Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 698

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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 coutroversy arises between an individual, firm or corporation employing uot 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 from 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 WV. 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 12, 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 lias 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, liaving 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 liad 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 lionor 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.

BOURBONNAIS, a village of Kankakee County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 5 miles north of Kankakee. Population (1890), 510; (1900), 595.

BOUTELL, Henry Sherman, lawyer and Con- gressman, was born in Boston, Mass., March 14, 1856, graduated from the Northwestern Univer- sity at Evanston, Ill., in 1874, and from Harvard in 1876; was admitted to the bar in Illinois in 1879, and to that of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1885. In 1884 Mr. Boutell was elected to the lower branch of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly and was one of the "103" who, in the long struggle during the following session, participated in the election of Gen. John A. Logan to the United States Senate for the last time. At a special election held in the Sixth Illinois District in November, 1897, he was elected Representative in Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the sudden death of his pred- ecessor, Congressman Edward D. Cooke, and at the regular election of 1898 was re-elected to the same position, receiving a plurality of 1,116 over

his Democratic competitor and a majority of 719 over all.

BOUTON, Nathaniel S., manufacturer, was born in Concord, N. H., May 14, 1828; in his youth farmed and taught school in Connecticut, but, in 1852 came to Chicago and was employed in a foundry firm, of which he soon afterwards became a partner, in the manufacture of car- wheels and railway castings. Later he became associated with the American Bridge Company's works, which was sold to the Illinois Central Railroad Company in 1857, when he bought the Union Car Works, which he operated until 1863. He then became the head of the Union Foundry Works, which having been consolidated with the Pullman Car Works in 1886, he retired, organizing the Bouton Foundry Company. Mr. Bouton is a Republican, was Commissioner of Public Works for the city of Chicago two terms before the Civil War, and served as Assistant Quartermaster in the Eighty-eighth Illinois Infantry (Second Board of Trade Regiment) from 1862 until after the battle of Chickamauga.

BOYD, Thomas A., was born in Adams County, Pa., June 25, 1830, and graduated at Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pa., at the age of 18; studied law at Chambersburg and was admitted to the bar at Bedford in his native State, where he practiced until 1856, when he removed to Illi- nois. In 1861 he abandoned his practice to enlist in the Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, in which lie lield the position of Captain. At the close of the war he returned to his home at Lewistown, and, in 1866, was elected State Senator and re-elected at the expiration of his term in 1870, serving in the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty- seventh General Assemblies. He was also a Republican Representative from his District in the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses (1877-81). Died, at Lewistown, May 28, 1897.

BRACEVILLE, a town in Grundy County, 61 miles by rail southwest of Chicago. Coal mining is the principal industry. The town has two banks, two churches and good public schools. Population (1890), 2,150; (1900), 1,669.

BRADFORD, village of Stark County, on Buda and Rushville branch Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway; is in excellent farming region and has large grain and live-stock trade, excel- lent high school building, fine churches, good hotels and one newspaper. Pop. (1900), 773.

BRADSBY, William H., pioneer and Judge, was born in Bedford County, Va., July 12, 1787. He removed to Illinois early in life, and was the first postmaster in Washington County (at Cov-

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

ington), the first school-teacher and the first Circuit and County Clerk and Recorder. At the time of his death he was Probate and County Judge. Besides being Clerk of all the courts, he was virtually County Treasurer, as he had cus- tody of all the county's money. For several years he was also Deputy United States Surveyor, and in that capacity surveyed much of the south part of the State, as far east as Wayne and Clay Counties. Died at Nashville, Ill, August 21, 1839.

BRADWELL, James Bolesworth, lawyer and editor, was born at Loughborough, England, April 16, 1828, and brought to America in infancy, his parents locating in 1829 or '30 at Utica, N. Y. In 1833 they emigrated to Jacksonville, Ill., but the following year removed to Wheeling, Cook County, settling on a farm, where the younger Bradwell received his first lessons in breaking prairie, splitting rails and tilling the soil. His first schooling was obtained in a country log- school-house, but, later, he attended the Wilson Academy in Chicago, where he had Judge Lo- renzo Sawyer for an instructor. He also took a course in Knox College at Galesburg, then a manual-labor school, supporting himself by work- ing in a wagon and plow shop, sawing wood, etc. In May, 1852, he was married to Miss Myra Colby, a teacher, with whom he went to Mem- phis, Tenn., the same year, where they engaged in teaching a select school, the subject of this sketch meanwhile devoting some attention to reading law. He was admitted to the bar there, but after a stay of less than two years in Mem- phis, returned to Chicago and began practice. In 1861 he was elected County Judge of Cook County, and re-elected four years later, but declined a re-election in 1869. The first half of his term occurring during the progress of the Civil War, he had the opportunity of rendering some vigorous decisions which won for him the reputation of a man of courage and inflexible independence, as well as an incorruptible cham- pion of justice. In 1872 he was elected to the lower branch of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly from Cook County, and re-elected in 1874. He was again a candidate in 1882, and by many believed to have been honestly elected, though his opponent received the certificate. He made a contest for the seat, and the majority of the Committee on Elections reported in his favor; but he was defeated through the treach- ery and suspected corruption of a professed polit- ical friend. He is the author of the law making women eligible to school offices in Illinois and

allowing them to become Notaries Public, and has always been a champion for equal rights for women in the professions and as citizens. He was a Second Lieutenant of the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment, Illinois Militia, in 1848; presided over the American Woman's Suffrage Associa- tion at its organization in Cleveland; has been President of the Chicago Press Club, of the Chi- cago Bar Association, and, for a number of years, the Historian of the latter; one of the founders and President of the Union League Club, besides being associated with many other social and business organizations. At present (1899) he is editor of "The Chicago Legal News," founded by his wife thirty years ago, and with which he has been identified in a business capacity from its establishment .- Myra Colby (Bradwell), the wife of Judge Bradwell, was born at Manchester, Vt., Feb. 12, 1831-being descended on her mother's side from the Chase family to which Bishop Philander Chase and Salmon P. Chase, the latter Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by appointment of Abraham Lincoln, belonged. In infancy she was brought to Portage, N. Y., where she remained until she was twelve years of age, when her family re- moved west. She attended school in Kenosha, Wis., and a seminary at Elgin, afterwards being engaged in teaching. On May 18, 1852, she was married to Judge Bradwell, almost immediately going to Memphis, Tenn., where, with the assist- ance of her husband, she conducted a select school for some time, also teaching in the public schools, when they returned to Chicago. In the early part of the Civil War she took a deep interest in the welfare of the soldiers in the field and their families at home, becoming President of the Soldiers' Aid Society, and was a leading spirit in the Sanitary Fairs held in Chicago in 1863 and in 1865. After the war she commenced the study of law and, in 1868, began the publication of "The Chicago Legal News," with which she re- mained identified until her death-also publishing biennially an edition of the session laws after each session of the General Assembly. After passing a most creditable examination, applica- tion was made for her admission to the bar in 1871, but denied in an elaborate decision rendered by Judge C. B. Lawrence of the Supreme Court of the State, on the sole ground of sex, as was also done by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1873, on the latter occasion Chief Justice Chase dissenting. She was finally admitted to the bar on March 28, 1892, and was the first lady member of the State Bar Associ-

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

ation. Other organizations with which she was identified embraced the Illinois State Press Association, the Board of Managers of the Sol- diers' Home (in war time), the "Illinois Industrial School for Girls" at Evanston, the Washingtonian Home, the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition, and Chairman of the Woman's Committee on Jurisprudence of the World's Congress Auxiliary of 1893. Although much before the public during the latter years of her life, she never lost the refinement and graces which belong to a true woman. Died, at her home in Chicago, Feb. 14, 1894.

BRAIDWOOD, a city in Will County, incorpo- rated in 1860; is 58 miles from Chicago, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad; an important coal- mining point, and in the heart of a rich agricultural region. It has a bank and a weekly newspaper. Population (1890), 4,641 ; (1900), 3,279.

BRANSON, Nathaniel W., lawyer, was born in Jacksonville, Ill., May 29, 1837; was educated in the private and public schools of that city and at Illinois College, graduating from the latter in 1857; studied law with David A. Smith, a promi- nent and able lawyer of Jacksonville, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1860, soon after establishing himself in practice at Petersburg, Menard County, where he has ever since resided. In 1867 Mr. Branson was appointed Register in Bankruptcy for the Springfield District -a po- sition which he held thirteen years. He was also elected Representative in the General Assembly in 1872, by re-election in 1874 serving four years in the stormy Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth General Assemblies; was a Delegate from Illinois to the National Republican Convention of 1876, and served for several years most efficiently as a Trustee of the State Institution for the Blind at Jacksonville, part of the time as President of the Board. Politically a conservative Republican, and in no sense an office-seeker, the official po- sitions which he has occupied have come to him unsought and in recognition of his fitness and capacity for the proper discharge of their duties.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 698