ABBOTT, (Lieut.-Gov.) Edward, a British officer, who was commandant at Post Vincennes
(called by the British, Fort Sackville) at the time Col. George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia in 1778.
Abbott's jurisdiction extended, at least nominally, over a part of the "Illinois Country." Ten days
after the occupation of Kaskaskia, Colonel Clark, having learned that Abbott had gone to the British
headquarters at Detroit, leaving the Post without any guard except that furnished by the inhabitants
of the village, took advantage of his absence to send Pierre Gibault, the Catholic Vicar-General of
Illinois, to win over the people to the American cause, which he did so successfully that they at once
took the oath of allegiance, and the American flag was run up over the fort. Although Fort Sackville
afterwards fell into the hands of the British for a time, the manner of its occupation was as much of
a surprise to the British as that of Kaskaskia itself, and contributed to the completeness of Clark's
triumph. (See Clark, Col. George Rogers, also, Gibault, Pierre.) Governor Abbott seems to have been of
a more humane character than the mass of British officers of his day, as he wrote a letter to General
Carleton about this time, protesting strongly against the employment of Indians in carrying on warfare
against the colonists on the frontier, on the ground of humanity, claiming that it was a detriment to
the British cause, although he was overruled by his superior officer, Colonel Hamilton, in the steps
soon after taken to recapture Vincennes.
ABINGDON, second city in size in Knox County, at the junction of the Iowa Central and
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads; 10 miles south of Galesburg, with which it is connected by
electric car line; has city waterworks, electric light plant, wagon works, brick and tile works, sash,
blind and swing factories, two banks, three weekly papers, public library, fine high school building
and two ward schools. Hedding College, a flourishing institution, under auspices of the M. E. Church,
is located here. Population (1900), 2,022; (1910), 2,464.
ACCAULT, Michael (Ak-ko), French explorer and companion of La Salle, who came to the
"Illinois Country", in 1780, and accompanied Hennepin when the latter descended the Illinois River to
its mouth and then ascended the Mississippi to the vicinity of the present city of St. Paul, where they
were captured by Sioux. They were rescued by Greysolon Dulhut (for whom the city of Duluth was named),
and having discovered the Falls of St. Anthony, returned to Green Bay. (See Hennepin.)
ACKERMAN, William K., Railway President and financier, was born in New York City, Jan.
29, 1832, of Knickerbocker and Revolutionary ancestry, his grandfather, Abraham D. Ackerman, having
served as Captain of a company of the famous "Jersey Blues," participating with "Mad" Anthony Wayne in
the storming of Stony Point during the Revolutionary War, while his father served as Lieutenant of
Artillery in the War of 1812. After receiving a high school education in New York, Mr. Ackerman engaged
in mercantile business, but in 1852 became a clerk in the financial department of the Illinois Central
Railroad. Coming to Chicago in the service of the Company in 1860, he successively filled the positions
of Secretary, Auditor and Treasurer, until July, 1876, when he was elected Vice-President and a year
later promoted to the Presidency, voluntarily retiring from this position in August, 1883, though
serving some time longer in the capacity of Vice-President. During the progress of the World's
Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1892-93) Mr. Ackerman served as Auditor of the Exposition, and was
City Comptroller of Chicago under the administration of Mayor Hopkins (1893-95). He was an active member
of the Chicago Historical Society, and rendered valuable service to railroad history by the issue of
two brochures on the "Early History of Illinois Railroads," and a "Historical Sketch of the Illinois
Central Railroad." Died Feb. 7, 1905.
ADAMS, John, LL.D., educator and philanthropist, was born at Canterbury, Conn., Sept.
18, 1772; graduated at Yale College in 1795; taught for several years in his native place, in
Plainfield, N. J., and at Colchester, Conn. In 1810 he became Principal of Phillips Academy at Andover,
Mass., remaining there twenty-three years. In addition to his educational duties he participated in the
organization of several great charitable associations which attained national importance. On retiring
from Phillips Academy in 1833, he removed to Jacksonville, Ill., where, four years afterward, he became
the third Principal of Jacksonville Female Academy, remaining six years. He then became Agent of the
American Sunday School Union, in the course of the next few years founding several hundred Sunday
Schools in different parts of the State. He received the degree of LL.D. from Yale College in 1854.
Died in Jacksonville, April 24, 1863. The subject of this sketch was father of Dr. William Adams, for
forty years a prominent Presbyterian clergyman of New York and for seven years (1873-80) President of
Union Theological Seminary.
ADAMS, John McGregor, manufacturer, was born at Londonderry, N. H., March 11, 1834,
the son of Rev. John R. Adams, who served as Chaplain of the Fifth Maine and One Hundred and
Twenty-first New York Volunteers during the Civil War. Mr. Adams was educated at Gorham, Me., and
Andover, Mass., after which, going to New York City, he engaged as clerk in a dry-goods house at $150
a year. He next entered the office of Clark & Jessup, hardware manufacturers, and in 1858 came to
Chicago to represent the house of Morris K. Jessup & Co. He thus became associated with the late John
Crerar, the firm of Jessup & Co. being finally merged into that of Crerar, Adams & Co., which, with
the Adams & Westlake Co., have done a large business in the manufacture of railway supplies. After
the death of Mr. Crerar, Mr. Adams became principal manager of the concern's vast manufacturing
business. Died Sept. 18, 1904.
ADAMS, (Dr.) Samuel, physician and educator, was born at Brunswick, Me., Dec. 19,
1806, and educated at Bowdoin College, where he graduated in both the departments of literature and
of medicine. Then, having practiced as a physician several years, in 1838 he assumed the chair of
Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Natural History in Illinois College at Jacksonville, Ill. From 1843
to 1845 he was also Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Medical Department of the
same institution, and, during his connection with the College, gave instruction at different times
in nearly every branch embraced in the college curriculum, including the French and German languages.
Of uncompromising firmness and invincible courage in his adherence to principle, he was a man of
singular modesty, refinement and amiability in private life, winning the confidence and esteem of
all with whom he came in contact, especially the students who came under his instruction. A profound
and thorough scholar, he possessed a refined and exalted literary taste, which was illustrated in
occasional contributions to scientific and literary periodicals. Among productions of his pen on
philosophic topics may be enumerated articles on "The Natural History of Man in his Scriptural
Relations;" contributions to the "Biblical Repository" (1844); "Auguste Comte and Positivism" ("New
Englander," 1873), and "Herbert Spencer's Proposed Reconciliation between Religion and Science" ("New
Englander," 1875). His connection with Illinois College continued until his death, April, 1877—a period
of more than thirty-eight years. A monument to his memory has been erected through the grateful
donations of his former pupils.
ADAMS, George Everett, lawyer and ex-Congressman, born at Keene, N. H., June 18, 1840; was educated at
Harvard College, and at Dane Law School, Cambridge, Mass., graduating at the former in 1860. Early in
life he settled in Chicago, where, after some time spent as a teacher in the Chicago High School, he
engaged in the practice of his profession. His first post of public responsibility was that of State
Senator, to which he was elected in 1880. In 1882 he was chosen, as a Republican, to represent the
Fourth Illinois District in Congress, and re-elected in 1884, '86 and '88. In 1890 he was again a
candidate, but was defeated by Walter C. Newberry. He is one of the Trustees of the Newberry Library.
ADAMS, James, pioneer lawyer, was born in Hartford, Conn., Jan. 26, 1803; taken to
Oswego County, N. Y., in 1809, and, in 1821, removed to Springfield, Ill., being the first lawyer to
locate in the future State capital. He enjoyed an extensive practice for the time; in 1823 was elected
a Justice of the Peace, took part in the Winnebago and Black Hawk wars, was elected Probate Judge in
1841, and died in office, August 11, 1843.
ADAMS COUNTY, an extreme westerly county of the State, situated about midway between
its northern and southern extremities, and bounded on the west by the Mississippi River. It was
organized in 1825 and named in honor of John Quincy Adams, the name of Quincy being given to the
county seat. The United States Census of 1890 places its area at 830 sq. m. and its population at
61,888. The soil of the county is fertile and well watered, the surface diversified and hilly,
especially along the Mississippi bluffs, and its climate equable. The wealth of the county is largely
derived from agriculture, although a large amount of manufacturing is carried on in Quincy. Pop.
(1900), 67,058; (1910), 64,488.
ADDAMS, John Huy, legislator, was born at Sinking Springs, Berks County, Pa., July 12,
1822; educated at Trappeand Upper Dublin, Pa., and learned the trade of a miller in his youth, which
he followed in later life. In 1844, Mr. Addams came to Illinois, settling at Cedarville, Stephenson
County, purchased a tract of land and built a saw and grist mill on Cedar Creek. In 1854 he was elected
to the State Senate from Stephenson County, serving continuously in that body by successive re-elections
until 1870—first as a Whig and afterwards as a Republican. In 1865 he established the Second National
Bank of Freeport, of which he continued to be the president until his death, August 17, 1881. Miss
Jane (Addams), philanthropist, the founder of the' 'Hull House," Chicago, is a daughter of Mr.
Addams.
ADDISON, village, Du Page County; seat of Evangelical Lutheran College, Normal School
and Orphan Asylum; has State Bank, stores and public school. Pop. (1900), 591; (1910), 579.
ADJUTANTS-GENERAL. The office of Adjutant-General for the State of Illinois was first
created by Act of the Legislature, Feb. 2, 1865. Previous to the War of the Rebellion the position was
rather honorary than otherwise, its duties (except during the Black Hawk War) and its emoluments being
alike unimportant. The incumbent was simply the Chief of the Governor's Staff. In 1861, the post became
one of no small importance. Those who held the office during the Territorial period were: Elias Rector,
Robert Morrison, Benjamin Stephenson and Wm. Alexander. After the admission of Illinois as a State up
to the beginning of the Civil War, the duties (which were almost wholly nominal) were discharged by
Wm. Alexander, 1819-21; Elijah C. Beny, 1821-28; James W. Berry, 1828-39; Moses K. Anderson, 1839-57;
Thomas S. Mather, 1858-61. Colonel Mather having resigned to enter active service, Judge A. C. Fuller
filled the office until January 1, 1865. The first appointee, under the act of 1865, was Isham N.
Haynie, who held office until his death in 1869. The Legislature of 1869, taking into consideration
that all the Illinois volunteers had been mustered out, and that the duties of the Adjutant-General
had been materially lessened, reduced the proportions of the department and curtailed the appropriation
for its support. Since the adoption of the military code of 1877, the Adjutant-General's office has
occupied a more important and conspicuous position among the departments of the State government. The
following is a list of those who have held office since General Haynie, with the date and duration
of their respective terms of office: Hubert Dilger, 1869-73; Edwin L. Higgins, 1873-75; Hiram Hilliard,
1875-81; Isaac H. Elliot, 1881-84, Joseph W. Vance, 1884-91; Jasper N. Reece, 1891-93; Albert Orendorff,
1893-96, C. C. Hilton, 1896-97; Jasper N. Reece, 1897-1902 (deceased); James B. Smith, 1902-03; Thomas
W. Scott, 1903-09 (deceased); Frank S. Dickson (acting), 1909—.
AGRICULTURE. Illinois ranks high as an agricultural State. A large area in the eastern
portion of the State, because of the absence of timber, was called by the early settlers "the Grand
Prairie." Upon and along a low ridge beginning in Jackson County and running across the State is the
prolific fruit-growing district of Southern Illinois. The bottom lands extending from Cairo to the
mouth of the Illinois River are of a fertility seemingly inexhaustible. The central portion of the
State is best adapted to corn, and the southern and southwestern to the cultivation of winter wheat.
Nearly three-fourths of the entire State—some 42,000 square miles—is upland prairie, well suited to
the raising of cereals. In 1909 Illinois surpassed all other States in the production of oats and
corn, the former amounting to 159,064,000 bushels (from 4,346,000 acres, value $60,441,000), and the
latter to 369,770,000 bushels (from 10,300,000 acres, value $192,280,000), Iowa being second in both
of these lines. In wheat raising Illinois ranked eighth, the total amounting to 1,810,000 acres and
31,494,000 bushels, value $32,754,000. As a live-stock producing State for many years it held the
highest rank, especially in horses and cattle, but while it is now surpassed by some of the younger
grazing States, more attention proportionably is given in Illinois to breeding the higher classes of
stock with great success.
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. The Illinois State Agricultural Society organized in 1853
with James N. Brown, of Sangamon, first President; Simeon Francis, Recording Secretary; William
Kennicott, Corresponding Secretary, and John Williams, Treasurer; by act of the Legislature, April 15,
1872, became The Illinois State Agricultural Department. For forty years State Fairs were held
annually (except two years during the Civil War), at different points, usually at the same place for
two successive years. In January, 1894, the State Board decided to locate the Fair permanently on
grounds just north of the city of Springfield, donated by the city and Sangamon County, and all Fairs
have since been held there. These grounds, embracing an area of 156 acres, are supplied with
substantial buildings constructed of stone, brick, steel and glass, to which additions have been made
every year, until they are the most extensive and best equipped of their kind in the country, the
increase in receipts and attendance, as well as exhibits of agricultural products, live stock,
implements and mechanic arts keeping pace with other improvements. The administrative Board consists
of the President and a Vice President from each Congressional District (now 25 in number), chosen by
delegates from the County Societies within the respective districts, with a Secretary and a Treasurer,
elected biennially but not members of the Board. It has ample office room in the State Capitol, where
the records and a large library are kept, and liberal appropriations are made for its support. Nearly
fifty volumes of annual reports of Transactions of the Board (1911) have been published.
AKERS, Peter, D. D., Methodist Episcopal clergyman, born of Presbyterian parentage,
in Campbell County, Va., Sept. 1, 1790; was educated in the common schools, and, at the age of 16,
began teaching, later pursuing a classical course in institutions of Virginia and North Carolina.
Having removed to Kentucky, after a brief season spent in teaching at Mount Sterling in that State,
he began the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1817. Two years later he began the publication
of a paper called "The Star," which was continued for a short time. In 1821 he was converted and joined
the Methodist church, and a few months later began preaching. In 1832 he removed to Illinois, and,
after a year spent in work as an evangelist, he assumed the Presidency of McKendree College at Lebanon,
remaining during 1833-34; then established a "manual labor school" near Jacksonville, which he
maintained for a few years. From 1837 to 1852 was spent as stationed minister or Presiding Elder at
Springfield, Quincy and Jacksonville. In the latter year he was again appointed to the Presidency of
McKendree College, where he remained five years. He was then (1857) transferred to the Minnesota
Conference, but a year later was compelled by declining health to assume a superannuated relation.
Returning to Illinois about 1865, he served as Presiding Elder of the Jacksonville and Pleasant Plains
Districts, but was again compelled to accept a superannuated relation, making Jacksonville his home,
where he died, Feb. 21, 1886. While President of McKendree College, he published his work on "Biblical
Chronology," to which he had devoted many previous years of his life, and which gave evidence of great
learning and vast research. Dr. Akers was a man of profound convictions, extensive learning and great
eloquence. As a pulpit orator and logician he probably had no superior in the State during the time of
his most active service in the denomination to which he belonged.
AKIN, Edward C., lawyer and Attorney-General, was born in Will County, Ill., in 1852,
and educated in the public schools of Joliet and at Ann Arbor, Mich. For four years he was paying and
receiving teller in the First National Bank of Joliet, but was admitted to the bar in 1878 and has
continued in active practice since. In 1887 he entered upon his political career as the Republican
candidate for City Attorney of Joliet, and was elected by a majority of over 700 votes, although the
city was usually Democratic. The following year he was the candidate of his party for State's Attorney
of Will County, and was again elected, leading the State and county ticket by 800 votes—being re-elected
to the same office in 1892. In 1895 he was the Republican nominee for Mayor of Joliet, and, although
opposed by a citizen's ticket headed by a Republican, was elected over his Democratic competitor by a
decisive majority. His greatest popular triumph was in 1896, when he was elected Attorney-General on
the Republican State ticket by a plurality over his Democratic opponent of 132,248 and a majority over
all competitors of 111,255. His legal abilities are recognized as of a very high order, while his
personal popularity is indicated by his uniform success as a candidate, in the face, at times, of
strong political majorities.
ALBANY, a village of Whiteside County, located on the Mississippi River and the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (Rock Island branch). Pop. (1890), 611; (1900), 621; (1910),
618.
ALBION, county-seat of Edwards County, on Southern Railway, midway between St. Louis
and Louisville; seat of Southern Collegiate Institute; has plant for manufacture of vitrified shale
paving brick, two newspapers, creamery, flouring mills, and is important shipping point for live
stock; is in a rich fruit-growing district; has five churches and splendid public schools. Population
(1900), 1,162; (1910); 1,281.
ALCORN, James Lusk, was born near Golconda, Ill., Nov. 4, 1816; early went South and
held various offices in Kentucky and Mississippi, including member of the Legislature in each; was a
member of the Mississippi State Conventions of 1851 and 1861, and by the latter appointed a
Brigadier-General in the Confederate service, but refused a commission by Jefferson Davis because his
fidelity to the rebel cause was doubted. At the close of the war he was one of the first to accept the
reconstruction policy; was elected United States Senator from Mississippi in 1865, but not admitted to
his seat. In 1869 he was chosen Governor as a Republican, and two years later elected United States
Senator, serving until 1877. Died, Dec. 20, 1894.
ALDRICH, J. Frank, Congressman, was born at Two Rivers, Wis., April 6, 1853, the son
of William Aldrich, who afterwards became Congressman from Chicago; was brought to Chicago in 1861,
attended the public schools and the Chicago University, and graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, N. Y., in 1877, receiving the degree of Civil Engineer. Later he engaged in the linseed
oil business in Chicago. Becoming interested in politics, he was elected a member of the Board of
County Commissioners of Cook County, serving as President of that body during the reform period of
1887; was also a member of the County Board of Education and Chairman of the Chicago Citizens' Committee,
appointed from the various clubs and commercial organizations of the city, to promote the formation
of the Chicago Sanitary District. From May 1, 1891, to Jan. 1, 1893, he was Commissioner of Public
Works for Chicago, when he resigned his office, having been elected (Nov., 1892) a member of the
Fifty-third Congress, on the Republican ticket, from the First Congressional District; was re-elected
in 1894, retiring at the close of the Fifty-fourth Congress. In 1898 he was appointed to a position in
connection with the office of Comptroller of the Currency at Washington.
ALDRICH, William, merchant and Congressman, was born at Greenfield, N. Y., Jan. 20,
1820. His early common school training was supplemented by private tuition in higher branches of
mathematics and in surveying, and by a term in an academy. Until he had reached the age of 26 years
he was engaged in farming and teaching, but, in 1846, turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. In
1851 he removed to Wisconsin, where, in addition to merchandising, he engaged in the manufacture of
furniture and wooden ware, and where he also held several important offices, being Superintendent of
Schools for three years, Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors one year, besides serving one
term in the Legislature. In 1860 he removed to Chicago, where he embarked in the wholesale grocery
business. In 1875 he was elected to the City Council, and, in 1876, chosen to represent his district
(the First) in Congress, as a Republican, being re-elected in 1878, and again in 1880. Died in Fond du
Lac, Wis., Dec. 3, 1885.
ALEDO, county-seat of Mercer County; is in the midst of a rich farming and bituminous
coal region; fruit-growing and stock-raising are also extensively carried on, and large quantities of
these commodities are shipped here; has two newspapers and ample school facilities. Population (1890),
1,601; (1900), 2,081; (1910), 2,144.
ALEXANDER, John T., agriculturist and stock-grower, was born in Western Virginia,
Sept. 15, 1820; removed with his father, at six years of age, to Ohio, and to Illinois in 1848. Here he
bought a tract of several thousand acres of land on the Wabash Railroad, 10 miles east of Jacksonville,
which finally developed into one of the richest stock-farms in the State. After the war he became the
owner of the celebrated "Sullivant farm," comprising some 20,000 acres on the Toledo, Peoria & Western
Railroad in Champaign County, to which he transferred his stock interests, and although overtaken by
reverses, left a large estate. Died, August 22, 1876.
ALEXANDER, Milton K., pioneer, was born in Elbert County, Ga., Jan. 23, 1796; emigrated
with his father, in 1804, to Tennessee, and, while still a boy, enlisted as a soldier in the War of
1812, serving under the command of General Jackson until the capture of Pensacola, when he entered
upon the campaign against the Seminoles in Florida. In 1823 he removed to Edgar County, Ill., and
engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits at Paris; serving also as Postmaster there some
twenty-five years, and as Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court from 1826 to '37. In 1826 he was
commissioned by Governor Coles, Colonel of the Nineteenth Regiment, Illinois State Militia; in 1830
was Aide-de-Camp to Governor Reynolds, and, in 1832, took part in the Black Hawk War as Brigadier-General
of the Second Brigade, Illinois Volunteers. On the inception of the internal improvement scheme in 1837
he was elected by the Legislature a member of the first Board of Commissioners of Public Works, serving
until the Board was abolished. Died, July 7, 1856.
ALEXANDER, (Dr.) William M., pioneer, came to Southern Illinois previous to the
organization of Union County (1818), and for some time, while practicing his profession as a physician,
acted as agent of the proprietors of the town of America, which was located on the Ohio River, on the
first high ground above its junction with the Mississippi. It became the first county-seat of Alexander
County, which was organized in 1819, and named in his honor. In 1820 we find him a Representative in
the Second General Assembly from Pope County, and two years later Representative from Alexander County,
when he became Speaker of the House during the session of the Third General Assembly. Later, he removed
to Kaskaskia, but finally went South, where he died, though the date and place of his death are
unknown.
ALEXANDER COUNTY, the extreme southern county of the State, being bounded on the west
by the Mississipppi, and south and east by the Ohio and Cache rivers. Its area is about 220 square miles
and its population, in 1890, was 16,563. The first American settlers were Tennesseeans named Bird, who
occupied the delta and gave it the name of Bird's Point, which, at the date of the Civil War (1861-65),
had been transferred to the Missouri shore opposite the mouth of the Ohio. Other early settlers were
Clark, Kennedy and Philips (at Mounds), Conyer and Terrel (at America), and Humphreys (near Caledonia).
In 1818 Shadrach Bond (afterwards Governor), John G. Comyges and others entered a claim for 1800 acres
in the central and northern part of the county, and incorporated the "City and Bank of Cairo." The
history of this enterprise is interesting. In 1818 (on Comyges' death) the land reverted to the
Government; but in 1835 Sidney Breese, David J. Baker and Miles A. Gilbert re-entered the forfeited
bank tract and the title thereto became vested in the "Cairo City and Canal Company," which was
chartered in 1837, and, by purchase, extended its holdings to 10,000 acres. The county was organized
in 1819; the first county-seat being America, which was incorporated in 1820. Pop. (1900), 19,384;
(1910), 22,741.
ALEXIAN BROTHERS' HOSPITAL, located at Chicago; established in 1860, and under the
management of the Alexian Brothers, a monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church. It was originally
opened in a small frame building, but a better edifice was erected in 1868, only to be destroyed in the
great fire of 1871. The following year, through the aid of private benefactions and an appropriation
of $18,000 from the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, a larger and better hospital was built. In 1888
an addition was made, increasing the accommodation to 150 beds. Only poor male patients are admitted,
and these are received without reference to nationality or religion, and absolutely without charge.
The present medical staff (1896) comprises fourteen physicians and surgeons. In 1895 the close approach
of an intramural transit line having unfitted the building for hospital uses, the Northwestern Railway
Company purchased the site and buildings for $250,000. The present location is Racine and Belden
Avenues.
ALEXIS, in Mercer and Warren Counties, on the Rock Island & St. Louis Division of the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, 12 miles east of north from Monmouth. It has manufactures of
brick, drain-tile, pottery and agricultural implements; is also noted for its Clydesdale horses.
Pop. (1890), 562; (1900), 915; (1910), 829.
ALGONQUINS, a group of Indian tribes. Originally their territory extended from about
latitude 37° to 53° north, and from longitude 25° east to 15° west of the meridian of Washington.
Branches of the stock were found by Cartier in Canada, by Smith in Virginia, by the Puritans in New
England and by Catholic missionaries in the great basin of the Mississippi. One of the principal of
their five confederacies embraced the Illinois Indians, who were found within the State by the French
when the latter discovered the country in 1673. They were hereditary foes of the warlike Iroquois, by
whom their territory was repeatedly invaded. Besides the Illinois, other tribes of the Algonquin family
who originally dwelt within the present limits of Illinois, were the Foxes, Kickapoos, Miamis,
Menominees, and Sacs. Although nomadic in their mode of life, and subsisting largely on the spoils of
the chase, the Algonquins were to some extent tillers of the soil and cultivated large tracts of maize.
Various dialects of their language have been reduced to grammatical rules, and Eliot's Indian Bible is
published in their tongue. The entire Algonquin stock extant is estimated at about 95,000, of whom some
35,000 are within the United States.
ALLEN, William Joshua, jurist, was born June 9, 1829, in Wilson County, Tenn.; of
Virginia ancestry of Scotch-Irish descent. In early infancy he was brought by his parents to Southern
Illinois, where his father, Willis Allen, became a Judge and member of Congress. After reading law with
his father and at the Louisville Law School, young Allen was admitted to the bar, settling at Metropolis
and afterward (1853) at his old home, Marion, in Williamson County. In 1855 he was appointed United
States District Attorney for Illinois, but resigned in 1859 and resumed private practice as partner of
John A. Logan. The same year he was elected Circuit Judge to succeed his father, who had died, but he
declined a re-election. He was a member of the Constitutional Conventions of 1862 and 1869, serving in
both bodies on the Judicial Committee and as Chairman of the Committee on the Bill of Rights. From 1864
to 1888 he was a delegate to every National Democratic Convention, being chairman of the Illinois
delegation in 1876. He has been four times a candidate for Congress, and twice elected, serving from
1862 to 1865. During this period he was an ardent opponent of the war policy of the Government. In
1874-75, at the solicitation of Governor Beveridge, he undertook the prosecution of the leaders of a
bloody "vendetta" which had broken out among his former neighbors in Williamson County, and, by his
fearless and impartial efforts, brought the offenders to justice and assisted in restoring order. In
1886, Judge Allen removed to Springfield, and in 1887 was appointed by President Cleveland to succeed
Judge Samuel H. Treat (deceased) as Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District
of Illinois. Died Jan. 26, 1901.
ALLEN, Willis, a native of Tennessee, who removed to Williamson County, Ill., in 1829
and engaged in farming. In 1834 he was chosen Sheriff of Franklin County, in 1838 elected Representative
in the Eleventh General Assembly, and, in 1844, became State Senator. In 1841, although not yet a
licensed lawyer, he was chosen Prosecuting Attorney for the old Third District, and was shortly afterward
admitted to the bar. He was chosen Presidential Elector in 1844, a member of the Constitutional
Convention of 1847, and served two terms in Congress (1851-55). On March 2, 1859, he was commissioned
Judge of the Twenty-sixth Judicial Circuit, but died three months later. His son, William Joshua,
succeeded him in the latter office.
ALLERTON, Samuel Waters, stock-dealer and capitalist, was born of Pilgrim ancestry in
Dutchess County, N. Y., May 26, 1829. His youth was spent with his father on a farm in Yates County,
N. Y., but about 1852 he engaged in the livestock business in Central and Western New York. In 1856 he
transferred his operations to Illinois, shipping stock from various points to New York City, finally
locating in Chicago. He was one of the earliest projectors of the Chicago Stock-Yards, later securing
control of the Pittsburg Stock-Yards, also becoming interested in yards at Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Jersey City and Omaha. Mr. Allerton is one of the founders and a Director of the First National Bank of
Chicago, a Director and stockholder of the Chicago City Railway (the first cable line in that city), the
owner of an extensive area of highly improved farming lands in Central Illinois, as also of large tracts
in Nebraska and Wyoming, and of valuable and productive mining properties in the Black Hills. A zealous
Republican in politics, he is a liberal supporter of the measures of that party, and, in 1893, was the
unsuccessful Republican candidate for Mayor of Chicago in opposition to Carter H. Harrison.
ALLOUEZ, Claude Jean, sometimes called "The Apostle of the West," a Jesuit priest, was
born in France in 1620. He reached Quebec in 1658, and later explored the country around Lakes Superior
and Michigan, establishing the mission of La Pointe, near where Ashland, Wis., now stands, in 1665, and
St. Xavier, near Green Bay, in 1669. He learned from the Indians the existence and direction of the
upper Mississippi, and was the first to communicate the information to the authorities at Montreal,
which report was the primary cause of Joliet's expedition. He succeeded Marquette in charge of the
mission at Kaskaskia, on the Illinois, in 1677, where he preached to eight tribes. From that date to
1690 he labored among the aborigines of Illinois and Wisconsin. Died at Fort St. Joseph, in 1690.
ALLYN, (Rev.) Robert, clergyman and educator, was born at Ledyard, New London County,
Conn., Jan. 25, 1817, being a direct descendant in the eighth generation of Captain Robert Allyn, who
was one of the first settlers of New London. He grew up on a farm, receiving his early education in a
country school, supplemented by access to a small public library, from which he acquired a good degree
of familiarity with standard English writers. In 1837 he entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown,
Conn., where he distinguished himself as a mathematician and took a high rank as a linguist and
rhetorician, graduating in 1841. He immediately engaged as a teacher of mathematics in the Wesleyan
Academy at Wilbraham, Mass., and, in 1846, was elected principal of the school, meanwhile (1843)
becoming a licentiate of the Providence Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. From 1848 to
1854 he served as Principal of the Providence Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, R. I., when he was
appointed Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island—also serving the same year as a Visitor to West
Point Military Academy. Between 1857 and 1859 he filled the chair of Ancient Languages in the State
University at Athens, Ohio, when he accepted the Presidency of the Wesleyan Female College at
Cincinnati, four years later (1863) becoming President of McKendree College at Lebanon, Ill., where he
remained until 1874. That position he resigned to accept the Presidency of the Southern Illinois Normal
University at Carbondale, whence he retired in 1892. Died at Carbondale, Jan. 7, 1894.
ALTAMONT, Effingham County, is intersecting point of the Vandalia, Chicago & Eastern
Illinois, Baltimore & Ohio S. W., and Wabash Railroads, being midway and highest point between St.
Louis and Terre Haute, Ind.; was laid out in 1870. The town is in the center of a grain, fruitgrowing
and stock-raising district; has a bank, two grain elevators, flouring mill, tile works, a large creamery,
wagon, furniture and other factories, besides churches, good schools and one newspaper. Population
(1900), 1,335; (1910), 1,328.
ALTGELD, John Peter, ex-Judge and ex-Governor, was born in Prussia in 1848, and in
boyhood accompanied his parents to America, the family settling in Ohio. At the age of 16 he enlisted
in the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio Infantry, serving until the close of the war. His legal
education was acquired at St. Louis and Savannah, Mo., and from 1874 to '78 he was Prosecuting Attorney
for Andrew County in that State. In 1878 he removed to Chicago, where he devoted himself to professional
work. In 1884 he led the Democratic forlorn hope as candidate for Congress in a strong Republican
Congressional district, and in 1886 was elected to the bench of the Superior Court of Cook County, but
resigned in August, 1891. The Democratic State convention of 1892 nominated him for Governor, and he
was elected the following November, being the first foreign-born citizen to hold that office in the
history of the State, and the first Democrat elected since 1852. In 1896 he was a prominent factor in
the Democratic National Convention which nominated William J. Bryan for President, and was also a
candidate for re-election as Governor, but was defeated by John R. Tanner, the Republican nominee.
Died March 12, 1902.
ALTON, principal city in Madison County and important commercial and manufacturing
point on Mississippi River, 25 miles north of St. Louis; site was first occupied as a French
trading-post about 1807, the town proper being laid out by Col. Rufus Easton in 1817; principal business
houses are located in the valley along the river, while the residence portion occupies the bluffs
overlooking the river, sometimes rising to the height of nearly 250 feet. The city has extensive glass
works employing (1903) 4,000 hands, flouring mills, iron foundries, manufactories of agricultural
implements, coal cars, miners' tools, shoes, tobacco, lime, etc., besides several banks, numerous
churches, schools, and four newspapers, three of them daily. A monument to the memory of Elijah P.
Lovejoy, who fell while defending his press against a pro-slavery mob in 1837, was erected in Alton
Cemetery, 1896-7, at a cost of $30,000, contributed by the State and citizens of Alton. Has 3 daily and
4 weekly papers. Pop. (1900), 14,210; (1910), 17,528.
ALTON PENITENTIARY. The earliest punishments imposed upon public offenders in Illinois
were by public flogging or imprisonment for a short time in jails rudely constructed of logs, from
which escape was not difficult for a prisoner of nerve, strength and mental resource. The inadequacy
of such places of confinement was soon perceived, but popular antipathy to any increase of taxation
prevented the adoption of any other policy until 1827. A grant of 40,000 acres of saline lands was
made to the State by Congress, and a considerable portion of the money received from their sale was
appropriated to the establishment of a State penitentiary at Alton. The sum set apart proved
insufficient, and, in 1831, an additional appropriation of $10,000 was made from the State treasury.
In 1833 the prison was ready to receive its first inmates. It was built of stone and had but twenty-four
cells. Additions were made from time to time, but by 1857 the State determined upon building a new
penitentiary, which was located at Joliet (see Northern Penitentiary), and, in 1860, the last convicts
were transferred thither from Alton. The Alton prison was conducted on what is known as "the Auburn
plan" — associated labor in silence by day and separate confinement by night. The management was in the
hands of a "lessee," who furnished supplies, employed guards and exercised the general powers of a
warden under the supervision of a Commissioner appointed by the State, and who handled all the products
of convict-labor.
ALTON RIOTS. (See Lovejoy, Elijah Parrish.)
ALTONA, town of Knox County, on C. B. & Q. R. R., 16 miles northeast of Galesburg;
has an endowed public library, electric light system, cement sidewalks, broom factory, several churches
and good schools. Pop. (1900), 633; (1910), 528.
ALTON & SANGAMON RAILROAD. (See Chicago & Alton Railroad.)
AMBOY, city in Lee County on Green River, at junction of Illinois Central and C. B.
& Q. Railroads, 95 miles south by west from Chicago; has artesian water with waterworks and fire
protection, city park, two telephone systems, electric lights, railroad repair shops, two banks, two
newspapers, seven churches, graded and high schools, is on line of Northern Illinois Electric Ry. from
De Kalb to Dixon; has extensive bridge and iron works. Pop. (1900), 1,826; (1910), 1,749.
AMES, Edward Raymond, Methodist Episcopal Bishop, born at Amesville, Athens County,
Ohio, May 30, 1806; was educated at the Ohio State University, where he joined the M. E. Church. In
1828 he left college and became Principal of the Seminary at Lebanon, Ill., which afterwards became
McKendree College. While there he received a license to preach, and, after holding various charges
and positions in the church, including membership in the General Conference of 1840, '44 and '52, in
the latter year was elected Bishop, serving until his death, which occurred in Baltimore, April 25,
1879.
ANDERSON, Galusha, clergyman and educator, was born at Bergen, N. Y., March 7, 1832;
graduated at Rochester University in 1854 and at the Theological Seminary there in 1856; spent ten years
in Baptist pastoral work at Janesville, Wis., and at St. Louis, and seven as Professor in Newton
Theological Institute, Mass. From 1873 to '80 he preached in Brooklyn and Chicago; was then chosen
president of the old Chicago University, remaining eight years, when he again became a pastor at Salem,
Mass., but soon after assumed the Presidency of Denison University, Ohio. On the organization of the
new Chicago University, he accepted the chair of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, which he now holds.
ANDERSON, George A., lawyer and Congressman, was born in Botetourt County, Va., March
11, 1853. When two years old he was brought by his parents to Hancock County, Ill. He received a
collegiate education, and, after studying law at Lincoln, Neb., and at Sedalia, Mo., settled at Quincy,
Ill., where he began practice in 1880. In 1884 he was elected City Attorney on the Democratic ticket,
and re-elected in 1885 without opposition. The following year he was the successful candidate of his
party for Congress, which was his last public service. Died at Quincy, Jan. 31, 1896.
ANDERSON, James C., legislator, was born in Henderson County, Ill., August 1, 1845;
raised on a farm, and after receiving a common-school education, entered Monmouth College, but left
early in the Civil War to enlist in the Twentieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he attained the
rank of Second Lieutenant. After the war he served ten years as Sheriff of Henderson County, was
elected Representative in the General Assembly in 1888, '90, '92 and '96, and served on the Republican
"steering committee" during the session of 1893. He also served as Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate for
the session of 1895, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1896. His home is at
Decorra.
ANDERSON, Stinson H., Lieutenant-Governor, was born in Sumner County, Tenn., in 1800;
came to Jefferson County, Ill., in his youth, and, at an early age, began to devote his attention to
breeding fine stock; served in the Black Hawk War as a Lieutenant in 1832, and the same year was elected
to the lower branch of the Eighth General Assembly, being re-elected in 1834. In 1838 he was chosen
Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Gov. Thomas Carlin, and soon after the close of his term entered
the United States Army as Captain of Dragoons, in this capacity taking part in the Seminole War in
Florida. Still later he served under President Polk as United States Marshal for Illinois, and also
held the position of Warden of the State Penitentiary at Alton for several years. Died September,
1857.— William B. (Anderson), son of the preceding, was born at Mount Vernon, Ill.,
April 30, 1830; attended the common schools and later studied surveying, being elected Surveyor of
Jefferson County, in 1851. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1858, but never practiced,
preferring the more quiet life of a farmer. In 1856 he was elected to the lower house of the General
Assembly and re-elected in 1858. In 1861 he entered the volunteer service as a private, was promoted
through the grades of Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel to a Colonelcy, and, at the close of the war, was
brevetted Brigadier-General. In 1888 he was a candidate for Presidential Elector on the Democratic
ticket, was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, and, in 1871, was elected to
the State Senate, to fill a vacancy. In 1874 he was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress on the
Democratic ticket. In 1893 General Anderson was appointed by President Cleveland Pension Agent for
Illinois, continuing in that position four years, when he retired to private life. Died August 28,
1901.
ANDRUS, Rev. Reuben, clergyman and educator, was born at Rutland, Jefferson County,
N. Y., Jan. 29, 1824; early came to Fulton County, Ill., and spent three years (1844-47) as a student at
Illinois College, Jacksonville, but graduated at McKendree College, Lebanon, in 1849; taught for a time
at Greenfield, entered the Methodist ministry, and, in 1850, founded the Illinois Wesleyan University
at Bloomington, of which he became a Professor; later re-entered the ministry and held charges at
Beardstown, Decatur, Quincy, Springfield and Bloomington, meanwhile for a time being President of
Illinois Conference Female College at Jacksonville, and temporary President of Quincy College. In 1867
he was transferred to the Indiana Conference and stationed at Evansville and Indianapolis; from 1872
to '75 was President of Indiana Asbury University at Greencastle. Died at Indianapolis, Jan. 17, 1887.
ANNA, a city in Union County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 36 miles from Cairo;
is center of extensive fruit and vegetable-growing district, and largest shipping-point for these
commodities on the Illinois Central Railroad. It has an ice plant, pottery and lime manufactories, two
banks and two newspapers. The Southern (Ill.) Hospital for the Insane is located here. Population
(1890), 2,295; (1900), 2,618; (1910), 2,809.
ANTHONY, Elliott, jurist, was born of New England Quaker ancestry at Spafford, Onondaga
County, N. Y., June 10, 1827; was related on the maternal side to the Chases and Phelps (distinguished
lawyers) of Vermont. His early years were spent in labor on a farm, but after a course of preparatory
study at Cortland Academy, in 1847 he entered the sophomore class in Hamilton College at Clinton,
graduating with honors in 1850. The next year he began the study of law, at the same time giving
instruction in an Academy at Clinton, where he had President Cleveland as one of his pupils. After
admission to the bar at Oswego, in 1851, he removed West, stopping for a time at Sterling, Ill., but
the following year located in Chicago. Here he compiled "A Digest of Illinois Reports"; in 1858 was
elected City Attorney, and, in 1863, became solicitor of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (now the
Chicago & Northwestern). Judge Anthony served in two State Constitutional Conventions—those of 1862 and
1869-70—being chairman of the Committee on Executive Department and member of the Committee on Judiciary
in the latter. He was delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1880, and was the same year
elected a Judge of the Superior Court of Chicago, and was re-elected in 1886, retiring in 1892, after
which he resumed the practice of his profession, being chiefly employed as consulting counsel. Judge
Anthony was one of the founders and incorporators of the Chicago Law Institute and a member of the
first Board of Directors of the Chicago Public Library; also served as President of the State Bar
Association (1894-95), and delivered several important historical addresses before that body. His other
most important productions are volumes on "The Constitutional History of Illinois," "The Story of the
Empire State" and "Sanitation and Navigation." Near the close of his last term upon the bench, he spent
several months in an extended tour through the principal countries of Europe. His death occurred, after
a protracted illness, at his home at Evanston, Feb. 24, 1898.
ANTI-NEBRASKA EDITORIAL CONVENTION, a political body, which convened at Decatur, Feb.
22, 1856, pursuant to the suggestion of "The Morgan Journal," then a weekly paper published at
Jacksonville, for the purpose of formulating a policy in opposition to the principles of the
Kansas-Nebraska bill. Twelve editors were in attendance, as follows: Charles H. Ray of "The Chicago
Tribune"; V. Y. Ralston of "The Quincy Whig"; O. P. Wharton of "The Rock Island Advertiser"; T. J.
Pickett of "The Peoria Republican"; George Schneider of "The Chicago Staats Zeitung"; Charles Faxon
of "The Princeton Post"; A. N. Ford of "The Lacon Gazette"; B. F. Shaw of "The Dixon Telegraph"; E. C.
Daugherty of "The Rockford Register"; E. W. Blaisdell of "The Rockford Gazette"; W. J. Usrey of "The
Decatur Chronicle"; and Paul Selby of "The Jacksonville Journal." Paul Selby was chosen Chairman and
W. J. Usrey, Secretary. The convention adopted a platform and recommended the calling of a State
convention at Bloomington on May 29, following, appointing the following State Central Committee to take
the matter in charge: W. B. Ogden, Chicago; S. M. Church, Rockford; G. D. A. Parks, Joliet; T. J.
Pickett, Peoria; E. A. Dudley, Quincy; William H. Herndon, Springfield; R. J. Oglesby, Decatur; Joseph
Gillespie, Edwardsville; D. L. Phillips, Jonesboro; and Ira O. Wilkinson and Gustavus Koerner for the
State-at-large. Abraham Lincoln was present and participated in the consultations of the committees. All
of these served except Messrs. Ogden, Oglesby and Koerner, the two former declining on account of
absence from the State. Ogden was succeeded by the late Dr. John Evans, afterwards Territorial Governor
of Colorado, and Oglesby by Col. Isaac C. Pugh of Decatur. (See Bloomington Convention of 1856.)
APPLE RIVER, a village of Jo Daviess County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 21 miles
east-northeast from Galena. Population (1880), 626; (1890), 572; (1900), 576; (1910), 581.
APPLINGTON, (Maj.) Zenas, soldier, was born in Broome County, N. Y., Dec. 24, 1815; in
1837 emigrated to Ogle County, Ill., where he followed successively the occupations of farmer,
blacksmith, carpenter and merchant, finally becoming the founder of the town of Polo. Here he became
wealthy, but lost much of his property in the financial revulsion of 1857. In 1858 he was elected to
the State Senate, and, during the session of 1859, was one of the members of that body appointed to
investigate the "canal scrip fraud" (which see), and two years later was one of the earnest supporters
of the Government in its preparation for the War of the Rebellion. The latter year he assisted in
organizing the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, of which he was commissioned Major, being some time in command
at Bird's Point, and later rendering important service to General Pope at New Madrid and Island No. 10.
He was killed at Corinth, Miss., May 8, 1862, while obeying an order to charge upon a band of rebels
concealed in a wood.
APPORTIONMENT, a mode of distribution of the counties of the State into Districts for
the election of members of the General Assembly and of Congress, which will be treated under separate
heads:
LEGISLATIVE.—The first legislative apportionment was provided for by the Constitution of 1818. That
instrument vested the Legislature with power to divide the State as follows: To create districts for
the election of Representatives not less than twenty-seven nor more than thirty-six in number, until
the population of the State should amount to 100,000; and to create senatorial districts, in number
not less than one-third nor more than one-half of the representative districts at the time of
organization.
The schedule appended to the first Constitution contained the first legal apportionment of Senators
and Representatives. The first fifteen counties were allowed fourteen Senators and twenty-nine
Representatives. Each county formed a distinct legislative district for representation in the lower
house, with the number of members for each varying from one to three; while Johnson and Franklin were
combined in one Senatorial district, the other counties being entitled to one Senator each. Later
apportionments were made in 1821, '26, '31, '36, '41 and '47. Before an election was held under the
last, however, the Constitution of 1848 went into effect, and considerable changes were effected in this
regard. The number of Senators was fixed at twenty-five and of Representatives at seventy-five, until
the entire population should equal 1,000,000, when five members of the House were added and five
additional members for each 500,000 increase in population until the whole number of Representatives
reached 100. Thereafter the number was neither increased nor diminished, but apportioned among the
several counties according to the number of white inhabitants. Should it be found necessary, a single
district might be formed out of two or more counties.
The Constitution of 1848 established fifty-four Representative and twenty-five Senatorial districts. By
the apportionment law of 1854, the number of the former was increased to fifty-eight, and, in 1861, to
sixty-one. The number of Senatorial districts remained unchanged, but their geographical limits varied
under each act, while the number of members from Representative districts varied according to
population.
The Constitution of 1870 provided for an immediate reapportionment (subsequent to its adoption) by the
Governor and Secretary of State upon the basis of the United States Census of 1870. Under the
apportionment thus made, as prescribed by the schedule, the State was divided into twenty-five Senatorial
districts (each electing two Senators) and ninety-seven Representative districts, with an aggregate of
177 members varying from one to ten for the several districts, according to population. This arrangement
continued in force for only one Legislature—that chosen in 1870.
In 1872 this Legislature proceeded to reapportion the State in accordance with the principle of
"minority representation," which had been submitted as an independent section of the Constitution and
adopted on a separate vote. This provided for apportioning the State into fifty-one districts, each
being entitled to one Senator and three Representatives. The ratio of representation in the lower house
was ascertained by dividing the entire population by 153 and each county to be allowed one
Representative, provided its population reached three-fifths of the ratio; counties having a population
equivalent to one and three-fifths times the ratio were entitled to two Representatives; while each
county with a larger population was entitled to one additional Representative for each time the full
ratio was repeated in the number of inhabitants. Apportionments were made on this principle in 1872,
'82 and '93. Members of the lower house are elected biennially; Senators for four years, those in odd
and even districts being chosen at each alternate legislative election. The election of Senators for
the even (numbered) districts takes place at the same time with that of Governor and other State
officers, and that for the odd districts at the intermediate periods.
CONGRESSIONAL.—For the first fourteen years of the State's history, Illinois constituted but one
Congressional district. The census of 1830 showing sufficient population, the Legislature of 1831 (by
act, approved Feb. 13) divided the State into three districts, the first election under this law being
held on the first Monday in August, 1832. At that time Illinois comprised fifty-five counties, which
were apportioned* among the districts as follows: First — Gallatin, Pope, Johnson, Alexander, Union,
Jackson, Franklin, Perry, Randolph, Monroe, Washington, St. Clair, Clinton, Bond, Madison, Macoupin;
Second — White, Hamilton, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Clay, Marion, Lawrence, Fayette, Montgomery,
Shelby, Vermilion, Edgar, Coles, Clark, Crawford; Third — Greene, Morgan, Sangamon, Macon, Tazewell,
McLean, Cook, Henry, La Salle, Putnam, Peoria, Knox, Jo Daviess, Mercer, McDonough, Warren, Fulton,
Hancock, Pike, Schuyler, Adams, Calhoun.
The reapportionment following the census of 1840 was made by Act of March 1, 1843, and the first election
of Representatives thereunder occurred on the first Monday of the following August. Forty-one new
counties had been created (making ninety-six in all) and the number of districts was increased to seven
as follows: First — Alexander, Union, Jackson, Monroe, Perry, Randolph, St. Clair, Bond, Washington,
Madison; Second — Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Williamson, Gallatin, Franklin, White, Wayne, Hamilton, Wabash,
Massac, Jefferson, Edwards, Marion; Third — Lawrence, Richland, Jasper, Fayette, Crawford, Effingham,
Christian, Montgomery, Shelby, Moultrie, Coles, Clark, Clay, Edgar, Piatt, Macon, De Witt; Fourth —
Lake, McHenry, Boone, Cook, Kane, De Kalb, Du Paget Kendall, Will, Grundy, La Salle, Iroquois,
Livingston, Champaign, Vermilion, McLean, Bureau; Fifth — Greene, Jersey, Calhoun, Pike, Adams,
Marquette (a part of Adams never fully organized), Brown, Schuyler, Fultonf Peoria, Macoupin; Sixth —
Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Carroll, Ogle, Whiteside, Henry, Lee, Rock Island, Stark, Mercer,
Henderson, Warren, Knox, McDonough, Hancock; Seventh — Putnam, Marshall, Woodford, Cass, Tazewell, Mason,
Menard, Scott, Morgan, Logan, Sangamon.
The next Congressional apportionment (August 22, 1852) divided the State into nine districts, as
follows—the first election under it being held the following November: First — Lake, McHehry, Boone,
Winnebago, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Ogle; Second — Cook, Du Page, Kane, De Kalb, Lee, Whiteside,
Rock Island; Third — Will, Kendall, Grundy, Livingston, La Salle, Putnam, Bureau, Vermilion, Iroquois,
Champaign, McLean, De Witt; Fourth — Fulton, Peoria, Knox, Henry, Stark, Warren, Mercer, Marshall,
Mason, Woodford, Tazewell; Fifth — Adams, Calhoun, Brown, Schuyler, Pike, McDonough, Hancock,
Henderson; Sixth — Morgan, Scott, Sangamon, Greene, Macoupin, Montgomery, Shelby, Christian, Cass,
Menard, Jersey; Seventh — Logan, Macon, Piatt, Coles, Edgar, Moultrie, Cumberland, Crawford, Clark,
Effingham, Jasper, Clay, Lawrence, Richland, Fayette; Eighth — Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair, Bond,
Madison, Clinton, Washington, Jefferson, Marion; Ninth — Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Union, Johnson,
Pope, Hardin, Gallatin, Saline, Jackson, Perry, Franklin, Williamson, Hamilton, Edwards, White, Wayne,
Wabash.
The census of 1860 showed that Illinois was entitled to fourteen Representatives, but through an error
the apportionment law of April 24, 1861, created only thirteen districts. This was compensated for by
providing for the election of one Congressman for the State-at-large. The districts were as follows:
First — Cook, Lake; Second — McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, De Kalb, and Kane; Third — Jo Daviess,
Stephenson, Whiteside, Carroll, Ogle, Lee; Fourth — Adams, Hancock, Warren, Mercer, Henderson, Rock
Island; Fifth — Peoria, Knox, Stark, Marshall, Putnam, Bureau, Henry; Sixth — La Salle, Grundy, Kendall,
Du Page, Will, Kankakee; Seventh — Macon, Piatt, Champaign, Douglas, Moultrie, Cumberland, Vermilion,
Coles, Edgar, Iroquois, Ford; Eighth — Sangamon, Logan, De Witt, McLean, Tazewell, Woodford, Livingston;
Ninth — Fulton, Mason, Menard, Cass, Pike, McDonough, Schuyler, Brown; Tenth — Bond, Morgan, Calhoun,
Macoupin, Scott, Jersey, Greene, Christian, Montgomery, Shelby; Eleventh — Marion, Fayette, Richland,
Jasper, Clay, Clark, Crawford, Franklin, Lawrence, Hamilton, Effingham, Wayne, Jefferson; Twelfth — St.
Clair, Madison, Clinton, Monroe, Washington, Randolph; Thirteenth — Alexander, Pulaski, Union, Perry,
Johnson, Williamson, Jackson, Massac, Pope, Hardin, Gallatin, Saline, White, Edwards, Wabash.
The next reapportionment was made July 1, 1872. The Act created nineteen districts, as follows: First —
The first seven wards in Chicago and thirteen towns in Cook County, with the county of Du Page; Second —
Wards Eighth to Fifteenth (inclusive) in Chicago; Third — Wards Sixteenth to Twentieth in Chicago, the
remainder of Cook County, and Lake County; Fourth — Kane, De Kalb, McHenry, Boone, and Winnebago;
Fifth — Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll, Ogle, Whiteside; Sixth — Henry, Rock Island, Putnam, Bureau,
Lee; Seventh — La Salle, Kendall, Grundy, Will; Eighth — Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Marshall, Livingston,
Woodford; Ninth — Stark, Peoria, Knox, Fulton; Tenth — Mercer, Henderson, Warren, McDonough, Hancock,
Schuyler; Eleventh — Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Greene, Pike, Jersey; Twelfth — Scott, Morgan, Menard,
Sangamon, Cass, Christian; Thirteenth — Mason, Tazewell, McLean, Logan, De Witt; Fourteenth — Macon,
Piatt, Champaign, Douglas, Coles, Vermilion; Fifteenth — Edgar, Clark, Cumberland, Shelby, Moultrie,
Effingham, Lawrence, Jasper, Crawford; Sixteenth — Montgomery, Fayette, Washington, Bond, Clinton,
Marion, Clay; Seventeenth — Macoupin, Madison, St. Clair, Monroe; Eighteenth — Randolph, Perry, Jackson,
Union, Johnson, Williamson, Alexander, Pope, Massac, Pulaski; Nineteenth — Richland, Wayne, Edwards,
White, Wabash, Saline, Gallatin, Hardin, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton.
In 1882 (by Act of April 29) the number of districts was increased to twenty, and the boundaries
determined as follows: First—Wards First to Fourth (inclusive) in Chicago and thirteen towns in Cook
County; Second—Wards 5th to 7th and part of 8th in Chicago; Third—Wards 9th to 14th and part of 8th in
Chicago; Fourth — The remainder of the City of Chicago and of the county of Cook; Fifth — Lake, McHenry,
Boone, Kane, and De Kalb; Sixth — Winnebago, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Ogle, and Carroll; Seventh — Lee,
Whiteside, Henry, Bureau, Putnam; Eighth — La Salle, Kendall, Grundy, Du Page, and Will; Ninth —
Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Livingston, Woodford, Marshall; Tenth — Peoria, Knox, Stark, Fulton;
Eleventh — Rock Island, Mercer, Henderson, Warren, Hancock, McDonough, Schuyler; Twelfth — Cass, Brown,
Adams, Pike, Scott, Greene, Calhoun, Jersey; Thirteenth — Tazewell, Mason, Menard, Sangamon, Morgan,
Christian; Fourteenth — McLean, De Witt, Piatt, Macon, Logan; Fifteenth — Coles, Edgar, Douglas,
Vermilion, Champaign; Sixteenth — Cumberland, Clark, Jasper, Clay, Crawford, Richland, Lawrence, Wayne,
Edwards, Wabash; Seventeenth — Macoupin, Montgomery, Moultrie, Shelby, Effingham, Fayette; Eighteenth —
Bond, Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Washington; Nineteenth — Marion, Clinton, Jefferson, Saline, Franklin,
Hamilton, White, Gallatin, Hardin ; Twentieth — Perry, Randolph, Jackson, Union, Williamson, Johnson,
Alexander, Pope, Pulaski, Massac.
The census of 1890 showed the State to be entitled to twenty-two Representatives. No reapportionment,
however, was made until June, 1893, two members from the State-at-large being elected in 1892. The
existing twenty-two Congressional districts are as follows: The first seven districts comprise the
counties of Cook and Lake, the latter lying wholly in the Seventh district; Eighth — McHenry, De Kalb,
Kane, Du Page, Kendall, Grundy; Ninth — Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Ogle, Lee;
Tenth — Whiteside, Rock Island, Mercer, Henry, Stark, Knox; Eleventh — Bureau, La Salle, Livingston,
Woodford; Twelfth — Will, Kankakee, Iroquois, Vermilion; Thirteenth — Ford, McLean, DeWitt, Piatt,
Champaign, Douglas; Fourteenth — Putnam, Marshall, Peoria, Fulton, Tazewell, Mason; Fifteenth —
Henderson, Warren, Hancock, McDonough, Adams, Brown, Schuyler; Sixteenth — Cass, Morgan, Scott, Pike,
Greene, Macoupin, Calhoun, Jersey; Seventeenth — Menard, Logan, Sangamon, Macon, Christian; Eighteenth —
Madison, Montgomery, Bond, Fayette, Shelby, Moultrie; Nineteenth — Coles, Edgar, Clark, Cumberland,
Effingham, Jasper, Crawford, Richland, Lawrence; Twentieth — Clay, Jefferson, Wayne, Hamilton, Edwards,
Wabash, Franklin, White, Gallatin, Hardin; Twenty-first — Marion, Clinton, Washington, St. Clair,
Monroe, Randolph, Perry; Twenty-second — Jackson, Union, Alexander, Pulaski, Johnson, Williamson,
Saline, Pope, Massac. (See also Representatives in Congress.)
ARCHER, William B., pioneer, was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1792, and taken to
Kentucky at an early day, where he remained until 1817, when his family removed to Illinois, finally
settling in what is now Clark County. Although pursuing the avocation of a farmer, he became one of the
most prominent and influential men in that part of the State. On the organization of Clark County in
1819, he was appointed the first County and Circuit Clerk, resigning the former office in 1820 and the
latter in 1822. In 1824 he was elected to the lower branch of the General Assembly, and two years later
to the State Senate, serving continuously in the latter eight years. He was thus a Senator on the
breaking out of the Black Hawk War (1832), in which he served as a Captain of militia. In 1834 he was
an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant-Governor; was appointed by Governor Duncan, in 1835, a member
of the first Board of Commissioners of the Illinois & Michigan Canal; in 1838 was returned a second
time to the House of Representatives and re-elected in 1840 and '46 to the same body. Two years later
(1848) he was again elected Circuit Clerk, remaining until 1852, and In 1854 was an Anti-Nebraska Whig
candidate for Congress in opposition to James C, Allen. Although Allen received the certificate of
election, Archer contested his right to the seat, with the result that Congress declared the seat vacant
and referred the question back to the people. In a new election held in August, 1856, Archer was
defeated and Allen elected. He held no public office of importance after this date, but in 1856 was a
delegate to the first Republican National convention at Philadelphia, and in that body was an
enthusiastic supporter of Abraham Lincoln, whose zealous friend and admirer he was, for the office of
Vice-President. He was also one of the active promoters of various railroad enterprises in that section
of the State, especially the old Chicago & Vincennes Road, the first projected southward from the City
of Chicago. His connection with the Illinois & Michigan Canal was the means of giving his name to
Archer Avenue, a somewhat famous thoroughfare in Chicago. He was of tall stature and great energy of
character, with a tendency to enthusiasm that communicated itself to others. A local history has said
of him that "he did more for Clark County than any man in his day or since," although "no
consideration, pecuniary or otherwise, was ever given him for his services." Colonel Archer was one of
the founders of Marshall, the county-seat of Clark County, Governor Duncan being associated with him in
the ownership of the land on which the town was laid out. His death occurred in Clark County, August
9, 1870, at the age of 78 years.
ARCOLA, incorporated city in Douglas County, 158 miles south of Chicago, at junction
of Illinois Central and Terre Haute branch Vandalia Railroad; is center of largest broom-corn
producing region in the world; has city waterworks, with efficient volunteer fire department, electric
lights, telephone system, grain elevators and broom-corn warehouses, two banks, two newspapers, nine
churches, library building and excellent free school system. Pop. (1900), 1,995; (1910), 2,100.
ARENZ, Francis A., pioneer, was born at Blankenberg, in the Province of the Rhein,
Prussia, Oct. 31, 1800; obtained a good education and, while a young man, engaged in mercantile
business in his native country. In 1827 he came to the United States and, after spending two years in
Kentucky, in 1829 went to Galena, where he was engaged for a short time in the lead trade. He took an
early opportunity to become naturalized, and coming to Beardstown a few months later, went into
merchandising and real estate; also became a contractor for furnishing supplies to the State troops
during the Black Hawk War, Beardstown being at the time a rendezvous and shipping point. In 1834 he
began the publication of "The Beardstown Chronicle and Illinois Bounty Land Register," and was the
projector of the Beardstown & Sangamon Canal, extending from the Illinois River at Beardstown to
Miller's Ferry on the Sangamon, for which he secured a special charter from the Legislature in 1836.
He had a survey of the line made, but the hard times prevented the beginning of the work and it was
finally abandoned. Retiring from the mercantile business in 1835, he located on a farm six miles
southeast of Beardstown, but in 1839 removed to a tract of land near the Morgan County line which he
had bought in 1833, and on which the present village of Arenzville now stands. This became the center
of a thrifty agricultural community composed largely of Germans, among whom he exercised a large
influence. Resuming the mercantile business here, he continued it until about 1853, when he sold out
a considerable part of his possessions. An ardent Whig, he was elected as such to the lower branch of
the Fourteenth General Assembly (1844) from Morgan County, and during the following session succeeded
in securing the passage of an act by which a strip of territory three miles wide in the northern part
of Morgan County, including the village or Arenzville, and which had been in dispute, was transferred
by vote of the citizens to Cass County. In 1852 Mr. Arenz visited his native land, by appointment of
President Fillmore, as bearer of dispatches to the American legations at Berlin and Vienna. He was one
of the founders of the Illinois State Agricultural Society of 1853, and served as the Vice-President
for his district until his death, and was also the founder and President of the Cass County Agricultural
Society. Died, April 2, 1856.
ARENZVILLE, a village of Cass County on the Rock Island-Beardstown Division of the
C. B. & Q. Ry., about 10 miles south of Beardstown; first settlers German. Pop. (1910), 518.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS (formerly Dunton), a village of Cook County, on the Chicago &
Northwestern Railway, 22 miles northwest of Chicago; is in a dairying district, has cheese and can
factories, besides a sewing machine factory, hotels and churches, a graded school, a bank and one
newspaper. Population (1880), 995; (1890), 1,424; (1900), 1,380; (1910), 1,943.
ARMOUR, Philip Danforth, packer, Board of Trade operator and capitalist, was born at
Stockbridge, Madison County, N. Y., May 16, 1832. After receiving the benefits of such education as
the village academy afforded, in 1852 he set out across the Plains to California, where he remained
four years, achieving only moderate success as a miner. Returning east in 1856, he soon after embarked
in the commission business in Milwaukee, continuing until 1863, when he formed a partnership with Mr.
John Plankinton in the meat-packing business. Later, in conjunction with his brothers—H. O. Armour
having already built up an extensive grain commission trade in Chicago—he organized the extensive
packing and commission firm of Armour & Co., with branches in New York, Kansas City and Chicago, their
headquarters being removed to the latter place from Milwaukee in 1875. Mr. Armour is a most
industrious and methodical business man, giving as many hours to the superintendence of business
details as the most industrious day-laborer, the result being seen in the creation of one of the most
extensive and prosperous firms in the country. Mr. Armour's practical benevolence has been demonstrated
in a munificent manner by his establishment and endowment of the Armour Institute (a manual training
school) in Chicago, at a cost of over $2,250,000, as an offshoot of the Armour Mission founded on the
bequest of his deceased brother, Joseph F. Armour. Died Jan. 6, 1901.
ARMSTRONG, John Strawn, pioneer, born in Somerset County, Pa., May 29, 1810, the
oldest of a family of nine sons; was taken by his parents in 1811 to Licking County, Ohio, where he
spent his childhood and early youth. His father was a native of Ireland and his mother a sister of
Jacob Strawn, afterwards a wealthy stock-grower and dealer in Morgan County. In 1829, John S. came to
Tazewell County, Ill., but two years later joined the rest of his family in Putnam (now Marshall)
County, all finally removing to La Salle County, where they were among the earliest settlers. Here
he settled on a farm in 1834, where he continued to reside over fifty years, when he located in the
village of Sheridan, but early in 1897 went to reside with a daughter in Ottawa. He was a soldier in
the Black Hawk War, has been a prominent and influential farmer, and, in the later years of his life,
has been a leader in "Granger" politics, being Master of his local "Grange," and also serving as
Treasurer of the State Grange.—George Washington (Armstrong), brother of the preceding,
was born upon the farm of his parents, Joseph and Elsie (Strawn) Armstrong, in Licking County, Ohio,
Dec. 9, 1812; learned the trade of a weaver with his father (who was a woolen manufacturer), and at
the age of 18 was in charge of the factory. Early in 1831 he came with his mother's family to Illinois,
locating a few months later in La Salle County. In 1832 he served with his older brother as a soldier
in the Black Hawk War, was identified with the early steps for the construction of the Illinois &
Michigan Canal, finally becoming a contractor upon the section at Utica, where he resided several
years. He then returned to the farm near the present village of Seneca, where he had located in 1833,
and where (with the exception of his residence at Utica) he resided continuously over sixty-five years.
In 1844 Mr. Armstrong was elected to the lower branch of the Fourteenth General Assembly, also served
in the Constitutional Convention of 1847 and, in 1858, was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for
Congress in opposition to Owen Lovejoy. Re-entering the Legislature in 1860 as Representative from La
Salle County, he served in that body until 1868, proving one of its ablest and most influential
members, as well as an accomplished parliamentarian. Mr. Armstrong was one of the original promoters
of the Kankakee & Seneca Railroad. Died Jan. 29, 1902. — William E. (Armstrong), third
brother of this family, was born in Licking County, Ohio, Oct. 25, 1814; came to Illinois with the
rest of the family in 1831, and resided in La Salle County until 1841, meanwhile serving two or three
terms as Sheriff of the county. The latter year he was appointed one of the Commissioners to locate
the county-seat of the newly-organized county of Grundy, finally becoming one of the founders and the
first permanent settler of the town of Grundy — later called Morris, in honor of Hon. I. N. Morris, of
Quincy, Ill., at that time one of the Commissioners of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Here Mr.
Armstrong was again elected to the office of Sheriff, serving several terms. So extensive was his
influence in Grundy County, that he was popularly known as "The Emperor of Grundy." Died, Nov. 1,
1850. — Joel W. (Armstrong), a fourth brother, was born in Licking County, Ohio,
Jan. 6, 1817; emigrated in boyhood to La Salle County, Ill.; served one term as County Recorder, was
member of the Board of Supervisors for a number of years and the first Postmaster of his town. Died,
Dec. 3, 1871.— Perry A. (Armstrong), the seventh brother of this historic family, was
born near Newark, Licking County, Ohio, April 15, 1823, and came to La Salle County, Ill., in 1831. His
opportunities for acquiring an education in a new country were limited, but between work on the farm
and service as a clerk of his brother George, aided by a short term in an academy and as a teacher in
Kendall County, he managed to prepare himself for college, entering Illinois College at Jacksonville
in 1843. Owing to failure of health, he was compelled to abandon his plan of obtaining a collegiate
education and returned home at the end of his Freshman year, but continued his studies, meanwhile
teaching district schools in the winter and working on his mother's farm during the crop season,
until 1845, when he located in Morris, Grundy County, opened a general store and was appointed
Postmaster. He has been in public position of some sort ever since he reached his majority, including
the offices of School Trustee, Postmaster, Justice of the Peace, Supervisor, County Clerk (two terms),
Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and two terms as Representative in the General
Assembly (1862-64 and 1872-74). During his last session in the General Assembly he took a conspicuous
part in the revision of the statutes under the Constitution of 1870, framing some of the most important
laws on the statute book, while participating in the preparation of others. At an earlier date it fell
to his lot to draw up the original charters of the Chicago & Rock Island, the Illinois Central, and the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads. He has also been prominent in Odd Fellow and Masonic circles,
having been Grand Master of the first named order in the State and being the oldest 32d degree Mason
in Illinois; was admitted to the State bar in 1864 and to that of the Supreme Court of the United
States in 1868, and has been Master in Chancery for over twenty consecutive years. Mr. Armstrong has
also found time to do some literary work, as shown by his history of "The Sauks and Black Hawk War,"
and a number of poems. He takes much pleasure in relating reminiscences of pioneer life in Illinois,
one of which is the story of his first trip from Ottawa to Chicago, in December, 1831, when he
accompanied his oldest brother (William E. Armstrong) to Chicago with a sled and ox-team for salt to
cure their mast-fed pork, the trip requiring ten days. His recollection is, that there were but three
white families in Chicago at that time, but a large number of Indians mixed with half-breeds of French
and Indian origin.
ARNOLD, Isaac N., lawyer and Congressman, was born near Cooperstown, N. Y., Nov.
30, 1813, being descended from one of the companions of Roger Williams. Thrown upon his own resources
at an early age, he was largely "self-made." He read law at Cooperstown, and was admitted to the bar
in 1835. The next year he removed to Chicago, was elected the first City Clerk in 1837, but resigned
before the close of the year and was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1841. He soon established a
reputation as a lawyer, and served for three terms (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Twentieth) in the
lower house of the Legislature. In 1844 he was a Presidential Elector on the Polk ticket, but the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, with the legislation regarding Kansas and Nebraska, logically
forced him, as a free-soiler, into the ranks of the Republican party, by which he was sent to Congress
from 1861 to 1865. While in Congress he prepared and delivered an exhaustive argument in support of
the right of confiscation by the General Government. After the expiration of his last Congressional
term, Mr. Arnold returned to Chicago, where he resided until his death, April 24, 1884. He was of
scholarly instincts, fond of literature and an author of repute. Among his best known works are his
"Life of Abraham Lincoln" and his "Life of Benedict Arnold."
ARRINGTON, Alfred W., clergyman, lawyer and author, was born in Iredell County, N.
C., September, 1810, being the son of a Whig member of Congress from that State. In 1829 he was
received on trial as a Methodist preacher and became a circuit-rider in Indiana; during 1832-33 served
as an itinerant in Missouri, gaining much celebrity by his eloquence. In 1834 he began the study of
law, and having been admitted to the bar, practiced for several years in Arkansas, where he was sent
to the Legislature, and, in 1844, was the Whig candidate for Presidential Elector. Later he removed to
Texas, where he served as Judge for six years. In 1856 he removed to Madison, Wis., but a year later
came to Chicago, where he attained distinction as a lawyer, dying in that city Dec. 31, 1867. He was
an accomplished scholar and gifted writer, having written much for "The Democratic Review" and "The
Southern Literary Messenger," over the signature of "Charles Summerfield," and was author of an
"Apostrophe to Water," which he put in the mouth of an itinerant Methodist preacher, and which John B.
Gough was accustomed to quote with great effect. A volume of his poems with a memoir was published
in Chicago in 1869.
ARROWSMITH, a village of McLean County, on the Lake Erie & Western Railway, 20 miles
east of Bloomington; is in an agricultural and stock region; has one newspaper. Population (1890),
420; (1900), 317; (1910), 366.
ARTHUR, village in Moultrie and Douglas Counties, at junction of Chicago & Eastern
Illinois and Terre Haute & Peoria Division Vandalia Line; is center of broom-corn belt; has two banks,
a weekly newspaper. Population (1900), 858; (1910), 1,080.
ASAY, Edward G., lawyer, was born in Philadelphia, Sept. 17, 1825; was educated in
private schools and entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church; later spent sometime in
the South, but in 1853 retired from the ministry and began the study of law, meantime devoting a part
of his time to mercantile business in New York City. He was admitted to the bar in 1856, removing the
same year to Chicago, where he built up a lucrative practice. He was a brilliant speaker and became
eminent, especially as a criminal lawyer. Politically he was a zealous Democrat and was the chief
attorney of Buckner S. Morris and others during their trial for conspiracy in connection with the
Camp Douglas affair of November, 1864. During 1871-72 he made an extended trip to Europe, occupying
some eighteen months, making a second visit in 1882. His later years were spent chiefly on a farm in
Ogle County. Died in Chicago, Nov. 24, 1898.
ASBURY, Henry, lawyer, was born in Harrison (now Robertson) County, Ky., August 10,
1810; came to Illinois in 1834, making the journey on horseback and finally locating in Quincy, where
he soon after began the study of law with the Hon. O. H. Browning; was admitted to the bar in 1837,
being for a time the partner of Col. Edward D. Baker, afterwards United States Senator from Oregon
and finally killed at Ball's Bluff in 1862. In 1849 Mr. Asbury was appointed by President Taylor
Register of the Quincy Land Office, and, in 1864-65, served by appointment of President Lincoln
(who was his close personal friend) as Provost-Marshal of the Quincy district, thereby obtaining the
title of "Captain," by which he was widely known among his friends. Later he served for several years
as Registrar in Bankruptcy at Quincy, which was his last official position. Originally a Kentucky Whig,
Captain Asbury was one of the founders of the Republican party in Illinois, acting in cooperation with
Abram Jonas, Archibald Williams, Nehemiah Bushnell, O. H. Browning and others of his immediate
neighbors, and with Abraham Lincoln, with whom he was a frequent correspondent at that period. Messrs.
Nicolay and Hay, in their Life of Lincoln, award him the credit of having suggested one of the famous
questions propounded by Lincoln to Douglas which gave the latter so much trouble during the memorable
debates of 1858. In 1886 Captain Asbury removed to Chicago, where he continued to reside until his
death, Nov. 19, 1896.
ASHLAND, a town in Cass County, at the intersection of the Chicago & Alton and the
Baltimore & Ohio South-Western Railroad, 21 miles west-northwest of Springfield and 200 miles southwest
of Chicago. It is in the midst of a rich agricultural region, and is an important shipping point for
grain and stock. It has a bank, three churches and a weekly newspaper. Coal is mined in the vicinity.
Population (1880), 609; (1890), 1,045; (1900), 1,201; (1910), 1,096.
ASHLEY, a city of Washington County, at intersection of Illinois Central and
Louisville & Nashville Railways, 62 miles east by southeast of St. Louis; is in an agricultural and
fruit growing region; has some manufactures, electric light plant and excellent granitoid sidewalks.
Population (1890), 1,035; (1900), 953; (1910), 913.
ASHMORE, a village of Coles County, on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis
Railway, 9 miles east of Charleston; has a newspaper and considerable local trade. Population (1890),
446; (1900), 487; (1910), 511.
ASHTON, a village of Lee County, on the Chicago & North-Western Railroad, 84 miles
west of Chicago; has one newspaper. Population (1880), 646; (1890), 680; (1900), 756; (1910), 779.
ASPINWALL, Homer F., farmer and legislator, was born in Stephenson County, Ill.,
Nov. 15, 1846, educated in the Freeport high school, and, in early life, spent two years in a wholesale
notion store, later resuming the occupation of a farmer. After holding various local offices, including
that of member of the Board of Supervisors of Stephenson County, in 1892 Mr. Aspinwall was elected to
the State Senate and re-elected in 1896. Soon after the beginning of the Spanish-American War in 1898,
he was appointed by President McKinley Captain and Assistant Quartermaster in the Volunteer Army, but
before being assigned to duty accepted the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Twelfth Illinois Provisional
Regiment. When it became evident that the regiment would not be called into the service, he was
assigned to the command of the "Manitoba," a large transport steamer, which carried some 12,000
soldiers to Cuba and Porto Rico without a single accident. In view of the approaching session of the
Forty-first General Assembly, it being apparent that the war was over, Mr. Aspinwall applied for a
discharge, which was refused, a 20-days' leave of absence being granted instead. A discharge was
finally granted about the middle of February, when he resumed his seat in the Senate. Mr. Aspinwall
owns and operates a large farm near Freeport.
ASSUMPTION, a town in Christian County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 23 miles
south by west from Decatur and 9 miles north of Pana. It is situated in a rich agricultural and coal
mining district, and has two banks, five churches, a public school, one weekly paper and several
manufactories. Pop. (1900), 1,702; (1910), 1,918.
ASTORIA, town in Fulton County, on Rock Island & St. Louis Division C. B. & Q. R. R.;
has city waterworks, electric light plant, telephone exchange, three large grain elevators, pressed
brick works; six churches, two banks, one weekly paper, city hall and park, and good schools; is in a
coal region; has some manufacturing. Pop. (1890), 1,357; (1900), 1,684; (1910), 1,357.
ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAIL-WAY COMPANY. This Company operates three subsidiary
lines in Illinois—the Chicago, Santa Fe & California, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe in Chicago, and
the Mississippi River Railroad & Toll Bridge, which are operated as a through line between Chicago and
Kansas City, with a branch from Ancona to Pekin, Ill., having an aggregate operated mileage of 515
miles, of which 295 are in Illinois. The total earnings and income for the year ending June 30, 1895,
were $1,298,600, while the operating expenses and fixed charges amounted to $2,360,706. The accumulated
deficit on the whole line amounted, June 30, 1894, to more than $4,500,000. The total capitalization of
the whole line in 1895 was $52,775,251. The parent road was chartered in 1859 under the name of the
Atchison & Topeka Railroad; but in 1863 was changed to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. The
construction of the main line was begun in 1859 and completed in 1873. The largest number of miles
operated was in 1893, being 7,481.65. January 1, 1896, the road was reorganized under the name of The
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company (its present name), which succeeded by purchase under
foreclosure (Dec. 10,1895) to the property and franchises of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Company. Its mileage, in 1895, was 6,481.65 miles. The executive and general officers of the system
(1898) are:
Aldace F. Walker, Chairman of the Board, New York; E. P. Ripley, President, Chicago; C. M. Higginson,
Ass't to the President, Chicago; E. D. Kenna, 1st Vice-President and General Solicitor, Chicago; Paul
Morton, 2d Vice-President, Chicago; E. Wilder, Secretary and Treasurer, Topeka; L. C. Doming, Assistant
Secretary, New York; H. W. Gardner, Assistant Treasurer, New York; Victor Morawetz, General Counsel,
New York; Jno. P. Whitehead, Comptroller, New York; H. C. Whitehead, General Auditor, Chicago; W. B.
Biddle, Freight Traffic Manager, Chicago; J. J. Frey, General Manager, Topeka; H. W. Mudge, General
Superintendent, Topeka; W. A. Bissell, Assistant Freight Traffic Manager, Chicago; W. F. White,
Passenger Traffic Manager, Chicago; Geo. T. Nicholson, Assistant Passenger Traffic Manager, Chicago;
W. E. Hodges, General Purchasing Agent, Chicago; James A. Davis, Industrial Commissioner, Chicago;
James Dun, Chief Engineer, Topeka, Kan.; John Player, Superintendent of Machinery, Topeka, Kan.; C. W.
Kouns, Superintendent Car Service, Topeka, Kan.; J. S. Hobson, Signal Engineer, Topeka; C. G. Sholes,
Superintendent of Telegraph, Topeka, Kan.; C. W. Ryus, General Claim Agent, Topeka; F. C. Gay, General
Freight Agent, Topeka; C. R. Hudson, Assistant General Freight Agent, Topeka; W. J. Black, General
Passenger Agent, Chicago; P. Walsh, General Baggage Agent, Chicago.
ATHENS, an incorporated city and coal-mining town in Menard County, on the Chicago,
Peoria & St. Louis R. R., north by northwest of Springfield. It is also the center of a prosperous
agricultural and stock-raising district, and large numbers of cattle are shipped there for the Chicago
market. The place has an electric lighting plant, brickyards, two machine shops, two grain elevators,
five churches, one newspaper, and good schools. Athens is one of the oldest towns in Central Illinois.
Pop. (1900), 1,535; (1910), 1,340.
ATKINS, Smith D., soldier and Journalist, was born near Elmira, N. Y., June 9, 1836;
came with his father to Illinois in 1846, and lived on a farm till 1850; was educated at Rock River
Seminary, Mount Morris, meanwhile learning the printer's trade, and afterwards established "The Savanna
Register" in Carroll County. In 1854 he began the study of law, and in 1860, while practicing at
Freeport, was elected Prosecuting Attorney, but resigned in 1861, being the first man to enlist as a
private soldier in Stephenson County. He served as a Captain of the Eleventh Illinois Volunteers
(three-months' men), re-enlisted with the same rank for three years and took part in the capture of
Fort Donelson and the battle of Shiloh, serving at the latter on the staff of General Hurlbut. Forced
to retire temporarily on account of his health, he next engaged in raising volunteers in Northern
Illinois, was finally commissioned Colonel of the Ninety-second Illinois, and, in June, 1863, was
assigned to command of a brigade in the Army of Kentucky, later serving in the Army of the Cumberland.
On the organization of Sherman's great "March to the Sea," he efficiently cooperated in it, was
brevetted Brigadier-General for gallantry at Savannah, and at the close of the war, by special order
of President Lincoln, was brevetted Major-General. Since the war, General Atkins' chief occupation has
been that of editor of "The Freeport Journal," though, for nearly twenty-four years, he served as
Postmaster of that city. He took a prominent part in the erection of the Stephenson County Soldiers'
Monument at Freeport, has been President of the Freeport Public Library since its organization, member
of the Board of Education, and since 1895, by appointment of the Governor of Illinois, one of the
Illinois Commissioners of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military Park.
ATKINSON, village of Henry County, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 39
miles east of Rock Island; has an electric light plant, a bankand a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 762;
(1910), 805.
ATLANTA, a city of Logan County, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 20 miles southwest
of Bloomington. It stands on a high, fertile prairie and the surrounding region is rich in coal, as
well as a productive agricultural and stock-raising district. It has a water-works system, electric
light plant, five churches, a graded school, a weekly paper, two banks, a flouring mill, and is the
headquarters of the Union Agricultural Society established 1860. Pop. (1900), 1,270; (1910), 1,367.
ATLAS, a hamlet in the southwestern part of Pike County, 10 miles southwest of Pittsfield and three
miles from Rockport, the nearest station on the Quincy & Louisiana Division of the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy Railroad. Atlas has an interesting history. It was settled by Col. William Ross and four
brothers, who came here from Pittsfield, Mass., in the latter part of 1819, or early in 1820, making
there the first settlement within the present limits of Pike County. The town was laid out by the
Rosses in 1823, and the next year the county-seat was removed thither from Coles Grove—now in Calhoun
County—but which had been the first county-seat of Pike County, when it comprised all the territory
lying north and west of the Illinois River to the Mississippi River and the Wisconsin State line. Atlas
remained the county-seat until 1833, when the seat of justice was removed to Pittsfield. During a part
of that time it was one of the most important points in the western part of the State, and was, for a
time, a rival of Quincy. It now has only a postoffice and general store. The population, according to
the census of 1890, was 52.
ATTORNEYS-GENERAL. The following is a list of the Attorneys-General of Illinois under
the Territorial and State Governments, down to the present time (1899), with the date and duration of
the term of each incumbent:
TERRITORIAL—Benjamin H. Doyle, July to December, 1809; John J. Crittenden, Dec. 30 to April, 1810;
Thomas T. Crittenden, April to October, 1810; Benj. M. Piatt, October, 1810-13; William Mears,
1813-18.
STATE—Daniel Pope Cook, March 5 to Dec. 14, 1819; William Mears, 1819-21; Samuel D. Lockwood, 1821-23;
James Turney, 1823-29; George Forquer, 1829-33; James Semple, 1833-34; Ninian W. Edwards, 1834-35;
Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., 1835-36; Walter B. Scates, 1836-37; Usher F. Linder, 1837-38; George W. Olney,
1838-39; Wickliffe Kitchell, 1839-40; Josiah Lambom, 1840-43; James Allen McDougal, 1843-46; David B.
Campbell, 1846-48.
The Constitution of 1848 made no provision for the continuance of the office, and for nineteen years
it remained vacant. It was re-created, however, by legislative enactment in 1867, and on Feb. 28 of
that year Governor Oglesby appointed Robert G. Ingersoll, of Peoria, to discharge the duties of the
position, which he continued to do until 1869. Subsequent incumbents of the office have been:
Washington Bushnell, 1869-73; James K. Edsall, 1873-81; James McCartney, 1881-85; George Hunt, 1885-93;
M. T. Moloney, 1893-97; Edward C. Akin, 1897-1901; Howland J. Hamlin, 1901-05; Wm. H. Stead, 1905—.
Under the Constitution of 1818 the office was filled by appointment by the Legislature; under that of
1848, it ceased to exist until re-created by act of the Legislature of 1867, but, in 1870, it was made
a constitutional office to be filled by popular election for a term of four years.
ATWOOD, a village lying partly in Piatt and partly in Douglas County, on the
Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton R. R., 27 miles east of Decatur. The region is agricultural and
fruit-growing; the town has two banks, an excellent school and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 698; (1910),
659.
ATWOOD, Charles B., architect, was born at Millbury, Mass., May 18, 1849; at 17 began
a full course in architecture at Harvard Scientific School, and, after graduation, received prizes for
public buildings at San Francisco, Hartford and a number of other cities, besides furnishing designs
for some of the finest private residences in the country. He was associated with D. H. Burnham in
preparing plans for the Columbian Exposition buildings, at Chicago, for the World's Fair of 1893, and
distinguished himself by producing plans for the "Art Building," the "Peristyle," the "Terminal
Station" and other prominent structures. Died, in the midst of his highest successes as an architect,
at Chicago, Dec. 19, 1895.
AUBURN, a village of Sangamon County, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 15 miles south
of Springfield; has some manufactories of flour and farm implements, besides tile and brick works, two
coal mines, electric light plant, two banks, several churches, a graded school and a weekly newspaper.
Pop. (1900), 1,281; (1910), 1,814.
AUDITORS OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. The Auditors of Public Accounts under the Territorial
Government were H. H. Maxwell, 1812-16; Daniel P. Cook, 1816-17; Robert Blackwell, (April to August),
1817; Elijah C. Berry, 1817-18. Under the Constitution of 1818 the Auditor of Public Accounts was made
appointive by the legislature, without limitation of term; but by the Constitutions of 1848 and 1870
the office was made elective by the people for a term of four years.
The following is a list of the State Auditors from the date of the admission of the State into the
Union down to the present time (1899), with the date and duration of the term of each: Elijah C.
Berry, 1818-31; James T. B. Stapp, 1831-35; Levi Davis, 1835-41; James Shields, 1841-43; William Lee D.
Ewing, 1843-46; Thomas H. Campbell, 1846-57; Jesse K. Dubois, 1857-64; Orlin H. Miner, 1864-69;
Charles E. Lippincott, 1869-77; Thomas B. Needles, 1877-81; Charles P. Swigert, 1881-89; C. W. Pavey,
1889-93; David Gore, 1893-97; James S. McCullough, 1897 —.
AUGUSTA, a village in Augusta township, Hancock County, on the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad, 36 miles northeast of Quincy. Wagons and brick are the principal manufactures. The
town has one newspaper, two banks, three churches and a graded school. The surrounding country is a
fertile agricultural region and abounds in a good quality of bituminous coal. Fine qualities of
potter's clay and mineral paint are obtained here. Population (1890), 1,077; (1900), 1,149; (1910),
1,146.
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE, an educational institution controlled by the Evangelical Lutheran
denomination, located at Rock Island and founded in 1863. Besides preparatory and collegiate
departments, a theological school is connected with the institution. To the two first named, young
women are admitted on an equality with men. More than 500 students were reported in attendance in
1896, about one-fourth being women. A majority of the latter were in the preparatory (or academic)
department. The college is not endowed, but owns property (real and personal) to the value of $250,000.
It has a library of 12,000 volumes.
AURORA, a city and important railroad center, Kane County, on Fox River, 39 miles
southwest of Chicago; is location of principal shops of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., has fine
water-power and many successful manufactories, including extensive boiler works, iron foundries, cotton
and woolen mills, flour mills, silver-plating works, corset, sash and door and carriage factories,
stove and smelting works, establishments for turning out road-scrapers, buggy tops, and wood-working
machinery. The city owns water-works and electric light plant; has six banks, three daily and several
weekly papers, some twenty-five churches, excellent schools and handsome public library building; is
connected by interurban electric lines with the principal towns and villages in the Fox River valley.
Pop. (1890), 19,688; (1900), 24,147; (1910), 29,807.
AUSTIN, a former western suburb of the city of Chicago on the line of the Chicago &
Northwestern R. R.; was annexed to the city of Chicago in 1899.
AVERYVILLE, a village of Peoria County, lying north of the city of Peoria and on the
Illinois River; is an important manufacturing point, especially in the line of agricultural implements.
Population (1900), 1,678) (1910), 2,668.
AUSTIN COLLEGE, a co-educational institution, was founded at Effingham in 1890, by
Edward Austin and brother, but about 1904 the property came into possession of Prof. Lewis H. Bissell,
and now constitutes a part of the Bissell Photo-engraving College.
AUSTRALIAN BALLOT, a form of ballot for popular elections, thus named because it was
first brought into use in Australia. It was adopted by act of the Legislature of Illinois in 1891, and
is applicable to the election of all public officers except Trustees of Schools, School Directors,
members of Boards of Education and officers of road districts in counties not under township
organization. Under it, all ballots for the election of officers (except those just enumerated) are
required to be printed and distributed to the election officers for use on the day of election, at
public cost. These ballots contain the names, on the same sheet, of all candidates to be voted for at
such election, such names having been formally certified previously to the Secretary of State (in the
case of candidates for offices to be voted for by electors of the entire State or any district greater
than a single county) or to the County Clerk (as to all others), by the presiding officer and secretary
of the convention or caucus making such nominations, when the party represented cast at least two per
cent of the aggregate vote of the State or district at the preceding general election. Other names may
be added to the ballot on the petition of a specified number of the legal voters under certain
prescribed conditions named in the act. The duly registered voter, on presenting himself at the poll,
is given a copy of the official ticket by one of the judges of election, upon which he proceeds to
indicate his preference in a temporary booth or closet set apart for his use, by making a cross at the
head of the column of candidates for whom he wishes to vote, if he desires to vote for all of the
candidates of the same party, or by a similar mark before the name of each individual for whom he
wishes to vote, in case he desires to distribute his support among the candidates of different parties.
The object of the law is to secure for the voter secrecy of the ballot, with independence and freedom
from dictation or interference by others in the exercise of his right of suffrage.
AVA, a town in Jackson County (incorporated as a city, 1901), on the Mobile & Ohio
Railroad (Cairo & St. Louis Division), 75 miles south-southeast from St. Louis. It has two banks and a
newspaper. Pop. (1900), 984; (1910), 780.
AVON, village of Fulton County, on C. B. & Q. R. R., 20 miles south of Galesburg; has
drainpipe works, flouring mill, factories of steam and hot-water heaters, two banks and one newspaper;
agricultural fair held here annually. Population (1900), 809; (1910), 865.
AYER, Benjamin F., lawyer, was born in Kingston, N. H., April 22, 1825, graduated at
Dartmouth College in 1846, studied law at Dane Law School (Harvard University), was admitted to the bar
and began practice at Manchester, N. H. After serving one term in the New Hampshire Legislature, and
as Prosecuting Attorney for Hillsborough County, in 1857 he came to Chicago, soon advancing to the
front rank of lawyers then in practice there; became Corporation Counsel in 1861, and, two years later,
drafted the revised city charter. After the close of his official career, he was a member for eight
years of the law firm of Beckwith, Ayer & Kales, and afterwards of the firm of Ayer & Kales, until,
retiring from general practice, Mr. Ayer became Solicitor of the Illinois Central Railroad, then a
Director of the Company, finally becoming General Counsel and a potent factor in its management. Died
April 6, 1903.
AYERS, Marshall Paul, banker, Jacksonville, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 27,
1823; came to Jacksonville, Ill., with his parents, in 1830, and was educated there, graduating from
Illinois College, in 1843, as the classmate of Dr. Newton Bateman, afterwards President of Knox College
at Galesburg, and Rev. Thomas K. Beecher, now of Elmira, N.Y. After leaving college he became the
partner of his father (David B. Ayers) as agent of Mr. John Grigg, of Philadelphia, who was the owner
of a large body of Illinois lands. His father dying in 1850, Mr. Ayers succeeded to the management of
the business, about 75,000 acres of Mr. Grigg's unsold lands coming under his charge. In December, 1852,
with the assistance of Messrs. Page & Bacon, bankers, of St. Louis, he opened the first bank in
Jacksonville, for the sale of exchange, but which finally grew into a bank of deposit and has been
continued ever since, being recognized as one of the most solid institutions in Central Illinois. In
1870-71, aided by Philadelphia and New York capitalists, he built the "Illinois Farmers' Railroad"
between Jacksonville and Waverly, afterwards extended to Virden and finally to Centralia and Mount
Vernon. This was the nucleus of the Jacksonville Southeastern Railway, though Mr. Ayers had no
connection with it in his later years. Other business enterprises with which he was connected were the
Jacksonville Gas Company (now including an electric light and power plant), of which he was President
for forty years; the "Home Woolen Mills" (early wiped out by fire), sugar and paper-barrel manufacture,
coal-mining, etc. About 1877 he purchased a body of 23,600 acres of land in Champaign County, known as
"Broadlands," from John T. Alexander, an extensive cattle-dealer, who had become heavily involved
during the years of financial revulsion. As a result of this transaction, Mr. Alexander's debts, which
aggregated $1,000,000, were discharged within the next two years. Mr. Ayers had been an earnest
Republican since the organization of that party and, during the war, rendered valuable service in
assisting to raise funds for the support of the operations of the Christian Commission in the field.
He was also active in Sunday School, benevolent and educational work, having been for twenty years a
Trustee of Illinois College, of which he had been an ardent friend. In 1846 he was married to Miss
Laura Allen, daughter of Rev. John Allen, D.D., of Huntsville, Ala., and was father of four sons and
four daughters. Died Sept. 30, i902.
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