BABCOCK, Amos C., was born at Penn Yan, N. Y., Jan. 20, 1828, the son of a member of
Congress from that State; at the age of 18, having lost his father by death, came West, and soon after
engaged in mercantile business in partnership with a brother at Canton, Ill. In 1854 he was elected by a
majority of one vote, as an Anti-Nebraska Whig, to the lower branch of the Nineteenth General Assembly,
and, in the following session, took part in the election of United States Senator which resulted in the
choice of Lyman Trumbull. Although a personal and political friend of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Babcock, as a
matter of policy, cast his vote for his townsman, William Kellogg, afterwards Congressman from that
district, until it was apparent that a concentration of the Anti-Nebraska vote on Trumbull was necessary
to defeat the election of a Democrat. In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln the first Assessor
of Internal Revenue for the Fourth District, and, in 1863, was commissioned by Governor Yates Colonel
of the One Hundred and Third Illinois Volunteers, but soon resigned. Colonel Babcock served as
Delegate-at-large in the Republican National Convention of 1868, which nominated General Grant for the
Presidency, and the same year was made Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, also
conducting the campaign two years later. He identified himself with the Greeley movement in 1872, but,
in 1876, was again in line with his party and restored to his old position on the State Central
Committee, serving until 1878. Among business enterprises with which he was connected was the extension,
about 1854, of the Buda branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad from Yates City to Canton,
and the erection of the State Capitol at Austin, Tex., which was undertaken, in conjunction with Abner
Taylor and J. V. and C. B. Farwell, about 1881 and completed in 1888, for which the firm received over
3,000,000 acres of State lands in the "Pan Handle" portion of Texas. In 1889 Colonel Babcock took up his
residence in Chicago, which continued to be his home until his death from apoplexy, Feb. 25, 1899.
BABCOCK, Andrew J., soldier, was born at Dorchester, Norfolk County, Mass., July 19,
1830; began life as a coppersmith at Lowell; in 1851 went to Concord, N. H., and, in 1856, removed to
Springfield, Ill., where, in 1859, he joined a military company called the Springfield Greys, commanded
by Capt. (afterwards Gen.) John Cook, of which he was First Lieutenant. This company became the nucleus
of Company I, Seventh Illinois Volunteers, which enlisted on Mr. Lincoln's first call for troops in
April, 1861. Captain Cook having been elected Colonel, Babcock succeeded him as Captain, on the
re-enlistment of the regiment in July following becoming Lieutenant-Colonel, and, in March, 1862, being
promoted to the Colonelcy "for gallant and meritorious service rendered at Fort Donelson." A year later
he was compelled to resign on account of impaired health. Died at St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 12, 1911.
BACON, George E., lawyer and legislator, born at Madison, Ind., Feb. 4, 1851; was
brought to Illinois by his parents at three years of age, and, in 1876, located at Paris, Edgar County;
in 1879 was admitted to the bar and held various minor offices, including one term as State's Attorney.
In 1886 he was elected as a Republican to the State Senate and re-elected four years later, but finally
removed to Aurora, where he died, July 6, 1896. Mr. Bacon was a man of recognized ability, as shown by
the fact that, after the death of Senator John A. Logan, he was selected by his colleagues of the Senate
to pronounce the eulogy on the deceased statesman.
BAGBY, John C., jurist and Congressman, was born at Glasgow, Ky., Jan. 24, 1819. After
passing through the common schools of Barren County, Ky., he studied civil engineering at Bacon College,
graduating in 1840. Later he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1845. In 1846 he commenced practice
at Rushville, Ill., confining himself exclusively to professional work until nominated and elected to
Congress in 1874, by the Democrats of the (old) Tenth District. In 1885 he was elected to the Circuit
Bench for the Sixth Circuit. Died, April 4, 1896.
BAILEY, Joseph Mead, legislator and jurist, was born at Middlebury, Wyoming County,
N. Y., June 22, 1833, graduated from Rochester (N. Y.) University in 1854, and was admitted to the bar
in that city in 1855. In August, 1856, he removed to Freeport, Ill., where he soon built up a profitable
practice. In 1866 he was elected a Representative in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly, being re-elected
in 1868. Here he was especially prominent in securing restrictive legislation concerning railroads. In
1876 he was chosen a Presidential Elector for his district on the Republican ticket. In 1877 he was
elected a Judge of the Thirteenth judicial district, and re-elected in 1879 and in 1885. In January,
1878, and again in June, 1879, he was assigned to the bench of the Appellate Court, being presiding
Justice from June, 1879, to June, 1880, and from June, 1881, to June, 1882. In 1879 he received the
degree of LL.D. from the Universities of Rochester and Chicago. In 1888 he was elected to the bench of
the Supreme Court. Died in office, Oct. 16, 1895.
BAILHACHE, John, pioneer journalist, was born in the Island of Jersey, May 8, 1787;
after gaining the rudiments of an education in his mother tongue (the French), he acquired a knowledge
of English and some proficiency in Greek and Latin in an academy near his paternal home, when he spent
five years as a printer's apprentice. In 1810 he came to the United States, first locating at Cambridge,
Ohio, but, in 1812, purchased a half interest in "The Fredonian" at Chillicothe (then the State
Capital), soon after becoming sole owner. In 1815 he purchased "The Scioto Gazette" and consolidated the
two papers under the name of "The Scioto Gazette and Fredonian Chronicle." Here he remained until 1828,
meantime engaging temporarily in the banking business, also serving one term in the Legislature (1820),
and being elected Associate Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Ross County. In 1828 he removed to
Columbus, assuming charge of "The Ohio State Journal," served one term as Mayor of the city, and for
three consecutive years was State Printer. Selling out "The Journal" in 1836, he came west, the next
year becoming part owner, and finally sole proprietor, of "The Telegraph" at Alton, Ill., which he
conducted alone or in association with various partners until 1854, when he retired, giving his
attention to the book and job branch of the business. He served as Representative from Madison County
in the Thirteenth General Assembly (1842-44). As a man and a journalist Judge Bailhache commanded the
highest respect, and did much to elevate the standard of journalism in Illinois, "The Telegraph," during
the period of his connection with it, being one of the leading papers of the State. His death occurred
at Alton, Sept. 3, 1857, as the result of injuries received the day previous, by being thrown from a
carriage in which he was riding. — Maj. William Henry (Bailhache), son of the preceding,
was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, August 14, 1826, removed with his father to Alton, Ill., in 1836, was
educated at Shurtleff College, and learned the printing trade in the office of "The Telegraph," under
the direction of his father, afterwards being associated with the business department. In 1855, in
partnership with Edward L. Baker, he became one of the proprietors and business manager of "The State
Journal" at Springfield. During the Civil War he received from President Lincoln the appointment of
Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, serving to its close and receiving the brevet rank of Major. After
the war he returned to journalism and was associated at different times with "The State Journal" and
"The Quincy Whig," as business manager of each, but retired in 1873; in 1881 was appointed by President
Arthur, Receiver of Public Moneys at Santa Fe., N. M., remaining four years. Prior to 1899 he removed to
San Diego, Cal., there engaged in newspaper work, and, under the administration of President McKinley,
was Special Agent of the Treasury Department. Died March 12, 1905. — Preston Heath
(Bailhache), another son, was born in Columbus, Ohio, February 21, 1835; served as a Surgeon
during the Civil War, later became a Surgeon in the regular army and has held positions in marine
hospitals at Baltimore, Washington and New York, and has visited Europe in the interest of sanitary and
hospital service. At present (1899) he occupies a prominent position at the headquarters of the United
States Marine Hospital Service in Washington.—Arthur Lee (Bailhache), a third son, born
at Alton, Ill., April 12, 1839; at the beginning of the Civil War was employed in the State commissary
service at Camp Yates and Cairo, became Adjutant of the Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteers, and died at
Pilot Knob, Mo., Jan. 9, 1862, as the result of disease and exposure in the service.
BAKER, David Jewett, lawyer and United States Senator, was born at East Haddam, Conn.,
Sept. 7, 1792. His family removed to New York in 1800, where he worked on a farm during boyhood, but
graduated from Hamilton College in 1816, and three years later was admitted to the bar. In 1819 he came
to Illinois and began practice at Kaskaskia, where he attained prominence in his profession and was
made Probate Judge of Randolph County. His opposition to the introduction of slavery into the State was
so aggressive that his life was frequently threatened. In 1830 Governor Edwards appointed him United
States Senator, to fill the unexpired term of Senator McLean, but he served only one month when he was
succeeded by John M. Robinson, who was elected by the Legislature. He was United States District Attorney
from 1833 to 1841 (the State then constituting but one district), and thereafter resumed private
practice. Died at Alton, August 6, 1869. — Henry Southard (Baker), son of the preceding,
was born at Kaskaskia, Ill., Nov. 10, 1824, received his preparatory education at Shurtleff College,
Upper Alton, and, in 1843, entered Brown University, R. I., graduating therefrom in 1847; was admitted
to the bar in 1849, beginning practice at Alton, the home of his father, Hon. David J. Baker. In 1854
he was elected as an Anti-Nebraska candidate to the lower branch of the Nineteenth General Assembly,
and, at the subsequent session of the General Assembly, was one of the five Anti-Nebraska members whose
uncompromising fidelity to Hon. Lyman Trumbull resulted in the election of the latter to the United
States Senate for the first time—the others being his colleague, Dr. George T. Allen of the House, and
Hon. John M. Palmer, afterwards United States Senator, Burton C. Cook and Norman B. Judd in the Senate.
He served as one of the Secretaries of the Republican State Convention held at Bloomington in May, 1856,
was a Republican Presidential Elector in 1864, and, in 1865, became Judge of the Alton City Court,
serving until 1881. In 1876 he presided over the Republican State Convention, served as delegate to the
Republican National Convention of the same year and was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in
opposition to William R. Morrison. Judge Baker was the orator selected to deliver the address on
occasion of the unveiling of the statue of Lieut.-Gov. Pierre Menard, on the capitol grounds at
Springfield, in January, 1888. About 1888 he retired from practice, dying at Alton, March 5, 1897.
— Edward L. (Baker), second son of David Jewett Baker, was born at Kaskaskia, Ill.,
June 3, 1829; graduated at Shurtleff College in 1847; read law with his father two years, after which
he entered Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar at Springfield in 1855. Previous to this date
Mr. Baker had become associated with William H. Bailhache, in the management of "The Alton Daily
Telegraph," and, in July, 1855, they purchased "The Illinois State Journal," at Springfield, of which
Mr. Baker assumed the editorship, remaining until 1874. In 1869 he was appointed United States Assessor
for the Eighth District, serving until the abolition of the office. In 1873 he received the appointment
from President Grant of Consul to Buenos Ayres, South America, and, assuming the duties of the office in
1874, remained there for twenty-three years, proving himself one of the most capable and efficient
officers in the consular service. On the evening of the 20th of June, 1897, when Mr. Baker was about to
enter a railway train already in motion at the station in the city of Buenos Ayres, he fell under the
cars, receiving injuries which necessitated the amputation of his right arm, finally resulting in his
death in the hospital at Buenos Ayres, July 8, following. His remains were brought home at the
Government expense and interred in Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, where a monument has since been
erected in his honor, bearing a tablet contributed by citizens of Buenos Ayres and foreign
representatives in that city expressive of their respect for his memory. — David Jewett
(Baker), Jr., a third son of David Jewett Baker, Sr., was born at Kaskaskia, Nov. 20,1834;
graduated from Shurtleff College in 1854, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. In November of that year
he removed to Cairo and began practice. He was Mayor of that city in 1864-65, and, in 1869, was elected
to the bench of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit. The Legislature of 1873 (by Act of March 28) having
divided the State into twenty-six circuits, he was, elected Judge of the Twenty-sixth, on June 2, 1873.
In August, 1878, he resigned to accept an appointment on the Supreme Bench as successor to Judge Breese,
deceased, but at the close of his term on the Supreme Bench (1879), was re-elected Circuit Judge, and
again in 1885. During this period he served for several years on the Appellate Bench. In 1888 he retired
from the Circuit Bench by resignation and was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court for a term of nine
years. Again, in 1897, he was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by Carroll C. Boggs. Soon
after retiring from the Supreme Bench he removed to Chicago and engaged in general practice, in
partnership with his son, John W. Baker. He fell dead almost instantly in his office, March 13, 1899.
In all, Judge Baker had spent some thirty years almost continuously on the bench, and had attained
eminent distinction both as a lawyer and a jurist.
BAKER, Edward Dickinson, soldier and United States Senator, was born in London, Eng.,
Feb. 24, 1811; emigrated to Illinois while yet in his minority, first locating at Belleville, afterwards
removing to Carrollton and finally to Sangamon County, the last of which he represented in the lower
house of the Tenth General Assembly, and as State Senator in the Twelfth and Thirteenth. He was elected
to Congress as a Whig from the Springfield District, but resigned in December, 1846, to accept the
colonelcy of the Fourth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, in the Mexican War, and succeeded General Shields
in command of the brigade, when the latter was wounded at Cerro Gordo. In 1848 he was elected to Congress
from the Galena District; was also identified with the construction of the Panama Railroad; went to San
Francisco in 1852, but later removed to Oregon, where he was elected to the United States Senate in 1860.
In 1861 he resigned the Senatorship to enter the Union army, commanding a brigade at the battle of Ball's
Bluff, where he was killed, October 21,1861.
BAKER, Jehu, lawyer and Congressman, was born in Fayette County, Ky., Nov. 4, 1822. At
an early age he removed to Illinois, making his home in Belleville, St. Clair County. He received his
early education in the common schools and at McKendree College. Although he did not graduate from the
latter institution, he received therefrom the honorary degree of A. M. in 1858, and that of LL. D. in
1882. For a time he studied medicine, but abandoned it for the study of law. From 1861 to 1865 he was
Master in Chancery for St. Clair County. From 1865 to 1869 he represented the Belleville District as a
Republican in Congress. From 1876 to 1881 and from 1882 to 1885 he was Minister Resident in Venezuela,
during the latter portion of his term of service acting also as Consul-General. Returning home, he was
again elected to Congress (1886) from the Eighteenth District, but was defeated for re-election, in
1888, by William S. Forman, Democrat. Again, in 1896, having identified himself with the Free Silver
Democracy and People's Party, he was elected to Congress from the Twentieth District over Everett J.
Murphy, the Republican nominee, serving until March 3, 1899. He was author of an annotated edition of
Montesquieu's "Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans." Died March 1, 1903.
BALDWIN, Elmer, agriculturist and legislator, was born in Litchfield County, Conn.,
March 8, 1806; at 16 years of age began teaching a country school, continuing this occupation for several
years during the winter months, while working on his father's farm in the summer. He then started a
store at New Milford, which he managed for three years, when he sold out on account of his health and
began farming. In 1833 he came west and purchased a considerable tract of Government land in La Salle
County, where the village of Farm Ridge is now situated, removing thither with his family the following
year. He served as Justice of the Peace for fourteen consecutive terms, as Postmaster twenty years and
as a member of the Board of Supervisors of La Salle County six years. In 1856 he was elected as a
Republican to the House of Representatives, was re-elected to the same office in 1866, and to the State
Senate in 1872, serving two years. He was also appointed, in 1869, a member of the first Board of Public
Charities, serving as President of the Board. Mr. Baldwin is author of a "History of La Salle County,"
which contains much local and biographical history. Died, Nov. 18, 1895.
BALDWIN, Theron, clergyman and educator, was born in Goshen, Conn., July 21, 1801;
graduated at Yale College in 1827; after two years' study in the theological school there, was ordained
a home missionary in 1829, becoming one of the celebrated "Tale College Band," or "Western College
Society," of which he was Corresponding Secretary during most of his life. He was settled as a
Congregationalist minister at Vandalia for two years, and was active in procuring the charter of
Illinois College at Jacksonville, of which he was a Trustee from its organization to his death. He
served for a number of years, from 1831, as Agent of the Home Missionary Society for Illinois, and, in
1838, became the first Principal of Monticello Female Seminary, near Alton, which he conducted five
years. Died at Orange, N. J., April 10, 1870.
BALLARD, Addison, merchant, was born of Quaker parentage in Warren County, Ohio,
November, 1822. He located at La Porte, Ind., about 1841, where he learned and pursued the carpenter's
trade; in 1849 went to California, remaining two years, when he returned to La Porte; in 1853 removed
to Chicago and embarked in the lumber trade, which he prosecuted until 1887, retiring with a competency.
Mr. Ballard served several years as one of the Commissioners of Cook County, and, from 1876 to 1882, as
Alder¬man of the City of Chicago, and again in the latter office, 1894-96. Died June 27, 1905.
BALTES, Peter Joseph, Roman Catholic Bishop of Alton, was born at Ensheim, Rhenish
Bavaria, April 7, 1827; was educated at the colleges of the Holy Cross, at Worcester, Mass., and of St.
Ignatius, at Chicago, and at Lavalle University, Montreal, and was ordained a priest in 1853, and
consecrated Bishop in 1870. His diocesan administration was successful, but regarded by his priests as
somewhat arbitrary. He wrote numerous pastoral letters and brochures for the guidance of clergy and
laity. His most important literary work was entitled "Pastoral Instruction," first edition, N. Y.,
1875; second edition (revised and enlarged), 1880. Died at Alton, Feb. 15, 1886.
BALTIMORE & OHIO SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY. This road (constituting a part of the Baltimore
& Ohio system) is made up of two principal divisions, the first extending across the State from East
St. Louis to Belpre, Ohio, and the second (known as the Springfield Division) extending from Beardstown
to Shawneetown. The total mileage of the former (or main line) is 537 miles, of which 147 1/2 are in
Illinois, and of the latter (wholly within Illinois) 228 miles. The main line (originally known as the
Ohio & Mississippi Railway) was chartered in Indiana in 1848, in Ohio in 1849, and in Illinois in 1851.
It was constructed by two companies, the section from Cincinnati to the Indiana and Illinois State line
being known as the Eastern Division, and that in Illinois as the Western Division, the gauge, as
originally built, being six feet, but reduced in 1871 to standard. The banking firm of Page & Bacon, of
St. Louis and San Francisco, were the principal financial backers of the enterprise. The line was
completed and opened for traffic, May 1, 1857. The following year the road became financially
embarrassed; the Eastern Division was placed in the hands of a receiver in 1860, while the Western
Division was sold under foreclosure, in 1862, and reorganized as the Ohio & Mississippi Railway under
act of the Illinois Legislature passed in February, 1861. The Eastern Division was sold in January,
1867; and, in November of the same year, the two divisions were consolidated under the title of the
Ohio & Mississippi Railway.—The Springfield Division was the result of the consolidation, in December,
1869, of the Pana, Springfield & Northwestern and the Illinois & Southeastern Railroad—each having been
chartered in 1867—the new corporation taking the name of the Springfield & Illinois Southeastern
Railroad, under which name the road was built and opened in March, 1871. In 1873, it was placed in the
hands of receivers; in 1874 was sold under foreclosure, and, on March 1, 1875, passed into the hands of
the Ohio & Mississippi Railway Company. In November, 1876, the road was again placed in the hands of a
receiver, but was restored to the Company in 1884. — In November, 1893, the Ohio & Mississippi was
consolidated with the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, which was the successor of the Cincinnati,
Washington & Baltimore Railroad, the reorganized Company taking the name of the Baltimore & Ohio
Southwestern Railway Company. The total capitalization of the road, as organized in 1898, was
$84,770,531. Several branches of the main line in Indiana and Ohio go to increase the aggregate mileage,
but being wholly outside of Illinois are not taken into account in this statement.
BALTIMORE & OHIO & CHICAGO RAILROAD, part of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad System, of
which only 8.21 out of 265 miles are in Illinois. The principal object of the company's incorporation
was to secure entrance for the Baltimore & Ohio into Chicago. The capital stock outstanding exceeds
$1,500,000. The total capital (including stock, funded and floating debt) is $20,329,166 or $76,728 per
mile. The gross earnings for the year ending June 30, 1898, were $3,383,016 and the operating expenses
$2,493,452. The income and earnings for the portion of the line in Illinois for the same period were
$209,208 and the expenses $208,096.
BANGS, Mark, lawyer, was born in Franklin County, Mass., Jan. 9, 1822; spent his
boyhood on a farm in Western New York, and, after a year in an institution at Rochester, came to Chicago
in 1844, later spending two years in farm Work and teaching in Central Illinois. Returning east in 1847,
he engaged in teaching for two years at Springfield, Mass., then spent a year in a dry goods store at
Lacon, Ill., meanwhile prosecuting his legal studies. In 1851 he began practice, was elected a Judge
of the Circuit Court in 1859; served one session as State Senator (1870-72); in 1873 was appointed
Circuit Judge to fill the unexpired term of Judge Richmond, deceased, and, in 1875, was appointed by
President Grant United States District Attorney for the Northern District, remaining in office four
years. Judge Bangs was also a member of the first Anti-Nebraska State Convention of Illinois, held at
Springfield in 1854; in 1862 presided over the Congressional Convention which nominated Owen Lovejoy
for Congress for the first time; was one of the charter members of the "Union League of America,"
serving as its President, and, in 1868, was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated
General Grant for President for the first time. After retiring from the office of District Attorney in
1879, he removed to Chicago, where he was engaged in practice until his death, June 23, 1902.
BANKSON, Andrew, pioneer and early legislator, a native of Tennessee, settled on Silver
Creek, in St. Clair County, Ill., four miles south of Lebanon, about 1808 or 1810, and subsequently
removed to Washington County. He was a Colonel of "Rangers" during the War of 1812, and a Captain in the
Black Hawk War of 1832. In 1822 he was elected to the State Senate from Washington County, serving four
years, and at the session of 1822-23 was one of those who voted against the Convention resolution which
had for its object to make Illinois a slave State. He subsequently removed to Iowa Territory, but died,
in 1853, while visiting a son-in-law in Wisconsin.
BAPTISTS. The first Baptist minister to settle in Illinois was Elder James Smith, who
located at New Design, in 1787. He was followed, about 1796-97, by Revs. David Badgley and Joseph
Chance, who organized the first Baptist church within the limits of the State. Five churches, having
four ministers and 111 members, formed an association in 1807. Several causes, among them a difference
of views on the slavery question, resulted in the division of the denomination into factions. Of these
perhaps the most numerous was the Regular (or Missionary) Baptists, at the head of which was Rev. John
M. Peck, a resident of the State from 1822 until his death (1858). By 1835 the sect had grown, until
it had some 250 churches, with about 7,500 members. These were under the ecclesiastical care of
twenty-two Associations. Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Baptist Indian missionary, preached at Fort Dearborn on
Oct. 9, 1825, and, eight years later, Rev. Allen B. Freeman organized the first Baptist society in what
was then an infant settlement. By 1890 the number of Associations had grown to forty, with 1010
churches, 891 ministers and 88,884 members. A Baptist Theological Seminary was for some time supported
at Morgan Park, but, in 1895, was absorbed by the University of Chicago, becoming the divinity school
of that institution. The chief organ of the denomination in Illinois is "The Standard," published at
Chicago.
BARBER, Hiram, was born in Warren County, N. Y., March 24, 1835. At 11 years of age he
accompanied his family to Wisconsin, of which State he was a resident until 1866. After graduating at
the State University of Wisconsin, at Madison, he studied law at the Albany Law School, and was admitted
to practice. After serving one term as District Attorney of his county in Wisconsin (1861-62), and
Assistant Attorney-General of the State for 1865-66, in the latter year he came to Chicago and, in
1878, was elected to Congress by the Republicans of the old Second Illinois District. His home is in
Chicago, where he holds the position of Master in Chancery of the Superior Court of Cook County.
BARCLAY, a village in Sangamon County, on the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, 9 miles northeast
of the city of Springfield; in a coal-mining district. Population (1910), 252.
BARNSBACK, George Frederick Julius, pioneer, was born in Germany, July 25, 1781; came
to Philadelphia in 1797, and soon after to Kentucky, where he became an overseer; two or three years
later visited his native country, suffering shipwreck en route in the English Channel; returned to
Kentucky in 1802, remaining until 1809, when he removed to what is now Madison (then a part of St.
Clair) County, Ill.; served in the War of 1812, farmed and raised stock until 1824, when, after a
second visit to Germany, he bought a plantation in St. Francois County, Mo. Subsequently becoming
disgusted with slavery, he manumitted his slaves and returned to Illinois, locating on a farm near
Edwardsville, where he resided until his death in 1869. Mr. Barnsback served as Representative in the
Fourteenth General Assembly (1844-46) and, after returning from Springfield, distributed his salary
among the poor of Madison County. — Julius A. (Barnsback), his son, was born in St.
Francois County, Mo., May 14, 1826; in 1846 became a merchant at Troy, Madison County; was elected
Sheriff in 1860; in 1864 entered the service as Captain of a Company in the One Hundred and Fortieth
Illinois Volunteers (100-days men); also served as a member of the Twenty-fourth General Assembly
(1865).
BARNUM, William H., lawyer and ex-Judge, was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., Feb. 13,
1840. When he was but two years old his family removed to St. Clair County, Ill., where he passed his
boyhood and youth. His preliminary education was obtained at Belleville, Ill., Ypsilanti, Mich., and at
the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor. After leaving the institution last named at the end of the
sophomore year, he taught school at Belleville, still pursuing his classical studies. In 1862 he was
admitted to the bar at Belleville, and soon afterward opened an office at Chester, where, for a time,
he held the office of Master in Chancery. He removed to Chicago in 1867, and, in 1879, was elevated to
the bench of the Cook County Circuit Court. At the expiration of his term he resumed private practice.
BARRERE, Granville, was born in Highland County, Ohio. After attending the common
schools, he acquired a higher education at Augusta, Ky., and Marietta, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar
in his native State, but began the practice of law in Fulton County, Ill., in 1856. In 1872 he received
the Republican nomination for Congress and was elected, representing his district from 1873 to 1875, at
the conclusion of his term retiring to private life. Died at Canton, Ill., Jan. 13, 1889.
BARRINGTON, a village located on the northern border of Cook County, and partly in Lake,
at the intersection of the Chicago & Northwestern and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, 32 miles
northwest of Chicago. It has banks, a local paper, several cheese factories and a milk-bottling plant.
Pop. (1890), 848; (1900), 1,162; (1910), 1,444.
BARROWS, John Henry, D. D., clergyman and educator, was born at Medina, Mich., July 11,
1847; graduated at Mount Olivet College in 1867, and studied theology at Yale, Union and Andover
Seminaries. In 1869 he went to Kansas, where he spent two and a half years in missionary and educational
work. He then (in 1872) accepted a call to the First Congregational Church at Springfield, Ill., where
he remained a year, after which he gave a year to foreign travel, visiting Europe, Egypt and Palestine,
during a part of the time supplying the American chapel in Paris. On his return to the United States he
spent six years in pastoral work at Lawrence and East Boston, Mass., when (in November, 1881) he assumed
the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. Dr. Barrows achieved a world-wide celebrity
by his services as Chairman of the "Parliament of Religions," a branch of the "World's Congress
Auxiliary," held during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Later, he was appointed
Professorial Lecturer on Comparative Religions, under lectureships in connection with the University of
Chicago endowed by Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell. One of these, established in Dr. Barrows' name, contemplated
a series of lectures in India, to be delivered on alternate years with a similar course at the
University. Courses were delivered at the University in 1895-96, and, in order to carry out the purposes
of the foreign lectureship, Dr. Barrows found it necessary to resign his pastorate, which he did in the
spring of 1896. After spending the summer' in Germany, the regular itinerary of the round-the-world
tour began at London in the latter part of November, 1896, ending with his return to the United States
by way of San Francisco in May, 1897. Dr. Barrows was accompanied by a party of personal friends from
Chicago and elsewhere, the tour embracing visits to the principal cities of Southern Europe, Egypt,
Palestine, China and Japan, with a somewhat protracted stay in India during the winter of 1896-97. After
his return to the United States he lectured at the University of Chicago and in many of the principal
cities of the country, on the moral and religious condition of Oriental nations, but, in 1898, was
offered the Presidency of Oberlin College, Ohio, which he accepted, entering upon his duties early in
1899. Died June 3, 1902.
BARRY, a city in Pike County, founded in 1836, on the Wabash Railroad, 18 miles east
of Hannibal, Mo., and 30 miles southeast of Quincy. The surrounding country is agricultural. The city
contains flouring mills, pork-packing plant, a large creamery; also has two local papers, two banks,
three churches and a high school, besides schools of lower grade. Population (1890), 1,354; (1900),
1,643; (1910), 1,647.
BARTLETT, Adolphus Clay, merchant, was born of Revolutionary ancestry at Stratford,
Fulton County, N. Y., June 22,1844; was educated in the common schools and at Danville Academy and
Clinton Liberal Institute, N. Y., and, coming to Chicago in 1863, entered into the employment of the
hardware firm of Tuttle, Hibbard & Co., now Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., of which, a few years
later, he became a partner, and later Vice-President of the Company. Mr. Bartlett has also been a
Trustee of Beloit College, President of the Chicago Home for the Friendless and a Director of the
Chicago & Alton Railroad and the Metropolitan National Bank, besides being identified with various
other business and benevolent associations.
BASCOM, (Rev.) Flavel, D. D., clergyman, was born at Lebanon, Conn., June 8, 1804; spent his boyhood on
a farm until 17 years of age, meanwhile attending the common schools; prepared for college under a
private tutor, and, in 1824, entered Yale College, graduating in 1828. After a year as Principal of the
Academy at New Canaan, Conn., he entered upon the study of theology at Yale, was licensed to preach in
1831 and, for the next two years, served as a tutor in the literary department of the college. Then
coming to Illinois (1833), he cast his lot with the "Yale Band," organized at Yale College a few years
previous; spent five years in missionary work in Tazewell County and two years in Northern Illinois as
Agent of the Home Missionary Society, exploring new settlements, founding churches and introducing
missionaries to new fields of labor. In 1839 he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of
Chicago, remaining until 1849, when he assumed the pastorship of the First Presbyterian Church at
Galesburg, this relation continuing until 1856. Then, after a year's service as the Agent of the
American Missionary Association of the Congregational Church, he accepted a call to the Congregational
Church at Princeton, where he remained until 1869, when he took charge of the Congregational Church at
Hinsdale. From 1878 he served for a considerable period as a member of the Executive Committee of the
Illinois Home Missionary Society; was also prominent in educational work, being one of the founders and,
for over twenty-five years, an officer of the Chicago Theological Seminary, a Trustee of Knox College
and one of the founders and a Trustee of Beloit College, Wis., from which he received the degree of D.
D. in 1869. Dr. Bascom died at Princeton, Ill., August 8, 1890.
BATAVIA, a city in Kane County, on Fox River and branch lines of the Chicago &
Northwestern and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads, 35 miles west of Chicago; has water power
and several prosperous manufacturing establishments employing over 1,000 operatives. The city has fine
water-works supplied from an artesian well, electric lighting plant, electric street car lines with
interurban connections, two weekly papers, eight churches, two public schools, and private hospital for
insane women. Population (1900), 3,871; (1910), 4,436.
BATEMAN, Newton, A. M., LL.D., educator and Editor-in-Chief of the "Historical
Encyclopedia of Illinois," was born at Fairfield, N. J., July 27, 1822, of mixed English and Scotch
ancestry; was brought by his parents to Illinois in 1833; in his youth enjoyed only limited educational
advantages, but graduated from Illinois College at Jacksonville in 1843, supporting himself during his
college course wholly by his own labor. Having contemplated entering the Christian ministry, he spent
the following year at Lane Theological Seminary, but was compelled to withdraw on account of failing
health, when he gave a year to travel. He then entered upon his life-work as a teacher by engaging as
Principal of an English and Classical School in St. Louis, remaining there two years, when he accepted
the Professorship of Mathematics in St. Charles College, at St. Charles, Mo., continuing in that
position four years (1847-51). Returning to Jacksonville, Ill., in the latter year, he assumed the
principalship of the main public school of that city. Here he remained seven years, during four of them
discharging the duties of County Superintendent of Schools for Morgan County. In the fall of 1857 he
became Principal of Jacksonville Female Academy, but the following year was elected State Superintendent
of Public Instruction, having been nominated for the office by the Republican State Convention of 1858,
which put Abraham Lincoln in nomination for the United States Senate. By successive re-elections he
continued in this office fourteen years, serving continuously from 1859 to 1875, except two years
(1863-65), as the result of his defeat for re-election in 1862. He was also endorsed for the same office
by the State Teachers' Association in 1856, but was not formally nominated by a State Convention.
During his incumbency the Illinois common school system was developed and brought to the state of
efficiency which it has so well maintained. He also prepared some seven volumes of biennial reports,
portions of which have been republished in five different languages of Europe, besides a volume of
"Common School Decisions," originally published by authority of the General Assembly, and of which
several editions have since been issued. This volume has been recognized by the courts, and is still
regarded as authoritative on the subjects to which it relates. In addition to his official duties during
a part of this period, for three years he served as editor of "The Illinois Teacher," and was one of a
committee of three which prepared the bill adopted by Congress creating the National Bureau of
Education. Occupying a room in the old State Capitol at Springfield adjoining that used as an office by
Abraham Lincoln during the first candidacy of the latter for the Presidency, in 1860, a close intimacy
sprang up between the two men, which enabled the "Schoolmaster," as Mr. Lincoln playfully called the
Doctor, to acquire an insight into the character of the future emancipator of a race, enjoyed by few
men of that time, and of which he gave evidence by his lectures full of interesting reminiscence and
eloquent appreciation of the high character of the "Martyr President." A few months after his retirement
from the State Superintendency (1875), Dr. Bateman was offered and accepted the Presidency of Knox
College at Galesburg, remaining until 1893, when he voluntarily tendered his resignation. This, after
having been repeatedly urged upon the Board, was finally accepted; but that body immediately, and by
unanimous vote, appointed him President Emeritus and Professor of Mental and Moral Science, under which
he continued to discharge his duties as a special lecturer as his health enabled him to do so. During
his incumbency as President of Knox College, he twice received a tender of the Presidency of Iowa State
University and the Chancellorship of two other important State institutions. He also served, by
appointment of successive Governors between 1877 and 1891, as a member of the State Board of Health,
for four years of this period being President of the Board. In February, 1878, Dr. Bateman, unexpectedly
and without solicitation on his part, received from President Hayes an appointment as "Assay
Commissioner" to examine and test the fineness and weight of United States coins, in accordance with
the provisions of the act of Congress of June 22, 1874, and discharged the duties assigned at the mint
in Philadelphia. Never of a very strong physique, which was rather weakened by his privations while a
student and his many years of close confinement to mental labor, towards the close of his life Dr.
Bateman suffered much from a chest trouble which finally developed into "angina pectoris," or heart
disease, from which, as the result of a most painful attack, he died at his home in Galesburg, Oct. 21,
1897. The event produced the most profound sorrow, not only among his associates in the Faculty and
among the students of Knox College, but a large number of friends throughout the State, who had known
him officially or personally, and had learned to admire his many noble and beautiful traits of
character. His funeral, which occurred at Galesburg on Oct. 25, called out an immense concourse of
sorrowing friends. Almost the last labors performed by Dr. Bateman were in the revision of matter for
this volume, in which he manifested the deepest interest from the time of his assumption of the duties
of its Editor-in-Chief. At the time of his death he had the satisfaction of knowing that his work in
this field was practically complete. Dr. Bateman had been twice married, first in 1850 to Miss Sarah
Dayton of Jacksonville, who died in 1857, and a second time in October, 1859, to Miss Annie N. Tyler,
of Massachusetts (but for some time a teacher in Jacksonville Female Academy), who died, May 28, 1878.
— Clifford Bush (Bateman), a son of Dr. Bateman by his first marriage, was born at
Jacksonville, March 7, 1854, graduated at Amherst College and later from the law department of Columbia
College, New York, afterwards prosecuting his studies at Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris, finally becoming
Professor of Administrative Law and Government in Columbia College—a position especially created for
him. He had filled this position a little over one year when his career—which was one of great
promise—was cut short by death, Feb. 6, 1883. Three daughters of Dr. Bateman survive—all the wives of
clergymen.—P. S.
BATES, Clara Doty, author, was born at Ann Arbor, Mich., Dec. 22, 1838; published her
first book in 1868; the next year married Morgan Bates, a Chicago publisher; wrote much for juvenile
periodicals, besides stories and poems, some of the most popular among the latter being "Blind Jakey"
(1868) and "Aesop's Fables" in verse (1873). She was the collector of a model library for children, for
the "World's Columbian Exposition, 1893. Died in Chicago, Oct. 14, 1895.
BATES, Erastus Newton, soldier and State Treasurer, was born at Plainfield, Mass., Feb.
29, 1828, being descended from Pilgrims of the Mayflower. When 8 years of age he was brought by his
father to Ohio, where the latter soon afterward died. For several years he lived with an uncle, preparing
himself for college and earning money by teaching and manual labor. He graduated from Williams College,
Mass., in 1853, and commenced the study of law in New York City, but later removed to Minnesota, where
he served as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1856 and was elected to the State Senate in
1857. In 1859 he removed to Centralia, Ill., and commenced practice there in August, 1862; was
commissioned Major of the Eightieth Illinois Volunteers, being successively promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, and finally brevetted Brigadier-General. For fifteen months he was a
prisoner of war, escaping from Libby Prison only to be recaptured and later exposed to the fire of the
Union batteries at Morris Island, Charleston harbor. In 1866 he was elected to the Legislature, and, in
1868, State Treasurer, being re-elected to the latter office under the new Constitution of 1870, and
serving until January, 1873. Died at Minneapolis, Minn., May 29, 1898, and was buried at Springfield.
BATES, George C., lawyer and politician, was born in Canandaigua, N. Y., and removed
to Michigan in 1834; in 1849 was appointed United States District Attorney for that State, but removed
to California in 1850, where he became a member of the celebrated "Vigilance Committee" at San Francisco,
and, in 1856, delivered the first Republican speech there. From 1861 to 1871, he practiced law in
Chicago; the latter year was appointed District Attorney for Utah, serving two years, in 1878 removing
to Denver, Colo., where he died, Feb. 11, 1886. Mr. Bates was an orator of much reputation, and was
selected to express the thanks of the citizens of Chicago to Gen. B. J. Sweet, commandant of Camp
Douglas, after the detection and defeat of the Camp Douglas conspiracy in November, 1864—a duty which
he performed in an address of great eloquence. At an early day he married the widow of Dr. Alexander
Wolcott, for a number of years previous to 1830 Indian Agent at Chicago, his wife being a daughter of
John Kinzie, the first white settler of Chicago.
BATH, a village of Mason County, on the Jacksonville branch of the Chicago, Peoria &
St. Louis Railway, 8 miles south of Havana. Population (1890), 384; (1900), 330; (1910), 475.
BAYLIS, a corporate village of Pike County, on the main line of the Wabash Railway,
40 miles southeast of Quincy; has one newspaper and wagon factory. Pop. (1900), 340; (1910), 385.
BAYLISS, Alfred, Superintendent of Public Instruction, was born about 1846, served as
a private in the First Michigan Cavalry the last two years of the Civil War, and graduated from
Hillsdale College (Mich.), in 1870, supporting himself during his college course by work upon a farm
and teaching. After serving three years as County Superintendent of Schools in La Grange County, Ind.,
in 1874 he came to Illinois and entered upon the vocation of a teacher in the northern part of the State.
He served for some time as Superintendent of Schools for the city of Sterling, afterwards served as
Principal of the Township High School until 1898, when he was elected State Superintendent of Public
Instruction and re-elected in 1902, serving two consecutive terms. On retirement from the
Superintendent's office in 1907, he became Principal of the State Normal School at Macomb, Ill., but
died August 26, 1911.
BEARD, Thomas, pioneer and founder of the city of Beardstown, Ill., was born in
Granville, Washington County, N. Y., in 1795, taken to Northeastern Ohio in 1800, and, in 1818, removed
to Illinois, living for a time about Edwardsville and Alton. In 1820 he went to the locality of the
present city of Beardstown, and later established there the first ferry across the Illinois River. In
1827, in conjunction with Enoch March of Morgan County, he entered the land on which Beardstown was
platted in 1829. Died, at Beardstown, in November, 1849.
BEARDSTOWN, a city in Cass County, on the Illinois River, being the intersecting point
for the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railways, and the
northwestern terminus of the former. It is 111 miles north of St. Louis and 90 miles south of Peoria.
Thomas Beard, for whom the town was named, settled here about 1820 and soon afterwards established the
first ferry across the Illinois River. In 1827 the land was patented by Beard and Enoch March, and the
town platted, and, during the Black Hawk War of 1832, it became a principal base of supplies for the
Illinois volunteers. The city has six churches and three schools (including a high school), two banks
and two daily newspapers. Several branches of manufacturing are carried on here—flouring and saw mills,
cooperage works, extensive fishing and packing interests, two button factories, one shoe factory, large
machine shops, and others of less importance. The river is spanned here by a fine railroad bridge,
costing some $300,000. Pop. (1890), 4,226; (1900), 4,827; (1910), 6,107.
BEAUBIEN, Jean Baptiste, the second permanent settler on the site of Chicago, was born
at Detroit in 1780, became clerk of a fur-trader on Grand River, married an Ottawa woman for his first
wife, and, in 1800, had a trading-post at Milwaukee, which he maintained until 1818. Ho visited Chicago
as early as 1804, bought a cabin there soon after the Fort Dearborn massacre of 1812, married the
daughter of Francis La Framboise, a French trader, and, in 1818, became agent of the American Fur
Company, having charge of trading posts at Mackinaw and elsewhere. After 1823 he occupied the building
known as "the factory," just outside of Fort Dearborn, which had belonged to the Government, but removed
to a farm on the Des Plaines in 1840. Out of the ownership of this building grew his claim to the right,
in 1835, to enter seventy-five acres of land belonging to the Fort Dearborn reservation. The claim was
allowed by the Land Office officials and sustained by the State courts, but disallowed by the Supreme
Court of the United States after long litigation. An attempt was made to revive this claim in Congress
in 1878, but it was reported upon adversely by a Senate Committee of which the late Senator Thomas F.
Bayard was chairman. Mr. Beaubien was evidently a man of no little prominence in his day. He led a
company of Chicago citizens to the Black Hawk "War in 1832, was appointed by the Governor the first
Colonel of Militia for Cook County, and, in 1850, was commissioned Brigadier-General. In 1858 he removed
to Nashville, Tenn., and died there, Jan. 5, 1863. — Mark (Beaubien), a younger brother
of Gen. Beaubien, was born in Detroit in 1800, came to Chicago in 1826, and bought a log house of James
Kinzie, in which he kept a hotel for some time. Later, he erected the first frame building in Chicago,
which was known as the "Sauganash," and in which he kept a hotel until 1834. He also engaged in
merchandising, but was not successful, ran the first ferry across the South Branch of the Chicago River,
and served for many years as lighthouse keeper at Chicago. About 1834 the Indians transferred to him a
reservation of 640 acres of land on the Calumet, for which, some forty years afterwards, he received a
patent which had been signed by Martin Van Buren—he having previously been ignorant of its existence.
He was married twice and had a family of twenty-two children. Died, at Kankakee, 111., April 16, 1881.
— Madore B. (Beaubien), the second son of General Beaubien by his Indian wife, was born
on Grand River in Michigan, July 15, 1809, joined his father in Chicago, was educated in a Baptist
Mission School where Niles, Mich., now stands; was licensed as a merchant in Chicago in 1831, but failed
as a business man; served as Second Lieutenant of the Naperville Company in the Black Hawk War, and
later was First Lieutenant of a Chicago Company. His first wife was a white woman, from whom he
separated, afterwards marrying an Indian woman. He left Illinois with the Pottawatomies in 1840,
resided at Council Bluffs and, later, in Kansas, being for many years the official interpreter of the
tribe and, for some time, one of six Commissioners employed by the Indians to look after their affairs
with the United States Government. — Alexander (Beaubien), son of General Beaubien by
his white wife, was born in one of the buildings belonging to Fort Dearborn, Jan. 28, 1822. In 1840 he
accompanied his father to his farm on the Des Plaines, but returned to Chicago in 1862, and for years
past has been employed on the Chicago police force.
BEBB, William, Governor of Ohio, was born in Hamilton County in that State in 1802;
taught school at North Bend, the home of William Henry Harrison, studied law and practiced at Hamilton;
served as Governor of Ohio, 1846-48; later led a Welsh colony to Tennessee, but left at the outbreak of
the Civil War, removing to Winnebago County, Ill., where he had purchased a large body of land. He was
a man of uncompromising loyalty and high principle; served as Examiner of Pensions by appointment of
President Lincoln and, in 1868, took a prominent part in the campaign which resulted in Grant's first
election to the Presidency. Died at Rockford, Oct. 23, 1873. A daughter of Governor Bebb married Hon.
John P. Reynolds, for many years the Secretary of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, and, during
the World's Columbian Exposition, Director-in-Chief of the Illinois Board of World's Fair
Commissioners.
BECKER, Charles St. N., ex-State Treasurer, was born in Germany, June 14, 1840, and
brought to this country by his parents at the age of 11 years, the family settling in St. Clair County,
Ill. Early in the Civil War he enlisted in the Twelfth Missouri regiment, and, at the battle of Pea
Ridge, was so severely wounded that it was found necessary to amputate one of his legs. In 1866 he was
elected Sheriff of St. Clair County, and, from 1872 to 1880, he served as clerk of the St. Clair Circuit
Court. He also served several terms as a City Councilman of Belleville. In 1888 he was elected State
Treasurer on the Republican ticket. Died Jan. 2, 1908.
BECKWITH, Corydon, lawyer and jurist, was born in Vermont in 1823, and educated at
Providence, R. I., and Wrentham, Mass. He read law and was admitted to the bar in St. Albans, Vt., where
he practiced for two years. In 1853 he removed to Chicago, and, in January, 1864, was appointed by
Governor Yates a Justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the five remaining months of the unexpired term
of Judge Caton, who had resigned. On retiring from the bench he resumed private practice. Died, August
18, 1890.
BECKWITH, Hiram Williams, lawyer and author, was born at Danville, Ill., March 5, 1833.
Mr. Beckwith's father, Dan W. Beckwith, a pioneer settler of Eastern Illinois and one of the founders of
the city of Danville, was a native of Wyalusing, Pa., where he was born about 1789, his mother being, in
her girlhood, Hannah York, one of the survivors of the famous Wyoming massacre of 1778. In 1817, the
senior Beckwith, in company with his brother George, descended the Ohio River, afterwards ascending the
Wabash to where Terre Haute now stands, but finally locating in what is now a part of Edgar County, Ill.
A year later he removed to the vicinity of the present site of the city of Danville. Having been
employed for a time in a surveyor's corps, he finally became a surveyor himself, and, on the organization
of Vermilion County, served for a time as County Surveyor by appointment of the Governor, and was also
employed by the General Government in surveying lands in the eastern part of the State, some of the
Indian reservations in that section of the State being set off by him. In connection with Guy W. Smith,
then Receiver of Public Moneys in the Land Office at Palestine, Ill., he donated the ground on which the
county-seat of Vermilion County was located, and it took the name of Danville from his first name—"Dan."
In 1830 he was elected Representative in the State Legislature for the District composed of Clark, Edgar,
and Vermilion Counties, then including all that section of the State between Crawrford County and the
Kankakee River. He died in 1835. Hiram, the subject of this sketch, thus left fatherless at less than
three years of age, received only such education as was afforded in the common schools of that period.
Nevertheless, he began the study of law in the Danville office of Lincoln & Lamon, and was admitted to
practice in 1854, about the time of reaching his majority. He continued in their office and, on the
removal of Lamon to Bloomington in 1859, he succeeded to the business of the firm at Danville. Mr.
Lamon—who, on Mr. Lincoln's accession to the Presidency in 1861, became Marshal of the District of
Columbia—was distantly related to Mr. Beckwith by a second marriage of the mother of the latter. While
engaged in the practice of his profession, Mr. Beckwith was for over thirty years a zealous collector
of records and other material bearing upon the early history of Illinois and the Northwest, probably
becoming the owner of one of the most complete and valuable collections of Americana in Illinois; was
also the author of several monographs on historic themes, including "The Winnebago War," "The Illinois
and Indiana Indians," and "Historic Notes of the Northwest," published in the "Fergus Series," besides
having edited an edition of "Reynolds' History of Illinois" (published by the same firm), which he had
enriched by the addition of valuable notes. During 1895-96 he contributed a series of valuable articles
to "The Chicago Tribune" on various features of early Illinois and Northwest history. In 1890 he was
appointed by Governor Fifer a member of the first Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Historical
Library, serving until the expiration of his term in, 1894, and was re-appointed to the same position
by Governor Tanner in 1897, in each case being chosen President of the Board." Died Dec. 22, 1903.
BEECHER, Charles A., attorney and railway solicitor, was born in Herkimer County, N. Y.,
August 27, 1829, but, in 1836, removed with his family to Licking County, Ohio, where he lived upon a
farm until he reached the age of 18 years. Having taken a course in the Ohio Wesleyan University at
Delaware, in 1854 he removed to Illinois, locating at Fairfield, Wayne County, and began the study of
law in the office of his brother, Edwin Beecher, being admitted to practice in 1855. In 1867 he united
with others in the organization of the Illinois Southeastern Railroad projected from Shawneetown to
Edgewood on the Illinois Central in Effingham County. This enterprise was consolidated, a year or two
later, with the Pana, Springfield & Northwestern, taking the name of the Springfield & Illinois
Southeastern, under which name it was constructed and opened for traffic in 1871. (This line—which Mr.
Beecher served for some time as Vice-President—now constitutes the Beardstown & Shawneetown Division of
the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern.) The Springfield & Illinois Southeastern Company having fallen into
financial difficulty in 1873, Mr. Beecher was appointed receiver of the road, and, for a time, had
control of its operation as agent for the bondholders. In 1875 the line was conveyed to the Ohio &
Mississippi Railroad (now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio), when Mr. Beecher became General Counsel of
the controlling corporation, so remaining until 1888. From that date he continued to be one of the
assistant counsel of the Baltimore & Ohio system. His later home was in Cincinnati, although for over
a quarter of a century .he had been prominently identified with one of the most important railway
enterprises in Southern Illinois. In politics Mr. Beecher had always been a Republican, and was one
of the few in Wayne County who voted for Fremont in 1856, and for Lincoln in 1860. He was also a member
of the Republican State Central Committee of Illinois from 1860 for a period of ten or twelve years.
Died April 11, 1904.
BEECHER, Edward, D. D., clergyman and educator, was born at East Hampton, L. I., August
27, 1803—the son of Rev. Lyman Beecher and the elder brother of Henry Ward; graduated at Yale College
in 1822, taught for over a year at Hartford, Conn., studied theology, and after a year's service as
tutor in Yale College, in 1826 was ordained pastor of the Park Street Congregational Church in Boston.
In 1830 he became President of Illinois College at Jacksonville, remaining until 1844, when he resigned
and returned to Boston, serving as pastor of the Salem Street Church in that city until 1856, also
acting as senior editor of "The Congregationalist" for four years. In 1856 he returned to Illinois as
pastor of the First Congregational Church at Galesburg, continuing until 1871, when he removed to
Brooklyn, where he resided without pastoral charge, except 1885-89, when he was pastor of the Parkville
Congregational Church. While President of Illinois College, that institution was exposed to much hostile
criticism on account of his outspoken opposition to slavery, as shown by his participation in founding
the first Illinois State Anti-Slavery Society and his eloquent denunciation of the murder of Elijah P.
Lovejoy. Next to his brother Henry Ward, he was probably the most powerful orator belonging to that
gifted family, and, in connection with his able associates in the faculty of the Illinois College,
assisted to give that institution a wide reputation as a nursery of independent thought. Up to a short
time before his death, he was a prolific writer, his productions (besides editorials, reviews and
contributions on a variety of subjects) including nine or ten volumes, of which the most important
are: "Statement of Anti-Slavery Principles and Address to the People of Illinois" (1837); "A Plea for
Illinois College"; "History of the Alton Riots" (1838); "The Concord of Ages" (1853); "The Conflict of
Ages" (1854); "Papal Conspiracy Exposed" (1854), besides a number of others invariably on religious or
anti-slavery topics. Died in Brooklyn, July 28, 1895.
BEECHER, William H., clergyman — oldest son of Rev. Lyman Beecher and brother of Edward
and Henry Ward—was born at East Hampton, N. Y., educated at home and at Andover, became a
Congregationalist clergyman, occupying pulpits at Newport, R. I., Batavia, N. Y., and Cleveland, Ohio;
came to Chicago in his later years, dying at the home of his daughters in that city, June 23, 1889.
BEGGS, (Rev.) Stephen R., pioneer Methodist Episcopal preacher, was born in Buckingham
County, Va., March 30, 1801. His father, who was opposed to slavery, moved to Kentucky in 1805, but
remained there only two years, when he removed to Clark County, Ind. The son enjoyed but poor educational
advantages here, obtaining his education chiefly by his own efforts in what he called "Brush College." At
the age of 21 he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, during the next ten years
traveling different circuits in Indiana. In 1831 he was appointed to Chicago, but the Black Hawk War
coming on immediately thereafter, he retired to Plainfield. Later he traveled various circuits in
Illinois, until 1868, when he was superannuated, occupying his time thereafter in writing reminiscences
of his early history. A volume of this character published by him, was entitled "Pages from the Early
History of the West and Northwest." He died at Plainfield, Ill., Sept. 9, 1895, in the 95th year of his
age.
BEIDLER, Henry, early settler, was born of German extraction in Bucks County, Pa.,
Nov. 27, 1812; came to Illinois in 1843, settling first at Springfield, where he carried on the grocery
business for five years, then removed to Chicago-and engaged in the lumber trade in connection with a
brother, afterwards carrying on a large lumber manufacturing business at Muskegon, Mich., which proved
very profitable. In 1871 Mr. Beidler retired from the lumber trade, investing largely in west side real
estate in the city of Chicago, which appreciated rapidly in value, making him one of the most wealthy
real estate owners in Chicago. Died, March 16, 1893. — Jacob (Beidler), brother of the
preceding, was born in Bucks County, Penn., in 1815; came west in 1842, first began working as a
carpenter, but later engaged in the grocery business with his brother at Springfield, Ill.; in 1844
removed to Chicago, where he was joined by his brother four years later, when they engaged largely in
the lumber trade. Mr. Beidler retired from business in 1891, devoting his attention to large real estate
investments. He was a liberal contributor to religious, educational and benevolent institutions. Died in
Chicago, March 15, 1898.
BELFIELD, Henry Holmes, educator, was born in Philadelphia, Nov. 17, 1837; was educated
at an Iowa College, and for a time was tutor in the same; during the War of the Rebellion served in the
army of the Cumberland, first as Lieutenant and afterwards as Adjutant of the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, still
later being upon the staff of Gen. E. M. McCook, and taking part in the Atlanta and Nashville campaigns.
While a prisoner in the hands of the rebels he was placed under fire of the Union batteries at
Charleston. Coming to Chicago in 1866, he served as Principal in various public schools, including the
North Division High School. He was one of the earliest advocates of manual training, and, on the
establishment of the Chicago Manual Training School in 1884, was appointed its Director—a position which
he has continued to occupy. During 1891-92 he made a trip to Europe by appointment of the Government, to
investigate the school systems in European countries.
BELKNAP, Hugh Reid, ex-Member of Congress, was born in Keokuk, Iowa, Sept. 1, 1860,
being the son of W. W. Belknap, for some time Secretary of War under President Grant. After attending
the public schools of his native city, he took a course at Adams Academy, Quincy, Mass., and at Phillips
Academy, Andover, when he entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, where he remained
twelve years in various departments, finally becoming Chief Clerk of the General Manager. In 1892 he
retired from this position to become Superintendent of the South Side Elevated Railroad of Chicago. He
never held any political position until nominated (1894) as a Republican for the Fifty-fourth Congress,
in the strongly Democratic Third District of Chicago. Although the returns showed a plurality of
thirty-one votes for his Democratic opponent (Lawrence McGann), a recount proved him elected, when,
Mr. McGann having voluntarily withdrawn, Mr. Belknap was unanimously awarded the seat. In 1896 he was
re-elected from a District usually strongly Democratic, receiving a plurality of 590 votes, but was
defeated by his Democratic opponent in 1898, retiring from Congress, March 3, 1899, when he received an
appointment as Paymaster in the Army from President McKinley, with the rank of Major.
BELL, Robert, lawyer, was born in Lawrence County, Ill., in 1829, educated at Mount
Carmel and Indiana State University at Bloomington, graduating from the law department of the latter in
1855; while yet in his minority edited "The Mount Carmel Register," during 1851-52 becoming joint owner
and editor of the same with his brother, Victor D. Bell. After graduation he opened an office at
Fairfield, Wayne County, but, in 1857, returned to Mount Carmel and from 1864 was the partner of Judge
E. B. Green, until the appointment of the latter Chief Justice of Oklahoma by President Harrison in
1890. In 1869 Mr. Bell was appointed County Judge of Lawrence County, being elected to the same office
in 1894. He was also President of the Illinois Southern Railroad Company until it was merged into the
Cairo & Vincennes Road in 1867; later became President of the St. Louis & Mt. Carmel Railroad, now a
part of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis line, and secured the construction of the division from
Princeton, Ind., to Albion, Ill. In 1876 he visited California as Special Agent of the Treasury
Department to investigate alleged frauds in the Revenue Districts on the Pacific Coast; in 1878 was an
unsuccessful candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket in the strong Democratic Nineteenth
District; was appointed, the same year, a member of the Republican State Central Committee for the
State-at-large, and, in 1881, officiated by appointment of President Garfield, as Commissioner to
examine a section of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad in New Mexico. Judge Bell is a gifted stump-speaker
and is known in the southeastern part of the State as the "Silver-tongued Orator of the Wabash."
BELLEVILLE, the county-seat of St. Clair County, a city and railroad center, 14 miles
south of east from St. Louis. It is one of the oldest towns in the State, having been selected as the
county-seat in 1814 and platted in 1815. It lies in the center of a rich agricultural and coal-bearing
district and contains numerous factories, including agricultural implements, flouring mills, a nail
mill, glass works and shoe factories. It has five newspaper establishments, of which four issue both
daily and weekly editions. Its commercial and educational facilities are exceptionally good. Its
population is largely of German descent. Population (1890), 15,361; (1900), 17,484, (1910), 21,122.
BELLEVILLE, CENTRALIA & EASTERN RAILROAD. (See Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis
(Consolidated) Railroad.)
BELLEVILLE & CARONDELET RAILROAD, a short line of road extending from Belleville to
East Carondelet, Ill., 17.3 miles. It was chartered Feb. 20, 1881, and leased to the St. Louis, Alton
& Terre Haute Railroad Company, June 1, 1883. The annual rental is $30,000, a sum equivalent to the
interest on the bonded debt. The capital stock (1895) is $500,000 and the bonded debt $485,000. In
addition to these sums the floating debt swells the entire capitalization to $995,054 or $57,317 per
mile.
BELLEVILLE & ELDORADO RAILROAD, a road 50.4 miles in length running from Belleville
to Duquoin, Ill. It was chartered Feb. 22, 1861, and completed Oct. 81, 1871. On July 1, 1880, it was
leased to the St Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company for 486 years, and has since been operated
by that corporation in connection with its Belleville branch, from East St. Louis to Belleville. At
Eldorado the road intersects the Cairo & Vincennes Railroad and the Shawneetown branch of the St.
Louis & Southeastern Railroad, operated by the Louisville & Npshville Railroad Company. Its capital
stock (1895) is $1,000,000 and its bonded debt $550,000. The corporate office is at Belleville.
BELLEVILLE & ILL1NOISTOWN RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad.)
BELLEVILLE & SOUTHERN ILLINOIS RAILROAD, a road (laid with steel rails) running from
Belleville to Duquoin, Ill., 56.4 miles in length. It was chartered Feb. 15, 1857, and completed Dec.
15, 1873. At Duquoin it connects with the Illinois Central and forms a short line between St. Louis
and Cairo. Oct. 1, 1866, it was leased to the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company for 999
years. The capital stock is $1,692,000 and the bonded debt $1,000,000. The corporate office is at
Belleville.
BELLMONT, a village of Wabash County, on the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis
Railway, 9 miles west of Mount Carmel. Population (1880), 350; (1890), 487; (1900), 624; (1910), 550.
BELT RAILWAY COMPANY OF CHICAGO, THE, a corporation chartered, Nov. 22, 1882, and the
lessee of the Belt Division of the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad (which see). Its total trackage
(all of standard gauge and laid with 66-pound steel rails) is 93.26 miles, distributed as follows:
Auburn Junction to Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Junction, 15.9 miles; branches from Pullman Junction
to Irondale, Ill., etc., 5.41 miles; second track, 14.1 miles; sidings, 57.85 miles. The cost of
construction has been $524,549; capital stock, $1,200,000. It has no funded debt. The earnings for the
year ending June 30, 1895, were $556,847, the operating expenses $378,012, and the taxes $51,009.
BELVIDERE,an incorporated city, the county-seat of Boone County, situated on the
Kishwaukee River, and on two divisions of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, 78 miles west-northwest
of Chicago and 14 miles east of Rockford; is connected with the latter city by electric railroad. The
city has twelve churches, five graded schools, and three banks (two national). One daily and one
semi-weekly paper are published here. Belvidere also has very considerable manufacturing interests,
including manufactories of sewing machines, bicycles, automobiles, besides a large milk-condensing
factory and two creameries. Pop. (1890), 3,867; (1900), 6,937; (1910), 7,253.
BEMENT, a village in Piatt County, at intersection of main line and Chicago Division
of Wabash Railroad, 20 miles east of Decatur and 166 miles south-southwest of Chicago; in agricultural
and stock-raising district; has three grain elevators, broom factory, water-works, electric-light
plant, four churches, two banks and a weekly paper. Pop. (1900), 1,484; (1910), 1,530.
BENJAMIN, Reuben Moore, lawyer, born at Chatham Centre, Columbia County, N. Y., June
29, 1833; was educated at Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.; spent one year in the law department of
Harvard, another as tutor at Amherst and, in 1856, came to Bloomington, Ill., where, on an examination
certificate furnished by Abraham Lincoln, he was licensed to practice. The first public office held by
Mr. Benjamin was that of Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, in which he took
a prominent part in shaping the provisions of the new Constitution relating to corporations. In 1873
he was chosen County Judge of McLean County, by repeated re-elections holding the position until 1886,
when he resumed private practice. For more than twenty years he has been connected with the law
department of Wesleyan University at Bloomington, a part of the time being Dean of the Faculty; is
also the author of several volumes of legal textbooks.
BENNETT MEDICAL COLLEGE, an Eclectic Medical School of Chicago, incorporated by special
charter and opened in the autumn of 1868. Its first sessions were held in two large rooms; its faculty
consisted of seven professors, and there were thirty matriculates. More commodious quarters were
secured the following year, and a still better home after the fire of 1871, in which all the college
property was destroyed. Another change of location was made in 1874. In 1890 the property then owned
was sold and a new college building, in connection with a hospital, erected in a more quiet quarter
of the city. A free dispensary is conducted by the college. The teaching faculty (1896) consists of
nineteen professors, with four assistants and demonstrators. Women are admitted as pupils on equal
terms with men.
BENT, Charles, journalist, was born in Chicago, Dec. 8, 1844, but removed with his
family, in 1856, to Morrison, Whiteside County, where, two years later, he became an apprentice to the
printing business in the office of "The Whiteside Sentinel." In June, 1864, he enlisted as a soldier
in the One Hundred and Fortieth Illinois (100-days' regiment) and, on the expiration of his term of
service, re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Illinois, being mustered out at Savannah,
Ga., in January, 1866, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Then resuming his vocation as a printer, in
July, 1867, he purchased the office of "The Whiteside Sentinel," in which he learned his trade, and
has since been the editor of that paper, except during 1877-79 while engaged in writing a "History of
Whiteside County." He is a charter member of the local Grand Army Post and served on the staff of the
Department Commander; was Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue during 1870-73, and, in 1878, was
elected as a Republican to the State Senate for Whiteside and Carroll Counties, serving four years.
Other positions held by him include the office of City Alderman, member of the State Board of Canal
Commissioners (1883-85) and Commissioner of the Joliet Penitentiary (1889-93), member of the Republican
State Central Committee and (1911) is serving as U. S. Pension Agent.
BENTON, county seat of Franklin County, on Ill. Cent, and Chi. & E. Ill. railroads;
has electric-light plant, water-works, saddle and harness factory, two banks, two flouring mills, shale
brick and tile works, extensive coal mines in vicinity; has two weekly papers. Pop. (1900), 1,341;
(1910), 2,675.
BERDAN, James, lawyer and County Judge, was born in New York City, July 4, 1805, and
educated at Columbia and Yale Colleges, graduating from the latter in the class of 1824. His father,
James Berdan, Sr., came west in the fall of 1819 as one of the agents of a New York Emigration Society,
and, in January, 1820, visited the vicinity of the present site of Jacksonville, Ill., but died soon
after his return, in part from exposure incurred during his long and arduous winter journey. Thirteen
years later (1832) his son, the subject of this sketch, came to the same region, and Jacksonville became
his home for the remainder of his life. Mr. Berdan was a well-read lawyer, as well as a man of high
principle and sound culture, with pure literary and social tastes. Although possessing unusual
capabilities, his refinement of character and dislike of ostentation made him seek rather the
association and esteem of friends than public office. In 1849 he was elected County Judge of Morgan
County, serving by a second election until 1857. Later he was Secretary for several years of the Tonica
& Petersburg Railroad (at that time in course of construction), serving until it was merged into the St.
Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad, now constituting a part of the Jacksonville division of the
Chicago & Alton Railroad; also served for many years as a Trustee of Illinois College. In the latter
years of his life he was, for a considerable period, the law partner of ex-Governor and ex-Senator
Richard Yates. Judge Berdan was the ardent political friend and admirer of Abraham Lincoln, as well as
an intimate friend and frequent correspondent of the poet Longfellow, besides being the correspondent,
during a long period of his life, of a number of other prominent literary men. Pierre Irving, the
nephew and biographer of Washington Irving, was his brother-in-law through the marriage of a favorite
sister. Judge Berdan died at Jacksonville, August 24, 1884.
BERGEN, (Rev.) John G., pioneer clergyman, was born at Hightstown, N. J., Nov. 27,
1790; studied theology, and, after two years' service as tutor at Princeton and sixteen years as
pastor of a Presbyterian church at Madison, N. J., in 1828 came to Springfield, Ill., and assisted in
the erection of the first Protestant church in the central part of the State, of which he remained
pastor until 1848. Died, at Springfield, Jan. 17, 1872.
BERGGREN, Augustus W., legislator, born in Sweden, August 17, 1840; came to the United
States at 16 years of age and located at Oneida, Knox County, Ill., afterwards removing to Galesburg;
held various offices, including that of Sheriff of Knox County (1873-81), State Senator (1881-89) —
serving as President pro tem, of the Senate 1887-89, and was Warden of the State penitentiary at
Joliet, 1888-91. He was for many years the very able and efficient President of the Covenant Mutual
Life Association of Illinois, and is now its Treasurer.
BERGIER, (Rev.) J., a secular priest, born in France, and an early missionary in
Illinois. He labored among the Tamaroas, being in charge of the mission at Cahokia from 1700 to his
death in 1710.
BERRY, Orville F., lawyer and legislator, was born in McDonough County, Ill., Feb.
16, 1852; early left an orphan and, after working for some time on a farm, removed to Carthage,
Hancock County, where he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1877; in 1883 was elected Mayor of
Carthage and twice re-elected; was elected to the State Senate in 1888 and '92, and, in 1891, took a
prominent part in securing the enactment of the compulsory education clause in the common school law.
Mr. Berry presided over the Republican State Convention of 1896, the same year was a candidate for
re-election to the State Senate, but the certificate was awarded to his Democratic competitor, who was
declared elected by 164 plurality. On a contest before the Senate at the first session of the Fortieth
General Assembly, the seat was awarded to Mr. Berry on the ground of illegality in the rulings of the
Secretary of State affecting the vote of his opponent.
BERRY, (Col.) William W., lawyer and soldier, was born in Kentucky, Feb. 22, 1834, and
educated at Oxford, Ohio. His home being then in Covington, he studied law in Cincinnati, and, at the
age of 23, began practice at Louisville, Ky., being married two years later to Miss Georgie Hewitt of
Frankfort. Early in 1861 he entered the Civil War on the Union side as Major of the Louisville Legion,
and subsequently served in the Army of the Cumberland, marching to the sea with Sherman and, during the
period of his service, receiving four wounds. After the close of the war he was offered the position of
Governor of one of the Territories, but, determining not to go further west than Illinois, declined.
For three years he was located and in practice at Winchester, Ill., but removed to Quincy in 1874, where
he afterwards resided. He always took a warm interest in politics and, in local affairs, was a leader
of his party. He was an organizer of the G. A. R. Post at Quincy and its first Commander, and, in
1884-85, served as Commander of the State Department of the G. A. R. He organized a Young Men's
Republican Club, as he believed that the young minds should take an active part in politics. He was one
of the committee of seven appointed by the Governor to locate the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home for
Illinois, and, after spending six months inspecting various sites offered, the institution was finally
located at Quincy; was also Trustee of Knox College, at Galesburg, for several years. He was frequently
urged by his party friends to run for public office, but it was so much against his nature to ask for
even one vote, that he would not consent. He died at his home in Quincy, much regretted, May 6, 1895.
BESTOR, George C., legislator, born in Washington City, April 11, 1811; was assistant
document clerk in the House of Representatives eight years; came to Illinois in 1835 and engaged in
real-estate business at Peoria; was twice appointed Postmaster of that city (1842 and 1861) and three
times elected Mayor; served as financial agent of the Peoria & Oquawka (now Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad), and a Director of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw; a delegate to the Whig National
Convention of 1852; a State Senator (1858-62), and an ardent friend of Abraham Lincoln. Died, in
Washington, May 14, 1872, while prosecuting a claim against the Government for the construction of
gunboats during the war.
BERWYN, a city (suburb of Chicago) on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Illinois
Central Railroads; is a popular residence section; has one local paper. Pop. (1910), 5,841.
BETHANY, a village of Moultrie County, on Peoria Division Ill. Cent. Railroad, 18
miles southeast of Decatur; in farming district; has one newspaper and four churches. Pop., mostly
American born, (1890), 688; (1900), 873; (1910), 859.
BETTIE STUART INSTITUTE, an institution for young ladies at Springfield, Ill., founded
in 1868 by Mrs. Mary McKee Homes, who conducted it for some twenty years, until her death. Its report
for 1898 shows a faculty of ten instructors and 125 pupils. Its property is valued at $23,500. Its
course of instruction embraces the preparatory and classical branches, together with music, oratory
and fine arts.
BEVERIDGE, James H., State Treasurer, was born in Washington County, N. Y., in 1828;
served as State Treasurer, 1865-67, later acted as Secretary of the Commission which built the State
Capitol. His later years were spent in superintending a large dairy farm near Sandwich, De Kalb County,
where he died in January, 1896.
BEVERIDGE, John L., ex-Governor, was born in Greenwich, N. Y., July 6, 1824; came to
Illinois, 1842, and, after spending some two years in Granville Academy and Rock River Seminary, went
to Tennessee, where he engaged in teaching while studying law. Having been admitted to the bar, he
returned to Illinois in 1851, first locating at Sycamore, but three years later established himself
in Chicago. During the first year of the war he assisted to raise the Eighth Regiment Illinois Cavalry,
and was commissioned first as Captain and still later Major; two years later became Colonel of the
Seventeenth Cavalry, which he commanded to the close of the war, being mustered out, February, 1866,
with the rank of brevet Brigadier-General. After the war he held the office of Sheriff of Cook County
four years; in 1870 was elected to the State Senate, and, in the following year, Congressman-at-large
to succeed General Logan, elected to the United States Senate; resigned this office in January, 1873,
having been elected Lieutenant-Governor, and a few weeks later succeeded to the governorship by the
election of Governor Oglesby to the United States Senate. In 1881 he was appointed, by President
Arthur, Assistant United States Treasurer for Chicago, serving until after Cleveland's first election.
His last home was near Los Angeles, Cal., where he died May 3, 1910.
BIENVILLE, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur le, was born at Montreal, Canada, Feb. 23,
1680, and was the French Governor of Louisiana at the time the Illinois country was included in that
province. He had several brothers, a number of whom played important parts in the early history of the
province. Bienville first visited Louisiana, in company with his brother Iberville, in 1698, their
object being to establish a French colony near the mouth of the Mississippi. The first settlement was
made at Biloxi, Dec. 6, 1699, and Sanvolle, another brother, was placed in charge. The latter was
afterward made Governor of Louisiana, and, at his death (1701), he was succeeded by Bienville, who
transferred the seat of government to Mobile. In 1704 he was joined by his brother Chateaugay, who
brought seventeen settlers from Canada. Soon afterwards Iberville died, and Bienville was recalled to
France in 1707, but was reinstated the following year. Finding the Indians worthless as tillers of the
soil, he seriously suggested to the home government the expediency of trading off the copper-colored
aborigines for negroes from the West Indies, three Indians to be reckoned as equivalent to two
blacks. In 1713 Cadillac was sent out as Governor, Bienville being made Lieutenant-Governor. The two
quarreled. Cadillac was superseded by Epinay in 1717, and, in 1718, Law's first expedition arrived (see
Company of the West), and brought a Governor's commission for Bienville. The latter soon after founded
New Orleans, which became the seat of government for the province (which then included Illinois), in
1723. In January, 1724, he was again summoned to France to answer charges; was removed in disgrace in
1726, but reinstated in 1733 and given the rank of Lieutenant-General. Failing in various expeditions
against the Chickasaw Indians, he was again superseded in 1743, returning to France, where he died in
1768.
BIGGS, William, pioneer, Judge and legislator, was born in Maryland in 1753, enlisted
in the Revolutionary army, and served as an officer under Colonel George Rogers Clark in the expedition
for the capture of Illinois from the British in 1778. He settled in Bellefontaine (now Monroe County)
soon after the close of the war. He was Sheriff of St. Clair County for many years, and later Justice
of the Peace and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He also represented his county in the Territorial
Legislatures of Indiana and Illinois. Died, in St. Clair County, in 1827.
BIGGSVILLE, a village of Henderson County, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad, 15 miles northeast of Burlington; has a bank and one newspaper and a brick yard; considerable
grain and live-stock are shipped here. Population (1890), 487; (1900), 417; (1910), 400.
BIG MUDDY RIVER, a stream formed by the union of two branches which rise in Jefferson
County. It runs south and southwest through Franklin and Jackson Counties, and enters the Mississippi
about five miles below Grand Tower. Its length is estimated at 140 miles.
BILLINGS, Albert Merritt, capitalist, was born in New Hampshire, April 19, 1814,
educated in the common schools of his native State and Vermont, and, at the age of 22, became Sheriff
of Windsor County, Vt. Later he was proprietor for a time of the mail stage-coach line between Concord,
N. H., and Boston, but, having sold out, invested his means in the securities of the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul Railway and became identified with the business interests of Chicago. In the '50's he became
associated with Cornelius K. Garrison in the People's Gas Company of Chicago, of which he served as
President from 1859 to 1888. In 1890 Mr. Billings became extensively interested in the street railway
enterprises of Mr. C. B. Holmes, resulting in his becoming the proprietor of the street railway system
at Memphis, Tenn., valued, in 1897, at $3,000,000. In early life he had been associated with Commodore
Vanderbilt in the operation of the Hudson River steamboat lines of the latter. In addition to his other
business enterprises, he was principal owner and, during the last twenty-five years of his life,
President of the Home National and Home Savings Banks of Chicago. Died, Feb. 7, 1897, leaving an estate
valued at several millions of dollars.
BILLINGS, Henry W., was born at Conway, Mass., July 11, 1814, graduated at Amherst
College at twenty years of age, and began the study of law with Judge Foote, of Cleveland, Ohio, was
admitted to the bar two years later and practiced there some two years longer. He then removed to St.
Louis, Mo., later resided for a time at Waterloo and Cairo, Ill., but, in 1845, settled at Alton; was
elected Mayor of that city in 1851, and the first Judge of the newly organized City Court, in 1859,
serving in this position six years. In 1869 he was elected a Delegate from Madison County to the State
Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, but died before the expiration of the session, on April 19,
1870.
BIRKBECK, Morris, early colonist, was born in England about 1762 or 1763, emigrated to
America in 1817, and settled in Edwards County, Ill. He purchased a large tract of land and induced a
large colony of English artisans, laborers and farmers to settle upon the same, founding the town of
New Albion. He was an active, uncompromising opponent of slavery, and was an important factor in
defeating the scheme to make Illinois a slave State. He was appointed Secretary of State by Governor
Coles in October, 1824, but resigned at the end of three months, a hostile Legislature having refused
to confirm him. A strong writer and a frequent contributor to the press, his letters and published
works attracted attention both in this country and in Europe. Principal among the latter were: "Notes
on a Journey Through France" (1815); "Notes on a Journey Through America" (1818), and "Letters from
Illinois" (1818). Died from drowning in 1825, aged about 63 years. (See Slavery and Slave Laws.)
BISSELL, William H., first Republican Governor of Illinois, was born near Cooperstown,
N. Y., on April 25, 1811, graduated in medicine at Philadelphia in 1835, and, after practicing a short
time in Steuben County, N. Y., removed to Monroe County, Ill. In 1840 he was elected a Representative
in the General Assembly, where he soon attained high rank as a debater. He studied law and practiced
in Belleville, St. Clair County, becoming Prosecuting Attorney for that county in 1844. He served as
Colonel of the Second Illinois Volunteers during the Mexican War, and achieved distinction at Buena
Vista. He represented Illinois in Congress from 1849 to 1855, being first elected as an Independent
Democrat. On the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, he left the Democratic party and, in 1856, was
elected Governor on the Republican ticket. While in Congress he was challenged by Jefferson Davis after
an interchange of heated words respecting the relative courage of Northern and Southern soldiers,
spoken in debate. Bissell accepted the challenge, naming muskets at thirty paces. Mr. Davis's friends
objected, and the duel never occurred. Died in office, at Springfield, Ill., March 18, 1860.
|
