USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I > Part 33
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FARMERS' INSTITUTE, an organization created by an act, approved June 24, 1895, de- signed to encourage practical education among farmers, and to assist in developing the agricul- tural resources of the State. Its membership consists of three delegates from each county in the State, elected annually by the Farmers' Institute in such county. Its affairs are managed by a Board of Directors constituted as follows: The Superintendent of Public Instruction, the
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Professor of Agriculture in the University of Illi- . September of 1861, he was commissioned Colonel nois, and the Presidents of the State Board of of the Eighth Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, and was brevetted Brigadier-General in November, 1862, but resigned, March 4, 1863, to take his seat in Congress to which he had been elected the November previous, by successive re-elections serving from 1863 to 1873. The latter years of his life were spent in Washington, where he died, July 14, 1897. Agriculture, Dairymen's Association and Horti- cultural Society, ex-officio, with one member from each Congressional District, chosen by the dele- gates from the district at the annual meeting of the organization. Annual meetings (between Oct. 1 and March 1) are required to be held, which shall continue in session for not less than three days. The topics for discussion are the cultivation of crops, the care and breeding of domestic animals, dairy husbandry, horticulture, farm drainage, improvement of highways and general farm management. The reports of the annual meetings are printed by the State and 20,000 copies are placed at the disposal of the Institute for free distribution. Suitable quarters for the officers of the orgamzation are provided in the State capitol.
FARMINGTON, a city and railroad center in Fulton County, 12 miles north of Canton and 22 miles west of Peoria. Coal is extensively mined here; there are also brick and tile factories, a foundry, one steam flour-mill, and two cigar manufactories. It is a large shipping-point for grain and live-stock. The town has two banks and two newspapers, five churches and a graded school. Pop. (1890), 1,375; (1910), 2,421.
FARNSWORTH, Elon John, soldier, was born at Green Oak, Livingston County, Mich., in 1837. After completing a course in the public schools, he entered the University of Michigan, but left college at the end of his freshman year (1858) to serve in the Quartermaster's department of the army in the Utah expedition. At the expiration of his term of service he became a buffalo hunter and a carrier of mails between the haunts of civilization and the then newly-discovered mines at Pike's Peak. Returning to Illinois, he was commissioned (1861) Assistant Quartermaster of the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, of which his uncle was Colonel. (See Farnsworth, John Franklin.) He soon rose to a captaincy, distinguishing him- self in the battles of the Peninsula. In May, 1863, he was appointed aid-de-camp to General Pleasanton, and, on June 29, 1863, was made a Brigadier-General. Four days later he was killed, while gallantly leading a charge at Gettysburg.
FARNSWORTH, John Franklin, soldier and former Congressman, was born at Eaton, Canada East, March 27, 1820; removed to Michigan in 1834, and later to Illinois, settling in Kane County, where he practiced law for many years, making his home at St. Charles. He was elected to Congress in 1856, and re-elected in 1858. In
FARWELL, Charles Benjamin, merchant and United States Senator, was born at Painted Post, N. Y., July 1, 1823; removed to Illinois in 1838, and, for six years, was employed in surveying and farming. In 1844 he engaged in the real estate business and in banking, at Chicago. He was elected County Clerk in 1853, and re-elected in 1857. Later he entered into commerce, becom- ing a partner with his brother, John Villiers, in the firm of J. V. Farwell & Co. He was a mem- ber of the State Board of Equalization in 1867; Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Cook County in 1868; and National Bank Examiner in 1869. In 1870 he was elected to Congress as a Republican, was re-elected in 1872, but was defeated in 1874, after a contest for the seat which was carried into the House at Washington. Again, in 1880, he was returned to Congress, making three full terms in that body. He also . served for several years as Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee. After the death of Gen. John A. Logan he was (1887) elected United States Senator, his term expiring March 3, 1891. Mr. Farwell gave attention during the latter years of his life to the mercantile business of J. V. Farwell & Co. Died Sept. 23, 1903.
FARWELL, John Villiers, merchant, was born at Campbelltown, Steuben County, N. Y., July 29, 1825, the son of a farmer; received a common- school education and, in 1838, removed with his father's family to Ogle County, Ill. Here he attended Mount Morris Seminary for a time, but, in 1845, came to Chicago without capital and secured employment in the City Clerk's office, then became a book-keeper in the dry. goods establishment of Hamilton & White, and, still later, with Hamilton & Day. Having thus received his bent towards a mercantile career, he soon after entered the concern of Wadsworth & Phelps as a clerk, at a salary of $600 a year, but was admitted to a partnership in 1850, the title of the firm becoming Cooley, Farwell & Co., in 1860. About this time Marshall Field and Levi Z. Leiter became associated with the concern and received their mercantile training under the supervision of Mr. Farwell. In 1865 the title of the firm
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became J. V. Farwell & Co., but, in 1891, the firm was incorporated under the name of The J. V. Farwell Company, his brother, Charles B. Far- well, being a member. The subject of this sketch has long been a prominent factor in religious circles, a leading spirit of the Young Men's Christian Association, and served as President of the Chicago Branch of the United States Christian Commission during the Civil War. Politically he was a Republican, serving as Presi- dential Elector at the time of President Lincoln's second election in 1864; also served by appoint- ment of President Grant, in 1869, on the Board of Indian Commissioners. He was a member of the syndicate which erected the Texas State Capitol, at Austin, in that State; was also, for a number of years, Vice-President and Treasurer of the J. V. Farwell Company, and President of the Colorado Consolidated Land and Water Company. He was also prominent in the organization of the Chicago Public Library, and a member of the Union League, the Chicago Historical Society and the Art Institute. Died Aug. 20, 1908.
FARWELL, William Washington, jurist, was born at Morrisville, Madison County, N. Y., Jan. 5, 1817, of old Puritan ancestry; graduated from Hamilton College in 1837, and was admitted to the bar at Rochester, N. Y., in 1841. In 1848 he removed to Chicago, but the following year went to California, returning to his birthplace in 1850. In 1854 he again settled at Chicago and soon secured a prominent position at the bar. In 1871 he was elected Circuit Court Judge for Cook County, and, in 1873, re-elected for a term of six years. During this period he sat chiefly upon the chancery side of the court, and, for a time, presided as Chief Justice. At the close of his second term he was a candidate for re-election as a Republican, but was defeated with the re- mainder of the ticket. In 1880 he was chosen Professor of Equity Jurisprudence in the Union College of Law (now the Northwestern Univer- sity Law School), serving until June, 1893, when he resigned. Died, in Chicago, April 30, 1894.
FAYETTE COUNTY, situated about 60 miles south of the geographical center of the State; was organized in 1821, and named for the French General La Fayette. It has an area of 720 square miles; population (1900), 28,065. The soil is fer- tile and a rich vein of bituminous coal underlies the county. Agriculture, fruit-growing and mining are the chief industries. The old, historic "Cumberland Road," the trail for all west-bound emigrants, crossed the county at an early date. Perryville was the first county-seat, but this town
is now extinct. Vandalia, the present seat of county government (population, 2,974), stands upon a succession of hills upon the west bank of the Kaskaskia. From 1820 to 1839 it was the State Capital. Besides Vandalia the chief towns are Ramsey, noted for its railroad ties and tim- ber, and St. Elmo. Pop. (1910), 28,078.
FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN, ASYLUM .FOR. This institution, originally established as a sort of appendage to the Illinois Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, was started at Jacksonville, in 1865, as an "experimental school, for the instruction of idiots and feeble-minded children." Its success having been assured, the school was placed upon an independent basis in 1871, and, in 1875, a site at Lincoln, Logan County, covering forty acres, was donated, and the erection of buildings begun. The original plan provided for a center building, with wings and a rear exten- sion, to cost $124,775. Besides a main or adminis- tration building, the institution embraces a school building and custodial hall, a hospital and industrial workshop, and, during the past year, a chapel has been added. It has control of 890 acres, of which 400 are leased for farming pur- poses, the rental going to the benefit of the insti- tution. The remainder is used for the purposes of the institution as farm land, gardens or pas- ture, about ninety acres being occupied by the institution buildings. The capacity of the insti- tution is about 700 inmates, with many applica- tions constantly on file for the admission of others for whom there is no room.
FEEHAN, Patrick A., D.D., Archbishop of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Chicago, and Metropolitan of Illinois, was born at Tipperary, Ireland, Aug. 29, 1829, and educated at Maynooth College. He emigrated to the United States in 1852, settling at St. Louis, and was at once appointed President of the Seminary of Caronde- let. Later he was made pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception at St. Louis, where he achieved marked distinction. In 1865 he was consecrated Bishop of Nashville, managing the affairs of the diocese with great ability. In 1880 Chicago was raised to an archiepiscopal see, with Suffragan Bishops at Alton and Peoria, and Bishop Feehan was consecrated its first Archbishop. His administration was conservative, yet efficient, and the archdiocese greatly prospered under his rule. Died July 12, 1902.
FELL, Jesse W., lawyer and real-estate opera- tor, was born in Chester County, Pa., about 1808; started west on foot in 1828, and, after spending some years at Steubenville, Ohio, came to Dela-
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van, Ill., in 1832, and the next year located at Bloomington, being the first lawyer in that new town. Later he became agent for school lands and the State Bank, but failed financially in 1837, and returned to practice; resided several years at Payson, Adams County, but returning . to Bloomington in 1855, was instrumental in securing the location of the Chicago & Alton Railroad through that town, and was one of the founders of the towns of Clinton, Pontiac, Lex- ington and El Paso. He was an intimate personal and political friend of Abraham Lincoln, and it was to him Mr. Lincoln addressed his celebrated personal biography; in the campaign of 1860 he served as Secretary of the Republican State Cen- tral Committee, and, in 1862, was appointed by Mr. Lincoln a Paymaster in the regular army, serving some two years. Mr. Fell was also a zeal- ous friend of the cause of industrial education, and bore an important part in securing the location of the State Normal University at Nor- mal, of which city he was the founder. Died, at Bloomington, Jan. 25, 1887.
FERGUS, Robert, early printer, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, August 4, 1815; learned the printer's trade in his native city, assisting in his youth in putting in type some of Walter Scott's productions and other works which now rank among English classics. In 1839 he came to America, soon after locating in Chicago, where with various partners, he pursued the business of a job printer continuously some fifty years -- being the veteran printer of Chicago. He was killed by being run over by a railroad train at Evanston, July 23, 1897. The establishment of which he was so long the head is continued by his sons.
FINDLAY, a village of Shelby County, on the Chicago & Eastern Ill. R. R., 9 miles north of Shelbyville. Pop. (1910), 827.
FERRY, Elisha Peyre, politician, born in Monroe, Mich., August 9, 1825; was educated in his native town and admitted to the bar at Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1845; removed to Waukegan, Ill., the following year, served as Postmaster and, in 1856, was candidate on the Republican ticket for Presidential Elector; was elected Mayor of Waukegan in 1859, a member of the State Con- stitutional Convention of 1862, State Bank Com- missioner in 1861-63, Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of Governor Yates during the war, and a delegate to the Republican National Con- vention of 1864. After the war he served as direct-tax Commissioner for Tennessee; in 1869 was appointed Surveyor-General of Washington
Territory and, in 1872 and '76, Territorial Gov- ernor. On the admission of Washington as a State, in 1889, he was elected the first Governor. Died, at Seattle, Wash., Oct. 14, 1895.
FEVRE RIVER, a small stream which rises in Southern Wisconsin and enters the Mississippi in Jo Daviess County, six miles below Galena, which stands upon its banks. It is navigable for steam- boats between Galena and its mouth. The name originally given to it by early French explorers was "Feve" (the French name for "Bean"), which has since been corrupted into its present form.
FICKLIN, Orlando B., lawyer and politician, was born in Kentucky, Dec. 16, 1808, and admitted to the bar at Mount Carmel, Wabash County, Ill., in March, 1830. In 1834 he was elected to the lower house of the Ninth General Assembly. After serving a term as State's Attorney for Wabash County, in 1837 he removed to Charleston, Coles County, where, in 1838, and again in '42, he was elected to the Legislature, as he was for the last time in 1878. He was four times elected to Congress, serving from 1843 to '49, and from 1851 to '53; was Presidential Elector in 1856, and candidate for the same position on the Democratic ticket for the State-at-large in 1884; was also a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1856 and '60. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1862. Died, at Charleston, May 5, 1886.
FIELD, Alexander Pope, early legislator and Secretary of State, came to Illinois about the time of its admission into the Union, locating in Union County, which he represented in the Third, Fifth and Sixth General Assemblies. In the first of these he was a prominent factor in the ejection of Representative Hansen of Pike County and the seating of Shaw in his place, which enabled the advocates of slavery to secure the passage of a resolution submitting to the people the question of calling a State Constitutional Convention. In 1828 he was appointed Secretary of State by Governor Edwards, remaining in office under Governors Reynolds and Dun- can and through half the term of Governor Carlin, though the latter attempted to secure his removal in 1838 by the appointment of John A. McClernand -- the courts, however, declaring against the latter. In November, 1840, the Governor's act was made effective by the confirmation, by the Senate, of Stephen A. Doug- las as Secretary in place of Field. Douglas held the office only to the following February, when he resigned to take a place on the Supreme
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bench and Lyman Trumbull was appointed to succeed him. Field (who had become a Whig) was appointed by President Harrison, in 1841, Secretary of Wisconsin Territory, later removed to St. Louis and finally to New Orleans, where he was at the beginning of the late war. In Decem- ber, 1863, he presented himself as a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress for Louisiana, but was refused his seat, though claiming in an elo- quent speech to have been a loyal man. Died, in New Orleans Aug. 20, 1876. Mr. Field was a nephew of Judge Nathaniel Pope, for over thirty years on the bench of the United States District Court.
FIELD, Eugene, journalist, humorist and poet, was born in St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 2, 1850. Left an orphan at an early age, he was reared by a rela- tive at Amherst, Mass., and received a portion of his literary training at Monson and Williamstown in that State, completing his course at the State University of Missouri. After an extended tour through Europe in 1872-73, he began his journal- istic career at St. Louis, Mo., as a reporter on "The Evening Journal," later becoming its city editor. During the next ten years he was succes- sively connected with newspapers at St. Joseph, Mo., St. Louis, Kansas City, and at Denver, Colo., at the last named city being managing editor of "The Tribune." In 1883 he removed to Chicago, becoming a special writer for "The Chicago News," his particular department for several years being a pungent, witty column with the caption, "Sharps and Flats." He wrote con- siderable prose fiction and much poetry, among the latter being successful translations of several of Horace's Odes. As a poet, however, he was best known through his short poems relating to childhood and home, which strongly appealed to the popular heart. Died, in Chicago, deeply mourned by a large circle of admirers, Nov. 4, 1895.
FIELD, Marshall, merchant and capitalist, was born in Conway, Mass., in 1835, and grew up on a farm, receiving a common school and academic education. At the age of 17 he entered upon a mercantile career as clerk in a dry-goods store at Pittsfield, Mass., but, in 1856, came to Chicago and secured employment with Messrs. Cooley, Wadsworth & Co .; in 1860 was admitted into partnership, the firm becoming Cooley, Farwell & Co., and still later, Farwell, Field & Co. The last named firm was dissolved and that of Field, Palmer & Leiter organized in 1865. Mr. Palmer having retired in 1867, the firm was continued under the name of Field, Leiter & Co., until 1881, when Mr. Leiter retired, the concern being since
known as Marshall Field & Co. The growth of the business of this great establishment is shown by the fact that, whereas its sales amounted before the fire to some $12,000,000 annually, in 1895 they aggregated $40,000,000. Mr. Field's business career has been remarkable for its suc- cess in a city famous for its successful business men and the vastness of their commercial oper- ations. He has been a generous and discrimi- nating patron of important public enterprises, some of his more conspicuous donations being the gift of a tract of land valued at $300,000 and $100,000 in cash, to the Chicago University, and $1,000,000 to the endowment of the Field Colum- bian Museum, as a sequel to the World's Colum- bian Exposition. The latter, chiefly through the munificence of Mr. Field, promises to become one of the leading institutions of its kind in the United States. Besides his mercantile interests, Mr. Field had extensive interests in various financial and manufacturing enterprises. Died in New York Jan. 16, 1906, leaving an estate valued at more than $100,000,000, the largest single bequest in his will being $8,000,000 to the Field Museum.
FIFER, Joseph W., born at Stanton, Va., Oct. 28, 1840; in 1857 he accompanied his father (who was a stone-mason) to McLean County, Ill., and worked at the manufacture and laying of brick. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, and was dangerously wounded at the assault on Jack- son, Miss., in 1863. On the healing of his wound, disregarding the advice of family and friends, he rejoined his regiment. . At the close of the war, when about 25 years of age, he entered the Wes- leyan University at Bloomington, wliere, by dint of hard work and frugality, while supporting himself in part by manual labor, he secured a diploma in 1868. He at once began the study of law, and, soon after his admission, entered upon a practice which subsequently proved both success- ful and lucrative. He was elected Corporation Counsel of Bloomington in 1871 and State's Attor- ney for McLean County in 1872, holding the latter office, through re-election, until 1880, when he was chosen State Senator, serving in the Thirty- second and Thirty-third General Assemblies. In 1888 he was nominated and elected Governor on the Republican ticket, but, in 1892, was defeated by John P. Altgeld, the Democratic nominee, though running in advance of the national and the rest of the State ticket.
FINERTY, John F., ex-Congressman and journalist, was born in Galway, Ireland, Sept. 10, 1846. His studies were mainly prosecuted
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under private tutors. At the age of 16 he entered the profession of journalism, and, in 1864, coming to America, soon after enlisted, serving for 100 days during the Civil War, in the Ninety-ninth New York Volunteers. Subsequently, having removed to Chicago, he was connected with "The Chicago Times" as a special correspondent from 1876 to 1881, and, in 1882, established "The Citi- zen," a weekly newspaper devoted to the Irish- American interest, which he continued to pub- lish. In 1882 he was elected, as an Independ- ent Democrat, to represent the Second Illinois District in the Forty-eighth Congress, but, run- ning as an Independent Republican for re-election in 1884, was defeated by Frank Lawler, Democrat. In 1887 he was appointed Oil Inspector of Chi- cago, but after 1889, held no public office, giving his attention to editorial work on his paper. Died June 10, 1908.
FISHER, (Dr.) George, pioneer physician and legislator, was probably a native of Virginia, from which State he appears to have come to Kaskaskia previous to 1800. He became very prominent during the Territorial period; was appointed by William Henry Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, the first Sheriff of Randolph County after its organization in 1801; was elected from that county to the Indiana Territorial House of Representatives in 1805, and afterwards promoted to the Territorial Council; was also Representative in the First and Third Legislatures of Illinois Territory (1812 and '16), serving as Speaker of each. He was a Dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention of 1818, but died on his farm near Kaskaskia in 1820. Dr. Fisher participated in the organization of the first Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Illi- nois at Kaskaskia, in 1806, and was elected one of its officers.
FISHERIES. The fisheries of Illinois center chiefly at Chicago, the catch being taken from Lake Michigan, and including salmon trout, white fish (the latter species including a lake herring), wall-eyed pike, three kinds of bass, three varieties of sucker, carp and sturgeon. The "fishing fleet" of Lake Michigan, properly so called, (according to the census of 1890) con- sisted of forty-seven steamers and one schooner, of which only one-a steamer of twenty-six tons burthen-was credited to Illinois. The same report showed a capital of $36,105 invested in land, buildings, wharves, vessels, boats and apparatus. In addition to the "fishing fleet" mentioned, nearly 1,100 sail-boats and other vari- eties of craft are employed in the industry,
sailing from ports between Chicago and Macki- nac, of which, in 1890, Illinois furnished 94, or about nine per cent. All sorts of apparatus are used, but the principal are gill, fyke and pound nets, and seines. The total value of these minor Illinois craft, with their equipment, for 1890, was nearly $18,000, the catch aggregating 722,830 pounds, valued at between $24,000 and $25,000. Of this draught, the entire quantity was either sold fresh in Chicago and adjacent markets, or shipped, either in ice or frozen. The Mississippi and its tributaries yield wall-eyed pike, pike perch, buffalo fish, sturgeon, paddle fish, and other species available for food.
FITHIAN, George W., ex-Congressman, was born on a farm near Willow Hill, Ill., July 4, 1854. His early education was obtained in the common schools, and he learned the trade of a printer at Mount Carmel. While employed at the case he found time to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1875. In 1876 he was elected State's Attorney for Jasper County, and re-elected in 1880. He was prominent in Democratic politics, and, in 1888, was elected on the ticket of that party to represent the Sixteenth Illinois District in Congress. He was re-elected in 1890 and again in 1892, but, in 1894, was defeated by his Republican opponent.
FITHIAN, (Dr.) William, pioneer physician, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1800; built the first houses in Springfield and Urbana in that State; in 1822 began the study of medicine at Urbana; later practiced two years at Mechanics- burgh, and four years at Urbana, as partner of his preceptor; in 1830 came west, locating at Danville, Vermilion County, where he became a large land-owner; in 1832 served with the Ver- milion County militia in the Black Hawk War, and, in 1834, was elected Representative in the Ninth General Assembly, the first of which Abraham Lincoln was a member; afterwards served two terms in the State Senate from the Danville District (1838-46). Dr. Fithian was active in promoting the railroad interests of Danville, giving the right of way for railroad purposes through a large body of land belonging to him, in Vermilion County. He was also a member of various medical associations, and, during his later years, was the oldest practicing physician in the State. Died, in Danville, Ill., April 5, 1890.
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