Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 69

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

USA > Illinois > Morgan County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County > Part 69

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The essential features of our Illinois law are:

I. The power of initiative in starting a free public library lies in the City Council, and not in an appeal to the voters of the city at a general election.

It is a weak point in the English public libra- ries act that this initiative is left to the electors or voters of a city, and, in several London and pro- vincial districts, the proposed law has been repeatedly voted down by the very people it was most calculated to benefit, from fear of a little extra taxation.

II. The amount of tax to be levied is permissive. not mandatory.

We can trust to the public spirit of our city authorities, supported by an intelligent public sentiment, to provide for the library needs. A mandatory law, requiring the levying of a certain fixed percentage of the city's total assessment, might invite extravagance, as it has in several instances where a mandatory law is in force.

III. The Library Board has exclusive control of library appropriations.

This is to be interpreted that Public Library Boards are separate and distinct departments of the city administration; and experience has shown that they are as capable and honest in handling money as School Boards or City Councils.

IV. Library Boards consist of nine members to serve for three years.

V. The members of the Board are appointed by the Mayor, subject to the approval of the City Council, from the citizens at large with reference to their fitness for such office.

VI. An annual report is to be made by the Board to the City Council, stating the condition of their trust on the first day of June of each year.

This, with slight modifications adapting it to villages, towns and townships, is, in substance, the Free Public Library Law of Illinois. Under its beneficent operation flourishing free public libraries have been established in the principal cities and towns of our State-slowly, at first, but, of late years, more rapidly as their usefulness has become apparent.

No argument is now needed to show the im- portance-the imperative necessity-of the widest possible diffusion of intelligence among the people of a free State. Knowledge and ignorance-the one means civilization, the other, barbarism. Give a man the taste for good books and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making him a better, happier man and a wiser citizen. You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history ; you set before him nobler examples to imitate and safer paths to follow.

We have no way of foretelling how many and how great benefits will accrue to society and the State, in the future, from the comparatively modern introduction of the free public library into our educational system; but when some youthful Abraham Lincoln, poring over Æsop's Fables, Weems' Life of Washington and a United States History, by the flickering light of a pine- knot in a log-cabin, rises at length to be the hope and bulwark of a nation, then we learn what the world may owe to a taste for books. In the gen- eral spread of intelligence through our free schools, our free press and our free libraries, lies our only hope that our free American institutions shall not decay and perish from the earth.

"Knowledge is the only good, ignorance the only evil."

"Let knowledge grow from more to more."

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. The office of Lieutenant-Governor, created by the Constitution of 1818, has been retained in each of the subsequent Constitutions, being elective by the people at the same time with that of Gov- ernor. The following is a list of the Lieutenant- Governors of the State, from the date of its admission into the Union to the present time (1899), with the date and length of each incum- bent's term: Pierre Menard, 1818-22; Adolphus Frederick Hubbard, 1822-26; William Kinney, 1826-30; Zadoc Casey, 1830-33; William Lee D. Ewing (succeeded to the office as President of the Senate), 1833-34; Alexander M. Jenkins, 1834-36; William H. Davidson (as President of the Senate), 1836-38; Stinson H. Anderson, 1838-42; John Moore, 1842-46; Joseph B. Wells, 1846-49; William McMurtry, 1849-53; Gustavus Koerner, 1853-57; John Wood, 1857-60; Thomas A. Mar- shall (as President of the Senate), Jan. 7-14, 1861; Francis A. Hoffman, 1861-65; William Bross, 1865-69; John Dougherty, 1869-73; John L.

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Beveridge, Jan. 13-23, 1873; John Early (as President of the Senate). 1873-75; Archibald A. Glenn (as President of the Senate), 1875-77; Andrew Shuman, 1877-81; John M. Hamilton, 1881-83; William J. Campbell (as President of the Senate), 1883-85; John C. Smith, 1885-89; Lyman B. Ray, 1889-93; Joseph B. Gill, 1893-97; William A. Northcott, 1897 -.

LIMESTONE. Illinois ranks next to Pennsyl- vania in its output of limestone, the United States Census Report for 1890 giving the number of quarries as 104, and the total value of the product as $2, 190,604. In the value of stone used for building purposes Illinois far exceeds any other State, the greater proportion of the output in Pennsylvania being suitable only for flux. Next to its employment as building stone, Illinois limestone is chiefly used for street-work, a small percentage being used for flux, and still less for bridge-work, and but little for burning into lime. The quarries in this State employ 3,383 hands, and represent a capital of $3,316,616, in the latter par- ticular also ranking next to Pennsylvania. The quarries are found in various parts of the State, but the most productive and most valuable are in the northern section.

LINCOLN, an incorporated city, and county- seat of Logan County, at the intersection of the Chicago & Alton, the Champaign and Havana and the Peoria, Decatur and Evansville Divi- sions of the Illinois Central Railroad; is 28 miles northeast of Springfield, and 157 miles southwest of Chicago. The surrounding country is devoted to agriculture, stock-raising and coal-mining. Considerable manufacturing is carried on, among the products being flour, brick and drain tile. The city has water-works, fire department. gas and electric lighting plant, telephone system, machine shops, eighteen churches, good schools, three national banks, a public library, electric street railways, and several newspapers. Besides possessing good schools, it is the seat of Lincoln University (a Cumberland Presbyterian institu- tion, founded in 1865). The Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home and the Illinois (State) Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children are also located here. Population (1890), 6,725: (1900), 8,962; (1903, est.), 12,000.

LINCOLN, Abraham, sixteenth President of the United States, was born in Hardin County, Ky., Feb. 12, 1809, of Quaker-English descent, his grandfather having emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky about 1780, where he was killed by the Indians in 1784. Thomas Lincoln, the father of Abraham, settled in Indiana in 1816, and removed

to Macon County in 1830. Abraham was the issue of his father's first marriage, his mother's maiden name being Nancy Hanks. The early occupations of the future President were varied. He served at different times as farm-laborer, flat- boatman, country salesman, merchant, surveyor, lawyer, State legislator, Congressman and Presi- dent. In 1832 he enlisted for the Black Hawk War, and was chosen Captain of his company; was an unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature the same year, but elected two years later. About this time he turned his attention to the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1836, and, one year later, began practice at Springfield. By successive re-elections he served in the House until 1842, when he declined a re-election. In 1838, and again in 1840, he was the Whig candi- date for Speaker of the House, on both occasions being defeated by William L. D. Ewing. In 1841 he was an applicant to President William Henry Harrison for the position of Commissioner of the General Land Office, the appointment going to Justin Butterfield. His next official position was that of Representative in the Thirtieth Congress (1847-49). From that time he gave his attention to his profession until 1855, when he was a lead- ing candidate for the United States Senate in opposition to the principles of the Nebraska Bill, but failed of election, Lyman Trumbull being chosen. In 1856, he took a leading part in the organization of the Republican party at Bloom- ington, and, in 1858, was formally nominated by the Republican State Convention for the United States Senate, later engaging in a joint debate with Senator Douglas on party issues, during which they delivered speeches at seven different cities of the State. Although lie again failed to secure the prize of an election, owing to the char- acter of the legislative apportionment then in force, which gave a majority of the Senators and Representatives to a Democratic minority of the voters, his burning, incisive utterances on the subject of slavery attracted the attention of the whole country, and prepared the way for the future triumph of the Republican party. Previ- ous to this he had been four times (1840, '44, '52, and '56) on the ticket of his party as candidate for Presidential Elector. In 1860, he was the nominee of the Republican party for the Presi- dency and was chosen by a decisive majority in the Electoral College, though receiving a minor- ity of the aggregate popular vote. Unquestion- ably his candidacy was aided by internal dissensions in the Democratic party. His election and his inauguration (on March 4, 1861) were

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made a pretext for secession, and he met the issue with promptitude and firmness, tempered with kindness and moderation towards the se- cessionists. He was re-elected to the Presidency in 1864, the vote in the Electoral College standing 212 for Lincoln to 21 for his opponent, Gen. George B. Mcclellan. The history of Mr. Lin- coln's life in the Presidential chair is the history of the whole country during its most dramatic period. Next to his success in restoring the authority of the Government over the whole Union, history will, no doubt, record his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation of January, 1863, as the most important and far-reaching act of his administration. And yet to this act, which has embalmed his memory in the hearts of the lovers of freedom and human justice in all ages and in all lands, the world over, is due his death at the hands of the assassin, J. Wilkes Booth, in Washington City, April 15, 1865, as the result of an assault made upon him in Ford's Theater the evening previous-his death occurring one week after the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army-just as peace, with the restoration of the Union, was assured. A period of National mourning ensued, and he was accorded the honor of a National funeral, his remains being finally laid to rest in a mausoleum in Springfield. His profound sympathy with every class of sufferers during the War of the Rebellion; his forbearance in the treatment of enemies; his sagacity in giving direction to public sentiment at home and in dealing with international questions abroad; his courage in preparing the way for the removal of slavery-the bone of contention between the. warring sections-have given him a place in the affections of the people beside that of Washington himself, and won for him the respect and admi- ration of all civilized nations.

LINCOLN, Robert Todd, lawyer, member of the Cabinet and Foreign Minister, the son of Abraham Lincoln, was born in Springfield, Ill., August 1, 1843, and educated in the home schools and at Harvard University, graduating from the latter in 1864. During the last few months of the Civil War, he served on the staff of General Grant with the rank of Captain. After the war he studied law and, on his admission to the bar, settled in Chicago, finally becoming a member of the firm of Lincoln & Isham. In 1880, he was chosen a Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket, and, in March following, appointed Secre- tary of War by President Garfield, serving to the close of the term. In 1889 he became Minister to England by appointment of President Harrison,

gaining high distinction as a diplomatist. This was the last public office held by him. After the death of George M. Pullman he became Acting President of the Pullman Palace Car Company, later being formally elected to that office, which (1899) he still holds. Mr. Lincoln's name has been frequently mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for the Presidency, but its use has not been encouraged by him.

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE, a name popularly given to a series of joint discussions between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Doug- las, held at different points in the State during the summer and autumn of 1858, while both were candidates for the position of United States Sena- tor. The places and dates of holding these discussions were as follows: At Ottawa, August 21; at Freeport, August 27; at Jonesboro, Sept. 15; at Charleston, Sept. 18; at Galesburg, Oct. 7; at Quincy, Oct. 13; at Alton, Oct. 15. Immense audiences gathered to hear these debates, which have become famous in the political history of the Nation, and the campaign was the most noted in the history of any State. It resulted in the securing by Douglas of a re-election to the Senate; but his answers to the shrewdly-couched interrog- atories of Lincoln Iod to the alienation of his Southern following, the disruption of the Demo- cratic party in 1860, and the defeat of his Presi- dential aspirations, with the' placing of Mr. Lincoln prominently before the Nation as a sagacious political leader, and his final election to the Presidency.

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, an institution located at Lincoln, Logan County, Ill., incorporated in 1865. It is co-educational, has a faculty of eleven instructors and, for 1896-8, reports 209 pupils- ninety-one male and 118 female. Instruction is given in the classics, the sciences, music, fine arts and preparatory studies. The institution has a library of 3,000 volumes, and reports funds and endowment amounting to $60,000, with property valued at $55,000.

LINDER, Usher F., lawyer and politician, was born in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Ky. (ten miles from the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln), March 20, 1809; came to Illinois in 1835, finally locating at Charleston, Coles County ; after travel- ing the circuit a few months was elected Repre- sentative in the Tenth General Assembly (1836), but resigned before the close of the session to accept the office of Attorney-General, which he held less than a year and a half, when he resigned that also. Again, in 1846, he was elected to the Fifteenth General Assembly and re-elected to the

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Sixteenth and Seventeenth, afterwards giving his attention to the practice of his profession. Mr. Linder, in his best days, was a fluent speaker with some elements of eloquence which gave him a wide popularity as a campaign orator. Originally a Whig, on the dissolution of that party he became a Democrat, and, in 1860, was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Charleston, S. C., and at Baltimore. During the last four years of his life he wrote a series of articles under the title of "Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar of Illinois," which was pub- lished in book form in 1876. Died in Chicago, June 5, 1876.

LINEGAR, David T., legislator, was born in Ohio, Feb. 12, 1830; came to Spencer County, Ind., in 1840, and to Wayne County, Ill., in 1858, afterward locating at Cairo, where he served as Postmaster during the Civil War; was a Repub- lican Presidential Elector in 1872, but afterwards became a Democrat, and served as such in the lower branch of the General Assembly (1880-86). Died at Cairo, Feb. 2, 1886.

LIPPINCOTT, Charles E., State Auditor, was born at Edwardsville, Ill., Jan. 26, 1825; attended Illinois College at Jacksonville, but did not graduate; in 1849 graduated from the St. Louis Medical College, and began the practice of medi- cine at Chandlerville, Cass County. In 1852 he went to California, remaining there five years, taking an active part in the anti-slavery contest, and serving as State Senator (1853-55). In 1857, having returned to Illinois, he resumed practice at Chandlerville, and, in 1861, under authority of Governor Yates, recruited a company which was attached to the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry as Company K, and of which he was cominissioned Captain, having declined the lieutenant-colo- nelcy. Within twelve months he became Colonel, and, on Sept. 16, 1865, was mustered out as brevet Brigadier-General. In 1866 he reluctantly con- sented to lead the Republican forlorn hope as a candidate for Congress in the (then) Ninth Con- gressional District, largely reducing the Demno- cratic majority. In 1867 he was elected Secretary of the State Senate, and the same year chosen Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives at Washington. In 1868 he was elected State Audi- tor, and re-elected in 1872; also served as Perma- nent President of the Republican State Conven- tion of 1878. On the establishment of the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, he became its first Superintendent, assuming his duties in Marclı, 1887, but died Sept. 13, following, as a result of injuries received from a runaway team

while driving through the grounds of the institu- tion a few days previous. - Emily Webster Chandler (Lippincott), wife of the preceding, was born March 13, 1833, at Chandlerville, Cass County, Ill., the daughter of Dr. Charles Chand- ler, a prominent physician widely known in that section of the State; was educated at Jacksonville Female Academy, and married, Dec. 25, 1851, to Dr. (afterwards General) Charles E. Lippincott. Soon after the death of her husband, in Septem- ber, 1887, Mrs. Lippincott, who had already endeared herself by her acts of kindness to the veterans in the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, was appointed Matron of the institution, serving until her death, May 21, 1895. The respect in which she was held by the old soldiers, to whose com- fort and necessities she had ministered in hos- pital and elsewhere, was shown in a most touching manner at the time of her death, and on the removal of her remains to be laid by the side of her husband, in Oak Ridge Cemetery at Spring- field.

LIPPINCOTT, (Rev.) Thomas, early clergy- man, was born in Salem, N. J., in 1791; in 1817 started west, arriving in St. Louis in February. 1818; the same year established himself in mer- cantile business at Milton, then a place of some importance near Alton. This place proving unhealthy, he subsequently removed to Edwards- ville, where he was for a time employed as clerk in the Land Office. He afterwards served as Secretary of the Senate (1822-23). That he was a man of education and high intelligence, as well as a strong opponent of slavery, is shown by his writings, in conjunction with Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, George Churchill and others, in oppo- sition to the scheme for securing the adoption of a pro-slavery Constitution in Illinois in 1824. In 1825 he purchased from Hooper Warren "The Edwardsville Spectator," which he edited for a year or more, but soon after entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church and became an influ- ential factor in building up that denomination in Illinois. He was also partly instrumental in securing the location of Illinois College at Jack- sonville. He died at Pana, Ill., April 13, 1869. Gen. Charles E. Lippincott, State Auditor (1869-77), was a son of the subject of this sketch.

LIQUOR LAWS. In the early history of the State, the question of the regulation of the sale of intoxicants was virtually relegated to the control of the local authorities, who granted license, col- lected fees, and fixed the tariff of charges. As early as 1851, however, the General Assembly, with a view to mitigating what it was felt had

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become a growing evil, enacted a law popularly known as the "quart law," which, it was hoped, would do away with the indiscriminate sale of liquor by the glass. The law failed to meet the expectation of its framers and supporters, and, in 1855, a prohibitory law was submitted to the elect- ors, which was rejected at the polls. Since that date a general license system has prevailed, except in certain towns and cities where prohibitory ordinances were adopted. The regulations gov- erning the traffic, therefore, have been widely variant in different localities. The Legislature, however, has always possessed the same constitu- tional power to regulate the sale of intoxicants, as aconite, henbane, strychnine, or other poisons. In 1879 the Woman's Christian Temperance Union began the agitation of the license question from a new standpoint. In March of that year, a delegation of Illinois women, headed by Miss Frances E. Willard, presented to the Legislature a monster petition, signed by 80,000 voters and 100,000 women, praying for the amendment of the State Constitution, so as to give females above the age of 21 the right to vote upon the granting of licenses in the localities of their residences. Miss Willard and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Iowa, addressed the House in its favor, and Miss Willard spoke to the Senate on the same lines. The measure was defeated in the House by a vote of fifty-five to fifty-three, and the Senate took no action. In 1881 the same bill was introduced anew, but again failed of passage. Nevertheless, persistent agitation was not without its results. In 1883 the Legislature enacted what is generally termed the "High License Law," by the provi- sions of which a minimum license of $500 per annum was imposed for the sale of alcoholic drinks, 'and $150 for malt liquors, with the authority on the part of municipalities to impose a still higher rate by ordinance. This measure was made largely a partisan issue, the Repub- licans voting almost solidly for it, and the Demo- crats almost solidly opposing it. The bill was promptly signed by Governor Hamilton. The liquor laws of Illinois, therefore, at the present time are based upon local option, high license and local supervision. The criminal code of the State contains the customary provisions respecting the sale of stimulants to minors and other prohibited parties, or at forbidden times, but, in the larger cities, many of the provisions of the State law are rendered practically inoperative by the municipal ordinances, or absolutely nullified by the indifference or studied neglect of the local officials.

LITCHFIELD, the principal city of Montgom- ery County, at the intersection of Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, the Wabash and the Illinois Central, with three other short-line railways, 43 miles south of Springfield and 47 miles northeast of St. Louis. The surrounding country is fer- tile, undulating prairie, in which are found coal, oil and natural gas. A coal mine is operated within the corporate limits. Grain is extensively raised, and Litchfield has several elevators, flour- ing mills, a can factory, briquette works, etc. The output of the manufacturing establishments also includes foundry and machine shop prod- ucts, brick and tile, brooms, ginger ale and cider. The city is lighted by both gas and electricity, and has a Holly water-works system, a public library and public parks, two banks, twelve churches, high and graded schools, and an Ursu- line convent, a Catholic hospital, and two monthly, two weekly, and two daily periodicals. Population (1890), 5,811; (1900), 5,918; (1903, est ), 7,000.

LITCHFIELD, CARROLLTON & WESTERN RAILROAD, a line which extends from Colum- biana, on the Illinois River, to Barnett, Ill., 51.5 miles; is of standard gauge, the track being laid with fifty-six pound steel rails. It was opened for business, in three different sections, from 1883 to 1887, and for three years was operated in con- nection with the Jacksonville Southeastern Railway. In May, 1890, the latter was sold under foreclosure, and, in November, 1893, the Litch- field, Carrollton & Western reverted to the former owners. Six months later it passed into the hands of a receiver, by whom (up to 1898) it has since been operated. The general offices are at Carlinville.

LITTLE, George, merchant and banker, was born in Columbia, Pa., in 1808; came to Rush- ville, Ill., in 1836, embarking in the mercantile business, which he prosecuted sixty years. In 1865 he established the Bank of Rushville, of which he was President, in these two branches of business amassing a large fortune. Died, March 5, 1896.

LITTLE VERMILION RIVER rises in Ver- milion County, Ill., and flows eastwardly into Indiana, emptying into the Wabash in Vermilion County, Ind.

LITTLE WABASH RIVER, rises in Effingham and Cumberland Counties, flows east and south through Clay, Wayne and White, and enters the Wabash River about 8 miles above the mouth of the latter. Its estimated length is about 180 miles.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 69

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286