USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I > Part 93
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ROGERS, John Gorin, jurist, was born at Glasgow, Ky., Dec. 28, 1818, of English and early Virginian ancestry; was educated at Center Col- lege, Danville, Ky., and at Transylvania Univer- sity, graduating from the latter institution in 1841, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. For sixteen years he practiced in his native town, and, in 1857, removed to Chicago, where he soon
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attained professional prominence. In 1870 he was elected a Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, continuing on the bench, through repeated re-elections, until his death, which occurred suddenly, Jan. 10, 1887, four years before the expiration of the term for which he had been elected.
RIVERDALE, a southern suburb of the city of Chicago on the Illinois Central Railroad and four other lines. Pop. (1900), 554; (1910), 917.
RIVER FOREST, a western suburb of the city of Chicago, on the lines of the Chicago & North Western and the Wisconsin Central Railroads; is a growing residence suburb. Pop. (1910), 2,456.
ROLL, John E., pioneer, was born in Green Village, N. J., June 4, 1814; came to Illinois in 1830, and settled in Sangamon County. He assisted Abraham Lincoln in the construction of the flat-boat with which the latter descended the Mississippi River to New Orleans, in 1831. Mr. Roll, who was a mechanic and contractor, built a number of houses in Springfield, where he has since continued to reside.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The earliest Christians to establish places of worship in Illi- nois were priests of the Catholic faith. Early Catholic missionaries were explorers and histori- ans as well as preachers. (See Allouez; Bergier; Early Missionaries; Gravier; Marquette.) The church went hand in hand with the represent- atives of the French Government, carrying in one hand the cross and in the other the flag of France, simultaneously disseminating the doc- trines of Christianity and inculcating loyalty to the House of Bourbon. For nearly a hundred years, the self-sacrificing and devoted Catholic clergy of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies ministered to the spiritual wants of the early French settlers and the natives. They were not without factional jealousies, however, and a severe blow was dealt to a branch of them in the order for the banishment of the Jesuits and the confiscation of their property. (See Early Mis- sionaries.) The subsequent occupation of the country by the English, with the contemporane- ous emigration of a considerable portion of the French west of the Mississippi, dissipated many congregations. Up to 1830 Illinois was included in the diocese of Missouri; but at that time it was constituted a separate diocese, under the episco- pal control of Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosatti. At that date there were few, if any, priests in Illinois. But Bishop Rosatti was a man of earnest purpose and rare administrative ability. New parislies were organized as rapidly as circumstances
would permit, and the growth of the church has been steady. By 1840 there were thirty-one parishes and twenty priests. In 1896 there are reported 698 parishes, 764 clergymen and a Catholic population exceeding 850,000. (See also Religious Denominations.)
ROODHOUSE, a city in Greene County, 21 miles south of Jacksonville, and at junction of three divisions of the Chicago & Alton Railroad; is in fertile agricultural and coal-mining region; city contains a flouring inill, grain-elevator, stock- yards, railway shops, water-works, electric light plant, two private banks, fine opera house, good school buildings, one daily and one weekly paper. Pop. (1900), 2,351; (1910), 2,171.
ROODHOUSE, John, farmer and founder of the town of Roodhouse, in Greene County, Ill., was born in Yorkshire, England, brought to America in childhood, his father settling in Greene County, Ill., in 1831. In his early man- hood he opened a farm in Tazewell County, but finally returned to the paternal home in Greene County, where, on the location of the Jackson- ville Division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, he laid out the town of Roodhouse, at the junc- tion of the Louisiana and Kansas City branch with the main line.
ROOT, George Frederick, musical composer and author, was born at Sheffield, Mass., August 30, 1820. He was a natural musician, and, while employed on his father's farm, learned to play on various instruments. In 1838 he removed to Bos- ton, where he began his life-work. Besides teaching music in the public schools, he was employed to direct the musical service in two churches. From Boston he removed to New York, and, in 1850, went to Paris for purposes of musical study. In 1853 he made his first public essay as a composer in the song, "Hazel Dell," which became popular at once. From this time forward his success as a song-writer was assured. His music, while not of a high artistic character, captivated the popular ear and appealed strongly to the heart.' In 1860 he took up his residence in Chicago, where he conducted a musical journal and wrote those "war songs" which created and perpetuated his fame. Among the best known are "Rally Round the Flag"; "Just Before the Battle, Mother"; and "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp." Other popular songs by him are "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower"; "A Hundred Years Ago"; and "The Old Folks are Gone." Besides songs he composed several cantatas and much sacred music, also publishing many books of instruction and numerous collections of vocal and instru-
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mental music. In 1872 the University of Chicago conferred on him the degree of Mus. Doc. Died, near Portland, Maine, August 6, 1895.
ROOTS, Benajah Guernsey, civil engineer, and educator, was born in Onondaga County N. Y., April 20, 1811, and educated in the schools and academies of Central New York; began teaching in 1827, and, after spending a year at sea for the benefit of liis liealth, took a course in law and civil engineering. He was employed as a civil engineer on the Western Railroad of Massachusetts until 1838, when he came to Illi- nois and obtained employment on the railroad projected from Alton to Shawneetown, under the "internal improvement system" of 1837. When that was suspended in 1839, he settled on a farm near the present site of Tamaroa, Perry County, and soon after opened a boarding school, continuing its management until 1846, when he became Principal of a seminary at Sparta. In 1851 he went into the service of the Illinois Cen- tral .Railroad, first as resident engineer in charge of surveys and construction, later as land agent and attorney. He was prominent in the introduction of the graded school system in Illi- nois and in the establishment of the State Nor- mal School at Bloomington and the University of Illinois at Champaign; was a member of the State Board of Education from its organization, and served as delegate to the National Repub- lican Convention of 1868. Died, at his home in Perry County, Ill., May 9, 1888 .- Philander Keep (Roots), son of the preceding, born in Tolland. County, Conn., June 4, 1838, brought to Illinois the same year and educated in his father's school, and in an academy at Carrollton and the Wes- leyan University at Bloomington; at the age of 17 belonged to a corps of engineers employed on a Southern railroad, and, during the war, served as a civil engineer in the construction and repair of military roads. Later, he was Deputy Sur- veyor-General of Nebraska; in 1871 became Chief Engineer on the Cairo & Fulton (now a part of the Iron Mountain) Railway; then engaged in the banking business in Arkansas, first as cashier of a bank at Fort Smith and afterwards of the Merchants' National Bank at Little Rock, of which his brother, Logan H., was President .- Logan H. (Roots), another son, born near Tama- roa, Perry County, Ill., March 22, 1841, was edu- cated at home and at the State Normal at Bloomington, meanwhile serving as principal of a high school at Duquoin; in 1862 enlisted in the Eighty-first Illinois Volunteers, serving through the war and acting as Chief Commissary
for General Sherman on the "March to the Sea," and participating in the great review in Wash- ington, in May, 1865. After the conclusion of the war he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the First Arkansas District, was elected from that State to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (1868 and 1870)-being, at the time, the youngest member in that body-and was appointed United States Marshal by Presi- dent Grant. He finally became President of the Merchants' National Bank at Little Rock, with which he remained nearly twenty years. Died, suddenly, of congestion of the brain, May 30, 1893, leaving an estate valued at nearly one and a half millions, of which he gave a large share to charitable purposes and to the city of Little Rock, for the benefit of its hospitals and the im- provement of its parks.
ROSE, James A., Secretary of State, was born at Golconda, Pope County, Ill., Oct. 13, 1850. The foundation of his education was secured in the public schools of his native place, and, after a term in the Normal University at Normal, Ill., at the age of 18 he took charge of a country school. Soon he was chosen Principal of the Golconda graded schools, was later made County Superintendent of Schools, and re-elected for a second term. During his second term he was admitted to the bar, and, resigning the office of Superintendent, was elected State's Attorney without opposition, being re-elected for another term. In 1889, by appointment of Governor Fifer, he became one of the Trustees of the Pontiac Reformatory, serving until the next year, when he was transferred to the Board of Commissioners of the Southern Illinois Peniten- tiary at Chester, which position he continued to occupy until 1893. In 1896 he was elected Secre- tary of State on the Republican ticket; by three successive re-elections is still in office in 1912.
ROSEVILLE, a village in Warren County, on the Rock Island Division of the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy Railroad, 17 miles northwest of Bushnell; has water and electric-light plants, two banks, public library and one newspaper Region agricultural and coal-mining. Pop. (1910), 882.
ROSS, Leonard Fulton, soldier, born in Fulton County, Ill., July 18, 1823; was educated in the common schools and at Illinois College, Jackson- ville, studied law and admitted to the bar in 1845; the following year enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Volunteers for the Mexican War, became First Lieutenant and was commended for services at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo; also performed im- portant service as bearer of dispatches for Gen-
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eral Taylor. After the war he served six years as Probate Judge. In May, 1861, he enlisted in the war for the Union, and was chosen Colonel of the Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers, serving with it in Missouri and Kentucky; was commis- sioned Brigadier-General a few weeks after the capture of Fort Donelson, and, after the evacu- ation of Corinth, was assigned to the command of a division with headquarters at Bolivar, Tenn. He resigned in July, 1863, and, in 1867, was appointed by President Johnson Collector of Internal Revenue for the Ninth District; has been three times a delegate to National Repub- lican Conventions and twice defeated as a candi- date for Congress in a Democratic District. Since the war he has devoted his attention largely to stock-raising, having a large stock- farm in Iowa. In his later years was President of a, bank at Lewistown, Ill. Died Jan. 17, 1901.
ROSS, (Col.) William, pioneer, was born at Monson, Hampden County, Mass., April 24, 1792; removed with his father's family, in 1805, to Pittsfield, Mass., where he remained until his twentieth year, when he was commissioned an Ensign in the Twenty-first Regiment United States Infantry, serving through the War .of 1812-14, and participating in the battle of Sack- ett's Harbor. During the latter part of his serv- ice he acted as drill-master at various points. Then, returning to Pittsfield, he carried on the business of blacksmithing as an employer, mean- while filling some local offices. In 1820, a com- pany consisting of himself and four brothers, with their families and a few others, started for the West, intending to settle in Illinois. Reach- ing the head-waters of the Allegheny overland, they transferred their wagons, teams and other property to flat-boats, descending that stream and the Ohio to Shawneetown, Ill. Here they disembarked and, crossing the State, reached Upper Alton, where they found only one house, that of Maj. Charles W. Hunter. Leaving their families at Upper Alton, the brothers proceeded north, crossing the Illinois River near its mouth, until they reached a point in the western part of the present county of Pike, where the town of Atlas was afterwards located. Here they erected four rough log-cabins, on a beautiful prairie not far from the Mississippi, removing their families thither a few weeks later. They suffered the usual privations incident to life in a new country, not excepting sickness and death of some of their number. At the next session of the Legislature (1820-21) Pike County was estab- lished, embracing all that part of the State west
and north of the Illinois, and including the present cities of Galena and Chicago. The Ross settlement became the nucleus of the town of Atlas, laid out by Colonel Ross and his associates in 1823, at an early day the rival of Quincy, and becoming the second county-seat of Pike County, so remaining from 1824 to 1833, when the seat of justice was removed to Pittsfield. During this period Colonel Ross was one of the most promi- nent citizens of the county, holding, simultane- ously or successively, the offices of Probate Judge, Circuit and County Clerk, Justice of the Peace, and others of a subordinate character. As Colonel of Militia, in 1832, he was ordered by Governor Reynolds to raise a company for the Black Hawk War, and, in four days, reported at Beardstown with twice the number of men called for. In 1834 he was elected to the lower branch of the General Assembly, also serving in the Senate during the three following sessions, a part of the time as President pro tem. of the last- named body. While in the General Assembly he was instrumental in securing legislation of great importance relating to Military Tract lands. The year following the establishment of the county-seat at Pittsfield (1834) he became a citi- zen of that place, which he had the privilege of naming for his early home. He was a member of the Republican State Convention of 1856, and a delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1860, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for Presi- dent the first time. Beginning life poor he acquired considerable property ; was liberal, pub- lic-spirited and patriotic, making a handsome donation to the first company organized in Pike County, for the suppression of the Rebellion. Died, at Pittsfield, May 31, 1873.
ROSSVILLE, a village of Vermillion County, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 19 miles north of Danville; has electric-light plant, water-works, tile and brick-works, two banks and one weekly paper. Pop. (1900), 1,435; (1910), 1,422.
ROUNDS, Sterling Parker, public printer, was born in Berkshire, Vt., June 27, 1828; about 1840 began learning the printer's trade at Ken- osha, Wis., and, in 1845, was foreman of the State printing office at Madison, afterward working in offices in Milwaukee, Racine and Buffalo, going to Chicago in 1851. Here he finally established a printer's warehouse, to which he later added an electrotype foundry and the manufacture of presses, also commencing the issue of "Round's Printers' Cabinet," a trade-paper, which was continued during his life. In 1881 he was ap- pointed by President Garfield Public Printer at
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Washington, serving until 1885, when he removed to Omaha, Neb., and was identified with "The Republican," of that city, until his death, Dec. 17, 1887.
ROUNTREE, Hiram, County Judge, born in Rutherford County, N. C., Dec. 22, 1794; was brought to Kentucky in infancy, where he grew to manhood and served as an Ensign in the War of 1812 under General Shelby. In 1817 he re- moved to Illinois Territory, first locating in Madison County, where he taught school for two years near Edwardsville, but removed to Fayette County about the time of the removal of the State capital to Vandalia. On the organization of Montgomery County, in 1821, he was appointed to office there and ever afterwards resided at Hillsboro. For a number of years in the early history of the county, he held (at the same time) the offices of Clerk of the County Commissioners Court, Clerk of the Circuit Court, County Recorder, Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Master in Chancery and Judge of Probate, besides that of Postmaster for the town of Hillsboro. In 1826 he was elected Enrolling and Engrossing Clerk of the Senate and re-elected in 1830; served as Delegate in tlie Constitutional Convention of 1847, and the next year was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Sixteenth and Seven- teenth General Assemblies. On retiring from the Senate (1852), he was elected County Judge without opposition, was re-elected to the same office in 1861, and again, in 1865, as the nominee of the Republicans. Judge Rountree was noted for his sound judgment and sterling integrity. Died, at Hillsboro, March 4, 1873.
ROUTT, John L., soldier and Governor, was born at Eddyville, Ky., April 25, 1826, brought to Illinois in infancy and educated in the com- mon schools. Soon after coming of age he was elected and served one term as Sheriff of McLean County ; in 1862 enlisted and became Captain of Company E, Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers. After the war he engaged in business in Bloom- ington, and was appointed by President Grant, successively, United States Marshal for the Southern District of Illinois, Second Assistant Postmaster-General and Territorial Governor of Colorado. On the admission of Colorado as a State, he was elected the first Governor under the State Government, and re-elected in 1890-serv- ing, in all, three years. For a time he was exten- sively and successfully identified with mining enter- prises in Colorado. Died in Denver Aug. 3, 1907. ROWELL, Jonathan H., ex-Congressman, was born at Haverhill, N. H., Feb. 10, 1833; was a
graduate of Eureka College and of the Law Department of the Chicago University. During the War of the Rebellion he served three years as company officer in the Seventeenth Illinois Infantry. In 1868 he was elected State's Attor- ney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, and, in 1880, was a Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket. In 1882 he was elected to Congress from the Fourteenth Illinois District and three times re-elected, serving until March, 1891. His home was at Bloomington. Died May 15, 1908.
ROWETT, Richard, soldier, was born in Corn- wall, England, in 1830, came to the United States in 1851, finally settling on a farm near Carlinville, Ill., and becoming a breeder of thorough-bred horses. In 1861 he entered the service as a Captain in the Seventh Illinois Volunteers and was successively promoted Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel; was wounded in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth and Allatoona, especially distinguishing himself at the latter and being brevetted Brigadier-General for gallantry. After the war he returned to his stock-farm, but later held the positions of Canal Commissioner, Penitentiary Commissioner, Rep- resentative in the Thirtieth General Assem- bly and Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fourth (Quincy) District, until its consolidation with the Eighth District by President Cleveland. Died, in Chicago, July 13, 1887.
RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE, located in Chi- cago; incorporated by act of March 2, 1837, the charter having been prepared the previous year by Drs. Daniel Brainard and Josiah C. Goodhue. The extreme financial depression of the following year prevented the organization of a faculty until 1843. The institution was named in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the eminent practitioner, medical author and teacher of Philadelphia in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The first faculty consisted of four professors, and the first term opened on Dec. 4, 1843, with a class of twenty-two students. Three years' study was required for graduation, but only two annual terms of sixteen weeks each need be attended at the college itself. Instruction was given in a few rooms temporarily opened for that purpose. The next year a small building, costing between $3,000 and $4,000, was erected. This was re-ar- ranged and enlarged in 1855 at a cost of $15,000. The constant and rapid growth of the college necessitated the erection of a new building in 1867, the cost of which was $70,000. This was destroyed in the fire of 1871, and another, costing $54,000, was erected in 1876 and a free dispensary
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added. In 1844 the Presbyterian Hospital was located on a portion of the college lot, and the two institutions connected, thus insuring abun- dant and stable facilities for clinical instruction. Shortly afterwards, Rush College became the medical department of Lake Forest University. The present faculty (1898) consists of 95 profes- sors, adjunct professors, lecturers and instructors of all grades, and over 600 students in attend- ance. The lengtli of the annual terms is six months, and four years of study are required for graduation, attendance upon at least three col- lege terms being compulsory.
RUSHVILLE, the county-seat of Schuyler County, 50 miles northeast of Quincy and 11 miles northwest of Beardstown; is the southern. terminus of the Buda and Rushville branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The town was selected as the county-seat in 1826, the seat of justice being removed from a place called Beardstown, about five miles eastward (not the present Beardstown in Cass County), where it had been located at the time of the organization of Schuyler County, a year previous. At first tlie new seat of justice was called Rush- ton, in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, but after- wards took its present name. It is a coal-inining, grain and fruit-growing region, and contains several manufactories, including flour-mills, brick and tile works; also has two banks (State and private) and a public library. Four periodicals (one daily) are published here. Population (1890), 2,031; (1900), 2,292; (1910), 2,422.
RUSSELL, John, pioneer teacher and author, was born at Cavendislı, Vt., July 31, 1793, and educated in the common schools of his native State and at Middlebury College, where he gradu- ated in 1818-having obtained means to support himself, during his college course, by teaching and by the publication, before he had reached his 20th year, of a volume entitled "The Authentic History of Vermont State Prison." After gradu- ation he taught for a short time in Georgia; but, early in the following year, joined his father on the way to Missouri. The next five years lie spent in teaching in the "Bonhommie Bottom" on the Missouri River. During this period he published, anonymously, in "The St. Charles Mis- sourian," a temperance allegory entitled "The Venomous Worm" (or "The Worm of the Still"), which gained a wide popularity and was early recognized by the compilers of school-readers as a sort of classic. Leaving this locality he taught a year in St. Louis, when he removed to Vandalia (then the capital of Illinois), after which he spent
two years teaching in the Seminary at Upper Alton, which afterwards became Sliurtleff College. In 1828 he removed to Greene County, locating at a point near the Illinois River to which he gave the name of Bluffdale. Here he was li- censed as a Baptist preacher, officiating in this ca- pacity only occasionally, while pursuing his calling as a teacher or writer for the press, to which he was an almost constant contributor during the last twenty-five years of his life. About 1837 or 1838 he was editor of a paper called "The Backwoodsman" at Grafton-then a part of Greene County, but now in Jersey County-to which he afterwards continued to be a contribu- tor some time longer, and, in 1841-42, was editor of "The Advertiser, ' at Louisville, Ky. He was also, for several years, Principal of the Spring Hill Academy in East Feliciana Parish, La., meanwhile serving for a portion of the time as Superintendent of Public Schools. He was the author of a number of stories and sketches, some of which went through several. editions, and, at the time of his death, had in preparation a his- tory of "The Black Hawk War," "Evidences of Christianity" and a "History of Illinois." He was an accomplished linguist, being able to read with fluency Greek, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian, besides having considerable familiarity with several other modern languages. In 1862 he received from the University of Chicago the degree of LL.D. Died, Jan. 2, 1863, and was buried on the old homestead at Bluffdale.
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