USA > Illinois > The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century > Part 31
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having been merged in the Republican party, he was on the State of the Union. For three or four days he had been sitting quietly listening to a number of Southern gentlemen who had been sketching the lincaments of polygamy with a free pencil. Now he arose, and, with an eye to artistic harmony, proceeded to paint the beanties of that other "twin relic of barbarism"-slavery. While uttering severe philippics against it as a system, explaining and enforcing John Wesley's declaration, that it was the "sum of all villanies," Roger A. Pryor rose, walked rapidly down one of the aisles and confronted him, an- nouncing distinctly that he would not allow him to use such language. John F. Potter, of Wisconsin, turned suddenly upon Pryor and said, in substance, " Lovejoy shall speak !" A scene of intense confusion and excitement ensued, during which Potter was heard to say to Pryor, " For eight weeks we listened to your stuff in silence, and now we intend to say what we please. Lovejoy shall speak !" An able correspondent of the New York Tribune spoke of the subsequent proceedings as follows: " Order being now partially restored, the House went again into Committee, and Lovejoy, taking a stand at the clerk's desk, where he could eye his foes face to face, resumed the half-finished picture. And never was slavery painted with such damning features before! He dashed on the colors till the monster seemed ready to leap living from the canvas. As he grew excited, he pulled off his cravat while he hurled anathemas at the negro propagandists before him with such vigor that it caused the perspiration to gush from his brow and theirs. Raising his voice till it rang through the hall and reverberated along the adjacent passages, he said : 'You cannot silence us either by threats or by violence. You murdered my brother on the banks of the Mississippi more than twenty years ago, and I am here to- day to vindicate his blood and speak my mind; AND YOU SHALL HEAR ME!'" This speech was the herald of one important conclusion : that the Northern Republicans had determined to vindicate their rights in Congress at all times and at all hazards, regardless of personal violence or threats of a dissolution of the Union. Some time after the breaking out of the rebellion, Mr. Lovejoy delivered a speech in New York before the Emancipation League. He was introduced by William Cullen Bryant, and spoke for nearly three hours to an attentive and enthusiastic audience. His address was replete with argument, illus- tration, logic and denunciation, and he held the great mass enchaincd with the charm of his declamation and the con- vincing power of his words. One paragraph from it will show the confidence which he felt in the wisdom and fore- sight of the late President Lincoln : " Let us, then, give the President a cordial, loyal and sympathizing support. Never has a President, not even Washington, been beset with so many trials and difficulties as environ him. The wonder is, not that he should make mistakes, but that he should make so few. I no more doubt his anti-slavery brought by his friends before the convention for nomina- tion as the Republican candidate for representative in Congress ; and, though there was a violent opposition, lie was made the nominee by a small majority. A convention of " bolters" was called, consisting largely of the pro- slavery element brought into the party upon its organiza- tion, and an opposition candidate was selected. At a mass meeting held the same evening Mr. Lovejoy met his opponents face to face, and by his own showing he laid bare the falsehoods which had been heaped upon him, and carried the entire assemblage in his favor. In a few hours his nomination was by the people affirmed at the very spot where his opponent had been nominated during the day to defeat him. This event effectually destroyed all organized opposition, and he was triumphantly elected by about seven thousand majority. There were other reforms of the day in which he took an active interest, and he became con- spicuous for his efforts to develop the resources of his adopted State and enrich its people. He engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, rendered necessary by his management of a large farm, and frequently delivered addresses at county fairs which never failed to interest and instruct those who listened. In all his exciting and varied career, at home, at the State capital and at Washington, he was incorruptible, making no barter and sale of his influence and commanding talent, but willingly lending them where the ends of justice, of public interest or social interest were concerned. In the canvass of 1856, and the contest be- tween Lincoln and Douglas, in 1858, for the United States Senatorship, his services were in constant requisition, and they contributed not a little to swell the Republican vote of that State. In the great struggle of 1830 he was early in the field, and from the moment of Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency to the day of his election he labored constantly and vigorously and effectively in the cause of liberty. His reputation as a convincing logician and as an eloquent debater had now become so popular that he was daily in the receipt of pressing solicitations from all parts of the free States to address the people. IIe frequently spoke twice a day to immense crowds in all parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York, every- where arousing an unprecedented enthusiasm and carrying his audiences by storm. Ile possessed a magnetic elo- quence, which thrilled his hearers to the heart while it carried conviction to the head. In 1860 the meetings he addressed frequently numbered ten, fifteen and sometimes twenty thousand people, who were held spell-bound by his burning utterances. He was an intimate friend and ardent supporter of Mr. Lincoln, and upon all occasions did all in his power to nerve the President's arm and to support the administration in its most trying hour. On the 5th of April a remarkable scenc occurred in the National House of Representatives, when Mr. Lovejoy vindicated the freedom of speech during a sitting of the Committee of the Whole |integrity, his ultimate anti-slavery action, than I do my own.
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In the words which Webster put into the mouth of the elder Adams, ' I sce clearly through this day's business.' The rebellion will be suppressed, and American slavery will be swept away, and the theory of our Government be a practi- cal and glorious reality. I see the future and regenerated Republic reposing as a queen among the nations of the earth, its flag, after this baptism of blood, having become the symbol of universal and impartial freedom. There is not a slavcholder ' to hurt or destroy in all its Holy Moun- tain,' not a fetter or scourge for the limb or person of the innocent. Nay, I see the whole continent, by a process of peaceful assimilation, converted into republics like our own. . . And when I look over that broad, magnificent field covered with teeming life, with its cities, towns, and farms, its workshops, school-houses, and churches, with all the varied and wonderful developments of science, art, educa- tion, and religion, that follow in the pathway of a free Christian civilization, as it moves along, macstie and queen- like, leading and guiding the generations onward and heavenward-then I exclaim ' Long live the Republic ! Let it be perpetual ! But American slavery, which would blot ont that Republic, let it perish ! perish ! ! perish ! ! ! ' "' Mr. Lovejoy died at Brooklyn, New York, on March 25th, 1864. In private life he was eminently social and courteous, and was an affectionate and devoted hus- band and father. His long career was one of ceaseless activity, spent in works of philanthropy which have raised his name into Jasting distinction. As a representative, in both State and national Legislatures, he was not only conscientious in his efforts for the public weal, but was ad- mired by his associates not less for his commanding talent and fearless integrity, than for his affable manners and con- siderate action. To but one system was he a deep, a bitter enemy, and he lived to see that dissolve under a national effort, which had in no small degree been aroused by his logic and eloquence.
IIITE, JOHN L., M. D., and Professor of Anat- omy, Physiology, and Hygiene, in the Illinois Wesleyan University, was born in Westminster, Massachusetts, December 5th, 1832; his father was formerly the leading physician of that place for a period of twenty-five years; and in 1850 removed to Watertown, New York, where his demise occurred in 1868. His ancestry were among the earliest settlers of New England, and he is a lineal descendant, through six generations, of the immortal " Mayflower " Pilgrims. John White emigrated primarily to New Eng- land, and settled in Salem, where several of his children were born; May Ist, 1653, he enrolled his name among the first settlers of Lancaster; one of his daughters was joined in marriage to Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, and, February 10th, 1675, was taken captive by the hostile Indians. Her " Removes," being a graphic account of her
captivity, sufferings, and adventures, has been published in several editions, and is a volume of a most interesting nature. IIe attended the academy in Westminster, Massa- chusetts, for a number of years, and, when in his fourteenth year, his class entered Dartmouth College. Owing to im- paired health, however, he was compelled to abandon tem- porarily his studies, and subsequently was occupied for a year in working on a farm; later he resumed the prosccu- tion of his studies for a time at the Williston Seminary, situated at East Hampton, Massachusetts. IIe then com- merced the study of medicine, and, on the completion of the allotted course, graduated at Harvard Medical College, in December, 1853. For a year previous to his graduation he was " Medical House Pupil," at the Massachusetts General Hospital, at Boston. His health having become impaired by arduous duties in that institution, he went abroad, intending after the lapse of a few months to return and take up his residence permanently in Boston; an attack, however, of hemorrhage from the lungs rendered it advisable for him to go West; accordingly, in September, 1854, he moved to Jerscyville, Jersey county, Illinois. In 1859 he removed to Memphis, Tennessee, where he re- mained until the outbreak of the civil war, when he re- turned to Jerseyville, remaining there until March, 1870; thence he moved to Bloomington, where he formed a co- partnership with Dr. Thomas F. Worrell, which continued for a period of two years. During the war he held the position of Surgeon of the Board of Enrolment of the Tenth Congressional District of Illinois. In 1873 the Illinois Wesleyan University, looking forward to the estab- lishment of a medical department, instituted a Chair of Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene, and called upon the McLean County Medical Society to designate one of their number as a suitable person to fill it; the choice fell upon Dr. White, who was immediately appointed, and who con- templates the organization and addition of a medical department to this already flourishing institution. For the past three years, in addition to a large general practice, he has acied as Surgeon to the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, to attend to all cases of accidents occurring to passengers and employees, between Chenoa on the north, and Lincoln and Mason City on the south. He was married, February 10th, 1857, to Hattie Hawley, youngest daughter of Samuel P. Hawley, of Jerseyville.
TARR, CHARLES RICHARD, Lawyer, Ex- Judge of Circuit Court, was born in Cornwallis, King's county, Nova Scotia, May 15th, 1824. His father, Charles Starr, was a descendant of Dr. Comfort Starr, who came from Ashford, Kent county, England, in 1633, and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ultimately the Starrs removed to Connecticut, where their names are enrolled among
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those of the earlier pioneers and settlers. In about the year 1760 a branch of the Connecticut family moved to Nova Scotia, and constitute now one of the most numerous and influential families in that province. His preliminary education was acquired in his native place, whence he moved to Portland, Maine, where, at Westbrook Academy, he completed a course of study in the higher branches. In 1842 he emigrated with his father's family to Illinois, taking up his residence in Will county, where, in 1845, de- ciding to enter the legal profession, he commenced the study of law. At the expiration of his allotted term of study he was admitted to the bar in Grundy county, Illinois, in 1849, and soon commenced to practise in Will county, Illinois. In 1852 he removed to Chicago, where, however, he remained but for a limited period. In the spring of 1853, the county of Kankakee was formed, and, in the fall of that year, he removed to the new county, and estab- lished himself in the town of Kankakee, the county-seat, where he has since resided. In March, IS57, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, which judicial office he held for ten consecutive years, during which time his per- formance of the functions attached to that responsible posi- tion was characterized by moderation, learning, and ability ; the circuit comprised the counties of Kankakee, Iroquois, and Livingston. Since the organization of the Republican party he has been a staunch and valued adherent, and by voice and pen has ably and effectively defended and sup- ported its principles and platforms. At the same time it is a noteworthy fact that his election and long continuance on the bench owed their existence not to the influence exerted by political partisanship, but to the fact that his professional rectitude and learning were recognized throughout a large section of the country in which he resided; and when nominated for the judgeship he received the unanimous support of all parties, the question of politics being entirely ignored. In all that concerns the progress and welfare of his State and county he has ever manifested an active and generous interest. He was married in 1853 to Almena M. Stevens, of Westbrook, Maine.
BRAMS, ISAAC, Real Estate Operator, was boru in Radnor township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, January 23d, 1809. Ilis parents were Enoch and Ilannah Abrams, and his ances- try traces back, through six generations in Pennsyl- vania, directly to Wales, whence they emigrated. Ile spent most of his boyhood on his father's farm, attend- ing the common school, the principal advantage beyond this being a period of six months' private instruction in his uncle's family. In 1838 he came West and located at Peru, Illinois, and opening a dry-goods store, continued in mercantile business for ten years. During this time he was often importuned by his friends in Pennsylvania to assist
them in dealing in Western lands, and he at length gave up his business and established a real estate business, in which he is still engaged. He has probably sold more lands in Bureau county, Illinois, than any other man. He was married, November 14th, IS_9, to Ellen Rittenhouse Evans, daughter of Benjamin Evans, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, grand-niece of David Rittenhouse, of Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, the astronomer. Previous to the incorporation of Peru as a city, Mr. Abrams was for several years President of the Board of Trustees for the borough of Peru. He has been identified with its history since an early day, and has been prominent in the support of Christian institutions in the place, enjoying to a high degree the esteem of his fellow-townsmen.
OSS, JOSEPH PRESLEY, M. D., was born in Clark county, Ohio, January 7th, 1828. His father, in addition to operating a flour mill, was interested in agricultural pursuits. While still in his infancy, the family of our subject removed to Miami county, Ohio, and, upon attaining the proper age, Joseph entered the academy at Piqua, Miami county, in which institution he pursued the usual course of studies for a term of about four years. At the expiration of that period he entered for his collegiate course the Oberlin College of Ohio, and was a student in this institute of learning for about one year. Subsequently he placed himself under the professional tuition of Dr. G. V. Dorsey, whose office was located at Piqua, and who was widely known throughout the Northwest as a learned and skilful physician. While engaged in reading medicine under that able instructor, he attended also, during the winters of IS50, IS51, and IS52, the courses of the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati, from which he graduated in the spring of 1852. Establishing his office subsequently in St. Mary's, Auglaize county, in the western part of the State, he was there occupicd in the practice of his profession dur- ing the ensuing year. He then removed to Chicago, Illi- nois, this change of residence occurring in the spring of I853, and since that time has, with the exception of the winter of 1865-66-which he spent with profit in the hos- pitals of Philadelphia and New York-been incessantly occupied in fulfilling the oncrous duties attendant upon a practice of wide and growing cxtent. In 1865, at the date of the establishment and organization of the Cook County Hospital, he became importantly connected with that insti- tution ; being intrusted with the delivery of a course of clinical lectures on the practice of medicine, the functions attached to which office he has since performed continuously and with marked ability. In 1867 the Chair of Clinical Medicine and Discases of the Chest was created in the Rush Medical College of Chicago; of this he was at once chosen to take charge, and down to the present time has
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occupied it constantly, giving entire satisfaction in his pro- | fessional capacity, and evincing the possession of sterling and needed qualities. In addition to the fulfilment of his duties as lecturer and physician, he contributes regularly to the various medical journals, and is noted for his zealous and well-directed researches in the several branches of science, and his valued additions to the store of medical knowledge. Ile was married in 1856 to Elizabeth H. King, daughter of Tuthill King, one of the earlier pioneers and settlers of Chicago. It may not be amiss to state fur- ther that Dr. Ross is also a devout Christian, and has been for many years a respected and loved elder in one of the leading Presbyterian churches of Chicago.
ILGOUR, GENERAL WILLIAM MATHERS, Lawyer and Soldier, was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, June 12th, 1834. His parents were Colonel Ezekiel Kilgour, manufac- turer, and colonel of a militia regiment in Cum- berland county, and Eliza Graham, daughter of Judge Graham, of the same county. In 1837 the family removed to Whiteside county, Illinois, settling in the neighborhood of Sterling, which has ever since been his home. He received a common school education, and shortly after leaving school began the study of the law in the office of Miles S. Henry, a well-known lawyer of Sterling. He was admitted to the practice of the profes- sion in the State courts at Ottawa, Illinois, in IS55, and in 1857, at Chicago, he was admitted to the practice of the Federal Courts, and finally, in 1874, at Washington, he re- ceived the entree of the United States Supreme Court. He has also become prominent as a politician. He was attached to the old Whig party, and was a representative from his county in the mass convention held at Bloomington, which organized the Republican party in Illinois, and nominated Colonel Bissell for Governor. And when, in 1861, Presi- dent Lincoln went to Washington to assume authority, William M. Kilgour was one of about eight hundred Illi- nois men who, of their own accord, went to the Federal capital as a volunteer body-guard to see that no harm hap- pened to him, assassination having been threatened. It is as a soldier, however, that he has especially made his mark. When the call to arms arose in 1861, General Kil- gour was among the first to volunteer, enlisting as a private in the 13th Illinois Infantry. Upon its organization he was elected Second Lieutenant, and served with the regiment for a year in Missouri, taking part in the skirmishes of Wet Glaze, Lynn Creek, Springfield, and Salem. He also served, during this time, as Judge Advocate. In IS62 he was taken sick with fever and resigned. He had scarcely recovered from his illness when more troops were called for and he volunteered again. He received a commission as Captain in the 75th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and
when the regiment was fully organized he was promoted to the rank of Major. Very shortly afterwards the regiment was engaged in the battle of Perryville, in which he was wounded, it was thought at the time mortally, a ball having passed right through his body. IIc recovered, however, and in August, 1863, rejoined the command just in time to be at the bloody battle of Chickamauga, and continued to serve with the regiment until its muster out, in July, 1865. He was in every battle in which it fought from the time of his rejoining it, save that of Culp's Farm, making in all twenty-seven regular engagements. During a great part of the Atlanta campaign he was in command of the Soth Illi- nois, and at Pumpkinbine Creek, in Georgia, was under fire for nine consecutive days. Ile was wounded three times, and was three times promoted for services on the field-at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee ; at Atlanta, Georgia; and at Nashville, Tennessee. The 75th Regiment of Illinois In- fantry, under Colonel Kilgour, was the first of the troops under General Joseph Hooker's command to charge the rebel works and drive them up and off Lookout Mountain, in the memorable " battle above the clouds" in Tennessee. He was commissioned at the close of the war as Colonel in the United States Army, and subsequently was brevetted Brigadier-General. The record of his military service is that of nearly every battle fought in the Department of the Cumberland. In 1867 General Kilgour finally retired from the army, and recommenced the practice of his pro- fession in Sterling, in which he is still (1875) engaged. He was married in 1865 to Mary Bell Junkin, daughter of Judge Junkin, of Perry county, Pennsylvania.
RICE, OSCAR F., Lawyer, was born in Marion county, Ohio, in 1836, his parents being Dr. George Price and Mary (Caris) Price. At twelve years of age he removed with his parents to Illi- nois. He entered the University of Michigan, and after completing the full classical course of study, graduated in 1858 with great honor. Having also completed the course in the Law Department of that insti- tution, receiving the degree of LL. B., he was admitted to the bar of Michigan during the year of his graduation (1860). He then returned to Galesburg, Illinois, where he commenced the practice of his profession, and has continued it in that place up to the present time. He served four years with the army during the rebellion. In 1870 he was elected a member of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly of Illinois, on the Republican ticket, serving one term in the lower house of the Legislature of that State, holding the position of Chairman of the Committee on Corporations. His practice as a lawyer has been a general one, although his attention has been mainly paid to civil cases. He is a thoroughly read attorney, a keen cross-examiner, and is clear and logical in his arguments. IIc has made an cspe-
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cial study of the rights, duties and liabilities of corporations, and has acted as leading and advising counsel in important issues between railroad and other companies. IIe is now, and has been since the war, the Attorney for the Chicago, Barlington & Quincy Railroad Company on the Central Division. He was married in 1862 to Sabrina Lanphere, daughter of Judge Lanphere, of Galesburg. He is one of the leading jurists of Illinois, and his large and still growing practice has secured to him the comforts of life. Ile has gained the reputation of being an honest and faithful law- yer, and by his integrity and fair dealing has won the con- fidence and esteem of the entire community.
INEGAR, DAVID T., Lawyer, was born at Mil- ford, Clairmont county, Ohio, February 12th, 1830. His father, Thomas Linegar, was a native of New Jersey, his mother, Hannah Linegar, of Pennsylva- nia. His earlier and elementary education was ac- quired at the neighboring common schools of his native place, and also in the educational establishments of Indiana, to which State his parents had removed when he was about ten years of age. Upon completing his allotted course of studies, he was engaged in working on the pater- nal farm until he had attained his majority. IIe then oc- cupied himself in teaching school, and while thus employed, having resolved to embrace the legal profession, began reading law, and prosecuted assiduously his legal studies during the three following years. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar of Indiana, and immediately afterward estab- lished the Rockport Republican, whose direction he con- trolled for about one year. Ile then entered upon the active practice of the law at Princeton, Indiana, and was there professionally occupied during the ensuing twelve months. At the expiration of that time he removed to Fairfield, Illi- nois, where he was similarly engaged, and where he re- sided permanently until June, 1861, when, establishing him- self at Cairo, he rapidly secured an extensive clientage. Here he has since remained, the possessor not only of a wide-spread practice, but also of the confidence and estcem of his brethren at the bar and the community in general. In 1865 he was nominated on the Republican ticket as the candidate for Congress, put forward in opposition to John A. Logan, then the Democratic nominee, and who ulti- mately was elected. In 1872 he was chosen Presidential Elector at large on the Grant and Wilson ticket. Since the orginization of the Republican party he has always been a consistent, energetic and valued supporter of its principles and procedures, and in many ways has been importantly instrumental in advancing its power and prosperity. IIe is a leading and influential practitioner of the Cairo bar, and is noted for his professional skill and learning. In all public movements he takes an earnest and active part, and at all times, whether acting in a private or a public capacity, has
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