Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 30

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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FREE-SCHOOL SYSTEM .- While there may be said to have been a sort of free-school system in existence in Illinois previous to 1855, it was limited to a few fortunate districts possessing funds derived from the sale of school-lands situ- ated within their respective limits. The system of free schools, as it now exists, based upon general taxation for the creation of a permanent school fund, had its origin in the act of that year. As already shown, the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction had been created by act of the Legislature in February, 1854, and the act of 1855 was but a natural corol- lary of the previous measure, giving to the people a uniform system, as the earlier one had provided an official for its administration. Since then there have been many amendments of the school law, but these have been generally in the direc- tion of securing greater efficiency, but with- out departure from the principle of securing to all the children of the State the equal privileges of a common-school education. The development of the system began practically about 1857, and, in the next quarter of a century, the laws on the subject had grown into a considerable volume, while the number- less decisions, emanating from the office of the State Superintendent in construction of these laws, made up a volume of still larger proportions.

The following comparative table of school statistics, for 1860 and 1896, compiled from the Reports of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, will illustrate the growth of the system in some of its more important features:

1860.

1896. 1,711,951 (est.) 4,250,000

Population .

No. of Persons of School Age (he- tween 6 and 21)

*549.604

1,384,367

No. of Popils enrolled.

*472,247

898,619

School Districts

8,956

11,615

Public Schools

9.162

12,623

Graded

294

1.887

Public High Schools

272

School Houses built doring the year .

557

267

Whole No. of School Houses

8,221

12,632

No. of Male Teachers

8.223

7.057

Female Teachers.

6,485

18,359

Whole No. of Teachers in Public Schools

14,708

25,416

Highest Monthly Wages paid Male Teachers.

$180.00

$300.00

Highest Monthly

Wages

paid

75.00

280.00

Lowest Monthly Wages paid Male Teachers

8.00

14.00

Luwest Monthly Wages paid

4,00

10,00

A verage Monthly Wages paid Male Teachers

29.92

67.76

Female Teachers ..

18.80

50.63

No. of Private Schools

500

2,619

No. of Popils in Private Schools.

29,264

139,969

Interest on State and County Funds received ..

$73,450.38

$65,583.63

Amount of Income from Township Fanda

322,852.00

889,614.20

*Only white children were included in these statistics for 1860.

Female Teachers,

Female Teachers ...

Average Monthly Wages paid

.TT.

UNIVERSITY HALL, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

NATURAL HISTORY HALL, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

151

1860.

1896.

Amouot received from State Tax .. $ 690,000.00 44 44

44 Special Dis-

trict Taxes

1,265,137.00

13,133,809,61

Amount received frum Bunds dur- ing the year .

517,960.93

Total Amount received during the year by School Districts ...

2,193,455.00

15,607,172.50

Amount paid Male Teachers " Female

7.186.105.67

Whole amount paid Teachers

1,542,211.00

9,958,934.99

Amount paid for new School Ilouses ..

348,728.00

1,873,757.25

Amount paid for repairs and im- provements

1,070,755.09

Amuuut paid for Sebool Furniture,

24,837.00

154,836.64

Apparatus

8,563.00

164,298.92

.4 Books for Dis-

30,124 00

13,664.97

Total Expenditures

2.259,868.00

14,614,627.31

Estimated value of School Property 4.

13,304,892.00

42,780,267.00

Apparatus

377,819.00 607,389,00

The sums annually disbursed for incidental expenses on account of superintendence and the cost of maintaining the higher institutions estab- lished, and partially or wholly supported by the State, increase the total expenditures by some $600,000 per annum. These higher institutions include the Illinois State Normal University at Normal, the Southern Illinois Normal at Carbon- dale and the University of Illinois at Urbana; to which were added by the Legislature, at its ses- sion of 1895, the Eastern Illinois Normal School, afterwards established at Charleston, and the Northern Illinois Normal at De Kalb. These institutions, although under supervision of the State, are partly supported by tuition fees. (See description of these institutions under their several titles.) The normal schools-as their names indicate-are primarily designed for the training of teachers, although other classes of pupils are admitted under certain conditions, including the payment of tuition. At the Uni- versity of Illinois instruction is given in the clas- sics, the sciences, agriculture and the mechanic arts. In addition to these the State supports four other institutions of an educational rather than a custodial character-viz. : the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Insti- tution for the Blind, at Jacksonville; the Asylum for the Feeble-Minded at Lincoln, and the Sol- diers' Orphans' Home at Normal. The estimated value of the property connected with these several institutions, in addition to the value of school property given in the preceding table, will increase the total (exclusive of permanent funds) to 847,155,374.95, of which $4,375,107.95 repre- sents property belonging to the institutions above mentioned.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF SUPERINTENDENTS AND OTHER SCHOOL OFFICERS .- Each county elects a County Superintendent of Schools, whose duty it is to visit schools, conduct teachers' insti- tutes, advise with teachers and school officers and

instruct them in their respective duties, conduct examinations of persons desiring to become teachers, and exercise general supervision over school affairs within his county. The subordi- nate officers are Township Trustees, a Township Treasurer, and a Board of District Directors or- in place of the latter in cities and villages-Boards of Education. The two last named Boards have power to employ teachers and, generally, to super- vise the management of schools in districts. The State Superintendent is entrusted with general supervision of the common-school system of the State, and it is his duty to advise and assist .

County Superintendents, to visit State Charitable institutions, to issue official circulars to teachers, school officers and others in regard to their rights and duties under the general school code; to decide controverted questions of school law, com- ing to him by appeal from County Superintend- ents and others, and to make full and detailed reports of the operations of his office to the Governor, biennially. He is also made ex-officio a member of the Board of Trustees of the Univer- sity of Illinois and of the several Normal Schools, and is empowered to grant certificates of two different grades to teachers-the higher grade to be valid during the lifetime of the holder, and the lower for two years. Certificates granted by County Superintendents are also of two grades and have a tenure of one and two years, respec- tively, in the county where given. The conditions for securing a certificate of the first (or two- years') grade, require that the candidate shall be of good moral character and qualified to teach orthography, reading in English, penmanship, arithmetic, modern geography, English grammar, the elements of the natural sciences, the history of the United States, physiology and the laws of health. The second grade (or one-year) certifi- cate calls for examination in the branches just enumerated, except the natural sciences, physi- ology and laws of health; but teachers employed exclusively in giving instruction in music, draw- ing, penmanship or other special branches, may take examinations in these branches alone, but are restricted, in teaching, to those in which they have been examined. - County Boards are empowered to establish County Normal Schools for the education of teachers for the common schools, and the management of such normal schools is placed in the hands of a County Board of Education, to consist of not less than five nor more than eight persons, of whom the Chairman of the County Board and the County Superin- tendent of Schools shall be ex-officio members.

trict Libraries.

: Librarles ..

$ 1,000,000.00

2,772,829,32

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

Boards of Education and Directors may establish kindergartens (when authorized to do so by vote of a majority of the voters of their districts), for children between the ages of four and six years, but the cost of supporting the same must be defrayed by a special tax .- A compulsory pro- vision of the School Law requires that each child, between the ages of seven and fourteen years, shall be sent to school at least sixteen weeks of each year, unless otherwise instructed in the elementary branches, or disqualified by physical or mental disability .- Under the provisions of an act, passed in 1891, women are made eligible to any office created by the general or special school laws of the State, when twenty-one years of age or upwards, and otherwise possessing the same qualifications for the office as are prescribed for men. (For list of incumbents in the office of State Superintendent, see Superintendents of Public Instruction. )

EDWARDS, Arthur, D.D., clergyman, soldier and editor, was born at Norwalk, Ohio, Nov. 23, 1834; educated at Albion, Mich., and the Wes- leyan University of Ohio, graduating from the latter in 1858; entered the Detroit Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church the same year, was ordained in 1860 and, from 1861 until after the battle of Gettysburg, served as Chaplain of the First Michigan Cavalry, when he resigned to accept the colonelcy of a cavalry regiment. In 1864, he was elected assistant editor of "The Northwestern Christian Advocate" at Chicago, and, on the retirement of Dr. Eddy in 1872, became Editor-in-chief, being re-elected every four years thereafter to the present time. He has also been a member of each General Confer- ence since 1872, was a member of the Ecumenical Conference at London in 1881, and has held other positions of prominence within the church.

EDWARDS, Cyrus, pioneer lawyer, was born in Montgomery County, Md., Jan. 17, 1793; at the age of seven accompanied his parents to Ken- tucky, where he received his primary education, and studied law; was admitted to the bar at Kas- kaskia, Ill., in 1815, Ninian Edwards (of whom he was the youngest brother) being then Territorial Governor. During the next fourteen years he resided alternately in Missouri and Kentucky, and, in 1829, took up his residence at Edwards- ville. Owing to impaired health he decided to abandon his profession and engage in general business, later becoming a resident of Upper Alton. In 1832 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature as a Whig, and again, in 1840 and '60, the last time as a Republican; was State

Senator from 1835 to '39, and was also the Whig candidate for Governor, in 1838, in opposition to Thomas Carlin (Democrat), who was elected. He served in the Black Hawk War, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1847, and espe- cially interested in education and in public chari- ties, being, for thirty-five years, a Trustee of Shurtleff College, to which he was a most munificent benefactor, and which conferred on him the degree of LL.D. in 1852. Died at Upper Alton, September, 1877.

EDWARDS, Ninian, Territorial Governor and United States Senator, was born in Montgomery County, Md., March 17, 1775; for a time had the celebrated William Wirt as a tutor, completing his course at Dickinson College. At the age of 19 he emigrated to Kentucky, where, after squander- ing considerable money, he studied law and, step by step, rose to be Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals. In 1809 President Madison appointed him the first Territorial Governor of Illinois. This office he held until the admission of Illinois as a State in 1818, when he was elected United Sates Senator and re-elected on the completion of his first (the short) term. In 1826 he was elected Governor of the State, his successful administra- tion terminating in 1830. In 1832 he became a candidate for Congress, but was defeated by Charles Slade. He was able, magnanimous and incorruptible, although charged with aristocratic tendencies which were largely hereditary. Died, at his home at Belleville, on July 20, 1833, of cholera, the disease having been contracted through self-sacrificing efforts to assist sufferers from the epidemic. His demise cast a gloom over the entire State. Two valuable volumes bearing upon State history, comprising his cor- respondence with many public men of his time, have been published; the first under the title of "History of Illinois and Life of Ninian Edwards," by his son, the late Ninian Wirt Edwards, and the other "The Edwards Papers," edited by the late Elihu B. Washburne, and printed under the auspices of the Chicago Historical Society .- Ninian Wirt (Edwards), son of Gov. Ninian Edwards, was born at Frankfort, Ky., April 15, 1809, the year his father became Territorial Governor of Illinois; spent his boyhood at Kas- kaskia, Edwardsville and Belleville, and was educated at Transylvania University, graduating in 1833. He married Elizabeth P. Todd, a sister of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, was appointed Attor- ney-General in 1834, but resigned in 1835, when he removed to Springfield. In 1836 he was elected to the Legislature from Sangamon

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

County, as the colleague of Abraham Lincoln, being one of the celebrated "Long Nine," and was influential in securing the removal of the State capital to Springfield. He was re-elected to the House in 1838, to the State Senate in 1844, and again to the House in 1848; was also a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1847. Again, in 1850, he was elected to the House, but resigned on account of his change of politics from Whig to Democratic, and, in the election to fill the vacancy, was defeated by James C. Conk- ling. He served as Superintendent of Public Instruction by appointment of Governor Matte- son, 1854-57, and, in 1861, was appointed by President Lincoln, Captain Commissary of Sub- sistence, which position he filled until June, 1865, since which time be remained in private life. He is the author of the "Life and Times of Ninian Edwards" (1870), which was prepared at the request of the State Historical Society. Died, at Springfield, Sept. 2, 1889 .- Benjamin Stevenson (Edwards), lawyer and jurist, another son of Gov. Ninian Edwards, was born at Edwardsville, Ill., June 3, 1818, gradnated from Yale College in 1838, and was admitted to the bar the following year. Originally a Whig, he subsequently became a Democrat, was a Delegate to the Con- stitutional Convention of 1862, and, in 1868, was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in opposi- tion to Shelby M. Cullom. In 1869 he was elected Circuit Judge of the Springfield Circuit, but within eighteen months resigned the position, preferring the excitement and emoluments of private practice to the dignity and scanty salary attaching to the bench. As a lawyer and as a citizen he was universally respected. Died, at his home in Springfield, Feb. 4, 1886, at the time of his decease being President of the Illinois State Bar Association.

EDWARDS, Richard, edncator, ex-Superin- tendent of Public Instruction, was born in Cardi- ganshire, Wales, Dec. 23, 1822; emigrated with his parents to Portage County, Ohio, and began life on a farm; later graduated at the State Normal School, Bridgewater, Mass., and from the Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., receiv- ing the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Civil Engineer; served for a time as a civil engineer on the Boston water works, then beginning a career as a teacher which continued almost unin- terruptedly for thirty-five years. During this period he was connected with the Normal School at Bridgewater; a Boys' High School at Salem, and the State Normal at the same place, coming west in 1857 to establish the Normal School at St.

Louis, Mo., still later becoming Principal of the St. Louis High School, and, in 1862, accepting the Presidency of the State Normal University, at Normal, Ill. It was here where Dr. Edwards, remaining fourteen years, accomplished his greatest work and left his deepest impress upon the educational system of the State by personal contact with its teachers. The next nine years were spent as pastor of the First Congregational church at Princeton, when, after eighteen months in the service of Knox College as Finan- cial Agent, he was again called, in 1886, to a closer connection with the educational field by his election to the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, serving until 1891, when, having failed of a re-election, he soon after assumed the Presidency of Blackburn University at Carlinville. Failing health, however, com- pelled his retirement a year later, when he removed to Bloomington, which is now (189%) his place of residence.

EDWARDS COUNTY, situated in the sonth- eastern part of the State, between Richland and White on the north and south, and Wabash and Wayne on the east and west, and touching the Ohio River on its southeastern border. It was separated from Gallatin County in 1814, during the Territorial period. Its territory was dimin- ished in 1824 by the carving out of Wabash County. The surface is diversified by prairie and timber, the soil fertile and well adapted to the raising of both wheat and corn. The princi- pal streams, besides the Ohio, are Bonpas Creek, on the east, and the Little Wabash River on the west. Palmyra (a place no longer on the map) was the seat for holding the first county court, in 1815, John McIntosh, Seth (tard and William Barney being the Judges. Albion, the present county-seat (population, 937), was laid out by Morris Birkbeck and George Flower (emigrants from England), in 1819, and settled largely by their countrymen, but not incorporated until 1860. The area of the county is 220 square miles, and population, in 1890, 9,444. Grayville, with a population of 2,000 in 1890, is partly in this county, though mostly in White. Edwards County was named in honor of Ninian Edwards the Territorial Governor of Illinois.

EDWARDSVILLE, the county-seat of Madison County, Ill. ; settled in 1812 and named in honor of Ninian Edwards, then the Territorial Gov- ernor. It is situated on three lines of railway. 18 miles northeast of St. Louis, Mo. In early times Edwardsville was the home of a number of the most prominent men in the history of the State.

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

including Governor Edwards, Governor Coles and others. It has brick yards, coal mines, flour mills, and machine shops. In a suburb of the city (Leclaire) is a cooperative manufactory of sanitary supplies, using large shops and doing a prosperous business. Edwardsville has three newspapers. one issued semiweekly. Population (1880), 2,887; (1890), 3,561; (1893, estimated), with suburb, 5,000.

EFFINGHAM, an incorporated city, the county- seat of Effingham County, 98 miles northeast from St. Louis and 199 miles southwest of Chicago. It has three weekly papers and various manu- factures. Population (1880), 3,065; (1890), 3,260.

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, cut off from Fayette (and separately organized) in 1831-named for Gen. Edward Effingham. It is situated in the central portion of the State, 62 miles northeast of St. Louis; has an area of 490 square miles and a population (1890) of 19.358. T. M. Short, I. Fanchon and William I. Hawkins were the first County Commissioners. Effingham, the county-seat, was platted by Messrs. Alexander and Little in 1854. Messrs. Gillenwater, Hawkins and Brown were among the earliest settlers. Several lines of rail- way cross the county. Agriculture and sheep- raising are leading industries, wool being one of the principal products.

EGAN, William Bradshaw, M.D., pioneer phy- sican, was born in Ireland, Sept. 28, 1808; spent some time during his youth in the study of sur- gery in England, later attending lectures at Dub- lin. About 1828 he went to Canada, taught for a time in the schools of Quebec and Montreal and, in 1830, was licensed by the Medical Board of New Jersey and began practice at Newark in that State, later practicing in New York. In 1833 he removed to Chicago and was early recog- nized as a prominent physician : on July 4, 1836, delivered the address at the breaking of ground for the Illinois & Michigan Canal. During the early years of his residence in Chicago, Dr. Egan was owner of the block on which the Tremont House stands, and erected a number of houses there. He was a zealous Democrat and a delegate to the first Convention of that party, held at Joliet in 1843; was elected County Recorder in 1844 and Representative in the Eighteenth Gen- eral Assembly (1853-54). Died, Oct. 27, 1860.

ELBURN, a village of Kane County, on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 8 miles west of Geneva. It has banks and a weekly news- paper. Population (1890), 584.

ELDORADO, a town in Saline County, on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, the

Louisville & Nashville, and the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroads; has a bank and one newspaper; district argicultural. Population, estimated, 1,200.

ELDRIDGE, Hamilton N., lawyer and soldier, was born at South Williamstown, Mass., August, 1837; graduated at Williams College in the class with President Garfield, in 1856, and at Albany Law School, in 1857; soon afterward came to Chicago and began practice; in 1862 assisted in organizing the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, of which he was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, before the end of the year being promoted to the position of Colonel; dis- tinguished himself at Arkansas Post, Chicka- mauga and in the battles before Vicksburg, winning the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General, but, after two years' service, was compelled to retire on account of disability, being carried east on a stretcher. Subsequently he recovered suffi- ciently to resume his profession, but died in Chicago, Dec. 1, 1882, much regretted by a large circle of friends, with whom he was exceedingly popular.

ELECTIONS. The elections of public officers in Illinois are of two general classes: (I) those conducted in accordance with United States laws, and (II) those conducted exclusively under State laws.

I. To the first class belong: (1) the election of United States Senators; (2) Presidential Elect- ors, and (3) Representatives in Congress. 1. (UNITED STATES SENATORS). The election of United States Senators, while an act of the State Legislature, is conducted solely under forms pre- scribed by the laws of the United States. These make it the duty of the Legislature, on the second Tuesday after convening at the session next pre- ceding the expiration of the term for which any Senator may have been chosen, to proceed to elect his successor in the following manner: Each House is required, on the day designated, in open session and by the viva voce vote of each member present, to name some person for United States Senator, the result of the balloting to be entered on the journals of the respective Houses. At twelve o'clock (M.) on the day following the day of election, the members of the two Houses meet in joint assembly, when the journals of both Houses are read. If it appears that the same person has received a majority of all the votes in each House, he is declared elected Senator. If, however, no one has received such majority, or if either House has failed to take proceedings as required on the preceding day, then the members

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

of the two Houses, in joint assembly, proceed to ballot for Senator by viva voce vote of members present. The person receiving a majority of all the votes cast-a majority of the members of both Houses being present and voting-is declared elected; otherwise the joint assembly is renewed at noon each legislative day of the session, and at least one ballot taken until a Senator is chosen. When a vacancy exists in the Senate at the time of the assembling of the Legislature, the same rule prevails as to the time of holding an election to fill it; and, if a vacancy occurs during the session, the Legislature is required to proceed to an election on the second Tuesday after having received official notice of such vacancy. The tenure of a United States Senator for a full term is six years-the regular term beginning with a new Congress-the two Senators from each State belonging to different "classes," so that their terins expire alternately at periods of two and four years from each other .- 2. (PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS). The choice of Electors of President and Vice-President is made by popular vote taken quadrennially on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The date of such election is fixed by act of Congress, being the same as that for Congressman, although the State Legislature prescribes the manner of conducting it and making returns of the same. The number of Electors chosen equals the number of Senators and Representatives taken together (in 1899 it was twenty-four), and they are elected on a gen- eral ticket, a plurality of votes being sufficient to elect. Electors meet at the State capital on the second Monday of January after their election (Act of Congress, 1887), to cast the vote of the State .- 3. (MEMBERS OF CONGRESS). The elec- tion of Representatives in Congress is also held under United States law, occurring biennially - occurs on the intermediate (even) years, and that (on the even years) simultaneously with the gen- eral State election in November. Should Congress select a different date for such election, it would be the duty of the Legislature to recognize it by a corresponding change in the State law relating to the election of Congressmen. The tenure of a Congressman is two years, the election being by Districts instead of a general ticket, as in the case of Presidential Electors-the term of each Representative for a full term beginning with a new Congress, on the 4th of March of the odd years following a general election. (See Con- gressional Apportionment.)

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 30

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