USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I > Part 72
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MATTHEWS, Asa C., ex-Comptroller of the United States Treasury, was born in Pike County, Ill., March 22, 1833; graduated from Illinois Col- lege in 1855, and was admitted to the bar three years later. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he abandoned a remunerative practice at Pitts- field to enlist in the army, and was elected and commissioned a Captain in the Ninety-ninth Illi- nois Volunteers. He rose to the rank of Colonel, being mustered out of the service in August, 1865. He was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue in 1869, and Supervisor for the District composed of Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, in 1875. Being elected to the Thirtieth General Assembly in 1876, he resigned his office, and was re-elected to the Legislature in 1878. On the death of Judge Higbee, Governor Hamilton appointed Mr. Matthews to fill the vacancy thus created on the bench of the Sixth Circuit, his term expiring in 1885. In 1888 he was elected to
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the Thirty-sixth General Assembly and was chosen Speaker of the House. In May, 1889, President Harrison named him First Comp- troller of the United States Treasury, and the House, by a unanimous vote, expressed its grati- fication at his selection. Since retiring from office, Colonel Matthews has devoted his attention to the practice of his profession at Pittsfield.
MATTHEWS, Milton W., lawyer and journal- ist, was born in Clark County, Ill., March 1, 1846, educated in the common schools, and, near the close of the war, served in a 100-days' regiment; began teaching in Champaign County in 1865, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1867; in 1873 was appointed Master in Chancery, served two terms as Prosecuting Attorney, and, in 1888, was elected to the State Senate, meanwhile, from 1879, discharging the duties of editor of "The Champaign County Herald," of which he was also proprietor. During his last session in the State Senate (1891-92) he served as President pro tem. of that body; was also President of the State Press Association and served on the staff of Governor Fifer, with the rank of Colonel of the Illinois National Guard. Died, at Urbana, May 10, 1892.
MATTOON, an important city in Coles County, 172 miles west of south from Chicago and 56 miles west of Terre Haute, Ind .; a point of junction for three lines of railway, and an important shipping point for corn and broom corn, which are both extensively grown in the surrounding region. It has several banks, foundries, machine shops, brick and tile-works, flour-mills, grain-elevators, with two daily and four weekly newspapers; also has good graded schools and a high school. The repair shops of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- cago & St. Louis Railroad are located here. Population (1890), 6,833; (1900), 9,622.
MAXWELL, Philip, M.D., pioneer physician, was born at Guilford, Vt., April 3, 1799, graduated in medicine and practiced for a time at Sackett's Harbor, also serving in the New York Legisla- ture; was appointed Assistant Surgeon at Fort Dearborn, in 1833, remaining intil the abandon- ment of the fort at the end of 1836. In 1838 he was promoted Surgeon, and served with Gen. Zachary Taylor in the campaign against the Semi- noles in Florida, but resumed private practice in Chicago in 1844; served two terms as Represent- ative in the General Assembly (1848-52) and, in 1855, settled on the shores of Lake Geneva, Wis., where he died, Nov. 5, 1859.
MAY, William L., early lawyer and Congress- man, was born in Kentucky, came at an early day
to Edwardsville, Ill., and afterwards to Jackson- ville; was elected from Morgan County to the Sixth General Assembly (1828), and the next year removed to Springfield, having been appointed by President Jackson Receiver of Public Moneys for the Land Office there. He was twice elected to Congress (1834 and '36), the first year defeating Benjamin Mills, a brilliant lawyer of Galena. Later, May became a resident of Peoria, but finally removed to California, where he died.
MAYO, Walter L., legislator, was born in Albe- marle County Va., March 7, 1810; came to Edwards County, Ill., in 1828, and began teach- ing. He took part in the Black Hawk War (1831-32), being appointed by Governor Reynolds Quartermaster of a battalion organized in that section of the State. He had previously been appointed County Clerk of Edwards County to fill a vacancy, and continued, by successive re-elec- tions, to occupy the position for thirty-seven years-also acting, for a portion of the time, as Circuit Clerk, Judge of Probate and County Treas- urer. In 1870 he was elected Representative in the Twenty-seventh General Assembly for the Edwards County District. On the evening of Jan. 18, 1878, he mysteriously disappeared, having been last seen at the Union Depot at East St. Louis, when about to take the train for his home at Albion, and is supposed to have been secretly murdered. No trace of his body or of the crime was ever discovered, and the affair has remained one of the mysteries of the criminal history of Illinois.
MAYWOOD, a village of Cook County, and suburb of Chicago, 10 miles west of that city, on the Chicago & Northwestern and the Chicago Great Western Railways; has churches, two weekly newspapers, public schools and some manufactures. Population (1900), 4,532.
McALLISTER, William K., jurist, was born in Washington County, N. Y., in 1818. After admission to the bar he commenced practice at Albion, N. Y., and, in 1854, removed to Chicago. In 1866 he was a candidate for the bench of the Superior Court of that city, but was defeated by Judge Jameson. Two years later he was chosen Judge of the Recorder's Court, and, in 1870, was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court, which position he resigned in 1875, having been elected a Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County to fill a vacancy. He was re-elected for a full term and assigned to Appellate Court duty in 1879. He was elected for a third time in 1885, but, before the expiration of his term, he died, Oct. 29, 1888.
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McARTHUR, John, soldier, was born in Ers- kine, Scotland, Nov. 17, 1826; worked at his father's trade of blacksmith until 23 years old, when, coming to the United States, he settled in Chicago. Here he became foreman of a boiler- making establishment, later acquiring an estab- lishment of his own. Having joined the Twelfth Illinois Volunteers at the beginning of the war, with a company of which he was Captain, he was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel, still later Colonel, and, in March, 1862, promoted to Brigadier-Gen- eral for gallantry in the assault on Fort Donelson, where he commanded a brigade. At Shiloh he was wounded, but after having his wound dressed, returned to the fight and succeeded to the com- mand of the Second Division when Gen. W. H. L. Wallace fell mortally wounded. He commanded a division of McPherson's corps in the operations against Vicksburg, and bore a conspicuous part in the battle of Nashville, where he commanded a division under Gen. A. J. Smith, winning a brevet Major-Generalship by his gallantry. General McArthur was Postmaster of Chicago from 1873 to 1877.
McCAGG, Ezra Butler, lawyer, was born at Kinderhook, N Y., Nov. 22, 1825; studied law at Hudson, and, coming to Chicago in 1847, entered the law office of J. Young Scammon, soon after- wards becoming a member of the firm of Scam- mon & McCagg. During the war Mr. McCagg was an active member of the United States Sani- tary Commission, and (for some years after the fire of 1871) of the Relief and Aid Society; is also a life-member and officer of the Chicago Histori- cal Society, besides being identified with several State and municipal boards. His standing in his profession is shown by the fact that he has been more than once offered a non-partisan nomina- tion for Justice of the Supreme Court, but has de- clined. He occupies a high rank in literary circles, as well as a connoisseur in art, and is the owner of a large private library collected since the destruction of one of the best in the West by the fire of 1871.
McCARTNEY, James, lawyer and ex-Attorney General, was born of Scotch parentage in the north of Ireland, Feb. 14, 1835; at two years of age was brought to the United States and, until 1845, resided in Pennsylvania, when his parents removed to Trumbull County, Ohio. Here he spent his youth in general farm work, meanwhile attending a high school and finally engaging in teaching. In 1856 he began the study of law at Warren, Ohio, which he continued a year later in the office of Harding & Reed, at Monmouth, Ill. ; was admitted to the bar in January, 1858, and
began practice at Monmouth, removing the fol- lowing year to Galva. In April, 1861, he enlisted in what afterwards became the Seventeenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, was commissioned a First Lieutenant, but, a year later, was com- pelled to resign on account of ill-health. A few months later he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois, being soon promoted to a captaincy, although serving much of the time as Judge Advocate on courts-martial, and, for one year, as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General in the Army of the Ohio. At the conclusion of his term of service in the army, he resumed the practice of his profession at Fairfield, Ill .; in 1880 was nominated and elected, as a Republican, Attorney- General of the State, and, during his last year in office, began the celebrated "Lake Front suits" which finally terminated successfully for the city of Chicago. Since retiring from office, Gen- eral McCartney has been engaged in the practice of his profession, chiefly in Springfield and Chi- cago, having been a resident of the latter city since 1890.
McCARTNEY, Robert Wilson, lawyer and jurist, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, March 19, 1843, spent a portion of his boyhood in Pennsylvania, afterwards returning to Youngs- town, Ohio, where he enlisted as a private in the Sixth Ohio Cavalry. He was severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, lying two days and nights on the field and enduring untold suffering. As soon as able to take the field he was commis- sioned, by Governor Curtin, a Captain in the Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, serving in the army of the Potomac to the close of the war, and taking part in the grand review at Washing- ton in May, 1865. After the war he took a course in a business college at Pittsburg, removed to Cleveland and began the study of law, but soon came to Illinois, and, having completed his law studies with his brother, J. T. McCartney, at Metropolis, was admitted to the bar in 1868; also edited a Republican paper there, became inter- ested in lumber manufacture and was one of the founders of the First National Bank of that city. In 1873 he was elected County Judge of Massac County, serving nine years, when (1882) he was elected Representative in the Thirty-third Gen- eral Assembly. At the close of his term in the Legislature he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court for the first Circuit, serving from 1885 to 1891. Died, Oct. 27, 1893. Judge McCartney was able, public-spirited and patriotic. The city of Metropolis owes to him the Free Public Library bearing his name.
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McCLAUGHRY, Robert Wilson, penologist, was born at Fountain Green, Hancock County, Ill., July 22, 1839, being descended from Scotch- Irish ancestry-his grandfather, who was a native of the North of Ireland, having come to America in his youth and served in the War of the Revolu- tion. The subject of this sketch grew up on a farm, attending school in the winter until 1854, then spent the next two winters at an academy, and, in 1856, began a course in Monmouth Col- lege, where he graduated in 1860. The following year he spent as instructor in Latin in the same institution, but, in 1861, became editor of "The Carthage Republican," a Democratic paper, which he made a strong advocate of the cause of the Union, meanwhile, both by his pen and on the stump, encouraging enlistments in the army. About the first of July, 1862, having disposed of his interest in the paper, he enlisted in a company of which he was unanimously chosen Captain, and which, with four other companies organized in the same section, became the nucleus of the One IIundred and Eighteenth Illinois Volunteers. The regiment having been completed at Camp Butler, he was elected Major, and going to the field in the following fall, took part in General Sherman's first movement against Vicksburg by way of Chickasaw Bayou, in December, 1862. Later, as a member of Osterhaus' Division of Gen- eral McClernand's corps, he participated with his regiment in the capture of Arkansas Post, and in the operations against Vicksburg which resulted in the capture of that stronghold, in July, 1863. He then joined the Department of the Gulf under command of General Banks, but was compelled by sickness to return north. Having sufficiently recovered, he spent a few months in the recruit- ing service (1864), but, in May of that year, was transferred, by order of President Lincoln, to the Pay Department, as Additional-Paymaster, with the rank of Major, being finally assigned to duty at Springfield, where he remained, paying off Illi- nois regiments as mustered out of the service, until Oct. 13, 1865, when he was honorably dis- charged. A few weeks later he was elected County Clerk of Hancock County, serving four years. In the meantime he engaged in the stone business, as head of the firm of R. W. McClaughry & Co., furnishing stone for the basement of the State Capitol at Springfield and for bridges across the Mississippi at Quincy and Keokuk-later being engaged in the same business at St. Gene- vieve, Mo., with headquarters at St. Louis. Com- pelled to retire by failing health, he took up his residence at Monmouth in 1873, but, in 1874, was
called to the wardenship of the State Peniten- tiary at Joliet. Here he remained until December, 1888, when he resigned to accept the superin- tendency of the Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon, Pa., but, in May, 1891, accepted from Mayor Washburne the position of Chief of Police in Chicago, continuing in service, under Mayor Harrison, until August, 1893, when he became Superintendent of the Illinois State Reformatory at Pontiac. Early in 1897 he was again offered and accepted the position of Warden of the State Penitentiary at Joliet. Here he re- mained until 1899, when he received from Presi- dent Mckinley the appointment of Warden of the Military Prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., which position he now (1899) occupies. Major Mc- Claughry's administration of penal and reforma- tory institutions has been eminently satisfactory, and he has taken rank as one of the most success- ful penologists in the country.
MCCLELLAN, Robert H., lawyer and banker, was born in Washington County, N. Y., Jan. 3, 1823; graduated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1847, and then studied law with Hon. Martin I. Townsend, of Troy, being admitted to the bar in 1850. The same year he removed to Galena, Ill. ; during his first winter there, edited "The Galena Gazette," and the following spring formed a partnership with John M. Douglas, afterwards General Solicitor and President of the Illinois Central Railroad, which ended with the removal of the latter to Chicago, when Mr. McClellan succeeded him as local attorney of the road at Galena. In 1864 Mr. McClellan became President of the Bank of Galena-later the "National Bank of Galena"-remaining for over twenty years. He is also largely interested in local manufac- tories and financial institutions elewhere. He served as a Republican Representative in the Twenty-second General Assembly (1861-62), and as Senator (1876-80), and maintained a high rank as a sagacious and judicious legislator. Liberal, public-spirited and patriotic, his name has been prominently connected with all movements for the improvement of his locality and the advance- ment of the interests of the State.
McCLERNAND, John Alexander, a volunteer officer in the Civil War and prominent Demo- cratic politician, was born in Breckenridge County, Ky., May 30, 1812, brought to Shawnee- town in 1816, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and engaged in journalism for a time. He served in the Black Hawk War, and was elected to the Legislature in 1836, and again in 1840 and '42. The latter year he was elected to Congress, serv-
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ing four consecutive terms, but declining a renomination, being about to remove to Jackson- ville, where he resided from 1851 to 1856. Twice (1840 and '52) he was a Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket. In 1856 he removed to Springfield, and, in 1859, re-entered Congress as Representative of the Springfield District; was re-elected in 1860, but resigned in 1861 to accept a commission as Brigadier-General of Volunteers from President Lincoln, being promoted Major- General early in 1862. He participated in the battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson, Shiloh and before Vicksburg, and was in command at the capture of Arkansas Post, but was severely criti- cised for some of his acts during the Vicksburg campaign and relieved of his command by Gen- eral Grant. Having finally been restored by order of President Lincoln, he participated in the campaign in Louisiana and Texas, but resigned his commission in 1864. General McClernand presided over the Democratic National Conven- tion of 1876, and, in 1886, was appointed by Presi- dent Cleveland one of the members of the Utah Commission, serving through President Harri- son's administration. He was also elected Circuit Judge in 1870, as succ essor to Hon. B. S. Edwards, who had resigned. Died Sept. 20, 1900.
McCLURG, Alexander C., soldier and pub- lisher, was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Pittsburg, where his father was an iron manu- facturer. He graduated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio., and, after studying law for a time with Chief Justice Lowrie of Pennsylvania, came to Chicago in 1859, and entered the bookstore of S. C. Griggs & Co., as a junior clerk. Early in 1861 he enlisted as a private in the War of the Rebellion, but the quota of three-months' men being already full, his services were not accepted. In August, 1862, he became a member of the "Crosby Guards," afterwards incorporated in the Eighty-eighth Illinois Infantry (Second Board of Trade Regiment), and was unanimously elected Captain of Company H. After the battle of Perryville, he was detailed as Judge Advocate at Nashville, and, in the following year, offered the position of Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of General McCook, afterwards serving in a similar capacity on the staffs of Generals Thomas, Sheridan and Baird. He took part in the defense of Chattanooga and, at the battle of Missionary Ridge, had two horses shot under him; was also with the Fourteenth Army Corps in the Atlanta campaign, and, at the request of Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, was promoted to the rank of Colonel and brevetted Brigadier-General - later, being pre-
sented with a sword bearing the names of the principal battles in which he was engaged, besides being especially complimented in letters by Generals Sherman, Thomas, Baird, Mitchell, Davis and others. He was invited to enter the regular army at the close of the war, but pre- ferred to return to private life, and resumed his former position with S. C. Griggs & Co., soon after becoming a junior partner in the concern, of which he has since become the chief. In the various inutations through which this extensive firm has gone, General McClurg has been a lead- ing factor until now (and since 1887) he stands at the liead of the most extensive publishing firm west of New York.
McCONNEL, Murray, pioneer and lawyer, was born in Orange County, N. Y., Sept. 5, 1798, and educated in the common schools; left home at 14 years of age and, after a year at Louisville, spent several years flat-boating, trading and hunting in the West, during this period visiting Arkansas, Texas and Kansas, finally settling on a farm near Herculaneum, Mo. In 1823 he located in Scott (then a part of Morgan) County, Ill., but when the town of Jacksonville was laid out, became a citizen of that place. During the Black Hawk War (July and August, 1832), he served on the staff of Gen. J. D. Henry with the rank of Major; in 1837 was appointed by Governor Dun- can a member of the Board of Public Works for the First Judicial District, in this capacity having charge of the construction of the railroad between Meredosia and Springfield (then known as the Northern Cross Railroad)-the first public rail- road built in the State, and the only one con- structed during the "internal improvement" era following 1837. He also lield a commission from Governor French as Major-General of State Mi- litia, in 1855 was appointed by President Pierce Fifth Auditor of the Treasury Department, but retired in 1859. In 1832, on his return from the Black Hawk War, he was elected a Repre- sentative in the State Legislature from Morgan County, and, in 1864, was elected to the State Senate for the District composed of Morgan, Menard, Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, serving until 1868. Though previously a Demo- crat and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention of 1860, he was an earnest supporter of the war policy of the Government, and was one of four Democratic Senators, in the General Assembly of 1865, who voted for the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment of the National Constitution, prohibiting slavery in the United States. His death occurred by assassination, by
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some unknown person, in his office at Jackson- ville, Feb. 9, 1869 .- John Ludlum (McConnel), son of the preceding, was born in Jacksonville, Ill., Nov. 11, 1826, studied law and graduated at Transylvania Law School; in 1846 enlisted as a private in the Mexican War, became First Lieu- tenant and was promoted Captain after the battle of Buena Vista, where lie was twice wounded. After the war he returned to Jacksonville and wrote several books illustrative of Western life and character, which were published. betwcen 1850 and 1853. At the time of his death-Jan. 17. 1862-he was engaged in the preparation of a "History of Early Explorations in America, " hav- ing special reference to the labors of the early Roman Catholic missionaries.
McCONNELL, (Gen). Jolin, soldier, was born in Madison County, N. Y., Dec. 5, 1824, and came with his parents to Illinois when about sixteen years of age. His father (James McConnell) was a native of Irelaud, who came to the United States shortly before the War of 1812, and, after remaining in New York until 1840, came to San- gamon County, Ill., locating a few miles south of Springfield, where he engaged extensively in sheep-raising. He was an enterprising and pro- gressive agriculturist, and was one of the founders of the State Agricultural Society, being President of the Convention of 1852 which resulted in its organization. His death took place, Jan. 7, 1867. The subject of this sketch was engaged with his father and brothers in the farming and stock business until 1861, when he raised a company for the Third Illinois Cavalry, of which he was elected Captain, was later promoted Major, serv- ing until March, 1863, during that time taking part in some of the important battles of the war in Southwest Missouri, including Pea Ridge, and was highly complimented by his commander, Gen. G. M. Dodge, for bravery. Some three months after leaving the Third Cavalry, he was commissioned by Governor Yates Colonel of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry, and, in March, 1865, was commissioned Brevet Brigadier-General, his com- mission being signed by President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, the morning preceding the night of his assassination. During the latter part of his service, General McConnell was on duty in Texas, being finally mustered out in October, 1865. After the death of his father, and until 1879, he continued in the business of sheep-raising and farming, being for a time the owner of several extensive farms in Sangamon County, but, in 1879, engaged in the insurance business in Springfield, where he died, March 14, 1898.
McCONNELL, Samuel P., son of the preceding, was born at Springfield, Ill., on July 5, 1849. After completing his literary studies he read law at Springfield in the office of Stuart, Edwards & Brown, and was admitted to the bar in 1872, soon after establishing himself in practice in Chicago. After various partnerships, in which he was asso- ciated with leading lawyers of Chicago, he was elected Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, in 1889, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge W. K. McAllister, serving until 1894, when he resigned to give his attention to private prac- tice. Although one of the youngest Judges upon the bench, Judge McConnell was called upon, soon after his election, to preside at the trial of the conspirators in the celebrated Cronin murder case, in which he displayed great ability. He has also had charge, as presiding Judge, of a number of civil suits of great importance affecting cor- porations.
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