Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 99

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

USA > Illinois > Knox County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Lake County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Mercer County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Kane County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Coles County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Clark County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > McDonough County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99
USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 99

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

SOUTH GROVE, a village of De Kalb County. Population (1890), 730.

SPALDING, Jesse, manufacturer. Collector of Customs and Street Railway President, was born at Athens, Bradford County, Pa., April 15, 1833; early commenced lumbering on the Susquehanna, and, at 23, began dealing on his own account. In 1857 he removed to Chicago, and soon after bought the property of the New York Lumber Company at the mouth of the Menominee River in Wiscon- sin, where, with different partners, and finally practically alone, he has carried on the business of lumber manufacture on a large scale ever since. In 1881 he was appointed, by President Arthur, Collector of the Port of Chicago, and, in 1889, received from President Harrison an appointment as one of the Government Directors of the Union Pacific Railway. Mr. Spalding was a zealous supporter of the Government during the War of the Rebellion and rendered valuable aid in the construction and equipment of Camp Douglas and the barracks at Chicago for the returning soldiers, receiving Auditor's warrants in payment, when no funds in the State treasury were available for the purpose. He was associ- ated with William B. Ogden and others in the project for connecting Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay by a ship canal, which was completed in 1882, and, on the death of Mr. Ogden, succeeded to the Presidency of the Canal Company, serving until 1893, when the canal was turned over to the General Government. He has also been identified with many other public enterprises intimately connected with the development and prosperity of Chicago, and, in July, 1899, became President of the Chicago Union Traction Company, having control of the North and West Chicago Street Railway Systems.

SPALDING, John Lancaster, Catholic Bishop, was born in Lebanon, Ky., June 2, 1840; educated in the United States and in Europe, ordained a priest in the Catholic Church in 1863, and there- upon attached to the cathedral at Louisville, as assistant. In 1869 he organized a congregation of colored people, and built for their use the Church of St. Augustine, having been assigned to that parish as pastor. Soon afterwards he was appointed Secretary to the Bishop and made Chancellor of the Diocese. In 1873 he was trans- ferred from Louisville to New York, where he was attached to the missionary parish of St. Michael's. He had, by this time, achieved no little fame as a pulpit orator and lecturer. When the diocese of Peoria, Ill., was created, in 1877, the choice of the Pope fell upon him for the new see, and he was consecrated Bishop, on May 1 of that year, by Cardinal McCloskey at New York. His

494

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

administration has been characterized by both energy and success. He has devoted much atten- tion to the subject of emigration, and has brought about the founding of many new settlements in the far West. He was also largely instrumental in bringing about the founding of the Catholic University at Washington. He is a frequent contributor to the reviews, and the author of a number of religious works.

SPANISH INVASION OF ILLINOIS. In the month of June, 1779, soon after the declaration of war between Spain and Great Britain, an expe- dition was organized in Canada, to attack the Spanish posts along the Mississippi. Simultane- ously, a force was to be dispatched from Pensa- cola against New Orleans, then commanded by a young Spanish Colonel, Don Bernardo de Galvez. Secret instructions had been sent to British Commandants, all through the Western country, to co-operate with both expeditions. De Galvez, having learned of the scheme through intercepted letters, resolved to forestall the attack by becoming the assailant. At the head of a force of 670 men, he set out and captured Baton Rouge, Fort Manchac and Natchez, almost with- out opposition. The British in Canada, being ignorant of what had been going on in the South, in February following dispatched a force from Mackinac to support the expedition from Pensa- cola, and, incidentally, to subdue the American rebels while en route. Cahokia and Kaskaskia were contemplated points of attack, as well as the Spanish forts at St. Louis and St. Genevieve. This movement was planned by Capt. Patrick Sinclair, commandant at Mackinac, but Captain Hesse was placed in charge of the expedition, which numbered some 750 men, including a force of Indians led by a chief named Wabasha. The British arrived before St. Louis, early on the morning of May 26, 1780, taking the Spaniards by surprise. Meanwhile Col. George Rogers Clark, having been apprised of the project, arrived at Cahokia from the falls of the Ohio, twenty-four hours in advance of the attack, his presence and readiness to co-operate with the Spanish, no doubt, contributing to the defeat of the expedition. The accounts of what followed are conflicting, the number of killed on the St. Lonis shore heing variously estimated from seven or eight to sixty-eight-the last being the esti- inate of Capt. Sinclair in his official report. All agree, however, that the invading party was forced to retreat in great haste. Colonel Mont- gomery, who had been in command at Cahokia, with a force of 350 and a party of Spanish allies,

pursued the retreating invaders as far as the Rock River, destroying many Indian villages on the way. This movement on the part of the British served as a pretext for an attempted re- prisal, undertaken by the Spaniards, with the aid of a number of Cahokians, early in 1781. Starting early in January, this latter expedition crossed Illinois, with the design of attacking Fort St. Joseph, at the head of Lake Michigan, which had been captured from the English by Thomas Brady and afterwards retaken. The Spaniards were com- manded by Don Eugenio Pourre, and supported by a force of Cahokians and Indians. The fort was easily taken and the British flag replaced by the ensign of Spain. The affair was regarded as of but little moment, at the time, the post being evacuated in a few days, and the Spaniards returning to St. Louis. Yet it led to serious international complications, and the "conquest" was seriously urged by the Spanish ministry as giving that country a right to the territory trav- ersed. This claim was supported by France before the signing of the Treaty of Paris, but was defeated, through the combined efforts of Messrs. Jay, Franklin and Adams, the American Commissioners in charge of the peace negoti- ations with England.

SPARKS, (Capt.) David R., manufacturer and legislator, was born near Lanesville, Ind., in 1823; in 1836, removed with his parents to Ma- coupin County, Ill .; in 1847, enlisted for the Mexican War, crossing the plains to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1850 he made the overland trip to California, returning the next year by the Isthmus of Panama. In 1855 he engaged in the milling business at Staunton, Macoupin County, but, in 1860, made a third trip across the plains in search of gold, taking a quartz-mill which was erected near where Central City, Colo., now is, and which was the second steam-engine in that region. He returned home in time to vote for Stephen A. Douglas for President, the same year, but became a stalwart Republican, two weeks later, when the advocates of secession began to develop their policy after the election of Lincoln. In 1861 he enlisted, under the call for 500,000 vol- unteers following the first battle of Bull Run, and was commissioned a Captain in the Third Illinois Cavalry (Col. Eugene A. Carr), serving two and a half years, during which time he took part in several hard-fought battles, and being present at the fall of Vicksburg. At the end of his service he became associated with his former partner in the erection of a large flouring mill at Litchfield. but, in 1869, the firm bought an extensive flour-

495

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

ing mill at Alton, of which he became the princi- pal owner in 1881, and which has since been greatly enlarged and improved, until it is now one of the most extensive establishments of its kind in the State. Capt. Sparks was elected to the House of Representatives in 1888, and to the State Senate in 1894, serving in the sessions of 1895 and '97; was also strongly supported as a candidate for the Republicau nomination for Congress in 1896.

SPARKS, William A. J., ex-Congressman, was born near New Albany, Ind., Nov. 19, 1828, at 8 years of age was brought by his parents to Illi- nois, and shortly afterwards left an orphan. Thrown on his own resources, he found work upon a farm, his attendance at the district schools being limited to the winter months. Later, he passed through McKendree College, supporting himself, meanwhile, by teaching, graduating in 1850. He read law with Judge Sidney Breese, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. His first public office was that of Receiver of the Land Office at Edwardsville, to which he was appointed by President Pierce in 1853, re- maining until 1856, when he was chosen Presi- dential Elector on the Democratic ticket. The same year he was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly, and, in 1863-64, served in the State Senate for the unexpired term of James M. Rodgers, deceased. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1868, and a Democratic Representative in Congress from 1875 to 1883. In 1885 he was appointed, by President Cleveland, Commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington, retiring, by resignation, in 1887. His home is at Carlyle.

SPARTA & ST. GENEVIEVE RAILROAD. (See Centralia & Chester Railroad.)

SPEED, Joshna Fry, merchant, and intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln; was educated in the local schools and at St. Joseph's College, Bards- town, Ky:, after which he spent some time in a wholesale mercantile establishment in Louisville. About 1835 he came to Springfield, Ill., where he engaged in the mercantile business, later becom- ing the intimate friend and associate of Abraham Lincoln, to whom he offered the privilege of sharing a room over his store, when Mr. Lincoln removed from New Salem to Springfield, in 1836. Mr. Speed returned to Kentucky in 1842, but the friendship with Mr. Lincoln, which was of a most devoted character, continued until the death of the latter. Having located in Jefferson County, Ky., Mr. Speed was elected to the Legis- lature in 1848, but was never again willing to

accept office, though often solicited to do so. In 1851 he removed to Louisville, where he acquired a handsome fortune in the real-estate business. On the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, he heartily embraced the cause of the Union, and. during the war, was entrusted with many deli- cate and important duties in the interest of the Government, by Mr. Lincoln, whom he frequently visited in Washington. His death occurred at Louisville, May 29, 1882 .- James (Speed), an older brother of the preceding, was a prominent Unionist of Kentucky, and, after the war, a leading Republican of that State, serving as dele- gate to the National Republican Conventions of 1872 and 1876. In 1864 he was appointed Attor- ney-General by Mr. Lincoln and served until 1866, when he resigned on account of disagreement with President Johnson. He died in 1887, at the age of 75 years.

SPOON RIVER, rises in Bureau County, flows southward through Stark County into Peoria, thence southwest through Knox, and to the south and southeast, through Fulton County, entering the Illinois River opposite Havana. It is about 150 miles long.

SPRINGER, (Rev.) Francis, D.D., educator and Army Chaplain, born in Franklin County, Pa., March 19, 1810; was left an orphan at an early age, and educated at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg; entered the Lutheran ministry in 1836, and, in 1839, removed to Springfield, Ill., where he preached and taught school; in 1847 became President of Hillsboro College, which, in 1852, was removed to Springfield and became Illi- nois State University, now known as Concordia Seminary. Later, he served for a time as Super- intendent of Schools for the city of Springfield, but, in September, 1861, resigned to accept the Chaplaincy of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry ; by suc- cessive resignations and appointments, held the positions of Chaplain of the First Arkansas Infan- try (1863-64) and Post Chaplain at Fort Smith, Ark., serving in the latter position until April. 1867, when he was commissioned Chaplain of the United States Army. This position he resigned while stationed at Fort Harker, Kan., August 23, 1867. During a considerable part of his incum- bency as Chaplain at Fort Smith, he acted as Agent of the Bureau of Refugees and Freedmen, performing important service in caring for non- combatants rendered homeless by the vicissitudes of war. After the war he. served, for a time, as Superintendent of Schools for Montgomery County, Ill .; was instrumental in the founding of Carthage (Ill.) College, and was a member of

496

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

its Board of Control at the time of his death. He was elected Chaplain of the Illinois House of Representatives at the session of the Thirty-fifth General Assembly (1887), and Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Illinois for two consecutive terms (1890-'92). He was also member of the Stephenson Post, No. 30, G. A. R., at Springfield, and served as its Chaplain from January, 1884, to his death, which occurred at Springfield, Oct. 21, 1892.

SPRINGER, William McKendree, ex-Congress- man, Justice of United States Court, was born in Sullivan County, Ind., May 30, 1836. In 1848 he removed with his parents to Jacksonville, Ill., was fitted for college in the public high school at Jacksonville, under the tuition of the late Dr. Bateman, entered Illinois College, remaining three years, when he removed to the Indiana State University, graduating there in 1858. The following year he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Logan County, but soon after removed to Springfield. He entered public life as Secretary of the Constitutional Convention of 1862. In 1871-72 he represented Sangamon County in the Legislature, and, in 1874, was elected to Congress from the Thirteenth Illinois District as a Democrat. From that time until the close of the Fifty-third Congress (1895), he served in Congress continuously, and was recog- nized as one of the leaders of his party on the floor, being at the head of many important com- mittees when that party was in the ascendancy, and a candidate for the Democratic caucus nomi- nation for Speaker, in 1893. In 1894 he was the candidate of his party for Congress for the eleventh time, but was defeated by his Repub- lican opponent, James A. Connolly. In 1895 President Cleveland appointed him United States District Judge for Indian Territory.

SPRINGFIELD, the State capital, and the county-seat of Sangamon County, situated five miles south of the Sangamon River and 185 miles southwest of Chicago; is an important railway center. The first settlement on the site of the present city was made by John Kelly in 1819. On April 10, 1821, it was selected, by the first Board of County Commissioners, as the temporary county-seat of Sangamon County, the organi- zation of which had been authorized by act of the Legislature in January previous, and the name Springfield was given to it. In 1823 the selection was made permanent. The latter year the first sale of lands took place, the original site being entered by Pascal P. Enos, Elijah Iles and Thomas Cox. The town was platted about the

same time, and the name "Calhoun" was given to a section in the northwest quarter of the present city-this being the "hey-day" of the South Carolina statesman's greatest popularity-but the change was not popularly accepted, and the new name was soon dropped. It was incorpo- rated as a town, April 2, 1832, and as a city, April 6, 1840; and re-incorporated, under the general, law in 1882. It was made the State capital by act of the Legislature, passed at the session of 1837, which went into effect, July 4, 1839, and the Legislature first convened there in December of the latter year. The general surface is flat, though there is rolling ground to the west. The city has excellent water-works, a paid fire-depart- ment, six banks, electric street railways, gas and electric lighting, commedious hotels, fine churches, numerous handsome residences, beauti- ful parks, thorough sewerage, and is one of the best paved and handsomest cities in the State. The city proper, in 1890, contained an area of four square miles, but has since been enlarged by the annexation of the following suburbs: North Springfield, April 7, 1891; West Springfield, Jan. 4, 1898; and South Springfield and the village of Laurel, April 5, 1898. These additions give to the present city an area of 5.84 square miles. The population of the original city, according to the census of 1880, was 19,743, and, in 1890, 24, 963, while that of the annexed suburbs, at the last census, was 2,109-making a total of 29,072. The latest school census (1898) showed a total popu- lation of 33,375-estimated population (1899), 35,000. Besides the State House, the city has a handsome United States Government Building for United States Court and post-office purposes, a county courthouse (the former State capitol), a city hall and (State) Executive Mansion. Springfield was the home of Abraham Lincoln. His former residence has been donated to the State, and his tomb and monument are in the beautiful Oak Ridge cemetery, adjoining the city. Springfield is an important coal-mining center, and has many important industries, notably a watch factory, rolling mills, and exten- sive manufactories of agricultural implements and furniture. It is also the permanent location of the State Fairs, for which extensive buildings have been erected on the Fair Grounds north of the city. There are three daily papers-two morning and one evening-published here, be- sides various other publications.

SPRINGFIELD, EFFINGHAM & SOUTH- EASTERN RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Indian- apolis & Eastern Railroad.)

497

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

SPRINGFIELD & ILLINOIS SOUTHEAST- ERN RAILROAD. (See Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad.)

SPRINGFIELD & NORTHWESTERN RAIL- ROAD. (See Chicago, Peoria & St Louis Railroad of Illinois.)

SPRING VALLEY, an incorporated city in Bureau County, at the intersection of the Chicago & Northwestern, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railways, 100 miles southwest of Chicago. It lies in a coal-mining region and has important manufacturing interests as well. It has national bank, with a capital of $50,000, and one daily and two weekly newspapers. Popula- tion (1890), 3,837.

ST. AGATHA'S SCHOOL, an institution for young ladies, at Springfield, under the patronage of the Bishop of the Episcopal Church, incorpo- rated in 1889. It has a faculty of eight teachers giving instruction in the preparatory and higher branches, including music and fine arts. It reported fifty-five pupils in 1894, and real estate valued at $15,000.

ST. ALBAN'S ACADEMY, a boys' and young men's school at Knoxville, Ill., incorporated in 1896 under the auspices of the Episcopal Church; in 1898 had a faculty of seven teachers, with forty-five pupils, and property valued at $61.100, of which $54,000 was real estate. Instruction is given in the classical and scientific branches, besides music and preparatory studies.

ST. ANNE, a village of Kankakee County, at the crossing of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railways, 67 miles south of Chicago. The dis- trict is agricultural. The town has a bank and a weekly newspaper. Population (1890), 718.

ST. CHARLES, a city in Kane County, on Fox River, and the point of intersection of the Chi- cago & Northwestern and the Chicago Great Western Railways. It is situated 38 miles west of Chicago and 8 miles south of Elgin. The river furnishes excellent water power, which is only partially utilized. Manufacturing is carried on to some extent, and there is a large dairy inter- est. The city lies on both sides of the Fox River, and has a number of handsome private resi- dences. Population (1880), 1,533; (1890), 1,690.

ST. CLAIR, Arthur, first Governor of the Northwest Territory, was born of titled ancestry at Thurso, Scotland, in 1734; came to America in 1757 as an ensign, having purchased his commis- sion, participated in the capture of Louisburg. Canada, in 1758, and fought under Wolfe at

Quebec. In 1764 he settled in Pennsylvania, where he amassed a moderate fortune, and be- came prominent in public affairs. He served with distinction during the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of Major-General, and succeeding General Gates in command at Ticonderoga, but, later, was censured by Washington for his hasty evacuation of the post, though finally vindicated by a military court. His Revolutionary record, however, was generally good, and even distin- guished. He represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress, and presided over that body in 1787. He served as Governor of the Northwest Territory (including the present State of Illinois) from 1789 to 1802. As an executive he was not successful, being unpopular because of his arbitrariness. In November, 1791, he. suffered a serious defeat by the Indians in the valley between the Miami and the Wabash. In this campaign he was badly crippled by the gout, and had to be carried on a litter; he was again vindicated by a Congressional investigation. His first visit to the Illinois Country was made in 1790, when he organized St. Clair County, which was named in his honor. In 1802 President Jef- ferson removed him from the governorship of Ohio Territory, of which he had continued to be the Governor after its separation from Indiana and Illinois. The remainder of his life was spent in comparative penury. Shortly before his decease, he was granted an annuity by the Penn- sylvania Legislature and by Congress. Died, at Greensburg. Pa., August 31, 1818.

ST. CLAIR COUNTY, the first county organ- ized within the territory comprised in the pres- ent State of Illinois-the whole region west of the Ohio River having been first placed under civil jurisdiction, under the name of "Illinois County," by an act of the Virginia House of Delegates, passed in October, 1778, a few months after the capture of Kaskaskia by Col. George Rogers Clark. (See Illinois; also Clark, George Rogers.) St. Clair County was finally set off by an order of Gov. Arthur St Clair, on occa- sion of his first visit to the "Illinois Country," in April, 1790-more than two years after his assumption of the duties of Governor of the Northwest Territory, which then comprehended the "Illinois Country" as well as the whole region within the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Governor St. Clair's order, which bears date, April 27, 1790, defines the boundaries of the new county-which took his own name-as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the Little Michillimackanack River,

498

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

running thence southerly in a direct line to the mouth of the little river above Fort Massac upon the Ohio River; thence with the said river to its junction with the Mississippi; thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois, and so up the Illinois River to the place of beginning, with all the adjacent islands of said rivers, Illinois and Mississippi." The "Little Michillimackanack," the initial point mentioned in this description- also variously spelled "Makina" and "Macki- naw," the latter being the name by which the stream is now known-empties into the Illinois River on the south side a few miles below Pekin, in Tazewell County. The boundaries of St. Clair County, as given by Gov. St. Clair, indicate the imperfect knowledge of the topog- raphy of the "Illinois Country" existing in that day, as a line drawn south from the mouth of the Mackinaw River, instead of reaching the Ohio "above Fort Massac," would have followed the longitude of the present city of Springfield, striking the Mississippi about the northwestern corner of Jackson County, twenty-five miles west of the mouth of the Ohio. The object of Gov- ernor St. Clair's order was, of course, to include the settled portions of the Illinois Country in the new county ; and, if it had had the effect intended, the eastern border of the county would have fol- lowed a line some fifty miles farther eastward, along the eastern border of Marion, Jefferson, Franklin, Williamson and Johnson Counties, reaching the Ohio River about the present site of Metropolis City in Massac County, and embracing about one-half of the area of the present State of Illinois. For all practical purposes it embraced all the Illinois Country, as it included that por- tion in which the white settlements were located. (See St. Clair, Arthur; also Illinois Country.) The early records of St. Clair County are in the French language; its first settlers and its early civilization were French, and the first church to inculcate the doctrine of Christianity was the Roman Catholic. The first proceedings in court under the common law were had in 1796. The first Justices of the Peace were appointed in 1807, and, as there was no penitentiary, the whipping- post and pillory played an important part in the code of penalties, these punishments being im- partially meted out as late as the time of Judge (afterwards Governor) Reynolds, to "the lame, the halt and the blind," for such offenses as the lar- ceny of a silk handkerchief. At first three places-Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskas- kia-were named as county-seats by Governor St. Clair; but Randolph County having been set off

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 99

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