Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Edgar County, Part 7

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

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Judge Baker was the orator selected to deliver the address on occasion of the unveiling of the statue of Lieut .- Gov. Pierre Menard, on the capitol grounds at Springfield, in January, 1888. About 1888 he retired from practice, dying at Alton, March 5, 1897. - Edward L. (Baker), second son of David Jewett Baker, was born at Kaskaskia, Ill., June 3, 1829; graduated at Shurt- leff College in 1847; read law with his father two years, after which he entered Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar at Spring- field in 1855. Previous to this date Mr. Baker had become associated with William H. Bailhache, in the management of "The Alton Daily Telegraph," and, in July, 1855, they purchased "The Illinois State Journal," at Springfield, of which Mr. Baker assumed the editorship, remaining until 1874. In 1869 he was appointed United States Assessor for the Eighth District, serving until the abolition of the office. In 1873 he received the appointment from President Grant of Consul to Buenos Ayres, South America, and, assuming the duties of the office in 1874, remained there for twenty-three years, proving himself one of the most capable and efficient officers in the con- sular service. On the evening of the 20th of June, 1897, when Mr. Baker was about to enter a railway train already in motion at the station in the city of Buenos Ayres, he fell under the cars, receiving injuries which necessitated the ampu- tation of his right arm, finally resulting in his death in the hospital at Buenos Ayres, July 8, following. His remains were brought home at the Government expense and interred in Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, where a monu- ment has since been erected in his honor, bearing a tablet contributed by citizens of Buenos Ayres and foreign representatives in that city express- ive of their respect for his memory. -- David Jewett (Baker), Jr., a third son of David Jewett Baker, Sr., was born at Kaskaskia, Nov. 20,1834; graduated from Shurtleff College in 1854, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. In November of that year he removed to Cairo and began prac- tice. He was Mayor of that city in 1864-65, and, in 1869, was elected to the bench of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit. The Legislature of 1873 (by Act of March 28) having divided the State into twenty-six circuits, he was elected Judge of the Twenty-sixth, on June 2, 1873. In August, 1878, he resigned to accept an appointment on the Supreme Bench as successor to Judge Breese, deceased, but at the close of his term on the Supreme Bench (1879), was re-elected Circuit Judge, and again in 1885. During this period he

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

served for several years on the Appellate Bench. In 1888 he retired from the Circuit Bench by resignation and was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court for a term of nine years. Again, in 1897, he was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by Carroll C. Boggs. Soon after retiring from the Supreme Bench he removed to Chicago and engaged in general practice, in partnership with his son, John W. Baker. He fell dead almost instantly in his office, March 13, 1899. In all, Judge Baker had spent some thirty years almost continuously on the bench, and had attained eminent distinction both as a lawyer and a jurist.

BAKER, Edward Dickinson, soldier and United States Senator, was born in London, Eng., Feb. 24, 1811; emigrated to Illinois while yet in his minority, first locating at Belleville, afterwards removing to Carrollton and finally to Sangamon County, the last of which he repre- sented in the lower house of the Tenth General Assembly, and as State Senator in the Twelfth and Thirteenth. He was elected to Congress as a Whig from the Springfield District, but resigned in December, 1846, to accept the colonelcy of the Fourth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, in the Mexican War, and succeeded General Shields in command of the brigade, when the latter was wounded at Cerro Gordo. In 1848 he was elected to Congress from the Galena District; was also identified with the construction of the Panama Railroad; went to San Francisco in 1852, but later removed to Oregon, where he was elected to the United States Senate in 1860. In 1861 he resigned the Senatorship to enter the Union army, commanding a brigade at the battle of Ball's Bluff, where he was killed, October 21, 1861.

BAKER, Jehu, lawyer and Congressman, was born in Fayette County, Ky., Nov. 4, 1822. At an early age he removed to Illinois, making his home in Belleville, St. Clair County. He re- ceived his early education in the common schools and at McKendree College. Although he did not graduate from the latter institution, he received therefrom the honorary degree of A. M. in 1858, and that of LL. D. in 1882. For a time he studied medicine, but abandoned it for the study of law. From 1861 to 1865 he was Master in Chancery for St. Clair County. From 1865 to 1869 he represented the Belleville District as a Republican in Congress. From 1876 to 1881 and from 1882 to 1885 he was Minister Resident in Venezuela, during the latter portion of his term of service acting also as Consul-General. Return- ing home, he was again elected to Congress (1886)

from the Eighteenth District, but was defeated for re-election, in 1888, by William S. Forman, Democrat. Again, in 1896, having identified himself with the Free Silver Democracy and People's Party, he was elected to Congress from the Twentieth District over Everett J. Murphy, the Republican nominee, serving until March 3, 1899. He is the author of an annotated edition of Montesquieu's "Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans."

BALDWIN, Elmer, agriculturist and legisla- tor, was born in Litchfield County, Conn., March 8, 1806; at 16 years of age began teaching a coun- try school, continuing this occupation for several years during the winter months, while working on his father's farm in the summer. He then started a store at New Milford, which he man- aged for three years, when he sold out on account of his health and began farming. In 1833 he came west and purchased a considerable tract of Government land in La Salle County, where the village of Farm Ridge is now situated, removing thither with his family the following year. He served as Justice of the Peace for fourteen con- secutive terms, as Postmaster twenty years and as a member of the Board of Supervisors of La Salle County six years. In 1856 he was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives, was re-elected to the same office in 1866, and to the State Senate in 1872, serving two years. He was also appointed, in 1869, a member of the first Board of Public Charities, serving as President of the Board. Mr. Baldwin is author of a "His- tory of La Salle County," which contains much local and biographical history. Died, Nov. 18, 1895.

BALDWIN, Theron, clergyman and educa- tor, was born in Goshen, Conn., July 21, 1801; graduated at Yale College in 1827; after two years' study in the theological school there, was ordained a home missionary in 1829, becoming one of the celebrated "Yale College Band," or "Western College Society," of which he was Cor- responding Secretary during most of his life. He was settled as a Congregationalist minister at Vandalia for two years, and was active in pro- curing the charter of Illinois College at Jackson- ville, of which he was a Trustee from its organization to his death. He served for a number of years, from 1831, as Agent of the Home Missionary Society for Illinois, and, in 1838, became the first Principal of Monticello Female Seminary, near Alton, which he con- ducted five years. Died at Orange, N. J., April 10, 1870.

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

BALLARD, Addison, merchant, was born of Quaker parentage in Warren County, Ohio, No- vember, 1822. He located at La Porte, Ind., about 1841, where he learned and pursued the carpenter's trade; in 1849 went to California, remaining two years, when he returned to La Porte; in 1853 removed to Chicago and embarked in the lumber trade, which he prosecuted until 1887, retiring with a competency. Mr. Ballard served several years as one of the Commissioners of Cook County, and, from 1876 to 1882, as Alder- man of the City of Chicago, and again in the latter office, 1894-96.

BALTES, Peter Joseph, Roman Catholic Bishop of Alton, was born at Ensheim, Rhenish Ba- varia, April 7, 1827; was educated at the colleges of the Holy Cross, at Worcester, Mass., and of St. Ignatius, at Chicago, and at Lavalle University, Montreal, and was ordained a priest in 1853, and consecrated Bishop in 1870. His diocesan admin- istration was successful, but regarded by his priests as somewhat arbitrary. He wrote numer- ous pastoral letters and brochures for the guidance of clergy and laity. His most important literary work was entitled "Pastoral Instruction," first edition, N. Y., 1875; second edition (revised and enlarged), 1880. Died at Alton, Feb. 15, 1886.

BALTIMORE & OHIO SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY. This road (constituting a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system) is made up of two principal divisions, the first extending. across the State from East St. Louis to Belpre, Ohio, and the second (known as the Springfield Division) extend- ing from Beardstown to Shawneetown. The total mileage of the former (or main line) is 537 miles, of which 14712 are in Illinois, and of the latter (wholly within Illinois) 228 miles. The main line (originally known as the Ohio & Mis- sissippi Railway) was chartered in Indiana in 1848, in Ohio in 1849, and in Illinois in 1851. It was constructed by two companies, the section from Cincinnati to the Indiana and Illinois State line being known as the Eastern Division, and that in Illinois as the Western Division, the gauge, as originally built, being six feet, but reduced in 1871 to standard. The banking firm of Page & Bacon, of St. Louis and San Francisco, were the principal financial backers of the enter- prise. The line was completed and opened for traffic, May 1, 1857. The following year the road became financially embarrassed; the Eastern Di- vision was placed in the hands of a receiver in 1860. while the Western Division was sold under foreclosure, in 1862, and reorganized as the Ohio & Mississippi Railway under act of the Illinois

Legislature passed in February, 1861. The East- ern Division was sold in January, 1867; and, in November of the same year, the two divisions were consolidated under the title of the Ohio & Mississippi Railway .- The Springfield Division was the result of the consolidation, in December, 1869, of the Pana, Springfield & Northwestern and the Illinois & Southeastern Railroad-each having been chartered in 1867 --- the new corpo- ration taking the name of the Springfield & Illi- nois Southeastern Railroad, under which name the road was built and opened in March, 1871. In 1873, it was placed in the hands of receivers; in 1874 was sold under foreclosure, and, on March 1, 1875, passed into the hands of the Ohio & Mis- sissippi Railway Company. In November, 1876, the road was again placed in the hands of a receiver, but was restored to the Company in 1884. -In November, 1893, the Ohio & Mississippi was consolidated with the Baltimore & Ohio South- western Railroad, which was the successor of the Cincinnati, Washington & Baltimore Railroad, the reorganized Company taking the name of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Com- pany. The total capitalization of the road, as organized in 1898, was $84,770,531. Several branches of the main line in Indiana and Ohio go to increase the aggregate mileage, but being wholly outside of Illinois are not taken into ac- count in this statement.

BALTIMORE & OHIO & CHICAGO RAIL- ROAD, part of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad System, of which only 8.21 out of 265 miles are in Illinois. The principal object of the company's incorporation was to secure entrance for the Baltimore & Ohio into Chicago. The capital stock outstanding exceeds $1,500,000. The total capital (including stock, funded and floating debt) is $20,329,166 or $76,728 per mile. The gross earnings for the year ending June 30, 1898, were $3,383,016 and the operating expenses $2,493, 452. The income and earnings for the portion of the line in Illinois for the same period were $209,208 and the expenses $208,096.

BANGS, Mark, lawyer, was born in Franklin County, Mass., Jan. 9, 1822; spent his boy- hood on a farm in Western New York, and, after a year in an institution at Rochester, came to Chicago in 1844, later spending two years in farm work and teaching in Central Illinois. Return- ing east in 1847, he engaged in teaching for two years at Springfield, Mass., then spent a year in a dry goods store at Lacon, Ill., meanwhile prosecuting his legal studies. In 1851 he began practice, was elected a Judge

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

of the Circuit Court in 1859; served one session as State Senator (1870-72); in 1873 was ap- pointed Circuit Judge to fill the unexpired term of Judge Richmond, deceased, and, in 1875, was appointed by President Grant United States District Attorney for the Northern District, remaining in office four years. Judge Bangs was also a member of the first Anti-Nebraska State Convention of Illinois, held at Springfield in 1854; in 1862 presided over the Congressional Conven- tion which nominated Owen Lovejoy for Congress for the first time; was one of the charter members of the "Union League of America," serving as its President, and, in 1868, was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated General Grant for President for the first time. After retiring from the office of District Attorney in 1879, he removed to Chicago, where he is still (1898) engaged in the practice of his profession.

BANKSON, Andrew, pioneer and early legis- lator, a native of Tennessee, settled on Silver Creek, in St. Clair County, Ill., four miles south of Lebanon, about 1808 or 1810, and subsequently removed to Washington County. He was a Col- onel of "Rangers" during the War of 1812, and a Captain in the Black Hawk War of 1832. In 1822 he was elected to the State Senate from Washington County, serving four years, and at the session of 1822-23 was one of those who voted against the Convention resolution which had for its object to make Illinois a slave State. He sub- sequently removed to Iowa Territory, but died, in 1853, while visiting a son-in-law in Wisconsin.

BAPTISTS. The first Baptist minister to set- tle in Illinois was Elder James Smith, who located at New Design, in 1787. He was fol- lowed, about 1796-97, by Revs. David Badgley and Joseph Chance, who organized the first Baptist church within the limits of the State. Five churches, having four ministers and 111 mem- bers, formed an association in 1807. Several causes, among thiem a difference of views on the slavery question, resulted in the division of the denomination into factions. Of these perhaps the most numerous was the Regular (or Mission- ary) Baptists, at the head of which was Rev. John M. Peck, a resident of the State from 1822 until his death (1858). By 1835 the sect had grown, until it had some 250 churches, with about 7,500 members. These were under the ecclesiastical care of twenty-two Associations. Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Baptist Indian missionary, preached at Fort Dearborn on Oct. 9, 1825, and, eight years later, Rev. Allen B. Freeman organized the first Baptist society in what was then an infant set-

tlement. By 1890 the number of Associations had grown to forty, with 1010 churches 891 ministers and 88,884 members. A Baptist Theo- logical Seminary was for some time supported at Morgan Park, but, in 1895, was absorbed by the University of Chicago, becoming the divinity school of that institution. The chief organ of the denomination in Illinois is "The Standard." pub- lished at Chicago.

BARBER, Hiram, was born in Warren County, N. Y., March 24, 1835. At 11 years of age he accompanied his family to Wisconsin, of which State he was a resident until 1866. After gradu- ating at the State University of Wisconsin, at Madison, he studied law at the Albany Law School, and was admitted to practice. After serving one term as District Attorney of his county in Wisconsin (1861-62), and Assistant Attorney-General of the State for 1865-66, in the latter year he came to Chicago and, in 1878, was elected to Congress by the Republicans of the old Second Illinois District. His home is in Chicago, where he holds the position of Master in Chancery of the Superior Court of Cook County.

BARDOLPH, a village of McDonough County, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 7 miles northeast of Macomb; has a local paper. Population (1880), 400; (1800), 447; (1900), 387.

BARNSBACK, George Frederick Julins, pio- neer, was born in Germany, July 25, 1781; came to Philadelphia in 1797, and soon after to Ken- tucky, where he became an overseer; two or three years later visited his native country, suf- fering shipwreck en route in the English Channel ; returned to Kentucky in 1802, remaining until 1809, when he removed to what is now Madison (then a part of St. Clair) County, Ill .; served in the War of 1812, farmed and raised stock until 1824, when, after a second visit to Germany, he bought a plantation in St. Francois County, Mo. Subsequently becoming disgusted with slavery, lie manumitted his slaves and returned to Illinois, locating on a farm near Edwardsville, where he resided until his death in 1869. Mr. Barnsback served as Representative in the Fourteenth Gen- eral Assembly (1844-46) and, after returning from Springfield, distributed his salary among the poor of Madison County .- Julius A. (Barnsback), his son, was born in St. Francois County, Mo., May 14, 1826; in 1846 became a merchant at Troy, Madison County; was elected Sheriff in 1860; in 1864 entered the service as Captain of a Company in the One Hundred and Fortieth Illinois Volun- teers (100-days' men); also served as a member of the Twenty-fourth General Assembly (1865).

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

BARNUM, William H., lawyer and ex-Judge, was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1840. When he was but two years old his family removed to St. Clair County, Ill., where he passed his boyhood and youth. His preliminary educa- tion was obtained at Belleville, Ill., Ypsilanti, Mich., and at the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor. After leaving the institution last named at the end of the sophomore year, he taught school at Belleville, still pursuing his clas- sical studies. In 1862 he was admitted to the bar at Belleville, and soon afterward opened an office at Chester, where, for a time, he held the office of Master in Chancery. He removed' to Chicago in 1867, and, in 1879, was elevated to the bench of the Cook County Circuit Court. At the expi- ration of his term he resumed private practice.

BARRERE, Granville, was born in Highland County, Ohio. After attending the common schools, he acquired a higher education at Au- gusta, Ky., and Marietta, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in his native State, but began the prac- tice of law in Fulton County, Ill., in 1856. In 1872 he received the Republican nomination for Congress and was elected, representing his dis- trict from 1873 to 1875, at the conclusion of his term retiring to private life. Died at Canton, Ill., Jan. 13, 1889.

BARRINGTON, a village located on the north- ern border of Cook County, and partly in Lake, at the intersection of the Chicago & Northwestern and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, 32 miles northwest of Chicago. It has banks, a local paper, and several cheese factories, being in a dairying district. Population (1890), 848; (1900), 1,162.

BARROWS, John Henry, D. D., clergyman and educator, was born at Medina, Mich., July 11, 1847; graduated at Mount Olivet College in 1867, and studied theology at Yale, Union and Andover Seminaries. In 1869 he went to Kansas, where he spent two and a half years in mission- ary and educational work. He then (in 1872) accepted a call to the First Congregational Church at Springfield, Ill., where he remained a year, after which he gave a year to foreign travel, visiting Europe, Egypt and Palestine, during a part of the time supplying the American chapel in Paris. On his return to the United States he spent six years in pastoral work at Lawrence and East Boston, Mass., when (in. November, 1881) he assumed the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. Dr. Barrows achieved a world-wide celebrity by his services as Chairman of the "Parliament of Religions," a branch of the "World's Congress Auxiliary," held during the

World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Later, he was appointed Professorial Lec- turer on Comparative Religions, under lectureships in connection with the University of Chicago en- dowed by Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell. One of these, established in Dr. Barrows' name, contemplated a series of lectures in India, to be delivered on alternate years with a similar course at the Uni- versity. Courses were delivered at the University in 1895-96, and, in order to carry out the purposes of the foreign lectureship, Dr. Barrows found it necessary to resign his pastorate, which he did in the spring of 1896. After spending the summer in Germany, the regular itinerary of the round- the-world tour began at London in the latter part of November, 1896, ending with his return to the United States by way of San Francisco in May, 1897. Dr. Barrows was accompanied by a party of personal friends from Chicago and elsewhere, the tour embracing visits to the principal cities of Southern Europe, Egypt, Palestine, China and Japan, with a somewhat protracted stay in India during the winter of 1896-97. After his return to the United States he lectured at the University of Chicago and in many of the principal cities of the country, on the moral and religious condition of Oriental nations, but, in 1898, was offered the Presidency of Oberlin College, Ohio, which he accepted, entering upon his duties early in 1899.

BARRY, a city in Pike County, founded in 1836, on the Wabash Railroad, 18 miles east of Hannibal, Mo., and 30 miles southeast of Quincy. The surrounding country is agricultural. The city contains flouring mills, porkpacking and poultry establishments, etc. It has two local papers, two banks, three churches and a high school, besides schools of lower grade. Popula- tion (1880), 1,392; (1890), 1,354; (1900), 1,643.

BARTLETT, Adolphus Clay, merchant, was born of Revolutionary ancestry at Stratford, Fulton County, N. Y., June 22, 1844; was educated in the common schools and at Danville Academy and Clinton Liberal Institute, N. Y., and, coming to Chicago in 1863, entered into the employment of the hardware firm of Tuttle, Hibbard & Co., now Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., of which, a few years later, he became a partner, and later Vice-President of the Company. Mr. Bartlett has also been a Trustee of Beloit College, Presi- dent of the Chicago Home for the Friendless and a Director of the Chicago & Alton Railroad and the Metropolitan National Bank, besides being identified with various other business and benevo- lent associations.

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

BASCOM, (Rev.) Flavel, D. D., clergyman, . cestry ; was brought by his parents to Illinois in was born at Lebanon, Conn., June 8, 1804; spent his boyhood on a farm until 17 years of age, mean- while attending the common schools; prepared for college under a private tutor, and, in 1824, entered Yale College, graduating in 1828. After a year as Principal of the Academy at New Canaan, Conn., he entered upon the study of theology at Yale, was licensed to preach in 1831 and, for the next two years, served as a tutor in the liter- ary department of the college. Then coming to Illinois (1833), he cast his lot with the "Yale Band," organized at Yale College a few years previous; spent five years in missionary work in Tazewell County and two years in Northern Illi- nois as Agent of the Home Missionary Society, exploring new settlements, founding churches and introducing missionaries to new fields of labor. In 1839 he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, remaining until 1849, when he assumed the pastorship of the First Presbyterian Church at Galesburg, this relation continuing until 1856. Then, after a year's serv- ice as the Agent of the American Missionary Association of the Congregational Church, he accepted a call to the Congregational Church at Princeton, where he remained until 1869, when he took charge of the Congregational Church at Hinsdale. From 1878 he served for a consider- able period as a member of the Executive Com- mittee of the Illinois Home Missionary Society; was also prominent in educational work, being one of the founders and, for over twenty-five years, an officer of the Chicago Theological Seminary, a Trustee of Knox College and one of the founders and a Trustee of Beloit College, Wis., from which he received the degree of D. D. in 1869. Dr. Bascom died at Princeton, Ill., August 8, 1890.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Edgar County, Part 7

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