Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 140

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388

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MOTHERS' CLUB .- Organized in September, 1897, with eight members as a neighborhood meeting, without officers. Purpose, mutual sympathy and counsel, and the instruction of the members in the general principles of child training and domestic science, and the united effort toward disseminating these principles throughout the city. Present membership, twenty-five. Present officers: President, Mrs. H. E. Bates; Vice President, Mrs. Frank Fowler; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. P. G. Wright.

TOURIST CLUB .- Organized in October, 1895. Charter membership limited to sixteen. Pres- ent membership, twenty-two. Purpose, to study travel, history and art. First officers: Presi- dent, Mrs. H. M. Chase; Vice President, Mrs. E. E. Gunnell; Secretary, Mrs. G. L. Price; Treasurer, Miss Bertha Davis. Present officers: President, Mrs. H. T. Fowler; Vice President, Mrs. A. C. Roberts; Secretary, Mrs. A. R. Weeks; Treasurer, Miss Julla Carr.

MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIZATIONS.

ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS .- Or- ganized September 22, 1881, with twenty-one charter members. Present membership sixty- four. Meets first Tuesday and third Sunday in Svea Hall. First officers: County Delegate, William Twohig; President, J. J. O'Connor; Vice President, T. F. Clark; Financial Secre- tary, P. J. Brown; Corresponding Secretary, M. G. Kennedy; Treasurer, John Moore. Present officers: County President, J. W. Barry; Coun- ty Vice President, J. H. Graham; President, M. G. Kennedy; Vice President, J. W. Graham; Financial Secretary, W. E. Hannan; Corre- sponding and Recording Secretary, C. A. Rob- erts; Treasurer, John McLernon.

LADIES' AUXILIARY TO A. O. H .- Dis- banded during past year.

BUSINESS MEN'S ASSOCIATION OF

GALESBURG .- Organized August 31, 1897, on a basis of two hundred members. Purpose, to afford business men an opportunity to concen- trate their efforts and influence in forwarding such movements as shall tend toward the ad- vancement and prosperity of the city. First officers: President, P. F. Brown; Vice Presi- dent, Solomon Frohlich; Treasurer, John G. Vivion; Secretary, Phillip S. Post. Present offl- cers: President, E. P. Williams; Vice Presi- dent, Solomon Frohlich; Treasurer, John G. Vivion; Secretary, H. A. Smith.

GALESBURG BUSINESS MEN'S CLUB .- Or- ganized March 17, 1885. Leases fourth and fifth floors of Fraternity Block. Purpose, social in- tercourse and recreation. First officers: Presi- dent, T. J. Hale; Vice President, Clark E. Carr; Secretary, J. K. Mitchell; Treasurer, G. P. Hoover. Present officers: President, J. K. Mitchell; Vice President, J. F. Anderson; Secre- tary, J. O. Frost; Treasurer, W. W. Washburn; Steward, F. D. Bellows.

GALESBURG MONITOR UNION .- Organized November 30, 1896, with ten charter members. Present membership, three hundred and forty-

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eight. Meets Tuesdays in American Hall. Pur- pose, to Americanize, educate, elevate, and ad- vance the best interests of the Swedish element of the American people. First officers: Monitor, Albert Johnson; Vice Monitor, O. P. Wenquist; Secretary, A. B. Pierson; Treasurer, Frank Sandberg. Present officers: M., A. B. Pierson; V. M., Dr. M. W. Olson; Recording Secretary, Pontus Nelson; Financial Secretary, S. P. Wein- berg; Treasurer, Frank Sandberg; P. M., F. Ed- ward Anderson.

GALESBURG MUSICAL UNION .- Organized January 9, 1899. Purpose, the study of classical musical productions and the presentation of the same. Present membership-active, seventy- five; honorary, one hundred and ten. First officers: President, H. E. Arnold; Vice Presi- dent, L. H. Jelliff; Treasurer, Mrs. L. H. Jelliff; Secretary, L. R. Maddox. Present officers: President, H. E. Kellogg; Vice President, Mrs. G. H. Perrin; Treasurer, W. A. Armstrong, Sec- retary, L. R. Maddox.

KNOX COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION .- Or- ganized July 27, 1897, with forty-two charter members. Present membership, forty-seven. Purpose, to promote fellowship among members and to facilitate the administration of justice. Meets Monday preceding first day of each term of Circuit Court. First officers: President, A. M. Brown; Vice President, C. S. Harris; Secre- tary and Treasurer, W. T. Smith; Historian, J. B. Boggs. Present officers: President, C. S. Harris; Vice President, E. J. King; Secretary and Treasurer, W. T. Smith; Historian, J. B. Boggs.

THE RETAIL MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION OF GALESBURG .- Organized in June, 1891, with twenty-two charter members. Present membership, one hundred and twenty-four. Meets fourth Thursday in Association rooms, 118 East Main street. Purpose, to foster and maintain a permanent social feeling between the retail merchants of Galesburg, to correct trade evils, and to publish annually a rating book, giving every one their honest commercial standing. First officers: President, C. E. Lan- strum; First Vice President, Robert Mckay; Second Vice President, A. J. Cameron; Secre- tary, J. W. Hammond; Treasurer, John Oberg. Present officers: President, C. E. Lanstrum; First Vice President, G. B. Churchill; Second Vice President, J. P. Anderson; Secretary, R. G. Roadstrum; Treasurer, J. W. Hammond.

THE SOANGETAHA CLUB .- Organized July 8, 1895, with eight charter members. Present

membership, one hundred and ninety. Purpose, mental and social enjoyment. Organization has a club house at Lake George, east of city. First officers: President, E. S. Gunnell; Secretary and Treasurer, R. J. Howard; Directors, A. E. Jacobi, J. G. Beadle and H. C. Spear. Present officers: President, L. W. Sanborn; Secretary and Treasurer, R. J. Howard; Directors, W. E. Phillips, H. M. Chase and Wilfred Arnold.

WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION. By Mrs. B. F. Arnold.

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of Galesburg, was organized in the First Con- gregational Church, March 6, 1874. A series of enthusiastic temperance meetings, under the di- rection of Dr. Henry A. Reynolds, had been held and a Red Ribbon Club of men and a Women's Union Temperance Society had been formed. This society afterwards voted to become an auxiliary to the State Women's Christian Tem- perance Union. At the present time it is an in- corporated society, under that name. The fol- lowing persons were first elected officers: Pres- ident, Mrs. M. Wait; Vice President, Mrs. J. H. Sherman; Recording Secretary, Mrs. H. S. Hurd; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. J. H. Lit- tle; Treasurer, Mrs. Job Swift.

The first practical work of the society was the circulation of a petition to the Common Council praying for the closing of saloons on election day, April 6, 1874. An anti-license pe- tition was also circulated, which received hun- dreds of signatures. A committee of ladies was appointed to attend the polls on election day. The temperance ticket was triumphant and the Mayor, Hon. G. W. Brown, supported by the council, refused to grant saloon licenses. Ac- cording to statistics furnished by the freight de- partment of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Company, the shipments of liquor in the months of May and June, 1874, fell off, as compared with those of 1873, by one hundred and fifty-two bar- rels of beer and forty-one barrels of whiskey, while those of alcohol were only half as great.

Weekly Gospel temperance meetings were held, and a juvenile temperance society organ- ized by Miss Mary Allen West, under the name of the Band of Hope.

On March 9, 1875, it was voted to establish temperance coffee rooms, the first being located in the Allen building and formally opened to the public by a supper and reception on May 10. The use of this room for twenty-five years was given

Ceffonesal

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to the society in March, 1878, by the owner, Mr. Sheldon Allen, in consideration of the payment of a nominal rental of twenty-five cents a year in addition to all taxes and assessments.

Mrs. Wait served the society as its President for four years, and was succeeded, in 1878, by Mrs. M. L. Hyde.

The personnel of the society at its beginning was strong, and its impress was felt In every line of work in which it engaged. No local his- tory could fully or truthfully represent the sentiment of the times, which failed to mention the names of some of those whose character was so strongly impressed upon the temperance movement of the years succeeding the crusade. Energy and wisdom-tempered by God's grace and a consecrated purpose to help make the world better-mark the records of those times.

Mrs. Wait, the first President, was a singular- ly Godly woman, whose sudden death left the city full of mourners, and who had provoked no word of adverse criticism.

Miss West, of whom it was said "the State has produced no other woman who has rendered it such signal service," served the city during the Civil War as President of the Soldiers' Aid Society. She was the first teacher of the first school for colored children in Galesburg, and the County Superintendent of Public Schools for several years. The State claimed her as Presi- dent of the W. C. T. U. until she was elected editress of the "Union Signal," which position she filled until she was sent as a temperance missionary to Japan. The. Lord called her from an earthly to a heavenly service from the home of a loved friend and pupil, in December, 1892. Her favorite motto of "Grace, Grit and Gump- tion" expressed the governing principle of 'her life, and her influence and example still inspire her sisters to faithful effort.

Many others-capable, efficient, zealous toil- ers-have carried the work forward, and last year the Galesburg Union, in point of mem- bership, was the banner Union in the Tenth Congressional District.

The especial lines of work which have been carried on in recent years are the teaching of the Sunday School lesson and the holding of a Gospel service every Sunday in the county jail. A column of temperance items has been furnished weekly to one or both of the city's daily papers. An employment bureau has been in operation for several years, and many girls have been furnished with work, and not a few homes with efficient help. A room is furnished

in the Free Kindergarten building. where needy women and girls can secure a night's lodging. A Woman's Exchange was carried on until there seemed no longer any need for an enterprise of that character. Money Is raised and given for any object which promotes the cause of tem- perance.

A monthly mothers' meeting is held, attended mainly by women whose children are pupils at the Free Kindergarten, and a social evening, with devotional exercises and refreshments, help to give to their daily lives a fresh impulse and a regeneration of hope.

The rooms of the organization, on Prairie street, are open headquarters for the dissemina- tion of all kinds of temperance Information, and for the general advancement of the cause. A lady is always in charge, to welcome atran- gers and offer them rest and refreshment. Many are the sin-stricken, troubled ones who seek this haven, confident of sympathy and help.

Although located in a city where saloons are licensed by law, the trust bequeathed to the society has been sacredly kept, and it may be said, without fear of successful contradiction that the interests of temperance are preserved before the public, that the community la better, the true development of the city advanced, the best interests of the youth preserved, and Christianity itself rendered more efficient, be- cause of the Influence radiating from the Wom- en's Christian Temperance Union.

HOSPITAL AND SANITARIUM.

The medical institutions of the City of Galea- burg are two in number, the Galesburg Hospital and the Sanitarium.

The former Is controlled by an association of subscribing membera, which was formed at a public meeting held on the evening of April 24, 1891, pursuant to a call. The next evening a committee, appointed for that purpose, named the following directors: Forrest F. Cooke, pre- siding officer of the Assembly, ex-officio, J. T. McKnight, Loren Stevena, Asa A. Matteson, Mra. C. C. Merrill, Max J. Mack, E. A. Bancroft, Mra. Samuel Mccullough, Nela Nelson, James O'Con- nor, Mrs. E. C. Stone, John Lass, Robert Chap- pell, Fred R. Jelliff, Mrs. Swan Anderson and Mrs. J. M. Barden. During the next month the Board organized with these officers: J. T. Mc- Knight, President; Mra. E. C. Stone, Vice Presi- dent; Loren Stevens, Treasurer; Misa Mary Scott, Secretary. On July 4, 1893, the commo- dious and beautiful bullding situated on Semi-

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nary street, just north of Losey, was thrown open to the public and the following day the hospital was opened for the reception of pa- tients. The structure, with the equipment, cost about twenty-five thousand dollars, and nearly all the rooms were furnished and maintained by churches or other organizations. Member- ship in the Hospital Association is secured only by subscription. A Board of Trustees, elected by the association at the annual meeting, held in May, manages the affairs of the institution, which is now regarded as absolutely necessary to the city's well being. The present officers are: Loren Stevens, President; A. J. Perry, Vice President; Alfred Olson, Treasurer; Miss Mary Scott, Secretary.

It was originally known as the "Cottage Hos- pital." In 1898 the name "Galesburg Hospital" was substituted. The city appropriates the sum of one hundred dollars monthly towards its sup- port.

The Sanitarium is located at 325 Division street. Its director and proprietor is Dr. A. G. Humphrey, who began his work here in 1861, on a very modest scale. Returning to the city in 1866, after an absence of two years, he estab- lished his present sanitarium on a farm on the Knoxville road. In 1891, he erected and equipped the building which he now occupies. The Hygeio-Therapeutic system is practiced. The house is fitted with all modern conveniences and has accommodations for about twenty patients.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Few subjects for thought more deeply and genuinely interest the reflective mind than does the history of men and events. It may be that abstractly considered, the narrative of stirring public events has more attraction for the average reader than the less thrilling stories of the individual life of the men and women whose deep devotion to duty, capability for ignoring self, and faithful performance of each task, as it comes to hand, render possible the writing of the more glowing page of general history. Yet the concrete is but the aggregate result of individual effort. Just as the lines and features of many faces go to make up the composite photograph, so the acts and char- acters of men leave their impress upon the plate behind the lens of history. In other words, history is condensed biography, while "biography is history teaching by example."

It is well, sometimes, to go deeper than is possible under generalization, and to trace the hopes and fears, the achievements and failures, the ambitious and discouragements, that en- grossed the attention of those who have made history. It is for this reason that in the fol- lowing pages, and in others that succeed them, there are gathered, with such condensation as the limits of the work render necessary, the de- tails of the life story of many of those prom- inent citizens whose courage and energy have gone far toward placing Knox County and Galesburg in their present position of eminence.

Here are the pioneers, who left ease and com- fort to found a new settlement and establish a seat of learning in the West. Here, too, may be read the lives of their descendants and fol- lowers-many of the latter coming from beyond the sea-who have emulated their virtues and builded wisely and well upon the foundation which they had laid. Most of the early settlers have passed away, rich in a treasure not of earth, yet leaving memories which will ever be held in reverence and which it is the aim of

such volumes as this to preserve and perpetuate. Among these biographical memoirs may be found mention of those who imparted the first impulse to trade; of mechanics and inventors who have aided in promoting the manufactures of the county; of financiers, who have rendered possible the development and marketing of its natural resources; of educators, clergymen, physicians and lawyers, whose influence upon the intellectual life and moral growth of a young community it is not easy to over- estimate; and not a few of those who, not seek- ing fame, are content with the approval which comes from a sense of duty well performed, and who, as a class, constitute the very bulwark of a well ordered democracy.

It is to such men as these that city and county alike owe the magnificent development which half a century has witnessed. Colleges have been built, church spires, pointing heaven- ward, symbolize, in architectural form, the faith and aspirations of the people; and trade has stretched its arms across the fertile prairies to gather in the products of the farm for shipment over the iron-shod highways of commerce. Such achievements as these form an enduring monument to the men whose faith, energy and perseverance have rendered possible the accomplishment of such magnificent results.

JOSIAH BABCOCK.

Josiah Babcock, son of Josiah and Sarah (Pet- tingill) Babcock, was born in Andover, New Hampshire, August 22, 1823. His paternal grandfather, who had the same name, was born in Milton, Massachusetts, July 6, 1752. His ma- ternal grandfather was Amos Pettingill; the time and place of his birth are unknown. His father, who was also ramed Josiah, was born in Andover, New Hampshire, September 21, 1791, and his mother, Sarah Pettingill, was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, September 21, 1797. Josiah Babcock, the third of the same name

٤ ٩٠. روز ٠ ٥

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in the line, was not reared in affluence. His early years were spent among the stern and rugged hills of his native state. His education was obtained in the common schools and in Hampden Academy, Maine. He was not broadly educated, but was thoroughly trained in those branches necessary to a practical business life. In his boyhood days he worked in the lumber camps on the Penobscot river in Maine. When only eighteen years of age, he ran a saw mill for his father. He continued in this work for five years, when he came West, reaching Peoria, Illinois, in 1846. Here he was engaged in a wholesale house of general merchandise for Moses Pettingill. After two years of service, he bought an interest in the firm and became a junior partner. He conducted this business suc- cessfully for several years, when he sold out and came to Galesburg in 1852. His first partner- ship here was with Warren Willard in a store of general merchandise. He soon sold out and engaged in the hardware business with Reed and Stilson under the firm name of Reed, Bab- cock and Stilson.

Mr. Babcock continued in this business, al- most uninterruptedly, until the day of his death, which occurred September 1, 1897, at the age of seventy-three. He first bought Reed's and Stilson's interest and ran the business in his own name. He then sold out to Calkins and Wilcox, which firm existed but a short time. He next took Mr. Reed as a partner under the firm name of Reed and Babcock. This copartner- ship lasted until Mr. Reed's death, and then it was changed to Babcock and Pierpont. This last copartnership continued until the retirement of Mr. Pierpont in 1893. Then Mr. Babcock con- tinued the business in his own name.

Mr. Babcock was prosperous in every relation of life. He started almost alone in the world and became a man of wealth. He possessed abil- ity and was always noted for his honesty of pur- pose. He had no high aspiration for the honors of office, but was contented with the simplicity of home life and with the duties devolving upon him as a citizen. He took his position in the ranks of toilers working in the interest of the city, and earned the reputation of a man whose word is law and whose acts are just and right. His views were broad, charitable, and intelli- gent; and his life was a blessing to the com- munity in which he lived.

Mr. Babcock always took an active interest in the prosperity and welfare of the city of his adoption. Every line of business and every pro- ject which his judgment approved received his cordial support. He encouraged the establish- ment of the Electric Power and Motor Com- pany, and was a part owner and director. For thirty years, he was a director in the Second National Bank of Galesburg, and for many years its Vice President. He was always re- garded as one of its most trustworthy guardians and managers.

He was a friend of education. He believed not only in the common school system but in higher institutions of learning. He was a staunch sup- porter of Knox College, and for many years was

one of its trustees. His discretion and judg- ment, as a member of Its Executive Committee, were appreciated and acknowledged.

Politically, Mr. Babcock was a republican, but in no sense a partisan. No man ever exercised the right of suffrage in a freer spirit than he. He voted for measures, not men. In religious faith, he was a Congregationalist and a deacon in the church for many years.

He was wedded in Hampden, Maine, Novem- ber 7, 1853, to Catherine Wheeler, daughter of Willard Wheeler, who was once a sea captain. To them were born three children, Alice, wife of W. J. Pierpont, living in Crescent City, Flor- ida; William W .; and Josiah, who is engaged in the hardware business in the store building formerly occupied by his father.

NEWTON BATEMAN, A. M., LL. D. (See pages 37 and 38. )

A. W. BERGGREN.

August Werner Berggren is emphatically a self-made man. He has risen from the service of an apprenticeship to exalted stations of honor and trust. He was born in Amots Bruk, Ock- elbo Socken, Sweden, August 17, 1840, and is the son of Johan and Karin (Hanson) Berggren. His father was a self-educated man, winning his way to success by his shrewdness and native ability. He was a great reader, but he learned his most valuable lessons in the school of expe- rience. He held several minor offices and looked after cases in courts, administering estates and the like. For thirteen years he ran a flouring mill. Afterwards he purchased a farm on which he lived until he emigrated to this country in 1856.

Mr. Berggren is an example of the accom- plishment of much in spite of limited educa- tional advantages. He attended the village schools in Sweden, until he was 14 years of age, living at the same time on a farm.

Then he was apprenticed to learn the tailor's trade. The contract drawn by his father pro- vided that for the first three years he should work for his master without remuneration: for the fourth year he was to receive thirty-five riksdaler; and for the fifth, forty (a riksdaler being about equal to 27 cents In American money). The father was to furnish the cloth for the tailor to make the apprentice's clothing. In case of the death of the apprentice during the first year of his apprenticeship the father should pay the tailor fifteen riksdaler. When the father decided to emigrate to this country he was obliged to pay the master tallor fifty riksdaler for the release of his son.

Mr. Berggren first came to Oneida, and then went to Victorla, where he found employment in the tailoring establishment of Jonas Hall- strom, at eight dollars a month and board and washing for one year.

He then came to Galesburg and worked at his trade, where opportunities were presented. In 1860, he moved to Monmouth, Warren County, and worked for Captain Denman, a merchant tailor of that place. About the close of the war,

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he returned to Galesburg and became a solicitor of life insurance.

During this time he devoted considerable at- tention, with fair success, to music. He played the violin, hecame a leader of string bands in Galesburg and Monmouth, and arranged music for the same.

Mr. Berggren has no military record. At the first call for volunteers to put down the Rebel- lion he went to Knoxville and joined the Swed- ish company, commanded by Captain Holmberg. Two companies were there: one composed of Americans; the other, of Swedes. The former was mustered into service; the latter, disbanded. He then went to Monmouth, where he remained until his return to Galesburg in 1864.

Mr. Berggren has held many important offices. In 1869, he was elected Justice of the Peace in the City of Galesburg. While holding that office he was nominated by the republican convention for the office of Sheriff, and elected in the Fall of 1872. With great credit, he held the office for four terms, and his books and reports are spoken of to this day as models worthy of imi- tation, In 1880, while yet Sheriff, he was nomi- nated and elected Senator from the Twenty- second District, composed of Knox and Mercer counties. Four years afterwards, he was re- elected from the new district, composed of Knox and Fulton counties. When the Senate was organized in 1887, he was chosen President pro tempore of that body. On May 1, 1889, the Gov- ernor appointed him Warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet, which position he resigned to take active supervision of the Cove- nant Mutual Life Association of Illinois, with principal offices in this city.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 140

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1388

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388