USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 15
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
Lee was attached to the Sixth judicial circuit Jan. 15, 1840, and the times for holding courts were fixed for the third Mondays of April and September. The bonds of George W. Chase, clerk, $2,000; Samuel Johnson, coroner, $2,000 and Aaron Wakelee, sheriff, $2,000, were brought into court and approved.
There must have been at least forty-one cases on the first docket, because one of that number, Charles Franks vs. Thomas H. March, bill for injunction, was reached.
The first case on the docket was John M. Kinzie, the famous Chicago man of the early days, vs. William Wilkinson, appealed from Smith Gilbraith, a justice of the peace. It seems that Kinzie appeared at neither trial and so he was called in open court three times, and failing to appear, his appeal was dismissed, and the judgment of the court below, according to the practice of that day, was affirmed. A procedendo was issued and the costs taxed-the first case in the fee book-were $4.171 ..
While the Kinzie case was first on the docket, case number five (5) was the first case in which a motion was made, at that term, entitled, William F. Bradshaw vs. James Dacey and Daniel Car- penter. Defendants asked to have the case dismissed, and the motion was overruled.
Seven indictments were returned by the grand jury; the first was against Zachariah Phillips for keeping a gaming house; the second was against the same party for keeping a billiard table : the third was against Jude W. Hamilton, for selling liquor without a license: the fifth was against Caleb Tallmage (shades of Black- stone and Kent! It was Deacon Tallmage!) for selling liquor with- ont a license: sixth, John and Joshna Cutshaw, for selling liquor withont license, and seventh against John B. Wilson, for forgery, counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money.
Hamilton, with a man named Chapman, ran a store in the orig- inal John Dixon house in 1836. Their establishment was the first opened in Dixon. He is also reputed to have built the first
171
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
frame building in Dixon, a little affair which sat close to the east wall of the brick building on the alley, First street, between Ottawa and Galena avenues, owned by George Downing and occupied by the American Express Company and another tenant.
Hamilton was found guilty and fined $10 and costs. Tallmage was found not guilty. The Cutshaws gave bond for their appear- ance and then defaulted it.
At this term of court, the first "first" naturalization papers were issued to Nelson Thurston, who declared his intention to become a citizen.
A special term was called for the first Monday of November, 1840, at which the cases on the docket had run up to at least one hundred and eleven.
Our old friend Frederick R. Dutcher, eut considerable of a figure at this term of court. He and Smith Gilbraith were the two justices of the peace, elected at the first election held for the pur- pose and it seems he married a couple without having a marriage license. The circumstance nist have cut a great figure in con- temporaneous history, because he was indicted three times at this tern and once in May, 1843; but he got away from it all after con- siderable litigation. A party named Knowlton was his attorney. On Sept. 19, 1842, Michael Fellows, our first recorder, first appears on record. He was made deputy circuit clerk on that day by G. W. Chase, the clerk.
In 1856, James K. Edsall, who subsequently became Attorney- General of the state, came to Dixon from Kansas, where he had been a member of the Legislature.
In August, 1855, a directory printed in a newspaper called the Daily Whisper, contained the following list of Dixon lawyers: F. R. Danna, John Stevens, John V. Eustace, Heaton and Ather- ton, J. D. Mackay. S. G. Patrick, Frederick A. Soule and Edward Southwick. Lorenzo Wood should be included, although he and Danna nor Soulé practiced actively. Wood. however. in 1849, had his sign out in Dixon, as a lawyer.
In 1845, a correspondent writing for a Rockford paper, made the statement that there were six lawyers in Dixon. They were so far as known Edward Southwick, S. G. Patrick. Silas Noble, Wil- liam W. Heaton, John V. Eustace and Lorenzo Wood.
John V. Eustace later, in 1856, became a member of the Logis- lature. He introduced a bill making a new circuit, which was passed and he became judge of that circuit from the ranks of Lee county attorneys. He served until 1861, when Judge William W.
172
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Heaton was elected. When the law establishing the appellate courts was passed, Judge Heaton was appointed to the appellate bench and became the first presiding judge for the first, Chicago, district. He died in 1878, while in office and Judge John V. Eustace was elected to fill the vacancy. Judge Eustace died in office and Judge John D. Crabtree was elected to the office and very soon was elevated to the appellate bench for the second district. He too died in office and Judge Farrand was elected to the office which he has held ever since. Thus it will be seen Lee county has furnished a circuit judge ever since the year 1856, and an appellate court judge for two of the districts of the state.
From the Lee county bar, Solomon Hicks Bethea was made a judge of the United States district court, in Chicago. Sherwood Dixon. S. H. Bethea, Charles B. Morrison and William B. Sterling, all occupied the position of United States district attorney, the first three for the northern district of Illinois and the last named for the State of South Dakota.
William Barge too was one of the big lawyers of Illinois. Ile enjoyed a very large practice and was known the state over as a lawyer of great learning and power. To come to the present bar of Lee county, it ranks as it always has ranked. The present dean is Abram K. Trusdell, who has retired from active work to enjoy a competency he has reserved from a large and active practice. The firm name is Trusdell, Smith and Leech. Mr. Clyde Smith has fought and won in the highest courts, and that too, lately, some of the most important cases which have come before them. Mr. Wil- liam L. Leech, the junior partner, resides in Amboy.
In the celebrated Miller case, Mr. Clyde Smith won the dis- tinetion of securing in the laws of evidence, a new rule, of such im- portance and poteney that not only has it been adopted as a leading case on "handwriting," but all text books have incorporated it in their new editions. The law schools too teach evidence of "hand- writing by comparison," from the principles Mr. Smith estab- lished in the Miller case. This case today enjoys as much fame as the celebrated "rule in Shelley's case" enjoyed of old.
Hiram A. Brooks and Clarence C. Brooks, as Brooks & Brooks, enjoy an extensive business. Mr. IT. A. Brooks is regarded as one of the strongest trial lawyers in Illinois at this period. J. W. Watts, who is the head of the law school, is most deeply learned in the law, and he is known far and wide. The graduates from his law school occupy important positions before the bar in half the states of the Union and several others are upon the state and
17:
1
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
national benches. Still others are today United States attorneys. Recently the alumni of his school formed themselves into a society and many met in Dixon to enjoy a banquet.
Henry S. Dixon and George C. Dixon, as Dixon & Dixon, sons of Sherwood Dixon and great grandsons of John Dixon, occupy prominent positions as lawyers. Their father was recognized as one of the foremost lawyers of his time, and they enjoy the heritage of that name as well as the support and confidence of a large client- age, made up largely of big corporations, like the Illinois Central and Northwestern steam railroads and the local Intra Mural Sur- face railroad between Dixon and Sterling, as well as our big Illi- nois Northern Utilities Company. As successors of the fim Dixon (Sherwood ) & Bethea, Morrison & Bethea, and Morrison, Bethea & Dixon (H. S.), Messrs. Dixon & Dixon came into a fine practice. One thing is most remarkable about these firms; Sherwood Dixon. S. H. Bethea and Charles B. Morrison, in the order named, were made United States district attorneys for the northern district of Illinois, from continuations of the same partnership. Edward II. Brewster is in the enjoyment of a splendid practice. Associated with him is his brother, Charles W. The former was states attor- ney and is the legal adviser of the cement company, the biggest of its kind in the country. When big corporations want good lawyers they have been in the habit of selecting Dixon lawyers. For years Mr. John E. Erwin has taken the position of a leading criminal lawyer of Illinois. During the past year he has handled three of the most noted criminal cases of the state. Two of them were des- perate. Probably for blood curdling atrocity, the Doctor Webster case will rank first for long years to come and in each case he not only got his men off with their lives, but in one instance he secured the liberty of his client.
Lee county has been fortunate in its public prosecutors, espe- cially with Messrs. Charles B. Morrison, Edward H. Brewster, Charles H. Wooster and Harry Edwards. These gentlemen made great reputations. Mr. Wooster lives in Amboy and he enjoys one of the largest practices in the county. George P. Goodwin was another of the old time big lawyers of Lee county. When he became commissioner of the land department for the Chicago and Northwestern railroad. he left active practice. On his death. Judge Crabtree took the position, but preferring active practice he returned to Dixon and later was elected state Senator and then circuit judge.
174
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
James K. Edsall was elected state Senator first and that office was made the stepping stone to the more important one of Attor- ney-General which he held for two terms. In that office he made a great name as a lawyer and in the United States Supreme court records, his name will be found associated with some of the noted Illinois litigation. While in Dixon he was employed by the son of Lewis Clapp to fight the will of that testator. Judge Eustace pre- sided and he decided in favor of Mr. Edsall's contention to the effect that an executor could not be endowed with the discretionary power given in this will. Thus an estate of something like half a million dollars, passed to the son instead of to the erection of an agricultural college. Lewis Clapp, at his death, was the richest man in Lee county.
For careful and very able effort in the management of cases, Messrs. Wingert & Wingert have no superiors before this or any other bar. Their defense, last summer, of Dr. S. M. Green, indicted for manslaughter, was generally admitted to be one of the master- pieces of trial work. The jury acquitted Doctor Green. But what- ever the case may be, common law, chancery or criminal, they are the same clear, close and able men and by the time the case has been digested, it is safe to say not one solitary point has escaped their observation and study. The statement that they are splendid law- yers will bear repetition many times.
John P. Devine is walking rapidly to the front as a lawyer of the first abilities. Last year he was elected representative in the General Assembly and what is unusual for a new member, he was placed upon the most important committees in the House. To him Governor Dunne looked for support in the many trying emergen- cies which arose and in not one single instance did Mr. Devine err in judgment or waver in his support of the Governor's efforts to pass reform bills. His remarkable record has given him a com- manding popularity and influence in the state.
Albert H. Hanneken, one of the younger members of the bar, has reached a strong position in a marvelously short period. His practice already reaches the vohune that many of the old time practitioners never realized to their very last days.
At one time in his career, a criminal had been charged with the commission of an offence from which no escape seemed possible. He had participated in the theft of a valuable automobile. He had been caught red handed. In assigning him counsel, it was assumed as a matter of course he would be convicted and so would make a fit subject for one of the younger lawyers to practice on.
175
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Accordingly Mr. Hanneken was selected. To everybody's aston- ishment he selected his jury with a discretion and a vim that indi- cated a fight of the first magnitude. Over a day was consumed in the trial of the case and when the jury returned their verdict, it acquitted Mr. Hanneken's client and convicted the co-defendant. Other incidents at the same term happened, just as important and to the average layman, just as umusual. That ended abruptly. Mr. Hanneken's apprenticeship and today he occupies a position which is impregnable.
City Attorney Mark C. Keller, by reason of a long list of special assessment cases, and the successful management of them, has won the reputation of being one of the strongest lawyers of the bar. It is his privilege to boast that he never has been beaten in one of his cases.
Mr. Grover W. Gehant is the youngest member of the bar today. In most instances it is the experience of young lawyers to wait long and patiently for business. Mr. Gehant is a notable exception to this rule. In less than a year's time he found himself engaged in some of the biggest cases on the calendar. By reason of the long illness of Mr. A. C. Bardwell, the master in chancery, in whose office Mr. Gehant had become installed, it fell to his lot to unravel some of the knottiest problems the chancery docket presented and he did it in a masterful way. Net results : he was immersed in busi- ness immediately.
I cannot overlook Arthur G. Harris, John B. Crabtree and Wil- liam H. Winn.
Our youngest lawyer is Jolm J. Armstrong: but he is the best developed youngster in this county of Lee.
Judge Robert H. Scott, county judge, never has sought active practice. He has contented himself with his official duties.
Messrs. A. C. and Henry C. Warner enjoy the largest probate practice in the circuit. The senior member in his younger days was deputy county and circuit clerk and deputy treasurer and it is not saying too much to pronounce him the best probate lawyer in Northern Illinois.
And here is another phenomenon which the Lee county bar presents. I may safely challenge any other county to reproduce another such instance.
Down in the southeast township of this county a little village of perhaps six hundred souls, stands. It is surrounded by a land virtually flowing in milk and honey. Its people are wealthy, almost to the last person.
176
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
In that contented, law-abiding community is stationed Charles F. Preston, the lawyer who enjoys the most lucrative practice in Lee county. By sheer ability, honesty, sobriety and industry, he has won this brilliant distinction and I beg to assert that he has met for years, foemen worthy any warrior's steel. Three counties, Lee, LaSalle and DeKalb, pay tribute to him almost reverentially.
Purposely I have reserved this place for one of the best loved men who ever lived in this community. The first letter of his name is the first in the alphabet. and I suppose I should have begun with him. As one of the very first of our citizens, I suppose I should have selected his name as number one. As a continuous resident of Dixon since 1854, how may I excuse this delay ? In delaying this little reference, I may have shown wretched taste. But I am sure the reader will not convict me.
Jason C. Ayres has been a member of the Lee county bar for long years. He never has practiced actively, because of the large interests which year after year have engaged his attention other- wise.
Nevertheless, he never has permitted himself to get beyond hail- ing distance from his brothers.
He is president of the Dixon National Bank. He is a large real-estate holder. In the process of buikling up his large fortune, others reposed such confidence in him and his judgment that drafts for amounts almost unlimited, drawn by Mr. Ayres, would have been honored at sight. Of such men, the Lee county bar and the Lee county people are proud.
Thirty-seven years ago a couple of youngsters from Lee county presented themselves before the Supreme court for the bar exami- nation. Their pulses ran high. They passed. Both live in Lee county today. One lives in Amboy, one in Dixon. The first is my very dear old friend, J. E. Lewis, tried and true and generous ; the dean of Amboy's lawyers. And there too may be found Charles H. Wooster, P. M. James, Charles E. Ives and William L. Leech, able, strong, successful: the two Charlies-boyhood friends as true as steel.
Numbers never made things better. Amboy ranks second to Dixon mimerically, but in Amboy will be found a little city with as many loyal, royal people, man for man, as in any community under the sun, and of those people, you will pardon me if. with my life- time of association with J. E. Lewis, Charles H. Wooster and Charles E. Ives, members of the Lee county bar, I am drawn a
177
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
little closer towards them and reserve for them a few more words, before I say good bye.
ATTORNEYS OF THE LEE COUNTY BAR
Charles E. Ives, P. M. James, J. E. Lewis, William L. Leech, S. B. Pool, Charles H. Wooster, Amboy; Jason C. Ayres, A. C. Bardwell, E. H. Brewster. Charles W. Brewster, Hiram A. Brooks, C. C. Brooks, John B. Crabtree, Henry S. Dixon, George C. Dixon, John P. Devine, John E. Erwin, Harry Edwards, Grover W. Gehant, M. J. Gannon, Jr .. A. G. Harris, A. H. Hanneken, Mark C. Keller, A. W. Leland, Charles B. Morrison, J. F. Palmer, W. F. Preston, Clyde Smith. Robert H. Scott, J. O. Shaulis, Harvey Sindlinger, A. K. Trusdell. A. C. Warner, J. W. Watts, E. E. Win- gert, William H. Winn, Henry C. Warner, Dixon : J. W. McHale, Charles F. Preston, Paw Paw.
CHAPTER XII
THE LEE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES AND FAIRS
With the fluctuations of human interest and the caprice of the people who raise up interesting features and then when surfeited, like an old plaything, throw them away, the county fair may be classed as a creature created and reared and supported in luxury, and then abandoned. Twice since the first society was started July 14, 1858, it has languished and has been revived, the last time by the citizens of Amboy, under whose fostering care it seems likely to live on forever, as it should, because the county fair is an institu- tion of the greatest value to a community as an educator and as a playground. During the infancy of the county, William H. Van Epps was the tower of strength which supported the first fairs ever held in Lee county.
Mr. Van Epps was a man of great wealth, of boundless enthu- siasm when it came to matters of agriculture or the welfare of Dixon and Lee county. He was the first president of the first fair association and his energy made the old fairs the tremendous successes that they were.
Who is there who can remember back into the fifties, who will forget the old fair grounds located just eastward from the ceme- tery ? The eastern portion of the present cemetery was once the western extreme of that old fair ground. Even well along into the sixties the old fair grounds were mighty familiar to the people of the county and to every school child as well.
In those days it was the custom to admit the children to the fair on the big day, during each session and to the most of us those days were the red letter days of our lives. The side shows then were part of the fair. The barker flourished in all his luxuriousness. The sword swallower delighted the kids; the snake charmer either
179
180
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
frightened or awed them into dreadful silence. The fat woman and the fortune teller luired the unwary or delighted the unsophis- ticated. Oh! What glorious old days those were to us kids!
And don't you remember the day the body of the jewelry ped- dler was found in the woods by boys in a sad state of decomposi- tion ? The poor fellow was murdered by his partner. They went into the woods to cut crotched supports for their tent stall and after the supports had been cut, the axe was used to cleave his skull, and so the poor fellow was buried where his decayed body was found and there his dust rests today. Until very recently, I knew the spot so well I could find it in the night time. The little mound remained there to indicate the spot, so late as the year 1875.
And in that old fair ground the Thirteenth Regiment of Illi- nois Volunteers camped and the buildings were used for barracks until one Sunday morning the boys marched out to the fife and the drum to take the Illinois Central trains provided for their trans- portation to the theatre of war, as has been pietured so faithfully by Mrs. S. S. Dodge in another part of this book.
Largely through the efforts of Mr. Van Epps, the first county agricultural society was formed and in the year 1858, the first fair was held in the old fair grounds near the cemetery. As I have stated, William 11. Van Epps was the first president of the society and in this connection it may be stated also that he was vice-presi- dent of the state society during the years 1859 and 1860. At the next biennial election he was made president of the state society. The other officers for the first year were : James C. Mead, recording secretary : James A. Hawley, financial secretary ; William Butler. treasurer ; A. R. Whitney of Franklin Grove, Joseph T. Little of Dixon. F. W. Coe of Palmyra, Abram Brown of South Dixon, Wil- liam Uhl of Dixon, Lorenzo Wood of Dixon, Seth H. Whitmore of Dixon, Hiram Terry of Dixon and John Moore of Dixon, comprised the executive committee.
The officers of the society for 1859 were: President, William H. Van Epps; vice presidents, Horace Preston, Amboy : Thomas S. Hulbert, Bradford : John K. Robison, Brooklyn ; Charles Brackett, China: Joseph Rhodes, Dixon; A. I. Coltrin, Hamilton; J. MeManns, Harmon; Lewis Clapp. Lee Conter: John T. Phillips, Marion; R. B. Viele, May; A. D. Moon, Palmyra ; C. Reynolds, Reynolds; Wesson Holton, Willow Creek, and Hiram Terry, Wyo- ming ; treasurer, Henry T. Noble ; recording secretary, Charles V. Tenney ; corresponding secretary, Joseph T. Little ; executive com- mittee. A. R. Whitney. F. W. Coe, Seth HI. Whitmore. John Moore,
181
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
H. E. Williams, John Dement, Charles Hansen, Charles Gardner and William Butler.
The second fair began its session on Monday, Oct. 10, 1859, and continued with increasing interest, the entire week. The weather was pleasant. with the exception of the second day when it was rainy, with a cold east wind. The crowds in attendance were very large.
There were 167 entries of cattle; 269 of horses; 86 of swine; 75 of sheep; 141 of farm products; 44 of poultry ; 53 of agricultural implements ; 63 of fruits and flowers; 63 of preserves and jellies ; 49 of domestic manufactures ; 29 of honsehold fabrics; 63 of paint- ings and drawings; 112 of household implements; 38 of mechanic arts: 16 plowing match : 9 ladies' equestrianship, and 16 miscel- laneous.
There was paid out for 1858 premium disbursements, $75.50; 1859 premiums. $1,448.60. What a jump! Expense account. $1,921.58 : cash balance, $71.15 ; total, $3,516.83.
So that it will be seen at once, after the first year's experiment, there was a tremendous interest manifested in the fair by the people of the county. Among the notable exhibits shown was the collection of Doctor Everett's geological and natural history speci- mens, all the product of the Rock river valley. Hon. James Shaw of Mount Carroll also exhibited his very large collection of geolog- ical specimens.
The plowmakers, Andrus and Bosworth of Grand Detour, mak- ing the Grand Detour plows, and John Dement, making the John Dement plow, made very attractive exhibits at this fair. This shows that thus early in the history of the county and city, Col. John Dement was a manufacturer of plows. And it may as well be said in this connection, that when he discontinued making them, John Deere, of Moline, personally came to Dixon and hired all of the Colonel's plow makers to go to Moline and work for the Deere company.
Colonel Dement always exhibited at the state fairs, and I have before me the report of one fair at Springfield in which Colonel Dement's plows were paid a very high compliment. In the face of the strongest possible competition, he was awarded the first premiums over everything else. For over twenty years his plows stood at the head of the list.
Mr. John Courtright also had at this second fair a sorghum mill which he operated on the grounds and which attracted great attention.
182
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Hon. James Shaw, of Mount Carroll, made the address.
During the year several new buildings were built: an editor's hall, art hall, dining hall, farm products hall, ticket and treasurer's office, secretary's office, a public wash room and a grand stand to seat 1,000 persons. Over in the stock department, the number of buildings was doubled.
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.