Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 43

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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GRIGGS, Samuel Chapman, publisher, was born in Tolland, Conn., July 20, 1819; began business as a bookseller at Hamilton, N. Y., but removed to Chicago, where he established the largest bookselling trade in the Northwest. Mr. Griggs was a heavy loser by the fire of 1871, and the following year, having sold out to his part- ners, established himself in the publishing busi- ness, which he conducted until 1896, when he retired. The class of books published by him include many educational and classical, with others of a high order of merit. Died in Chi- cago, April 5, 1897.

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GRIGGSVILLE, a city in Pike County, on the Wabash Railroad, 4 miles west of the Illinois River, and 50 miles east of Quincy. Flour, camp stoves, and brooms are manufactured here. The city has churches, graded schools, a public library, fair grounds, opera house, a bank and two weekly newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,400; (1900), 1,404; (1910), 1,262.

GRIMSHAW, Jackson, lawyer and politician, was born in Philadelphia, Nov. 22, 1820, of Anglo- Irish and Revolutionary ancestry. He was par- tially educated at Bristol College, Pa., and began the study of law with his father, who was a lawyer and an author of repute. His professional studies were interrupted for a few years, during which he was employed at surveying and civil engineering, but he was admitted to the bar at Harrisburg, in 1843. The same year he settled at Pittsfield, Ill., where he formed a partnership with his brother, William A. Grimshaw. In 1857 he removed to Quincy, where he resided for the remainder of his life. He was a member of the first Republican Convention, at Bloomington, in 1856, and was twice an unsuccessful candidate for Congress (1856 and '58) in a strongly Democratic District. He was a warm personal friend and trusted coun- sellor of Governor Yates, on whose staff lie served as Colonel. During 1861 the latter sent Mr. Grimshaw to Washington with dispatches an- nouncing the capture of Jefferson Barracks, Mo. On arriving at Annapolis, learning that the rail- roads had been torn up by rebel sympathizers, he walked from that city to the capital, and was summoned into the presence of the President and General Scott with his feet protruding from his boots. In 1865 Mr. Lincoln appointed him Col- lector of Internal Revenue for the Quincy Dis- trict, which office he held until 1869. Died, at Quincy, Dec. 13, 1875.

GRIMSHAW, William A., early lawyer, was born in Philadelphia and admitted to the bar in his native city at the age of 19; in 1833 came to Pike County, Ill., where he continued to prac- tice until his death. He served in the State Con- stitutional Convention of 1847, and had the credit of preparing the article in the second Constitution prohibiting dueling. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln for President a second time; also served as Presidential Elector in 1880. He was, for a time, one of the Trustees of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Jackson- ville, and, from 1877 to 1882, a member of the State Board of Public Charities, being for a time Presi- dent of the Board. Died, at Pittsfield, Jan. 7, 1895.

GRINNELL, Julius S., lawyer and ex-Judge, was born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in 1842, of New England parents, who were of French descent. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1866, and, two years later, was admitted to the bar at Ogdensburg, N. Y. In 1870 he removed to Chicago, where he soon attained a prominent position at the bar; was elected City Attorney in 1879, and re-elected in 1881 and 1883. In 1884 he was elected State's Attorney for Cook County, in which capacity he successfully conducted some of the most celebrated criminal prosecutions in the history of Illinois. Among these may be mentioned the cases against Joseph T. Mackin and William J. Gallagher, growing out of an election conspiracy in Chicago in 1884; the conviction of a number of Cook County Commis- sioners for accepting bribes in 1885, and the con- viction of seven anarchistic leaders charged with complicity in the Haymarket riot and massacre in Chicago, in May, 1886-the latter trial being held in 1887. The same year (1887) he was elected to the Circuit bench of Cook County, but resigned his seat in 1890 to become counsel for the Chicago City Railway. Died, in Chicago, June 8, 1898.

GROSS, Jacob, ex-State Treasurer and banker, was born in Germany, Feb. 11, 1840; having lost his father by death at 13, came to the United States two years later, spent a year in Chicago schools, learned the trade of a tinsmith and clerked in a store until August, 1862, when he enlisted in the Eighty-Second Illinois Volunteers (the second "Hecker Regiment"); afterwards par- ticipated in some of the most important battles of the war, including Chancellorsville, Gettys- burg, Lookout Mountain, Resaca and others. At Dallas, Ga., he had his right leg badly shattered by a bullet-wound above the knee, four successive amputations being found necessary in order to save his life. Having been discharged from the service in February, 1865, he took a course in a commercial college, became deputy clerk of the Police Court, served three terms as Collector of the West Town of Chicago, and an equal number of terms (12 years) as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and, in 1884, was elected State Treasurer. Since retiring from the latter office, Mr. Gross has been engaged in the banking busi- ness, being President, for several years, of the Commercial Bank of Chicago.

GROSS, William L., lawyer, was born in Her- kimer County, N. Y., Feb. 21, 1839, came with his father to Illinois in 1844, was admitted to the bar at Springfield in 1862, but almost immediately

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entered the service of the Government, and, a year later, was appointed by President Lincoln Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, and, under command of General Stager, assigned to the Department of the Ohio as Military Superintend- ent of Telegraphs. At the close of the war he was transferred to the Department of the Gulf, taking control of military telegraphs in that Department with headquarters at New Orleans, remaining until August, 1866, meanwhile being brevetted Major and Lieutenant-Colonel. For the next two years he occupied various positions in the civil telegraph service, but, in 1868, resumed the practice of law at Springfield, in conjunction with his brother (Eugene L.) issuing the first volume of "Gross' Statutes of Illinois," followed in subsequent years by two additional volumes, besides an Index to all the Laws of the State. In 1878 he was elected as a Republican to tlie General Assembly from Sangamon County, and, in 1884, was appointed by Governor Hamilton Circuit Judge to succeed Judge C. S. Zane, who had been appointed Chief Justice of Utah. Upon the organi- zation of the Illinois State Bar Association, Judge Gross became its first Secretary, serving until 1883, when he was elected President, again serv- ing as Secretary and Treasurer. Died Jan. 18, 1909.

GROSSCUP, Peter Stenger, jurist, born in Ashland, Ohio, Feb. 15, 1852; was educated in the local schools and Wittenberg College, graduating from the latter in 1872; read law in Boston, Mass., and settled down to practice in his native town, in 1874. He was a candidate for Congress in a Democratic District before he was 25 years old, · but, being a Republican, was defeated. Two years later, being thrown by a reapportionment into the same district with William McKinley, he put that gentleman in nomination for the seat in Congress to which he was elected. He re- moved to Chicago in 1883, and, for several years, was the partner of the late Leonard Swett; in December, 1892, was appointed by President Harrison Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois as suc- cessor to Judge Henry W. Blodgett. On the

death of Judge Showalter, in December, 1898, Judge Grosscup was appointed his successor as Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Seventh Judicial District. Although one of the youngest incumbents upon the bench of the United States Court, Judge Grosscup has given ample evidence of his ability as a jurist, besides proving himself in harmony with the progressive spirit of the time on questions of national and international interest.

GRUNDY COUNTY, situated in the northeast- ern quarter of the State, having an area of 440 square miles and a population (1910) of 24,162. The surface is mainly rolling prairie, beneath which is a continuous coal seam, three feet thick. Building stone is abundant (particularly near Morris), and there are considerable beds of pot- ter's clay. The county is crossed by the Illinois River and the Illinois & Michigan Canal, also by the Rock Island and the Chicago & Alton Railways. The chief occupation of the people is agriculture, although there are several manufacturing estab- lishments. The first white settler of whom any record has been preserved, was William Marquis, who arrived at the mouth of the Mazon in a "prairie schooner" in 1828. Other pioneers were Colonel Sayers, W. A. Holloway, Alex- ander K. Owen, John Taylor, James McCartney and Joab Chappell. The first public land sale was made in 1835, and, in 1841, the county was organized out of a part of La Salle, and named after Felix Grundy, the eminent Tennesseean. The first pollbook showed 148 voters. Morris was chosen the county-seat and has so re- mained. Its present population is 3,653. Another prosperous town is Gardner, with 1,100 inhab- itants.

GULLIVER, John Putnam, D.D., LL.D., clergyman and educator, was born in Boston, Mass., May 12, 1819; graduated at Yale College, in 1840, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1845, meanwhile serving two years as Principal of Randolph Academy. From 1845 to 1865 he was pastor of a church at Norwich, Conn., in 1865-68, of the New England Church, of Chicago, and, 1868-72, President of Knox College at Gales- burg, Ill. The latter year he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Binghamton, N. Y., remaining until 1878, when he was elected Professor of the "Relations of Christianity and Secular Science" at Andover, holding this posi- tion actively until 1891, and then, as Professor Emeritus, until his death, Jan. 25, 1894. He was a member of the Corporation of Yale College and had been honored with the degrees of D.D. and LL.D.

GURLEY, William F. E., State Geologist, was born at Oswego, N. Y., June 5, 1854; brought by his parents to Danville, Ill., in 1864, and educated in the public schools of that city and Cornell University, N. Y .; served as city engineer of Danville in 1885-87, and again in 1891-93. In July of the latter year he was appointed by Gov- ernor Altgeld State Geologist as successor to Prof. Joshua Lindahl.

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HACKER, John S., pioneer and soldier of the Mexican War, was born at Owensburg, Ky., November, 1797; in early life removed to Mis- souri, where he was employed in the stock and produce trade with New Orleans. Having married in 1817, he settled at Jonesboro, Union County, Ill., where he kept a tavern for a number of years, and was also engaged some thirty years in mercantile business. It is said that he was unable to read until taught after marriage by his wife, who appears to have been a woman of intelligence and many graces. In 1824 he was elected Representative in the Fourth General Assembly and, in 1834, to the State Senate, serv- ing by re-election in 1838 until 1842, and being a supporter of the internal improvement scheme. In 1837 he voted for the removal of the State capital from Vandalia to Springfield, and, though differing from Abraham Lincoln politically, was one of his warm personal friends. He served in the War of 1812 as a private in the Missouri militia, and, in the Mexican War, as Captain of a company in the Second Regiment, Illinois Volun- teers-Col. W. H. Bissell's. By service on the staff of Governor Duncan, he had already obtained the title of Colonel. He received the nomination for Lieutenant-Governor from the first formal State Convention of the Democratic party in December, 1837, but the head of the ticket (Col. J. W. Stephenson) having withdrawn on account of charges connected with his administration of the Land Office at Dixon, Colonel Hacker also declined, and a new ticket was put in the field headed by Col. Thomas L. Carlin, which was elected in 1838. In 1849 Colonel Hacker made the overland journey to California, but returning with impaired health in 1852, located in Cairo, where he held the position of Surveyor of the Port for three years, when he was removed by President Buchanan on account of his friendship for Senator Douglas. He also served, from 1854 to '56, as Secretary of the Senate Committee on Territories under the Chairmanship of Senator Douglas, and, in 1856, as Assistant Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives in Washington. In 1857 he returned to Jonesboro and spent the remainder of his life in practical retirement, dying at the home of his daughter, in Anna, May 18, 1878.

HADLEY, William F. L., lawyer and Con- gressman, was born near Collinsville, Ill., June 15, 1847; grew up on a farm, receiving his educa- tion in the common schools and at McKendree College, where he graduated in 1867. In 1871 he graduated from the Law Department of the

University of Michigan, and established him self in the practice of his profession at Edwardsville. He was elected to the State Sen- ate from Madison County in 1886, serving four years, and was nominated for a second term, but declined; was a delegate-at-large to the Repub- lican National Convention of 1888, and, in 1895, was nominated and elected, in the Eighteenth District, as a Republican, to the Fifty-fourth Con- gress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Frederick Remann, who had been elected in 1894, but died before taking his seat. Mr. Hadley was a candidate for re-election in 1896, but was prevented by protracted illness from making a canvass, and suffered a defeat. He was a son-in-law of the late Edward M. West, long a prominent business man of Edwardsville, and after his retirement from Congress devoted his attention to his profession and banking business. Died at Riverside, Cal., April 25, 1901.

HAHNEMANN HOSPITAL, a homeopathic hos- pital located in Chicago. It was first opened with twenty beds, in November, 1870, in a block of wooden buildings, the use of which was given rent free by Mr. J. Young Scammon, and was known as the Scammon Hospital. After the fire of October, 1871, Mr. Scammon deeded the prop- erty to the Trustees of the Hahnemann Medical College, and the hospital was placed on the list of public charities. It also received a donation of $10,000 from the Relief and Aid Society, besides numerous private benefactions. In April, 1873, at the suggestion of Mr. Scammon, the name of the institution was changed to the Hahnemann Hospital, by which designation it . has since been known. In 1893 the corner-stone of a new hospital was laid and the building com- pleted in 1894. It is seven stories in height, with a capacity for 225 beds, and is equipped with all the improved appliances and facilities for the care and protection of the sick. It has also about sixty private rooms for paying patients.

HAHNEMANN MEDICAL COLLEGE, located in Chicago, chartered in 1834-35, but not organ- ized until 1860, when temporary quarters were secured over a drug-store, and the first college term opened, with a teaching faculty numbering nine professors, besides clinical lecturers, demon- strators, etc. In 1866-67 the institution moved into larger quarters and, in 1870, the corner-stone of a new college building was laid. The six suc- ceeding years were marked by internal dissen- sion, ten of the professors withdrawing to establish a rival school. The faculty was cur- tailed in numbers and re-organized. In August,

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1892, the corner-stone of a second building was laid with appropriate Masonic ceremonies, the new structure occupying the site of the old, but being larger, better arranged and better equipped. Women were admitted as students in 1870-71 and co-education of the sexes has ever since continued an established feature of the institution. For more than thirty-five years a free dispensary has been in operation in connection with the college.

HAINES, John Charles, Mayor of Chicago and legislator, was born in Oneida County, N. Y., May 26, 1818; came to Chicago in 1835, and, for the next eleven years, was employed in various pursuits; served three terms (1848-54) in the City Council; was twice elected Water Commissioner (1853 and '56), and, in 1858, was chosen Mayor, serving two terms. He also served as Delegate from Cook County in the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1869-70, and, in 1874, was elected to the State Senate from the First District, serving in the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth General Assem- blies. At the session of 1877 he received sixty- nine votes for the seat in the United States Senate to which Judge David Davis was after- wards elected. Mr. Haines was a member of the Chicago Historical Society, was interested in the old Chicago West Division Railway and President of the Savings Institute. During his later years he was a resident of Waukegan, dying there, July 4, 1896. - Elijah Middlebrook (Haines), brother of the preceding, lawyer, politician and legislator, was born in Oneida County, N. Y., April 21, 1822; came to Illinois in boyhood, locat- ing first at Chicago, but, a year later, went to Lake County, where he resided until his death. His education, rudimentary, classical and profes- sional, was self-acquired. He began to occupy and cultivate a farm for himself before attaining his majority; studied law, and, in 1851, was admitted to the bar, beginning practice at Wau- kegan; in 1860 opened an office in Chicago, still, however, making his home at Waukegan. In 1855 he published a compilation of the Illinois township laws, followed by a "Treatise on the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace." He made similar compilations of the township laws of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. By nature Mr. Haines was an agitator, and his career as a politician both checkered and unique. Originally a Democrat, he abandoned that or- ganization upon the formation of the Republican party, and was elected by the latter to the Legis- lature from Lake County in 1858, '60 and '62. In 1867 he came into prominence as an anti-monopo- list, and on this issue was elected to the Consti-

tutional Convention of 1869-70. In 1870 he was again chosen to the Legislature as an "independ- ent, " and, as such, re-elected in '74, '82, '84, '86 and '88, receiving the support, however, of the Demo- crats in a District normally Republican. He served as Speaker during the sessions of 1875 and '85, the party strength in each of these Assemblies being so equally divided that he either held, or was able to control, the balance of power. He was an adroit parliamentarian, but his decisions were the cause of much severe criticism, being regarded by botlı Democrats and Republicans as often arbitrary and unjust. The two sessions over which he presided were among the stormiest in the State's history. Died, at Waukegan, April 25, 1889.

HALE, Albert, pioneer clergyman, was born at Glastonbury, Conn., Nov. 29, 1799; after some years spent as a clerk in a country store at Wethersfield, completed a course in the theolog- ical department of Yale College, later serving as a home missionary, in Georgia; came to Illinois in 1831, doing home missionary work in Bond County, and, in 1833, was sent to Chicago, where his open candor, benignity and blameless conduct enabled him to exert a powerful influence over the drunken aborigines who constituted a large and menacing class of the population of what was then a frontier town. In 1839 he assumed the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church in Springfield, continuing that connection until 1865. From that time until his death, his life was largely devoted to missionary work among the extremely poor and the pariahs of society. Among these he wielded a large influence and always commanded genuine respect from all denominations. His forte was love rather than argument, and in this lay the secret of his suc- cess. Died, in Springfield, Jan. 30, 1891.

HALE, (Dr.) Edwin M., physician, was born in Newport, N. H., in 1829, commenced the study of medicine in 1848 and, in 1850, entered the Cleveland Homeopathic College, at the end of the session locating at Jonesville, Mich. From 1855 he labored in the interest of a representation of homeopathy in the University of Michigan. When this was finally accomplished, he was offered the chair of Materia Medica and Thera- peutics, but was compelled to decline in conse- quence of having been elected to the same position in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. In 1876 he made a visit to Europe, and, on his return, severed his connection with the Hahne- mann and accepted a similar position in the Chi- cago Homeopathic College, where he remained

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five years when he retired with the rank of Pro- fessor Emeritus. Dr. Hale was the author of several volumes held in higli esteem by members of the profession, and maintained a high reputa- tion for professional skill and benevolence of character. He was a member of the Chicago Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of various home and foreign associations. Died, in Chicago, Jan. 18, 1899.

HALL, (Col.) Cyrus, soldier, was born in Fay- ette County, Ill., August 29, 1822-the son of a pioneer who came to Illinois about the time of its admission as a State. He served as Second Lieutenant in the Third Illinois Volunteers (Col. Foreman's regiment), during the Mexican War, and, in 1860, removed to Shelbyville to engage in hotel-keeping. The Civil War coming on, he raised the first company for the war in Shelby County, which was attached to the Fourteenth Illinois (Col. John M. Palmer's regiment); was promptly promoted from Captain to Major and finally to Lieutenant-Colonel, on the promotion of Palmer to Brigadier-General, succeeding to command of the regiment. The Fourteenth Regiment having been finally consolidated with the Fifteenth, Lieutenant-Colonel IIall was transferred, with the rank of Colonel, to the command of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illinois, which he resigned in Marclı, 1864, was brevetted Brigadier-General for gallant and meritorious service in the field, in March, 1865, and mustered out Sept. 16, 1865. Returning to Shelbyville, he engaged in the furniture trade, later was appointed Postmaster, serving some ten years and until his death, Sept. 6. 1878.

HALL, James, legislator, jurist, State Treasurer and author, was born in Philadelphia, August 19, 1793; after serving in the War of 1812 and spending some time with Comn. Stephen Decatur in the Mediterranean, in 1815, lie studied law, beginning practice at Shawneetown, in 1820. He at once assumed prominence as a citizen, was appointed State's Attorney in 1821, and elevated to the bench of the Circuit Court in 1825. He was legislated out of office two years later and resumed private practice, making his home at Vandalia, where he was associated with Robert Blackwell in the publication of "The Illinois Intelligencer." The same year (1827) he was elected by the Legislature State Treasurer, con- tinuing in office four years. Later he removed to Cincinnati, where he died, July 5, 1868. He con- ducted "The Western Monthly Magazine," the first periodical published in Illinois. Among his published volumes may be mentioned "Tales of

the Border," "Notes on the Western States," "Sketches of the West," "Romance of Western History," and "History of the Indian Tribes."

HAMER, Thomas, soldier and legislator, was born in Union County, Pa., June 1, 1818; came to Illinois in 1846 and began business as a mer- chant at Vermont, Fulton County; in 1862 assisted in recruiting the Eighty-fourth Illinois Volunteers and was elected Lieutenant-Colonel; was wounded in the battle of Stone River, re- turned to duty after partial recovery, but was finally compelled to retire on account of disabil- ity. Returning home he resumed business, but retired in 1878; was elected Representative in the General Assembly in 1886 and to the Senate in 1888, and re-elected to the latter in 1892, making ten years of continuous service.

HAMILTON, a city in Hancock County, on the Mississippi River opposite Keokuk, Iowa; at junc- tion of the Toledo, Peoria & Western and Keokuk branch of the Wabash Railway. Its position at the foot of the lower rapids insures abundant water power for manufacturing purposes. An iron railroad and wagon bridge connects the Illi- nois city with Keokuk. It has two banks, elec- tric lights, one newspaper, six churches, a high school, and an apiary. The surrounding country is a farming and fruit district. The city is the site of Riverside Mineral Springs and a sanitarium. Pop. (1890), 1,301; (1900), 1,344; (1910), 1,627.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 43

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