The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 21

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

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he returned to Bowling Green, and entered the office of the Hon. Joseph R. Underwood, to assist the latter in his pro- fessional engagements, and continued with him at a small salary until September, 1826, when he removed to Illinois, and located at Jacksonville, where he has ever since re- sided. During his first winter there he taught school, and in the spring and fall of 1827 he attended all the courts in the first judicial circuit, composed of nine counties, and was fortunate enough to find some clients. In the summer of 1827 he volunteered as a private in the mounted militia, called out by Governor Edwards to protect the miners and settlers of Jo Daviess county against threatened incursions of the Winnebago Indians. He was appointed Quarter- master-Sergeant, and ultimately filled the post of Conmis- sary also to the troops. During the winter of 1828-29 he attended the Legislature, then sitting at Vandalia, and he reported the proceedings for the only newspaper printed at the seat of government. During this same session the first judicial circuit was divided, and a new circuit was created north of the Illinois river. He received the appointment of State Attorney, and attended the courts thereof in 1829, when he resigned. On March 25th, 1830, he was married to Catharine Scott, of Morgan county, Illinois, a native of Litchfield, New York. In 1831 he was appointed School Commissioner of Morgan county, by which he was authorized to sell the school lands of the several townships, and secure the money arising from the sales. He resigned this office early in 1835. He participated in the Black Hawk war, first in the spring of 1831, in the brigade under General Joseph Duncan, and a year later under General Samuel Whitesides, and filled the position of Quartermaster and Commissary on both of those occasions. He was elected to the State Senate for four years, and took his seat in De- cember, 1834. That body then consisted of twenty-four members, of whom but two others-Cyrus Edwards of Alton, and Richard Taylor of Chicago-beside himself survive. The leading question pending during that winter was the construction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, and after some time had been passed in discussing it, a loan of $500,000 was authorized, though subsequent legislation was required to effect this. Beside several other bills of minor importance, Senator Thomas was the author of the follow- ing general laws : 1. The seven years' limitation law in re- gard to actions and suits against parties having possession of lands with a connected title in law or equity. 2. The act (and the first on that subject) authorizing religious societies to hold in perpetuity ground whereon to build houses of worship, and to bury the dead. 3. The act vesting trustees of incorporated towns or cities with power to declare what should be considered nuisances, and to pro- vide for their removal or abatement. 4. The act to provide for the distribution and application of the interest on the school, college, and seminary funds. 5. The act to pro- vide for the security of the school funds. At this session

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

provision was made for the election of State attorneys by | nearly a year previous to the meeting of the Legislature in the Legislature, which he opposed as being unconstitutional, these offices having been previously filled by the Governor and Senate. The Legislature convened again, under the call of the Governor, in December, IS35, the chief objects being to provide for work on the. canal, and for apportioning the representation for the succeeding five years. At the session of 1836-37, Senator Thomas was appointed Chair- man of the Committee on the Canal and Canal Lands, and so continued until he left the Senate in March, IS39. Dur- ing this session (of 1836-37) an effort was made to change the canal from Ottowa to Joliet to a slack-water navigation, but it did not succeed. He made a report against the change and in favor of the " deep cut." He prepared all the bills for acts relating to the canal and canal lands that were

passed from December, IS36, to March, IS39. He was op-

posed to the system of internal improvement adopted in 1836-37. He prepared and introduced the bill for the "Act to amend the several laws in relation to Common Schools," approved March 4th, 1837, by which, for the first time, pro- vision was made for the organization of a system of common schools throughout the State. In the session of 1838-39 his time was mostly occupied in preparing and acting upon bills relating to the canal. At this session an act was passed incorporating the Deaf and Dumb Institution, of which he was made one of the trustees, and was continued as a member of the board until 1869, when he was ap- pointed a member of the Board of State Charities, which position, owing to infirmity, he resigned during the follow- ing summer. In March, 1839, he was elected Circuit Judge

of the First Judicial Circuit by the Legislature.

He was

elected to the lower branch of the State Legislature in 1846.

During the first week of the session of 1846-47 hc proposed and introduced a bill for an act incorporating a Retreat for the Insane-the first movement in the Legislature on that subject-with provisions for the care of that unfortunate class. This bill passed the House, and had been read and

referred to a' committee in the Senate, when Miss Dix ar- rived at the seat of government, on her mission to petition the Legislature to make provision for the care of the insane of the State. She objected to his bill because it made no appropriation of funds; and she, with the committee, de- cided to propose and introduce a new bill in the Senate.

Accordingly, with the assistance of Miss Dix, the Hon.

Charles Constable, of the Senate, prepared the bill, which

was finally passed ; and Judge Thomas was made a trustee

of the institution. When Miss Dix first reached Spring-

field, he was the only member of the Legislature with whom

she had any acquaintance ; he therefore introduced her to the members. He remained a trustee of this Retreat until

after the purchase of the site and the walls of the building

were ready for the reception of the roof, when he resigned.

Ile was elected and served as a delegate in the Constitil-

January, IS49; and he was the author of the bill creating and incorporating the Institution for the Blind, which was passed without a change. He prepared the bill which was enacted in March, IS45, incorporating the Sangamon & Morgan Railroad Company, and authorizing the sale to that company of the railroad from Springfield to the Illinois river. He also prepared and secured the passage of the acts under which the road was extended eastward from Springfield to the State line. He was a member of the Legislature during the session of IS51-52, and the subse- quent called session. He was charged with being the au- thor of the bill for the "Act to establish a General System of Banking," passed in IS51; but the charge was false. At the request of the committee he revised the bill, arranged the sections, and proposed several amendments, all of which were adopted. He prepared all the bills required, at this session, in relation to the State institutions located at Jack- sonville. At the subsequent called session he prepared the bill for the act providing for obtaining the right of way for roads, which was passed without any substantial change. During these two sessions he was placed on numerous com- mittees. Upon most of them he acted, and his time was constantly occupied in reading bills, and in preparing, sug- gesting and reporting amendments. He uniformly opposed special legislation, especially acts authorizing executors, ad- ministrators and guardians to sell real estate of infants, acts granting divorces, granting ferry licenses, and acts for all purposes that could be compassed by application to the courts. The present " Illinois Female College " was origin- ally incorporated as " The Illinois Annual Conference Female Academy," intended to be established and sustained by the voluntary contributions of the preachers, members and friends of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Hc was appointed one of the trustees and contributed very liberally towards the same. He continued a trustee until the in- stitution was changed to a college, and until a large debt had been contracted (for which the trustees were personally responsible) in enlarging the building and providing board- ing and rooms for pupils coming from distant points. As all of his time was required in attending to private and public engagements, he proposed to resign his place as trustee ; and to avoid the implication that this proposition was with a view to escape responsibility for liabilities, he advanced $1000 to the board, which was supposed to be a liberal part in case the trustees should be required to meet the liabilities out of their private mcans. In 1861 the west wing was burned, and this so reduced the capacity of the building to accommodate boarders, that no revenuc could be expected from that source; and therefore the trustecs decided at once to mect the indebtedness, which amounted to over $30,000, or to abandon the college. IIe now paid what was admitted to be more than his pro rata part of the amount ; and it was said that, but for his liberality, the debt

tional Convention of 1847. He was one of the parties who paid the expenses of maintaining a School for the Blind for ! could not have been paid. Although this may be true, the

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

same remark would apply to several of the preachers, who paid as much if not more than he did, in proportion to their means. Following the payment of this indebtedness, he was one of several who contributed about $6000 for rebuild- ing the west wing. Ile then insured the building for $5000, and the trustees did the same for $30,000. In less than three years the main building was burned. He charged the institution the cost of the insurance, and gave the col- lege the balance of what was paid him on his policy. In addition he donated $1000 to pay for heating the main building with steam, which being rebuilt, he again insured it, and in less than two years it met a similar fate. He donated, as in the first instance, the balance accruing to him, amounting together to about $7000, but has not re-insured since the rebuilding of the main edifice. He proposed to resign, in 1874, his position as trustee, but the Conference were unwilling to accept. His term of office expires in IS75, and he has determined not to accept a re-appointment. In the spring of 1861 ,he was appointed by the Governor and Senate a member of the Board of Army Auditors. In the following summer he was deputed to go to Washington to obtain funds from the United States to pay war accounts, and succeeded in obtaining $450,000. He had the accounts in such form that Secretary Chase, without occupying more than twenty minutes' time, gave the order for the money. On applying at the Treasurer's office, he discovered that the Treasury notes which he expected to receive were not printed, and twenty days elapsed before they were delivered to him. He continued in the office of Auditor until the spring of 1862, when he resigned, having examined up- wards of $2,000,000 of accounts.

OBBINS, JOSEPHI, M. D., was born in Leominster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, September 12th, 1834. Ilis father, Gilman Robbins, belonged to an old Massachusetts family, prominent during the Revolutionary times and troubles. His mother, Rebecca Dunster, was also a native of the same State. His earlier education was acquired in the home circle, and in 1858, having decided to embrace the me- dical profession, he removed to the West, and located himself at Quincy, Illinois, where he read medicine under the supervision and able guidance of Dr. John Parsons. Subsequently returning to the East, he matriculated at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated from that institution in March, 1861. Returning thence to Quincy, he immediately commenced the active practice of his profession, and since has been constantly en- gged in attending to the many duties attendant on an ex- tensive and constantly increasing business. He is an effi- cient and esteemed member of the County and State Medical Societies ; also of the American Medical Associa- tion and the Pathological Society. He is a zealous and

prominent colleague of the Masonic Order, and is the present Deputy Grand Master of the State of Illinois. A skilful practitioner, and one well versed both in the theory and practice of the medical science, he possesses the respect and esteem of the entire community. He was married in 1836 to Louise A. Norris, formerly a resident of the State of Massachusetts.

WING, WILLIAM G., Lawyer, was born in McLean county, Illinois, May 11th, 1839. His parents are John W. Ewing and Maria M. (Stevenson) Ewing. He was educated at the Illinois Wesleyan University, which is located at Bloomington. After leaving that institution he became engaged in teaching school in Kentucky, and at the same time commenced reading law. In 1858, deciding to embrace the legal profession, he entered the law office of Robert E. Williams, then a talented and leading prac- titioner of that section. After the completion of his allotted term of probation, he was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1860. He then commenced the active practice of his profession in the office of his former preceptor, where he remained for a period of about one year. Later, he re- moved to Woodford county, Illinois, where he was pro- fessionally occupied during the ensuing eighteen months. In the fall of 1863 he established himself at Quincy, where he has since remained, the possessor of an extensive and remunerative clientage, and also of the confidence and esteem of the entire community. In 1865 he was elected Attorney for the town of Quincy, and in 1868 was elected State's Attorney for the district comprising the counties of Adams and Hancock. In 1872 he was re-elected on the Democratic ticket to the latter office, which, however, now comprises Adams county only. In 1873 he associated him- self with Alexander E. Wheat and E. B. Hamilton in a law partnership. He was married in Woodford county, Illinois, in April, 1865, to Ruth Babcock.

ORING, HARRISON, Lawyer, was born in Gen- esee county, New York, December Ist, 1824. His parents were Bridge Loring and Sallie (Chip- man) Loring, both of whom were natives of Massachusetts. After acquiring a preliminary education, he became the recipient of a collegiate course at the institute in Brockport, Monroe county, New York. Upon the completion of his studies in the higher branches of learning, he decided to embrace the legal pro- fession, and commenced the study of law in August, 1847, in the office of Holmes & Palmer, able resident practitioners of Brockport. Under their supervision he prepared himself to pass the required examination ; he graduated also at the

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

State National Law School, located at Balston, Saratoga county, New York, and in 1850 was admitted to the bar at Rochester, in the same State. In the fall of that year, be- lieving that the West offered a wider field for the profitable exercise of enterprise and skill, he came to Illinois and settled at Napierville, then the seat of Du Page county. In this place he remained until 1855, when he removed to Kankakee, where he has since permanently resided, in the possession of an extensive and ever increasing practice. He is one of the oldest and ablest practitioners at the bar of Kankakee county, and occupies a leading position among his colleagues. He was married in May, 1852, to Almeda Payne, a former resident of New York State.

YER, BENJAMIN F., Lawyer, was born at Kings- ton, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, April 22d, 1825, being the eighth in line of descent from John Ayer, who emigrated from England in 1637, and settled at Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1645. Ilis father was a merchant noted for his business sagacity, prudence and enterprise, who died in May, 1875, near Manchester, New Hampshire, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-three years. Benjamin F. was fitted for college at the Albany Academy, Albany, New York, and having afterwards pursued the regular courses of study at Dartmouth College, graduated from that institution in 1846, in a class which numbers among its members A. H. Quint, D. D., of New Bedford, Massachusetts; Professor Charles A. Aiken, of Princeton College, formerly President of Union College; Isaae W. Smith, Judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, and others who have distinguished themselves in science, literature and active business pursuits. Upon leaving Dartmouth, he studied law at Manchester, New Hampshire, for two years, and passed one year at the Ilarvard Law School. Having completed his preparation for practice, he was admitted to the bar in July, 1849, and immediately afterwards opened an office at Manchester, New Hampshire, where he obtained a large and profitable patronage. He was elected to a seat in the Legislature in 1853, and was subsequently appointed Prosecuting Attorney for Hillsborough county, an office which he held with dis- tinction for three years. In 1857 he removed to Chicago, and from 1861 to 1865 held the office of Counsel to the corporation. While acting in this capacity he prepared the revised charter of that city, which was adopted in 1863. Subsequently he was a member of the law firm of Beckwith, Ayer & Kales, but is now the senior member of the firm of Ayer & Kales, who enjoy a very large general practice. For some years they have been acting as counsel for the South Park Commissioners, the Chicago West Division Railway Company, and several of the leading banks and insurance companies. IIe is a member of the Law Insti- tute, of the Chicago Literary Society, the Chicago Historical

Society, and at present is President of the Chicago Bar Association. Since 1865 he has been persistent in his re- fusals of public office, though often solicited to accept. He is the possessor of rare legal ability, having a thorough acquaintance with the science of the law in all its branches, and the power of presenting his ideas in a clear, terse, and convincing manner. His reputation is that of a profoundly read lawyer, of a courteous gentleman, and a substantial citizen. He was married in 1868 to Jennie A. Hopkins, daughter of Hon. James C. Hopkins, Judge of the United States District Court, of Madison, Wisconsin.

MITH, HON. WILLIAM M., Merchant, Farmer, and Fine Stock Breeder, was born near Frank- fort, Kentucky, May 23d, 1827. Until he had attained his thirteenth year his boyhood was spent in his native place, during which time he acquired in the neighboring schools the elements of a rudimentary education. Later, his father removing to St. Louis county, Missouri, he worked on the farm in the same place, and during the winter months attended school until nineteen years of age. At this period, his father re- moving with the family to Lexington, McLean county, northeast of Springfield, Illinois, he secured employment in farming at a salary of ten and twelve dollars per month for a term of three years. In 1849, having saved from his scanty wages the sum of $102.50, he " entered " forty acres of land at $1.25 per acre-a tract which is still in his pos- session. Later, he commenced " breaking " an adjoining section of Congress land, containing also forty acres, but before he was possessed of sufficient means to pay for it, another party, putting forth a claim to the ground, endea- vored to oust him from its possession ; those residing in the vicinity compelled the intruder to abandon his claim, the custom of the time and place being to give to him who im- proved the land the first rights of possession. Thencefor- ward he continued to buy lands, according to his ability, until he had secured in all about eight hundred acres. In 1857 he established himself in a mercantile business in Lexington, which, together with his farming and agricultural pursuits, he still continues, taking rank in the former as the foremost man of business in the town. He is extensively interested in the breeding of short-liorned cattle, possesses at the present time a valuable and varied selection of the choicer kinds, and is constantly occupied in improving their quality, and adding largely to his stock. Since 1854 he has participated actively and prominently in the political movements of the State and county, and, in no small meas- ure, contributed to the rapid furtherance of the interests of his fellow-citizens and constituents. From the date of the organization of the Republican party he has been a firm, consistent, and valucd adherent to its principles and its members, and throughout many of the political campaigns

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

of the last quarter of a century has effectively assisted it by his energy and ability. In 1866 he was clected to the Lower House of the Legislature, and since has served in that body during three terms, acting in the last terin in the capacity of Speaker. In the conventions, State and county, he is invariably selected to represent his county ; and in all matters concerning the public interests of Illinois he has been more or less prominent, while in all movements relating to Lexington and McLean county he has always been a prime and vigorous agent and worker. During the progress of the civil war he was noted for his loyalty and devotion to the Union cause; was, in various ways, a liberal supporter of the Government; and, at the outbreak of the rebellion, abandoned his mercantile business in order to devote the whole of his time and means to aid in main- taining the upholding of those principles which had ever been his guide in political life. Governor Yates urged him repeatedly to accept a colonel's commission in the volun- teer force; but deeming that he might be more usefully em- ployed in raising and organizing regiments, and in securing supplies for the sick and wounded, than on the field, the offers of the colonelcy were continually declined. Al- though a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to whose funds he is a liberal contributor, he is a liberal sup- porter as well of many of the other churches in the county. Ile was married, March 19th, 1849, to Nancy Ann Hop- kins, daughter of Patrick Hopkins, of McLean county, Illinois, and granddaughter of General Joseph Barlhoten, of Indiana; by her he has had one child, Mary Emily.

ADDOCK, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN W., Lawyer, was born in Camillus, Onondaga county, New York, February 14th, 1815. ITis father, James Paddock, was a miller and farmer ; his mother was Ann Paddock. His preliminary education was acquired in the schools of his native place, whence he removed to Syracuse, New York, where he finished his academic course of studies. In Syracuse, also, he commenced and completed his course of law studies in the office of J. R. Hicox. From here, in 1836, he moved to Illinois, was soon after admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law at Lockport in that State. In the fall of 1853 he established himself in Kan- kakee City, the newly-selected county-seat of a new county. There he secured an extensive legal clientage, and also the confidence and esteem of all with whom he was brought into contact. He was thus occupied until 1862, when he

entered the United States Army. He was an old-line Whig, and, on the dissolution of that party, became an ardent supporter of Douglas ; while, being an eloquent and a forcible speaker, he was an effective and a valued ally. At the outbreak of the rebellion he forsook a remuncrative practice, and, at his own expense, travelled here and there

[ for the purpose of delivering stirring speeches in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war for the Union. In 1861 he greatly aided Captain Vaughn in the organization of a company of volunteers, afterward assigned to the 53d Illinois Regiment. In the ensuing fall he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of his State, an openly avowed War Democrat. At the close of the Convention which framed that Constitution, he was one of the few who opposed inflexibly what was known as the " New Consti- tution," which he refuscd to sign ; and on his return from the session he took the field, opposing its adoption-an action which his county sustained by an overwhelming majority. At the close of his labors in behalf of the State in the Convention, he, with others, projected the organiza- tion of the 76th Regiment. With this regiment he pur- posed entering the service ; but six companies still remain- ing after the 76th was filled, he remained with them, and subsequently moved with them to Chicago, where they were incorporated with the four companies of the then organizing 3d Board of Trade Regiment ; and, in October, 1862, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 113th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. Before leaving for the scene of war he was, in the presence of the regiment, at Camp Hancock, presented with a superb sword by his fellow-townsman, James M. Perry, of Kankakee. The 113th was then sent to join General Sherman in his expe- dition against Vicksburg, in the fall of 1862, and witnessed that terrible but unsuccessful struggle. In the following January Colonel Paddock participated actively in the battle of Arkansas Post. After this engagement the regiment was divided, part coming to Springfield, Illinois, the remainder being assigned to Young's Point, Louisiana. They were also engaged in the movements which resulted in the cap- ture of Vicksburg, July 4th, 1863, he being in command at the time. He was with General Sherman on the Rolling Fork expedition, and, during the greater portion of the time consumed in the siege of Vicksburg, commanded the force assigned to the protection of the landing on the Yazoo, whence Grant drew his supplies. In August, 1863, he was ordered to report to General Hurlbut, at Memphis, an order which he at once prepared to obey, in company with his regiment, then badly stricken with disease; he reached Memphis, but owing to the return of a fever, con- tracted while laboring in the cause of the Union, he was sent to the officers' hospital, located in that place. There, after lingering in great pain until August 16th, 1863, he died on the evening of Sunday, attended by the chaplain of his regiment. In all that concerned the public interests of his country he was an able and energetic mover, one ever impelled by an ardent love of progress and reform. Religiously, he was in sentiment an Unitarian, although not a member of any church. He was twice married ; his first wife, Frances Birch, died about five years after mar- riage, leaving him a son and daughter; his second wife, Helen Tiffany, was a widow, and by her he had ten

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 21

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