Illinois, Crawford County historical and biographical, Part 26

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1058

USA > Illinois > Crawford County > Illinois, Crawford County historical and biographical > Part 26

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Latin-American historical and archaeological exhibits. Mr. Curtis has visited nearly every Central and South American country and has written elaborately on these subjects for the magazines and for publication in book form; has also published a "Life of Zachariah Chandler" and a "Diplomatic History of the United States and Foreign Powers." For some time he was managing editor of "The Chicago News" and is now (1898) the Washington Correspondent of "The Chicago Record."

CUSHMAN, (Col.) William H. W., financier and manufacturer, was born at Freetown, Mass., May 13, 1813; educated at the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, Norwich, Vt., at 18 began a mercantile career at Middlebury, and, in 1824, removed to La Salle County, Ill., where he opened a country store, also built a mill at Vermilionville; later was identified with many large financial enterprises which generally proved successful, thereby accumulating a for- tune at one time estimated at $3,000,000. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth General Assemblies (1842 and '44) and, for several years, held a commission as Captain of the Ottawa Cavalry (militia). The Civil War coming on, he assisted in organizing the Fifty-third Illinois Volunteers, and was com- missioned its Colonel, but resigned Sept. 3, 1862. He organized and was principal owner of the Bank of Ottawa, which, in 1865, became the First National Bank of that city; was the leading . spirit in the Hydraulic Company and the Gas Company at Ottawa, built and operated the Ottawa Machine Shops and Foundry, speculated largely in lands in La Salle and Cook Counties- his operations in the latter being especially large about Riverside, as well as in Chicago, was a principal stockholder in the bank of Cush- man & Hardin in Chicago, had large interests in the lumber trade in Michigan, and was one of the builders of the Chicago, Paducah & South- western Railroad. The Chicago fire of 1871, however, brought financial disaster upon him, which finally dissipated his fortune and de- stroyed his mental and physical health. His death occurred at Ottawa, Oct. 28, 1878.

DALE, Michael G., lawyer, was born in Lan- caster, Pa., spent his childhood and youth in the public schools of his native city, except one year in West Chester Academy, when he entered Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, graduating there in 1835. He then began the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1837; coming to

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Illinois the following year, he was retained in a suit at Greenville, Bond County, which led to his employment in others, and finally to opening an office there. In 1839 he was elected Probate Judge of Bond County, remaining in office four- teen years, meanwhile being commissioned Major of the State Militia in 1844, and serving as mem- ber of a Military Court at Alton in 1847; was also the Delegate from Bond County to the State Con- stitutional Convention of 1847. In 1853 he re- signed the office of County Judge in Bond County to accept that of Register of the Land office at Edwardsville, where he continued to reside, fill- ing the office of County Judge in Madison County five or six terms, besides occupying some subordi- nate positions. Judge Dale married a daughter of Hon. William L. D. Ewing. Died at Edwards- ville, April 1, 1895.

DALLAS CITY, a town of Hancock County, at the intersection of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- roads, 16 miles south of Burlington. It has man- ufactories of lumber, buttons, carriages and wagons, and two weekly newspapers. Popula- tion (1880), 829; (1890), 747; 1900), 970.

DANENHOWER, John Wilson, Arctic explorer, was born in Chicago, Sept. 30, 1849-the son of W. W. Danenhower, a journalist. After passing through the schools of Chicago and Washington, he graduated from the United States Naval Acad- emy at Annapolis in 1870, was successively com- missioned as Ensign, Master and Lieutenant, and served on expeditions in the North Pacific and in the Mediterranean. In 1878 he joined the Arctic steamer Jeannette at Havre, France, as second in command under Lieut. George W. De Long; pro- ceeding to San Francisco in July, 1879, the steamer entered the Arctic Ocean by way of Behring Straits. Here, having been caught in an ice-pack, the vessel was held twenty-two months, Lieutenant Danenhower meanwhile being dis- abled most of the time by ophthalmia. The crew, as last compelled to abandon the steamer, dragged their boats over the ice for ninety-five days until they were able to launch them in open water, but were soon separated by a gale. The boat commanded by Lieutenant Danenhower reached the Lena Delta, on the north coast of Siberia, where the crew were rescued by natives, landing Sept. 17. 1881. After an ineffectual search on the delta for the crews of the other two boats, Lieutenant Danenhower, with his crew, made the journey of 6,000 miles to Orenburg, finally arriving in the United States in June, 1882. He has told the story of the expedition in "The

Narrative of the Jeannette," published in 1882. Died, at Annapolis, Md., April 20, 1887.

DANVERS, a village of McLean County, on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway. The section is agricultural. The town has a bank and a newspaper. Population (1880), 460; (1890), 506; (1900), 607.

DANVILLE, the county-seat of Vermilion County, on Vermilion River and on five impor- tant lines of railroad; in rich coal-mining district and near large deposits of shale and soapstone, which are utilized in manufacture of sewer-pipe, paving and fire-clay brick. The city has car-shops and numerous factories, water- works, electric lights, paved streets, several banks, twenty-seven churches, five graded schools and one high school, and six newspapers, three daily. A Soldiers' Home is located three miles east of the city. Pop. (1890), 11,491; (1900), 16,354.

DANVILLE, OLNEY, & OHIO RIVER RAIL- ROAD. (See Chicago & Ohio River Railroad.) DANVILLE, URBANA, BLOOMINGTON & PEKIN RAILROAD. (See Peoria & Eastern Railroad.)

D'ARTAIGUIETTE, Pierre, a French com- mandant of Illinois from 1734 to 1736, having been appointed by Bienville, then Governor of Louisiana. He was distinguished for gallantry and courage. He defeated the Natchez Indians, but, in an unsuccessful expedition against the Chickasaws, was wounded, captured and burned at the stake.

DAVENPORT, George, soldier, pioneer and trader, born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1783, came to this country in 1804, and soon after enlisted in the United States army, with the rank of sergeant. He served gallantly on various expeditions in the West, where he obtained a knowledge of the Indians which was afterward of great value to him. During the War of 1813 his regiment was sent East, where he partici- pated in the defense of Fort Erie and in other enterprises. In 1815, his term of enlistment hav- ing expired and the war ended, he entered the service of the contract commissary. He selected the site for Fort Armstrong and aided in planning and supervising its construction. He cultivated friendly relations with the surrounding tribes, and, in 1818, built a double log house, married, and engaged in business as a fur-trader, near the site of the present city of Rock Island. He had the confidence and respect of the savages, was successful and his trading posts were soon scat- tered through Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. In 1823 he piloted the first steamboat through the

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upper Mississippi, and, in 1825, was appointed the first postmaster at Rock Island, being the only white civilian resident there. In 1826 he united his business with that of the American Fur Com- pany, in whose service he remained. Although he employed every effort to induce President Jackson to make a payment to Black Hawk and his followers to induce them to emigrate across the Mississippi voluntarily, when that Chief commenced hostilities, Mr. Davenport tendered his services to Governor Reynolds, by whom he was commissioned Quartermaster-General with the rank of Colonel. Immigration increased rapidly after the close of the Black Hawk War. In 1835 a company, of which he was a member, founded the town of Davenport, opposite Rock Island, which was named in his honor. In 1837 and '42 he was largely instrumental in negoti- ating treaties by which the Indians ceded their lands in Iowa to the United States. In the latter year he gave up the business of fur-trading, having accumulated a fortune through hard labor and scrupulous integrity, in the face often of grave perils. He had large business interests in nearly every town in his vicinity, to all of which he gave more or less personal attention. On the night of July 4, 1843, he was assassinated at his home by robbers. For a long time the crime was shrouded in mystery, but its perpetrators were ultimately detected and brought to punishment.

DAVIS, David, jurist and United States Senator, was born in Cecil County, Md., March 9, 1815; pursued his academic studies at Kenyon College, Ohio, and studied law at Yale. He settled at Bloomington, Ill., in 1836, and, after practicing law there until 1844, was elected to the lower house of the Fourteenth General Assembly. After serving in the Constitutional Convention of 1847, he was elected Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit under the new Constitution in 1848, being re-elected in 1855 and '61. He was a warm, per- sonal friend of Abraham Lincoln, who, in 1862, placed him upon the bench of the United States Supreme Court. He resigned his high judicial honors to become United States Senator in 1877 as successor to Logan's first term. On Oct. 13, 1881, he was elected President pro tem. of the Senate, serving in this capacity to the end of his term in 1885. He died at his home in Blooming- ton, June 26, 1886.

DAVIS, George R., lawyer and Congressman, was born at Three Rivers, Mass., January 3, 1840; received a common school education, and a classical course at Williston Seminary, Easthamp- ton, Mass. From 1862 to 1865 he served in the

Union army, first as Captain in the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry, and later as Major in the Third Rhode Island Cavalry. After the war he removed to Chicago, where he still resides. By profession he is a lawyer. He took a prominent part in the organization of the Chicago militia, was elected Colonel of the First Regiment, I. N. G., and was for a time the senior Colonel in the State service. In 1876 he was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress, but was elected in 1878, and re-elected in 1880 and 1882. From 1886 to 1890 he was Treasurer of Cook County. He took an active and influential part in securing the location of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, and was Director-General of the Exposition from its inception to its close, by his executive ability demonstrating the wis- dom of his selection. Died Nov. 25, 1899.

DAVIS, Hasbrouck, soldier and journalist, was born at Worcester, Mass., April 23, 1827, being the son of John Davis, United States Senator and Governor of Massachusetts, known in his lifetime as "Honest John Davis." The son came to Chi- cago in 1855 and commenced the practice of law; in 1861 joined Colonel Voss in the organiza- tion of the Twelfth Illinois Cavalry, being elected Lieutenant-Colonel and, on the retirement of Colonel Voss in 1863, succeeding to the colonelcy. In March, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-Gen- eral, remaining in active service until August,

1865, when he resigned. After the war he was, for a time, editor of "The Chicago Evening Post," was City Attorney of the City of Chicago from 1867 to '69, but later removed to Massachusetts Colonel Davis was drowned at sea, Oct. 19, 1870. by the loss of the steamship Cambria, while on a voyage to Europe.

DAVIS, James M., early lawyer, was born in Barren County, Ky., Oct. 9, 1793, came to Illinois in 1817, located in Bond County and is said to have taught the first school in that county. He became a lawyer and a prominent leader of the Whig party, was elected to the Thirteenth Gen- eral Assembly (1842) from Bond County, and to the Twenty-first from Montgomery in 1858, hav- ing, in the meantime, become a citizen of Hillsboro; was also a member of the State Consti- tutional Convention of 1847. Mr. Davis was a man of striking personal appearance, being over six feet in height, and of strong individuality. After the dissolution of the Whig party he identi- fied himself with the Democracy and was an intensely bitter opponent of the war policy of the Government. Died, at Hillsboro, Sept. 17. 1866.

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DAVIS, John A., soldier, was born in Craw- ford County, Pa., Oct. 25, 1823; came to Stephen- son County, Ill., in boyhood and served as Representative in the General Assembly of 1857 and '59; in September, 1861, enlisted as a private, was elected Captain and, on the organization of the Forty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, at Camp Butler, was commissioned its Colonel. He participated in the capture of Fort Donelson, and in the battle. of Shiloh was desperately wounded by a shot through the lungs, but recovered in time to join his regiment before the battle of Corinth, where, on Oct. 4, 1862, he fell mortally wounded, dying a few days after. On receiving a request from some of his fellow-citi- zens, a few days before his death, to accept a nomination for Congress in the Freeport District, Colonel Davis patriotically replied: "I can serve my country better in following the torn banner of my regiment in the battlefield."

DAVIS, Levi, lawyer and State Auditor, was born in Cecil County, Md., July 20, 1806; gradu- ated at Jefferson College, Pa., in 1828, and was admitted to the bar at Baltimore in 1830. The following year he removed to Illinois, settling at Vandalia, then the capital. In 1835 Governor Duncan appointed him Auditor of Public Accounts, to which office he was elected by the Legislature in 1837, and again in 1838. In 1846 he took up his residence at Alton. He attained prominence at the bar and was, for several years, attorney for the Chicago & Alton and St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Companies, in which he was also a Director. Died, at Alton, March 4, 1897.

DAVIS, Nathan Smith, M.D., LL.D., physi- cian, educator and editor, was born in Chenango County, N. Y., Jan. 9, 1817; took a classical and scientific course in Cazenovia Seminary ; in 1837 graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, winning several prizes during his course; the same year began practice at Bing- hamton; spent two years (1847-49) in New York City, when he removed to Chicago to accept the chair of Physiology and General Pathology in Rush Medical College. In 1859 he accepted a similar position in the Chicago Medical College (now the medical department of Northwestern University), where he still remains. Dr. Davis has not only been a busy practitioner, but a volu- minous writer on general and special topics con- nected with his profession, having been editor at different times of several medical periodicals, including "The Chicago Medical Journal," "The Medical Journal and Examiner," and "The

Journal of the American Medical Association." He has also been prominent in State, National and International Medical Congresses, and is one of the founders of the Northwestern University, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Chicago Historical Society, the Illinois State Microscopi- cal Society and the Union College of Law, besides other scientific and benevolent associations.

DAVIS, Oliver L., lawyer, was born in New York City, Dec. 20, 1819; after being in the employ of the American Fur Company some seven years, came to. Danville, Ill., in 1841 and commenced studying law the next year; was elected to the lower branch of the Seventeenth and Twentieth General Assemblies, first as a Democrat and next (1856) as a Republican; served on the Circuit Bench in 1861-66, and again in 1873-79, being assigned in 1877 to the Appellate bench. Died, Jan. 12, 1892.

DAWSON, John, early legislator, was born in Virginia, in 1791; came to Illinois in 1827, set- tling in Sangamon County ; served five terms in the lower house of the General Assembly (1830, '34, '36, '38 and '46), during a part of the time being the colleague of Abraham Lincoln. He was one of the celebrated "Long Nine" who repre- sented Sangamon County at the time of the removal of the State capital to Springfield; was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1847. Died, Nov. 12, 1850.

DEAF AND DUMB, ILLINOIS INSTITU- TION FOR EDUCATION OF, located at Jack- sonville, established by act of the Legislature, Feb. 23, 1839, and the oldest of the State charitable institutions. Work was not begun until 1842, but one building was ready for partial occupancy in 1846 and was completed in 1849. (In 1871 this building, then known as the south wing, was declared unsafe, and was razed and rebuilt.) The center building was completed in 1852 and the north wing in 1857. Other additions and new buildings have been added from time to time, such as new dining halls, workshops, barns, bakery, refrigerator house, kitchens, a gymnasium, separate cot- tages for the sexes, etc. At present (1895) the institution is probably the largest, as it is un- questionably one of the best conducted, of its class in the world. The number of pupils in 1894 was 716. Among its employés are men and women of ripe culture and experience, who have been con- nected with it for more than a quarter of a century.

DEARBORN, Luther, lawyer and legislator, was born at Plymouth, N. H., March 24, 1820,

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and educated in Plymouth schools and at New Hampton Academy; in youth removed to Dear- born County, Ind., where he taught school and served as deputy Circuit Clerk; then came to Mason County, Ill., and, in 1844, to Elgin. Here he was elected Sheriff and, at the expiration of his term, Circuit Clerk, later engaging in the banking business, which proving disastrous in 1857, he returned to Mason County and began the practice of law. He then spent some years in Minnesota, finally returning to Illinois a second time, resumed practice at Havana, served one term in the State Senate (1876-80); in 1884 became member of a law firm in Chicago, but retired in 1887 to accept the attorneyship of the Chicago & Alton Railway, retaining this position until his death, which occurred suddenly at Springfield, April 5, 1889. For the last two years of his life Mr. Dearborn's residence was at Aurora.

DECATUR, the county-seat of Macon County ; 39 miles east of Springfield and one mile north of the Sangamon River-also an important rail- way center. Three coal shafts are operated out- side the city. It is a center for the grain trade, having five elevators. Extensive car and repair shops are located there, and several important manufacturing industries flourish, among them three flouring mills. Decatur has paved streets, water-works, electric street railways, and excel- lent public schools, including one of the best and most noted high schools in the State. Four newspapers are published there, each issuing a daily edition. Pop., (1890), 16,841 ; (1900), 20,754.

DECATUR EDITORIAL CONVENTION. (See Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention.)

DECATUR & EASTERN RAILWAY. (See Indiana, Decatur & Western Railway.)

DECATUR, MATTOON & SOUTHERN RAIL- ROAD. (See Peoria, Decatur Evansville Railway.)

DECATUR, SULLIVAN & MATTOON RAIL- ROAD. (See Peoria, Decatur Evansville Railway.)

DEEP SNOW, THE, an event occurring in the winter of 1830-31 and referred to by old settlers of Illinois as constituting an epoch in State his- tory. The late Dr. Julian M. Sturtevant, Presi- dent of Illinois College, in an address to the "Old Settlers" of Morgan County, a few years before his death, gave the following account of it: "In the interval between Christmas, 1830, and Janu- ary, 1831, snow fell all over Central Illinois to a depth of fully three feet on a level. Then came a rain with weather so cold that it froze as it

fell, forming a crust of ice over this three feet of snow, nearly, if not quite, strong enough to bear a man, and finally over this crust there were a few inches of snow. The clouds passed away and the wind came down upon us from the north- west with extraordinary ferocity. For weeks- certainly not less than two weeks-the mercury in the thermometer tube was not, on any one morning, higher than twelve degrees below zero. This snow-fall produced constant sleighing for nine weeks." Other contemporaneous accounts say that this storm caused great suffering among both men and beasts. The scattered settlers, un- able to reach the mills or produce stores, were driven, in some cases, to great extremity for supplies; mills were stopped by the freezing up of streams, while deer and other game, sinking through the crust of snow, were easily captured or perished for lack of food. Birds and domestic fowls often suffered a like fate for want of sus- tenance or from the severity of the cold.

DEERE, John, manufacturer, was born at Middlebury, Vt., Feb. 7, 1804; learned the black- smith trade, which he followed until 1838, when he came west, settling at Grand Detour, in Ogle County ; ten years later removed to Moline, and there founded the plow-works which bear his name and of which he was President from 1868 until his death in 1886 .- Charles H. (Deere), son of the preceding, was born in Hancock, Addison County Vt., March 28, 1837; educated in the common schools and at Iowa and Knox Acad- emies, and Bell's Commercial College, Chicago; became assistant and head book-keeper, travel- ing and purchasing agent of the Deere Plow Company, and, on its incorporation, Vice-Presi- dent and General Manager, until his father's death, when he succeeded to the Presidency. He is also the founder of the Deere & Mansur Corn Planter Works, President of the Moline Water Power Company, besides being a Director in various other concerns and in the branch houses of Deere & Co., in Kansas City, Des Moines, Council Bluffs and San Francisco. Notwith- standing his immense business interests, Mr. Deere has found time for the discharge of public and patriotic duties, as shown by the fact that he was for years a member and Chairman of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics; a Commissioner from Illinois to the Vienna International Exposi- tion of 1873; one of the State Commissioners of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893; a Presidential Elector for the State-at-large in 1888, and a delegate from his District to the National Republican Convention at St. Louis, in 1896.

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DEERING, William, manufacturer, was born at Paris, Oxford County, Maine, April 26, 1826, completed his education at the Readfield high school, in 1843, engaged actively in manufactur- ing, and during his time has assisted in establish- ing several large, successful business enterprises, including wholesale and commission dry-goods houses in Portland, Maine, Boston and New York. His greatest work has been the building up of the Deering Manufacturing Company, a main feature of which, for thirty years, has been the manu- facture of Marsh harvesters and other agricultural implements and appliances. This concern began operation in Chicago about 1870, at the present time (1899) occupying eighty acres in the north part of the city and employing some 4,000 hands. It is said to turn out a larger amount and greater variety of articles for the use of the agriculturist than any other establishment in the country, receiving its raw material from many foreign countries, including the Philippines, and distrib- uting its products all over the globe. Mr. Deer- ing continues to be President of the Company and a principal factor in the management of its immense business. He is liberal, public-spirited and benevolent, and his business career has been notable for the absence of controversies with his employés. He has been, for a number of years, one of the Trustees of the Northwestern Univer- sity at Evanston, and, at the present time, is President of the Board.

DE KALB, a city in De Kalb County, 58 miles west of Chicago. Of late years it has grown rapidly, largely because of the introduction of new industrial enterprises. It contains a large wire drawing plant, barbed wire factories, foun- dry, agricultural implement works, machine shop, shoe factory and several minor nianufac- turing establishments. It has banks, four news- papers, electric street railway, eight miles of paved streets, nine churches and three graded schools. It is the site of the Northern State Nor- mal School, located in 1895. Population (1880), 1,598; (1890), 2,579; (1900), 5,904; (1903, est.), 8,000.

DE KALB COUNTY, originally a portion of La Salle County, and later of Kane; was organized in 1837, and named for Baron De Kalb, the Revolutionary patriot. Its area is 650 square miles and population (in 1900), 31,756. The land is elevated and well drained, lying between Fox and Rock Rivers. Prior to 1835 the land belonged to the Pottawatomie Indians, who maintained several villages and their own tribal government. No sooner had the aborigines been removed than white settlers appeared in large numbers, and,

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Illinois, Crawford County historical and biographical, Part 26

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1058

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1058