Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 8

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208

USA > Illinois > Livingston County > Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies > Part 8

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The military history of Gen. Garfield closed with

his brilliant services at Chickamauga, where he won the stars of the Major-General.

Without an effort on his part Gen. Garfield was elected to Congress in the fall of 1862 from the Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of Ohio had been represented in Congress for sixty years mainly by two men-Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua R. Giddings. It was not without a struggle that he resigned his place in the army. At the time he en- tered Congress he was the youngest member in that body. There he remained by successive re- elections until he was elected President in 1880. Of his labors in Congress Senator Hoar says : "Since the year 1864 you cannot think of a question which has been debated in Congress, or discussed before a tribunel of the American people, in regard to which you will not find, if you wish instruction, the argu- ment on one side stated, in almost every instance better than by anybody else, in some speech made in the House of Representatives or on the hustings by Mr. Garfield."

Upon Jan. 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elected to the U. S. Senate, and on the eighth of June, of the same year, was nominated as the candidate of his party for President at the great Chicago Convention. He was elected in the following November, and on March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no ad- ministration ever opened its existence under brighter anspices than that of President Garfield, and every day it grew in favor with the people, and by the first of July he had completed all the initiatory and pre- liminary work of his administration and was prepar- ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Williams College. While on his way and at the depot, in com- pany with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back. The President tottered and fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no further injury. It has been very truthfully said that this was " the shot that was heard round the world " Never before in the history of the Nation had anything oc- curred which so nearly froze the blood of the people for the moment, as this awful deed. He was smit- ten on the brightest, gladd'est day of all his life, and was at the summit of his power and hope. For eighty days, all during the hot months of July and August, he lingered and suffered. He, however, remained master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent bearing was teaching the country and the world the noblest of human lessons-how to live grandly in the very clutch of death. Great in life, he was surpass- ingly great in death. He passed serenely away Sept. 19, 1883, at Elberon, N. J., on the very bank of the ocean, where he had been taken shortly previous. The world wept at his death, as it never had done on the death of any other man who had ever lived upon it. The murderer was duly tried, found guilty and exe- cuted, in one year after he committed the foul deed.

TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR,

HESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first Presidum of the United States, was born in Franklin Cour ty, Vermont, on the fifthof October, 1830, and is the oldest of a family of two sons and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. William Arthur, a Baptist dergyman, who emigrated to this country from the county Antrim, Ireland, in his 18th year, and died in 1875, in Newtonville, near Albany, after a long and successful ministry.

Young Arthur was educated at Union College, Schenectady, where he excelled in all his studies. Af- ter his graduation he taught school in Vermont for two years, and at the expiration of that time came to New York, with $500 in his pocket, and entered the office of ex-Judge E. D. Culver as student. After being admitted to the bar he formed a partnership with his intimate friend and room-mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicing in the West, and for three months they roamed about in the Western States in search of an eligible site, but in the end returned to New York, where they hung out their shingle, and entered upon a success- ful career almost from the start. General Arthur soon afterward married the daughter of Lieutenant

Herndon, of the United States Navy, who was lost at. sea. Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in recognition of the bravery he displayed on that occa- sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's nomination to the Vice Presidency, leaving two children.

Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celebrity in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had been declared free by Judge Paine, of the Superior Court of New York City. It was in 1852 that Jon- athan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when they were discovered and freed. The Judge decided that they could not be held by the owner under the Fugitive Slave Law. A howl of rage went up from the South, and the Virginia Legislature authorized the Attorney General of that State to assist in an appeal. Wm. M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed to represent the People, and they won their case, which then went to the Supreme Court of the United States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause of the slave-holders, but he too was beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward the emancipation of the black race.

Another great service was rendered by General Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jennings, a respectable colored woman, was put off a Fourth Avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. General Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a verdict of $500 damages. The next day the compa- ny issued an order to admit colored persons to ride on their cars, and the other car companies quickly

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CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

followed their example. Before that the Sixth Ave- nue Company ran a few special cars for colored per- sons and the other lines refused to let them ride at all.

General Arthur was a delegate to the Convention at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of the Second Brigade of the State of New York, and Gov- ernor Morgan, of that State, appointed him Engineer- in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was made Inspec- tor General, and soon afterward became Quartermas- ter-General. In each of these offices he rendered great service to the Government during the war. At the end of Governor Morgan's term he resumed the practice of the law, forming a partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, the District Attorney of New York, was added to the firm. The legal prac- tice of this well-known firm was very large and lucra- tive, each of the gentlemen composing it were able lawyers, and possessed a splendid local reputation, if not indeed one of national extent.

He always took a leading part in State and city politics. He was appointed Collector of the Port of New York by President Grant, Nov. 21 1872, to suc- ceed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July, 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt.

Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the famous National Republican Convention held at Chicago in June, 1880. This was perhaps the greatest political convention that ever assembled on the continent. It was composed of the leading politicians of the Re- publican party, all able men, and each stood firm and fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for their respective candidates that were before the conven- tion for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield re- ceived the nomination for President and Gen. Arthur for Vice-President. The campaign which followed was one of the most animated known in the history of our country. Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of the Democratic party, was a popular man, and his party made a valiant fight for his election.

Finally the election came and the country's choice was Garfield and Arthur. They were inaugurated March 4, 1881, as President and Vice-President. A few months only had passed ere the newly chosen President was the victim of the assassin's bullet. Then came terrible weeks of suffering,-those moments of anxious suspense, wher, the hearts of all civilized na-

tions were throbbing in unison, longing for the re- covery of the noble, the good President. The remark- able patience that he manifested during those hours and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible suf- fering man has often been called upon to endure, was seemingly more than human. It was certainly God- like. During all this period of deepest anxiety Mr. Arthur's every move was watched, and be it said to his credit that his every action displayed only an earnest desire that the suffering Garfield might recover, to serve the remainder of the term he had so auspi- ciously begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested in deed or look of this man, even though the most honored position in the world was at any moment likely to fall to him.

At last God in his mercy relieved President Gar- field from further suffering, and the world, as never before in its history over the death of any other man, wept at his bier. Then it became the duty of the Vice President to assume the responsibilities of the high office, and he took the oath in New York, Sept. 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassing one to him, made doubly so from the facts that all eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would do, what policy he would pursue, and who he would se- lect as advisers. The duties of the office had been greatly neglected during the President's long illness, and many important measures were to be immediately decided by him ; and still farther to embarrass him he did not fail to realize under what circumstances he became President, and knew the feelings of many on this point. Under these trying circumstances President Arthur took the reins of the Government in his own hands; and, as embarrassing as were the condition of affairs, he happily surprised the nation, acting so wisely that but few criticised his administration. He served the nation well and faithfully, until the close of his administration, March 4, 1885, and was a popular candidate before his party for a second term. His name was ably presented before the con- vention at Chicago, and was received with great favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularity of one of the opposing candidates, he would have been selected as the standard-bearer of his party for another campaign. He retired to private life car- rying with him the best wishes of the American peo- ple, whom he had served in a manner satisfactory to them and with credit to himself.

Grover Cleveland

TWENTY-SECOND PRESIDENT.

103

S. Grover Cleveland.

TEPHEN GROVER CLEVE- LAND, the twenty-second Pres- ident of the United States, was born in 1837, in the obscure town of Caldwell, Essex Co., N. J., and in a little two-and-a- half-story white house which is still standing, characteristically to mark the humble birth-place of one of America's great mien in striking con- trast with the Old World, where all men high in office must be high in origin and born in the cradle of wealth. When the subject of this sketch was three years of age, his father, who was a Presbyterian min- ister, with a large family and a small salary, moved, by way of the Hudson River and Erie Canal, to Fayetteville, in search of an increased income and a larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most straggling of country villages, about five miles from Pompey Hill, where Governor Seymour was born.

At the last mentioned place young Grover com- menced going to school in the "good, old-fashioned way," and presumably distinguished himself after the manner of all village boys, in doing the things he ought not to do. Such is the distinguishing trait of all geniuses and independent thinkers. When he arrived at the age of 14 years, he had outgrown the capacity of the village school and expressed a most

emphatic desire to be sent to an academy. To this his father decidedly objected. Academies in those days cost money; besides, his father wanted him to become self-supporting by the quickest possible means, and this at that time in Fayetteville seemed to be a position in a country store, where his father and the large family on his hands had considerable influence. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services the first year, and if he proved trustworthy he was to receive $roo the second year. Here the lad com- menced his career as salesman, and in two years he had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness that his employers desired to retain him for an in- definite length of time. Otherwise he did not ex- hibit as yet any particular " flashes of genius " or eccentricities of talent. He was simply a good boy.

But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayette- ville, he went with the family in their removal to Clinton, where he had an opportunity of attending a high school. Here he industriously pursued his studies until the family removed with him to a point on Black River known as the "Holland Patent," a village of 500 or 600 people, 15 miles north of Utica, N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, and Grover set out for New York City to accept, at a small salary, the position of " under-teacher" in an asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two years, and although he obtained a good reputation in this capacity, he concluded that teaching was not his

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calling for life, and, reversing the traditional order, he left the city to seek his fortune, instead of going to a city. He first thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as there was some charm in that name for him; but before proceeding to that place he went to Buffalo to ask the advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted stock-breeder of that place. The latter did not speak enthusiastically. "What is it you want to do, my boy? " he asked. " Well, sir, I want to study law," was the reply. "Good gracious!" remarked the old gentleman; "do you, indeed ? What ever put that into your head? How much money have you got?" " Well, sir, to tell the truth, I haven't got any."

After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a place temporarily as assistant herd-keeper, at $50 a year, while he could "look around." One day soon afterward he boldly walked into the office of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and told them what he wanted. A number of young men were already en- gaged in the office, but Grover's persistency won, and he was finally permitted to come as an office boy and have the use of the law library, for the nominal sum of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for his board and washing. The walk to and from his uncle's was a long and rugged one; and, although the first winter was a memorably severe one, his shoes were out of repair and his overcoat-he had none-yet he was nevertheless prompt and regular. On the first day of his service here, his senior em- ployer threw down a copy of Blackstone before him with a bang that made the dust fly, saying "That's where they all begin." A titter ran around the little circle of clerks and students, as they thought that was enough to scare young Grover out of his plans ; but in due time he mastered that cumbersome volume. Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland exhibited a talent for executiveness rather than for chasing principles through all their metaphysical possibilities. " Let us quit talking and go and do it," was practically his motto.

The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland was elected was that of Sheriff of Erie Co., N. Y., in which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it fell to his duty to inflict capital punishment upon two criminals. In 1881 he was elected Mayor of the City of Buffalo, on the Democratic ticket, with es- pecial reference to the bringing about certain reforms

in the administration of the municipal affairs of that city. In this office, as well as that of Sheriff, his performance of duty has generally been considered fair, with possibly a few exceptions which were fer- reted out and magnified during the last Presidential campaign. As a specimen of his plain language in a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an iniqui- tous street-cleaning contract : "This is a time for plain speech, and my objection to your action shall be plainly stated. I regard it as the culmination of a mos bare-faced, impudent and shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people and to worse than squander the people's money." The New York Sun afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleve- land's administration as Mayor of Buffalo, and there- upon recommended him for Governor of the Empire State. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, and his administration of the affairs of State was generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if any, were made very public throughout the nation after he was nominated for President of the United States. For this high office he was nominated July II, 1884, by the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, when other competitors were Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc .; and he was elected by the people, by a majority of about a thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Repub- lican statesman, James G. Blaine. President Cleve- land resigned his office as Governor of New York in January, 1885, in order to prepare for his duties as the Chief Executive of the United States, in which capacity his term commenced at noon on the 4th of March, 1885. For his Cabinet officers he selected the following gentlemen: For Secretary of State, Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware; Secretary of the Treasury, Daniel Manning, of New York ; Secretary of War, William C. Endicott, of Massachusetts ; Secretary of the Navy, William C. Whitney, of New York; Secretary of the Interior, L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi; Postmaster-General, William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin; Attorney-General, A. H. Garland, of Arkansas.

The silver question precipitated a controversy be- tween those who were in favor of the continuance of silver coinage and those who were opposed, Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, even before his inauguration.

GOVERNORS.

س ٥:١١

٢٠

Shadrach Bond.

IIT

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

HADRACH BOND, the first Governor of Illinois after its organization as a State, serving fron1 1818 to 1822, was born in Frederick County, Maryland, in the year 1773, and was raised a farmer on his father's plantation, receiving only a plain English education. He emigrated to this State in 1794, when it was a part of the "Northwest Territory," continuing in the vocation in which he had been brought up in his native State, in the "New Design," near Eagle Creek, in what is now Monroe County. He served several terms as a member of the General Assembly of Indiana Territory, after it was organized as such, and in 1812-14 he was a Delegate to the Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses, taking his seat Dec. 3, 1812, and serving until Oct. 3, 1814. These were the times, the reader will recollect, when this Gov- ernment had its last struggle with Great Britain. The year 1812 is also noted in the history of this State as that in which the first Territorial Legislature was held. It convened at Kaskaskia, Nov. 25, and adjourned Dec. 26, following.

While serving as Delegate to Congress, Mr. Bond was instrumental in procuring the right of pre-emp- tion on the public domain. On the expiration of his term at Washington he was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys at Kaskaskia, then the capital of the Territory. In company with John G. Comyges,

Thomas H. Harris, Charles Slade, Michael Jones, Warren Brown, Edward Humphries and Charles W. Hunter, he became a proprietor of the site of the initial city of Cairo, which they hoped, from its favor- able location at the junction of the two great rivers near the center of the Great West, would rapidly develop into a metropolis. To aid the enter- prise, they obtained a special charter from the Legis- lature, incorporating both the City and the Bank of Cairo.

In 1818 Mr. Bond was elected the first Governor of the State of Illinois, being inaugurated Oct. 6, that year, which was several weeks before Illinois was actually admitted. The facts are these: In January, 1818, the Territorial Legislature sent a peti- tion to Congress for the admission of Illinois as a State, Nathaniel Pope being then Delegate. The petition was granted, fixing the northern line of the State on the latitude of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan; but the bill was afterward so amend- ed as to extend this line to its present latitude. In July a convention was called at Kaskaskia to draft a constitution, which, however, was not submitted to the people. By its provisions, supreme judges, pros- ecuting attorneys, county and circuit judges, record- ers and justices of the peace were all to be appointed by the Governor or elected by the Legislature. This constitution was accepted by Congress Dec. 30. At that time Illinois comprised but eleven counties, namely, Randolph, Madison, Gallatin, Johnson, Pope, Jackson, Crawford, Bond, Union, Washington and Franklin, the northern portion of the State be- ing mainly in Madison County. Thus it appears that Mr. Bond was honored by the naming of a

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SHADRACH BOND.

county before he was elected Governor. The present county of Bond is of small limitations, about 60 to So miles south of Springfield. For Lieutenant Governor the people chose Pierre Menard, a prominent and worthy Frenchman, after whom a county in this State is named. In this election there were no opposition candidates, as the popularity of these men had made their promotion to the chief offices of the State, even before the constitution was drafted, a foregone con- clusion.

The principal points that excited the people in reference to political issues at this period were local or "internal improvements," as they were called, State banks, location of the capital, slavery and the personal characteristics of the proposed candidates. Mr. Bond represented the "Convention party," for introducing slavery into the State, supported by Elias Keit Kane, his Secretary of State, and John Mc- Lean, while Nathaniel Pope and John P. Cook led the anti-slavery element. The people, however, did not become very much excited over this issue until 1820, when the fumnous Missouri Compromise was adopted by Congress, limiting slavery to the south of the parallel of 36º 30' except in Missouri. While this measure settled the great slavery controversy, so far as the average public sentiment was tempor- arily concerned, until 1854, when it was repealed under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, the issue as considered locally in this State was not decided until 1824, after a most furious campaign. (See sketch of Gov. Coles.) The ticket of 1818 was a compromise one, Bond representing (moderately) the pro-slavery sentiment and Menard the anti-slavery.

An awkward element in the State government under Gov. Bond's administration, was the imperfec- tion of the State constitution. The Convention wished to have Elijah C. Berry for the first Auditor of Public Accounts, but, as it was believed that the new Governor would not appoint him to the office, the Convention declared in a schedule that "an auditor of public accounts, an attorney general and such other officers of the State as may be necessary, may be appointed by the General Assembly." The Constitution, as it stood, vested a very large appoint- ing power in the Governor; but for the purpose of getting one man into office, a total change was made, and the power vested in the Legislature. Of this provision the Legislature took advantage, and de-

clared that State's attorneys, canal commissioners, bank directors, etc., were all " officers of the State" and must therefore be appointed by itself independ- ently of the Governor.

During Gov. Bond's administration a general law was passed for the incorporation of academies and towns, and one authorizing lotteries. The session of 1822 authorized the Governor to appoint commis- sioners, to act in conjunction with like commissioners appointed by the State of Indiana, to report on the practicability and expediency of improving the navi- gation of the Wabash River; also inland navigation generally. Many improvements were recommended, some of which have been feebly worked at even till the present day, those along the Wabash being of no value. Also, during Gov. Bond's term of office, the capital of the State was removed from Kaskaskia to Vandalia. In 1820 a law was passed by Congress authorizing this State to open a canal through the public lands. The State appointed commissioners 10 explore the route and prepare the necessary sur- veys and estimates, preparatory to its execution; but, being unable out of its own resources to defray the expenses of the undertaking, it was abandoned until some time after Congress made the grant of land for the purpose of its construction.

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Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 8

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers Number of Pages: 1208

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208