USA > Illinois > Atlas of the State of Illinois, to which are added various general maps, history, statistics and illustrations > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
THE ILLINOIS INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCA- TION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB
Was incorporated February 23, 1839. The act of incor- poration was prepared hy Hon. O. H. Browning, of Adams County, and located the Institution at Jacksonville, Illinois. None of the original members of the Board of Directors are now connected with the Institution. The school was opened in 1846, by Mr. Thomas Officer, who had shortly before heen elected Principal of the Institution. The selection of Mr. Officer was a most bappy one, as few persons are so well adapted by temperament, energy and talent to inaugurate sucb an enterprise.
The site of the Institution is an eligible and healthy one, in be suburbs of Jacksonville. The buildings are large, but, of late years, are very much crowded by the increasing number of pupils who flock to its halls. They are warmed by steam and lighted hy gas. The projected water works of the city of Jacksonville will shortly furnisb the Institution with an abun- dant supply of water, wbich essential article bas heretofore been attainable only in quantities too limited to meet the require- ments of an establishment of such magnitude.
In point of efficiency, this Institution is considered equal to any in tbo country. The Board of Directors, in an enlight- eucd as well as philanthropie spirit of enterprise, have organ- ized a department of articulation, which is as yet experimented, but gives encouraging promise of success.
The Institution comprises a literary and industrial depart- ment. The fore part of each day is devoted wholly to the for- mer, and the after part to the latter. In the latter, printing, cabinet making, carpentering. sboemaking and farming are taught. Female pupils are instructed in needle work and some kinds of domestic employment.
Tbis Institution is a part of the educational system of the State, and admits pupils from Illinois as the common schools of tbe State do their scholars, free of charge. The attendance at the present time is about 400.
All communications respecting the admission of pupils, or on business of the Institution, should he addressed to Phillip G. Gillett, LL. D., Superintendent, Jacksonville, Ill.
Tbe officers of the Institution are,
Principal .- Phillip G. Gillett, LL. D.
Teachers .- Jobn Woods, Harvey Milligan, Johu Swiler, Marquis Brock, Selah Wait, Frank Read, S. T. Walker, Helen Dunning, Lavinia Eden, Mary A. Dutch, Frances Brown, Fran- ces Rockwell, Anna Morse, Frances Wood, Cornelia Trask, Lil- lian Rockwell, Rinda Tonilin, Agnes Griffith, Frank Hine, Harriett Gillett, Frank Taylor, Wm. Reaugh, Maria Sawyer1 Kate Bull, Letitia Westgate, Ellen Berry, Mary S. Billings, Abel H. Hay, Jacob Braun, John H. Hunt and David Swales.
ILLINOIS INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.
The State of Illinois, by act of the Legislature, approved January 13, 1849, made appropriations, and authorized the purchase of not less than ten nor more than forty acres of ground in or near Jacksonville, Illinois. In this act it was de- fined to he the object aud duty of this corporation " to qualify, as far as practicable, that unfortunate class of persons for the eu- joyment of the blessing of a free government, obtaining the means of subsistence and the discharge of those duties, social and political, devolviug upon American citizens "
All blind persons residing in Illinois, of suitable age and ca- pacity to receive instruction, are to be received and taught in the Institution. The pupils are, at the expense of the State, to be taught, furnished with books, boarding. lodging, &c.
The Board of Trustees organized February 3, 1849, by the election of the Hon. Samuel D. Lockwood as President, and
STATE EDUCATION.
James Berdan as Secretary. Mr. Lockwood acted as President until his removal from Jacksonville, March 14, 1853. Mat- thew Stacy, Esq., was his successor.
The huildings erected in 1849-53 were commodious and amply furnished with every articlo conductive to the welfare of the blind. Illinois opens her benevolent institutions to all her citizens who may be children of sorrow, without respect to their worldly position. The child of misfortune and want is seated at the samo table and partakes of the same instruction as the child of the owner of thousands of acres of its fertile prairies. The officers of this institution are the following:
Trustees .- Jobn Mathers, President, H. P. Wood and John H. Wood.
Superintendent .- Franklin W. Phillips, M. D. Matron .- Lucy J. Phillips.
Assistant Matrons .- Elizabeth M. Martin and Julia Pren- tice. Teachers .- John Loomis, A. M .; Fanny Maginnis, Clara E. Greenleaf; Music Department1 A. E. Wimmerstedt, T. D. Nutting and Fanny De Motte.
Manual Labor .- B. B. Gray. Physician -Hiram K. Jones, M. D.
Treasurer .- Bazzill Davenport. Clerk .- R. M. Pbillips.
ILLINOIS ASYLUM FOR FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN.
Tbis institution was organized by act of Legislature in 1865, as an " Experimental School for the instruction and training of idiots and feeble-minded children in the State of Illinois."
It is located at Jacksonville, on leased property (the late Gov- ernor Duncan's estate), and is under the direction of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb.
Tbe institution bas been in operation nearly eleven years. Present number of pupils is 106.
The appropriation for its support is twenty thousand dollars per annum. No board or tuition is charged during the regu- lar school term, and it is the aim of the managers to bave eacb Senatorial District of the State fairly represented.
Custodial cases are not received, but only children who are susceptible of improvement.
The school rooms are furnished with desirable apparatus for illustration, and the whole plan of tbe exercises is designed to attain for each pupil the highest mental and physical develop- ment possible, and by the most rapid progress.
Applications for admission should be sent to and information in relation to the institution can be obtained by addressing Dr. C. T. Wilbur, Superintendent Institution for Feeble- Minded Children, Jacksonville, Illinois.
Superintendent .- C. T. WILBUR, M. D. Matron -MIRs. L. P. WILRUR.
Assistant Matron .- Miss N. M. JACOBS.
Teachers .- MISS LILA BIRGEES, MISS SOPHIA E. BLAKE, MISS ELIZA T. MARTIN, MISS M. C. RUTLEDGE and MISS M. A. COLLINS Clerk .- M. DAVID.
Board of Trustees .- HON. GRAHAM LEE, Hamlet, Mercer County, III .; Hox. C. R. CUMMINGS, Pekin, Tazewell County, III. ; Hox. A. B. Nicualsox, Lincoln, Logan County, III .; C. T. WILBUR, M. D., Secretary.
ILLINOIS SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME.
June, 1869, tbo " Home" was formally dedicated, Ex-Governor Richard J. Oglesby delivering the dedicatory address. The occasion was one of much interest, and great satisfaction was expressed by the numerous visitors at the admirable arrange- ment of the different departments of the building, the excellent facilities enjoyed for the care and culture of its inmates, and at its satisfactory and successful management. The building will furuish ample accommodation for three hundred children, and tbero are now in the institution two bundred and seventy in- mates, with numerous applications on file with the Secretary.
Officers .- VIRGINIA C. Ons, Superintendent ; MARY E. HUGHES, Assistant Superintendent, und E. C. LAWTON, Clerk.
Teachers .- KATE E. PECK, Principal ; SUSAN REID, Teacher ; EMILY F. HUGHES, Teacher : MARY PECK. Tencher.
Employes, 20 ; number of imuntes, 300.
As is known to all, this is an institution crected by the people of the State of Illinois-a lasting monument to their generosity and their patriotism, wbose object it is to receive in sacred trust tbe indigent orphan children of those who, going from our own State, with their lives in their hands, periled all, and, in defense of our common country's life, lost all but honor. It is no ordinary obligation we are under to profeet their homeless, friendless little ones, but our bigliest privilege, as well as our sacred duty, and one which should animate every loyal citizen of our noble State who appreciates the heroism they manifested, and enjoys the blessing of a government they saved.
THE ILLINOIS SOLDIERS' COLLEGE.
The Illinois Soldiers' College was founded at Fulton, Ill., by patriotic citizens of the State, at the close of the War of the Rebellion, for the purpose of securing to tbe disabled soldiers and to the orphans of deceased soldiers the benefits of a thorough and practical education. It was intended to make the Institution a MONUMENTAL College-a MEMORIAL of the patriotismu, courage and intelligence of Illinois Soldiers, and of the justice, honor and appreciative gratitude of her citizens. Splendid and costly bospitals, and homes aud retreats and asy- lums have been built for the soldiers all over the world, but the people of Illinois established for them a College. The College was opened for the reception of studcuts, September 12th, 1866. Iu February, 1867, the Legislature of Illinois granted to the College a liberal charter, and made an appropria- tion to it of twenty-five thousand a year for two years to assist in educating tbe disabled soldiers and orphans of the State. The Legislature of 1869 renewed the appropriations. The people of the State have contributed to the College, to purchase the buildings and support the disabled soldiers and orphans, about ninety-five thousand dollars. During the first year after the opening of the College, there were in attendance 168 stu- dents, during the second year 250, and during the third year 257. The College accommodates with board and rooms 250 students.
Each county in the State has the right to appoint from two to four orpbans or disabled soldiers to scholarship in the college. Tuition in all branches, board and furnished rooms are furnisbed to sueb appointees. The preparatory course occupies two years-the scientific, four. One bundred and three different Illinois regiments were represented in the col- lege last year.
Faculty .- REV. JOSEPH W. HUBBARD, A. M., Ancient Languages, Elocution and Rhetoric : MRs. R. M. HUBBARD, Principal of Female Department : Mn. LEWIS B. Kous, Mathematics and Natural Sciences : MISS MARY DIFFENHIERr. French, German and English Branches : Miss ANSA L. NORTH, Instrumentnl and Vocal Music ; C. A. GRIS- WOLD, A. M., M. D., Lecturer on Anatomy and Hygiene.
The Illinois Soldiera' Orphans' Home was incorporated by au act of the Legislature, approved February 16, 1865, and subsisted entirely upon private charity until, hy an act approved March 5, 1867, a certain fund in the hands of the Governor, kuown as the " deserters' fund," was donated to the Homo and furtber appropriations also made. Commissioners, appointed under the last-named act by the Governor, located the Home ILLINOIS STATE PENITENTIARY. on a high and commanding seetion of land, donated by Judge FROM THE BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS. David Davis, adjoining the thriving village of Normal, Ill. A This institution is located at Joliet. Formerly a burden to the people of the State, it has by the contract system become a paying institution, and the Commissioners believe that great progress has been made toward the reformation of inmates. better selection could hardly bave been made; beautiful, healtby, with fine railroad advantages. The building is a splendid looking structure, built in the Romanesque style of architecture three stories of brick, with a basement of stone. The report for 1872 showed 1,255 convicts in confinement, while at the close of 1874 there were 1,353, of whom fifteen were women. Of this number, 1,072 were employed under contract, divided as follows: Cigar department, 157 ; barness, 35; stone, 234; shoe, 366; cooper, 188; hutt, 92. The It is plain, but substantial in finish, more attention being given to sucb arrangements as would secure the comfort and health of its ininates, and to ample space. Before the present " Home" was completed, three temporary ones were established-one at Springfield and two at Bloomington, Ill., and on tho 2d day of | price paid for conviet labor ranges from 65 to 81} cents per
181
STATE EDUCATION.
day. About 280 are employed about the penitentiary a8 cooks, butchers, teamsters, runners, etc. A majority of those working at the trades may become sufficiently skilled to earn a livelihood upon their discharge, if so disposed, and they can obtain employment.
Tho Commissioners report 145 for murder (of whom 48 aro sentenced for life), 34 for manslaughter, . 172 for burglary, 68 for burglary and larceny, 554 for larceny, 57 for assault to kill and murder, 19 for rape, and 27 for assault to commit rape. By occupation, 239 are farmers, 369 laborers, 30 clerks, 37 carpenters, 40 sboemakers, 28 stone-cutters, and 23 teamsters. The native population is represented by 1,013; the negroes by 165; Irish, 101; Germans, 90; Canadians, 51; and Englisb, 50. Cook County sends upward of 25 per cent. of all convicts. The average length of sentences, exelusive of life, is four years and eleven months. In religious leauings
there aro 289 professsed Catholics, 81 Methodists, 52 Luther- ans, 49 Baptists, 23 Presbyterians, and 808 without bias, Two hundred convicts have no education, and 127 can read only. Of intemperate babits there are 764, against 589 temperate. There was one re-commitment for the sixth teriu, one for the fifth, four for the fourth, fifteen for tho third, and eighty-cight for the second. There is no means of knowing in how many other prisons they may have been, but upward of 10 per cent. have been at Joliet before.
During two years there were added to the prison library about 2,000 volumes, which circulate freely among the convicts. About 3,000 newspapers go into their midst monthly. The good-time law and the rules for the government of convicts are read to every convict upon his entrance. The Commis- siouers suy the number of men in their charge is greater than
in any other prison on this continent. The only severe pun- ishment inflicted is solitary punishment in a large, light and well-ventilated cell, with pine floor, on a scauty diet of bread and water until submission is promised. No torture is inflicted. No hard tasks are imposed upon inmates, but industry is ex- acted. No convict is punished unless by order of the Warden or his deputy, and the offender is brought face to faco with his accuser. Discharged eouviets receive ten dollars and rea- sonable expenses to the place of their conviction. The yearly commitments and discharges average 600. Nine hundred let- ters are mailed each month.
The present Commissioners are Woodbury M. Taylor, Jobn N. Southworth and Joseph W. Wham. The Warden is R. W. McClaugbry; the Deputy Warden, James P. Hall, and the Matron of the Female Department, Mrs. J. E. Judson. The Chief Clerk is Gallus Miller.
-
COUNTY HISTORIES.
BY CHARLES A. ANDREWS.
ADAMS COUNTY.
ADAMS COUNTY is the third in tho State iu popu- lation and wealth. Its soil and climate combine all that is required to make it as near perfeet for farming purposes as is possible. Streams of water course through nearly every farm. Grass is one of its most reliable erops, and the winters aro so wild as to make the region highly available for stoek raising. For fruit purposes it is unsurpassed. Nearly two-thirds of the county was originally beautiful rolling prairie, which is now converted into valuable farms. The people are industrious and moral. Churches are found in every community, school houses adorn every settlement, and railways pass through the county in almost every direction. In the fall of 1822, John Wood ereeted the first house within the present limits of Quiney. He was joined in the spring by Willard Keyes, and soon followed by Jeremiah Rose and family. These pioneers had the protection of the United States troops at Fort Edward. Adams County was organized in 1825, and Quincy selected as the county scat. Old settlers give to Henry H. Snow, the first Clerk of the Board of Commissioners, the credit of plan- ning the future eity and doing much for the advancement of the section. The young metropolis was named in honor of President Adams. The land on which it was located was owned by John Wood, who afterward graced the gubernatorial ehair. The first female settler was Mrs. Jeremiab Rose, and her daughter, Mrs. George W. Brown, was the first white child born within the limits of the city. In 1826, Asher Anderson opened a small store. In the fall of that year, a log court house was huilt on the corner of Main and Fifth streets, in which the first school was organized. The first frame house dates from 1829. In 1833, the first church was organized, with fifteen members. The town was incorporated in June, 1834, and has become the second city in the State, the census of 1870 showing a population of 24,053. It is situated on an elevation on the banks of the Mississippi, with fine landings for hoats, and is the terminus of a number of railroads. It has developed a large trade, both in Illinois and Missouri. The other towns of Adams County number no less than twenty-one, chief among which are Camp Point and Clayton, both pros- perous villages, increasing in trade and wealth. Columbus carried on a prolonged contest for the county seat, but has established instead a profitable traffie with the agricultural community in its vicinity.
ALEXANDER COUNTY.
ALEXANDER COUNTY occupies the extreme southern point of the State, the Mississippi forming its western and southern borders, and the Ohio and Cacbe its eastern. It bas an arca of 222 square miles. The pioneers of this region were Ten- nesseeans, who are said to have fled to Illinois to escape the earthquakes, so prevalent along the river in the vicinity of Now Madrid in the winter of 1811. William Bird is believed to have been the first settler in the county, but the date of his advent cannot be definitely ascertained. He was subsequently joined hy his brothers, John, Thompson and Amos, the claims of the first three absorbing the entire delta, which took the name of Bird's Point. At one time, the other settlers from
-
the mouth of the Ohio to Grand Chain comprised only Messrs. Clark, Philips and Kennedy, at Mounds; Conyer and Terrel, at America, and Humphreys near Caledonia. The Mounds massacre was perpetrated in the fall of 1812, by ten Indians outlawed hy the Creek tribe in Kentucky. They appeared at the eabin of Mr. Clark, armed with guus and tomahawks, and received hospitable treatment, after which five of them went across to the house of Mr. Phillips. At a given signal, the fiends comnieneed their work. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were killed, and a visitor, Mr. Shaver, wounded and pursued to the bayou, which be swam, making his way to the Hacker settlement in Union County. Mrs. Philips, her son and daughter and Mr. Kennedy were butchered, and the unborn babe of the former delivered and impaled upon a stake. Learning of the massacre, Capt. Phillips marehed to its scene, from Fort Massac, with a company of soldiers, and interred the dead. In 1818, John G. Comyges, Shadrach Bond and others entered about 1,800 acres of land above Bird's claim, and obtained from the Terri- torial Legislature a charter under the name of the " City and Bank of Cairo." Tbo death of Mr. Comyges soon after caused the tract to revert to the government. Immigration baving increased, the county was organized in 1819, taking its name from Dr. William Alexander, the first physician of the region, wbo was a member of the Constitutional Convention at Kaskaskia. The county seat was established at America, which was incorporated in 1820, by Henry Reetor, Nicholas Bertbold, James Riddle and others. Over $100,000 were realized from sales of lots, and the town bad at one time 1,200 inhabitants, but became extinct through the formation of a bar in the river. Among its residents was the famous pioneer Col. Henry L. Webb, a brother of Gen. James Watson Wehh, of New York. When a boy, Col. Webb was an eye-witness of the battle of Plattsburg. He raised and commanded a company from Alexander County, in the Blackhawk war, and aided in raising an Illinois regiment of regulars for the Mexi- can war, rising to the Coloneley of the Ninth Infantry. Up to a recent date he resided at Jonesboro. He onee witnesseil at America the feat often performed by those famous keel-boat- men, Mike Fink and Joe Carpenter, of shooting tin-oups from each other's heads with rifle balls. In 1835, the county seat was removed to Unity, where the records and buildings were burned by a couple of criminals. Thence a transfer was made to Thebes, and finally to Cairo. In 1830, John and Thomp- son Bird threw up a small embankment, and erected a tavern and warehouse, which wero occupied by Amos Bird until he was swept away by cholera. In 1835, Sidney Breese, David J. Baker and Miles A. Gilbert entered the forfeited bank traet and transferred it to the "Cairo City and Canal Company," whose charter was obtained in 1837, and wbo purebased tbe interests of William, Jobn and Thompson Bird, inereasing their domain to 10,000 aeres. In 1837, this company negoti- ated in England a loan of $2,000,000, which was expended within the following four years in building levees, mills and factories. The mortgage incumbrance preventing the sale of lots, all parties in interest, in 1846, made Thomas S. Taylor, of Philadelphia, and Charles Davis, of New York, trustees to im- prove and sell the property, discharging claims pro rata. The trust eventually reverted to S. S. Taylor, of Cairo, and Edwin Parsons, of New York, the lots first coming into market in 1853. Peter Stapleton is said to have erected the first houso, and Jobn Hawley the second, the town having a population of
eighty in 1848. The Trustees, in 1851, gave to the Illois Central Railway certain lands and privileges on condition that the latter erect around the city, above bigh water mark, a levee eighty feet wide. The last flood to affeet the place was in the summer of 1858. The Trustees above named yet hold over 9,000 acres of land, of which 1,200 are inside the levee. The population of the city was, in 1870, 6,267. The climate of the region is that of Richmond, aud the trees and fruits those of the Gulf States. Cairo is the most important river point between St. Louis and Memphis, and gathers a large Southern land traffic at its gates. Tbe railways radiating northward are the Illinois Central, Cairo & Vincennes, and Cairo & St. Louis-the latter a new narrow gauge line. In the earlier period of the war, Cairo and vicinity was the theater of' stirring scenes.
BOND COUNTY.
BOND COUNTY lies in the southwestern quarter of the State, and is one of the smaller counties, baving an area of hut 378 square miles. As early as 1807, settlers from the Southern States established Hill's fort and Jones' fort, both in tho vicinity of Greenville, and it is stated that in 1816 there were not over twenty-five log cabins in the county. The earliest residence at Greenville was ereeted in 1815, by George Davidson, and was a log cabin with puncheon floor, elapboard roof, and not a window or nail in the structure. The county was organized in 1818, and named after Gov. Bond, the first court being held at Perryville. The counties of Fayette, Montgomery and Clinton were soon after set off from Bond, and the county seat of the latter established at Greenville, the first court house being ereeted in 1822. The northern portion of the town stands on the bighest ground between Terre Haute and St. Louis, and the population is over 2,000. The first Commissioners were Thomas Kirkpatrick, Martin Jones and Isaac Price. The earliest Circuit Court was held at.Hill's Station in May, 1817, hy Hon. Jesse B. Thomas. The county contains a due proportion of timber and prairie, and is watered by Shoal and Hurricane Creeks and the Kaskaskia River. Coal is exposed on Lula Fork, and on the prairies lie round granite stones, weighing from one hundred to several thousand pounds, called by the pioneers " lost roeks." The only railway is the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute. The eounty had, in 1870, a population of 13,152.
BOONE COUNTY.
BOONE is the smallest of the northern tier of counties, having an area of but 284 square miles. Its pioneers were mainly froin New York and New England. The Rohhins were the first white men to explore the region, but soon abandoned their elaims. Two men, named Medkiff and Dunbam, staked claims in the central portion of the county in 1835, but sold out to a land company. During the same year, locations were taken up near the site of Belvidere by John K. Towner, Cor- nelius Cline, Timothy Caswell, S. P. Doty, and John H.
183
COUNTY HISTORIES.
Whitney. John Handy settled six miles east. Others who came that season were Harlyu, Alfred, Oliver and F. H. Shat- tuek, Maria Hollenbeek and Mrs. Ballard, the Pottawattomies evacuating the region. The immigration of the next year was very large. S. P. Doty erected the first frame house in the county, which still stands in the villago of Belvidere, on tho north side of the Kishwaukee River. Next to arrive were Oliver Ilale, Nathaniel Crosby, H. C. Walker, Dr. Whiting, and the Neeley and Maloney families. Boone County was cut off from Winnebago and organized in 1837, taking the name of the heroio pioneer of Kentucky. The first Comniis- sioners were Milton S. Mason, Cornelius Clino and John Q. A. Rollins; Clerk, Daniel H. Whitney ; Treasurer, John K. Towner; Surveyor, A. P. Hyde; Sheriff, S. P. Doty; and Coroner, John Ilandy. The carliest church was the Baptist, at Belvidere, in which court was held, and its preacher was Dr. King. Tho county seat was laid off in the fall of 1837, and the foundations of the court houso laid by John M. Wil- son and James H. Woodworth. Tho academy was the first school house erected in the county. Messrs. King & Croshy established the carliest mill, and L. P. Doty tho pioneer hotel. The present court house was erected in 1851. The surface of the county is mostly rolling prairie, and corn and oats are the chief erops. The Galena Railroad was completed through in 1851, and three others have been added. By the last census Boone County had a population of 12,942.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.