Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Edgar County, Part 11

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell
Number of Pages: 876

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BLODGETT, Henry Williams, jurist, was born at Amherst, Mass., in 1821. At the age of 10 years he removed with his parents to Illinois, where he attended the district schools, later returning to Amherst to spend a year at the Academy. Returning home, he spent the years 1839-42 in teaching and surveying. In 1842 he began the study of law at Chicago, being admitted to the bar in 1845, and beginning prac- tice at Waukegan, Ill., where he has continued to reside. In 1852 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature from Lake County, as an anti-slavery candidate, and, in 1858, to the State Senate, in the latter serving four years. He gained distinction as a railroad solicitor, being employed at different times by the Chicago & Northwestern, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.

Paul, the Michigan Southern and the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Companies. Of the second named road he was one of the projectors, procuring its charter, and being identified with it in the sev- eral capacities of Attorney, Director and Presi- dent. In 1870 President Grant appointed him Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. This position he continued to occupy for twenty-two years, resign- ing it in 1892 to accept an appointment by Presi- dent Cleveland as one of the counsel for the United States before the Behring Sea Arbitrators at Paris, which was his last official service.

BLOOMINGDALE, a village of Du Page County, 30 miles west by north from Chicago. Population (1880), 226; (1890), 463; (1900), 235.

BLOOMINGTON, the county-seat of McLean County, a flourishing city and railroad center, 59 miles northeast of Springfield; is in a rich agri- cultural and coal-mining district. Besides car shops and repair works employing some 2,000 hands, there are manufactories of stoves, fur- naces, plows, flour, etc. Nurseries are numerous in the vicinity and horse breeding receives much attention. The city is the seat of Illinois Wes- leyan University, has fine public schools, several newspapers (two published daily), besides educa- tional and other publications. The business sec- tion suffered a disastrous fire in 1900, but has been rebuilt more substantially than before. The prin- cipal streets are paved and electric street cars con- nect with Normal (two miles distant), the site of the "State Normal University" and "Soldiers' Or- phans' Home." Pop. (1890), 20,284; (1900), 23,286 ..

BLOOMINGTON CONVENTION OF 1856. Although not formally called as such, this was the first Republican State Convention held in Illinois, out of which grew a permanent Repub- lican organization in the State. A mass conven- tion of those opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise (known as an "Anti-Nebraska Convention") was held at Springfield during the week of the State Fair of 1854 (on Oct. 4 and 5), and, although it adopted a platform in harmony with the principles which afterwards became the foundation of the Republican party, and appointed a State Central Committee, besides putting in nomination a candidate for State Treasurer-the only State officer elected that year-the organi- zation was not perpetuated, the State Central Committee failing to organize. The Bloomington Convention of 1856 met in accordance with a call issued by a State Central Committee appointed by the Convention of Anti-Nebraska editors held at Decatur on February 22, 1856. (See Anti-Neb-

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

raska Editorial Convention.) The call did not even contain the word "Republican," but was addressed to those opposed to the principles of the Nebraska Bill and the policy of the existing Democratic administration. The Convention met on May 29, 1856, the date designated by the Editorial Convention at Decatur, but was rather in the nature of a mass than a delegate conven- tion, as party organizations existed in few coun- ties of the State at that time. Consequently representation was very unequal and followed no systematic rule. Out of one hundred counties into which the State was then divided, only seventy were represented by delegates, ranging from one to twenty-five each, leaving thirty counties (embracing nearly the whole of the southern part of the State) entirely unrepre- sented. Lee County had the largest representa- tion (twenty-five), Morgan County (the home of Richard Yates) coming next with twenty dele- gates, while Cook County had seventeen and Sangamon had five. The whole number of delegates, as shown by the contemporaneous record, was 269. Among the leading spirits in the Convention were Abraham Lincoln, Archi- bald Williams, O. H. Browning, Richard Yates, John M. Palmer, Owen Lovejoy, Norman B. Judd, Burton C. Cook and others who afterwards became prominent in State politics. The delega- tion from Cook County included the names of John Wentworth, Grant Goodrich, George Schneider, Mark Skinner, Charles H. Ray and Charles L. Wilson. The temporary organization was effected with Archibald Williams of Adams County in the chair, followed by the election of John M. Palmer of Macoupin, as Permanent President. The other officers were: Vice-Presi- dents-John A. Davis of Stephenson; William Ross of Pike; James McKee of Cook; John H. Bryant of Bureau; A. C. Harding of Warren; Richard Yates of Morgan; Dr. H. C. Johns of Macon; D. L. Phillips of Union; George Smith of Madison ; Thomas A. Marshall of Coles; J. M. Ruggles of Mason ; G. D. A. Parks of Will, and John Clark of Schuyler. Secretaries-Henry S. Baker of Madison; Charles L. Wilson of Cook; John Tillson of Adams; Washington Bushnell of La Salle, and B. J. F. Hanna of Randolph. A State ticket was put in nomination consisting of William H. Bissell for Governor (by acclama- tion); Francis A. Hoffman of Du Page County, for Lieutenant-Governor; Ozias M. Hatch of Pike, for Secretary of State; Jesse K. Dubois of Lawrence, for Auditor; James Miller of McLean, for Treasurer, and William H. Powell of Peoria,

for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Hoff- man, having been found ineligible by lack of resi- dence after the date of naturalization, withdrew, and his place was subsequently filled by the nomination of John Wood of Quincy. The plat- form adopted was outspoken in its pledges of unswerving loyalty to the Union and opposition to the extension of slavery into new territory. A delegation was appointed to the National Con- vention to be held in Philadelphia on June 17, following, and a State Central Committee was named to conduct the State campaign, consisting of James C. Conkling of Sangamon County ; Asahel Gridley of McLean; Burton C. Cook of La Salle, and Charles H. Ray and Norman B. Judd of Cook. The principal speakers of the occasion, before the convention or in popular meetings held while the members were present in Bloomington, included the names of O. H. Brown- ing, Owen Lovejoy, Abraham Lincoln, Burton C. Cook, Richard Yates, the venerable John Dixon, founder of the city bearing his name, and Governor Reeder of Pennsylvania, who had been Territorial Governor of Kansas by appointment of President Pierce, but had refused to carry out the policy of the administration for making Kansas a slave State. None of the speeches were fully reported, but that of Mr. Lincoln has been universally regarded by those who heard it as the gem of the occasion and the most brilliant of his life, foreshadowing his celebrated "house- divided-against-itself" speech of June 17, 1858. John L. Scripps, editor of "The Chicago Demo- cratic Press," writing of it, at the time, to his paper, said: "Never has it been our fortune to listen to a more eloquent and masterly presenta- tion of a subject. . . . For an hour and a half he (Mr. Lincoln) held the assemblage spellbound by the power of his argument, the intense irony of his invective, and the deep earnestness and fervid brilliancy of his eloquence. When lie concluded, the audience sprang to their feet and cheer after cheer told how deeply their hearts had been touched and their souls warmed up to a generous enthusiasm." At the election, in November following, although the Democratic candidate for President carried the State by a plurality of over 9,000 votes, the entire State ticket put in nomination at Bloomington was successful by majorities ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 for the several candidates.

BLUE ISLAND, a village of Cook County, on the Calumet River and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago & Grand Trunk and the Illinois Central Railways, 15 miles south of

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

Chicago. It has a high school, churches and two newspapers, besides brick, smelting and oil works. Population (1890), 2,521; (1900), 6,114.

BLUE ISLAND RAILROAD, a short line 3.96 miles in length, lying wholly within Illinois; capital stock $25,000; operated by the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Its funded debt (1895) was $100,000 and its floating debt, $3, 779.

BLUE MOUND, a town of Macon County, on the Wabash Railway, 14 miles southeast of De- catur ;: in rich grain and live-stock region; has tliree grain elevators, two banks, tile factory and one newspaper. Pop. (1890), 696; (1900), 714.

BLUFFS, a village of Scott County, at the junction of the Quincy and Hannibal branches of the Wabash Railway, 52 miles west of Spring- field; has a bank and a newspaper. Population (1880), 162; (1890), 421: (1900), 539.

BOAL, Robert, M.D., physician and legis- lator, born near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1806; was brought by his parents to Ohio when five years old and educated at Cincinnati, graduating from the Ohio Medical College in 1828; settled at Lacon, Ill., in 1836, practicing there until 1862, when, having been appointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for that District, he re- moved to Peoria. Other public positions held by Dr. Boal have been those of Senator in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth General Assemblies (1844-48), Representative in the Nineteenth and Twentieth (1854-58), and Trustee of the Institu- tion for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville, remaining in the latter position seventeen years under the successive administrations of Gov- ernors Bissell, Yates, Oglesby, Palmer and Bever- idge-the last five years of his service being President of the Board. He was also President of the State Medical Board in 1882. Dr. Boal continued to practice at Peoria until about 1890, when he retired, and, in 1893, returned to Lacon to reside with his daughter, the widow of the late Colonel Greenbury L. Fort, for eight years Representative in Congress from the Eighth District.

BOARD OF ARBITRATION, a Bureau of the State Government, created by an act of the Legis- lature, approved August 2, 1895. It is appointed by the Executive and is composed of three mem- bers (not more than two of whom can belong to the same political party), one of whom must be an employer of labor and one a member of some labor organization. The term of office for the members first named was fixed at two years; after March 1, 1897, it is to be three years, one member retiring annually. A compensation of

$1,500 per annum is allowed to each member of the Board, while the Secretary, who must also be a stenographer, receives a salary of $1,200 per annum. When a controversy arises between an individual, firm or corporation employing not less than twenty-five persons, and his or its employés, application may be made by the aggrieved party to the Board for an inquiry into the nature of the disagreement, or both parties may unite in the submission of a case. The Board is required to visit the locality, carefully investi- gate the cause of the dispute and render a deci- sion as soon as practicable, the same to be at once made public. If the application be filed by the employer, it must be accompanied by a stipula- tion to continue in business, and order no lock-out for the space of three weeks after its date. In like manner, complaining employés must promise to continue peacefully at work, under existing conditions, for a like period. The Board is granted power to send for persons and papers and to administer oaths to witnesses. Its decisions are binding upon applicants for six months after rendition, or until either party shall have given the other sixty days' notice in writing of his or their intention not to be bound thereby. In case the Board shall learn that a disagreement exists between employés and an employer having less than twenty-five persons in his employ, and that a strike or lock-out is seriously threatened, it is made the duty of the body to put itself into communication with both employer and employés and endeavor to effect an amicable settlement between them by mediation. The absence of any provision in the law prescribing penalties for its violation leaves the observance of the law, in its present form, dependent upon the voluntary action of the parties interested.

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, a body organ- ized under act of the General Assembly, approved March 8, 1867. It first consisted of twenty-five members, one from each Senatorial District. The first Board was appointed by the Governor, holding office two years, afterwards becoming elective for a term of four years. In 1872 the law was amended, reducing the number of mem- bers to one for each Congressional District, the whole number at that time becoming nineteen, with the Auditor as a member ex-officio, who usually presides. From 1884 to 1897 it consisted of twenty elective members, but, in 1897, it was increased to twenty-two. The Board meets annually on the second Tuesday of August. The abstracts of the property assessed for taxation in the several counties of the State are laid before

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

it for examination and equalization, but it may not reduce the aggregate valuation nor increase it more than one per cent. Its powers over the returns of the assessors do not extend beyond equalization of assessments between counties. The Board is required to consider the various classes of property separately, and determine such rates of addition to or deduction froni the listed, or assessed, valuation of each class as it may deem equitable and just. The statutes pre- scribe rules for determining the value of all the classes of property enumerated-personal, real, railroad, telegraph, etc. The valuation of the capital stock of railroads, telegraph and other corporations (except newspapers) is fixed by the Board. Its consideration having been completed, the Board is required to summarize the results of its labors in a comparative table, which must be again examined, compared and perfected. Reports of each annual meeting, with the results reached, are printed at the expense of the State and distributed as are other public documents. The present Board (1897-1901) consists by dis- tricts of (1) George F. McKnight, (2) John J. McKenna, (3) Solomon Simon, (4) Andrew Mc- Ansh, (5) Albert Oberndorf, (6) Henry Severin, (7) Edward S. Taylor, (8) Theodore S. Rogers, (9) Charles A. Works, (10) Thomas P. Pierce, (11) Samuel M. Barnes, (12) Frank P. Martin, (13) Frank K. Robeson, (14) W. O. Cadwallader, (15) J. S. Cruttenden, (16) H. D. Hirshheimer, (17) Thomas N. Leavitt, (18) Joseph F. Long, (19) Richard Cadle, (20) Charles Emerson, (21) John W. Larimer, (22) William A. Wall, besides the Auditor of Public Accounts as ex-officio member -the District members being divided politically in the proportion of eighteen Republicans to four Democrats.

BOARD OF PUBLIC CHARITIES, a State Bureau, created by act of the Legislature in 1869, upon the recommendation of Governor Oglesby. The act creating the Board gives the Commissioners supervisory oversight of the financial and administrative conduct of all the charitable and correctional institutions of the State, with the exception of the penitentiaries, and they are especially charged with looking after and caring for the condition of the paupers and the insane. As originally constituted the Board consisted of five male members who em- ployed a Secretary. Later provision was made for the appointment of a female Commissioner. The office is not elective. The Board has always carefully scrutinized the accounts of the various State charitable institutions, and, under its man-

agement, no charge of peculation against any official connected with the same has ever been substantiated; there have been no scandals, and only one or two isolated charges of cruelty to inmates. Its supervision of the county jails and almshouses has been careful and conscientious, and has resulted in benefit alike to the tax-payers and the inmates. The Board, at the close of the year 1898, consisted of the following five mem- bers, their terms ending as indicated in paren- thesis: J. C. Corbus (1898), R. D. Lawrence (1899), Julia C. Lathrop (1900), William J. Cal- houn (1901), Ephraim Banning (1902). J. C. Cor- bus was President and Frederick H. Wines, Secretary.

BOGARDUS, Charles, legislator, was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., March 28, 1841, and left an orphan at six years of age; was educated in the common schools, began working in a store at 13, and, in 1862, enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-first New York Infantry, being elected First Lieutenant, and retiring from the service as Lieutenant-Colonel "for gallant and meritori- ous service" before Petersburg. While in the service he participated in some of the most important battles in Virginia, and was once wounded and once captured. In 1872 he located in Ford County, Ill., where he has been a success- ful operator in real estate. He has been twice elected to the House of Representatives (1884 and '86) and three times to the State Senate (1888, '92 and '96), and has served on the most important committees in each house, and has proved him- self one of the most useful members. At the session of 1895 he was chosen President pro tem. of the Senate.

BOGGS, Carroll C., Justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Fairfield, Wayne County, Ill., Oct. 19, 1844, and still resides in his native town; has held the offices of State's Attorney, County Judge of Wayne County, and Judge of the Circuit Court for the Second Judicial Circuit, being assigned also to Appellate Court duty. In June, 1897, Judge Boggs was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed Judge David J. Baker, his term to continue until 1906.

BOLTWOOD, Henry L., the son of William and Electa (Stetson) Boltwood, was born at Am- herst, Mass., Jan. 17, 1831; fitted for college at Amherst Academy and graduated from Amherst College in 1853. While in college he taught school every winter, commencing on a salary of $4 per week and "boarding round" among the scholars. After graduating he taught in acad- emies at Limerick, Me., and at Pembroke and

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

Derry, N. H., and in the high school. at Law- rence, Mass .; also served as School Commissioner for Rockingham County, N. H. In 1864 he went into the service of the Sanitary Commission in the Department of the Gulf, remaining until the close of the war; was also ordained Chaplain of a colored regiment, but was not regularly mustered in. After the close of the war he was employed as Superintendent of Schools at Griggsville, Ill., for two years, and, while there, in 1867, organ- ized the first township high school ever organized in the State, where he remained eleven years. He afterwards organized the township high school at Ottawa, remaining there five years, after which, in 1883, he organized and took charge of the township high school at Evanston, where he has since been employed in his profession as a teacher. Professor Boltwood has been a member of the State Board of Education and has served as President of the State Teachers' Association. As a teacher he has given special attention to English language and literature, and to history, being the author of an English Grammar, a High School Speller and "Topical Outlines of General History," besides many contributions to educational jour- nals. He has done a great deal of institute work, both in Illinois and Iowa, and has been known somewhat as a tariff reformer.

BOND, Lester L., lawyer, was born at Raven- na, Ohio, Oct. 27, 1829; educated in the common schools and at an academy, meanwhile laboring in local factories; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853, the following year coming to Chicago, where he has given his attention chiefly to practice in connection with patent laws. Mr. Bond served several terms in the Chicago City Council, was Republican Presidential Elector in 1868, and served two terms in the General Assem- bly-1866-70.

BOND, Shadrach, first Territorial Delegate in Congress from Illinois and first Governor of the State, was born in Maryland, and, after being liberally educated, removed to Kaskaskia while Illinois was a part of the Northwest Territory. He served as a member of the first Territorial Legislature (of Indiana Territory) and was the first Delegate from the Territory of Illinois in Congress, serving from 1812 to 1814. In the latter year he was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys; he also held a commission as Captain in the War of 1812. On the admission of the State, in 1818, he was elected Governor, and occupied the executive chair until 1822. Died at Kaskas- kia, April 13, 1832 .- Shadrach Bond, Sr., an uncle of the preceding, canie to Illinois in 1781 and was

elected Delegate from St. Clair County (then comprehending all Illinois) to the Territorial Legislature of Northwest Territory, in 1799, and, in 1804, to the Legislative Council of the newly organized Territory of Indiana.

BOND COUNTY, a small county lying north- east from St. Louis, having an area of 380 square miles and a population 1900) of 16,078. The first American settlers located here in 1807, com- ing from the South, and building Hill's and Jones's forts for protection from the Indians. Settlement was slow, in 1816 there being scarcely twenty-five log cabins in the county. The county-seat is Greenville, where the first cabin was erected in 1815 by George Davidson. The county was organized in 1818, and named in honor of Gov. Shadrach Bond. Its original limits included the present counties of Clinton, Fayette and Montgomery. The first court was held at Perryville, and, in May, 1817, Judge Jesse B. Thomas presided over the first Circuit Court at Hill's Station. The first court house was erected at Greenville in 1822. The county contains good timber and farming lands, and at some points, coal is found near the surface.

BONNEY, Charles Carroll, lawyer and re- former, was born in Hamilton, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1831; educated at Hamilton Academy and settled in Peoria, Ill., in 1850, where he pursued the avocation of a teacher while studying law; was admitted to the bar in 1852, but removed to Chi- cago in 1860, where he has since been engaged in practice; served as President of the National Law and Order League in New York in 1885, being repeatedly re-elected, and has also been President of the Illinois State Bar Association, as well as a member of the American Bar Associa- tion. Among the reforms which he has advo- cated are constitutional prohibition of special legislation; an extension of equity practice to bankruptcy and other law proceedings; civil serv- ice pensions; State Boards of labor and capital, etc. He has also published some treatises in book form, chiefly on legal questions, besides editing a volume of "Poems by Alfred W. Arrington, with a sketch of his Character" (1869.) As Presi- dent of the World's Congresses Auxiliary, in 1893, Mr. Bonney contributed largely to the success of that very interesting and important feature of the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

BOONE, Levi D., M. D., early physician, was born near Lexington, Ky., December, 1808 --- a descendant of the celebrated Daniel Boone; re- ceived the degree of M. D. from Transylvania University and came to Edwardsville, Ill., at an

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

early day, afterwards locating at Hillsboro and taking part in the Black Hawk War as Captain of a cavalry company; came to Chicago in 1836 and engaged in the insurance business, later resuming the practice of his profession; served several terms as Alderman and was elected Mayor in 1855 by a combination of temperance men and Know-Nothings; acquired a large property by operations in real estate. Died, February, 1882

BOONE COUNTY, the smallest of the "north- ern tier" of counties, having an area of only 290 square miles, and a population (1900) of 15,791. Its surface is chiefly rolling prairie, and the principal products are oats and corn. The earli- est settlers came from New York and New Eng- land, and among them were included Medkiff, Dunham, Caswell, Cline, Towner, Doty and Whitney. Later (after the Pottawattomies had evacuated the country), came the Shattuck brothers, Maria Hollenbeck and Mrs. Bullard, Oliver Hale, Nathaniel Crosby, Dr. Whiting, H. C. Walker, and the Neeley and Mahoney families. Boone County was cut off from Winnebago, and organized in 1837, being named in honor of Ken- tucky's pioneer. The first frame house in the county was erected by S. F. Doty and stood for fifty years in the village of Belvidere on the north side of the Kishwaukee River. The county-seat (Belvidere) was platted in 1837, and an academy built soon after. The first Protestant church was a Baptist society under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. King.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Edgar County, Part 11

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Number of Pages: 876

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell
Number of Pages: 876