EARLY, John, legislator and Lieutenant-Governor, was born of American parentage and
Irish ancestry in Essex County, Canada West, March 17, 1828, and accompanied his parents to Caledonia,
Boone County, Ill., in 1846. His boyhood was passed upon his father's farm, and in youth he learned the
trade (his father's) of carpenter and joiner. In 1852 he removed to Rockford, Winnebago County, and,
in 1865, became State Agent of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company. Between 1863 and 1866 he
held sundry local offices, and, in 1869, was appointed by Governor Palmer a Trustee of the State Reform
School. In 1870 he was elected State Senator and re-elected in 1874, serving in the Twenty-seventh,
Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth General Assemblies. In 1873 he was elected President pro tem,
of the Senate, and, Lieut-Gov. Beveridge succeeding to the executive chair, he became ex-officio
Lieutenant-Governor. In 1875 he was again the Republican nominee for the Presidency of the Senate, but
was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and Independents. He died while a member of the Senate, Sept.
2, 1877.
EARTHQUAKE OF 1811. A series of the most remarkable earthquakes in the history of the
Mississippi Valley began on the night of November 16, 1811, continuing for several months and finally
ending with the destruction of Caraccas, Venezuela, in March following. While the center of the earlier
appears to have been in the vicinity of New Madrid, in Southeastern Missouri, its minor effects were
felt through a wide extent of country, especially in the settled portions of Illinois. Contemporaneous
history states that, in the American Bottom, then the most densely settled portion of Illinois, the
results were very perceptible. The walls of a brick house belonging to Mr. Samuel Judy, a pioneer
settler in the eastern edge of the bottom, near Edwardsville, Madison County, were cracked by the
convulsion, the effects being seen for more than two generations. Gov. John Reynolds, then a young man
of 23, living with his father's family in what was called the "Goshen Settlement," near Edwardsville,
in his history of "My Own Times," says of it: "Our family were all sleeping in a log-cabin, and my
father leaped out of bed, crying out, "The Indians are on the house. The battle of Tippecanoe had been
recently fought, and it was supposed the Indians would attack the settlements. Not one in the family
knew at that time it was an earthquake. The next morning another shock made us acquainted with it.
The cattle came running home bellowing with fear, and all animals were terribly alarmed. Our house
cracked and quivered so we were fearful it would fall to the ground. In the American Bottom many
chimneys were thrown down, and the church bell at Cahokia was sounded by the agitation of the building.
It is said a shock of an earthquake was felt in Kaskaskia in 1804, but I did not perceive it." Owing
to the sparseness of the population in Illinois at that time, but little is known of the effect of the
convulsion of 1811 elsewhere, but there are numerous "sink-holes" in Union and adjacent counties,
between the forks of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, which probably owe their origin to this or some
similar disturbance. "On the Kaskaskia River below Athens," says Governor Reynolds in his "Pioneer
History," "the water and white sand were thrown up through a fissure of the earth."
EAST DUBUQUE, an incorporated city of Jo Daviess County, on the east bank of the
Mississippi, 17 miles (by rail) northeast of Galena. It is connected with Dubuque, Iowa, by a railroad
and a wagon bridge two miles in length. It has a grain elevator, a box factory, a planing mill and
manufactories of cultivators and sand drills. It has also a bank, two churches, good public schools
and a weekly newspaper. Population (1890), 1,069; (1900), 1,146; (1910), 1,253.
EASTON, (Col.) Rufus, pioneer, founder of the city of Alton; was born at Litchfield,
Conn., May 4, 1774; studied law and practiced two years in Oneida County, N. Y.; emigrated to St. Louis
in 1804, and was commissioned by President Jefferson Judge of the Territory of Louisiana, and also
became the first Postmaster of St. Louis, in 1808. From 1814 to 1818 he served as Delegate in Congress
from Missouri Territory, and, on the organization of the State of Missouri (1821), was appointed
Attorney-General for the State, serving until 1826. His death occurred at St. Charles, Mo., July 5,
1834. Colonel Easton's connection with Illinois history is based chiefly upon the fact that he was the
founder of the present city of Alton, which he laid out, in 1817, on a tract of land of which he had
obtained possession at the mouth of the Little Piasa Creek, naming the town for his son. Rev. Thomas
Lippincott, prominently identified with the early history of that portion of the State, kept a store
for Easton at Milton, on Wood River, about two miles from Alton, in the early "'20's."
EAST ST. LOUIS, a flourishing city in St. Clair County, on the east bank of the
Mississippi directly opposite St. Louis; is the terminus of twenty-two railroads and several electric
lines, and the leading commercial and manufacturing point in Southern Illinois. Its industries include
rolling mills, steel, brass, malleable iron and glass works, grain elevators and flour mills,
breweries, stockyards and packing houses. The city has eleven public and five parochial schools, one
high school, and two colleges; is well supplied with banks and has one daily, three weekly and one
monthly papers. Pop. (1900), 29,655; (1910), 58,547.
EASTERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. The act for the establishment of this institution
passed the General Assembly in 1877. Many cities offered inducements, by way of donations, for the
location of the new hospital, but the site finally selected was a farm of 250 acres near Kankakee, and
this was subsequently enlarged by the purchase of 327 additional acres in 1881. Work was begun in 1878
and the first patients received in December, 1879. The plan of the institution is, in many respects,
unique. It comprises a general building, three stories high, capable of accommodating 300 to 400
patients, and a number Of detached buildings, technically termed cottages where various classes of
insane patients may be ground and receive the particular treatment best adapted to ensure their
recovery. The plans were mainly worked out from suggestions by Frederick Howard Wines, LL.D., then
Secretary of the Board of Public Charities, and have attracted generally favorable comment both in this
country and abroad. The seventy-five buildings occupied for the various purposes of the institution,
cover a quarter-section of land laid off in regular streets, beautified with trees, plants and flowers,
and presenting all the appearance of a flourishing village with numerous small parks adorned with
walks and drives. The counties from which patients are received include Cook, Champaign, Coles,
Cumberland, De Witt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, La Salle, Livingston, Macon,
McLean, Moultrie, Piatt, Shelby, Vermilion and Will. The whole number of patients in 1898 was 2,200,
while the employes of all classes numbered 500.
EASTERN ILLINOIS NORMAL SCHOOL, an institution designed to qualify teachers for giving
instruction in the public schools, located at Charleston, Coles County, under an act of the Legislature
passed at the session of 1895. The act appropriated $50,000 for the erection of buildings, to which
additional appropriations were added in 1897 and 1898, of $25,000 and $50,000, respectively, with
856,216.72 contributed by the city of Charleston, making a total of $181,216.72. The building was
begun in 1896, the corner-stone being laid on May 27 of that year. There was delay in the progress of
the work in consequence of the failure of the contractors in December, 1896, but the work was resumed
in 1897 and practically completed early in 1899, with the expectation that the institution would be
opened for the reception of students in September following.
EASTMAN, Zebina, anti-slavery journalist, was born at North Amherst, Mass., Sept. 8,
1815; became a printer's apprentice at 14, but later spent a short time in an academy at Hadley. Then,
after a brief experience as an employe in the office of "The Hartford Pearl," at the age of 18 he
invested his patrimony of some $2,000 in the establishment of "The Free Press" at Fayetteville, Vt.
This venture proving unsuccessful, in 1837 he came west, stopping a year or two at Ann Arbor, Mich.
In 1839 he visited Peoria by way of Chicago, working for a time on "The Peoria Register," but soon
after joined Benjamin Lundy, who was preparing to revive his paper, "The Genius of Universal
Emancipation," at Lowell, La Salle County. This scheme was partially defeated by Lundy's early death,
but, after a few months' delay, Eastman, in conjunction with Hooper Warren, began the publication of
"The Genius of Liberty" as the successor of Lundy's paper, using the printing press which Warren had
used in the office of "The Commercial Advertiser," in Chicago, a year or so before. In 1842, at the
invitation of prominent Abolitionists, the paper was removed to Chicago, wdiere it wras issued under
the name of "The Western Citizen," in 1853 becoming "The Free West," and finally, in 1856, being merged
in "The Chicago Tribune." After the suspension of "The Free West," Mr. Eastman began the publication
of "The Chicago Magazine," a literary and historical monthly, but it reached only its fifth number,
when it was discontinued for want of financial oupport. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln
United States Consul at Bristol, England, where he remained eight years. On his return from Europe, he
took up his residence at Elgin, later removing to Maywood, a suburb of Chicago, where he died, June 14,
1883. During the latter years of his life Mr. Eastman contributed many articles of great historical
interest to the Chicago press. (See Lundy, Benjamin, and Warren, Hooper.)
EBERHART, John Frederick, educator and real-estate operator, was born in Mercer
County, Pa., Jan. 21, 1829; commenced teaching at 16 years of age, and, in 1853, graduated from
Allegheny College, at Meadville, soon after becoming Principal of Albright Seminary at Berlin, in the
same State; in 1855 came west by way of Chicago, locating at Dixon and engaging in editorial work; a
year later established "The Northwestern Home and School Journal," which he published three years, in
the meantime establishing and conducting teachers' institutes in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. In 1859
he was elected School Commissioner of Cook County—a position which was afterwards changed to County
Superintendent of Schools, and which he held ten years. Mr. Eberhart was largely instrumental in the
establishment of the Cook County Normal School. Since retiring from office he has been engaged in the
real-estate business in Chicago.
ECKHART, Bernard A., manufacturer and President of the Chicago Drainage Board, was
born in Alsace, France (now Germany), brought to America in infancy and reared on a farm in Vernon
County, Wis.; was educated at Milwaukee, and, in 1868, became clerk in the office of the Eagle Milling
Company of that city, afterwards serving as its Eastern agent in various seaboard cities. He finally
established an extensive milling business in Chicago, in which he is now engaged. In 1884 he served as
a delegate to the National Waterway Convention at St. Paul and, in 1886, was elected to the State Senate,
serving four years and taking a prominent part in drafting the Sanitary Drainage Bill passed by the
Thirty-sixth General Assembly. He has also been prominent in connection with various financial
institutions, and, in 1891, was elected one of the Trustees of the Sanitary District of Chicago, was
re-elected in 1895 and chosen President of the Board for the following year, and re-elected President
December, 1898.
EDBROOKE, Willoughby J., Supervising Architect, was born at Deerfield, Lake County,
Ill., Sept. 3, 1843; brought up to the architectural profession by his father and under the instruction
of Chicago architects. During Mayor Roche's administration he held the position of Commissioner of
Public Works, and, in April, 1891, was appointed Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department at
Washington, in that capacity supervising the construction of Government buildings at the World's
Columbian Exposition. Died, in Chicago, March 26, 1896.
EDDY, Henry, pioneer lawyer and editor, was born in Vermont, in 1798, reared in New
York, learned the printer's trade at Pittsburg, served in the War of 1812, and was wounded in the battle
of Black Rock, near Buffalo; came to Shawneetown, Ill., in 1818, where he edited "The Illinois Emigrant,"
the earliest paper in that part of the State; was a Presidential Elector in 1824, a Representative in
the Second and Fifteenth General Assemblies, and elected a Circuit Judge in 1835, but resigned a few
weeks later. He was a Whig in politics. Usher F. Linder, in his "Reminiscences of the Early Bench and
Bar of Illinois," says of Mr. Eddy: "When he addressed the court, he elicited the most profound
attention. He was a sort of walking law library. He never forgot anything that he ever knew, whether
law, poetry or belles lettres." Died, June 29, 1849.
EDDY, Thomas Mears, clergyman and author, was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, Sept. 7,
1823; educated at Greensborough, Ind., and, from 1842 to 1853, was a Methodist circuit preacher in that
State, becoming Agent of the American Bible Society the latter year, and Presiding Elder of the
Indianapolis district until 1856, when he was appointed editor of "The Northwestern Christian Advocate,"
in Chicago, retiring from that position in 1868. Later, he held pastorates in Baltimore and Washington,
and was chosen one of the Corresponding Secretaries of the Missionary Society by the General Conference
of 1872. Dr. Eddy was a copious writer for the press, and, besides occasional sermons, published two
volumes of reminiscences and personal sketches of prominent Illinoisans in the War of the Rebellion
under the title of "Patriotism of Illinois" (1865). Died, in New York City, Oct. 7, 1874.
EDGAR, John, early settler at Kaskaskia, was born in Ireland and, during the American
Revolution, served as an officer in the British navy, but married an .American woman of great force of
character who sympathized strongly with the patriot cause. Having become involved in the desertion of
three British soldiers whom his wife had promised to assist in reaching the American camp, he was
compelled to flee. After remaining for a while in the American army, during which he became the friend
of General La Fayette, he sought safety by coming west, arriving at Kaskaskia in 1784. His property was
confiscated, but his wife succeeded in saving some $12,000 from the wreck, with which she joined him
two years later. He engaged in business and became an extensive land-owner, being credited, during
Territorial days, with the ownership of nearly 50,000 acres situated in Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair,
Madison, Clinton, Washington, Perry and Jackson Counties, and long known as the "Edgar lands." He also
purchased and rebuilt a mill near Kaskaskia which had belonged to a Frenchman named Paget, and became a
large shipper of flour at an early day to the Southern markets. When St. Clair County was organized, in
1790, he was appointed one of the Judges of the Common Pleas Court, and so appears to have continued for
more than a quarter of a century. On the establishment of a Territorial Legislature for the Northwest
Territory, he was chosen, in 1799, one of the members for St. Clair County—the Legislature holding its
session at Chillicothe, in the present State of Ohio, under the administration of Governor St. Clair. He
was also appointed a Major-General of militia, retaining the office for many years. General and Mrs.
Edgar were leaders of society at the old Territorial capital, and, on the visit of La Fayette to
Kaskaskia in 1825, a reception was given at their house to the distinguished Frenchman, whose
acquaintance they had made more than forty years before. He died at Kaskaskia, in 1832. Edgar County,
in the eastern part of the State, was named in honor of General Edgar. He was Worshipful Master of the
first Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Illinois, constituted at Kaskaskia in 1806.
EDGAR COUNTY, one of the middle tier of counties from north to south, lying on the
eastern border of the State; was organized in 1823, and named for General Edgar, an early citizen of
Kaskaskia. It contains 640 square miles, with a population (1910) of 27,336. The county is nearly
square, well watered and wooded. Most of the acreage is under cultivation, grain-growing and
stock-raising being the principal industries. Generally, the soil is black to a considerable depth,
though at some points—especially adjoining the timber lands in the east—the soft, brown clay of the
subsoil comes to the surface. Beds of the drift period, one hundred feet deep, are found in the northern
portion, and some twenty-five years ago a nearly perfect skeleton of a mastodon was exhumed. A bed of
limestone, twenty-five feet thick, crops out near Baldwinsville and runs along Brouillet's creek to
the State line. Paris, the county-seat, is a railroad center, and has a population of over 6,000.
Vermilion and Dudley are prominent shipping points, while Chrisman, which was an unbroken prairie in
1872, was credited with a population of 900 in 1900.
EDINBURG, a village of Christian County, on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway,
18 miles southeast of Springfield; has two banks and one newspaper. The region is agricultural, though
some coal is mined here. Population (1880), 551; (1890), 806; (1900), 1,071; (1910), 918.
EDSALL, James Kirtland, former Attorney General, was born at Windham, Greene County,
N. Y., May 10, 1831. After passing through the common-schools, he attended an academy at Prattsville,
N.Y., supporting himself, meanwhile, by working upon a farm. He read law at Prattsville and Catskill,
and was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1852. The next two years he spent in Wisconsin and Minnesota,
and, in 1854, removed to Leavenworth, Kan. He was elected to the Legislature of that State in 1855,
being a member of the Topeka (free-soil) body when it was broken up by United States troops in 1856. In
August, 1856, he settled at Dixon, Ill., and at once engaged in practice. In 1863 he was elected Mayor
of that city, and, in 1870, was chosen State Senator, serving on the Committees on Municipalities and
Judiciary in the Twenty-seventh General Assembly. In 1872 he was elected Attorney-General on the
Republican ticket and re-elected in 1876. At the expiration of his second term he took up his residence
in Chicago, where he afterwards devoted himself to the practice of his profession, until his death,
which occurred, June 20, 1892.
EDUCATION.
The first step in the direction of the establishment of a system of free schools for the region now
comprised within the State of Illinois was taken in the enactment by Congress, on May 20, 1785, of
"An Ordinance for Ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory." This applied
specifically to the region northwest of the Ohio River, which had been acquired through the conquest
of the "Illinois Country" by Col. George Rogers Clark, acting under the auspices of the State of
Virginia and by authority received from its Governor, the patriotic Patrick Henry. This act for the
first time established the present system of township (or as it was then called, "rectangular")
surveys, devised by Capt. Thomas Hutchins, who became the first Surveyor-General (or "Geographer,"
as the office was styled) of the United States under the same act. Its important feature, in this
connection, was the provision "that there shall be reserved the lot No. 16 of every township, for
the maintenance of public schools within the township." The same reservation (the term "section"
being substituted for "lot" in the act of May 18, 1796) was made in all subsequent acts for the sale
of public lands—the acts of July 23, 1787, and June 20, 1788, declaring that "the lot No. 16 in each
township, or fractional part of a township," shall be "given perpetually for the purpose contained
in said ordinance" (i. e., the act of 1785). The next step was taken in the Ordinance of 1787
(Art. III.), in the declaration that, "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary for the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." The reservation
referred to in the act of 1785 (and subsequent acts) was reiterated in the "enabling act" passed by
Congress, April 18, 1818, authorizing the people of Illinois Territory to organize a State Government,
and was formally accepted by the Convention which formed the first State Constitution. The enabling
act also set apart one entire township (in addition to one previously donated for the same purpose by
act of Congress in 1804) for the use of a seminary of learning, together with three per cent of the net
proceeds of the sales of public lands within the State, "to be appropriated by the Legislature of the
State for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part" (or one-half of one per cent) "shall
be exclusively bestowed on a college or university." Thus, the plan for the establishment of a system
of free public education in Illinois had its inception in the first steps for the organization of the
Northwest Territory, was recognized in the Ordinance of 1787 which reserved that Territory forever to
freedom, and was again reiterated in the preliminary steps for the organization of the State Government.
These several acts became the basis of that permanent provision for the encouragement of education
known as the "township," "seminary" and "college or university" funds.
EARLY SCHOOLS.—Previous to this, however, a beginning had been made in the attempt
to establish schools for the benefit of the children of the pioneers. One John Seeley is said to have
taught the first American school within the territory of Illinois, in a log-cabin in Monroe County,
in 1783, followed by others in the next twenty years in Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Madison
Counties. Seeley's earliest successor was Francis Clark, who, in turn, was followed by a man named
Halfpenny, who afterwards built a mill near the present town of Waterloo in Monroe County. Among the
teachers of a still later period were John Boyle, a soldier in Col. George Rogers Clark's army, who
taught in Randolph County between 1790 and 1800; John Atwater, near Edwardsville, in 1807, and John
Messinger, a surveyor, who was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818 and Speaker of the
first House of Representatives. The latter taught in the vicinity of Shiloh in St. Clair County,
afterwards the site of Rev. John M. Peck's Rock Spring Seminary. The schools which existed during
this period, and for many years after the organization of the State Government, were necessarily few,
widely scattered and of a very primitive character, receiving their support entirely by subscription
from their patrons.
FIRST FREE SCHOOL LAW AND SALES OF SCHOOL LANDS.—It has been stated that the first
free school in the State was established at Upper Alton, in 1821, but there is good reason for believing
this claim was based upon the power granted by the Legislature, in an act passed that year, to establish
such schools there, which power was never carried into effect. The first attempt to establish a
free-school system for the whole State was made in January, 1825, in the passage of a bill introduced
by Joseph Duncan, afterwards a Congressman and Governor of the State. It nominally appropriated two
dollars out of each one hundred dollars received in the State Treasury, to be distributed to those
who had paid taxes or subscriptions for the support of schools. So small was the aggregate revenue of
the State at that time (only a little over $60,000), that the sum realized from this law would have
been but little more than $1,000 per year. It remained practically a dead letter and was repealed in
1829, when the State inaugurated the policy of selling the seminary lands and borrowing the proceeds
for the payment of current expenses. In this way 43,200 acres (or all but four and a half sections) of
the seminary lands were disposed of, realizing less than $60,000. The first sale of township school
lands took place in Greene County in 1831, and, two years later, the greater part of the school section
in the heart of the present city of Chicago was sold, producing about $39,000. The average rate at which
these sales were made, up to 1882, was $3.78 per acre> and the minimum, 70 cents per acre. That these
lands have, in very few instances, produced the results expected of them, was not so much the fault of
the system as of those selected to administer it—whose bad judgment in premature sales, or whose
complicity with the schemes of speculators, were the means, in many cases, of squandering what might
otherwise have furnished a liberal provision for the support of public schools in many sections of the
State. Mr. W. L. Pillsbury, at present Secretary of the University of Illinois, in a paper printed in
the report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for 1885-86—to which the writer is indebted
for many of the facts presented in this article—gives to Chicago the credit of establishing the first
free schools in the State in 1834, while Alton followed in 1837, and Springfield and Jacksonville in
1840. EARLY HIGHER INSTITUTIONS.—A movement looking to the establishment of a higher institution of
learning in Indiana Territory (of which Illinois then formed a part), was inaugurated by the passage,
through the Territorial Legislature at Vincennes, in November, 1806, of an act incorporating the
University of Indiana Territory to be located at Vincennes. One provision of the act authorized the
raising of $20,000 for the institution by means of a lottery. A Board of Trustees was promptly
organized, with Gen. William Henry Harrison, then the Territorial Governor, at its head; but, beyond
the erection of a building, little progress was made. Twenty-one years later (1827) the first successful
attempt to found an advanced school was made by the indomitable Rev. John M. Peck, resulting in the
establishment of his Theological Seminary and High School at Rock Springs, St. Clair County, which,
in 1831, became the nucleus of Shurtleff College at Upper Alton. In like manner, Lebanon Seminary,
established in 1828, two years later expanded into McKendree College, while instruction began to be
given at Illinois College, Jacksonville, in December, 1829, as the outcome of a movement started by
a band of young men at Yale College in 1827—these several institutions being formally incorporated by
the same act of the Legislature, passed in 1835. (See sketches of these Institutions.)
EDUCATIONAL CONVENTIONS.—In 1833 there was held at Vandalia (then the State capital)
the first of a series of educational conventions, which were continued somewhat irregularly for twenty
years, and whose history is remarkable for the number of those participating in them who afterwards
gained distinction in State and National history. At first these conventions were held at the State
capital during the sessions of the General Assembly, when the chief actors in them were members of
that body and State officers, with a few other friends of education from the ranks of professional
or business men. At the convention of 1833, we find, among those participating, the names of Sidney
Breese, afterwards a United States Senator and Justice of the Supreme Court; Judge S. D. Lockwood,
then of the Supreme Court; W. L. D. Ewing, afterwards acting Governor and United States Senator; O.
H. Browning, afterwards United States Senator and Secretary of the Interior; James Hall and John
Russell, the most notable writers in the State in their day, besides Dr. J. M. Peck, Archibald
Williams, Heiijamin Mills, Jesse B. Thomas, Henry Eddy and others, all prominent in their several
departments. In a second convention at the same place, nearly two years later, Abraham Lincoln,
Stephen A. Douglas and Col. John J. Hardin were participants. At Springfield, in 1840, professional
and literary men began to take a more prominent part, although the members of the Legislature were
present in considerable force. A convention held at Peoria, in 1844, was made up largely of professional
teachers and school officers, with a few citizens of local prominence; and the same may be said of
those held at Jacksonville in 1845, and later at Chicago and other points. Various attempts were
made to form permanent educational societies, finally resulting, in December, 1854, in the organization
of the "State Teachers' Institute," which, three years later, took the name of the "State Teachers'
Association"—though an association of the same name was organized in 1836 and continued in existence
several years.
STATE SUPERINTENDENT AND SCHOOL JOURNALS.—The appointment of a State Superintendent
of Public Instruction began to be agitated as early as 1837, and was urged from time to time in
memorials and resolutions by educational conventions, by the educational press, and in the State
Legislature; but it was not until February, 1854, that an act was passed creating the office, when
the Hon. Ninian W. Edwards was appointed by Gov. Joel A. Matteson, continuing in office until his
successor was elected in 1856. "The Common School Advocate" was published for a year at Jacksonville,
beginning with January, 1837; in 1841 "The Illinois Common School Advocate" began publication at
Springfield, but was discontinued after the issue of a few numbers. In 1855 was established "The
Illinois Teacher." This was merged, in 1873, in "The Illinois Schoolmaster," which became the organ
of the State Teachers' Association, so remaining several years. The State Teachers' Association has
no official organ now, but the "Public School Journal" is the chief educational publication of the
State.
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.—In 1851 was instituted a movement which, although obstructed
for some time by partisan opposition, has been followed by more far-reaching results, for the country
at large, than any single measure in the history of education since the act of 1785 setting apart one
section in each township for the support of public schools. This was the scheme formulated by the late
Prof. Jonathan B. Turner, of Jacksonville, for a system of practical scientific education for the
agricultural, mechanical and other industrial classes, at a Farmers' Convention held under the
auspices of the Buel Institute (an Agricultural Society), at Granville, Putnam County, Nov. 18, 1851.
While proposing a plan for a "State University" for Illinois, it also advocated, from the outset, a
"University for the industrial classes in each of the States," by way of supplementing the work which
a "National Institute of Science," such as the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, was expected to
accomplish. The proposition attracted the attention of persons interested in the cause of industrial
education in other States, especially in New York and some of the New England States, and received
their hearty endorsement and cooperation. The Granville meeting was followed by a series of similar
conventions held at Springfield, June 8, 1852; Chicago, Nov. 24, 1852; Springfield, Jan. 4, 1853, and
Springfield, Jan. 1, 1855, at which the scheme was still further elaborated. At the Springfield meeting
of January, 1852, an organization was formed under the title of the "Industrial League of the State of
Illinois," with a view to disseminating information, securing more thorough organization on the part
of friends of the measure, and the employment of lecturers to address the people of the State on the
subject. At the same time, it was resolved that "this Convention memorialize Congress for the purpose
of obtaining a grant of public lands to establish and endow industrial institutions in each and every
State in the Union." It is worthy of note that this resolution contains the central idea of the act
passed by Congress nearly ten years afterward, making appropriations of public lands for the
establishment and support of industrial colleges in the several States, which act received the
approval of President Lincoln, July 2, 1862— a similar measure having been vetoed by President Buchanan
in February, 1859. The State was extensively canvassed by Professor Turner, Mr. Bronson Murray (now
of New York), the late Dr. R. C. Rutherford and others, in behalf of the objects of the League, and
the Legislature, at its session of 1853, by unanimous vote in both houses, adopted the resolutions
commending the measure and instructing the United States Senators from Illinois, and requesting its
Representatives, to give it their support. Though not specifically contemplated at the outset of the
movement, the Convention at Springfield, in January, 1855, proposed, as a part of the scheme, the
establishment of a "Teachers' Seminary or Normal School Department," which took form in the act passed
at the session of 1857, for the establishment of the State Normal School at Normal. Although delayed,
as already stated, the advocates of industrial education in Illinois, aided by those of other States,
finally triumphed in 1862. The lands received by the State as the result of this act amounted to 480,000
acres, besides subsequent donations. (See University of Illinois; also Turner, Jonathan Baldwin.) On
the foundation thus furnished was established, by act of the Legislature in 1867, the "Illinois
Industrial University" —now the University of Illinois—at Champaign, to say nothing of more than
forty similar institutions in as many States and Territories, based upon the same general act of
Congress.
FREE-SCHOOL SYSTEM.—While there may be said to have been a sort of free-school system
in existence in Illinois previous to 1855, it was limited to a few fortunate districts possessing funds
derived from the sale of school-lands situated within their respective limits. The system of free
schools, as it now exists, based upon general taxation for the creation of a permanent school fund,
had its origin in the act of that year. As already shown, the office of State Superintendent of Public
Instruction had been created by act of the Legislature in February, 1854, and the act of 1855 was but
a natural corollary of the previous measure, giving to the people a uniform system, as the earlier one
had provided an official for its administration. Since then there have been many amendments of the
school law, but these have been generally in the direction of securing greater efficiency, but without
departure from the principle of securing to all the children of the State the equal privileges of a
common-school education. The development of the system began practically about 1857, and, in the next
quarter of a century, the laws on the subject had grown into a considerable volume, while the
numberless decisions, emanating from the office of the State Superintendent in construction of these
laws, made up a volume of still larger proportions.
The following comparative table of school statistics, for 1860 and 1896, compiled from the Reports of
the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, will illustrate the growth of the system in some of
its more important features:
| |
1860 |
1896 |
| Population |
1,711,951 |
(est.) 4,250,000 |
| No. of Persons of School Age (between 6 and 21) |
*549,604 |
1,384,387 |
| No. of Pupils enrolled |
*472,247 |
898,619 |
| No. of School Districts |
8,956 |
11,615 |
| No. of Public Schools |
9,162 |
12,623 |
| No. of Graded Schools |
294 |
1,887 |
| No. of Public High Schools |
|
272 |
| No. of School Houses built during the year |
557 |
267 |
| Whole No. of School Houses |
8,221 |
12,632 |
| No. of Male Teachers |
8,223 |
7,057 |
| No. of Female Teachers |
6,485 |
18,359 |
| Whole No. of Teachers in Public Schools |
14,708 |
26,416 |
| Highest Monthly Wages paid Male Teachers |
$180.00 |
$300.00 |
| Highest Monthly Wages paid Female Teachers |
75.00 |
280.00 |
| Lowest Monthly Wages paid Male Teachers |
8.00 |
14.00 |
| Lowest Monthly Wages paid Female Teachers |
4.00 |
10.00 |
| Average Monthly Wages paid Male Teachers |
28.82 |
57.76 |
| Average Monthly Wages paid Female Teachers |
18.80 |
60.63 |
| No. of Private Schools |
500 |
2,619 |
| No. of Pupils in Private Schools |
29,264 |
139,969 |
| Interest on State and County Funds received |
$73,450.38 |
$65,583.63 |
| Amount of Income from Township Funds |
322,852.00 |
889,614.20 |
*Only white children were included in these statistics for 1860.
| |
1860 |
1896 |
| Amount received from State Tax |
$ 690,000.00 |
$1,000,000.00 |
| Amount received from Special District Taxes |
1,265,137.00 |
13,133,809.61 |
| Amount received from Bonds during the year |
|
517,960.93 |
| Total Amount received during the year by School Districts |
2,193,455.00 |
15,607,172.50 |
| Amount paid Male Teachers |
|
2,772,829.32 |
| Amount paid Female Teachers |
|
7,186,105.67 |
| Whole amount paid Teachers |
1,542,211.00 |
9,958,934.99 |
| Amount paid for new School Houses |
348,728.00 |
1,873,757.25 |
| Amount paid for repairs and improvements |
|
1,070,755.09 |
| Amount paid for School Furniture |
24,837.00 |
154,836.64 |
| Amount paid for Apparatus |
8,563.00 |
164,298.92 |
| Amount paid for Books for District Libraries |
30,124 00 |
13,664.97 |
| Total Expenditures |
2,259,868.00 |
14,614,627.31 |
| Estimated value of School Property |
13,304,892.00 |
42,780,267.00 |
| Estimated value of Libraries |
|
377,819.00 |
| Estimated value of Apparatus |
|
607,389.00 |
The sums annually disbursed for incidental expenses on account of superintendence and the cost of
maintaining the higher institutions established, and partially or wholly supported by the State,
increase the total expenditures by some $600,000 per annum. These higher institutions include the
Illinois State Normal University at Normal, the Southern Illinois Normal at Carbondale and the
University of Illinois at Urbana; to which were added by the Legislature, at its session of 1890, the
Eastern Illinois Normal School, afterwards established at Charleston, and the Northern Illinois Normal
at De Kalb. These institutions, although under supervision of the State, are partly supported by
tuition fees. (See description of these institutions under their several titles.) The normal schools—as
their names indicate—are primarily designed for the training of teachers, although other classes of
pupils are admitted under certain conditions, including the payment of tuition. At the University of
Illinois instruction is given in the classics, the sciences, agriculture and the mechanic arts. In
addition to these the State supports four other institutions of an educational rather than a custodial
character—viz.: the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Institution for the
Blind, at Jacksonville; the Asylum for the Feeble-Minded at Lincoln, and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home
at Normal. The estimated value of the property connected with these several institutions, in addition
to the value of school property given in the preceding table, will increase the total (exclusive of
permanent funds) to $47,155,374.95, of which $4,375,107.95 represents property belonging to the
institutions above mentioned.
POWERS AND DUTIES OP SUPERINTENDENTS AND OTHER SCHOOL OFFICERS.—Each county elects
a County Superintendent of Schools, whose duty it is to visit schools, conduct teachers' institutes,
advise with teachers and school officers and instruct them in their respective duties, conduct
examinations of persons desiring to become teachers, and exercise general supervision over school
affairs within his county. The subordinate officers are Township Trustees, a Township Treasurer, and
a Board of District Directors or— in place of the latter in cities and villages—Boards of Education.
The two last named Boards have power to employ teachers and, generally, to supervise the management of
schools in districts. The State Superintendent is entrusted with general supervision of the
common-school system of the State, and it is his duty to advise and assist County Superintendents,
to Visit State Charitable institutions, to issue official circulars to teachers, school officers and
others in regard to their rights and duties under the general school code; to decide controverted
questions of school law, coming to him by appeal from County Superintendents and others, and to make
full and detailed reports of the operations of his office to the Governor, biennially. He is also made
ex-offici© a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and of the several Normal
Schools, and is empowered to grant certificates of two different grades to teachers—the higher grade
to be valid during the lifetime of the holder, and the lower for two years. Certificates granted by
County Superintendents are also of two grades and have a tenure of one and two years, respectively,
in the county where given. The conditions for securing a certificate of the first (or two-years') grade,
require that the candidate shall be of good moral character and qualified to teach orthography, reading
in English, penmanship, arithmetic, modern geography, English grammar, the elements of the natural
sciences, the history of the United States, physiology and the laws of health. The second grade (or
one-year) certificate calls for examination in the branches just enumerated, except the natural
sciences, physiology and laws of health; but teachers employed exclusively in giving instruction in
music, drawing, penmanship or other special branches, may take examinations in these branches alone,
but are restricted, in teaching, to those in which they have been examined. — County Boards are
empowered to establish County Normal Schools for the education of teachers for the common schools,
and the management of such normal schools is placed in the hands of a County Board of Education, to
consist of not less than five nor more than eight persons, of whom the Chairman of the County Board
and the County Superintendent of Schools shall be ex-officio members.
Boards of Education and Directors may establish kindergartens (when authorized to do so by vote of a
majority of the voters of their districts), for children between the ages of four and six years, but
the cost of supporting the same must be defrayed by a special tax.—A compulsory provision of the School
Law requires that each child, between the ages of seven and fourteen years, shall be sent to school at
least sixteen weeks of each year, unless otherwise instructed in the elementary branches, or disqualified
by physical or mental disability.—Under the provisions of an act, passed in 1891, women are made
eligible to any office created by the general or special school laws of the State, when twenty-one
years of age or upwards, and otherwise possessing the same qualifications for the office as are
prescribed for men. (For list of incumbents in the office of State Superintendent, see Superintendents
of Public Instruction.)
EDWARDS, Arthur, D.D., clergyman, soldier and editor, was born at Norwalk, Ohio, Nov.
23, 1834; educated at Albion, Mich., and the Wesleyan University of Ohio, graduating from the latter in
1858; entered the Detroit Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church the same year, was ordained in
1860 and, from 1861 until after the battle of Gettysburg, served as Chaplain of the First Michigan
Cavalry, when he resigned to accept the colonelcy of a cavalry regiment. In 1864, he was elected
assistant editor of "The Northwestern Christian Advocate" at Chicago, and, on the retirement of Dr.
Eddy in 1872, became Editor-in-chief, being re-elected every four years until his death, Mar. 20, 1901.
He had also been a member of each General Conference since 1872, was a member of the Ecumenical
Conference at London in 1881, and held other positions of prominence within the church.
EDWARDS, Cyrus, pioneer lawyer, was born in Montgomery County, Md., Jan. 17, 1793; at
the age of seven accompanied his parents to Kentucky, where he received his primary education, and
studied law; was admitted to the bar at Kaskaskia, Ill., in 1815, Ninian Edwards (of whom he was the
youngest brother) being then Territorial Governor. During the next fourteen years he resided alternately
in Missouri and Kentucky, and, in 1829, took up his residence at Edwardsville. Owing to impaired health
he decided to abandon his profession and engage in general business, later becoming a resident of Upper
Alton. In 1832 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature as a Whig, and again, in 1840 and
'60, the last time as a Republican; was State Senator from 1835 to '39, and was also the Whig candidate
for Governor, in 1838, in opposition to Thomas Carlin (Democrat), who was elected. He served in the
Black Hawk War, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1847, and especially interested in
education and in public charities, being, for thirty-five years, a Trustee of Shurtleff College, to
which he was a most munificent benefactor, and which conferred on him the degree of LL.D. in 1852.
Died at Upper Alton, September, 1877.
EDWARDS, Ninian, Territorial Governor and United States Senator, was born in Montgomery
County, Md., March 17, 1775; for a time had the celebrated William Wirt as a tutor, completing his
course at Dickinson College. At the age of 19 he emigrated to Kentucky, where, after squandering
considerable money, he studied law and, step by step, rose to be Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals.
In 1809 President Madison appointed him the first Territorial Governor of Illinois. This office he held
until the admission of Illinois as a State in 1818, when he was elected United Sates Senator and
re-elected on the completion of his first (the short) term. In 1826 he was elected Governor of the
State, his successful administration terminating in 1830. In 1832 he became a candidate for Congress,
but was defeated by Charles Slade. He was able, magnanimous and incorruptible, although charged with
aristocratic tendencies which were largely hereditary. Died, at his home at Belleville, on July 20,
1833, of cholera, the disease having been contracted through self-sacrificing efforts to assist
sufferers from the epidemic. His demise cast a gloom over the entire State. Two valuable volumes
bearing upon State history, comprising his correspondence with many public men of his time, have
been published; the first under the title of "History of Illinois and Life of Ninian Edwards," by
his son, the late Ninian Wirt Edwards, and the other "The Edwards Papers," edited by the late Elihu
B. Washburne, and printed under the auspices of the Chicago Historical Society.—
Ninian Wirt (Edwards), son of Gov. Ninian Edwards, was born at Frankfort, Ky., April
15, 1809, the year his father became Territorial Governor of Illinois; spent his boyhood at Kaskaskia,
Edwardsville and Belleville, and was educated at Transylvania University, graduating in 1833. He
married Elizabeth P. Todd, a sister of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, was appointed Attorney-General in 1834,
but resigned in 1835, when he removed to Springfield. In 1836 he was elected to the Legislature from
Sangamon County, as the colleague of Abraham Lincoln, being one of the celebrated "Long Nine," and was
influential in securing the removal of the State capital to Springfield. He was re-elected to the
House in 1838, to the State Senate in 1844, and again to the House in 1848; was also a member of the
Constitutional Convention of 1847. Again, in 1850, he was elected to the House, but resigned on account
of his change of politics from Whig to Democratic, and, in the election to fill the vacancy, was
defeated by James C. Conkling. He served as Superintendent of Public Instruction by appointment of
Governor Matteson, 1854-57, and, in 1861, was appointed by President Lincoln, Captain Commissary of
Subsistence, which position he filled until June, 1865, since which time he remained in private life.
He is the author of the "Life and Times of Ninian Edwards" (1870), which was prepared at the request
of the State Historical Society. Died, at Springfield, Sept. 2, 1889.—
Benjamin Stevenson (Edwards), lawyer and jurist, another son of Gov. Ninian Edwards,
was born at Edwardsville, Ill., June 3, 1818, graduated from Yale College in 1838, and was admitted
to the bar the following year. Originally a Whig, he subsequently became a Democrat, was a Delegate
to the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and, in 1868, was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in
opposition to Shelby M. Cullom. In 1869 he was elected Circuit Judge of the Springfield Circuit, but
within eighteen months resigned the position, preferring the excitement and emoluments of private
practice to the dignity and scanty salary attaching to the bench. As a lawyer and as a citizen he was
universally respected. Died, at his home in Springfield, Feb. 4, 1886, at the time of his decease being
President of the Illinois State Bar Association.
EDWARDS, Richard, educator, ex-Superintendent of Public Instruction, was born in
Cardiganshire, Wales, Dec. 23, 1822; emigrated with his parents to Portage County, Ohio, and began
life on a farm; later graduated at the State Normal School, Bridgewater, Mass., and from the Polytechnic
Institute at Troy, N. Y., receiving the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Civil Engineer; served for a
time as a civil engineer on the Boston water works, then beginning a career as a teacher which continued
almost uninterruptedly for thirty-five years. During this period he was connected with the Normal School
at Bridgewater; a Boys' High School at Salem, and the State Normal at the same place, coming west in
1857 to establish the Normal School at St. Louis, Mo., still later becoming Principal of the St. Louis
High School, and, in 1862, accepting the Presidency of the State Normal University, at Normal, Ill. It
was here where Dr. Edwards, remaining fourteen years, accomplished his greatest work and left his
deepest impress upon the educational system of the State by personal contact with its teachers. The
next nine years were spent as pastor of the First Congregational church at Princeton, when, after
eighteen months in the service of Knox College as Financial Agent, he was again called, in 1886, to a
closer connection with the educational field by his election to the office of State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, serving until 1891, when, having failed of a re-election, he soon after assumed
the Presidency of Blackburn University at Carlinville. Failing health, however, compelled his retirement
a year later, when he removed to Bloomington, which was his place of residence until his death, March
8, 1908.
EDWARDS COUNTY, situated in the southeastern part of the State, between Richland and
White on the north and south, and Wabash and Wayne on the east and west, and touching the Ohio River
on its southeastern border. It was separated from Gallatin County in 1814, during the Territorial
period. Its territory was diminished in 1824 by the carving out of Wabash County. The surface is
diversified by prairie and timber, the soil fertile and well adapted to the raising of both wheat and
corn. The principal streams, besides the Ohio, are Bonpas Creek, on the east, and the Little Wabash
River on the west. Palmyra (a place no longer on the map) was the seat for holding the first county
court, in 1815, John Mcintosh, Seth Gard and William Barney being the Judges. Albion, the present
county-seat (population, 937), was laid out by Morris Birkbeck and George Flower (emigrants from
England), in 1819, and settled largely by their countrymen, but not incorporated until 1860. The area
of the county is 220 square miles, and population, in 1910, 10,049. Grayville, with a population of
2,000 in 1890, is partly in this county, though mostly in White. Edwards County was named in honor of
Ninian Edwards, the Territorial Governor of Illinois.
EDWARDSVILLE, the county-seat of Madison County, settled in 1812 and named in honor
of Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards; is on four lines of railway and contiguous to two others, 18
miles northeast of St. Louis. Edwardsville was the home of some of the most prominent men in the
history of the State, including Governors Edwards, Coles, and others. It has pressed and shale
brickyards, coal mines, flour mills, machine shops, banks, electric street railway, water-works,
schools, and churches. In a suburb of the city (LeClaire) is a cooperative manufactory of sanitary
supplies, using large shops and doing a large business. Edwardsville has three newspapers, one daily,
one semi-weekly and one weekly. Pop. (1890), 3,561; (1900), 4,157; (1910), 5,014.
EFFINGHAM, an incorporated city, the county-seat of Effingham County, 99 miles
northeast of St. Louis and 198 southwest of Chicago; has four papers, creamery, milk condensory, and
ice factory. Pop. (1890), 3,260; (1900), 3,774; (1910), 3,898.
EFFINGHAM COUNTY, cut off from Fayette (and separately organized) in 1831—named for
Gen. Edward Effingham. It is situated in the central portion of the State, 90 miles northeast of St.
Louis; has an area of 486 square miles and a population (1910) of 20,055. T. M. Short, I. Fanchon and
William I. Hawkins were the first County Commissioners. Effingham, the county-seat, was platted by
Messrs. Alexander and Little in 1854. Messrs. Gillenwater, Hawkins and Brown were among the earliest
settlers. Several lines of railway cross the county. Agriculture and sheep-raising are leading
industries, wool being one of the principal products.
EGAN, William Bradshaw, M.D., pioneer physican, was born in Ireland, Sept. 28, 1808;
spent some time during his youth in the study of surgery in England, later attending lectures at
Dublin. About 1828 he went to Canada, taught for a time in the schools of Quebec and Montreal and,
in 1830, was licensed by the Medical Board of New Jersey and began practice at Newark in that State,
later practicing in New York. In 1833 he removed to Chicago and was early recognized as a prominent
physician; on July 4, 1836, delivered the address at the breaking of ground for the Illinois & Michigan
Canal. During the early years of his residence in Chicago, Dr. Egan was owner of the block on which the
Tremont House stands, and erected a number of houses there. He was a zealous Democrat and a delegate
to the first Convention of that party, held at Joliet in 1843; was elected County Recorder in 1844 and
Representative in the Eighteenth General Assembly (1853-54). Died, Oct. 27, 1860.
ELBURN, a village of Kane County, on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 8 miles west
of Geneva. It has banks and a weekly newspaper. Population (1900), 606; (1910), 615.
ELDORADO, a city in Saline County, on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis,
the Louisville & Nashville, and the St. Louis, Alton & Terra Haute Railroads; has a bank and two weekly
newspapers; district agricultural. Population, (1900), 1,445; (1910), 3,366.
ELDRIDGE, Hamilton N., lawyer and soldier, was born at South Williamstown, Mass.,
August, 1837; graduated at Williams College in the class with President Garfield, in 1856, and at
Albany Law School, in 1857; soon afterward came to Chicago and began practice; in 1862 assisted in
organizing the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, of which he was elected
Lieutenant-Colonel, before the end of the year being promoted to the position of Colonel; distinguished
himself at Arkansas Post, Chickamauga and in the battles before Vicksburg, winning the rank of Brevet
Brigadier-General, but, after two years' service, was compelled to retire on account of disability,
being carried east on a stretcher. Subsequently he recovered sufficiently to resume his profession,
but died in Chicago, Dec. 1, 1882, much regretted by a large circle of friends, with whom he was
exceedingly popular.
ELECTIONS. The elections of public officers in Illinois are of two general classes:
(I) those conducted in accordance with United States laws, and (II) those conducted exclusively under
State laws.
I. To the first class belong: (1) the election of United States Senators; (2) Presidential Electors,
and (3) Representatives in Congress. 1. (UNITED STATES SENATORS). The election of United States
Senators, while an act of the State Legislature, is conducted solely under forms prescribed by the
laws of the United States. These make it the duty of the Legislature, on the second Tuesday after
convening at the session next preceding the expiration of the term for which any Senator may have been
chosen, to proceed to elect his successor in the following manner: Each House is required, on the day
designated, in open session and by the viva voce vote of each member present, to name some person for
United States Senator, the result of the balloting to be entered on the journals of the respective
Houses. At twelve o'clock (M.) on the day following the day of election, the members of the two Houses
meet in joint assembly, when the journals of both Houses are read. If it appears that the same person
has received a majority of all the votes in each House, he is declared elected Senator. If, however, no
one has received such majority, or if either House has failed to take proceedings as required on the
preceding day, then the members of the two Houses, in joint assembly, proceed to ballot for Senator by
viva voce vote of members praent The person receiving a majority of all the votes cast—a majority of
the menibers of both Houses being present and voting—is declared elected; otherwise the joint assembly
is renewed at noon each legislative day of the session, and at least one ballot taken until a Senator
is chosen. When a vacancy exists in the Senate at the time of the assembling of the Legislature, the
same rule prevails as to the time of holding an election to fill it; and, if a vacancy occurs during
the session, the Legislature is required to proceed to an election on the second Tuesday after having
received official notice of such vacancy. The tenure of a United States Senator for a full term is six
years—the regular term beginning with a new Congress—the two Senators from each State belonging to
different "classes," so that their terms expire alternately at periods of two and four years from each
other.—2. (PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS). The choice of Electors of President and Vice-President is made by
popular vote taken quadrennially on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The date of such
election is fixed by act of Congress, being the same as that for Congressman, although the State
Legislature prescribes the manner of conducting it and making returns of the same. The number of
Electors chosen equals the number of Senators and Representatives taken together (in 1899 it. was
twenty-four), and they are elected on a general ticket, a plurality of votes being sufficient to elect.
Electors meet at the State capital on the second Monday of January after their election (Act of
Congress, 1887), to cast the vote of the State—3. (MEMBERS OP CONGRESS). The election of
Representatives in Congress is also held under United States law, occurring biennially (on the even
years) simultaneously with the general State election in November. Should Congress select a different
date for such election, it would be the duty of the Legislature to recognize it by a corresponding
change in the State law relating to the election of Congressmen. The tenure of a Congressman is two
years, the election being by Districts instead of a general ticket, as in the case of Presidential
Electors—the term of each Representative for a full term beginning with a new Congress, on the 4th of
March of the odd years following a general election. (See Congressional Apportionment.)
II. All officers under the State Government—except Boards of Trustees of charitable and penal
institutions or the heads of certain departments, which are made appointive by the Governor—are
elected by popular vote. Apart from county officers they consist of three classes: (1) Legislative;
(2) Executive; (3) Judicial — which are chosen at different times and for different periods. 1.
(LEGISLATURE). Legislative officers consist of Senators and Representatives, chosen at elections held
on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, biennially. The regular term of a Senator (of whom
there are fifty-one under the present Constitution) is four years; twenty-five (those in Districts
bearing even numbers) being chosen on the years in which a President and Governor are elected, and
the other twenty-six at the intermediate period two years later. Thus, one-half of each State Senate
is composed of what are called "hold-over" Senators. Representatives are elected biennially at the
November election, and hold office two years. The qualifications as to eligibility for a seat in the
State Senate require that the incumbent shall be 25 years of age, while 21 years renders one eligible
to a seat in the House—the Constitution requiring that each shall have been a resident of the State
for five years, and of the District for which he is chosen, two years next preceding his election.
(See Legislative Apportionment and Minority Representation.) — 2. (EXECUTIVE OFFICERS). The officers
constituting the Executive Department include the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State,
Auditor of Public Accounts, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Attorney General.
Each of these, except the State Treasurer, holds office four years and—with the exception of the
Treasurer and Superintendent of Public Instruction—are elected at the general election at which
Presidential Electors are chosen. The election of State Superintendent occurs on the intermediate
(even) years, and that of State Treasurer every two years coincidently with the election of Governor
and Superintendent of Public Instruction, respectively. (See Executive Officers.) In addition to the
State officers already named, three Trustees of the University of Illinois are elected biennially at
the general election in November, each holding office for six years. These trustees (nine in number),
with the Governor, President of the State Board of Agriculture and the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, constitute the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.—3. (JUDICIARY). The
Judicial Department embraces Judges of the Supreme, Circuit and County Courts, and such other
subordinate officials as may be connected with the administration of justice.- For the election of
members of the Supreme Court the State is divided into seven Districts, each of which elects a Justice
of the Supreme Court for a term of nine years. The elections in five of these — the First, Second,
Third, Sixth and Seventh—occur on the first Monday in June every ninth year from 1879, the last
election having occurred in June, 1897. The elections in the other two Districts occur at similar
periods of nine years from 1876 and 1873, respectively—the last election in the Fourth District having
occurred in June, 1893, and that in the Fifth in 1891.— Circuit Judges are chosen on the first Monday
in June every six years, counting from 1873. Judges of the Superior Court of Cook County are elected
every six years at the November election.—Clerks of the Supreme and Appellate Courts are elected at
the November election for six years, the last election having occurred in 1896. Under the act of April
2, 1897, consolidating the Supreme Court into one Grand Division, the number of Supreme Court Clerks
is reduced to one, although the Clerks elected in 1896 remain in office and have charge of the records
of their several Divisions until the expiration of their terms in 1902. The Supreme Court holds five
terms annually at Springfield, beginning, respectively, on the first Tuesday of October, December,
February, April and June.
(OTHER OFFICERS), (a) Members of the State Board of Equalization (one for every Congressional District)
are elective every four years at the same time as Congressmen, (b) County officers (except County
Commissioners not under township organization) hold office for four years and are chosen at the
November election as follows: (1) At the general election at which the Governor is chosen — Clerk of
the Circuit Court, State's Attorney, Recorder of Deeds (in counties having a population of 60,000 or
over), Coroner and County Surveyor. (2) On intermediate years—Sheriff, County Judge, Probate Judge
(in counties having a population of 70,000 and over), County Clerk, Treasurer, Superintendent of
Schools, and Clerk of Criminal Court of Cook County, (c) In counties not under township organization
a Board of County Commissioners is elected, one being chosen in November of each year, and each holding
office three years, (d) Under the general law the polls open at 8 a. m., and close at 7 p. m. In cities
accepting an Act of the Legislature passed in 1885, the hour of opening the poll's is 6 a. m., and of
closing 4 p. m. (See also Australian Ballot.)
ELECTORS, QUALIFICATIONS OF. (See Suffrage.)
ELGIN, an important city of Northern Illinois, in Kane County, on Fox River and the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and Chicago & Northwestern Railroads, besides two rural electric lines,
36 miles northwest of Chicago; has valuable water-power and over fifty manufacturing establishments,
including the National Watch Factory and the Cook Publishing Company, both among the most extensive
of their kind in the world; is also a great dairy center with extensive creameries and milk-condensing
works. The quotations of its Butter and Cheese Exchange are telegraphed to all the great commercial
centers and regulate the prices of these commodities throughout the country. Elgin is the seat of the
Northern (Illinois) Hospital for the Insane, and has a handsome Government (postoffice) building, fine
public library and many handsome residences. It has three daily and several weekly newspapers. Pop.
(1890), 17,823; (1900), 22,433; (1910), 25,976.
ELGIN, JOLIET & EASTERN RAILWAY. The main line of this road extends west from Dyer
on the Indiana State line to Joliet, thence northeast to Waukegan. The total length of the line (1898)
is 192.72 miles, of which 159.93 miles are in Illinois. The entire capital of the company, including
stock and indebtedness, amounted (1898), to $13,799,630—more than $71,000 per mile. Its total earnings
in Illinois for the same year were $1,212,026, and its entire expenditure in the State, $1,156,146.
The company paid in taxes, the same year, $48,876. Branch lines extend southerly from Walker Junction
to Coster, where connection is made with the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, and
northwesterly from Normantown, on the main line, to Aurora. —(HISTORY). The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern
Railway was chartered in 1887 and absorbed the Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway, from Joliet to
Aurora (21 miles), which had been commenced in 1886 and was completed in 1888, with extensions from
Joliet to Spaulding, Ill., and from Joliet to McCool, Ind. In January, 1891, the Company purchased
all the properties and franchises of the Gardner, Coal City & Normantown and the Waukegan &
Southwestern Railway Companies (formerly operated under lease). The former of these two roads was
chartered in 1889 and opened in 1890. The system forms a belt line around Chicago, intersecting all
railroads entering that city from every direction. Its traffic is chiefly in the transportation of
freight.
ELIZABETHTOWN, the county-seat of Hardin County. It stands on the north bank of the
Ohio River, 44 miles above Paducah, Ky., and about 125 miles southeast of Belleville; has a brick and
tile factory, mining interests, two churches, two flouring mills, a bank, and one newspaper. Population
(1890), 652; (1900), 668; (1910), 633.
ELKHART, a town of Logan County, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 18 miles northeast
of Springfield; is a rich farming section; has a coal shaft. Pop. (1890), 414; (1900), 553; (1910),
418.
ELKIN, William F., pioneer and early legislator, was born in Clark County, Ky., April
13, 1792; after spending several years in Ohio and Indiana, came to Sangamon County, Ill., in 1825;
was elected to the Sixth, Tenth and Eleventh General Assemblies, being one of the "Long Nine" from
Sangamon County and, in 1861, was appointed by his former colleague (Abraham Lincoln) Register of the
Land Office at Springfield, resigning in 1872. Died, in 1878.
ELLIS, Edward F. W., soldier, was born at Wilton, Maine, April 15, 1819; studied law
and was admitted to the bar in Ohio; spent three years (1849-52) in California, serving in the
Legislature of that State in 1851, and proving himself an earnest opponent of slavery; returned to
Ohio the next year, and, in 1854, removed to Rockford, Ill., where he embarked in the banking
business. Soon after the firing on Fort Sumter, he organized the Ellis Rifles, which having been
attached to the Fifteenth Illinois, he was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment; was in command
at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, and was killed while bravely leading on his men.
ELLIS, (Rev.) John Millot, early home missionary, was born in Keene, N. H., July 14,
1793; came to Illinois as a home missionary of the Presbyterian Church at an early day, and served
for a time as pastor of churches at Kaskaskia and Jacksonville, and was one of the influential factors
in securing the location of Illinois College at the latter place. His wife also conducted, for some
years, a private school for young ladies at Jacksonville, which developed into the Jacksonville Female
Academy in 1833, and is still maintained after a history of over sixty years. Mr. Ellis was later
associated with the establishment of Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Ind., finally returning to
New Hampshire, where, in 1840, he was pastor of a church at East Hanover. In 1844 he again entered the
service of the Society for Promoting Collegiate and Theological Education in the West. Died, August 6,
1855.
ELLSWORTH, Ephraim Elmer, soldier, first victim of the Civil War, was born at
Mechanicsville, Saratoga County, N. Y., April 23, 1837. He came to Chicago at an early age, studied
law, and became a patent solicitor. In 1860 he raised a regiment of Zouaves in Chicago, which became
famous for the perfection of its discipline and drill, and of which he was commissioned Colonel. In
1861 he accompanied President Lincoln to Washington, going from there to New York, where he recruited
and organized a Zouave regiment composed of firemen. He became its Colonel and the regiment was
ordered to Alexandria, Va. While stationed there Colonel Ellsworth observed that a Confederate flag
was flying above a hotel owned by one Jackson. Rushing to the roof, he tore it down, but before he
reached the street was shot and killed by Jackson, who was in turn shot by Frank H. Brownell, one of
Ellsworth's men He was the first Union soldier killed in the war. Died, May 24, 1861.
ELMHURST (formerly Cottage Hill), a village of Du Page County, on the Chicago Great
Western and Ill. Cent. Railroads, 15 miles west of Chicago; seat of the Evangelical Seminary; has
electric inter-urban line, one weekly paper, stone quarry, electric light, water and sewerage systems,
high school and churches. Pop. (1900), 1,728; (1910) 2,360.
ELMWOOD, a town of Peoria County, on the Galesburg and Peoria and Buda and Rushville
branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 26 miles west-northwest of Peoria; the principal
industries are coal-mining and corn and tomato canning; has a bank and one newspaper. Pop. (1890),
1,548; (1900), 1,582; (1910), 1,390.
EL PASO, a city in Woodford County, 17 miles north of Bloomington, 33 miles east of
Peoria, at the crossing Illinois Central and Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroads; in agricultural
district; has two national banks, three grain elevators, two high schools, two newspapers, nine
churches. Pop. (1890), 1,353; (1900), 1,441; (1910), 1,470.
EMBARRAS RIVER, rises in Champaign County and runs southward through the counties
of Douglas, Coles and Cumberland, to Newton, in Jasper County, where it turns to the southeast, passing
through Lawrence County, and eptering the Wabash River about seven miles below Vincennes. It is nearly
150 miles long.
EMMERSON, Charles, jurist, was born at North Haverhill, Grafton County, N. H, April
15, 1811; came to Illinois in 1835, first settling at Jacksonville, where he spent one term in Illinois
College, then studied law at Springfield, and, having been admitted to the bar, began practice at
Decatur, where he spent the remainder of his life except three years (1847-50) during which he resided
at Paris, Edgar County. In 1850 he was elected to the Legislature, and, in 1853, to the Circuit bench,
serving on the latter by re-election till 1867. The latter year he was a candidate for Justice of the
Supreme Court, but was defeated by the late Judge Pinkney H. Walker. In 1869 he was elected to the
State Constitutional Convention, but died in April, 1870, while the Convention was still in session.
ENFIELD, a town of White County, at the intersection of the Louisville & Nashville
with the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 10 miles west of Carmi; is the seat of Southern
Illinois College. The town also has a bank, poultry packing concern and one newspaper. Pop. (1890),
870; (1900), 971; (1910), 927.
ENGLISH, Joseph G., banker, was born at Rising Sun, Ind., Dec. 17, 1820; lived for a
time at Perrysville and La Fayette in that State, finally engaging in merchandising in the former;
in 1853 removed to Danville, Ill., where he formed a partnership with John L. Tincher in mercantile
business; later conducted a private banking business and, in 1863, established the First National
Bank, of which he has been President over twenty years. He served two terms as Mayor of Danville, in
1872 was elected a member of the State Board of Equalization, and, for more than twenty years, has
been one of the Directors of the Chicago & Eastern Railroad. Mr. English spent most of the time in
the latter years of his life in the West, practically retired from business.
ENOS, Pascal Paoli, pioneer, was born at Windsor, Conn., in 1770; graduated at
Dartmouth College in 1794, studied law, and, after spending some years in Vermont, where he served
as High Sheriff of Windsor County, in September, 1815, removed West, stopping first at Cincinnati. A
year later he descended the Ohio by flat-boat to Shawneetown, Ill., crossed the State by land, finally
locating at St. Charles, Mo., and later at St. Louis. Then, having purchased a tract of land in Madison
County, Ill., he remained there about two years, when, in 1823, having received from President Monroe
the appointment of Receiver of the newly established Land Office at Springfield, he removed thither,
making it his permanent home. He was one of the original purchasers of the land on which the city of
Springfield now stands, and joined with Maj. Elijah Iles, John Taylor and Thomas Cox, the other
patentees, in laying out the town, to which they first gave the name of Calhoun. Mr. Enos remained in
office through the administration of President John Quincy Adams, but was removed by President Jackson
for political reasons, in 1829. Died, at Springfield, April, 1832.—
Pascal P. (Enos), Jr., eldest son of Mr. Enos, was born in St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 28,
1816; was elected Representative in the General Assembly from Sangamon County in 1852, and served by
appointment of Justice McLean of the Supreme Court as Clerk of the United States Circuit Court, being
reappointed by Judge David Davis, dying in office, Feb. 17, 1867.—Zimri Allen (Enos),
another son, born Sept. 29, 1821, spent entire life in Springfield; served as County Surveyor and
Alderman. Died Dec. 8, 1907.—Julia R., a daughter, born in Springfield, Dec. 20, 1832;
married O. M. Hatch, former Secretary of State. Died Sept. 23, 1907.
EPLER, Cyrus, lawyer and jurist, was born at Charleston, Clark County, Ind., Nov. 12,
1825; graduated at Illinois College, Jacksonville, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1852,
being elected State's Attorney the same year; also served as a member of the General Assembly two
terms (1857-61) and as Master in Chancery for Morgan County, 1867-73. In 1873 he was elected Circuit
Judge for the Seventh Circuit and was re-elected successively in 1879, '85 and '91, serving four terms,
and retiring in 1897. During his entire professional and official career his home was in Jacksonville.
Died July 9, 1909.
EQUALITY, a village of Gallatin County, on the Shawneetown Division of the Louisville
& Nashville Railroad, 11 miles west-northwest of Shawneetown. It was for a time, in early days, the
county-seat of Gallatin County and market for the salt manufactured in that vicinity. Some coal is
mined in the neighborhood. One weekly paper is published here. Population (1880), 500; (1890), 622;
(1900), 898; (1910), 1,180.
ERIE, a village of Whiteside County, on the Rock Island and Sterling Division of the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 30 miles northeast of Rock Island; has a bank, some manufactures
and one paper. Pop. (1900), 768; (1910), 804.
EUREKA, the county-seat of Woodford County, incorporated in 1856, situated 19 miles
east of Peoria; is in the heart of a rich stock-raising and agricultural district. The principal
mechanical industry is a large canning factory. Besides having good grammar and high schools, it is
also the seat of Eureka College, under the control of the Christian denomination, in connection with
which are a Normal School and a Biblical Institute. The town has a handsome courthouse and a jail, two
weekly and one monthly paper. Eureka became the county-seat of Woodford County in 1896, the change
from Metamora being due to the central location and more convenient accessibility of the former from
all parts of the county. Population (1880), 1,185; (1890), 1,481; (1900), 1,661; (1910), 1,525.
EUREKA COLLEGE, located at Eureka, Woodford County, and chartered in 1855,
distinctively under the care and supervision of the "Christian" or "Campbellite" denomination. The
primary aim of its founders was to prepare young men for the ministry, while at the same time affording
facilities for liberal culture. It was chartered in 1855, and its growth, while gradual, has been
steady. Besides a preparatory department and a business school, the college maintains a collegiate
department (with classical and scientific courses) and a theological school, the latter being designed
to fit young men for the ministry of the denomination. Both male and female matriculates are received.
In 1896 there was a faculty of eighteen professors and assistants, and an attendance of some 325
students, nearly one-third of whom were females. The total value of the institution's property is
$144,000, which includes an endowment of $45,000 and real estate valued at $85,000.
EUSTACE, John V., lawyer and judge, was born in Philadelphia, Sept. 9, 1821;
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, and, in 1842, at the age of 21, was admitted
to the bar, removing the same year to Dixon, Ill., where he resided until his death. In 1856 he was
elected to the General Assembly and, in 1857, became Circuit Judge, serving one term; was chosen
Presidential Elector in 1864, and, in March, 1878, was again elevated to the Circuit Bench, vice
Judge Heaton, deceased. He was elected to the same position in 1879, and re-elected in 1885, but died
in 1888, three years before the expiration of his term.
EVANGELICAL SEMINARY, an institution under the direction of the Lutheran denomination,
incorporated in 1865 and located at Elmhurst, Du Page County. Instruction is given in the classics,
theology, oratory and preparatory studies, by a faculty of eight teachers. The number of pupils during
the school year (1895-96) was 133—all young men. It has property valued at $59,305.
EVANS, Henry H., legislator, was born in Toronto, Can., March 9, 1836; brought by his
father (who was a native of Pennsylvania) to Aurora, Ill., where the latter finally became foreman of
the Chicago, Burlington & Cjuincy machine shops at that place. In 1862 young Evans enlisted in the One
Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Volunteers, serving until the close of the war. Since the war he
has become most widely known as a member of the General Assembly, having been elected first to the
House, in 1876, and subsequently to the Senate every four years from 1880 to the year 1898, giving him
over twenty years of almost continuous service. He is a large owner of real estate and has been
prominently connected with financial and other business enterprises at Aurora, including the Aurora
Gas and Street Railway Companies; also served with the rank of Colonel on the staffs of Governors
Cullom, Hamilton, Fifer and Oglesby.
EVANS, (Rev.) Jervice G., educator and reformer, was born in Marshall County, Ill.,
Dec. 19, 1833; entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1854, and, in 1872, accepted
the presidency of Hedding College at Abingdon, which he filled for six years. He then became President
of Chaddock College at Quincy, but the following year returned to pastoral work. In 1889 he again
became President of Hedding College, where (1898) he still remains. Dr. Evans is a member of the
Central Illinois (M. E.) Conference and a leader in the prohibition movement; has also produced a
number of volumes on religious and moral questions.
EVANS, John, M.D., physician and Governor, was born at Waynesville, Ohio, of Quaker
ancestry, March 9, 1814; graduated in medicine at Cincinnati and began practice at Ottawa, Ill., but
soon returned to Ohio, finally locating at Attica, Ind. Here he became prominent in the establishment
of the first insane hospital in Indiana, at Indianapolis, about 1841-42, becoming a resident of that
city in 1845. Three years later, having accepted a chair in Rush Medical College, in Chicago, he
removed thither, also serving for a time as editor of "The Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal."
He served as a member of the Chicago City Council, became a successful operator in real estate and in
the promotion of various railroad enterprises, and was one of the founders of the Northwestern
University, at Evanston, serving as President of the Board of Trustees over forty years. Dr. Evans
was one of the founders of the Republican party in Illinois, and a strong personal friend of President
Lincoln, from whom, in 1862, he received the appointment of Governor of the Territory of Colorado,
continuing in office until displaced by Andrew Johnson in 1865. In Colorado he became a leading factor
in the construction of some of the most important railroad lines in that section, including the Denver,
Texas & Gulf Road, of which he was for many years the President. He was also prominent in connection
with educational and church enterprises at Denver, which was his home after leaving Illinois. Died,
in Denver, July 3, 1897.
EVANSTON, a city of Cook County, situated 12 miles north of Chicago, on the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Chicago & Northwestern Railroads. The original town was incorporated Dec.
29, 1863, and, in March, 1869, a special act was passed by the Legislature incorporating it as a city,
but rejected by vote of the people. On Oct. 19, 1872, the voters of the corporate town adopted village
organizations under the General Village and City Incorporation Act of the same year. Since then
annexations of adjacent territory to the village of Evanston have taken place as follows: In January,
1873, two small districts by petition; in April, 1874, the village of North Evanston was annexed by
a majority vote of the electors of both corporations; in April, 1886, there was another annexation of
a small out-lying district by petition; in February, 1892, the question of the annexation of South
Evanston was submitted to the voters of both corporations and adopted. On March 29, 1892, the question
of organization under a city government was submitted to popular vote of the consolidated corporation
and decided in the affirmative, the first city election taking place April 19, following. The
population of the original corporation of Evanston, according to the census of 1890, was 12,072, and
of South Evanston, 3,205, making the total population of the new city 15,967. Judged by the census
returns of 1900, the consolidated city has had a healthy growth in the past ten years, giving it, at
the end of the century, a population of 19,259. Evanston is one of the most attractive residence
cities in Northern Illinois and famed for its educational advantages. Besides having an admirable
system of graded and high schools, it is the seat of the academic and theological departments of the
Northwestern University, the latter being known as the Garrett Biblical Institute. The city has well
paved streets, is lighted by both gas and electricity, and maintains its own system of water works.
Prohibition is strictly enforced within the corporate limits under stringent municipal ordinances,
and the charter of the Northwestern University forbidding the sale of intoxicants within four miles
of that institution. As a consequence, it is certain to attract the most desirable class of people,
whether consisting of those seeking permanent homes or simply contemplating temporary residence for
the sake of educational advantages. Pop. (1910), 24,978.
EWING, William Lee Davidson, early lawyer and politician, was born in Kentucky in
1795, and came to Illinois at an early day, first settling at Shawneetown. As early as 1820 he appears
from a letter of Governor Edwards to President Monroe, to have been holding some Federal appointment,
presumably that of Receiver of Public Moneys in the Land Office at Vandalia, as contemporary history
shows that, in 1822, he lost a deposit of $1,000 by the robbery of the bank there. He was also
Brigadier-General of the State militia at an early day, Colonel of the "Spy Battalion" during the
Black Hawk War, and, as Indian Agent, superintended the removal of the Sacs and Foxes west of the
Mississippi. Other positions held by him included Clerk of the House of Representatives two sessions
(1826-27 and 1828-29); Representative from the counties composing the Vandalia District in the Seventh
General Assembly (1830-31), when he also became Speaker of the House; Senator from the same District
in the Eighth and Ninth General Assemblies, of which he was chosen President pro tempore. While
serving in this capacity he became ex-officio Lieutenant-Governor in consequence of the resignation
of Lieut.-Gov. Zadoc Casey to accept a seat in Congress, in March, 1833, and, in November, 1834,
assumed the Governorship as successor to Governor Reynolds, who had been elected to Congress to fill
a vacancy. He served only fifteen days as Governor, when he gave place to Gov. Joseph Duncan, who had
been elected in due course at the previous election. A year later (December, 1835) he was chosen
United States Senator to succeed Elias Kent Kane, who had died in office. Failing of a re-election
to the Senatorship in 1837, he was returned to the House of Representatives from his old district in
1838, as he was again in 1840, at each session being chosen Speaker over Abraham Lincoln, who was the
Whig candidate. Dropping out of the Legislature at the close of his term, we find him at the beginning
of the next session (December, 1842) in his old place as Clerk of the House, but, before the close
of the session (in March, 1843), appointed Auditor of Public Accounts as successor to James Shields,
who had resigned. While occupying the office of Auditor, Mr. Ewing died, March 25, 1846. His public
career was as unique as it was remarkable, in the number and character of the official positions held
by him within a period of twenty-five years.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS. (See State officers under heads of "Governor,"
"Lieutenant-Governor")
EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY, ILLINOIS CHARITABLE. This institution is an outgrowth of a
private charity founded at Chicago, in 1858, by Dr. Edward L. Holmes, a distinguished Chicago oculist.
In 1871 the property of the institution was transferred to and accepted by the State, the title was
changed by the substitution of the word "Illinois" for "Chicago," and the Infirmary became a State
institution. The fire of 1871 destroyed the building, and, in 1873-74, the State erected another of
brick, four stories in height, at the corner of West Adams and Peoria Streets, Chicago. The institution
receives patients from all the counties of the State, the same receiving board, lodging, and medical
aid, and (when necessary) surgical treatment, free of charge. The number of patients on Dec. 1, 1897,
was 160. In 1877 a free eye and ear dispensary was opened under legislative authority, which is under
charge of some eminent Chicago specialists.
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