Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 77

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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MINSHALL, William A., legislator and jurist, a native of Ohio who came to Rushville, Ill., at an early day, and entered upon the practice of law; served as Representative in the Eighth, Tenth and Twelfth General Assemblies, and as Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1847. He was elected Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit, under the new Con- stitution, in 1848, and died in office, Nov. 5, 1852, being succeeded by the late Judge Pinkney H. Walker.

MISSIONARIES, EARLY. The earliest Chris- tian missionaries in Illinois were of the Roman Catholic faith. As a rule, these accompanied the French explorers and did not a little toward the extension of French dominion. They were usually members of one of two orders-the "Recollects," founded by St. Francis, or the "Jesuits," founded by Loyola. Between these two bodies of ecclesi- astics existed, at times, a strong rivalry; the former having been earlier in the field, but hav- ing been virtually subordinated to the latter by Cardinal Richelieu. The controversy between the two orders gradually involved the civil authorities, and continued until the suppression of the Jesuits, in France, in 1764. The most noted of the Jesuit missionaries were Fathers Allouez, Gravier, Marquette, Dablon, Pinet, Rasle, Lamo- ges, Binneteau and Marest. Of the Recollects, the most conspicuous were Fathers Membre, Douay, Le Clerq, Hennepin and Ribourde. Besides these, there were also Father Bergier and Montigny, who, belonging to no religious order, were called secular priests. The first Catholic mission, founded in Illinois, was probably that at the original Kaskaskia, on the Illinois, in the present county of La Salle, where Father Mar- quette did missionary work in 1673, followed by Allouez in 1677. (See Allouez, Claude Jean.) The latter was succeeded, in 1688, by Father Grav- ier, who was followed, in 1692, by Father Sebas- tian Rasle, but who, returning in 1694, remained until 1695, when he was succeeded by Pinet and Binneteau. In 1700 Father Marest was

in charge of the mission, and the number of Indians among whom he labored was, that year, considerably diminished by the emigration of the Kaskaskias to the south: Father Gravier, about this time, labored among the Peorias, but was incapacitated by a wound received from the medicine man of the tribe, which finally resulted in his death, at Mobile, in 1706. The Peoria station remained vacant for a time, but was finally filled by Father Deville. Another early Catholic mis- sion in Illinois was that at Cahokia. While the precise date of its establishment cannot be fixed with certainty, there is evidence that it was in existence in 1700, being the earliest in that region. Among the early Fathers, who ministered to the savages there, were Pinet, St. Cosme, Bergier and Lamoges. This mission was at first called the Tamaroa, and, later, the mission of St. Sulpice. It was probably the first permanent mission in the Illinois Country. Among those in charge, down to 1718, were Fathers de Montigny, Damon (prob- ably), Varlet, de la Source, and le Mercier. In 1707, Father Mermet assisted Father Marest at Kaskaskia, and, in 1720, that mission became a regularly constituted parish, the incumbent being Father de Beaubois. Rev. Philip Boucher preached and administered the sacraments at Fort St. Louis, where he died in 1719, having been preceded by Fathers Membre and Ribourde in 1680, and by Fathers Douay and Le Clerq in 1687-88. The persecution and banishment of the early Jesuit missionaries, by the Superior Council of Louisiana (of which Illinois had formerly been a part), in 1763, is a curious chapter in State his- tory. That body, following the example of some provincial legislative bodies in France, officially declared the order a dangerous nuisance, and decreed the confiscation of all its property, in- cluding plate and vestments, and the razing of its churches, as well as the banishment of its members. This decree the Louisiana Council undertook to enforce in Illinois, disregarding the fact that that territory had passed under the jurisdiction of Great Britain. The Jesuits seem to have offered no resistance, either physical or legal, and all members of the order in Illinois were ruthlessly, and without a shadow of author- ity, carried to New Orleans and thence deported to France. Only one-Father Sebastian Louis Meurin-was allowed to return to Illinois ; and he, only after promising to recognize the ecclesiastical authority of the Superior Council as supreme, and to hold no communication with Quebec or Rome. The labors of the missionaries, apart from spiritual results, were of great value. They

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perpetuated the records of early discoveries, reduced the language, and even dialects, of the aborigines, to grammatical rules, and preserved the original traditions and described the customs of the savages. (Authorities: Shea and Kip's "Catholic Missions," "Magazine of Western His- tory," Winsor's "America, " and Shea's "Catholic Church in Colonial Days.")

MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (Indian name, "Missi Sipi," the "Great Water.") Its head waters are in the northern part of Minnesota, 1,680 feet above tide-water. Its chief source is Itasca Lake, which is 1,575 feet higher than the sea, and which is fed by a stream having its source within one mile of the head waters of the Red River of the North. From this sheet of water to the mouth of the river, the distance is variously estimated at from 3,000 to 3,160 miles. Lake Itasca is in lat. 47° 10' north and lon. 95° 20' west from Greenwich. The river at first runs north- ward, but soon turns toward the east and expands into a series of small lakes. Its course, as far as Crow Wing, is extremely sinuous, below which point it runs southward to St. Cloud, thence south- eastward to Minneapolis, where occur the Falls of St. Anthony, establishing a complete barrier to navigation for the lower Mississippi. In less than a mile the river descends 66 feet, including a per- pendicular fall of 17 feet, furnishing an immense water-power, which is utilized in operating flour- ing-mills and otlier manufacturing establish- ments. A few miles below St. Paul it reaches the western boundary of Wisconsin, where it expands into the long and beautiful Lake Pepin, bordered by picturesque limestone bluffs, some 400 feet high. Below Dubuque its general direc- tion is southward, and it forms the boundary between the States of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and the northern part of Louisiana, on the west, and Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mis- sissippi, on the east. After many sinuous turn. ings in its southern course, it enters the Gulf of Mexico by three principal passes, or mouths, at the southeastern extremity of Plaquemines Parish, La., in lat. 29º north and lon. 89° 12' west. Its principal affluents on the right are the Minnesota, Iowa, Des Moines, Missouri, Arkansas and Red Rivers, and, on the left, the Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio. The Missouri River is longer than that part of the Mississippi above the point of junction, the distance from its source to the delta of the latter being about 4,300 miles, which exceeds that of any other river in the world. The width of the stream at St. Louis is about 3,500 feet, at the mouth of the Ohio nearly 4,500

feet, and at New Orleans about 2,500 feet. The mean velocity of the current between St. Louis and the Gulf of Mexico is about five to five and one-half miles per hour. The average depth below Red River is said to be 121 feet, though, in the vicinity of New Orleans, the maximum is said to reach 150 feet. The principal rapids below the Falls of St. Anthony are at Rock Island and the Des Moines Rapids above Keokuk, the former having twenty-two feet fall and the latter twenty-four feet. A canal around the Des Moines Rapids, along the west bank of the river, aids navigation. The alluvial banks which pre- vail on one or both shores of the lower Mississippi, often spread out into extensive "bottoms" which are of inexhaustible fertility. The most impor- tant of these above the mouth of the Ohio, is the "American Bottom," extending along the east bank from Alton to Chester. Immense sums have been spent in the construction of levees for the protection of the lands along the lower river from overflow, as also in the construction of a system of jetties at the mouth, to improve navi- gation by deepening the channel.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER BRIDGE, THE, one of the best constructed railroad bridges in the West, spanning the Mississippi from Pike, Ill., to Loui- siana, Mo. The construction company was char- tered, April 25, 1872, and the bridge was ready for the passage of trains on Dec. 24, 1873. On Dec. 3, 1877, it was leased in perpetuity by the Chicago & Alton Railway Company, which holds all its stock and $150,000 of its bonds as an investment, paying a rental of $60,000 per annum, to be applied in the payment of 7 per cent interest on stock and 6 per cent on bonds. In 1894, $71,000 was paid for rental, $16,000 going toward a sinking fund.

MOBILE & OHIO RAILROAD. This company operates 160.6 miles of road in Illinois, of which 151.6 are leased from the St. Louis & Cairo Rail- road. (See St. Louis & Cairo Railroad.)

MOLINE, a flourishing manufacturing city in Rock Island County, incorporated in 1872, on the Mississippi above Rock Island and opposite Davenport, Iowa; is 168 miles south of west from Chicago, and the intersecting point of three trunk lines of railway. Moline, Rock Island and Davenport are connected by steam and street railways, bridges and ferries. All three obtain water-power from the Mississippi. The region around Moline is rich in coal, and several pro- ductive mines are operated in the vicinity. It is an important manufacturing point, its chief out- puts being agricultural implements, filters, malle- able iron, steam engines, vehicles, lumber, organs

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(pipe and reed), paper, lead-roofing, wind-mills, milling machinery, and furniture. The city has admirable water-works, several churchlies, good schools, gas and electric light plants, a public library, five banks, two daily and three weekly papers; also has an extensive electric power plant, electric street cars and interurban line. Pop. (1890), 12,000; (1900), 17,248; (1910), 24,199.

MOLONEY, Maurice T., ex-Attorney-General, was born in Ireland, in 1849; came to America in 1867, and, after a course in the Seminary of "Our Lady of the Angels" at Niagara Falls, studied theology ; then taught for a time in Virginia and studied law at the University of that State, graduating in 1871, finally locating at Ottawa, Ill., where he served three years as State's Attor- ney of La Salle County, and, in 1892, was nomi- nated and elected Attorney-General on the Democratic State ticket, serving until January, 1897.

MOMENCE, a town in Kankakee County, situ- ated on the Kankakee River and at the intersec- tion of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroads, 54 miles south of Chicago; has water power, a flouring mill, enameled brick factory, railway repair shops, two banks, two newspapers, five churches and two schools. Pop. (1900), 2,026; (1910), 2,201.

MONMOUTH, the county-seat of Warren County, 26 miles east of the Mississippi River; at point of intersection of two lines of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Iowa Central Rail- ways. The Santa Fe enters Monmouth on the Iowa Central lines. The surrounding country is agricultural and coal yielding. The city has manufactories of agricultural implements, sewer- pipe, pottery, paving brick, and cigars. Mon- mouth College (United Presbyterian) was chartered in 1857, and the library of this institu- tion, with that of Warren County (also located at Monmouth) aggregates 30,000 volumes. There are three national banks, two daily, three weekly papers and one monthly college periodical. Mon- mouth has had a prosperous growth, and has a postoffice building erected by the Government. Pop. (1890), 5,936; (1900), 7,460; (1910), 9,128.

MONMOUTH COLLEGE, an educational insti- tution, controlled by the United Presbyterian denomination, but non-sectarian; located at Mon- mouth. It was founded in 1856, its first class graduating in 1858. Its Presidents have been Drs. D. A. Wallace (1856-78) and J. B. McMichael, the latter occupying the position from 1878 until 1897. In 1896 the faculty consisted of fifteen instructors and the number of students was 289.

The college campus covers ten acres, tastefully laid out. The institution confers four degrees- A.B., B.S., M.B., and B.L. For the conferring of the first three, four years' study is required; for the degree of B.L., three years.

MONROE, George D., State Senator, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., Sept. 24, 1844, and came with his parents to Illinois in 1849. His father having been elected Sheriff of Will County in 1864, he became a resident of Joliet, serving as a deputy in his father's office. In 1865 he engaged in merchandising as the partner of his father, which was exchanged, some fifteen years later, for the wholesale grocery trade, and, finally, for the real-estate and mortgage-loan business, in which he is still employed. He has also been extensively engaged in the stone business some twenty years, being a large stockholder in the Western Stone Company and Vice-President of the concern. In 1894 Mr. Monroe was elected, as a Republican, to the State Senate from the Twenty-fifth District, serving in the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth General Assemblies, and proving himself one of the most influential members of that body.

MONROE COUNTY, situated in the southwest part of the State, bordering on the Mississippi- named for President Monroe. Its area is about 380 square miles. It was organized in 1816 and included within its boundaries several of the French villages which constituted, for many years, a center of civilization in the West. American settlers, however, began to locate in the district as early as 1781. The county has a diversified surface and is heavily timbered. The soil is fertile, embracing both upland and river bottom. Agriculture and the manufacture and shipping of lumber constitute leading occupations of the citizens. Waterloo is the county-seat. Population (1900), 13,847; (1910), 13,508.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, an interior county, situated northeast of St. Louis and south of Spring- field; area 740 square miles, population (1910), 35,311-derives its name from Gen. Richard Montgomery. The earliest settlements by Ameri- cans were toward the close of 1816, county organi- zation being effected five years later. The entire population, at that time, scarcely exceeded 100 families. The surface is undulating, well watered and timbered. The seat of county government is located at Hillsboro. Litchfield is an important town. Here are situated car-shops and some manufacturing establishments. Conspicuous in the county's history as pioneers were Harris Reavis, Henry Pyatt, John Levi, Aaron Casey

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John Tillson, Hiram Rountree, the Wrights (Joseph and Charles), the Hills (John and Henry), William McDavid and John Russell.

MONTICELLO, a city and the county-seat of Piatt County, on the Sangamon River, midway between Chicago and St. Louis, on the Kankakee and Bloomington Division of the Illinois Central, and the Chicago and St. Louis Division of the Wabash Railways. The main line of the Illi- nois Traction System passes through the city. It lies within the "corn belt," and stock-raising is extensively carried on in the surrounding country. Among the city industries are the manufacture of Syrup of Pepsin and Croupeine. The city is lighted by electricity, has several elevators, water system, numerous churches and schools, three banks and two newspapers. Pop. (1910), 1,981: (1916), estimated), 2,500.

MONTICELLO FEMALE SEMINARY, the second institution established in Illinois for the higher education of women-Jacksonville Female Seminary being the first. It was founded through the munificence of Capt. Benjamin Godfrey, who donated fifteen acres for a site, at Godfrey, Madison County, and gave $53,000 toward erecting and equipping the buildings. The institution was opened on April 11, 1838, with sixteen young lady pupils, Rev. Theron Baldwin, one of the celebrated "Yale Band," being the first Principal. In 1845 he was suc- ceeded by Miss Philena Fobes, and she, in turn, by Miss Harriet N. Haskell, in 1866, who still remains in charge. In November, 1883, the seminary building, with its contents, was burned; but the institution continued its sessions in tem- porary quarters until the erection of a new build- ing, which was soon accomplished through the generosity of alumnæ and friends of female edu- cation throughout the country. The new struc- ture is of stone, three stories in height, and thoroughly modern. The average number of pupils is 150, with fourteen instructors, and the standard of the institution is of a high character.

MOORE, Clifton H., lawyer and financier, was born at Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio, Oct. 26, 1817; after a brief season spent in two academies and one term in the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, at Kirtland, in 1839 he came west and engaged in teaching at Pekin, Ill., while giving his leisure to the study of law. He spent the next year at Tremont as Deputy County and Circuit Clerk, was admitted to the bar at Spring- field in 1841, and located soon after at Clinton, De Witt County, which has since been his home. In partnership with the late Judge David Davis,

of Bloomington, Mr. Moore, a few years later, began operating extensively in Illinois lands, and became one of the largest land proprietors in the State, besides being interested in a number of manufacturing ventures and a local bank. The only official position of importance he held was that of Delegate to the State Constitutional Con- vention of 1869-70. He was an enthusiastic col- lector of State historical and art treasures, of which he possessed one of the most valuable private col- lections in Illinois. Died April 29, 1901.

MOORE, Henry, pioneer lawyer, came to Chi- cago from Concord, Mass., in 1834, and was almost immediately admitted to the bar, also acting for a time as a clerk in the office of Col. Richard J. Hamilton, who held pretty much all the county offices on the organization of Cook County. Mr. Moore was one of the original Trustees of Rush Medical College, and obtained from the Legislature the first charter for a gas company in Chicago. In 1838 he went to Ha- vana, Cuba, for the benefit of his failing health, but subsequently returned to Concord, Mass., where he died some years afterward.

MOORE, James, pioneer, was born in the State of Maryland in 1750; was married in his native State, about 1772, to Miss Catherine Biggs, later removing to Virginia. In 1777 he came to the Illinois Country as a spy, preliminary to the con- templated expedition of Col. George Rogers Clark, which captured Kaskaskia in July, 1778. After the Clark expedition (in which he served as Captain, by appointment of Gov. Patrick Henry), he returned to Virginia, where he remained until 1781, when he organized a party of emigrants, which he accompanied to Illinois, spending the winter at Kaskaskia. The following year they located at a point in the northern part of Monroe County, which afterwards received the name of Bellefontaine. After his arrival in Illinois, he organized a company of "Minute Men," of which he was chosen Captain. He was a man of prominence and influence among the early settlers, but died in 1788. A numerous and influential family of his descendants have grown up in Southern Illinois .- John (Moore), son of the preceding, was born in Maryland in 1773, and brought by his father to Illinois eight years later. He married a sister of Gen. John D. Whiteside, who afterwards became State Treasurer, and also served as Fund Commissioner of the State of Illi- nois under the internal improvement system. Moore was an officer of the State Militia, and served in a company of rangers during the War of 1812; was also the first County Treasurer of

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Monroe County. Died, July 4, 1833 .- James B. (Moore), the third son of Capt. James Moore, was born in 1780, and brought to Illinois by his par- ents; in his early manhood he followed the business of keel-boating on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, visiting New Orleans, Pittsburg and other points; became a prominent Indian fighter during the War of 1812, and was commissioned Captain by Governor Edwards and authorized to raise a company of mounted rangers; also served as Sheriff of Monroe County, by appoint- ment of Governor Edwards, in Territorial days; was Presidential Elector in 1820, and State Sena- tor for Madison County in 1836-40, dying in the latter year .- Enoch (Moore), fourth son of Capt. James Moore, the pioneer, was born in the old block-house at Bellefontaine in 1782, being the first child born of American parents in Illinois; served as a "ranger" in the company of his brother, James B .; occupied the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court, and afterwards that of Judge of Probate of Monroe County during the Terri- torial period; was Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1818, and served as Representative from Monroe County in the Second General Assembly, later filling various county offices for some twenty years. He died in 1848.

MOORE, Jesse H., clergyman, soldier and Con- gressman, born near Lebanon, St. Clair County, Ill., April 22, 1817, and graduated from McKen- dree College in 1842. For thirteen years he was a teacher, during portions of this period being successively at the head of three literary insti- tutions in the West. In 1849 he was ordained a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but resigned pastorate duties in 1862, to take part in the War for the Union, organizing the One Hun- dred and Fifteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, of which he was commissioned Colonel, also serving as brigade commander during the last year of the war, and being brevetted Brigadier-General at its close. After the war he re-entered the ministry, but, in 1868, while Presiding Elder of the Decatur District, he was elected to the Forty-first Con- gress as a Republican, being re-elected in 1870; afterwards served as Pension Agent at Spring- field, and, in 1881, was appointed United States Consul at Callao, Peru, dying in office, in that city, July 11, 1883.

MOORE, John, Lieutenant-Governor (1842-46) ; was born in Lincolnshire, Eng., Sept. 8, 1793; came to America and settled in Illinois in 1830, spending most of his life as a resident of Bloom- ington. In 1838 he was elected to the lower branch of the Eleventh General Assembly from

the McLean District, and, in 1840, to the Senate, but before the close of his term, in 1842, was elected Lieutenant-Governor with Gov. Thomas Ford. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he took a conspicuous part in recruiting the Fourth Regiment Illinois Volunteers (Col. E. D. Baker's), of which he was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel, serving gallantly throughout the struggle. In 1848 he was appointed State Treasurer, as succes- sor of Milton Carpenter, who died in office. In 1850 lie was elected to the same office, and con- tinued to discharge its duties until 1857, when he was succeeded by James Miller. Died, Sept. 23, 1863.

MOORE, Risdon, pioneer, was born in Dela- ware in 1760; removed to North Carolina in 1789, and, a few years later, to Hancock County, Ga., where he served two terms in the Legislature. He emigrated from Georgia in 1812, and settled in St. Clair County, Ill .- besides a family of fif- teen white persons, bringing with him eighteen colored people-the object of his removal being to get rid of slavery. He purchased a farm in what was known as the "Turkey Hill Settle- ment," about four miles east of Belleville, where he resided until his death in 1828. Mr. Moore became a prominent citizen, was elected to the Second Territorial House of Representatives, and was chosen Speaker, serving as such for two ses- sions (1814-15). He was also Representative from St. Clair County in the First, Second and Third General Assemblies after the admission of Illinois into the Union. In the last of these he was one of the most zealous opponents of the pro-slavery Convention scheme of 1822-24. He left a numer- ous and highly respected family of descendants, who were afterwards prominent in public affairs .- William (Moore), his son, served as a Captain in the War of 1812, and also commanded a company in the Black Hawk War. He represented St. Clair County in the lower branch of the Ninth and Tenth General Assemblies; was a local preacher of the Methodist Church, and was Presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of McKendree Col- lege at the time of his death in 1849 .- Risdon (Moore), Jr., a cousin of the first named Risdon Moore, was a Representative from St. Clair County in the Fourth General Assembly and Senator in the Sixth, but died before the expiration of his term, being succeeded at the next session by Adam W. Snyder.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 77

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