USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Biographical Sketches of Some of the Early Settlers of the City Chicago Part 1 > Part 4
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No man in whom the love of dogs and horses is as strongly developed, as was the case in Mr. Clarke, can ever be otherwise than warm-hearted and full of tenderness; but if, at times, bitterness fell from his lips, it was but the natural out-cropping of the trials through which he had passed. But it was a growth of tares that could never up- root the wheat-of weeds that were held in check by blos- soms of humanity. Had he been thrown upon the extreme frontier he would have been foremost in the ranks of pio- neers; had he been with Boone and Simon Kenton they would have had a brother who would have won an equal name, and never shirked trial or flinched danger. If more lapped in City life he would have sighed for gun and for freedom, and the leaves of the ledger would be irksome, no matter what the profits. As it was, his later life was a happy medium between the two extremes. He lived upon neutral ground between civilization and wilderness-could turn in a moment from one to the other, and when not actually engaged in agriculture his face was more often seen at the Calumet and the O'Plain than in Lake Street, and his gun more often heard on prairie and river than his voice upon the public square. For all his ambition in house- building he loved nature, primeval, better than right-angled streets and piles of brick and mortar; and believing, to the full, in the creed that "God made the country and man made the town," he gladly turned his back upon
"The cold, heartless city, with its forms And dull routine ; its artificial manners, And arbitrary rules; its cheerless pleasures, And mirthless masqueing."
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HENRY B. CLARKE.
Mr. Clarke belonged to the "old stock" that are rapidly fading away from the sight of men-but not to be forgotten. That can never be. Their names are written as with pen- cils of steel upon tablets of marble-written upon all of Chicago as indelibly as those of the Indians are upon head- land, river. prairie. and waterfall. Every thought of the past brings them back-repeoples the earth again with the forms long since laid down to their silent rest. A few-a very few remain, with the furrows plowed by years upon their faces, and "the snow that falls but never melts" lodged in their scant hair; and it is a duty, as it should be a pleasure, not only for their children and children's chil- dren, but of all in Chicago to gather and garner all possi- ble reminiscences against the time when their history will be more valuable than letters of gold.
There was a manliness about these old Argonauts-a self-dependence, an iron nerve, and unbending front of which we see but little now. Perhaps it is not called out. They were men to be relied on in every emergency, and among them Henry B. Clarke stood high-placed, and, as far as I ever knew, with unsullied character. He never (to the best of my recollection) sought or held public office-a striking commentary upon some that might be named, and on that very account left a purer record. He never could have been a sycophant for place or power-a Janus for loaves and fishes; and while he might, by so doing, have left more property, what he did was unmortgaged to politi- cal corruption and broken promises. From his life and those who stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the ranks, the "rings" of to-day may learn a lesson it would be for their benefit to ponder and remember, if they aim for a higher and nobler manhood. Aye, it would be well for the younger business men of Chicago to go to such graves as that of Henry B. Clarke and learn wisdom from their dust and ashes.
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SAMUEL J. LOWE.
In the first Directory of Chicago ( Robert Fergus, Compiler and Publisher, A.D. 1839), can be found the name of Sam- uel J. Lowe, "High Constable and Deputy-Sheriff," show- ing that he was a resident at an early day, but I have no means of deciding the exact time. He was twice elected Sheriff (1842 and 1844), and subsequently Justice of the Peace, an office, I think, he held at the time of his decease. He was twice married, and a number of his children still survive.
Mr. Lowe was of English parentage-and he was born, if recollection serves me rightly, in the mother country; and. though thoroughly Americanized in feelings, retained some of the traits that mark the subjects of Queen Victoria to the end. This, however, was only in manner, accent, and idiom. There was nothing of worship for the crown re- maining. And-if indeed he had ever been much tinct- ured in that direction, which is exceedingly doubtful in my mind-all of early prejudice, and love, and reverence for royalty had been obliterated. He was a democrat at heart as well as in name-a strong partisan; and the "divine right," according to his belief, was vested in the people and not in kings the vox populi paramount to the single will of man or woman. In fact he had little patience with any who boasted the superiority of England in any respect, and could scarcely tolerate them at his own table, although one of the most hospitable of men.
One instance of this came under my own immediate observation.
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SAMUEL J. LOWE.
He, like all Englishmen (and are not "Yankees" the same if blessed with the slightest epicurean taste?) was fond of roast beef, and he was a good judge of the article in its primitive state, and knew when it was properly cooked. At dinner one day, at his house, were some gen- uine specimens of the newly arrived John Bull-sex, mascu- line; species, cockney-who, ignoring the etiquette and po- liteness of the occasion, indulged in egotistical bombast as to their native country, and were loud in condemnation of everything this side of the water. Mr. Lowe heard them in silence, though rising color told how unpalatable was the theme to him. Under other circumstances he might not have borne so patiently. In the role of host he was fettered, and endeavored again and again to turn the tide of conversation, but without success. And everything came in for censure, from the President and Cabinet down even to food, and the wholesale declaration was made (and that in the face of as prime a piece of beef as Straun ever fed and "Bill Gallagher" ever butchered, and which it would have been very difficult to duplicate in any market in the world) "that there was nothing fit to heat in this 'ere blarsted country," or words to that effect.
Quick almost as a lightning flash the hot blood surged to the very temples of Mr. Lowe. Not only his adopted country, but himself and his table, had been insulted, and by those partaking of his kindly proffered hospitality; and before second-thought came to his rescue he answered and asked: "Why, then, in the name of heaven, didn't you stay in England?"
That he regretted it afterward I know, although the re- proof was richly merited, and he felt he had lowered himself to their level. However it mattered little. They were too thick-skinned to feel his virtuous indignation, and if the shaft was felt at all, consoled themselves with a double allowance of the beef that "was not fit to eat," and which was such a toothsome morsel as they had, probably, never feasted upon before in their lives.
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SAMUEL J. LOWE.
And here (though out of place) I cannot refrain from in- troducing an anecdote of Henry G. Hubbard, as it bears directly upon the subject-he sharing with Mr. Lowe his disgust of such ill-breeding and ignorant assumption, and especially as it was first told me by the latter.
Mr. H. G. Hubbard was dining at the City Hotel (trans- formed from stores by the Hon. Francis C. Sherman "be- cause they were built too far from trade!" and subsequently rebuilded and rebaptised as the "Sherman House") with some of his friends, when a party of English (not English gentlemen and ladies-very far from it) who were seated opposite indulged in loud-mouthed vituperation of all things American. Mr. Hubbard listened quietly for a time and then with straight face, but eyes twinkling with mischief, began to describe to one of his friends (but intended for other ears) the severe trials of the early settlers of Chi- cago-how they had to go out upon the prairie, and dig under the snow for old buffalo bones, left by the Indians the previous summer, to make soup to sustain their lives, and much more to the same effect.
""'Orrible! 'orrible !" was the comment of the foreigners.
Mr. Hubbard seeing that the bait had been swallowed, enlarged his stories, and as the vulgarity of "Western peo- ple" had been harped upon, wound up by calling aloud to the waiter who was serving pudding :
"Here, bring me about a quart of that poultice and put on plenty of the ointment !"
That was enough for John Bull. They left in a hurry, and Chicago, as reported by them, must have had a hard name. But could they have heard the explosions of laugh- ter that followed, and have known Henry G. Hubbard as did the others at the table, they might have been a trifle sceptical as to the information they had put down as "per- fectly reliable !"
That Mr. Lowe possessed more than usual qualifications for Sheriff will not be questioned by any one familiar with
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his character. He had firmness, coolness under the most trying circumstances, a quick, working, and decisive mind; was fertile in expedients and endowed with honesty that nothing could shake.
If specific proof of the latter were needed it could be found in his being among the first, if not the very first, selected to guard the specie while in transitu from the Government Land Office at Chicago to St. Louis. Of the danger, as well as the responsibility of the undertaking, at such an early day, when the means of conveyance was simply stage coaches, often floundering through muddy prairie and "stuck" in muddy sloughs, those living in Illinois at the time will need no testimony. Organized bands of counterfeiters, horse thieves, and desperate men, versed in crime of every character, abounded. The "Reg- ulators" had at best been only "scotched," not killed. For every head of the serpent crushed another was reared. The "Davenport murderers" were in their glory - the " Driscolls" flourishing and banded for evil with their brothers in infamy throughout the wide west. Every grove from Inlet and Paw Paw to the Wabash might have been said to contain caches of stolen goods and horses, the cellar of many a tavern, the bones of murdered men, and the "Hubbard Trail" was not unmarked by blood. In every respect it needed men of inflexible nerve and the most sterling honesty, for such an undertaking as the trans- portation of such a tempting lure, and to be among the number chosen was "proof as strong as holy writ" that the · man was looked upon by his fellows as the right one in the right place.
And so it was with Samuel J. Lowe in all his business transactions, whether public or private. If as Justice of the Peace he ever erred in giving judgment, the fault arose not from a want of determination to do right at what ever cost -no matter who was to be mulcted, but from a failure to comprehend the intricate manipulation of keen-witted law-
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yers, the wilful perversion of evidence, the almost impossi- bility to draw the line of demarkation between truth and falsehood. But he never was blinded by gold. Had he been, he would have died a richer man-have left per- chance a more towering marble above his grave, but a less shining record upon it.
At the time he was Sheriff the office was the reverse of a ' bed of roses. It was not a very lucrative one-the jail was an old log building-eternal vigilance was truly the price of the safety of the prisoners-the city had police that were little better than a farce-was a chosen refuge for scamps -rail-roads were in their infancy-the State Prison was at Alton, and sentenced men had to be taken thither by stage, with daring confederates watchful and ever ready to aid them to escape, even at the cost of bloodshed; the journey was long-the roads (spring and fall) muddy, run- ning through a sparcely settled country, and the price for their transportation did not admit a plethora of guards. But the record of Samuel J. Lowe challenges the assertion that he did not ever-faithfully keep watch and ward-that he failed to safely deliver, within the grim walls of Alton. every one entrusted to his care.
The starting of a lot of prisoners for State's Prison, as then manipulated, would be a curiosity in the Garden City now. Nearly opposite the jail (on Randolph Street, be- tween Clark and LaSalle) stood the old, smoke and dirt begrimmed shop of "Jake Lower, Blacksmith." (1 give the name from memory and spell it phonetically, and may be wrong in both, though I think not.) When the time came for departure, the stages of Frink and Walker were drawn up before the apology for a prison, the doomed men brought out handcuffed and with heavy sackles upon their ancles. Then "Jake" appeared upon the scene and rivetted a bar of iron from one of the double fastenings to the other, and the men were bundled into the stage and whirled away to punishment under the care of keepers, the crack-
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SAMUEL J. LOWE.
ing of the driver's whip and the shouts and cheers of the gamins.
In this connection, I might add that his official duty forced him to be present at and take part in the execution of John Stone for the murder of Mrs. Thompson (July 10, 1840), and, that, though the circumstances were particu- larly atrocious-the doom a just one-the culprit hardened and ribald-yet the inner heart of Mr. Lowe would gladly have turned him aside from seeing the death agony, even while his high sense of duty led to unflinchingly stand upon the scaffold.
The love of his adopted country was very strong in Mr. Lowe. It was shadowed forth during the Mexican war, and had he lived at the time of the "late unpleasantness" he would have thrown all his influence into the scale for the Union, and given liberally of his means. At one time (in the City of New York) I believe he was a member of a military organization, and his tastes ran strongly in that direction.
Circumstances that could not be avoided, duties and family cares that must ever be paramount in the heart of any true man, kept him from following the bent of his inclination, and going to the Mexican war. But he could compensate for his absence by giving of his children, and there was no mawkish sensibility about his so doing. Two at least of them burned to "revel in the halls of the Mont- ezumas," and he bade them go and furnished the means for horses and all "the pomp and glory of war."
"But," said one, "in case our army should be beaten, driven back, and we forced to retreat, what then?"
"Then," was the reply, and, though jokingly uttered, intended in all its soundness, "then, if you come to Chi- cago, ride through it as fast as you can run your horse, and don't ever stop where I will see you again !"
And such words were not idle from his lips. With Jack- son, I take it, he would have indeed stood as a "stone
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SAMUEL J. LOWE.
wall"-with his countrymen at Waterloo, he would have been among the last Wellington would ever have been called to blush for.
I have spoken of his being a man of nerve, firmness, and coolness, and am confident he would have walked to the scaffold rather than given up a principle. Though far from being an athlete-not being above the medium size, and ungifted with any remarkable physical power, yet he never shrank from an encounter, if necessary, and in more than one instance, to my knowledge, arrested breakers of the law who had "whipped out" and defied others. This his own self-command and the rare faculty of controlling and intim- idating others enabled him to do, and looking back through the data of memory, I fail to find a single instance where he resorted to weapons, though the necessities of his situa- tion sometimes made it obligatory upon him to carry them. Indeed, I remember to have frequently heard him speak scornfully of others who did so and made a boast of it, and no more humane man in the treatment of prisoners could have been found, even while exercising all of firmness and permitting nothing "but what the law allowed and the court adjudged."
Of these things peculiar family associations, and the entrée of his house at all times and at all hours gave me a better opportunity than another to judge, for Mr. Lowe was a modest, reticent man, quiet in his speech and manner, and I never heard anything boastful fall from his lips. To know him, one must have been with him-to have read his character aright, have watched the details of his actions, and sought the mainspring of his motives-have looked at that which was hidden rather than at that which was re- vealed. Perhaps-and there are many who so judge of men his penmanship was a true index to his character. It was rather stiff than graceful-precise to Quakerism neat to a fault and legible as the cleanest cut type-was, as might be said, without a blot-was in perfect keeping with
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SAMUEL J. LOWE.
the man. To compare it with the fashionable handwriting of the present would be to compare the beautiful Roman simplicity of these pages with the fanciful fonts that are elaborated almost to unintelligibility-and, if anything Mr .. Lowe detested, it was "flourish."
In the circle of his associates Mr. Lowe was noted for his hospitality. A courteous and genial welcome met all who visited him, and though naturally somewhat retiring, yet when business cares were thrown aside there were few more companionable men to be found. He was a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, and was always a welcome guest at the St. George and Yorkshire dinners. He was a regular attendant, if not a member, of the Episcopal Church.
Death came in the midst of his usefulness, and while he was still a young man-came at a time when he could but illy be spared by his family-came in a terribly painful manner. He bore all patiently and bravely, and left behind a name that will be remembered and honored.
Save his own immediate family no one saw his eyes close, save Darius Knights and myself. It was a trying, terribly painful scene. His disease was said to have been the same as that of Napoleon, and the "Hero of St. Helena" could not have more bravely faced the Destroyer, and, as far as mortal eyes could judge, with a more trustful heart and firm belief that for his soul the golden gates were al- ready ajar.
May we sleep as well when for us the summons comes.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
--
ـد
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF SOME OF THE
EARLY SETTLERS
OF THE
CITY OF CHICAGO.
WILLIAM H. BROWN. BENJAMIN W. RAYMOND. J. YOUNG SCAMMON. CHARLES WALKER. THOMAS CHURCH.
Jan. P. F. Sheridan
mite Corufilaments
un . 1 , 1881. CHICAGO : FERGUS PRINTING COMPANY, 244-8 ILLINOIS STREET. 1876.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY P 96614 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
A
FÜRD COLLECTION.
HON. WILLIAM H. BROWN.
[ From the Chicago Magazine, March, 1857.]
To write a sketch of some living men which would be truth- ful and at the same time readable, which shall present their virtues in due relation to their faults, and as relieved by them, without injustice to the feelings of the parties concerned, is not an easy matter.
Some men are, like the head of a certain statesman, of which the phrenologist could make nothing, because he could find no "bump" about it-it was symmetrically smooth in every part- while others exhibit such decided traits of character, that in- equalities are a matter of necessity. Their virtues and their failings alike exhibit themselves decidedly, and in natural cor- respondence with each other.
Mr. Brown, the subject of this sketch, is a man of marked and decided traits. What he knows, he knows; what he says, he means ; and whatever subject comes before him elicits, without delay, a plump and square opinion. Such men must of neces- sity cross somebody's track, in the course of their lives, and will come to be somewhat differently regarded by different classes of people.
While, therefore, this sketch will endeavor to set forth Mr. Brown as he is, as far as it goes, it cannot of course enter upon such a discussion as would be called for were he not yet moving among us.
Mr. Brown is a native of the State of Connecticut, and was born about the beginning of the nineteenth century. His father was a native of Rhode Island; his profession was that of the law, which he practiced for some twenty-five years, at Auburn, N.Y., with decided talent and success, and then removed to the City of New York, where, a few years since, he died.
The son William, gained his education, as many young men of his time were accustomed to do, while the country was not as well supplied with schools of a high grade as at present, partly in the office of his father, and at various schools; but not extending it in youth, far beyond what are considered good business acquirements. He studied law with his father, and then engaged in its practice with him.
In December, 1818, about the time of his majority, as we infer, he came to seek his fortune in the farther or extreme West, as it
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WILLIAM H. BROWN.
then was; and opened a law office in the old French town of Kaskaskia, in this State. His inducement to select Illinois as the State of his residence, he declared to be, that it had, in the summer of that year, adopted a free Constitution ; without which he would by no means have taken a residence in it. In the spring of 1819, he was appointed a Clerk of the United States Court, which office he held for the period of sixteen years. The seat of government being removed to Vandalia, and the law requiring the Clerk of the Court to keep his office at the Capitol of' the State, Mr. Brown followed it thither in Decem- ber, 1820. He immediately purchased one-half the proprietary interest in a newspaper then published, and called " The Illinois Intelligencer." This paper dated back to 1815, and was the first newspaper ever established in the Territory. Mr. Brown entered upon its editorial duties, and continued in that connection until February, 1823. His partner in the paper was Mr. Wm. Berry, who was a member of the legislature of 1823; which legislature passed a resolution for a convention to alter the Constitution of the State, with a view to the introduction of slavery. The means, by which this resolution went through the legislature, were of a very high-handed character, which the reader will find somewhat illustrated on pages 52-3 of Ford's History of Illinois ; and in a lecture delivered before the Historical Society of Chicago, by Mr. Brown.
Mr. Berry voted for this resolution, while Mr. Brown the edi- tor was against it, and denounced it in such terms as he thought applicable to the case. Having prepared an article for the next paper, which exposed the scandalous measures by which the resolution had been carried through the House of Representa- tives, and having taken proofs of it, preparatory to its insertion. these proofs were surreptitiously taken from the office; and being read by the parties implicated, a storm was at once raised, such as is not uncommon, even in our day, when this same ques- tion of slavery is at stake. The usual remedy for such imperti- nent boldness was at once proposed, viz. . a mob, which should demolish the office, and send Mr. Brown about other business. Luckily, Mr. Brown had friends, and his friends had pluck; and their rally saved the office. The paper containing the awful exposition appeared ; and was deemed such an indignity to the august body whose doings had been censured, that a resolution was adopted citing the author to their bar. To this citation Mr. Brown declined to answer; giving as his reason, that the Constitution secured the liberty of the Press: and so the resolu- tion went over as unfinished business, and the wounded honor of the House was committed to the tender mercies of the time for its healing.
The partnership in the Illinois Intelligencer came to an end, by the sale of Mr. Brown's interest; and the paper advocated the convention-or in other words, the introduction of slavery
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WILLIAM H. BROWN.
-for the next year. By some reasons, nevertheless, not made public, the paper was given into other editorial hands, some eight months before the vote was taken, and, during that time, did good service in the canvass for freedom.
As Mr. Brown had embarked in the cause of freedom in the State. and had determined to leave it, should the folly of re- introducing slavery prevail, he now gave most of his time to writing and working against that policy ; and did much toward securing the verdict rendered in the 2000 majority which forbid its establishment; for which we who now dweil here, and our posterity, will owe him a debt of gratitude and honor.
In December, 1822. the subject of this sketch was married to Miss Harriet C. Seward, daughter of Col. John Seward, deceased. then of Montgomery Co., Ill. Mrs. Brown is the mother of four living sons and one daughter; of whom three are now in active business, and two in the course of their education.
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