.
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To the use of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ-the New Jerusalem-this book and all rights pertaining to it, and all interests that may arise from it are humbly dedicated ; the accompanying trust to be administered by the Western New Church Union, a corporation existing by authority of the law of the State of Illinois, as agent.
All proceeds from the sale of the book that may remain after deducting the amount of commission allowed The Western New Church Union are to be given to The Chicago Society of the New Jerusalem, to be used by it for the benefit of the Church of the New Jerusalem, in such manner as it may decide, except that, until the compiler is reimbursed for money actually expended in the preparation of the manuscript, illustrations, and publication of the book, the proceeds are to be his.
The final ownership by The Chicago Society of the New Jerusalem, of the copyright, plates, illustra- tions, and all interests pertaining to the book, is pro- vided for.
PREFACE.
It is possible for the reader of this volume to com- mence with the New Church in Chicago at a time when the people of Chicago were in thousands as they now are in millions, and consecutively live in the mind the life that the people of the Church lived, study the subjects that they studied, feel sympathy for them on account of their trials, and rejoice with them in their pleasures. He can see the first pioneer of the Church, carpet-bag in hand, en route through tall weeds and grass, from the river to the Sauganash tavern, and following the growth that came from the seed he sowed, see the Church in the city at this date a septuagenarian, as is the city, both destined to live on and to grow.
The spiritual quality that characterized the New Church in Chicago during the first thirty years of its existence, which in fact was its character, cannot be appreciated by the members of to-day without careful study of the official history-the records, in conjunction with that which it is almost impossible to supply at this time, namely,-an understanding of the peculiar and extraordinary char- acters of a few individuals who, we may say, conceived, brought forth, and reared it.
If the reader will appreciate the extraordinary intent- ness in church purpose of Mr. Scammon and Mr. Hib- bard, which it is hoped is made possible by the articles devoted to them, and then remember that those who, as proselytes, became associated with them, must neces- sarily have been in affinity with them, and further remem-
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PREFACE
ber that this condition was kept alive and added to, it will be seen that the churchmanship of those who became members must have been intense and absorbing.
That this spiritual history and spiritual foundation, that applies directly to The Chicago Society of the New Jerusalem, which, by associating people with their church effort and church life, that it is hoped is made possible, may be appreciated and cherished as an example for churchmanship is most desirable.
The teaching of the Church being, that it is the culti- vation of the angelic germ in the character of man, exclusively, that absorbs the efforts of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is not unreasonable to conclude that in the safety in which The Chicago Society of the New Jerusalem has been at different times carried over the sea of trouble that threatened to engulf it, may be seen His recognition of the remains of the angelic germ or spiritual character that is referred to.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
HON. JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMMON
Frontispiece
FOR A NIGHT'S REST 15
REV. JOHN RANDOLPH HIBBARD 75
THE SALOON BUILDING
93
MR. ALEXANDER OFFICER.
109
REV. JOHN HENRY RAGATZ. 131
DR. ALVAN EDMUND SMALL
139
THE ADAMS STREET TEMPLE
151
THE ADAMS STREET TEMPLE AND MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION, JUNE 9, 1871 169
THE ADAMS STREET TEMPLE, OCT. 9, 1871
177
THE GENERAL CONVENTION, 1871. 209
MR. CHARLES HENRY CUTLER 229
HON. CHARLES CARROLL BONNEY
245
REV. LEWIS PYLE MERCER. 253
VIEW FROM THE VESTIBULE OF HUMBOLDT PARK CHURCH 267
DR. GEORGE FREDERICK ROOT 287
THE VAN BUREN STREET TEMPLE. 299
CHURCH OF THE DIVINE HUMANITY AND PARISH HOUSE.
321
HON. JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMMON AT SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE 333
HUMBOLDT PARK CHURCH 343
SHERIDAN ROAD CHURCH AND PARISH HOUSE 357
KENWOOD CHURCH AND PARISH HOUSE
373
THE CHURCH ROOMS AND LIBRARY, TWO VIEWS
402, 403
م.
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IN 1835.
Seventy years ago, eglantine roses, growing in large clusters in many places in Illinois, blended their delicate pink with the soft green of early summer, while later, in the more mature season, goldenrod, moved by the breeze, bowed in graceful dignity to the blackeyed Susans and other denizens of the flower world that covered the land.
Then the prairies were as nature left them; instead of trains of magnificent cars, which now rush hither and away in all directions, hundreds of canvas-covered wagons carried families of people who, with faces towards the setting sun, slowly and patiently toiled on, hoping for home and happiness in the great unknown West.
Then the great prairie state contained but one fourth as many people as does, at this time, its metropolis on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Some who have written of that period have mentioned Chicago as the village; while, until recently, there have been among us old settlers who told of hunts for wolves which took place in the timber that heavily bordered the river to the north, during which the frightened animals, in packs of four to six, would scamper through the vil- lage to the timber which grew adjacent to the river on the south.
The town was platted Aug. 4, 1830, when the voters were less than sixty.
The council in which the Indians ceded to the United States their lands in Michigan and Illinois met in Chicago in 1833. There were from four to six thousand Otta- was, Chippewas, Pottawatomies and others, who, having
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been paid for their lands, passed on to the wilds of the West and Southwest.
In this same year the incorporation as a town occurred, there being about two hundred and fifty people.
In 1834 the levy for taxes amounted to less than fifty dollars.
In 1835 there were one hundred voters.
In 1837 the incorporation as a city occurred, there being four thousand one hundred and seventy inhabitants.
Several years are yet required to make a century since savages stalked the land in sufficient number to concen- trate and compel the evacuation of Fort Dearborn. Lying in ambush where now stand fine homes, they massacred the fleeing garrison of fifty or more soldiers and other people, making the destruction complete by burning the fort.
Where the leviathans of the great lakes moor, disem- bark, and embark their thousands of passengers and tons of cargo, amid the roar and rush of commerce, in 1835 stood the rebuilt fort, the last building of which was destroyed in the conflagration of 1871.
Instead of the leviathans, a variety of sailing craft dis- embarked lumber, wood, fish, the products of the hunter and trapper, merchandise which had been shipped at Buffalo, Cleveland, and other cities to the East; families of pioneers who had forsaken homes in the older states; travelers and prospectors.
Having replaced these burdens with plain and neces- sary articles required by pioneers, and with people intend- ing to make their homes in the mighty forests, which almost unbroken encircled the fresh-water seas in formi- dable defiance, they would sail away and disappear on the apparently limitless water.
Then were the great West and Northwest a wilderness.
FOR A NIGHT'S REST.
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Then there were only the rich soil, the forests, min- erals, and water. There were few people, but people came, singly and by families, amounting to hundreds and thousands; with them industry, thrift, and learning; and all the dispensations of Divine Providence, including seed for the New Church, and the seed grew.
JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMMON.
Hearken : Behold, there went out a sower to sow .- [Mark iv : 3.]
In a meeting held for the consideration of subjects in the interest of The Chicago Society of the New Jerusalem, a good many years ago, the business being completed, the talk became informal, then broken; finally, there coming a lull, Mr. Scammon arose from his seat and said, 'Well, gentlemen, I ask you to excuse me; I am three score and ten years old to-day, and being tired, realize that I become tired easier than I used to. I bid you good-night."
Above the medium height that men attain; straight as an arrow; with large, well-shaped head, carried high; fine, strong, intelligent face, Jonathan Young Scammon pre- sented a personality that would be distinguishable in any congregation of men.
Considering the great force of his character, clear per- ception of the many things there were for him to do in the world, and his ever willingness and determination to do them, we can see him at twenty-three years of age, standing in the wilderness which covered the site destined for Chicago, and believe him happy with the vastness of the arena and the world of obstacles which must be over- come, and which seemed to block all routes to progress.
He saw in the great unopened world and unlimited material about him, man's workshop-his workshop. He entered and forged, and forged on. His blows told; told in the growth of the Church, the growth of the city, its institutions, and affairs, and in the passing of the wilder- ness.
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People, a good many of them yet in this world, remem- ber Mr. Scammon; to others, their descendants, his name and character will remain quite as familiar as though they had known him. They will all finally have passed away, but in the history of uses, memory of him will live on; history will preserve his name as long as it tells of the physical growth of the New Church in America, and of the planting and cultivation of civilization in the great Northwest.
Coming in 1835, he immediately commenced holding Church service in his office. The following year he had made a New Churchman of Vincent S. Lovell, and they two conducted the Sunday worship. In 1837, marrying Mary Ann Haven Dearborn of Bath, Me., a receiver of the doctrine, he established his residence in Chicago at the City hotel, northwest corner Clark and Randolph streets. There, in their rooms, the congregation of three New Church people regularly held Sunday worship, others who chose to accept the invitation being present.
At Whitefield, Me., in 1812, Mr. Scammon was born, his father being Hon. Eliakim Scammon, late of Gardiner, Me., though for many years a prominent, well-known, and highly respected citizen of East Pittston, Me., from where, at different times, he was sent to the legislature, where he filled seats in both branches. His mother's father was David Young, an early resident of East Pitts- ton, who represented his home town in the general court of the state, when Maine was part of Massachusetts; a man of wealth and prominence.
Mr. Scammon was born a farmer, received his educa- tion at the Maine Wesleyan seminary, Lincoln academy, and Waterville college, and read law in Hallowell. His degree of LL. D. came from Waterville college in 1865. Reading law to a finish, he was admitted to practice in
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Kennebec county, of his native state, but instead of prac- tice started on a tour of travel and observation.
From what may be termed a tramp steamer, the. Penn- sylvania, he arrived at Chicago in September, 1835. From the steamer which lay outside the bar, the passengers were landed where Dearborn street now is, by the use of a small boat. At the Sauganash tavern, Market and Lake streets, the first built in Chicago, which was reached by a path through weeds, grass, and much of the time deep mud, he of whom we write spent his first night in the wilderness, which he so much helped to subdue, and where his home remained until he passed into the next life.
It was not hard to exhaust Chicago in those days as a place in which to sojourn, and Mr. Scammon was about to resume his travel when he accepted the position as assistant to the clerk of the courts of Cook county. His service was so acceptable that he was soon offered and accepted the place of deputy clerk, and was allowed to have his law office in the small building occupied by the clerk, located in the square now filled with the court-house and city hall, at the Clark and Randolph street corner. Here in the same room he did his own and the public business, and made his home, save to go out for his meals.
Thus commenced the business life of one who was as prominent and as great an agent in the life and affairs of Chicago as any other individual during the same forty years. In his beautifully written memoirs of his friend, Mr. William B. Ogden, Mr. Scammon gives that gentle- man the greatest eminence among men in the Northwest. It will be noticed that in the statement made here the right of Mr. Ogden is not interfered with.
Following very soon, he and Mr. Buckner S. Morris became partners, and so remained for a year and a half, when a dissolution left Mr. Scammon alone in his law
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office until 1839, when a partnership was formed with Mr. Norman B. Judd, and the sign Scammon & Judd remained until 1847.
The first directory of Chicago was published in 1844 by Messrs. Ellis and Fergus, in the Saloon building. The compiler was J. W. Norris. From it we take this para- graph:
"Mr. Scammon's third volume of reports of the Supreme court is now ready for publication. The fact that the execution of this volume is equal, if not superior, to the two former ones, which were issued from two of the best presses of the East, is highly creditable to our city, and must be gratifying to the profession generally." It should be remembered that he then was but thirty-two years of age.
Until 1847, the law had furnished him employment; having followed it with his characteristic vigor, he stood in the first rank of his profession in the state and North- west.
In 1849 Mr. Ezra B. McCagg, who had been employed in his office for two years, became his partner, and the firm name of Scammon & McCagg appeared. Messrs. Scammon and McCagg both being in Europe in 1857, the business was in the hands of Mr. Samuel W. Fuller; on their return the firm became Scammon, McCagg & Fuller, remaining so until after the conflagration of 1871.
In 1837 we find him the attorney for the State Bank of Illinois, and a couple of years later reporter for the Supreme court of the state, which place he filled until 1845.
Early identified with the establishment of the free school system, he was appointed school inspector in 1839, and wrote the law under which the system was reorganized in 1840.
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He had many opposers as a candidate for alderman in 1845, because of his support of the liberal use of money for educational purposes. But success crowned his can- didacy, giving him an office in which he was more influ- ential than any other one man in establishing the excellent school system with which Chicago has ever since been favored. Previous to his aldermanic service he had served the city as secretary and president of the school board, and in 1844 was a delegate to the state school convention in Peoria.
He was a member of an editorial committee that issued the first number of the Chicago Daily Journal, April 22nd of that year.
The first work compiled and printed in Chicago he was author of, it being one of the volumes of his reports, which was burned while in the binders' hands, requiring. reprinting. This was in 1840, when he was twenty-eight years of age.
In 1847 he is seen to be prominent in the convention which convened in Chicago July 5th, having for its object the improvement of rivers and harbors, a subject of great national interest.
Following, we find him devoting much of his time to railroad construction; at that time, owing to the general unprofitableness of railroads, always attended with obsta- cles next to insurmountable. Yet his toil, and that of his associate in the business, Mr. William B. Ogden, was rewarded in the building of the Galena and Chicago Union R. R., to raise money for which he worked for subscrib- ers, and for right of way, in the country, among the farmers, along the line, and loaned his own credit for thousands of dollars. The Michigan Central, stranded in its progression westward, stopped at New Buffalo, seem- ingly determined to cease further effort. Messrs. Scam-
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mon and Ogden, coming to the rescue with a revived charter, caused its extension to Chicago. These and other like enterprises required much time, patience, and energy for years.
As president of the Chicago Marine and Fire Insurance company, and of the Marine bank, we see him for many years a most successful and widely respected banker, waging a relentless warfare against illegal banking and those who conducted the business under unlawful methods; whom he finally, in 1853, saw indicted, ending the prac- tice of unlawful banking in Chicago and in the state for several years. The law under which this was done was from his pen, and became statute by his influence.
At the time of the passing of the first general banking law of the state, 1851, Mr. Scammon was president and principal owner of the Chicago Marine and Fire Insurance Company. Very soon he established the first bank to be established under the law, named the Marine bank .* In 1857 the combined capital of the two institutions amounted `to one million and fifty thousand dollars. He was president of both, and they were largely owned by the same people. They gained the reputation of being the strongest and most reliable of the banks in the state.
Returning from Europe in 1860, where he and his family had been for three years, Mr. Scammon found the Chicago Marine and Fire Insurance company at the precipice of insolvency, the result of mismanagement and defalcation. The entire capital was gone. Taking up his work in the
*NOTE .- We received yesterday a five-dollar bill of the Marine bank. It is finely engraved, having for a vignette the bust of that distinguished philosopher and theologian, Baron Sweden- borg, with rays emanating therefrom, placed between two beauti- ful women. The only thing we object to in the bill is the embellishing it with women-emblems of innocence-as though there was anything innocent about banking institutions .- [From the Chicago Democrat, April 21, 1852.]
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2
bank and duties as a legislator, he was compelled to do over that which he had done many years before, namely, again establish his business and credit.
At that time Illinois banks largely rested on charters and currency obtained in Southern states, which, with the commencement of the war, became worthless, and many banks fell. This system for obtaining and issuing cur- rency went to the extent of banks being established in inaccessible places, without capital, their issue flooding the state; the object being to evade the stringent law framed by and enacted under the influence of Mr. Scam- mon to protect the state against worthless currency, referred to above. Odium, improperly bestowed, fell on him, as, being responsible for the law, he was loaded with blame for disaster, only possible by its evasion. But he heeded not, and toiled on, finally paying all the debts of the suspended institutions with which he was interested, including the mismanaged and looted bank; recapitalizing them, reestablishing their credit, and opening them to business; eventually finding himself at the head of the Marine company, which had what was then the large capital of five hundred thousand dollars, excellent credit, and a large domestic and foreign business.
Entering the legislature January, 1861, he immediately opened the fight for the establishment of sound currency, and the dissipation of millions of dollars of depreciated stuff then in existence. He met strong opposition from those interested in issuing paper which it was not intended to ever redeem, but in the latter part of the session his bill became law, and under its operation the currency require- ments were met, until the green bills in use to-day became the circulating medium of the whole land, displacing all other.
He was not an aspirant for, nor a recipient of political
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THE NEW CHURCH AND CHICAGO
honor-beside his membership in the school board, mem- ber of the board of aldermen, and legislator referred to above-save when he accepted the nomination for Con- gress in 1848 on the Whig ticket, the district being Democratic by a very large majority. Though defeated, he had the satisfaction of a majority in Chicago, to accomplish which he overcame an existing majority in favor of the opposition of more than a thousand votes.
Mr. Scammon had time for everything worthy of atten- tion, and being a scholar of fine cultivation and rare attainments, very many more subjects appeared to him for consideration than would to ordinary people. Yet, always, as he was, weighted with many responsibilities, he had time for letters and art; to write for the press as an editor, and otherwise, on political economy, religious, and other subjects. He was a linquist to the extent of being able to speak and write several languages, and those favored with his society appreciated the sphere of the cultivated and highly endowed gentleman.
We see him at twenty-seven, a lawyer of prominence, and further, while comparatively quite young, having compiled the statutes of the state; very soon responsible for the free school system; organizer of the first bank under the general law; building the first railroads; writing and causing the passing of beneficial laws; in the legisla- ture effecting improved legislation, and see him restoring his own credit, and that of institutions in which he was interested; see him a successful and widely respected banker of much prominence for years, and during all the time at the head of a prominent and highly esteemed law firm.
We see him early cultivating and liberally subscribing to art; and being the first homeopath in the city, very early assisting to establish homeopathy, for which, later,
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THE NEW CHURCH AND CHICAGO
he gave an ample hospital to the Hahnemann Medical col- lege .* From this institution Rev. Nathan C. Burnham graduated in 1861; Dr. Alvan E. Small was a member of the faculty for years; Dr. William H. Woodyatt a lec- turer; all devoted and prominent New Churchmen, as will be seen.
One of the organizers of the Old Settlers' society in 1855, the first treasurer, and an active member.
In 1856 one of the organizers of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, of which his friend, associate, and old-time fellow church member, Dr. James V. Z. Blaney, was presi- dent, which office Mr. Scammon filled later. It is said to be the first organization of a scholastic character in the city, outside the schools.
An incorporator and one of the organizers of the Chicago Historical society in 1857, and the orator and president at the time of the dedication of its building, 1868, and for many years a very prominent working and contributing member.
At the organization of the University of Chicago, 1857, he was made librarian, and in 1858 he is seen to be a member of the Chicago Library association.
On the organization of the Chicago Astronomical society in 1863, Mr. Scammon became the president, filling the office until he resigned in 1882.
Following very soon, the establishment of an observa-
*NOTE .- From the report of the Hahnemann hospital for 1905 is taken the following: "In 1870 * * * the hospital came into possession, through the generosity of the late J. Y. Scammon, of the property upon which the present Hahnemann hospital training school for nurses is erected. Mr. Scammon donated this ground and three two-story wooden buildings. The records read that Mr. Scammon offered the use of a large and com- modious building with the capacity of forty beds, and that the board of trustees gratefully accepted the gift. It was called the Scammon hospital, in honor of its benefactor, until the name was changed at his request."
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