History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 35

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 35

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together at Elkton, in Washington county. Mr. Phillips possessed elements which made him a popular pulpit orator, and it is not too much to say that his zeal, earnestness, and enthusiasm had attracted attention to him widely in that section of the State. This finally resulted in his being called to take charge of the Baptist Church at Jonesboro, where he acquitted himself with his usual ability.

About 1854, having withdrawn from the charge of the church at Jonesboro, on account of a dis- agreement on political questions, Mr. Phillips became associated with the management of the Jonesboro Gazette, then, as it is now, a Demo- cratic paper. The excitement over the " Kansas- Nebraska Bill," removing the restriction against the introduction of slavery north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes-known as the " Missouri Compromise,"-was at its height, and Mr. Phillips took strong ground against it. Into this contest he entered with all the fervor of an ardent, zealous nature. As a result he soon found himself arrayed against his party as he had previously been against his church. His partner withdrew and, for a time, the Gazette dispensed to its readers the most radical Republican doctrine, although the Re- publican party had not then been organized.

One of the earliest acts of Mr. Lincoln, after his accession to the Presidency, was to appoint Mr. Phillips United States Marshal for the Southern District of Illinois, to which position he was re-appointed in 1865. He continued to hold the office until removed by Andrew John- son in 1866. The administration of this office during the dark and troublons period of the war, brought Mr. Phillips in close and intimate re- lations with the most trusted and confidential agents of the Government, and imposed upon him many delicate and responsible duties, in the discharge of which he was not found wanting, in either ability, courage or integrity.

In the fall of 1875 Mr. Phillips made a visit to California, spending seven months in that region. He bore a commission as Special Agent of the Treasury Department, empowering him to enquire into the management of custom houses and internal revenue offices in that sec- tion of the Union. During his stay on the Pacific Coast, he wrote a series of letters to the Journal, descriptive of places visited, scenery, climate, customs, and public works, which were subsequently issued in book form, and which impart a more vivid and comprehensive idea of that interesting region than can be obtained from almost any other source. The following

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

touching extract is from a letter bearing date January 1, 1876:

"Since my last letter was finished, another year has been numbered with the unreturning past. Its joys and sorrows, its successes and failures, its lights and shadows, are all garnered in the storehouse of Eternity. Each of my read- ers, and the writer of these Pacific Coast letters, stand another year nearer the portals of the Un- known. But, through the infinite goodness, mercy and wisdom of God, while our steps may be sobered and our gray hairs increased, we are permitted to look outward and onward to the end, stimulated by hope and unawed by fear; standing in the right as it is given us to see it, and rejoicing in the evening glories of the nine- teenth century. Renewing my faith in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, from the shores of the Pacific I send to my read- ers, and the tens of thousands of good friends and loved ones of and about whom my thoughts are busy to-day, my ardent, earnest wishes for a happy New Year for them and theirs."

In the fall of 1876, Mr. Phillips received the Republican nomination for Congress, but was defeated, the district being overwhelmingly Democratic. His canvass was an able one, and as a slight appreciation of his services, he was appointed Postmaster of Springfield, by Presi- dent Hayes.

Paul Selby, in a "Memorial Address on the Life, Character and Public Services of David L. Phillips," delivered before the Illinois State Press Association, held at Springfield, February 16, 1881, pays him the following tribute:

" With the exception of about two years, between the early part of 1868, up to his retire- ment from the Journal, in 1878, it was my for- tune to be associated with Mr. Phillips almost continuously. The opportunity I thus had of knowing our brother journalist has, I think, given me the right, as well as the ability, to speak of him as a man, as a journalist, as a poli- tician, and as a public officer. In all that period, our friendly relations were never interrupted for a moment. It was necessary that, in such a re- lation, there should be mutual trusts and confi- dences; in these he was never found wanting. Whatever may have been his imperfections- and he was a man, and no man is perfect-he was as true in his journalistic relation to tliose associated with him as he was patriotic in his political relations, and honest and faithful in the discharge of his official duties.

" Mr. Phillips was essentially a self-educated, self-made man. While, with the majority of the

youth of his day, he possessed few advantages in early life, he distanced the great mass of his associates in the progress which he made and the results he achieved. Ile was entitled to all the more credit for what he accomplished, though his achievements were necessarily un- equal. He possessed natural qualities of intel- lect which fitted him for wide and profound research. Ilis official duties during most of the period when he was associated with the public Press, did not permit him to engage in general journalism for any length of time. ITis tastes led him rather into special fields. In these he was full, comprehensive and exhaustive. In- clined to the discursive and florid in style, a strong and vivid imagination still enabled him to clothe his thoughts in a garb which never failed to command the attention of the reader, whether the latter agreed with him or not. He was never dull or prosaic-never wrote common- place merely to fill up the page, but his utter- ances came from a mind overflowing with living facts and arguments. Gifted with a memory that surprised those who knew him by its extraordinary sweep and tenacity, his mind was the repository of an amount of knowledge of men and things, gained from reading and ob- servation, possessed by few men of his time."

Mr. Phillips died in Springfield, June 19, 1880.

Under the management of the present pro- prietors, the Journal has been made a success in every particular, and the office is well supplied with material for any kind of work, from a visit- ing card to a mammoth poster.

Paul Selby, editor-in-chief of the Illinois State Journal, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, July 20, 1825. Ilis father, Dr. William H. Selby, was a native of Anne Arundel county, Maryland; .while his mother, Mary (Young) Selby, was born at Fairfield, Connecticut. The former grew to manhood, when, having qualified himself for the practice of medicine, he removed to Western Pennsylvania, where he made the acquaintance of, and married, Miss Young, whose parents had emigrated to Uniontown, in the latter State, while she was yet in her infancy. Soon after marriage, the young couple removed to Eastern Ohio, residing for a time at Zanesville, Marietta and Mt. Vernon, in that State. During their residence at the latter place, Dr. Selby engaged for a time in the mercantile business. The war of 1812-15, with England being then in progress, he went as surgeon with a body of volunteers raised for the relief of the scattered remnants of General St. Clair's defeated army.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

Some years after the close of the war the Selbys removed to Pickaway county, where the subject of this sketch was born, being the fifth of a family of six children (five sons and one daughter), all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, but of whom he is now the only survivor. In 1837 the family moved West, set- tling in the DesMoines Valley ( Van Buren county), in what was then the Territory of Iowa. Both in Ohio and Iowa, Dr. Selby pursued the business of a farmer, and thus Paul grew up as most farmers' sons do-working upon the farm in summer and going to school in the winter, when opportunity offered-though his parents being intelligent, reading people, his advantages may have been somewhat better than the aver- age. The common schools, especially in the lat- ter State, were none of the best, but furnished the only educational advantages then open to him except those which he enjoyed at home or by means of independent study, until after he had reached manhood.

In 1843, Paul's father died, and in the follow- ing year, at the age of nineteen, he left home to make his way in the world, and while contribut- ing to the support of his mother, determined to acquire an education. The following winter and spring were spent in teaching in Washington county, Illinois, when, more liberal inducements being offered him, he removed to Madison county, where he engaged in the same occupa- tion. He spent about three years in Madison, half of the time being at the same place, a few miles above St. Louis, on the Alton road. In 1848, having acquired some means, he determined to carry out his long cherished purpose of ac- quiring a more liberal education, and then went to Jacksonville, entering Illinois College for a classical course. Here he remained three and a half years, but before the expiration of his course (in March, 1852,) he formed a business connec- tion for the publication of the " Morgan (now Jacksonville) Journal," assuming editorial charge as successor to Col. E. R. Roe, late Marshal of the Southern District of Illinois. He then had no intention of abandoning his studies, but find- ing his time fully occupied, he reluctantly with- drew from college in the middle of his junior year, though subsequently honored by his Almu Mater with the honorary degree of A. M.

Mr. Selby's connection with the "Morgan Journal" continued nearly seven years, covering a period of great political excitement and agita- tion, during which the Republican party came into existence. Though a Whig in politics, his tastes were rather literary than political, and he

preferred an independent position in journalism. This was in part due to the fact that he foresaw the breaking up of the organization of parties, which occurred on the passage of the bill re- moving the restriction against the admission of slavery north of thirty-six degrees thirty min- utes, introduced by Mr. Douglas. New ques- tions having thus been brought to the surface, he entered with zeal into their discussion, and, as was inevitable, soon took a position on the side of the Republican party -in fact, was among the first to be identified with the new party organi- zation in Central Illinois. In the fall of 1855, the paper with which Mr. Selby was connected, suggested a meeting of the anti-Nebraska edi- tors of the State, to be held at some central point in the State, for the purpose of giving form and direction to the sentiment of the new party and agreeing upon some general line of policy. The suggestion was approved by others, and in the next few months the proposition took form, the convention being called at Decatur, February 22, 1856. When the convention met, in view of his agency in securing it, Mr. Selby was, by unanimous consent, chosen to preside over its deliberations. In an address delivered by him before the Illinois Press Association, at its winter meeting held at Springfield, February 6, 1879, under the title of "A Quarter of a Cen- tury of Journalism," he made the following al- lusion to this assemblage as an incident in the political and journalistic history of the State:

"On the 22d day of February, 1856, an Edito- rial Convention of a somewhat different charac- ter was held at Decatur, in this State. The number in attendance was small-not amount- ing to over fifteen or twenty, all told-a sort of "forlorn hope," so to speak-but they assisted to set in motion agencies which have left their impress on the political history of this State and the Nation. The Convention was composed of representatives of newspapers opposed to the so-called Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which had passed Congress in 1854, and which had pro- duced a degree of popular excitement seldom known in the previous history of the country, proving a fore-runner of the war of the rebel- lion which followed a few years later. It was called for the purpose of outlining a policy for the Anti-Nebraska party -as the opponents of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise called themselves - and was one of the first and most effective steps towards the formal organization and consolidation of the Republican party of the State, which took place in May following. The printed record does not show a full list of

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

the names of those present, but from the list of committees and officers I am able to find the following: V. Y. Ralston, Quincy Whig; Dr. C. H. Ray, Chicago Tribune; O. P. Wharton, Rock Island Advertiser; T. J. Pickett, Peoria Republican; George Schneider, Chicago Staats Zeitung; Charles Faxon, Princeton Post; A N. Ford, Lacon Gazette; B. F. Shaw, Dixon Tele- graph; W. J. Usrey, Decatur Chronicle; Paul Selby, Jacksonville Journal.

A platform was adopted at this meeting which would now be regarded as very conservative Republicanism, but it was assailed by the oppo- sition Press of the day as the wildest Radical- ism-or rather "abolitionism." Resolutions were adopted recommending that a State Dele- gate Convention be held at Bloomington, May 29th following, for the purpose of organization, and a State Central Committee was appointed to fix an apportionment of delegates and issue the formal call. That Committee performed its duty; the convention was held at the time and place designated; General John M. Palmer, then a rising young lawyer and liberal politi- cian of Carlinville, present proprietor of the Register in this city, presided; a ticket com- posed of General W. H. Bissell, for Governor; Francis Hoffman, (afterwards replaced by Hon. John Wood, of Quincy,) for Lieutenant Gover- nor; O. M. Hatch, for Secretary of State; Jesse K. Dubois, for Auditor; James Miller, for Treas- mrer, and W. H. Powell, for Superintendent of Public Instruction, was put in nomination and was elected in November following. And thus the Republican party sprang at once into polit- ical ascendancy in this State-an ascendancy which it has never since wholly lost."

In May, 1858, while still residing at Jackson- ville, Mr. Selby was married to Miss Erra A. Post, an amiable and worthy young lady who had been a pupil, and for a time, a teacher in the Female Seminary at that place. During the following fall he severed his connection with the Jacksonville Journal, and the next spring removed to Springfield, where he spent the sum- mer of 1859. Though not immediately connected with the Press during this period, he did con- siderable political writing for the State Journal, and otherwise. One of his principal labors dur- ing this summer was the preparation of a pamph- let giving the history of the celebrated "Canal Scrip Frand" which was brought to the atten- tion of the public soon after the retirement of Joel A. Matteson from the Governorship of the State. This pamphlet was widely distributed throughout the State, and exerted no small in-

fluence upon the elections of the next few years.

In September, 1859, in compliance with the urgent solicitation of friends already in the South, Mr. Selby accepted an invitation to take charge of a boys' school at Plaqnemine, Louisi- ana, and removed there with his family. After remaining here one year he was offered strong inducement to take charge of an institution for the education of young ladies and gentlemen, at Amite City, in the same State, which he ac- cepted. Before the close of this year, the war between the North and South, which had been gradually coming on, opened with all its bitter- ness and fury. Perceiving that he could no longer be of any service there in the profession which he had chosen, and that the safety of himself and family would be in peril by longer remaining in the South, at the close of the term of 1860-61, Mr. Selby determined to return to the North, and disposing of what property he could, and leaving his library, which, in the con- dition of the country at that time, could not be transported, and which was plundered and scat- tered during the war, on the evening of the 3d of July, 1861, he left New Orleans for Illinois. The journey was made by railroad, by way of Columbus, Kentucky, and Cairo, though many persons then seeking to reach the North were meeting with serious trouble, and all communi- cation was cut off between Columbus and Cairo, by the seizure of the steamer running between those two places, by the rebels, a few days after. Almost immediately after his arrival in Spring- field, leaving his family here, Mr. Selby returned to Cairo, to accept a position which had been tendered him in the employment of the Govern- ment.

After a stay at Cairo of abont eight months, and a short period spent in the Transportation Department at Paducah, Kentucky, during which the movement up the Tennessee river to Pitts- burg Landing took place, Mr. Selby returned to Springfield, and in July following was offered and accepted a position upon the editorial de- partment of the State Journal, which continued unbroken up to November, 1865. At this time he was called to suffer a deep affliction in the loss of his wife. His household having been broken up, he severed his connection with the Journal, and soon after went to New Orleans, where he spent the winter. Returning north in June, 1866, after a few weeks' rest, he was of- fered and accepted a position on the editorial staff of the Chicago Evening Journal, but soon after taking a similar position on the Chicago Republican now the Inter-Ocean.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

In 1868, Messrs. D. L. Phillips and William H. Bailhache, of the State Journal, purchased the Whig, at Quincy, Illinois, and Mr. Selby was in- vited to take editorial charge of it. Subse- quently he became the suceessor of Major Bail- hache in proprietorship of the Whig, at the same time retaining the position of managing editor. At the close of the year 1873, the Whig was sold to its present proprietors, when Hon. E. L. Baker, editor of the State Journal, having been appointed Consul to Buenos Ayers, Mr. Selby was offered his old place upon the Journal. He accepted, entering on his duties January 1, 1874, and his connection with the paper has re- mained unbroken ever since. In September, 1878, the Journal became the property of the "Spring- field Journal Publishing Company," of which Mr. Selby is a member, being a director and secretary of the board. Mr. Selby was married a second time in December, 1870, to Mrs. M. J. Hitchcock, a gifted lady of Quincy, who still survives. Two daughters born to him of his first wife still live; but a daughter and a son born to him of his pres- ent wife, died in December, 1878, within a few days of each other.

In June, 1880, Mr. Selby received from Presi- dent Hayes the appointment of Postmaster for the city of Springfield, in place of Hon. D. L. Phillips, deceased, entering upon the duties of the office July 4, and on the assembling of Con- gress, in December, was nominated, confirmed and re-commissioned.

Horace Chapin, Treasurer and Business Mana- ger of the Journal, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, December 27, 1827, and emi- grated to Morgan county, Illinois, in 1851, and settled near the present village of Chapin, the junction of the Wabash and Chicago, Burling- ton and Quiney Railroads. The early life of Horace was spent on his father's farm, and in attending the public schools and academy of his native place. On coming to Morgan, he en- gaged in farming in connection with his brother Lyman, which occupation he continued until August, 1861, when he enlisted as a private in Company K., Twenty-Seventh Illinois Infantry. On the election of officers of the company, Mr. Chapin was elected First Lieutenant. The regi- ment shortly after was ordered to Cairo, where it became a part of General McClernand's brigade. After the battle of Belmont, Lieuten- ant Chapin was promoted to Captain of Company D. During the three years of his service, Cap- tain Chapin participated in many of the im- portant battles of the war, including Island No. 10, Union City, Farmington, Corinth, Nashville,

Laverne, Franklin, Stone River and Chicamauga. In the battle of Chicamauga, Captain Chapin lost a leg, and was sent to the hospital at Nashville, where he remained four months and then re- ceived a furlough home. He was mustered out of service on the twenty-seventh of September, 1864, his term of service having expired. In 1865 he moved to Jacksonville, and in April, 1867, received the appointment of Postmaster of that city, which position he held for four years. About the time of his appointment of Postmaster, he purchased an interest in the Jacksonville Journal, but was not actively engaged in its management until his retirement from the post- office. Captain Chapin severed his relationship with the Journal in 1876. On the formation of the present State Journal Company he was elected Treasurer and Business Manager, which position he yet retains.

Horace Chapin and Augusta Swazey, of Bucksport, Maine, were united in marriage January 9, 1859, at St. Anthony, Minne- sota.

Captain Chapin was originally a Whig, and was afterwards identified with the Free Soil movement. On the organization of the Repub- liean party, he -became an active worker in its ranks, and no man has ever been a more enthus- iastic one.

Milton F. Simmons, President of the State Journal Company, was born in Schoharie county, New York, December 21, 1842. He received an academical and collegiate education in his native State, and subsequently read law with Lyman Tremaine, of New York City, and was there admitted to the Bar. After receiving a license as an attorney, he moved to Mexico, Missouri, where he engaged in practice for some six years, with success. In 1871, he purchased the office of the Mexico Messenger, which paper he edited and published until his removal to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1876. While in Mexico he was elected to the State Legislature, and served one session. On his arrival in Jackson- ville, he became associated in the publication of the Jacksonville Journal, which relation continued until 1878, when he came to Springfield, and became one of the Journal Company.

Milton F. Simmons and Philena Eliza Humphrey were married at Mexico, Missouri, November 11, 1867. Four children have resulted from this union - Ida Mabel, Anna Maggie, Minnie Myrtle, and Katie Mand.

Mr. Simmons has always been a Republican in politics.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

THE DAILY JOURNAL.

The Journal first appeared as a daily Monday, June 13, 1848, containing twelve columns, twelve inches long. That paper printed the first telegraphic dispatch ever received directly by the Press in Springfield. Diminutive as was the sheet, its advent marked a new era in the history of the Press of that city. It seemed a hazardous undertaking to establish a daily, but the paper met with immediate support, and when but eleven days old was enlarged to a sixteen column sheet, of respectable size. Its news col- umns were well filled, and in all respects it was fully up to the demands of the times. It was issued in the evening, as most of the mails left early in the morning, and the clumsy hand press could not have a morning paper ready in time.

The conduct of a daily at that time was widely at variance with what it is to-day. Printing ap- pliances were unwieldy; labor was scarce; ex- penses heavy, and the people at large found a weekly enough for their wants. Notwithstand- ing these and other obstacles, the Journal suc- ceeded well. On the first of January, 1850, the daily was again enlarged, by increasing the length of its columns and adding four to their number. No change was made thereafter until the 22d of December, 1853, when it was again enlarged. It then became a twenty-four column paper. These changes were made to meet the demands of advertisers. Again about the begin- ning of the war, first to a seven and then an eight- column folio. This form was continued until July, 1880, when it was changed to a six-column quarto, its present form.

THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN.

The Republican was established May, 1835, by John A. Roberts and George R. Weber, who continued its publication until the summer of 1839. The Republican was a firm supporter of the Jackson policy, and dealt some powerful blows to the opposition. It was a fearless and radical sheet in its utterances, and gave no un- certain sound. Its enemies always knew where to find it. In the spring of 1837, Stephen A. Douglas was appointed by President Van Buren, Register of the Land Office at Springfield, and thus became a resident of the place. At this time he was very boyish in appearance and man- ner; was a ready wit, and a bold and fluent speaker. He made politics his chief study, to the neglect of his profession. He wrote much for the columns of the Republican, which ap- peared both as editorial and communicated. The paper, in political circles, was therefore generally

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History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 35

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084