USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume I > Part 55
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In July, 1857, the Beacon and the Guardian were consolidated, and the consolidated paper was called The Republican Union, under the proprietor- ship of James W. Randall and Simeon Whiteley. The panic of that year caused a suspension of this enterprise, but in September of that year Augustus Harman, who had been the editor of Republican Union, and Oscar B. Knick- erbocker, who had done the job printing of the office, came into possession of . the Beacon material, and under their proprietorship and editorship the Beacon resumed publication, and it has been continuously published ever since.
In 1858 the partnership of Harman and Knickerbocker was dissolved, Harman retiring. On January 1, 1859, George S. Bangs formed a partnership with Mr. Knickerbocker, the firm being known as Bangs & Knickerbocker. Bangs became an active and influential Republican politician. He was post- master of Aurora under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, and afterwards became an officer of the general postoffice department, and was instrumental in organizing the railway mail service.
The firm of Bangs & Knickerbocker continued until March, 1866, when Bangs sold his interest to his partner. It is probable that Bangs went with President Johnson in his scheme of reconstruction; while Knickerbocker adhered to the republican party in its opposition to the president and his policy. In October of that year John HI. Hodder purchased an interest in the business, which he retained until his death, a period of thirty-six years. The firm of Knickerbocker & Hodder was a household name throughout Kane and adjoining counties until the death of the senior member of the firm, in
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1885. The firm was an ideal one in almost every respect. Each member of it was a strong man, and each possessed attributes and qualifications that sup- plemented and complemented those of his partner.
The Beacon issued a semi-weekly edition early in the 70's, and this was continued until March 30, 1891, when a daily paper was once more issued. After the death of Mr. Hodder, in 1892, the Beacon was sold to a stock com- pany, in which it is understood that Mr. I. C. Copley now owns a controlling interest. It has one of the best equipped newspaper plants in the state, outside of Chicago, and under the editorial management of Mr. George Stephens, the circulation of the paper was largely increased.
SOME PAPERS OF THE FIFTIES.
We have seen that the first paper to make good its claim to life in the young community was, except for a short period, whig in politics. But the Kane county of that day was democratic, and no doubt the adherents of that party felt that in the largest town in the county they should have an organ as well as their adversaries. The town was growing with a rapidity which we can hardly conceive in these days. In the six years between 1846 and 1852, when the next attempt was made to found a paper here, the population increased five-fold, from five hundred to two thousand five hundred. The paper, and the democrats were eager for a mouthpiece. The anti-slavery agitation had not yet assumed a threatening phase, and no one dreamed that in a few years a new party would arise, with opposition to slavery extension as its main principle, and that in 1860 this party, called the republican, would carry the country and elect its candidate for president.
THE AURORA GUARDIAN.
With these momentous events still behind the curtain of the future, in November, 1852, Simeon Whiteley and Benjamin Wilson brought forth the Aurora Guardian. The paper was soundly democratic. The second number announced with a shout of joy the election of Franklin Pierce, democratic candidate for president. In 1854 Stephen A. Douglas, a senator of the United States from Illinois, introduced his famous Kansas-Nebraska bill, repealing the Missouri compromise, and throwing open the unsettled territories to the admission of slavery. A storm of protest swept over the northern states. Popular indignation was at white-heat. Senator Douglas, however, a con- summate master of every art known to the practical politician, and a tre- mendous power in debate, pressed forward his bill, and it became a law. He thus precipitated the revolution that drove the democratic party from power, and which only ended when slavery was abolished throughout the country. The Guardian, during the early stages of this agitation, was "Free Soil," as the opponents of slavery extension were called. Upon the organization of the republican party, it became attached to it, and ardently advocated its principles. Thus the democratic party lost its organ in Aurora, and nearly a quarter of a century passed before another attempt was made to establish a democratic paper here.
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The panic of 1857 brought ruin to nearly every line of business in the country; the newspaper business suffered with the rest. Retrenchment and consolidation were the order of the day; and, as already stated, it was in this year that the Beacon and the Guardian were consolidated, the new paper being called The Republican Union. The proprietors were James W. Randall and Simeon Whiteley; the editorial work was done by Augustus Harman. The firm of Randall & Whiteley lasted but a few weeks. After the fifth number Randall sold his interest to Whiteley, who then called the paper The Weekly Republican. The paper was reduced in size, and other severe economies were resorted to in the effort to prolong its life. But Mr. Whiteley had become heavily involved financially, and the struggle was unavailing. On November 2. 1858, the Republican, lineal descendant of the gallant old Guardian, breathed its last.
A PERIOD OF "ISMS."
We come now, in the history of the press of Aurora, to a time that may be described as a period of "isms." The mid years of the nineteenth century abounded in projects for the reformation of society and the regeneration of mankind. These projects included dress reform, woman's sufferage, temper- ance, of course, watercure, vegetable diet, and I know not what else. These ideas and schemes were generalized, in the language of that day, as "isms." When a man or woman embraced one or more of these "isms" the first was to get a press and types, and begin the work of proselyting by means of printer's ink. And so. the country over, there were scores of papers printed in small towns, advocating "isms" of every name and kind, and Aurora had its share.
THE TEMPERANCE MONITOR.
The Temperance Monitor was started in Aurora in March, 1858, by James P. Snell. Little is now known of this paper beyond the fact that its life was brief. It survived about a year. Mr. Snell entered the army at the beginning of the Civil war as a member of the Fifty-second Illinois Volunteers. He served bravely during that great struggle, and at its close became editor of the Mendota Bulletin.
The Reformer was a sixteen-page paper issued monthly by Augustus Harman, whom we have just seen doing editorial work on the Beacon and the Republican. He was assisted by Ellen Beard, who soon became Mrs. Harman. The Reformer declared itself to be "what its name indicated." It fought ardently for prohibition, dress reform, and other "isms" that were thought by many people fifty years ago to be sovereign remedies for all or most of the evils that afflict human society. Marriage did not interrupt Mrs. Harman's activities on behalf of the Reformer. She continued to assist her husband in the editorial department, besides which. as the historian tells us, she set type, canvassed for subscribers, and advertisements, and lectured as occasion presented.
Mr. Harman must have been a worker of the strenuous kind that would have delighted even President Roosevelt. Not content with the work required
BROADWAY, AURORA, LOOKING SOUTH ABOUT 1868. JENNINGS SEMINARY IN THE DISTANCE.
MEMORIAL BUILDING, AURORA, ERECTED 1877.
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to keep the Reformer going, in April, 1860, he commenced the publication of the Temperance Tocsin, a sheet half the size of the Reformer, intended for local circulation. The labor required for the two papers was too much, how- ever, for human endurance. and the publication of the Reformer was dis- continued in the following June. Mr. Harman died in the fall of that year. Mrs. Harman continued the publication of the Tocsin for a short time, and then removed to New York city.
IN THE SIXTIES.
In the eleven years that followed the suspension of the last of the spe- cifically reform journals, six weekly newspapers were started in Aurora. Some idea of the mortality among newspapers may be obtained from the fact that of these six only one survives today. One other led a vigorous life for more than thirty years. The remaining four, without exception, passed off so quickly that with one voice they might have asked, with that other short- lived infant of whom we have heard,
"If so soon to be done for, What was I begun for."
The Aurora Chronicle was established February 8, 1861, by John H. Hodder, who was a vigorous worker and practical business man. The paper lived about six months, when it yielded to the hard times, and the gloom which the approaching Civil war cast over all business enterprises.
TIIE HERALD AND EXPRESS.
The Beacon was now the only paper in Aurora, and it held this inviting field alone till after the close of the Civil war. On the close of the war, there came a period of activity. In June, 1866, Thomas E. Hill established the Aurora Herald. Ten years afterwards Mr. Hill became mayor of the city, the second newspaper man to achieve that honor. Mr. Hill was also an author, some of whose works attained wide circulation. He was the author of Hill's Manual, and other works of a useful and educational character. He was succeeded in the ownership of the Herald by the firms of Hill & Gale, Gale & Shaw, Shaw & Bangs. Bangs, Owen & Ford, and Bangs & Owen. In 1871 the Herald plant was purchased by Mr. Pierce Burton, who in 1874 sold a half interest to Mr. James Shaw. Mr. Shaw remained with the paper until 1880. when he resold his interest to Mr. Burton. In the year 1882 Mr. Burton established the Daily Express, and thereafter the Herald was the weekly edition of that paper. The Express was the first paper in Aurora and one of the very first in the country to use what are called, in printer's parlance, "telegraph plates," that is, stereotyped plates containing the morning's news, as published in the city dailies, condensed and revised for publication the same day in country dailies. The hour of publication was also novel, being at noon, possibly the only paper in the country published at that hour. This was before the days of the fast mail and the Express was able to be on the street at the same time as the Chicago morning papers, and thus supplanted them in many homes. The Express had a prosperous career for twenty years.
KANE COUNTY HISTORY
The Herald was originally republican in politics. Under the editorship of Mr. Burton, however, was mighty independent. It insisted on having its own opinion about men and politics and things in general. In the middle '70s it broke with the "grand old party" on the currency question, the principal political issue of those days. In 1876 it supported Peter Cooper, the candidate of the greenback party, for president; and it advocated greenback principles as long as the party of that name had a national organization.
Mr. Burton retired from business in 1899. After several changes of ownership, the Express ceased publication in 1903. and with it perished also the Herald.
Mr. Burton was the very last of that school of country editors who think of their work as something more than a business. To him it was an oppor- tunity for popular instruction. The editorial chair he regarded as a sort of secular pulpit. Every number of the old Herald carried "leaders," as they were called, commenting on the topics of the day, and on old themes that were made fresh by new treatment. Theology was a favorite field of discus- sion with Mr. Burton, and many people who never attended church or heard a sermon enjoyed his pithy treatment of matters of church policy and belief. The politics of the day, of course, received due attention, and foreign affairs even were not neglected.
This school of editors in the smaller cities and towns has long since passed away. In their land, we have the reporter, who aims to tell an interesting story about something that happened perhaps in the next block; and you are lucky if that something did not happen in your own family. We thus have a more intimate reflection of the life of the community, all of which is inter- esting no doubt to some one. We may have gained something by the change ; but I cannot help thinking that there is a distinct loss in the passing of that type of editor who, from a trained and well stored mind. gave the people wise counsel and sane comment on the events of the day -- the type of which Pierce Burton was the last representative in Aurora.
THE AURORA WEEKLY.
In June, 1867, Dudley Randall established the Aurora Weekly. Randall represented the broad farce element in the newspaper world of Aurora. He probably founded more papers than any other man in the country. Some obtained considerable circulation. but "Dud." as he was universally called. lacked business habits, and was unable to bring any of them to maturity. He had a sense of humor that was often expressed too broadly for refined ears ; outside of that, he had natural ability; but with it all there went an ingrained weakness of character that spelled failure for every enterprise he undertook.
AURORA ARGUS.
The Aurora Argus was in some sort a successor of the Aurora Weekly, after the latter had been published for several months. Possibly there was a change of name only. Randall being still the editor and nominal proprietor,
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with an erratic colonel by the name of Brainard for assistant. Whatever the reason for the change of name, it did not serve to prolong the existence of the paper, and the Argus soon followed the weekly into the realms of oblivion.
THE VOLKSFREUND.
In 1868 Aurora saw its first paper printed in a foreign language. In that year Peter Klein and Jacob Siegmund established the Aurora Volksfreund. In 1871 Mr. Klein purchased the interest of Mr. Siegmund, and has since continued to be the sole proprietor of the Volksfreund. The paper was repub- lican in politics till 1884, when it supported Grover Cleveland for president. Before the next presidential election, however, it returned to the republican fold, and never again wandered from it. The Volksfreund has been an able and faithful representative of the large German population residing in Aurora. May 27, 1895. Mr. Klein began the publication of a daily edition of his paper, and the venture proved to be a profitable one from the start. Mr. Klein is now the Nestor of the editorial profession in Aurora, having been in business as publisher, editor and proprietor for more than thirty-eight years.
CITY LIFE ILLUSTRATED.
In 1871 Dudley Randall was again in evidence with a fresh newspaper venture. It was called City Life Illustrated. The art of engraving was in a very crude state then, as compared with what it is today. Photo-engraving and the half-tone were unknown, and newspaper cuts were often hacked out with a jack-knife. Dud's illustrations must have been of this character. The Life's career was merry, but short. It attained quite a large circulation for a country paper in those days, but its founder was not the man to make it a permanent success ; and it went to the grave in the same year that saw its birth.
THE DAILY THAT LIVED A DAY.
Few people in Aurora know that there was once such a paper in the city as the Daily Globe. This is not to be wondered at. since the Globe had perhaps the shortest life of any paper that was ever actually born. It lived but one day. The Globe was projected by one Turner, who has disappeared so completely from our knowledge that even his full name is not known. He was a printer, and at the time was employed in the Beacon office. But he had ideas above setting type, and one of these was that a small daily paper, that could be printed on an ordinary job press, and which could thus be produced at a very small expense, might be made a paying enterprise. He induced Jacob Siegmund to do the mechanical work, and after publishing one issue, had an urgent call to go east, since which he has not been heard from. Mr. S. took the advertising accounts for his pay and they aggregated so much that lie concluded to start a daily paper himself. So with the aid of Charles M. Faye he started the Daily News, which was first printed on a small job press about
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IOXI4 inches in size. Mr. Faye proved to be an able newspaper man, and soon required a larger press for his paper. In September, 1875, Mr. Faye sold his interest in the News to his partner and went to Chicago, where he in a few years afterward became manager of the Chicago Daily News.
February 1, 1876, Mr. Willis B. Hawkins purchased a half interest in the plant. It will interest those who have heard that in the year 1906 $70,000 was offered for the Daily News plant to know that Hawkins, about thirty-one years ago, paid just $800 for a half interest in the News plant of that day.
In 1884 Mr. Hawkins sold his interest in his paper to his partner, Mr. Siegmund, who for a time published the paper with Richard W. Corbett as editor. In 1884 the establishment was sold to E. D. Northam and E. F. Beaupre, who published the paper for several years, and then sold it to John F. Dewey. In 1891 Mr. Dewey disposed of the establishment to the late Walter S. Frazier. On the death of Mr. Frazier a controlling interest passed to his son, Lincoln B. Frazier. Under the proprietorship of the Fraziers and the editorship of A. M. Snook, the News has become a highly prosperous and influential paper.
THE EVENING POST.
One more daily paper was established in Aurora within the period to which we are limited. This was the Aurora Evening Post, established in 1878. Its founder was a wandering printer named Welch, who, like most wandering printers, lacked capital. From Welch's hands it passed to those of Louis A. Constantine, who possessed a wonderful tenacity of purpose ; and Mark Tapley himself could not have presented a more cheerful front to adverse fortune. These qualities enabled Constantine to keep the Post on its feet for nearly twenty years. In 1897 he was appointed postmaster of Aurora, being the fourth newspaper man to hold that position, his predecessors being Bangs, Knickerbocker and Hodder. Soon after this happy event in Mr. Constantine's life, the Evening Post gently passed to that undiscovered country from whose bourne no newspaper returns.
The Evening Post's chief claim to fame, perhaps, is the fact that it gave to Frank A. Vanderlip his first lessons in newspaper work. It was on the Post that he served an apprenticeship as a reporter and man of all work. He wrote locals, solicited advertising, visited the police courts and all the other places that were supposed to be sources of items. Possibly it was on the Post that he acquired that faculty for clear statement and cogent reasoning which is now often called into requisition when some important announcement is to be made to the financial world.
THE INDEPENDENT.
In 1878 the Aurora Independent, a weekly paper, was established by Edward Keough, formerly of the Elgin Times. The Independent was started as a democratic paper : but it was a mistake to think that an Elgin man could succeed in an enterprise that no Aurora man cared to undertake. Pos- sibly the democrats of Aurora had outlived their desire for an organ. since they
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made a pretty good fight on election days without one. The Independent's life was brief.
THE AURORA BLADE.
This was the name of a weekly paper started in 1882 by C. W. Putnam, formerly foreman of the old Herald office. Its chief object was the humorous presentation of local happenings in Aurora and vicinity, at which he was very successful. He sold out after a few years and the Blade "blayed aud," as he expressed it.
The latest newspaper venture is The Fox River Leader, weekly, estab- lished March 31, 1904. by Charles Connors and John G. Badey. A labor paper, official organ of the Aurora Trades and Labor Assembly, Aurora Build- ing Trades' Council and Elgin Trades' Council. It is well managed, ably edited and bids fair to achieve a long and useful existence.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
The old soldiers who took part in the war of the Rebellion are slowly disappearing from among us. Many have already spread their tents on "Fame's Eternal Camping Ground." and a history of Aurora can do no better service than to help perpetuate the names of those now living here who took part in that great struggle.
The objects to be accomplished by this organization are as follows :
To preserve and strengthen those kind and fraternal feelings which I. bind together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late Rebellion and to perpetuate the memory and history of the dead.
2. To assist such former comrades in arms as need help and protection, and to extend needful aid to the widows and orphans of those who have fallen.
3. To maintain true allegiance to the United States of America, based upon a paramount respect for, and fidelity to the national constitution and laws; to discountenance whatsoever tends to weaken loyalty, incites to insur- rection, treason, or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the efficiency or per- manency of our free institutions; and to encourage the spread of universal liberty, equal rights and justice to all men.
Aurora Post, No. 20, was mustered into the ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic on the evening of June 10, 1875, by Department Commander Hillard.
The following names appeared on the post charter :
E. C. Beardsley. M. M. Robbins.
J. Kautenberger.
Joseplı Boyle. C. M. Ross.
E. Perrigo.
J. M. Conway. F. L. Thayer.
L. C. Porter.
J. S. Drake. Thomas Bexon.
I. W. Rice.
J. F. Harral. T. B. Coulter.
W. H. Scragg.
A. C. Little. H. B. Douglas. W. H. Watson.
P. B. Page. A. C. Ferre. M. D. Yager.
T. R. Polglase. T. E. Hornby.
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PAST COMMANDERS.
T. B. Coulter.
W. H. Watson. A. Quinton.
H. B. Douglas.
John J. Hubbard. O. Wilson.
J. H. Freeman. J. F. Harral.
M. Hughes.
Eb. Denney. John L. Walker.
Melvin Tarble.
M. D. Yager.
D. B. Lincoln.
C. B. Rukgaber.
J. M. Kennedy.
N. J. Thomas.
Theo. Howard.
F. L. Thayer. G. Aucutt.
Chris Zimmer.
The following are the names of the members in 1907:
Gus Aucutt, Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry.
J. M. Allen, Company A, Thirty-sixth Illinois Cavalry.
Avery Ames, Company H, Ninety-fourth New York Infantry.
Seth H. Adams, Company E, One Hundred and Forty-third Pennsyl- vania Infantry.
J. L. Backus, Company A, Seventy-fifth Illinois Infantry.
Thomas S. Bates, Company C. Busteed's Battery.
Samuel Beales. Company M. Eighth Illinois Cavalry.
James Bedford, Company A. Sixty-first Massachusetts Infantry.
J. C. Beede, Company K, Eighteenth New Hampshire Infantry.
N. M. Bell, Company C, Thirty-third Ohio Infantry.
V. H. Beher, Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry.
George W. Bartholomew, mustered in Eighth Illinois Cavalry.
J. M. Bigger, First Arkansas Cavalry.
Joseph Boyle, Company I, Twenty-third Illinois Infantry.
F. H. Bowran, Company H. Eleventh New York Cavalry. Frederick Brown, Company M, Eighth Illinois Cavalry.
J. Blakely, Company L. Eighth Illinois Cavalry.
G. P. Briggs, Company K, Sixteenth New York Artillery.
H. F. Breese, Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-second Illinois Infantry.
James G. Butler. Company C, Thirty-second Pennsylvania Infantry. J. Becker, Surgeon. Thirteenth Kansas Infantry.
J. C. Caldwell. Company B, First Ohio Cavalry.
H. C. Campbell, Company A, Eleventh Illinois Cavalry.
WV. E. Carpenter, Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry.
E. Campbell. Company C. Seventh Illinois Infantry.
C. W. Card. Company D. One Hundred and Thirty-sixth New York Infantry.
G. S. Case. Company A. One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry.
William Caton. Company F. One Hundred and Forty-second Penn- sylvania Infantry.
Benjamin F. Carns. Company C. Fourth Illinois Cavlary.
Jolin B. Chase, Company C. Forty-second Wisconsin Infantry.
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KANE COUNTY HISTORY
WV. L. Chase, Company B, Twelfth Michigan Infantry.
C. B. Colwell, Company C, Ninety-eighth New York Infantry, Thomas B. Coulter, Company G, Eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry.
J. M. Conway, Company K, Second Connecticut Infantry.
E. J. Clapp. Company D, Second Indiana Infantry.
Thomas Clark, Company B. Fifty-seventh Illinois Infantry.
John Carl, Company M, Tenth Illinois Cavalry.
G. M. Cowdry, Company A, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry.
A. D. Crabb, Company C, Twentieth New York Cavalry.
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