USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I > Part 82
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NORWOOD PARK, a village of Cook County, on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad (Wis- consin Division), 11 miles northwest of Chicago. Incorporated in City of Chicago, 1893.
NOYES, George Clement, clergyman, was born at Landaff, N. H., August 4, 1833, brought by his parents to Pike County, Ill., in 1844, and, at the age of 16, determined to devote his life to the ministry ; in 1851, entered Illinois College at Jack- sonville, graduating with first honors in the class of 1855. In the following autumn he entered Union Theological Seminary in New York, and, having graduated in 1858, was ordained the same year, and installed pastor of the First Presby- terian Churchi at Laporte, Ind. Here he remained
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ten years, when he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Evanston, Ill., then a small organization which developed, during the twenty years of his pastorate, into one of the strongest and most influential churches in Evans- ton. For a number of years Dr. Noyes was an editorial writer and weekly correspondent of "The New York Evangelist," over the signature of "Clement." He was also, for several years, an active and very efficient member of the Board of Trustees of Knox College. The liberal bent of his mind was illustrated in the fact that he acted as counsel for Prof. David Swing, during the cele- brated trial of the latter for heresy before the Chicago Presbytery - his argument on that occasion winning encomiums from all classes of people. His deathi took place at Evanston, Jan. 14, 1889, as the result of an attack of pneumonia, and was deeply deplored, not only by his own church and denomination, but by the whiole com- munity. Some two weeks after it occurred a union meeting was held in one of the churches at Evanston, at which addresses in commemoration of his services were delivered by some dozen ministers of that village and of Chicago, while various social and literary organizations and the press bore testimony to his high character. He was a member of the Literary Society of Chicago, and, during the last year of his life, served as its President. Dr. Noyes was married, in 1858, to a daughter of David A. Smith, Esq., an honored citizen and able lawyer of Jacksonville.
OAKLAND, a city of Coles County on the Van- dalia Line and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad, 15 miles northeast of Charleston; is in grain center and broom-corn belt; the town has two banks and one daily and two weekly papers. Pop. (1890), 995;(1900), 1,198.
OAK PARK, a village of Cook County, and popular residence suburb of Chicago, 9 miles west of the initial station of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, on which it is located; is also upon the line of the Wisconsin Central Rail- road. The place has numerous churches, pros- perous schools, a public library, telegraph and express offices, banks and two local papers. Population (1880), 1,888; (1890), 4,771.
OBERLY, John H., journalist and Civil Serv- ice Commissioner, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 6, 1837; spent part of his boyhood in Allegheny County, Pa., but, in 1853, began learn- ing the printer's trade in the office of "The Woos- ter (Ohio) Republican," completing it at Memphis, Tenn, and becoming a journeyman printer in
1857. He worked in various offices, including the Wooster paper, where he also began the study of law, but, in 1860, became part proprietor of "The Bulletin" job office at Memphis, in which he had been employed as an apprentice, and, later, as foreman. Having been notified to leave Memphis on account of his Union principles after the beginning of the Civil War, he returned to Wooster, Ohio, and conducted various papers there during the next four years, but, in 1865, came to Cairo, Ill., where he served for a time as foreman of "The Cairo Democrat," three years later establishing "The Cairo Bulletin." Although the latter paper was burned out a few months later, it was immediately re-established. In 1872 he was elected Representative in the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, and, in 1877, was appointed by Governor Cullom the Democratic member of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, serving four years, meanwhile (in 1880) being the Demo- cratic candidate for Secretary of State. Other positions held by him included Mayor of the city of Cairo (1869); President of the National Typo- graphical Union at Chicago (1865), and at Mem- phis (1866); delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore (1872), and Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee (1882-84). After retiring from the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, he united in founding "The Bloomington (Ill.) Bulletin," of which he was editor some three years. During President Cleveland's administration he was appointed a inember of the Civil Service Commission, being later transferred to the Commissionership of Indian Affairs. He was subsequently connected in an editorial capacity with "The Washington Post," "The Richmond (Va.) State," "The Con- cord (N. H.) People and Patriot" and "The Wash- ington Times." While engaged in an attempt to reorganize "The People and Patriot," he died at Concord, N. H., April 15, 1899.
ODD FELLOWS. "Western Star" Lodge, No. 1, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Alton, June 11, 1836. In 1838 the Grand Lodge of Illinois was instituted at the same place, and reorganized, at Springfield, in 1842. S. C. Pierce was the first Grand Master, and Samuel L. Miller, Grand Sec- retary. Wildey Encampment, No. 1, was organ- ized at Alton in 1838, and the Grand Encampment, at Peoria, in 1850, with Charles H. Constable Grand Patriarch. In 1850 the subordinate branches of the Order numbered seventy-six, with 3,291 members, and $25,392.87 revenue. In 1895 the Lodges numbered 838, the membership 50,544, with $475,252.18 revenue, of which $135,018.40
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was expended for relief. The Encampment branch, in 1895, embraced 179 organizations with a membership of 6,812 and $23,865.25 revenue, of which $6,781.40 was paid out for relief. The Rebekah branch, for the same year, comprised 422 Lodges, with 22,000 members and $43,215.65 revenue, of which $3,122.79 was for relief. The total sum distributed for relief by the several organizations (1895) was $144,972.59. The Order was especially liberal in its benefactions to the sufferers by the Chicago fire of 1871, an appeal to its members calling forth a generous response throughout the United States. (See Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home.)
ODD FELLOWS' ORPHANS' HOME, a benevo- lent institution, incorporated in 1889, erected at Lincoln, Ill., under the auspices of the Daughters of Rebekah (see Odd Fellows), and dedicated August 19, 1892. The building is four stories in height, has a capacity for the accommodation of fifty children, and cost $36,524.76, exclusive of forty acres of land valued at $8,000.
ODELL, a village of Livingston County, and station on the Chicago & Alton Railway, 82 miles south-southwest of Chicago. It is in a grain and stock-raising region. Population (1880), 908; (1890), 800; (1900), 1,000.
ODIN, a village of Marion County, at the cross- ing of the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Rail- ways, 244 miles south by west from Chicago; in fruit belt; has coal-mine, two fruit evaporators, bank and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 1,180.
O'FALLON, a village of St. Clair County, on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 18 miles east of St. Louis; has interurban railway, electric lights, water-works, factories, coal-mine, bank and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 1,267.
OGDEN, William Butler, capitalist and Rail- way President, born at Walton, N. Y., June 15, 1805. He was a member of the New York Legis- lature in 1834, and, the following year, removed to Chicago, where he established a land and trust agency. He took an active part in the various enterprises centering around Chicago, and, on the incorporation of the city, was elected its first Mayor. He was prominently identified with the construction of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, and, in 1847, became its President. While visiting Europe in 1853, he made a careful study of the canals of Holland, which convinced him of the desirability of widening and deepen- ing the Illinois & Michigan Canal and of con- structing a ship canal across the southern peninsula of Michigan. In 1855 he became Presi-
dent of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad, and effected its consolidation with the Galena & Chicago Union. Out of this consoli- dation sprang the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- way Company, of which he was elected President. In 1850 he presided over the National Pacific Railroad Convention, and, upon the formation of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, he became its President. He was largely connected with the inception of the Northern Pacific line, in the success of which he was a firm believer. He also controlled various other interests of public importance, among them the great lumbering establishments at Peshtigo, Wis., and, at the time of his death, was the owner of what was probably the largest plant of that description in the world. His benefactions were numerous, among the recipients being the Rush Medical College, of which he was President; the Theological Semi- nary of the Northwest, the Chicago Historical Society, the Academy of Sciences, the University of Chicago, the Astronomical Society, and many other educational and benevolent institutions and organizations in the Northwest. Died, in New York City, August 3, 1877. . (See Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.)
OGLE, Joseplı, pioneer, was born in Virginia in 1741, came to Illinois in 1785, settling in the American Bottom within the present County of Monroe, but afterwards removed to St. Clair County, about the site of the present town of O'Fallon, 8 miles north of Belleville; was selected by his neighbors to serve as Captain in their skirmishes with the Indians. Died, at his home in St. Clair County, in February, 1821. Captain Ogle had the reputation of being the earliest con- vert to Methodism in Illinois. Ogle County, in Northern Illinois, was named in his honor .- Jacob (Ogle), son of the preceding, also a native of Virginia, was born about 1772, came to Illinois with his father in 1785, and was a "Ranger" in the War of 1812. He served as a Representative from St. Clair County in the Third General Assembly (1822), and again in the Seventh (1830), in the former being an opponent of the pro-slavery convention scheme. Beyond two terms in the Legislature he seems to have held no public office except that of Justice of the Peace. Like his father, he was a zealous Metho- dist and highly respected. Died, in 1844, aged 72 years.
OGLE COUNTY, next to the "northern tier" of counties of the State and originally a part of Jo Daviess. It was separately organized in 1837, and Lee County was carved from its territory in
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1839. In 1900 its area was 780 square miles, and its population 29,129. Before the Black Hawk War immigration was slow, and life primitive. Peoria was the nearest food market. New grain was "ground " on a grater, and old pounded with an extemporized pestle in a wooden mortar. Rock River flows across the county from north- east to southwest. A little oak timber grows along its banks, but, generally speaking, the sur- face is undulating prairie, with soil of a rich loam. Sandstone is in ample supply, and all the limestones abound. An extensive peat-bed has been discovered on the Killbuck Creek. Oregon, the county-seat, has fine water-power. The other principal towns are Rochelle, Polo, Forreston and Mount Morris.
OGLESBY, Richard James, Governor and United States Senator, was born in Oldham County, Ky., July 25, 1824; left an orphan at the age of 8 years; in 1836 accompanied an uncle to Decatur, Ill., where, until 1844, he worked at farming, carpentering and rope-making, devoting his leisure hours to the study of law. In 1845 he was adınitted to the bar and began practice at Sullivan, in Moultrie County. In 1846 he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Fourth Regi- ment, Illinois Volunteers (Col. E. D. Baker's regi- ment), and served through the Mexican War, taking part in the siege of Vera Cruz and the battle of Cerro Gordo. In 1847 he pursued a course of study at the Louisville Law School, graduating in 1848. He was a "forty-niner" in California, but returned to Decatur in 1851. In 1858 he made an unsuccessful campaign for Con- gress in the Decatur District. In 1860 he was elected to the State Senate, but early in 1861 resigned his seat to accept the colonelcy of the Eighth Illinois Volunteers. Through gallantry (notably at Forts Henry and Donelson and at Corinth) he rose to be Major-General, being se- verely wounded in the last-named battle. He resigned his commission on account of disability, in May, 1864, and the following November was elected Governor, as a Republican. In 1872 he was re-elected Governor, but, two weeks after his inauguration, resigned to accept a seat in the United States Senate, to which he was elected by the Legislature of 1873. In 1884 he was elected Governor for the third time-being the only man in the history of the State who (up to the present time-1899) has been thus honored. After the expiration of his last term as Governor, he devoted his attention to his private affairs at his home at Elkhart, in Logan County, where he died, April 24, 1899, deeply mourned by personal
and political friends in all parts of the Union, who admired his strict integrity and sterling patriotism.
OHIO, INDIANA & WESTERN RAILWAY. (See Peoria & Eastern Railroad.)
OHIO RIVER, an affluent of the Mississippi, formed by the union of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, at Pittsburg, Pa. At this point it becomes a navigable stream about 400 yards wide, with an elevation of about 700 feet above sea-level. The beauty of the scenery along its banks secured for it, from the early French explorers (of whom La Salle was one), the name of "La Belle Riviere." Its general course is to the southwest, but with many sinuosities, form- ing the southern boundary of the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and the western and north- ern boundary of West Virginia and Kentucky, until it enters the Mississippi at Cairo, in latitude 37° N., and about 1,200 miles above the mouth of the latter stream. The area which it drains is computed to be 214,000 square miles. Its mouth is 268 feet above the level of the sea. The current is remarkably gentle and uniform, except near Louisville, where there is a descent of twenty- two feet within two miles, which is evaded by means of a canal around the falls. Large steam- boats can navigate its whole length, except in low stages of water and when closed by ice in winter. Its largest affluents are the Tennessee, the Cum- berland, the Kentucky, the Great Kanawha and the Green Rivers, from the south, and the Wa- bash, the Miami, Scioto and Muskingum from the north. The principal cities on its banks are Pitts- burg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, Evans- ville, New Albany, Madison and Cairo. It is crossed by bridges at Wheeling, Cincinnati and Cairo. The surface of the Ohio is subject to a variation of forty-two to fifty-one feet between high and low water. Its length is 975 miles, and its width varies from 400 to 1,000 yards. (See Inundations, Remarkable.)
OHIO & MISSISSIPPI RAILWAY. (See Bal- timore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad.)
OLNEY, an incorporated city and the county- seat of Richland County, 31 miles west of Vin- cennes, Ind., and 117 iniles east of St. Louis, Mo., at the junction of the Baltimore & Ohio Soutli- western and the Peoria Division of the Illinois Central and the Ohio River Division of the Cin- cinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad; is in the center of the fruit belt and an important shipping point for farm produce and live-stock; has flour mills, a furniture factory and railroad repair shops, banks, a public library, churches and five
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newspapers, one issuing daily and another semi- weekly editions. Population (1890), 3,831; (1900), 4,260.
OMELVENY, John, pioneer and head of a numerous family which became prominent in Southern Illinois; was a native of Ireland who came to America about 1798 or 1799. After resid- ing in Kentucky a few years, he removed to Illi- nois, locating in what afterwards became Pope County, whither his oldest son, Samuel, had preceded him about 1797 or 1798. The latter for a time followed the occupation of flat-boating, carrying produce to New Orleans. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818 from Pope County, being the colleague of Hamnlet Ferguson. A year later le removed to Randolph County, where he served as a member of the County Court, but, in 1820-22, we find him a member of the Second General Assembly from Union County, having successfully contested the seat of Samuel Alexander, who had received the certificate of election. He died in 1828 .- Edward (Omelveny), another member of this family, and grandson of the elder John Omelveny, represented Monroe County in the Fifteentli General Assem- bly (1846-48), and was Presidential Elector in 1852, but died sometime during the Civil War. --- Harvey K. S. (Omelveny), the fifth son of Wil- liam Omelveny and grandson of John, was born in Todd County, Ky., in 1823, came to Southern Illinois, in 1852, and engaged in the practice of law, being for a time the partner of Senator Thomas E. Merritt, at Salem. Early in 1858 he was elected a Justice of the Circuit Court to succeed Judge Breese, who had been promoted to the Supreme Court, but resigned in 1861. He gained considerable notoriety by his intense hostility to the policy of the Government during the Civil War, was a Delegate to the Constitu- tional Convention of 1862, and was named as a member of the Peace Commission proposed to be appointed by the General Assembly, in 1863, to secure terms of peace with the Southern Con- federacy. He was also a leading spirit in the peace meeting held at Peoria, in August, 1863. In 1869 Mr. Omelveny removed to Los Angeles, Cal., which has since been his home, and where lie has carried on a lucrative law practice.
ONARGA, a town in Iroquois County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 85 miles south by west from Chicago, and 43 miles north by east from Champaign. It is a manufacturing town, flour, wagons, wire-fencing, stoves and tile being among the products. It has a bank, eight churchies, a graded school, a commercial college,
and a weekly newspaper. Population (1880), 1,061; (1890), 994; (1900), 1,270.
ONEIDA, a city in Knox County, on the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 12 miles northeast of Galesburg; has wagon, pump and furniture factories, two banks, electric lights, several churches, a graded school, and a weekly paper. The surrounding country is rich prairie, where coal is mined about twenty feet below the surface. Pop. (1890), 699; (1900), 785.
OQUAWKA, the county-seat of Henderson County, situated on the Mississippi River, about 15 miles above Burlington, Iowa, and 32 miles west of Galesburg. It is in a farming region, but has some manufactories. The town has five churches, a graded school, a bank and three newspapers. Population (1900), 1,010.
ORDINANCE OF 1787. This is the name given to the first organic act, passed by Congress, for the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio River, comprising the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. The first step in this direction was taken in the appointment, by Congress, on March 1, 1784, of a committee, of which Thomas Jefferson was Chair- man, to prepare a plan for the temporary govern- ment of the region which had been acquired, by the capture of Kaskaskia, by Col. George Rogers Clark, nearly six years previous. The necessity for some step of this sort had grown all the more urgent, in consequence of the recognition of the right of the United States to this region by the Treaty of Paris of 1783, and the surrender, by Vir- ginia, of the title she had maintained thereto on account of Clark's conquest under her auspices- a right which she had exercised by furnishing whatever semblance of government so far existed northwest of the Ohio. The report submitted from Jefferson's committee proposed the division of the Territory into seven States, to which was added the proviso that, after the year 1800, "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of said States, otherwise than in punish- ment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This report failed of adoption, however, Congress contenting itself with the passage of a resolution providing for future organization of this territory into States by the people-the measures necessary for temporary government being left to future Congressional action. While the postponement, in the reso- lution as introduced by Jefferson, of the inli- bition of slavery to the year 1800, has been criticised, its introduction was significant, as coming from a representative from a slave State,
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and being the first proposition in Congress look- ing to restriction, of any character, on the subject of slavery. Congress having taken no further step under the resolution adopted in 1784, the condition of the country (thus left practically without a responsible government, while increas- ing in population) became constantly more deplorable. An appeal from the people about Kaskaskia for some better form of government, in 1786, aided by the influence of the newly organized "Ohio Company," who desired to en- courage emigration to the lands which they were planning to secure from the General Government, at last brought about the desired result, in the passage of the famous "Ordinance," on the 13th day of July, 1787. While making provision for a mode of temporary self-government by the people, its most striking features are to be found in the six "articles"-a sort of "Bill of Rights"- with which the document closes. These assert: (1) the right of freedom of worship and religious opinion ; (2) the right to the benefit of habeas corpus and trial by jury ; to proportionate repre- sentation, and to protection in liberty and prop- erty ; (3) that "religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged"; (4) that the States, formed within the territory referred to, "shall forever remain a part of this confeder- acy of the United States of America, subject to the Articles of Confederation and to such alter- ations therein as shall be constitutionally made"; (5) prescribe the boundaries of the States to be formed therein and the conditions of their admis- sion into the Union; and (6-and most significant of all) repeat the prohibition regarding the introduction of slavery into the Northwest Terri- tory, as proposed by Jefferson, but without any qualification as to time. There has been consider- able controversy regarding the authorship of this portion of the Ordinance, into which it is not necessary to enter here. While it has been char- acterized as a second and advanced Declaration of Independence-and probably no single act of Congress was ever fraught with more important and far-reaching results-it seems remarkable that a majority of the States supporting it and securing its adoption, were then, and long con- tinued to be, slave States.
OREGON, the county-seat of Ogle County, situated on Rock River and the Minneapolis Branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- road, 100 miles west from Chicago. The sur- rounding region is agricultural; the town has
water power and manufactures flour, pianos, steel tanks, street sprinklers, and iron castings. It has two banks, water-works supplied by flowing artesian wells, cereal mill, and two weekly news- papers ; has also obtained some repute as a summer resort. Pop. (1880), 1,088 ; (1890), 1,566 ; (1900), 1,577.
ORION, a village of Henry County, at the inter- section of the Rock Island Division of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railways, 19 miles southeast of Rock Island. Pop. (1890), 624; (1900), 584.
OSBORN, William Henry, Railway President, was born at Salem, Mass., Dec. 21, 1820. After receiving a high school education in his native town, he entered the counting room of the East India house of Peele, Hubbell & Co .; was subse- quently sent to represent the firm at Manila, finally engaging in business on his own account, during which he traveled extensively in Europe. Returning to the United States in 1853, he took up his residence in New York, and, having mar- ried the daughter of Jonathan Sturges, one of the original incorporators and promoters of the Illi- nois Central Railroad, he soon after became asso- ciated with that enterprise. In August, 1854, he was chosen a Director of the Company, and, on Dec. 1, 1855, became its third President, serving in the latter position nearly ten years (until July 11, 1865), and, as a Director, until 1877-in all, twenty-two years. After retiring from his con- nection with the Illinois Central Railroad, Mr. Osborn gave his attention largely to enterprises of an educational and benevolent character in aid of the unfortunate classes in the State of New York.
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