USA > Illinois > McHenry County > History of McHenry County, Illinois : together with sketches of its cities, villages and towns : educational, religious, civil, military, and political history : portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, also a condensed History of Illinois > Part 26
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PHYSICIANS OF CRYSTAL LAKE.
Dr. Erwin was the first physician of the place. He came in 1842 and remained till 1857, when he moved to Chicago where he is still practicing. Next came Dr. Smith, who died here while en- gaged in his practice. Dr. Beers practiced here prior to going to McHenry, where he died. Dr. Ballou was the next. He is at present located in Nunda, where he is doing a big business. Among the list of Crystal Lake doctors we find the name of Dr. Lowell, who in his time had many friends and a good practice. Dr. Graves died here after a few years' practice. Dr. Hayes, who
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practiced here for a short time, is now a resident of Iowa. Dr. Hall is now in Chicago; he practiced here comparatively a short time. Dr. Crandall went from here to the army, and never re- turned. Dr. Lowell is the present physician.
L. D. LOWELL, M. D., is a native of Montgomery County, N. Y., born July 19, 1836, a son of A. B. and Anna M. (Seebor) Low- ell. His paternal ancestors were the founders of Lowell, Mass. His maternal grandfather, William Seebor, was a native of New York, and died in 1847. His great-grandfather and four brothers were killed in the battle of Riskna, and two others were wounded. In 1845 his parents moved to Walworth County, Wis., where they still reside. He remained on the farm till twenty-one years of age. He received a good education and taught school one year. In 1858 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Wilson, of Sharon, Wis. He afterward attended Rush Medical College, Chi- cago, from which he graduated in the spring of 1864. He located in Crystal Lake, where he has built up a large practice, and is now one of the best known and oldest physicians of the county. He was married July 2, 1862, to Sarah E., daughter of Thomas and Hannah Miller, natives of Kinderhook, N. Y. They have five children-Edith L., wife of H. C. Smith, of New York City; Lorenzo D., Edward T., Ferdinand E. and George B. Politically Dr. Lowell is a Republican. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
PHYSICIANS OF OHEMUNG VILLAGE.
Dr. Miller was the first physician of this village. He came in 1848 and remained till 1856. Next came Dr. Johnson, who prac- ticed here only a short time, when he moved to Harvard, where he died a few years afterward. About the year 1858 came Dr. Wade, who remained till about 1863, when he moved to Woodstock, where he practiced two years and moved to Harvard, where he is still located. Dr. Devine came in 1862 and remained five years, when he moved to Ohio and afterward to California. From 1867 to 1875 the village was without a doctor. In 1875 Dr. Chase came, and has since continued in practice with the exception of one year. During this year of Dr. Chase's absence Dr. McClure practiced in the place.
LAWRENCE.
SAMUEL CLARK, M. D., the oldest practitioner of the northern
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part of the county, was born near the city of Bath, Somersetshire, England, April 26, 1818, a son of Charles and Elizabeth (Porter) Clark, his mother a relative of Admiral Porter, of Revolutionary fame. His father was a farmer. Samnel was the eldest son and third child of a family of three sons and four daughters. He be- gan reading medicine when fourteen years of age with Rev. P. Simpson, an Episcopal clergyman, and also a physician. When seventeen years of age he came with his parents to America and lived in Albany, N. Y., about ten months, then went to Brantford, Canada West, where he continued his medical studies and was married to Elizabeth Clark, a native of England, and a daughter of John and Hannah (Robbins) Clark. In 1845 Dr. Clark came West and settled on a farm near Poplar Grove, Boone Co., Ill. Built the first house and store that started the village there, where he remained some fifteen years then removed to Beaverton, Boone Co., Ill., where he bought property and laid out a town, and built a grist-mill, house and store, but failing to get a railroad through it, he left it in 1861, and moved to McHenry County, and bought a farm near Lawrence, which is now one of the finest places in the county. In 1869 he went to New York, and in 1870 graduated from the New York Eclectic Medical College. He then returned to Lawrence and practiced about eight years when he went to San Jose, Cal., and two years later to Santa Cruz, where he remained three years, and while there had a large practice and helped to es- tablish the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of California; then returned to Lawrence, Ill., and in May, 1883, opened the only store in the place, where he has a complete stock of goods, including drugs and medicines. In addition to a large medical practice and the oversight of his store, he superintends his farm, which is well stocked with Jersey and short-horned cattle, Poland China hogs, Lincolnshire sheep and Plymouth Rock poultry. " Dr. Clark is a Free-Thinker, with knowledge of the immortality of the soul and one God, the Father of all men, and a worker for the liberty, equality and fraternity of man." He is a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association; Eclectic Medical Society of the State of Illi- nois, and a Fellow of the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of California. He is an advocate of the free, liberal and progressive Eclectic practice of medicine and the saine in religion and politics.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. - THE PRESS.
THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION IN MOHENRY COUNTY. - THE PIONEER SCHOOLS .- GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRESENT SCHOOL SYSTEM. - THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY. - STATISTICS.
THE LOCAL PRESS .- THE FIRST PAPER, THE " ILLINOIS REPUBLI- CAN," ESTABLISHED IN 1846 .- THE WOODSTOCK " DEMOCRAT." -- WOODSTOCK "ARGUS."-THE "SENTINEL."-THE "NEW ERA." -THE " MCHENRY COUNTY DEMOCRAT. " -- MARENGO PAPERS. -THE MARENGO "REPUBLICAN."-THE HARVARD "INDEPEN_ DENT. "-" MCHENRY PLAINDEALER. "-RICHMOND "GAZETTE." -NUNDA " HERALD."-NUNDA " ADVOCATE."
EDUCATIONAL.
The people of McHenry County, have always looked vigilantly after educational interests. Even in pioneer times, wlien every- body was poor and struggling against adverse conditions to make and pay for a home, they sought to give their children what op- portunities they could for school training. A number of school- houses were erected in the county prior to 1840, and at least two terms of school are known to have been taught in the county in the summer of 1838, only a year after the formal organization of the county. With such commendable enterprise thus early evinced, it would have been strange if the cause of education had not prospered here.
According to the reliable testimony of an old teacher, the first school in the county was taught in the summer of 1838, in what is now the town of Coral. Miss Caroline Cobb, afterward Mrs. Flanders, was the teacher. Helen Diggins, in the northern part of the county, also taught a short term during the same summer. The first males who taught in the county were Wm. M. Jackson and O. P. Rogers; the former taught in Coral, and the latter in Marengo Village in the winter of 1838-'9. We have no means of ascertaining where and when the first school-house was built. The
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first of which there is official mention was built on section 1, township 45, range 9 (Dunham), prior to June, 1839. Doubt- less others were built at or near the same time. The reader will find in the chapters devoted to the several towns an account of the early schools in each.
The first official mention of the subject of public schools appears upon the county records under the date of June, 1841. Carlisle Hastings was then appointed "School Land Commissioner," and boards of school trustees were appointed for each township in the county. These boards and the townships, as they are now named, are given below:
Riley: A. E. Smith, R. Bates and Samuel Johnson.
Marengo: Marcus G. White, John Poyer, Daniel Steward.
Dunham: Jonathan Fellows, J. N. Jerome, Thomas Finey.
Chemung: Nathaniel Smith, William Hart, Rodolphus Hutchin- son.
Coral: A. F. Randall, Selah Markham, Ephraim N. Frink.
Seneca: Wm. M. Jackson, Leander H. Bishop, Wm. Wattling.
Hartland: George Stratton, Apollos Hastings, Geo. H. Guffing. Alden: Thaddeus B. Wakeman, Ransom Parrish, Orry Barrett.
Grafton: Prescott Whittemore, John B. Oakley, Lewis Hol- dridge.
Door: Allen Dufield, Solomon Keyes, Michael Best.
Greenwood : Andrew J. Hayward, Amos Scofield, M. B. Gwinns.
Hebron: Josiah H. Giddings, Jacob Gilbert, Bela H. Tryon. Algonquin : Allen Baldwin, Hosea B. Throop, E. J. Smith.
Nunda: Josiah Walkup, Charles Patterson, Wm. Huffman. McHenry: Amory Thomas, Gideon Colby, Benjamin Tuttle. Richmond: Wm. A. McConnell, J. W. White, Samuel Merrick. Township 43, range 9 (now part of Algonquin): Thomas R. Chunn, Wm. D. Carey, Joseph Clink.
Township 44, range 9 (part of Nunda): Isaac Griswold, John H. Mudget, R. T. Codding.
Township 45, range 9 (part of McHenry): Alden Harvey, Alfred Stone, Chauncy Beckwith.
Township 46, range 9 (Burton Township): S. S. Stilson, Jonathan Kimball, Alfred Stephens.
From that time onward, school-houses were built and schools supported wherever the population was sufficiently dense to bear the expenditure. As the county became more thickly populated,
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new districts were formed, so that in a very few years every settler was within a short distance from a school-house.
The greatest difficulty in the way of the successful working of the schools was found to be tlie lack of good teachers. All the diligence of the school officers was not sufficient to remedy this defect-there were not enough competent teachers whose services could be had. Many, it is true, were well qualified for the voca- tion, and labored earnestly, performing their duty nobly; others, however, were employed in the absence of better material, who were sadly deficient both in education and aptitude.
The teachers, too, labored under disadvantages. There was nothing like uniformity of text-books, and systematic classification was impossible. Only the elementary branches were taught, and these often very imperfectly.
An insight into the state of the public schools thirty years ago is obtained from the record of the Board of Supervisors. Tuesday, Sept. 11, 1855, Mr. Jewett, of the committee on education, pre- sented resolutions declaring,
"1st. That there is a sad deficiency of properly and legally qualified teachers in and for your said county.
"2d. That there is a lack of interest and zeal on the part of said teachers to discharge those weighty responsibilities incumbent upon them in a becoming manner.
"3d. That there is a lamentable lack of uniformity in the plan of instruction which is so desirable in every county.
" 4th. That there have been considerable sums of money expended for the purpose of maintaining and supporting teachers' institutes, the object of said institutes being to remedy the difficul- ties above named.
" 5th. That these institutes have come far short of the object for which they were established," etc.
To improve the existing state of the public schools, Mr. Jewett proposed the establishment, at the county seat, of an institute to be called the McHenry County Normal School; but his suggestion was never acted upon.
The early settlers werc men who were fully awake to the impor- tance of fostering education. Not only did they give vigilant attention to the work of maintaining district schools, but they also put private schools in operation which were productive of great good. The chief institutes of this character were located at Law-
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rence, Marengo and Crystal Lake, thoughi other private schools were maintained in different parts of the county.
Lawrence Academy, situated in the northwestern part of the county, was one of the earliest and most flourishing schools in this section. It was presided over by able instructors, and many after- ward prominent men were among its students. Its prosperity gradually waned, and eventually it ceased to exist, its place being supplied in a great measure by the improved privileges of the common schools.
Marengo Collegiate Institute was the name of an academy, started under very promising auspices at Marengo in 1857. A building five stories high, designed to accommodate 150 students with rooms, was erected, and the school started with 115 pupils enrolled during the first year. Among the instructors were Rev. Geo. T. Goodhue, Rev. R. H. Richardson, and C. C. Miller, A. M.
A flourishing seminary was maintained for some years at Crystal Lake Village under the name of Nunda College. The above men- tioned were among the most prominent private schools ever estab- lished in the county. They were instrumental, in a great degree, in the improvement of the common schools, inasmuch as they sent forth many well-qualified teachers to labor in them.
Rapid progress in educational work has constantly been made during the last quarter of a century. To-day the people of Illinois justly pride themselves upon the excellence of their schools. Con- stant and well-directed efforts have wrought their result, and now the people of McHenry County may justly be proud of their public schools. It is doubtful if there can be found anywhere in the country a county no older than this which lias better school privi- leges. While the schools are not yet perfect, yet in excellence of school buildings, convenience of arrangement, competent super- vision and thorough instruction, the county will compare favorably with any of like age and population. The county superintendents, the teachers, the tax-payers and the pupils are all interested in their work, and the results are everywhere apparent. The city, village and country schools are all well equipped and performing good work. The county institutes are well attended and play an important part in keeping alive the interest in education.
The county institute was formed in 1856, and has, perhaps, aided more than any other agency in the improvement of the schools.
Many of the school districts have valuable school libraries, the importance of which will be attested by every teacher.
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HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
In 1860 the number of schools in the county was 142; number of school-houses, 139; number of teachers, 218; number of male scholars, 4,036; number of female scholars, 3,778.
In 1870 the number of pupils in the county was 11,890, of whom about 7,000 were enrolled. In 1875 the number of school-houses was 150. In 1884 there are but 138 school-houses in the county, though there are 175 needed to supply all the districts. In 1882 and 1883, 276 teachers were employed in the county, and only 270 employed during the years 1883 and 1884. Present number of children of school age in the county, 8,077. Total amount of salary paid teachers annually is $41,105.01. Present value of school property in the county, $186,285.
THE COUNTY PRESS.
After the public schools, the most potent factor in modern civilization is the newspaper press. The pulpit and the bar each have their allotted spheres in which to protect and benefit society, but their influence is by no means commensurate with that of the press. The talented lawyer or the learned divine may be able to impress some important truth on the minds of the few hundreds composing his audience; the newspaper every day or every week speaks to thousands, and its words are more likely to leave a last- ing impression than those of the orator. Then, too, the newspaper is the receptacle of all the best thoughts that are uttered at the bar, in the pulpit or on the platform; and but for its agency, dis- courses of wisdom and eloquence would never reach but a limited portion of the public to which they are addressed. The best news- papers, aside from performing their important mission of keeping the people informed of the contemporary history of the country, also reflect the popular sentiment upon religious, social and economical questions. They are also, in some degree, the leaders and molders of public opinion. The wants of the public are often foreseen, and important reforms brought about through the agency of the newspapers. The better class of papers-and with this class only we have to deal-are the friends of religion, educa- tion, temperance and morality. They are the defenders, and often the safeguards, of our liberties, exposing corruption in office, and defeating the wiles of scheming politicians. In county, state and nation, the ever vigilant, free and independent press is the friend of good government and the guardian of the best interests of the people.
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HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
In McHenry County the first newspaper was started at a time when the weekly press of the country did not hold the important and influential position which it has to-day. When the first news- paper made its appearance here in 1846, country weeklies were generally but feeble imitators of their larger city contemporaries. Since that day the province of the local newspaper has been firmly established, and it has been found that it is entirely distinct from the field covered by the general newspaper of the metropolis. To give home news, to protect home interests, to foster home indus- tries and to encourage needed reforms in the community-these are to-day the well understood functions of the local newspaper. Since this fact came to be generally understood, the once despised " country weekly " has become a power in the land, having an influence upon civilization such as it never could have secured under the old system of management. The record of events at home is prized by the former citizen of the county now living in a distant State, and eagerly he scans the pages of the familiar sheet to glean intelligence of his old friends, neighbors and asso ciates, while to the people living within the territory from which the news is gathered, the contents of the local journal are scarcely less important. Preserved volumes of the paper in coming years will be examined with interest by the antiquarian and the statis- tician, who will find in them an authentic record of every impor- tant event in the history of his city and county. Every true citizen of a city, town or village in which a good newspaper is published, takes pride in giving his support, and justly con- siders the local press to be among the most important institu- tions of his neighborhood.
The newspapers of McHenry County have kept pace in the march of improvement with the growth of population and the development of material resources, and are to-day worthy expo- nents of the best interests of the county.
WOODSTOCK.
The first paper ever published in the county was issued at Woodstock in 1846. Its editor and publisher was Josiah Dwight, a graceful and ready writer. The paper bore the name of the Illinois Republican. After several suspensions and changes of name, through all of which Mr. Dwight was chiefly interested in its management, it was finally succeeded in 1856 by the new Republican organ, the Woodstock Sentinel. In 1854 Mr.
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HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
Dwight's paper was called the Republican Free Press. It is believed that it had another name at one time, which is now for- gotten. As no copies of the earliest county papers are now to be found, many interesting facts in their history are irretrievably lost.
The Woodstock Democrat was established in 1849 and published until 1856 in the interest of the Democratic party, which then held sway in McHenry County. It was a well-conducted paper, and was moderately well patronized. It was edited and published by F. D. Austin, an accomplished and able writer. As an editor he has had few superiors in the county.
The Woodstock Argus, a Democratic sheet, was started in the spring of 1856 as the rival of the Woodstock Democrat. Its editors and proprietors were M. L. Joslyn and E. W. Smith. The Democrat died soon after the Argus took the field, and its stock was bought by the latter. Then the Free Press, the only Repub- lican paper in the county, fell into the rapacious claws of the Argus, and disappeared from mortal sight orever. The Argus did not live long to rejoice in its victory. The Sentinel came and conquered, and in July, 1857, the Argus ceased to be. Some time before this event Smith and Joslyn had retired from the management, leaving a Mr. Edson in charge.
After the Argus became extinct Mr. Austin revived the Wood- stock Democrat and published it from August, 1858, to July, 1859. It had just begun a libel suit against the Sentinel, of which noth- ing ever came. The death of the Democrat left but one paper in the county.
A few months later the Democrat was revived and for a while longer led a precarious existence. James L. Martin, the last owner, became its editor in October, 1860. The paper seems to have died in 1862 never to come to life again.
The Woodstock Sentinel, the oldest paper published in the county, has had an exceptionally prosperous career. The first number was issued July 17,1856, as the organ in McHenry County of the newly born Republican party. G. L. Webb and T. F. John- son were the editors. The paper was founded by an association. This initial issue contains no local news and only four columns of advertisements. The paper has the name of John C. Fremout at the head of its editorial page and its tone is intensely partisan. Oct. 9, 1856, Webb having disposed of his interest in the paper, Thomas F. Johnson became the proprietor. Josiah Dwight took
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editorial charge and conducted his department with vigor. In April, 1857, the Sentinel passed into the hands of J. W. Franks & Son, Josiah Dwight continuing as editor. In November, 1858, Abraham E. and William E. Smith became the editors and pro- prietors. At that time the paper boasted a circulation of 1,200 copies. With the advent of the Messrs. Smith local news began to be a feature of the paper. The Sentinel progressed and pros- pered under the joint management of the Smith brothers until the fall of 1862 when Win. E. Smith went into the army, leaving his brother in charge of the paper.
Dec. 1, 1862, the McHenry County Union was sold to the Sen- tinel. It had been running for a year, and at its decease was owned by J. H. Hodder.
With the first number in January, 1866, A. E. Smith was suc- ceeded by Frank M. Sapp and George B. Richardson, editors and proprietors. Hitherto the Sentinel had been a seven-column folio. In February, 1866, it was enlarged to eight columns, and in June, 1867, the size was increased to nine columns. Sapp & Richardson made a good paper and conducted it in an enterprising manner. Their advertising patronage was large and their circulation reached nearly 1,700 copies. They devoted the paper mainly to county news and to the discussion of local affairs. Oct. 1, 1869, Sapp & Richardson sold out to William E. Smith, a former editor.
April 1, 1872, G. S. Southworth purchased the Sentinel. In Oc- tober following he enlarged it to a seven-column quarto with "patent insides." In May, 1873, the paper was changed to its present form, a six-column quarto, and for sometime was all printed at home. Jay Van Slyke was an associate editor upon the Senti- nel for about five years, severing his connection with the paper in 1875.
June 5, 1879, E. T. Glennon, who for several years had been foreman in the Sentinel office, purchased a half interest in the paper, which has since been published by Southworth and Glen- non. The prosperity of the paper under its present management has been steady and constant. When Mr. Southworth took charge in 1872, the Sentinel had about 900 subscribers, and there were but three papers published in the county. In August, 1884, the number of bona fide subscribers was 1,550, while the number of papers published in the county was eight. No other evidence is necessary to prove that the paper is well managed. It has never swerved from its fidelity to the Republican party.
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HISTORY OF MO HENRY OOUNTY.
The Woodstock Citizen made its appearance in 1873, but did not live through the year.
In October, 1873, the Franklin Printing and Publishing Com- pany of Chicago started a Grange paper at Woodstock bearing the name the Anti-Monopolist. Nov. 6, 1873, the Sentinel published its obituary.
On Thanksgiving day of the same year, the New Era, another Grange organ, first appeared under the management of Ringland & Price. Rev. Mr. Price, of Woodstock, was the chief originator of the enterprise, but he soon left the concern, and in February following W. D. Ringland (who had been business manager of the Anti-Monopolist) became the sole proprietor. The New Era had a checkered career, but it was always a live, enterprising paper. Started as the organ of the Grange movement, it afterward em- braced the Greenback doctrine, and near the close of its career be- came tinctured with Republican ideas. Mr. Ringland published the paper at Woodstock and Nunda until 1876 when it suspended for a time. In the same year it reappeared at Woodstock. In October, 1878, the establishment was moved to Elgin, where the paper was published for a time, then suspended. Shortly afterward Mr. Ringland resumed its publication at Woodstock. In March, 1880, the office was destroyed by fire, involving a heavy loss to its owner. His friends were numerous, however, and by private sub- scriptions soon raised enough money to re-establish the office. The publication was discontinued in June, 1880, and the subscription list sold to Southworth & Glennon, of the Sentinel. The New Era at one time attained a circulation of 1,700 copies. During the campaign of 1880 a daily edition was issued for four months.
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