Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 8

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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1822. In 1840 he accompanied his father to his farm on the Des Plaines, but returned to Chicago in 1862, and for years past has been employed on the Chicago police force.

BEBB, William, Governor of Ohio, was born in Hamilton County in that State in 1802; taught school at North Bend, the home of William Henry Harrison, studied law and practiced at Hamilton; served as Governor of Ohio, 1846-48; later led a Welsh colony to Tennessee, but left at the out- break of the Civil War, removing to Winnebago County, Ill., where he had purchased a large body of land. He was a man of uncompromising loyalty and high principle; served as Examiner of Pensions by appointment of President Lincoln and, in 1868, took a prominent part in the cam- paign which resulted in Grant's first election to the Presidency. Died at Rockford, Oct. 23, 1873. A daughter of Governor Bebb married Hon. John P. Reynolds, for many years the Secretary of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, and, during the World's Columbian Exposition, Director-in-Chief of the Illinois Board of World's Fair Commissioners.

BECKER, Charles St. N., ex-State Treasurer, was born in Germany, June 14, 1840, and brought to this country by his parents at the age of 11 years, the family settling in St. Clair County, Ill. Early in the Civil War he enlisted in the Twelfth Missouri regiment, and, at the battle of Pea Ridge, was so severely wounded that it was found necessary to amputate one of his legs. In 1866 he was elected Sheriff of St. Clair County, and, from 1872 to 1880, he served as clerk of the St. Clair Circuit Court. He also served several terms as a City Councilman of Belleville. In 1888 he was elected State Treasurer on the Republican ticket, serving from Jan. 14, 1889, to Jan. 12, 1891.

BECKWITH, Corydon, lawyer and jurist, was born in Vermont in 1823, and educated at Provi- dence, R. I., and Wrentham, Mass. He read law and was admitted to the bar in St. Albans, Vt., where he practiced for two years. In 1853 he removed to Chicago, and, in January, 1864, was appointed by Governor Yates a Justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the five remaining months of the unexpired term of Judge Caton, who had resigned. On retiring from the bench he re- sumed private practice. Died, August 18, 1890.

BECKWITH, Hiram Williams, lawyer and author, was born at Danville, Ill., March 5, 1833. Mr. Beckwith's father, Dan W. Beckwith, a pio- neer settler of Eastern Illinois and one of the founders of the city of Danville, was a native of Wyalusing, Pa., where he was born about 1789,

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

his mother being, in her girlhood, Hannah York, one of the survivors of the famous Wyoming massacre of 1778. In 1817, the senior Beckwith, in company with his brother George, descended the Ohio River, afterwards ascending the Wabash to where Terre Haute now stands, but finally locating in what is now a part of Edgar County, Ill. A year later he removed to the vicinity of the present site of the city of Danville. Having been employed for a time in a surveyor's corps, he finally became a surveyor himself, and, on the organization of Vermilion County, served for a time as County Surveyor by appointment of the Governor, and was also employed by the General Government in surveying lands in the eastern part of the State, some of the Indian reservations in that section of the State being set off by him. In connection with Guy W. Smith, then Receiver of Public Moneys in the Land Office at Palestine, Ill., he donated the ground on which the county-seat of Vermilion County was located, and it took the name of Dan- ville from his first name-"Dan." In 1830 he was elected Representative in the State Legisla- ture for the District composed of Clark, Edgar, and Vermilion Counties, then including all that section of the State between Crawford County and the Kankakee River. He died in 1835. Hiram, the subject of this sketch, thus left fatherless at less than three years of age, received only such education as was afforded in the con- mon schools of that period. Nevertheless, he began the study of law in the Danville office of Lincoln & Lamon, and was admitted to practice in 1854, about the time of reaching his majority. He continued in their office and, on the removal of Lamon to Bloomington in 1859, he succeeded to the business of the firm at Danville. Mr. Lamon-who, on Mr. Lincoln's accession to the Presidency in 1861, became Marshal of the Dis- trict of Columbia-was distantly related to Mr. Beckwith by a second marriage of the mother of the latter. While engaged in the practice of his profession, Mr. Beckwith has been over thirty years a zealous collector of records and other material bearing upon the early history of Illinois and the Northwest, and is probably now the owner of one of the most complete and valuable collections of Americana in Illinois. He is also the author of several monographs on historic themes, including "The Winnebago War," "The Illinois and Indiana Indians," and "Historic Notes of the Northwest," published in the "Fer- gus Series." besides having edited an edition of "Reynolds' History of Illinois" (published by the

same firm), which he has enriched by the addition of valuable notes. During 1895-96 lie contributed a series of valuable articles to "The Chicago Tribune" on various features of early Illinois and Northwest history. In 1890 he was appointed by Governor Fifer a member of the first Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, serving until the expiration of his term in 1894, and was re-appointed to the same position by Governor Tanner in 1897, in each case being chosen President of the Board.

BEECHER, Charles A., attorney and railway solicitor, was born in Herkimer County, N. Y., August 27, 1829, but, in 1836, removed with his family to Licking County, Olio, where he lived upon a farm until he reached the age of 18 years. Having taken a course in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, in 1854 he removed to Illinois, locating at Fairfield, Wayne County. and began the study of law in the office of his brother, Edwin Beecher, being admitted to prac- tice in 1855. In 1867 he united with others in the organization of the Illinois Southeastern Rail- road projected from Shawneetown to Edgewood on the Illinois Central in Effingham County. This enterprise was consolidated, a year or two later, with the Pana, Springfield & Northwest- ern, taking the name of the Springfield & Illinois Southeastern, under which name it was con- structed and opened for traffic in 1871. (This line-which Mr. Beecher served for some time as Vice- President-now constitutes the Beards- town & Shawneetown Division of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern.) The Springfield & Illi- nois Southeastern Company having fallen into financial difficulty in 1873, Mr. Beecher was appointed receiver of the road, and, for a time, had control of its operation as agent for the bond- holders. In 1875 the line was conveyed to the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad (now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio), when Mr. Beecher became General Counsel of the controlling corporation, so remaining until 1888. Since that date he has been one of the assistant counsel of the Baltimore & Ohio system. His present home is in Cincin- nati, although for over a quarter of a century he has been prominently identified with one of the most important railway enterprises in Southern Illinois. In politics Mr. Beecher has always been a Republican, and was one of the few in Wayne County who voted for Fremont in 1856, and for Lincoln in 1860. He was also a member of the Republican State Central Committee of Illinois from 1860 for a period of ten or twelve years.

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

BEECHER, Edward, D. D., clergyman and educator, was born at East Hampton, L. I., August 27, 1803-the son of Rev. Lyman Beecher and the elder brother of Henry Ward; graduated at Yale College in 1822, taught for over a year at Hartford, Conn., studied theology, and after a year's service as tutor in Yale College, in 1826 was ordained pastor of the Park Street Congregational Church in Boston. In 1830 he became President of Illinois College at Jacksonville, remaining until 1844, when he resigned and returned to Boston, serving as pastor of the Salem Street Church in that city until 1856, also acting as senior editor of "The Congregationalist" for four years. In 1856 he returned to Illinois as pastor of the First Con- gregational Church at Galesburg, continuing until 1871, when he removed to Brooklyn, where he resided without pastoral charge, except 1885- 89, when he was pastor of the Parkville Congre- gational Church. While President of Illinois College, that institution was exposed to much hostile criticism on account of his outspoken opposition to slavery, as shown by his participa- tion in founding the first Illinois State Anti- Slavery Society and his eloquent denunciation of the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy. Next to his brother Henry Ward, he was probably the most powerful orator belonging to that gifted family, and, in connection with his able associates in the faculty of the Illinois College, assisted to give that institution a wide reputation as a nursery of independent thought. Up to a short time before his death, he was a prolific writer, his productions (besides editorials, reviews and con- tributions on a variety of subjects) including nine or ten volumes, of which the most impor- tant are: "Statement of Anti-Slavery Principles and Address to the People of Illinois" (1837); "A Plea for Illinois College"; "History of the Alton Riots" (1838); "The Concord of Ages" (1853); "The Conflict of Ages" (1854); "Papal Conspiracy Exposed" (1854), besides a number of others invariably on religious or anti-slavery topics. Died in Brooklyn, July 28, 1895.

BEECHER, William H., clergyman - oldest son of Rev. Lyman Beecher and brother of Edward and Henry Ward-was born at East Hampton, N. Y., educated at home and at An- dover, became a Congregationalist clergyman, occupying pulpits at Newport, R. I., Batavia, N. Y., and Cleveland, Ohio; came to Chicago in his later years, dying at the home of his daugh- ters in that city, June 23, 1889.

BEGGS, (Rev.) Stephen R., pioneer Methodist

Episcopal preacher, was born in Buckingham County, Va., March 30, 1801. His father, who was opposed to slavery, moved to Kentucky in 1805, but remained there only two years, when he removed to Clark County, Ind. The son enjoyed but poor educational advantages here, obtaining his education chiefly by his own efforts in what he called "Brush College." At the age of 21 he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, during the next ten years traveling different circuits in Indiana. In 1831 he was appointed to Chicago, but the Black Hawk War coming on immediately thereafter, he retired to Plainfield. Later he traveled various circuits in Illinois, until 1868, when he was superannuated, occupying his time thereafter in writing remi- niscences of his early history. A volume of this character published by him, was entitled "Pages from the Early History of the West and North- west." He died at Plainfield, Ill., Sept. 9, 1895, in the 95th year of his age.

BEIDLER, Henry, early settler, was born of German extraction in Bucks County, Pa:, Nov. 27, 1812; came to Illinois in 1843, settling first at Springfield, where he carried on the grocery business for five years, then removed to Chicago and engaged in the lumber trade in connection with a brother, afterwards carrying on a large lumber manufacturing business at Muskegon, Mich., which proved very profitable. In 1871 Mr. Beidler retired from the lumber trade, in- vesting largely in west side real estate in the city of Chicago, which appreciated rapidly in value, making him one of the most wealthy real estate owners in Chicago. Died. March 16, 1893 .- Jacob (Beidler), brother of the preceding, was born in Bucks County, Penn., in 1815; came west in 1842, first began working as a carpenter, but later engaged in the grocery business with his brother at Springfield, Ill .; in 1844 removed to Chicago, where he was joined by his brother four years later, when they engaged largely in the lumber trade. Mr. Beidler retired from business in 1891, devoting his attention to large real estate investments. He was a liberal contributor to religious, educational and benevolent institutions. Died in Chicago, March 15, 1898.

BELFIELD, Henry Holmes, educator, was born in Philadelphia, Nov. 17, 1837; was educated at an Iowa College, and for a time was tutor in the same; during the War of the Rebellion served in the army of the Cumberland, first as Lieuten- ant and afterwards as Adjutant of the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, still later being upon the staff of Gen. E. M. McCook, and taking part in the

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

Atlanta and Nashville campaigns. While a prisoner in the hands of the rebels he was placed under fire of the Union batteries at Charleston. Coming to Chicago in 1866, he served as Principal in various public schools, including the North Division High School. He was one of the earli- est advocates of manual training, and, on the establishment of the Chicago Manual Training School in 1884, was appointed its Director-a position which he has continued to occupy. During 1891-92 he made a trip to Europe by appointment of the Government, to investigate the school systems in European countries.

BELKNAP, Hugh Reid, ex-Member of Congress, was born in Keokuk, Iowa, Sept. 1, 1860, being the son of W. W. Belknap, for some time Secre- tary of War under President Grant. After attending the public schools of his native city, he took a course at Adams Academy, Quincy, Mass., and at Phillips Academy, Andover, when he entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, where he remained twelve years in various departments, finally becoming Chief Clerk of the General Manager. In 1892 he retired from this position to become Superintendent of the South Side Elevated Railroad of Chicago. Ile never held any political position until nomi- nated (1894) as a Republican for the Fifty-fourth Congress, in the strongly Democratic Third Dis- trict of Chicago. Although the returns showed a plurality of thirty-one votes for his Democratic opponent (Lawrence McGann), a recount proved him elected, when, Mr. McGann having volun- tarily withdrawn, Mr. Belknap was unanimously awarded the seat. In 1896 he was re-elected from a District usually strongly Democratic, receiving a plurality of 590 votes, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent in 1898, retir- ing from Congress, March 3, 1899, when he re- ceived an appointment as Paymaster in the Army from President Mckinley, with the rank of Major.

BELL, Robert, lawyer, was born in Lawrence County, Ill., in 1829, educated at Mount Carmel and Indiana State University at Bloomington, graduating from the law department of the latter in 1855; while yet in his minority edited "The Mount Carmel Register," during 1851-52 becoming joint owner and editor of the same with his brother, Victor D. Bell. After gradu- ation he opened an office at Fairfield, Wayne County, but, in 1857, returned to Mount Carmel and from 1864 was the partner of Judge E. B. Green, until the appointment of the latter Chief Justice of Oklahoma by President Harrison in 1890. In 1869 Mr. Bell was appointed County

Judge of Lawrence County, being elected to the same office in 1894. He was also President of the Illinois Southern Railroad Company until it was merged into the Cairo & Vincennes Road in 1867; later became President of the St. Louis & Mt. Carmel Railroad, now a part of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis line, and secured the construction of the division from Princeton, Ind., to Albion, Ill. In 1876 he visited California as Special Agent of the Treasury Department to investigate alleged frauds in the Revenue Districts on the Pacific Coast; in 1878 was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket in the strong Democratic Nineteenth District; was appointed, the same year, a member of the Republican State Central Committee for the State-at-large, and, in 1881, officiated by appointment of President Garfield, as Commissioner to examine a section of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad in New Mexico. Judge Bell is a gifted stump-speaker and is known in the southeastern part of the State as the "Silver-tongued Orator of the Wabash."

BELLEVILLE, the county-seat of St. Clair County, a city and railroad center, 14 miles south of east from St. Louis. It is one of the oldest towns in the State, having been selected as the county-seat in 1814 and platted in 1815. It lies in the center of a rich agricultural and coal-bear- ing district and contains numerous factories of various descriptions, including flouring mills, a nail-mill and an extensive rolling mill. It has five newspaper establishments, three being Ger- man which issue daily editions. Its commercial and educational facilities are exceptionally good. Its population is largely of German descent. Population (1880), 10,683; (1890), 15,361.

BELLEVILLE, CENTRALIA & EASTERN RAILROAD. (See Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis (Consolidated) Railroad.)

BELLEVILLE & CARONDELET RAILROAD, a short line of road extending from Belleville to East Carondelet, Ill., 17.3 miles. It was chartered Feb. 20, 1881, and leased to the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company, June 1, 1883. The annual rental is $30,000, a sum equivalent to the interest on the bonded debt. The capital stock (1895) is $500,000 and the bonded debt $185,- 000. In addition to these sums the floating debt swells the entire capitalization to 8995,054 or 857,- 317 per mile.

BELLEVILLE & ELDORADO RAILROAD, a road 50.4 miles in length running from Belle- ville to Duquoin, III. It was chartered Feb. 22, 1861, and completed Oct. 31, 1871. On July 1,

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

'1880, it was leased to the St Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company for 486 years, and has since been operated by that corporation in connection with its Belleville branch, from East St. Louis to Belleville. At Eldorado the road intersects the Cairo & Vincennes Railroad and the Shawneetown branch of the St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad, operated by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. Its capital stock (1895) is $1,000,000 and its bonded debt $550,000. The corporate office is at Belleville.

BELLEVILLE & ILLINOISTOWN RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad.)

BELLEVILLE & SOUTHERN ILLINOIS RAILROAD, a road (laid with steel rails) run- ning from Belleville to Duquoin, Ill., 56.4 miles in length. It was chartered Feb. 15, 1857, and completed Dec. 15, 1873. At Duquoin it connects with the Illinois Central and forms a short line between St. Louis and Cairo. Oct. 1, 1866, it was leased to the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company for 999 years. The capital stock is $1,692,000 and the bonded debt $1,000,- 000. The corporate office is at Belleville.

BELLMONT, a village of Wabash County, on the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Railway, 9 miles west of Mount Carmel. Population (1880), 350; (1890), 487.

BELT RAILWAY COMPANY OF CHICAGO, THE, a corporation chartered, Nov. 22, 1882, and the lessee of the Belt Division of the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad (which see). Its total trackage (all of standard gange and laid with 66- pound steel rails) is 93.26 miles, distributed as fol- lows: Auburn Junction to Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Junction, 15.9 miles; branches from Pull- man Junction to Irondale, Ill., etc., 5.41 miles; second track, 14.1 miles; sidings, 57.85 miles. The cost of construction has been $524,549; capi- tal stock, $1,200,000. It has no funded debt. The earnings for the year ending June 30, 1895, were $556,847, the operating expenses 8378,012, and the taxes $51,009.

BELVIDERE, an incorporated city, the county- seat of Boone County, situated on the Kishwau- kee River, and on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, 78 miles west-northwest of Chicago and 43 miles east of Freeport. The city has eleven churches, graded schools and three banks (two National). Three newspapers are published here. Belvidere also has very considerable manufacturing interests, including two flouring mills, a plow factory, a reaper works, and manu- factories of sewing machines, bed springs and boots and shoes, besides large cheese and pickle

factories. Population (1880), 2,951; (1890), 3,867; (1898) estimated, 5,500.

BEMENT, a town in Piatt County, at the inter- section of the main line of the Wabash Railroad with its Chicago Division, 20 miles east by north from Decatur, and 166 miles south-southwest from Chicago. It has four churches, a graded school, a bank, a weekly newspaper and a flouring mill. Population (1880), 963; (1890), 1,129; popu- lation of the township (1890), 2,487.

BENJAMIN, Reuben Moore, lawyer, born at Chatham Centre, Columbia County, N. Y., June 29, 1833; was educated at Hopkins Academy, Hadley, Mass. ; spent one year in the law depart- ment of Harvard, another as tutor at Amherst and, in 1856, came to Bloomington, Ill., where, on an examination certificate furnished by Abraham Lincoln, he was licensed to practice. The first public office held by Mr. Benjamin was that of Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, in which he took a prominent part in shaping the provisions of the new Constitution relating to corporations. In 1873 he was chosen County Judge of McLean County, by repeated re-elections holding the position until 1886, when he resumed private practice. For more than twenty years he has been connected with the law department of Wesleyan University at Blooming- ton, a part of the time being Dean of the Faculty ; is also the author of several volumes of legal text-books.

BENNETT MEDICAL COLLEGE, an Eclectic Medical School of Chicago, incorporated by special charter and opened in the autumn of 1868. Its first sessions were held in two large rooms; its faculty consisted of seven professors, and there were thirty matriculates. More con- modious quarters were secured the following year, and a still better home after the fire of 1871, in which all the college property was destroyed. Another change of location was made in 1874. In 1890 the property then owned was sold and a new college building, in connection with a hos- pital, erected in a more quiet quarter of the city. A free dispensary is conducted by the college. The teaching faculty (1896) consists of nineteen professors, with four assistants and demonstra- tors. Women are admitted as pupils on equal terms with men.

BENT, Charles, journalist, was born in Chi- cago, Dec. 8, 1844, but removed with his family, in 1856, to Morrison, Whiteside County, where, two years later, he became an apprentice to the printing business in the office of "The Whiteside Sentinel." In June, 1864, he enlisted as a soldier

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

in the One Hundred and Fortieth Illinois (100- days' regiment) and, on the expiration of his term of service, re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Illinois, being mustered out at Savannah, Ga., in January, 1866, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Then resuming lis voca- tion as a printer, in July, 1867, he purchased the office of "The Whiteside Sentinel," in which he learned his trade, and has since been the editor of that paper, except during 1877-79 while engaged in writing a "History of Whiteside County." He is a charter member of the local Grand Army Post and served on the staff of the Department Commander; was Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue during 1870-73, and, in 1878, was elected as a Republican to the State Senate for White- side and Carroll Counties, serving four years. Other positions held by him include the office of City Alderman, member of the State Board of Canal Commissioners (1883-85) and Commissioner of the Joliet Penitentiary (1889-93). He has also been a member of the Republican State Central Committee and served as its Chairman 1886-88.

BENTON, the county-seat of Franklin County, situated about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis, and about 18 miles east of Duquoin. The town stands on a rich, fertile prairie. It has a bank, three churches, two flouring mills and two weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 984; (1890), 939.

BERDAN, James, lawyer and County Judge, was born in New York City, July 4, 1805, and educated at Columbia and Yale Colleges, gradu- ating from the latter in the class of 1824. His father, James Berdan, Sr., came west in the fall of 1819 as one of the agents of a New York Emigration Society, and, in January, 1820, visited the vicinity of the present site of Jacksonville, Ill., but died soon after his return, in part from exposure incurred during his long and arduous winter journey. Thirteen years later (1832) his son, the subject of this sketch, came to the same region, and Jacksonville became his home for the remainder of his life. Mr. Berdan was a well- read lawyer, as well as a man of high principle and sound culture, with pure literary and social tastes. Although possessing unusual capabilities, his refinement of character and dislike of osten- tation made him seek rather the association and esteem of friends than public office. In 1849 he was elected County Judge of Morgan County, serving by a second election until 1857. Later he was Secretary for several years of the Tonica & Petersburg Railroad (at that time in course of construction), serving until it was merged into the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad,

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 8

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