Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 77

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

USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I > Part 77

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MOMENCE, a town in Kankakee County, situ- ated on the Kankakee River and at the intersec- tion of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroads, 54 miles south of Chicago; has water power, a flouring mill, enameled brick factory, railway repair shops, two banks, two newspapers, five churches and two schools. Population (1890), 1,635; (1900), 2,026.

MONMOUTH, the county-seat of Warren County, 26 miles east of the Mississippi River; at point of intersection of two lines of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Iowa Central Rail- ways. The Santa Fe enters Monmouth on the Iowa Central lines. The surrounding country is agricultural and coal yielding. The city has manufactories of agricultural implements, sewer- pipe, pottery, paving brick, and cigars. Mon- mouth College (United Presbyterian) was chartered in 1857, and the library of this institu- tion, with that of Warren County (also located at Monmouth) aggregates 30,000 volumes. There are three national banks, two daily, three weekly and two other periodical publications. An ap- propriation was made by the Fifty-fifth Congress for the erection of a Government building at Monmouth. Population (1890), 5,936; (1900), 7,460.

MONMOUTH COLLEGE, an educational insti- tution, controlled by the United Presbyterian denomination, but non-sectarian; located at Mon- inouth. It was founded in 1856, its first class graduating in 1858. Its Presidents have been Drs. D. A. Wallace (1856-78) and J. B. McMichael, the latter occupying the position from 1878 until 1897. In 1896 the faculty consisted of fifteen instructors and the number of students was 289.

The college campus covers ten acres, tastefully laid out. The institution confers four degrees- A.B., B.S., M.B., and B.L. For the conferring of the first three, four years' study is required; for the degree of B.L., three years.

MONROE, George D., State Senator, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., Sept. 24, 1844, and came with his parents to Illinois in 1849. His father having been elected Sheriff of Will County in 1864, he became a resident of Joliet, serving as a deputy in his father's office. In 1865 he engaged in merchandising as the partner of his father, which was exchanged, some fifteen years later, for the wholesale grocery trade, and, finally, for the real-estate and mortgage-loan business, in which he is still employed. He has also been extensively engaged in the stone business some twenty years, being a large stockholder in the Western Stone Company and Vice-President of the concern. In 1894 Mr. Monroe was elected, as a Republican, to the State Senate from the Twenty-fifth District, serving in the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth General Assemblies, and proving himself one of the most influential members of that body.

MONROE COUNTY, situated in the southwest part of the State, bordering on the Mississippi- named for President Monroe. Its area is about 380 square miles. It was organized in 1816 and included within its boundaries several of the French villages which constituted, for many years, a center of civilization in the West. American settlers, however, began to locate in the district as early as 1781. The county has a diversified surface and is heavily timbered. The soil is fertile, embracing both upland and river bottom. Agriculture and the manufacture and shipping of lumber constitute leading occupations of the citizens. Waterloo is the county-seat. Population (1890), 12,948: (1900), 13,847.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, an interior county, situated northeast of St. Louis and south of Springfield; area 702 square miles, population (1900), 30,836-derives its name from Gen. Richard Montgomery. The earliest settlements by Ameri- cans were toward the close of 1816, county organi- zation being effected five years later. The entire population, at that time, scarcely exceeded 100 families. The surface is undulating, well watered and timbered. The seat of county government is located at Hillsboro. Litchfield is an important town. Here are situated car-shops and some manufacturing establishments. Conspicuous in the county's history as pioneers were Harris Reavis. Henry Pyatt. John Levi, Aaron Casey

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John Tillson, Hiram Rountree, the Wrights (Joseph and Charles), the Hills (John and Henry), William McDavid and John Russell.

MONTICELLO, a city and the county-seat of Piatt County, on the Sangamon River, midway between Chicago and St. Louis, on the Kankakee and Bloomington Division of the Illinois Central, and the Chicago and St. Louis Division of the Wabash Railways. It lies within the "corn belt," and stock-raising is extensively carried on in the surrounding country. Among the city industries are a foundry and machine shops, steam flour and planing mills, broom, cigar and harness-making, and patent fence and tile works. The city is lighted by electricity, has several elevators, an excellent water system, numerous churches and good schools, with banks and three weekly papers. Population (1890), 1,643; (1900), 1,982.

MONTICELLO FEMALE SEMINARY, the second institution established in Illinois for the higher education of women-Jacksonville Female Seminary being the first. It was founded through the munificence of Capt. Benjamin Godfrey, who donated fifteen acres for a site, at Godfrey, Madison County, and gave $53,000 toward erecting and equipping the buildings. The institution was opened on April 11, 1838, with sixteen young lady pupils, Rev. Theron Baldwin, one of the celebrated "Yale Band," being the first Principal. In 1845 he was suc- ceeded by Miss Philena Fobes, and she, in turn, by Miss Harriet N. Haskell, in 1866, who still remains in charge. In November, 1883, the seminary building, with its contents, was burned; but the institution continued its sessions in tem- porary quarters until the erection of a new build- ing, which was soon accomplished through the generosity of alumnæ and friends of female edu- cation throughout the country. The new struc- ture is of stone, three stories in height, and thoroughly modern. The average number of pupils is 150, with fourteen instructors, and the standard of the institution is of a high character.

MOORE, Clifton H., lawyer and financier, was born at Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio, Oct. 26, 1817; after a brief season spent in two academies and one term in the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, at Kirtland, in 1839 he came west and engaged in teaching at Pekin, Ill., while giving his leisure to the study of law. He spent the next year at Tremont as Deputy County and Circuit Clerk, was admitted to the bar at Spring- field in 1841, and located soon after at Clinton, DeWitt County, which has since been his home. In partnership with the late Judge David Davis,

of Bloomington, Mr. Moore, a few years later, began operating extensively in Illinois lands, and is now one of the largest land proprietors in the State, besides being interested in a number of manufacturing ventures and a local bank. The only official position of importance lie has held is that of Delegate to the State Constitu- tional Convention of 1869-70. He is an enthusi- astic collector of State historical and art treasures, of which he possesses one of the most valuable private collections in Illinois.

MOORE, Henry, pioneer lawyer, came to Chi- cago from Concord, Mass., in 1834, and was almost immediately admitted to the bar, also acting for a time as a clerk in the office of Col. Richard J. Hamilton, who held pretty much all the county offices on the organization of Cook County. Mr. Moore was one of the original Trustees of Rush Medical College, and obtained from the Legislature the first charter for a gas company in Chicago. In 1838 he went to Ha- vana, Cuba, for the benefit of his failing health, but subsequently returned to Concord, Mass., where he died some years afterward.

MOORE, James, pioneer, was born in the State of Maryland in 1750; was married in his native State, about 1772, to Miss Catherine Biggs, later removing to Virginia. In 1777 he came to the Illinois Country as a spy, preliminary to the con- templated expedition of Col. George Rogers Clark, which captured Kaskaskia in July, 1778. After the Clark expedition (in which he served as Captain, by appointment of Gov. Patrick Henry), he returned to Virginia, where he remained until 1781, when he organized a party of 'emigrants, which he accompanied to Illinois, spending the winter at Kaskaskia. The following year they located at a point in the northern part of Monroe County, which afterwards received the name of Bellefontaine. After his arrival in Illinois, he organized a company of "Minute Men," of which he was chosen Captain. He was a man of prominence and influence among the early settlers, but died in 1788. A numerous and influential family of his descendants have grown up in Southern Illinois .- John (Moore), son of the preceding, was born in Maryland in 1773, and brought by his father to Illinois eight years later. He married a sister of Gen. John D. Whiteside, who afterwards became State Treasurer, and also served as Fund Commissioner of the State of Illi- nois under the internal improvement system. Moore was an officer of the State Militia, and served in a company of rangers during the War of 1812; was also the first County Treasurer of

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Monroe County. Died, July 4, 1833 .- James B. (Moore), the third son of Capt. James Moore, was born in 1780, and brought to Illinois by his par- ents; in his early manhood he followed the business of keel-boating on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, visiting New Orleans, Pittsburg and other points; became a prominent Indian fighter during the War of 1812, and was commissioned Captain by Governor Edwards and authorized to raise a company of mounted rangers; also served as Sheriff of Monroe County, by appoint- ment of Governor Edwards, in Territorial days; was Presidential Elector in 1820, and State Sena- tor for Madison County in 1836-40, dying in the latter year .- Enoch (Moore), fourtli son of Capt. James Moore, the pioneer, was born in the old block-house at Bellefontaine in 1782, being the first child born of American parents in Illinois; served as a "ranger" in the company of his brother, James B .; occupied the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court, and afterwards that of Judge of Probate of Monroe County during the Terri- torial period; was Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1818, and served as Representative from Monroe County in the Second General Assembly, later filling various county offices for some twenty years. He died in 1848.

MOORE, Jesse H., clergyman, soldier and Con- gressman, born near Lebanon, St. Clair County, Ill., April 22, 1817, and graduated from McKen- dree College in 1842. For thirteen years he was a teacher, during portions of this period being successively at the head of three literary insti- tutions in the West. In 1849 lie was ordained a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but resigned pastorate duties in 1862, to take part in the War for the Union, organizing the One Hun- dred and Fifteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, of which he was commissioned Colonel, also serving as brigade commander during the last year of the war, and being brevetted Brigadier-General at its close. After the war he re-entered the ministry, but, in 1868, while Presiding Elder of the Decatur District, he was elected to the Forty-first Con- gress as a Republican, being re-elected in 1870; afterwards served as Pension Agent at Spring- field, and, in 1881, was appointed United States Consul at Callao, Peru, dying in office, in that city, July 11, 1883.

MOORE, John, Lieutenant-Governor (1842-46) ; was born in Lincolnshire, Eng., Sept. 8, 1793; came to America and settled in Illinois in 1830, spending most of his life as a resident of Bloom- ington. In 1838 he was elected to the lower branch of the Eleventh General Assembly from

the McLean District, and, in 1840, to the Senate. but before the close of his term, in 1842, was elected Lieutenant-Governor with Gov. Thomas Ford. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he took a conspicuous part in recruiting the Fourth Regiment Illinois Volunteers (Col. E. D. Baker's), of which he was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel, serving gallantly throughout the struggle. In 1848 he was appointed State Treasurer, as succes- sor of Milton Carpenter, who died in office. In 1850 he was elected to the same office, and con- tinued to discharge its duties until 1857, when lie was succeeded by James Miller. Died, Sept. 23, 1863.

MOORE, Risdon, pioneer, was born in Dela- ware in 1760; removed to North Carolina in 1789, and, a few years later, to Hancock County, Ga., where he served two terms in the Legislature. He emigrated from Georgia in 1812, and settled in St. Clair County, Ill .- besides a family of fif- teen white persons, bringing with him eighteen colored people-the object of his removal being to get rid of slavery. He purchased a farm in what was known as the "Turkey Hill Settle- ment, " about four miles east of Belleville, where he resided until his death in 1828. Mr. Moore became a prominent citizen, was elected to the Second Territorial House of Representatives, and was chosen Speaker, serving as such for two ses- sions (1814-15). He was also Representative from St. Clair County in the First, Second and Third General Assemblies after the admission of Illinois into the Union. In the last of these he was one of the most zealous opponents of the pro-slavery Convention scheme of 1822-24. He left a numer- ous and highly respected family of descendants, who were afterwards prominent in public affairs .- William (Moore), his son, served as a Captain in the War of 1812, and also commanded a company in the Black Hawk War. He represented St. Clair County in the lower branch of the Ninth and Tenth General Assemblies; was a local preacher of the Methodist Church, and was Presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of McKendree Col- lege at the time of his death in 1849 .- Risdon (Moore), Jr., a cousin of the first named Risdon Moore, was a Representative from St. Clair County in the Fourth General Assembly and Senator in the Sixth, but died before the expiration of his term, being succeeded at the next session by Adam W. Snyder.

MOORE, Stephen Richey, lawyer, was born of Scotch ancestry, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 22. 1832; in 1851, entered Farmers' College near Cin- cinnati, graduating in 1856, and, having qualified

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himself for the practice of law, located the fol- lowing year at Kankakee, Ill., which has since been his home. In 1858 he was employed in defense of the late Father Chiniquy, who recently died in Montreal, in one of the celebrated suits begun against him by dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Moore is a man of strik- ing appearance and great independence of char- acter, a Methodist in religious belief and has generally acted politically in co-operation with the Democratic party, though strongly anti- slavery in his views. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Liberal Republican Convention at Cin- cinnati which nominated Mr. Greeley for the Presidency, and, in 1896, participated in the same way in the Indianapolis Convention which nomi- nated Gen. John M. Palmer for the same office, in the following campaign giving the "Gold Democ- racy" a vigorous support.

MORAN, Thomas A., lawyer and jurist, was born at Bridgeport, Conn., Oct. 7, 1839; received his preliminary education in the district schools of Wisconsin (to which State his father's family had removed in 1846), and at an academy at Salem, Wis .; began reading law at Kenosha in 1859, meanwhile supporting himself by teaching. In May, 1865, he graduated from the Albany (N. Y.) Law School, and the same year com- menced practice in Chicago, rapidly rising to the front rank of his profession. In 1879 he was elected a Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, and re-elected in 1885. At the expiration of his second term he resumed private practice. While on the bench he at first heard only common law cases, but later divided the business of the equity side of the court with Judge Tuley. In June, 1886, he was assigned to the bench of the Appel- late Court, of which tribunal he was, for a year, Chief Justice.

MORGAN, James Dady, soldier, was born in Boston, Mass., August 1, 1810, and, at 16 years of age, went for a three years' trading voyage on the ship "Beverly." When thirty days out a mutiny arose, and shortly afterward the vessel was burned. Morgan escaped to South America, and, after many hardships, returned to Boston. In 1834 he removed to Quincy, Ill., and engaged in mercantile pursuits; aided in raising the "Quincy Grays" during the Mormon difficulties (1844-45) ; during the Mexican War commanded a company in the First Regiment Illinois Volun- teers; in 1861 became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Tenth Regiment in the three months' service, and Colonel on reorganization of the regiment for three years; was promoted Brigadier-General

in July, 1862, for meritorious service; commanded a brigade at Nashville, and, in March, 1865, was brevetted Major-General for gallantry at Benton- ville, N. C., being mustered out, August 24, 1865. After the war he resumed business at Quincy, Ill., being President of the Quincy Gas Company and Vice-President of a bank; was also Presi- dent, for some time, of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. Died, at Quincy, Sept. 12, 1896.

MORGAN COUNTY, a central county of the State, lying west of Sangamon, and bordering on the Illinois River-named for Gen. Daniel Mor- gan; area, 580 square miles; population (1900), 35,006. The earliest American settlers were probably Elisha and Seymour Kellogg, who located on Mauvaisterre Creek in 1818. Dr. George Caldwell came in 1820, and was the first phy- sician, and Dr. Ero Chandler settled on the pres- ent site of the city of Jacksonville in 1821. Immigrants began to arrive in large numbers about 1822, and, Jan. 31, 1823, the county was organized, the first election being held at the house of James G. Swinerton, six miles south- west of the present city of Jacksonville. Ohn- stead's Mound was the first county-seat, but this choice was only temporary. Two years later, Jacksonville was selected, and has ever since so continued. (See Jacksonville.) Cass County was cut off from Morgan in 1837, and Scott County in 1839. About 1837 Morgan was the most populous county in the State. The county is nearly equally divided between woodland and prairie, and is well watered. Besides the Illinois River on its western border, there are several smaller streams, among them Indian, Apple, Sandy and Mauvaisterre Creeks. Bituminous coal underlies the eastern part of the county, and thin veins crop out along the Illinois River bluffs. Sandstone has also been quarried.

MORGAN PARK, a suburban village of Cook County, 13 miles south of Chicago, on the Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway; is the seat of the Academy (a preparatory branch) of the University of Chicago and the Scandinavian De- partment of the Divinity School connected with the same institution. Population (1880), 187; (1890), 1,027; (1900), 2,329.

MORMONS, a religious sect, founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., at Fayette, Seneca County, N. Y., August 6, 1830, styling themselves the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." Membership in 1892 was estimated at 230,000, of whom some 20,000 were outside of the United States. Their religious teachings are peculiar. They avow faitlı in the Trinity and in the Bible (as by them

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interpreted). They believe, however, that the "Book of Mormon"-assumed to be of divine origin and a direct revelation to Smith-is of equal authority with the Scriptures, if not supe- rior to them. Among their ordinances are baptism and the laying-on of hands, and, in their church organization, they recognize various orders -apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangel- ists, etc. They also believe in the restoration of the Ten Tribes and the literal re assembling of Israel, the return and rule of Christ in person, and the rebuilding of Zion in America. Polyg- amy is encouraged and made an article of faith, though professedly not practiced under existing laws in the United States. The supreme power is vested in a President, who has authority in temporal and spiritual affairs alike; although there is less effort now than formerly, on the part of the priesthood, to interfere in temporalities. Driven from New York in 1831, Smith and his followers first settled at Kirtland, Ohio. There, for a time, the sect flourished and built a temple; but, within seven years, their doctrines and prac- tices excited so much hostility that they were forced to make another removal. Their next settlement was at Far West, Mo .; but here the hatred toward them became so intense as to result in open war. From Missouri they recrossed the Mississippi and founded the city of Nauvoo, near Commerce, in Hancock County, Ill. The charter granted by the Legislature was an extraordinary instrument, and well-nigh made the city independent of the State. Nauvoo soon obtained commercial importance, in two years becoming a city of some 16,000 inhabitants. The Mormons rapidly became a powerful factor in State politics, when there broke out a more bitter public enmity than the sect had yet en- countered. Internal dissensions also sprang up, and, in 1844, a discontented Mormon founded a newspaper at Nauvoo, in which he violently assailed the prophet and threatened him with exposure. Smith's answer to this was the de- struction of the printing office, and the editor promptly secured a warrant for his arrest, return- able at Carthage. Smith went before a friendly justice at Nauvoo, who promptly discharged him, but he positively refused to appear before the Carthage magistrate. Thereupon the latter issued a second warrant, charging Smith with treason. This also was treated with contempt. The militia was called out to make the arrest, and the Mormons, who had formed a strong military organization, armed to defend their leader. After a few trifling clashes between the soldiers

and the "Saints," Smith was persuaded to sur- render and go to Carthage, the county-seat, where he was incarcerated in the county jail. Within twenty-four hours (on Sunday, June 27, 1844), a mob attacked the prison. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed, and some of their adherents, who had accompanied them to jail were wounded. Brigham Young (then an apostle) at once assumed the leadership and, after several months of intense popular excite. ment, in the following year led his followers across the Mississippi, finally locating (1847) in Utah. (See also Nauvoo.) There their history has not been free from charges of crime; but, whatever may be the character of the leaders, they have succeeded in building up a prosperous community in a region which they found a vir- tual desert, a little more than forty years ago. The polity of the Church has been greatly modi- fied in consequence of restrictions placed upon it by Congressional legislation, especially in refer- ence to polygamy, and by contact with other communities. (See Smith, Joseph.)

MORRIS, a city and the county-seat of Grundy County, on the Illinois River, the Illinois & Michigan Canal, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, 61 miles southwest of Chicago. It is an extensive grain market, and the center of a region rich in bituminous coal. There is valu- able water-power here, and much manufacturing is done, including builders' hardware, plows, iron specialties, paper car-wheels. brick and tile, flour and planing-mills, oatmeal and tanned leather. There are also a normal and scientific school, two national banks and three daily and weekly news- papers. Population (1880), 3,486; (1890), 3,653; (1900), 4,273.

MORRIS, Buckner Smith, early lawyer born at Augusta, Ky., August 19. 1800; was admitted to the bar in 1827, and, for seven years thereafter, continued to reside in Kentucky, serving two terms in the Legislature of that State. In 1834 he removed to Chicago, took an active part in the incorporation of the city. and was elected its second Mayor in 1838. In 1840 he was a Whig candidate for Presidential Elector, Abraham Lincoln running on the same ticket, and, in 1852, was defeated as the Whig candidate for Secretary of State. He was elected a Judge of the Seventh Circuit in 1851, but declined a re- nomination in 1855. In 1856 he accepted the American (or Know-Nothing) nomination for Governor, and, in 1860, that of the Bell-Everett party for the same office. He was vehemently opposed to the election of either Lincoln or

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Breckenridge to the Presidency, believing that civil war would result in either event. A shadow was thrown across his life, in 1864, by his arrest and trial for alleged complicity in a rebel plot to burn and pillage Chicago and liberate the prisoners of war held at Camp Douglas. The trial, however, which was held at Cincinnati, resulted in his acquittal. Died, in Kentucky, Dec. 18, 1879. Those who knew Judge Morris, in his early life in the city of Chicago, describe him as a man of genial and kindly disposition, in spite of his opposition to the abolition of slavery-a fact which, no doubt, had much to do with his acquittal of the charge of complicity with the Camp Douglas conspiracy, as the evidence of his being in communication with the leading con- spirators appears to have been conclusive. (See Camp Douglas Conspiracy.)

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 77

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