Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois, Part 69

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois > Part 69

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While Ursa township is not excelled by the same area of territory in this part of the state in the production of wheat, more attention is being given in recent years to the culture of In- dian corn and fruits, and the raising of live stock as well as to dairying interests. The soil is exceedingly fertile and well adapted to a varie- ty of erops. This township is thickly settled. There are seventy miles of the best roadway in the county taken care of by town authorities, besides the six miles of railway traversing diag- onally from northeast to southwest. These, "with its fine improvements and varying land- seape of smiling fields and inviting woodlands present a seone of rare beauty and wealth."

BIOGRAPHICAL

LORENZO BULL.

Lorenzo Bull, whose efficient labors have touched almost every department of activ- ity bearing upon the substantial develop- ment and permanent improvement of Quincy, and who is therefore one of its early promoters and builders, is descended from Puritan ancestry in both the paternal and maternal lines. The progenitors of both branches of the family be- long to a colony that under the leadership of the Rev. Thomas Hooker founded the city of Hart- ford, Connecticut, in 1634. Through successive generations the members of the Bull family con- tinued their residence in Hartford, and it was in that city that Lorenzo Bull was born, March 21, 1819, his parents being Lorenzo and Elizabeth (Goodwin) Bull. At the usual age he entered the district school, but though his scholastic training was somewhat limited he managed, through reading, observation and investigation to gain considerable knowledge in his boyhood years that formed an excellent foundation for the mental development that has come with his entrance into the business world and his active labors therein.

Interested in the west and its development he was about fourteen years of age when he deter- mined to seek a home in the Mississippi valley, arriving in Quincy on the 11th of May, 1833. after a journey covering more than a month. He was dependent entirely upon his own resources and early manifested the self-reliance, laudable ambition and strong determination which have been salient features in his career and have made him a leader of men in the great business con- cerns which have contributed to Quincy's devel- opment. His first employment was that of office boy in the services of Judge Henry 11. Snow, who then held most of the county positions, being at one time recorder, clerk of the circuit court, clerk of the county commissioners court, judge of probate, notary public and justice of the

peace. Judge Snow soon recognized the capa- bility of his new clerk and the salary of six dol- lars per month, which he paid him the first year, was increased to ten dollars during the second year of his employment. To him was assigned the task of keeping almost all of the records and he also prepared nearly all of the papers for these various offices.

Mr. Bull entered mercantile life when a youth of sixteen as an employe in the general store of Holmes, Brown & Company, at that time one of the foremost mercantile enterprises of this por- tion of the state. Changes occurred in owner- ship but Mr. Bull was continuously retained in the service of the house, his elose application, energy and fidelity winning him recognition in consecutive promotions. Ilis service as salesman and manager continued for about ten years, from 1835 to 1845, when at the age of twenty-six he embarked in business on his own account as a partner of his brother under the firm style of L. & C. H. Bull. this step being made possible through his own labors, the capital having been largely acquired while with the above firm. Mr. Bull and his brother secured a stock of hardware and crockery, which they opened at a location formerly occupied by the firm of Holmes & Wood, and in 1849 they erected the building now occupied by Clark & Morgan. At that time they extended the field of their enterprise by adding a stock of agricultural machinery and farming implements, which for the first time were intro- duced for sale in Quincy. From the beginning they enjoyed a profitable trade with a constantly increasing patronage, drawing their support from a wide territory on both sides of the river as Quincy was then the market for a broad area. The firm name of L. & C. H. Bull figured for more than a half century on the pages of Quincy's business history.

When the brothers decided to retire from mer- cantile life in 1861 to engage in the banking business at the corner of Fifth avenue and

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Maine streets the old firm name was retained and they became the promoters of what devel- oped into the most extensive banking house in the state outside of Chicago. Never for a mo- ment was the reliability of the banking firm of L. & C. H. Bull ealled into question. They fol- lowed a safe, conservative policy that was not without its progressive spirit and yet was based upon such firm business standards that in the stormiest periods of the financial history of the country the bank stood as a great rock, breasting the tempest. In 1893 the institution was reor- ganized under state charter as the State Savings, Loan & Trust Company, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Bull was the first president of the reorganized bank and con- tinued in that office until the consolidation with the First National Bank, when he relinquished the cares of the position and withdrew from active business. Under his administration the present bank building, one of the finest in the entire west, was erected, and the assets of the bank during his management were increased to over three million dollars.

Had Mr. Bull's activity touched no other line of business development in Quiney he would be entitled to rank with its foremost men, yet his efforts have been a controlling factor in many leading enterprises that have proven of direct and permanent good to the city as well as a source of desirable profit to the stockholders. With the growth of Quincy his powers have seemed to expand and he has with remarkable foresight anticipated the needs of the city that have arisen through its increase of population and its developing business interests. He was one of the promoters of the street railway, assist- ing in the organization of the company and act- ing as its president for about twenty years. He was also one of the early promoters and managers of the present water works system of the city, coneeded to be one of the best in the entire coun- try, all of the water being filtered and chemically pure.

His efforts in the promotion of railroad build- ing have likewise been of the utmost benefit to Quincy and the state. Under the internal im- provement system inaugurated by the state in 1837, various lines of railroad were prescribed by the state legislature, among them the Northern Cross Railroad, extending from Quincy to Dan- ville. Under this system the construction of several roads was commenced by the state, but in the course of three or four years the system was abandoned by the state as a failure, about four- teen millions of dollars having been expended, or lost, with not one mile of completed road to show for it. Then followed other failures, until in 1851, when Messrs. Nehemiah Bushnell, Lorenzo Bull, Hiram Rogers, James N. Pitman

and General Morgan, as directors of a new com- pany, took hold of the Northern Cross Railroad. The new board of directors soon found it more desirable to build a road toward Galesburg to connect with a railway extending from Gales- burg to Chieago. They devoted themselves to this project for five years, and in the latter part of January, 1856, the line from Quiney to Gales- burg was finished, the road from Galesburg to Chicago being completed in the meantime. Mr. Bull made the first trip ever made from Quiney to Chicago in twenty-four hours. Before the road was completed, pending negotiations re- quired his presence in the east at a given time. He rode on a special engine to ITills Grove, went from there to Galesburg in a buggy and from Galesburg to Chicago by train, making the re- quired connection in Chicago for the east.

Many of the publie enterprises of Quincy have felt the stimulus of Mr. Bull's enterprise and business sagacity. He was one of the early trustees of the Woodland Orphan Home and has been active in the Associated Charities, the IIu- mane Society and other organizations that have had for their object the amelioration of the hard conditions of life, and there was one period of his life when he was president of five different business corporations. When the public library association was formed in 1840 he became its secretary and has always stood as the champion and friend of the public library of Quincy. Ile is a gentleman of broad humanitarian spirit, giving freely yet unostentatiousty of his means to the poor and needy, and he stands to-day in his old age, when clothed with successes, honors and the dignity of years, just where he stood when a young man as the advocate of labor and of char- aeter, recognizing that these are the two elements which are worthy of development and which must ever command respect. Ilis has been a record that has "won golden opinions from all sorts of people," and to-day there is no more honored citizen of Quincy than Lorenzo Bull, who having reached the eighty-fifth milestone on life's journey, has for more than the Psalmist's allotted span of three score years and ten been a resident of this city.

GOVERNOR JOIIN WOOD.

John Wood, the first actual settler in Quincy, was born in Moravia, Cayuga county, New York, December 20, 1798, and was the only son of Dan- iel and Catherine (Crouse) Wood. Dr. Daniel Wood, his father, was an officer in the war of the Revolution and a man of large attainments as a scholar and a linguist. After the Revolu- tionary war, he settled in Cayuga county, where he died at the age of ninety-two years. ITis

GOVERNOR JOHN WOOD.

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body was afterwards exhumed by his son and now lies in Woodland cemetery, Quincy.

When about twenty years of age, John Wood left home for the west, November 2, 1818, with the half-formed intention of settling in the Ten- nessee or Tuscumbia Valley of northern Ala- bamia. Ile passed the following winter in Cin- einnati, came to Shawneetown, Illinois, in the summer of 1819, and spent the succeeding win- ter in Calhoun (then part of Madison) county.

In March, 1820, in company with Willard Keyes, Mr. Wood located in Pike county, thirty miles southeast of Quincy, and farmed for two years. During the fall of 1821, Mr. Wood first visited the present site of Quiney, then unin- habited, and soon afterward purehased a quarter section of land nearby. In the following fall, 1822, he ereeted a cabin eighteen by twenty feet -the first building in Quiney, though not within the original town. Major Rose and family re- sided in this house with Mr. Wood for some time.

Mr. Wood originated a project for the organi- zation of Adams county and stood by the move- ment until it was completed. In 1827, he tem- porarily resided at the lead mines at Galena, Illi- nois, but substantially he resided in Quiney from 1822 till his death in 1880, or for fifty-eight years.

In 1849 Mr. Wood, with his two ellest sons, Daniel C. and John, Jr., visited California, on the discovery of gold, where they staid nearly a year. Twenty years later Mr. Wood took an overland trip to the Pacific Coast, witnessing its wonderful development.

Governor Wood's first wife was Miss Ann M. Streeter, daughter of Joshua Streeter, formerly of Washington county, New York. The wedding occurred at Quiney, January 25, 1826. Mrs. Wood died October 8, 1863. These were the sur- viving children : Mrs. Ann E. Tillson, who mar- ried Colonel John Tillson and died in Omaha, Nebraska, March 25, 1905 : Daniel C. Wood, whose wife was Miss Mary J. Abbernethy : John Wood, Jr., whose wife was Miss Josephine Skinner ; and Joshua S. Wood, whose wife was Miss Annie Bradley. Governor Wood's second marriage oc- eurred at Quiney, June 6. 1865, the lady being Mrs. Mary A. Holmes, widow of Joseph T. Holmes. Mrs. Wood was born in Glousterbury, Connectieut, March 5, 1806, and died at Quincy, January 20, 1887.

Through all the suceeding years after the first settlement, Mr. Wood was necessarily promi- nently identified with every measure of Quiney's progress and history and almost constantly kept in publie positions. He was one of the volun- teers in the Black Hawk war, in 1832, when nearly every able-bodied man in Quiney went to the war. He was one of the early town trus-

tees, though not one of the first; was often a member of the city council ; many times elected mayor of Quiney; in 1850 was elected to the state senate, and in 1856 was chosen lieutenant- governor. On the death of Governor Bissell, in 1859, Mr. Wood sueeeeded to the chief executive ehair. Ile was selected by Governor Yates, who entertained the highest admiration of "this old Roman," as he often called him, as one of the five delegates from Illinois in February 1861, to the peace convention in Washington. On the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Wood was appointed quartermaster-general of the state, which position he held through the war and the excellent, devoted services that he rendered to the nation in that arduous and responsible post are proverbial and on record in the war history of Illinois.

Governor Wood commanded and went to the field with the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh One-Hundred-Day Infantry, leaving Quiney with his regiment June 9, 1864, and proceeding to Memphis, Tennessee, and on the 9th of July was assigned to the Third Brigade, he command- ing, and stationed on the Hernando road on pieket duty. His regiment was attacked by Gen- eral Forrest and his followers and lost some men, with a few taken prisoners. During the attack Colonel Wood was confined to his headquarters by sickness, but he rallied the forces and repelled the onset. During the earlier period of the war his services to the state as quartermaster-general were invaluable.

Among the numerous good and wise things done by Mr. Wood for the local public benefit was the laying out and ereation of Woodland cemetery, that beautiful home of the dead, which well commemorates his judgment and taste. An- other instance of his publie spirit was his large contribution toward the partial building of the Northern Cross railroad across the state, which, unfortunately for the projeetors, was never com- pleted. Mr. Wood also contributed largely of his means toward the building of the Palmyra branch of the railroad. He was one of the ehar- ter members of the Quincy Bridge Company, re- sulting in the bridge that now crosses the Mis- sissippi river at Quiney. connecting Illinois and Missouri, to which structure in recent years the Chieago, Burlington & Quincy has added a wagon bridge.

These are but instances of the public spirit of John Wood, whose liberality and benefactions were boundless. His public generosity is prover- bially known, but no account can be made of the private open-handedness that ran through his fifty years of affluenee. In his town, his city. feeling it almost his own, his interest was always deep and his pride ever strong. His nature was bold and frank, as beeame sueh a pioneer. He

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had no disguises, no dissimulations, no fears. "What his heart forgets that his tongue must utter, and being armed he even does forget there's sneh a thing as death," could never be applied to one better than John Wood. Singularly suscep- tible to physical suffering, the least pain being to him acute agony, his spirit nevertheless was intrepidity itself. This led him in his matured age, which might well have excused him there- from, to long with patriotic ardor for personal participation in the sad sectional strife when the nation's life was threatened.

And likewise did the liberality of his disposi- tion continue even unto the end. In fact, so strong did that spirit remain, so active his desire to contribute to the well-doing of others and to objects and enterprises of public value, that but little of his once large fortune remained when the final summons came, June 4, 1880.

Yet to the city of which he was the principal founder, of which he was the first actual settler, the city for which he did so much, in which he lived for fifty-eight years and in which he died, to that eity now so large and prosperous and with such a proud future, did John Wood leave a legacy that is beyond all money and beyond price. And in the preservation of that beautiful legacy, the memory of John Wood's dauntless courage, foresight, privations, publie spirit, benevolence and kindly heart will the people of Quincy and their descendants in perpetnity reverently unite.

[Note .- In this connection, the following en- dorsement by Mr. Daniel C. Wood will be of in- terest .- ED.]

This is to certify that the foregoing biographi- cal sketch of my late father, John Wood, the sketch of my late brother-in-law, John Tillson, and the sketch of myself. have all been submitted to me, and the facts stated therein are correct. DANL. C. WOOD.

Quincy, Ill., January 30, 1905.

HON. HOPE S. DAVIS.

Hon. Hope S. Davis, in law and polities a recognized leader in Quincy and active most of all for the city's improvement and substantial de- velopment, has for more than half a century re- sided here. He is to-day the nestor of the Quincy bar and long since gained a place foremost among the profession. His life record is so closely inter- woven with the legal history, the political prog- ress and and the growth and development of his adopted city that the annals of Quiney would not be complete without mention of H. S. Davis. Born in Parma, Monroe county, New York, on the 23d of November, 1828, he was a son of Hope and

Betsey E. Davis, early residents of that eounty. In the paternal line his ancestry can be traced back to Hope Davis of Lee, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, who lived and died in that state. He served his country as a patriot in the Revolu- tionary war, being very active in supporting the canse of the colonists. His son, Samuel Davis, grandfather of Hope S. Davis, was born and died in Massachusetts, but his five sons moved to New York and eventually all settled on farms in Monroe county, that state. Among the eleven children of Samuel and Priscilla Davis was Hope Davis, who was born in Lee county, Massachu- setts, March 29, 1784. In early manhood he wedded Betsey Elizabeth Scott and they became early residents of Monroe county, New York, removing in 1810 to the Empire state and settling on a farm about nine miles west of the city of Rochester. Later Hope Davis enlisted for ser- viee in the war of 1812, commanding a company of troops as its captain. His death occurred upon his farm in the vicinity of Parma, New York, September 29, 1843.

Hon. Hope S. Davis, but fifteen years of age at the time of his father's death, pursued his early education in the district schools and later be- came a student in the Brockport and Lima Semi- naries near Rochester. In the winter in which he attained the age of seventeen years he began teaching in a country school and followed that profession through four consecutive seasons. Intelligent, studious and industrious, he made continuous advancement along educational lines by his reading and investigation and, determin- ing to enter upon the practice of law as a life work, he became a student in the office of Bown & Benedict, leading attorneys of Rochester, on the 25th of March, 1850. Thus he began his preparation for admission to the bar, applying himself with assidnity to the mastery of the fundamental principles of jurisprudence. He alsoattended the Bolston Law School for two full terms and on the 7th of September, 1852, before Judges Strong. Harris and Gardner at Rochester he successfully passed the required examination and was admitted to practice in the courts of New York.

Believing that the west would offer him a broader field of activity and that advancement was more quickly secured in the new and growing country he left the home of his youth in Septem- ber and on the 11th of October, 1852, located permanently in Quincy. Ile desired to see the Mississippi valley country and to locate some- where within its boundaries. Making his way westward to Chicago he proceeded thence to Rock Island, Illinois, traveling over the prairie eoun- try by stage. 1Ie had hoped to find a friend at this point, who a year before had come to the west, but on reaching his destination, Mr. Davis

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was greeted with the news that his friend had died two months before his arrival. Ile then proceeded down the river by boat to Keokuk, which place had just been laid out into town lots. Not feeling assured of success there he continued on his way to Quincy and after look- ing over the situation decided that the embryo city offered excellent inducements for a young man and that he would here have opportunity to win fame and fortune for himself. Accordingly, as stated above. he made a location here on the 11th of October, 1852, and opened a law office. IIe has since then been a member of the Quincy bar-honored and distinguished by reason of his capability as a lawyer, arising from close application, a thorough mastery of the principles of jurisprudence, a careful preparation of cases and clear presentation of his cause before court or jury. In those days Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas and other eminent attorneys of the earlier days were practicing before the Quiney courts. In 1858 he formed a law part- nership with Judge Philo A. Goodwin, which continued until the latter's death, seventeen years later, the firm being known as Goodwin & Davis and maintaining a foremost place at the Quincy bar throughout the entire period. Fol- lowing the death of Judge Goodwin Mr. Davis entered into partnership relations with Theo- dore C. Poling, which continued until Mr. Poling withdrew to devote his energies to the distinctive branch of mortgage, banking and loans. With the growth of the eity and the increase in the complexity of its business. professionally and socially, his practice has grown in volume and importance. The work of the legal profession is to formulate, to harmonize, to regulate, to adjust, to administer those rules and principles that permeate and underlie all goverment and so- ciety and control the varied relations of man. As thus viewed, there is attached to the legal profession a nobleness that cannot but be re- flected in the life of the true lawyer, who. rising to the responsibilities of the profession, and honest in the pursuit of his purpose, embraces the richness of learning. the effectiveness of integrity and the purity of morals, together with the graces and modesty and the general ameni- ties of life. Of such a type Hope S. Davis is a representative. He had a natural ability for hard work and continued in active practice until his seventieth year, when he elosed his down town office, but retained his office adjoining his residence at the corner of Lind and Fifth streets. IIe, too, has never undertaken a case unless satis- fied that he had a fair legal defense, after which he became one of the most persistent fighters and no defeat was accepted as final until the decision was reached in the court as the last resort.

Aside from his profession he has performed

many important public services for the city of Quincy, having been allied closely with the varied interests, which have contributed to its material upbuilding, its intellectual and moral welfare and which have upheld its political and legal status. In 1856 he was appointed by the city council superintendent and ex-officio treasurer of the public schools of Quiney, which office he filled for six years. During that time he se- cured the passage of a special act of the legis- lature creating a board of education for the city and establishing the first high school under a graded system. In 1862 he was elected county su- perintendent of schools for a term of four years, discharging the duties of the position with dis- tinguished ability. resulting in great and per- manent benefit to the system of public education in Quiney. In 1863 he was elected city alderman to represent the sixth ward in the council. Mr. Davis has been a tireless worker in behalf of the park system and other public improvements in Quiney and in this regard may well be termed a public benefactor. He named and obtained beautiful Madison Park, purchasing it for the city from Deaeon Kimball for a sum of eight hundred dollars, drafting the deed and closing the same in behalf of the city. Through his instrumentality Madison school was obtained from district No. 1, and presented to the board of education. He had notes presented to the property holders to raise funds to finance the Quincy Horse Railway and Carrying Company for the extension of its line through Maine street to Thirtieth street. He personally can- vassed for signatures on notes, thus secured eleven thousand dollars and made the enterprise possible. Mr. Davis was again called to public office in 1876 when elected a member of the general assembly of Ilinois from the Quincy district. He became the author of an important general law of the state known as the Voluntary Assignment, fully given in chapter two of the revised statutes of Illinois. He was also closely associated with other important legislation en- acted during the period of his incumbency and his career reflected honor and credit upon the district that had honored him by choosing him as its representative. A member of the Quincy Bar Association, he was elected its first vice president in 1903. He is also a member of the historical society.

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Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois, Part 69

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1228