USA > Illinois > Champaign County > A Standard history of Champaign County Illinois : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic and social development : a chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 22
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Ivesdale-This village, just within the borders of Champaign County, dates its origin from about 1864, and is named for a Mr. Ives, who owned a tract of land in its vicinity. The writer has not been able to ascertain much of its early medical history, but among the physicians who have practiced there may be named Drs. W. F. Benefield, C. M. Craig, M. A. Morgan, C. M. Bailey, II. P. Mack and L. H. Smith.
Longview-This village was laid out in 1883 and the first physician to locate there was Dr. R. P. Ratts.
Ludlow-This village, at first called Pera, had its origin in the '50s. The first physician to locate there was one Dr. Emmons.
Mahomet-The first physician to locate in Mahomet was Dr. N. II. Adams, who opened an office there in 1843. IIe remained there ten to fifteen years, when he died. About 1846 Dr. C. C. Hawes came to Mahomet and continued practice there until his death in 1872. Early in the '50s, Dr. C. L. Crane located in Mahomet, where he remained till his death in 1856, the result of injuries received by the bursting of an anvil that was fired on the Fourth of July. Dr. J. D. Culver came to this village about 1857 and remained in practice there till his death in 1890. Dr. John D. Gardner located and practiced medicine there during the latter part of the '50s and the early '60s. His son, Dr. John H. Gardner, came to Mahomet in the early "?0s and practiced till his death, August 22, 1902.
Ogden-This village was laid out in 1870 and took its name from a family in the neighborhood. The first physician to locate there was Dr. Edward Tourtellotte, who came in 1870, but a year later he died. In 1871 Dr. Job S. Coggeshall located there and engaged in practice till his death, September 14, 1902.
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Pesotum-Dr. E. I. Birdsell was the first physician to locate in this village, arriving there late in 1869.
Penfield-Penfield was laid out in 1876 and takes its name from John Penfield of Rantoul, Illinois. The first doctor to locate in the village was Dr. M. M. Hazel; and his near successors Dr. W. S. Higgins, Dr. W. Van Camp and Dr. P. E. Cole.
Philo-The village of Philo was laid out in 1864 by E. B. Hall, son of Philo Hall, from whose Christian name both the village and township are named. The first physician to locate in Philo was Dr. B. C. Morris; the next one was Dr. Hall, whom Dr. James M. Bartholow succeeded in 1869. Dr. Bartholow remained in Philo till 1895.
Rantoul-The village of Rantoul, as well as the township in which it is located, takes its name from Robert Rantoul, one of the original stockholders and charter members of the Illinois Central Railroad cor- poration. Rantoul was first settled in 1855-56. The first physician to locate there was Dr. D. M. Marshall, who came in 1856 and remained till 1860. Dr. J. Sweat located in Rantoul in 1857 and continued in practice there till his death ten years later.
Sadorus-This village was laid off about 1856 and in that year came its first physician. Dr. A. Catron. In 1869 Dr. J. G. Chambers located there and practiced a number of years, when he removed to his farm in Sadorus Township, where he yet lives.
Seymour-The first doctors to locate there were Dr. J. M. Hadden and one Dr. Clark, about 1870.
Sidney-Excluding the "medicine men" of the Indian tribes, who were no doubt frequent visitors to this spot, and possibly a doctor in the employ of the Government, the first physician to practice his profes- sion in the eastern part of Champaign County was Dr. Lyon, who was an Eastern gentleman of some ability and refined tastes. He evidently had great hopes for the future of his location, for it was he, in connec- tion with a Mr. Davis, who laid off the original village of Sidney, the name being given in honor of Miss Sidney Davis, the eldest daughter of one of the founders of the village. He also designed a very large park, a part of which is now the public school grounds, the remainder long ago having been sold in town lots. He devoted some time at least to training horses, as he had built for his use a training track and barn. The old track was one-half mile southeast of Sidney. The doctor sold all his interests later to J. R. C. Jones and then moved to Texas, where he was visited by friends in 1865, who found that he had been elected to the Legislature in that State. For some years after the departure of Dr. Lyon the practice in the locality was done by Drs. Conkey and
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Mosier of Old Homer. Dr. H. S. Hickman came to Sidney about 1859 and practiced with Dr. Hartman. In the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, he was among the first to enlist, being a private in Company I, Second Illinois Cavalry. He served to the close of the war, and, on his return, finding the field of medicine well filled at the place, went to Newman, Illinois, where he practiced for twenty years, then moving to the new town of Longview, remained but a short time, when he moved to Wichita, Kansas. Dr. S. D. Jerauld came to Sidney in the spring of 1858, having a good practice when the war broke out. Three sons enlisted, William, Walter Hall and T. D. Jerauld. William was killed at Vicksburg, Walter Hall was a prisoner at Andersonville, Georgia, and died while a prisoner. T. D. Jerauld, the youngest, returned after the close of the war and was discharged January 6, 1866. Dr. S. L. Jerauld contracted quick consumption going South after his son William, who was killed. He died April 5, 1865.
St. Joseph-The first physician to locate at Old St. Joseph was Dr. James Gillespie and the next Dr. Anthony Doyle, and a little later Dr. George Doyle. Dr. William Goodwin was also there for a time. Later came Dr. David Jennings.
It was about 1870 that old things in this region passed away and new things came about when Old St. Joseph gave away to New St. Joseph. In the latter village Dr. David Jennings was the first physician to locate, and Dr. W. B. Sims the next, both of whom came about 1870.
Tolono-This village dates its origin from about 1856. The first physician to locate there was Dr. Herman Chaffee, who built the fourth frame house erected in the place. Dr. Chaffee remained there until his death in 1900. About 1857 Dr. B. D. Keator came to Tolono and con- tinued in active practice till 1878, when he moved to Missouri. In 1861 Dr. S. S. Salisbury arrived in Tolono and practiced until death overtook him in old age. In 1865 Dr. A. T. Darrah came to Tolono and began the practice of medicine and continued it until his removal to Bloom- ington in 1883. In 1874 Dr. C. B. Johnson removed to Tolono from Crittenden Township, where he had practiced three years, and answered professional calls until his removal to Champaign in April, 1879.
Urbana-Dr. John S. Saddler located in Urbana in 1839 and was the first doctor to make his home there, but he remained only a few years. Dr. Winston Somers came in 1840 and continued to practice medicine until his death in 1871. Dr. William D. Somers, brother of Dr. Winston Somers, located in Urbana about the same time and the brothers were partners till Dr. W. D., in 1847, abandoned medicine for the law. In the '50s came Drs. J. F. Snyder, J. T. Miller, James Hol- 1-14
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lister, C. H. Mills. C. A. Thompson, M. B. Thompson, Joseph Hager, M. Lindley and W. M. Goodwin. Drs. Hollister and Mills removed to Champaign in 1856.
PATRIOTISM AND POLITICS
Dr. Johnson notes with keen interest what a large part the physicians of the county have taken in patriotic service and in politics. Among those who served as surgeons in the Civil War may be mentioned the names of Dr. S. H. Birney, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Illinois Infan- try ; Dr. J. G. Chambers, One Hundred and Ninetieth Pennsylvania Infantry ; J. S. Coggeshall, Second Indiana Cavalry ; A. Jackson Crane, Second Illinois Cavalry ; Jacob Culver, Seventy-first Illinois Infantry ; W. S. Franklin (went from Champaign County as surgeon in an Ohio regiment, but what regiment is not known) ; Dr. M. Garst, Seventy-first Illinois Infantry ; Dr. Lyman Hall, Sixty-third Illinois Infantry; Dr. William H. Hess, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry ; Dr. D. P. MeClure, Sixty-fourth Ohio Infantry ; Dr. J. T. Miller, Sixtieth Illi- nois Infantry : Dr. C. H. Mills, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry ; Dr. C. A. Thompson, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry, Thirteenth Illinois Infantry and Ninetieth Illinois Infantry ; Dr. C. A. Hunt, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry.
In addition to the above list of medical men who gave their profes- sional service and one of them his life to the country, there is a goodly number of doctors in Champaign County who served in the ranks when mere boys. Among these may be named Dr. E. C. Bartholow, Dr. J. M. Bartholow, Dr. John M. Gardiner, Dr. Goodman, Dr. J. M. Hadden, Dr. Apollis Hess, Dr. J. C. Harmon, Dr. H. S. Hickman, Dr. R. H. Huddleston, Dr. David Jennings, Dr. Charles B. Johnson, Dr. E. A. Kratz, Dr. Wesley Lawson, Dr. J. D. Mandeville, Dr. D. R. Mckinney, Dr. John North, Dr. J. T. Purcell and Dr. W. B. Simms.
Of the physicians who became prominent in politics were Dr. E. C. Bartholow of Mahomet, who was elected to the Legislature in 1876 and was instrumental in having the Illinois Medical Practice Act placed on the statute books; Dr. James Core of Homer, a member of the lower House of the Legislature in 1878; Dr. James H. Lyon of Sidney, who was elected to the Illinois Legislature in 1836 and served with Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, E. D. Baker, General Shields, Col. John Hardin, U. F. Linder and other able and famous men; Dr. J. W. Scroggs of Champaign, a member of the Legislature of 1868 and active in locating the Industrial University at Urbana, and Dr. L. S. Wilcox, also of Champaign, who served as revenue collector for the Springfield district 1889 to 1893 and as consul to Hankow, China, at a later date.
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ILLINOIS MEDICAL PRACTICE ACT
This measure had its inception in Champaign County. In 1876, centennial year, the Illinois State Medical Society met in the Twin Cities May 16, 17 and 18. The sessions of the society were held in the chapel of the main university building.
The propriety of a medical practice act regulating the practice of medicine and the organization of a State Board of Health came up for consideration the last day of the meeting. And after being fully dis- cussed, Dr. S. H. Birney of Urbana moved that a committee, consisting of a medical man from each congressional district, be appointed to memorialize the Illinois Legislature upon the urgent need of the proposed medical legislation.
Dr. William M. Chambers of Charleston offered a substitute that, after receiving some modifications, read as follows :
"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to memorialize the next Legislature on the subject of the appointment of a State Board of Health, and that, with proper modifications, the act by which the Board of Health of Massachusetts was inaugurated be submitted to the same as a basis for the Illinois State board.
"Resolved, That as members of the State Medical Society, each one shall consider himself bound to urge the propriety of a State Board of Health upon the representatives of his district."
The memorializing committee was appointed and consisted of the following physicians: E. W. Gray of Bloomington, William M. Cham- bers of Charleston, S. H. Birney of Urbana, William Massey of Paris, F. B. Haller of Vandalia.
The committee did its work well, and at the session of the Legisla- ture of 1876-77 the original Illinois Medical Practice Act passed both houses, was signed by Governor Cullom and speedily became the law of the commonwealth.
Champaign County was fortunate in having in the Legislature at that time Dr. E. C. Bartholow of Mahomet and Hon. R. A. Bower of Tolono, both of whom worked assiduously for the bill. In due time Governor Cullom appointed the members of the first board of health and upon this Champaign County was represented by J. M. Gregory, LL. D., regent of the university, and one of the leading educators of the West. Dr. Gregory did most excellent work in organizing and putting the new board on its feet. With his well known versatility, he prepared several excellent papers on medical education and sanitation. During his term of service he was honored with the presidency of the board for two years.
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CHAPTER VII
SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS
PIONEER AMERICAN TEACHERS IN ILLINOIS-TERRITORIAL SCHOOL LEGISLATION-EDUCATIONAL PROVISIONS IN THE ENABLING ACT- THE STATE'S INITIAL SCHOOL LEGISLATION-FIRST STEP TOWARD A STATE-WIDE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM-STILL-BIRTH OF THE DUN- CAN LAW-CONDITIONS IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY-CHARLES FIELDER, FIRST TEACHER IN COUNTY-OTHER PIONEER TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS-FIRST SCHOOL IN SOUTH HOMER TOWNSHIP-UNION OF CHURCH AND SCHOOL-FIRST SCHOOL ON THE SANGAMON RIVER -- OLD COURTHOUSE AS A SCHOOLHOUSE-PIONEER SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS OF THE TOWNSHIPS-ST. JOSEPH, MAIIOMET, SOUTH HOMER, KERR, SADORUS, COLFAX, CONDIT, CRITTENDEN, NEWCOMB, HENSLEY, CHAMPAIGN, OGDEN, PHILO, PETOSUM, SCOTT, RANTOUL, RAYMOND, HARWOOD AND TOLONO TOWNSHIPS-ASAHEL SMOKING OUT THE BOYS-INADEQUATE REVENUES-PRESENT COUNTY SYSTEM -SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS AND SUPERINTENDENTS-THOMAS R. LEAL-COUNTY TEACHERS' INSTITUTES-PROGRESS DURING MR. LEAL'S ADMINISTRATION-GEORGE R. SHAWHAN, LATER-DAY BUILDER-PRESENT STATUS OF THE SCHOOLS-STATE EXAMINING BOARD-GROWTH OF WORK OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUC- TION-SUPERVISION AND STANDARDIZATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS- HIGH SCHOOL TUITION ACT-STATE EDUCATIONAL SURVEY.
Only scraps of information come down to us regarding efforts of the Jesuit missionaries, and later settlers in the Illinois country of British and American connections, to plant the seeds of learning in this western region amid the unfavorable conditions of wilderness life. It is said that the Jesuits even founded what was called a College at Kaskaskia and which lingered for some thirty years. When the order was sup- pressed in France in 1764, its Kaskaskia property was confiscated, as elsewhere in the world. The college buildings, a brewery and a well- stocked farm at that place, were all sold to the highest bidder.
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PIONEER AMERICAN TEACHERS IN ILLINOIS
There was virtually no educational activity in Illinois during the British rule, in 1765-78, but among the soldiers of George Rogers Clark, the American officer, were some educated men, with families, who taught school in such settlements of Illinois as New Design, Monroe County, Kaskaskia, and a few places in Randolph, Madison and St. Clair counties. Although some of these teachers were college-bred, the description applied to one of them would lay down the rule, "faithful, but not learned." All these schools, and scores of others, of which there is no record, were subscription concerns. The teachers charged a small fee for each pupil per month or quarter, and it was generally planned that they should board in the homes of the patrons.
TERRITORIAL SCHOOL LEGISLATION
The first General Assembly of Indiana Territory passed an act in 1806 which laid the foundation for the University of Vincennes, and when the territory of Illinois was set off in 1809 that institution was outside its limits. The Illinois Territorial Legislature passed an act locating the township which the general government had agreed to give the state to support a seminary of learning. It proved to be partly in the Kaskaskia Valley and as it was then thought to be of little value, at the request of the territorial authorities, Congress agreed to another selection, comprising thirty-six sections scattered throughout the terri- tory.
EDUCATIONAL PROVISIONS IN THE ENABLING ACT
When Nathaniel Pope, the Illinois delegate to Congress, drew the act enabling the territory to become a state, he formulated as the Sixth section thereof four clauses referring to the offer of the general gov- ernment to donate lands to the state of Illinois for the use of public schools. The first clause provided that Section 16, in each township was to be given to the state of Illinois to the inhabitants of such town- ship for the use of schools; the second, refers to the gift of the salt lands ; the third, provides that five per cent of the amount realized from the sale of the public lands in Illinois should be reserved for the state -- two per cent for the improvement of roads leading into the state and three per cent for school purposes, of which latter one-half per cent was to be applied to a college or university; the fourth sets aside an entire township of land for the use of a seminary of learning to be
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vested in the State Legislature. The first provision gave the state nearly a million acres of land, the proceeds of which passed into a permanent township school fund and is the financial basis of the public school system of Illinois.
THE STATE'S INITIAL SCHOOL LEGISLATION
In Governor Bond's first message to the Legislature, in 1819, he recommended to that body a revision of the territorial laws and called special attention to education in these words: "It is our imperious duty, for the faithful performance of which we are answerable to God and our country, to watch over this interesting subject." In response to this call of duty by the governor, the Legislature passed laws making it an offense to cut timber from any school lands, the rents resulting therefrom to be applied to the cause of education: The same General Assembly passed laws chartering academies at Edwardsville, Carlyle and Belleville, and at the second session, in 1820, the Legislature incorporated the Belleville Debating and Library Society, and took steps toward advancing the cause of education at Alton, and in Monroe and White counties ; but it does not appear that any practical results evolved from this legislation.
FIRST STEP TOWARD A STATE-WIDE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
But the time was at hand when a measure was to become funda- mental law which should prove the first step toward a free-school system for the entire state. Its author was Joseph Duncan, state senator from Jackson County, and destined for seats in Congress and the guber- natorial chair. On the face of it the law was a good one. It provided for schools in every county, created the proper officers and the means of electing them. School sites and tax levies for the support of the system were to be fixed by the legal voters in mass meetings. The taxes, which could be paid in money or merchantable produce, must not be more than one half of one per cent on the assessed value of property in the county, and in no case more than ten dollars for any one person. School houses were to be built and kept in repair by a poll tax payable in labor. The local taxes were to be increased by the distribution of a general state fund derived from one fiftieth of the entire state tax and five-sixths of the interest due on the school fund which the state had borrowed.
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STILL-BIRTH OF THE DUNCAN LAW
The Duncan law nominally appropriated two dollars out of each hundred dollars received by the state treasury, to be distributed to those who had paid taxes or subscriptions for the support of schools. But as the aggregate revenue of the state at that time was only about $60,000, the sum realized from the Duncan law would have been but little more than $1,000 per annum. It practically remained a dead letter, and in the sessions of 1826-27 the taxing power authorized by it was nullified, and a return and a retrogression taken to the popular subscription plan, or no system at all. No provision was made for the examination of the teacher, who was usually selected by the subscribers to the local school.
CONDITIONS IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
This was the condition of affairs when the first schools were estab- lished in Champaign County, and so remained, without radical change, until the foundation of the present system was laid in 1855. For many years the schoolhouses of Champaign County, especially those outside the larger centers of population, were of the most primitive character. They were usually built of logs, about sixteen or eighteen by twenty- four feet. The men of the neighborhood would go into the timber, cut the logs, haul them to the designated site and on a certain day would meet and carry up the walls. The structure was perhaps covered with clapboards, which were riven out of the oak trees by some patron of the school who had been trained to such work. The boards were seldom nailed on, but were held in position by straight poles resting on the lower ends of each layer. These weights were secured by pins at each end of the pole set into the ribs of the roof, or by flat rocks resting on the roof just below the weight poles. The doors were frequently of sawn boards, but now and then they were constructed of clapboards. The hinges were often of wood, home-made. Windows were openings in the side of the room made by removing a log or two. In the very early schoolhouses the openings were filled with oiled paper, glass being substituted later. The seats for the scholars might be made of split logs with pins in the rounding sides for legs. The split surface was made smooth with broadaxe and plane. Desks were arranged around the side of the room, made of sawn boards or hewn slabs, and were used for writing purposes only. The pupil often stood when writing. Paper was scarce and costly and slates were more often than not brought into use for that purpose. The pens in early use were made of quills
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and the ink was of home manufacture, soot being the basis of its make. The fireplace occupied one end of the building, and was often lined with flat rocks set edgewise and held in place by mortar made of clay, or lime and sand. Often the wooden fireplace was protected against the fire by a liberal coating of clay plastered upon the inner side of the structure. The fuel was wood from the timber near by. It was fur- nished by the patrons of the school and was brought in the form of long poles or logs. The task of preparing it fell to the teacher and the larger boys. And this was the form of fuel long after stoves became common in the schoolhouses. The wood lay exposed to the snows of winter and the rains of early spring, and often great difficulty was experienced in burning it as fuel. Blackboards were at first very few and very crude, one or two wide planks planed and painted serving the purpose. The carpenter's chalk served as crayon. The blackboard was not, however, considered a necessary adjunct of the schoolroom. Books were indeed scarce, Webster's speller and McGuffey's readers being the most popular; although in some schools the Bible was the text book in reading. It was nothing uncommon to find about the home a board shaped like a paddle, upon the smooth sides of which was written the multiplication table. A leather thong passing through a hole in the handle secured the device to the wrist, or to the plow handle, and thus was always handy for the use of the learner.
The schools of the earlier days in Champaign County were often conducted at the homes of settlers, or in abandoned cabins, and at a later period, when the settlers became more affluent and commenced to build separate buildings for educational purposes, the structures were often used by struggling churches as well.
CHARLES FIELDER, FIRST TEACHER IN COUNTY
It is probable that the first school in the county was taught by Charles Fielder, son of Runnel Fielder, the pioneer settler who, in 1822. established his home near Saline Creek near the northwest corner of Section 12, about two miles east of Urbana. He is said to have opened the school in his father's cabin in the winter of 1827-28, after a number of families had settled in the north end of the Big Grove, in the neigh- borhood of the old Fort Clark Road.
OTHER PIONEER TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS
Chiefly on the good authority of Thomas R. Leal, who served as
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county superintendent of schools from 1857 to 1873, the following were the best known of the early successors to Mr. Fielding.
In 1832 Claudie Tompkins, a son of the first inhabitant of Urbana, taught a school in what is now known as Stewart neighborhood. two
FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE BUILT NEAR URBANA (1832)
miles north of Urbana, and at the same time Asahel Brewer (or Bruer) taught in the Brumley neighborhood, two miles east.
Thomas Freeman taught in Ogden Township as early as 1839, and was succeeded in the same neighborhood by Sarah Laird and William Jeremiah.
FIRST SCHOOL IN SOUTH HOMER TOWNSHIP
The first school taught in South Homer Township was by Abram Johnson in 1829. Its location was in the neighborhood where Moses Thomas first made his home, about three miles northwest of the village, near which were also settled Thomas Freeman, Isaac Burres, John Bailey and others heretofore named. The school was taught in a log house which had only greased paper windows. It was a pay school, and was patronized by fifteen pupils at $2.50 per term.
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