The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 45

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

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of the Town Council. In 1868 he was interested in the organization of the Princeton Manufacturing Company, en- gaged in the production of agricultural implements, and became its Secretary, and has remained in that connection ever since. He was actively concerned in the construction of the Chicago, Wilmington & Western Railroad, and has, in both public and private capacities, shown himself to be not only an enterprising and energetic man, but an irre- proachable and valuable citizen, deserving the respect which is shown him.

RYANT, JOHN HOWARD, Farmer and Poet, brother of William Cullen Bryant, was born in Cummington, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, July 22d, 1807, being the son of Peter Bryant, a physician, who was a native of Bridgewater, Massa- chusetts. His remote ancestors came from Eng- land in 1636, and were among the first settlers of Taunton, Massachusetts. His mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Snell, was a native of Bridgewater. His early education was obtained at an academy in Cummington, and his youth was passed in rural occupations and in attendance upon the schools, in which, among other studies, he took up Latin as an acquirement preparatory to his entering upon a col- legiate career. He became a student at the Rensselaer School, Troy, New York. His father, who was a man of great erudition and fine accomplishments, discovering in both his sons a poetical talent of no common order, gave them the benefit of his knowledge and criticism. In 1826 John H. wrote " My Native Village," a poem which first appeared in the United States Review and Literary Gazette, a periodical which was published simultaneously in New York and Boston, and of which William Cullen Bryant was one of the editors. Subsequently he closely applied him- self to the study of mathematics and natural sciences under various instructors, and in his intervals of leisure produced several poems, which were published in the Gasette. In April, 1831, he removed to Jacksonville, Illinois, where he was engaged partly in clerking and partly in farming. In 1832 he went to what is now Princeton, Illinois, entered a claim to a tract of land, and with his brother Cyrus built a log-cabin. This was shortly after the Black Hawk war. A colony had some time before emigrated from Hampshire HAPMAN, A. SCOTT, Dentist, was born in Me- dina county, Ohio, August 17th, 1839, his father, A. S. Chapman, being a well-known and highly esteemed merchant. He attended school in Me- dina county for two years, and when six years of age removed with his parents to Princeton, Illi- nois. There his early-commenced school studies were con- tinued until he was seventeen years old, when he became a clerk in his father's store, and remained in that capacity until 1867. The two subscquent years he passed in the county clerk's and circuit clerk's offices. In 1869 he com- county, Massachusetts, and located at Princeton, but its members were entirely dispersed by the Indians. When Mr. Bryant took up his claim there were but six families in his vicinity, and there was not a building upon the spot which subsequently was to become the site of a flourishing town. He erected the first two buildings in Princeton, and inaugurated the mercantile and industrial career of that place by opening in these rude log structures a store and a blacksmith shop. In 1833 he entered upon his present homestead, built a log residence, and in June of that year was married to Harriet E. Wiswall of Jacksonville. | menced to study dentistry, and by faithful application he

Ilis bride made her way on horseback to the new home, while he trudged afoot at her side. He commenced the development of his land, and by industry and a practical knowledge of the especial needs of such an estate, suc- ceeded in making it one of the finest and most productive in Illinois. He has since continued to live upon it, and has engaged in other branches of trade and industry, manu- facturing brick, erecting buildings, etc. He editcd the Bureau County Advocate, the first paper published in Prince- ton, and achieved considerable, though a necessarily limited, success in this journalistic enterprise. He continued to write poetry, and in 1855, collected and published in book form, Appleton & Co. of New York issued the creations of his poetic genius. Rufus W. Griswold, in his " Poets and Poetry of America," says of him : " His poems . .. have the same general characteristics as those of his brother. He is a lover of nature, and describes minutely and effec- tively. To him the wind and stream are ever musical, and the forests and prairies clothed in beauty. His versification is easy and correct, and his writings show him to be a man of taste and kindly feelings, and to have a mind stored with the best learning." Mr. Bryant was also at one time en- gaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1842 he was elected to the State Legislature from Bureau county, and again elected in 1858. In 1852 he was the Free Soil candidate for Con- gress. He has served as Recorder of Bureau county, Presi- dent of the Board of Education of Princeton, holding that office for ten years, and as Supervisor of the township. He is the present President of the Princeton Manufacturing Company. His farm is quite extensive, covering over five hundred acres, and is chiefly managed by his son, into whose care it has passed. He had two sons, the elder having died when nineteen. The remaining son, Elijah W. Bryant, is married and resides at the old homestead. No citizen of Princeton enjoys to a higher degree the respect and confidence of his fellow-townsmen than does Mr. Bryant. He is a gentleman of unimpeachable integrity, of scholarly refinement, and great social qualities, and has at all times taken a dcep interest in the matcrial and intellectual progress of the community in which he resides.

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soon fitted himself for the profession. In 1871 he opened | elected to the Supreme Bench. IIe has been for the past an office as practising dentist in Princeton, and has since his fourteen years Master in Chancery for McDonough county. He was married, October, 1842, to Salina M. Sweet, of Morgan county, Illinois, whose demise occurred in De- cember, 1872. entrance into the profession not only obtained a large and lucrative practice but a fine reputation for care and skill. In 1861, on December 24th, he was married to Melissa Fisher of Princeton. In 1863 he served a portion of the year in the War Department at Washington, and then re- signed. He is now actively engaged in his professional duties, and enjoys not a mere local patronage, but one which comprehends a very large section of the surrounding territory.

EECE, WILLIAM H., Lawyer, was born, 1831, in Sangamon county, Illinois, and is a son of Jesse and Mary D. Neece. IIe obtained his education in the schools of the neighborhood of his birthplace, and he resided on a farm until he attained manhood. In 1856 he went to Macomb, and commenced the study of law with Judge Bailey, and was admitted to the bar in the following year. He at once commenced the practice of his profession in Macomb, where he has since continued to reside. He was elected in 1864 a member of the Legislature on the Democratic ticket ; and again to the same body in 1871, in the meanwhile serving as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1869. In 1872 he was nominated as the candidate of his party to rep resent the Tenth District in the United States House of Representatives, but failed to secure an election. He is an able counsellor and advocate, and is noted for his integrity. Ile was married in 1857 to Jeanette Ingals of Illinois.

ELSO, HUGH ALEXANDER, M. D., Surgeon, was born in Morgan county, Indiana, December 6th, 1829. His grandparents were natives of Jamestown, Virginia, and lived to reach the age of nearly one hundred years ; his grandfather was one of the heroes of Revolutionary times, and took a prominent part in the events of the earlier days of independence. His father, with his parents, moved south to the Carolinas, and then to Tennessee, but owing to their abhorrence of the slavery system, and their ardent devotion to extreme abolition measures, were subsequently induced to move to the Northwest, and settled finally in Indiana. In this State he received his education, principally at the Bloomington University. The possessor of an enterprising and sanguine temperament, he at an early age started out into life with a determination to find a speedy means of securing a prosperous future. He was occupied in labor- ing during the summer and in the winter months attended school. Upon definitively abandoning his earlier course of studies he engaged in teaching school in Kentucky, In- diana and Louisiana. While in the latter State he became attached in 1851 to a surveying party, doing duty in the then overflowed northern region. He there began also the study of medicine, occupied in teaching at the same time, and made rapid progress in the knowledge of that science under the preceptorship of Dr. Powell. At this time a hopeful believer in the ultimate overthrow of slavery, he was ever a fearless enunciator of his ideas and sentiment, and was unable to find in Louisiana that atmosphere of perfect freedom in which alone he could be happy. Shortly after, accordingly, hc removed to Cincinnati, entered its medical college, and graduated there. He then made Morgantown, Indiana, his home, and entered upon the ac- tive practice of his profession, his residence there dating from 1854. In 1858 he established his office in Farming- ton, Coles county, Illinois, and was professionally and suc- cessfully occupied until 1861. In 1856 he was one of the eighteen there who voted for General Fremont ; the doctrines imbibed in childhood he has always adhered to with love and veneration, and from his earliest days has been a stead- fast and consistent Republican. At the outbreak of the Re- bellion he entered the United States service as a private in the 123d Regiment of Illinois Volunteers; the command being called at once into action, his services as surgeon were required, and after fulfilling the duties of that office for a period of four months, he was commissioned by Gov- crnor Yates Assistant Surgcon of his regiment. While in

AILEY, JOHN S., Lawyer, was born, 1814, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Samuel S. and Mary (Ruckman) Bailey. His education was only such as was afforded by the public schools of that section. He removed to Illinois in 1836, and at first located in Adams county, where two years later he entered the office of Judge Ralston and commenced the study of the law. He was admitted to the bar in 1841, an'd began the practice of his profession in Brown county. In 1846 he was elected a representative from the district composed of Brown and Schuyler counties, and served his constituents in the Legis- lature for one year. He continued to reside in Brown county until 1855, and during eight years of the period intervening between 1841 and 1855 he served as State's Attorney. In the last-named year he removed to Ma- comb, the county seat of McDonough county, where he has since resided, and continued the practice of his pro- fession. In 1858 he was elected Circuit Judge of the then Fifth Judicial District (now known as the Eleventh) to fill the unexpired term of Pinckney H. Walker, who had been i service he was familiarly and widely known as " Old

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Reliable," and noted for gallant and meritorious conduct. In the spring of 1864 he resigned his commission, and set- tled with his family at Paxton, Illinois, where he has since permanently resided, in the active practice of medicine. IIe stands at the head of his profession in the county, and in his management of cases demanding skilful surgical treatment is second to none in that section of Illinois. He was married in 1858 to Elizabeth M. Brasheares, a former resident of Farmington, Coles county, Illinois.

ADE, SAMUEL, Vice-President of the Alton National Bank, was born in Essex county, Massa- chusetts, in 1806, being the son of John and Mary (Merrifield) Wade. IIe was educated at homc, and was apprenticed to the carpentering trade, which it was intended he should follow through life. In 1831 he removed to Alton, where for several years he labored as a carpenter, and then turned his attention to mercantile pursuits by entering the business of packing pork and beef for domestic use. This he carried on until 1875 with great profit, gradually enlarging his transactions in purchases and shipments, until his establishment became one of the first rank in that section of the country. He has been identified with the Alton National Bank ever since its organization, and has been its Vice-President for the past eight years. He has fine executive qualifications, is a tho- rough and well-informed business man, and has done much to raise that institution to the high point in public estimation which it retains to-day. He was married in 1830 to Eu- nice Caldwell of Massachusetts, who is still living. He is a man of much public spirit, and enjoys the respect of the community as an upright citizen and an enterprising business man.

ILLIN, JOSEPH WARREN, Printer, Journalist, County Clerk of Effingham county, was born in Somerset, Ohio, May 4th, 1828. He is the son of Henry Fillin and Elizabeth Fillin. His edu- cation was acquired in a printing office, in the common schools of his native place, and also in the IIigh School of West Rushville. At sixteen years of age he became a journeyman printer. During the progress of the war with Mexico he entered the service of the United States as a private in the 3d Ohio Regiment of Volunteers, was subsequently promoted to the rank of Sergeant, and was finally appointed to a Second-Lieutenancy. He after- ward recruited and organized a company and resumed his military career as Captain of Company E of the 5th Regi- ment of Ohio Volunteers. IIe was engaged in publishing a newspaper in Effingham county, Illinois, at the date of the outbreak of the civil war, and the Rebellion assuming se-

rious proportions, he recruited and organized the first com- pany from Effingham county, and was appointed Lieutenant- Colonel in the 11th Illinois Regiment of Volunteers. This position he resigned July 5th, 1861, and recruited another company, which was afterward disbanded. In March, 1862, he entered the 62d Illinois Regiment as First Lieu- tenant, but in the following August tendered his resignation, which was accepted, and he returned to his trade as printer. In 1869 he was elected to the county clerkship of Effing- ham county, and re-elected to that position in 1873, which he still occupies. From his infancy he was reared as a Henry Clay Whig, and in 1856 espoused the Democratic party. He was a pro-slavery Democrat, yet at the menace of the dissolution of the Union, was the first man in his county to organize a company of volunteers to aid in sup- pressing the Rebellion. He was married in 1849 to Leonie A. Dills of Ohio.

ORMAN, FERRIS, Lawyer, was born in Tioga county, New York, and is now in his sixty-third year. He is of English extraction, and his pa- rents were Miles Forman and Anna Forman. He was educated at Union College, in Schenec- tady, New York, and graduated from that institu- tion with the class of 1832. Upon the termination of his student life he resolved to embrace the legal profession, and commenced the study of law in Owego, Tioga county, New York. In 1835 he was admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of New York, and in the same year was admitted also to practise in the United States Supreme Court. In the spring of 1836 he procceded westward to Illinois, and settled in Vandalia, where he was professionally and suc- cessfully engaged until 1845, when he was elected to the State Senate, and served one session in the Legislature. Shortly after the adjournment of that body, a call was made for volunteers to assist in the prosecution of the war with Mexico, and accordingly in May, 1846, he recruited and organized a company in Fayette county, Illinois, and upon the final organization of the regiment with which it was incorporated, was elected to the Colonelcy. This, the 3d Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, was an active and promi- nent participant in the siege of Vera Cruz, and also in the battle of Cerro Gordo, April 17th and 18th, 1847. At the expiration of one year, the term for which the regiment had bcen enlisted, the troops returned from the field, and were discharged at New Orleans, Louisiana. Upon his return from the scene of warfare in Mexico, he re-established his office at Vandalia, Illinois, and resumed the practice of law, at which he continued until the "Gold Fever" induced him to move to California in 1849. While residing on the Western slope he held various offices of trust and responsi- bility, among others that of Postmaster of Sacramento, which he occupied, under the administration of General Franklin Pierce, for a period of four years. He officiated

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also as Secretary of State during the administration of John | ] B. Witler as Governor of the State of California. In 1861 -62 he was Colonel of the 4th Regiment of California Volunteers, and served bravely and efficiently for a term of twenty-two months. At the outbreak of the civil war he was acting as a member of the commission appointed to fix the boundary line between California and what were then the limits of Utah, he representing the State; but owing to the excitement and confusion attendant on the birth of the Rebellion that commission was broken. In the fall of 1865 he returned to Vandalia, where he has since permanently resided, an honored and prosperous legal practitioner. In politics he is an ally of the Democratic party. He was married in 1844 to Lucinda Booth.

RAIG, ALFRED M., Judge o. the Supreme Court of Illinois, was born, January 15th, 1831, in Edgar county, Illinois. He is the son of David and Minta (Ramey) Craig, his father coming from Pennsylvania, and his mother from Kentucky. He was educated at Knox College, Galesburg, from which he graduated in 1853. Immediately upon the conclusion of his academic career he commenced to read law in the office of Weed & Goudy, and in February, IS54, so rapid and thorough had been his studies, he was admitted to the bar. In the following June he commenced practice in Knoxville, then the county-seat of Knox county, and con- tinued it until 1873. During these nineteen years of activity as a lawyer, he achieved an honorable reputation for his profound knowledge of the law and his rare tact and ability as an advocate. Ile gave the most conscientious care and ATTHEWS, FREDERICK L., M. D., of Car- linsville, was born in Hereford, England, June Ioth, IS41, being the son of John and Caroline (Cooper) Matthews, who came to the United States in IS44, and located in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania. When in his nineteenth year he entered Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, but the breaking out of the war prevented him from finishing his collegiate course at that time. In 1861 he entered the service of the United States as a private in the 57th Penn- sylvania Infantry, and followed the fortuncs of his regiment, gradually being promoted until he reached a First Lieu- tenancy. Just prior to the memorable " seven days " fight before Richmond, he was detached from his regiment and appointed on the staff of the lamented General Kcarney. While serving in this capacity at the battle of Malvern Hill, he was captured by the Confederates and cast into Libby Prison. For three months he was compelled to endure the horrors of this loathsome place, and was then released. After his discharge from the Union service he repaired to Pittsburgh, and engaged as a teacher in the Iron City Com- mercial College, where he remained until 1865, when, with attention in preparing and conducting the cases of his clients, and this trait, as much as his profound learning, se- cured to him the very large and lucrative practice lie en- joyed. Ile was retained in a majority of the more impor- tant civil cases transpiring during this period, either as con- sulting or acting attorney, and his arguments are studied as models of clear and concise language, and of plain and forcible reasoning. In the month of May, IS73, he was nominated in the Fifth Judicial District as a candidate for the Supreme Bench of Illinois, although he had written the convention declining to be a candidate; at the election in the following June he was elected by a large majority over the opposing candidate, Chief Justice Lawrence. The term of office which he now occupies is nine years, and the dis- trict in which he was elected to the supreme bench is onc of the largest and wealthiest in the State, being composed of the counties of Knox, Warren, Henderson, Mcrcer, Henry, Stark, Peoria, Marshall, Putnam, Burcau, La Salle, Grundy, and Woodford. While he was in practice he held the po- sitions of State's Attorney, County Judge, and in 1869 he represented Knox county in the convention called to revise the constitution of the State. For the past fifteen years he [ the aim of finishing his education and of preparing himself

has been engaged more or less in farming. He now re- sides upon a farm, and when not in the discharge of his official duties devotes his time to agricultural pursuits. In 1857 he was married to Elizabeth P. Harvey of Knox county.

ART, BENJAMIN KIRTLAND, M. D., was born in Albion, New York, in 1807, being the son of Joseph and Lucy (Kirtland) Hart. He was brought up on a farm 'until he attained his major- ity, when he repaired to Rochester, New York, where he commenced his preparations for the practice of medicine. Ile studied privately at first under excellent preceptors, and then entered upon a full course at the Boston Medical College. One of his classmates was Oliver Wendell llolmes, who graduated at the same time he did. Receiving h's degree of M.D., he started in IS32 for the South, where he intended to locate and practise, but while en route he stopped at Alton, Illinois, and was called into immediate professional service by the breaking out of the yellow fever. He relinquished his intention of going far- ther south, and continued to reside and practise in Alton until his death, which occurred August 30th, 1864. He was among the earliest practitioners in that section. He grew up into extended popularity as that town grew in popu- lation, and became widely known as a skilful physician. Though an active partisan, he never held political office. He was married in 1839 to Sophia Mix, of New Orleans, who is still living.

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for the medical profession, he entered the University of Ann Arbor, Michigan, from the scientific and medical depart- ments of which he graduated with high honors in 1867. He located at Carlinsville, Illinois, and entered at once upon the duties of his profession, and obtained quite a large and re- munerative practice, which was continued until 1869. In this year he temporarily abandoned these labors for the purpose of more thoroughly perfecting himself in the science of his profession, and attended a course in Rush Medical College, at Chicago, from which he received his degree of M. D. He returned to Carlinsville and resumed his prac- tice, and has since been actively engaged in the fulfilment of its growing and responsible duties. Although a young man in years and young in the profession, he has a very large patronage, and stands in high public estimation as a skilful surgeon. Upon the recommendation of Governor John M. Palmer, in 1872, he was appointed by President Grant as a Commissioner from Illinois to represent that State in the Centennial Commission, and has been honored by a place on the Executive Committee of that body, of which he is the youngest member. He has shown himself to be thoroughly alive to the vast importance of the National Exposition, and the people of Illinois are to be congratu- lated in securing the services of so zealous a worker in the movement to make that display a crowning success. He has been and is a close student of the science embodying the theory and practice of medicine, and distinguishes his practice not only by skill and care, but by an affable and courteous demeanor.

CONROE, HENRY S., Lawyer, was born in Balti- more, Maryland, February 9th, 1829, where his parents were temporarily residing on account of his father's health. The latter, Dr. Henry Mon- roe, was a prominent physician of Broome county, New York, but for more than twenty years, after he reached the age of twenty-five, he was an invalid, and continued ill-health eventually compelled him to abandon the profession of which he had become a leading member. His wife, Sylvia (Thomas) Monroe, was a lady of cultivated tastes and many accomplishments, and was nearly related to the Stanton family and that of Hon. Caleb Cushing. When Dr. Monroe discontinued the practice of medicine, he purchased a tract of comparatively wild land in Broome county, New York, and commenced the clearing of what is now one of the finest farms in that locality. Here it was that his son, Henry S., spent the early years of his life. His mother, whose varied acquirements especially fitted her for that position, was his teacher until his tenth year, when he entered the common schools, attending their sessions in the winters and assisting on his father's farm during the remaining portion of the year. He early acquired a great taste for reading, being especially fascinated with ancient and modern history. He commenced when quite young to

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 45

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