Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 724

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for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Hoff- man, having been found ineligible by lack of resi- dence after the date of naturalization, withdrew, and his place was subsequently filled by the nomination of John Wood of Quincy. The plat- form adopted was outspoken in its pledges of unswerving loyalty to the Union and opposition to the extension of slavery into new territory. A delegation was appointed to the National Con- vention to be held in Philadelphia on June 17, following, and a State Central Committee was named to conduct the State campaign, consisting of James C. Conkling of Sangamon County ; Asahel Gridley of McLean; Burton C. Cook of La Salle, and Charles H. Ray and Norman B. Judd of Cook. The principal speakers of the occasion, before the convention or in popular meetings held while the members were present in Bloomington, included the names of O. H. Brown- ing, Owen Lovejoy, Abraham Lincoln, Burton C. Cook, Richard Yates, the venerable John Dixon, founder of the city bearing his name, and Governor Reeder of Pennsylvania, who had been Territorial Governor. of Kansas by appointment of President Pierce, but had refused to carry out the policy of the administration for making Kansas a slave State. None of the speeches were fully reported, but that of Mr. Lincoln has been universally regarded by those who heard it as the gem of the occasion and the most brilliant of his life, foreshadowing his celebrated "house- divided-against-itself" speech of June 17, 1858. John L. Scripps, editor of "The Chicago Demo- cratic Press," writing of it, at the time, to his paper, said: "Never has it been our fortune to listen to a more eloquent and masterly presenta- tion of a subject. . . . For an hour and a half he (Mr. Lincoln) held the assemblage spellbound by the power of his argument, the intense irony of his invective, and the deep earnestness and fervid brilliancy of his eloquence. When he concluded, the audience sprang to their feet and cheer after cheer told how deeply their hearts had been touched and their souls warmed up to a generous enthusiasm." At the election, in November following, although the Democratic candidate for President carried the State by a plurality of over 9,000 votes, the entire State ticket put in nomination at Bloomington was successful by majorities ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 for the several candidates.

BLUE ISLAND, a village of Cook County, on the Calumet River and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago & Grand Trunk and the Illinois Central Railways, 15 miles south of

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

Chicago. It has a high school, churches and two newspapers, besides brick, smelting and oil works. Pop. (1910), 8,043; annexed to city of Chicago, 1911.

BLUE ISLAND RAILROAD, a short line 3.96 miles in length, lying wholly within Illinois; capital stock $25,000; operated by the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Its funded debt (1895) was $100,000 and its floating debt. $3,779.

BLUE MOUND, a town of Macon County, on the Wabash Railway, 14 miles southeast of De- catur ;; in rich grain and live-stock region; has three grain elevators, two banks, tile factory and one newspaper. Pop. (1900), 714, (1910), 900.

BLUFFS, a village of Scott County, at the junction of the Quincy and Hannibal branches of the Wabash Railway, 52 miles west of Spring- field; has a bank and a newspaper. Population (1880), 162; (1890), 421, (1900), 539; (1910), 766.

BOAL, Robert, M.D., physician and legis- lator, born near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1806; was brought by his parents to Ohio when five years old and educated at Cincinnati, graduating from the Ohio Medical College in 1828; settled at Lacon, Ill., in 1836, practicing there until 1862, when, having been appointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for that District, he re- moved to Peoria. Other public positions held by Dr. Boal have been those of Senator in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth General Assemblies (1844-48), Representative in the Nineteenth and Twentieth (1854-58), and Trustee of the Institu- tion for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville, remaining in the latter position seventeen years under the successive administrations of Gov- ernors Bissell, Yates, Oglesby, Palmer and Bever- idge-the last five years of his service being President of the Board. He was also President of the State Medical Board in 1882. Dr. Boal continued to practice at Peoria until about 1890, when he retired, and, in 1893, returned to Lacon to reside with his daughter, the widow of the late Colonel Greenbury L. Fort, for eight years Representative in Congress from the Eighth District. Died June 12, 1903.

BOARD OF ARBITRATION, a Bureau of the State Government, created by an act of the Legis- lature, approved August 2, 1895. It is appointed by the Executive and is composed of three mem- bers (not more than two of whom can belong to the same political party), one of whom must be an employer of labor and one a member of some labor organization. The term of office for the members first named was fixed at two years; after March 1, 1897, it became three years, one member retiring annually. A compensation of.

$1,500 per annum is allowed to each member of the Board, while the Secretary, who must also be a stenographer, receives a salary of $1,200 per annum. When a controversy arises between an individual, firm or corporation employing not less than twenty-five persons, and his or its employés, application may be made by the aggrieved party to the Board for an inquiry into the nature of the disagreement, or both parties may unite in the submission of a case. The Board is required to visit the locality, carefully investi- gate the cause of the dispute and render a deci- sion as soon as practicable, the same to be at once made public. If the application be filed by the employer, it must be accompanied by a stipula- tion to continue in business, and order no lock-out for the space of three weeks after its date. In like manner, complaining employés must promise to continue peacefully at work, under existing conditions, for a like period. The Board is granted power to send for persons and papers and to administer oaths to witnesses. Its decisions are binding upon applicants for six months after rendition, or until either party shall have given the other sixty days' notice in writing of his or their intention not to be bound thereby. In case the Board shall learn that a disagreement exists between employés and an employer having less than twenty-five persons in his employ, and that a strike or lock-out is seriously threatened, it is made the duty of the body to put itself into communication with both employer and employés and endeavor to effect an amicable settlement between them by mediation. The absence of any provision in the law prescribing penalties for its violation leaves the observance of the law, in its present form, dependent upon the voluntary action of the parties interested.

BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION (STATE). By act of the General Assembly, passed June 15, 1909, the Governor was authorized to appoint a State Board of Administration, with power to assume control of the State charitable institutions which had been under supervision of the Board of Public Charities since 1869. The first members of the new Board, with periods for which they were appointed, were: L. Y. Sherman, President (1909-11); Thomas O'Connor and Benj. R. Bur- roughs (1909-13); James L. Greene and Frank D. Whipp (1909-15), their successors being appointive for terms of six years each. Members of the Com- mission are required to give all their time to the duties of the office, receiving a salary of $6,000 per annum, with traveling expenses while on duty, and are authorized to exercise executive and admin-

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

istrative control over all State charitable institu- tions, to assume property rights of previous Boards over such institutions and expend money appro- priated by the Legislature for the same; to accept and hold in trust, on behalf of the State, grants, gifts or bequests of money or property for the benefit of the insane in State hospitals, etc. They are charged with the duty of inspecting, investigating and licensing all institutions where persons are under treatment for mental or nervous diseases; have power of appointment or removal of superinten- dents or managers of the same; are authorized to inspect county jails, city prisons and houses of correction, to examine sanitary conditions and regulate the admission of patients to the same; and to this end it is required that each State institu- tion under their supervision shall be visited at least once per quarter by some member of the Board. The institutions coming under their juris- diction by this act are: Schools for the Blind and Deaf, Jacksonville; Industrial Home for the Blind, and Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago; Institution for Feeble-Minded, Lincoln; Hospitals for the In- sane at Jacksonville, Kankakee, Elgin, Anna, Pcoria, Watertown and Chester; Soldiers' and Sail- ors' Home, Quincy; Soldiers' Widows' Home, Wil- mington; Soldiers' Orphans' Home, Normal; State Training School for Girls, Geneseo; and St. Charles School for Boys.

AUXILIARY BOARDS .- TWO auxiliary bodies, appointive by the Governor, are provided for to act in co-operation with the Board of Administra- tion: First, a Charities Commission consisting of five members, with practically the same power as the former Board of Public Charities. This com- mission serves without compensation, except for traveling expenses while on duty, is required to investigate the whole system of State charitable institutions, examine into their condition and management and report their findings and recom- mendations to the Governor.

The second is a system of Boards of Visitors, each Board consisting of three members for each State charitable institution, and appointive under the same conditions as members of the Charities Commission, for a term of six years. These Boards are required to make an inspection of the institu- tions under their supervision, for this purpose a majority of each Board, at least once each quarter, visiting such institutions as have the whole State for a district, in other cases at least once a month, and report thereon to the Charities Commission.

PSYCHOPATHIC INSTITUTE .- It is also made the duty of the Board of Administration to establish and maintain a State Psychopathic Institute, appoint

a Director and a Psychologist, who shall perform their duties under direction of the Board, and all State institutions are required to co-operate with the Institute in such manner as the Board may direct- the object being to secure information in reference to mental diseases for the benefit of managers of institutions for the insane. All the employes of the Board of Administration, the Charities Commission and the Psychopathic Institute, except the manag- ing officers, are placed under the civil service law.

OTHER BOARDS. - Sketches of other Boards con- nected with the administration of State affairs will be found on page 448a of this volume, viz .: Boards of Civil Service, of Equalization, of Health, of Pharmacy, of Pardons and Food Commission.

BOGARDUS, Charles, legislator, was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., March 28, 1841, and left an orphan at six years of age; was educated in the common schools, began working in a store at 12, and, in 1862, enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-first New York Infantry, being elected First Lieutenant, and retiring from the service as Lieutenant-Colonel "for gallant and meritori- ous service" before Petersburg. While in the service he participated in some of the most important battles in Virginia, and was once wounded and once captured. In 1872 he located in Ford County, Ill., where he has been a success- ful operator in real estate. He has been twice elected to the House of Representatives (1884 and '86) and three times to the State Senate (1888, '92 and '96), and has served on the most important committees in each house, and has proved him- self one of the most useful members. At the session of 1895 he was chosen President pro tem. of the Senate.

BOGGS, Carroll C., Justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Fairfield, Wayne County, Ill., Oct. 19, 1844, and still resides in his native town; has held the offices of State's Attorney, County Judge of Wayne County, and Judge of the Circuit Court for the Second Judicial Circuit, being assigned also to Appellate Court duty. In June, 1897, Judge Boggs was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed Judge David J. Baker, his term to continue until 1906.

BOLTWOOD, Henry L., the son of William and Electa (Stetson) Boltwood, was born at Am- herst, Mass., Jan. 17, 1831; fitted for college at Amherst Academy and graduated from Amherst College in 1853. While in college he taught school every winter, commencing on a salary of $4 per week and "boarding round" among the scholars. After graduating he taught in acad- emies at Limerick, Me., and at Pembroke and

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

Derry, N. H., and in the high school at Law- rence, Mass .; also served as School Commissioner for Rockingham County, N. H. In 1864 he went into the service of the Sanitary Commission in the Department of the Gulf, remaining until the close of the war; was also ordained Chaplain of a colored regiment, but was not regularly mustered in. After the close of the war he was employed as Superintendent of Schools at Griggsville, Ill., for two years, and, while there, in 1867, organ- ized the first township high school ever organized in the State, where he remained eleven years. He afterwards organized the township high school at Ottawa, remaining there five years, after which, in 1883, he organized and took charge of the township high school at Evanston, where he has since been employed in his profession as a teacher. Professor Boltwood has been a member of the State Board of Education and has served as President of the State Teachers' Association. As a teacher he has given special attention to English language and literature, and to history, being the author of an English Grammar, a High School Speller and "Topical Outlines of General History," besides many contributions to educational jour- nals. He did a great deal of institute work, both in Illinois and Iowa, and was known somewhat as a tariff reformer. Died Jan. 23, 1906.

BOND, Lester L., lawyer, was born at Ravenna, Ohio, Oct. 27, 1829; educated in the common schools and at an academy, meanwhile laboring in local factories; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853, the following year coming to Chicago, where he gave his attention chiefly to practice in connection with patent laws. Mr. Bond served several terms in the Chicago City Council, was Republican Presidential Elector in 1868, and served two terms in the General Assem- bly-1866-70. Died April 15, 1903.

BOND, Shadrach, first Territorial Delegate in Congress from Illinois and first Governor of the State, was born in Maryland, and, after being liberally educated, removed to Kaskaskia while Illinois was a part of the Northwest Territory. He served as a member of the first Territorial Legislature (of Indiana Territory) and was the first Delegate from the Territory of Illinois in Congress, serving from 1812 to 1814. In the latter year he was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys; he also held a commission as Captain in the War of 1812. On the admission of the State, in 1818, he was elected Governor, and occupied the executive chair until 1822. Died at Kaskas- kia, April 13, 1832 .- Shadrach Bond, Sr., an uncle of the preceding, came to Illinois in 1781 and was

elected Delegate from St. Clair County (then comprehending all Illinois) to the Territorial Legislature of Northwest Territory, in 1799, and, in 1804, to the Legislative Council of the newly organized Territory of Indiana.

BOND COUNTY, a small county lying north- east from St. Louis, having an area of 380 square miles and a population (1910) of 17,075. The first American settlers located here in 1807, com- ing from the South, and building Hill's and Jones's forts for protection from the Indians. Settlement was slow, in 1816 there being scarcely twenty-five log cabins in the county. The county-seat is Greenville, where the first cabin was erected in 1815 by George Davidson. The county was organized in 1817, and named in honor of Gov. Shadrach Bond. Its original limits included the present counties of Clinton, Fayette and Montgomery. The first court was held at Perryville, and, in May, 1817, Judge Jesse B. Thomas presided over the first Circuit Court at Hill's Station. The first court house was erected at Greenville in 1822. The county contains good timber and farming lands, and at some points, coal is found near the surface.

BONNEY, Charles Carroll, lawyer and re- former, was born in Hamilton, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1831; educated at Hamilton Academy and settled in Peoria, Ill., in 1850, where he pursued the avocation of a teacher while studying law; was admitted to the bar in 1852, but removed to Chi- cago in 1860, where he was afterwards engaged in practice; served as President of the National Law and Order League in New York in 1885, being repeatedly re-elected, and had also been President of the Illinois State Bar Association, as well as a member of the American Bar Associa- tion. Among the reforms which he advocated were the constitutional prohibition of special legis- lation; an extension of equity practice to bank- ruptcy and other law proceedings; civil service pensions; State Boards of labor and capital, etc. He also published some treatises in book form, chiefly on legal questions, besides editing a volume of "Poems by Alfred W. Arrington, with a sketch of his Character" (1869). As President of the World's Congresses Auxiliary, in 1893, Mr. Bonney contributed largely to the success of that very interesting and important feature of the great Columbian Exposition. Died Aug. 23, 1903.

BOONE, Levi D., M. D., early physician, was born near Lexington, Ky., December, 1808-a descendant of the celebrated Daniel Boone; re- ceived the degree of M. D. from Transylvania University and came to Edwardsville, Ill., at an

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

early day, afterwards locating at Hillsboro and taking part in the Black Hawk War as Captain of a cavalry company ; came to Chicago in 1836 and engaged in the insurance business, later resuming the practice of his profession; served several terms as Alderman and was elected Mayor in 1855 by a combination of temperance men and Know-Nothings; acquired a large property by operations in real estate. Died, February, 1882

BOONE COUNTY, the smallest of the "north- ern tier" of counties, having an area of only 288 square miles, and a population (1910) of 15,481. Its surface is chiefly rolling prairie, and the principal products are oats and corn. The earli- est settlers came from New York and New Eng- land, and among them were included Medkiff, Dunham, Caswell, Cline, Towner, Doty and Whitney. Later (after the Pottawattomies had evacuated the country), came the Shattuck brothers, Maria Hollenbeck and Mrs. Bullard, Oliver Hale, Nathaniel Crosby, Dr. Whiting, H. C. Walker, and the Neeley and Mahoney families. Boone County was cut off from Winnebago, and organized in 1837, being named in honor of Ken- tucky's pioneer. The first frame house in the county was erected by S. F. Doty and stood for fifty years in the village of Belvidere on the north side of the Kishwaukee River. The county-seat (Belvidere) was platted in 1837, and an academy built soon after. The first Protestant church was a Baptist society under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. King.

BOURBONNAIS, a village of Kankakee County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 5 miles north of Kankakee. Pop. (1900), 595; (1910), 611.

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

his Democratic competitor and a majority of 719 over all.

BOUTON, Nathaniel S., manufacturer, was born in Concord, N. H., May 14, 1828; in his youtlı farmed and taught school in Connecticut, but in 1852 came to Chicago and was employed by a foundry firm, of which he soon afterwards became a partner, in the manufacture of car- wheels and railway castings. Later he became associated with the American Bridge Company's works, which was sold to the Illinois Central Railroad Company in 1857, when he bought the Union Car Works, which he operated until 1863. He then became the head of the Union Foundry Works, which having been consolidated with the Pullman Car Works in 1886, he retired, organizing the Bouton Foundry Company. Mr. Bouton was a Republican, was Commissioner of Public Works for the city of Chicago two terms before the Civil War, and served as Assistant Quartermaster in the Eighty-cighth Illinois In- fantry from 1862 until after the battle of Chick- amauga. Died April 3, 1908.

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

BRACEVILLE, a town in Grundy County, 61 miles by rail southwest of Chicago. Coal mining is the principal industry. The town has two banks, two churches and good public schools. Pop. (1890), 2,150; (1900), 1,669; (1910), 971.

BRADFORD, village of Stark County, on Buda and Rushville branch Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway; is in excellent farming region and has large grain and live-stock trade, excel- lent high school building, fine churches, good hotels and one newspaper. Pop. (1910), 770.

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

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

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

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

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857- Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 724

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 724