History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 100

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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church, then located on Clark Street, when a constitui- tion was adopted and the following officers were elected: President, William H. Brown ; vice-presidents, Rev. S. H. Stocking ; John Wright, Sr., S. J. Sherwood, Grant Goodrich and E. K. Rogers ; secretary. T. B. Carter ; treasurer, George W. Merrill ; executive committee, Philo Carpenter, James Robinson and Tuthill King.

CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I .- This Society shall be called " The Chicago Bible Society, " auxiliary to the American Bible Society.

AKT. II .- The object of the Society shall be to encourage the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or com- ment.

AKT. II .- All persons contributing any sum annually to the funds of the Society, shall be members of the same.

AKT. IV .- All funds not wanted for circulating the Scriptures within the Society's own limits, shall be paid over, at least once a year, to the Treasurer of the American Bible Society, to aid in fur- nishing the Scriptures to the destitute in other places.

ART. V .- The Society shall elect, annually. a president, three vice-presidents, a secretary and treasurer, whose duties shall be such as their several titles import; who, together with the pastor or officiating minister of each Church co-operating with the 0- ciety, shall constitute a board of managers, seven of whom shall form a quorum. The Society shall'also elect, annually. a treasurer from each Church co-operating with it, who, with the pastor. or officiating minister of said Church, shall attend to all subscription- and collectinns in their several Churches, and pay over the same to the treasurer of the Society. In case of a failure of an annual elec- tion. the officers then chosen shall hold their offices until a new election is made.

ART. VI .- The Board of Managers shall elect, annually, tive of their number, who, with the president, secretary and treasurer shall constitute an executive committee; shall also elect an auditing committee of three, to examine and audit the accounts of the trea -- urer and depositary: and such other committee's as may be necessary to give efficiency to the operations of the Society; and hill any va- caney that may occur in any of the offices of the Society.

ART. VIT .- The Executive Committee, four of whom shall form a quorum, shall appoint its own chairman; meet frequently on adjournment, or on call of its chairman; superintend the work of Bible distribution in the city and county; make arrangements for the annual and anniversary meetings; appoint a depositary; keep at good supply of books on hand: appoint colporteurs and local dis- tributors; see that collections in some way are made annually in every congregation, and that all funds are forwarded early to the l'arent Society, with a statement as to the portion designed for the payment of books, and that as a free donation; and report their do- ings to the board of managers before the annual meeting.

ART. VIII .- The anniversary meetings of the Society shall be held on the second Sabbath of December, or such other day in De- cember as the board may determine; when the annual report ~hall be presented, addresses macie, or such other exercises introduced as shal! tend to advance the interests of the Bible cause within the limits of the Society.

The annual meeting of the Society for the election of officer- shall be held on the Tuesday evening immediately succeeding the anniversary meeting: at which time all business connected with the Society shall be transacted.

ART. IX .- Any Branch Society or Bible Committee formed within the bounds of this auxiliary, by paving over its funds annul- ally. shall receive Bibles and Testaments at cost prices.

ART. X. - No alteration shall be made in this Constitution ex- cept at an annual meeting, and by the consent of two-thirds of the members present.

In 1858 the following was added to article third : "The payment of fifteen dollars at one time shall con- stitute a member for life, and entitle the life member tu two Bibles or their value in Testaments annually for distribution."

In 1871. Article VIII as above was stricken out and the following adopted in its place : " Any two member- of the executive committee of of the board of mana- gers shall have power to call a meeting of the count- tee, or the board, or of the Society, when business of importance requires such meeting to be held. The business to be transacted shall be stated in the call for the meeting.

At the annual business meeting hekt March 18. 18; ;. Artick. IX was amended so that the annual meeting-

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

should thereafter be held in March instead of in De- cember, and that the officers may be elected at the an- niversary meeting.

This organization, like its two predecessors, remained inactive for nearly a year, and some time afterward a committee which had been appointed to inquire into the reasons for the quiescence of these Bible societies re- ported as follows :

" From causes not within the knowledge of the present com- mittee this organization (of 1837) soon began to languish ; the offi- cers were not regularly appointed, and the books which had been procured, were left undistributed, and the destitute unsupplied. This inefficiency continued until the organization of the Chicago Bible Society in IS40, when the present constitution (since amended) was adopted, officers chosen, and new life apparently given to the Bible cause in this city. But with this change of organization the evil was not entirely removed. Little was done toward carrying out the designs of the institution until about twelve months after- ward, when at the urgent solicitation of the agent of the Parent So- ciety (Mr. A. B. Lewis) this Society began to work."

With reference to the failure to accomplish anything of the " Chicago and Vicinity Bible Society," organized in 1837, it would seem to be a comparatively easy mat- ter to assign reasons. The financial crisis of 1837 Oc- curred about the time of the organization of the Society, and the depression to all kinds of business resulting therefrom continued for some years thereafter. In Chicago it was felt with especial severity, and the ef- forts of the Bible Society no less than of everything else were for a time necessarily paralyzed. Even the freight on the books ordered by this Society remained unpaid, and they were held for some years by the forwarder until an efficient organization could put them in circu- lation.

The first order of the Chicago Bible Society after its organization April 7, 1840, amounted to $99.73. In October, 1840, Lewis S. Swazey was employed as agent to visit every family in the city and county, to sell Bibles to those who were able to buy and to give to those un- able or unwilling to buy. The agent was greatly sur- prised to find so many families destitute of the Bible, and it was not generally supposed that many families were destitute. An incident will illustrate the fact of this destitution and of the mistaken supposition with reference thereto. The agent met a non-professor of religion who declined to assist him in distributing the Bible among those who were without it, alleging that there were none of that class in his neighborhood. But finally upon the agent's persistency, the non-professor proffered to himself supply all in his neighborhood who might be found destitute. The agent soon found six families in the immediate neighborhood without the Bible. The work once begun, a thorough canvass of the county was soon accomplished, and the committee was enabled to report that every family in the county had been visited, and all who were willing to receive the Bible supplied with it. Mr. Swazey reported : " The general results are as follows : Cash received for Bibles sold $76.89 : cash received in donations to the Society $61.73, making a total of $138.62 received in cash. Bibles given to the destitute, value $27.44, and sub- scriptions due the Society 89.88."

The first annual meeting of the Society was held in the First Presbyterian church, December 9. 1841. From a report then made it appears that So.84 of the above $9.88 had been paid in. And at this first annual meeting thirty dollars was raised to constitute Rev. Hooper Crews a life member of the American Bible So- ciety ; the first contribution of the Chicago Bible Soci- ety to the American Bible Society. The report con- cludes in the following language :

" While the general aspect of the Bible cause in this part of the State is very favorable, and should call forth the thanksgiving of all who seek its advancement, there are still, as there ever have been, opposing obstacles to encounter. Those who reject the divine authority of the Bible, and yet see from history the mighty influ- ence which this Book in all ages exerts, aim, of course, to impede its circulation. Those connected with the Papal Church, while they receive the Bible, and more than the true Bible as divine, are still with few exceptions unwilling to trust this Book to the common reader, unless guarded by comments which its Holy Author never sanctioned, and which the enlightened Christian rejects as a cun- ning device for the preservation of power. But there is much to encourage the Christian and the friends of the Bible in the prosecu- tion of this work, that so many are willing and ready to engage in it, sustaining the committee in their operations by their purses and influence, and we but hope the interest will increase, and not die away as soon as the novelty of the enterprise is worn off."

The first exploration of the county, having for its object the supplying of the Bible to those destitute of it, and, which was commenced in 1841, was completed in 1842. Somewhat more than seven hundred families were visited, ninety-two of which were found destitute of the Bible. In 1845 the second canvass of the county was made for the same purpose ; six hundred and six- ty-six families were visited. and seventy-four found des- titute. In 1846 the first visitation and supply of the city was made ; fourteen hundred and ten families and one hundred and eighty-five offices and stores were vis- ited. Sixty-six families were found destitute, and eighty-two other families and persons so reported. These were supplied with Bibles and Testaments, like- wise with Testaments two companies of volunteers for the Mexican War. In 1849 the city was again supplied. this time by Mr. Balch. Twenty-six hundred and six- ty-eight families were visited, of which two hundred and ninety-five were found destitute. Ninety-six other fam- ilies were found destitute and supplied by tract distrib- utors and other persons. The next visitation of the city was made in 1851, in accordance with the following resolution :

" Resolved, That a more thorough and complete supply be fur- nished than has been hitherto : that in addition to the supply of destitute families, the agent be instructed to search out and supply all unmarried persons over sixteen years of age, especially clerks. mechanics, journeyman, apprentices, sailors, boatmen, and domes- tic servants, with a Bible, and that all children under sixteen years of age who can read be supplied with a copy of the New Testa- ment."

Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Thome were appointed agents to carry this resolution into effect. As agents they visited four thousand three hundred and eighty .. two families, eight hundred and twenty of which were found destitute. Eleven hundred and ten adults were supplied with Bibles and six hundred and sixty-five children with l'estaments. Of those found destitute and supplied nine hundred and fifteen families were Roman Catholics. Considerable opposition was mani- fested to the distribution of the Bible among the Catho- lics and some Bibles were reported as having been burned by them. The city was again visited in 1853. this time by Messrs. Oleson, Barth, McDevitt, and Hamilton. These gentlemen visited four thousand and twenty-one families-two thousand four hundred and forty-five Protestant and one thousand five hun- dred and seventy-six Catholic. There were found destitute one thousand one hundred and thirty-nine families, two hundred and forty-one ot which refused to receive the Bible either by sale or gift. This canvass was continued into and completed in 1854. The total results of the canvass for the two years, were six thou- sand four hundred and thirty- nine families visited- three thousand four hundred and twenty-two Protestant and two thousand two hundred and seventy-six ('atho- lic. Seventeen hundred and eighty-eight families were

359

CHICAGO BIBLE SOCIETY.

found destitute. This unusually large number of des- titute families is probably accounted for by the excep- tionally large influx of emigrants during these years. During the year 1856 the city was visited for the fifth time, Mr. Adams and Mr. Hamilton being the colpor- teurs. They visited eight thousand four hundred and thirty families, finding one thousand four hundred and eighty-five destitute of the Bible. Of these one hun- dred and eighty-two refused to accept the Bible, even as a gift.

In the year 1843, the Society appears to have begun to supply with . Bibles the hotels, jail, poor-house, ves- sels, etc., supplying during the year, besides the poor- house and jail, eleven hotels and thirty-one vessels ; two hundred and fourteen Bibles and eighty Testa- ments, valued at $117.30, being supplied to them and to twenty-one destitute families and individuals besides. In 1844, fifty-one vessels, nine Sunday schools, one hotel and forty-one destitute families and individuals were supplied. In 1845, four hotels, forty-one vessels and eleven Sunday schools were supplied, and in 1846 nine hotels, fifty-two vessels and ten Sunday schools. In 1847 an effort was made by this Society to procure the co-operation of similar societies in other lake cities and towns in effecting a general supply of all the vessels on the lakes with Bibles and Testaments. With this end in view, the following resolutions were passed, and a copy of them sent by the secretary to each of the Bible societies at Milwaukee, Detroit, Toledo, Sandusky, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo and Oswego, together with the request that they would co-operate with the Chicago Bible Society in carrying them into effect :

"Resolved, That in the opinion of the committee, it is exceed: ingly desirable that all steamboats and vesseis on our lakes should be constantly and liberally supplied with copies of the Word of (iod, so that those who travel, and all who do business on these waters, may have free and easy access to it.

"Resolved, That this committee will do their part for the accom- plishment of this object, and that we hereby respectfully suggest to the Bible societies above named to supply the shipping belonging to their respective ports."

Only the societies at Milwaukee and Toledo re- sponded to this request. Still the Chicago Bible Society continued its labors in this direction. In 1848 numer- ou's vessels and canal boats and six Sunday schools, besides seventy-four destitute families and individuals were supplied. In 1849 three hundred and eighty Bibles were supplied to vessels, sailors and boatmen, in addi- tion to those furnished to eight Sunday schools, the public school, jail and other institutions, and the secre- tary, by the direction of the executive committee, again corresponded with the Bible societies of the various lake cities and towns, with the same object as in 1847, receiving from several of them favorable responses. And the good work of distributing the Bible to all classes of those destitute of it, including public schools, Sunday schools, families, individuals, the poor-house, jail, hos- pital, hotels and vessels, with about the same average energy until 1857, the year of the panic. which is re- ferred to below, and even then but a temporary and very slight check to the work was felt. In 1855 the railroad stations within the city limits were for the first time supplied, but not until 1874 were systematic efforts made to supply the trains on the various railroad lines center- ing in Chicago, and the stations outside the city limits. In 1857, correspondence was again opened with the other lake city Bible societies with reference to supply- ing all vessels and sailors engaged in lake commerce. This Society appointed Rev. J. H. Leonard, chaplain at the Bethel, to visit the sailors and supply Bibles.

BRANCH SOCIETIES .- The first branch societies were organized in 1847, when several of these as auxiliary to the Chicago Bible Society were organized, viz: Athens, Barrington, Blue Island, Hanover, Monroe, Salt Creek, Thornton and York. Cash subscriptions were paid into the treasury of this Society this year by these new soci- eties to the amount of $338. In 1849, an auxiliary society was organized in Lyons precinct, and during this year there was received from the precinct societies $208.45. In 1851, the amount received from these sources was $259.06; in 1852, $287.04; in 1853, $281.06; in 1854, $272.18; in 1855, $349. 18; in 1856, $636.85. At this time there were seventeen of these auxiliary societies organized. The following table shows the aggregate number of Bibles and Testaments distributed, with their value, together with the approximate total. cash receipts of the society from 1841 to 1857 inclu- sive:

Years.

Bibles and Tes- taments Dis tributed.

Value.

Approximate Receipts.

1841.

$114 17

IS42.

134 15

...

. .

IS43

434

252 80

$492 90

IS11.

2,600

559 72

798 63

IS45.

2,119

579 66

$78 94

1846.

2,528

680 22

972 47

1547.

2,145

439 42

S41 08

1843.

2,251

60S 33

1,505 84

IS49.

3,569

900 48

1,548 75

1850.

1,960

456 61

927 52

IS51.

4,133

977 94

1,774 98

1852.

1,670

470 71

1,544 55

IS53.

4,179

1,288 61

2,566 95

IS54.

4,006

SoS 44

3,366 34

IS55.

3,686

1,129 56

3,537 91

1856

7,582

2,447 77

6,447 74

1857.

8,003

2,095 68

6, 190 45

This table shows a gradual increase in the number of Bibles and Testaments distributed and in the amount of money received. The receipts for 1857 were slightly less than in 1856. This diminution was caused by the panic of that year. The year was one of change and dis- aster in the commercial world, which caused great ap- prehension that the benefactions of the Society would be greatly diminished, and that it would be thus far less able to circulate the Bible. But the diminution in its receipts was not so great as feared, and the Society's work went on with its accustomed energy. Still there was one feature of the Bible cause which appears to have been especially noticeable at this time, and which caused considerable alarm to Mr. E. W. Towne. the Society's agent for the county. Mr. Towne closed his report thus:

" The most alarming fact was the apparent neglect of the Bible, and this even in families who call them- selves Christians. The newspapers, the monthly, the food of light literature poured upon us, is literally pushing the Bible out of sight. Almost without an exception I see unmistakeable evidence of a disrelish for Bible reading, while I see periodicals and books at hand showing signs of being well read."

The Society's report then adds:

" May not this be a true picture of many families in the city as well as in the country? The possession of the Bible will not save the soul, or guide the inquirer. The Bible must be read and studied to obtain the full benefit which its possession implies." The report call- chides: " If the Bible is the revelation of God's will to man, and the only revelation we shall have, how urgent then the duty to secure its widest circulation at home and abroad."

HISTORY OF THE PRESS.

A narrative of the history of the Press of Chicago is necessarily attended with the elaboration of a vast quantity of oral tradition and personal reminiscence. for which there is no documentary evidence ; the great fire of 1871 having destroyed most of the printed records, and specific dates being impossible to obtain from the the memory of individuals, where they are clouded by the events that have transpired during forty or fifty years. Insurmountable obstacles have been encount- ered. in the death of so many of those who filled the editorial chairs of the early periodicals, and, in numer- ous instances, after following a clue persistently and carefully, all attempt to obtain information has been rendered nugatory by the tombstone of the editor-a silent negative of all inquiry, a monument of the bound- ary beyond which the interrogatories of the interviewer can not extend. So much of the information obtained has been from contemporaneous notices in extant news- papers, either of publications projected or made, that specific dates are noticeable by their absence : and in the case of a publication to be made, it has occasionally been found impracticable to decide whether the issuance of the paper assumed form and substance, or remained inchoate in the mind of the projector. Other informa- tion having been taken from directories, it has been im- possible to decide the longevity of the paper, or maga- zine, or its precise date of publication : and even where isolated numbers have been exhumed from the ashes of the great fire, the date of the suspension of the periodical could not be definitely ascertained.

The first utilization of the inventions of Cadmus and Faust in the city of Chicago was by John Calhoun, who issued the Chicago Democrat, from a building at the corner of Clark and South Water streets, on the 26th day of November, 1833. Through the courtesy of Mrs. Pamelia C. Calhoun, widow of the original publisher, we are permitted access to an antobiographical sketch of the founder of Chicago journalism ; a docu- ment never before made public. As many of the state- ments therein contained relate more directly to the con- dition of the village in early times than to the topic whereof we write, liberty has been taken to classify the information ; embodying the general matters in that portion of this work which treats of the settlement of the region, and retaining in this chapter only so much as pertains to Mr. Calhoun's work as a newspaper man, prefacing the record of his actions here with a biograph- ical account.

JOHN CALHOUN was born at Watertown, N. Y., April 14, 1808. His parents were natives of Connecticut, but were among the carliest settlers of Jefferson County, N. Y. The father of Mr Calhoun was a carpenter, and the son, in boyhood, became an adept in that busi- ness, preferring mechanical to intellectual pursuits. . At the age of sixteen, however, John entered the printing- office of W. Woodward, who had just commenced the publication of the Watertown Freeman, and therein learned the printer's trade. When twenty-one years old. Mr. Calhoun went to Albany, N. Y., and was en- gagged in Starr & Little's type foundry for a few weeks; then, the nomadie spirit being strong upon him, he went

to Troy, where he worked for a short time on the city directory. From that city he returned to Watertown, and resumed his former position in the office of the Freeman. He also worked in the office of Richard Oliphant, in Oswego, for a brief period. In the summer of 1831 Mr. Calhoun purchased the materials for a job printing office, and entered into partnership with W. Woodward. The Freeman was an organ of Democratic principles, and soon after the association of Woodward and Calhoun dissensions occurred in party lines which necessitated the sale of the paper to other parties. As

Mr. Calhoun's interest did not extend to a controlling degree, the transfer left him unprovided for. Acting upon the advice of Hon. Perley G. Keyes, Mr. Calhoun purchased additional materials and established the Watertown Eagle. This venture was not fortified with sufficient financial strength to insure success, and the paper was sold to Avin Hunt, in whose hands it en- joyed a long and prosperous existence. In 1833 Har- low Kimball, brother of Walter Kimball, formerly Clerk of the County Court of Common Pleas, visited Chicago, and on his return to the East, gave such glow- ing accounts of the Western country, particularly of

360

361

HISTORY OF THE PRESS.

CHICAGO DEMOCRAT.

" Where Liberty dwells, there is my Country." --- frankita.

CHICAGO. ILL. TUESDAY NOV. 20. 1833.

VOL. I .- NO. 1.

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 100

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340