USA > Illinois > Livingston County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume I Pt 1 > Part 42
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
GRAY, William C., Ph.D., editor, was born in Butler County, Ohio, in 1830; graduated from the Farmers' (now Belmont) College in 1850. read law and begar seeular editorial work in 1852, being connected, in the next fourteen years. with "The Tiffin Tribune," "Cleveland Herald" and "Newark American." Then, after several years spent in general publishing business in Cincinnati, after the great fire of 1871 he came to Chicago, to take charge of "The Interior," the organ of the Presbyterian Church, which he has since conducted. The success of the paper under his management affords the best evidence of his practical good sense. He holds the degree of Ph. D., received from Wooster University in 1891.
GRAYVILLE, a city situated on the border of White and Edwards Counties, lying chiefly in the former, on the Wabash River, 35 miles north- west of Evansville, Ind., 16 miles northeast of Carmi, and forty miles southwest of Vincennes. It is located in the heart of a heavily timbered
208
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
region and is an important hard-wood market. Valuable coal deposits exist. The industries m. elude flour, saw and planing mills, stave factories and creamery. The city has an electric light and water plant, two banks, eight churches, and two weekly papers. Population (1900), 1,948.
GRAYVILLE & MATTOON RAILROAD. (See Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway. )
GREATHOUSE, Lucien, soldier, was born at Carlinville, Iil., in 1813; graduated at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, and studied law; enlisted as a private at the beginning of the War of the Rebellion and rose to the rank of Colonel of the Forty-eighth Ilinois Volunteers; bore a conspicuous part in the movements of the Army of the Tennessce; was killed in battle near Atlanta, Ga., June 21, 1864.
GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD (of 1843 and '49). (See Illinois Central Railroad.)
GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD (2). (See Wabash Railway.)
GREEN RIVER, rises in Lee County, and, after draining part of Bureau County, flows west- ward through Henry County, and enters Rock River about 10 miles east by south from Rock Island. It is nearly 120 miles long.
GREEN, William H., State Senator and Judge, was born at Danville, Ky., Dec. 8, 1830, In 1847 he accompanied his father's family to Illinois, and, for three years following, taught school, at the same time reading law. He was admitted to the bar in 1852 and began practice at Mount Vernon, removing to Metropolis the next year, and to Cairo in 1863. In 1858 he was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly, was re-elected in 1860 and, two years later, was elected to the State Senate for four years. In December, 1865, he was elected Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Mulkey, retiring with the expiration of his term in 1867. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Conventions of 1860, '64, ·68, '80, '84 and '89, besides being for many years a member of the State Central Committee of that party, and also, for four terms, a member of the State Board of Education, of which he has been for several years the President. HIe is at present (1899) engaged in the practice of his profession at Cairo.
GREENE, Henry Sacheveral, attorney, was born in the North of Ireland, July, 1833, brought to Canada at five years of age, and from nine com- pelled to support himself, sometimes as a clerk and at otbers setting type in a printing office. After spending some time in Western New York,
in 1853 he commeneed the study of law at Dan- ville, Ind .. with Hugh Crea, now of Decatur, III ; four years Inter settled at Clinton, DeWitt County, where he taught and studied law with Lawrence Weldon, now of the Court of Claims, Washington. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar at Springfield, on the motion of Abraham Lin- coln, and was associated in practice, for a time, with Hon. Clifton H. Moore of Clinton, lat r served as Prosecuting Attorney and one term (1867-69) as Representative in the General Assem- bły. At the close of his term in the Legislature he removed to Springfield, forming a law partner- ship with Milton Hay and David T. Littler, under the firm name of Hay, Greene & Littler, still later becoming the head of the firm of Greene & Humphrey. From the date of his removal to Springfield, for some thirty years his chief employ- ment was as a corporation lawyer, for the most part in the service of the Chicago & Alton and the Wabash Railways. His death occurred at his home in Springfield, after a protracted illness, Feb. 25, 1899. Of recognized ability, thoroughly devoted to his profession, high minded and honor- able in all his dealings, he commanded respect wherever he was known.
GREENE, William G., pioneer, was born in Tennessee in 1812; came to Illinois in 1822 with his father (Bowling Greene), who settled in the vicinity of New Salem, now in Menard County. The younger Greene was an intimate friend and fellow-student, at Illinois College, of Richard Yates (afterwards Governor), and also an early friend and admirer of Abraham Lincoln, under whom he held an appointment in Utah for some years. He died at Tallula, Menard County, in 1894.
GREENFIELD, a city in the eastern part of Greene County, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Quincy, Carrollton & St. Louis Railways, 12 miles east of Carrollton and 55 miles north of St. Louis ; is an agricultural, coal-mining and stock-raising region. The city has several churches, public schools. a seminary, electric. light plant, steam flouring mill, and one weekly paper. It is an important shipping point for cattle, horses, swine, corn, grain and produce. Population (1890). 1,131; (1900). 1,053.
GREENE COUNTY, ent off from Madison and separately organized in 1821; has an arca of 544 square miles; population (1900), 23,402; named for Gen. Nathaniel Greene, a Revolutionary sol- dier. The soil and climate are varied and adapted to a diversity of products, wheat and fruit being among the principal. Building stone and clay
200
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
are abundant. Probably the first English-speak- ing settlers were David Stockton and James Whiteside, who located south of Maconpin Creek in June, 1817. Samuel Thomas and others (among them Gen. Jacob Fry) followed soon afterward. The Indians were numerous and aggressive, and had destroyed not a few of the monuments of the Government surveys, erected ........ Tears L_fore. Immigration of the whites, however, was rapid, and it was not long before the nucleus of a village was established at Car- rollton, where General Fry erected the first house and made the first coffin needed in the settle- ment. This town, the county-seat and most important place iu the county, was laid off by Thomas Carlin in 1821. Other flourishing towns are Whitehall (population, 1,961), and Roodhouse (an important railroad center) with a population cf 2,360. .
GREENUP, village of Cumberland County, at intersection of the Vandalia Line and Evansville branch IN. Cent. Ry. : in farming and fruit- growing region; has powder mill, bank, broom factory, five churches, public library and good schools. Population (1890), 858; (1900), 1,085.
GREENVIEW, a village in Menard County, on the Jacksonville branch of the Chicago & Alion Railroad, 22 miles north-northwest of Springtield and 36 miles northeast of Jacksonville. It has a coal mine, bank, two weekly papers, seven churches, and a graded and high school. Popu- Iation (1890), 1,106; (1900), 1.019; (1903), 1,245.
GREENVILLE, an incorporated city, the county-seat of Bond County, on the East Fork of Big Shoal Creek and the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute Railroad, 50 miles east-northeast of St. Louis; is in a rich agricultural and coal-min- ing region. Corn and wheat are raised exten- sively in the surrounding country, and there are extensive coal mines adjacent to the city. The leading manufacturing product is in the line of wajong. It is the seat of Greenville College (a roeducational institution); has several banks and three weekly newspapers. Population (1800), 1,-6%. (1900). 2,504.
GREENVILLE, TREATY OF, a treaty negoti- atel by Gen. Anthony Wayne with a number of Iulian tribes (see Indian Treaties), at Green- ville, after his victory over the savages at the battle of Manmee Rapids, in August, 1795. This was the first treaty relating to Illinois lands in which a number of tribes united The lands con- veyed within the present limits of the State of Illinois were as follows: A tract six miles square at the mouth of the Chicago River;
another, twelve miles square, near the mouth of the Illinois River; another, six miles square, around the old fort at Peoria; the post of Font Massac; the 150,000 acres set apart as bounty lands for the army of Gen. George Rogers Clark. and "the lands at all other places in the posses sion of the French people and other white set tlers among them, the Indian title to which has been thus extinguished." On the other hand, the United States relinquished all claim to all other Indian lands north of the Ohio, east of the Mis. sissippi and south of the great lakes. The cash consideration paid by the Government was $210,000.
GREGG, David L., lawyer and Secretary of State, emigrated from Albany, N. Y., and began the practico of law at Joliet, IN , where, in 1829. he also edited "The Juliet Courier, " the first paper established in Will County. From 18.12 to 1846, ho represented Will, Du Page and Iroquois Counties in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Cien :- eral Assemblies; Jater removed to Chicago, after which he served for a time as United States Dis triet Attorney; in 1847 was chosen one of the Delegates from Cook County to the State Consti tutional Convention of that year, and served as Secretary of State from 1850 to 1853, as successor to Horace S. Cooley, who died in office the former year. In the Democratic State Convention of 1852, Mir. Gregg was a leading candidate for the nomination for Governor, though finally defeated by Joel 1. Matteson; served as Presidential Elector for that year, and, in 1853, was appointed by President Pierce Commissioner to the Sandwich Islands, still later for a time acting as the minis- ter or adviser of King Kamehamaha IV, who died in 1863. Returning to California he was ap- pointed by President Lincoln Receiver of Public Moneys at Carson City, Nev., where he died, Dec. 23, 1868.
GREGORY, John Milton, clergyman and edu- cator, was born at Sand Lake, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., July 6, 1822; graduated from Union Col- lege in 1846 and, after devoting two years to the study of law, studied theology and entered the Baptist ministry. After a brief pastorate in the East he came West, becoming Principal of a classical school at Detroit. Ilis ability as an educator was soon recognized, and, in 1858, he was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Michigan, but declined a ro-elec- tion in 1863. In 1854, he assisted in founding "The Michigan Journal of Education, " of which he was editor-in-chief. In 1863 he accepted the Presidency of Kalamazoo College, and four years
210
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
later was called to that of the newly founded University of Illinois, at Champaign, where he remained until 1880. He was United States Commissioner to the Vienna Exposition in 1873, Illinois State Commissioner to the Paris Exposi- tion of 1878, also serving as one of the judges in the educational department of the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876. From 1882 to '85 he was a member of the United States Civil Service Com- mission. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Madison University (Hamilton. N. Y.) in 1866. While State Superintendent. he published a "Compend of School Laws" of Michi- gan, besides numerous addresses on educational subjects. Other works of his are "Handbook of History" and "Map of Time" (Chicago, 1866) ; "A New Political Economy" (Cincinnati, 1882); and "Seven Laws of Teaching" (Chicago, 1883). While holding a chair as Professor Emeritus of Political Economy in the University of Illinois during the latter years of his life, he resided in Washington, D. C., where he died, Oct. 20, 1898. By his special request he was buried on the grounds of the University at Champaign.
GRESHAM, Walter Quinton, soldier, jurist and statesman, was born near Lanesville, llarri- son County, Ind., March 17, 1832. Two years at a seminary at Corydon, followed by one year at Bloomington University, completed his early education, which was commenced at the common schools. He read law at Corydon, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. In 1860 he was elected to the Indiana Legislature, but resigned to become Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty- eighth Indiana Volunteers, and was almost immediately commissioned Colonel of the Fifty- third Regiment. After the fall of Vicksburg he was promoted to a Brigadier-Generalship, and was brevetted Major-General on March 13, 1865. At Atlanta he was severely wounded, and disabled from service for a year. After the war he re- sumed practice at New Albany, Ind. His polit- ical career began in 1856, when he stumped his county for Fremont. From that time until 1892 he was always prominently identified with the Republican party. In 1866 he was an unsuccess- ful Republican candidate for Congress, and, in 1867-68, was the financial agent of his State (Indiana) in New York. In 1869 President Grant appointed him Judge of the United States Dis- trict Court for Indiana. In 1883 he resigned this position to accept the portfolio of Postmaster-Gen- eral in the Cabinet of President Arthur. In July, 1884, upon the death of Secretary Folger, he was made Secretary of the Treasury. In Oct. 1884,
he was appointed United Stato Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, and thereaft . med. his home in Chicago. He was an earne-t advo cate of the renomination of Grant in th t year but subsequently took no active persona part in politics. In ISSS he was the substantially unani- inous choice of Illinois Republicans for the Presi- deney, but was defeated in convention. In 189% he was tendered the Populist nominal in for President, but declined. In 1893 President Cleve- Jand offered him the portfolio of Secretary of State, which he accepted, dying in office at Washington, D. C., May 28, 1895.
GREUSEL, Nicholas, soldier, was born in Ger- many, July 4, 1817, the son of a soldier of Murat : came to New York in 1833 and to Detroit, Mich., in 1835; served as a Captain of the First Michigan Volunteers in the Mexican War; in 1857, came to Chicago and was employed on the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy Railroad, until the firing on Fort Samter, when he promptly enrolled himself as a private in a company organized at Aurora of which he was elected Captain and attached to the Seventh Illinois (three-months' men), later being advanced to the rank of Major. Re-enlisting for three years, he was commissioned Lieutenant- Colonel, but, in August following, was commis sioned Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Illinois; took part in the battles of l'en Ridge and Perryville and the campaign against Corinth; compelled to resign on account of failing health, in February. 1863, he removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. whence he returned to Aurora in 1893. Died at Aurora, April 25, 1896.
GRIDLEY, Asahel, lawyer and banker, was born at Cazenovia, N. Y., April 21, 1810; was educated at Pompey Academy and, at the age of 21, came to Illinois, locating at Bloomington and engaging in the mercantile business, which he carried on quite extensively some eight years. He served as First Lieutenant of a cavalry com- pany during the Black Hawk War of 1832, and soon after was elected a Brigadier-General of militia, thereby acquiring the title of "General." In 1840 he was elected to the lower branch of the Twelfth General Assembly, and soon after began to turn his attention to the study of law, subse- quently forming a partnership with Col. J. II. Wickizer, which continued for a number of years. Having been elected to the State Senato in 1850, he took a conspicuous part in the two succeeding sessions of the General Assembly in securing the location of the Chicago & Alton and the Illinoi Central Railroads by way of Bloomington; was also, at a later period, a leading promoter of the
211
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
Indiana, Bloomington & Western and other lines. In 1858 he joined J. Y. Scammon and J. H. Burch of Chicago, in the establishment of the MeLean County Bank at Bloomington, of which he became President and ultimately sole proprietor; also be- came proprietor, in 1857, of the Bloomington Gas- Light & Coke Company, which he managed some twenty-five years. Originally a Whig, he identi- tied himself with the Republican cause in 1856, serving upon the State Central Committee during the campaign of that year, but, in 1872, took part in the Liberal Republican movement, serv- ing as a delegate to the Cincinnati Convention, where he was a zealous supporter of David Davis for the Presidency. Died, at Bloomington, Jan. 20, 1881.
GRIER, (Col.) David Perkins, soldier and mer- chant, was born near Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1837; received a common school education and, in 1852, came to Peoria, Ill., where he engaged in the grain business, subsequently, in partnership with his brother, erecting the first grain-elevator in Peoria, with three or four at other points. Early in the war he recruited a company of which he was elected Captain, but, as the State quota was already full, it was not accepted in Illinois, but was mustered in, in June, as a part of the Eighth Missouri Volunteers. With this organi- zation he took part in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, tho battle of Shiloh and the siege and capture of Corinth. In August, 1862, he was ordered to report to Governor Vates at Spring- field, and, on his arrival, was presented with a commission as Colonel of the Seventy-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, of which he retained command up to the siege of Vicksburg. During that siege he commanded a brigade and, in sub- sequent operations in Louisiana, was in command of the Second Brigade, Fourth Division of the Thirteenth Army Corps. Later he had command of all the troops on Dauphin Island, and took a conspicnous part in the capture of Fort Morgan and Mobile, as well as other operations in Ala- bama. Ile subsequently had command of a division until his muster-out, July 10, 1865, with the rank of brevet Brigadier-General. After the war, General Grier resumed his business as a grain merchant at Peoria, but, in 1879, removed to East St. Louis, where he had charge of the erection and management of the Union Elevator there- was also Vice-President and Director of the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange. Died, April 22, 1801.
GRIERSON, Benjamin H., soldier, was born in Pittsburg, Pa., July 8, 1826; removed in boyhood
to Trumbull County, Ohio, and, al- ut 1-0, to Jacksonville, Ill., where he was engaged for a time in teaching music, later embarking in the grain and produce business at Meredo. ia. He enlisted promptly at the beginning of the Civil War, becoming Aid-de-camp to General Prentiss at Cairo during the three months' service, later being commissioned Major of the Sixth Il'nois Cavalry. From this time his promotion was rapid. He was commissioned Colonel of the same regiment in March, 1863, and was commander of a brigade in December following. He was promi- nent in nearly all the cavalry shirmishes between Memphis and the Tennessee river, and, in April and May, 1863, led the famous raid from La Grange, Tenn., through the States of Mississippi and Louisiana to Baton Rouge in the latter-for the first time penetrating the heart of the Con- federacy and causing consternation among the rebel leaders, while materially aiding General Grant's movement against Vicksburg. This dem- onstration was generally regarded as one of the most brilliant events of the war, and attracted the attention of the whole country. In recog. nition of this service he was, on June 3, 1863, made a Brigadier-General, and May 27, 1865, a full Major-General of Volunteers. Soon after the close of the war he entered the regular army as Colonel of the Tenth United States Cavalry and was successively brevetted Brigadier- and Major- General for bravery shown in a raid in Arkansas during December, 1864. Ilis subsequent service was in the West and Southwest conducting cam- paigns against the Indians, in the meanwhile being in command at Santa Fe, San Antonio and elsewhere. On the promotion of General Miles to a Major-Generalship following the death of Maj .- Gen. George Crook in Chicago, March 19, 1890, General Grierson, who had been the senior Colonel for some years, was promoted Brigadier- General and retired with that rank in July fol- lowing. His home is at Jacksonville.
GRIGGS, Samuel Chapman, publisher, was born in Tolland, Conn., July 20, 1819; began business as a bookseller at Hamilton, N Y., but removed to Chicago, where he established the largest bookselling trade in the Northwest. Mr. Griggs was a heavy loser by the fire of 1871, and the following year, having sold out to his part- ners, established himself in the publishing busi. ness, which he conducted until 1896, when he retired. The class of books published by him include many educational and classical. with others of a high order of merit. Died in Chi cago, April 5, 1897.
212
INISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
GRIGGSVILLE, a city in Pike County, on the Wabash Railroad, 4 miles west of the Illinois River, and 50 miles east of Quincy. Flour, eamp stoves, and brooms are manufactured here. The city has churches, graded schools, a publie library, fair grounds, opera house, and a weekly newspaper. Population (1890), 1,400; (1900), 1,404.
GRIMSHAW, Jackson, lawyer and politician. was born in Philadelphia, Nov. 22, 1820, of Anglo- Irish and Revolutionary ancestry. He was par- tially educated at Bristol College, Pa., and began the study of law with his father, who was a lawyer and an author of repute. His professional studies were interrupted for a few years, during which he was employed at surveying and civil engineering. but he was admitted to the bar at Harrisburg, in 1843. The same year he settled at Pittsfield, Ill., where he formed a partnership with his brother, William A. Grimshaw. In 1857 he removed to Quincy, where he resided for the remainder of his life. He was a member of the first Republican Convention, at Bloomington, in 1856, and was twice an unsuccessful candidate for Congress (1856 and '58) in a strongly Democratic District. He was a warm personal friend and trusted eoun- sellor of Governor Yates, on whose staff he served as Colonel. During 1861 the latter sent Mr. Grimshaw to Washington with dispatches an- nouncing the capture of Jefferson Barracks, Mo. On arriving at Annapolis, learning that the rail- roads had been torn up by rebel sympathizers, he walked from that eity to the capital, and was summoned into the presence of the President and General Scott with his feet protruding from his boots. In 1865 Mr. Lincoln appointed him Col- lector of Internal Revenue for the Quiney Dis- triet, which office he held until 1869. Died, at Quincy. Dec. 13, 1875.
GRIMSHAW, William A., early lawyer, was born in Philadelphia and admitted to the bar in his native city at the age of 19; in 1833 came to Pike County, Ill., where he continued to prac- tice until his death. He served in the State Con- stitutional Convention of 1817, and had the credit of preparing the article in the second Constitution prohibiting dueling. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln for President a second time; also served as Presidential Eleetor in 1880. He was, for a time, one of the Trustees of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Jackson- ville, and, from 1877 to 1882, a member of the State Board of Public Charities, being for a time Presi- dent of the Board. Died, at Pittsfield, Jan. 7, 1895.
GRINNELL, Julius S., lawyer and ex-Judge, was born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in 1912. of New England parents, who were of French descent. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1866, and, two years later, was admitt "I to the bar at Ogdensburg, N. Y. In 1870 ho removed to Chicago, where he soon attained a prominent position at the bar; was elected City Attorney in 1879 are elected in fast and less. In 1984 he was elected State's Attorney for Cook County, in which capacity he successfully conducted some of the most celebrated criminal prosecutions in the history of Illinois. Among these may be mentioned the cases against Joseph T. Mackin and William J. Gallagher, growing out of an election conspiracy in Chicago in 18 1; the conviction of a number of Cook County Commis- sioners for accepting bribes in 1885, and the con- vietion of seven anarchistic leaders charged with complicity in the Haymarket riot and massacre in Chicago, in May, 1886-the latter trial being held in 1887. The same year (1887) he was elected to the Circuit bench of Cook County, but resigned his seat in 1890 to become counsel for the Chicago City Railway. Died, in Chicago, June 8, 1898.
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.