Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 40

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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is traversed by veins of fluor spar, carrying galena and zinc blonde. The Chester group is only found in the southern part of the State, thinning out from a thickness of eight hundred feet in Jackson and Randolph Counties, to about twenty feet at Alton. It consists of hard, gray, crystalline, argillaceous limestones, alternating with sandy and argillaceous shales and sandstones, which locally replace each other. A few species of true carboniferous flora are found in the are- naceous shales and sandstones of this group, the earliest traces of pre-historic land plants found in the State. Outcrops extend in a narrow belt from the southern part of Hardin County to the southern line of St. Clair County, passing around the southwest border of the coal field.

UPPER CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM .- This includes the Conglomerate, or "Mill Stone Grit" of Euro- pean authors, and the true coal measures. In the southern portion of the State its greatest thick- ness is about 1,200 feet. It becomes thinner toward the north, scarcely exceeding 400 or 500 feet in the vicinity of La Salle. The word "con- ·glomerate" designates a thick bed of sandstone that lies at the base of the coal measures, and appears to have resulted from the culmination of the arenaceous sedimentary accumulations. It consists of massive quartzose sandstone, some- times nearly white, but more frequently stained red or brown by the ferruginous matter which it contains, and is frequently composed in part of rounded quartz pebbles, from the size of a pea to several inches in diameter. When highly ferruginous, the oxide of iron cements the sand into a hard crust on the surface of the rock, which successfully resists the de- nuding influence of the atmosphere, so that the rock forms towering cliffs on the banks of the stream along which are its outcrops. Its thickness varies from 200 feet in the southern part of the State to twenty-five feet in the northern. It has afforded a few species of fossil plants, but no animal remains. The coal measures of Illinois are at least 1,000 feet thick and cover nearly three-fourths of its entire area. The strata are horizontal, the dip rarely exceeding six to ten feet to the mile. The formation is made up of sandstone, shales, thin beds of limestone, coal, and its associated fire clays. The thickness of the workable beds is from six to twenty-four inches in the upper measures, and from two to five feet in the lower measures. The fire clays, on which the coal seams usually rest, probably represent the ancient soil on which grew the trees and plants from which the coal is formed.

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When pure, these clays are valuable for the manufacture of fire brick, tile and common pottery. Illinois coal is wholly of the bitumi- nous variety, the metamorphic conditions which resulted in the production of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania not having extended to this State. Fossils, both vegetable and animal, abound in the coal measures.

TERTIARY SYSTEM .- This system is represented only in the southern end of the State, where cer- tain deposits of stratified sands, shales and con- glomerate are found, which appear to mark the northern boundary of the great Tertiary forma- tion of the Gulf States. Potter's clay, lignite and silicious woods are found in the formation.

QUATERNARY SYSTEM .- This system embraces all the superficial material, including sands, clay, gravel and soil which overspreads the older for- mations in all portions of the State. It gives origin to the soil from which the agricultural wealth of Illinois is derived. It may be properly separated into four divisions: Post-tertiary sands, Drift, Loess and Alluvium. The first- named occupies the lowest position in the series, and consists of stratified beds of yellow sand and blue clay, of variable thickness, overlaid by a black or deep brown, loamy soil, in which are found leaves, branches and trunks of trees in a good state of preservation. Next above lie the drift deposits, consisting of blue, yellow and brown clays, containing gravel and boulders of various sizes, the latter the water-worn frag- ments of rocks, many of which have been washed down from the northern shores of the great lakes. This drift formation varies in thickness from twenty to 120 feet, and its accumulations are probably due to the combined influence of water currents and moving ice. The subsoil over a large part of the northern and central portions of the State is composed of fine brown clay. Prof. Desquereux (Illinois Geological Sur- vey, Vol. I.) accounts for the origin of this clay and of the black prairie soil above it, by attribut- ing it to the growth and decomposition of a peculiar vegetation. The Loess is a fine mechan- ical sediment that appears to have accumulated in some body of fresh water. It consists of marly sands and clays, of a thickness varying from five to sixty feet. Its greatest development is along the bluffs of the principal rivers. The fossils found in this formation consist chiefly of the bones and teeth of extinct mammalia, such as the mam- moth, mastodon, etc. Stone implements of primeval man are also discovered. The term alluvium is usually restricted to the deposits

forming the bottom lands of the rivers and smaller streams. They. consist of irregularly stratified sand, clay and loam, which are fre- quently found in alternate layers, and contain more or less organic matter from decomposed animal and vegetable substances. When suffi- ciently elevated, they constitute the richest and most productive farming lands in the State.

GEORGETOWN, a village of Vermilion County, on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, 10 miles south of Danville. It has a bank, telegraph and express office and a news- paper. Population (1890), 662; (1900), 988.

GERMAN EVANGELICAL SCHOOL, located at Addison, Du Page County ; incorporated in 1852; has a faculty of three instructors and reports 187 pupils for 1897-98, with a property valuation of $9,600.

GERMANTOWN, a village of Vermilion County, and suburb of Danville; is the center of a coal- mining district. Population (1880), 540; (1890), 1,178; (1900), 1,782.

GEST, William H., lawyer and ex-Congress- man, was born at Jacksonville, Ill., Jan. 7, 1838. When but four years old his parents removed to Rock Island, where lie has since resided. He graduated from Williams College in 1860, was admitted to the bar in 1862, and has always been actively engaged in practice. In 1886 he was elected to Congress by the Republicans of the Eleventh Illinois District, and was re-elected in 1888, but in 1890 was defeated by Benjamin T. Cable, Democrat.

GIBAULT, Pierre, a French priest, supposed to have been born at New Madrid in what is now Southeastern Missouri, early in the eighteenth century; was Vicar-General at Kaskaskia, with ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the churches at Cahokia, St. Genevieve and adjacent points, at the time of tlie capture of Kaskaskia by Col. George Rogers Clark in 1778, and rendered Clark important aid in conciliating the French citizens of Illinois. He also made a visit to Vincennes and induced the people there to take the oath of allegi- ance to the new government. He even advanced means to aid Clark's destitute troops, but beyond a formal vote of thanks by the Virginia Legisla- ture, he does not appear to have received any recompense. Governor St. Clair, in a report to Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, dwelt impressively upon the value of Father Gibault's services and sacrifices, and Judge Law said of him, "Next to Clark and (Francis) Vigo, the United States are indebted more to Father Gibault for the accession of the States comprised

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in what was the original Northwest Territory than to any other man." The date and place of his death are unknown.

GIBSON CITY, a town in Ford County, situ- ated on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, 34 iniles east of Bloomington, and at the intersec- tion of the Wabash Railroad and the Springfield Division of the Illinois Central. The principal mechanical industries are iron works, canning works, a shoe factory, and a tile factory. It has two banks, two newspapers, nine churches and an academy. A college is projected. Popula- tion (1890), 1,803; (1900), 2,054; (1903, est.), 3,165.

GILL, Joseph B., Lieutenant-Governor (1893- 97), was born on a farm near Marion, Williamson County, Ill., Feb. 17, 1862. In 1868 liis father settled at Murphysboro, where Mr. Gill still makes his home. His academic education was received at the school of the Christian Brothers, in St. Louis, and at the Southern Illinois Normal University, Carbondale. In 1886 he graduated from the Law Department of the Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor. Returning home he purchased an interest in "The Murphysboro Inde- pendent," which paper he conducted and edited up to January, 1893. In 1888 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature and re-elected in 1890. As a legislator he was prominent as a champion of the labor interest. In 1892 he was nominated and elected Lieutenant-Governor on the Democratic ticket, serving from January, 1893, to '97.

GILLESPIE, a village of Macoupin County, on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, 10 miles southwest of Litchfield. This is an agricultural, coal-mining and stock-raising region; the town has a bank and a newspaper. Population (1890), 948; (1900), 873.

GILLESPIE, Joseph, lawyer and Judge, was born in New York City, August 22, 1809, of Irish parents, who removed to Illinois in 1819, settling on a farm near Edwardsville. After coming to Illinois, at 10 years, he did not attend school over two months. In 1827 he went to the lead mines at Galena, remaining until 1829. In 1831, at the invitation of Cyrus Edwards, he began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837, having been elected Probate Judge in 1836. He also served during two campaigns (1831 and '32) in the Black Hawk War. He was a Whig in politics and a warm personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. In 1840 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature, serving one term, and was a member of the State Senate from 1847 to 1859. In 1853 he received the few votes of the

Whig members of the Legislature for United States Senator, in opposition to Stephen A. Douglas, and, in 1860, presided over the second Republican State Convention at Decatur, at which elements were set in motion which resulted in the nomi- nation of Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency for the first time, a week later. In 1861 he was elected Judge of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit, and re-elected in 1867 for a second term, serving until 1873. Died, at his home at Edwards- ville, Jan. 7, 1885.

GILLETT, John Dean, agriculturist and stock- man, was born in Connecticut, April 28, 1819; spent several years of his youth in Georgia, but, in 1838, came to Illinois by way of St. Louis, finally reaching "Bald Knob," in Logan County, where an uncle of the same name resided. Here he went to work, and, by frugality and judicious investments, finally acquired a large body of choice lands, adding to his agricultural operations the rearing and feeding of stock for the Chicago and foreign markets. In this he was remarkably successful. In his later years he was President of a National Bank at Lincoln. At the time of his death, August 27, 1888, he was the owner of 16,500 acres of improved lands in the vicinity of Elkhart, Logan County, besides large herds of fine stock, both cattle and horses. He left a large family, one of his daughters being the wife of the late Senator Richard J. Oglesby.

GILLETT, Philip Goode, specialist and edu- cator, born in Madison, Ind., March 24, 1833; was educated at Asbury University, Greencastle, Ind., graduating in 1852, and the same year became an instructor in the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb in that State. In 1856 he became Principal of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb at Jackson- ville, remaining there until 1893, when he resigned. Thereafter, for some years, he was President of the Association for the Promotion of Speech by the Deaf, with headquarters in Wash- ington, D. C., but later returned to Jacksonville, where he has since been living in retirement.

GILLHAM, Daniel B., agriculturist and legis- lator, was born at a place now called Wanda, in Madison County, Ill., April 29, 1826-his father being a farmer and itinerant Methodist preacher, who belonged to one of the pioneer families in the American Bottom at an early day. The sub- ject of this sketch was educated in the common schools and at McKendree College, but did not graduate from the latter. In his early life he followed the vocation of a farmer and stock- grower in one of the most prosperous and highly

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cultivated portions of the American Bottom, a few miles below Alton, but, in 1872, removed to Alton, where he spent the remainder of his life. He became a member of the State Board of Agri- culture in 1866, serving eight years as Superin- tendent and later as its President; was also a Trustee of Shurtleff College some twenty-five years, and for a time President of the Board. In 1870 he was elected to the lower branch of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly, and to the State Senate in 1882, serving a term of four years in the latter. On the night of March 17, 1890, he was assaulted by a burglar in his house, receiving a wound from a pistol-shot in consequence of which he died, April 6, following. The identity of his assailant was never discovered, and the crime consequently went unpunished.

GILMAN, a city in Iroquois County, at the intersection of the Illinois Central and the To- ledo, Peoria & Western Railways, 81 miles south by west from Chicago and 208 miles northeast of St. Louis. It is in the heart of one of the richest corn districts of the State and has large stock-raising and fruit-growing interests. It has an opera house, a public library, an extensive nursery, brick and tile works, a linseed oil mill, two banks and two weekly newspapers. Arte- sian well water is obtained by boring from 90 to 200 feet. Population (1890), 1,112; (1900), 1,441.

GILMAN, Arthur, was born at Alton, Ill., June 22, 1837, the son of Winthrop S. Gilman, of the firm of Gilman & Godfrey, in whose warehouse the printing press of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy was stored at the time of its destruction by a mob in 1837; was educated in St. Louis and New York, began business as a banker in 1857, but, in 1870, removed to Cambridge, Mass., and connected himself with "The Riverside Press." Mr. Gilman was one of the prime movers in what is known as "The Harvard Annex" in the interest of equal collegiate advantages for women, and has written much for the periodical press, besides publishing a number of volumes in the line of history and English literature.

GILMAN, CLINTON & SPRINGFIELD RAIL- ROAD. (See Illinois Central Railroad.)

GIRARD, a city in Macoupin County, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 25 miles south by west from Springfield and 13 miles north-northeast of Carlinville. Coal-mining is carried on extensively here. The city also has a bank, five churches and a weekly newspaper. Population (1880), 1,024; (1890), 1,524; (1900), 1,661.

GLENCOE, a village of Cook County, on the Milwaukee Division of the Chicago & Northwest-

ern Railway, 19 miles north of Chicago. Popu- lation (1880), 387; (1890), 569; (1900), 1,020.

GLENN, Archibald A., ex-Lieutenant-Governor, was born in Nicholas County, Ky., Jan. 30, 1819. In 1828 his father's family removed to Illinois, settling first in Vermilion, and later in Schuyler County. At the age of 13, being forced to abandon school, for six years he worked upon the farm of his widowed mother, and, at 19, entered a printing office at Rushville, where he learned the trade of compositor. In 1844 he published a Whig campaign paper, which was discontinued after the defeat of Henry Clay. For eleven years he was Circuit Clerk of Brown County, during which period he was admitted to the bar; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and of the State Board of Equalization from 1868 to 1872. The latter year he was elected to the State Senate for four years, and, in 1875, chosen its President, thus becoming ex-officio Lieutenant-Governor. He early abandoned legal practice to engage in banking and in mercan- tile investment. After the expiration of his term in the Senate, he removed to Kansas, where, at latest advices, he still resided.

GLENN, John J., lawyer and jurist, was born in Ashland County, Ohio, March 2, 1831; gradu- ated from Miami University in 1856 and, in 1858, was admitted to the bar at Terre Haute, Ind. Removing to Illinois in 1860, he settled in Mercer County, a year later removing to Monmouth in Warren County, where he still resides. In 1877 he was elected Judge of the Tenth Judicial Cir- cuit and re-elected in 1879, '85, '91, and '97. After his last election he served for some time, by appointment of the Supreme Court, as a mem- ber of the Appellate Court for the Springfield District, but ultimately resigned and returned to Circuit Court duty. His reputation as a cool- headed, impartial Judge stands very high, and his name has been favorably regarded for a place on the Supreme Bench.

GLOVER, Joseph Otis, lawyer, was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., April 13, 1810, and edu- cated in the high-school at Aurora in that State. In 1835 he came west to attend to a land case at Galena for his father, and, although not then a lawyer, he managed the case so successfully that he was asked to take charge of two others. This determined the bent of his mind towards the law, to the study of which he turned his attention under the preceptorship of the late Judge The- ophilus L. Dickey, then of Ottawa. Soon after being admitted to the bar in 1840, he formed a partnership with the late Burton C. Cook, which

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lasted over thirty years. In 1846 he was elected as a Democrat to the lower branch of the Fif- teenth General Assembly, but, on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he became one of the founders of the Republican party and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, whom he entertained, At the time of his (Lincoln's) debate with Senator Douglas, at Ottawa, in 1858. In 1868 he served as Presidential Elector at the time of General Grant's first election to the Presidency, and the following year was appointed United States Dis- trict Attorney for the Northern District, serving until 1875. In 1877 he was appointed by Gov- ernor Cullom a member of the Board of Railway and Canal Commissioners, of which he afterwards became President, serving six years. Died, in Chicago, Dec. 10, 1892.

GODFREY, a village of Madison County, on the Chicago & Alton Railway, 5 miles north of Alton. It is the seat of Monticello Female Seminary, and named for Capt. Benjamin Godfrey, an early settler who was chiefly instrumental in founding that institution. Population (1890), 228.

GODFREY, (Capt.) Benjamin, sea captain and philanthropist, was born at Chatham, Mass., Dec. 4, 1794: at nine years of age he ran away from home and went to sea, his first voyage being to Ireland, where he spent nine years. The War of 1812 coming on, he returned home, spending a part of the next three years in the naval service, also gaining a knowledge of the science of navi- gation. Later, he became master of a merchant- vessel making voyages to Italy, Spain, the West Indies and other countries, finally, by shipwreck in Cuban waters, losing the bulk of his fortune. In 1824 he engaged in mercantile business at Matamoras, Mex., where he accumulated a hand- some fortune; but, in transferring it (amounting to some $200,000 in silver) across the country on pack-animals, he was attacked and robbed by brigands, with which that country was then infested. Resuming business at New Orleans, he was again successful, and, in 1832, came north, locating near Alton, Ill., the next year engaging in the warehouse and commission business as the partner of Winthrop S. Gilman, under the name of Godfrey & Gilman. It was in the warehouse of this firm at Alton that the printing-press of · Elijah P. Lovejoy was stored when it was seized and destroyed by a mob, and Lovejoy was killed, in October, 1837. (See Lovejoy, Elijah P.) Soon after establishing himself at Alton, Captain God- frey made a donation of land and money for the erection of a young ladies' seminary at the village of Godfrey, four miles from Alton. (See Monti-

cello Female Seminary.) The first cost of the erection of buildings, borne by him, was $53,000. The institution was opened, April 11, 1838, and Captain Godfrey continued to be one of its Trustees as long as he lived. He was also one of the lead- ing spirits in the construction of the Alton & Springfield Railroad (now a part of the Chicago & Alton), in which he invested heavily and un- profitably. Died, at Godfrey, April 13, 1862.

GOLCONDA, a village and county-seat of Pope County, on the Ohio River, 80 miles northeast of Cairo; located in agricultural and mining dis- trict; zinc, lead and kaolin mined in the vicinity ; has a courthouse, eight churches, schools, one bank, a newspaper, a box factory, flour and saw mills, and a fluor-spar factory. It is the termi- nus of a branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. Population (1890), 1,174: (1900), 1,140.

GOLDZIER, Julius, ex-Congressman, was born at Vienna, Austria, Jan. 20, 1854, and emigrated to New York in 1866. In 1872 he settled in Chicago, where he was admitted to the bar in 1877, and where he has practiced law ever since. From 1890 to 1892 he was a member of the Chicago City Council, and, in 1892, was the successful Democratic candidate in the Fourth District, for Congress, but was defeated in 1894 by Edward D. Cooke. At the Chicago city election of 1899 he was again re- turned to the Council as Alderman for the Thirty- second Ward.

GOODING, James, pioneer, was born about 1767, and, in 1832, was residing at Bristol, Ontario County, N. Y., when he removed to Cook County, Ill., settling in what was later called "Gooding's Grove," now a part of Will County. The Grove was also called the "Yankee Settlement," from the Eastern origin of the principal settlers. Mr. Gooding was accompanied, or soon after joined, by three sons-James, Jr., William and Jasper-and a nephew, Charles Gooding, all of whom became prominent citizens. The senior Gooding died in 1849, at the age of 82 years .- William (Gooding), civil engineer, son of the preceding, was born at Bristol, Ontario County, N. Y., April 1, 1803; educated in the common schools and by private tuition, after which he divided his time chiefly between teaching and working on the farm of his father, James Gooding. Having devoted considerable attention to surveying and civil engineering, he obtained employment in 1826 on the Welland Canal, where he remained three years. He then engaged in mercantile pursuits at Lock- port, N. Y., but sold out at the end of the first year and went to Ohio to engage in his profession.

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Being unsuccessful in this, he accepted employ- ment for a time as a rodman, but later secured a position as Assistant Engineer on the Ohio Canal. After a brief visit to his father's in 1832, he returned to Ohio and engaged in business there for a short time, but the following year joined his father, who had previously settled in a portion of what is now Will County, but then Cook, mak- ing the trip by the first mail steamer around the lakes. He at first settled at "Gooding's Grove" and engaged in farming. In 1836 he was ap- pointed Assistant Engineer on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, but, in 1842, became Chief Engi- neer, continuing in that position until the com- pletion of the canal in 1848, when he became Secretary of the Canal Board. Died, at Lockport, Will County, in May, 1878.

GOODRICH, Grant, lawyer and jurist, was born in Milton, Saratoga, County, N. Y., August 7, 1811; grew up in Western New York, studied law and came to Chicago in 1834, becoming one of the most prominent and reputable members of his profession, as well as a leader in many of the movements for the educational, moral and reli- gious advancement of the community. He was one of the founders of the First Methodist Epis- copal Church of Chicago, an active member of the Union Defense Committee during the war, an incorporator and life-long Trustee of the North- western University, and President of the Board of Trustees of Garrett Biblical Institute, besides being identified with. many organizations of a strictly benevolent character. In 1859 Judge Goodrich was elected a Judge of the newly organ- ized Superior Court, but, at the end of his term, resumed the practice of his profession. Died, March 15, 1889.

GORE, David, ex-State Auditor, was born in Trigg County, Ky., April 5, 1827; came with his parents to Madison County, Ill., in 1834, and served in the Mexican War as a Quartermaster, afterwards locating in Macoupin County, where he has been extensively engaged in farming. In 1874 he was an unsuccessful Greenback-Labor candidate for State Treasurer, in 1884 was elected to the State Senate from the Macoupin-Morgan District, and, in 1892, nominated and elected, as a Democrat, Auditor of Public Accounts, serving until 1897. For some sixteen years he was a member of the State Board of Agriculture, the last two years of that period being its President. His home is at Carlinville.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 40

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