USA > Illinois > McLean County > History of McLean County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 30
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One of the periods of high tide in politics of McLean county was that prior to the Civil war, when the agitation on the slavery question was shaping itself along lines which later led to the Civil war. Of course the great personage who stands out shoulders and head above all others in that time was Abraham Lincoln, and his name and fame are closely woven into McLean county history in those days. As a lawyer he trav- eled this circuit, and as a politician was a familiar figure and a welcome guest at every gathering. Some of his closest personal friends were McLean county men, such as David Davis, Jesse Fell and others. It is the most interesting fact of local history, perhaps, that when Lincoln became a subject of serious discussion for the presidential nomination, it was Jesse Fell of Bloomington who besought him to write a short biography of himself, in order that it might be sent broadcast over the country and the people informed as to his life. Mr. Lincoln thereupon sat down and on two short sheets of paper wrote that famous autobiography of himself which has become a classic in American political literature, and copies of which have been put into every library and political history of the country. The original manuscript of Lincoln's autobiography was in
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
the hands of the daughters of Jesse Fell until recent times. It may event- ually become the property of the United States government in its Wash- ington archives.
The most famous political convention ever held in McLean county was that of May 29, 1856, when the formation of the Republican party in Illinois was cemented and when Lincoln as one of the delegates and the principal orator of the occasion delivered one of his most masterly speeches, which became known as the "lost speech." The fiftieth anni- versary of that occasion was celebrated in a notable way in Blooming- ton on May 29, 1906, when many of the survivors of the convention were present and gave their personal reminiscences of the occasion. To pre- serve these personal recollections in permanent form, the McLean County Historical society published a volume embodying the complete proceed- ings of the anniversary celebration. That volume gives the whole story and it can be only briefly referred to here. The convention in Blooming- ton was inspired by a meeting of newspaper editors held in Decatur on February 22 preceding, at which resolutions were passed defining the principles of the new party which was then coming into being. The Decatur convention called for the later meeting in Bloomington whose purpose was to nominate a slate of candidates for state offices and offi- cially launch the new party. Suffice it to say that the speech of Lincoln at that May convention served to cement the various elements of the newly formed party in a harmonious whole, and started the Republican party upon its long series of triumphs in the state of Illinois.
The joint debates between Lincoln and Douglas in the senatorial campaign of 1858, further served to elevate Lincoln to a place of promi- nence in Illinois and the nation. None of these debates took place in McLean county, but two years later at the state Republican convention in Decatur Lincoln was formally proposed for nomination for president, which proposal was accepted in the Chicago convention in June. The three men most influential in securing Lincoln's nomination were Jesse W. Fell, David Davis and Leonard Swett. Then followed the war, the emancipation proclamation, the thirteenth amendment to the constitu- tion, and the end of the long slavery contest in the United States.
The next notable political epoch so far as McLean county is con- cerned was in 1868, when David Davis was prominently mentioned for president before the meeting of the liberal Republican convention at Cin-
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
cinnati in May. Davis received a large vote at one time, but his strength finally went to Greeley, who was nominated and defeated at the election.
In the wave of monetary agitation which arose in the '70's, Adlai E. Stevenson was elected to congress on the greenback-democratic ticket. One of the factors of a political nature was the constitutional convention of 1870, at which Judge Reuben M. Benjamin of McLean county first wrote into a legal document the doctrine on which was based legislation for the public control of the railroads. In the presidential deadlock of 1876, Adlai E. Stevenson of this county voted in congress for the elec- tion of an electoral commission to settle the dispute, which course of action probably prevented armed strife.
Two men from McLean county became successively governor of Illi- nois along in the '80's. John M. Hamilton was elected lieutenant-gover- nor in 1880, and he became governor on February 6, 1883, when Gov. Cullom was elected United States senator. Joseph W. Fifer was elected governor in 1888 and served a term of four years with high honor, being defeated for re-election in the Democratic landslide of 1892. The latter year saw another McLean county man elevated to high station, when Adlai E. Stevenson was elected vice president of the United States. His term of four years at Washington under President Cleveland was a period of fine public service. In 1908, Mr. Stevenson was the unsuccessful can- didate of his party for governor of Illinois.
In the great campaign year of 1912, when the Republican party was split by the formation of the Progressive party with Theodore Roosevelt as its head, a McLean county man was called into service as Progressive candidate for governor in the person of Frank H. Funk, who had pre- viously been state senator. Mr. Funk made a good showing, for he ran within a few thousand votes of the regular Republican nominee, Deneen. The Democratic candidate, Edward F. Dunne, was elected.
Several citizens of McLean county have served their state and coun- try in appointive offices of great responsibility. Gov. Fifer served many years on the interstate commerce commission in Washington. Carl S. Vrooman was assistant secretary of agriculture in the Woodrow Wilson administration. There have been several judges, including Judge David Davis of the supreme court, Judge Lawrence Weldon of the U. S. court of claims, Judge Louis FitzHenry of the Southern Illinois Federal judicial
389
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
district, Judge Martin A. Brennan of the Illinois state court of claims. Judge Wesley M. Owen served as federal judge in the Panama canal zone for several years.
The political history and tendencies of the voters of McLean county may be traced in the total vote cast for candidates for president in the different elections held since 1832, when the first recorded balloting in this county took place. The results by years were as follows:
1832-Clay (Whig) 128; Jackson (dem) 275.
1836-Clay (Whig) 425; Van Buren (dem) 427.
1840-Harrison (Whig) 683; Van Buren (dem) 531. Birney, abo- litionist, received 159 votes in Illinois but none in McLean county.
1844-Clay (Whig) 586; Polk (dem) 477; Birney (abol) 22.
1848-Taylor (Whig) 753; Cass (dem) 626; Van Buren (free soil) 94.
1852-Scott (Whig) 1,256; Pierce (dem) 1,058; Hale (free soil) 40.
1856-Fremont (rep) 1,937; Buchanan (dem) 1,517; Fillmore (Ameri- can) 650.
1860-Lincoln (rep) 3,547; Douglas (dem) 2,567; Bell (union) 58; Breckinridge (dem) 7.
1864-Lincoln (rep) 4,001; McClellan (dem) 2,582.
1868-Grant (rep) 5,895; Seymour (dem) 3,858.
1872-Grant (rep) 5,845; Greeley (lib dem) 3,335.
1876-Hayes (rep) 6,363; Tilden (dem) 4,410; Cooper (greenback) 518.
1880-Garfield (rep) 7,317; Hancock (dem) 5,202; Weaver (green- back) 317.
1884-Blaine (rep) 7,437; Cleveland (dem) 5,569; Butler (green- back) 58; St. John (pro) 449.
1888-Harrison (rep) 7,709; Cleveland (dem) 5,939; Weaver (green- back) 63; Fisk (pro) 694; Streeter (labor) 36.
1892-Harrison (rep) 7,445; Cleveland (dem) 6,487; Weaver (green- back) (peo) 63; Wooley (pro) 769; Debs (soc) 95.
1896-McKinley (rep) 9,964; Bryan (dem) 6,320; Palmer (gold dem) 94; Lovering (pro) 307.
1900-McKinley (rep) 9,487; Bryan (dem) 6,613; Wooley (pro) 583; Debs (soc) 95; Barker 12; Maloney (soc lab) 15; Leonard (U C) 2; Ellis (U R) 11.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
1904-Roosevelt (rep) 8,722; Parker (dem). 4,149; Swallow (pro) 1,114; Debs (soc) 846; Corregan (labor) 47; Watson (peo) 24; Holcomb (cut) 3.
1908-Taft (rep) 8,953; Bryan (dem) 5,982; Chafin (pro) 840; Debs (soc) 197; Gilhaus (soc lab) 15; Hisgen (ind) 22; Turney (U C) 4; Watson (peo) 10.
1912-Taft (rep) 4,624; Wilson (dem) 5,336; Chafin (pro) 376; Debs (soc) 562; Reimer (soc lab) 26; Roosevelt (progressive) 4,350.
1916-Hughes (rep) 14,988; Wilson (dem) 11,699; Hanley (pro) 1,016; Benson (soc) 450; Reimer (soc lab) 7.
1920-Harding (rep) 16,680; Cox (dem) 6,411; Debs (soc) 133; Wat- kins (pro) 396; Christensen (farmer labor) 1,904; McCauley (single tax) 15; Cox (soc lab) 16.
Population Statistics .- The population of McLean county when or- ganized was estimated at 2,000. Its area was twice its present area, comprising what is now part of Woodford, Tazewell and DeWitt counties. The first census of McLean county, in 1835, gave the population as 5,308. After the Black Hawk war there was a large immigration to the county from the south and east, Kentucky furnishing the majority of the new- comers. This southern inflow continued until about 1850, and it gave a southern tinge to the slavery sentiment, which lasted until the approach of the Civil war, when anti-slavery sentiment predominated.
By 1840, the census showed population of 6,565, of whom 42 were colored. Part of the county had been set off to Logan, DeWitt and Piatt counties, and this year another part was set off to Woodford.
In.1845 the population was 6,904, the hard times having affected the growth of population, and part of the county having been cut off to Wood- ford since the last census. Federal census of 1850 showed 10,163. The census of other years showed :
1860-Population 28,772; native 25,063; foreign 3,709; colored 192.
1870-Population 53,980; native 46,026; foreign 7,962; colored 427.
1880-Population 60,100; native 52,384; foreign 7,716; colored 687. 1890-Population 63,063; native 54,479; foreign 8,557.
1900-Population 67,843; native 60,464; foreign 7,319.
1910-Population 68,008; native 62,371; foreign 5,637.
1920-Population 70,107 ; native 64,447; foreign 4,554; colored 1,060.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
Following is the population of the incorporated cities, towns and villages in McLean county for the years 1900, 1910 and 1920, according to the official reports of the United States census:
1920
1910
1900
Arrowsmith
344
366
317
Bloomington
28,725
25,768
23,286
Chenoa
1,311
1,314
1,512
Colfax
976
965
1,153
Danvers
616
593
607
Downs
295
Gridley
720
750
715
Heyworth
851
681
683
Hudson
309
375
378
Leroy
1,680
1,702
1,629
Lexington
1,301
1,318
1,415
McLean
697
707
532
Saybrook
752
805
879
Towanda
404
404
467
The following is the official U. S. census report of the population of McLean county for the years 1910 and 1920, divided into townships:
1920
1910
Allin township, including Stanford village
1,115
1,197
Anchor township
825
932
Arrowsmith township, including Arrowsmith village
946
1,013
Bellflower township, including Bellflower village
1,183
1,167
Bloomington township
2,034
2,025
Bloomington City township, coextensive with Bloom- ington city
28,725
25,768
Blue Mound township, including Cooksville
1,053
1,176
Cheney's Grove township, including Saybrook village
1,479
1,557
Chenoa township, including Chenoa city
2,002
2,117
Cropsey township
514
531
Dale township
866
1,022
Danvers township, including Danvers village.
1,497
1,543
Dawson township
1,109
1,235
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1
1
1
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1
1
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1
1
1
1
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
Downs township, including Downs village
1,137
1,278
Dry Grove township
848
903
Empire township, including Leroy city
2,523
2,635
Funk's Grove township
624
791
Gridley township, including Gridley village
1,753
1,833
Hudson township, including Hudson town
1,062
1,095
Lawndale township
685
755
Lexington township, including Lexington city
2,123
2,211
Martin township, including Colfax village
1,624
1,601
Money Creek township
716
753
Mt. Hope township, including McLean village
1,497
1,486
Normal township, including Normal town
5,959
4,844
Oldtown township
774
946
Randolph township, including Heyworth
1,978
1,829
Towanda township, including Towanda village.
1,123
1,210
West township
871
999
White Oak township
655
692
Yates township
807
864
Total McLean County
70,107
68,008
Interesting Facts.
McLean County embraces 1,186 square miles with an approximate acreage of 760,000.
The First Methodist church of Bloomington was organized in 1832. The First Baptist church was organized in 1835. The Unitarian church was organized in 1859.
Ira Lackey put in the first plate glass front for a store in Bloomington.
The First Presbyterian church was organized in 1853 by Rev. C. W. Babbitt.
The first Roman Catholic church was organized in Bloomington in 1853 by Father Bernard O'Hara.
A. Gridley, J. Y. Scammon and J. A. Birch organized the first bank in McLean county.
J. G. Miller was the first blacksmith in the city or county, having opened a shop in Bloomington in 1850.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
A. B. Ives of Bloomington was a passenger on the first passenger train running south of Hudson on the Illinois Central.
The first church bell in Bloomington was put up in the Methodist church. The first church organ was in the First Presbyterian.
The first Masonic lodge was organized in 1847 and W. C. Hobbs was the first man raised. The first Odd Fellows lodge was formed in October, 1851, and John M. Scott was first initiated.
The first fire company in Bloomington was organized in 1854 and the first fire engine purchased in Philadelphia. George T. McElheny was the first fire department chief.
The McLean County Bible society was organized in September, 1852, and Rev. F. N. Ewing was president; D. Wilkins was first secretary ; John Magoun first treasurer.
Robert Park was the first station agent in Bloomington for the Chi- cago & Alton railroad. He died in St. Louis in 1879.
Bloomington and McLean county have the unique distinction of hav- ing two of their women elected to the position of President General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The fact is further interesting because these two women were sisters, they being Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson and Mrs. Julia G. Scott. Mrs. Steven- son, wife of Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson, was elected the second president general, following the death of Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the first chief executive. Mrs. Stevenson's election occurred February 22, 1893, and she was re-elected Feb. 22, 1894. Then followed the administra- tion of Mrs. John W. Foster, after which Mrs. Stevenson was again elected to the position on Feb. 22, 1896, and her fourth term began with her re-election on Feb. 22, 1897.
PART II.
Biographical History
Hon. Thomas C. Kerrick, eminent lawyer and prominent citizen of Illinois, is a native of Indiana. He was born in Franklin County, Ind., April 24, 1848, and is the son of Nimrod and Mary (Masters) Kerrick.
Nimrod Kerrick was born in Loudon County, Va., Oct. 13, 1808, and died Dec. 13, 1897, in his ninetieth year. Mary (Masters) Kerrick was born in Lancaster County, Pa., Sept. 15, 1815, and died Jan. 8, 1908, in her ninety-third year. They were married in Fairfield, Franklin County, Ind, May 9, 1839. In 1860 they removed to Woodford County, Ill., and to Bloomington, McLean County, in 1877.
In his early young manhood Nimrod Kerrick taught school a num- ber of years, during which time he fitted himself for the ministry, and became one of the early self-sacrificing Circuit riders of the Methodist Church. After coming to Illinois he engaged in farming. Their chil- dren were Eleanor Josephine, deceased wife of Cyrus Mull, also de- ceased, Phoebe Ann, widow of William H. Bracken, residing at Brook- ville, Indiana, William M., who was killed in battle during the Civil War, Leonidas H., deceased husband of Sarah E. Funk, also deceased, and Thomas C., the subject of this sketch, who from the age of 12 to 21 years remained and worked on the farm. Prior to removing to Illinois he had received the benefit of good public schools, and an advanced, privately conducted, academy. His next school attendance was a two years elec- tive course in the Wesleyan University at Bloomington, which institu-
394
THOMAS C. KERRICK.
LIBRARY OF THE
395
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
tion, some years after he had been successfully practicing law, conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, Pro Merito.
He was licensed to practice law Jan. 7, 1875, and at the same time was admitted to an equal membership in a well established law firm of the Bloomington Bar, with which he had read law, and had at times attended to some of the legal work of the firm. During the many years of his arduous law practice he has held the high esteem of members of his profession and of the courts wherever his legal activities have called him.
In the sixties, particularly when the Civil War had greatly depleted farm help, farmer boys of 12 and upward to military age were practically required to do men's work. Nevertheless Mr. Kerrick acquired and re- tained a liking for farming, and farmer people, and the open country life, and devotes much of his time and thought to his farming interests.
In politics Mr. Kerrick is a Republican, and, although preferring the attainment of high standing in his profession to political eminence and distinction, he has taken an active part in promoting the welfare of the party of his choice, and the success of its worthy candidates for public office.
In his early practice of law he served the City of Bloomington two terms as its official legal adviser and attorney. In 1888, without opposi- tion in his own party, he was nominated for membership in the State Senate, and elected for the four-year term. During this term he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Penal and Reformatory Committee, and a member of other important committees. Of the many bills, resolutions, etc., referred to his Committees, not one was smothered or left unacted upon by the Committee. Each and every one, with amend- ments proposed by the Committee, if any was returned to the Senate for its action, with a recommendation either "that it do pass," or "that it do not pass." In recognition of his services in the Senate he would have received a second unanimous nomination had he not declined to be a candidate for re-election.
Together with Ex-Governor Fifer, Mr. Kerrick was also a member of the recent Constitutional Convention, Ex-Governor Fifer and he being the two delegates elected from the Senatorial District composed of Mc- Lean and Ford counties.
396
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
For more than 50 years Mr. Kerrick has been an active and efficient worker in movements to promote the general welfare of his community. Always a friend of education, he served many years as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Wesleyan University, and was one of the two Generals in command of the compet- ing forces which in a little more than one month, in the summer of 1922, obtained subscriptions amounting to more than $700,000.00 for the use of the Wesleyan.
He was the first president of the Bloomington Club, and served in that capacity a number of terms, is president of the McLean County Historical Society, and also for many years one of the trustees of the Brokaw Hospital Endowment Fund, a fund donated by Abram Brokaw, the income of which makes possible the permanent great usefulness of the Brokaw Hospital.
Although diligent and thorough in the practice of his profession, his versatility includes aptitude as a toastmaster and an after dinner talker on festive occasions, and in public speaking in general, a liking for indoor and outdoor recreative sports and exercises, and socially ming- ling with his friends.
In recognition of his organizing and executive ability, a mass meet- ing of Bloomington citizens, held while he was trying a law suit in a distant part of the State, unanimously elected him to formulate and conduct a campaign which resulted in changing the aldermanic city government of Bloomington to the commission form. Upon the notable occasion of the visit of President Roosevelt to Bloomington, in which preparations upon an elaborate scale were required to be arranged for a full day and evening of appropriate entertainment and exercises, he acted as chairman of the general committee of arrangements by request of a preliminary meeting of prominent citizens.
On Aug. 29, 1871, Mr. Kerrick was united in marriage with Miss Tollie Armstrong, an adopted daughter of David and Sarah Armstrong. Mrs. Kerrick's death occurred May 8, 1902. Three children were born to this union, the first of whom died in early infancy. Leonidas H., the second born, the husband of Leonia (Van Lear) Kerrick, is a farmer and resides on his farm adjacent to Kerrick, a station on the Illinois Central Railroad, which takes its name from the subject of this sketch, as is also the case with the Kerrick Grain Company, operating at this station.
397
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
The daughter, Alice Kerrick Dunn, the wife of Warren C. Dunn, re- sides in Columbus, Ohio. There are four grandchildren, Elizabeth, Jose- phine, and Thomas VanLear Kerrick, and Alice Leonoir Dunn.
On June 20, 1907, Mr. Kerrick was married to Miss Alice Harpole, daughter of Peter and Laura Harpole, natives of Ohio, resident in Bloom- ington, Ill., at the time of their decease. There were no children of this marriage. Mrs. Kerrick departed this life Aug. 17, 1918.
Mr Kerrick has many friends throughout the State of Illinois, and is among its most honored and respected citizens. Although now in his seventy-sixth year, judged by his physical and mental vigor and alert- ness, it would be a grossly absurd misnomer to characterize his seventy- sixth as a "declining year."
Dr. Ralph D. Fox, a successful physician and surgeon of Blooming- ton, whose practice is limited to eye, ear, nose and throat diseases, to which he has devoted special study and attention, is a native of Michi- gan. He was born at Cedar Springs, Mich., Sept. 14, 1877, and is a son of Dr. Asa L. Fox, one of the oldest physicians now engaged in the prac- tice in Bloomington, and a sketch of whom appears in this volume.
Dr. Ralph D. Fox was reared at Cedar Springs, Mich., Three Rivers, Mich., Heppner, Ore., and Bloomington, Ill., where his father was engaged in the practice of his profession. He received his preliminary education in the public schools and the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, graduating in the class of 1899 with the degree of A. B. He then entered the department of medicine and surgery at the Univer- sity of Michigan, where he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1903. He then located in Bloomington with Dr. A. L. Fox for eight years, then attended the University of Vienna. He has taken Post Graduate work at Harvard, Massachusetts, Eye and Ear Infirmary and the University of Vienna.
On Nov. 25, 1913, Dr. Fox was married at Bloomington to Miss Adella F. McIntosh, a native of Bloomington, and a resident of this city. She is a daughter of George and Helen (McGregor) McIntosh, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Canada. George McIntosh died in 1917 and his wife departed this life in 1907. To Dr. Ralph D. and Mrs.
398
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
Fox have been born two children, Ralph M. and Walter S., both attending school in Bloomington.
Dr. Fox is a Republican and a member of the M. E. Church, and Mrs. Fox is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is a 32nd degree Mason, being a member of the Bloomington Consistory. Dr. Fox is a capable physician and surgeon and recognized as one of the leaders of his pro- fession.
Dr. Asa L. Fox, one of the well known physicians and surgeons of Bloomington, who has been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession for many years, is a native of Pennsylvania. He was born two miles east of Danville, Pa., Jan. 23, 1846, and is a son of Daniel M. and Eliza (Lichtenmalner) Fox, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former of Bucks County and the latter of Northampton County. The father was a school teacher in early life and during the latter part of his active career he was engaged in farming.
Dr. Fox was one of six children born to his parents, the others being as follows: Mrs. Marietta Goodrich; Elizabeth Fox; Mrs. Eliza M. Kidney, and John P. Fox, all of whom are deceased, and Daniel Fox, who resides at Battle Creek, Mich.
When Dr. Fox was a child his parents removed to Calhoun County, Mich., where he was reared and attended the country schools. He later attended Olivet College and the University of Michigan, where he was graduated from the pharmacy department in 1869 and from the medical department in 1870. Immediately after receiving his degree from the medical college he engaged in the practice of his profession in Michigan, where he remained for 15 years. He then went to Oregon and for eight years was engaged in the practice in that state. Thirty years ago he came to Bloomington and since that time has been actively engaged in the practice here. It will thus be seen that he has the unusual record to his credit of having been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery for 53 years.
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