Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 95

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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SAVANNA, a city in Carroll County, situated on the Mississippi River and the Chicago, Bur- lington & Northern and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways; is 10 miles west of Mount Carroll and about 20 miles north of Clinton, Iowa. It is an important shipping-point and con- tains several manufactories of machinery, lumber, flour, etc. It has two State banks, a public library, churches, two graded schools, township high school, and two daily and weekly news- papers. Pop. (1900), 3,325; (1910), 3,691.

SAYBROOK, a village of McLean County, on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, 26 miles east of Bloomington; district agricultural; county fairs held here; the town has two banks and one news- paper. Pop. (1900), 879; (1910), 805.

SCATES, Walter Bennett, jurist and soldier, was born at South Boston, Halifax County, Va., Jan. 18, 1808; was taken in infancy to Hopkins- ville, Ky., where he resided until 1831, having meanwhile learned the printer's trade at Nash- ville and studied law at Louisville. In 1831 he removed to Frankfort, Franklin County, Il .. ,

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where, for a time, he was County Surveyor. In 1836, having been appointed Attorney-General, he removed to Vandalia, then the seat of govern- ment, but resigned at the close of the same year to accept the judgeship of the Third Judicial Circuit, and took up his residence at Shawnee- town. In 1841 he was one of five new Judges added to the Supreme Court bench, the others being Sidney Breese, Stephen A. Douglas, Thomas Ford and Samuel HI. Treat. In that year he removed to Mount Vernon, Jefferson County, and, in January, 1847, resigned his seat upon the bench to resume practice. The same year he was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention and Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary. In June, 1854, he again took a seat upon the Supreme Court bench, being chosen to succeed Lyman Trumbull, but resigned in May, 1857, and resumed practice in Chicago. In 1862 he volunteered in defense of the Union, received a Major's commission and was assigned to duty on the staff of General McClernand; was made, Assistant Adjutant-General and mustered out in January, 1866. In July, 1866, President Johnson appointed him Collector of Customs at Chicago, which position he filled until July 1, 1869, when he was removed by President Grant, during the same period, being ex-officio custodian of United States funds, the office of Assistant Treasurer not having been then created. Died, at Evanston, Oct. 26, 1886.

SCAMMON, Jonathan Young, lawyer and banker, was born at Whitefield, Maine, July 27, 1812; after graduating at Waterville (now Colby) University in 1831, he studied law and was admitted to the bar at Hallowell, in 1835 remov- ing to Chicago, where he spent the remainder of his life. After a year spent as deputy in the office of the Circuit Clerk of Cook County, during which he prepared a revision of the Illinois stat- utes, he was appointed attorney for the State Bank of Illinois in 1837, and, in 1839, became reporter of the Supreme Court, which office he held until 1845. In the meantime, he was associ- ated with several prominent lawyers, his first legal firm being that of Scammon, McCagg & Fuller, which was continued up to the fire of 1871. A large operator in real estate and identi- fied with many enterprises of a public or benevo- lent character, his most important financial venture was in connection with the Chicago Marine & Fire Insurance Company, which con- ducted an extensive banking business for many years, and of which he was the President and leading spirit. As a citizen he was progressive,

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public-spirited and liberal. He was one of the main promoters and organizers of the old Galena & Chicago Union Railway, the first railroad to run west from Lake Michigan; was also promi- nently identified with the founding of the Chi- cago public school system, a Trustee of the (old) Chicago University, and one of the founders of the Chicago Historical Society, of the Chicago Academy of Sciences and the Chicago Astro- nomical Society - being the first President of the latter body. He erected, at a cost of $30,000, the Fort Dearborn Observatory, in which he caused to be placed the most power- ful telescope which had at that time been brought to the West. He also maintained the observatory at his own expense. He was the pioneer of Swedenborgianism in Chicago, and, in politics, a staunch Whig, and, later, an ardent Republican. In 1844 he was one of the founders of "The Chi- cago American," a paper designed to advance the candidacy of Henry Clay for the Presidency ; and, in 1872, when "The Chicago Tribune" espoused the Liberal Republican cause, he started "The Inter-Ocean" as a Republican organ, being, for some time, its sole proprietor and editor-in- chief. He was one of the first to encourage the adoption of the homeopathic system of medicine in Chicago, and was prominently connected with the founding of the Hahnemann Medical College and the Hahnemann Hospital, being a Trustee in both for many years. As a member of the Gen- eral Assembly he secured the passage of many important measures, among them being legisla- tion looking toward the bettering of the currency and the banking system. He accumulated a large fortune, but lost most of it by the fire of 1871 and the panic of 1873. Died, in Chicago, March 17, 1890.

SCARRITT, Nathan, pioneer, was born in Con- necticut, came to Edwardsville, Ill., in 1820, and, in 1821, located in Scarritt's Prairie, Madison County. His sons afterward became influential in business and Methodist church circles. Died, Dec. 12, 1847.

SCENERY, NATURAL. Notwithstanding the uniformity of surface which characterizes a country containing no mountain ranges, but which is made up largely of natural prairies, there are a number of localities in Illinois where scenery of a picturesque, and even bold and rugged character, may be found. One of the most striking of these features is produced by a spur or low range of hills from the Ozark Moun- tains of Missouri, projected across the southern part of the State from the vicinity of Grand

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Tower in Jackson County, through the northern part of Union, and through portions of William- son, Johnson, Saline, Pope and Hardin Counties. Grand Tower, the initial point in the western. part of the State, is an isolated cliff of limestone, standing out in the channel of the Mississippi, and forming an island nearly 100 feet above low- water level. It has been a conspicuous landmark for navigators ever since the discovery of the Mississippi. "Fountain Bluff," a few miles above Grand Tower, is another conspicuous point immediately on the river bank, formed by some isolated hills about three miles long by a mile and a half wide, which have withstood the forces that excavated the valley now occupied by the Mississippi. About half a mile from the lower end of this hill, with a low valley between them, is a smaller eminence known as the "Devil's Bake Oven." The main chain of bluffs, known as the "Back Bone," is about five miles from the river, and rises to a height of nearly 700 feet above low-tide in the Gulf of Mexico, or more than 400 feet above the level of the river at Cairo. "Bald Knob" is a very prominent inland bluff promontory near Alta Pass on the line of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, in the northern part of Union County, with an elevation above tide- water of 985 feet. The highest point in this range of hills is reached in the northeastern part of Pope County-the elevation at that point (as ascertained by Prof. Rolfe of the State University at Champaign) being 1,046 feet .- There is some striking scenery in the neighborhood of Grafton between Alton and the mouth of the Illinois, as well as some distance up the latter stream- though the landscape along the middle section of the Illinois is generally monotonous or only gently undulating, except at Peoria and a few other points, where bluffs rise to a considerable height. On the Upper Illinois, beginning at Peru, the scenery again becomes picturesque, including the celebrated "Starved Rock," the site of La Salle's Fort St. Louis (which see). This rock rises to a perpendicular height of about 125 feet from the surface of the river at the ordinary stage. On the opposite side of the river, about four miles below Ottawa, is "Buffalo Rock," an isolated ridge of rock about two miles long by forty to sixty rods wide, evidently once an island at a period when the Illinois River occupied the whole valley. Additional interest is given to both these localities by their associ- ation with early history. Deer Park, on the Ver- . feet above the Gulf of Mexico.

milion River -- some two miles from where it empties into the Illinois, just below "Starved

Rock"-is a peculiar grotto-like formation, caused by a ravine which enters the Vermilion at this point. Ascending this ravine from its mouth, for a quarter of a mile, between almost perpen- dicular walls, the road terminates abruptly at a dome-like overhanging rock which widens at this point to about 150 feet in diameter at the base, with a height of about 75 feet. A clear spring of water gushes from the base of the cliff, and, at certain seasons of the year, a beautiul water-fall pours from the cliffs into a little lake at the bot- tom of the chasm. There is much other striking scenery higher up, on both the Illinois and Fox Rivers .- A point which arrested the attention of the earliest explorers in this region was Mount Joliet, near the city of that name. It is first mentioned by St. Cosme in 1698, and has been variously known as Monjolly, Mont Jolie, Mount Juliet, and Mount Joliet. It had an elevation, in early times, of about 30 feet with a level top 1,300 by 225 feet. Prof. O. H. Marshall, in "The American Antiquarian," expresses the opinion that, originally, it was an island in the river, which, at a remote period, swept down the valley of the Des Plaines. Mount Joliet was a favorite rallying point of Illinois Indians, who were accustomed to hold their councils at its base .- The scenery along Rock River is not striking from its boldness, but it attracted the attention of early explorers by the picturesque beauty of its groves, undulating plains and sheets of water. The highest and most abrupt elevations are met with in Jo Daviess County, near the Wisconsin State line. Pilot Knob, a natural mound about three miles south of Galena and two miles from the Mississippi, has been a landmark well known to tourists and river men ever since the Upper Mississippi began to be navigated. Towering above the surrounding bluffs, it reaches an alti- tude of some 430 feet above the ordinary level of Fever River. A chain of some half dozen of these mounds extends some four or five miles in a north- easterly direction from Pilot Knob, Waddel's and Jackson's Mounds being conspicuous among them. There are also some castellated rocks around the city of Galena which are very strik- ing. Charles Mound, belonging to the system already referred to, is believed to be the highest elevation in the State. It stands near the Wis- consin State line, and, according to Prof. Rolfe, has an altitude of 314 feet above the Illinois Cen - tral Railroad at Scales' Mound Station, and, 1,257

SCHRAM CITY, a village of Montgomery County in a coal mining district. Pop. (1910), 516.

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SCHNEIDER, George, journalist and banker, was born at · Pirmasens, Bavaria, Dec. 13, 1823. Being sentenced to death for his participation in the attempted rebellion of 1848, he escaped to America in 1849, going from New York to Cleve- land, and afterwards to St. Louis. There, in con- nection with his brother, he established a German daily-"The New Era"-which was intensely anti-slavery and exerted a decided political influ- ence, especially among persons of German birth. In 1851 he removed to Chicago, where he became editor of "The Staats Zeitung," in which he vigorously oppesed the Kansas-Nebraska bill on its introduction by Senator Douglas. His attitude and articles gave such offense to the partisan friends of this measure, that "The Zeitung" was threatened with destruction by a mob in 1855. He early took advanced ground in opposition to slavery, and was a member of the convention of Anti-Nebraska editors, held at Decatur in 1856, and of the first Republican State Convention, held at Bloomington the same year, as well as of the National Republican Conventions of 1856 and 1860, participating in the nomination of both John C. Fremont and Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. In 1861 he was a member of the Chicago Union Defense Committee, and was appointed, by Mr. Lincoln, Consul-General at Elsinore, Denmark. Returning to America in 1862, he disposed of his interest in "The Staats Zeitung" and was appointed the first Collector of Internal Revenue for the Chicago District. On retiring from this office he engaged in banking, subsequently becoming President of the National Bank of Illinois, with which he was associated for a quarter of a century. In 1877 President Hayes tendered him the ministry to Switzerland, which he declined. In 1880 he was chosen Presi- dential Elector for the State-at-large, also serving for a number of years as a member of the Repub- lican State Central Committee. Died Sept. 16, 1905.

SCHOFIELD, John McAllister, Major-General, was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., Sept 29, 1831; brought to Bristol, Kendall County, Ill., in 1843, and, two years later, removed to Freeport; graduated from the United States Military Acad- emy, in 1853, as classmate of Generals McPherson and Sheridan; was assigned to the artillery ser- vice and served two years in Florida, after which he spent five years (1855-60) as an instructor at West Point. At the beginning of the Civil War he was on leave of absence, acting as Professor of Physics in Washington University at St. Louis, but, waiving his leave, he at once returned to duty and was appointed mustering officer;

then, by permission of the War Department, entered the First Missouri Volunteers as Major, serving as Chief of Staff-to General Lyon in the early battles in Missouri, including Wilson's Creek. His subsequent career included the organization of the Missouri State Militia (1862), command of the Army of the Frontier in South- west Missouri, command of the Department of the Missouri and Ohio, participation in the Atlanta campaign and co-operation with Sher- man in the capture of the rebel Gen. Joseplı E. Johnston in North Carolina -- his army having been transferred for this purpose, from Tennessee by way of Washington. After the close of the war he went on a special mission to Mexico to investigate the French occupation of that country ; was commander of the Department of the Potomac, and served as Secretary of War, by appointment of President Johnson, from June, 1868, to March, 1869. On retiring from the Cabi- net he was commissioned a full Major-General and held various Division and Department com- mands until 1886, when, on the death of General Sherman, he succeeded to the command of the Army, with headquarters at Washington. He was retired under the age limit, Sept. 29, 1895. His present home is in Washington.

SCHOLFIELD, John, jurist, was born in Clark County, Ill., in 1834; acquired the rudiments of an education in the common schools during boy- hood, meanwhile gaining some knowledge of the higher branches through toilsome application to text-books without a preceptor. At the age of 20 he entered the law school at Louisville, Ky., graduating two years later, and beginning prac- tice at Marshall, Ill. He defrayed his expenses at the law school from the proceeds of the sale of a small piece of land to which he had fallen heir. In 1856 he was elected State's Attorney, and, in 1860, was chosen to represent his county in the Legislature. After serving one term he returned to his professional career and succeeded in build- ing up a profitable practice. In 1869-70 he repre- sented Clark and Cumberland Counties in the Constitutional Convention, and, in 1870, became Solicitor for the Vandalia Railroad. In 1873 lie was elected to fill the vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court of the State for the __ iddle Grand Division, caused by the resignation of Judge Anthony Thornton, and re-elected without oppo- sition in 1879 and 1888. Died, in office, Feb. 13, 1893. It has been claimed that President Cleve- land would have tendered him the Chief Justice- ship of the United States Supreme Court, had he not insistently declined to accept the honor.

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SCHOOL-HOUSES, EARLY. The primitive school-houses of Illinois were built of logs, and were extremely rude, as regards both structure and furnishing. Indeed, the earliest pioneers rarely erected a special building to be used as a school-house. An old smoke house, an abandoned dwelling, an old block-house, or the loft or one end of a settler's cabin not unfrequently answered the purpose, and the church and the court-house were often made to accommodate the school. When a school-house, as such, was to be built, the men of the district gathered at the site selected, bringing their axes and a few other tools, with their ox-teams, and devoted four or five days to constructing a house into which, perhaps, not a nail was driven. Trees were cut from the public lands, and, without hewing, fashioned into a cabin. Sixteen feet square was usually con- sidered the proper dimensions. In the walls were cut two holes, one for a door to admit light and air, and the other for the open fireplace, from which rose a chimney, usually built of sticks and mud, on the outside. Danger of fire was averted by thickly lining the inside of the chimney with clay mortar. Sometimes, but only with great labor, stone was substituted for mortar made from the clay soil. The chimneys were always wide, seldom less than six feet, and sometimes extending across one entire end of the building. The fuel used was wood cut directly from the forest, frequently in its green state, dragged to the spot in the form of logs or entire trees to be cut by the older pupils in lengths suited to the width of the chimney. Occasionally there was no chimney, the fire, in some of the most primi- tive structures, being built on the earth and the smoke escaping through a hole in the roof. In such houses a long board was set up on the wind- ward side, and shifted fiom side to side as the wind varied. Stones or logs answered for andirons, clapboards served as shovels, and no one complained of the lack of tongs. Roofs were made of roughly split clapboards, held in place by "weight poles" laid on the boards, and by sup- ports starting from "eaves poles." The space between the logs, which constituted the walls of the building, was filled in with blocks of wood or "chinking," and the crevices, both exterior and interior, daubed over with clay mortar, in which straw was sometimes mixed to increase its adhesiveness. On one side of the structure one or two logs were sometimes cut out to allow the admission of light; and, as glass could not always be procured, rain and snow were excluded and light admitted by the use of greased paper. Over

this space a board, attached to the outer wall by leather hinges, was sometimes suspended to keep out the storms. The placing of a glass window in a country school-house at Edwardsville, in 1824, was considered an important event. Ordi- narily the floor was of the natural earth, although this was sometimes covered with a layer of clay, firmly packed down. Only the more pretentious school-houses had "puncheon floors"; i. e., floors made of split logs roughly hewn. Few had "ceilings" (so-called), the latter being usually made of clapboards, sometimes of bark, on which was spread earth, to keep out the cold. The seats were also of puncheons (without backs) supported on four legs made of pieces of poles inserted through augur holes. No one had a desk, except the advanced pupils who were learning to write. For their convenience a broader and smoother puncheon was fastened into the wall by wooden pins, in such a way that it would slope downward toward the pupil, the front being supported by a brace extending from the wall. When a pupil was writing he faced the wall. When he had finished this task, he "reversed him- self" and faced the teacher and his schoolmates. ' These adjuncts completed the furnishings, with the exception of a split-bottomed chair for the teacher (who seldom lad a desk) and a pail, or "piggin," of water, with a gourd for a drinking cup. Rough and uncouth as these structures were, they were evidences of public spirit and of appreciation of the advantages of education. They were built and maintained by mutual aid and sacrifice, and, in them, some of the great men of the State and Nation obtained that primary training which formed the foundation of their subsequent careers. (See Education.)

SCHUYLER COUNTY, located in the western portion of the State, has an area of 414 square miles, and was named for Gen. Philip Schuyler. The first American settlers arrived in 1823, and, among the earliest pioneers, were Calvin Hobart, William H. Taylor and Orris McCartney. The county was organized from a portion of Pike County, in 1825, the first Commissioners being Thomas Blair, Thomas McKee and Samuel IIor- ney. The Commissioners appointed to locate the county-scat, selected a site in the eastern part of the county about one mile west of the present village of Pleasant View, to which the name of Beardstown was given, and where the earliest court was held, Judge John York Sawyer presid- ing, with Hart Fellows as Clerk, and Orris Mc- Cartney, Sheriff. This location, however, proving unsatisfactory, new Commissioners were ap-

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pointed, who, in the early part of 1826, selected the present site of the city of Rushville, some five miles west of the point originally chosen. The new seat of justice was first called Rushton, in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, but the name was afterwards changed to Rushville. Ephraim Eggleston was the pioneer of Rushville. The surface of the county is rolling, and the region contains excellent farming land, which is well watered by the Illinois River and numerous creeks. Pop. (1900), 16,129; (1910), 14,852.

SCHWATKA, Frederick, Arctic explorer, was born at Galena, Ill., Sept. 29, 1849; graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1871, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Third Cavalry, serving on the frontier until 1877, meantime studying law and medicine, being admitted to the bar in 1875, and graduating in medicine in 1876. Having his interest excited by reports of traces of Sir John Franklin's expedi- tion, found by the Esquimaux, he obtained leave of absence in 1878, and, with Wm. H. Gilder as second in command, sailed from New York in the "Eothen," June 19, for King William's Land. The party returned, Sept. 22, 1880, having found and buried the skeletons of many of Franklin's party, besides discovering relics which tended to clear up the mystery of their fate. During this period he made a sledge journey of 3,251 miles. Again, in 1883, he headed an exploring expedition up the Yukon River. After a brief return to army duty he tendered his resignation in 1885, and the next year led a special expedition to Alaska, under the auspices of "The New York Times," later making a voyage of discovery among the Aleutian Islands. In 1889 he con- ducted an expedition to Northern Mexico, where he found many interesting relics of Aztec civili- zation and of the cliff and cave-dwellers. He received the Roquette Arctic Medal from the Geographical Society of Paris, and a medal from the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia; also published several volumes relating to his re- searches, under the titles, "Along Alaska's Great River"; "The Franklin Search Under Lieutenant Schwatka"; "Nimrod of the North"; and "Children of the Cold." Died, at Portland, Ore., Nov. 2, 1892.

SCOTT, James W., journalist, was born in Walworth County, Wis., June 26, 1849, the son of a printer, editor and publisher. While a boy he accompanied his father to Galena, where the latter established a newspaper, and where he learned the printer's trade. After graduating from the Galena high school, he entered Beloit

College, but left at the end of his sophomore year. Going to New York, he became interested in flori- culture, at the same time contributing short articles to horticultural periodicals. Later he was a compositor in Washington. His first news- paper venture was the publication of a weekly newspaper in Maryland in 1872. Returning to Illinois, conjointly with his father he started "The Industrial Press" at Galena, but, in 1875, . removed to Chicago. There he purchased "The Daily National Hotel Reporter," from which he withdrew a few years later. In May, 1881, in conjunction with others, he organized The Chi- cago Herald Company, in which he ultimately secured a controlling interest. His journalistic and executive capability soon brought additional responsibilities. He was chosen President of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, of the Chicago Press Club, and of the United Press -the latter being an organization for the collec- tion and dissemination of telegraphic news to journals throughout the United States and Can- ada. He was also conspicuously connected with the preliminary organization of the World's Columbian Exposition, and Chairman of the Press Committee. In 1893 he started an evening paper at Chicago, which he named "The Post." Early in 1895 he purchased "The Chicago Times," intending to consolidate it with "The Herald," but before the final consummation of his plans, he died suddenly, while on a business visit in New York, April 14, 1895.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 95

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