History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 94

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

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LEADING BUSINESS MEN AND EARLY CITIZENS OF ALTON.

Among the enterprising business men to whom Alton, mainly owed its early prosperity were Winthrop S. Gil. man William Manning, Edward Bliss, Mr. Fleshman, Simeon Ryder, Benjamin Godfrey Caleb Stone, and A. G. Sloo. The firms of Godfrey, Gilman & Co., Stone, Man- ning & Co., Sloo & Co., and H. Miller & Co. were con- spicuous for business activity and for their efforts to extend the trade of Alton. Godfrey, Gilman & Co. transacted a large business and had a wide reputation through- out the western country. Both Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Gil- man were men of philanthropic liberality, who deserve especial mention in any history of Alton. The latter is still living in New York city. Mr. Godfrey died in 1862, but there remains to mark his memory the most enduring and honorable of all monuments-the Monticello Female Sem- inary, creeled by his munificent liberality.

. Of the men who began business in Alton previous to 1840 only a few are now living. Dr. E. Marsh began business in 1832, Arba Nelson in 1836, Isaac Scarritt in 1837, Rich- ard Flagg in 1837, Robert De Bow in the autumn of 1835, Thomas G. Starr in January, 1838, (establishing the first family grocery in Alton) William Hayden in May, 1$31, and Michael W. Carroll in 1832: all these, after conduct- ing business for many years, are now dead. Amasa S. Barry, who became a citizen in 1837, and commenced busi- ness in 1842, is now a resident of Chicago. Of those still living and now residents of Alton are Samuel Wade, who began the lumber business in 1831; Perley B. Whipple, who commenced business in October, 1835; Horatio B. Bowman in January, 1839; Charles Phinney in 1838 ; J. W. Schweppe, who came to Alton in 1837, and began busi- ness in 1840 ; Henry Sweetser in 1838; George Quigley in 1832; and Elisba L. Dimmock, who began business in 1838.

The following are the names of persons who became resi- dents of Alton previous to the close of the year 1840 :

George B. Arnold, Elijah P. Lovejoy,

Paul Alt,

1. Leonard,

Moses G. Atwood, Henry Lea,

John Atwood, Washington Libby,

John P. Ash,

William S. Lincoln,

A. Alexander,

Richard Largent,

Charles B. Avia,

John Lincoln,

Stephen Aldrich, William Larned,

Orlean M. Adams,

James II. Lea,

Jacob C. Bruner,

Joshua G. Lamb,

Joseph Bramhall,

Stephen Lufkin,

William Barrett,

William K. Levis,

Samuel G. Bailey,

Edward Levis,

John Bailbache,

Usher F. Linder, .

Samuel Bush,

John .A. Langdon,

W. . 1. Beaty,

William P. Lamothe,

J. R. Bullock,

William McCorkle,

Edward Breath,

Dr. Ebenezer Marsh,

Abraham Breath,

Solomon E. Moore,

Nathaniel N. Buckmaster,

William Martin,

George T. Brown,

Francis B Murdock,

Barney B Barker,

Richard McDonald,

Horatio B. Bowman,

James M. Morgan,

Ilenry W. Billings,

Washington T. Miller,

Amasa S. Barry,

Joshua C. Milnor,

David P. Berry,

Robert McFarland,

John W. Buffum,

George Barry,

Horatio G. MeClintock,

Samuel L. Miller,

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Horace Buffum,

William MeBride, George McBride,

Andrew Mathers,

John Mullady, Thomas Middleton,

John S. Noble,

Isaac Negus, Levi Nutt.

Amos L. Corson, John W. Chickering, John Chaney, Effingham Cock,

Aaron Corey,

William L. Chappell, Benjamin Clifford, Thomas Clifford,

Samuel Pitts, Lawson A. Parks,

T. G. Pettingell, William Post,

Anson B. Platt,

S. H. Denton,

Robert De Bow,

Eli-ha L. Dimmock,

Wmn. A. Davidson,

John Rowe, Sherman W. Robbins,

George Robbins,

Calvin Riley,

A. R. Rotf,

John L. Roberts,

Dr. Benjamin F. Edwards,

Rev. Charles A. Farley, Eli Foster,

Isaac J. Foster,

Richard Flagg,

George W. Fox,

J. W. Stoddard,

Robert Smith,

Thomas G. Starr,

Calvin Stone,

Newton D. Strong.

A. G. Sloo,

Caleb Stone.

James E. Starr,

James S. Stone,

John W. Schweppe,

Henry C. Sweetser,

Jolın Sigerson,

James Semple,

Seth T Sawyer,

Judge Ilezekialı Hawley, Charles Hubert,

Jacob Smith,

George Heaton,

William Shattuck,

J. T. Hutton,

A. R. Skidmore,

Charles Trumbull,

John A. Ilalleman, William Harned, John Hogan, John W. Hart,

Thomas G. Thurston,

William Tanner,

Junius Hall,

R. M Treadway,

Dr. Thomas M. Hope,

E. Trenchery,

Charles Hubert, George Holton,

John R. Woods,

William A. Holton,

Perley B. Whipple,

Enos H. Harrison,

Timothy L. Waples,

Thomas Waples,

John King,

John C. Woods,

George Kimball,

George W. Walworth,

George Kelley,

George L. Ward,

John M. Krum,

Royal Weller,

Samuel H. Kennedy,

Thomas Wallace,

Lewis Kellenberger,

Green Walker,

W. F. Leonard,

John Van Antwerp,

HI. G. Van Waggenen.

There are now forty persons over seventy years of age, who have resided in Alton more than thirty years.

THE MURDER OF LOVEJOY .*

The most tragic event that ever occurred in the history of Alton was the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy on the seventh of November, 1837. This was the first important act in

that great struggle between freedom and slavery, which cul- minated a quarter of a century afterward in the war of the Rebellion, and which ended in the complete triumph of the principles which the ardent Lovejoy was among the first to espouse.

Elijah Parish Lovejoy, son of the Rev. Daniel C. Lovejoy, a Congregational minister, was born at Albion, Maine, on the second of November, 1802. After graduating at Water- ville college, he came to St Lonis, where he first taught school, and then became the editor of the St. Louis Times, a whig newspaper. Soon afterward, in 1832, he united with the Presbyterian church, and the same year entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, with the view of preparing himself for the Presbyterian ministry. He was licensed to preach in 1833, and returned to St. Louis, where in November he assumed editorial charge of the St. Louis Observer, a paper started as the organ of the Pres- byterians in Illinois and Missouri. He soon incurred the ill-will of the Roman Catholic residents of St. Louis by his strictures on the doctrines and practices of their church, and his articles against slavery which began to appear in 1835, excited intense opposition. The owners of the press were, at one time, obliged to publish a card to allay the excite- ment and prevent the mob from destroying their property. A letter was addressed to Mr. Lovejoy by a number of the leading citizens of St. Louis, and the minister who had re- ceived him into the church, who expressed the opinion that slavery was sanctioned by the Bible, and asked him to desist from its further discussion. This letter was published in the Observer with a reply from Mr. Lovejoy in which he claimed the right to print his honest convictions. His views at that period favored colonization aud gradual emancipation. The proprietors of the paper finally requested him to retire from its management. To this he cheerfully consented. The paper, however, was in debt, and the owners gave up the press and material to a Mr. Moore, the endorser on a note soon to fall due, an l this gentleman insisted on Lovejoy's continuance as editor, provided the paper was removed to Alton. While making arrangements for the publication of the paper at Alton he was invited to return to St. Louis, and there continued his editorial labors quietly for some months. 36

An editorial which appeared in May, 1863, relative to the burning at the stake, by a mob, of a negro, who, while un- der arrest, had killed an officer of the law, and one in June in severe criticism of Judge Lawless who, in his charge to the grand jury, had asserted that the action of the mob was beyond the jurisdiction of the law, aroused much feeling among the slave holding citizens of St. Louis, and it was deemed advisable to at once ship the press to Alton. Part of the office furniture was destroyed, by citizens of St. Louis, before it could be removed.

The press reached Alton before daylight on the morning of Sunday, the twenty-first of July, 1836. Mr. Lovejoy proposed to let it remain on the wharf till Monday, but after bearing the curious inspection of the crowd all day Sunday, during the night it was broken into pieces, and cast into the Mississippi. When this cowardly act became known the

* We have given a short account of Lovejoy in the chapter on the Press, as that article would be incomplete without such reference.

William Pope,

S. B. Catts, Shadrach R. Dolbee, HIezekialı Davis, Alfred Dow,

Stephen Pierson, Charles Phinney, John Quigley, George Quigley,

George T. M. Davis, Dr. Edward W. Dill, John Dill,

John Dyc,

William F. D'Wolf,

John Rowe,

Simeon Ryder, Andrew Runzi, Richard Shipley, George Smith,

Charles E. Frost,

E. F. Fifield,

Rev. Frederick W. Groves, Z. Guild.

Matthew Gillespie,

John Green,

Reuben Geary,

James Gamble,

William S. Gaskins,

Benjamin Godfrey,

Dr. Benjamin K. Ilart,

Henry Tanner,

Erastus Topping,

Johnson (eolored), Edward Keating,

Thomas P. Woolridge,

John Batterlon, James D. Burns, Michael W. Carroll, Benjamin F. Child,

Aaron W. Corey,

Arba Nelson, William R l'ay son, Samuel C. Pierce,

Moses Forbes,

385

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

next day, strong expressions of disapproval were made by citizens of Alton, and in the evening a large public meeting was held in the Presbyterian church, which was addressed by Mr. Lovejoy and other speakers. Mr. Lovejoy stated that he had come to Alton to establish a religious news- paper, that he was pleased with the town, and that, since most of his subscribers lived in Illinois, it was desirable that he should make it his future home. He regretted that his presence should cause so much excitement. Though an uncompromising enemy of slavery, he was not an " abolition ist," and had been frequently denounced by Garrison and others as being pro-slavery, because he was not in favor of their measures.

It was said that at this meeting he pledged himself not to discuss the subject of slavery in h's paper, but ten of the most respectable citizens of Alton (George If. Walworth, A. B. Roff, Solomou E. Moore, Effingham Cock, John W. Chickering, James Morse, jr., F. W. Graves, W. L. Chap- pell, J. H. Alexander and Charles W. Hunter,) subse- quently testified that he closed his speech with this remark ; " But, gentlemen, as long as I am an American citizen, and as long as American blood runs in these veins, I shall hold myself at liberty to speak, to write, and to publish whatever I please on any subject, being amenable to the laws of my country for the same."

The citizens of Alton contributed money for the purchase of a new press, which soon arrived, and on the eighth of Sep- tember, 1836, the first number of the Alton Observer was is- sued. Its discussions were at first mostly confined to sub- jeets of a literary and moral character, and under the able management of the editor its circulation soon extended. But soon the question of slavery was again brought forward, and it was evident that the views of Mr. Lovejoy had ad- vaneed so far as to be in favor of immediate abolition. Iu his paper of the twenty-ninth of July, 1837, at the in- stance of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he published a call requesting signatures to petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. But the most obnox- ious of his articles written on the fourth of July, appeared on the sixth of July, 1837. It was an editorial advocating the formation of an Illinois State Anti-Slavery Society, and in it he said :

" This day reproaches our sloth and inactivity. It is the day of our nation's birth. Even as we write, crowds are hurrying past our window, in eager anticipation to the appointed bower, to listen to the declaration that 'all men are born free and equal;' to hear the eloquent orator denounce in strains of manly indignation the attempt of England to lay a yoke upon the shoulders of our fathers, which neither they or their children could bear. Alas! what bitter mockery is this! We assemble to thank God for our own freedom, and to eat and drink with joy and gladness of heart, while our feet are upon the necks of nearly three millions of our fellow-men! Not all our shouts of self-congratulation ean drown their groans; even that very flag of freedom that waves over our heads is formed from material cultivated by slaves, on a soil moistened by their blood, drawn from them by the whip of a republican task-master.

" Brethren and friends, this must not be,-it cannot be, for God will not endure it much longer. Come, then, to the rescue. The voice of three millions of slaves calls upon you to come and 'unloose the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free.'"

On the 8th of July an anonymous hand bill was posted about the city, calling on those who disapproved the course of the Alton Observer to meet at the public market on the eleventh. The man who called this meeting to order stated that it was " for the suppression of Abolitionism." Resolu- lutions strongly disapproving Mr. Lovejoy's course were passed, and a committee consisting of Dr. B. K. Hart, Louis J. Clawson, Nathaniel Buckmaster, A. Olney and Dr. J. Haldeman, was appointed to confer with Mr. Lovejoy, " and ascertain whether he intends to disseminate through the col- umns of the Observer the doctrine of Abolitionism, and re- port the result of their conference to the public." This committee, thirteen days afterward, communicated with Mr. Lovejoy by letter through the post-office. Ile replied by denying their right to dictate to him what it was proper to discuss, and at the same time tendered them the use of his paper to refute his opinions, if they were wrong.

The St. Louis papers about this time were influential in stirring up the deep feeling which had manifested itself at Alton. The Missouri Republican, which was generally taken and read at Alton, in its issue of August, 1837, said : " We perceive that an Anti-slavery society has been formed at Upper Alton, and many others doubtless will shortly spring up in different parts of the state. We had hoped that our neighbors would have ejected from amongst them that minister of mischief, the Observer, or at least corrected its course. Something must be done in this mat- ter, and that speedily ! The good people of Illinois must either put a stop to the efforts of these fanaties or expel them from the community. If this is not done, the travel of emigrants through their state, and the trade of the slave- holding states, and particularly Missouri, must stop. Every one who desires the harmony of the country and the peace and prosperity of all, should unite to put them down."

At nine o'clock of the evening of the 21st of August, 1837, Mr. Lovejoy was assaulted by some eight or ten persons who, it is said, had determined to give him a coat of tar and feathers, and then send him adrift in a canoe down the Mississippi. He then resided at Hunterstown in a build- ing in a secluded spot below the road that led to Upper Alton ; and it was while on his way home from the drug- store with some medicine for his sick wife, that he was roughly stopped by the crowd, who at onee disclosed their purpose. With great coolness, he said : " I have but one request to make of you, and then you may do with me what you please. My wife is dangerously ill, and it is necessary that she should have this prescription immedi- diately. Will one of you take it, and see that it is delivered at the house, but without intimating what is about to befal me? I am in the hands of God and ready to go with you." This request was complied with, and after a few moments of silence, one of the party exclaimed, "Boys, I can't lay my hand on as brave a man as this!" and turning away, he

386

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

was followed by the others, and Mr. Lovejoy was left alone. But at a later hour during the same night a mob entered the Observer office, drove out the employes and completely demolished the press. Though these outrages were boldly committed, no attempt was made by the city officials to bring the riotors to justice.

After the destruction of the second press, some of his friends in Alton seem to have begun to doubt the wisdom of his continuance as editor. On the 11th of September, 1837, Mr. Lovejoy addressed a letter to the friends of the Observer, the subscription list of which at that time num- bered two thousand one hundred names, in which he offered to resign the editorship. A meeting of the supporters of the paper was accordingly held, and after an adjournment and long consideration, it was decided that the Observer shoukl be re-established, and that Elijah P. Lovejoy ought to con- tinue its editor. Assurances of aid came freely to Mr. Love- joy,-some from distant states. His brethren in the ministry also expressed a wish that the publication of the paper should go on. The new press and material arrived at Alton on the 21st of September, 1837, at a time when Mr. Lovejoy was absent at a session of the Presbytery. Many of his friends gathered around it as it was conveyed to the ware- house of Gerry & Willer. No violence was offered, but cries of "There goes the Abolition press ! stop it !" were heard. The mayor, John M. Krum, now a resident of St. Louis, seemed desirous of protecting it, and asked that it be left in his hands. The provision he made, however, was entirely inadequate. He had a constable posted at the door of the warehouse till a certain hour in the night ; but as soon as the official left, ten or twelve ruffians, disguised with hand- kerchiefs over their faces, broke into the store, and rolled out the press to the river bank, where it was broken up and thrown into the river. Mayor Krum arrived before the work of destruction was completed, and ordered the party to disperse, but without effect.

About ten days after this occurrence while at St. Charles, Missouri, (to which place he had accompanied his wife on a visit to her mother, whose maiden name was Celia A. French, and who was a former resident of St Charles, Mr. Love- joy was violently assaulted by a mob on a Sunday evening. He had preached twice during the day, and at about nine at night the house in which he was stopping, was entered by a drunken and brutal crowd. It is probable that his heroic and devoted wife alone prevented the mob from carrying out their murderous purposes. His friends insisted on his quitting the place that night, and before daylight he was on the road back to Alton, leaving behind him his wife and child.

Another press, the fourth aud the last, was ordered. The means to purchase it were furnished by some friends of free speech in Ohio. Some thought was entertained of trans- ferring the publication of the paper to Quiney. A convention to form a State Anti-slavery Society met on the twenty-sixth of October, 1837, in the Presbyterian church at Upper Alton. Some of the opponents of the object of the meeting, among them Usher F. Linder, then attorney-general, and John Ho- gan, now of St. Louis, gained control of the convention ;

though the real friends of the anti-slavery movement met elsewhere aud organized a State Society, of which Mr. Love- joy was made corresponding secretary, and recommended that the publication of the Observer should be continued at Alton. On the thirtieth of October, the Rev. Edward Beecher, then president of Illinois College, delivered an ad- dress in the Presbyterian church in Alton in which he ex- pressed himself strongly in favor of defending Mr. Lovejoy to the last. Mr. Beecher's speech was interrupted by a stone being thrown through one of the church windows, and it is probable that serious trouble would have ensued had not ample provision been made to repel any attack by a mob. At the moment the stone was thrown, William Tanner called a company, previously organized, to arms, and in a few minutes the church door on either side was flanked by a row of armed men, whom it was not safe for any mob to attack. Among the citizens in line were Enoch Long and Aaron W. Corey. Mr. Beecher went on with his address to the close, and as the people retired Mayor Krum called on the outsiders to disperse. The promptness of their defense was due to the fact that after repeated consultations between Mayor Krum, Mr. Lovejoy, Winthrop S. Gilman, Henry Tanner and others a company of fifty men had been organized to resist any attack on Mr. Lovejoy, and to protect the new press which was daily expected to arrive.

These events had thrown the city into a feverish state of excitement. On the second of November, 1837, only five days before the mournful and tragie end of these troubles, a public meeting was held, participated in by both parties, " to take into consideration the present excited state of pub- lic feeling in the city, growing out of the Abolition question and to endeavor to find some common ground on which both parties might meet for the restoration of harmony and good- fellowship. " To this meeting Winthrop S. Gilman and the Rev. Edward Beecher, presented a series of resolutions which declared the right of every citizen to speak, write, or print his opinions on any subject, being responsible only to the law for the abuse of that right, and that " we are more especially ealled upon to maintain this principle in the case of unpopular sentiments or persons, " as in no other cases will any effort to maintain them be needed ; and that " for these reasons alone, and irrespective of all moral, political, or religious sentiments, protection was due to the person and property of Mr. Lovejoy, the editor of the Alton Observer ; that this protection should be offered on the ground of prin- ciple solely, and altogether disconnected from approbation of his sentiments, but personal character, and his course as editor of the Alton Observer. "

The adoption of these resolutions was opposed by Usher F. Linder and others, and they were finally referred to a committee composed of Cyrus Edwards, John Hogan, Ste- phen Griggs, Usher F. Linder, H. G. Van Wagenen, Tho- mas G. Hawley and Winthrop S. Gilman, while the meeting adjourned to the next day.

The committee next day offered, instead of the resolutions of Mr. Gilman, resolutions of their own, to the effeet that it was sometimes expedient to abstain from a discussion of principles, in themselves deemed right and of the highest

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

387

importance; and that without desiring to restrain the liberty of the press iu general, it was indispensable that Mr. Love- joy should not be allowed to conduct a paper in Alton ; and that he ought to retire from the charge of the Alton Observer. These views were adopted by the meeting. Against them, Winthrop S. Gilman, alone of the committee, presented a protest. He thought the rigid enforcement of the law would prove the only protection of the rights of citizens, and the only safe remedy for similar excitements in future.

Mr. Lovejoy addressed the meeting in a specch which excited the sympathy of his hearers, and in which he for- cibly and bravely stated his position. After referring to his respect for the feelings and opinions of his fellow citizens, and his sorrow that he was compelled to differ from them, he sail that he was impelled to the course he had taken because he feared God, aud as he should answer to his God on the great day, he dared not abandon his sentiments, or cease in all proper ways to propagate them. He continued : " I, Mr. Chairman, have not desired, or asked any com- promise. I have asked for nothing but to be protected in my rights as a citizen-rights which God has given me, and which are guaranteed to me by the constitution of my country. Have I, sir, been guilty of any infractiou of the law> ? Whose good name have I injured ? When and where have I published anything injurious to the reputation of Alton ?"

" You have, sir, made up, as the lawyers say, a false issue ; there are not two parties between whom there can be a com- promise. I plant myself, sir, down on my unquestionable rights, and the question to be decided is, whether I shall be protected iu the exercise and enjoyment of those rights,- that is the question, sir : whether my property shall be pro- teeted ; whether I shall be suffered to go home to my family at night without being assaulted, and threatened with tar and feathers, and assassination ; and whether my afflicted wife, whose life has been in jeopardy from continued alarm and excitement, shall, night after night, be driven from a siek-bed into the garret, to save her life from the briek-bats and violence of the mobs; that, sir, is the question."

Here, much affected by his emotions, he burst into tears, and the sympathies of the whole meeting were deeply excited. He continued : " Forgive me, sir, that I have thus betrayed my weakness. It was the allusion to my family that over- came my feelings. Not, sir, I assure you, from any fear on my own part. Not that I feel able to contest the matter with the whole community ; I know perfectly well I am not. I know, sir, you can tar and feather me, hang me up, or put me into the Mississippi without the least difficulty. But what then ? Where shall I go? I have been made to feel that if I am not safe in Alton, I shall not be safe anywhere. I recently visited St. Charles to bring home my family, and was torn from their frantic embrace by a mob. I have been heset night and day at Alton, and now, if I leave here and go elsewhere, violence may overtake me in my retreat, and I have no more claim on the protection of any other com- munity than I have upon this ; and I have concluded, after consultation with my friends, and earnestly seeking counsel of God, to remain at Alton, and here to insist on protection

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 94

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698