USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 58
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This third period was characterized in its opening by gradual relinquishment of aggressive activity on the part of those physicians who had borne the burden of the pioneer and intermediate periods, and to whom the new innovations were but the possible realization of a dream. They had done their part of the work. And yet the old spirit remained dominant, and in several instances won laurels in the face of unaccustomed demands, as instanced in Dr. Stewart's first vaginal hys- terectomy, and Dr. J. 1 .. Hamilton's first successful ovariotomy.
In these past thirty-five years, however, many changes have taken place in the nature of professional activity as well as its personnel, in Peoria county. The organized cooperation which sixty years ago was an innovation has become a fixed, indispensable policy. The principle of sectarianism then prevailing has been replaced by the near taste of denominationalism. The public recognition of scientific revelations has drawn the fangs of absolute quackery, and sanitary evolution opened the eyes of all who care to see. The local medical profession have continued in the fore-front of every progressive maneuver .. Almost the first in the state, as the literature will substantiate, to practically grasp the signif- icance of antisepsis and immunity in relation to their art, they have continued in representative fashion to reap its benefits, and have followed their profes- sional forefathers in merging the idea of competition into that of cooperation through organization. The celebration of their local society's semi-centennial aniversary in 1898 called from others a notable commendation of allegiance to traditional principle in that direction, and the writer cannot better close this brief historical resume than by quoting a paragraph or two from the address of Professor Daniel Brower of Chicago, on that occasion, as follows:
"The great city of Chicago was at one time an insignificant village in the county of Peoria : although a full three days' journey the county judge of Peoria dispensed justice in that eity by the lake, and the inspiration that has made it the marvel of the age was doubtless in part drawn from here. It was eminently fitting that this city should be the pioneer in medical organizations. Rudolphus
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Rouse, Joseph C. Frye, John Murphy, E. S. Cooper, I. D. Arnold, F. McNeil and their associates who founded and who developed this society whose semi- centennial we celebrate tonight, are entitled to our fullest homage; they builded better than they knew.
"The great organizer, not satisfied with establishing the Peoria Medical So- ciety, proceeded almost immediately to the organization of a State Medical Society. This organization was completed at Springfield, June 4, 1850. Dr. Rouse was the chairman and Drs. McNeil, Cooper and Murphy were the earnest and active agents in its accomplishment. It was not done in Peoria, but by Peoria, and the honor of the semi-centennial of the state society be- longs to Peoria, and here its ceremonies should be held. The state society that had its origin in the cerebral activity of Peorians was pushed along its grand work of organizing, elevating and unifying the profession by the same strong influence.
"This society was organized at the very beginning of the anaesthetic age. Sir James Y. Simpson first used chloroform, as an anaesthetic in 1847, in Edinburgh, and ether was only brought to the attention of the profession for the same pur- pose the year before, and yet notwithstanding there were no railroads nor tele- graphs to Peoria in those days, no weekly medical journal, your Dr. E. S. Cooper read a very interesting and exhaustive paper before the State Medical Society at its first meeting on 'The effect of chloroform as an anaesthetic agent in seventy- nine surgical operations.' Is that enterprise and progressiveness surpassed today ?
"The Rouses, Fryes, Coopers, etc., of '48' have worthy successors in the doctors at this festive board tonight-worthy sons of noble sires, carrying on with success the great work of keeping Peoria in the front rank of medical progress ; and may we express the hope that when they go hence their succes- sors may be equally self-sacrificing and earnestly devoted to the pursuit of knowl- edge, and equally conscientious in the practice of this, the noblest of professions. And then we can in imagination look into the distant futttre and see fifty years hence a festival more glorious than this, at which the noble deeds of the men and women who are here tonight will rise as a savory incense before the altar of a noble science."
OSTEOPATHY IN PEORIA
The first heard of osteopathy in Peoria was in the fall of 1895 through Charles Hazzard, of this city. Dr. Hazzard had taken a post-graduate course in Northwestern University at Evanston, with a view of studying for the medical profession. After spending some time at the university he went to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he took a summer course in biology under the celebrated neurologist, Dr. Ira von Giesen, at Bellevue Hospital, New York City, after which he returned to the Northwestern University for further studies before entering the medical college. About this time Dr. Harry M. Still, a son of the founder of the science of osteopathy, had taken an office in Chicago, with resi- dence and house practice in Evanston. There Mr. Hazzard noted the patients coming to and from Dr. Still's residence, and marking the improvement in the various cases, he sought and became acquainted with Dr. Still. After a thorough investigation and by the advice of a prominent physician of Chicago, he entered the American School of Osteopathy, at Kirksville, Missouri, January 1, 1896. and afterwards taught in that institution about five years, opening and conducting the first course in histology, using the technique acquired through the teaching of Dr. von Giesen. In the interim Dr. Hazzard practiced in Detroit one year and then returned to the school. Having taken a special course in dissection in Chicago, he finally became chief of clinics in the American School of Osteopathy. In June, 1903, Dr. Hazzard severed his connection with the school, and in con-
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nection with Dr. Harry M. Still opened an office in New York city. Later he bought the interests in the practice of Dr. Still and is continuing in the profes- sion at the metropolis.
Physicians of the school of osteopathy who have practiced in Peoria are the following :
Dr. Logan H. Taylor, a graduate of the Kirksville school in 1897. Through the solicitations of William M. Lyons he took up his residence in Peoria in June of the year just given. Dr. Lyons was a native of St. Louis, Missouri, where he was educated in the private schools. He also attended the Military Academy at West Chester, Pennsylvania, after which he spent two years at the Missouri State University and two years in the Missouri State Medical School. His prac- tice in Peoria was successful and at times he was associated with Drs. Canada Wendell and G. R. Boyer. Dr. Taylor died September 6, 1906, at the age of forty-two.
Dr. Canada Wendell was born on a farm near New Holland, Illinois, April 27, 1868. His education was received in the common schools and in Lincoln Uni- versity, at Lincoln, Illinois. Leaving the university, he spent one year at Central Normal School at Danville, Illinois, and another year at the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. He taught school a year and for six and a half years engaged in the mercantile business. In February, 1898, Mr. Wendell entered Kirksville School of Osteopathy and graduated therefrom in 1900. Pre- vious to this, in the summer of 1899, he was in Peoria as an assistant to Dr. L. H. Taylor. After his graduation he returned to Peoria and entered into partnership with Dr. Taylor, which association continued under the firm name of Taylor & Wendell until November 7, 1901. At the time last mentioned Dr. Wendell formed a partnership with Dr. E. G. Magill, which connection still continues.
Dr. E. G. Magill is a native of central Ohio and received his primary educa- tion in the public schools. He taught school a few terms and then came to Illinois and entered the state normal, where he remained some little time and then took up a course of study in. Wesleyan University, at Bloomington. He was a teacher in the schools for fifteen years. He graduated from the American School of Osteopathy in 1901 and in December of that year became associated in practice with Dr. Canada Wendell. At the present time the firm of Wendell & Magill is still in existence.
Mrs. R. M. Magill, daughter of a physician of the old school, laid a founda- tion for the profession of teaching in the common and state normal schools. She taught for twenty-two years, and with her husband she went to the Amer- ican School of Osteopathy in Kirksville and graduated therefrom in June, 1907. She then located with her husband in Peoria and became the assistant of the firm of which he was a member. Mrs. Magill died in 1912.
Dr. Edgar O. Thawley was born in Delaware. He was educated in the public schools and had a private tutor in Latin, physics, etc. He graduated from the Kirksville school in June, 1902, and in the same year he took a special course in anatomy and dissection. In December of that year Dr. Thawley arrived in Peoria and began the practice of his profession. Later he took a summer course in pathology and bacteriology in the American College at Chicago. In 1912 Dr. Thawley was elected president of the Illinois State Osteopathy Association.
Dr. G. R. Boyer is a native of Kentucky and was educated in Central College of that state, having graduated therefrom with honors in 1895. In 1901 he entered the American School of Osteopathy at Kirksville and graduated in June, 1902. He then located in Peoria and entered into practice with Dr. Taylor, with whom he was associated for some time. Dr. Boyer has been active in securing state and national recognition in the science and was the delegate from Illinois to the legislative council in 1912. His wife entered Kirksville school with her husband and graduated at the same time. She has not practiced in this city, however.
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H. J. Faulkin was born in Logan county, Illinois, in 1875. He secured his education in the district schools, entered the American School of Osteopathy in 1899 and graduated in 1901. He commenced practice the same year at Pekin and remained there until May, 1907, when he located at Peoria.
M. J. Grieves was born at Lacon, Illinois. He received his schooling in his native place and entered the Kirksville College in 1905, from which he gradu- ated in June, 1909. He came direct to Peoria and engaged in practice.
CHAPTER XXV
THIE BENCH AND BAR-FIRST COURTS, JUDGES AND LAWYERS-AN INDIAN TRIED FOR MURDER-SKETCHES OF SOME OF PEORIAA'S FAMOUS ADVOCATES-THE LATE JUDGE M CULLOCH'S RECOLLECTIONS-DESCRIPTION OF LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DE- BATE-COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL-PEORIA BAR ASSOCIATION. .
A pleasing and interesting sketch was written in 1899 by the late Judge David McCulloch and published in "The Bench and Bar of Illinois," in which he gave his recollections and impressions of the early courts of Peoria county, the emi- nent men who sat upon the bench in these courts and the pioneer lawyers and their successors, many of whom attained prominence and distinction, not only in their chosen profession but also in places of political eminence secured by the votes and influence of admiring friends and adherents. From a residence of over a half century in Peoria and a membership of the Peoria bar almost as long, Judge McCulloch's acquaintance with the courts of this district and the lawyers practicing therein, coupled with his ability to judge character, accuracy of expression, and facile pen, he was splendidly equipped to write lucidly and with certainty upon the early history of the bench and bar of Peoria county. By permission, his article as published is here reproduced :
Peoria county was organized under an act of the legislature of January 13. 1825, with its present boundaries, to which were added for county purposes all that tract of country north of town 20 and west of the third principal meridian, formerly a part of Sangamon county, and all that tract of land north of Peoria county and of the Illinois and Kankakee rivers. The territory so attached em- braced a large portion of the north part of the state, including what is now the city of Chicago. Cook county was not organized until 1831. It is of in- terest to note that, as shown by the early records of l'eoria county, licenses in those times were granted by its county authorities to certain persons to maintain ferries over the Chicago river at Fort Dearborn and the "Callimink" (Calumet ), at the head of Lake Michigan, as well as to keep a tavern at Chicago, and that, although Chicago had its own justices of the peace, yet persons desiring to be married there were obliged to come to Peoria for their marriage licenses.
The first term of the circuit court commenced the 14th day of November, 1825, with John York Sawyer, judge; John Dillon, clerk ; and Samuel Fulton, sheriff. The court was held in a log building, fourteen feet square, that stood on the bank of the river. It had only one window and its loft was low-in fact it was a genuine log cabin. It also served for religious meetings on the Sabbath. The basement was reached through an opening or door on the river side and was sometimes used as a jail, sometimes as a stable. A better jail. built of three thicknesses of logs, with a log floor covered with oak plank well spiked, was subsequently erected and continued to be the county prison for many years.
The following testimony of some of the earliest settlers will throw much light upon the administration of justice in those early days. John Hamlin, writ- ing in 1844. says : "In the year 1826 I lived three miles from Mackinaw, on the
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Peoria and Springfield road, in what is now Tazewell county, but then attached to Peoria ; and, being twenty-one years of age that year, I was summoned on the grand jury. There were not enough adults then in Peoria county proper to form the grand and petit juries, and hence they were summoned from the attached por- tion. All the grand juries but two were from the east side of the Illinois river, and were chiefly my neighbors. We took our provisions and bedding, the latter being a blanket or quilt for each. It was also the practice in those days to take along a flagon of liquor, and the custom was not omitted on this occasion. In truth, so faithfully was the flagon put under requisition that but two of our number were sober when we appeared in court to receive the judge's charge. Judge Sawyer was the presiding judge, James Turney the prosecuting attorney, and Messrs. Cavalry, Pugh, Bogardus and Turney the entire bar.
"There were only about eight bills of indictment found by the grand jury- one of these against an Indian named Nomaque, for murder. He had been tried the fall before, but, obtaining a new trial, he was indicted again this term.
"The court house was a log building on the bank of the river, in which the jurors slept on their blankets on the floor. There was a tavern kept by Mr. Bogardus, but it was not large enough to furnish sleeping accommodations for them. The grand jury room was a lumber cabin, in which Bogardus kept sad- dles and other cattle fixings."
Nomaque, the Indian mentioned in the above extract, had been tried at the first term of the court held by Judge Sawyer, at which time he was convicted for the murder of a Frenchman and sentenced to be hanged ; William Hamilton, a son of the celebrated Alexander Hamilton, being counsel for the defense, and James Turney, attorney general, for the prosecution. The case had been carried to the supreme court and the judgment reversed. It is reported in Beecher's Breese, with copious notes by the author. At the time of his second indictment, there being no secure jail, the sheriff kept him under guard at a private house, when an attempt was made at his rescue by some drunken Indians, but without success. He was afterward allowed to quit the country and is reported to have united his fortunes with Black Hawk, and to have lost his life in the battle of Stillman's Run. It has been hinted that "the flagon" cut quite a figure in his first trial.
In the same year ( 1844) Isaac Underhill wrote as follows: "I first landed on the shore of Peoria lake on Christmas day. 1833, and took lodging with our worthy townsman, A. O. Garrett, who then kept the 'Peoria Hotel,' in a small two-story wooden building at the corner of Main and Washington streets. The only building west of the hotel at that time was a barn, a short distance up Main street. The entire town consisted of but seven frame houses and a few log tenements. The day following I left in the steamboat 'Peoria' for the south. In a few months I returned again to Peoria. During my absence preparations had been made for building, and before the first of September about forty houses and stores were erected.
"Judge Young was the presiding judge at that time and held the circuit court in a small building, fourteen feet square, on the river bank. The grand jury sat under the shade of a crabapple tree, and the petit jury deliberated in an old French cellar, partially filled up, and surrounded with a growth of rank weeds and grass. The venerable Isaac Waters was clerk of the court. His office and dwelling were in a small log cabin, where now (1844) stand the plow works of Tobey & Anderson. The old gentleman used to carry the seal of the court in his pocket, and on one occasion, by mistake, offered it to the postmaster in pay- ment of postage.
"The only practicing members of the bar that resided here at that time were the Hon. Lewis Bigelow and Charles Ballance. The former was an eminent jurist and profound scholar. I was informed that he wrote a digest of the laws of Massachusetts, a valuable work of upward of eight hundred pages, with one quill. He died here in 1838. William Frisby, a member of the bar of much
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promise, arrived here in 1834. By his indefatigable studies he was fast reach- ing the topmost round of the ladder of his profession, when he died, in 1842, lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaintances."
Judge Samuel D. Lockwood succeeded Judge Sawyer, and in 1829, Judge Lockwood was succeeded by Judge Richard M. Young, who remained on the bench until the close of the year 1834. Charles Ballance, who is mentioned in one of the foregoing extracts, was a prominent attorney at law who had settled in Peoria as early as 1831. In the latter part of his life he wrote a history of Peoria, from which some of the following facts are gleaned.
Judge Young's circuit extended from below Quincy to Chicago, including the present cities of Quincy, Rock Island, Galena, Ottawa and Chicago, and em- braced all the intermediate territory. In May, 1833, he made his appearance in the village of Peoria and announced that he was on his way to Chicago to hold court. He had traveled about one hundred and thirty miles from Quincy, where he lived, and had to travel, as the trail then ran, not less than one hundred and seventy miles farther, to hold his first court on his circuit. He traveled all the way on horseback.
After Judge Young's time, and before the accession of the Hon. Onslow Peters, the circuit of Peoria county was presided over by the following named judges, in addition to those already mentioned: Thomas Ford, Sidney Breese, Stephen T. Logan, Daniel Stone, John D. Caton, T. Lyle Dickey and William Kellogg, each one of whom occupies a prominent place in the history of his times and needs not any extended notice here. It is a matter of history, however, that Thomas Ford died in poverty, at the house of his intimate friend, Andrew Gray, an early settler of Peoria. The grand jury was then in session, with Andrew Gray as foreman. That body passed a series of resolutions paying tribute to the memory of Governor Ford, from which the following extract is taken :
"While state's attorney in our sparsely settled country he discharged his duties faithfully and successfully ; as a judge he was impartial, laborious and just ; as a man and citizen, one of the noblest works of God. He was nurtured in our state while in its infancy; he grew with its growth and strengthened with its strength. He won his way from a fatherless boy to eminence and fame and has left a bright example to those behind him, that virtue, industry and fidelity insure success and will be crowned with triumph."
My acquaintance with the Peoria bar began on the second Monday in May, 1853, that being the day on which Onslow Peters assumed the duties of circuit judge of the newly formed sixteenth circuit, consisting of the counties of Peoria and Stark. For some years prior to that time Peoria and Stark counties had constituted a part of the tenth circuit, composed of the counties of Fulton, Peoria, Stark, Henry, Rock Island, Mercer, Knox and Warren. The formation of the sixteenth circuit, composed of only two counties, one of them being very small and having but little business, so localized our courts that from that time forward circuit riding in this vicinity ceased to be one of the occupations of the pro- fession.
At that time as nearly as I can remember, the Peoria bar consisted of the fol- lowing named leading attorneys and firms: Norman H. Purple and Ezra G Sanger, Lincoln B. Knowlton, Elihu N. Powell and William F. Bryan, Halsey O. and Amos L. Merriman, Jonathan K. Cooper, Charles Ballance, Henry Grove and Alexander McCoy, Elbridge G. Johnson and George S. Blakesley, John T Lindsay and Henry Lander, Henry S. Austin and Charles C. Bonney.
Thomas Ford, Lewis Bigelow, John L. Bogardus, William Frisby and Wil- liam L. May had been prominent at the bar, but they had passed away. Lincoln B. Knowlton, Halsey O. Merriman and Ezra G. Sanger soon joined the ranks of the dead. Before coming to Peoria, Bigelow had been a member of con- gress from Massachusetts, but he is better known to the profession as the com- piler of Bigelow's Digest of the Massachusetts reports. Frisby was his son-in-
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law, a brilliant young lawyer, whose life was cut short in early manhood. John L. Bogardus was more prominent as a business man and dealer in lands than as an attorney.
Before coming to Peoria, William L. May had served one term in the legis- lature and two terms in congress. He also was more of a busines man than an attorney, and possibly his most enduring monument is the Peoria wagon-road bridge, for the building of which he obtained a charter from the legislature. The building of this bridge, which was the first one erected over the navigable portion of the Illinois river, was the occasion of a most important decision of our supreme court, in the case of the Illinois River Packet Company versus the Peoria Bridge Association, reported in 38 Illinois Reports, page 467.
Lincoln B. Knowlton was a man of great ability. He had been a member of the constitutional convention which framed the constitution of 1848. I remen- ber him as a stalwart man, above medium height, broad-shouldered and raw- boned. He was then in the last stages of consumption. With a shaggy over- coat thrown loosely over his shoulders, he walked down the middle aisle of the court house with great dignity, and took his seat in a hair-cloth rocker which had been provided especially for his use. He died within a month of that time. The following tribute was paid to his memory by the Peoria bar on the occasion of his death: "Resolved, That we pay but a just tribute of respect to the deceased when we declare that his character as a faithful, eloquent and successful advocate in our courts, as a man in whom were united the fidelity and honorable conduct of a good lawyer, as well as the most expanded liberality, kindness and generosity of man, commands our most unfeigned respect : that the poor, oppressed and un- protected have occasion long to remember and to appreciate his generous efforts, gratuitous labor and professional exertions, so often and so faithfully put forth in their behalf, they having ever found in him the poor man's and the widow's advocate and friend."
Lincoln Brown Knowlton was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, in 180-1. his paternal ancestors having come to America from Knowlton Manor, in Kent. England. in 1642. Lieutenant Daniel Knowlton and Colonel Thomas Knowlton. famed in the early Indian wars and the Revolution, were lineal ancestors. Nathaniel Lyan was his own cousin, through a Knowlton mother. The three Knowlton brothers settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Lincoln B. Knowlton was very gifted in an intellectual way, and at an early age was sent to Union College, at Schenectady, New York, whose president was then the famous educator. Eliphalet Nott, D. D., L.L. D. After graduating at Union College, Mr. Know]- ton studied law with the governor of Massachusetts, "Honest John Davis." as he was called. Mr. Knowlton came to Peoria at a very early period in its his- tory and was one of the most brilliant and prominent lawyers of his day, being known as the Henry Clay of the Illinois bar. He loved his profession, refusing a judgeship and being practically pushed into politics. He was nominated for congress the year he died ( August, 1854), and knowing that he could not live to fill the office, asked the privilege of naming his successor. James Knox, who was elected. He was sent as a delegate to the last whig convention, which met at Baltimore, and nominated his idol, Henry Clay, for the presidency The last speech ever delivered by Mr. Knowlton, when he was almost too weak to stand. and the glory of his rich, magnetic voice had gone, was in advocacy of the election of Clay to the presidency. He was an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln, David Davis, Stephen A. Douglas and other eminent men who lent dignity to the early bar of Illinois.
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