Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 24

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126

USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2 > Part 24

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WORTHEN, Amos Henry, scientist and State Geologist, was born at Bradford, Vt., Oct. 31, 1813, emigrated to Kentucky in 1834, and, in 1836, removed to Illinois, locating at Warsaw. Teach- ing, surveying and mercantile business were his pursuits until 1812, when he returned to the East, spending two years in Boston, but return- ing to Warsaw in 1844. His natural predilections were toward the natural sciences, and, after coming west, he devoted most of his leisure time to the collection and study of specimens of mineralogy, geology and conchology. On the organization of the geological survey of Illinois in 1851, he was appointed assistant to Dr. J. G. Norwood, then State Geologist, and, in 1858, suc- ceeded to the office, having meanwhile spent three years as Assistant Geologist in the first lowa survey. As State Geologist he published seven volumes of reports, and was engaged upon the eighth when overtaken by death, May 6, 1888. These reports, which are as comprehensive as they are voluminous, have been reviewed and warmly commended by the leading scientific periodicals of this country and Europe In 1977 field work was discontinued, and the State His- torical Library and Natural History Museum were established, Professor Worthen being placed in charge as curator. He was the author of various valuable scientific papers and member of numer- ous scientific societies in this country and in Europe.

WORTHINGTON. Nicholas Ellsworth, ex-Con - gressman. was born in Brooke County, W. Va., March 30, 1936. and completed his education at Allegheny College, Pa., studied Law at Morgan- town. Va., and was admitted to the bar in 1860. He is a resident of Peoria, and. by profession, a lawyer: was County Superintendent of Schools of Peoria County from 1868 to 1879 and a mem-

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ber of the State Board of Education from 1869 to 1872. In 1882 he was elected to Congress, as a Democrat, from the Tenth Congressional District, and re-elected in 1854. In 1846 he was again a candidate, but was defeated by his Republican opponent, Philip Sidney Post. He was elected Circuit Judge of the Tenth Judicial District in 1891, and re-elected in 1897. In 1801 he served upon a commission appointed by President Cleve- land, to investigate the labor strikes of that year at Chicago.

WRIGHT, John Stephen, manufacturer, was born at Sheffield, Mass., July 16, 1815; came to Chicago in 1832, with his father, who opened a store in that city; in 1837, at his own expens", built the first school building in Chicago; in 1910 established "The Prairie Farmer," which he con- ducted for many years in the interest of popular education and progressive agriculture. In 1952 he engaged in the manufacture of Atkins' self- raking reaper and mower, was one of the pro- moters of the Galena & Chicago Union and the Illinois Central Railways, and wrote a volume entitled, "Chicago: Past, Present and Future." published in 1870. Died, in Chicago, Sept. 26, 1874.

WULFF, Henry, ex-State Treasurer, was born in Meldorf, Germany, August 24, 1854; came to Chicago in 1863, and began his political career as a Trustee of the town of Jefferson. In 1866 he was elected County Clerk of Cook County, and re-elected in 1890; in 1594 became the Republican nominee for State Treasurer, receiving, at the November election of that year, the unprece- dented plurality of 133,427 votes over his Demo- cratic opponent.

WYANET, a town of Bureau County, at the intersection of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railways, 7 miles southwest of Princeton. Population (1890), 670; (1900), 902.

WYLIE, (Rev.) Samuel, domestic missionary. born in Ireland and came to America in boybood : was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and ordained in 1818. Soon after this he came west as a domestic mis- sionary and, in 1820, became pastor of a church at Sparta, Ill., where he remained until his death, March 20, 1872, after a pastorate of 52 years. During his pastorate the church sent out a dozen colonies to form new church organizations else- where. He is described as able, eloquent and scholarly.

WYMAN, (Col. John B., soldier, was born in Massachusetts, July 12. 1817, and educated in the

schools of that State until 14 years of age, when he became a clerk in a clothing store in his native town of Shrewsbury, later being associated with mercantile establishments in Cincinnati, and again in his native State. From 1846 to 1850 he was employed successively as a clerk in the car and machine shops at Springfield. Mass., then as Superintendent of Construction, and, later, as con- ductor on the New York & New Haven Railroad, finally, in 1850, becoming Superintendent of the Connecticut River Railroad. In 1852 he entered the service of the Illinois Central Railroad Com- pany, assisting in the survey and construction of the line under Col. R. B. Mason, the Chief Engi- neer, and finally becoming Assistant Superin- tendent of the Northern Division. He was one of the original proprietors of the town of Amboy, in Lee County, and its first Mayor, also serving a second term. Having a fondness for military affairs, he was usually connected with some mili- tary organization-while in Cincinnati being attached to a company, of which Prof. O. M. Mitchell, the celebrated astronomer (afterwards Major-General Mitchell), was Captain. After coming to Illinois he became Captain of the Chi- cago Light (nards. Having left the employ of the Railroad in 1858, he was in private business at Amboy at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. As Assistant-Adjutant General, by appoint- ment of Governor Yates, he rendered valuable service in the early weeks of the war in securing arms from Jefferson Barracks and in the organi- zation of the three-months' regiments. Then. having organized the Thirteenth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry-the first organized in the State for the three years' service-he was commis- sioned its Colonel, and in July following, entered npon the duty of guarding the railroad lines in Southwest Missouri and Arkansas. The follow- ing year his regiment was attached to General Sherman's command in the first campaign against Vicksburg. On the second day of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, he fell mortally wounded, dying on the field. Dec. 28, 1862. Colo- nel Wyman was one of the most accomplished and promising of the volunteer soldiers sent to the field from Illinois, of whom so many were former employés of the Illinois Central Rail- road.

WYOMING, a town of Stark County, 31 miles north-northwest from Peoria, at the junction of the Peoria branch Rock Island & Pacific and the Rushville branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway; has two high schools, churches. two banks, flour mills, water-works, machine

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shop, and two weekly newspapers. Coal is mined here. Pop. (1890), 1,116; (1900), 1,277.

XENIA, a village of Clay County, on the Balti- more & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 87 miles east of St. Louis. Population (1900), 800.

YATES CITY, a village of Knox County, at the junction of the Peoria Division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with the Rushville branch, 23 miles southeast of Galesburg. The town has banks, a coal mine, telephone exchange, school, churches and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 687; (1900), 650.

YATES, Henry, pioneer, was born in Caroline County, Va., Oct. 29, 1786-being a grand-nephew of Chief Justice John Marshall; removed to Fa- yette County, Ky., where he located and laid out the town of Warsaw, which afterwards became the county-seat of Gallatin County. In 1831 he removed to Sangamon County, Ill., and, in 1832, settled at the site of the present town of Berlin, which he laid out the following year, also laying out the town of New Berlin, a few years later, on the line of the Wabash Railway. Ile was father of Gov. Richard Yates. Died, Sept. 13, 1865 .- HIenry (Yates), Jr., son of the preceding, was born at Berlin, Ill., March 7, 1835: engaged in merchan- dising at New Berlin: in 1862, raised a company of volunteers for the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment Illinois Infantry, was appointed Lieu- tenant-Colonel and brevetted Colonel and Briga- dier-General. He was accidentally shot in 1863, and suffered sun-stroke at Little Rock, from which he never fully recovered. Died, August 3, 1871.

YATES, Richard, former Governor and United States Senator, was born at Warsaw, Ky., Jan. 18, 1815, of English descent. In 1831 he accom- panied his father to Illinois, the family settling first at Springfield and later at Berlin, Sangamon County. He soon after entered Illinois College, from which he graduated in 1835, and subse- quently read law with Col. John J. Hardin, at Jacksonville, which thereafter became his home. In 1842 he was elected Representative in the Gen- eral Assembly from Morgan County, and was re-elected in 1844, and again in 1848. In 1850 he was a candidate for Congress from the Seventh District and elected over Maj. Thomas L. Harris, the previous incumbent. being the only Whig Representative in the Thirty-second Congress from Illinois. Two years later he was re-elected over John Calhoun, but was defeated, in 1854, by his old opponent, Harris. He was one of the

most vigorous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in the Thirty third Congress, and an early participant in the movement for the organization of the Republican party to resist the further extension of slavery, being a prominent speaker, on the same platform with Lincoln, before the first Republican State Convention held at Bloom- ington, in May. 1856, and serving as one of the Vice-Presidents of that body. In 1860 he was elected to the executive chair on the ticket headed by Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency, and, by his energetic support of the National administration in its measures for the suppression of the Rebellion, won the sobriquet of "the Illi- nois War-Governor." In 1-65 he was elected United States Senator, serving until 1871. Ile died suddenly, at St. Louis, Nov. 27, 1873, while returning from Arkansas, whither he had gone, as a United States Commissioner. by appointment of President Grant, to inspect a land-subsidy railroad. He was a man of rare ability, earnest- ness of purpose and extraordinary personal mag- netism, as well as of a lofty order of patriotism. His faults were those of a nature generous, impulsive and warm-hearted.

YORKVILLE, the county-seat of Kendall County, on Fox River and Streator Division of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 12 miles southwest of Aurora ; on interurban electric line; has water-power, electric lights, a bank, churches and weekly newspaper. Pop. (1590) 375; (1900), 413.

YOUNG, Brigham. Mormon leader, was born at Whittingham, Vt., June 1. 1801, joined the Mormons in 1831 and. the next year, became asso- ciated with Joseph Smith, at Kirtland, Ohio, and, in 1835, an "apostle." He accompanied a con- siderable body of that sect to Independence. Mo., but was driven out with them in 1-37. settling for a short time at Quincy. Ill., but later remov- ing to Nauvoo, of which he was one of the foun- ders. On the assassination of Smith, in 1844, he became the successor of the latter, as head of the Mormon Church, and, the following year. headed the exodus from Illinois, which finally resulted in the Mormon settlement in Utah. Ilis subsequent career there, where he was appointed Governor by President Fillmore, and, for a time, success- fully defied national authority, is a matter of national rather than State history. He remained at the head of the Mormon Church until his death at Salt Lake City, August 29, 1877.

YOUNG, Richard Montgomery, United States Senator, was born in Kentucky in 1796, studied law and removed to Jonesboro, IN., where he was admitted to the bar in 1817: served in the Second

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General Assembly (1820-22) as Representative from Union County ; was a Circuit Judge, 1825-27; Presidential Elector in 1828; Circuit Judge again, 1829-37; elected United States Senator in 1:37 as successor to W. L. D. Ewing, serving until 1843, when he was commissioned Justice of the Su- preme Court, but resigned in 1947 to become Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington. During the session of 1850-51, he served as Clerk of the National Honse of Repre- sentatives. Died, in an insane asylum, in Wash- ington, in 1853.

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, first permanently organized at Chicago, in 1538, although desultory movements of a kindred char- acter had previously been started at Peoria, Quincy, Chicago and Springfield, some as early as 1854. From 1558 to 1872, various associations were formed at different points throughout the State, which were entirely independent of each other. The first effort looking to union and mutual aid, was made in 1872, when Robert Weidensall, on behalf of the International Com- mittee, called a convention, to meet at Blooming- ton, November 6-9. State conventions have been held annually since 1572. In that of 1875, steps were taken looking to the appointment of a State Secretary, and, in 1876. Charles M. Morton assumed the office. Much evangelistic work was done, and new associations formed, the total number reported at the Champaign Convention, in 1877, being sixty-two. After one year's work Mr. Morton resigned the secretaryship. the office remaining vacant for three years. The question of the appointment of a successor was discusse.1 at the Decatur Convention in 1979, and, in April, 1880, I. B. Brown was made State Secretary, and has occupied the position to the present time (1899). At the date of his appointment the official figures showed sixteen associations in Illi- nois, with a total membership of 2.443, and prop- erty valued at $126,500, including building funds, the associations at Chicago and Aurora owning buildings. Thirteen officers were employed, none of them being in Chicago. Since 1850 the work has steadily grown, so that five Assistant State Secretaries are now employed. In 1856. a plan for arranging the State work under depart- mental administration was devised, but not put in operation until 1890. The present six depart- ments of supervision are: General Supervision. in charge of the State Secretary and his Assist- ants; railroad and city work; counties and towns; work among students: corresponding membership department, and office work. The

two last named are under one executive head, but each of the others in charge of an Assistant Secretary, who is responsible for its development The entire work is under the supervision of a State Executive Committee of twenty-seven members, one-third of whom are elected annually. Willis II. Herrick of Chicago has been its chair- man for several years. This body is appointed by a State convention composed of delegates from the local Associations. Of these there were, in October, 1898. 116, with a membership of 15,8'S. The value of the property owned was 82,500.000. Twenty-two occupy their own build- ings, of which five are for railroad men and one for students. Weekly gatherings for young men numbered 248, and there are now representatives or correspondents in 665 communities where no organization has been effected. Scientific phys- ical culture is made a feature by 19 associations, and educational work has been largely developed. The enrollment in evening classes. during 1×95-99, was 975. The builling of the Chicago branch . (erected in 1993) is the finest of its class in the world. Recently a successful association has been formed among coal miners, and another among the first grade boys of the Illinois State Reformatory, while an extensive work has been conducted at the camps of the Illinois National Guard.

ZANE, Charles S., lawyer and jurist, was born in Cumberland County, N. J., March 2, 1831, of English and New England stock. At the age of 19 he emigrated to Sangamon County, Ill., for a time working on a farm and at brick-making. From 1952 to '55 he attended McKendree College, but did not graduate, and, on leaving college. engaged in teaching, at the same time reading law. In 1937 he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Springfield. The follow- ing year he was elected City Attorney. He had for partners, at different times, William H. Herndon (once a partner of Abraham Lincoln) and Senator Shelby M. Cullom. In 1873 he was elected a Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and was re-elected in 1579. In 183 President Arthur appointed him Chief Jus- tice of Utah, where he has since resided, though superseded by the appointment of a successor by President Cleveland. At the first State elec- tion in Utah. held in November, 1-95, he was chosen one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the new Commonwealth, but was defeated for re-election, by his Democratic opponent, in 189%.

SCENES IN SOUTH PARK.

WORLD'S FAIR BUILDINGS. The Peristyle. Administration Boiling. German Building. The Fisheries.

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The following matter, received too late for insertion in the body of this work, is added in the form of a supplement.

COGHLAN, (Capt.) Joseph Bullock, naval officer, was born in Kentucky, and, at the age of 15 years, came to Illinois, living on a farm for a time near Carlyle, in Clinton County. In 1860 he was appointed by his uncle, Hon. Philip B. Fouke-then a Representative in Congress from the Belleville District-to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating in 1868, and being pro- moted through the successive grades of Ensign, Master, Lieutenant, Lieutenant-Commander, and Commander, and serving upon various vessels until Nov. 18, 1896, when he was commissioned Captain and, in 1897, assigned to the command of the battleship Raleigh, on the Asiatic Station He was thus connected with Admiral Dewey's squadron at the beginning of the Spanish-Ameri- can War, and took a conspicuousand brilliant part in the affair in Manila Bay. on May 1, 1898, which resulted in the destruction of the Spanish fleet Captain Coghlan's connection with subsequent events in the Philippines was in the highest degree creditable to himself and the country. His vessel (the Raleigh) was the first of Admiral Dewey's squadron to return home, coming by way of the Suez Canal, in the summer of 1899, he and his crew receiving an immense ovation on their arrival in New York harbor.

CRANE, (Rev.) James Lyons, clergyman, army chaplain, was born at Mt. Eaton, Wayne County, Ohio, August 30, 1823, united with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cincinnati in 1841, and, coming to Edgar County, Illinois, in 1842, attended a seminary at Paris some three years. He joined the Illinois Conference in 1846, and was assigned to the Danville circuit, after- wards presiding over charges at Grandview, Hills- boro, Alton, Jacksonville, and Springfield-at the last two points being stationed two or more times. besides serving as Presiding Elder of the Paris. Danville, and Springfieldl Districts. The importance of the stations which he filled during his itinerant career served as evidence of his recognized ability and popularity as a preacher.

In July, 1861, he was appointed Chaplain of the Twenty-first Regiment Illinois Volunteers, at that time commanded by Ulysses S. Grant as Colonel, and, although he remained with the regiment only a few months, the friendship then established between him and the future com. mander of the armies of the Union lasted through their lives. This was shown by his appointment by President Grant in 1869, to the position of Postmaster of the city of Springfield, which came to him as a personal compliment. being re appointed four years afterwards and continuing in office eight years. After retiring from the Springfield postoffice, he occupied charges at Island Grove and Shelbyville, his death occurring at the latter place, July 29, 1879, as the result of an attack of paralysis some two weeks previous. Mr. Crane was married in 1847 to Miss Elizabeth Mayo, daugliter of Col. J Mayo-a prominent citizen of Edgar County, at an early day -- his wife surviving him some twenty years. Rev. Charles A. Crane and Rev. Frank Crane, pastors of prominent Methodist churches in Boston and Chicago, are sons of the subject of this sketch.

DAWES, Charles Gates, Comptroller of the Treasury, was born at Marietta, Ohio, August 27, 1865; graduated from Marietta College in 1884, and from the Cincinnati Law School in 1986. worked at civil engineering during his vacations, finally becoming Chief Engineer of the Toledo & Ohio Railroad. Between 1887 and 1894 he was engaged in the practice of law at Lincoln, Neb .. but afterwards became interested in the gas busi- ness in various cities, including Evanston, IlL, which became his home. In 1896 he took a lead. ing part in securing instructions by the Republi- can State Convention at Springfield in favor of the nomination of Mr. Mckinley for the Presi- dency, and during the succeeding campaign served as a member of the National Republican Committee for the State of Illinois Soon after the accession of President MeKinley. he was appointed Comptroller of the Treasury, a position

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which he now holds. Mr. Dawes is the son of R. B. Dawes, a former Congressman from Ohio, and the great-grandson of Manasseh Cutler, who was an influential factor in the carly history of the Northwest Territory, and has been credited with exerting a strong influence in shaping and securing the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787.

DISTIN, (Col.) William L., former Depart- ment Commander of Grand Army of the Repub- lic for the State of Illinois, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 9, 1843, his father being of English descent, while his maternal grandfather was a Colonel of the Polish Lancers in the army of the first Napoleon, who, after the exile of his leader, came to America, settling in Indiana. The father of the subject of this sketch settled at Keoknk, Iowa, where the son grew to manhood and in February, 1863, enlisted as a private in the Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, having been twice rejected previously on account of physical ail- ment. Soon after enlistment he was detailed for provost-marshal duty, but later took part with his regiment in the campaign in Alabama. He served for a time in the Fifteenth Army Corps, under Gen. John A. Logan, was subsequently detailed for duty on the Staff of General Raum, and participated in the battles of Resaca and Tilton, Ga. Having been captured in the latter, he was imprisoned successively at Jacksonville (Ga.), Montgomery, Savannah, and finally at Andersonville. From the latter he succeeded in effecting his escape, but was recaptured and returned to that famous prison-pen. Having escaped a second time by assuming the name of a dead man and bribing the guard, he was again captured and imprisoned at various points in Mis- sissippi until exchanged about the time of the assassination of President Lincoln. He was then so weakened by his long confinement and scanty fare that he had to be carried on board the steamer on a stretcher. At this time he narrowly escaped being on board the steamer Sultana, which was blown up below Cairo, with 2,100 soldiers on board, a large proportion of whom lost their lives. After being mustered out at Daven- port, Iowa, June 28, 1865, he was employed for a time on the Des Moines Valley Railroad, and as a messenger and route agent of the United States Express Company. In 1472 he established him- self in business in Quincy, Ill., in which he proved very successful. Here he became prom- inent in local Grand Army circles, and, in 1890, was unanimously elected Commander of the Department of Illinois. Previous to this he had been an officer of the Illinois National Guard, and

served as Aid-de-Camp, with the rank of Colonel, on the staff of Governors Hamilton, Oglesby and Fifer. In 1897 Colonel Distin was appointed by President Mckinley Surveyor-Gen- eral for the Territory of Alaska, a position which (1839) he still holds.

DUMMER, Henry E., lawyer, was born at Hallowell, Maine, April 9, 1808, was educated in Bowdoin College, graduating there in the class of 1827, after which he took a course in law at Cam- bridge Law School, and was soon after admitted to the bar. Then, having spent some two years in his native State, in 1832 he removed to Illinois, settling first in Springfield, where he remained six years, being for a part of the time a partner of John T. Stuart, who afterwards became the first partner in law of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Dum- mer had a brother, Richard William Dummer, who had preceded him to Illinois, living for a time in Jacksonville. In 1838 he removed to Beardstown, Cass County, which continued to be his home for more than a quarter of a century. During his residence there he served as Alder- man, City Attorney and Judge of Probate for Cass County ; also represented Cass County in the Constitutional Convention of 1847, and, in 1860, was elected State Senator in the Twenty-second General Assembly, serving four years. Mr. Dummer was an earnest Republican, and served that party as a delegate for the State-at-large to the Convention of 1804. at Baltimore, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency a second time. In 1864 he removed to Jackson- ville, and for the next year was the law partner of David A. Smith, until the death of the latter in 1865. In the summer of 1978 Mr. Dummer went to Mackinac, Mich., in search of health, but died there August 12 of that year.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 24

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1126

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126