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 84

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 84

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General Harlan died in Springfield, November 20, 1875. Resolutions of respect were passed by representatives of the press, the Knight Templars and other organizations. Rev. James A. Reed delivered the discourse at his funeral, and he was buried by the Knight Templars.

GENERAL I. N. HAYNIE.

Isham Nicholas Haynie was born on the 18th of November, 1824, near Dover, Tennessee, and

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

emigrated with his parents to Illinois in 1830, settling in Marion county, where both his par- ents still reside. He began the study of law in June, 1844, and was licensed to practice in March, 1846.

In 1847, when volunteers were called out for the Mexican war, he volunteered, and was com- missioned by Governor French as First Lieu- tenant of Company C, Sixth Illinois, commanded by Colonel E. W. B. Newby. He was mustered in at Alton, in May, 1847, and served till the close of the war, in 1848, being mustered out October 12. He then resumed the practice of law at Salem, and in 1850 was elected a member of the Illinois Legislature, served during the sessions of 1851, '52. In 1852, he graduated at the Louisville University, with the highest honors of the law class, and thereupon resumed the practice of law, until 1856, when he was ap- pointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Cairo, and removed his residence thither.

In 1860, he was nominated on the Douglas ticket for Presidential Elector from the old Ninth District, and vigorously canvassed his district for Douglas and Democracy.

He retired from the bench in 1861, and soon after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, declared in favor of administration of Mr. Lincoln, and warmly supported him to the day of Mr. Lincoln's death.

In the fall of 1861, he raised and organized the Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry, and in Sep- tember, 1861, was commissioned by Governor Yates as its colonel.

In November he reported with his regiment to General Grant, at Cairo, and accompanied the army into Tennessee. He was at the taking of Fort Henry, and in the first assault upon Fort Donelson, February 13, 1862, commanded a bri- gade. On the 15th, his regiment formed a part of the brigade of the lamented W. II. L. Wal- lace, and remained on the field until ordered to withdraw.

At the battle of Shiloh he was severely wounded while at the head of his regiment, but resumed command on the twenty-third of May following, and took part in the investment of Corinth.

In the summer of 1862, he ran as the war can- didate for Congress, in the Ninth District, and was defeated by only seven hundred votes-the former Democratie majorities in the District be- ing one thousand three hundred, or more.

During the balance of the summer of 1862 he was in command of a brigade and the post of Bethel, Tennessee, near Corinth. He was ap-

pointed Brigadier General, by Mr. Lincoln, in November, 1862, and served until March 4, 1863, when the failure of the Senate to act on the ap- pointment, made the same expire by limitation. He resumed the practice of law until December, 1864, and in the following month was appointed, by Governor Oglesby, Adjutant General of the State.

General Haynie was entirely a self-made man. Until twenty years of age he was reared to hard labor on a farm, and thereafter proseented his studies and profession with no other aid than the means which he had himself earned. He was a successful man, as is testified by a handsome private fortune, and by an honored name as a citizen, a lawyer and a soldier.

General Haynie died at Springfield in 1868, and his body was laid away to rest by the mem- bers of St. Paul's Lodge, No. 500, A. F. and A. M., of which body he was a member.

THOMAS H. CAMPBELL.

Thomas H. Campbell was a native of Penn- sylvania, and is of Irish descent, his father, Wil- liam Campbell, being born in the northern part of Ireland, and emigrating to America the be- ginning of the present century. Thomas H. was born May 21, 1815. In his youth, he emigrated to Illinois, and settled in Randolph county, and subsequently moved to Perry county, in the same State. Mr. Campbell was united in mar- riage with Catherine E. MeDougall, in Jackson- ville, Illinois, October 25, 1845. Four children were born unto them-Jeannette II., Thomas H., James W., and Treat. The daughter died. Thomas H. Campbell died in Springfield, Satur- day, November 22, 1862, and was buried on Monday following, from St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of which he had long been a member.

For many years, Mr. Campbell had been afflicted with an asthmatic affection, and during the year previous to his death he suffered greatly from it. He had for some time been in Wash- ington, where he was engaged in business for the State, but was compelled to return home, on account of his illness.

In 1842, Mr. Campbell was called into the office of Auditor of State, as Chief Clerk, under General Shields, then Auditor.

He continued in that position under General Ewing, upon whose death Mr. Campbell was ap- pointed Auditor, by Governor Ford. The suc- ceeding legislature, in 1846, elected Mr. Camp- bell to the office, and in 1848, when it was made elective by the people, he was again chosen, and again in 1852, holding the position until Janu- ary, 1857, eleven years, during which period of

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official duty he won the confidence, respect, and esteem of the people of the entire State, for his unbending integrity of character, and the marked ability with which he performed his public duties. Indeed, he obtained a command- ing reputation, through his official intercourse with the authorities of other States, throughont the country, for his administrative talent in the particular line of official duty which, for so long a time, devolved upon him. His name was a synonym for promptness, systematic exactness, and unbending integrity of purpose.

What Azariah Flagg has ever been in New York, Thomas Campbell has been in Illinois. Because of these qualifications he was selected by the present State authorities to adjust, with the General Government, the vast and complica- ted accounts of the State, growing out of the Illinois war expenditures; and for nearly a year past he has been engaged in the service, but was compelled to leave it and return home, because of his increasing ill health. To him more than to all others, is due the credit of getting our State accounts with the government into their present favorable condition. In his social rela- tions Mr. Campbell possessed the esteem of all.

Though an earnest, consistent, radical Demo- crat, his genial nature, his courteous deportment and his acknowledged integrity, ever stood a bar to acrimonious relations with political opponents, in public or private station. The good man and true, the breath of aspersion never fell on him. All acknowledged his public and private worth, all esteemed him for his many virtues, and all mourn his demise as a heavy loss to society.

ERASTUS WRIGIIT.

Erastus Wright was born January 21, 1779, at Bernardstown, Massachusetts. The family is a very ancient one for New England. Erastus left a history of the family, which he always kept written up, giving the genealogy of the family for nearly two and a half centuries, beginning with Deacon Samuel Wright, who came from England and settled at Springfield Massachu- setts, in 1641.

The parents of Erastus Wright left Bernards- town, Massachusetts, and went to Derby, Ver- mont, in 1802, that being at the time pioneer ground. Erastus remained with his father on the farm, with no other advantages for educa- tion than the country schools afforded, until the spring of 1821, when he started West, in com- pany with his brother, Charles. They traveled by such means as the country afforded before the days of canals and railroads, until they reached Buffalo, New York. There they em-

barked on a schooner for Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, Illinois. From Fort Dearborn they started on foot, making a preliminary survey of the route now occupied by the Illinois and Michigan canal, touching the Illinois river near where LaSalle now stands. They then descended the Illinois river to Fort Clark, now Peoria, and from there to Elkhart Grove, where Judge Latham resided. On their way south they stop- ped on Fancy creek, in what is now Sangamon county, at the house of John Dixon, who was one of the earliest settlers in this county, but who afterwards went north and laid out the town, now city, of Dixon, on Rock river. From there they came to Springfield, arriving Novem- ber 21, 1821. It had been selected as the county seat on the 10th of April before, but there had not been any town laid out. A log court house had just been completed. Mr. Wright describes the town, as it first appeared to him, in these words:

" Elijah Iles had about five hundred dollars worth of goods in a log cabin, ten by fourteen; Charles R. Matheny and Jonathan Kelley lived in log cabins not a quarter of a mile distant. The Indians-Kickapoos and Potawatamies- often came along in squads, and when others had built cabins near, called the place 'log town.' "

Mr. Wright went with Judge Latham from Springfield to Elkhart Grove and taught school there during the winter of 1821-2. He bought a claim of Levi Ellis and entered it as soon as it came into the market in 1823. From notes on the fly-leaf of a New Testament, in the handwriting of Mr. Wright, he says: "I built the first frame house in what is now the city of Springfield."

In 1824, he built a park, and traded eighty acres of land in Schuyler county for an elk. Old citizens remember that Mr. Wright rode that elk, and drove it in harness, the same as a horse, though he says in a note that he was rough to ride, and not very kind in the harness. Mr. Wright spent three or four years in the lead mining region of Illinois and Wisconsin, and while there laid out the town of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, using a bed cord for his chain. He was married June 15, 1831, in Fulton county, to Jane Gardner, whose parents were from Sara- toga, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Wright had three children.

Erastus Wright was one of the earliest teach- ers in Sangamon county, and taught for many years. For ten years he filled the office of School Commissioner of Sangamon county. During

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

that time a large amount of money, derived from the sale of government land for school purposes, passed through his hands. He was one of the earliest Abolitionists, and was always fearless in advocating its doctrines. He acquired consider- able wealth, and was liberal towards all benevo- lent objects, and every public enterprise was sure to elicit his co-operation.

Erastus Wright died in Springfield, Novem- ber 21, 1870. '

REV. JOHN G. BERGEN, D. D.

No more honored name is contained in this chapter than that of the one whose name heads this sketch.

John G. Bergen was born November 27, 1790, at Hightstown, Middlesex county, New Jersey. His parents were George I. and Rebecca (Combs) Bergen, the former a descendant of the Bergen family of Norway, and the latter of the Combs family of Scotland.

Dr. Bergen's education began at Cranberry, in the parochial academy, under the Rev. Mr. Camp- bell. A few years later, when his father, under the pressure of business perplexities, removed to Somerset county, he attended the academy at Baskin Ridge, presided over by Dr. Finley, in which the Rev. Philip Lindsley, afterwards President of the University of Nashville, was tutor. Dr. Finley was the father of the coloni- zation movement, a scheme kindly meant, but impossible of execution, as the event has shown, to which, nevertheless, Dr. Bergen gave his life-long adherence; so deep were the impres- sions made upon his mind in his youth. Mr. Lindsley first awakened in him a taste for read- ing, by putting in his hands the Arabain Nights, then Don Quixote, then Gil Blas; and afterward more solid books-Ramsey's American Revolu- tion, Marshall's Life of Washington, Gillie's History of Greece, Anicharses' Travels, Fergu- son's Roman Republic, Rollin's History, Plu- tarch's Lives, Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Robertson's Charles V., Mexico, and South America, and other works of similar character.

In 1806, he entered the junior class at Prince- ton College, from which he subsequently grad- nated.

In March, 1810, Mr. Bergen was appointed tutor in Princeton College, an honor which he declined at first, but was subsequently induced to accept.

In 1811, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. In September, 1812, he resigned his tutorship to enter upon the duties of the sacred calling. On the following

Saturday, with a letter of introduction in his pocket, he set out for Madison, New Jersey, then called Bottle Hill, forty miles from Prince- ton, and twenty miles west of New York City. The deacon to whom his letter was addressed made his appearance unshaved, in shirt sleeves and bare feet, but treated him kindly. Mr. Ber- gen preached on Sunday; a congregational meet- ing was called for Monday; on Tuesday one of the elders came to Princeton, and after making such inquiries as he saw fit, an official letter was placed in Mr. Bergen's hands on Wednesday, informing him that it was the unanimous desire of the congregation that he should consider him- self a candidate for settlement. He returned to Madison, spent two Sabbaths and the interven- ing week there, was called to the pastorate, and on the first Monday in December the Presbytery of Jersey met at Morristown, four miles from Madison, to examine him for ordination. After a most thorough examination, he was ordained. Here he remained for about sixteen years, and in that time accomplished a vast amount of good.

In consequence of some trouble in the church, of which he was in no sense responsible, and also from the fact that many of his relatives had moved West, Mr. Bergen resolved to follow them. He therefore asked the Presbytery to dissolve his pastoral relations with the congrega- tion, which was accordingly done September 10, 1828.

On Monday, September 22, in the presence of an assembled multitude, many of whom followed him for ten miles, before they could say fare- well, he took his departure for Illinois. The journey occupied forty days. He made a short stop at Rock Springs, St. Clair county, where his mother resided, and where he found Rev. John M. Peck teaching in his seminary. The seminary building, as Mr. Bergen saw it, was a small, frame building, covered with clap-boards, unfurnished, and served for a school, a church and a seminary, whence preachers of the gospel were to emanate. In this house he preached twice, the Sabbath after his arrival, using notes, which led to a long and friendly discussion, in which Mr. Peck told him that "everybody in the West shoots flying." At Rock Spring he found a letter from Rev. Mr. Ellis, urging him not to de- lay around St. Louis, but to come immediately north to Sangamon. On Monday, Mr. Bergen and his family called on Governor Edwards, at Belleville, and found the household in mourning for his son-in-law, Hon. Daniel P. Cook, the first Attorney General of the State of Illinois, and afterward its only member in the National Con-

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gress. Mr. Bergen preached that night in Belle- ville, at a private house. On Tuesday, he drove into St. Louis, a dirty, dilapidated old French town, of bad repute, with a population of seven- teen hundred inhabitants. By Saturday night, he reached Jacksonville, where half a dozen log houses and a log school house constituted the entire village. There he found Mr. Ellis expect- ing him, and received a hearty welcome. "When I received your letter," he said, "it was the first ray of light which dawned on me for the two years 1 have been laboring almost alone in this region of moral desolation. Come in, my brother, you and yours, and God bless you, and make you a blessing."

This Mr. Ellis was one of seven Presbyterian ministers, five of whom were in the southern portion of the State, who with Mr. Bergen were organized into a Presbytery the following spring. He originally preached in Kaskaskia, but re- moved to Jacksonville in the spring of 1828. Subsequently he removed to Michigan, where he died, in 1855.

On Monday, Mr. Bergen parted with his fam- ily, they to accompany his parents home, twelve miles north of Jersey Prairie; he, to Springfield, where he was hospitably received by Major Iles, then recently married, and one of the four origi- nal proprietors of the town, of whom he is the only survivor. The town, when Mr. Bergen came to it, numbered about two hundred inhabi- tants, and thirty-five log houses, with a few frame dwellings, not more than four or five, painted in front only. The school house was a small frame building, with broken door, broken windows, broken benches-a high seat in one end-a floor almost as dirty as a pig-sty-the whole elevated on blocks as if to give free room for the hogs to root under the floor-standing on the east side of the square. A Presbyterian church had previously been organized here. Dr. Jayne helped him to get one of the six frame houses in which to live.

Two weeks later, after a fit of sickness at Jersey Prairie, followed by the sickness, first of one of his children and then of his wife, he took up his abode in his new home. His cousin visited him in December, and on opening the door, lifted up both hands, exclaiming, " Why, my cousin ! " as he saw boxes in the room where the family lived and slept and cooked, filled up with harness, and two great dressed hogs which had been bought and given them, lying on another box, with their mouths wide open, with a great cob in them. Said Mr. Bergen in his

cheerful way, "Come in, come in, cousin! Never mind it!" It was the way of the county.

Mr. Bergen called on every family in the town, whether members of any church or not. he announced from the pulpit that he had come to live, labor and die among his people. On the second Sabbath in December, notices having previously been given through the county, he administered the communion; and at the close of the service, announced that he had come with his family to seek a home here-not to make an experiment, but to plant with their planting and to grow with their growth. He thought they ought to do one thing without delay. "Let us rise up and build a house for God!" He invited all who were disposed to do so, to meet the next evening in the school house, to deliberate and conclude upon it. The meeting was held, and a building committee was appointed, consisting of John Todd, Gershom Jayne, Washington Iles, David Taylor, John Moffitt, Samuel Reed and Elijah Slater. In a few days over six hund- red dollars was subscribed-a more liberal act for the times than a hundred thousand dollars would be to-day. Mr. Bergen wrote to the Secretary of Mission; his appeal was published in the Home Missionary, and he received two hundred dollars as the response. He and Dr. Jayne then " scoured the town," secured a sub- scription of twelve hundred dollars in all, and it was decided to build of brick. Thomas Brooker, a brick-maker and stone-mason wassent for from Belleville, to do the work.

The church was completed in due time, and here Mr. Bergen labored for many years, the pastoral relation continuing till 1848, when he resigned. With his resignation his active life ceased. From this time he devoted himself to writing for the press and to missionary effort among feeble churches, here and there. During the twenty years of his life in Illinois, up to this time, about five hundred members had been re- ceived into the church in Springfield, and six churches organized in the county. He had ex- pended during his ministry here more than four thousand dollars of his private property. Many wondered whether he would not live to regret his resignation; but he never did.

During the closing years of his life, he organ- ized a number of additional churches. Several times he was chosen commissioner to the Gen- eral Assembly, where, in 1861, the year of the war, he voted for what are known as the Spring resolutions. In 1854, the degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon him by Centre Col- lege, at Danville, Kentucky. He was for many

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years a director of the Theological Seminary of the Northwest, at Chicago. He took an active part in the reunion movement in the church, and attended the first preliminary meeting of the two branches held in the State of Illinois, at the second Presbyterian church, Bloomington, Illinois, in April, 1865. He was again made moderator of the re-united Synod of Central Illinois, in July, 1870, at its first meeting in the First Presbyterian Church, Bloomington.

Dr. Bergen was called to his rest, Wednesday, January 17, 1872. He was a good man, and all his life went about doing good.

ORLIN H. MINER

Orlin H. Miner was born in the State of Ver- mont, May 13, 1825, where he resided with his parents until 1834 when they removed to Ohio. He came to Chicago in 1851, and worked there at his tra:le of watch-making for a short time, when he removed to this city, and was employed by Mr. George W. Chatterton, Sr. In the spring of 1845 he went to Costa Rica, Central America, and was with General William Walker at Gray- town. After the capture of Graytown, he returned to the United States, stopping a short time in New Orleans, and then returning to this city, and again working for Mr. Chatterton, and afterward for Ives & Curran, at watch-making. In 1857, when Jesse K. Dubois was installed as Auditor he entered the office as elerk, which position he retained until 1864, when he was nominated on the Republican ticket, for Auditor and elected, and served until 1868. During his connection with the office as clerk, he had almost the entire responsibility of the office, and after his election gave his personal attention to every detail of the work. During the rebellion Mr. Miner was one of Gov. Yates' most trusted ad- visers.

After his retirement from the Auditor's office, Mr. Miner devoted his attention to his personal business, and was noted for the active interest he took in all public enterprises calculated to build up the interests of the city, He was one of the first to assist in the organization of the Springfield Iron Company, and continued a Director to the time of his death.

Mr. Miner was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. He was elected Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Masons in October, 1868, and was re-elected each successive year until 1873, when he declined a re-election. In 1877 he was appointed Grand Treasurer, to fill a va- cancy, was elected to that position in 1878, and again in 1879, and at the time of his death held that position, also that of Grand Treasurer of

the Grand Royal Arch Chapter. He was also a prominent member of the Scottish Rite of Ma- sonry, being, with Gen. J. C. Smith, the only thir- ty-three degree member in this part of the State.

As already stated above, Mr. Miner ever took an active interest in all public affairs, and was known and esteemed as an enterprising citizen. He was one of the most earnest promoters of the Board of Trade, and was elected Secretary at the first meeting, and so long as his health permitted, devoted much of his time to the work of getting that body into running order. His business experience and sagacity was recognized by all, and his opinion on matters of finance was always sought and considered by his acquaint- ances.

As a husband, father, neighbor and friend no man ever lived who was more loved, esteemed and respected than Orlin H. Miner.

Mr. Miner died in Springfield.

ARCIIER G, HERNDON.

Archer G. Herndon, one of the celebrated "Long Nine" members of the legislature from 1836 to 1838, was born in Culpepper county, Vir- ginia, February 13, 1795. When abont ten years of age, in company with his parents, he removed to Green county, Kentucky, where his youth and early manhood was spent, and where, in 1816, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Rebecca Johnson, whose maiden name was Day. Four children were born unto them-William H., Elliott B., Archer G., and Nathaniel F., of whom the latter died when about seven years old. The others grew to manhood, sketches of whom will be found elsewhere in this work.

Mr. and Mrs. Herndon moved from Kentucky to Illinois, in the spring of 1820, and remained one year in Madison county, and in the spring of 1821, arrived in Sangamon county, settling on what is now known as German Prairie, about five miles east of Springfield. Here they re- mained until their removal to Springfield, in 1825.

From 1825 to 1836 Mr. Herndon was engaged in the mercantile trade in Springfield, in which business he was quite successful. Within that time he erected a tavern in the place and tended to the wants of the traveling publie.

Archer G. Herndon was a Democrat of the old school, and lived and died in the faith of that party. An Abolitionist, in his eyes, was a man not to be trusted in any capacity.

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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 84

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