Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 24

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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COOK COUNTY, situated in the northeastern section of the State, bordering on Lake Michigan, and being the most easterly of the second tier of counties south of the Wisconsin State line. It has an area of 890 square miles; population (1880), 607, 524; (1890), 1,191,922; county-seat, Chicago. The county was organized in 1831, having origi- nally embraced the counties of Du Page, Will, Lake, McHenry and Iroquois, in addition to its present territorial limits. It was named in honor of Daniel P. Cook, a distinguished Repre- sentative of Illinois in Congress. (See Cook, Daniel P.) The first County Commissioners were Samuel Miller, Gholson Kercheval and James Walker, who took the oath of office before Justice John S. C. Hogan, on March 8, 1831. William Lee was appointed Clerk and Archibald Clybourne Treasurer. Jedediah Wormley was first County Surveyor, and three election districts (Chicago, Du Page and Hickory Creek) were created. A scow ferry was established across the South Branch, with Mark Beaubien as ferryman. Only non-residents were required to pay toll. Geolo- gists are of the opinion that, previous to the glacial epoch, a large portion of the county lay under the waters of Lake Michigan, which was connected with the Mississippi by the Des Plaines

River. This theory is borne out by the finding of stratified beds of coal and gravel in the eastern and southern portions of the county, either under- lying the prairies or assuming the form of ridges. The latter, geologists maintain, indicate the exist- ence of an ancient key, and they conclude that, at one time, the level of the lake was nearly forty feet higher than at present. Glacial action is believed to have been very effective in establish- ing surface conditions in this vicinity. Lime- stone and building stone are quarried in tolerable abundance. Athens marble (white when takeu out, but growing a rich yellow through exposure) is found in the southwest. Isolated beds of peat have also been found. The general surface is level, although undulating in some portions. The soil near the lake is sandy, but in the interior becomes a black mold from one to four feet in depth. Drainage is afforded by the Des Plaines, Chicago and Calumet Rivers, which is now being improved by the construction of the Drainage Canal. Manufactures and agriculture are the principal industries outside of the city of Chi- cago. (See also Chicago.)

COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL, located in Chi- cago and under control of the Commissioners of Cook County. It was originally erected by the City of Chicago, at a cost of $80,000, and was intended to be used as a hospital for patients suffering from infectious diseases. For several years the building was unoccupied, but, in 1858, it was leased by an association of physicians, who opened a hospital, with the further purpose of affording facilities for clinical instruction to the students of Rush Medical College. In 1863 the . building was taken by the General Government for military purposes, being used as an eye and ear hospital for returning soldiers. In 1865 it reverted to the City of Chicago, and, in 1866, was purchased by Cook County. In 1874 the County Commissioners purchased a new and more spa- cious site at a cost of $145,000, and began the erec- tion of buildings thereon. The two principal pavilions were completed and occupied before the close of 1875; the clinical amphitheater and connecting corridors were built in 1876-77, and an administrative building and two additional pavilions were added in 1882-84. Up to that date the total cost of the buildings had been $719,574, and later additions and improvements have swelled the outlay to more than $1,000,000. It accommodates about 800 patients and constitutes a part of the county machinery for the care of the poor. A certain number of beds are placed under the care of homeopathic physicians. The

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present (1836) allopathic medical staff consists of fifteen physicians, fifteen surgeons, one oculist and aurist and one pathologist; the homeopathic staff comprises five physicians and five surgeons. In addition, there is a large corps of internes, or house physicians and surgeons, composed of recent graduates from the several medical col- leges, who gain their positions through competi- tive examination and hold them for eighteen months.

COOKE, Edward Dean, lawyer and Congress- man, born in Dubuque County, Iowa, Oct. 17, 1849; was educated in the common schools and the high school of Dubuque; studied law in that city and at Columbian University, Washington, D. C., graduating from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and was admitted to the bar in Washington in 1873. Coming to Chi- cago the same year, he entered upon the practice of his profession, which he pursued for the remainder of his life. In 1882 he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature from Cook County, serving one term; was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress for the Sixth District (Chicago), in 1894, and re-elected in 1896. His death occurred suddenly while in attendance on the extra session of Congress in Washington, June 24, 1897.

COOLBAUGH, William Findlay, financier, was born in Pike County, Pa., July 1, 1821; at the age of 15 became clerk in a dry-goods store in Philadelphia, but, in 1842, opened a branch establishment of a New York firm at Burlington, Iowa, where he afterwards engaged in the bank- ing business, also serving in the Iowa State Constitutional Convention, and, as the candidate of his party for United States Senator, being defeated by Hon. James Harlan by one vote. In 1862 he came to Chicago and opened the banking house of W. F. Coolbangh & Co., which, in 1865, became the Union National Bank of Chicago. Later he became the first President of the Chi- cago Clearing House, as also of the Bankers' Association of the West and South, a Director of the Board of Trade, and an original incorporator of the Chamber of Commerce, besides being a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. His death by suicide, at the foot of Douglas Monument, Nov. 14, 1877, was a shock to the whole city of Chicago.

COOLEY, Horace S., Secretary of State, was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1806, studied medi- cine for two years in early life, then went to Ban- gor, Maine, where he began the study of law; in 1840 he came to Illinois, locating first at Rushville

and finally in the city of Quincy; in 1842 took a prominent part in the campaign which resulted in the election of Thomas Ford as Governor-also received from Governor Carlin an appointment as Quartermaster-General of the State. On the accession of Governor French in December, 1846, he was appointed Secretary of State and elected to the same office under the Constitution of 1848, dying before the expiration of his term, April 2, 1850.

CORBUS, (Dr.) J. C., physician, was born in Holmes County, Ohio, in 1833, received his pri mary education in the public schools, followed by an academic course, and began the study of medicine at Millersburg, finally graduating from the Western Reserve Medical College at Cleve- land. In 1855 he began practice at Orville, Ohio, but the same year located at Mendota, Ill., soon thereafter removing to Lee County, where he remained until 1862. The latter year he was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but was soon pro- moted to the position of Surgeon, though com- pelled to resign the following year on account of ill health. Returning from the army, he located at Mendota. Dr. Corbus served continuously as a member of the State Board of Public Charities from 1873 until the accession of Governor Altgeld to the Governorship in 1893, when he resigned. He was also, for fifteen years, one of the Medical Examiners for his District under the Pension Bureau, and has served as a member of the Republican State Central Committee for the Mendota District. In 1897 he was complimented by Governor Tanner by reappointment to the State Board of Charities, and was made President of the Board. Early in 1899 he was appointed Superintendent of the Eastern Hospital for the Insane at Kankakee, as successor to Dr. William G. Stearns.

CORNELL, Paul, real-estate operator and capi- talist, was born of English Quaker ancestry in Washington County, N. Y., August 5, 1822: at 9 years of age removed with his step-father, Dr. Barry, to Ohio, and five years later to Adams County, Ill. Here young Cornell lived the life of a farmer, working part of the year to earn money to send himself to school the remainder; also taught for a time, then entered the office of W. A. Richardson, at Rushville, Schuyler County, as a law student. In 1845 he came to Chicago, but soon after became a student in the law office of Wilson & Henderson at Joliet, and was admitted to practice in that city. Removing to Chicago in 1847, he was associated, successively, with the late

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L. C. P. Freer, Judge James H. Collins and Messrs. Skinner & Hoyne; finally entered into a contract with Judge Skinner to perfect the title to 320 acres of land held under tax-title within the present limits of Hyde Park, which he succeeded in doing hy visiting the original owners, thereby securing one-half of the property in his own name. He thus became the founder of the village of Hyde Park. meanwhile adding to his posses- sions other lands, which increased vastly in value. He also established a watch factory at Cornell (now a part of Chicago), which did a large busi- ness until removed to California. Mr. Cornell was a member of the first Park Board, and there- fore has the credit of assisting to organize Chi- cago's extensive park system.

CORWIN, Franklin, Congressman, was born at Lebanon, Ohio, Jan. 12, 1818, and admitted to the bar at the age of 21. While a resident of Ohio he served in both Houses of the Legislature, and settled in Illinois in 1857, making his home at Peru. He was a member of the lower house of the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth and Twenty- sixth General Assemblies, being Speaker in 1867, and again in 1869. In 1872 he was elected to Congress as a Republican, but, in 1874, was defeated by Alexander Campbell, who made the race as an Independent. Died, at Peru, Ill., June 15, 1879.

COUCH, James, pioneer hotel-keeper, was born at Fort Edward, N. Y., August 31, 1800; removed to Chautauqua County, in the same State, where he remained until his twentieth year, receiving a fair English education. After engaging succes- sively, but with indifferent success, as hotel-clerk, stage-house keeper, lumber-dealer, and in the dis- tilling business, in 1836, in company with his younger brother, Ira, he visited Chicago. They both decided to go into business there, first open- ing a small store, and later entering upon their hotel ventures which proved so eminently suc- cessful, and gave the Tremont House of Chicago so wide and enviable a reputation. Mr. Couch superintended for his brother Ira the erection, at various times, of many large business blocks in the city. Upon the death of his brother, in 1857, he was made one of the trustees of his estate, and, with other trustees, rebuilt the Tremont House after the Chicago fire of 1871. In April, 1892, while boarding a street car in the central part of the city of Chicago, he was run over by a truck, receiving injuries which resulted in his death the same day at the Tremont House, in the 92d year of his age .- Ira (Couch), younger brother of the preceding, was born in Saratoga County,

N. Y., Nov. 22, 1806. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a tailor, and, in 1826, set up in business on his own account. In 1836, while visiting Chicago with his brother James, he determined to go into business there. With a stock of furnishing goods and tailors' supplies, newly bought in New York, a small store was opened. This business soon disposed of, Mr. Couch, with his brother, obtained a lease of the old Tremont House, then a low frame building kept as a saloon boarding house. Changed and refurnished, this was opened as a hotel. It was destroyed by fire in 1839, as was also the larger rebuilt structure in 1849. A second time rebuilt, and on a much larger and grander scale at a cost of $75,000, surpassing anything the West had ever known before, the Tremont House this time stood until the Chicago fire in 1871, when it was again destroyed. Mr. Couch at all times enjoyed an immense patronage, and was able to accumulate (for that time) a large fortune. He purchased and improved a large number of business blocks, then within the business center of the city. In 1853 he retired from active business, and, in con- sequence of impaired health, chose for the rest of his life to seek recreation in travel. In the winter of 1857, while with his family in Havana, Cuba, he was taken with a fever which soon ended his life. His remains now rest in a mausoleum of masonry in Lincoln Park, Chi- cago.

COULTERVILLE, a town of Randolph County, at the Crossing of the Centralia & Chester and the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railways, 49 miles southeast of St. Louis. Farming and coal- mining are the leading industries. The town has a bank and a newspaper. Population (1880), 590; (1890), 598.

COUNTIES, UNORGANIZED. (See Unorgan- ized Counties.)

COWDEN, a village of Shelby County, at the intersection of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwest- ern and the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Railways, 60 miles southeast of Springfield. Considerable coal is mined in the vicinity ; has a bank and a weekly paper. Population (1880), 350; (1890), 702.

COWLES, Alfred, newspaper manager, was born in Portage County, Ohio, May 13, 1832, grew up on a farm and, after spending some time at Michigan University, entered the office of "The Cleveland Leader" as a clerk; in 1855 accepted a similar position on "The Chicago Tribune, " which had just heen bought by Joseph Medill and others, finally becoming a stockholder and husi-

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ness manager of the paper, so remaining until his death in Chicago, Dec. 20, 1889.

COX, Thomas, pioneer, Senator in the First General Assembly of Illinois (1818-22) from Union County, and a conspicuous figure in early State history ; was a zealous advocate of the policy of making Illinois a slave State; became one of the original proprietors and founders of the city of Springfield, and was appointed the first Register of the Land Office there, but was removed under charges of misconduct; after his retirement from the Land Office, kept a hotel at Springfield. In 1836 he removed to Iowa (then a part of Wiscon - sin Territory), became a member of the first Territorial Legislature there, was twice re-elected and once Speaker of the House, being prominent in 1840 as commander of the "Regulators" who drove out a gang of murderers and desperadoes who had got possession at Bellevue, Iowa. Died, at Maquoketa, Iowa, 1843.

COY, Irus, lawyer, was born in Chenango County, N. Y., July 25, 1832; educated in the common schools and at Central College, Cortland County, N. Y., graduating in law at Albany in 1857. Then, having removed to Illinois, he located in Kendall County and began practice; in 1868 was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly and, in 1872, served as Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket; removed to Chicago in 1871, later serving as attorney of the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company. Died, in Chicago, Sept. 20, 1897.

CRAFTS, Clayton E., legislator and politician, born at Auburn, Geauga County, Ohio, July 8, 1848; was educated at Hiram College and gradu- ated from the Cleveland Law School in 1868, coming to Chicago in 1869. Mr. Crafts served in seven consecutive sessions of the General Assem- bly (1883-95, inclusive) as Representative from Cook County, and was elected by the Democratic majority as Speaker, in 1891, and again in '93.

CRAIG, Alfred M., jurist, was born in Edgar County, Ill., Jan. 15, 1831, graduated from Knox College in 1853, and was admitted to the bar in the following year, commencing practice at Knoxville. He held the offices of State's Attorney and County Judge, and represented Knox County in the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. In 1873 he was elected to the bench of the Supreme Court, as successor to Justice C. B. Lawrence, and was re-elected in '82 and '91; his present term expiring with the century. He is a Democrat in politics, but has been three times elected in a Republican judicial district.

CRAWFORD, Charles H., lawyer and legisla- tor, was born in Bennington, Vt., but reared in Bureau and La Salle Counties, Ill. ; has practiced law for twenty years in Chicago, and been three times elected to the State Senate-1884, '88 and '94-and is author of the Crawford Primary Elec- tion Law, enacted in 1885.

CRAWFORD COUNTY, a southeastern county, bordering on the Wabash, 190 miles nearly due south of Chicago-named for William H. Craw- ford, a Secretary of War. It has an area of 452 square iuiles; population (1890), 17,283. The first settlers were the French, but later came emigrants from New England. The soil is rich and well adapted to the production of corn and wheat, which are the principal crops. The county was organized in 1817, Darwin being the first county-seat. The present county-seat is Robinson, with a population (1890) of 1,387; centrally located and the point of intersection of two railroads. Other towns of importance are Palestine (population, 734) and Hutsonville (popu- lation, 582). The latter, as well as Robinson, is a grain-shipping point. The Embarras River crosses the southwest portion of the county, and receives the waters of Big and Honey Creeks and Bushy Fork. The county has. no mineral resources, but contains some valuable woodland and many well cultivated farms. Tobacco, potatoes, sorghum and wool are among the lead- ing products.

CREAL SPRINGS, a village of Williamson County, on the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad; has a bank and a weekly paper. Popu- lation (1890), 539.

CREBS, John M., ex-Congressman, was born in Middleburg, Loudoun County, Va., April 7, 1830. When he was but 7 years old his parents removed to Illinois, where he ever after resided. At the age of 21 he began the study of law, and, in 1852, was admitted to the bar, beginning practice in White County. In 1862 he enlisted in the Eighty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, receiving a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel, participating in all the important movements in the Mississippi Valley, including the capture of Vicksburg, and in the Arkansas campaign, a part of the time commanding a brigade. Returning home, he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1866 he was an unsuccessful candidate for . State Superintendent of Public Instruction on the Democratic ticket. He was elected to Congress in 1868 and re-elected in 1870, and, in 1880, was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. Died, June 26, 1890.

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CREIGHTON, James A., jurist, was born in White County, Ill., March 7, 1846; in childhood removed with his parents to Wayne County, and was educated in the schools at Fairfield and at the Southern Illinois College, Salem, graduating from the latter in 1868. After teaching for a time while studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1870, and opened an office at Fairfield, but, in 1877, removed to Springfield. In 1885 he was elected a Circuit Judge for the Springfield Cir- cuit, was re-elected in 1891 and again in 1897.

CRERAR, John, manufacturer and philanthro- pist, was born of Scotch ancestry in New York City, in 1827; at 18 years of age was an employé of an iron-importing firm in that city, subse- quently accepting a position with Morris K. Jessup & Co., in the same line. Coming to Chicago in 1862, in partnership with J. McGregor Adams, he succeeded to the business of Jessup & Co., in that city, also hecoming a partner in the Adams & Westlake Company, iron manufactur- ers. He also became interested and an official in various other business organizations, including the Pullman Palace Car Company, the Chicago & Alton Railroad, the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, and, for a time, was President of the Chi- cago & Joliet Railroad, besides being identified with various benevolent institutions and associ- ations. After the fire of 1871. he was intrusted by the New York Chamber of Commerce with the custody of funds sent for the relief of suffer- ers by that calamity. His integrity and business sagacity were universally recognized. After his death, which occurred in Chicago, Oct. 19, 1889, it was found that, after making munificent bequests to some twenty religious and benevolent associations and enterprises, aggregating nearly a million dollars, besides liberal legacies to relatives, he had left the residue of his estate, amounting to some $2,000,000, for the purpose of founding a public library in the city of Chicago, naming thirteen of his most intimate friends as the first Board of Trustees. No more fitting and lasting monument of so noble and public-spirited a man could have been devised.

CRETE, a village of Will County, on the Chi- cago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 30 miles south of Chicago. Population (1880), 539; (1890), 642.

CROOK, George, soldier, was born near Day- ton, Ohio, Sept. 8, 1828; graduated at the United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1852, and was assigned as brevet Second Lieutenant to the Fourth Infantry, becoming full Second Lieuten- ant in 1853. In 1861 he entered the volunteer service as Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infan-

try ; was promoted Brigadier-General in 1862 and Major-General in 1864, being mustered out of the service, January, 1866. During the war lie participated in some of the most important battles in West Virginia and Tennessee, fought at Chickamauga and Antietam, and commanded the cavalry in the advance on Richmond in the spring of 1865. On being mustered out of the volunteer service he returned to the regular army, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twenty-third Infantry, and, for several years, was engaged in campaigns against the hostile Indians in the Northwest and in Arizona. In 1888 he was appointed Major-General and, from that time to his death, was in command of the Military Division of the Missouri, with headquarters at Chicago, where he died, March 19, 1890.

CROSIAR, Simon, pioneer, was born near Pittsburg, Pa., in the latter part of the last century; removed to Ohio in 1815 and to Illinois in 1819, settling first at Cap au Gris, a French village on the Mississippi just above the mouth of the Illinois in what is now Calhoun County ; later lived at Peoria (1824), at Ottawa (1826), at Shippingport near the present city of La Salle (1829), and at Old Utica (1834); in the mean- while built one or two mills on Cedar Creek in La Salle County, kept a storage and commission house, and, for a time, acted as Captain of a steamboat plying on the Illinois. Died, in 1846.

CRYSTAL LAKE, a village in McHenry County, at the intersection of two divisions of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 43 miles northwest of Chicago. Population (1880), 546; (1890), 781.

CUBA, a town in Fulton County, distant 38 miles west-southwest of Peoria, and about 8 miles north of Lewistown. The entire region (including the town) is underlaid with a good quality of bituminous coal, of which the late State Geologist Worthen asserted that, in seven townships of Fulton County, there are 9,000,000 tons to the square mile, within 150 feet of the surface. Brick and cigars are made here, and the town has a bank, a newspaper, three churches and good schools. Population (1880), 686; (1890), 1.114.

CULLEN, William, editor and Congressman, born in the north of Ireland, March 4, 1826; while yet a child was brought by his parents to Pitts- burg, Pa., where he was educated in the public schools. At the age of 20 he removed to La Salle County, Ill, and began life as a farmer. Later he took up his residence at Ottawa. He has served as Sheriff of La Salle County, and hekl

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other local offices, and was for many years a part owner and senior editor of "The Ottawa Repub- lican." From 1881 to 1885, as a Republican, he represented the Eighth Illinois District in Con- gress.

CULLOM, Richard Northeraft, farmer and legislator, was born in the State of Maryland, October 1, 1795, but early removed to Wayne . County, Ky., where he was married to Miss Elizabeth Coffey, a native of North Carolina. In .1830 he removed to Illinois, settling near Wash- ington, Tazewell County, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. Although a farmer by vocation, Mr. Cullom was a man of prominence and a recognized leader in public affairs. In 1836 he was elected as a Whig Repre- sentative in the Tenth General Assembly, serving in the same body with Abraham Lincoln, of whom he was an intimate personal and political friend. In 1840 he was chosen a member of the State Senate, serving in the Twelfth and Thir- teenth General Assemblies, and, in 1852, was again elected to the House. Mr. Cullom's death occurred in Tazewell County, Dec. 4, 1872, his wife having died Dec. 5, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Cullom' were the parents of Hon. Shelby M. Cullom.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 24

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