Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 92

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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for General Sherman on the "March to the Sea," and participating in the great review in Wash- ington, in May, 1865. After the conclusion of the war he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the First Arkansas District, was elected from that State to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (1868 and 1870)-being, at the time, the youngest member in that body-and was appointed United States Marshal by Presi- dent Grant. He finally became President of the Merchants' National Bank at Little Rock, with which he remained nearly twenty years. Died, suddenly, of congestion of the brain, May 30, 1893, leaving an estate valued at nearly one and a half millions, of which he gave a large share to charitable purposes and to the city of Little Rock, for the benefit of its hospitals and the im- provement of its parks.

ROSE, James A., Secretary of State, was born at Golconda, Pope County, Ill., Oct. 13, 1850. The foundation of his education was secured in the public schools of his native place, and, after a term in the Normal University at Normal, III., at the age of 18 he took charge of a country school. Soon he was chosen Principal of the Golconda graded schools, was later made County Superintendent of Schools, and re-elected for a second term. During his second term he was admitted to the bar, and, resigning the office of Superintendent, was elected State's Attorney without opposition, being re-elected for another term. In 1889, by appointment of Governor Fifer, he became one of the Trustees of the Pontiac Reformatory, serving until the next year, when he was transferred to the Board of Commissioners of the Southern Illinois Peniten- tiary at Chester, which position he continued to occupy until 1893. In 1896 he was elected Secre- tary of State on the Republican ticket, his term extending to January, 1901.

ROSEVILLE, a village of Warren County, on the Rock Island & St. Louis Division of the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 17 miles northwest of Bushnell; has banks and two news- papers; is in an agricultural and coal-mining district. Population (1880), 804; (1890), 898.

ROSS, Leonard Fulton, soldier, born in Fulton County, Ill., July 18, 1823; was educated in the common schools and at Illinois College, Jackson- ville, studied law and admitted to the bar in 1845; the following year enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Volunteers for the Mexican War, became First Lieutenant and was commended for services at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo; also performed im- portant service as bearer of dispatches for Gen-

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eral Taylor. After the war he served six years as Probate Judge. In May, 1861, he enlisted in the war for the Union, and was chosen Colonel of the Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers, serving with it in Missouri and Kentucky ; was commis- sioned Brigadier-General a few weeks after the capture of Fort Donelson, and, after the evacu- ation of Corinth, was assigned to the command of a division with headquarters at Bolivar, Tenn. Hle resigned in July, 1863, and, in 1867, was appointed by President Johnson Collector of Internal Revenue for the Ninth District: has been three times a delegate to National Repub- lican Conventions and twice defeated as a candi- date for Congress in a Democratic District. Since the war he has devoted his attention largely to stock-raising, having a large stock- farm in Iowa. He is now President of a bank at Lewistown, Ill.

ROSS, (Col.) William, pioneer, was born at Monson, Hampden County, Mass., April 24. 1792; removed with his father's family, in 1805, to Pittsfield, Mass., where he remained until his twentieth year, when he was commissioned an Ensign in the Twenty-first Regiment United States Infantry, serving through the War of 1812 14, and participating in the battle of Sack- ett's Harbor. During the latter part of his serv- ice he acted as drill-master at various points. Then, returning to Pittsfield, he carried on the business of blacksmithing as an employer, mean- while filling some local offices. In 1820, a com- pany consisting of himself and four brothers, with their families and a few others, started for the West, intending to settle in Illinois. Reach- ing the head-waters of the Allegheny overland, they transferred their wagons, teams and other property to flat-boats, descending that stream and the Ohio to Shawneetown, Ill. Here they disembarked and, crossing the State, reached Upper Alton, where they found only one house, that of Maj. Charles W. Hunter. Leaving their families at Upper Alton, the brothers proceeded north, crossing the Illinois River near its mouth, until they reached a point in the western part of the present county of Pike, where the town of Atlas was afterwards located. Here they erected four rough log-cabins, on a beautiful prairie not far from the Mississippi, removing their families thither a few weeks later. They suffered the usual privations incident to life in a new country, not excepting sickness and death of some of their number. At the next session of the Legislature (1820-21) Pike County was estab- lished, embracing all that part of the State west

and north of the Illinois, and including the present cities of Galena and Chicago. The Ross settlement became the nucleus of the town of Atlas, laid out by Colonel Ross and his associates in 1823, at an early day the rival of Quincy, and becoming the second county-seat of Pike County, so remaining from 1824 to 1833, when the seat of justice was removed to Pittsfield. During this period Colonel Ross was one of the most promi- nent citizens of the county, holding, simultane- ously or successively, the offices of Probate Judge, Circuit and County Clerk, Justice of the Peace, and others of a subordinate character. As Colonel of Militia, in 1832, he was ordered by Governor Reynolds to raise a company for the Black Hawk War, and, in four days, reported at Beardstown with twice the number of men called for. In 1834 he was elected to the lower branch of the General Assembly, also serving in the Senate during the three following sessions, a part of the time as President pro temn. of the last- named body. While in the General Assembly he was instrumental in seenring legislation of great importance relating to Military Tract lands. The year following the establishment of the county-seat at Pittsfield (1834) he became a citi- zen of that place, which he had the privilege of naming for his early home. He was a member of the Republican State Convention of 1856, and a delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1860, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for Presi- dent the first time. Beginning life poor he acquired considerable property ; was liberal, pub- lic-spirited and patriotic, making a handsome donation to the first company organized in Pike County, for the suppression of the Rebellion. Died, at Pittsfield, May 31, 1873.

ROSSVILLE, a village of Vermilion County, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 19 miles north of Danville; has shoe and canning factories, tile and brick-works, banks and two newspapers. Population (1880), 768; (1890), 879.

ROUNDS, Sterling Parker, public printer, was born in Berkshire, Vt., June 27, 1828; about 1840 began learning the printer's trade at Ken- osha, Wis., and, in 1845, was foreman of the State printing office at Madison, afterward working in offices in Milwaukee. Racine and Buffalo, going to Chicago in 1851. Here he finally established a printer's warehouse, to which he later added an electrotype foundry and the manufacture of presses, also commencing the issue of "Round's Printers' Cabinet," a trade-paper, which was continued during his life. In 1881 he was ap- pointed by President Garfield Public Printer at

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Washington, serving until 1885, when he removed to Omaha, Neb., and was identified with "The Republican," of that city, until his death, Dec. 17, 1887.

ROUNTREE, Hiram, County Judge, horn in Rutherford County, N. C., Dec. 22, 1794; was brought to Kentucky in infancy, where he grew to manhood and served as an Ensign in the War of 1812 under General Shelby. In 1817 he re- moved to Illinois Territory, first locating in Madison County, where he taught school for two years near Edwardsville, but removed to Fayette County about the time of the removal of the State capital to Vandalia. On the organization of Montgomery County, in 1821, he was appointed to office there and ever afterwards resided at Hillsboro. For a number of years in the early history of the county, he held (at the same time) the offices of Clerk of the County Commissioners Court, Clerk of the Circuit Court, County Recorder, Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Master in Chancery and Judge of Probate, besides that of Postmaster for the town of Hillsboro. In 1826 he was elected Enrolling and Engrossing Clerk of the Senate and re-elected in 1830; served as Delegate in the Constitutional Convention of 1847, and the next year was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Sixteenth and Seven- teenth General Assemblies. On retiring from the Senate (1852), he was elected County Judge without opposition, was re-elected to the same office in 1861, and again, in 1865, as the nominee of the Republicans. Judge Rountree was noted for his sound judgment and sterling integrity. Died, at Hillsboro, March 4, 1873.

ROUTT, John L., soldier and Governor, was born at Eddyville, Ky., April 25, 1826, brought to Illinois in infancy and educated in the com- mon schools. Soon after coming of age he was elected and served one term as Sheriff of McLean County ; in 1862 enlisted and became Captain of Company E, Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers. After the war he engaged in business in Bloom- ington, and was appointed by President Grant, successively, United States Marshal for the Southern District of Illinois, Second Assistant Postmaster-General and Territorial Governor of Colorado. On the admission of Colorado as a State, he was elected the first Governor under the State Government, and re-elected in 1890-serv- ing, in all, three years. His home is in Denver. He has been extensively and successfully identi- fied with mining enterprises in Colorado.

ROWELL, Jonathan H., ex-Congressman, was born at Haverhill, N. H., Feb. 10, 1833. He is a

graduate of Eureka College and of the Law Department of the Chicago University. During the War of the Rebellion he served three years as company officer in the Seventeenth Illinois Infantry. In 1868 he was elected State's Attor- ney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, and, in 1880, was a Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket. In 1882 he was elected to Congress from the Fourteenth Illinois District and three times re-elected, serving until March, 1891. His home is at Bloomington.

ROWETT, Richard, soldier, was born in Corn- wall, England, in 1830, came to the United States in 1851, finally settling on a farm near Carlinville, Ill., and becoming a breeder of thorough-bred horses. In 1861 he entered the service as a Captain in the Seventh Illinois Volunteers and was successively promoted Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel; was wounded in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth and Allatoona, especially distinguishing himself at the latter and being brevetted Brigadier-General for gallantry. After the war he returned to his stock-farm, but later held the positions of Canal Commissioner, Penitentiary Commissioner, Rep- resentative in the Thirtieth General Assem- bly and Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fourth (Quincy) District, until its consolidation with the Eighth District by President Cleveland. Died, in Chicago, July 13, 1887.

RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE, located in Chi- cago; incorporated by act of March 2, 1837, the charter having been prepared the previous year by Drs. Daniel Brainard and Josiah C. Goodliue. The extreme financial depression of the following year prevented the organization of a faculty until 1843. The institution was named in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the eminent practitioner, medical author and teacher of Philadelphia in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The first faculty consisted of four professors, and the first term opened on Dec. 4, 1843, with a class of twenty-two students. Three years' study was required for graduation, but only two annual terms of sixteen weeks each need be attended at the college itself. Instruction was given in a few rooms temporarily opened for that purpose. The next year a small building, costing between $3,000 and 84,000, was erected. This was re-ar- ranged and enlarged in 1855 at a cost of $15,000. The constant and rapid growth of the college necessitated the erection of a new building in 1867, the cost of which was $70,000. This was destroyed in the fire of 1871, and another, costing $54,000, was erected in 1876 and a free dispensary

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added. In 1844 the Presbyterian Hospital was located on a portion of the college lot, and the two institutions connected, thus insuring abun- dant and stable facilities for clinical instruction. Shortly afterwards, Rush College became the medical department of Lake Forest University. The present faculty (1898) consists of 95 profes- sors, adjunct professors, lecturers and instructors of all grades, and over 600 students in attend- ance. The length of the annual terms is six months, and four years of study are required for graduation, attendance upon at least three col- lege terms being compulsory.

RUSHVILLE, the county-seat of Schuyler County, 50 miles northeast of Quincy and 11 miles northwest of Beardstown; is the southern terminus of the Buda and Rushville branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The town was selected as the county-seat in 1826, the seat of justice being removed from a place called Beardstown, about five miles eastward (not the present Beardstown in Cass County), where it had been located at the time of the organization of Schuyler County, a year previous. At first the new seat of justice was called Rush- ton, in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, but after- wards took its present name. It is a coal-mining, grain and fruit-growing region, and contains several manufactories, including flour-mills, brick and tile works; also has two banks (State and private) and a public library. Three periodicals (one daily) are published here. Population (1880), 1,662; (1890), 2,031.

RUSSELL, John, pioneer teacher and author, was born at Cavendish, Vt., July 31, 1793, and educated in the common schools of his native State and at Middlebury College, where he gradu- ated in 1818-having obtained means to support himself, during his college course, by teaching and by the publication, before he had reached his 20th year, of a volume entitled "The Authentic History of Vermont State Prison." After gradu- ation he taught for a short time in Georgia; but, early in the following year, joined his father on the way to Missouri. The next five years he spent in teaching in the "Bonhommie Bottom" on the Missouri River. During this period he published, anonymously, in "The St. Charles Mis- sourian," a temperance allegory entitled "The Venomous Worm" (or "The Worm of the Still"), which gained a wide popularity and was early recognized by the compilers of school-readers as a sort of classic. Leaving this locality he taught a year in St. Louis, when he removed to Vandalia (then the capital of Illinois), after which he spent

two years teaching in the Seminary at Upper Alton, which afterwards became Shurtleff College. In 1828 he removed to Greene County, locating at a point near the Illinois River to which he gave the name of Bluffdale. Here he was li- censed as a Baptist preacher, officiating in this ca- pacity only occasionally, while pursuing his calling as a teacher or writer for the press, to which he was an almost constant contributor during the last twenty-five years of his life. About 1837 or 1838 he was editor of a paper called "The Backwoodsman" at Grafton-then a part of Greene County, but now in Jersey County-to which he afterwards continued to be a contribu- tor some time longer, and, in 1841-42, was editor of "The Advertiser, ' at Louisville, Ky. He was also, for several years, Principal of the Spring Hill Academy in East Feliciana Parish, La., meanwhile serving for a portion of the time as Superintendent of Public Schools. He was the author of a number of stories and sketches, some of which went through several editions, and, at the time of his death, had in preparation a his- tory of "The Black Hawk War," "Evidences of Christianity" and a "History of Illinois." He was an accomplished linguist, being able to read with fluency Greek, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian, besides having considerable familiarity with several other modern languages. In 1862 he received from the University of Chicago the degree of LL.D. Died, Jan. 2, 1863, and was' buried on the old homestead at Bluffdale.

RUSSELL, Martin J., politician and journal- ist, born in Chicago, Dec. 20, 1845. He was a nephew of Col. James A. Mulligan (see Mulligan, James A.) and served with credit as Adjutant- General on the staff of the latter in the Civil War. In 1870 he became a reporter on "The Chicago Evening Post." and was advanced to the position of city editor. Subsequently he was connected with "The Times," and "The Tele- gram"; was also a member of the Board of Edu- cation of Hyde Park before the annexation of that village to Chicago, and has been one of the South Park Commissioners of the city last named. After the purchase of "The Chicago Times" by Carter H. Harrison he remained for a time on the editorial staff. In 1894 President Cleveland appointed him Collector of the Port of Chicago. At the expiration of his term of office he resumed editorial work as editor-in-chief of "The Chron- icle," the organ of the Democratic party in Chicago.

RUTHERFORD, Friend S., lawyer and sol- dier, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., Sept. 25,

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1820; studied law in Troy and removed to Illi- nois, settling at Edwardsville, and finally at Alton; was a Republican candidate for Presi- dential Elector in 1856, and, in 1860, a member of the National Republican Convention at Chicago, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency. In September, 1862, he was commissioned Colonel of the Ninety-seventh Illinois Volunteers, and participated in the capture of Port Gibson and in the operations about Vicksburg-also leading in the attack on Arkansas Post, and subsequently serving in Louisiana, but died as the result of fatigue and exposure in the service, June 20, 1864, one week before his promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General .- Reuben C. (Rutherford), brother of the preceding, was born at Troy, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1823, but grew up in Vermont and New Hampshire; received a degree in law when quite young, but afterwards fitted himself as a lec- turer on physiology and hygiene, upon which he lectured extensively in Michigan, Illinois and other States after coming west in 1849. During 1854-55, in co-operation with Prof. J. B. Turner and others, he canvassed and lectured extensively throughout Illinois in support of the movement which resulted in the donation of public lands, by Congress, for the establishment of "Industrial Colleges" in the several States. The establish- ment of the University of Illinois, at Champaign, was the outgrowth of this movement. In 1856 he located at Quincy, where he resided some thirty years; in 1861, served for several months as the first Commissary of Subsistence at Cairo; was later associated with the State Quartermaster's Department, finally entering the secret service of the War Department, in which he remained until 1867, retiring with the rank of brevet Brigadier- General. In 1886, General Rutherford removed to New York City, where he died, June 24, 1895 .- George V. (Rutherford), another brother, was born at Rutland, Vt., 1830; was first admitted to the bar, but afterwards took charge of the con- struction of telegraph lines in some of the Southi- ern States; at the beginning of the Civil War became Assistant Quartermaster-General of the State of Illinois, at Springfield, under ex-Gov. John Wood, but subsequently entered the Quartermaster's service of the General Govern- ment in Washington, retiring after the war with the rank of Brigadier-General. He then returned to Quincy, Ill., where he resided until 1872, when he engaged in manufacturing business at North- ampton, Mass., but finally removed to California for the benefit of his failing health. Died, at St. Helena, Cal., August 28, 1872.

RUTLAND, a village of La Salle County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 25 miles south of La Salle; has a bank and a local newspaper, with coal mines in the vicinity. Population (1890), 509.

RUTLEDGE, (Rev.) William J., clergyman, Army Chaplain, born in Augusta County, Va., June 24, 1820; was converted at the age of 12 years and, at 21, became a member of the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving various churches in the central and west- ern parts of the State-also acting, for a time, as Agent of the Illinois Conference Female College at Jacksonville. From 1861 to 1863 he was Chap- lain of the Fourteenth Regiment Illinois Volun- teers. Returning from the war, he served as pastor of churches at Jacksonville, Bloomington, Quincy, Rushville, Springfield, Griggsville and other points; from 1881 to '84 was Chaplain of the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet. Mr. Rutledge was one of the founders of the Grand Army of the Republic, and served for many years as Chaplain of the order for the Department of Illinois. In connection with the ministry, he has occupied a supernumerary relation since 1885. His present home is in Jacksonville.

RUTZ, Edward, State Treasurer, was born in a village in the Duchy of Baden, Germany, May 5, 1829; came to America in 1848, locating on a farın in St. Clair County, Ill .; went to California in 1857, and, early iu 1861, enlisted in the Third United States Artillery at San Francisco, serving with the Army of the Potomac until his discharge in 1864, and taking part in every battle in which his command was engaged. After his return in 1865, he located in St. Clair County, and was elected County Surveyor, served three consecu- tive terms as County Treasurer, and was elected State Treasurer three times-1872, '76 and '80. About 1892 he removed to California, where he now resides.

RYAN, Edward G., early editor and jurist, born at Newcastle House, County Meath, Ireland, Nov. 13, 1810; was educated for the priesthood, but turned his attention to law, and, in 1830, came to New York and engaged in teaching while prosecuting his legal studies; in 1836 re- moved to Chicago, where he was admitted to the bar and was, for a time, associated in practice with Hugh T. Dickey. In April, 1840, Mr. Ryan assumed the editorship of a weekly paper in Chi- cago called "The Illinois Tribune," which he conducted for over a year, and, which is remem- bered chiefly on account of its bitter assaults on Judge John Pearson of Danville, who had

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aroused the hostility of some members of the Chicago bar by his rulings upon the bench. About 1842 Ryan removed to Milwaukee, Wis., where he was, for a time, a partner of Matthew H. Carpenter (afterwards United States Senator), and was connected with a number of celebrated trials before the courts of that State, including the Barstow-Bashford case, which ended with Bashford becoming the first Republican Governor of Wisconsin. In 1874 he was appointed Chief Justice of Wisconsin, serving until his death, which occurred at Madison, Oct. 19, 1880. He was a strong partisan, and, during the Civil War, was an intense opponent of the war policy of the Government. In spite of infirmities of temper, he appears to have been a man of much learning and recognized legal ability.

RYAN, James, Roman Catholic Bishop, born in Ireland in 1848 and emigrated to America in childhood; was educated for the priesthood in Kentucky, and, after ordination, was made a pro- fessor in St. Joseph's Seminary, at Bardstown, Ky. In 1878 he removed to Illinois, attaching himself to the diocese of Peoria, and having charge of parishes at Wataga and Danville. In 1881 he became rector of the Ottawa parish, within the episcopal jurisdiction of the Arch- bishop of Chicago. In 1888 he was made Bishop of the see of Alton, the prior incumbent (Bishop Baltes) having died in 1886.

SACS AND FOXES, two confederated Indian tribes, who were among the most warlike and powerful of the aborigines of the Illinois Country. The Foxes called themselves the Musk-wah-ha- kee, a name compounded of two words, signify- ing "those of red earth." The French called them Ou-ta-ga-mies, that being their spelling of the name given them by other tribes, the mean- ing of which was "Foxes." and which was bestowed upon them because their totem (or armorial device, as it may be called) was a fox. They seem to have been driven westward from the northern shore of Lake Ontario, by way of Niagara and Mackinac, to the region around Green Bay, Wis .- Concerning their allied breth- ren, the Sacs, less is known. The name is vari- ously spelled in the Indian dialects-Ou-sa-kies, Sauks, etc .- and the term Sacs is unquestionably an abbreviated corruption. Black Hawk be- longed to this tribe. The Foxes and Sacs formed a confederation according to aboriginal tradition, on what is now known as the Sac River, near Green Bay, but the date of the alliance cannot be determined. The origin of the Sacs is equally

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 92

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