USA > Illinois > The makers of Illinois; a memorial history of the state's honored dead > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
353
Fred Bairstow
In July, 1910, Mr. Bairstow went west for the benefit of his health, and after spending some time at Roswell, New Mexico, removed to Grand Junction, Colorado, where, with his wife and sons Paul and Raymond, he remained continuously until March, 1912, when he expressed a desire to return home, even though he knew his health could not improve in this elimate. It was his strong desire to reach Waukegan in time to attend the Easter serviees at his ehureh, and though advised against this course by his physician he persisted and on Easter Sunday not only oceupied his accustomed pew in Christ church, but also aeted as usher on that oceasion in spite of his laek of health and strength. It was, however, one of the last Sunday services he attended, although he was later present at two vestry meetings. When he became conseious of a tubereular condition he so arranged his affairs that every detail was attended to, few men leaving their business in sueh excellent condition. This was characteristic of the man. He always seemed to accomplish what he undertook, making wise use of his time and opportunities. His standards of life were high and he availed himself of every advantage that would enable him to reach their level. His friends never found it difficult to find in his life history some aet, deed or purpose worthy of praise. His life was the embodi- ment of high ideals and ennobling purposes, and when he passed away in September, 1912, a feeling of decp and sincere sorrow spread over the community. It has been said that a good man never dies in the sense of that finality which comes when his life work eeases, for his influence and his example remain as potent factors for righteousness and truth. Such is the record of Fred Bairstow.
CLARK W. UPTON
Clark TUI. Mpton
L AWYER, legislator and judge, the record which Clark W. Upton left behind is one which serves to inspire and encourage others. He aided in framing, as well as interpreting and executing the laws, and he had the highest respeet for the dignity of his profession, which has always been regarded as a conservator of the rights and privileges and the liberty of mankind. He never devi- ated from the high standards, professional and otherwise, which he set up, and the worth of his charaeter was attested by all who had to do with his upright and honorable life. He was born in Montpelier, Vermont, January 28, 1823, pursued his education in the schools of the Green Mountain state, and after a thorough course of law study was admitted to the bar of Vermont in 1843. He took up the profes- sion of teaching in early manhood and both taught school and prae- ticed law in Barre, Vermont, ere his removal to the middle west. Arriving in Waukegan, Lake county, Illinois, he there formed a part- nership with Henry W. Blodgett in the year 1850, and for a quarter of a century remained an active practitioner of the bar of northern Illinois. His preparation of eases was always thorough and exhaus- tive and the court records bear testimony to his ability in handling involved and important legal problems. He praetieed in partnership with Judge Blodgett until about 1870, when he went to Chicago, where he continued in active praetiee until eleeted to the beneh in 1877, but always retained his residence in Waukegan. Ever interested in grave politieal problems and anxious to secure through political activity all that is best for state and nation, he interested himself in polities to the extent of championing the principles in which he believed, yet never allowed his politieal activity to interfere with the faithful perforni- ance of his professional duties. His fellow townsmen, appreciating his high standards of eitizenship, his ability and his well known devo- tion to the public good, eleeted him to the state senate in 1874, and for four years he continued an active member of the upper house, serving on various important committees and taking part in further- ing eonstruetive legislation. In 1877 he was elected cireuit judge and was thereafter continuously upon the eireuit and appellate court benehes of the state until 1897, when he retired from the beneh and
357
358
Clark TO. Upton
active professional life. His decisions were models of judicial sound- ness. He seemed to lose sight of no detail of a case and yet gave due prominence to the important point upon which the decision always rests. In his service on the bench he displayed a thorough mastery of every problem presented for solution and many of his judgments are quoted as models of judicial soundness. In politics he was always a republican.
Judge Upton was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Sherman, a native of Barre, Vermont, and they became the parents of five chil- dren, two sons and three daughters, all of whom are yet residents of Waukegan. Judge Upton passed away November 24, 1906, having for almost two decades survived his wife, who died on the 23d of Janu- ary, 1888. His declining years had been passed among his old neigh- bors and friends of Waukegan, who entertained for him the highest respect and honor. A meeting of the bar resulted in the adoption of the following memorial :
"Saturday, November 24, A. D. 1906, marked the passing to the better life of a profound lawyer, a just judge, an honest man. The Silent Reaper found the ripened grain fit to be garnered in splendid harvest. In the fullness of years, in honorable old age, in the quiet of his home, Judge Upton peacefully and serenely passed away.
"We need not mourn. After more than fourscore years of active, useful life, he paid the final debt of human nature, leaving to his fam- ily that splendid heritage-an honored name. We honor and revere his memory, and pay loving tribute to his worth. There need be reared over his final resting place no stately column on which to chisel in cold and formal words his name, his age, his life. Graven in the memory of all who knew him is the knowledge of his generous and kindly nature, his ability and worth as a citizen, neighbor and friend.
"Future generations need but to look, to find the records of the courts adorned with judicial opinions that evidence the profound depths of his legal knowledge, and the spirit of justness and greatness that ever guided and controlled him, while the journal of the state senate and the state reflect his wisdom and ability as a legislator. A practicing lawyer for more than twenty-five years, a prominent legis- lator for four years, a judge presiding in the courts of the state for twenty years and ever found alert, active, able, just and honorable, with a reputation for all those qualities as wide as the sphere of his activities. His was a mind strong and profound, yet brilliant. In the ordinary discharge of his duties as attorney, legislator and judge, he might well have trusted to the inspiration of the moment, and have been safely guided thereby; and yet it was ever his habit, even in
359
Clark del. Upton
minor matters, not only to think he was right, but from careful study and research to know he was right. He believed the only genius was that of the student and the worker.
"With all the ability and wisdom that graced Judge Upton with all the prominence and success that came to him in private and public life, it was ever found that nature had endowed him with the element of true greatness ; he was as modest and unassuming as a child. Sensi- tive to censure and criticism, he was possessed of moral courage to a degree that always enabled him to do right regardless thereof. What a life record to inspire in the young like ideals and similar efforts!"
.
General Smith D. Atkins
N THE seventy-seven years compassed by his life his- I tory General Smith D. Atkins made for himself an honored name, while his life work was of distinct value to city, state and country. He was a distinguished and gallant offieer of the Union army, was a recog- nized leader in political eireles, and his name was furthermore inseparably associated with the history of journalism in Illinois. New York numbered him among her native sons, his birth having occurred near Elmira, in Chemung county, June 9, 1836. From the age of ten years, however, he lived in this state, aecompany- ing his parents when in 1846 they took up their abode upon a farm near Freeport. There he remained until 1850, when he determined to learn the printer's trade and at the age of fourteen years entered upon an apprenticeship in the office of the Prairie Democrat, Freeport's first newspaper. He began to realize, too, how necessary is education as a preparation for the responsible duties of life and, ambitious to make the most of his opportunities, took up a course of study in the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Illinois. While working in the printing offiee his leisure time was devoted to further reading and study and in 1852, while yet a student, he was appointed foreman of the Mount Morris Gazette, and in June, 1853, became one of the owners of the paper, his partner in the enterprise being C. C. Allen, afterward major on the staff of Major General Sehofield. They were also as- soeiated in the establishment of the Register at Savanna, Carroll county, Illinois. It was about that time that General Atkins took up the study of law with Hiram Bright, of Freeport, as his preceptor, and after two years reading was admitted to the bar on the 27th of June, 1855. Later he also studied law in the office of Goodrich & Scoville of Chicago, and on the 1st of September, 1856, opened an office in Frecport. He entered upon the practice of his profession under favorable eireumstances and rapidly won a large and distinetly representative elientage. That was at a period when all publie-spirited citizens were deeply interested in the questions of the day, and General Atkins was an interested student in the vital problems which the na- tion was called upon to solve. In 1860 he was one of the ardent sup- porters of Abraham Lincoln and an address which he made during the
361
362
General Smith D. Atkins
campaign, which was a careful and thorough review of the Dred Scott decision, was published and went through several editions. In the same year he was elected states attorney for the fourteenth judi- cial circuit. He was trying a criminal case in the Stephenson circuit court when a telegram was received that President Lincoln had is- sued a call for troops. His loyalty and his patriotism were aroused by the attack on Fort Sumter and all that it meant, and before he had left the courtroom he had draughted an enlistment roll which he headed with his own name, thus being the first man to enlist as a private soldier in Stephenson county. He then announced to the court and jury his decision to prepare without delay for service in the Union army. Leaving the half finished case in the hands of a brother attor- ney, he left the courtroom with his enlistment roll and within a few hours he had secured the signature of one hundred others on the roll. The company was organized the same evening and Mr. Atkins was chosen as captain. The men proceeded to Springfield and were mus- tered in as Company A, of the Eleventh Illinois Volunteers for three months' service. That period served to prove that the war was to be no mere holiday affair and President Lincoln was calling for troops to serve for three years. Captain Atkins reenlisted for that term as a private and was again mustered in as captain of Company A, Elev- enth Illinois Volunteers, at Birds Point.
The following record of his military service has been given by a contemporary biographer: "He was at Fort Donelson, with the un- expired order of leave of absence on account of sickness in his pocket, when the command of 'forward' was given. He took sixty-eight men into this desperate engagement and came out with but twenty-three left, having been in the very thickest of the carnage. For gallant services at Fort Donelson he was promoted to the position of major of the Eleventh Regiment and went on the staff of General Hurl- burt as acting assistant adjutant general by the special assignment of General Grant and in that capacity was engaged with Hurlburt in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, his bravery and conspicuous serv- ices securing special mention in the general orders after that fight. Ill health brought on by exhausting labors and exposure, compelled his resignation after the affair of Pittsburg Landing, and he spent the two subsequent months on the sea coast. He recuperated in time to take the stump to raise troops under the call of 1862 and enlisted the Ninety-second Illinois Regiment, which was mustered in, with him- self as colonel, on September 4, 1862. He was in command of this regiment until January 17, 1863, when he was placed in command of a demi-brigade. While the Ninety-second was at Mount Sterling.
363
General Smith D. Atkins
Kentucky, Colonel Atkins being in charge of it, a grave issue arose. It was the first Yankee regiment which had visited that seetion and hundreds of slaves flocked to its eamps begging for protection and offering their services or their blood for freedom. They refused to return to their masters, and when their owners demanded them as chattels Colonel Atkins declined to entertain the peremptory request that his force should be used to drive them baek. The owners ap- pealed to the commander of the brigade-a Kentuckian-who ordered Atkins to return the slaves, but the latter persistently declined to do this and never did, his reasons being that he was not responsible for the escapade of the slaves and that his men had not enlisted to act in the eapaeity of blood hounds to hunt them down and drive them back. On June 17, 1863, he was placed in the command of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Army of Kentucky, which he commanded while in the department of the Ohio. When the Ninety-seeond regi- ment was removed to the department of the Cumberland he was placed in command of the First Brigade, First Division of the Reserve Corps; and when the regiment was mounted and transferred to Wilder's Brigade of Mounted Infantry he aeeompanied and commanded it until transferred to Kilpatriek's Cavalry Division. When General Kilpatrick reorganized his division preparatory to the great march with Sherman he assigned the command of the Second Brigade to Colonel Atkins. When Sherman advaneed southward he aimed to throw his army between the rebel forees and Savannah. The task of deceiving the enemy and holding them while this movement was being effected was given by Kilpatrick to Colonel Atkins and his brigade and he skilfully accomplished it. At Clinton he charged the enemy and drove them fourteen miles to Macon. He assaulted their lines about the eity and forced them into their works and held them there until Sherman swept to the eastward, leaving him with the enemy in his rear, and nothing before him to impede his rapid progress. In all the engagements in which he participated with his brigade Colonel Atkins greatly distinguished himself and especially so at Waynes- boro, Georgia, where Wheeler and his cavalry were overwhelmingly defeated. While leading the charge of his troops against the rebel columns, his eolor bearer was shot down by his side and his brigade flag attraeted the attention of the enemy, who poured in upon it their eoneentrated fire. In this terrifie storm of leaden hail he wore a charmed life, leading prominently in the van and eheering on his troops to vietory. At Savannah, Georgia, he was brevetted brigadier general for gallantry and was assigned to duty under his commission as brevet brigadier general by special order of President Lincoln and
364
General Smith D. Atkins
commanded a brigade of cavalry during Sherman's campaign in the Carolinas and at the close of the war, when he was mustered out, he was brevetted major general for faithful and important services. In all his stations as a commanding officer he was popular with both the rank and file. He was a perfect disciplinarian and was kind and considerate to the men under him. His courage and his judgment as a strategist won their confidence and they readily and heartily sup- ported him wherever he went."
With the close of the war General Atkins returned to his old home in Freeport and there continued to reside until death called him. His record as a member of the bar, as a journalist and as a public of- ficial was ever one above criticism. For years he was editor of the Freeport Journal, which he made one of the leading papers of the state outside of the great city dailies. His editorials were terse, con- cise and to the point. He said what he had to say without fear or favor and yet did not exhibit a strong partisan spirit. The honesty of his convictions no one questioned and he never deviated from a course which he believed to be right in connection with public affairs. He served for many years as postmaster of Freeport and also was for a number of years president of the board of directors of the pub- lic library. His opinions carried weight in the councils of the re- publican party and its leaders listened to him with attention. He was at one time a candidate for the nomination for state treasurer and he served as a delegate to republican national conventions.
In 1865 General Atkins was united in marriage to a daughter of ex-Governor Swain of North Carolina. She died a number of years prior to the death of her husband, leaving two daughters. General Atkins had reached the age of seventy-seven years when death called him. His life had been one of usefulness, bringing him the respect and confidence of his fellowmen. At one time he had served as com- mander in chief of the army of the Order of Knights of the Globe. Any feasible project to promote the material, intellectual and moral welfare of the city received his indorsement and active cooperation. He was ever found in those circles wherein intelligent men are met in the discussion of important themes. His friends, and they were many, found him an entertaining, courteous and cultured companion. He was respected wherever known, but most of all, where he was best known, and in Stephenson county, where almost his entire life was spent, he had a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.
Lambert Free
Lambert Tree
T HE progress of today makes the history of tomorrow, and beeause of the important and helpful part he took in shaping the events of vital importance to Chieago, Lambert 'Tree left an indelible impress upon the his- tory of the eity. Distinguished as a lawyer and ju- rist, he was equally widely known and honored by rea- son of the many progressive publie movements which he instituted and aided and which constituted tangible evidence of his devotion to the eity's welfare. At the time of his death, which oceurred October 9, 1910, the Record Herald said editorially: "Chieago has lost one of her ablest and best eitizens. His aetive participation in publie affairs eame to an end years ago, but his interest in important eivic questions and movements continued undiminished up to the moment of his pass- ing. Old friends and younger men have had the benefit of his adviee, his ripe knowledge, his wide experienee and his uneompromising loy- alty to principle and eonvietion."
Mr. Tree was a native of Washington, his birth having oeeurred in the capital eity November 29, 1832. He belonged to a family founded in America in 1635, when representatives of the name set- tled in Maryland. His parents were Lambert and Laura M. (Bur- rows) Tree and in both lines he was descended from Revolutionary stoek. His paternal grandfather was a captain of artillery in the Revolutionary war and was killed at the battle of Trenton. His ma- ternal grandfather, General Burrows, served throughout the war for independence and was a funetionary of the government when it re- moved from Philadelphia to Washington. His father was also at one time a soldier and for a considerable period was in the govern- ment employ at Washington, where the family enjoyed the entree of the best society of the capital, so that in his youth Lambert Tree met several presidents and many of the statesmen whose names have be- come an inseparable part of the country's history.
Lambert Tree acquired his early education under private tutors and in preparation for the bar attended the University of Virginia. from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Law degrec in 1855. He then returned to Washington, where he entered the law
367
368
Lambert Tree
office of James Mandeville Carlisle, then a celebrated lawyer. It was while in this office that Mr. Tree first met Rufus Choate, who spoke to Mr. Carlisle of his wish to secure some one who could take down in longhand (for there were no stenographers in those days) an argument he was to deliver in the supreme court. Mr. Tree had had some practice in this work in taking down debates from the sen- ate galleries and volunteered to aid Choate, who accepted the offer. On the 15th of October, 1855, Mr. Tree was admitted to the bar in Washington. Immediately he gave up his position in Mr. Carlisle's office and at the advice of Senator Stephen A. Douglas concerning a favorable location in the west, came to Chicago and entered at once upon the active work of a profession in which advancement must de- pend upon individual merit, fortunate environment or family con- nection contributing little to success at the bar. However, no dreary novitiate awaited him. He soon proved his ability and came to be recognized as one of the foremost representatives of the legal profes- sion in the middle of the nineteenth century-a position which the consensus of opinion accorded him throughout the remainder of his life. Mr. Tree brought with him to Chicago a letter of introduction to John M. Douglas, who had just been appointed attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad and who offered Mr. Tree a position in his office at a salary of twelve hundred dollars a year. This was con- sidered a large salary for that day but he declined the offer, wishing to engage in general practice. During the first week of his residence in Chicago he won his first case as defending counsel for the Illinois Central Railroad against Murray F. Tuley. His fee was ten dol- lars. Not long afterward he became a partner in the firm of Clark- son & Tree, with offices at the southeast corner of Clark and Lake streets. It was there that he first met Abraham Lincoln, who had come from Springfield to Chicago on a matter of business and de- sired to consult a law book, for which purpose he visited the office of Clarkson & Tree, who possessed one of the best law libraries of the city. Then began a friendship between the two men that was termi- nated only in the death of the martyred president.
In 1864 Mr. Tree was called to his first office, being made presi- dent of the Law Institute and from 1870 until 1875 sat upon the cir- cuit bench. His legal and judicial history are indeed a credit to a bar which has numbered some of the most distinguished men of the nation. One of his first official acts was to deliver a vigorous charge to the grand jury to investigate rumors of corruption and bribery in the city council. The result was numerous indictments and the con- viction and punishment of a score or more of aldermen for accepting
.
.
369
Lambert Cree
bribes. The trial attracted widespread attention at the time and was the first conviction for the offense in Illinois. Judge Tree conducted himself with sueh signal dignity, honor and justiee through this deli- cate situation that in 1873 he was made the candidate of his party for the full term and was elected without opposition. The strenuous duties of the office, however, impaired his health and at the elosc of his term he went abroad, where he took up the study of Freneli, Ital- ian, German and Spanish, and upon his return to his native land could fluently speak all those tongues.
Too eatholie in his interests to limit his efforts to a single line, Mr. Tree beeame recognized as a leader in public thought and opinion and his activities were resultant factors in the attainment of ends which have constituted a chief source of Chicago's greatness and power. He was three times a candidate for congress, although he knew that there was no hope of election. Each time, however, the majorities against him were smaller, indieating his growing popular- ity, and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen. In 1885 he was the democratic candidate for United States senator and his personal popularity and the recognition of his ability carried him within one vote of eleetion, John A. Logan being the sueeessful ean- didate. During the previous year he had been delegate at large from Illinois to the demoeratie national convention. He received appoint- ment from President Cleveland to the position of United States minister to Belgium. He remained abroad for three years and during his residenec in Brussels represented the United States government in the international congress for the reform of commercial and mari- time law, an assemblage of representatives of all eivilized nations of the world. In September, 1885, he was appointed United States minister to Russia and continued there through the remainder of President Cleveland's administration. He was appointed by Presi- dent Harrison the democratic member of the monetary commission which convened in Washington in January, 1891, and settled mone- tary questions between all South American republies, Mexico and the United States. His keen insight into the vital questions there discussed constituted an element in the important work that was done.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.