USA > Illinois > The makers of Illinois; a memorial history of the state's honored dead > Part 11
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election of the Republican candidate would be the signal for some of the Southern states to secede. I still had hopes that the four years which had elapsed since the first nomination of a presidential candi- date by a party distinctly opposed to slavery extension, had given time for the extreme pro-slavery sentiment to cool down; for the Southerners to think well before they took the awful leap which they had so vehemently threatened. But I was mistaken."
When Fort Sumter was fired on, April 12, 1861, the news created great excitement in the city of Grant's residence, and soon after, the call for seventy-five thousand volunteers was made by President Lincoln. A meeting was called and Grant presided over the meeting on that occasion, for although a comparative stranger in the city he was known to have been a former army officer and had seen service. E. B. Washburne, with whom Grant had no acquaintance at that time, came in and made a patriotic speech. A company was raised and Grant was asked to be captain, but declined, saying, however, that he would aid the company in every way he could, and would be found in the service in some position if there should be a war. In fact, he accompanied the men to Springfield and remained with them until they were regularly mustered into service.
At Springfield Grant served on Governor Yates' staff for a time, but was soon appointed colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illi- nois Volunteers. This was the beginning of Grant's official military life in the Civil war, a beginning that had a glorious ending within four years when he stood at the head of all the armies of the Union, and had conquered every foe in the field. The history of Grant's military career covers too large a page to be given here in even an abridged form. It is well known to every intelligent reader.
After the war General Grant, for he now held the full title of "General," created for him by act of congress, served as secretary of war, "ad interim," during the administration of President John- son. In 1868, he was elected president of the United Sattes, and again in 1872. He never returned to Illinois as a resident, his later life having been spent in New York city. During 1877, and parts of the two following years, General Grant made a tour of the world, and was received everywhere with the highest honors. He died at Mount McGregor, New York, on July 23, 1885. His tomb, over- looking the Hudson river, is one of the most conspicuous objects on Riverside Heights in New York city. A writer in the "Encyclope- dia Britannica," says of him, "Altogether, in spite of some shortcom- ings, Grant was a massive, noble and lovable personality, well fit to be remembered as one of the heroes of a great nation."
George Pling Brown
E DUCATOR, philosopher, logician and above all a Christian man of kindly spirit, actuated in all that he did by an carnest desire to make his life of service to his fellowmen and a feature in the betterment of the world, Bloomington has never lost a citizen more decply or widely mourned than George Pliny Brown. Of him one wrote: "His fearlessness in the cause of right, his great intelligence and wisdom, his kind-heartedness, his devotion to the public good and his deep interest in education made him a friend in whose companionship my own life deepened and widened." Such an opinion was held by all who knew him and it would be impossible to measure the influence of his life-an influence that will live on in con- stantly broadening circles of usefulness in the lives of those with whom he came in contact.
Professor Brown was born November 10, 1836, in Lenox, Ashta- bula county, Ohio, and died on the 1st of February, 1910, his remains being interred in the Bloomington cemetery. His parents were Will- iam Pliny and Rachel H. (Piper) Brown. Something of their own cul- ture and their interests in the better things of life is indicated by the opportunities they gave their son who supplemented his public-school course by study in the Grand River Institute at Austinburg, Ohio, from which he was graduated at the age of cighteen years. Immedi- ately afterward he took up the profession of teaching and not long afterward he established a home of his own in his marriage, in Cam- den, New York, on the 30th of October, 1855, to Miss Mary Louise Seymour. In his educational activities he made constant advance- ment. The exercise of effort called forth his ability, which was of a high character, and his powers constantly developed. He acted as superintendent of schools in Richmond, Indiana, from 1860 until 1871, and in the latter year became principal of the high school at Indianapolis, in which position he remained until 1874. He was then called to the superintendency of the Indianapolis schools and greatly promoted their interests and scope during his five years' connection with that responsible position. He left to accept the presidency of the State Normal School at Terre Haute, Indiana, where he remained until 1886, when he came to Bloomington. Hc then retired from the
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field of teaching but, as some believed, only to enter a still broader field in touch with a greater number as a publisher and writer. He came to Bloomington and purchased the Illinois School Journal from John W. Cook. This he published under the name of the Public Journal and after twelve volumes were issued under that title changed the name to School and Home Education. In 1889 he organized the Public School Publishing Company of which he was president until his death. He brought out a series of reading books for the public schools and other publications which have had direct and impor- tant bearing upon the progress and improvement of the educational systems of the country. He was a life member of the National Edu- cational Association and a member of the National Council of Educa- tion from its organization. He also belonged to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the Social Science Asso- ciation, the Religious Educational Association and was the author of Elements of English Grammar, published in 1899; A Story of Our English Grandfathers, in 1902; and The King and His Wonderful Castle, in 1903. The breadth of his mind was wonderful. All through his life he was a frequent contributor to the press, writing not only upon education but upon many themes. While he was a logi- cian he also had keen imagination and his flights of fancy took on poetical and classical form. When meeting him and conversing with him for any length of time one could not but realize how broad were his interests, how deep and sound his information. He came to rank with the nation's greatest educators not only in the instruction of the young but in the instruction of the adult through his editorials and other writings which discussed themes of widespread interest. The name of George Pliny Brown became a household word among edu- cators, thinkers and men of letters throughout the country.
Seen in his home life Professor Brown was the ideal husband and father. He could throw aside the greatest problems to enter into the interests of his children in their youth and he became friend and coun- selor as the years went by. His family numbered four sons: Charles C., who is married and lives in Indianapolis where he is a consulting engineer and editor of Municipal Engineering; Ralph A., who is married and makes his home in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where he is prac- ticing the profession of medicine and also acting as editor of the Oklahoma Odd Fellow; George A., who married but lost his wife and now lives with his mother while occupying the position of president and managing editor of the Public School Publishing Company; and Walter S., the youngest, who is married and lives at Diamond Springs, Kansas, where he is engaged in farming.
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No better or higher estimate of the character of George Pliny Brown eould be given than in the opinions of his friends spoken while he was yet an active factor of the world's work and after his demise. William Hawley Smith said of him: "George P. Brown was at onee both God's and nature's own. He was equally religious and seientific and both in supreme degree. He was also both logieal and loving-a rare combination, and I am in doubt which of these qualities to men- tion first. To those who knew him at arm's length his logieal ability seemed to lead; but for those who saw behind the scenes (under the veil of his natural modesty), his human heart stood before all. He was one of the bravest men I ever knew. Let him once be sure that the eause he enjoined was right, nothing could turn him aside from doing all in his power to further it. The word 'politic' was not only a stranger to his vocabulary but to all his deeds and thoughts. All who knew him ean eite innumerable instanees from the record to verify this statement. And yet, with all zeal for what he put himself behind he was always mindful of his opponents. It was not men but meas- ures that he went up against. One of the finest proofs of this is seen in one of the last editorials he ever wrote, 'Democracy or Plutocracy, Which?' in the February number of this magazine. In that artiele he fires a broadside of solid shot against entrenehed 'interests;' yet how delieately, respectfully, he treats the president withal. He warns without threatening; makes a straight statement regarding the fears of the people that Mr. Taft may suffer wrong to be done in the name of precedent and technieality; but all, as kindly as a father might reason with a son whom he loved more than his own life. I elipped that editorial and sent it to our congressman and advised him to have a reprint of it made and a copy furnished to every official in Wash- ington, especially the president, the members of the senate and house and the judges of the supreme court! It is a elassie, as simple in form and direetness as Lineoln's Gettysburg address, and as solid in content as the Declaration of Independence. Well might it stand for his monument for it embodies every great characteristic of its author, it reveals the man in its every line! Another pronounced eharaeteristie of Mr. Brown's was his just estimate of both the past and the present and his desire to weld the two together so that the combination might best serve humanity, here and now. The efforts of his life were:
'Not to ereate and found only
But to bring, perhaps from afar, what was already founded:
To give it our own identity, average, limitless, free;
To fill the gross and torpid bulk with vital religion fine!'
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"How well he did all this the deeds that live after him testify. A life like his leads to the fullest hope of immortality. Those who have seen him in the past few years have noted how rapidly his material body was going to pieces. But, in spite of this, we always saw his spirit growing more and more! Is it not believable that that part of him which thus withstood physical decay survives even the shock of dissolution?" David Felmley expresses his regard for Mr. Brown and his life work as follows: "George P. Brown belonged to a group of school men that is fast passing off the stage-a group of which Dr. W. T. Harris, late United States commissioner of education was the leader. Their influence upon the American public school of the last thirty years has been deep and pervasive. Mr. Brown had been selected to prepare the leading paper for the service in memory of Dr. Harris to be held at the Indianapolis meeting of the department of superintendence of the National Educational Association next month. The educational philosophy of this group was of German origin, the philosophy of Hegel and his disciples. He greatly enjoyed metaphysical discussion and for some years after his first coming to Bloomington there assembled weekly at his home a group of younger men to read some philosophical treatise and listen to his masterly expo- sition. In this exposition he was simple, clear and singularly patient when questions of especial difficulty arose. Although in his later years Mr. Brown had retired from active school work he was to the end a con- stant attendant at educational conventions and in touch with current educational discussions. As a thinker and writer he was held in the highest esteem by the foremost school men of the day. His power of analysis, the lucidity of his style, the disinterested spirit that ran through all that he wrote attracted all seekers after the truth whether his theme was religious, political or educational." John W. Cook, of the Northern Illinois Normal School, wrote: "The wires have flashed through the night few messages freighted with profounder sorrow than that which told of the passing of George P. Brown. For nearly two score years he has been recognized as one of the small number of genuinely great leaders of educational thought and prac- tice in this country. Previous to his selection of Bloomington as his home he resided in Indiana where as superintendent of the city schools of Indianapolis and as president of the famous State Normal School at Terre Haute he had won national recognition. Upon his retire- ment from school administration he entered upon the editing and pub- lishing of the well known magazine which has made his name familiar to the school people of America and at the same time has given him an organ for the propagation of his educational ideas. Like his close
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friend, the lamented William Torrey Harris, whom he followed so elosely into the great unknown, he was first of all a philosopher; unlike Dr. Harris, he was not the propagandist of any elaborated system of philosophic thought. His mind was too independent and original to submit to the leadership of another and he always worked in his own harness, changing it to meet the necessity of his ever widening intelli- genee. But he was the most simple-hearted and sincere of men and would break eamp at a moment's notiee when the larger thought con- vinced him of the error of a position. He had all the open-minded- ness of youth, for routine had never chilled the wonder spirit nor dampened his enthusiasm for truth; but he was no close philosopher. Hc loved to gather a eongenial group of learners about him and aid them in his simple way as they pushed against the profoundest mys- tery of life and destiny. Hc was the ideal tcaeher. He had no brief for this school of thought or that but with the rarest catholieity of spirit he set the problems in their places and threw the elear white light of his illuminating mind upon them. The gratitude and love of those who are proud to call themselves his pupils follow him wher- ever he may fare. But he was as well in touch with all of the prob- lems of the modern world of affairs, the readers of the Pantagraph need not be told of his deep interest in the welfare of his fellows. Anything that could make or mar a truly greater Bloomington eaught his eye. Now urging a elearer comprehension of some vital truth that relates to finer living, he was again as urgent in his advocacy of better material utilities for the many. He was absolutely fearless in his expression of his opinion and he was as firm as fearless. To those who were privileged to know him in the fashion that one friend really knows another his untimely going brings poignant sorrow. The gentleness and sweet sincerity of his spirit were all that one could wish. Forever and forever he declared that the world is in the hands of a self-conscious personalty whose name is love. Let us hope that his frecd spirit sees the full realization of all that he so bravely eham- pioned."
In Bloomington where the last twenty-two years of his life were passcd, it seemed that everyone knew and honored him and regarded it as a privilege to call him friend. J. K. Stableton, of the Bloomington schools, wrote: "To none did the announcement of the death of Mr. George Brown eome with a greater sense of loss than to the teachers of Bloomington. For a number of years past he had been so intimately associated with us, visiting our schools, often taking part in the recitations, meeting with us in our teachers' meetings and for four years mecting with a large number of us once every two weeks
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to instruct us, that he had become in a very tender sense the friend of every teacher. Many school people in all parts of the country know him and have felt the wonderful power of his written word; but we knew him face to face. We knew the great, kind heart that moved the man whose intellect searched far beyond the 'ken' of ordinary men. And while we admired his great intellect and felt it a rare privilege to listen to his teachings, we loved the kind heart, the sym- pathetic friend. Mr. Brown knew well the work we teachers are trying to do; he knew its strength and its weakness, and was as free to tell us of the one as the other. We all recognized him as one justly entitled to criticise for we felt that his criticisms were given that the work might take on higher qualities and that his words were always the words of a friend. But he was most of all an inspiration to us. He helped us to see the dignity of our work; he helped us to under- stand the meaning of education. The educational world has lost one of its greatest teachers, but we teachers of Bloomington feel that we have lost not only a great teacher but a true-hearted friend. May I add one word that is personal. I count it one of the privileges of my life that I have for nine years been permitted to know Mr. Brown as an intimate friend. When I came to Bloomington he said to me that he would enjoy being in close touch with me and my work, that the school work of his own community was of vital interest to him. The friendship thus begun has strengthened with each succeeding year and it has been a friendship full of blessing. We have had much in common and I have sat as a learner at his feet. He taught me much and was always an inspiration in all that I tried to do. As we have talked of the newer education as based on evolution, again and again, he has said, 'but we must not forget that it is not a purposeless evolu- tion, that back of all is the great personality. This is God's way of bringing things to pass.' As teachers and officers of the Blooming- ton schools we feel that our loss is great, that we shall miss our friend who has been so alive to all the interests of our schools." Another wrote: "Were I to mention some of the more distinctive elements of Mr. Brown's personality, those that challenged our admiration most and that marked him as a rare man, an exceptionally good citizen, and a distinguished educational leader, I should name first his moral courage. No matter what the odds against him or whether business asset and good will of the many or the powerful were put in jeopardy, whenever he believed that truth and justice were in need of a cham- pion he stepped forth, a big mark for every assailant, a grand old hero in the noble, modern sense of that term. He possessed high intelligence and a well trained mind. He was a profound thinker, always seeking
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fundamental and eternal principles for the basis of his thinking and for the ultimate guidance of conduct and institutional processes. Hc was a heroic worker-not tireless but working on even when tircd. Our admiration is tinctured with pathos when we think of how Mr. Brown took up the Hereulcan task of making good the great loss he met with in the fire of 1900. With body stricken and full of pain, but with good cheer and indomitable will, he took up his pen and pro- duced book after book, all of which were valuable contributions to the service of education and met with a deserved popular reception. But even while these greater creative projects were proceeding he kept up a running fire in every direction wherever folly, error, or cor- ruption appeared in public administration or economic relations. Another trait that marks the meaning and worth of Mr. Brown's personality is the high and strong character of his citizenship. He allied himself promptly with every movement for the betterment of his community and was often the inspirer and organizer of such move- ments. He was both a patron and a pillar for maintaining the higher esthetic, religious and intellectual life of the community. Mr. Brown's gracious sociability added completeness and beauty to his personality. His courtesy was never-failing, whether his relation was that of friend or of opponent."
WILLIAM A . DENNIS
William A. Dennis
UCCESS came to William A. Dennis of Decatur as S the result of unfaltering industry, unabating energy and careful management, so that in the later years of his life he was able to live retired. Decatur num- bered him among her prominent citizens not only beeause of the success he achieved but beeause of the active and helpful part which he took in promoting her interest and welfare. He became identified with the city in 1856 and here remained practically up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 4thi of April, 1912, in Oklahoma, while there looking after his interests. His residence in this city therefore eovercd about fifty-six years save for a brief interval spent in the west.
Mr. Dennis was born in Lancaster, Ohio, August 11, 1840, a son of Andrew and Matilda Dennis. The father died when William A. Dennis was but three years of age. His educational opportunities were very limited but he was fond of reading and through the perusal of books, as well as through experienee and observation, he continu- ally promoted his knowledge and became a well informed man. He was a youth of sixteen when he eame to Deeatur in 1856 and for an extended period he was aetive in the business affairs of the eity, becom- ing well known as a contractor and later conducting a hardware store for several years. His operations won him a substantial measure of suecess and his prosperity was further augmented through his judi- cious investments in property.
On December 27, 1866, Mr. Dennis was united in marriage to Miss Emma Harris, of Deeatur, and of their children four arc yet living: Miss Kate R. Dennis, who is connected with the Gastman sehool; and Emma, Ray H. and Mrs. A. G. Early, all living in Deeatur. The wife and mother died Mareh 6, 1902, and was survived for a deeade by her husband.
Prior to his marriage Mr. Dennis had served as a soldier of the Civil war. He was a member of Company B, Eighth Illinois Infan- try, enlisting from Dceatur. With his eommand he went to the front for three months' service making a ereditable military record, and incurring a fraeture of his leg at Cairo while on duty. He afterward beeame a member of Dunham Post, No. 141, G. A. R., with which
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he was connected for an extended period. He greatly enjoyed meet- ing with his old army comrades and by them was held in the highest regard. Mr. Dennis was also prominent in political circles in Decatur for many years and was recognized as one of the active working mem- bers of the democratic party, which elected him to the office of alder- man from the fourth ward during the term of Mayor L. L. Haworth in 1879. He again served under the administration of Mayor H. W. Waggoner in 1880. Developing the love of music with which nature had endowed him, he became one of the charter members of the Good- man Band, being one of the original fourteen who organized, what was then known as the Decatur Silver Band, in 1860. He continued as a member of that organization until it became the Goodman Band ten years later. The only interruption to Mr. Dennis' continued resi- dence in Decatur came in the latter part of the '80s, when he removed to Concordia, Kansas. There he engaged in business as a contractor and was also prominent in the municipal affairs, serving as street superintendent and as a member of the board of education. In 1893 he returned to this city and retired from business save for the super- vision which he afterward gave to his property interests. His death occurred in Guyman, Oklahoma, whither he had gone to superintend his farming interests. As the news of his demise spread through Decatur it carried with it great regret and sorrow, for he was widely and favorably known and his many friends were indeed loath to say the parting word. Since coming to Decatur as a young man he had been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Here he also held membership in the First Methodist Episcopal church and took a very active and helpful part in its work. His life was indeed actuated by high and manly principles which had their root in his Christian faith, making him charitable in his opinions, kindly in spirit and generous in action. His sterling qualities were such as ever com- manded for him the respect, confidence and goodwill of all with whom he came in contact and as the years passed he became more firmly entrenched in the affection of those who knew him. To his family he was devoted, displaying the traits of the ideal husband and father,. his first interest ever being for the loved ones of his own household.
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