History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 33

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time > Part 33

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RICHARD JONES HAMILTON, the first Circuit Court Clerk of Cook County, was born near Danville. Mercer Co., Ky., August 21. 1799. Ilis parents were James L. and Sarah Jones Hamilton. James L. Hamilton was born in England, but his parents emigrated when he was only a year old, and settled on the Savannah River. on the South Carolina side. At the age of twenty he went north- ward into Kentucky and, having married Miss Sarah Jones, settled near Danville. In 1803 he removed to Shelby County, where Richard J. spent his childhood and youth and received his early education, chiefly at the Shelbyville Academy, then in charge of in- struetors of some eminence, among others the Rev. Mr. Gray, and the Rev. Mr. Cameron. At the age of seventeen young Hamilton was placed as clerk in a store at Shelbyville, and afterward in a similar position at Jefferson, devoting some fifteen months to these pursuits, which seem not to have possessed much attraction for him. In 1818, he went to Louisville, where he studied law until 1820, when he removed to Jonesboro, Union Co., Ill., in company with his friend Atner Field. They owned a horse jointly, made the journey in alternate stages of riding and walking, and sold the ani- mal which constituted their sole property, on their arrival. Here Hamilton taught school for some time, while continuing his law studies at intervals under the guilance of Charles Dunn, who was admitted to the Bar August 31, 1820, afterwards achieved distine- tion in the State, and still later became Chief Justice of Wisconsin Territory. The Second General Assembly of Illinois, at its session of 1820-21, established the old State Bank. At the first meeting of directors at Vandalia, a branch at Brownsville, Jackson County. was authorized, and Mr. Hamilton was appointed its cashier. In 1822, he was married to Miss Diana W. Buckner, of Jefferson County, Ky., but then residing near Jackson, Cape Girardeau Co., Mo. She was a daughter of Colonel Nicholas Buckner, of the historic Kentucky family of that name. Mr. Hamilton was confirmed as Justice of the Peace for Jackson County by the Gen- eral Assembly January 14, 1826 ; and was admitted to the Bar March 31, 1827. In 1829 he is on record as one of the itinerant lawyers who rode the circuit of the southern counties, deriving a meager and precarious subsistence from the few and scattered clients who fell to his share in those early days of Illinois, when the cases were rare and fees were small. The Brownsville branch bank closed Its career about this time, Mr. Hamilton retaining 10 the last, as far as known, his position as cashier, the duties i.f

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

which, especially in those later years, were neither exhaustive nor remunerative. Hle now turned his eyes toward northern Illinois, and was elected by the General Assembly as the first Probate Judge of the new county of Cook, January 29. 1831. llis friend Judge Young, of the Fifth Judicial District, appointed him Clerk of Cook County Circuit Court. and Governor Reynolds, who was also speci- ally interested in his welfare, commissioned him as notary public and Recorder. He arrived in Chicago early in March, being present nt the organization of the conaty on the Sth : and removed his family frum Itrownsville in .August. Ile had at this time two chil- dren, Richard N. and Sarah A. He was appointed commissioner of school land« in Cook County, in October ; and the schon! fund remained in his charge until isto. As an illustration of the back- ward condition of Chicago at the period of his arrival he used to refer to the limited mail facilities, saying that special care was used in reading the older paper- first, that they might be properly ad-

MRS ELLEN HAMILTON KEENON,

vised of events in the great world in the order of their occurrence. He resided with his family in Fort Dearborn for some time after their arrival, and there his second daughter, Ellen, * was born, in the spring of 1832. In that year he became C'lerk of the County Cuminissioners C'ourt, which office he held until 1837. Besides discharging the duties of his several offices, which, it is easy to see were more numeruus than remunerative, he took an active phart in temperance work, and in 1832 co-operated energetically with Colonel Owen, the Indian Agent, and other influential men, in keeping the Indians of this section from joining the hostile bands in the disturbances of that year. He was the first of thirty-seven volunteers who on May 2, 1932, " promised obedience ta Captain Gholson Kercheval and Lieutenants George W. Dole and Jolin S. Hogan, as commanders of the militia of Chicago, until all appre- hension of danger from the Indians may have subsided." Later in the month, with Captain Jesse B. Brown and Joseph Naper and twenty-five mounted men, hie scoured the Fox River country to carry succor and encouragement to the scattered settlements, 'Un- fortunately they did nut arrive at Indian Creek until the 22d, the day after the massacre, where they found thirteen dead bodies of the families of Davis, Hall, and Pettigrew, terribly mangled. The company escorted some of the flying refugees to Chicago, where a much larger number had sought refuge as early as the 10th.

. This daughter, now Mtv E. H. Keenton, sill m restent of the rity. is stated to be the first child of purely American precis lespas ti Chicago, she Is Errtonly the oldest person hving, born in the city.

Colonel . Hamilton was one of the commissaries to supply them with fond and shelter ; and was indefatigable in his efforts in their behalf.+ He moved his family into the old agency.house about this time, the fort becoming crowded with refugees, and being occupied after July by the troops newly arrived for the Black Hawk War. In the spring of 1833, in conjunction with Colonel Owen, he employed John Watkins to teach a small school, near the old In- dian ageney-house, where he still resided, hut which he soon aban- doned for his own house, erected on what is now Michigan Street, between Cass anıl Rush streets, where he lived for nineteen years. He was one of the voters for the incorporation of Chicago August 5. and for its first board of trustees five days later. Ile was a sub- scribing witness to the Indian treaty of September 26, and Itis claim of $500 was allowed. ; In October as commissioner of school lands, in compliance with a petition which had " received ninety-hve signatures, embracing most of the principal citizens of the town," he authorized the sale of the Chicago school section. In virtue of his office of Prubate Judge he married John Bates, Jr., to Miss Harriet E. Brown, of Springfield, Mass, November 13. He was one of the original subscribers to the first Chicago newspaper, which appeared November 26. In Ilecember he advertised $to,000 to loan, which was probably part of the net cash proceeds of the Nile of school lands, two months before. In 1834 he was president of the board of school trustees, and labored with his usual energy in the interest of the early schools of Chicago. In conjunction with firam Pearsons he laid out 420 acres at Canalport, adjoining what is now Bridgeport, which, judging from the first prelimi- nary survey, they supposed would be the actual terminus of the Illinois & Michigan C'anal, but which the final survey passed by, and left comparatively worthless, In this year tou he lost his wife, Min after the birth of her fourth child, who was named Diana Bt., in memory of her. Mrs. Hamil- ton was highly esteemed as an intelligent and zealous Christian lady, whine active interest was if recognized service to the Method- ist Church of which she was a member, in its early struggles in Chicago, At this period he became largely interested in outside lands, also being probably the most extensive owner in the county and the whole Northwest. These were often purchased un joint account with non-residents, and perhaps at times with no larger interest on his part shan a commission, for the transaction of the business, but usually made and recorded in his name for greater convenience in transfer and negotiation. He was married, March 25, 1835, to Miss Harriette 1 .. 11nhhard, sister of Henry G. Hlub- lanl. of Chicago. Soon after, he became a candidate for election a> Recorder, and pulilished the following card in answer to certain cavilings alsomt his many offices: " In 1831 I received the appoint- went of Clerk of Circuit Court, Judge uf Probate and notary public. 1 then moved to Chicago, and found that no one wanted These offices. Soon after the gentleman holding the position of C'lerk uf the County l'onmissioners Court resigned, and I was ap- printed. The office of school commissioner was then held by Colonel T. J. V. Owen, who resigned. Up ta September, 1834. that office has yielded me in all about $200 ; notary fees have not exceeiled $30 ; prohate fees have not amounted to more than 850. I have not realized from all offices, Including that of Recorder, during four years mure than $1,500. The whole number of instru- ments recorded, including a large number of Receiver's certificates for lands purchased at late sales, have been to July t, 1835, about 1.300, at about seventy cents each." He was elected Recorder by 602 votes ;d the August election, and removed his office toward the end of October to the new building recently erected by the county on the public square. In December he became a director in the Chicago branch of the new State bank. The offices he held at this time were, Judge of Probate, Clerk of Circuit Court, Clerk of Commissioners Court, Recorder of Deeds, notary public. school cionmissioner, and bank commissiuner. He continued tu discharge the various duties of these offices, with the help of deputies and clerks in the more exacting ones, as the volume of business in each required. A. Clerk of the Circuit Court, his first deputy was Henry Moore in 1834, succeeded by J. Young Scammon in 1835. Solomon Will, who had married the sister of his first wife, became his deputy in 1836, and was succeeded by George Manierre in 1837, who gave way to Thomas Hoyne in 1839. All these were lawyers, and nearly all young men, who served as his assistants until the professional business of each successively required his entire attention. Mr. Hamilton was elected a member of the new hoard of school inspectors for the city of Chicago May 12, 1837, in recognition of his services and interest in the early schools, and of his position as school commis- sioner, Pinched by the financial pressure of 1837, he weathered the storm without becoming bankrupt or failing to meet his pecuni-

* He had been identified with the militia of the State for some years, and this site of Culinel scenti to have been one of courtesy, due In that fact.

+ Peggy's " W" and Northwest," p 305.

: The claire allowed against, and paid in behalf of, the Incluans attre. Rated $17 ,04

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CHICAGO IN 1833-37.

ary obligations. He lost an Infant daughter, named Pauline, August 21, 1839. having lust another of the same name alwan two years before. Resides these, his only child by the second Mrs. Hamilton was Henry E., who is now (1883) familiarly known as Colonel Ilamilton, as it were, by right of Inheritance, In 1840 he was nominated Alderman of the Sixth Ward by the Democrats, and elected; and was chosen delegate to the State Democratic conven- tion at Springfield the same year. He appears frequently in the contemporary notices of the Press as an active member in the pub- lie meetings of the period, on all questions of social, political, edu- cational and religious interest; and was frequently chosen on committees of all sorts for the furtherance of public business, being apparently one of that worthy class of men who suffer themselves to be overburdened rather than shirk the responsibilities of active citizenship. Ile was prominent in the meeting held In memory of l'resident Harrison in 1841, and was no less active in the reception given the same year to Governor Carlin in Chicago. Meanwhile the time had arrived for relinquishing some. of his offices, the in- creased duties of which had now made them too unwieldy even for superintendence by one individual. In 1535 he had ceased to be Juilge of Probate; in 1837 Clerk of Commissioners Court, and in 1839 Recorder of Deeds. In 1840 William 11. Brown was elected School Agent, an office which entitled him to the care of the school funds of Chicago, which therefore passed out of the charge of Mr. Hamilton with the close of that year. Hle still retained his position as commissioner of school lands for the county, for he is found to have advertised section 16. Township 41, for sale August 9, 1841,as such. On the re-organization of the judicial system in 1841 Cook fell within the circuit of Associate Justice Theophilus W. Smith, who appointed his son-in-law, Henry G. 1lubbard, to re- place Hamilton, who resumed the practice of law, his clerkship terminating March 12, 1841, February 7, 1842, he lost his second wife, who left but one surviving chihi. Henry E., already men- tioned; and In 1843 he married Mrs. Priscilla P. Tuley, of Louis- ville, Ky., the mother of the present Judge Tuley of Chicago. He formed a law partnership with J. S. Chamberlaine, which was dis- solved in 1845. In 1846 his firm was Hamilton & Muore, Francis C. Moore being the junior member. In 1547 Mr. Hamilton was again alone and so remained until he retired from practice in 1 $50. In 1349 he was elected Alderman of the Ninth Ward, upon the re- signation of Samuel Mckay, and in 1950 and 1851 as his own suc- cessor. He was Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket in 1852, and removed the same year to a new residence he had erected on the West Side, "on Madison, west of Bull's Head," afterward the southwest corner of lloyne. He devoted the remaining years of his life largely to beautifying this place, which was then regarded as a suburban home. In 1856 he was candidate for Lieutenant- Governor on the Demucratie ticket, which was defeated hy the new Republican party. Towards the close of 1860, he became a mem- ber of the South Presbyterian Church, the denomination with which he had most intercourse in early life, and to which his wife be- longed. He died of paralysis, December 26, 1960, in his sixty- second year, leaving a widow and five children, all settled in life. Ile was buried with Masonie honors on the 28th, having been long connected with the order, and high in its counsels and honors, lle was an officer in the first grand lodge of Illinois. At a memorial meeting of the Bar held on the 28th Judge Morris sail: "There is scarcely a lawyer here now but owes mitch in his early life to Colonel Hamilton. lle touk every young practitioner who came here by the hand, and helped him to business and practice." Judge Wilson said: " Mr. Hamilton was a gentleman remarkable in miny particulars; of very high notions as a gentleman, and of unusual sympathies." Judge Manierre reported a series of resolutions. from which the following sentiments are extracted: " Hisdeath has removed one of our must distinguished citizens and pioneers, and the oldest member of the legal fraternity; we take pleasure in bear. ing testimony to the high character of the deceased as a man and a citizen. Ilis life was a career of active usefulness. He was fore- most in all public enterprises for the advancement and prosperity of the community. We remember with pleasure the social and genial qualities of our deceased brother. Ile was a zealous friend; his heart was warm and his hand ready. In losing him the com. munity have lost one of its most valuahle citizens, and this Bar one of its most respected members." "Twenty years after death he was characterized by Hon. Thomas Hoyne as being "of a generous and open nature, a good citizen, a kind man, and one of those men who were then shaping the destinies of the State."

AUGUSTINE DEODAT TAYLOR was born April 28, 1796, in Hartford, Conn. llis father's name was Solomon Taylor, and he likewise was born in Connecticut. llis mother's maiden name was Mary Hlartshorn. She was of Welsh decent, but was born in Con- necticut. Solomon and Mrs. Taylor lived in Hartford until he died in 1813, and Mrs. Taylor continued to live there until 1833, when the subject of this sketch came to Chicago. Augustine 1). Taylor received his early education in the common schools anıl

grammar schools of Hartfordf and afterward he attended two private school». Ile was then apprenticed to the trade of his father, that of carpenter and builder. When the Presbyterian Church pulled down their frame church building to replace it with a brick one, Mr. Taylor bought the ohl one, and converted it into a new C'ath- olie church. This was his first experience in church building. In 1802, his father went to the West Indies, where he remained one and a half years. During this time young Taylor, who was the oldest of eight chiklren, tonk charge of the family, which lived then with his grandfather Hlartshorn, at Columbia, Conn. In 18:3, his father was killed by falling from a builling he was erecting, and young Taylor once more became head of the family, which he remained until attaining his majority in April, 1817. In August, 18t4, he was drafted and served three months in the Hartford Ar- tillery, under Captain Nathan Johnson, in New London and Say- bruok. On June 7, he was married to Miss Mary Gillett, when the support of the mother ilevolved upon the younger children. In the fall of ists. he went to North Carolina, and lived in Fayetteville until the next July, during which time he bullt a Presbyterian

church. In the winter of 1819-20 he worked at his trade In Wil- mington, N. C .. when his health failed, and in the spring he re- turned home, and for two years was uniler the care of a physician. In 1825, he contracted to build the chapel for Washington College, an Episcopal institution, and he also built the bishop's house, Continuing in the carpenter business, he bought the old Episcopal church at Hartford, moved it on to another lot, put a basement under it and fitted it up for a Catholic church. This was the first Catholic church erected hy him, Soon after this, in 1833, he came to Chicago, arriving here in June, and in a short time thereafter. cominenced work on St. Mary's Church building, completing it in the fall of the same year. I'nder Rev. Maurice de St. l'alias, he commenced, and under Bishop Quarter he completed the carpenter work on St. Mary's new brick church, the first cathedral in Chicago, standing near the corner of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street. He then in 1837 built St. James' (Episcopal) church, and in 1846 built St. l'atrick's. St. Peter's and St. Joseph's churches, the first on the West Side for the Irish Catholics, the others on the South and North sides respectively, for the German Catholics. In the fall of this year he built a Presbyterian church at Naperville, III., which was the last church erected hy him.

Since that time Mr. Taylor has occupied himself with his reg. ular trade, accumulating property, and filling such municipal offices as he has been called upon to fill. He was one of the origi- nal trustees of the town of Chicago, was an Alderman two years, and has been City Collector and County Assessor, In is59 he built the house 308 West Taylor Street, in which he has resided since

Upon arriving in Chicago he first lodged in a loft on South Water Street, he then removed to Wolf Point, next to Lake Street. then to Desplaines Street, and finally in 1860 to West Taylor Street.

Mr. Taylor belonged to the Presbyterian Church in Hartford. C'onn., over which presided Parson Strong, who was succeeded by Rev. Joel Hawes, During the latter's pastorate Mr. Taylor be- came acquainted with Bishop Cheverus, the first Catholic bishop of Boston, Mass,, and was by him converted to Catholicism, not- withstanding the efforts and protests of Rev. Mr. Hawes, and the good deacons of the Presbyterian Church, all of whom thought him insane.

Mr. Taylor's first wife died in 1844, and in March, 1845, he was married to Mary Grovan, who died July 16, 1879. By the first marriage he had five chiklren, two of whom died in Massa- chusetts, and the other three he brought with him to Chicago, But one of these, Lewis D. Taylor, is now living. By the second wife he had ten children, three of whom are living-James A., who was elected in the fall of 1882 to the Illinois Legislature ; Harvey A., who is a clerk in the office of O. R. Keith & Co .; and Frank J., who is a student in Watertown College, Wisconsin.

JOHN BATES was born in Fishkill, Duchess Co., N. Y., De- cember 25, 1803. His father, John, was a farmer and was born on the same farm. His mother, Catharine McBride, was a native of Poughkeepsie County, N. V. He was bred a farmer, and received such early educational advantages as the public schools of the vicinity afforded. llis tastes were averse to farming, and, at the age of sixteen he went to New York City, where he entered a gro- cery house on Hanover Square. He remained with this house un- til 1832. At that time the scourge of Asiatic cholera, which vis- ited the city in its most virulent and fatal form, completely broke up the business of the house where he had been so long employed.

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

He accordingly determined to emigrate tu the Far West. He ar- rived in Chicago, coming by the land route from Detroit. lle came in company with one William Winston, an English officer some fifty years of age, who remained in Chicago some three years thereafter speculating in land. Bates first stopped at Charles Tay- lor's hotel on the West Side Ithe old Wulf Pomt tavern, formerly kept by Elijah Wentworth ;. He was at the time of his arrival twenty-nine years of age, and unmarried. He was first employeil

Forum Gratis En.

by J. S. c. Hogan as Deputy Postmaster. Ile performed the duties of this office for three years, iluring which time he was the executive head so far as doing all the work-sorting mails, deliver- ing letters, and answering the questions of anxious inquirers for mail matter-could make him so, His reminiscences of these early times appear elsewhere in this volume. He obtained a license as an auctioneer soon after his arrival, and, in addition in his duties as Deputy Postmaster, did a fair share of auction business during

the early years. Hle sold the school section, in lots and blocks in Oct. 1833, Colonel Hamilton being the commissioner, and E. W. Casey. secretary. After severing his connection with the post-office in 1835-36, he continued his business as auctioneer uninterruptedly until 1871, at which sime he quit active business. During the period of his active business life, in 1852, he took the census of the city. He was, also, enrulling officer for the draft nf 1863-64. under Provost Marshal James. He built his first house in Chicago, on what is now Canal Street, in the fall af 1833. The lumber for the structure was purchased in Green Bay, at a cost of $900.

Ile married. November 13, 1833, Miss Harriet E. Gould. Col. onel K. J. Hamilton, Justice of the l'eare, performed the marriage ceremony. She was a native of Massachusetts, and was at the tinie of her marriage a member of the family of Lemuel Brown, having Dunne West with them.

The young couple moved into the new house, which, owing to its close vicinity to the cabin of thief Jo. Laframboise, did not prove a pleasant residence for the new and timid wife, owing to the fre- quent and unceremonious visite of the chief's many Indian friends at all times of the day and night. Mr. Bates accordingly sohl uut to Jo. and his wife, at a round profit, and his house was the last and most aristocratic home of Chief Jo. and his family, where they lived until their emigration to the West in 1836.

The couple have had born in them four children, two of whiuns survive:

Ellen, born July 24. 834, diedl in infancy : llelen, born August 7, 1836; John I ... horn August 12. 1839 : and \'harlotte, born July 10, 1844, died November to, 1844.

Mr. and Mrs. Bates are, as early settlers, the oldest couple in Chicago. They are still, after having celebrated the fiftieth anni- versary of their wedding, in goud health, and with promise of many earthly years of life. Preceding the celebration of their gollen wedding, the Chicago Times thus alluded to the aged and respected comple :

"On Tuesday next. November 13, Mr. and Mrs. John Rates. twu of the oklest settlers of Chicago, and perhaps the oldest coupk: now living who were married in what is now the city of \'hicago. but which was a mere hamlet at the time of their marriage, will celebrate the golden anniversary of their wedding, and propose in receive calls from their friends in honor of the event at the Dongky House, corner of Cottage Grove Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street, be- tween the hours of four and nine o'clock in the evening, Their mar- riage was announced in the first number of the Chicago Democrat, which was publishedl November 26, 1833, and of which the follow- ing is a copy :

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 33

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875