The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 68

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

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BEND, EDWARD, President of the Belleville, Illinois, Savings Bank, was born in the province of Bavaria, Germany, in 1822. His parents, Ilenry Abend and Margaret Abend, were among the earliest pioneers and settlers of St. Clair county, Illinois, having located themselves in that section of the State in 1833. His elementary education was acquired in the schools of Belleville, whence he was transferred to the McKendree College, in Lebanon. Upon relinquishing school life he decided to embrace the legal profession, and began the study of law under the instruc- tions of George Trumbull, a brother of Lyman Trumbull, under whose able tutorship he completed his professional education. In 1842, at the termination of his probationary course of studies, being then in his twenty-first year, he passed the required examination and was admitted to the his profession, in which, however, he continued but for a few years. In 1847 he was elected to the Legislature on the Democratic ticket. Having voted for the Wilmot pro- viso, and against what was then called the Black Law, he was at the ensuing session of 1849 "read out" of the Democratic party. He became an earnest opponent of slavery, and during the troublous times of the Rebellion, and prior to the actual outbreak of hostilities, was a warm supporter of the government, and an able advocate and sup- porter also of the contested war measures. During the fol- lowing ten years he was busily and continuously engaged in transacting his private business, consisting chiefly of operations in the leading stock and manufacturing concerns then in movement. In 1860 he was elected President of the Belleville Savings Bank, which position he still occu- pies. This institution is widely known as a carefully con- ducted and prosperous establishment, while its officers are men who command the esteem and confidence of the cn- tire community. He has been five times elected Mayor of the city of Belleville ; and while serving in that important capacity has abundantly testified to his energy and capacity.

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Ile was married in 1852 to Miss Westerman of Weisbaden, | throughout the Union. Whilst in the Senate he was ap- Germany, in which country he was temporarily sojourning at that time. She died in Belleville, Illinois, in 1854. In 1856 he was again married to Miss IIilgard, of Belleville, daughter of a leading citizen of that county.

DWARDS, NINIAN, elected Governor of Illinois in 1826, was born in Montgomery county, Mary- land, in 1775. His parents were wealthy and respectable, and his education was commenced under favorable auspices. He was a companion at school of the celebrated William Wirt, and prepared for college under the tuition of Rev. Mr. Ilunt. Ile was sent to college at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He did not graduate, but left the college and his home at the age of nineteen years for Kentucky. Nature bestowed on him many of her rarest gifts. He possessed a mind of extraor- dinary compass, and an industry that brought forth every spark of talent with which nature had gifted him. He was bred to the legal profession, and became Attorney-General of Kentucky at an early age. In his twenty-eighth year he was appointed Chief-Justice of the High Court of Appeals. He held this office when Chief-Justice Boyle of Kentucky was appointed the first Governor of the Illinois Territory, in 1809. Mr. Edwards preferred to be Governor of the Ter- ritory, and Mr. Boyle preferred to be Chief-Justice, so in the end they exchanged offices. President Madison sent Ed- wards out as the first Governor of the Territory, and Boyle was made Chief-Justice by the Governor of Kentucky. Edwards was but thirty-four years of age when he took this office, which he continued by subsequent appointments to hold until ISIS. Governor Edwards, by proclamation, established, in 1812, the counties of Madison, Johnson, Pope and Gallatin, and having had a vote of the Territory in favor of the second grade of territorial government, he ordered, on the 16th of September of the same year, an election for members of the Legislature. By his proclama- tion, this assembly was convened at Kaskaskia on the 25th of November, 1812. This was the first legislative body elected by the people that ever assembled in Illinois. During the war of 1812, the settlements in this State were constantly disturbed by Indians, who were assisted by their allies, the English. Governor Edwards attended to their defence in person, and was present in all the important transactions, guiding and directing the whole. He re- mained at home with his family a very small portion of his time during the whole war. At its elose he was appointed a commissioner to treat with the Indians, and in 1815 many humane and equitable treaties were concluded with them. In 1818 he was elected to the United States Senate, and was shortly after re-elected, as his term soon expired. In this office he showed an extensive knowledge of public affairs, and became distinguished as a man of fine talents

pointed by Mr. Monroe to be Minister to Mexico. In the year 1826 he was elected Governor of the State of Illinois, and gave to this high trust his best energics. While the cholera was raging in Belleville in 1833, he was out attending to the afflicted night and day. Being aged and his constitution somewhat shattered, the epidemic seized upon him, and in a few hours after its seizure it proved fatal. He died in Belleville on July 20th, 1833. The county of Edwards and the town of Edwardsville, Madison county, were named in his honor.

OYNE, TEMPLE S., A. M., M. D., Physician, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 16th, 1841. He is the eldest son of the Hon. Thomas Hoyne, LL. D., one of the oldest members of the Chicago bar. He is the grandson of Dr. John J. Temple of St. Louis, Missouri. He received his education in the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1862, receiving the three degrees of B. S., M. S., and A. M. On his graduation, he attended two courses of lee- tures in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, receiving the degree of M. D. in February, 1865. Pre- viously to this, in 1862, he took a partial course in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. His father having expressed a wish that he should pursue the practice of the law, he entered his office, but finding the study ex- ceedingly distasteful, he gave himself to the study of medi- cine as the profession of his life. Dr. Hoyne's father, im- pressed with the belief that all boys should be taught a trade, encouraged his son to learn the art of printing. In accordance with this wish, he worked in the printing office of the Chicago Democrat half a day while attending school in his boyhood. Hc then procured a small font of type, and in 1858 printed a volume of one hundred pages-a novel written by his mother-and it was bound by his uncle. The edition numbered one hundred copies, and was printed on a common letter press. The knowledge he thus aequired has always since been of great value to him, besides the recreation it affords him after the arduous labors of his pro- fession. In 1864, during the war, he had charge of a hos- pital in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in company with Dr. F. H. Hamilton of New York. The hospital contained three Hundred men wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. Resuming his practice at the close of the war, he was clected, in 1869, Professor of Materia Medica in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. This position he still maintains, with credit to himself, and with honor to the college. In addition to his other duties, he has also charge of a section of the Hahnemann Hospital. Dr. Hoyne is also the business manager and registrar of the college. His literary contributions to his profession arc a treatise on the use of Carbolic Acid ; " Hoyne's Materia Medica Cards ; "

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and a " Repertory to the New Remedies." IIe has contrib- uted to the Hahnemann Monthly ; the United States Medi- cal and Surgical Journal; the Medical Investigator ; and the American Homeopathic Observer ; and for five years was one of the editors of Raue's Annual Record. He was married in 1866.

INCKLEY, JOHN MILTON, M. D., Journalist, Lawyer, and cx-Assistant Attorney-Gencral of the United States, was born in Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, March 16th, IS31. IIis father is the descendant of an ancient English family; his mother, a native of Alsace, is the daughter of an Alsatian baron, who, renouncing his title and estate, left his country and came to Amcrica before the outbreak of the revolutionary war. Both parents were residents of Mary- land, and at one time in possession of considerable wealth. In early boyhood he attended the school of his native village for two terms, and subsequently was prepared for college by his parents and elder brothers. Shortly after the death of his father he left home, July Sth, 1850, taking with him one collar and sixty-five cents, part of the proceeds from the sale of several landscapes which he had painted. During the ensuing three years, with the exception of intervals of sojourn in the great cities, his home was in the mountain wildernesses from New England to Georgia, residing occa- sionally in the villages on the road, where he taught the rudiments of drawing in exchange for food and shelter. This errant life in the wilds he sustained without a com- panion, without a blanket, usually without a gun, but never without one or more books, or portions of a number of books. " He always had at least a portion of the Bible, and some of the writings of Plato." This period, devoid of any projected aim, was alternately a time of most intense and tireless physical action and the most absorbed and con- eentrated contemplation. In May, 1853, he visited Wash- ington city, where he met many old friends of his father, among them the Congressman from his native Ohio district. Ile then revisited Virginia and New York city, returning to the capital when Congress met in December. While there he accepted a temporary clerkship in the General Land Office, and, serving in that capacity, was noted for his thoroughness, accuracy, and extraordinary energy. Even- tually he was placed in charge of the Bureau of Litigations, and under him were many lawyers, of whom several had, in their day, been eminent practitioners. Owing to these circumstances he applied himself, in 1856, to the study of law, but without purposing to embrace the legal profession. Ilis tutor was often the sevcre and able Hon. S. S. Baxter, of Virginia. In 1863, having, prior to this date, written hundreds of briefs for Mr. Baxter and other eminent law- yers, he became a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. During his term of service in the Land Office his ardent love for natural scenery led him

to make a suggestion afterwards happily carried into effect by law : viz., to reserve as national property the famous Mariposa trces, the Yosemite Valley, and like things and places of great beauty. Ile subsequently took a regular medical course at the Georgetown College, with no inten- tion of pursuing the practice of medicine, and graduated from that institution in 1861. In the same year he rc- signed his office, the new Commissioner tendering to him on this occasion a flattering letter of profound regret at losing his services. With convictions all for the North, with personal ties all in the South, he had, in the war, no heart for the onc, no hand for the other. Yet, when the " Trent " affair made war with Great Britain appear inevitable, he instantly made arrangements to enter the army on the staff of a distinguished Federal General, " for one year, or during the war." Also he inserted in the National Intelligencer an article on the " changed aspect of the rebellion, if aided by foreign allies," which was quoted by Lord Lyons, the British minister, in his despatches to the British govern- ment, as significant of the feeling of American men of principle. The "Trent " troubles being amicably arranged, however, he devoted himself to editorial work concerning the financial problems of the hour, to the revision of the speeches and pamphlets of various political leaders, and to the preparation of law briefs for lawyers practising before the Supreme Court of the United States. Early in 1864 he proposcd a national convention, to be called in the manner prescribed by law, for the revision of the Constitu- tion of the United States, and, incidentally, for a settlement of the dispute between the sections. He has since renewed the proposition upon several fitting occasions, and is still in favor of such a convention. At the close of the war he occupied himself zealously as a pacificator, by means of private correspondence, and also of elaborate newspaper articles. Late in 1865 he became the successor of the old editors of the National Intelligencer, and in that position evinced perfect competency and admirable judgment. For four years he wrote its leaders-articles never imputed to any journalist, nor to any but the ablest legists of the coun- try, Black, Chase, Curtis, Parsons, Redfield, Reverdy Johnson, Stanbery, Cushing, etc. The serics of articles referred to covered the periods of reconstruction and im- peachment, and excited much comment and discussion both in the North and South. In October, 1866, his application for the position of Chief Clerk of the General Land Office, the only one ever known to emanate from him, was rejected. Later, however, Hon. Henry Stanbery, then Attorney- General, tendered him another position of greater honor and larger emoluments. After serving for a few months in the then new office of Law Clerk, Mr. Stanbery offercd him the post of Assistant Attorney-General, which he accepted finally, May 24th, 1867. In the following June he was regularly appointed by the President Acting Attorney-General during the absence of his superior, and filled his place in the Cabinet. While examining the papers

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in a pardon case, he discovered a plot among several great political leaders to suborn witnesses whereby to prove that President Johnson had been leagued with the assassins of Abraham Lincoln for the purpose of securing the succession to his office. This matter he laid wholly before Mr. John- son in a formal report, which he published. The excite- ment and frenzied storm that followed this action have since become matters of history. Subsequently, the United States Marshal of North Carolina having reported to him that process of the United States Court was obstructed by arms, under the direction of General Sickles, then com- mander of that military district, he formally submitted the matter, and, as the law officer of the government, demanded his removal. The President removed him by telegraph. His report in that case also was published, and again also against his desire, he foreseeing clearly the unnecessary hostility likely to be engendered by such publication. In the meantime his political enemies were working for his overthrow, and finally, the office of Assistant Attorney- General was, June 28th, 1868, abolished by Act of Congress. That abolishment was, according to general belief, brought about by the machinations of his alarmed adversaries, and this also was the expressed belief of the late Mr. Fessenden. While holding that office he was, during the major portion of the time, Acting Attorney-General in the Cabinct, was continuously burdened with the attendant patronage and administrative duties, and yet found time to form and write nearly every opinion, nearly all of the briefs for the Supreme Court, and to dispose of the greater part of the office correspondence, to study also the ablest hostile arguments in Congress, and to prepare answers to such for publication the following morning in the National Intelligencer. Al- though frequently obliged, in order to procure confirmation by the Senate, to select political opponents for the positions of Judge, District Attorney, or Marshal, his appointments were invariably characterized by fairness and wisdom. In 1866 he relinquished the editorial chair of the Intelligencer, though continuing to write its leaders, on account of the in- sistance of the proprictors of this journal in inserting a paid editorial article. In July, 1868, he was free of office, and rest- ing from labor. Internal revenue frauds were known to be rife, Johnson had escaped impeachment and lost the nomi- nation of the Democrats, and nothing remained but to glorify his setting sun by a bold reform of political corruption. His plans were radical, broad, and mature, and, in his search for a resolute, faithful, and disinterested colleague, he se- lected J. M. Binckley. He was accordingly appointed to the Solicitorship of Internal Revenue, and shortly after- ward, September 12th, 1868, was sent on his mission to New York. His arrival there caused an intense commotion in the ranks of the revenue officials and " ring-men," and bribe-money was raised and offered in almost fabulous amounts ; numerous threats harassed his ears incessantly, and movements, in which men of all parties joined, were concerted to assail him with ridicule and fierce denunciation.

Hourly he received threats or warnings of assassination. Undaunted, however, he formally instituted vigorous pro- ceedings against various high officials, and, on one occasion, when his deputy marshal had been intimidated by an armed possc of law-breakers, went forth in person and se- cured the arrest of the party accused. Ultimately, however, the President, frightened by the storm evoked, virtually re- pudiated the projected raid and abandoned the field. He then tendered his resignation, which was refused, with the assurance that, sooner or later, the reform measure should be carried into operation in a much bolder manner. On the day following the accession of General Grant he again tendered his resignation, but the officials whom he had publicly accused, and who shrank from trial, assisted by certain Congressmen since publicly disgraced as bribe-takers, continued to suppress the resignation in order to clothe his departure from office, March 8th, 1869, with the aspect of a removal. April Ist, 1869, he returned to his native village, and there spent a few months in pure relaxation. October 10th, 1869, hc removed from Washington to Nor- folk, Virginia, purposing to enter upon the practice of law. Later, however, he removed to Chicago, Illinois, where he became connected with the "Lakeside Monthly." His essays on Chicago, powerful and masterly productions, won for him not only the esteem and admiration of the North- west, but attracted also considerable attention throughout this country and in Europe. He was the originator and earnest promoter of the Chicago Literary Club, so favorably known to the people of Illinois. In the fall of 1870 he was about to settle in Iowa, when he was called to Wash- ington to assist in the conduct of The Patriot, a Democratic national organ, behind which were Mr. Corcoran, and other notable men. Finally, he learned that its strongest backer was William Tweed, of New York, then at the height of his power and prosperity. Upon assuring himself of the truthfulness of his discovery he immediately relin- quished his connection with The Patriot, being unwilling to follow in the lead of one whom he knew to be a public robber. At the present time he is devoted to his profession, and is engaged also in preparing for publication two works of a most interesting and important nature. He was married, September 15th, 1859, to a daughter of Harvey Michel, a well-known resident of Virginia.

ARKS, ROBERT HALL, Owner of the Glen Flora Mineral Springs, at Waukegan, Illinois, is the son of Calvin C. Parks, a pioneer farmer of the State of Michigan, having settled there about 1822, and also subsequently a prominent lawyer, and Harriet (Thomas) Parks; and was born in Auburn, Oakland county, Michigan, February 17th, IS36. In 1849 his father removed with his family to Waukegan, Illinois, and practised his profession there until his death in

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1860. On the completion of his school days in 1853 | gaged in pastoral work, and resided for twelve months at Robert Hall commenced life by entering a general store as Lemont, Cook county, Illinois. He afterwards remained for two years at Taylor Falls, Minnesota, and through the following year rested at Hudson, Wisconsin. In 1864 he entered the service of the United States, and was appointed Chaplain of the 7th Minnesota Infantry, serving with noted zeal and efficiency until the termination of the conflict. After the close of the war he was occupied in teaching for one year, at the St. Charles College, St. Charles, Missouri. He then became Assistant Editor of the Chris- tian Advocate, published at St. Louis, in this State, and continued his connection with that organ for a period of five years. At the expiration of this time he received the appointment of Professor of Natural Sciences at the McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, a position which he still retains, and whose important functions he performs with unsurpassable thoroughness and ability. Endowed naturally with far more than an ordinary share of innate talent, his varied experience as a preceptor in educational institutions of a high class, his studious habits and note- worthy powers of mental digestion and assimilation, have combined to make him a scholar of brilliant and varied attainments. He was married December 25th, 1854, to Alice L. Eddy, of Cincinnati, Ohio. clerk, where he remained for one year. In 1854 he went to Chicago, and became clerk in a clothing store, and here, three years later, he established a business of the same kind for himself in the city of Davenport, Iowa, where he con- tinued until 1861. The business was not successful, and he returned to Chicago and engaged in the grain commission business until 1868. In this year he associated himself in partnership with his elder brother, Calvin Chapin Parks, and went to New York city, where the brothers established themselves in the banking business, under the firm-name and style of C. C. Parks & Co. His brother retired from the firm in 1872, but he remained about a year longer, when he closed the business and returned to the family home in Waukegan. In the early part of 1874 he settled perma- nently there, and with his brother undertook the development of the mineral spring on the family estate, which had long been supposed to possess valuable medicinal properties. Hc caused the water to be subjected to a thorough analysis, which resulted in establishing its claim to high and impor- tant curative qualities. Robert Hall Parks is now engaged in the managenient of this valuable spring, which in his hands is rapidly assuming great commercial importance. The virtues of this water have been so thoroughly tested as to be beyond dispute, and, aided by the attractive beauty and healthfulness of the situation, it fully warrants the money, time, and care which are being largely expended upon it. Robert Hall Parks was married in 1857 to Isabella II. Erskinc, daughter of the late Colonel John Erskine, of Wiscassett, Maine.

DWARDS, ELIJAII EVAN, Professor of Natural Sciences, at the McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, was born in Delaware, Ohio, January 26th, 1831. IIis father, Rev. John Edwards, a prominent divine of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Wales, and at the age of ten years emigrated from his native country to the United States. His mother, Elizabeth Van Horn, born in this country, was formerly a resident of Ohio. His parents were married in this State, and in 1836 moved to Indiana. Ilis education was acquired at the Asbury University, Grecncastle, Indiana, from which institution, at the expira- tion of his allotted term of studies, he graduated. He was then appointed Professor of Ancient Languages, at the Brookville College, in the same State, officiating in that capacity for a term of three years, and eliciting many en- comiums for his capabilities and learning. From 1856 to 1858 he was President of the Whitewater College, Centre- ville, Indiana; and, during the subsequent two years, presided as Professor of Latin, at the Hamlin University, Redwing, Minnesota. Later, he was, for three years, en- I degree of M. D., and since this time he has been success-

RIGHAM, REEDER S., M. D., Physician, is a native of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on June 16th, 1832. The very moderate means of his father, who was a farmer, would not permit his son's wishes for an early classical education to be followed out, but by dint of the small advantages held out by the common school, supplemented by hard study in leisure hours, he so far prepared himself as to pass a satisfactory examination previous to his admission into Dickinson College, Ohio, at the age of nineteen years. For some time after leaving that seminary he was occupied in teaching school, intend- ing at some future day to devote himself to the study and practice of the law ; but upon recognizing the fact that law and politics were almost always inseparably connected as regards a country practitioner, and as this latter ad'anct had no charms for him, he changed his plans, and resolved to adopt the profession of medicine. Accordingly, in 1856, he attended a course of lectures in the Ohio Medical College, an allopathic institution. During the war of the rebellion Dr. Brigham was enlisted on the side of the Union, and was promoted to the rank of Acting Assistant Surgeon, serving in the United States navy for the period of one year. Having formed the acquaintance of Dr. L. Grosmuck, of Fort Scott, Kansas, he changed his views, and shortly after entered the Medical and Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri, whence he obtained his

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 68

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