The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 10

Author: Robson, Charles, ed
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy
Number of Pages: 770

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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

of D. D., but refused the honor as not being in accordance with the spirit and dignity of Christianity. He was united in marriage to his first wife, Adeline G. Capron, in 1829, by whom he had eight children; his eldest son is the present Mayor of Charles City, Iowa. In 1856 he was married to Mrs. Mary A. Waterhouse, of New York, and has since had three children.

practice. In 1851 he was married to Adeline Tuttle, of Fayette county, Indiana, and in 1874 to Nellie R. Man- love, of Indianapolis, Indiana.

UNCAN, HON. JOSEPH, Soldier, Statesman, Member of Congress, and Governor of Illinois, was born, February, 1794, at Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was the youngest son of Major Joseph Duncan, a native of Virginia, who removed to Kentucky at an early period of its settlement, where he died during the childhood of his youngest son. The latter was, in consequence of this event, called at a very tender age to share with his widowed mother the responsibilities of her bercaved family. In this situation he was distinguished for firmness and steadiness of purpose beyond his years, and for those kind, deep, and generous social affections which characterized his whole life. Thus his life passed on with little of incident to give it peculiarity, other than his superior skill in all the athletic sports of boyhood, until he reached the age of sixteen. At this period he received a commission in the United States army, in which he remained until the close of the last war with Great Britain. Notwithstanding his extreme youth, he discharged the duty of a soldier with such vigor and fidelity as to merit and receive through the remainder of his life the thanks of his country. It were enough for his military reputation to name him as one of the intrepid band of between one and two hundred men, who, in the battle of Sandusky, repulscd with tremendous havoc the combined British and Indian forces, amounting to ten times their own number, and as having commanded, in that splendid affair, not- withstanding his youth, a post of pre-eminent responsi- bility. For the great services performed on this occasion his grateful country conferred on him, and on each of his associates in the command, a gold-mounted sword as a testimonial to them, and their children after them, that their country is not unmindful of those who nobly peril their lives in her defence. At another time, with a handful of men under his command, he penetrated one hundred and fifty miles into the interior of upper Canada, and there, enduring all the rigors of a northern winter, watched the movements of the enemy within twenty miles of his camp, and crossed Lake Erie from Malden to Sandusky in an "open yawl, accompanied by only three men. Again, he made a journey of fifty miles through forests, across streams, and amidst hostile Indians, where an Indian guide refused to accompany him, in order to execute the orders of his superiors in command. When peace was declared he re- tired from the army and for a time devoted himself to agricultural pursuits in his native State. In 1818 he re- moved to Jackson county, Illinois ; and so highly was his military character esteemed that he early received the ap-

EA, ROBERT L., M. D., was born in Rock- bridge county, Virginia, July Ist, IS27. He is the son of Robert and Patsy (Adams) Rea. His early education was such as the imperfect schools of his native place afforded. When about seven- teen years of age he removed with his family to Fayette county, Indiana, and was for the two succeeding years engaged in farming. This life not being congenial to his tastes, and having ambition to rise in the world, he received an appointment as district school teacher through the personal influence of his life-long friend Absalom Man- love. This vocation he followed for five years, during which time the teacher was also the scholar, using his vacations for pursuing his own studies at a neighboring academy ; this period being the commencement of some new study that was finished during the ensuing session of his school. Thus, by close application and wholly from the fruits of his own labor, he acquired his cducation and fitted himself for the practice of medicine, having chosen this profession during his years of teaching, and pursuing the study of it under the tutorship of Dr. W. P. Kitchen. He began practice on September 17th, 1851, at Oxford, Butler county, Ohio, and four years later, having passed the regular course in the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincin- nati, he graduated therefrom in March, 1855. Thereupon he was chosen by the faculty, on a competitive examina- tion, as Resident Physician to the Commercial Hospital of that city, where he remained one year. At the same time he was elected to the position of Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical College of Ohio. This connection he con- tinued until the spring of 1857, when he returned to Oxford, his former field of practice. During his residence here he delivered annual courses of lectures on anatomy and physi- ology at the Western Female Seminary, of which he was a trustee. In 1859 he removed to Chicago and was ap- pointed Professor of Anatomy in the Rush Medical College of that city, delivering his first course in the session of 1859-60. Dr. Rea has been a diligent practitioner of his profession, and is acknowledged to be one of the most suc- cessful and thorough teachers of anatomy in America. During his long connection with the Rush Medical College -some sixteen years-he has never failed to lecture at the appointed hour (a fact of special pride to him), notwith- standing the demands and labors of a large and lucrative | pointment of Major-General of the Militia; and he rendered

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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

important military service, in the spring of IS31, in the first | the service in Illinois on account of the vast number of outbreak of the " Black Hawk war." In 1823 he was elected to the Senate of Illinois from Jackson county for four years. The part of his labors in that body from which he derived the most satisfaction was the bill he introduced, and which was passed, to establish a system of common schools for the State. Though the law soon became un- popular and was repealed, it was a noble conception and re- flected a lasting honor on the name of its originator. In 1826, one year before the expiration of his term, he was elected as the only representative of the State in the United States Congress, and was re-elected constantly until 1834. One year prior to the expiration of his last Congressional term he was elected Governor of Illinois. During all the political storms that raged throughout the State and Nation he enjoyed the reputation of being an honest man. He was neither selfish nor malignant ; and was not the personal enemy of his political opponents, nor did he bear them aught of malice. His character as a public man was marked by enthusiastic patriotism, an intuitive and generally accu- rate discernment of the character and motives of those around him, a Napoleon-like rapidity in arranging his plans, and a high degree of energy in their execution. He exer- cised grea: honesty of purpose in the formation of his opinions, and a bold and manly frankness in avowing and advocating them. Attachment to the cause of education marked the whole course of his life, both as a citizen and as a public man ; and to it he freely and liberally contributed his time, money, personal services and official influence. To Illinois College his services were most valuable, his donations were liberal, and the amount of time and personal attention which he gratuitously devoted to the object were probably greater than the public were aware of. From 1835 until his death he was a member of its Board of Trustees, and of the Prudential Committee, by which the details of the business of the board are generally transacted. HIe was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was ever distinguished for his reverential deportment in public wor- ship, and for those marks of respect and kindness which he was accustomed to bestow on the ministers of religion. He was a friend to universal humanity. His affections were limited by no sectional, sectarian or party lines ; but were ready to embrace true worth, and honor true virtue where- ever found. He died January 15th, 1844, after a short illness, leaving a wife, Two sons had died in infancy.

EEM, GENERAL MARTIN, Lawyer and Sol- dier, was born, November 14th, 1843, of German parents, in castern Pennsylvania, and when but two years of age removed with the family to Alton, Illinois, and was residing there when the war of the Rebellion broke out. He was only in his eighteenth year when President Lincoln made his first call for 75,000 men ; and it was impossible for him to enter

more matured men who desired to enlist ; but he was ad- mitted into the service in Missouri, entering under that call the 4th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, which was the first regiment of Missouri troops to organize. While with that command he took part in the capture of Camp Jackson, under General Nathaniel Lyon, in St. Louis, May, IS61. He re-enlisted for three years in the 13th Missouri Volun- teer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Crafts J. Wright, and participated in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in the winter of 1861-2. He was one of the " forlorn hope " that stormed the heights of the latter fort under General Charles F. Smith on the left. He was also at the taking of Nashville ; the battle of Shiloh; the siege and battle of Corinth; the battles of Iuka, Hatchie, Parker's Cross Roads, Jenkins' Ferry, the Siege of Vicksburg, and at several of the battles surrounding that stronghold. He was attached to that division of the army which captured Little Rock, and moved with that corps, under General Steele, to join General Banks in the disastrous Red River campaign. He participated in the severe fighting which resulted in such heavy losses of men and munitions to Gen- eral Steele, when the latter was compelled to fall back upon his base at Little Rock. General Beem was actively engaged throughout the war, and was wounded several times. At the battle of Shiloh, when yet a boy of eighteen, he received his first promotion, being made a Captain on the field, receiving the thanks of General Sherman in per- son and a silver medal, in seizing a stand of colors and moving forward alone under a deadly fire in order to rally the wavering lines. Ninc of the color-guard of ten in at- tempting to follow him were shot within nine minutes, and the remaining member was so crippled that he was obliged to fall behind. For this exploit, and for other gallant and meritorious services during the Civil War, he was brevetted at its close by the President from the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel to that of Brigadier-General. Colonel C. J. Wright, in a letter dated December 19th, 1874, addressed to his friend and classmate, Professor A. E. Church, of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and accompanying the camp flag which General Beem had saved-and which he desired might find a place in the " trophy room " of that institution-thus alludes to the incident already briefly nar- rated : " We lost eighty-nine killed and wounded in about an hour, and all of them my field and staff officers. Of the killed, while advancing the colors, was the color-sergeant, but ere he reached the ground the colors were seized and advanced by the young soldier-boy (for boy he was, scarcely eighteen) whom I had left in camp. Ile presented to my eye a strange appearance, being much enlarged in size. At the first opportunity I inquired what was the matter, when I ascertained that he had wrapped around him the camp flag I had left behind. The retreating troops had passed through my camp disorganized. Those I had left, or nearly all, ran for the river. Cannon balls were flying,

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

and one passed through the flag. That the flag might not get into the hands of our cnemies the young man hauled it down, undressed himself, wrapped it around his body, dressed himself in larger garments, and made his way to me in line of battle, where he arrived in the thick of the fight, and in time to save the regimental flag. For these two heroic deeds I had the young soldier-boy commissioned as an officer." After the war he was assigned to duty on the frontier, where he fought Indians for about a year, ren- dering good service and gaining additional military honors. As a member and Judge-Advocate of courts-martial he was enabled at times during the war to prosecute the study of the law, his chosen profession, and was admitted to practice at the bar in 1367. During the impeachment trial of President Johnson, and the session of Congress following, he was engaged as a reporter for several leading papers, and followed up his law studies at the Columbian Law Col- lege in Washington, graduating subsequently in the Law Department of the Chicago University, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws under Judge Ilenry Booth. Ile located in that city for the practice of his profession, and is associated with R. II. Forrester and E. A. Gibbs, under the firm-name of Forrester, Beem & Gibbs. As an attorney and counsellor-at-law he gives promise of great success. As a public speaker he is easy, fluent, and when occasion requires very forcible and cloquent. Ilis manner is popular, and is of great help to him before juries and public assemblies. In politics he has ever been an ardent Republican, and in the campaign of 1868 took the stump for the Union cause in the State of Arkansas, being the only speaker from the outside of that State who volunteercd to take part in that hazardous canvass. There he ran the gauntlet of the " Ku-Klux Klans," being frequently threat- ened and fired upon by them for attempting to speak. How- ever, he swept over the whole State, and did such service as to call forth the unanimous thanks of the National Re- publican Central Committee. In the recent Congressional election an earnest effort was made to induce him to enter the political arena as a candidate for Congress, but he per- sistently declined. Ile has always made politics subordi- nate to his profession, and does not seek nor wish to lcave his present lucrative and constantly-increasing practice for any position.

EED, CORYDON, Lawyer and President of the Phoenix Savings, Loan and Trust Company of Bloomington, Illinois, was born, April 25th, 1822, in Livingston county, New York, raised and educated in Cayuga county. When he was nine years old his mother died, and as the family was a large one, he being one of eight children, an uncle took charge of him, and with him he lived until he was eighteen years of age. For nine years did he labor on the farm, and only had two months' schooling in each year. When his

uncle could not employ him profitably ne was hired out to the neighbors. Ilis uncle having died, he was left to hin- self, working by the month on a farm; in the course of three years he saved about $150. He next rented a farm, but after two years, not finding it profitable, removed to Wyoming county, where he remained until 1850. Hc then removed West, and located at Bloomington, Illinois, having a cash capital of $300 gold. Here his father had resided for some time, being the owner of a section of land. In the spring of 1851 he purchased a lot, erected a house and sold it at considerable profit, this operation being the foundation- stone of his after success in life. He continued in this line of operations for three years, until he had increased his capital to $7000. Hc next turned his attention to merchan- dising, and managed to lose $5000 of his hard-earned mcans. Feeling that this was not his forte, he resumed his former pursuit of building. Being anxious to possess a farm, he purchased 2700 acres of land on the line of the Chicago and Alton Railway, on a portion of which he sub- sequently laid out a town, and named it " Cayuga," after the county of his boyhood. His next move was to open a real estate and land office, which he carried on very suc- cessfully for several years, increasing his means very ma- terially, though he lost heavily by an unwise venture in Michigan " pine lands," so called, the pine proving to be only hemlock. His next investment was at Shirley, six miles south of Bloomington, where he erected a handsome brick residence at a cost of $10,000 ; also a grain warehouse, two storcs and some twelve dwellings, with post and tele- graph offices. The great financial panic of 1857 affected him so severely that he was compelled to sacrifice almost the entirety of this property, managing only to save his home- stead'of about sixty acres. This latter parcel of land he sold in 1861 for $31,000, and then removed to Chicago, where he became a grain speculator, remaining there some two years or more; but he did not realize much from his change of base. Ile went to Washington, District of Co- lumbia, towards the close of 1863, and soon thereafter be- came interested in stock speculations, gaining $40,000 during that winter; but unfortunately he joined a " ring " which had been formed to corner a certain stock. The combination was not strong enough to carry the heavy load, and the result was that he lost all his previous gains, and some $10,000 more. After a brief sojourn at the sea-shore he returned to Illinois, but only to proceed thence to Mem- phis, where he engaged in cotton speculations; but neither gained nor lost in these ventures. In April, 1864, he finally returned to Bloomington and resumed his real estate and land office, which after operating for five years netted him a gain of $50,000. He now procured the charter of the " Phoenix Savings, Loan and Trust Company," and com- menced a banking business on his own account. This he did alone for six months; at the expiration of that time he asso- ciated with him S. W. Capen & Son, to whom he sold a one- half interest of the stock and the banking business, and

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

in which he still continues to be interested. The business | a pamphlet against capital punishment; and he also con- has proved reasonably successful. In addition to this, he has succeeded in inducing Eastern capitalists to place large sums of money in the hands of the firm to be loaned out on Illinois farms, and up to the present year (1875) he has judiciously managed for his patrons in the East some five millions of dollars. As can be imagined, he is a restless, active, energetic man ; he is withal very public spirited, and has done very much to promote the interests of Bloomington and McLean county : especially in the former, where, be- lieving that the city needed a good hotel, he has recently erected a handsome edifice for that purpose at a cost of $60,000, although as an investment it can hardly be con- sidered a profitable one. He was married in 1847 to Pamelia D). Macomber, of Wyoming county, New York, and has one daughter.

OHLER, REV. KAUFMANN, PH. D., Jewish Rabbi, was born, May 10th, 1843, in Fuerth, Bavaria, and is the eldest son of Moritz Kohler, a clothier of that place, who himself had been educated in a religious school. As he highly ap- preciated a religious education he directed the training of his son in the same channel. While very young he was taught Hebrew, and when but six years old trans- lated the Pentateuch into German. He scarcely realized the pleasures of free and joyous childhood, his attention being so early and completely turned to reading and study. When ten years old he was sent to a theological school at Hlasfurt, in Bavaria, where he remained for three years, when the school in a body was transferred to Wurzburg. At the latter place he abode one year, and was then trans- ferred to a higher theological school to engage in the pur- suit of linguistic studies at Mayence, on the Rhine, where he remained three and a half years. He subsequently went to Altona, near Hamburg, and studied for two years under Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger, a famous Talmudist scholar. Thence he repaired to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he attended the gymnasium or college, graduating at the end of two years; it being necessary to be a graduate of some gym- nasium before a student can enter either of the universities. He next attended the University of Munich for one year; after which he went to the University of Berlin, where he studied mythology under Professor Steinthol ; and oriental- ism and Biblical exegesis under Professor Roediger. He here completed his studies, and at the end of two and a half years graduated ; his thesis or dissertation was on " The Blessing of Jacob to his twelve Sons; " adducing proof that it was not written until the time of " The Judges." The radical ideas expressed therein laid obstacles in the way of his thcological career. He was consequently led to turn his attention to still further studies with a view to filling a pro- fessorship of philology. He next went to the University of Leipsie, where he studied for a year. While there he wrote

tributed articles for Dr. Geiger's Quarterly on " Jewish Theology." It was through this latter gentleman that he was led to resume his theological carecr, and by his agency that he received a call to America from a congregation at Detroit, Michigan. He accepted the same, and reached that city in August, 1869. In 1871 he received a call to become the pastor of a congregation in Chicago. When he arrived in that city he found the edifice had been destroyed by the Great Fire. The congregation, however, assembled and worshipped in a public hall until the completion of their temple. He was the first Rabbi in America to intro- duce successfully among his people a religions service on Sunday, in addition to the regular Sabbath worship on Satur- day. His training and education were strictly in the ortho- dox Jewish faith ; and it was not until pursuing his later studies in the universities that his mind was led to a wider field and more liberal and advanced views. While a resi- dent of Leipsic he became a member of the German Ori- ental Society. Since his arrival in the United States he has been a contributor to The Jewish Times, of New York, and has written for the Chicago press various articles upon religion, science, and oriental discoveries. In 1874 he delivered an essay on " Myth and Miracles " before the Literary Club of Chicago. There are probably but few men in the country whose scholarship has been acquired and ripened under such unsurpassed advantages ; whose studies comprehend such steady and prolonged application, extend- ing through a period of over sixteen years, and courses at the three greatest universities of Continental Europe. He was married in August, 1870, to the daughter of Rev. Dr. Einhorn, of New York, the leader of Jewish reform in America.

ANN, SYLVESTER S., Merchant, was born, May 3Ist, 1826, in Java, Wyoming county, New York, and is a son of James and Lucy (Sherman) Mann. His father was a hotel-keeper in good circum- stances, and bestowed upon his children the ad- vantages of a good education. In 1844 the family removed to Illinois, and located at Burlington, in Kane county, where his father purchased a tract of about 1200 acres of land, and for two years Sylvester was employed with his brother in farm labor. He then opened a store in Burlington, with a partner in business, the firm-name being Mann & Brown, and remained there until 1866, during which time, besides conducting his farm and a successful mercantile enterprise, he occupied several prominent posi- tions. In 1856 he was elected Supervisor of the town, and | held the office for seven years. In 1863-4 he was a repre- sentative to the State Legislature, and was one of the Re- publican members of that body who was active and instru- mental with his associates in bringing about the disagreement between the House and Senate, which enabled Governor

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

Yates to prorogue that General Assembly. He was re- elected, and served in that body in 1865-66. In the autumn of the latter year he removed to Elgin, and was Revenue Collector of the Second District of Illinois for about a year. In 1873 he was a third time elected to the Legislature, where, as in previous terms, he acquitted him- self to the complete satisfaction of his constituents. He has ever been an active promoter of the interests of the Republican party, and instrumental in securing the passage of many beneficial and local measures. Among these was the incorporation and location of the Northern Illinois In- sane Asylum, which, through his untiring industry and per- severance, was located at Elgin. Although a resident of that city, he still retains his farm and his interest in the store at Burlington, which is under the immediate charge of his brother; and his father continues to reside at the last-named place, having reached the ripe age of eighty-two years. Sylvester S. Mann is yet young, in the vigor of manhood, and his history doubtless lies largely in the future ; yet, in his life thus far, he has been a diligent laborer in every matter, whether public or private. With untiring patience he combines a determination to succeed in what- ever he undertakes. He has a bold and progressive spirit, well balanced by sound judgment ; and has shown himself competent and worthy in every position he has occupied ; making an honorable reputation as a business man, a poli- tician or a citizen. IIe resides on Division street, Elgin, in one of the finest messuages in the city. He was married in 1850 to Caroline Young, and is surrounded by a pleasing family of four children.

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 10

Author: Robson, Charles, ed Publication date: 1875 Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy Number of Pages: 770

Author: Robson, Charles, ed
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy
Number of Pages: 770