John Lowrie Beveridge
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John Lowrie Beveridge succeeded to the office of Governor by the resignation of Richard J. Oglesby,
January, 1873. John L. Beveridge was born in Greenwich, Washington County, New York, July 6, 1824. He came to Illinois in 1842, and, after spending some two years in Granville Academy and Rock River Seminary went to Tennessee, where he engaged in teaching, meanwhile studying law. Having been admitted to the bar in Tennessee he returned to Illinois in 1851, first locating at Sycamore but three years later established himself in Chicago. During the first year of the war he assisted in raising the Eighth Regiment Illinois Cavalry, and was commissioned first as Captain and later, Major. Two years later became Colonel of the Seventeenth Cavalry, which he commanded to the close of the war, being mustered out with the rank of brevet Brigadier General. After the war he held the office of sheriff of Cook County four years; in 1870 was elected to the State Senate, and, in the following year, Congressman-at-Large to succeed General John A. Logan, who had been elected to the United States Senate. Colonel Beveridge resigned this office in January, 1873, having been elected Lieutenant Governor and a few weeks later succeeded to the Governorship by the election of Governor Oglesby to the United States Senate. In 1881 he was appointed by President Arthur, Assistant United States Treasurer at Chicago, serving until after the first election of Grover Cleveland. John Lowrie Beveridge was married in 1848 to Miss Helen Judson. His death occurred in Hollywood, now a part of Los Angeles, California, May 3, 1910. He is buried in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago. Source: "The Governors of Illinois, 1818-1918"; Issued by the Illinois Centennial Commission JOHN L. BEVERIDGE - 1873 - 1877. JOHN L. BEVERIDGE, the seventeenth governor of the state, was born in the town of Greenwich, Washington Co., N. Y., June 6, 1824. His parents lived on a farm and could give him but a limited common school education. They came "west" when he was in his eighteenth year to DeKalb County, while that section was sparsely settled. Here he worked on the farm during the summer and taught school in the winter until, in the fall of 1842, he attended a term at the academy of Granville, and completed his academic course at Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris. In the fall of 1845, he went south and taught school in Tennessee, where he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1849, he failed financially, and returned to DeKalb County where he opened his law office in Sycamore. Five years later he moved to Evanston, and the following year began the practice of law in Chicago. In August, 1861, he raised a company which was attached to the Eighth Cavalry, and he was soon promoted to be major. In October, his regiment joined the Army of the Potomac. In November, 1863, he resigned to organize the Seventeenth Cavalry, of which he was made colonel. He participated in some forty battles. He was mustered out February 6, 1866, and was brevetted a brigadier-general. He resumed his practice of law, was elected sheriff of Cook County in 1866, and in November, 1870, state senator. This place he resigned in 1871 to be elected congressman-at-large. In 1872 he was elected lieutenant-governor and when Oglesby was elected to the United States Senate in 1873, he became the seventeenth governor of Illinois. After his term of office expired, he became a member of the firm of Beveridge & Dewey, bankers and dealers in commercial papers at Chicago, with his home in Evanston. The only public office held afterwards was when he served as assistant United States treasurer. The principal events of Gov. Beveridge's administration were: State board of canal commissioners created, new state house occupied, asylum for feebleminded children removed to Lincoln. The laws enacted were: Women allowed to hold offices under the school law, and the passing of a bill preventing discrimination in railroad rates. Source: Decisive Dates in Illinois History, A Story of the State, By Lottie B. Jones. Danville, Illinois: Illinois Printing Company, 1909. |
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