Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 3

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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ALLEN, Willis, a native of Tennessee, who removed to Williamson County, Ill., in 1829 and engaged in farming. In 1834 he was chosen Sheriff of Franklin County, in 1838 elected Rep- resentative in the Eleventh General Assembly, and, in 1844, became State Senator. In 1841. although not yet a licensed lawyer, he was chosen Prosecuting Attorney for the old Third District, and was shortly afterward admitted to the bar. He was chosen Presidential Elector in 1844, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1847, and served two terms in Congress (1851-55). On March 2, 1859, he was commissioned Judge of the Twenty-sixth Judicial Circuit, but died three months later. His son, William Joshua, suc- ceeded him in the latter office.

ALLERTON, Samuel Waters, stock-dealer and capitalist, was born of Pilgrim ancestry in Dutchess County, N. Y., May 26, 1829. His youth was spent with his father on a farm in Yates County. N. Y., but about 1852 he engaged

in the live-stock business in Central and Western New York. In 1856 he transferred his operations to Illinois, shipping stock from various points to New York City, finally locating in Chicago. He was one of the earliest projectors of the Chicago Stock-Yards, later securing control of the Pitts- burg Stock-Yards, also .becoming interested in yards at Baltimore, Philadelphia, Jersey City and Omaha. Mr. Allerton is one of the founders and a Director of the First National Bank of Chicago. a Director and stockholder of the Chicago City Railway (the first cable line in that city), the owner of an extensive area of highly improved farming lands in Central Illinois, as also of large tracts in Nebraska and Wyoming, and of valuable and productive mining properties in the Black Hills. A zealous Republican in politics, he is a liberal supporter of the measures of that party, and, in 1893, was the unsuccessful Republican can- didate for Mayor of Chicago in opposition to Carter H. Harrison.

ALLOUEZ, Claude Jean, sometimes called "The Apostle of the West," a Jesuit priest, was born in France in 1620. He reached Quebec in 1658. and later explored the country around Lakes Superior and Michigan, establishing the mission of La Pointe, near where Ashland, Wis., now stands, in 1665, and St. Xavier, near Green Bay, in 1669. He learned from the Indians the existence and direction of the upper Mississippi, and was the first to communicate the informa- tion to the authorities at Montreal, which report was the primary cause of Joliet's expedition. He succeeded Marquette in charge of the mission at Kaskaskia, on the Illinois, in 1677, where he preached to eight tribes. From that date to 1690 he labored among the aborigines of Illinois and Wisconsin. Died at Fort St. Joseph, in 1690.

ALLYN, (Rev.) Robert, clergyman and edu- cator, was born at Ledyard, New London County, Conn., Jan. 25, 1817, being a direct descend- ant in the eighth generation of Captain Robert Allyn, who was one of the first settlers of New London. He grew np on a farm, receiving his early education in a country school, supple- mented by access to a small public library, from which he acquired a good degree of familiarity with standard English writers. In 1837 he entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown. Conn., where he distinguished himself as a mathematician and took a high rank as a linguist and rhetorician, graduating in 1841. He im- mediately engaged as a teacher of mathematics in the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Mass .. and, in 1846, was elected principal of the school.

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

meanwhile (1843) becoming a licentiate of the Providence Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. From 1848 to 1854 he served as Princi- pal of the Providence Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, R. I., when he was appointed Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island -also serving the same year as a Visitor to West Point Military Academy. Between 1857 and 1859 lie filled the chair of Ancient Languages in the State University at Athens, Ohio, when he ac- cepted the Presidency of the Wesleyan Female College at Cincinnati, four years later (1863) becoming President of McKendree College at Lebanon, Ill., where he remained until 1874. That position he resigned to accept the Presi- dency of the Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbondale, whence he retired in 1892. Died at Carbondale, Jan. 7, 1894.

ALTAMONT, a town and railway junction in Effingham County, midway and the highest point between St. Louis and Terre Haute, Ind., being 88 miles distant from each. It was laid out in 1870. The principal industries are grain and fruit-shipping. It has a bank, two grain elevators, two flouring mills, and several manu- facturing establishments, including tile-works, wagon and furniture factories, besides churches and good schools. Population (1880), 650; (1890), 1,044.

ALTGELD, John Peter, ex-Judge and ex-Gov- ernor, was born in Prussia in 1848, and in boy- hood accompanied his parents to America, the family settling in Ohio. At the age of 16 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio Infantry, serving until the close of the war. His legal education was acquired at St. Louis and Savannah, Mo., and from 1874 to '78 he was Prosecuting Attorney for Andrew County in that State. In 1878 he removed to Chicago, where he devoted himself to professional work. In 1884 he led the Democratic forlorn hope as candidate for Congress in a strong Republican Congressional district, and in 1886 was elected to the bench of the Superior Court of Cook County, but resigned in August, 1891. The Democratic State conven- tion of 1892 nominated him for Governor, and he was elected the following November, being the first foreign-born citizen to hold that office in the history of the State, and the first Democrat elected since 1852. In 1896 he was a prominent factor in the Democratic National Convention which nominated William J. Bryan for Presi- dent, and was also a candidate for re-election to the office of Governor, but was defeated by John R. Tanner, the Republican nominee.

ALTON, the principal city of Madison County, and a commercial and manufacturing center. situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, about 25 miles north of St. Louis and 20 miles south of the mouth of the Illinois. Population by the census of 1890, 10,294. Most of the business por- tion of the city is built in a valley through which flows a small stream, while the residence portion occupies the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, some of these-especially in the northern part-rising to a height of nearly 250 feet. Be- sides a brisk trade in lumber, Alton has been noted for its manufactures, including glass, iron, castor oil, woolens, flour, tobacco and agricul- tural implements. Its origin was a single small building, erected in 1807 by the French as a trad- ing post. the town proper being laid out by Col. Rufus Easton in 1817. Good building stone is abundant. The city has four newspapers, three of them issuing daily editions. In 1827 the State built a penitentiary at Alton, but later removed the institution to Joliet. (See also Lovejoy.)

ALTON PENITENTIARY. The earliest pun- ishments imposed upon public offenders in Illi- nois were by public flogging or imprisonment for a short time iu jails rudely constructed of logs, from which escape was not difficult for a prisoner of nerve, strength and mental resource. The inadequacy of such places of confinement was soon perceived, but popular antipathy to any increase of taxation prevented the adoption of any other policy until 1827. A grant of 40,000 acres of saline lands was made to the State by Congress, and a considerable portion of the money received from their sale was appropriated to the establishment of a State penitentiary at Alton. The sum set apart proved insufficient, and, in 1831, an additional appropriation of $10,000 was made from the State treasury. In 1833 the prison was ready to receive its first inmates. It was built of stone and had but twenty-four cells. Additions were made from time to time, but by 1857 the State determined upon building a new peniten- tiary, which was located at Joliet (see Northern Penitentiary), and, in 1860, the last convicts were transferred thither from Alton. The Alton prison was conducted on what is known as "the Auburn plan" - associated labor in silence by day and separate confinement by night. The manage- ment was in the hands of a "lessee," who fur- nished supplies, employed guards and exercised the general powers of a warden under the super- vision of a Commissioner appointed by the State, and who handled all the products of convict labor.

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

ALTON RIOTS. (See Lovejoy, Elijah Par- rish. )

ALTONA, a town of Knox County, on the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 16 miles northeast of Galesburg; has some manufactures, a bank and a newspaper. Population (1880), 818; (1890), 654.

ALTON & SANGAMON RAILROAD. (See Chicago & Alton Railroad.)

AMBOY, a city in Lee County, on Green River, and on the Illinois Central and the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy Railroads; 117 miles southeast of Dubuque, 16 miles northwest of Mendota, and 95 miles south by west from Chicago. It con- tains a town-hall, a bank, seven churches, graded schools (including a high school) and two flouring mills. Extensive railroad repair shops, employing some 200 hands, are located here. Population (1880), 2,448; (1890), 2,257.

AMES, Edward Raymond, Methodist Episcopal Bishop, born at Amesville, Athens County, Ohio, May 30, 1806; was educated at the Ohio State University, where he joined the M. E. Church. In 1828 he left college and became Principal of the Seminary at Lebanon, Ill., which afterwards became McKendree College. While there he received a license to preach, and, after holding various charges and positions in the church, in- cluding membership in the General Conference of 1840, '44 and '52, in the latter year was elected Bishop, serving until his death, which occurred in Baltimore, April 25, 1879.

ANDERSON, Galusha, clergyman and edu- cator, was born at Bergen, N. Y., March 7, 1832; graduated at Rochester University in 1854 and at the Theological Seminary there in 1856; spent ten years in Baptist pastoral work at Janesville, Wis., and at St. Louis, and seven as Professor in Newton Theological Institute, Mass. From 1873 to '80 he preached in Brooklyn and Chicago; was then chosen President of the old Chicago Univer- sity, remaining eight years, when he again be- came a pastor at Salem, Mass., but soon after assumed the Presidency of Denison University, Ohio. On the organization of the new Chicago University, he accepted the chair of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, which he now holds.

ANDERSON, George A., lawyer and Congress- man, was born in Botetourt County, Va., March 11, 1853. When two years old he was brought by his parents to Hancock County, Ill He re- ceived a collegiate education, and, after studying law at Lincoln, Neb., and at Sedalia, Mo., settled at Quincy, Ill., where he began practice in 1880. In 1884 he was elected City Attorney on the

Democratic ticket, and re-elected in 1885 without opposition. The following year he was the suc- cessful candidate of his party for Congress, which was his last public service. Died at Quincy, Jan. 31, 1896.

ANDERSON, James C., legislator, was born in Henderson County, III., August 1, 1845; raised on a farm, and after receiving a common-school education, entered Monmouth College, but left early in the Civil War to enlist in the Twentieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he attained the rank of Second Lieutenant. After the war he served ten years as Sheriff of Henderson County, was elected Representative in the General Assembly in 1888, '90, '92 and '96, and served on the Republican "steering committee" during the session of 1893. He also served as Sergeant-at- Arms of the Senate for the session of 1895, and was a delegate to the Republican National Con- vention of 1896. His home is at Decorra.

ANDERSON, Stinson H., Lieutenant-Gover- nor, was born in Sumner County, Tenn., in 1800; came to Jefferson County, Ill., in his youth, and, at an early age, began to devote his attention to breeding fine stock; served in the Black Hawk War as a Lieutenant in 1832, and the same year was elected to the lower branch of the Eighth General Assembly, being re-elected in 1834. In 1838 he was chosen Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Gov. Thomas Carlin, and soon after the close of his term entered the United States Army as Captain of Dragoons, in this capacity taking part in the Seminole War in Florida. Still later he served under President Polk as United States Marshal for Illinois, and also held the position of Warden of the State Penitentiary at Alton for several years. Died, September, 1857 .- William B. (Anderson), son of the preceding, was born at Mount Vernon, Ill., April 30, 1830; attended the common schools and later studied surveying, being elected Surveyor of Jefferson County, in 1851. He studied law and was admit- ted to the bar in 1858, but never practiced, pre- ferring the more quiet life of a farmer. In 1856 he was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly and re-elected in 1858. In 1861 he entered the volunteer service as a private, was promoted through the grades of Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel to a Colonelcy, and, at the close of the war, was brevetted Brigadier-Gen- eral. In 1868 he was a candidate for Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket, was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, and, in 1871, was elected to the State Senate. to fill a vacancy. In 1874 he was elected to the Forty -

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

fourth Congress on the Democratic ticket. In 1893 General Anderson was appointed by Presi- dent Cleveland Pension Agent for Illinois, con- tinuing in that position four years, when he retired to private life.

ANDRUS, Rev. Reuben, clergyman and edu- cator, was born at Rutland, Jefferson County, N. Y., Jan. 29, 1824; early came to Fulton County, Ill., and spent three years (1844-47) as a student at Illinois College, Jacksonville, but graduated at Mckendree College, Lebanon, in 1849; taught for a time at Greenfield, entered the Methodist ministry, and, in 1850, founded the Illi- nois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, of which he became a Professor; later re-entered the ministry and held charges at Beardstown, Decatur, Quincy, Springfield and Bloomington, meanwhile for a time being President of Illinois Conference Female College at Jacksonville, and temporary President of Quincy College. In 1867 he was transferred to the Indiana Conference and stationed at Evansville and Indianapolis; from 1872 to '75 was President of Indiana Asbury Uni- versity at Greencastle. Died at Indianapolis, Jan. 17, 1887.

ANNA, a town in Union County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 37 miles north of Cairo. The surrounding region is famous for its crops of fruit and vegetables, and for these Anna is an impor- tant shipping point. It has a bank, three weekly newspapers and fruit-drying establishments. The (State) Southern Hospital for the Insane is located here. Population (1880)), 1,494; (1890), 2,295.

ANTHONY, Elliott, jurist, was born of New England Quaker ancestry at Spafford, Onondaga County, N. Y., June 10, 1827; was related on the maternal side to the Chases and Phelps (dis- tinguished lawyers) of Vermont. His early years were spent in labor on a farm, but after a course of preparatory study at Cortland Academy, in 1847 he entered the sophomore class in Hamilton College at Clinton, graduating with honors in 1850. The next year he began the study of law, at the same time giving instruction in an Acad- emy at Clinton, where he had President Cleve- land as one of his pupils. After admission to the bar at Oswego, in 1851, he removed West, stop- ping for a time at Sterling, Ill., but the following year located in Chicago. Here he compiled "A Digest of Illinois Reports"; in 1858 was elected City Attorney, and, in 1863, became solicitor of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (now the Chicago & Northwestern). Judge Anthony served in two State Constitutional Conventions-

those of 1862 and 1869-70-being chairman of the Committee on Executive Department and mem- ber of the Committee on Judiciary in the latter. He was delegate to the National Republican Con- vention of 1880, and was the same year elected a Judge of the Superior Court of Chicago, and was re-elected in 1886, retiring in 1892, after which he resumed the practice of his profession, being chiefly employed as consulting counsel. Judge Anthony was one of the founders and incorpo- rators of the Chicago Law Institute and a member of the first Board of Directors of the Chicago Public Library; also served as President of the State Bar Association (1894-95), and delivered several important historical addresses before that body. His other most important productions are volumes on "The Constitutional History of Illinois," "The Story of the Empire State" and "Sanitation and Navigation." Near the close of his last term upon the bench, he spent several months in an extended tour through the princi- pal countries of Europe. His death occurred, after a protracted illness, at his home at Evans- ton, Feb. 24, 1898.

ANTI-NEBRASKA EDITORIAL CONVEN- TION, a political body, which convened at Decatur, Feb. 22, 1856, pursuant to the suggestion of "The Morgan Journal," then a weekly paper published at Jacksonville, for the purpose of for- mulating a policy in opposition to the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Twelve editors were in attendance, as follows: Charles H. Ray of "The Chicago Tribune"; V. Y. Ralston of "The Quincy Whig"; O. P. Wharton of "The Rock Island Advertiser"; T. J. Pickett of "The Peoria Republican"; George Schneider of "The Chicago Staats Zeitung"; Charles Faxon of "The Princeton Post"; A. N. Ford of "The Lacon Ga- zette"; B. F. Shaw of "The Dixon Telegraph"; E. C. Daugherty of "The Rockford Register"; E. W. Blaisdell of "The Rockford Gazette"; W. J. Usrey of "The Decatur Chronicle"; and Paul Selby of "The Jacksonville Journal." Paul Selby was chosen Chairman and W. J. Usrey, Secre- tary. The convention adopted a platform and recommended the calling of a State convention at Bloomington on May 29, following, appointing the following State Central Committee to take the matter in charge: W. B. Ogden, Chicago; S. M. Church, Rockford; G. D. A. Parks, Joliet; T. J. Pickett, Peoria; E. A. Dudley, Quincy; William H. Herndon, Springfield; R. J. Oglesby, Deca- tur; Joseph Gillespie, Edwardsville; D. L. Phil- lips, Jonesboro; and Ira O. Wilkinson and Gustavus Koerner for the State-at-large. Abra-

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

ham Lincoln was present and participated in the consultations of the committees. All of these served except Messrs. Ogden, Oglesby and Koer- ner, the two former declining on account of ab- sence from the State. Ogden was succeeded by the late Dr. John Evans, afterwards Territorial Governor of Colorado, and Oglesby by Col. Isaac C. Pugh of Decatur. (See Bloomington Conven- tion of 1856.)

APPLE RIVER, a village of Jo Daviess County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 21 miles east-northeast from Galena. Population (1880), 626; (1890), 572.

APPLINGTON, (Maj.) Zenas, soldier, was born in Broome County, N. Y., Dec. 24, 1815; in 1837 emigrated to Ogle County, Ill., where he fol- lowed successively the occupations of farmer, blacksmith, carpenter and merchant, finally becoming the founder of the town of Polo. Here he became wealthy, but lost much of his property in the financial revulsion of 1857. In 1858 he was elected to the State Senate, and, during the session of 1859, was one of the members of that body appointed to investigate the "canal scrip fraud" (which see), and two years later was one of

the earnest supporters of the Government in its preparation for the War of the Rebellion. The latter year he assisted in organizing the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, of which he was commissioned Major, being some time in command at Bird's Point, and later rendering important service to General Pope at New Madrid and Island No. 10. He was killed at Corinth, Miss., May 8, 1862, while obeying an order to charge upon a band of rebels concealed in a wood.

APPORTIONMENT, a mode of distribution of the counties of the State into Districts for the election of members of the General Assembly and of Congress, which will be treated under separate heads:

LEGISLATIVE .- The first legislative apportion- ment was provided for by the Constitution of 1818. That instrument vested the Legislature with power to divide the State as follows: To create districts for the election of Representatives not less than twenty-seven nor more than thirty- six in number, until the population of the State should amount to 100,000; and to create sena- torial districts, in number not less than one-third nor more than one-half of the representative dis- tricts at the time of organization.

The schedule appended to the first Constitution contained the first legal apportionment of Sena- tors and Representatives. The first fifteen counties were allowed fourteen Senators and

twenty-nine Representatives. Each county formed a distinct legislative district for repre- sentation in the lower house, with the number of members for each varying from one to three; while Johnson and Franklin were combined in one Senatorial district, the other counties being entitled to one Senator ,each. Later apportion- ments were made in 1821, '26. '31, '36, '41 and '47. Before an election was held under the last, how- ever, the Constitution of 1848 went into effect, and considerable changes were effected in this regard. The number of Senators was fixed at twenty-five and of Representatives at seventy- five, until the entire population should equal 1,000,000, when five members of the House were added and five additional members for each 500,- 000 increase in population until the whole num- ber of Representatives reached 100. Thereafter the number was neither increased nor dimin- ished, but apportioned among the several coun- ties according to the number of white inhabit- ants. Should it be found necessary, a single district might be formed out of two or more counties.

The Constitution of 1848 established fifty-four Representative and twenty-five Senatorial dis- tricts. By the apportionment law of 1854, the number of the former was increased to fifty-eight, and, in 1861, to sixty-one. The number of Sen- atorial districts remained unchanged, but their geographical limits varied under each act, while the number of members from Representative districts varied according to population.

The Constitution of 1870 provided for an im- mediate reapportionment (subsequent to its adoption) by the Governor and Secretary of State upon the basis of the United States Census of 1870. Under the apportionment thus made, as prescribed by the schedule, the State was divided into twenty-five Senatorial districts (each electing two Senators) and ninety-seven Repre- sentative districts, with an aggregate of 177 mem- bers varying from one to ten for the several districts, according to population. This arrange- ment continued in force for only one Legislature -that chosen in 1870.

In 1872 this Legislature proceeded to reappor- tion the State in accordance with the principle of "minority representation," which had been sub- mitted as an independent section of the Constitu- tion and adopted on a separate vote. This provided for apportioning the State into fifty-one districts, each being entitled to one Senator and three Representatives. The ratio of representa- tion in the lower house was ascertained by divid-

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

ing the entire population by 153 and each county to be allowed one Representative, provided its population reached three-fifths of the ratio; coun- ties having a population equivalent to one and three-fifths times the ratio were entitled to two Representatives; while each county with a larger population was entitled to one additional Repre- sentative for each time the full ratio was repeated in the number of inhabitants. Apportionments were made on this principle in 1872, '82 and '93. Members of the lower house are elected bienni- ally; Senators for four years, those in odd and even districts being chosen at each alternate legislative election. The election of Senators for the even (numbered) districts takes place at the same time with that of Governor and other State officers, and that for the odd districts at the inter- mediate periods.

CONGRESSIONAL .- For the first fourteen years of the State's history, Illinois constituted but one Congressional district. The census of 1830 show- ing sufficient population, the Legislature of 1831 (by act, approved Feb. 13) divided the State into three districts, the first election under this law being held on the first Monday in August, 1832. At that time Illinois comprised fifty-five coun- ties, which were apportioned among the districts as follows: First - Gallatin, Pope, Johnson, Alexander, Union, Jackson, Franklin, Perry, Randolphı, Monroe, Washington, St. Clair, Clin- ton, Bond, Madison, Macoupin; Second-White, Hamilton, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Clay, Marion, Lawrence, Fayette, Montgomery, Shelby, Vermilion, Edgar, Coles, Clark, Craw- ford; Third - Greene, Morgan, Sangamon, Macon, Tazewell, McLean, Cook, Henry, La Salle, Putnam, Peoria, Knox, Jo Daviess, Mercer, McDonough, Warren, Fulton, Hancock, Pike, Schuyler, Adams, Calhoun.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 3

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