Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 21

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

USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I > Part 21

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CHICAGO & SPRINGFIELD RAILROAD. (See Illinois Central Railroad.)

CHICAGO & TEXAS RAILROAD, a line seventy-three miles in length, extending from Johnston City by way of Carbondale westerly to the Mississippi, thence southerly to Cape Girar- deau. The line was originally operated by two companies, under the names of the Grand Tower & Carbondale and the Grand Tower & Cape Girar- | deau Railroad Companies. The former was chartered in 1882, and the road built in 1885; the latter, chartered in 1889 and the line opened the same year. They were consolidated in 1893, and operated under the name of tlie Chicago & Texas Railroad Company. In October, 1897, the last named line was transferred, under a twenty-five year lease, to the Illinois Central Railroad Com- pany, by whom it is operated as its St. Louis & Cape Girardeau division. «

CHICAGO & WESTERN INDIANA RAIL- ROAD. The main line of this road extends from Chicago to Dolton, Ill. (17 miles), and affords ter- minal facilities for all lines entering the Polk St. Depot at Chicago. It has branches to Hammond, Ind. (10.28 miles); to Cragin (15.9 miles), and to South Chicago (5.41 miles); making the direct inileage of its branches 48.59 miles. In addition, its second, third and fourth tracks and sidings increase the mileage to 204.79 miles. The com- pany was organized June 9, 1879; the road opened in 1880, and, on Jan. 26, 1882, consolidated with the South Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad Company, and the Chicago & Western Indiana Belt Railway. It also owns some 850 acres in fee in Chicago, including wharf property on the

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Chicago River, right of way, switch and transfer yards, depots, the Indiana grain elevator, etc. The elevator and the Belt Division are leased to the Belt Railway Company of Chicago, and the rest of the property is leased conjointly by the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, the Chicago & Grand Trunk, the Chicago & Erie, the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago, and the Wabash Railways (each of which owns $1,000,000 of the capital stock), and by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. These companies pay the expense of operation and maintenance on a mileage basis.

CHICAGO & WISCONSIN RAILROAD. (See Wisconsin Central Lines.)

CHILDS, Robert A., was born at Malone, Franklin County, N. Y., March 22, 1845, the son of an itinerant Methodist preacher, who settled near Belvidere, Boone County, Ill., in 1852. His home having been broken up by the death of his mother, in 1854, he went to live upon a farm. In April, 1861, at the age of 16 years, he enlisted in the company of Captain (afterwards General) Stephen A. Hurlbut, which was later attached to the Fifteenth Illinois Volunteers. After being mustered out at the close of the war, he entered school, and graduated from the Illinois State Normal University in 1870. For the following three years he was Principal and Superintendent of public schools at Amboy, Lee County, meanwhile studying law, and being admitted to the bar. In 1873, he began the practice of his profession at Chicago, making his home at Hinsdale. After filling various local offices, in 1884 he was chosen Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket, and, in 1892, was elected by the narrow majority of thirty-seven votes to represent the Eighth Illinois District in the Fifty-third Con- gress, as a Republican.

CHILLICOTHE, a city in Peoria County, situ- ated on the Illinois River, at the head of Peoria Lake; is 19 miles northwest of Peoria, on the Peoria branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and the freight division of the Atkinson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. It is an important shipping-point for grain; has a can- ning factory, a button factory, two banks, five churches, a high school, and two weekly news- papers. Pop. (1900), 1,699; (1910), 1,851.

CHINIQUY, (Rev.) Charles, clergyman and reformer, was born in Canada, July 30, 1809, of mixed French and Spanish blood, and educated for the Romish priesthood at the Seminary of St. Nicholet, where he remained ten years, gaining a reputation among his fellow students for extraor- dinary zeal and piety. Having been ordained

to the priesthood in 1833, he labored in various churches in Canada until 1851, when he accepted an invitation to Illinois.with a view to building up the church in the Mississippi Valley. Locat- ing at the junction of the Kankakee and Iroquois Rivers, in Kankakee County, he was the means of bringing to that vicinity a colony of some 5,000 French Canadians, followed by colonists from France, Belgium and other European countries. It has been estimated that over 50,000 of this class of emigrants were settled in Illinois within a few years. The colony em- braced a territory of some 40 square miles, with the village of St. Ann's as the center. Here Father Chiniquy began his labors by erecting churches and schools for the colonists. He soon became dissatisfied with what he believed to be the exercise of arbitrary authority by the ruling Bishop, then began to have doubts on the question of papal infallibility, the final result being a determination to separate himself from the Mother Church. In this step he appears to have been followed by a large proportion of the colo- nists who had accompanied him from Canada, but the result was a feeling of intense bitterness between the opposing factions, leading to much litigation and many criminal prosecutions, of which Father Chiniquy was the subject, though never convicted. In one of these suits, in which the Father was accused of an infamous crime, Abraham Lincoln was counsel for the defense, the charge being proven to be the outgrowth of a conspiracy. Having finally determined to espouse the cause of Protestantism, Father Chiniquy allied himself with the Canadian Pres- bytery, and for many years of his active clerical life, divided his time between Canada and the United States, having supervision of churches in Montreal and Ottawa, as well as in this country. He also more than once visited Europe by special invitation to address important religious bodies in that country. He died at Montreal, Canada, Jan. 16, 1899, in the 90th year of his age.

CHOUART, Medard, (known also as Sieur des Groseilliers), an early French explorer, supposed to have been born at Touraine, France, about 1621. Coming to New France in early youth, he made a voyage of discovery with his brother-in- law, Radisson, westward from Quebec, about 1654-56, these two being believed to have been the first white men to reach Lake Superior. After spending the winter of 1658-59 at La Pointe, near where Ashland, Wis., now stands, they are believed by some to have discovered the Upper Mississippi and to have descended that

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stream a long distance towards its mouth, as they claimed to have reached a much milder climate and heard of Spanish ships on the salt water (Gulf of Mexico). Some antiquarians credit them, about this time (1659), with having visited the present site of the city of Chicago. They were the first explorers of Northwestern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and are also credited with having been the first to discover an inland route to Hudson's Bay, and with being the founders of the original Hudson's Bay Company. Groseillier's later history is unknown, but he ranks among the most intrepid explorers of the "New World" about the middle of the seventh century.

CHRISMAN, a city of Edgar County, at the intersection of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- cago & St. Louis and the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroads, 24 miles south of Danville; has Q pipe-wrench factory, grain elevators, and storage cribs. Pop. (1900), 905; (1910), 1,193.

CHRISTIAN COUNTY, a rich agricultural county, lying in the "central belt," and organized in 1839 from parts of Macon, Montgomery, Sangamon and Shelby Counties. The name first given to it was Dane, in honor of Nathan Dane, one of the framers of the Ordinance of 1787, but a political prejudice led to a change. A pre- ponderance of early settlers having come from Christian County, Ky., this name was finally adopted. The surface is level and the soil fertile, the northern half of the county being best adapted to corn and the southern to wheat. Its area is about 702 square miles, and its population (1910), was 34,594. The life of the early settlers was exceedingly primitive. Game was abun- dant; wild honey was used as a substitute for sugar; wolves were troublesome; prairie fires were frequent; the first mill (on Bear Creek) could not grind more than ten bushels of grain per day, by horse-power. Corn was hauled to St. Louis to exchange for groceries. The first store was at Robertson's Point, but the county-seat was established at Taylorville. A great change was wrought by the advent of the I. C. Ry., which passes through the eastern part of the county. Three railroads pass centrally through the county -the "Wabash", the B. &O.S., and the C. &I. M .; the C. H. & D. crosses the Northern portion, the C. & E. I. and the C. C. C. & St. L. cross the southeast corner of the county. Principal towns are Taylorville, Pana, Morrisonville, Edinburg, Assumption and Stonington.

CHURCH, Lawrence S., lawyer and legislator, was born at Nunda, N. Y., in 1820; passed his

youth on a farm, but having a fondness for study, at an early age began teaching in winter with a view to earning means to prosecute his studies in law. In 1843 he arrived at McHenry, then the county-seat of McHenry County, Ill., having walked a part of the way from New York, paying a portion of his expenses by the delivery of lec- tures. He soon after visited Springfield, and having been examined before Judge S. H. Treat, was admitted to the bar. On the removal of the county-seat from McHenry to Woodstock, he removed to the latter place, where he continued to reside to the end of his life. A member of the Whig party up to 1856, he was that year elected as a Republican Representative in the Twentieth - General Assembly, serving by re-election in the Twenty-first and Twenty-second; in 1860, was supported for the nomination for Congress in the Northwestern District, but was defeated by Hon. E. B. Washburne; in 1862, aided in the organiza- tion of the Ninety-fifth Illinois Volunteers, and was commissioned its Colonel, but was compelled to resign before reaching the field on account of failing health. In 1866 he was elected County Judge of McHenry County, to fill a vacancy, and, in 1869 to the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. Died, July 23, 1870. Judge Church was a man of high principle and a speaker of decided ability.

CHURCH, Selden Marvin, capitalist, was born at East Haddam, Conn., March 4, 1804; taken by his father to Monroe County, N. Y., in boyhood, and grew up on a farm there, but at the age of 21, went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in teaching, being one of the earliest teachers in the public schools of that city. Then, having spent some time in mercantile pursuits in Roches- ter, N. Y., in 1835 he removed to Illinois, first locating at Geneva, but the following year removed to Rockford, where he continued to reside for the remainder of his life. In 1841, he was appointed Postmaster of the city of Rock- ford by the first President Harrison, remaining in office three years. Other offices held by him were those of County Clerk (1843-47), Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1847), Judge of Probate (1849-57), Representative in the Twenty-third General Assembly (1863-65), and member of the first Board of Public Charities by appointment of Governor Palmer, in 1869, being re-appointed by Governor Beveridge, in 1873, and, for a part of the time, serving as Presi- dent of the Board. He also served, by appoint- ment of the Secretary of War, as one of the Commissioners to assess damages for the Govern- ment improvements at Rock Island and to locate

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the Government bridge between Rock Island and Davenport. During the latter years of his life he was President for some time of the Rockford Insurance Company; was also one of the origina- tors, and, for many years, Managing Director of the Rockford Water Power Company, which has done so much to promote the prosperity of that city, and, at the time of his death, was one of the Directors of the Winnebago National Bank. Died at Rockford, June 23, 1892.

CHURCHILL, George, early printer and legis- lator, was born at Hubbardtown, Rutland County, Vt., Oct. 11, 1789; received a good edu- cation in his youth, thus imbibing a taste for literature which led to his learning the printer's trade. In 1806 he became an apprentice in the office of the Albany (N. Y.) "Sentinel," and, after serving his time, worked as a journeyman printer, thereby accumulating means to purchase a half-interest in a small printing office. Selling this out at a loss, a year or two later, he went to New York, and, after working at the case some five months, started for the West, stopping en route at Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Louisville. In the latter place he worked for a time in the office of "The Courier," and still later in that of "The Correspondent," then owned by Col. Elijah C. Berry, who subsequently came to Illinois and served as Auditor of Public Accounts. In 1817 he arrived in St. Louis, but, attracted by the fer- tile soil of Illinois, determined to engage in agri- cultural pursuits, finally purchasing land some six miles southeast of Edwardsville, in Madison County, where he continued to reside the re- mainder of his life. In order to raise means to improve his farm, in the spring of 1819 he worked as a compositor in the office of "The Missouri Gazette"-the predecessor of "The St. Louis Republic." While there he wrote a series of articles over the signature of "A Farmer of St. Charles County," advocating the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union without slavery, which caused considerable excitement among the friends of that institution. During the same year he aided Hooper Warren in establishing his paper, "The Spectator," at Edwardsville, and, still later, became a frequent contributor to its columns, especially during the campaign of 1822-24, which resulted, in the latter year, in the defeat of the attempt to plant slavery in Illinois. In 1822 he was elected Represent- ative in the Third General Assembly, serving in that body by successive re-elections until 1832. His re-election for a second term, in 1824, demon- strated that liis vote at the preceding session, in

opposition to the scheme for a State Convention to revise the State Constitution in the interest of slavery, was approved by his constituents. In 1838, he was elected to the State Senate, serving four years, and, in 1844, was again elected to the House-in all serving a period in both Houses of sixteen years. Mr. Churchill was never married. He was an industrious and systematic collector of historical records, and, at the time of his death in the summer of 1872, left a mass of documents and other historical material of great value. (See Slavery and Slave Laws; Warren, Hooper, and Coles, Edward.)

CLARK (Gen.) George Rogers, soldier, was born near Monticello, Albemarle County, Va., Nov. 19, 1752. In his younger life he was a farmer and surveyor on the upper Ohio. His first experience in Indian fighting was under Governor Dunmore, against the Shawnees (1774). In 1775 he went as a surveyor to Kentucky, and the British having incited the Indians against the Americans in the following year, he was commissioned a Major of militia. He soon rose to a Colonelcy, and attained marked distinction. Later he was commissioned Brigadier-General, and planned an expedition against the British fort at Detroit, which was not successful. In the latter part of 1777, in consultation with Gov. Patrick Henry, of Virginia, he planned an expe- dition against Illinois, which was carried out the following year. On July 4, 1778, he captured Kaskaskia without firing a gun, and other French villages surrendered at discretion. The following February he set out from Kaskaskia to cross the "Illinois Country" for the purpose of recapturing Vincennes, which had been taken and was garrisoned by the British under Hamilton. After a forced march characterized by incredible suffering, his ragged followers effected the cap- ture of the post. His last important military service was against the savages on the Big Miami, whose villages and fields he laid waste. His last years were passed in sorrow and in com- parative penury. He died at Louisville, Ky., Feb. 18, 1818, and his remains, after reposing in a private cemetery near that city for half a cen- tury, were exhumed and removed to Cave Hill Cemetery in 1869. The fullest history of General Clark's expedition and his life will be found in the "Conquest of the Country Northwest of the Ohio River, 1774-1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark" (2 volumes, 1896), by the late William H. English, of Indianapolis.

CLARK, Horace S., lawyer and politician, was born at Huntsburg, Ohio, August 12, 1840. At

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the age of 15, coming to Chicago, he found employment in a livery stable; later, worked on a farm in Kane County, attending school in the winter. After a year spent in Iowa City attend- ing the Iowa State University, he returned to Kane County and engaged in the dairy business, later occupying himself with various occupations in Illinois and Missouri, but finally returning to his Ohio home, where he began the study of law at Circleville. In 1861 he enlisted in an Ohio regiment, rising from the ranks to a captaincy, but was finally compelled to leave the service in consequence of a wound received at Gettysburg. In 1865 he settled at Mattoon, Ill., where he was admitted to the bar in 1868. In 1870 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature on the Republican ticket, but was elected State Senator in 1880, serving four years and proving himself one of the ablest speakers on the floor. In 1888 he was chosen a delegate-at-large to the National Republican Convention, and was long a con- spicuous figure in State politics. In 1896 he was a prominent candidate for the Republican nomi- nation for Governor. Died April 11, 1907.

CLARK, John M., civil engineer and merchant, was born at White Pigeon, Mich., August 1, 1836; came to Chicago with his widowed mother in 1847, and, after five years in the Chicago schools, served for a time (1852) as a rodman on the Illi- nois Central Railroad. After a course in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., where he graduated in 1856, he returned to the service of the Illinois Central. In 1859 he went to Colorado, where he was one of the original founders of the city of Denver, and chief engi- neer of its first water supply company. In 1862 he started on a surveying expedition to Arizona, but was in Santa Fe when that place was captured by a rebel expedition from Texas; was also present soon after at the battle of Apache Cañon, when the Confederates, being defeated, were driven out of the Territory. Returning to Chi- cago in 1864, he became a member of the whole- sale leather firm of Gray, Clark & Co. The official positions held by Mr. Clark include those of Alderman (1879-81), Member of the Board of Education, Collector of Customs, to which he was appointed by President Harrison, in 1889, and President of the Chicago Civil Service Board by appointment of Mayor Swift, under an act passed by the Legislature of 1895, retiring in 1897. In 1881 he was the Republican candidate for Mayor of Chicago, but was defeated by Carter H. Harri- son. Mr. Clark is one of the Directors of the Crerar Library, named in the will of Mr. Crerar.

CLARK COUNTY, one of the eastern counties of the State, south of the middle line and front- ing upon the Wabash River; area, 513 square miles, and population (1910), 23,517; named for Col. George Rogers Clark. Its organization was effected in 1819. Among the earliest pioneers were John Bartlett, Abraham Washburn, James Whitlock, James B. Anderson, Stephen Archer and Uri Manly. The county-seat is Marshall, the site of which was purchased from the Govern- ment in 1833 by Gov. Joseph Duncan and Col. William B. Archer, the latter becoming sole pro- prietor in 1835, in which year the first log cabin was built. The original county-seat was Darwin, and the change to Marshall (in 1849) was made only after a hard struggle. The soil of the county is rich, and its agricultural products varied, embracing corn (the chief staple), oats, potatoes, winter wheat, butter, sorghum, honey, maple sugar, wool and pork. Woolen, flouring and lumber mills exist, but the manufacturing interests are not extensive. Among the promi- nent towns, besides Marshall and Darwin, are Casey (population 2,157), Martinsville (1,500), Westfield (927), and York (109).

CLAY, Porter, clergyman and brother of the celebrated Henry Clay, was born in Virginia, March, 1779; in early life removed to Kentucky, studied law, and was, for a time, Auditor of Public Accounts in that State; in 1815, was con- verted and gave himself to the Baptist ministry, locating at Jacksonville, Ill., where he spent most of his life. Died, in 1850.

CLAY CITY, a village of Clay County, on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 12 miles west of Olney ; has one newspaper, a bank, and is in a grain and fruit-growing region. Pop. (1900), 907; (1910), 837.

CLAY COUNTY, situated in the southeastern quarter of the State; has an area of 466 square miles and a population (1910) of 18,661. It was named for Henry Clay. The first claim in the county was entered by a Mr. Elliot, in 1818, and soon after settlers began to locate homes in the county, although it was not organized until 1824. During the same year the pioneer settlement of Maysville was made the county-seat,. but immi- gration continued inactive until 1837, when many settlers arrived, headed by Judges Apper- son and Hopkins and Messrs. Stanford and Lee, who were soon followed by the families of Coch- ran, McCullom and Tender. The Little Wabash River and a number of small tributaries drain the county. A light-colored sandy loam consti- tutes the greater part of the soil, although "black

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prairie loam" appears here and there. Railroad facilities are limited, but sufficient to accommo- date the county's requirements. Fruits, especially apples, are successfully cultivated. Educational advantages are fair, although largely confined to district schools and academies in larger towns. Louisville was made the county- seat in 1842, and, in 1890, had a population of 637. Xenia and Flora are the most important towns.

CLAYTON, a town in Adams County, on the Wabashı Railway, 28 miles east-northeast of Quincy. A branch of the Wabash Railway ex- tends from this point northwest to Carthage, Ill., and Keokuk, Iowa, and another branch to Quincy, Ill. The industries include flour and feed mills, machine and railroad repair shops, grain elevator, cigar and harness factories. It has a bank, four churches, a high school, and a weekly newspaper. Pop. (1900), 996; (1910), 940.

CLEAVER, William, pioneer, was born in Lon- don, England, in 1815; came to Canada with his parents in 1831, and to Chicago in 1834; engaged in business as a chandler, later going into the grocery trade; in 1849, joined the gold-seekers in California, and, six years afterwards, established himself in the southern part of the present city of Chicago, then called Cleaverville, where he served as Postmaster and managed a general store. He was the owner of considerable real estate at one time in what is now a densely populated part of the city of Chicago. Died in Chicago, Nov. 13, 1896.

CLEMENTS, Isaac, ex-Congressman and Gov- ernor of Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Danville, Ill., was born in Franklin County, Ind., in 1837; graduated from Asbury University, at Green- castle, in 1859, having supported himself during his college course by teaching. After reading law and being admitted to the bar at Greencastle, he removed to Carbondale, Ill., where he again found it necessary to resort to teaching in order to purchase law-books. In July, 1861, he enlisted in the Ninth Illinois Infantry, and was commis- sioned Second Lieutenant of Company G. He was in the service for three years, was three times wounded and twice promoted "for meri- torious service." In June, 1867, he was ap- pointed Register in Bankruptcy, and from 1873 to 1875 was a Republican Representative in the Forty-third Congress from the (then) Eighteenth District. He was also a member of the Repub- lican State Convention of 1880. In 1889, he became Pension Agent for the District of Illinois, by appointment of President Harrison, serving

until 1893. In the latter part of 1898, he was appointed Superintendent of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at Normal, but served only a few months, when he accepted the position of Governor of the new Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, at Danville. Died May 31, 1909.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 21

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