Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 21

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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opposition to the scheme for a State Convention to revise the State Constitution in the interest of slavery, was approved by his constituents. In 1838, he was elected to the State Senate, serving four years, and, in 1844, was again elected to the House-in all serving a period in both Houses of sixteen years. Mr. Churchill was never married. He was an industrious and systematic collector of historical records, and, at the time of his death in the summer of 1872, left a mass of documents and other historical material of great value. (See Slavery and Sluve Laws; Warren, Hooper, and Coles, Edward.)

CLARK (Gen.) George Rogers, soldier, was born near Monticello, Albemarle County, Va., Nov. 19, 1752. In his younger life he was a farmer and surveyor on the upper Ohio. His first experience in Indian fighting was under Governor Dunmore, against the Shawnees (1774). In 1775 he went as a surveyor to Kentucky, and the British having incited the Indians against the Americans in the following year, he was commissioned a Major of militia. He soon rose to a Colonelcy, and attained marked distinction. Later he was commissioned Brigadier-General, and planned an expedition against the British fort at Detroit. which was not successful. In the latter part of 1777, in consultation with Gov. Patrick Henry, of Virginia, he planned an expe- dition against Illinois, which was carried out the following year. On July 4, 1778, he captured Kaskaskia without firing a gun, and other French villages surrendered at discretion. The following February he set out from Kaskaskia to cross the "Illinois Country" for the purpose of recapturing Vincennes, which had been taken and was garrisoned by the British under Hamilton. After a forced march characterized by incredible suffering, his ragged followers effected the cap- ture of the post. His last important military service was against the savages on the Big Miami, whose villages and fields he laid waste. His last years were passed in sorrow and in com- parative penury. He died at Louisville, Ky., Feb. 18, 1818, and his remains, after reposing in a private cemetery near that city for half a cen- tury, were exhumed and removed to Cave Hill Cemetery in 1869. The fullest history of General Clark's expedition and his life will be found in the "Conquest of the Country Northwest of the Ohio River, 1774-1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark" (2 volumes, 1896), by the late William H. English, of Indianapolis.

CLARK, Horace S., lawyer and politician, was born at Huntsburg, Ohio, August 12, 1840. At

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the age of 15, coming to Chicago, he found employment in a livery stable; later, worked on a farm in Kane County, attending school in the winter. After a year spent in Iowa City attend- ing the Iowa State University, he returned to Kane County and engaged in the dairy business, later occupying himself with various occupations in Illinois and Missouri, but finally returning to his Ohio home, where he began the study of law at Circleville. In 1861 he enlisted in an Ohio regiment, rising from the ranks to a captaincy, but was finally compelled to leave the service in consequence of a wound received at Gettysburg. In 1865 he settled at Mattoon, Ill., where he was admitted to the bar in 1868. In 1870 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature on the Republican ticket, but was elected State Senator in 1880, serving four years and proving himself one of the ablest speakers on the floor. In 1888 he was chosen a delegate-at-large to the National Republican Convention, and has long been a con- spicuous figure in State politics. In 1896 he was a prominent candidate for the Republican nomi- nation for Governor.

CLARK, John M., civil engineer and merchant, was born at White Pigeon, Mich., August 1, 1836; came to Chicago with his widowed mother in 1847, and, after five years in the Chicago schools, served for a time (1852) as a rodman on the Illi- nois Central Railroad. After a course in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., where he graduated in 1856, he returned to the service of the Illinois Central. In 1859 he went to Colorado, where he was one of the original founders of the city of Denver, and chief engi- neer of its first water supply company. In 1862 he started on a surveying expedition to Arizona, but was in Santa Fe when that place was captured by a rebel expedition from Texas; was also present soon after at the battle of Apache Cañon, · when the Confederates, being defeated, were

driven out of the Territory. Returning to Chi- cago in 1864, he became a member of the whole- sale leather firm of Gray, Clark & Co. The official positions held by Mr. Clark include those of Alderman (1879-81), Member of the Board of Education, Collector of Customs, to which he was appointed by President Harrison, in 1889, and President of the Chicago Civil' Service Board by appointment of Mayor Swift, under an act passed by the Legislature of 1895, retiring in 1897. In 1881 he was the Republican candidate for Mayor of Chicago, but was defeated by Carter H. Harri- son. Mr. Clark is one of the Directors of the Crerar Library, named in the will of Mr. Crerar.

CLARK COUNTY, one of the eastern counties of the State, south of the middle line and front- ing upon the Wabash River; area, 510 square miles, and population (1890), 21,899; named for Col. George Rogers Clark. Its organization was effected in 1819. Among the earliest pioneers were John Bartlett, Abraham Washburn, James Whitlock, James B. Anderson, Stephen Archer and Uri Manly. The county-seat is Marshall, the site of which was purchased from the Govern- ment in 1833 by Gov. Joseph Duncan and Col. William B. Archer, the latter becoming sole pro- prietor in 1835, in which year the first log cabin was built. The original county-seat was Darwin, and the change to Marshall (in 1849) was made only after a hard struggle. The soil of the county is rich, and its agricultural products varied, embracing corn (the chief staple), oats, potatoes, winter wheat, butter, sorghum, honey, maple sugar, wool and pork. Woolen, flouring and lumber mills exist, but the manufacturing interests are not extensive. Among the promi- nent towns, besides Marshall and Darwin, are Casey (population 844), Martinsville (779), West- field (510), and York (294).

CLAY, Porter, clergyman and brother of the celebrated Henry Clay, was born in Virginia, March, 1779; in early life removed to Kentucky, studied law, and was, for a time, Auditor of Public Accounts in that State; in 1815, was con- verted and gave himself to the Baptist ministry, locating at Jacksonville, Ill., where he spent most of his life. Died, in 1850.

CLAY CITY, a village of Clay County, on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 12 miles west of Olney; has two newspapers, a bank and a plow factory; is in a grain and fruit-grow- ing region. Population (1890), 612.

CLAY COUNTY, situated in the southeastern quarter of the State; has an area of 470 square miles and a population (1890) of 16,772. It was named for Henry Clay. The first claim in the county was entered by a Mr. Elliot, in 1818, and soon after settlers began to locate homes in the county, although it was not organized until 1824. During the same year the pioneer settlement of Maysville was made the county-seat, but immi- gration continued inactive until 1837, when many settlers arrived, headed by Judges Apper- son and Hopkins and Messrs. Stanford and Lee, who were soon followed by the families of Coch- ran, McCullom and Tender. The Little Wabash River and a number of small tributaries drain the county. A light-colored sandy loam consti- tutes the greater part of the soil, although "black

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prairie loam" appears here and there. Railroad facilities are limited, but sufficient to accommo- date the county's requirements. Fruits, especially apples, are successfully cultivated. Educational advantages are fair, although largely confined to district schools and academies in larger towns. Louisville was made the county- seat in 1842, and, in 1890, had a population of 637. Xenia and Flora are the most important towns.

CLAYTON, a town in Adams County, on the Wabash Railway, 28 miles east-northeast of Quincy. A branch of the Wabash Railway extends from this point northwest to Carthage, and Keokuk, Iowa. The mechanical industries include slate works and establishments for the manufacture of agricultural implements, grain measures, etc. It has a bank, five churches, a high school and a weekly newspaper. Population (1880), 941; (1890), 1,038.

CLEAVER, William, pioneer, was born in Lon- don, England, in 1815; came to Canada with his parents in 1831, and to Chicago in 1834; engaged in business as a chandler, later going into the grocery trade; in 1849, joined the gold-seekers in California, and, six years afterwards, established himself in the southern part of the present city of Chicago, then called Cleaverville, where he served as Postmaster and managed a general store. He was the owner of considerable real estate at one time in what is now a densely populated part of the city of Chicago. Died in Chicago, Nov. 13, 1896.

CLEMENTS, Isaac, ex-Congressman and Gov- ernor of Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Danville, Ill., was born in Franklin County, Ind., in 1837; graduated from Asbury University, at Green- castle, in 1859, having supported himself during his college course by teaching. After reading law and being admitted to the bar at Greencastle, he removed to Carbondale, Ill., where he again found it necessary to resort to teaching in order to purchase law-books. In July, 1861, he enlisted in the Ninth Illinois Infantry, and was commis- sioned Second Lieutenant of Company G. He was in the service for three years, was three times wounded and twice promoted "for meri- torious service." In June, 1867, he was ap- pointed Register in Bankruptcy, and from 1873 to 1875 was a Republican Representative in the Forty-third Congress from the (then) Eighteenth District. He was also a member of the Repub- lican State Convention of 1880. In 1889, he became Pension Agent for the District of Illinois, by appointment of President Harrison, serving

until 1893. In the latter part of 1898, he was appointed Superintendent of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at Normal, but served only a few months, when he accepted the position of Governor of the new Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, at Danville.

CLEVELAND, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. The total length of this sys- tem (1898) is 1,807.34 miles, of which 478.39 miles are operated in Illinois. That portion of the main line lying within the State extends from East St. Louis, northeast to the Indiana State line, 181 miles. The Company is also the lessee of the Peoria & Eastern Railroad (132 miles), and oper- ates, in addition, otlier lines, as follows: The Cairo Division, extending from Tilton, on the line of the Wabash, 3 miles southwest of Dan- ville, to Cairo (259 miles) . the Chicago Division, extending from Kankakee southeast to the Indiana State line (34 miles); the Alton Branch, from Wann Junction, on the main line, to Alton (4 miles). Besides these, it enjoys with the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, joint owner- ship of the Kankakee & Seneca Railroad, which it operates. The system is uniformly of standard gauge, and about 280 miles are of double track. It is laid with heavy steel rails (sixty-five, sixty- seven and eighty pounds), laid on white oak ties, and is amply ballasted with broken stone and gravel. Extensive repair shops are located at Mattoon. The total capital of the entire system on June 30, 1898-including capital stock and bonded and floating debt-was $97,149,361. The total earnings in Illinois for the year were $3,773, 193, and the total expenditures in the State 83,611,437. The taxes paid the same year were $124,196. The history of this system, so far as Illinois is concerned, begins with the consolida- tion, in 1889, of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago, the Cleveland, Columbus, Cin- cinnati & Indianapolis, and the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railway Companies. In 1890, certain leased lines in Illinois (elsewhere mentioned) were merged into the system. (For history of the several divisions of this system, see St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute, Peoria & Eastern, Cairo & Vincennes, and Kankakee & Seneca Railroads.)

CLIMATOLOGY. Extending, as it does, through six degrees of latitude, Illinois affords a great diversity of climate, as regards not only the range of temperature, but also the amount of rainfall. In both particulars it exhibits several points of contrast to States lying between the same parallels of latitude, but nearer the Atlan- tic. The same statement applies, as well. to all

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the North Central and the Western States. Warm winds from the Gulf of Mexico come up the Mississippi Valley, and impart to vegetation in the southern portion of the State, a stimulat- ing influence which is not felt upon the seaboard. On the other hand, there is no great barrier to the descent of the Arctic winds, which, in winter, sweep down toward the Gulf, depressing the temperature to a point lower than is custom- ary nearer the seaboard on the same latitude. Lake Michigan exerts no little influence upon the climate of Chicago and other adjacent districts, mitigating both summer heat and winter cold. If a comparison be instituted between Ottawa and Boston-the latter being one degree farther north, but 570 feet nearer the sea-level-the springs and summers are found to be about five degrees warmer, and the winters three degrees colder, at the former point. In comparing the East and West in respect of rainfall, it is seen that, in the former section, the same is pretty equally distributed over the four seasons, while in the latter, spring and summer may be called the wet season, and autumn and winter the dry. In the extreme West nearly three-fourths of the yearly precipitation occurs during the growing season. This is a climatic condition highly favorable to the growth of grasses, etc., but detrimental to the growth of trees. Hence we find luxuriant forests near the seaboard, and, in the interior, grassy plains. Illinois occupies a geographical position where these great climatic changes begin to manifest themselves, and where the distinctive features of the prairie first become fully apparent. The annual precipitation of rain is greatest in the southern part of the State, but, owing to the higher temperature of that section, the evaporation is also more rapid. The distribution of the rainfall in respect of seasons is also more unequal toward the south, a fact which may account, in part at least, for the increased area of woodlands in that region. While Illinois lies within the zone of southwest winds, their flow is affected by conditions some- what abnormal. The northeast trades, after entering the Gulf, are deflected by the mountains of Mexico, becoming inward breezes in Texas, southerly winds in the Lower Mississippi Valley, and southwesterly as they enter the Upper Valley. It is to this aerial current that the hot, moist summers are attributable. The north and northwest winds, which set in with the change of the season, depress the temperature to a point below that of the Atlantic slope, and are attended with a diminished precipitation.

CLINTON, the county-seat of De Witt County, situated 23 miles south of Bloomington; is a station on the Illinois Central Railroad. It lies in a productive agricultural region, but the city has machine shops, flour and planing mills, brick and tile-works, water-works and an electric lighting plant. It also has banks, two news- papers (one daily), six churches and two public schools. Population (1880), 2,709; (1890), 2,598; (1893) estimated, 3,000.

CLINTON COUNTY, organized in 1824, from portions of Washington, Bond and Fayette Coun- ties, and named in honor of De Witt Clinton. It is situated directly east of St. Louis, has an area of 494 square miles, and a population (1890) of 17,411. It is drained by the Kaskaskia River and by Shoal. Crooked, Sugar and Beaver Creeks. Its geological formation is similar to that of other counties in the same section. Thick layers of limestone lie near the surface, with coal seams underlying the same at varying depths. The soil is varied, being at some points black and loamy and at others (under timber) decidedly clayey. The timber has been mainly cut for fuel because of the inherent difficulties attending coal-mining. Two railroads cross the county from east to west, but its trade is not important. Agriculture is the chief occupation, corn, wheat and oats being the staple products.

CLOUD, Newton, clergyman and legislator, was born in North Carolina, in 1805, and, in 1827, settled in the vicinity of Waverly, Morgan County, Ill., where he pursued the vocation of a farmer, as well as a preacher of the Methodist Church. He also became prominent as a Demo- cratic politician, and served in no less than nine sessions of the General Assembly, besides the Constitutional Convention of 1847, of which he was chosen President. He was first elected Representative in the Seventh Assembly (1830), and afterwards served in the House during the sessions of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thir- teenth, Fifteenth and Twenty-seventh, and as Senator in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth. He was also Clerk of the House in 1844-45, and, having been elected Representative two years later. was chosen Speaker at the succeeding ses- sion. Although not noted for any specially aggressive qualities, his consistency of character won for him general respect, while his frequent elections to the Legislature prove him to have been a man of large influence.

CLOWRY, Robert C., Telegraph Manager, was born in 1838; entered the service of the Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company as a messenger

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boy at Joliet in 1852, became manager of the office at Lockport six months later, at Springfield in 1853, and chief operator at St. Louis in 1854. Between 1859 and '63, he held highly responsible positions on various Western lines, but the latter year was commissioned by President Lincoln Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, and placed in charge of United States military lines with headquarters at Little Rock, Ark. ; was mustered out in May, 1866, and immediately appointed District Superintendent of Western Union lines in the Southwest. From that time his promotion was steady and rapid. In 1875 he became Assistant General Superintendent; in 1878, Assist- ant General Superintendent of the Central Divi- sion at Chicago; in 1880, succeeded General Stager as General Superintendent, and, in 1885, was elected Director, member of the Execu- tive Committee and Vice-President, his terri- tory extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

COAL AND COAL-MINING. Illinois contains much the larger portion of what is known as the central coal field, covering an area of about 37,000 square miles, and underlying sixty coun- ties, in but forty-five of which, however, opera- tions are conducted on a commercial scale. The Illinois field contains fifteen distinct seams. Those available for commercial mining generally lie at considerable depth and are reached by shafts. The coals are all hituminous, and furnish an excellent steam-making fuel. Coke is manu- factured to a limited extent in La Salle and some of the southern counties, but elsewhere in the State the coal does not yield a good marketable coke. Neither is it in any degree a good gas coal, although used in some localities for that purpose, rather because of its abundance than on account of its adaptability. It is thought that, with the increase of cheap transportation facili- ties, Pittsburg coal will be brought into the State in such quantities as eventually to exclude local coal from the manufacture of gas. In the report of the Eleventh United States Census, the total product of the Illinois coal mines was given as 12,104,272 tons, as against 6,115,377 tons reported by the Tenth Census. The value of the output was estimated at $11,735,203, or $0.97 per ton at the mines. The total number of mines was stated to be 1,072, and the number of tons mined was nearly equal to the combined yield of the mines of Ohio and Indiana. The mines are divided into two classes, technically known as "regular" and "local." Of the former, there were 358, and of the latter, 714 These 358 regular

mines employed 23,934 men and boys, of whom 21,350 worked below ground, besides an office force of 389, and paid, in wages, $8,694,397. The total capital invested in these 358 mines was $17,630,351. According to the report of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1898, 881 mines were operated during the year, employing 35,026 men and producing 18,599,299 tons of coal, which was 1,473,459 tons less than the preceding year- the reduction being due to the strike of 1897. Five counties of the State produced more than 1,000,000 tons each, standing in the following order: Sangamon, 1,763,863; St. Clair, 1,600,752; Vermilion, 1,520,699; Macoupin, 1,264,926; La Salle, 1,165, 490.

COAL CITY, a town in Grandy County, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 29 miles by rail south-southwest of Joliet. Large coal inines are operated here, and the town is an important shipping point for their product. It has a bank, a weekly newspaper and five churches. Population (1890), 1,672.

COBB, Emery, capitalist, was born at Dryden, Tompkins County, N. Y., August 20, 1831; at 16, began the study of telegraphy at Ithaca, later acted as operator on Western New York lines, but, in 1852, became manager of the office at Chicago, continuing until 1865, the various com- panies having meanwhile been consolidated into the Western Union. He then made an extensive tour of the world, and, although he had intro- duced the system of transmitting money by telegraph, he declined all invitations to return to the key-board. Having made large investments in lands about Kankakee, where he now resides, he has devoted much of his time to agriculture and stock-raising; was also, for many years, a member of the State Board of Agriculture, Presi- dent of the Short-Horn Breeders' Association, and, for twenty years (1873-93), a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. He has done much to improve the city of his adoption by the erection of buildings, the con- struction of electric street-car lines and the promotion of manufactures.

COBB, Silas B., pioneer and real-estate opera- tor, was born at Montpelier, Vt., Jan. 23, 1812; came to Chicago in 1833 on a schooner from Buf- falo, the voyage occupying over a month. Being without means, he engaged as a carpenter upon a building which James Kinzie, the Indian trader, was erecting; later he erected a building of his own in which he started a harness-shop, which he conducted successfully for a number of years. He has since been connected with a number

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of business enterprises of a public character, including banks, street and steam railways, but his largest successes have been achieved in the line of improved real estate, of which he is an exten- sive owner. He is also one of the liberal bene- factors of the University of Chicago, "Cobb Lecture Hall," on the campus of that institution, being the result of a contribution of his amount- ing to $150,000.

COBDEN, a village in Union County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 42 miles north of Cairo and 15 miles south of Carbondale. Fruits and vegetables are extensively cultivated here and shipped to northern markets. The surrounding region is well timbered, and Cobden has two lumber mills, as well as two flour mills. There are five churches and two weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 800; (1890), 994.

COCHRAN, William Granville, legislator and jurist, was born in Ross County, Ohio, Nov. 13, 1844; brought to Moultrie County, Ill., in 1849, and, at the age of 17, enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, serving in the War of the Rebellion three years as a private. Returning home from the war, he resumed life as a farmer, but early in 1873 began merchandising at Lovington, continuing this business three years, when he began the study of law; in 1879, was admitted to the bar, and has since been in active practice. In 1888 he was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly, was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 1890, but was re-elected to the House in 1894, and again in 1896. At the special session of 1890, he was chosen Speaker, and was similarly honored in 1895. He is an excellent parliamen- tarian, clear-headed and just in his rulings, and an able debater. In June, 1897, he was elected for a six years' term to the Circuit bench. He is also one of the Trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Normal.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 21

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