USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 35
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The Knights of Pythias have 150 members. The Chancellor Com-
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
mander is A. T. Skelley, and the Keeper of Records and Seals, H. T. Berry. The society was organized about 1880. The Pythian Sisters number 125 with Mrs. Belle Hartman as Most Excellent Chief, and Mrs. John Harrison, Mistress of Records and Correspondence. At a Pythian Memorial service, May, 1906, held in Baptist church, 40 members of Anchor Lodge, No. 120, K. of P., and 20 members of Celeste Temple, Rathbone Sisters, attended, and listened to a discourse by the pastor, Rev. J. W. Kinnett.
The Odd Fellows, Grove Lodge, No. 257, have richly furnished rooms on the third floor of a brick block on Main street. F. C. Barnum is secre- tary. The lodge was organized May 12, 1858. The charter members were W. W. Winter, D. P. Spears, F. W. Chapman, James McCreedy, M. M. McKeen, and F. C. Woodruff. Mr. Winter was the first Noble Grand. There are 135 members. The good women seem to be quite enthusiastic for they muster 170 Rebekahs, with Mrs. Albert Miller as secretary.
The Mystic Workers, as everywhere else in the county, are increasing continually, having now 250 members.
Dunlap Lodge, No. 321, A. F. & A. M. was organized May 30, 1859, with ten charter members, the best known being John E. Bennett, S. H. McCrea, H. M. Teller, now Colorado senator. In 1877 there were 85 mem- bers, now about 100. The meetings are on the first and third Mondays of the month in Masonic hall. For 1907 I. D. Woodford was W. Master, Pierre Jackson, secretary. Among the past masters is Dr. A. E. Kennedy, and Mrs. Lurena Kennedy is Worthy Matron of the Eastern Stars, who number 130.
THE COUNTY BUILDINGS.
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.
On a lofty ridge that runs through the northern section of the city are the public edifices of the county. First on the west as you enter the grounds is the fire proof building for the circuit clerk, treasurer, and county clerk, and recorder. In the treasurer's office sitting at his desk was the veteran official, W. H. Thatcher, formerly of Sterling, who as treasurer and clerk, has grown gray in his duties, and at eighty is the same genial friend as in his prime. In the office of the county clerk upstairs W. C. Stillson is prompt to respond to any call for information. In the copy of the proceedings of the board of supervisors, a pamphlet of 50 pages, printed for distribution, are various reports of the committecs. It covers the time from April, 1906, to March, 1907. For instance, there are the physicians' bills for attendance on the poor in the different towns, amounting to nearly $800, in sums from one dollar to a hundred. There are the grocery and dry goods bills for articles ' furnished the common poor and also indigent soldiers. A full de- tailed report of the county farm in receipts and expenditures.
In the center of the group is the court house, completed in 1865 at a cost of over $14,000. The committee in charge was E. B. Warner, R. G. Clendenin, and W. S. Wilkinson. In size the building is eighty-five by fifty-five. The court room is circular, with a gallery. Its chief ornament
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
is the oil painting of Black Hawk's prophet, presented by Hon. E. B. Wash- burne. On the first floor is the sheriff's office, and on the second, the grand jury room where the supervisors also meet. The walls are brick, corners of cut stone. The succession of Judges . Heaton, Eustace, Crabtree, and others, who have sat upon the bench, and the lawyers, Henry, Leffingwell, McPherran, Manahan, and others, who have plead at the bar, all passed away, invest the familiar structure with sacred associations.
On the extreme east is the jail completed in the winter of 1858-59, at a cost of over $10,000. In 1876 improvements became necessary, an appro- priation of $4,900 was made, and under the superintendence of Besse, Pen- . nington, Milnes, Spafford, and Wallace, the work was done. The improve- ments were the substitution of eight iron cells, accommodating four prison- ers each, in place of the former stone cells. The new cells are ten feet deep, six feet wide, seven feet high, with a steel corridor five feet wide and twenty- six feet long in front. The notable prisoners confined here of late were the Swarthout boys, and the Italian Randis. The jailor's house of brick was erected on the south side of the jail.
Judged by the occupants of the jail, Whiteside is a virtuous county, for the cells in December, 1907, were empty, a solitary boy lounging at a corridor window. Charles Hamilton, sheriff, courteously unlocked the heavy stecl doors, and gave the writer the freedom of the dungeons. Thirty-two prisoners can be confined, four in a cell, by swinging iron berths on each side. A bath tub with hot and cold water on each floor. When a prisoner enters, he is given a washing, and is obliged to put on clean clothes once a week. The second story is reserved for women. No insane victims are received now, as they are taken to Elgin or Watertown.
As a prisoner cnters, a careful entry is made in a large book of his personal characteristics-age, height, hair, eyes, complexion, nationality. Then other particulars. By whom committed, when committed, for what offense, term of sentence, when discharged, how discharged. The prisoners receive no tarts or jelly, but substantial food. The county pays sixty cents a day for men, seventy-five cents a day for women.
In front of the public buildings is a thrifty native grove, an ideal spot for mass meetings, and here Lyman Trumball, Henry M. Teller, Ros- well G. Horr, and the orators of several campaigns have roused the applause of admiring multitudes.
In the spring of 1908 the jail was thoroughly cleaned and freshencd with paint on all the walls and woodwork and throughout the cells. The colors used were selected perhaps with a view to awakening the germs of patriotism in the prisoners, as red, white and blue are scen everywhere. The old calcimine on the walls, which had been there for twenty years or so, was scraped off and tlie walls neatly painted. The work was all done by the men in the cells. The place is in excellent condition, perfectly secure, and has been made as attractive as possible to the unhappy fellows . whose imprudence renders their enforced retirement from the busy haunts of men necessary for the public good. The sheriff studies to please.
The salary of each county officer is $1,500, and cach has deputics,
1
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
when necessary, the clerk three, circuit clerk two, treasurer one; the sheriff is also supplied with help when necessary.
These statistics show some of the operations of the county officers during 1907: Number of marriage licenses issued, 253; number of arrests made by sheriff and assistants, 60; number of prisoners confined in county jail, 58. Convicts taken to Joliet, 9; crimes for which arrests were made-murder, 2; manslaughter, 1; burglary, 4; robbery, 2; grand larceny, 1; assault and bat- tery, 9; assault, 2; stoning railroad car, 2; contempt of court, 1; vagrancy, 3; disorderly conduct, 2; wife abandonment, 3; bootlegging, 2; dependent boys, 2; obtaining money, 2; fornication, 2; petit larceny, 3; entering build- ing, 1; burglary and larceny, 1. Insane taken to Watertown, 12. Several insane patients were taken to the asylum by others than officials.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF MORRISON.
By A. J. Jackson, Cashier.
In considering the subject of banking, one is met by the same conditions that are met in the investigation of any of the professions. The term "pre- historic" presents itself and there the pursuit of knowledge in that direction must end. The members of the various professions in acquiring knowledge in the profession of their choice, must study the elementary treatises and all that follows, but in an article that is prepared for a work of this kind very little generalization is permitted.
The statement may well be made, that an individual bank is a part of a great system. This will be seen as early as history's dawn. The world was not old in comparison with the age of the race embraced in the historic period, before it is perceived that attention was bestowed upon what has grown to be one of the prominent departments in business. Before the ten command- ments were given, there were extensive live-stock dealers, operators in rcal estate, and bankers and brokers.
The first known banks were organized in the twelfth century. The Venetians seemed to be first, followed by the Genoese and the Florentines, in whose hands the business seemed to flourish most, until the founding of the bank of Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. This particular organiza- tion is named, as this was the model on which was formed most of the Euro- pean banks now in existence. The banks organized under this law control the banks of the British Empire.
Our National banking law is copied to a large extent from the joint stock banking law of Scotland, and even the bank of England, organized for the expressed purpose of monopolizing the banking business of the realm, was soon compelled to recognize the leadership of the Scottish banks, and now the province of the bank of "Threadneedle street" is to act as a clearing house , for the consolidated banks of Scotland.
When it was thought wise to take steps to formulate a system of finance to assist in the prosecution of the war of 1861, the then Secretary of the Treasury decided to submit for adoption a National banking law, and in doing so, chose as a model the Scottish banking laws, which were followed as closely as the conditions then existing would permit.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Our present banking law was passed in the year 1863, but few banks were organized under it until the elose of the following year.
The First National Bank of Morrison was projeeted at this time, and its organization number was 1033, showing there were very few compared with the present number, and then those in operation were mostly in the eastern states. This was the first national organization in Whiteside county, and remained the only one for several years. There was none in Lee county, until this bank had been in operation a number of years.
When the law was passed the minimum amount of eapital permitted was $50,000. This limit was retained about thirty years.
The proposition to organize a national bank in Morrison, had its rise in the banking office of L. Smith & Co. The members of the firm were Dr. Leander Smith a private banker residing in the City of Fulton, and A. J. Jaekson of Morrison.
The work of organization of this bank was one of a few moments' time. Mr. Jackson left the private bank of which he was the manager, stepped across the street to the store of Spears & Bro., located in the store now . oeeu- pied by W. L. Angell, passed through to the elevator of Johnson, MeCrea & Co., returning direet to his banking offiee, the work was done, and in thirty minutes the organization papers were being prepared for the signatures of the subseribers, and soon on their way to the office of the comptroller of the eurreney.
This bank was eondueted with the original eapital for about six years, when it was increased to $100,000.
The measure of this bank's sueeess has been a matter of public record. For over forty years its reports have been published in the city papers at sueh intervals as are preseribed by the banking department. No elaim for exeel- lenee over any of its neighbors is made by the officers of the bank, indeed, they are gratified to find that they have been able to keep paee with the pro- eesion of banks and bankers that have taken their places in the list now before the publie. Some banks may have a larger eapital, some a more ex- tended field of operations, and may surpass this institution in many ways, and yet the family of ten stockholders that organized the bank and owned it were quite well pleased with their undertaking. The original ten stoek- holders were Leander Smith, L. H. Robinson, Chas. Spears, Wm. Spears, W. S. Wilkinson, W. F. Johnson, A. N. Young, Jas. Snyder, A. C. Jackson, and A. J. Jackson. They were among the best and most eapable business men in the new.eity, and were ambitious that their experiments should be a sueeess, and were diligent in informing themselves upon the subjeet pre- sented. Having no pattern to follow, they evolved a course that afforded them mueh pleasure and not a little profit.
In looking baek over the forty-four years of the bank's existenee, it is seen that only two of those who were in at the christening, are with the stoek- holders of today, namely, W. F. Johnson and A. J. Jackson. The bank has had the serviees of three presidents, Leander Smith, W. S. Wilkinson and E. A. Smith, the present head of the organization, the first two holding their offices from the date of assuming it until their death.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Mr. Jackson was elected cashier of the bank on the day of its organiza- tion, and has held the position continuously since. No cashier of a national bank in the United States has held the position for so long a time. It has been said by those of old time, that "there is nothing new under the sun," gen- erally, this may be true, but even in the old conservative profession of bank- ing, there is occasionally something occurring that is not laid down in the books. In the year 1901, Sargent & Greenleaf, a firm manufacturing time- locks for banks and other purposes issued a catalogue of their out-put, and in it appears this passage, "In May, 1874, Mr. Sargent sold the first time lock ever purchased by a banker, to the First National Bank of Morrison, Ill., making the attachment himself."
At this time it was noticed by the cashier, that some kind of a time-lock was invented and was being manufactured at Rochester, N. Y. A letter addressed to the manufacturer inquiring concerning the new invention, brought a reply containing full particulars, with the promise that the model of the lock should be forwarded at once to Morrison, for the cashier's inspec- tion .. The lock was brought to Morrison, examined by the cashier, who concluded it was likely to be the protection that was needed, and that it would become popular among bankers. The experiment was eminently satisfactory, and soon became generally known to bankers, inquiries began at once to come to the manufacturers, and now there is not probably a bank in the country that is not equipped with a time lock of some pattern.
The lock placed upon the safe of this bank in 1874, has been in contin- uous service since, and is running perfectly correct.
It is not thought necessary or desirable to go into details concerning the methods pursued in this bank, for banks are in some ways like households, all good, but managed a little different as to details.
The bank of course, is quite partial to its own management, it has endcavored to conduct its business in a liberal and conservative manner, have a careful regard to the national banking law, the instructions of the department, and the supervision of its board of directors. The business of the bank has increased from the date of its organization to the present time. A statement of the condition of the bank at the date of its last report made to the comptroller of the currency, Feb. 14, 1908, is as follows:
RESOURCES.
/
Loans and discounts $252,936.85
Overdrafts 3.00
Bonds to secure circulation
88,000.00
U. S. Bonds on hand. 20,060.00
Premium on U. S. Bonds. 2,760.00
Stocks, securities, etc ..
58,172.58
Real estate and furniture
14,946.45
Due from banks. . 45,201.54
Cash and cash items. 50,415.13
Total $532,495.55
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
LIABILITIES.
Capital paid in.
$100,000.00
Surplus and profits
59,784.50
Circulation
88,000.00
Dividends unpaid.
1,910.00
Deposits
282,801.05
Total. $532,495.55
PRESENT DIRECTORS.
H. W. Smith,
W. F. Johnson,
O. Woods,
E. A. Smith,
·H. B. Wilkinson,
M. H. Potter,
D. S. Spafford
A. J. Jackson,
BANK OF LEANDER SMITH & SON.
This is the only other financial institution in the city. Like the bank of Thomas Coutts in London which kept the same sign on the building 100 years after his death, so the name of Leander Smith remains, although dead for several years. The bank was started in 1878 by Leander Smith and Duncan Mackay, and this relation continued till 1889, when Mackay retired, and the present firm of Smith & Son may be dated from 1885. Two sons, E. A., and H. W. now control the business. Interest paid on deposits. A bank of loans and discounts. Money orders are issued by this bank at less rates than are charged by express companies or the postoffice department.
THE SCHOOLS.
A little learning is a dangerous thing, Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring .- Pope.
The young people find their enjoyment in two buildings, the older and larger on the south side, and the newer on the hill to the north, so that the children are really climbing the hill of science, every day of their lives. The high school and some of the grades are in the old building. A large and com- plete faculty. Prof. E. L. Boyer, late of Bloomington, successor of D. D. Thomerson, is at the head, and teaches English; Gladys Graham, German and history; Anna. Taggert, Latin; Gertrude Ross, mathematics; W. E. Weaver, science; Sophia V. Levitin, English; Elizabeth Weidenfeller, com- . mercial; Nellie Poorman, music and mathematics. There is a library of ref- erence books and a creditable museum of minerals and curios. On the roll 167 pupils. The board of education consists of S. M. McCalmont, president; Jacob Feldman, jr., secretary, and Mrs. P. F. Burtch, C. E. Proctor, H. B. Wilkinson. In the graduating class of 1908 are 21 members, only four being young men: James Lawry, Josephine Happer, Louis Abbott, Helen Green, Winifred Ewers, Lola Reynolds, Helen Smith, Neva Smitli, Lottie Colton, Mae Conlon, Edith Matthews, Ellamae Feldman, Agnes Lively, Ellis Potter, Florence Angell, Hilding Palmer, Edith Nelson, Marguerite Ladd, Bessie Bradley, Zula Ritchie, Anna Hawk.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
The board of education for the district school is composed of W. L. Angell, C. D. Gallentine, W. L. Brewer, S. M. Ladd, R. A. Norrish, F. C. Barnum, and J. H. Gray, president.
As in all towns, the Morrison school system is a development from a humble beginning. A log house in 1838, a frame in 1847, a removal and enlargement in 1858, the nucleus of the present edifice in 1860. The present building is brick, three stories, and the original cost was $20,000, with $5,000 more for furniture, heating and apparatus.
One of the teachers has kindly furnished the following sketch :
Morrison, the county seat and second city in size in Whiteside county, has always prided herself on her efficient public schools. As early as 1859 the main part of the south side school was completed. It was two stories high, in a beautiful park of natural timber, and was the pride of the vil- lage. Later another story was added and still later the wings were built, making a twelve-room structure.
Last November a fire broke out at cight in the morning threatening the complete destruction of the time-honored school house, but the determined efforts of the fire department supplemented by the help of the citizens res- cued it, and it was temporarily remodeled. In June 1908 it will be rebuilt or rather reconstructed and made modern. Fifteen thousand dollars is to be expended in making it again worthy to house the children of Morrison. The outside will not be changed in shape but it will be given an up-to-date ap- pearance.
During 1907-8 the Mount Pleasant township high school is occupying the second floor. The third floor has for some years been used as a historical museum and a very fine collection has been on exhibition there. The recent fire almost ruined it.
The north side school is a modern two-story brick with a basement for . the heating apparatus. It, too, is surrounded by a fine park of trees- "Nature's own planting". This building is almost new and is especially well adapted for school purposes.
The course of study compares well with courses offered in larger cities. Manual Training is had in some of the grades and in the township high school. This department is well equipped and is growing in favor with patrons and pupils. Sewing has a place in the high school but as yet nothing further has been attempted in domestic science. Music is taught in all the grades and in the high school, a special supervisor being employed for that work.
It is the purpose of the boards of education, both the township high school board, and the city board, to give the children of Morrison training for useful service. Morrison believes that truc happiness is more certain and more permanent to those who have discovered their aptitudes and, that these different courses all help the child to know his bent.
Supt. J. S. Moyer has had experience in managing schools and he has been given a corps of able teachers. The schools are in good hands, thanks to an interested patronage.
.
TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL, MORRISON
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Prof. J. S. Moyer, thirteen years in the Fulton schools, is principal of the grades, which have an enrollment of 349. In room one is Elizabeth Taylor; two, Emily B. Kelly; three, Eva Duffy; four, Frances J. Wilson; five, Hulda F. Peterson; another five, Gertrude J. Douglas; six, Kate Martin ; seven, Mrs. Emma W. Hollingshead; eight, Miss Emma Reid.Prof. Moyer teaches reading and arithmetic.
THE SCHOOLS AND THEIR LIBRARY. By J. S. Moyer, Superintendent Public Schools.
The schools of a community are an index of the educational life of the individuals who govern and direct the affairs of the community. And the wealth, culture and general intelligence of the people of Morrison is indica- tive of the educational standard of her schools, which standard is main- tained by an able corps of earnest and efficient teachers.
The high school building is being entirely rebuilt, and when finished will be one of the most modern and well equipped school buildings in north- ern Illinois. The high school will occupy the second floor and four grades the first floor. The North Side, or ward building is a new and well furnished building accommodating four grades.
The fact that the high school has an enrollment of one hundred and sixty-five pupils is an evidence of the interest and appreciation that our people have in educational matters. And when it can be said that forty-six of these pupils come from the country outside of the city limits, some driving eight miles, and all studiously following a course of study credited by Illinois, Wis- cosin and Chicago Universities, it certainly indicates that the spirit and life of educational conditions of Morrison and surrounding country are com- mendable.
Nothing is left undone or omitted from the educational forces that may aid our pupils in expressing their self-activities in living and working with such subjects and in such ways as will make healthy bodies, kind hearts and well poised minds. To this end manual training for boys and sewing for girls have been added to the general efficiency of our schools. During the past ycar a library of two hundred and seventy-five carefully selected books has been secured for the use of the grades. The books have been selected with the view of not only interesting the children in the world around them but also of gratifying the innate love of legend and spirit that makes a large part of child life. In the first and second grades such books at "True Fairy Stories," "Old World Wonder Stories," and "Boy Blue and His Friends," lead the child on from his home nursery stories to see a larger world outside of home and school, while "Plant Babies and Their Cradles," "Five Little Strangers," and "Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans," intro- duce him to nature and history. In the higher grades there is a wider variety of subjects until in the seventh and eighth they may be classified under the heads of history, geography, science and fiction, and include such books as "The Story of Our English Grandfathers," "From Trail to Railway," "True Tales of Birds and Beasts," and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm." Such a
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variety of books in the hands of interested and earnest teachers cannot fail to stimulate the love of the good and the true in the hearts of school children.
Inherent in every child is a life that is responsive to beauty, truth and virtue. These character building influences arc found in the expressions of our poets, prophets and seers, and to these the child may go and find in his- tory and poetry, in biography and story, in legend and myth, that which satisfies, strengthens and gives delight to childhood. While if we with- hold from the child the food which its true life craves, we weaken it, throw it into confusion and error, and sin and sickness will follow. Children need the companionship of influences that ennoble and enrich life. Satisfy the child in this particular, and virtue and strength will be the fruit of the uni- versal spirit.
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