USA > Illinois > Portrait and biographies of the governors of Illinois and of the residents of the United States > Part 14
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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, 1981. 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- lon was chosen to succeed him. This promoted Lieutenant-Governor John M. Hamilton to the Gov- erworship. Senator Cullom's term in the United States Senate will expire March 4, 1889.
As a practitioner oflaw 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. If:, 1855, to Miss Hannah Fisher, by whom he had two daughters; and the second time May 5, 1863, to Julia Fisher. Mrs. C is a member of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, with which religious body Mr. C. is also in sympathy.
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Johnlo amilton
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GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.
John M. Hamilton.
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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.
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 1 863-4 he
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, , attended an academy at Henry, Marshall County,
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JOHN MARSHALL HAMILTON.
and in the following May he again enlisted, for the fourth time, when he was placed in the 141st Iil. 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 Sonthwestern 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 anspices 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 Bloomington, he entered the law office of Weldon, Tipton & Benjamin, of that city. Each member of this firm has since been distinguished as a Judge. Admitted to the Bar in May, 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 broken 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.
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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 put " 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 co much opposition that the bill was several times " laid on the table." Also, this session authorized the location and establishment of a southern peni- 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.
In May, 1880, Mr. Hamilton was nominated on the Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor, his principal competitors before the Convention being Hon. Wm. A. James, ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Judge Robert Bell, of Wabash County, 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 principal 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 Jan. 30, 1885, when the great favorite "Dick " Oglesby was inaugurated.
GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.
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Joseph DO. Fifer.
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JOSEPH WILSON FIFER. This distinguished gentleman was 9 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. Ilis 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.
Joseph attended school for a while in Virgina, but it was not a good school, and when his father removed to the West, in 1857, Joseph had not ad- vaneed 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 Virgina, but remained only a short time, as during the same year Mr. Fifer eame to Illinois. He settled in MeLean County and started a briekyard. Here Joseph and his brothers were put to work. The elder Mr. Fifer soon bought a farm near Bloomington and began life as an agriculturist. Here Joe worked and attended the neighboring school. Ile alternated farm-work, and briek-laying, going to the district 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 out 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. Ile traveled a dozen miles barefoot, in company with his brother George, and enlisted in Company C, Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, he being then twenty years old. In a few days, the regiment was sent to Camp Butler. and then over into Missouri, and saw some vigor- ous service there. After a second time helping to chase Price out of Missouri, the Thirty-third Regi-
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JOSEPH W. FIFER.
ment went down to Milliken's Bend, and for several weeks "Private Joe" worked on Grant's famous diteh. The regiment then joined the forces oper- ating 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 embank- ment and went into the city with the vanguard of Union soldiers.
The next day, July 5, the Thirty-third 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, terribly wounded. He was loading his gun, when a minie-ball struck him and passed entirely through his body. He was regarded as mortally wounded. Ilis brother, George, who had been made a Lieutenant, proved to be the means of say- ing his life. The Surgeon told him that unless he had ice his brother could not live. It was fifty miles to the nearest point where ice could be obtained, and the roads were rough. A comrade, a McLean County man, who had been wounded, offered to make the trip. An ambulance was secured and the brother soldier started on the journey. He re- turned with the ice, but the trip, owing to the roughness of the road, was very hard on him. Af- ter a few months' careful nursing, Mr. Fifer was able to come home. The Thirty-third 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 Oct- ober, 1864, having been in the service three years and two months.
"Private Joe" came out of the army a tall, tan- ned, and awkward young man 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. He en-
tered Wesleyan University January 1, 1865. He was not a brilliant student, being neither at the head nor at the foot of his class. He was in great earnest, however, 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. Ile had previously read law a little, and as he continued to work hard, with the spur of poverty and prompt- ings of ambition ever with him, he was ready to hang out his professional shingie in 1869. Being trustworthy, he soon gathered about him some in- fluential friends. In 1871 he was elected Corpora- tion Counsel of Bloomington. In 1872 he was elected State's Attorney of McLean County. This otlice he held eight years, when he took his seat in the State Senate. He served for four years. His ability to perform abundance of hard work made him a most valued member of the Legislature.
Mr. Fifer was married in 1870 to Gertic, daugh- ter of William .J. Lewis, of Bloomington. Mr. Fifer is six feet in height and is spare, weighing only one hundred and fifty pounds. He has a swarthy com- plexion, keen black eyes, quick movement, and pos- sesses a frank and sympathetic nature, and natur- lly makes friends wherever he goes. During the late gubernatorial campaign his visits throughout the State proved a great power in his behalf. His 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 political battle. As a speaker he is fluent, his lan- guage is good. voice clear and agreeable, and man- ner foreible. His manifest earnestness in what he says, as well as his tact as a public speaker, and his eloquent and forceful language, make 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 candidate for Governor. Hle proved a popular nominee, and the name of "Private Joe" became familiar to everyone throughout the State. He waged a vigorous campaign, was elected by a good majority, and in due time assumed the duties of the Chief Executive of Illinois.
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for o. Cetrad
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GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.
John P. Altgeld.
OIIN P. ALTGELD, the present Governor of Illinois, is a native 39 of Prussia, born in 1848. Shortly after his birth his parents emi- grated to America, locating on a farm near Mansfield, Ohio. When but a mere lad, young Altgeld had to walk from the farm to Mansfield with butter, eggs and garden produce, which he peddled from house to house. About 1856, his parents moved to the city of Mansfield, and for a time our subject was engaged morning and evening in driv- ing cattle to and from the pas- ture, a distance of eight miles. When fourteen years of age he hired out as a farm hand, and con- tinued in that avocation the greater part of his time until he was sixteen years of age, when he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Sixty- fourth Ohio Infantry, and served until the elose of the war. On being mustered in, the regiment was sent to Washington and was actively engaged in the various campaigns in and around that city until the surrender of Lee. In the fall of 1864, young Altgeld was taken sick, while with hisregi- ment in the front, and the surgeon desired to send him to a hospital in Washington; but he asked to
be allowed to remain with the regiment, and soon recovering from his sickness was actively engaged until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, in the spring of 1865. The succeeding summer he worked with his father on a farm, during which time he became connected with the Sunday-school and was given charge 2 the Bible elass. Before entering the army he had but very limited educational advantages, having attended school but a part of two summers and one winter. Ile had at home, however, studied the German language and had become familiar with some German authors. Determining to fit himself for a useful life, he resolved to attend a select school at Lexington, Ohio, and in a little eight-by-ten room, meagrely furnished, he kept "bachelor's hall," and in time was so far advanced that he secured a certificate as teacher, and for two years was engaged in that profession. At the end of that time he left home and traveled exten- sively over the country, working at odd jobs, un- til he finally reached Savannah, Mo., where he en- tered a law office, and in 1870 was admitted to the Bar. In the fall of 1872, he ran as I rosecuting Attorney for Andrews County, Mo., and was de- feated by four votes. Ile ran again in 1874 and was elected. But life in the small town of Savan- nah was a little too monotonons for him, and he determined to locate in Chicago. In October,
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JOIIN P. ALTGELD.
1875, he resigned the office of Prosecuting Attor- ney, moved to Chicago, and at once commenced the practice of law. For some years after he had but little to do with politics, confining himself to his practice and dealing in real estate. One year after his arrival in Chicago he found himself with- out a dollar, and in debt some $400. By a streak of good Inck, as it might be termed, he won a case in court, from which he received a fee of $900, and after paying his debt he had $500 left, which he invested in real estate. This venture proved a successful one, and from that time on the profits of one transaction were invested in others, and to-day he is numbered among the millionaire resi- dents of the great metropolis of the West.
In 1884, Mr. Altgeld was nominated for Con- gress, but was defeated by three thousand votes. In 1886, he was nominated and elected Judge of the Superior Court of Cook County. Ilis services as Judge were such as to commend him to the peo- ple. Early in the year 1892, by the solicitation of
many friends, he announced himself as a candi- date for Governor. At the convention held April 27, he received the nomination and at once entered upon an active canvass. Alone, he traveled all over the entire State, and visited and consulted with the leading politicians of every section. Ile made few public speeches, however, until near the elose of the campaign, but it was very evident that he was master of the situation at all times. When the votes were counted at the close of election day, it was found that he had a majority of the votes, and so became the first Democratic Governor of Illinois since 1856.
Born in poverty, alone, single-handed and un- aided, he faced the world, and with a determina- tion to succeed, lie pressed forward, until to-day he has a National reputation, and is the envied of many. The lesson of his life is worthy of careful study by the young, and shows what can be done by one who has the desire in his heart to attain a front rank among the noted men of the country.
CHRISTIAN COUNTY
ILLINOIS.
INTRODUCTORY.
HE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to per- petuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age and the duty that men of the pres- ent time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In bio- graphical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- maining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time.
To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to perserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people
to perpetuate the memory of their achievements The erection of the great obelisks were for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea- to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the ex- treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- ters of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. ( The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- bling into dust.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost un- limited in extent and perpetual in its action ; and this is through the art of printing.
To the present generation, however, we are in- debted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.
The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his chil- dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme. tery will crumble into dust and pass away ; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.
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