The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 35

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


USA > Illinois > The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century > Part 35


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southern Illinois. He is importantly and pecuniarily inter- ested in the welfare of Centralia, being the owner of several valuable properties in that town. He is widely known as a physician of culture and experience, and the esteem in which he is held is evidenced by his occasional election to local offices. His life has been an unusually active and laborious one, although at the present time, owing to the assistance of his son-also a skilful practitioner-he is re- lieved from many of the cares attendant on so extensive a business. He is a Director in the First National Bank of Centralia, and a Director also of the Mining & Manufactur- ing Company of Centralia. He was married in 1840 to Harriet Barker, of Randolph county, Illinois.


ONDON, SIDNEY S., M. D., was born in Nash- ville, Tennessee, April 15th, 1811. His ancestry were Irish and English, but his parents-James Condon and Sarah (Tully) Condon-were born in this country. He was educated at a high school located in his native place, and at Princeton Col- lege, Kentucky. Upon leaving school he became engaged in learning the trade of carpenter, continuing thus employed during the two ensuing years. Hc then began the study of medicine under the instructions of Dr. Samuel Hogg, an able practitioner of Nashville, with whom he remained for a period of three years. IIe afterward attended two winter courses at the Medical College of Ohio, in Cincinnati, from which institution he ultimately graduated. Removing to the West, he established himself in Jonesboro', Union county, Illinois, where he resided permanently during the following thirty years, winning the confidence and esteem of the entire community, and securing a very extensive and remunerative practice. He has been remarkably successful in his treat- ment of cases of women's and children's diseases, and his counsel and attendance for such cases were cspecially sought after, not only in his own county, but in the surrounding region to a great distance. In 1846 and 1847 he entered the service of the United States as First Lieutenant in Com- pany F of the 2d Regiment Illinois Volunteers, under Colo- nel Bissell, doing duty in Mexico, and participating actively in the battle of Buena Vista. While on the march he was detached, at Camp Irwin, as an Assistant Surgeon, and while acting in that capacity had in his charge one hundred and forty-six wounded and disabled soldiers, of whom two only failed to recover. Prior to his service in the Mexican war, he was, for a period extending over eight years, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Union County, Illinois. In 1870 or 1871 he removed to Anna, in the same State, there resuming


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has long been a contributor to various journals and maga- zines, and is the author of a reliable and well-written " His- tory of Southern Illinois." One of the oldest physicians in the State, he is yet hale, robust, and vigorous, and ascribes his prolonged health and energy to his temperate habits and careful attention to hygienic details. For thirty years he has been a warm advocate of the temperance cause and an unde- viating follower of its precious teachings. Throughout a long and varied career he has been noted for his rectitude and abilities, and in all respects his record, extending over more than a half century, is wholly honorable. He was married in January, 1832, at Cincinnati, to Mary Ann Davis.


AMILTON, JOSEPH ORMOND, M. D., was born in New Design, Monroe county, Illinois, April 2d, 1824. He is the youngest son of Thomas M. and Apphia Hamilton. His father was, at the time of the admission into the Union of Illinois, a resident and voter of that State. IIis preliminary education was acquired in the common schools of Illinois, whence, in 1843, he was transferred to the Ohio University, at Athens, Ohio, where he entered upon a course of study in the higher branches. At the ex- piration of his allotted term in that institution, he decided to embrace the medical profession, and with that end in view commenced the study of anatomy and physiology under the skilful guidance of Dr. Silas Parker, formerly established in Athens, Ohio, and now a resident of Delivan, Illinois. Subsequently, during the years 1847, 1848, and 1849, he was engaged in teaching school in Tensas (or Tensaw) Parish, Louisiana. In the spring of 1850 he graduated in medicine at the Medical Department of the University of the State of Missouri, and commenced imme- diately the active practice of his profession in Grafton, Jersey county, Illinois. After remaining in that place for a limited space of time, he removed, May Ist, 1851, to Jer- seyville in the same State, where he has since been contin- uously and actively engaged in attending to the wants of an extensive and ever-increasing practice. In 1866 he became a prominent and valued member of the Illinois State Medical Society, and in 1871 was elected to its Presi- deney at Peoria, Illinois, the duties of which office werc accomplished with consummate and marked ability. When the society held its 1875 session, at Jacksonville, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Diseases of Children. In the report he presented in that capacity occurs a noteworthy passage respecting a novel method of his own for the treatment of newly-born and apparently dead children. After describing the case very minutely --- it was one in which the aid of instruments proved necessary -he proceeds : " It was to all appearances dead; not a pulsation could be discovered in the child. It was im- mersed in warm water, held up by the heels, shaken,


slapped across the breast and shoulders with the open hand, cold water dashed upon it, and, in fact, all the means usually applied for the restoration of the new-born child, but to no avail ; the child, at the end of fifteen minutes, still remained dead. At this time I placed the child on a pillow on its left side, and placing the pillow on a table conveniently near, and placing a chair beside the table im- mediately in front of the child, I took my seat and pro- ceeded to draw from my pocket an India rubber tube about two feet long and three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. I proceeded to insert one end in the child's mouth, after taking one end in my own, holding the lips of the child firmly, but gently, around the tube with my left hand, while with the thumb and fingers of the right hand I held the nose, to prevent the air from passing out through the same. I then forced air from my lungs through the tube, and to my delight saw the chest of the child rise as indica- tive of the inflation of the lungs; taking my thumb and finger from its nose, the air immediately rushed ont from the lungs of the child. I repeated the operation, and found that I could keep up artificial respiration in that way. This I continued for thirty minutes-forty-five minutes after the birth of the child-a very small pulsation in a small hepatic branch from the umbilicus could be discerned. At this time examined carefully for contractions of the heart, but could find no action whatever. I continued artificial respir- ation for ten minutes longer-fifty-five minutes from the child's birth-when I discovered the heart was acting; then suspending the artificial respiration for two minutes, when the heart ceased entirely to act. Commenced again the artificial inflation ; I soon saw the heart commence contract- ing again, and continued this for at least ten minutes longer, when I rested from my labor for a few seconds. I saw a slight motion of the alea of the nose, and the child took a short, quick, inspiration, the diaphragm entering into the effort. I waited a few minutes, when I found the lungs were not filling with air and the heart was ceasing to bcat. I applied artificial respiration again, with the same happy result ; at this time I sent for an electric battery ; the battery came in fifteen minutes, when I applied electricity to the spine and the diaphragm, varying the locations of the poles frequently, and soon after this succeeded in establishing healthy respiration. I have narrated this case in full, or at least quite full, for the purpose of illustrating the necessity of continuing our efforts for a much longer time than is usual in such cases. I have no doubt that many children arc laid away as dead, that could have been resuscitated if artificial respiration by the India rubber tube had been kept up. I operated on this child more than one hour and three-quarters before a safe respiration was established. In conclusion, I wish to remark that an India rubber tube is an inexpensive instrument, and the room that it occupies in one of your pockets does not amount to much, which facts leave you without an excuse for not being prepared for the emergency." In 1867 he became a member of the Ameri-


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can Medical Society. Prior to the outbreak of the civil | management of E. P. Goodenough. When he had finished war he was noted as a leading Republican and ardent up- holder of Union sentiments and principles ; and during the progress of the first Lincoln campaign was an energetic and effective adherent, while throughout the rebellion he was known as an inflexible and fearless supporter of the govern- ment. In 1864 he was appointed Examining Surgeon for the Pension Office, a position which he still retains. Throughout the course of his practice in Jerseyville-a period extending over nearly a quarter of a century-he has upon no occasion been an absentee from his business for thirty consecutive days, while in the discharge of his many professional duties his conduct has invariably been charac- terized by skilfulness, courtesy, and unflagging energy. He is the inventor of the Improved Obstetrical Bandage now in extensive use throughout the country, and many of his medical and scientific essays have been incorporated in the " Transactions of the American Medical Association." In all movements of a public or private nature-social, moral, and benevolent-he is a prime mover and an earnest worker. He was married, May Ist, 1851, to Margaret Perry.


RYANT, HENRY BEADMAN, senior member of the well-known firm of Bryant & Stratton, proprietors of an extensive system of commercial colleges, was born in Gloucestershire, England, April 5th, 1824. His father, John Bryant, was a well-to-do farmer. His mother was daughter of a shop-keeper, had spent considerable time in the shop, and was considered an excellent business woman. The Bryant family came to America in November, 1829, landing at New York and going directly to Philadelphia. They remained there during the winter, and in the spring moved to Norwalk, in Ohio, upon a farm. They found some of the Indians still lingering among the forests. A year later they moved to Amherst, Ohio, and bought a farm. There was upon it an Indian encampment, but they did not prove troublesome neighbors. They here began the pioneer work of clearing up the forest. Henry Beadman attended the log school-house of the place during winter, and in summer worked on the farm. When fourteen years old he entered a store in a neighboring village. He proved apt at mercantile life, and this was really the beginning of his future career. IIe remained here two years, and returned home to pursue his studies in the public school and the seminary of Norwalk; alternating his attendance at school with teaching in the winter months. He was peculiarly good at handling difficult and refractory schools. He then went to Cleveland, Ohio, to attend a college. While here he one day noticed a sign, " Commercial College." The idea of a commercial course pleased him, and he was led very soon to enter this institution, at that time under the


this course, he went to Sault Ste Marie, then an important station for the transfer and forwarding of lake freights over- land around the rapids, as at that time no canal had been cut through. Here he kept a set of books during the season, and just at the close of navigation received a request from Mr. Goodenough, who was about to retire from the Commercial College, to come and take charge of it in his place. He accordingly returned and did so. The college prospered under his management. About this period Mr. Stratton, afterward his partner, entered this institution as a pupil. In 1853 Mr. Bryant, Mr. Stratton, and James W. Lusk formed a partnership and fitted up the college more extensively than it ever had been, or than anything of the kind in the country. Soon students began to come to it from points all over the country, which led them to the idea of establishing branch schools at eligible points over the country. In 1854 they opened a school in Buffalo, New York. In 1856 a branch was started in Chicago. In 1857 one was opened at Philadelphia, another at St. Louis, and a third at Albany. And so their scheme grew year by year until at present it numbers forty-eight commercial colleges established all over the land. Their teacher of penmanship in their first college was P. R. Spencer, author of the famous Spencerian System. In the year 1855 Mr. Bryant married a sister of Mr. Stratton, and at the same time Mr. Stratton married a sister of Mr. Bryant. In the fall of 1871 Mr. Bryant visited the Pacific slope and made a tour with a large party through the Yosemite valley and other wonders of California, and returned from this pleasure only to wit- ness the great fire of Chicago and the destruction of his college there. It was soon re-established, however. For several years he published, in connection with his chain of colleges, a magazine, " The American Merchant; " but this was discontinued, and he published a newspaper at each college, with an aggregate circulation of over a million copies a year. Twenty-two years ago two teachers were enough ; now they have a force of two hundred and fifty teachers, and over thirty thousand men bear the diplomas of this international chain. In addition to these gigantic labors they have compiled and published-mostly the work of Mr. Bryant-a complete system of book-keeping, includ- ing common school, high school, and counting-house edi- tions ; a complete business arithmetic, a volume on com- mercial law, and a book of interest tables which is so full and reliable as to have been ordered to be used in the United States Treasury Department at Washington. Be- sides being used in entirety in all their colleges, these various publications have come into very general use in banks and as text-books in schools and among business men. Mr. Bryant is now a resident of Chicago, and is still in the active discharge of his varied duties and responsibilities. His is a representative case of our American growth and development, the result of energy, persistence and sound judgment.


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ATTHEWS, COLONEL ASA C., Lawyer, was born in Pike county, Illinois, in 1833. ITis parents are B. L. Matthews and Minerva ( Carring- ton) Matthews. His earlier education was ac- quired in the home school, whence he was trans- ferred to the Illinois College, located in Jackson- ville. At the expiration of his allotted course of studies he graduated from that institution, and decided to embrace the legal profession. In 1855 he commenced the study of law, passed the required examination, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar. He was then engaged in the active practice of his profession until 1862, when he entered the United States service as Captain of Company C of the 99th Illinois Infantry. Ultimately, securing step by step and deservedly his rapid promotion, he became, in 1865, Colonel of the same body, retaining that position until his retirement from the service. Returning to Illinois, he established himself in Pittsfield, and during the ensuing three years was occupied by the duties attendant upon an extensive and increasing clientage. In 1869 he was ap- pointed Internal Revenue Collector for the Ninth Illinois District ; this office he held until June, 1875, when he resigned in order to accept the appointment of Supervisor of the Internal Revenue for the district comprising the States of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. IIe is a skilful and talented practitioner, while, as a public official, he is noted as a man of rectitude and ability. He was married in 1858 to Anna Ross, daughter of Colonel Ross, late of Pike county, Illinois. They have three children, two daughters, Florence and Helen, and a son, Ross.


OOD, NORMAN NELSON, D. D., was born in Fairfax, Vermont, May Ist, ISO8. In 1835, when twenty-seven years of age, he graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, and served after his graduation for one year as Principal of Rush Academy, of Vermont. In 1836 he en- tered the Department of Theology in Madison University, New York, but in consequence of impaired health he was unable to complete the prescribed course of study. In IS3S, having recruited his health, he bceame pastor of the Baptist Church at Lebanon Springs, New York, being ordained to the ministry at the call of that church. IIe accepted the pastorate of a ehureh in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1342, which he filled until 1345, when he became pastor of the Market Street Church, of Zanesville, Ohio. In 1350 he was made President of Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, Illinois, filling this responsible position until 1855. During this presidency he received in 1851 the degree of D. D. from Granville College, Ohio, and during the same year he was united in marriage to Emily Dunlap, daughter of Coloncl James Dunlap, of Jacksonville, Illinois, who survived him. He became pastor of the ! dency. The Patriot became the organ of a formidable


Baptist Church of Palmyra, Missouri, in 1860, retaining this position until the breaking out of the rebellion, when he accepted the Chaplaincy of a regiment, and remained with the army until a short time prior to the ending of the war. He then took up his residence in Jacksonville, Illinois, where he pursued with ardor important literary labors, and for some years filled the Professorship of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Logic in the Young Ladies' Athenæum of that city. IIere he was seized with a linger- ing and fatal illness, and died January 21st, 1874, having reached the age of sixty-six years. He was a man of un- usual natural ability, of high culture, and real scholarly attainments. His mind was quick, metaphysical, and ana- lytic, and his literary remains show him to have been a profound logician, a thorough master of the science of dia- lectics, as well as a fluent and graceful writer. Though the possessor of rare satirical power he was cautious in the use of it. His doctrinal views were sharply defined; and yet he possessed a broad catholic spirit which warmly sympathized with the labors of all devoted Christians. Though he had a feeble physical frame he retained remark- able powers of endurance and volition. His life was the development of his faith-simple, unostentatious, and characterized by a perfect harmony of feeling and action.


GOODWIN, STEPHEN AUSTIN, Lawyer, was born in Geneva, New York, November 26th, 1807. His father, Daniel Goodwin, was a promi- nent physician, and his mother, whose maiden name was Lucretia Collins, was a grand-daughter of Timothy Collins, the first Congregational preacher in Litchfield, Connecticut. He attended the common schools during his youth, and was prepared for a college eourse at Geneva Academy, since erected into a college. In 1826 he entered Hamilton College, where he studied some time and then passed into Union College, when it was under the presidency of Dr. Mott, and gradu- ated with honors from that institution in the elass of 1828. Among his classmates were Robert Toombs, of Georgia, Ward Hunt, subsequently Chief-Justice of the State of New York, and others who have sinee attained distinction in the arts and sciences. After his graduation he immediately cn- tered the office of IIon. George B. and E. T. Troop-the lat- ter of whom afterward beeame Governor of New York-at Auburn, to read law and prepare himself for its practice. Ile was admitted to the bar in IS31 and at once entered actively into the profession, taking at the same time the editorial chair of The Patriot, then a Democratic journal, in place of N. F. Doubledy, who had been elected to Con- gress. Ile was the editorial manager of this sheet, which became under his hands very influential during the eanvass for the second election of General Jackson to the Presi-


Dular Tub Co Philadelphia


A. Goodwin


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political organization, known to history as the Albany Re- | by Messrs. Huntingdon, Ingersol, and Hungerford. In the gency, and for eleven years he controlled its columns, secur- summer of 1861 the 16th United States Infantry, Major Coolidge in command, was recruiting at Chicago, and there occurred an unfortunate affair at the depot of the North- western Railway, a German, named Kratiz, being killed by Captain R. A. E. Crofton of that regiment while intruding upon a car loaded with recruits, who were bound for the camp at Desplaines. Great excitement ensued, the entire German population being greatly incensed and clamoring for Crofton's life. Mr. Goodwin was retained by the officers of the 16th Regiment to defend Crofton, whom he found in a noi- some cell of the old court-house jail, subjected to the greatest indignities by the sheriff and his subordinates. Upon an in- vestigation into the circumstances of the affair he was con- vinced that the killing was unintentional, and in the extremest view of the case could not be classed as anything more than manslaughter. He thereupon, upon a writ of habeas corpus, had Crofton brought before a judge, and demanded his rc- lease on good and sufficient bail for his re-appearance when wanted. Sheriff A. C. Hesing, through his counsel, vehe- mently opposed this procedure, but upon a full and impartial examination into the facts of the case, Judge Grant Good- rich of the Superior Court ordered the accused to be re- leased on bail. A grand jury, summoned by Sheriff Hesing to make a return upon the bill of indictment against Crofton, were to sit for this purpose in the following week ; but Mr. Goodwin and his associates prepared affidavits setting forth the prejudice of the sheriff against the accused, and the im- possibility of his acting with just impartiality in selecting the members of the grand inquest. Upon their submission to the Judges of the Circuit Court an order was procured directing a venire for a new grand jury, to be issued by the coroner, Mr. James, instead of by the sheriff. This jury, after a full consideration of the matter, returned a bill charging manslaughter alone, although a great pressure was brought to bear for an indictment for murder. On the motion of Mr. Goodwin the venire was changed to Kane county, by reason of the excitement of the Chicago popu- lacc, intensificd by the course of its journals. Before the cause could be reached, the 16th Regiment, with the officers and witnesses, were at the front and had already engaged in battle. Major Coolidge fell while gallantly leading his men, and Captain, now Colonel Crofton, won his promotion by courageous service. In this situation of affairs the case was, by continuances, carried on the lists of the Court of Kane county for two or three years, and then, upon motion of Mr. Goodwin, was finally dismissed. In 1863 his asso- ciate, Mr. Larned, visited Europe, and during his absence he acted as United States District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, by appointment of President Lincoln, and it was while serving in this official capacity that General Burnside seized the Chicago Times and ordered its suppres- sion for disloyalty. He was retained by the military depart- ment to defend the action of General Burnside in the pro- ceedings taken in the courts against him. He appeared to ing not only its prosperous career, but for himself a reputation as a fearless writer and an able journalist. After this period of editorial labor he confined himself exclusively to his legal business, rising steadily in the estimation of both bench and bar as a profoundly-read, keen, and energetic advocate. He was brought into professional contact with the late William H. Seward, Hon. John C. Spencer, IIcn. B. Davis Noxon, Hon. F. G. Jewett, and ex-Governor Seldon. His relations to the late Chancellor Walworth were of the most intimate character, and by this eminent official he was appointed Clerk to the Court of Chancery of New York, for its seventh circuit, which position he held until chancery practice was abolished in that State by the amendments to the Constitution in 1846. During this time he took an active part in politics, and was in 1842 appointed by Governor Bourk Supervisor of Auburn State Prison, the Hon. J. W. Edmunds being at the same time Supervisor of Sing Sing. With the latter he frequently held conferences, and very many of the most needful re- forms and improvements in these penal institutions, both in discipline, morale, and management, were brought about by them. They introduced, as a corrective measure, the cold shower bath. In 1855 Mr. Goodwin removed to Detroit and became associated in the practice of law with his brother Daniel, who has been connected with the Judiciary of Michigan, both as Circuit and Supreme Judge, for more than twenty years. In 1858 he removed farther West, and located in Chicago, entering into partnership with Hon. E. C. Larned. Their practice was a general one, covering cases in all branches of the profession, one of the most celebrated of these involving the rights of patentee in the Woodward Planing Machine. Mr. Good- win was retained for the patentee, and after a most conclusive argument, based on evidence adduced in court, the claims of his client were affirmed in every particular. He acted also as counsel for the inventor of Stevens' Car-Brake against the Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, and achieved a decided success. The patent case of Case vs. Brown, re- ported in 3d Wallace, was won by him in the final appeal to the United States Courts. On page 445, 8th Wallace, there is detailed another important issue which he con- ducted and won-that of Bennett vs. Fowler ; and in the same volume, page 325, will be found the Lady Franklin Admiralty case, in which he distinguished himself again. In 1863 he successfully defended an indictment against Hodge, accused of sending an infernal machine to a wit- ness in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- pany's office. It may appropriately be mentioned here that while yct a practitioner in the New York Courts he was called to New Haven, Connecticut, and with Mr. Kimberly and Roger S. Baldwin carried to a successful issue the celebrated insurance case of Norman Bennett vs. The Hartford Insurance Company, which was represented




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