USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > Portrait and biographical record of Macoupin County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with biographies of all the governors of the state, and of the presidents of the United States > Part 14
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176
SHELBY M. CULLOM.
law until 1865, he was again elected to the Legisla- ture, as a Republican, while the county went Demo- cratic on the Presidential ticket. In January follow- ing he was elected Speaker, probably the youngest man who had ever presided over an Illinois Legis- lature. After the session of 1861, he was a candidate for the State Constitutional Convention called for that year, but was defeated, and thus escaped the disgrace of being connected with that abortive party scheme to revolutionize the State Government. In 1862 he was a candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated. The same year, however, he was ap- pointed by President Lincoln on a Government Commission, in company with Gov. Boutwell of Massachusetts and Charles A. Dana, since of the New York Sun, to investigate the affairs of the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments at Cairo. He devoted several months to this duty.
In 1864 he entered upon a larger political field, being nominated as the Republican candidate for Congress from the Eighth (Springfield) District, in- opposition to the incumbent, John T. Stuart, who had been elected in 1862 by about 1,500 majority over Leonard Swett, then of Bloomington, now of Chicago. The result was the election of Mr. Cullom in Novem- ber following by a majority of 1,785. In 1866 he was re-elected to Congress, over Dr. E. S. Fowler, by the magnificent majority of 4 103! In 1868 he was again a candidate, defeating the Hon. B. S. Edward ;, another of his old preceptors, by 2,884 votes.
During his first term in Congress he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Expenditures in the Treasury Department; in his second term, on the Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Territories ; and in his third term he succeeded Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, to the Chairmanship of the latter. He intro- duced a bill in the House, to aid in the execution of law in Utah, which caused more consternation among the Mormons than any measure had previously, but which, though it passed the House, failed to pass the Senate.
The Republican Convention which met May 25, 1876, nominated Mr. Cullom for Governor, while the other contestant was Gov. Beveridge. For Lieuten- ant-Governor they nominated Andrew Shuman, editor of the Chicago Journal. For the same offices the Democrats, combining with the Anti-Monopolists, placed in nomination Lewis Steward, a wealthy
farmer and manufacturer, and A. A. Glenn. The result of the election was rather close, Mr. Cullom obtaining only 6,800 majority. He was inaugurated Jan. 8, 1877.
Great depression prevailed in financial circles at this time, as a consequence of the heavy failures of 1873 and afterward, the effect of which had seemed to gather force from that time to the end of Gov. Cullom's first administration. This unspeculative period was not calculated to call forth any new issues, but the Governor's energies were at one time put to task to quell a spirit of insubordination that had been begun in Pittsburg, Pa., among the laboring classes, and transferred to Illinois at Chicago, East St. Louis and Braidwood, at which places laboring men for a short time refused to work or allow others to work. These disturbances were soon quelled and the wheels of industry again set in motion.
In May, 1880, Gov. Cullom was re-nominated by the Republicans, against Lyman Trumbull, by the Democrats; and although the former party was some- what handicapped in the campaign by a zealous faction opposed to Grant for President and to Grant men for office generally, Mr. Cullom was re-elected by about 314,565, to 277,532 for the Democratic State ticket. The Greenback vote at the same time was about 27,000. Both Houses of the Legislature again became Republican, and no representative of the Greenback or Socialist parties were elected. Gov. Cullom was inaugurated Jan. 10, 1381. In his mes- sage he announced that the last dollar of the State debt had been provided for.
March 4, 1883, the term of David Davis as United States Senator from Illinois expired, and Gov. Cul- lom was chosen to succeed him. This promoted Lieutenant-Governor John M. Hamilton to the Gov- ernorship. Senator Cullom's term in the United States Senate will expire March 4, 1889.
As a practitioner of law Mr. C. has been a member of the firm of Cullom, Scholes & Mather, at Spring- field; and he has also been President of the State National Bank.
He has been married twice,-the first time Dec. 12, 1855, to Miss Hannah Fisher, by whom he had two daughters; and the second time May 5, 1863, t.) Julia Fisher. Mrs. C is a member of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, with which religious body Mr. C. is also in sympathy,
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY re: .......
Johnla Paviltoro
179
GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.
John M. Hamilton.
OHN MARSHALL HAMIL- TON, Governor 1883-5, was born May 28, 1847, in a log house upon a farm about two miles from Richwood, Union County, Ohio. His father was Samuel Hamilton, the eldest son of Rev. Wm. Hamilton, who, to- gether with his brother, the Rev. Samuel Hamilton, was among the early pioneer Methodist preachers in Ohio. The mother of the subject of this sketch was, before her marriage, Mrs. Nancy McMorris, who was born and raised in Fauquier or Lou- doun County, Va., and related to the two large families of Youngs and Marshalls, well known in that commonwealth; and from the latter family name was derived the middle name of Gov. Hamilton.
In March, 1854, Mr. Hamilton's father sold out his little pioneer forest home in Union County, O., and, loading his few household effects and family (of six children) into two emigrant covered wagons, moved to Roberts Township, Marshall Co., Ill., being 21 days on the route. Swamps, unbridged streams and innumerable hardships and privations met them on their way. Their new home had been previously selected by the father. Here, after many long years of toil, they succeeded in paying for the land and making a comfortable home. John was, of course,
brought up to hard manual labor, with no schooling except three or four months in the year at a common country school. However, he evinced a capacity and taste for a high order of self-education, by studying or reading what books he could borrow, as the family had but very few in the house. Much of his study he prosecuted by the light of a log fire in the old-fashioned chimney place. The financial panic of 1857 caused the family to come near losing their home, to pay debts; but the father and two sons, William and John, "buckled to" and perse. vered in hard labor and economy until they redeemed their place from the mortgage.
When the tremendous excitement of the political campaign of 1860 reached the neighborhood of Rob- erts Township, young Hamilton, who had been brought up in the doctrine of anti-slavery, took a zeal- ous part in favor of Lincoln's election. Making special efforts to procure a little money to buy a uniform, he joined a company of Lincoln Wide-Awakes at Mag- nolia, a village not far away. Directly after the ensuing election it became evident that trouble would ensue with the South, and this Wide-Awake company, like many others throughout the country, kept up its organization and transformed itself into a military company. During the ensuing summer they met often for drill and became proficient ; but when they offered themselves for the war, young Hamilton was rejected on account of his youth, he being then but 14 years of age. During the winter of 1863-4 he attended an academy at Henry, Marshall County:
180
JOHN MARSHALL HAMILTON.
and in the following May he again enlisted, for the fourth time, when he was placed in the 14rst Ill. Vol Inf., a regiment then being raised at Elgin, Ill., for the 100-day service. He took with him 13 other lads from his neighborhood, for enlistment in the service. This regiment operated in Southwestern Kentucky, for about five months, under Gen. Paine.
The following winter, 1864-5, Mr. Hamilton taught school, and during the two college years 1865-7, he went through three years of the curriculum of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. The ·third year he graduated, the fourth in a class of 46, in the classical department. In due time he received the degree of M. A. For a few months he was the Principal of Marshall "College " at Henry, an acad- emy under the auspices of the M. E. Church. By this time he had commenced the study of law, and after earning some money as a temporary Professor of Latin at the Illinois Wesleyan University at.
.In May, 1880, Mr. Hamilton was nominated on the Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor, his principal competitors before the Convention being How. Wm. A. James, ex-Speaker of the House of Bloomington, he entered the law office of Weldon __ #Representatives, Judge Robert Bell, of Wabash Tipton & Benjamin, of that city. Each member of this firm has since been distinguished as a Judge. Admitted to the Bar in Miy, 1870, Mr. Hamilton was given an interest in the same firm, Tipton hav- ing been elected Judge. In October following he formed a partnership with J. H. Rowell, at that time Prosecuting Attorney. Their business was then small, but they increased it to very large proportions, practicing in all grades of courts, including even the U. S. Supreme Court, and this partnership continued unbroken until Feb. 6, 1883, when Mr. Hamilton was sworn in as Executive of Illinois. On the 4th of March following Mr. Rowell took his seat in Con- gress.
In July, 1871, Mr. Hamilton married Miss Helen M. Williams, the daughter of Prof. Wm. G. Williams, Professor of Greek in the Ohio Wesleyan University. Mr. and Mrs. H. have two daughters and one son.
In 1876 Mr. Hamilton was nominated by the Re- publicans for the State Senate, over other and older competitors. He took an active part " on the stump" in the campaign, for the success of his party, and was elected by a majority of 1,640 over his Democratic- Greenback opponent. In the Senate he served on the Committees on Judiciary, Revenue, State Insti- tutions, Appropriations, Education, and on Miscel- lany ; and during the contest for the election of a U. S. Senator, the Republicans endeavoring to re-
elect John A. Logan, he voted for the war chief on every ballot, even alone when all the other Republi- cans had gone over to the Hon. E. B. Lawrence and the Democrats and Independents elected Judge David Davis. At this session, also, was passed the first Board of Health and Medical Practice act, of which Mr. Hamilton was a champion, against . : much opposition that the bill was several times "laid on the table." Also, this session authorized the location and establishment of a. southern peri- tentiary, which was fixed at Chester. In the session of 1879 Mr. Hamilton was elected President pro tem. of the Senate, and was a zealous supporter of John A. Logan for the U. S. Senate, who was this time elected without any trouble.
: Coïtity;Hon. T. T. Fountain, of Perry County, and Hon. M. M. Saddler, of Marion County. He engaged actively in the campaign, and his ticket was elected by a majority of 41,200. As Lieutenant Governor, he presided almost continuously over the Senate in the 32d General Assembly and during the early days of the 33d, until he succeeded to the Governorship. When the Legislature of 1883 elected Gov. Cullom to the United States Senate, Lieut. Gov. Hamilton succeeded him, under the Constitution, taking the oath of office Feb. 6, 1883. He bravely met all the annoyances and embarrassments incidental upon taking up another's administration. The principai events with which Gov. Hamilton was connected as the Chief Executive of the State were, the mine dis- aster at Braidwood, the riots in St. Clair and Madison Counties in May, 1883, the appropriations for the State militia, the adoption of the Harper high-license liquor law, the veto of a dangerous railroad bill, etc.
The Governor was a Delegate at large to the National Republican Convention at Chicago in June, 1884, where his first choice for President was John A. Logan, and second choice Chester A. Arthur; but he afterward zealously worked for the election of Mr Blaine, true to his party.
Mr. Hamilton's term as Governor expired Jau. 30. 1885, when the great favorite "Dick " Oglesby was inaugurated.
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLINAIA
yW Fifer
183
GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.
Joseph DO. Fsifer.
* to state at.
JOSEPH WILSON FIFER. This distinguished gentleman was elected Governor of Illinois November 6, 1888. He was popularly known during the campaign as "Private Joe." He had served with great devotion to his country during the Re- bellion, in the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry. A native of Virginia, he was born in 1840. His parents, John and Mary (Daniels) Fifer, were American born, though of German de- scent. His father was a brick and stone mason. and an old Henry Clay Whig in politics. John and Mary Fifer had nine children, of whom Joseph was the sixth, and naturally with so large a family it was all the father could do to keep the wolf from the door; to say nothing of giving his children any- thing like good educational advantages,
Young Joseph attended school some in Vir- ginia, but it was not a good school, and when his father removed to the West, in 1857, Joseph had not advanced much further than the "First Reader."
Our subject was sixteen then and suffered a great misfortune in the loss of his mother. After the death of Mrs. Fifer, which occurred in Missouri, the family returned to Virginia, but remained only a short time, as during the same year Mr. Fifer came to Illinois. He settled in McLean County and started a brickyard. Here Joseph and his broth- ers were put to work. The elder Fifer soon bought a farm near Bloomington and began life as an agriculturalist. Ilere Joe worked and attended the neighboring school. He alternated farm-work, briek-laying, and going to the distriet school for the succeeding few years. It was all work and no play for Joe, yet it by no means made a dull boy of him. All the time he was thinking of the great world outside, of which he had caught a glimpse when coming from Virginia, yet he did not know just how he was going to get ont into it. He could not feel that the woods around the new farm and the log cabin, in which the family lived. were to hold him.
The opportunity to get out into the world was soon offered to young Joe. He traveled a dozen miles barefoot, in company with his brother George, and enlisted in Company (, 33d Illinois Infantry ; he being then twenty years old. In a few days
184
JOSEPH W. FIFER.
the regiment was sent to Camp Butler, and then over into Missouri, and saw some vigorous service there. After a second time helping to chase Price out of Missouri. the 33d Regiment went down to Milliken's Bend, and for several weeks " Private Joe " worked on Grant's famous ditch. The regi- ment then joined the forces operating against Port Gibson and Vicksburg. Joe was on guard duty in the front ditches when the flag of surrender was run up on the 4th of July, and stuck the bayonet of his gun into the embankment and went into the city with the vanguard of Union soldiers.
The next day, July 5, the 33d joined the force after Johnston, who had been threatening Grant's rear; and finally an assault was made on him at Jackson, Miss. In this charge "Private Joe" fell, ter- ribly wounded. He was loading his gun when a minie-ball struck him and passed entirely through his body. He was regarded as mortally wounded. IIis brother, George, who had been made a Lien- tenant. proved to be the means of saving his life. The Surgeon told him unless he had ice his brother Joe could not live. It was fifty miles to the nearest point where ice could be obtained, and the roads were rough. A comrade, a MeLean county man, who had been wounded. offered to make the trip. An ambulance was secured and the brother soldier started on the journey. He returned with the ice, but the trip, owing to the roughness of the roads, was very hard on him. After a few months' care- fulnursing Mr. Fifer was able to come home. The 33d came home on a furlough, and when the boys were ready to return to the tented field, young Fifer was ready to go with them; for he was determined to finish his term of three years. He was mustered out in October, 1864, having been in the service three years and two months.
" Private Joe" came out of the army a tall, tanned, and awkward young mau of twenty-four. About all he possessed was ambition to be some- body-and pluck. Though at an age when most men have finished their college course, the young soldier saw that if he was to be anybody he must have an education. Yet he had no means to ena- ble him to enter school as most young men do. He was determined to have an education, however, and that to him meant success. For the following
four years he struggled with his books. Ile entered · Wesleyan University Jan. 1, 1865. He was not a brilliant student, being neither at the head nor the foot of his class. He was in great earnest, how- ever, studied hard and came forth with a well- stored and disciplined mind.
Immediately after being graduated he entered · an office at Bloomington as a law student. He had already read law some, and as he continued to work hard, with the spur of poverty and promptings of ambition ever with him, he was ready to hang out his professional shingle in 1869. Being trust- worthy he soon gathered about him some influen- tial friends. In 1871 he was elected Corporation Counsel of Bloomington. In 1872 he was elected State's Attorney of McLean County. This office he held for eight years, when he took his seat in the State Senate. Here he served for four years. Ilis ability to perform abundance of hard work made him a most valued member of the Legisla- ture.
Mr. Fifer was married in 1870 to Gertie, daugh- ter of William J. Lewis, of Bloomington. Mr. Fifer is six feet in height and is spare, weighing only 150 pounds. He has a swarthy complexion, keen black eyes, quick movement, and possesses a frank and sympathetic nature, and naturally makes friends wherever he goes. During the late Guber- natorial campaign his visits throughout the State proved. a great power in his behalf. His happy faculty of winning the confidence and good wishes of those with whom he comes in personal contact is a source of great popularity, especially during a polit- ical battle. As a speaker he is fluent, his language is good. voice clear and agreeable, and manner foreible. His manifest earnestness in what he says as well as his tact as a public speaker, and his elo- quent and forceful language, makes him a most valuable campaign orator and a powerful pleader at the bar. At the Republican State Convention, held in May, 1888, Mr. Fifer was chosen as its candi- date for Governor. Ile proved a popular nominee, and the name of " Private Joe" became familiar to everyone throughout the State. Ile waged a vigorous campaign, was elected by a good majority, and in due time assumed the duties of the Chief Executive of Illinois.
TRANSPORTATION,
NE of the most important fac- tors in the business develop- ment and prosperity of a city, county or State, is its railroad communications. A retrospection of the history of Macoupm County since the ad- vent of railroad facilities, will con- vince the careful observer of the immense benefit resulting from the introduction of this essential adjunct of commercial enterprise. The fol. lowing brief sketches of the leading railroads of this section of the great commonwealth will form an interesting feature of this RECORD. It may be remarked in this connee- tion that the roads referred to are not only the im- portant corporations of Illinois, but stand among the first in the Nation.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway,
P OPULARLY known as the Santa Fe Route. The initial lines of this great system were first built from Atchison to Topeka, in 1869, and for many years the former city was the Eastern terminus of the road. The man- agement of the Santa Fe, with wonderful energy,
pushed out its lines in every direction into the young and growing State of Kansas, and in the majority of instances preceding settlement and civilization. This road was the first to penetrate across the southern part of Colorado, via Pueblo and Trinidad into New Mexico, until its lines pen- etrated the old adobe town of Santa Fe, whose cit- izens were half Spanish and half Mexican. As its course penetrated the wilderness it sometimes fol- lowed the old Santa Fe Trail, and generally not far distant at any time from the "trail" which had been made famous years before by trappers and also by the Government freighters. The mar- velous growth and development of the State of Kansas is in a great measure due to the enterprise and public spirit of the managers of the Santa Fe System. Not only did they devote their energy to the upbuilding of the road, but at great expense they maintained emigration and Colonial agents in the various countries of Europe, as well as in the Eastern, Middle and Southern States, thereby ad- vertising the State of Kansas as no other State has heretofore been done. Ils climate, its soil and great advantages to the home seeker were at times fully portrayed by the enterprise of this road- every fostering care was given to the stock and ranchmen, to the merchant, the mechanic and the manufacturer, to settle in Kansas-as a result we have here a State in the center of the Union, of boundless agricultural resources, settled by a wide
TRANSPORTATION.
awake, enterprising and prosperous people. The Santa Fe owns and operates more miles of road in Kansas than any other line, with its vast system of East and West, North and South lines reaching every important town in the State, and penetrating sixty-three counties in Kansas. The magnitude of its business is immense. Its lines beginning at the Missouri River towns in Kansas are St. Joseph, Atchi- ison, Leavenworth and Kansas City; extends south to Coffey ville, Arkansas City, Hunnewell, Caldwell, New Kiowa (thence to the Pan Handle of Texas). and north to Superior, in Nebraska; Concordia, Clay Center, Minneapolis, and other Northern Kansas cities. Its main lines and branches reach nearly every important city in the State. St. Jo- seph, on the Missouri side of the river, has a popu lation of nearly one hundred thousand, and its wholesale trade is heavy throughout the West. Atchison is a growing city of about twenty thous- and people; the Soldiers' Orphans Home of the State is located here. Leavenworth, with her thirty thousand people. is an important manufacturing center. Leavenworth was the earliest famous city of Kansas, as it was the original outfitting point for travel and traffic across the plains. The Kansas system may be described as a main east and west line, over four hundred miles in length, with branch lines extending in every direction where an area of particularly rich country, or some other special advantages invited a line of rails.
The road from Topeka, after 1869, was extended west and south, and then east to Kansas City by purchase of a line built by another company. From Kansas City, in 1887-88, the line was extended to Chicago, under the name of the Chicago, Santa Fe & California Road; in 1887, also the purchase of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Road, and the ex- tension of the Kansas lines through the Indian Territory to Texas, gave the company a line to the Gulf of Mexico. So that at the present time the Santa Fe System proper begins at Chicago, passes through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, and has for its Southern terminals Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico, and El Paso, on the Mexican frontier; and for its Western terminals San Diego and Los Angeles, on the Pacific Coast,
(San Francisco being practically a Pacific-Coast terminal, as it is reached via Mojave, over the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railway); and for its Northern terminals Chicago, St. Joseph, Mo., Superior, Neb., and Denver, the capital of Colo- rado.
Chicago to Kansas City is practically an air line, being the most straight and direct of any road between the two cities. It passes through a large number of important towns in Illinois, including Joliet, with its great steel works, and other mann- facturing interests. The next important place is Streator, a few miles south of the latter place; a branch extends to the thriving city of Pekin, on the Illinois River. From Streator the main line crosses the Illinois at Chillicothe, and extends through Peoria and Knox Counties to the beanti- ful and enterprising city of Galesburg, here it comes in competition with several lines of the Burlington System; thence running in southwest- erly direction through a rich and populous section, crossing the Mississippi at Ft. Madison, on a mag- nificent steel bridge. Here the company have established shops, that being the terminus of the two operating divisions of the road. From Ft. Madison by a spur Keokuk is reached. The line through Missouri shows very heavy construction work. made to secure what was desired in the way of distances and grades. Along the Santa Fe new towns are springing up. and new industries are be . ing developed. Twenty miles east of Kansas City the Missouri River is crossed by a steel bridge, so that the line enters Kansas City on the south side of the river. From Kansas City to Topeka the line runs on the South bank of the Kansas River: at Wilder and Holliday are points for the depart- ure of branch line-one northwest to Atchison, and the other southwest through Ottawa and South- ern Kansas, being known as the Southern Kansas division of the Santa Fe System. From Lawrence to Topeka the road is still in the Kansas Valley, through a veritable garden. Native trees of great height overhang the railway here and there, and in the spring and summer the crops look green and luxuriant. The approach to Topeka is through the long yards, and by the vast machine shops of the
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