The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 8

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

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stated that the defendant is now the leading Bishop in the Reformed Episcopal Church, which organization owes its existence largely to the prosecution thus instituted. The range of his practice has been very extended; and in all the departments of his profession he has shown himself a master. While yet a student in college, he proved himself a poet of no mean character ; and during succeeding years, he has exhibited a familiarity with all the branches of polite literature, rarely attained by one so much occupied in the active pursuits of life. His public speeches and legal arguments are eloquent, and illustrated by references to classical and modern literature, which seldom fail to con- vince, and are always pleasing. He is now in the prime of life and on the full tide of success. His future can scarcely be predicted; but it is safe to assume that with his brilliant imagination, convincing logic, and nervous force, he will attract attention as one of the prominent men of Illinois. Hc was married, in 1858, to Calista O. Rey- nolds; and after her decease, he was united, in 1866, to Mary Ellen, daughter of Hon. William F. Coolbaugh; and he counts seven children around his hearthstone.

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ALMER, HON. FRANK W., Editor-in-chief of the Chicago Inter-Ocean, was born, October I Itli, 1827, in Manchester, Dearborn county, Indiana. During the ensuing year his father's family re- moved to Chautauqua county, New York, where his childhood and the early portion of his man- hood werc passed. When fourteen years old he was ap- prenticed to learn the printer's trade in the Jamestown Fournal office. At the expiration of his three years' term of service, he procceded to New York city, and engaged as a journeyman compositor in the establishment of J. & E. Winchester, publishers of the New World. He then returned to Jamestown and became foreman of the Journal office, and in June, 1848, was associated with F. P. Bailey as joint owner and editor of that paper. IIolding pro- nounced opinions, and expressing them forcibly in his editorial columns, he soon found his political influence widening, which fact was attested by his election and re-election to the State Legislature in 1853 and 1854. In 1858 he removed to Iowa, and became the editor and part owner of the Dubuque Times. He remained in that city scarcely two years, but in that period raised the paper from obscurity to a position of rank and dignity, wielding an influence throughout the State. In the winter of 1860 he was elected State Printer of Iowa, and was re-elected in 1862, 1864, and 1866. In 1861 he removed to Des Moines, the capital, where, having purchased the Register, then as now the foremost journal of the State, it became under his management a strong leader of public opinion. On all the momentous questions brought to the surface by the Rebellion, the Register was pronounced and outspoken;

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

and in the contest which involved the nation's life, " con- servatism " appeared to its editor to be synonymous with cowardice, and he stood in the front rank of the radicals. The war measure best calculated to crush the enemy re- ceived his most ardent support; and the platform which pledged the Republican party most firmly to the doctrine of the equal rights of man met with enthusiastic favo :. He urged and sustained with all his force and ability the Emancipation Proclamation, proposed and battled for Negro Suffrage, while timid leaders hesitated. Although at first the paper lost many subscribers by this course, neither the cowardice of friends nor the desertion of patrons served to shake his purpose. IIe supported every radical measure of President Lincoln's administration, and when the great Chief was stricken down by the assassin's hand, he was selected by his fellow-citizens at the State Capital to commemorate the terrible event in a public address. It was an elaborate effort, and comprised a succinct review of the great acts of that administration, a clear analysis of the late President's character, a touch- ing delineation of the broad charity and abounding generosity which characterized his rule. At that period of his editorial career, he exhibited great power as a writer; and with remarkable foresight expressed his doubts as to the true character of the man upon whom the Presidential mantle had fallen. And when, at a later date, President Johnson's so-called "policy" was revealed, and his antagonism to the party which had placed him in power was made manifest, Mr. Palmer promptly denounced him as a recreant; and though the former was censured by some of his party, yet time and the course of events proved him to be right. In 1868 Mr. Palmer was nominated by acclamation as the Republican candidate for Congress from the Fifth District, and was elected by 7007 majority. On taking his seat he was made a member of the Committee on the Pacific Railroad; also a member of the Select Committee on Postal Telegraph Lines; and of the Joint Committee on the Library. The duties falling upon him in connection with these commit- tees he performed industriously and with rare fidelity to the interests of the public, never permitting any private in- terest, however great, to overshadow the yet greater. In the House hie early took and held a high rank as a con- scientious, pains-taking legislator. He had little confidence in the good faith of the South in the acceptance of the terms of reconstruction, preparatory to the readmission of the rebellious States to the Union; and stood almost alone, even in his own party, in opposition to the bills for the readmission, January, 1870, of Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia, against which he delivered a telling speech. Although attacked with questions on all sides, he met them with prompt ingenuity, and established himself, in the opinion of the House, as an able and skilful de. bater, on the strength of a single cffort. On the final reading of the bill, hc, with Hon. George F. Hoar, of

Massachusetts, alone of all the Republicans, voted in the negative. Before the close of his second term in Con- gress, having been re-elected by a majority of 7282 votes, he was solicited to resume his editorial labors in a wider field. The Chicago Inter-Ocean required, to direct its course, a man of acknowledged high character, of un- sullied reputation, of experience in editorial life, and of executive ability, suited to the prosecution of great enter- prises. It was believed that he combined all these qualifi- cations in a remarkable degree; and the rapid growth in circulation and influence of the Inter-Ocean since the change in its management warrants the conclusion that his selection as Editor-in-chief was a stroke of policy on the part of the stockholders. He retired from Congress March 3d, 1873, his course approved by the people of his district, and of the State, with no stain of dishonor on his name, or upon his official record as a representative. In 1866 he disposed of his interest in the Register, but was retained as Editor-in-chief by the new proprietors, and so continued until his nomination for Congress, in 1868. When he assumed the management of the Inter-Ocean, he found it a strong paper, but he has made it stronger in all its depart- ments. It was then an awkward folio, and he transformed it into a broad-columned quarto; imperfect in some of its departments, he strengthened the weak places, and made of it a symmetrical whole, " a brief chronicle of the time." He is very solicitous that the journal under his control shall be chargeable with no inconsistencies, no injustice to individuals, no outrage upon society, and that it shall not declare that to-day, which it may be called upon to unsay to-morrow. He joins to the onerous duty of Editor-in- chief that also of Managing Editor, with its exacting de- mands to a multiplicity of details. He is a man of great moral courage; and what he believes to be right, he dares to advocate and defend. As a speaker he is concise in statement, clear and forcible in argument, and impassioned when roused to the discussion of questions affecting human rights. As a writer, he is vigorous, direct, and logical. Indulging neither in extended introduction nor ornate per- oration, he proceeds directly to the marrow of his subject, rendering his position impregnable by a syllogism, or forc- ing conviction by that style of vigorous statement which, instinct with the unalterable faith of the writer, compels belief in the soundness of his proposition. His social qualities are of a high order; a keen observer, familiar with the best society, and associated all his life with public men of the first note, he possesses a great fund of information and anecdote which rare conversational powers cnable him to devote to the entertainment of the social circle. His domestic relations are of the most happy character; his wife is a woman of culture and refinement, adorning his home with all the graces of true womanhood, and presiding over the household with that repose of manner which constitutes the indefinable, in- expressible charm of the privacy of the family circle.

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

ILLIARD, LAWRIN PALMER, President of the | formed much active and valuable service. In February, Protection Life Insurance Company of Chicago, was born in the town of Plainfield, Otsego county, New York, on October 11th, 1814. Shortly after attaining his majority, he came West, settling in Chicago, when it was but a primitive village, and the water consumed by the inhabitants was drawn from the lake in casks, for distribution as required. He was first engaged in retail, then in wholesale merchandising, until 1848, when he commenced business on a large scale in the general lumber trade, and at present is interested in the extensive concern of Hilliard, Churchill & Co., manufac- turers of lumber, lath, and timber, at Alpena, Michigan. The Protection Life Insurance Company was instituted in 1870, and he filled the office of Vice-President until two years ago, when, on the retirement of Mr. Skinner, he be- came its President, and his high-standing and experience have contributed in no small degree to bring the institution to the firm and prominent position it now holds among Western life insurance companies. He has been closely identified with the interests of the city in every step of its remarkable progress, stands in the foremost rank of its solid capitalists and financiers, and holds no secondary position for moral worth.

1863, he was promoted, and received a Captain's commis- sion, and was assigned to duty on General Rosecrans' staff, as Assistant Quartermaster of the Army of the Cumberland, which position he retained until January, 1864, when ill health compelled his return home. While in the service, he participated in the battles of Champlin Hills, Stone River, and Chickamauga, and several others of minor im- portance, performing signally good service, and left an hon- orable military record. As soon as his health permitted, after his return, he resumed the practice of his profession, was reappointed City Attorney, and has held that office to the present time. He is no politician or office-seeker, in the common acceptation of those terms, but has ever taken a deep interest in the success of the political principles in which he was reared, and to which he has constantly ad- hered-first as an old-line Whig, and subsequently a loyal Republican. His influence has ever been freely used for the benefit of the community, and he has carried out the wishes of the people he represented, when chosen as a dele- gate to numerous county and State conventions. He is yet comparatively young, of robust, commanding appearance, enjoying his hereditary vigor, that promises years of active usefulness. He gives to his profession his full time and at- tention, and his energy and enterprise have achieved for him a marked success, and a leading position in his profes- sion. He was married, 1861, to Lydia L. Holmes, of Niagara county, New York, and has three daughters.

RAZEE, CHRISTOPHER M., Lawyer and Sol- dier, was born, March 10th, 1832, in Lockport, Niagara county, New York, and is the youngest son of Andrew and Sarah (Washburn) Brazee. Both of his parents died while he was quite young, his father having been a farmer in moder- OWN, MORRIS CLINTON, Merchant and Banker, was born, February 7th, 1818, in Gran- ville, Washington county, New York, and is a son of Bester and Betsey (Martin) Town. His father was a merchant, farmer, and manufacturer, and an active man of considerable importance in his time. About 1824 his parents removed to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he was educated. When sixteen years of age, he left school and entered his father's store as clerk, and in 1840 became a partner in the business. He re- mained such until 1846, when he removed to Chicago, and opened a drygoods and grocery store, which he carried on very successfully for eighteen months. IIaving previously purchased a stock of goods in Elgin, he disposed of his business in Chicago, and removed to that town in 1847. He remained there for two years and a half, at the expiration of which time he disposed of his stock, and opened a bank- ing office, which was the first in Elgin. This was in 1851, and the next year a State charter was obtained, and it be- came known as the " Bank of Elgin," of which he was the President, and it was the first bank in Kane county organ- ized under the State Banking Law. In 1858 the business was closed up, and he removed to Chicago, where he be- ate circumstances. His education was obtained largely in the common schools, yet he was so proficient as to become himself a teacher in the schools of his neighborhood. He subsequently attended the Wilson Collegiate Institute in Niagara county, and graduated in 1854. He then com- menced to study law with his brother, Andrew W. Brazee, who is now United States Judge in Colorado Territory. He continued with him until 1856, when he went West, and was for two years employed in the engineer corps mak- ing Government surveys in Iowa and Minnesota. In 1858 he located at Rockford, Illinois, and at once resumed the study of law with Miller & Taylor, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1859. In the spring of 1860 he was elected City Attorney, and commenced a successful practice. When the war broke out, in 1861, he became an ardent supporter of the Union, and the following year assisted in raising a company of volunteers for three years' service, of which he was elected First Lieutenant, and his company was mustered into service August 17th, as Company C, Seventy-fourth Regiment Illinois Infantry, and immediately ordered to the front. In December, 1862, he was detailcd, and placed in command of a company in the Pioneer Brigade of the Army of the Cumberland, where he per- I came interested in the Board of Trade for about two years,

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

when he returned to Elgin, and engaged for a year in mer- | church in Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio. IIere he la- cantile business. He then formed a partnership for resum- ing banking, the firm being Lawrence, Pease & Town, and this was subsequently merged into the First National Bank of Elgin, of which he became Cashier, a position he has retained to the present time. He has been very active also in public life. He was Alderman in 1862-63, and has been one of the Trustees of the Elgin Academy since its incorpo- ration in 1854. He was a Director and the Treasurer of the Fox River Railroad, from the commencement of the organization until it was transferred. He is Manager and Director of the Elgin City Banking Company-a savings institution-and was, at one time, a Director of the Wis- consin Central Railroad. Personally, he is of a frank, hearty, cordial disposition, with an abrupt good humor, in- spiring friendship and confidence. He is quick and ner- vously active in his movements; and being shrewd, far- sceing, and industrious, has made the institution he con- ducts one of the most successful banks in the northwest. Financially, he has been remarkably successful. In 1874 he erected a large and elegant block at the corner of Chicago street and Fountain Square, which is one of the finest in the city, at a cost of over $30,000. His residence is among the finest and best in Elgin, and is situated in the west portion of the city, on an eminence commanding an extended view of town and country. He was married, 1840, to Hannah S. Oviatt, of Ohio ; she died in 1843, leaving one daughter. In the autumn of 1844 he was united to Maria Selkregg, of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and has one son and three daughters from this union.

ANDERS, WILLIAM D., D. D., Scientist and Educator, is a native of Huron county, Ohio, and the son of Dr. Moses C. Sanders, a distin- guished physician and surgeon. He prepared for an academic career at Huron Institute, Milan, Ohio, and in 1841 entered the Western Reserve College, at IIudson, and received its degrees in 1845. During the three years immediately following his gradua- tion, he was Principal of the Richfield Academy, in Summit county, Ohio. In 1848 he entered the Hudson Theological Seminary, completing its course of study in 1851. During this period there occurred a crisis in the financial affairs of this institution, which threatened its complete ruin ; and in this emergency he was importuned by both trustees and faculty to lead a forlorn hope for its rescue. He was ab- sent from the institution in this gencrous service over a year, and in this time executed a plan which rescued the college from great peril, and added over one hundred thou- sand dollars to its resources. Upon the ending of his studies in this institution, he was married, in Cleveland, to Cornelia R. Smith, and soon after was ordained to the min- istry by the Presbytery of Portage, and took charge of a

bored for three years with very remarkable success, and was then called to the Chair of Rhetoric, Elocution and English Literature, in Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illi- nois. He entered upon the duties of this professorship in the autumn of 1854, and performed them with enthusiasm and fidelity for the protracted period of fifteen years. While thus laboring, he was called upon, as in a former instance, to rescue the institution from an embarrassing financial situation, and though the work was an exceedingly grave and difficult one, the greatest success crowned his efforts. Upon his resignation of his professorship in 1869, an ap- propriate tribute to his talents, his culture, and his generous services was paid him by the trustees of the college. Dur- ing the Civil War, his allegiance to the Government was never in doubt, and onc of the most eloquent of patriotic appeals was pronounced by him in Strawn's Opera House, to the Hardin and Union Guards, on the Sabbath preceding their departure for the field. Among other oratorical efforts which gave him great celebrity were his welcomes to Gen- eral McClernand in 1862, to General Benjamin Grierson in 1863, his oration at Carlinsville in the same year, and his discourse at Quincy, upon the fall of Richmond. His name, however, will perhaps be perpetuated longer as that of the founder of institutions of learning, than from any other cause. Ile was the originator of the " Young Ladies' Athenæum," a school established in 1864, which has en- joyed the patronage of the wealthiest and most intelligent families, and which under his superintendency is occupying a daily enlarging field of usefulness. The " Illinois Con- servatory of Music" is also the offspring of his untiring energy, and its faculty now embraces many of the finest European and American professors in both theory and prac- tice, and comprehends a scale of instruction in vocal and instrumental music which can elsewhere be scarcely equalled. Attached to the Conservatory is a large hall for musical soirees. The average attendance is now over two hundred pupils. Professor Sanders is also the founder of " The Central Illinois Loan Agency," and is its leading actuary, and by its intermediary offices, millions of eastern capital have been invested in Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, and the business now flowing in the channels it has created has grown into immense proportions. Its principal office is at Jacksonville, branch offices being located at various points in Missouri and Kansas. Amid all the multiform labors growing out of his intimate connection with these educational and financial institutions, Professor Sanders has been often called to the assistance of the church, and has repeatedly filled the pulpits of Jacksonville. For eight years he was the regular supply of the church at Pisgah. At various times he has received calls to the pastorate of churches in Chicago, Cincinnati, and elsewhere, but las been compelled to decline them. It may be readily inferred that, in founding and fostering so many important institu- tions, he is in the fortunate possession of powers of mind

Faber - ah. Co. Philadelphia.

20 Sauders

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

and body rarely bestowed upon a single individual. He has a keen faculty for organization, and wrings success out of every enterprise in which he sets out. His entire career is an exemplification of remarkable power of concentrating thought and of indomitable persistence. He is a man of strong convictions, frank utterance, warm impulses, and ceaseless vigilance over the welfare of the interests with which he is identified. He is now fifty years of age, and despite his arduous and ceaseless labors is in the enjoyment of excellent health. He has five children, all of whom are living and two of whom are college graduates.

ATSON, WILLIS HARRISON, Merchant and Soldier, was born, June 22d, 1840, in Vincennes, Knox county, Indiana, and is a son of Louis L. and Lydia (Fellows) Watson. He received his education in the public schools of that city, and when fifteen years old started as a newsboy on the railroad. He continued in this occupation for two years, and then became a messenger of Adams' Express Company, but the labor was too arduous for one so young, and he left the road to accept a clerkship for some railroad contractors, with whom he remained about a year. He next obtained the clerkship on a Mississippi steamer, which he filled until 1859, when he returned to Vincennes and opened a book and music store. In August, 1862, at the request of Governor Morton, he accepted a Lieutenant's commission for the purpose of raising a company of volunteers for three years' service. At that time there were several offi- cers endeavoring to recruit companies in Vincennes and vicinity, but without great success. Such was Lieutenant Watson's popularity, however, together with his activity, he was enabled to fill his company to the required number- one hundred and one men -- in a very short space of time. He was unanimously elected Captain, and received his commission as such August 20th, 1862; the company went into Camp Gibson, at Princeton, Indiana, as Company G of the Soth Indiana Infantry. On September 20th, 1872, his command was ordered to the front, and joined the Army of the Ohio under General Lew Wallace. At the battle of Perryville, which took place October 8th, 1862, he was wounded and disabled for service, being absent from the field for about three months; at the expiration of that time he returned to his regiment and performed active duty for several months, but on account of a diseased condition of the lungs was compelled to resign, and in the autumn of 1863 he returned to Vincennes. As soon as his health permitted he went back to his book store. Early in 1864 he opened a book store in St. Louis, Missouri, and divided his time between the two places; this lasted for several months, when he finally closed out both concerns, and in the autumn of the same year opened a hosiery and notion store in Decatur, Illinois. He remained there, how-

ever, but a short time, disposed of his establishment, and, in company with his father-in-law, engaged in the furniture business at Jacksonville. His health again failed, and he went South for recuperation. In Washington he received an appointment as Assistant Postmaster of Savannah, Geor- gia, where he arrived in May, 1865. But the work was too laborious for his delicate health, and he wrote to Presi- dent Johnson, asking to be appointed Internal Revenue Assessor of the Fourth District of Georgia, which was im- mediately granted, and he received his appointment July 18th, 1865. He remained there until the spring of 1869, when he resigned his position May 20th of that year. During his residence in Georgia he occupied many respon- sible political positions. He was a delegate from that State, in 1868, to the Chicago Convention which nominated General Grant to the Presidency, and also a delegate to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention in Chicago immedi- ately previous, and was one of the Vice-Presidents of the latter organization, and a member of the Soldiers' and Sailors' National Executive Committee. He was also Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee of Georgia. In September, 1869, he concluded his business affairs in Washington and removed to Aurora, Illinois, where he opened a book store, which has occupied his attention to the present time, and which has yearly increased in sales until it is now one of the finest stores in the city. Ile is a thorough business man, and since his residence in Aurora, although holding no public office, he has interested himself in public matters, and been a delegate to various county and State conventions. IIe has been twice married ; his first wife was Emma Anderson, of Jacksonville, Illinois, to whom he was united in August, 1864, and who died in November, 1872. On May 26th, 1874, he married Alice Jenifer, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 8

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