The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 4

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 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

ARWELL, HION. CHIARLES B., Merchant and late Member of Congress, was born, July Ist, I823, at Painted Post, New York, and was cdu- cated at the Elmira Academy. In 1838 he re- moved to Illinois, and was employed in surveying the public lands, and also in farming for a period of six years. In 1824 he went to Chicago, and engaged in the real estate and banking business. In 1853 he was elected County Clerk of Cook county, and re-elected to the same office in 1857. Ile subsequently became engaged in mercantile pursuits, and is at present a member of the well- known firm of J. V. Farwell & Co., of Chicago, one of the largest wholesale dry-goods houses in the Northwest. He was appointed, in 1867, a member of the State Board of Equalization ; and in the following year was chosen as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Cook county. In 1869 he was named a National Bank Examiner. He was elected, on the Republican tieket, a member of the Forty- Second Congress, and re-elected two years thereafter to the Forty-Third Congress, receiving 9212 votes against his opponent's 4952. During his first term of office he served as a member of the Committee on Public Buildings and Ground, and also on that of Banking and Currency ; and as a member of the Forty-Third Congress, he was on the last named Committee, and also served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures. He was married, October IIth, 1852, to Mary E. Su.ith, of South Williamstown, Massachusetts.

OUGLAS, HON. STEPHEN ARNOLD, Lawyer, Jurist, Statesman, and United States Senator, was born, April 23d, 1813, at Brandon, Vermont. His family was of Puritan deseent, and his father was a physician of ability and rep- utation, who died early in his professional career, leaving his widow and child in very straightened circum- stanees. Young Douglas was unable to attend school more than one-third of the year, alternating during the other eight months between labor on a farm and employment in a cab- inet shop. When he was eighteen years of age, he accom- panied his mother and step-father to Canandaigua, New York, and entered as a student in the academy of that place, where he continued until 1833. In the same year he removed to Illinois, where he taught school for a sup- port, and commenced the study of law, and finally adopted that as his profession. In 1834 he was admitted to the bar, and though but imperfectly trained in the law, he exhibited such abilities in his early efforts before the courts, that in the following year, when he was scarcely twenty-two years old, he was elected Attorney-General of the State. Ile had, at the outset of his professional career, opened an office in Jacksonville. He did not retain this position long, but resigned in order to accept a seat in the Legislature, to which he had been nominated and subsequently elected.

"huts wranh by M B irady

BIOGRAFIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

After his term of service had ended, he returned to the prac- tice of his profession, and so continued until 1837, when he was appointed by President Van Buren Register of the Land Office at Springfield ; he held this position for two years, forwarding his resignation in 1839. In 1840 he was made Secretary of State, and in the following year was elected by the Legislature of the State a Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois. He occupied his seat on the bench for nearly two years, resigning therefrom on the occasion of his being nominated and elected a member of the National House of Representatives. He took his seat as a member of the Twenty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the same position in 1845; and in 1847 was chosen United States Senator by the Legislature of the State for the term of six years from the 4th of March, which position he held until his death, being constantly re-elected, whenever his term was about to expire. He was a candidate for the Presidency in 1852, 1856, and 1860, and in the latter year received the nomination at the hands of the " Douglas wing " of the Democratic party. Although he received but twelve electoral votes, he was next to Abraham Lincoln in the popular vote, as the Douglas electors received 1, 365,976, or nearly as many as both Breckenridge and Bell. While a member of the United States Senate, he made himself felt as a man of extraordinary talent, energy and determi- nation. IIe possessed also that genial electric nature which drew around him a host of warm personal and political friends. He was by nature and conviction a Democrat ; and amid all the clashing of parties, and the changes of political issues, he ever remained the friend and tribune of the people. He was for a long time Chairman of the Com- mittee on Territories, and drew up most of the bills for the organization of new Territories, and the admission of new States. Although he was not the originator, yet he was the mover and earnest advocate of the celebrated " Kansas and Nebraska bill," and of the " Repeal of the Missouri Com- promise." He was also the advocate and upholder, if not the originator, of the "Squatter Sovereignty Doctrine," placing in the hands of the settlers of a Territory, at the time of its organization, the power of determining its future status in regard to slavery. It was upon this point that the famous issue between himself and Abraham Lincoln was drawn, and the two political giants waged a warfare upon it that forms one of the most remarkable incidents in the history of the nation. This contest it was which brought Abraham Lincoln prominently forward for the Presidency, and in fact secured him the first honors in the arena of national politics. It was marked by extraordinary ability on both sides. Ile took a lively interest in the exciting troubles which commenced subsequent to the Presidential election of 1860. Ilis views were freely and forcibly expressed in his place in the Senate; and his determination to sustain and defend the Government of the Union at every cost was duly declared. Soon after the close of the extra session of the Senate, which acted upon the

nominations made by President Lincoln, then just in- augurated, he left Washington for Chicago. On April 20th, 1861, he was detained at Belair, Ohio, in consequence of a railroad train missing a connection. When it was known that he was in town, the people gathered around the house were he was sojourning, and after cheering for him, as well as for Major Anderson, then the hero of the hour, for the old flag, and for the Union, he was called forth to address the people. Ile responded to the invitation, and delivered an able and patriotic discourse, denouncing the right of any State to secede, and urging the partisan to sink party and stand by the Government. On the 25th of the same month, the Legislature of Illinois assembled to hear an address from him, in which he discussed with consider- able fulness the exciting topics of the day. He returned to Chicago, May Ist, somewhat indisposed with incipient stages of inflammatory rheumatism. On the 11th of the same month he addressed Virgil Hickox, Chairman of the Demo- cratic State Committee, in a long letter, giving his views in a candid, friendly manner, on the posture of affairs, and this was probably one of the last letters he ever wrote. In it he arraigned those who advocated the right of sccession as enemies of their country, and frankly stated the issue to bc a question of "Government, or no Government, Country, or no Country." He cited the history of the Nullification excite- ment during General Jackson's administration ; how, when that great President issued his celebrated Proclamation, Clay and Webster, the leaders of the opposition, who had pre- viously carried on a bitter warfare against the administra- tion, and the measures promulgated and defended by it, now sank the partisan in the patriot, and rallied to the sup- port of him who said, " The Union must and shall be pre- served." The course of these leaders of the great Whig party, both of the North and South, together with their friends in the Senate and House, and with their adherents in the States, was pointed out by Senator Douglas in this letter, as the course proper to be pursued by the Democratic party of the North, especially by that branch or wing which had supported him at the November, 1860, election. His health did not improve as the month rolled on, but his disease did not affect him, nor did he seem conscious of the imminent peril of death, which was slowly but surely approaching ; neither did his complicated affairs give him any concern. The salvation of the Republic was uppermost in his thoughts by day and night, and almost his last coherent words expressed an ardent wish for the honor and prosperity of his country by the dis- persion and defeat of her enemies. He had ever been a warm friend of education for the masses, and his noble gift of ten acres to the Baptist Society, whereon to erect a great University, is an evidence of his feelings in this respect. Sincerely mourned and respected by a great body of his fellow-countrymen, he ended his useful life, in the prime of manhood, in his adopted city of Chicago, June 3d, IS61.

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

OODRUFF, GILBERT, Banker, was born, No- vember 20th, 1817, in Watertown, Jefferson county, New York, and is a son of Frederick and Lodema (Andrus) Woodruff. Until the age of eighteen years he labored on a farm, attending school during the winter months only. In 1838, he went to Illinois, and was a clerk in his brother's store in Joliet for some six months ; but returned to Watertown, and shortly after went into the grocery business, which proved successful. IIe sold out his establishment in 1845, and became engaged in real cstate transactions, both in his neighborhood and in Western lands. He erected also many fine buildings in Watertown ; prominent among these was " Washington Hall Block." In 1857 occurred a great financial panic, and he repaired to Dubuque, Iowa, where his principal investments had been made; there he was occupied until 1858 in arranging his affairs, and thence proceeded to Rockford, Illinois, where he finally concluded to locate. In the latter place he was engaged in ex- changing his lands in Iowa for farms in the vicinity of Rockford, and so continued until 1871. The increase in value of this latter property within the past fifteen years is truly remarkable. In the latter year, as principal stock- holder, he organized the Rockford National Bank, of which he was elected President, which position he continues to fill. It has a capital of $100,000, and is only second in amount of business transacted by six similar institutions in the city. Ile has ever been an active public man, interested in all matters relating to the welfare and improvement of the community among whom he resides, and to the beautifying and adornment of the city. In political matters he has always manifested a deep interest, and earnestly labors to elevate to office those whom he considers will best execute the wishes of the people they represent. In 1873 he was elected Mayor of Rockford, and re-elected in 1874. Al- though his administration has not been characterized by any remarkable event, yet he has the satisfaction of knowing that the prosperity of the city has steadily advanced, and that his efforts in bchalf of the people are appreciated by them. He is one of the Trustees of the Rockford Female Seminary, President of the Forest City Insurance Company, and a member and Trustce of the First Congregational Church of Rockford. He is apparently in the prime of manhood, is pleasant in conversation, yet seems to be a better listener than talker. His manner is kindly and cour- teous to all, both to those blessed with this world's goods and those who are not, which has made for him a large circle of warm friends and admirers. He has achieved a great success in life, and has been thus far the architect of his own fortunes. IIe is a brother of George Woodruff, Presi- dent of the First National Bank of Jolict. He was married, 1842, to Nancy Foy, of Watertown, New York, and has a family of two sons and three daughters. Ilis cldest daughter is the wife of M. S. Parmele, Cashier of the Rock- ford National Bank.

ERR, REV. TIIOMAS, M. D., Physician and Clergyman, was born, May 24th, 1824, in Aber- deen, Scotland, and is a son of Robert Kerr, a merchant of that city. He was educated at Marischel College, graduating in 1841. In 1845 he went to the United States, and for nearly a ycar remained in New York city, attending the lectures in the University ; and in 1846 proceeded West, locating at Sharon, Walworth county, Wisconsin, where he commenced the study of medicine, prosecuting the same subsequently in the Medical Department of the Iowa University, from which institution he graduated in April, 1850, with the degree of M. D. He immediately commenced the practice of his profession at Elgin, Kane county, Illinois, where he remained and conducted a successful business until 1857. At this period he was ordained to the ministry of the Bap- tist denomination, and was settled at Dundee, in the same county, for two years. IIe was thence called to Waukegan, and ministered to a large congregation there for two years. Having received an invitation to become the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rockford, Winnebago county, he accepted the same, and fulfilled its duties until 1867, when, at the request of the Baptist Home Mission Socicty, he re- moved to Hannibal, Missouri, to restore the interests of the Baptist Church in that section. Meanwhile, in the spring of 1861, as a delegate to the Evangelical Alliance, which convened at Geneva, Switzerland, he visited that city, and thence extended his travels through Italy, Egypt, and Pal- cstine to Jerusalem; and visited Rome, thence travelled through France, stopping at Paris on his return. He also made a short stay in London previous to his return to America. He was absent about six months, having gained much useful knowledge, and been greatly benefited by the trip. In 1863 he saw much active service as a member of the Christian Commission in the Army of the Potomac, then under command of General Burnside, both as a spirit- ual adviser and physician. At Hannibal, Missouri, he re- mained about two years. Meanwhile, his religious views had been undergoing a change, and leaving that city, he settled in Chicago, and resumed the practice of medicine, intending to continue it until those views should become settled. During his residence in Chicago, he received from time to time urgent invitations from his former charge to return to Rockford and become their pastor again. In the winter of 1869 he removed there and resumed the pastoratc he had left in 1867, continuing there until August, 1870. During this period his sermons were far from sectarian, and he allowed his thoughts to travel over a broader plane than that prescribed by the Baptist creed. It soon became evi- dent that he was no longer a believer in the sectarian views of the evangelical churches, and as he realized the fact that he was not preaching the doctrines for which he had been called, tendered his resignation, which was accepted by the Society. This resulted in about seventy members leaving the church, who called upon him to organize another So-

Galar Pub. Co. Philadelphia.

Gilbert Ardwith

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

ciety, and with this end in view, they held a meeting in | times elected Mayor of the city, and was one of the first Brown's Hall, Rockford, and, October 26th, 1870, a So- trustees after its incorporation as a city. He is always prominent in every movement calculated to advance the in- terests of Jersey county, and was one of the pioneers in the organization of the Jersey County Agricultural Society, and was in November, 1871, elected its President. IIe is em- phatically a self-made man, and has been very prosperous in all his undertakings, having acquired a handsome compe- tence. Few men in Southern Illinois have a more extended business acquaintance, as well as reputation, than he. He was married, June 21st, 1847, to Jane Amelia, daughter of Dr. A. R. Knapp, and has a family of three children, one son and two daughters. ciety was formed under the distinctive name of the " Church of the Christian Union," with Dr. Kerr as pastor, which has since become one of the most successful religious organ- izations in the city, holding regular services in that hall every Sunday. He is not a sensational preacher, but be- lieves and advocates freedom of thought, and the indestruc- tible and everlasting productiveness of the human mind. Ile is a fine orator, and since January, 1871, his sermons have been prcached entirely without notes or manuscript. In private life he is beloved by all who know him, and even those who differ with him in religious views are among his warmest friends and admirers. In 1872 he was the recipient of a fine residence on Church street, presented by the members of his Society, and which cost $5000. Personally, he is tall, erect, and fincly formed, with a large head and fully developed brain. He is vigorous and ener- getic, perfect in health, and with every promise of many years of usefulness in the future. He was married, 1845, to Sarah Jacox, of Sharon, New York, and has one son and one daughter.

OODRICH, HON. H. O., Merchant, was born, October 3d, 1819, and is a son of the late C. H. and Lydia A. Goodrich, who were old settlers in Illinois, having removed in 1839 to Greene county, and subsequently to Jersey county in that State. His ancestors were English, French, and Scotch. His father was for eight years Attorney for the First Judi- cial Circuit of Illinois, and was one of the most prominent lawyers in that portion of the State. He was a man of finished education and large general culture. He died at Jerseyville in 1868. ITis son, H. O. Goodrich, was edu- cated at the Genesee High School, New York, which he left when eighteen years of age, and soon after became an apprentice to learn the harness maker's trade. After learn- ing this occupation he went to Towanda, Pennsylvania, where he remained eighteen months, and then departed for the West, reaching Jerseyville in 1840, his total cash capi- tal being seventy-five cents. He first worked at his trade in Carrollton, but soon after opened a shop in Jerseyville, which he carried on until 1846, and then engaged in the mercantile business, in which he was interested for eleven years. Ile afterwards erected a large mill and distillery at Jersey Landing, which he operated until 1859. Since 1847 he has been general agent for C. H. McCormick's Reaper, which business has proved very lucrative. In 1862 he became sutler to the Sixty-first Regiment Illinois Volun- tcers, in which capacity be amassed a considerable amount during the three years he was in the field. Shortly after his return home, in 1866, he engaged largely in the milling business. In political belief he is a Democrat, having pre- viously been an old-line Whig. He has been three several

ITTLE, ALEXANDER C., M. D., Physician, Lawyer, and Soldier, was born, January 18th, 1838, at Rome, Oneida county, New York, and is the youngest of five sons, whose parents were John and Agnes ( Rae) Little, both of whom were of Scotch birth. When Alexander was a year old his parents, who were farmers, removed to Lee, in the same county, and there he commenced attending the dis- trict school. In 1849 the family removed to Western, also in the same county, and after remaining there two years, left that place for Veronia, whence, after a short sojourn, they proceeded, in 1851, to Kendall county, Illinois. Dur- ing all these changes Alexander had been attending school at such times as he could get an opportunity. From Ken- dall county, where they remained but a brief period, the family finally removed to Kane county, where the father died in 1861, and where his widow yet resides with her son Alexander. In the fall and winter of 1853-54, Alexander attended a select school in Aurora, which was somewhat in advance of the common district schools. Having decided upon the medical profession as his future sphere, he effected an arrangement with Drs. Harwood and Danforth, of Joliet, Illinois, to become their pupil, and in the autumn of 1855 he entered their office and commenced his studies. In the following summer he returned to Au- rora, where he continued reading medicine with Drs. Young and Hard, as his preceptors, until the fall of that year, when he matriculated in the Medical Department of the Iowa University at Keokuk, and attended one course of lectures in that institution. At the close of the term, in 1857, he returned to Joliet, and commenced the practice of medicine with his first preceptor, Dr. Willis Danforth, meanwhile continuing his studies. In the autumn of the same year he again repaired to Keokuk, and graduated in the spring of 1858, receiving his diploma and degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1859 he attended the Clark Sem- inary in Aurora, and in the two succeeding years his time was occupied in home study and assisting in the culture of the farm. In 1862 he organized a company of volunteers, which were in readiness to be mustered into service, when

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

news was received from head-quarters that there was to be no draft in Illinois. The patriotism of a majority of the company was somewhat cooled, and they disbanded. But a few of the number, including Dr. Little, were determined to enter the service, and he enlisted as a private in Com- pany K, 127th Regiment Illinois Infantry, which was mus- tered in at Chicago, September 6th, 1862, and immediately ordered to the front. This body of soldiery" joined the Army of Tennessee, then under the command of General Sherman. After the battle of Arkansas Post, January 10th and IIth, 1863, the Captain of Company K resigned, when Dr. Little was promoted from the ranks to that position, March 6th, 1863, being at that time but twenty-five years old. Ile participated in the siege of Vicksburg, which city capitulated July 4th, 1863, and subsequently, in the battle of Mission Ridge, November 25th and 26th, of the same year, and where the rebel General Bragg was so terribly defeated : in fact he bore a part in all the battles of the Army of the Tennessee from 1862 until the close of the war. In the spring of 1864 General Sherman commenced the Georgia campaign, so called ; and Captain Little, while in command of his regiment on the skirmish line, near At- lanta, was wounded in the thigh, August 3d, 1864, which disabled him for service, and he returned home. After a sojourn of six weeks, he again went to the front, but did not rejoin his regiment-which was then with Sherman in Ala- bama-but was placed in command of a detachment left by the order of that General to guard and hold the posts in the vicinity of Cleveland, Tennessee, and protect the inhabi- tants from the depredations of the guerillas who then in- fested that locality. He remained at that point until he was ordered to North Carolina, and arrived at Newberne towards the close of February, 1865, and shortly afterwards moved with his men to Goldsboro, in the same State, where he rejoined his regiment : subsequently, these were stationed near Raleigh, where they remained until the close of the war. Ile then marched with his men North, to Washing- ton, District of Columbia, and participated in the memorable review of the Grand Army, by the President and the General- in-Chief, which, moving in company front, occupied over six hours in passing. After being honorably discharged from the service, June, 1865, he returned home, and after a short rest, entered Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he passed six months, and took up a literary course. Returning to Aurora, he commenced the study of law with Hon. Charles Wheaton, and in the autumn of that year, 1866, entered the Law School at Ann Arbor, Michi- gan. In the spring of 1867 he went home, and was ad- mitted to the bar of Kane county in the August of that year. In 1869 he was elected an Alderman of the city, and served one year in that capacity. In 1873 he was City Attorney, and during that year became associated in business with B. F. Parks. In 1874 he was elected Mayor of Aurora, which office he now fills. As a lawyer, he is regarded as one of the most successful in the Northwest. He is a man of al

high moral and social standing, and in his career thus far has exhibited energy and perseverance in all his undertakings. These qualities, conjoined to his rigid integrity and sense of honor, have tended to place him in a position in society which but few men can attain. He is still unmarried.

URNER, JONATHAN BALDWIN, was born at Templeton, Massachusetts, December 7th, IS05. Ilis ancestors were among the emigrants on the Mayflower. He studied at Yale, in which Uni- versity he took a high rank, and where his deter- mined energy and vigorous mind gave early promise of a useful and illustrious future. In October, IS35, he married Rhodolphia S. Kibbe, and became the father of seven children. He accepted the situation of teacher in various schools in Massachusetts, and at New Haven, Connecticut, before his graduation, and won the encomiums of his associates and the love of his pupils. IIe came to Illinois as teacher in Illinois College in 1832, and was soon after chosen one of the Professors of that institu-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 4

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