Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 6

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 6

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

AUSTIN, a former western suburb of the city of Chicago on the line of the Chicago & Northwestern R. R .; was annexed to the city of Chicago in 1899.

AVERYVILLE, a village of Peoria County, lying north of the city of Peoria and on the Illinois River; is an important manufacturing point, especially in the line of agricultural implements. Population (1900), 1,573; (1910), 2,668.

AUSTIN COLLEGE, aco-educational institution, was founded at Effingham in 1890, by Edward Austin and brother, but about 1904 the property came into possession of Prof. Lewis H. Bissell, and now constitutes a part of the Bissell Photo-engrav- ing College.

AUSTRALIAN BALLOT, a form of ballot for popular elections, thus named because it was first brought into use in Australia. It was adopted by act of the Legislature of Illinois in 1891, and is applicable to the election of all public officers except Trustees of Schools, School Direct- ors, members of Boards of Education and officers of road districts in counties not under township organization. Under it, all ballots for the elec- tion of officers (except those just enumerated) are required to be printed and distributed to the election officers for use on the day of election, at public cost. These ballots contain the names, on the same sheet, of all candidates to be voted for at such election, such names having been formally certified previously to the Secretary of State (in the case of candidates for offices to be voted for by electors of the entire State or any district greater than a single county) or to the County Clerk (as to all others), by the presiding officer and secretary of the convention or caucus making such nominations, when the party repre- sented cast at least two per cent of the aggregate vote of the State or district at the preceding gen- eral election. Other names may be added to the ballot on the petition of a specified number of the legal voters under certain prescribed conditions named in the act. The duly registered voter, on presenting himself at the poll, is given a copy of the official ticket by one of the judges of election, upon which he proceeds to indicate his prefer- ence in a temporary booth or closet set apart for his use, by making a cross at the head of the col- umn of candidates for whom he wishes to vote, if he desires to vote for all of the candidates of the same party, or by a similar mark before the name of each individual for whom he wishes to vote, in case he desires to distribute his support among the candidates of different parties. The object of the law is to secure for the voter secrecy of the ballot, with independence and freedom from dic-

tation or interference by others in the exercise of his right of suffrage.

AVA, a town in Jackson County (incorporated as a city, 1901), on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad (Cairo & St. Louis Division), 75 miles south- southeast from St. Louis. It has two banks and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 984; (1910), 780.

AVON, village of Fulton County, on C., B. & Q. R. R., 20 miles south of Galesburg; has drainpipe works, flouring mill, factories of steam and hot- water heaters, two banks and one newspaper; agricultural fair held here annually. Population (1900), 809; (1910), 865.

AYER, Benjamin F., lawyer, was born in Kingston, N. H., April 22, 1825, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1846, studied law at Dane Law School (Harvard University), was admitted to the bar and began practice at Manchester, N. H. After serving one term in the New Hamp- shire Legislature, and as Prosecuting Attorney for Hillsborough County, in 1857 he came to Chica- go, soon advancing to the front rank of lawyers then in practice there ; became Corporation Counsel in 1861, and, two years later, drafted the revised city charter. After the close of his official career, he was a member for eight years of the law firm of Beckwith, Ayer & Kales, and afterwards of the firm of Ayer & Kales, until, retiring from general practice, Mr. Ayer became Solicitor of the Illinois Central Railroad, then a Director of the Company, finally becoming General Counsel and a potent factor in its management. Died April 6, 1903.

AYERS, Marshall Paul, banker, Jacksonville, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 27, 1823; came to Jacksonville, Ill., with his parents, in 1830, and was educated there, graduating from Illinois College, in 1843, as the classmate of Dr. Newton Bateman, afterwards President of Knox College at Galesburg, and Rev. Thomas K. Beecher, now of Elmira, N.Y. After leaving col- . lege he became the partner of his father (David B. Ayers) as agent of Mr. John Grigg, of Philadel- phia, who was the owner of a large body of Illi- nois lands. His father dying in 1850, Mr. Ayers succeeded to the management of the business, about 75,000 acres of Mr. Grigg's unsold lands coming under his charge. In December, 1852, with the assistance of Messrs. Page & Bacon, bank- ers, of St. Louis, he opened the first bank in Jack- sonville, for the sale of exchange, but which finally grew into a bank of deposit and has been continued ever since, being recognized as one of the most solid institutions in Central Illinois. In 1870-71, aided by Philadelphia and New York capitalists, he built the "Illinois Farmers' Rail-

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

road" between Jacksonville and Waverly, after- wards extended to Virden and finally to Centralia and Mount Vernon. This was the nucleus of the Jacksonville Southeastern Railway, though Mr. Ayers had no connection with it in his later years. Other business enterprises with which he was connected were the Jcaksonville Gas Com- pany (now including an electric light and power plant), of which he was President for forty years; the "Home Woolen Mills" (early wiped out by fire), sugar and paper-barrel manufacture, coal-mining, etc. About 1877 he purchased a body of 23, 600 acres of land in Champaign County, known as "Broadlands," from John T. Alexander, an extensive cattle-dealer, who had become heavily involved during the years of financial revulsion. As a result of this transaction, Mr. Alexander's debts, which aggregated $1,000,000, were discharged within the next two years. Mr. Ayers had been an earnest Republican since the organization of that party and, during the war, rendered valuable service in assisting to raise funds for the support of the operations of the Christian Commission in the field. He was also active in Sunday School, benevolent and educational work, having been for twenty years a Trustee of Illinois College, of which he had been an ardent friend. In 1846 he was married to Miss Laura Allen, daughter of Rev. John Allen, D.D., of Huntsville, Ala., and was father of four sons and four daughters. Died Sept. 30, 1902.

BABCOCK, Amos C., was born at Penn Yan, N. Y., Jan.20, 1828, the son of a member of Con- gress from that State; at the age of 18, having lost his father by death, came West, and soon after engaged in mercantile business in partner- ship with a brother at Canton, Ill. In 1854 he was elected by a majority of one vote, as an Anti- Nebraska Whig, to the lower branch of the Nine- teenth General Assembly, and, in the following session, took part in the election of United States Senator which resulted in the choice of Lyman Trumbull. Although a personal and political friend of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Babcock, as a matter of policy, cast his vote for his townsman, William Kellogg, afterwards Congressman from that dis- trict, until it was apparent that a concentration of the Anti-Nebraska vote on Trumbull was necessary to defeat the election of a Democrat. In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln the first Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Fourth District, and, in 1863, was commissioned by Governor Yates Colonel of the One Hundred and Third Illinois Volunteers, but soon resigned. Colonel Babcock served as Delegate-at-large in

the Republican National Convention of 1868, which nominated General Grant for the Presi- dency, and the same year was made Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, also conducting the campaign two years later. He identified himself with the Greeley movement in 1872, but, in 1876, was again in line with his party and restored to his old position on the State Central Committee, serving until 1878. Among business enterprises with which he was con- nected was the extension, about 1854, of the Buda branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad from Yates City to Canton, and the erection of the State Capitol at Austin, Tex., which was undertaken, in conjunction with Abner Taylor and J. V. and C. B. Farwell, about 1881 and completed in 1888, for which the firm received over 3,000,000 acres of State lands in the "Pan Handle" portion of Texas. In 1889 Colonel Babcock took up his residence in Chicago, which continued to be his home until his death from apoplexy, Feb. 25, 1899.

BABCOCK, Andrew J., soldier, was born at Dorchester, Norfolk County, Mass., July 19, 1830; began life as a coppersmith at Lowell; in 1851 went to Concord, N. H., and, in 1856, removed to Springfield, Ill., where, in 1859, he joined a mili- tary company called the Springfield Greys, com- manded by Capt. (afterwards Gen. ) John Cook, of which he was First Lieutenant. This company became the nucleus of Company I, Seventh Illi- nois Volunteers, which enlisted on Mr. Lincoln's first call for troops in April, 1861. Captain Cook having been elected Colonel, Babcock succeeded him as Captain, on the re-enlistment of the regi- ment in July following becoming Lieutenant- Colonel, and, in March, 1862, being promoted to the Colonelcy "for gallant and meritorious service rendered at Fort Donelson." A year later he was compelled to resign on account of impaired health. Died at St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 12, 1911.

BACON, George E., lawyer and legislator, born at Madison, Ind., Feb. 4, 1851; was brought to Illinois by his parents at three years of age, and, in 1876, located at Paris, Edgar County; in 1879 was admitted to the bar and held various minor offices, including one term as State's Attorney. In 1886 he was elected as a Republican to the State Senate and re-elected four years later, but finally removed to Aurora, where he died, July 6, 1896. Mr. Bacon was a man of recognized ability, as shown by the fact that, after the death of Senator John A. Logan, he was selected by his colleagues of the Senate to pronounce the eulogy on the deceased statesman.

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

BAGBY, John C., jurist and Congressman, was born at Glasgow, Ky., Jan. 24, 1819. After pas- sing through the common schools of Barren County, Ky., he studied civil engineering at Bacon College, graduating in 1840. Later he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1845. In 1846 he commenced practice at Rushville, Ill., confining himself exclusively to professional work until nominated and elected to Congress in 1874, by the Democrats of the (old) Tenth District. In 1885 he was elected to the Circuit Bench for the Sixth Circuit. Died, April 4, 1896.

BAILEY, Joseph Mead, legislator and jurist, was born at Middlebury, Wyoming County, N. Y., June 22, 1833, graduated from Rochester (N. Y.) University in 1854, and was admitted to the bar in that city in 1855. In August, 1856, he removed to Freeport, Ill., where lie soon built up a profitable practice. In 1866 he was elected a Representative in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly, being re-elected in 1868. Here he was especially prominent in securing restrictive legis- lation concerning railroads. In 1876 he was chosen a Presidential Elector for his district on the Republican ticket. In 1877 he was elected a Judge of the Thirteenth judicial district, and re-elected in 1879 and in 1885. In January, 1878, and again in June, 1879, he was assigned to the bench of the Appellate Court, being presiding Justice from June, 1879, to June, 1880, and from June, 1881, to June, 1882. In 1879 he received the degree of LL.D. from the Universities of Rochester and Chicago. In 1888 he was elected to the bench of the Supreme Court. Died in office, Oct. 16, 1895.

BAILHACHE, John, pioneer journalist, was born in the Island of Jersey, May 8, 1787; after gaining the rudiments of an education in his mother tongue (the French), he acquired a knowl- edge of English and some proficiency in Greek and Latin in an academy near his paternal home, when he spent five years as a printer's apprentice. In 1810 he came to the United States, first locat- ing at Cambridge, Ohio, but, in 1812, purchased a half interest in "The Fredonian" at Chillicothe (then the State Capital), soon after becoming sole owner. In 1815 he purchased "The Scioto Ga- zette" and consolidated the two papers under the name of "The Scioto Gazette and Fredonian Chronicle." Here he remained until 1828, mean- time engaging temporarily in the banking busi- ness, also serving one term in the Legislature (1820), and being elected Associate Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Ross County. In 1828 he removed to Columbus, assuming charge

of "The Ohio State Journal," served one term as Mayor of the city, and for three consecutive years was State Printer. Selling out "The Jour- nal" in 1836, he came west, the next year becom- ing part owner, and finally sole proprietor, of "The Telegraph" at Alton, Ill., which he conducted alone or in association with various partners until 1854, when he retired, giving his attention to the book and job branch of the business. He served as Representative from Madison County in the Thir- teenth General Assembly (1842-44). As a man and a journalist Judge Bailhache commanded the highest respect, and did much to elevate the standard of journalism in Illinois, "The Tele- graph," during the period of his connection with it, being one of the leading papers of the State. His death occurred at Alton, Sept. 3, 1857, as the result of injuries received the day previous, by being thrown from a carriage in which he was riding .- Maj. William Henry (Bailhache), son of the preceding, was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, August 14, 1826, removed with his father to Alton, Ill., in 1836, was educated at Shurtleff College, and learned the printing trade in the office of "The Telegraph," under the direction of his father, afterwards being associated with the business department. In 1855, in partnership with Edward L. Baker, he became one of the proprietors and business manager of "The State Journal" at Springfield. During the Civil War he received from President Lincoln the appoint- ment of Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, serving to its close and receiving the brevet rank of Major. After the war he returned to journal- ism and was associated at different times with "The State Journal" and "The Quincy Whig," as business manager of each, but retired in 1873; in 1881 was appointed by President Arthur, Receiver of Public Moneys at Santa Fe., N. M., remaining four years. Prior to 1899 he removed to San Diego, Cal., there engaged in newspaper work, and, under the administration of President McKinley, was Special Agent of the Treasury Department. Died March 12, 1905 .- Preston Heath (Bailhache), another son, was born in Columbus, Ohio, February 21, 1835; served as a Surgeon during the Civil War, later became a Surgeon in the regular army and has held posi- tions in marine hospitals at Baltimore, Washing- ton and New York, and has visited Europe in the interest of sanitary and hospital service. At present (1899) he occupies a prominent position at the headquarters of the United States Marine Hospital Service in Washington .- Arthur Lee (Bailhache), a third son, born at Alton, Ill., April

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

12, 1839; at the beginning of the Civil War was employed in the State commissary service at Camp Yates and Cairo, became Adjutant of the Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteers, and died at Pilot Knob, Mo., Jan. 9, 1862, as the result of disease and exposure in the service.

BAKER, David Jewett, lawyer and United States Senator, was born at East Haddam, Conn., Sept. 7, 1792. His family removed to New York in 1800, where he worked on a farm during boy- hood, but graduated from Hamilton College in 1816, and three years later was admitted to the bar. In 1819 he came to Illinois and began prac- tice at Kaskaskia, where he attained prominence in his profession and was made Probate Judge of Randolph County. His opposition to the intro- duction of slavery into the State was so aggres- sive that his life was frequently threatened. In 1830 Governor Edwards appointed him United States Senator, to fill the unexpired term of Senator McLean, but he served only one month when he was succeeded by John M. Robinson, who was elected by the Legislature. He was United States District Attorney from 1833 to 1841 (the State then constituting but one district), and thereafter resumed private practice. Died at Alton, August 6, 1869.

-Henry Southard (Baker), son of the pre- ceding, was born at Kaskaskia, Ill., Nov. 10, 1824, received his preparatory education at Shurt- leff College, Upper Alton, and, in 1843, entered Brown University, R. I., graduating therefrom in 1847; was admitted to the bar in 1849, begin- ning practice at Alton, the home of his father, Hon. David J. Baker. In 1854 he was elected as an Anti-Nebraska candidate to the lower branch of the Nineteenth General Assembly, and, at the subsequent session of the General Assembly, was one of the five Anti-Nebraska members whose uncompromising fidelity to Hon. Lyman Trum- bull resulted in the election of the latter to the United States Senate for the first time-the others being his colleague, Dr. George T. Allen of the House, and Hon. John M. Palmer, afterwards United States Senator, Burton C. Cook and Nor- man B. Judd in the Senate. He served as one of the Secretaries of the Republican State Convention held at Bloomington in May, 1856, was a Repub- lican Presidential Elector in 1864, and, in 1865, became Judge of the Alton City Court, serving until 1881. In 1876 he presided over the Repub- lican State Convention, served as delegate to the Republican National Convention of the same year and was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in opposition to William R. Morrison.

Judge Baker was the orator selected to deliver the address on occasion of the unveiling of the statue of Lieut .- Gov. Pierre Menard, on the capitol grounds at Springfield, in January, 1888. About 1888 he retired from practice, dying at Alton, March 5, 1897. - Edward L. (Baker), second son of David Jewett Baker, was born at Kaskaskia, Ill., June 3, 1829; graduated at Shurt- leff College in 1847; read law with his father two years, after which he entered Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar at Spring- field in 1855. Previous to this date Mr. Baker had become associated with William H. Bailhache, in the management of "The Alton Daily Telegraph," and, in July, 1855, they purchased "The Illinois State Journal," at Springfield, of which Mr. Baker assumed the editorship, remaining until 1874. In 1869 he was appointed United States Assessor for the Eighth District, serving until the abolition of the office. In 1873 he received the appointment from President Grant of Consul to Buenos Ayres, South America, and, assuming the duties of the office in 1874, remained there for twenty-three years, proving himself one of the most capable and efficient officers in the con- sular service. On the evening of the 20th of June, 1897, when Mr. Baker was about to enter a railway train already in motion at the station in the city of Buenos Ayres, he fell under the cars, receiving injuries which necessitated the ampu- tation of his right arm, finally resulting in his death in the hospital at Buenos Ayres, July 8, following. His remains were brought home at the Government expense and interred in Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, where a monu- ment has since been erected in his honor, bearing a tablet contributed by citizens of Buenos Ayres and foreign representatives in that city express- ive of their respect for his memory. - David Jewett (Baker), Jr., a third son of David Jewett Baker, Sr., was born at Kaskaskia, Nov. 20,1834; graduated from Shurtleff College in 1854, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. In November of that year he removed to Cairo and began prac- tice. He was Mayor of that city in 1864-65, and, in 1869, was elected to the bench of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit. The Legislature of 1873 (by Act of March 28) having divided the State into twenty-six circuits, he was elected Judge of the Twenty-sixth, on June 2, 1873. In August, 1878, he resigned to accept an appointment on the Supreme Bench as successor to Judge Breese, deceased, but at the close of his term on the Supreme Bench (1879), was re-elected Circuit Judge, and again in 1885. During this period he

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

served for several years on the Appellate Bench. In 1888 he retired from the Circuit Bench by resignation and was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court for a term of nine years. Again, in 1897, he was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by Carroll C. Boggs. Soon after retiring from the Supreme Bench he removed to Chicago and engaged in general practice, in partnership with his son, John W. Baker. He fell dead almost instantly in his office, March 13, 1899. In all, Judge Baker had spent some thirty years almost continuously on the bench, and had attained eminent distinction both as a lawyer and a jurist.

BAKER, Edward Dickinson, soldier and United States Senator, was born in London, Eng., Feb. 24, 1811; emigrated to Illinois while yet in his minority, first locating at Belleville, afterwards removing to Carrollton and finally to Sangamon County, the last of which he repre- sented in the lower house of the Tenth General Assembly, and as State Senator in the Twelfth and Thirteenth. He was elected to Congress as a Whig from the Springfield District, but resigned in December, 1846, to accept the colonelcy of the Fourth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, in the Mexican War, and succeeded General Shields in command of the brigade, when the latter was wounded at Cerro Gordo. In 1848 he was elected to Congress from the Galena District; was also identified with the construction of the Panama Railroad; went to San Francisco in 1852, but later removed to Oregon, where he was elected to the United States Senate in 1860. In 1861 he resigned the Senatorship to enter the Union army, commanding a brigade at the battle of Ball's Bluff, where he was killed, October 21, 1861.

BAKER, Jehu, lawyer and Congressman, was born in Fayette County, Ky., Nov. 4, 1822. At an early age he removed to Illinois, making his home in Belleville, St. Clair County. He re- ceived his early education in the common schools and at McKendree College. Although he did not graduate from the latter institution, he received therefrom the honorary degree of A. M. in 1858, and that of LL. D. in 1882. For a time he studied medicine, but abandoned it for the study of law. From 1861 to 1865 he was Master in Chancery for St. Clair County. From 1865 to 1869 he represented the Belleville District as a Republican in Congress. From 1876 to 1881 and from 1882 to 1885 he was Minister Resident in Venezuela, during the latter portion of his term of service acting also as Consul-General. Return- ing home, he was again elected to Congress (1886)

from the Eighteenth District, but was defeated for re-election, in 1888, by William S. Forman, Democrat. Again, in 1896, having identified himself with the Free Silver Democracy and People's Party, he was elected to Congress from the Twentieth District over Everett J. Murphy, the Republican nominee, serving until March 3, 1899. He was author of an annotated edition of Montesquieu's "Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans." Died March 1, 1903.

BALDWIN, Elmer, agriculturist and legisla- tor, was born in Litchfield County, Conn., March 8, 1806; at 16 years of age began teaching a coun- try school, continuing this occupation for several years during the winter months, while working on his father's farm in the summer. He then started a store at New Milford, which he man- aged for three years, when he sold out on account of his health and began farming. In 1833 he came west and purchased a considerable tract of Government land in La Salle County, where the village of Farm Ridge is now situated, removing thither with his family the following year. He served as Justice of the Peace for fourteen con- secutive terms, as Postmaster twenty years and as a member of the Board of Supervisors of La Salle County six years. In 1856 he was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives, was re-elected to the same office in 1866, and to the State Senate in 1872, serving two years. He was also appointed, in 1869, a member of the first Board of Public Charities, serving as President of the Board. Mr. Baldwin is author of a "His- tory of La Salle County," which contains much local and biographical history. Died, Nov. 18, 1895.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 6

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