BLACK, John Charles, lawyer and soldier, born at Lexington, Miss., Jan. 29, 1839, at
eight years of age came with his widowed mother to Illinois; while a student at Wabash College, Ind.,
in April, 1861, enlisted in the Union army, serving gallantly and with distinction until Aug. 15, 1865,
when, as Colonel of the 37th Ill. Vol. Inf., he retired with the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General; was
admitted to the bar in 1857, and after practicing at Danville, Champaign and Urbana, in 1885 was
appointed Commissioner of Pensions, serving until 1889, when he removed to Chicago; served as
Congressman-at-large (1893-95), and U. S. District Attorney (1895-99); Commander of the Loyal Legion
and of the G. A. R. (Department of Illinois); was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army at the
Grand Encampment, 1903. Gen. Black received the honorary degree of A.M. from his Alma Mater and that
of LL. D. from Knox College; in January, 1904, was appointed by President Roosevelt member of the U. S.
Civil Service Commission, and chosen its President.
BLACKBURN UNIVERSITY, located at Carlinville, Macoupin County. It owes its origin to
the efforts of Dr. Gideon Blackburn, who, having induced friends in the East to unite with him in the
purchase of Illinois lands at Government price, in 1837 conveyed 16,656 acres of these lands, situated
in ten different counties, in trust for the founding of an institution of learning, intended
particularly "to qualify young men for the gospel ministry." The citizens of Carlinville donated funds
wherewith to purchase eighty acres of land, near that city, as a site, which was included in the deed
of trust. The enterprise lay dormant for many years, and it was not until 1857 that the institution was
formally incorporated, and ten years later it was little more than a high school, giving one course of
instruction considered particularly adapted to prospective students of theology. At present (1898) there
are about 110 students in attendance, a faculty of twelve instructors, and a theological, as well as
preparatory and collegiate departments. The institution owns property valued at $110,000, of which
$50,000 is represented by real estate and $40,000 by endowment funds.
BLACK HAWK, a Chief of the Sac tribe of Indians, reputed to have been born at Kaskaskia
in 1767. (It is also claimed that he was born on Rock River, as well as within the present limits of
Hancock County.) Conceiving that his people had been wrongfully despoiled of lands belonging to them,
in 1832 he inaugurated what is commonly known as the Black Hawk War. His Indian name was
Makabaimishekiakiak, signifying Black Sparrow Hawk. He was ambitious, but susceptible to flattery, and
while having many of the qualities of leadership, was lacking in moral force. He was always attached to
British interests, and unquestionably received British aid of a substantial sort. After his defeat he
was made the ward of Keokuk, another Chief, which humiliation of his pride broke his heart. He died on
a reservation set apart for him in Iowa, in 1838, aged 71. His body is said to have been exhumed nine
months after death, and his articulated skeleton is alleged to have been preserved in the rooms of the
Burlington (Ia.) Historical Society until 1855, when it was destroyed by fire. (See also Black Hawk
War: Appendix.)
BLACKSTONE, Timothy B., Eailway President, was born at Branford, Conn., March 28,
1829. After receiving a common school education, supplemented by a course in a neighboring academy, at
18 he began the practical study of engineering in a corps employed by the New York & New Hampshire
Railway Company, and the same year became assistant engineer on the Stockbridge & Pittsfield Railway.
While thus employed he applied himself diligently to the study of the theoretical science of
engineering, and, on coming to Illinois in 1851, was qualified to accept and fill the position of
division engineer (from Bloomington to Dixon) on the Illinois Central Railway. On the completion of the
main line of that road in 1855, he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Joliet & Chicago Railroad, later
becoming financially interested therein, and being chosen President of the corporation on the completion
of the line. In January, 1864, the Chicago & Joliet was leased in perpetuity to the Chicago & Alton
Railroad Company. Mr. Blackstone then became a Director in the latter organization and, in April
following, was chosen its President. This office he filled uninterruptedly until April 1, 1899, when
the road passed into the hands of a syndicate of other lines. He was also one of the original
incorporators of the Union Stock Yards Company, and was its President from 1864 to 1868. His career
as a railroad man was conspicuous for its long service, the uninterrupted success of his management
of the enterprises entrusted to his hands and his studious regard for the interests of stockholders.
This was illustrated by the fact that, for some thirty years, the Chicago & Alton Railroad paid
dividends on its preferred and common stock, ranging from 6 to 8 % per cent per annum, and, on
disposing of his stock consequent on the transfer of the line to a new corporation in 1899, Mr.
Blackstone rejected offers for his stock—aggregating nearly one-third of the whole—which would have
netted him $1,000,000 in excess of the amount received, because he was unwilling to use his position
to reap an advantage over smaller stockholders. Died, May 21, 1900.
BLACKWELL, Robert S., lawyer, was born at Belleville, Ill., in 1823. He belonged to a
prominent family in the early history of the State, his father, David Blackwell, who was also a lawyer
and settled in Belleville about 1819, having been a member of the Second General Assembly (1820) from
St. Clair County, and also of the Fourth and Fifth. In April, 1823, he was appointed by Governor Coles
Secretary of State, succeeding Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, afterwards a Justice of the Supreme Court, who
had just received from President Monroe the appointment of Receiver of Public Moneys at the Edwardsville
Land Office. Mr. Blackwell served in the Secretary's office to October, 1824, during a part of the time
acting as editor of "The Illinois Intelligencer," which had been removed from Kaskaskia to Vandalia,
and in which he strongly opposed the policy of making Illinois a slave State. He finally died in
Belleville. Robert Blackwell, a brother of David and the uncle of the subject of this sketch, was joint
owner with Daniel P. Cook, of "The Illinois Herald"—afterwards "The Intelligencer" — at Kaskaskia, in
1816, and in April, 1817, succeeded Cook in the office of Territorial Auditor of Public Accounts, being
himself succeeded by Elijah C. Berry, who had become his partner on "The Intelligencer," and served as
Auditor until the organization of the State Government in 1818. Blackwell & Berry were chosen State
Printers after the removal of the State capital to Vandalia in 1820, serving in this capacity for some
years. Robert Blackwell located at Vandalia and served as a member of the House from Fayette County in
the Eighth and Ninth General Assemblies (1832-36) and in the Senate, 1840-42. Robert S.—the son of
David, and the younger member of this somewhat famous and historic family—whose name stands at the head
of this paragraph, attended the common schools at Belleville in his boyhood, but in early manhood
removed to Galena, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He later studied law with Hon. O. H.
Browning at Quincy, beginning practice at Rushville, where he was associated for a time with Judge
Minshall. In 1852 he removed to Chicago, having for his first partner Corydon Beckwith, afterwards of
the Supreme Court, still later being associated with a number of prominent lawyers of that day. He is
described by his biographers as "an able lawyer, an eloquent advocate and a brilliant scholar."
"Blackwell on Tax Titles," from his pen, has been accepted by the profession as a high authority on
that branch of law. He also published a revision of the Statutes in 1858, and began an "Abstract of
Decisions of the Supreme Court," which had reached the third or fourth volume at his death, May 16,
1863.
BLAIR, William, merchant, was born at Homer, Cortland County, N. Y., May 20, 1818,
being descended through five generations of New England ancestors. After attending school in the town
of Cortland, which became his father's residence, at the age of 14 he obtained employment in a stove
and hardware store, four years later (1836) coming to Joliet, Ill., to take charge of a branch store
which the firm had established there. The next year he purchased the stock and continued the business
on his own account. In August, 1842, he removed to Chicago, where he established the earliest and one
of the most extensive wholesale hardware concerns in that city, with which he remained connected nearly
fifty years. During this period he was associated with various partners, including C. B. Nelson, E. G.
Hall, O. W. Belden, James H. Horton and others, besides, at times, conducting the business alone. He
suffered by the fire of 1871 in common with other business men of Chicago, but promptly resumed business
and, within the next two or three years, had erected business blocks, successively, on Lake and
Randolph Streets, but retired from business in 1888. He was a Director of the Merchants' National Bank
of Chicago from its organization in 1865, as also for a time of the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph
Company and the Chicago Gaslight & Coke Company, a Trustee of Lake Forest University, one of the
Managers of the Presbyterian Hospital and a member of the Chicago Historical Society. Died in Chicago,
May 10, 1899.
BLAKELY, David, journalist, was born in Franklin County, Vt., in 1834; learned the
printer's trade and graduated from the University of Vermont in 1857. He was a member of a musical
family which, under the name of "The Blakely Family," made several successful tours of the West. He
engaged in journalism at Rochester, Minn., and, in 1862, was elected Secretary of State and ex-officio
Superintendent of Schools, serving until 1865, when he resigned and, in partnership with a brother,
bought "The Chicago Evening Post," with which he was connected at the time of the great fire and for
some time afterward. Later, he returned to Minnesota and became one of the proprietors and a member
of the editorial staff of "The St. Paul Pioneer Press." In his later years Mr. Blakely was President
of the Blakely Printing Company, of Chicago, also conducting a large printing business in New York,
which was his residence. He was manager for several years of the celebrated Gilmore Band of musicians,
and also instrumental in organizing the celebrated Sousa's Band, of which he was manager up to the time
of his decease in New York, Nov. 7, 1896.
BLAKEMAN, Curtiss, sea-captain, and pioneer settler, came from New England to Madison
County, Ill., in 1819, and settled in what was afterwards known as the "Marine Settlement," of which he
was one of the founders. This settlement, of which the present town of Marine (first called Madison) was
the outcome, took its name from the fact that several of the early settlers, like Captain Blakeman, were
sea-faring men. Captain Blakeman became a prominent citizen and represented Madison County in the lower
branch of the Third and Fourth General Assemblies (1822 and 1824), in the former being one of the
opponents of the pro-slavery amendment of the Constitution. A son of his, of the same name, was a
Representative in the Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth General Assemblies from Madison County.
BLANCHARD, Jonathan, clergyman and educator, was born in Rockingham, Vt., Jan. 19,
1811; graduated at Middlebury College in 1832; then, after teaching some time, spent two years in
Andover Theological Seminary, finally graduating in theology at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, in 1838,
where he remained nine years as pastor of the Sixth Presbyterian Church of that city. Before this time
he had become interested in various reforms, and, in 1843, was sent as a delegate to the second
"World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London, serving as the American Vice-President of that body. In
1846 he assumed the Presidency of Knox College at Galesburg, remaining until 1858, during his connection
with that institution doing much to increase its capacity and resources. After two years spent in
pastoral work, he accepted (1860) the Presidency of "Wheaton College, which he continued to fill until
1882, when he was chosen President Emeritus, remaining in this position until his death, May 14,
1892.
BLANDINSVILLE, a town in McDonough County, on the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad,
26 miles southeast of Burlington, Iowa, and 64 miles west by south from Peoria. It is a shipping point
for the grain grown in the surrounding country, and has a grain elevator and steam flour and saw mills.
It also has banks, one weekly newspaper and several churches. Population (1890), 877; (1900), 995;
(1910), 987.
BLANEY, Jerome Van Zandt, early physician, born at Newcastle, Del., May 1, 1820; was
educated at Princeton and graduated in medicine at Philadelphia when too young to receive his diploma;
in 1842 came west and joined Dr. Daniel Brainard in founding Rush Medical College at Chicago, for a
time filling three chairs in that institution; also, for a time, occupied the chair of Chemistry and
Natural Philosophy in Northwestern University. In 1861 he was appointed Surgeon, and afterwards Medical
Director, in the army, and was Surgeon-in-Chief on the staff of General Sheridan at the time of the
battle of Winchester; after the war was delegated by the Government to pay off medical officers in the
Northwest, in this capacity disbursing over $600,000; finally retiring with the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel. Died, Dec. 11, 1874.
BLATCHFORD, Eliphalet Wickes, LL.D., son of Dr. John Blatchford, was born at
Stillwater, N. Y., May 31, 1826; being a grandson of Samuel Blatchford, D.D.,who came to New York from
England, in 1795. He prepared for college at Lansingburg Academy. New York, and at Marion College, Mo.,
finally graduating at Illinois College, Jacksonville, in the class of 1845. After graduating, he was
employed for several years in the law offices of his uncles, R. M. and E. H. Blatchford, New York. For
considerations of health he returned to the West, and, in 1850, engaged in business for himself as a
lead manufacturer in St. Louis, Mo., afterwards associating with him the late Morris Collins, under the
firm name of Blatchford & Collins. In 1854 a branch was established in Chicago, known as Collins &
Blatchford. After a few years the firm was dissolved, Mr. Blatchford taking the Chicago business, which
has continued as E. W. Blatchford & Co. to the present time. While Mr. Blatchford has invariably
declined political offices, he has been recognized as a staunch Republican, and the services of few men
have been in more frequent request for positions of trust in connection with educational and benevolent
enterprises. Among the numerous positions of this character which he has been called to fill are those
of Treasurer of the Northwestern Branch of the United States Sanitary Commission, during the Civil War,
to which he devoted a large part of his time; Trustee of Illinois College (1866-75); President of the
Chicago Academy of Sciences; a member, and for seventeen years President, of the Board of Trustees of
the Chicago Eye and Ear Infirmary; Trustee of the Chicago Art Institute; Executor and Trustee of the
late Walter L. Newberry, and, since its incorporation, President of the Board of Trustees of The
Newberry Library; Trustee of the John Crerar Library; one of the founders and President of the Board of
Trustees of the Chicago Manual Training School; life member of the Chicago Historical Society; for
nearly forty years President of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Theological Seminary; during his
residence in Chicago an officer of the New England Congregational Church; a corporate member of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and for fourteen years its Vice-President; a
charter member of the City Missionary Society, and of the Congregational Club of Chicago; a member of
the Chicago Union League, the University, the Literary and the Commercial Clubs, of which latter he has
been President. Oct. 7, 1858, Mr. Blatchford was married to Miss Mary Emily Williams, daughter of John
C. Williams, of Chicago. Seven children—four sons and three daughters—have blessed this union, the
eldest son, Paul, being today one of Chicago's valued business men. Mr. Blatchford's life has been one
of ceaseless and successful activity in business, and to him Chicago owes much of its prosperity. In
the giving of time and money for Christian, educational and benevolent enterprises, he has been
conspicuous for his generosity, and noted for his valuable counsel and executive ability in carrying
these enterprises to success.
BLATCHFORD, John, D.D., was born at Newfield (now Bridgeport), Conn., May 24, 1799;
removed in childhood to Lansingburg, N. Y., and was educated at Cambridge Academy and Union College in
that State, graduating in 1820. He finished his theological course at Princeton, N. J., in 1823, after
which he ministered successively to Presbyterian churches at Pittstown and Stillwater, N. Y., in 1830
accepting the pastorate of the First Congregational Church of Bridgeport, Conn. In 1836 he came to the
West, spending the following winter at Jacksonville, Ill., and, in 1837, was installed the first pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where he remained until compelled by failing health to
resign and return to the East. In 1841 he accepted the chair of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at
Marion College, Mo., subsequently assuming the Presidency. The institution having been purchased by the
Free Masons, in 1844, he removed to West Ely, Mo., and thence, in 1847, to Quincy, Ill., where he
resided during the remainder of his life. His death occurred in St. Louis, April 8, 1855. The churches
he served testified strongly to Dr. Blatchford's faithful, acceptable and successful performance of his
ministerial duties. He was married in 1825 to Frances Wickes, daughter of Eliphalet Wickes, Esq., of
Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y.
BLEDSOE, Albert Taylor, teacher and lawyer, was born in Frankfort, Ky., Nov. 9, 1809;
graduated at West Point Military Academy in 1830, and, after two years' service at Fort Gibson, Indian
Territory, retired from the army in 1832. During 1833-34 he was Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and
teacher of French at Kenyon College, Ohio, and, in 1835-36, Professor of Mathematics at Miami
University. Then, having studied theology, he served for several years as rector of Episcopal churches
in Ohio. In 1838 he settled at Springfield, Ill., and began the practice of law, remaining several
years, when he removed to Washington, D. C. Later he became Professor of Mathematics, first (1848-54)
in the University of Mississippi, and (1854-61) in the University of Virginia. He then entered the
Confederate service with the rank of Colonel, but soon became Acting Assistant Secretary of War; in
1863 visited England to collect material for a work on the Constitution, which was published in 1866,
when he settled at Baltimore, where he began the publication of "The Southern Review," which became the
recognized organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Later he became a minister of the Methodist
Church. He gained considerable reputation for eloquence during his residence in Illinois, and was the
author of a number of works on religious and political subjects, the latter maintaining the right of
secession; was a man of recognized ability, but lacked stability of character. Died at Alexandria, Va.,
Dec. 8, 1877.
BLODGETT, Henry Williams, jurist, was born at Amherst, Mass., in 1821. At the age of
10 years he removed with his parents to Illinois, where he attended the district schools, later
returning to Amherst to spend a year at the Academy. Returning home, he spent the years 1839-42 in
teaching and surveying. In 1842 he began the study of law at Chicago, being admitted to the bar in 1845,
and beginning practice at Waukegan, Ill., where he has continued to reside. In 1852 he was elected to
the lower house of the Legislature from Lake County, as an anti-slavery candidate, and, in 1858, to the
State Senate, in the latter serving four years. He gained distinction as a railroad solicitor, being
employed at different times by the Chicago & Northwestern, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the
Michigan Southern and the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Companies. Of the second named road he was one of the
projectors, procuring its charter, and being identified with it in the several capacities of Attorney,
Director and President. In 1870 President Grant appointed him Judge of the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Illinois. This position he continued to occupy for twenty-two years,
resigning it in 1892 to accept an appointment by President Cleveland as one of the counsel for the
United States before the Behring Sea Arbitrators at Paris, bis last official service. Died Feb. 9,
1905.
BLOOMINGDALE, a village of Du Page County, 30 miles west by north from Chicago. Pop.
(1880), 226; (1890), 463; (1900), 235; (1910), 462.
BLOOMINGTON, the county-seat of McLean County, a flourishing city and railroad center,
59 miles northeast of Springfield; is in a rich agricultural and coal-mining district. Besides car
shops and repair works employing some 2,000 hands, there are manufactories of stoves, furnaces, plows,
flour, etc. Nurseries are numerous in the vicinity and horse breeding receives muoh attention. The city
is the seat of Illinois Wesleyan University, has fine public schools, several newspapers (two published
daily), besides educational and other publications. The business section suffered a disastrous fire in
1900, but has been rebuilt more substantially than before. The principal streets are paved and electric
street cars connect with Normal (two miles distant), the site of the "State Normal University" and
"Soldiers' Orphans' Home." Pop. (1900), 23,286; (1910), 25,768.
BLOOMINGTON CONVENTION OF 1856. Although not formally called as such, this was the
first Republican State Convention held in Illinois, out of which grew a permanent Republican
organization in the State. A mass convention of those opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
(known as an "Anti-Nebraska Convention") was held at Springfield during the week of the State Fair of
1854 (on Oct. 4 and 5), and, although it adopted a platform in harmony with the principles which
afterwards became the foundation of the Republican party, and appointed a State Central Committee,
besides putting in nomination a candidate for State Treasurer—the only State officer elected that
year—the organization was not perpetuated, the State Central Committee failing to organize. The
Bloomington Convention of 1856 met in accordance with a call issued by a State Central Committee
appointed by the Convention of Anti-Nebraska editors held at Decatur on February 22, 1856.
(See Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention.) The call did not even contain the word "Republican," but was
addressed to those opposed to the principles of the Nebraska Bill and the policy of the existing
Democratic administration. The Convention met on May 29, 1856, the date designated by the Editorial
Convention at Decatur, but was rather in the nature of a mass than a delegate convention, as party
organizations existed in few counties of the State at that time. Consequently representation was very
unequal and followed no systematic rule. Out of one hundred counties into which the State was then
divided, only seventy were represented by delegates, ranging from one to twenty-five each, leaving
thirty counties (embracing nearly the whole of the southern part of the State) entirely unrepresented.
Lee County had the largest representation (twenty-five), Morgan County (the home of Richard Yates)
coming next with twenty delegates, while Cook County had seventeen and Sangamon had five. The whole
number of delegates, as shown by the contemporaneous record, was 269. Among the leading spirits in the
Convention were Abraham Lincoln, Archibald Williams, 0. H. Browning, Richard Yates, John M. Palmer,
Owen Lovejoy, Norman B. Judd, Burton C. Cook and others who afterwards became prominent in State
politics. The delegation from Cook County included the names of John Wentworth, Grant Goodrich, George
Schneider, Mark Skinner, Charles H. Ray and Charles L. Wilson. The temporary organization was effected
with Archibald Williams of Adams County in the chair, followed by the election of John M. Palmer of
Macoupin, as Permanent President. The other officers were: Vice-Presidents—John A. Davis of Stephenson;
William Ross of Pike; James McKee of Cook; John H. Bryant of Bureau; A. C. Harding of Warren; Richard
Yates of Morgan; Dr. H. C. Johns of Macon; D. L. Phillips of Union; George Smith of Madison; Thomas A.
Marshall of Coles; J. M. Ruggles of Mason; G.D. A. Parks of Will, and John Clark of Schuyler.
Secretaries—Henry S. Baker of Madison; Charles L. Wilson of Cook; John Tillson of Adams; Washington
Bushnell of La Salle, and B. J. F. Hanna of Randolph. A State ticket was put in nomination consisting
of William H. Bissell for Governor (by acclamation); Francis A. Hoffman of Du Page County, for
Lieutenant-Governor; Ozias M. Hatch of Pike, for Secretary of State; Jesse K. Dubois of Lawrence, for
Auditor; James Miller of McLean, for Treasurer, and William H. Powell of Peoria, for Superintendent of
Public Instruction. Hoffman, having been found ineligible by lack of residence after the date of
naturalization, withdrew, and his place was subsequently filled by the nomination of John Wood of
Quincy. The platform adopted was outspoken in its pledges of unswerving loyalty to the Union and
opposition to the extension of slavery into new territory. A delegation was appointed to the National
Convention to be held in Philadelphia on June 17, following, and a State Central Committee was named to
conduct the State campaign, consisting of James C. Conkling of Sangamon County; Asahel Gridley of
McLean; Burton C. Cook of La Salle, and Charles H. Ray and Norman B. Judd of Cook. The principal
speakers of the occasion, before the convention or in popular meetings held while the members were
present in Bloomington, included the names of O. H. Browning, Owen Lovejoy, Abraham Lincoln, Burton C.
Cook, Richard Yates, the venerable John Dixon, founder of the city bearing his name, and Governor
Reeder of Pennsylvania, who had been Territorial Governor of Kansas by appointment of President Pierce,
but had refused to carry out the policy of the administration for making Kansas a slave State. None
of the speeches were fully reported, but that of Mr. Lincoln has been universally regarded by those who
heard it as the gem of the occasion and the most brilliant of his life, foreshadowing his celebrated
"house-divided-against-itself" speech of June 17, 1858. John L. Scripps, editor of "The Chicago
Democratic Press," writing of it, at the time, to his paper, said: "Never has it been our fortune to
listen to a more eloquent and masterly presentation of a subject. For an hour and a half he (Mr.
Lincoln) held the assemblage spellbound by the power of his argument, the intense irony of his
invective, and the deep earnestness and fervid brilliancy of his eloquence. When he concluded, the
audience sprang to their feet and cheer after cheer told how deeply their hearts had been touched and
their souls warmed up to a generous enthusiasm." At the election, in November following, although the
Democratic candidate for President carried the State by a plurality of over 9,000 votes, the entire
State ticket put in nomination at Bloomington was successful by majorities ranging from 3,000 to 20,000
for the several candidates.
BLUE ISLAND, a village of Cook County, on the Calumet River and the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific, the Chicago & Grand Trunk and the Illinois Central Railways, 15 miles south of
Chicago. It has a high school, churches and two newspapers, besides brick, smelting and oil works.
Pop. (1910), 8,043; annexed to city of Chicago, 1911.
BLUE ISLAND RAILROAD, a short line 3.96 miles in length, lying wholly within Illinois;
capital stock $25,000; operated by the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Its funded debt (1895) was
$100,000 and its floating debt, $3,779.
BLUE MOUND, a town of Macon County, on the Wabash Railway, 14 miles southeast of
Decatur; in rich grain and live-stock region; has three grain elevators, two banks, tile factory and
one newspaper. Pop. (1900), 714, (1910), 900.
BLUFFS, a village of Scott County, at the junction of the Quincy and Hannibal branches
of the Wabash Railway, 52 miles west of Springfield ; has a bank and a newspaper. Population (1880),
162; (1890), 421, (1900), 539; (1910), 766.
BOAL, Robert, M.D., physician and legislator, born near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1806; was
brought by his parents to Ohio when five years old and educated at Cincinnati, graduating from the Ohio
Medical College in 1828; settled at Lacon, Ill., in 1836, practicing there until 1862, when, having
been appointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for that District, he removed to Peoria. Other public
positions held by Dr. Boal have been those of Senator in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth General
Assemblies (1844-48), Representative in the Nineteenth and Twentieth (1854-58), and Trustee of the
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville, remaining in the latter position seventeen years
under the successive administrations of Governors Bissell, Yates, Oglesby, Palmer and Beveridge—the
last five years of his service being President of the Board. He was also President of the State Medical
Board in 1882. Dr. Boal continued to practice at Peoria until about 1890, when he retired, and, in
1893, returned to Lacon to reside with his daughter, the widow of the late Colonel Greenbury L. Fort,
for eight years Representative in Congress from the Eighth District. Died June 12, 1903.
BOARD OF ARBITRATION, a Bureau of the State Government, created by an act of the
Legislature, approved August 2, 1895. It is appointed by the Executive and is composed of three
members (not more than two of whom can belong to the same political party), one of whom must be an
employer of labor and one a member of some labor organization. The term of office for the members first
named was fixed at two years; after March 1, 1897, it became three years, one member retiring annually.
A compensation of $1,500 per annum is allowed to each member of the Board, while the Secretary, who
must also be a stenographer, receives a salary of $1,200 per annum. When a controversy arises between
an individual, firm or corporation employing not less than twenty-five persons, and his or its
employes, application may be made by the aggrieved party to the Board for an inquiry into the nature
of the disagreement, or both parties may unite in the submission of a case. The Board is required to
visit the locality, carefully investigate the cause of the dispute and render a decision as soon as
practicable, the same to be at once made public. If the application be filed by the employer, it must
be accompanied by a stipulation to continue in business, and order no lock-out for the space of three
weeks-after its date. In like manner, complaining employes must promise to continue peacefully at work,
under existing conditions, for a like period. The Board is granted power to send for persons and papers
and to administer oaths to witnesses. Its decisions are binding upon applicants for six months after
rendition, or until either party shall have given the other sixty days' notice in writing of his or
their intention not to be bound thereby. In case the Board shall learn that a disagreement exists
between employes and an employer having less than twenty-five persons in his employ, and that a strike
or lock-out is seriously threatened, it is made the duty of the body to put itself into communication
with both employer and employes and endeavor to effect an amicable settlement between them by mediation.
The absence of any provision in the law prescribing penalties for its violation leaves the observance
of the law, in its present form, dependent upon the voluntary action of the parties interested.
BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION (STATE). By act of the General Assembly, passed June 15, 1909,
the Governor was authorized to appoint a State Board of Administration, with power to assume control of
the State charitable institutions which had been under supervision of the Board of Public Charities
since 1869. The first members of the new Board, with periods for which they were appointed, were: L.
Y. Sherman, President (1909-11); Thomas O'Connor and Benj. R. Burroughs (1909-13); James L. Greene and
Frank D. Whipp (1909-15), their successors being appointive for terms of six years each. Members of
the Commission are required to give all their time to the duties of the office, receiving a salary of
$6,000 per annum, with traveling expenses while on duty, and are authorized to exercise executive and
administrative control over all State charitable institutions, to assume property rights of previous
Boards over such institutions and expend money appropriated by the Legislature for the same; to accept
and hold in trust, on behalf of the State, grants, gifts or bequests of money or property for the
benefit of the insane in State hospitals, etc. They are charged with the duty of inspecting,
investigating and licensing all institutions where persons are under treatment for mental or nervous
diseases; have power of appointment or removal of superintendents or managers of the same; are
authorized to inspect county jails, city prisons and houses of correction, to examine sanitary
conditions and regulate the admission of patients to the same; and to this end it is required that
each State institution under their supervision shall be visited at least once per quarter by some
member of the Board. The institutions coming under their jurisdiction by this act are: Schools for the
Blind and Deaf, Jacksonville; Industrial Home for the Blind, and Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago;
Institution for Feeble-Minded, Lincoln; Hospitals for the Insane at Jacksonville, Kankakee, Elgin,
Anna, Peoria, Watertown and Chester; Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, Quincy; Soldiers' Widows' Home,
Wilmington; Soldiers' Orphans' Home, Normal; State Training School for Girls, Geneseo; and St. Charles
School for Boys.
AUXILIARY BOARDS.—Two auxiliary bodies, appointive by the Governor, are provided for
to act in co-operation with the Board of Administration: First, a Charities Commission consisting of
five members, with practically the same power as the former Board of Public Charities. This commission
serves without compensation, except for traveling expenses while on duty, is required to investigate
the whole system of State charitable institutions, examine into their condition and management and
report their findings and recommendations to the Governor. The second is a system of Boards of Visitors,
each Board consisting of three members for each State charitable institution, and appointive under the
same conditions as members of the Charities Commission, for a term of six years. These Boards are
required to make an inspection of the institu¬tions under their supervision, for this purpose a
majority of each Board, at least once each quarter, visiting such institutions as have the whole State
for a district, in other cases at least once a month, and report thereon to the Charities Commission.
PSYCHOPATHIC INSTITUTE.—It is also made the duty of the Board of Administration to establish and
maintain a State Psychopathic lnstitute, appoint a Director and a Psychologist, who shall perform their
duties under direction of the Board, and all State institutions are required to co-operate with the
Institute in such manner as the Board may direct— the object being to secure information in reference
to mental diseases for the benefit of managers of institutions for the insane. All the employes of the
Board of Administration, the Charities Commission and the Psychopathic Institute, except the managing
officers, are placed under the civil service law. OTHER BOARDS.—Sketches of other Boards connected with
the administration of State affairs will be found on page 448a of this volume, viz.: Boards of Civil
Service, of Equalization, of Health, of Pharmacy, of Pardons and Food Commission.
BOGARDUS, Charles, legislator, was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., March 28, 1841, and
left an orphan at six years of age; was educated in the common schools, began working in a store at 12,
and, in 1862, enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-first New York Infantry, being elected First
Lieutenant, and retiring from the service as Lieutenant-Colonel "for gallant and meritorious service"
before Petersburg. While in the service he participated in some of the most important battles in
Virginia, and was once wounded and once captured. In 1872 he located in Ford County, Ill., where he
has been a successful operator in real estate. He has been twice elected to the House of
Representatives (1884 and '86) and three times to the State Senate (1888, '92 and '96), and has served
on the most important committees in each house, and has proved himself one of the most useful members.
At the session of 1895 he was chosen President pro tem. of the Senate.
BOGGS, Carroll C., Justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Fairfield, Wayne County,
Ill., Oct. 19, 1844, and still resides in his native town; has held the offices of State's Attorney,
County Judge of Wayne County, and Judge of the Circuit Court for the Second Judicial Circuit, being
assigned also to Appellate Court duty. In June, 1897, Judge Boggs was elected a Justice of the Supreme
Court to succeed Judge David J. Baker, his term to continue until 1906.
BOLTWOOD, Henry L., the son of William and Electa (Stetson) Boltwood, was born at
Amherst, Mass., Jan. 17, 1831; fitted for college at Amherst Academy and graduated from Amherst College
in 1853. While in college he taught school every winter, commencing on a salary of $4 per week and
"boarding round" among the scholars. After graduating he taught in academics at Limerick, Me., and at
Pembroke and Derry, N. H., and in the high school at Lawrence, Mass.; also served as School Commissioner
for Rockingham County, N. H. In 1864 he went into the service of the Sanitary Commission in the
Department of the Gulf, remaining until the close of the war; was also ordained Chaplain of a colored
regiment, but was not regularly mustered in. After the close of the war he was employed as
Superintendent of Schools at Griggsville, Ill., for two years, and, while there, in 1867, organized the
first township high school ever organized in the State, where he remained eleven years. He afterwards
organized the township high school at Ottawa, remaining there five years, after which, in 1883, he
organized and took charge of the township high school at Evanston, where he has since been employed in
his profession as a teacher. Professor Boltwood has been a member of the State Board of Education and
has served as President of the State Teachers' Association. As a teacher he has given special attention
to English language and literature, and to history, being the author of an English Grammar, a High
School Speller and "Topical Outlines of General History," besides many contributions to educational
journals. He did a great deal of institute work, both in Illinois and Iowa, and was known somewhat as
a tariff reformer. Died Jan. 23, 1906.
BOND, Lester L., lawyer, was born at Ravenna, Ohio, Oct. 27, 1829; educated in the
common schools and at an academy, meanwhile laboring in local factories; studied law and was admitted
to the bar in 1853, the following year coming to Chicago, where he gave his attention chiefly to
practice in connection with patent laws. Mr. Bond served several terms in the Chicago City Council, was
Republican Presidential Elector in 1868, and served two terms in the General Assembly 1866-70. Died
April 15, 1903.
BOND, Shadrach, first Territorial Delegate in Congress from Illinois and first Governor
of the State, was born in Maryland, and, after being liberally educated, removed to Kaskaskia while
Illinois was a part of the Northwest Territory. He served as a member of the first Territorial
Legislature (of Indiana Territory) and was the first Delegate from the Territory of Illinois in
Congress, serving from 1812 to 1814. In the latter year he was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys; he
also held a commission as Captain in the War of 1812. On the admission of the State, in 1818, he was
elected Governor, and occupied the executive chair until 1822. Died at Kaskaskia, April 13,
1832.—Shadrach Bond, Sr., an uncle of the preceding, came to Illinois in 1781 and was
elected Delegate from St. Clair County (then comprehending all Illinois) to the Territorial Legislature
of Northwest Territory, in 1799, and, in 1804, to the Legislative Council of the newly organized
Territory of Indiana.
BOND COUNTY, a small county lying northeast from St. Louis, having an area of 380
square miles and a population (1910) of 17,075. The first American settlers located here in 1807,
coming from the South, and building Hill's and Jones's forts for protection from the Indians. Settlement
was slow, in 1816 there being scarcely twenty-five log cabins in the county. The county-seat is
Greenville, where the first cabin was erected in 1815 by George Davidson. The county was organized in
1817, and named in honor of Gov. Shadrach Bond. Its original limits included the present counties of
Clinton, Fayette and Montgomery. The first court was held at Perryville, and, in May, 1817. Judge
Jesse B. Thomas presided over the first Circuit Court at Hill's Station. The first court house was
erected at Greenville in 1822. The county contains good timber and farming lands, and at some points,
coal is found near the surface.
BONNEY, Charles Carroll, lawyer and reformer, was born in Hamilton, N. Y., Sept. 4,
1831; educated at Hamilton Academy and settled in Peoria, Ill., in 1850, where he pursued the avocation
of a teacher while studying law; was admitted to the bar in 1852, but removed to Chicago in 1860, where
he was afterwards engaged in practice; served as President of the National Law and Order League in New
York in 1885, being repeatedly re-elected, and had also been President of the Illinois State Bar
Association, as well as a member of the American Bar Association. Among the reforms which he advocated
were the constitutional prohibition of special legislation; an extension of equity practice to
bankruptcy and other law proceedings; civil service pensions; State Boards of labor and capital, etc.
He also published some treatises in book form, chiefly on legal questions, besides editing a volume of
"Poems by Alfred W. Arrington, with a sketch of his Character" (1869). As President of the World's
Congresses Auxiliary, in 1893, Mr. Bonney contributed largely to the success of that very interesting
and important feature of the great Columbian Exposition. Died Aug. 23, 1903.
BOONE, Levi D., M. D., early physician, was born near Lexington, Ky., December, 1808—a
descendant of the celebrated Daniel Boone; received the degree of M. D. from Transylvania University
and came to Edwardsville, Ill., at an early day, afterwards locating at Hillsboro and taking part in
the Black Hawk War as Captain of Cavalry company; came to Chicago in 1836 and engaged in the insurance
business, later resuming the practice of his profession, served several terms as Alderman and was
elected Mayor in 1860 by a combination of temperance men and Know Nothings; acquired a large property
by operations in real estate. Died February 1882.
BOONE COUNTY, the smallest of the "northern tier" of conties, having an area of only
288 square miles, and population (1910) of 15,481. Its surface is chiefly rolling prairie, and the
principal products are oats and corn. The settlers came from New York and New England, and among them
were included Medkiff, Dunham, Caswell, Cline, Towner, Doty and Whitney. Later (after the Pottawattomies
had evacuated the country), came the Shattuck brothers. Maria Hollenbeck and Mrs. Bullard, Oliver Hale,
Nathaniel Crosby, Dr. Whiting, H. C. Walker, and the Neeley and Mahoney families. Boone County was cut
off from Winnebago, and organized in 1837, being named in honor of Kentucky's pioneer. The first frame
house in the county was erected by S. F. Doty and stood for fifty years in the village of Belvidere on
the north side of the Kishwaukee River. The county-seat (Belvidere) was platted in 1837, and an
academy built soon after. The first Protestant church was a Baptist society under the pastorate of
Rev. Dr. King.
B0URB0NNAIS, a village of Kankakee County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 5 miles
north of Kankakee. Pop. (1900), 595; (1910), 611.
BOUTELL, Henry Sherman, lawyer and Congressman, was born in Boston, Mass., March 14,
1856, graduated from the Northwestern University at Evanston, Ill., in 1874, and from Harvard in 1876;
was admitted to the bar in Illinois in 1879, and to that of the Supreme Court of the United States in
1885. In 1884 Mr. Boutell was elected to the lower branch of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly and
was one of the "103" who, in the long struggle during the following session, participated in the
election of Gen. John A. Logan to the United States Senate for the last time. At a special election
held in the Sixth Illinois District in November, 1897, he was elected Representative in Congress to
fill the vacancy caused by the sudden death of his predecessor, Congressman Edward D. Cooke, and at
the regular election of 1898 was re-elected to the same position, receiving a plurality of 1,116 over
his Democratic competitor and a majority of 719 over all.
BOUTON, Nathaniel S., manufacturer, was born in Concord, N. H., May 14, 1828; in his
youth farmed and taught school in Connecticut, but in 1852 came to Chicago and was employed by a foundry
firm, of which he soon afterwards became a partner, in the manufacture of car-wheels and railway
castings. Later he became associated with the American Bridge Company's works, which was sold to the
Illinois Central Railroad Company in 1857, when he bought the Union Car Works, which he operated until
1863. He then became the head of the Union Foundry Works, which having been consolidated with the
Pullman Car Works in 1886, he retired, organizing the Bouton Foundry Company. Mr. Bouton was a
Republican, was Commissioner of Public Works for the city of Chicago two terms before the Civil War,
and served as Assistant Quartermaster in the Eighty-eighth Illinois Infantry from 1862 until after the
battle of Chickamauga. Died April 3, 1908.
BOYD, Thomas A., was born in Adams County, Pa., June 25, 1830, and graduated at
Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pa., at the age of 18; studied law at Chambersburg and was admitted to
the bar at Bedford in his native State, where he practiced until 1856, when he removed to Illinois. In
1861 he abandoned his practice to enlist in the Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, in which he held the
position of Captain. At the close of the war he returned to his home at Lewistown, and, in 1866, was
elected State Senator and re-elected at the expiration of his term in 1870, serving in the Twenty-fifth,
Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh General Assemblies., He was also a Republican Representative from his
District in the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses (1877-81). Died, at Lewistown, May 28, 1897.
BRACEVILLE, a town in Grundy County, 61 miles by rail southwest of Chicago. Coal
mining is the principal industry. The town has two banks, two churches and good public schools.
Pop. (1890), 2,150; (1900), 1,669; (1910), 971.
BRADFORD, village of Stark County, on Buda and Rushville branch Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railway; is in excellent farming region and has large grain and live-stock trade, excellent
high school building, fine churches, good hotels and one newspaper. Pop. (1910), 770.
BRADSBY, William H., pioneer and Judge, was born in Bedford County, Va., July 12,
1787. He removed to Illinois early in life, and was the first postmaster in Washington County (at
Covington), the first school-teacher and the first Circuit and County Clerk and Recorder. At the time
of his death he was Probate and County Judge. Besides being Clerk of all the courts, he was virtually
County Treasurer, as he had custody of all the county's money. For several years he was also Deputy
United States Surveyor, and in that capacity surveyed much of the south part of the State, as far east
as "Wayne and Clay Counties. Died at Nashville, Ill., August 21, 1839.
BRADWELL, James Bolesworth, lawyer and editor, was born at Loughborough, England,
April 16, 1828, and brought to America in infancy, his parents locating in 1829 or '30 at Utica, N. Y.
In 1833 they emigrated to Jacksonville, Ill., but the following year removed to Wheeling, Cook County,
settling on a farm, where the younger Bradwell received his first lessons in breaking prairie, splitting
rails and tilling the soil. His first schooling was obtained in a country log-schoolhouse, but, later,
he attended the Wilson Academy in Chicago, where he had Judge Lorenzo Sawyer for an instructor. He also
took a course in Knox College at Galesburg, then a manual-labor school, supporting himself by working
in a wagon and plow shop, sawing wood, etc. In May, 1852, he was married to Miss Myra Colby, a teacher,
with whom he went to Memphis, Tenn., the same year, where they engaged in teaching a select school, the
subject of this sketch meanwhile devoting some attention to reading law. He was admitted to the bar
there, but after a stay of less than two years in Memphis, returned to Chicago and began practice. In
1861 he was elected County Judge of Cook County, and re-elected four years later, but declined a
re-election in 1869. The first half of his term occurring during the progress of the Civil War, he had
the opportunity of rendering some vigorous decisions which won for him the reputation of a man of
courage and inflexible independence, as well as an incorruptible champion of justice. In 1872 he was
elected to the lower branch of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly from Cook County, and re-elected in
1874. He was again a candidate in 1882, and by many believed to have been honestly elected, though his
opponent received the certificate. He made a contest for the seat, and the majority of the Committee on
Elections reported in his favor; but he was defeated through the treachery and suspected corruption of
a professed political friend. He is the author of the law making women eligible to school offices in
Illinois and allowing them to become Notaries Public, and had always been a champion for equal rights
for women in the professions and as citizens. He was a Second Lieutenant of the One Hundred and Fifth
Regiment, Illinois Militia, in 1848; presided over the American Woman's Suffrage Association at its
organization in Cleveland; served as President of the Chicago Press Club, of the Chicago Bar Association,
and, for a number of years, as Historian of the latter; was one of the founders and President of the
Union League Club, besides being associated with many other social and business organizations. He was
identified in a business capacity with "The Chicago Legal News," founded by his wife in 1868, and after
her death became its editor. Judge Bradwell's death occurred Nov. 29, 1907. — Myra Colby (Bradwell),
the wife of Judge Bradwell, was born at Manchester, Vt., Feb. 12, 1831 — being descended on her mother's
side from the Chase family to which Bishop Philander Chase and Salmon P. Chase, the latter Secretary of
the Treasury and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by appointment of Abraham Lincoln, belonged. In
infancy she was brought to Portage, N. Y., where she remained until she was twelve years of age, when
her family removed west. She attended school in Kenosha, Wis., and a seminary at Elgin, afterwards being
engaged in teaching. On May 18, 1852, she was married to Judge Bradwell, almost immediately going to
Memphis, Tenn., where, with the assistance of her husband, she conducted a select school for some time,
also teaching in the public schools, when they returned to Chicago. In the early part of the Civil War
she took a deep interest in the welfare of the soldiers in the field and their families at home,
becoming President of the Soldiers' Aid Society, and was a leading spirit in the Sanitary Fairs held
in Chicago in 1863 and in 1865. After the war she commenced the study of law and, in 1868, began the
publication of "The Chicago Legal News," with which she remained identified until her death — also
publishing biennially an edition of the session laws after, each session of the General Assembly. After
passing a most creditable examination, application was made for her admission to the bar in 1871, but
denied in an elaborate decision rendered by Judge C. B. Lawrence of the Supreme Court of the State, on
the sole ground of sex, as was also done by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1873, on the
latter occasion Chief Justice Chase dissenting. She was finally admitted to the bar on March 28, 1892,
and was the first lady member of the State Bar Association. Other organizations with which she was
identified embraced the Illinois State Press Association, the Board of Managers of the Soldiers' Home
(in war time), the "Illinois Industrial School for Girls" at Evanston, the Washingtonian Home, the Board
of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition, and Chairman of the Woman's Committee on
Jurisprudence of the World's Congress Auxiliary of 1893. Although much before the public during the
latter years of her life, she never lost the refinement and graces which belong to a true woman. Died,
at her home in Chicago, Feb. 14, 1894.
BRAIDWOOD, a city in Will County, incorporated in 1860; is 58 miles from Chicago, on
the Chicago & Alton Railroad; an important coalmining point, and in the heart of a rich agricultural
region. It has a bank and a weekly paper. Pop. (1000), 3,279; (1910), 1,958.
BRANSON, Nathaniel W., lawyer, was born in Jacksonville, Ill., May 29, 1837; was
educated in the private and public schools of that city and at Illinois College, graduating from the
latter in 1867; studied law with David A. Smith, a prominent and able lawyer of Jacksonville, and was
admitted to the bar in January, 18G0, soon after establishing himself in practice at Petersburg,
Menard County, where he continued to reside. In 1867 Mr. Branson was appointed Register in Bankruptcy
for the Springfield District — a position which he held thirteen years. He was also elected
Representative in the General Assembly in 1872, by re-election in 1874 serving four years in the
stormy Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth General Assemblies; was a Delegate from Illinois to the National
Republican Convention of 1876, and served for several years most efficiently as a Trustee of the State
Institution for the Blind at Jacksonville, part of the time as President of the Board. Politically a
conservative Republican, and in no sense an office-seeker, the official positions assigned to him came
unsought and in recognition of his fitness and qualifications. Died Feb. 21, 1907.
BRAYMAN, Mason, lawyer and soldier, was born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 23, 1813; brought
up as a farmer, became a printer and edited "The Buffalo Bulletin," 1834-35; studied law and was
admitted to the bar in 1836; removed west in 1837, was City Attorney of Monroe, Mich., in 1838 and
became editor of "The Louisville Advertiser" in 1841. In 1842 he opened a law office in Springfield,
Ill., and the following year was appointed by Governor Ford a commissioner to adjust the Mormon
troubles, in which capacity he rendered valuable service. In 1844-45 he was appointed to revise the
statutes of the State. Later he devoted much attention to railroad enterprises, being attorney of the
Illinois Central Railroad, 1851-55; then projected the construction of a railroad from Bird's Point,
opposite Cairo, into Arkansas, which was partially completed before the war, and almost wholly destroyed
during that period. In 1861 he entered the service as Major of the Twenty-ninth Illinois Volunteers,
taking part in a number of the early battles, including Fort Donelson and Shiloh; was promoted to a
colonelcy for meritorious conduct at the latter, and for a time served as Adjutant-General on the staff
of General McClernand; was promoted Brigadier-General in September, 1862, at the close of the war
receiving the brevet rank of Major-General. After the close of the war he devoted considerable
attention to reviving his railroad enterprises in the South; edited "The Illinois State Journal,"
1872-73; removed to Wisconsin and was appointed Governor of Idaho in 1876, serving four years, after
which he returned to Ripon, Wis. Died, in Kansas City, Feb. 27, 1895.
BREESE, a village in Clinton County, on Baltimore & Ohio S. W. Railway, 39 miles east
of St. Louis; has coal mines, water system, bank and weekly newspaper. Pop. (1910), 2,128.
BREESE, Sidney, statesman and jurist, was born at Whitesboro, N. Y., (according to the
generally accepted authority) July 15, 1800. Owing to a certain sensitiveness about his age in his later
years, it has been exceedingly difficult to secure authentic data on the subject; but his arrival at
Kaskaskia in 1818, after graduating at Union College, and his admission to the bar in 1820, have induced
many to believe that the date of his birth should be placed somewhat earlier. He was related to some of
the most prominent families in New York, including the Livingstons and the Morses, and, after his arrival
at Kaskaskia, began the study of law with his friend Elias Kent Kane, afterwards United States Senator.
Meanwhile, having served as Postmaster at Kaskaskia, he became Assistant Secretary of State, and, in
December, 1820, superintended the removal of the archives of that office to Vandalia, the new State
capital. Later he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney, serving in that position from 1822 till 1827, when
he became United States District Attorney for Illinois. He was the first official reporter of the Supreme
Court, issuing its first volume of decisions; served as Lieutenant-Colonel of volunteers during the Black
Hawk "War (1832); in 1835 was elected to the circuit bench, and, in 1841, was advanced to the Supreme
bench, serving less than two years, when he resigned to accept a seat in the United States Senate, to
which he was elected in 1843 as the successor of Richard M. Young, defeating Stephen A. Douglas in the
first race of the latter for the office. While in the Senate (1843-49) he served as Chairman of the
Committee on Public Lands, and was one of the first to suggest the construction of a transcontinental
railway to the Pacific. He was also one of the originators and active promoters in Congress of the
Illinois Central Railroad enterprise. He was Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1851;
again became Circuit Judge in 1855 and returned to the Supreme bench in 1857 and served more than one
term as Chief Justice, the last being in 1873-74. His home during most of his public life in Illinois
was at Carlyle. His death occurred at Pinckneyville, June 28, 1878.
BRENTANO, Lorenzo, was born at Mannheim, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, Nov.
14, 1813; was educated at the Universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg, receiving the degree of LL.D.,
and attaining high honors, both professional and political. He was successively a member of the Baden
Chamber of Deputies and of the Frankfort Parliament, and always a leader of the revolutionist party. In
1849 he became President of the Provisional Republican Government of Baden, but was, before long, forced
to find an asylum in the United States. He first settled in Kalamazoo County, Mich., as a farmer, but,
in 1859, removed to Chicago, where he was admitted to the Illinois bar, but soon entered the field of
journalism, becoming editor and part proprietor of "The Illinois Staats Zeitung." He held various public
offices, being elected to the Legislature in 1862, serving five years as President of the Chicago Board
of Education, was a Republican Presidential Elector in 1868, and United States Consul at Dresden in
1872 (a general amnesty having been granted to the participants in the revolution of 1848), and
Representative in Congress from 1877 to 1879. Died, in Chicago, Sept. 17, 1891.
BRIDGEPORT, a town of Lawrence County, on the Baltimore & Ohio S. W. Railroad, 14 miles
west of Vincennes, Ind., in oil field; has a bank and one weekly paper. Pop. (1900), 487; (1910),
2,703.
BRIDGEPORT, a former suburb (now a part of the city) of Chicago, located at the
junction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal with the South Branch of the Chicago River. It is now the
center of the large slaughtering and packing industry.
BRIDGEPORT & SOUTH CHICAGO RAILWAY. (See Chicago & Northern Pacific Railroad.)
BRIGHTON, a village of Macoupin County, at the intersection of the Chicago & Alton
and the Rock Island and St. Louis branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railways; coal is mined
here; has a newspaper. Population (1880), 691; (1890), 742; (1900), 660; (1910), 595.
BRIMFIELD, a town of Peoria County, on the Buda and Rushville branch of the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy Railway, 38 miles south of Buda; coal-mining and farming are the chief industries.
It has one weekly paper and a bank. Pop. (1890), 719; (1900), 677; (1910), 576.
BRISTOL, Frank Milton, clergyman, was born in Orleans County, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1851;
came to Kankakee, Ill., in boyhood, and having lost his father at 12 years of age, spent the following
years in various manual occupations until about nineteen years of age, when, having been converted, he
determined to devote his life to the ministry. Through the aid of a benevolent lady, he was enabled to
get two years' (1870-72) instruction at the Northwestern University, at Evanston, afterwards supporting
himself by preaching at various points, meanwhile continuing his studies at the University until 1877.
After completing his course he served as pastor of some of the most prominent Methodist churches in
Chicago, his last charge in the State being at Evanston. In 1897 he was transferred to Washington City,
becoming pastor of the Metropolitan M. E. Church, attended by President McKinley Dr. Bristol is an author
of some repute and an orator of recognized ability.
BROADWELL, Norman M., lawyer, was born in Morgan County, Ill., August 1, 1825; was
educated in the common schools and at McKendree and Illinois Colleges, but compelled by failing health
to leave college without graduating; spent some time in the book business, then began the study of
medicine with a view to benefiting his own health, but finally abandoned this and, about 1850, commenced
the study of law in the office of Lincoln & Herndon at Springfield. Having been admitted to the bar, he
practiced for a time at Pekin, but, in 1854, returned to Springfield, where he spent the remainder of
his life. In 1860 he was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives from Sangamon County,
serving in the Twenty-second General Assembly. Other offices held by him included those of County Judge
(1863-65) and Mayor of the city of Springfield, to which last position he was twice elected (1867 and
again in 1869). Judge Broadwell was one of the most genial of men, popular, high-minded and honorable
in all his dealings. Died, in Springfield, Feb. 28, 1893.
BROOKS, John Flavel, educator, was born in Oneida County, New York, Dec. 3, 1801;
graduated at Hamilton College, 1828; studied three years in the theological department of Yale College;
was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1831, and came to Illinois in the service of the American
Home Missionary Society. After preaching at Collinsville, Belleville and other points, Mr. Brooks, who
was a member of the celebrated "Yale Band," in 1837 assumed the principalship of a Teachers' Seminary
at Waverly, Morgan County, but three years later removed to Springfield, where he established an academy
for both sexes. Although finally compelled to abandon this, he continued teaching with some interruptions
to within a few years of his death, which occurred in 1886. He was one of the Trustees of Illinois
College from its foundation up to his death.
BROSS, William, journalist, was born in Sussex County, N. J., Nov. 14, 1813, and
graduated with honors from Williams College in 1838, having previously developed his physical strength
by much hard work upon the Delaware and Hudson Canal, and in the lumbering trade. For five years after
graduating he was a teacher, and settled in Chicago in 1848. There he first engaged in bookselling, but
later embarked in journalism. His first publication was "The Prairie Herald," a religious paper, which
was discontinued after two years. In 1852, in connection with John L. Scripps, he founded "The Democratic
Press," which was consolidated with "The Tribune" in 1858, Mr. Bross retaining his connection with the
new concern. He was always an ardent free-soiler, and a firm believer in the great future of Chicago
and the Northwest. He was an enthusiastic Republican, and, in 1856 and 1860, served as an effective
campaign orator. In 1864 he was the successful nominee of his party for Lieutenant-Governor. This was
his only official position outside of a membership in the Chicago Common Council in 1855. As a presiding
officer, he was dignified yet affable, and his impartiality was shown by the fact that no appeals were
taken from his decisions. After quitting public life he devoted much time to literary pursuits,
delivering lectures in various parts of the country. Among his best known works are a brief "History of
Chicago," "History of Camp Douglas," and "Tom Quick." Died, in Chicago, Jan. 27, 1890.
BROWN, Henry, lawyer and historian, was born at Hebron, Tolland County, Conn., May 13,
1789—the son of a commissary in the army of General Greene of Revolutionary fame; graduated at Yale
College, and, when of age, removed to New York, later studying law at Albany, Canandaigua and Batavia,
and being admitted to the bar about 1813, when he settled down in practice at Cooperstown; in 1816 was
appointed Judge of Herkimer County, remaining on the bench until about 1824. He then resumed practice
at Cooperstown, continuing until 1836, when he removed to Chicago. The following year he was elected a
Justice of the Peace, serving two years, and, in 1842, became Prosecuting Attorney of Cook County.
During this period he was engaged in writing a "History of Illinois," which was published in New York
in 1844. This was regarded at the time as the most voluminous and best digested work on Illinois history
that had as yet been published. In 1846, on assuming the Presidency of the Chicago Lyceum, he delivered
an inaugural entitled "Chicago, Present and Future," which is still preserved as a striking prediction
of Chicago's future greatness. Originally a Democrat, he became a Freesoiler in 1848. Died of cholera,
in Chicago, May 16, 1849.
BROWN, James B., journalist, was born in Gilmanton, Belknap County, N. H., Sept.
1, 1833—his father being a member of the Legislature and Selectman for his town. The son was educated
at Gilmanton Academy, after which he studied medicine for a time, but did not graduate. In 1857
he removed West, first settling at Dunleith, Jo Daviess County, Ill., where he became Principal of the
public schools; in 1861 was elected County Superintendent of Schools for Jo Daviess County, removing
to Galena two years later and assuming the editorship of "The Gazette" of that city. Mr. Brown also
served as Postmaster of Galena for several years. Died, Feb. 13, 1896.
BROWN, James N., agriculturist and stockman, was born in Fayette County, Ky., Oct. 1,
1806; came to Sangamon County, Ill., in 1833, locating at Island Grove, where he engaged extensively
in farming and stock-raising. He served as Representative in the General Assemblies of 1840, '42, '46,
and '52, and in the last was instrumental in securing the incorporation of the Illinois State
Agricultural Society, of which he was chosen the first President, being re-elected in 1854. He was one
of the most enterprising growers of blooded cattle in the State and did much to introduce them in
Central Illinois; was also an earnest and influential advocate of scientific education for the
agricultural classes and an efficient colaborer with Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, in securing
the enactment by Congress, in 1862, of the law granting lands for the endowment of Industrial Colleges,
out of which grew the Illinois State University and institutions of like character in other States.
Died, Nov. 16, 1868.
BROWN, William, lawyer and jurist, was born June 1, 1819, in Cumberland, England, his
parents emigrating to this country when he was eight years old, and settling in Western New York. He
was admitted to the bar at Rochester, in October, 1845, and at once removed to Rockford, Ill., where
he commenced practice. In 1852 he was elected State's Attorney for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit,
and, in 1857, was chosen Mayor of Rockford. In 1870 he was elected to the bench of the Circuit Court
as successor to Judge Sheldon, later was promoted to the Supreme Court, and was re-elected successively
in 1873, in '79 and '85. Died, at Rockford, Jan. 15, 1891.
BROWN, William H., lawyer and financier, was born in Connecticut, Dec. 20, 1796;
spent his boyhood at Auburn, N. Y., studied law, and, in 1818, came to Illinois with Samuel D.
Lockwood (afterwards a Justice of the State Supreme Court), descending the Ohio River to Shawneetown
in a flat-boat. Mr. Brown visited Kaskaskia and was soon after appointed Clerk of the United States
District Court by Judge Nathaniel Pope, removing, in 1820, to Vandalia, the new State capital, where
he remained until 1835. He then removed to Chicago to accept the position of Cashier of the Chicago
branch of the State Bank of Illinois, which he continued to fill for many years. He served the city as
School Agent for thirteen years (1840-53), managing the city's school fund through a critical period
with great discretion and success. He was one of the group of early patriots who successfully resisted
the attempt to plant slavery in Illinois in 1823-24; was also one of the projectors of the Chicago &
Galena Union Railroad, was President of the Chicago Historical Society for seven years and connected
with many other local enterprises. He was an ardent personal friend of President Lincoln and served as
Representative in the Twenty-second General Assembly (1860-62). While making a tour of Europe he died
of paralysis at Amsterdam, June 17, 1867.
BROWN COUNTY, situated in the western part of the State, with an area of 306 square
miles, and a population (1890) of 11,951; was cut off from Schuyler and made a separate county in
May, 1839, being named in honor of Gen. Jacob Brown. Among the pioneer settlers were the Vandeventers
and Hambaughs, John and David Six, William McDaniel, Jeremiah Walker, Willis O'Neil, Harry Lester, John
Ausmus and Robert H. Curry. The county-seat is Mount Sterling, a town of no little attractiveness.
Other prosperous villages are Mound Station and Ripley. The chief occupation of the people is farming,
although there is some manufacturing of lumber and a few potteries along the Illinois River. Pop.
(1900), 11,557; (1910), 10,397.
BROWNE, Francis Fisher, editor and author, was born in South Halifax, Vt., Dec. 1,
1843, the son of William Goldsmith Browne, who was a teacher, editor and author of the song "A Hundred
Years to Come." In childhood he was brought by his parents to Western Massachusetts, where he attended
the public schools and learned the printing trade in his father's newspaper office at Chicopee, Mass.
Leaving school in 1862, he enlisted in the Forty-sixth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, in which he
served one year, chiefly in North Carolina and in the Army of the Potomac. On the discharge of his
regiment he engaged in the study of law at Rochester, N. Y., entering the law department of the
University of Michigan in 1866, but abandoning his intenton of entering the legal profession, removed
to Chicago in 1867, where he engaged in journalistic and literary pursuits. Between 1869 and '74 he
was editor of "The Lakeside Monthly," when he became literary editor of "The Alliance," but, in 1880,
he established and assumed the editorship of "The Dial," a purely literary publication which has gained
a high reputation, and of which he has remained in control continuously ever since, meanwhile serving
as the literary adviser, for many years, of the well-known publishing house of McClurg & Co. Besides
his journalistic work, Mr. Browne has contributed to the magazines and literary anthologies a number
of short lyrics, and is the author of "The Everyday Life of Abraham Lincoln" (1886), and a volume of
poems entitled, "Volunteer Grain" (1893). He also compiled and edited "Golden Poems by British and
American Authors" (1881); "The Golden Treasury of Poetry and Prose" (1886), and the "Laurel Crowned"
series of standard poetry (1891-92). Mr. Browne was Chairman of the Committee of the Congress of
Authors in the World's Congress Auxiliary held in connection with The Columbian Exposition in 1893.
BROWNE, Thomas C., early jurist, was born in Kentucky, studied law there and, coming
to Shawneetown in 1812, served in the lower branch of the Second Territorial Legislature (1814-16) and
in the Council (1816-18), being the first lawyer to enter that body. In 1815 he was appointed
Prosecuting Attorney and, on the admission of Illinois as a State, was promoted to the Supreme bench,
being re-elected by joint ballot of the Legislature in 1825, and serving continuously until the
reorganization of the Supreme Court under the Constitution of 1848, a period of over thirty years.
Judge Browne's judicial character and abilities have been differently estimated. Though lacking in
industry as a student, he is represented by the late Judge John D. Caton, who knew him personally, as
a close thinker and a good judge of men. While seldom, if ever, accustomed to argue questions in the
conference room or write out his opinions, he had a capacity for expressing himself in short, pungent
sentences, which indicated that he was a man of considerable ability and had clear and distinct views
of his own. An attempt was made to impeach him before the Legislature of 1843 "for want of capacity to
discharge the duties of his office," but it failed by an almost unanimous vote. He was a Whig in
politics, but had some strong supporters among Democrats. In 1822 Judge Browne was one of the four
candidates for Governor—in the final returns standing third on the list and, by dividing the vote of
the advocates of a pro-slavery clause in the State Constitution, contributing to the election of
Governor Coles and the defeat of the pro-slavery party. (See Coles, Edward, and Slavery and Slave
Laws.) In the latter part of his official term Judge Browne resided at Galena, but, in 1853, removed
with his son-in-law, ex-Congressman Joseph P. Hoge, to San Francisco, Cal., where he died a few years
later — probably about 1856 or 1858.
BROWNING, Orville Hickman, lawyer, United States Senator and Attorney-General, was
born in Harrison County, Ky., in 1810. After receiving a classical education at Augusta in his native
State, he removed to Quincy, Ill., and wras admitted to the bar in 1831. In 1832 he served in the
Black Hawk War, and from 1836 to 1843, was a member of the Legislature, serving in both houses. A
personal friend and political adherent of Abraham Lincoln, he aided in the organization of the
Republican party at the memorable Bloomington Convention of 1856. As a delegate to the Chicago
Convention in 1860, he aided in securing Mr. Lincoln's nomination, and was a conspicuous supporter
of the Government in the Civil War. In 1861 he wras appointed by Governor Yates United States Senator
to fill Senator Douglas' unexpired term, serving until 1863. In 1866 he became Secretary of the
Interior by appointment of President Johnson, also for a time discharging the duties of
Attorney-General. Returning to Illinois, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention
of 1869-70, which was his last participation in public affairs, his time thereafter being devoted to
his profession. He died at his home in Quincy, Ill., August 10, 1881.
BRYAN, Silas Lillard, legislator and jurist, born in Culpepper County, Va., Nov. 4,
1822; was left an orphan at an early age, and came west in 1840, living for a time with a brother near
Troy, Mo. The following year he came to Marion County, Ill., where he attended school and worked on a
farm; in 1845 entered McKendree College, graduating in 1849, and two years later was admitted to the
bar, supporting himself meanwhile by teaching. He settled at Salem, Ill., and, in 1852, was elected
as a Democrat to the State Senate, in which body he served for eight years, being re-elected in 1856.
In 1861 he was elected to the bench of the Second Judicial Circuit, and again chosen in 1867, his
second term expiring in 1873. While serving as Judge, he was also elected a Delegate to the
Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress on the Greeley
ticket in 1872. Died at Salem, March 30, 1880. — William Jennings (Bryan), son of the
preceding, was born at Salem, Ill., March 19, 1860. The early life of young Bryan was spent on his
father's farm, but at the age of ten years he began to attend the public school in town; later spent
two years in Whipple Academy, 4the preparatory department of Illinois College at Jacksonville, and,
in 1881, graduated from the college proper as the valedictorian of his class. Then he devoted two
years to the study of law in the Union Law School at Chicago, meanwhile acting as clerk and studying
in the law office of ex-Senator Lyman Trumbull. Having graduated in law in 1883, he soon entered upon
the practice of his profession at Jacksonville as the partner of Judge E. P. Kirby, a well-known lawyer
and prominent Republican of that city. Four years later (1887) found him a citizen of Lincoln, Neb.,
which has since been his home. He took a prominent part in the politics of Nebraska, stumping the State
for the Democratic nominees in 1888 and '89, and in 1890 received the Democratic nomination for
Congress in a district which had been regarded as strongly Republican, and was elected by a large
majority. Again, in 1892, he was elected by a reduced majority, but two years later declined a
renomination, though proclaiming himself a free-silver candidate for the United States Senate,
meanwhile officiating as editor of "The Omaha World-Herald." In July, 1896, he received the nomination
for President from the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, on a platform declaring for the
"free and unlimited coinage of silver" at the ratio of sixteen of silver (in weight) to one of gold,
and a few weeks later was nominated by the "Populists" at St. Louis for the same office—being the
youngest man ever put in nomination for the Presidency in the history of the Government. He conducted
an active personal campaign, speaking in nearly every Northern and Middle Western State, but was
defeated by his Republican opponent, Maj. William McKinley. Mr. Bryan is an easy and fluent speaker,
possessing a voice of unusual compass and power, and is recognized, even by his political opponents,
as a man of pure personal character.
BRYAN, Thomas Barbour, lawyer and real estate operator, was born at Alexandria, Va., Dec. 22, 1828,
being descended on the maternal side from the noted Barbour family of that State; graduated in law at
Harvard, and, at the age of twenty-one, settled in Cincinnati. In 1852 he came to Chicago, where he
acquired extensive real estate interests and built Bryan Hall, which became a popular place for
entertainments. Being a gifted speaker, as well as a zealous Unionist, Mr. Bryan was chosen to deliver
the address of welcome to Senator Douglas, when that statesman returned to Chicago a few weeks before
his death in 1861. During the progress of the war he devoted his time and his means most generously
to fitting out soldiers for the field and caring for the sick and wounded. His services as President
of the great Sanitary Fair in Chicago (1865), where some $300,000 were cleared for disabled soldiers,
were especially conspicuous. At this time he became the purchaser (at $3,000) of the original copy of
President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which had been donated to the cause. He also rendered
valuable service after the fire of 1871, though a heavy sufferer from that event, and was a leading
factor in securing the location of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1890, later becoming
Vice-President of the Board of Directors and making a visit to Europe in the interest of the Fair.
After the war Mr. Bryan resided in Washington for some time, and, by appointment of President Hayes,
served as Commissioner of the District of Columbia. Possessing refined literary and artistic tastes,
he has done much for the encouragement of literature and art in Chicago. His home was at Elmhurst,
Ill. Died Jan. 25, 1906. — Charles Page (Bryan), son of the preceding, lawyer and
foreign minister, was born in Chicago, Oct. 2, 1855, and educated at the University of Virginia and
Columbia Law School; was admitted to practice in 1878, and the following year removed to Colorado,
where he remained four years, while there serving in both Houses of the State Legislature. In 1883 he
returned to Chicago and became a member of the First Regiment of the Illinois National Guard, serving
upon the staff of both Governor Oglesby and Governor Fifer; in 1890, was elected to the State
Legislature from Cook County, being re-elected in 1892, and in 1894; was also the first Commissioner
to visit Europe in the interest of the World's Columbian Exposition, on his return serving as Secretary
of the Exposition Commissioners in 1891-92. In the latter part of 1897 he was appointed by President
McKinley Minister to China, but before being confirmed, early in 1898, was assigned as Minister to
Brazil, serving until 1902; has since served in similar capacity in Switzerland (1902-03), Portugal
(1903-10), Belgium (1910-11); in 1911 was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
to Japan.
BRYANT, John Howard, pioneer, brother of William Cullen Bryant, the poet, was born in
Cummington, Mass., July 22, 1807, educated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N. Y,;
removed to Illinois in 1831, and held various offices in Bureau County, including that of
Representative in the General Assembly, to which he was elected in 1842, and again in 1858. A practical
and enterprising farmer, he was identified with the Illinois State Agricultural Society in its early
history, as also with the movement which resulted in the establishment of industrial colleges in the
various States. He was one of the founders of the Republican party and a warm personal friend of
President Lincoln, being a member of the first Republican State Convention at Bloomington in 1856, and
serving as Collector of Internal Revenue by appointment of Mr. Lincoln in 1862-64. In 1872 Mr. Bryant
joined in the Liberal Republican movement at Cincinnati, two years later was identified with the
"Independent Reform" party, but later co-operated with the Democratic party. He produced two volumes
of poems, published, respectively, in 1855 and 1885, besides a number of public addresses. Died at his
home at Princeton, Ill., Jan. 14, 1902.
BUCK, Hiram, clergyman, was born in Steuben County, N. Y., in 1818; joined the Illinois
Methodist Episcopal Conference in 1843, and continued in its service for nearly fifty years, being
much of the time a Presiding Elder. At his death he bequeathed a considerable sum to the endowment
funds of the Wesleyan University at Bloomington and the Illinois Conference College at Jacksonville.
Died at Decatur, Ill., August 22, 1892.
BUDA,a village in Bureau County, at the junction of the main line with the Buda and
Rushville branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and the Sterling and Peoria branch of
the Chicago & Northwestern, 12 miles southwest of Princeton and 117 miles west-southwest of Chicago;
has excellent water-works, electric-light plant, brick and tile factory, fine churches, graded school,
a bank and one newspaper Dairying is carried on quite extensively and a good-sized creamery is located
here. Population (1890), 990; (1900), 873; (1910), 887.
BUF0RD, Napoleon Bonaparte, banker and soldier, was born in Woodford County, Ky.,
Jan. 13,1807; graduated at West Point Military Academy, 1827, and served for some time as Lieutenant
of Artillery; entered Harvard Law School in 1831, served as Assistant Professor of Natural and
Experimental Philosophy there (1834-35), then resigned his commission, and, after some service as
an engineer upon public works in Kentucky, established himself as an iron-founder and banker at Rock
Island, Ill., in 1857 becoming President of the Rock Island & Peoria Railroad. In 1861 he entered the
volunteer service, as Colonel of the Twenty-seventh Illinois, serving at various points in Western
Kentucky and Tennessee, as also in the siege of Vicksburg, and at Helena, Ark., where he was in
command from September, 1863, to March, 1865. In the meantime, by promotion, he attained to the rank
of Major-General by brevet, being mustered out in August, 1865. He subsequently held the post of
Special United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1868), and that of Inspector of the Union
Pacific Railroad (1867-69). Died, March 28, 1883.
BULKLEY, (Rev.) Justus, educator, was born at Leicester, Livingston County, N. Y.,
July 23, 1819, taken to Allegany County, N. Y., at 3 years of age, where he remained until 17,
attending school in a log school-house in the winter and working on a farm in the summer. His family
then removed to Illinois, finally locating at Barry, Pike County. In 1842 he entered the preparatory
department of Shurtleff College at Upper Alton, graduating there in 1847. He was immediately made
Principal of the preparatory department, remaining two years, when he was ordained to the Baptist
ministry and became pastor of a church at Jerseyville. Four years later he was appointed Professor
of Mathematics in Shurtleff College, but remained only two years, when he accepted the pastorship of
a church at Carrollton, which he continued to fill nine years, when, in 1864, he was called to a
church at Upper Alton. At the expiration of one year he was again called to a professorship in
Shurtleff College, this time taking the chair of Church History and Church Polity, which he continued
to fill for a period of thirty-four years; also serving for a time as Acting President during a
vacancy in that office. During this period he was frequently called upon to preside as Moderator at
General Associations of the Baptist Church, and he became widely known, not only in that denomination,
but elsewhere. Died at Upper Alton, Jan. 16, 1899.
BULL, Lorenzo, banker, Quincy, Ill., was born in Hartford, Conn., March 21, 1819,
being the eldest son of Lorenzo and Elizabeth Goodwin Bull. His ancestors on both sides were of the
party who, under Thomas Hooker, moved from the vicinity of Boston and settled Hartford in 1634. Leaving
Hartford in the spring of 1833, he arrived at Quincy, Ill., entirely without means, but soon after
secured a position with Judge Henry H. Snow, who then held most of the county offices, being Clerk
of the County Commissioners' Court, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Recorder, Judge of Probate, Notary
Public and Justice of the Peace. Here the young clerk made himself acquainted with the people of the
county (at that time few in number), with the land-system of the country and with the legal forms and
methods of procedure in the courts. He remained with Judge Snow over two years, receiving for his
services, the first year, six dollars per month, and, for the second, ten dollars per month, besides
his board in Judge Snow's family. He next accepted a situation with Messrs. Holmes, Brown & Co., then
one of the most prominent mercantile houses of the city, remaining through various changes of the firm
until 1844, when he formed a partnership with his brother under the firm name of L. & C. H. Bull, and
opened a store for the sale of hardware and crockery, which was the first attempt made in Quincy to
separate the mercantile business into different departments. Disposing of their business in 1861,
the firm of L. & C. H. Bull embarked in the private banking business, which they continued in one
location for about thirty years, when they organized the State Savings Loan & Trust Company, in which
he held the position of President until 1898, when he retired. Mr. Bull has always been active in
promoting the improvement and growth of the city; was one of the five persons who built most of the
horse railroads in Quincy, and was, for about twenty years, President of the Company. The Quincy
waterworks were sometime owned entirely by himself and his son. He never sought or held political
office, but at one time was the active President of five distinct business corporations. He was also
for some five years one of the Trustees of Illinois College at Jacksonville. He was married in 1844
to Miss Margaret H. Benedict, daughter of Dr. Wm. M. Benedict, of Milbury, Mass., and they had five
children. In politics he was a Republican, and in religious associations a Congregationalism. Died
Mar. 2, 1905. — Charles Henry (Bull), brother of the preceding, was born in Hartford,
Conn., Dec. 16, 1822, and removed to Quincy, Ill., in June, 1837. He commenced business as a clerk in
a general store, where he remained for seven years, when he entered into partnership with his brother,
Lorenzo Bull, in the hardware and crockery business, to which was subsequently added dealing in
agricultural implements. This business was continued until the year 1861. wThen it was sold out, and
the brothers established themselves as private oankers under the same firm name. A few years later
they organized the Merchants1 and Farmers' National Bank, which was mainly owned and altogether managed
by them. Five or six years later this bank was wound tip, when they returned to private banking,
continuing in this business until 1891, when it was merged in the State Savings Loan & Trust Company,
organized under the laws of Illinois with a capital of $300,000, held equally by Lorenzo Bull, Charles
H. Bull and Edward J. Parker, respectively, as President, Vice-President and Cashier. Near the close of
1898 the First National Bank of Quincy was merged into the State Savings Loan & Trust Company with J.
H. Warfield, the President of the former, as President of the consolidated concern. Mr. Bull was one of
the parties who originally organized the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad Company in 1869 — a road
intended to be built from Quincy, Ill., across the State of Missouri to Brownsville, Neb., and of which
he was (1898) the President, the name having been changed to the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railway.
He was also identified with the construction of the system of street railways in Quincy, and continued
active in their management for about twenty years. He was also active in various other public and
private enterprises, and has done much to advance the growth and prosperity of the city. Died Nov. 27,
1908.
BUNKER HILL, a city of Macoupin County, on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St.
Louis Railroad, 37 miles northeast of St. Louis; has electric-lighting plant, telephone service, coal
mine, flouring mill, wagon and various other manufactories, two banks, two newspapers, opera house,
numerous churches, public library, a military academy and fine public schools, and many handsome
residences; is situated on high ground in a rich agricultural and dairying region and an important
shipping-point. Pop. (1910), 1,046.
BUNN, Jacob, banker and manufacturer, was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., in 1814;
came to Springfield in 1836, and, four years later, began business as a grocer, to which he afterwards
added that of private banking, continuing until 1878. During a part of this time his bank was one of
the best known and widely regarded as one of the most solid institutions of its kind in the State.
Though crippled by the financial revulsion of 1873-74 and forced investments in depreciated real
estate, he paid dollar for dollar. After retiring from banking in 1878, he assumed charge of the
Springfield Watch Factory, in which he was a large stockholder, and of which he became the President.
Mr. Bunn was, between 1866 and 1870, a principal stockholder in "The Chicago Republican" (the
predecessor of "The Inter-Ocean"), and was one of the bankers who came to the aid of the State
Government with financial assistance at the beginning of the Civil War. Died at Springfield, Oct.
16, 1897. — John W. (Bunn), brother of the preceding and successor to the grocery
business of J. & J. W. Bunn, has been a prominent business man of Springfield. Served many years as
Treasurer of the State Agricultural Board and of Illinois State University; is now President of the
Marine Bank, Springfield.
BUNSEN, George, German patriot and educator, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
Germany, Feb. 18, 1794, and educated in his native city and at Berlin University; while still a student
took part in the Peninsular War which resulted in the downfall of Napoleon, but resuming his studies
in 1816, graduated three years later. He then founded a boys' school at Frankfort, which he maintained
fourteen years, when, having been implicated in the republican revolution of 1833, he was forced to
leave the country, locating the following year on a farm in St. Clair County, Ill. Here he finally
became a teacher in the public schools, served in the State Constitutional Convention of 1847, was
elected School Commissioner of St. Clair County, and, having removed to Belleville in 1855, there
conducted a private school for the instruction of teachers while discharging the duties of his office;
later was appointed a member of the first State School Board, serving until 1860, and taking part in
the establishment of the Illinois State Normal University, of which he was a zealous advocate. He was
also a contributor to "The Illinois Teacher," and, for several years prior to his death, served as
Superintendent of Schools at Belleville without compensation. Died, November, 1872.
BURCHARD, Horatio C., ex Congressman, was born at Marshall, Oneida County, N. Y.,
Sept. 22, 1825; graduated at Hamilton College, N. Y., in 1850, and later removed to Stephenson County,
Ill., making his home at Freeport. By profession he was a lawyer, but had also been largely interested
in mercantile pursuits. From 1857 to 1860 he was School Commissioner of Stephenson County; from 1863 to
1866 a member of the State Legislature, and from 1869 to 1879 a Representative in Congress, being each
time elected as a Republican, for the first time as the successor of E. B. Washburne. After retiring
from Congress, he served for six years (1879-85) as Director of the United States Mint at Philadelphia,
with marked ability. During the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1893), Mr. Burchard was in
charge of the Bureau of Awards in connection with the Mining Department, afterwards resuming practice
of his profession. Died Mar. 14, 1908.
BURDETTE, Robert Jones, journalist and humorist, was born in Greensborough, Pa.,
July 30,1844, and taken to Peoria, Ill., in early life, where he was educated in the public schools.
In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteers and served to the end of
the war; adopted journalism in 1869, being employed upon "The Peoria Transcript" and other papers of
that city. Later he became associated with "The Burlington (Iowa) Hawkeye," upon which he gained a wide
reputation as a genial humorist. Several volumes of his sketches have been published, but in recent
years he has devoted his attention chiefly to lecturing, with occasional contributions to the literary
press.
BUREAU COUNTY, set off from Putnam County in 1837, near the center of the northern
half of the State, Princeton being made the county-seat. Coal had been discovered in 1834, there being
considerable quantities mined at Mineral and Selby. Sheffield also has an important coal trade. Public
lands were offered for sale as early as 1835, and by 1844 had been nearly all sold. Princeton was
platted in 1832, and, in 1890, contained a population of 3,396. The county has an area of 846 square
miles, and, according to the census of 1910, a population of 43,975. The pioneer settler was Henry
Thomas, who erected the first cabin, in Bureau township, in 1828. He was soon followed by the Ament
brothers (Edward, Justus and John L.), and for a time settlers came in rapid succession, among the
earliest being Amos Leonard. Daniel Dimmick, John Hall, William Hoskins, Timothy Perkins, Leonard Roth,
Bulbona and John Dixon. Serious Indian disturbances in 1831 caused a hegira of the settlers, some of
whom never returned. In 1833 a fort was erected for the protection of the whites, and, in 1836, there
began a new and large influx of immigrants. Among other early settlers were John H. and Arthur Bryant,
brothers of the poet, William Cullen Bryant.
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, established in 1879, being an outgrowth of the agitation
and discontent among the laboring classes, which culminated in 1877-78. The Board consists of five
Commissioners, who serve for a nominal compensation, their term of office being two years. They are
nominated by the Executive and confirmed by the Senate. The law requires that three of them shall be
manual laborers and two employers of manual labor. The Bureau is charged with the collection,
compilation and tabulation of statistics relative to labor in Illinois, particularly in its relation
to the commercial, industrial, social, educational and sanitary conditions of the working classes. The
Commission is required to submit biennial reports. Those already published contain much information
of value concerning coal and lead mines, convict labor, manufactures, strikes and lockouts, wages,
rent, cost of living, mortgage indebtedness, and kindred topics.
BURGESS, Alexander, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the diocese of Quincy, was born at
Providence, R. I., Oct. 31, 1819. He graduated from Brown University in 1838 and from the General
Theological Seminary (New York) in 1841. He was made a Deacon, Nov. 3, 1842, and ordained a priest,
Nov. 1, 1843. Prior to his elevation to the episcopate he was rector of various parishes in Maine, at
Brooklyn, N. Y., and at Springfield, Mass. He represented the dioceses of Maine, Long Island and
Massachusetts in the General Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church from 1844 to 1877, and, in
the latter year, was President of the House of Deputies. Upon the death of his brother George, Bishop
of Maine, he was chosen by the clergy of the diocese to succeed him but declined. When the diocese of
Quincy, Ill., was created, he was elected its first Bishop, and consecrated at Christ Church,
Springfield, Mass., on May 15, 1878. Besides publishing a memoir of his brother. Bishop Burgess is
the author of several Sunday-school question books, carols and hymns, and has been a contributor to
periodical church literature. His residence is at Peoria.
BURLEY, Arthur Oilman, merchant, was born at Exeter, N. H., Oct. 4, 1812, received his
education in the local schools, and, in 1835, came West, locating in Chicago. For some two years he
served as clerk in the boot, shoe and clothing store of John Holbrook, after which he accepted a
position with his half-brother, Stephen F. Gale, the proprietor of the first book and stationery store
in Chicago. In 1838 he invested his savings in a bankrupt stock of crockery, purchased from the old
State Bank, and entered upon a business career which was continued uninterruptedly for nearly sixty
years. In that time Mr. Burley built up a business which, for its extent and success, was unsurpassed
in its time in the West. His brother in-law, Mr. John Tyrrell, became a member of the firm in 1852,
the business thereafter being conducted under the name of Burley & Tyrrell, with Mr. Burley as
President of the Company until his death, which occurred, August 27, 1897. — Augustus Harris
(Burley), brother of the preceding, was born at Exeter, N. H., March 28, 1819; was educated in
the schools of his native State, and, in his youth, was employed for a time as a clerk in Boston. In
1837 he came to Chicago and took a position as clerk or salesman in the book and stationery store of
his half-brother, Stephen F. Gale, subsequently became a partner, and, on the retirement of Mr. Gale
a few years later, succeeded to the control of the business. In 1857 he disposed of his book and
stationery business, and about the same time became one of the founders of the Merchants' Loan and
Trust Company, with which he was connected as a Director several years. Mr. Burley was a member of the
volunteer fire department organized in Chicago in 1841. Among the numerous public positions held by
him may be mentioned, member of the Board of Public Works (1867-70), the first Superintendent of
Lincoln Park (1869), Eepresentative from Cook County in the Twenty-seventh General Assembly (1870-72),
City Comptroller during the administration of Mayor Medill (1872-73), and again under Mayor Roche
(1887), and member of the City Council (1881-82). Politically, Mr. Burley had been a zealous
Republican and served on the Chicago Union Defense Committee in the first year of the Civil War, and
was a delegate from the State-at-large to the National Republican Convention at Baltimore in 1864,
which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency a second time. Died Nov. 27, 1903.
BURNHAM, Daniel Hudson, architect, was born at Henderson, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1846; came
to Chicago at 9 years of age; attended private schools and the Chicago High School, after which he
spent two years at Waltham, Mass., receiving special instruction; returning to Chicago in 1867, he
was afterwards associated with various firms. About 1873 he formed a business connection with J. W.
Root, architect, which extended to the death of the latter in 1891. The firm of Burnham & Root
furnished the plans of a large number of the most conspicuous business buildings in Chicago, but won
their greatest distinction in connection with the construction of buildings for the World's Columbian
Exposition, of which Mr. Root was Supervising Architect previous to his death, while Mr. Burnham was
made Chief of Construction and, later, Director of Works. In this capacity his authority was almost
absolute, but was used with a discretion that contributed greatly to the success of the enterprise.
BURR, Albert G., former Congressman, was born in Genesee County, N. Y., Nov. 8, 1829;
came to Illinois about 1832 with his widowed mother, who settled in Springfield. In early life he
became a citizen of Winchester, where he read law and was admitted to the bar, also, for a time,
following the occupation of a printer. Here he was twice elected to the lower house of the General
Assembly (1860 and 1862), meanwhile serving as a member of the State Constitutional Convention of
1862. Having removed to Carrollton, Greene County, he was elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth and
Forty-first Congresses (1866 and 1868), serving until March 4, 1871. In August, 1877, he was elected
Circuit Judge to fill a vacancy and was re-elected for the regular term in June, 1879, but died in
office, June 10, 1882.
BURRELL, Orlando, member of Congress, was born in Bradford County, Pa.; removed with
his parents to White County, Ill., in 1834, growing up on a farm near Carmi; received a common school
education; in 1850 went to California, driving an ox-team across the plains. Soon after the beginning
of the Civil War (1861) he raised a company of cavalry, of which he was elected Captain, and which
became a part of the First Regiment Illinois Cavalry; served as County Judge from 1873 to 1881, and was
elected Sheriff in 1886. In 1894 he was elected Representative in Congress as a Republican from the
Twentieth District, composed of counties which formerly constituted a large part of the old Nineteenth
District, and which had uniformly been represented by a Democrat. He suffered defeat as a candidate
for re-election in 1896.
BURROUGHS, John Curtis, clergyman and educator, was born in Stamford, N. Y., Dec. 7,
1818; graduated at Yale College in 1842, and Madison Theological Seminary in 1846. After five years
spent as pastor of Baptist churches at Waterford and West Troy, N. Y., in 1852 he assumed the pastorate
of the First Baptist Church of Chicago; about 1856 was elected to the presidency of the Chicago
University, then just established, having previously declined the presidency of Shurtleff College at
Upper Alton. Resigning his position in 1874, he soon after became a member of the Chicago Board of
Education, and, in 1884, was elected Assistant Superintendent of Public Schools of that city, serving
until his death, April 21, 1892.
BUSEY, Samuel T., banker and ex-Congressman, was born at Greencastle,
Ind., Nov. 16, 1835; in infancy was brought by his parents to Urbana, Ill., where he was educated and
has since resided. From 1857 to 1859 he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, but during 1860-61 attended
a commercial college and read law. In 1862 he was chosen Town Collector, but resigned to enter the
Union Army, being commissioned Second Lieutenant by Governor Yates, and assigned to recruiting service.
Having aided in the organization of the Seventy-sixth Illinois Volunteers, he was commissioned its
Lieutenant-Colonel, August 12, 1862; was afterward promoted to the colonelcy, and mustered out of
service at Chicago, August 6, 1865, with the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General. In 1866 he was an
unsuccessful candidate for the General Assembly on the Democratic ticket; and for Trustee of the State
University in 1888. From 1880 to 1889 he was Mayor and President of the Board of Education of Urbana.
In 1867 he opened a private bank, which he conducted for twenty-one years. In 1890 he was elected to
Congress from the Fifteenth Illinois District, defeating Joseph G. Cannon, Republican, by whom he was
in turn defeated for the same office in 1892. Died Aug. 12, 1909.
BUSHNELL, a flourishing city and manufacturing center in McDonough County, 11 miles
northeast of Macomb, at the junction of two branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy with the
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroads; has numerous manufactories, including wooden pumps, flour,
agricultural implements, wagons and carriages, tank and fence-work, rural mail boxes, mattresses,
brick, besides egg and poultry packing houses; also has water-works and electric lights, grain
elevators, three banks, several churches, graded public and high schools, two newspapers and a public
library. Pop. (1910), 2,619.
BUSHNELL, Nehemiah, lawyer, was born in the town of Westbrook, Conn., Oct. 9, 1813,
graduated at Yale College in 1835, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, coming in December
of the same year to Quincy, Ill., where, for a time, he assisted in editing "The Whig" of that city,
later forming a partnership with O. H. Browning, which was never fully broken until his death. In his
practice he gave much attention to land titles in the "Military Tract"; in 1851 was President of the
portion of the Northern Cross Railroad between Quincy and Galesburg (now a part of the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy), and later of the Quincy Bridge Company and the Quincy & Palmyra (Mo.) Railroad.
In 1872 he was elected by the Republicans the "minority" Representative from Adams County in the
Twenty-eighth General Assembly, but died during the succeeding session, Jan. 31, 1873. He was able,
high-minded and honorable in public and private life.
BUSHNELL, Washington, lawyer and Attorney-General, was born in Madison County, N. Y.,
Sept. 30, 1825; in 1837 came with his father to Lisbon, Kendall County, Ill., where he worked on a
farm and taught at times; studied law at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., was admitted to the bar and established
himself in practice at Ottawa, Ill. The public positions held by him were those of State Senator for
La Salle County (1861-69) and Attorney-General (1869-73); was also a member of the Republican National
Convention of 1864, besides being identified with various business enterprises at Ottawa. Died, June
30, 1885.
BUTLER, William, State Treasurer, was born in Adair County, Ky., Dec. 15, 1797; during
the war of 1812, at the age of 16 years, served as the messenger of the Governor of Kentucky, carrying
dispatches to Gen. William Henry Harrison in the field; removed to Sangamon County, Ill., in 1828, and,
in 1836, was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court by Judge Stephen T. Logan. In 1859 he served as
foreman of the Grand Jury which investigated the "canal scrip frauds" charged against ex-Governor
Matteson, and it was largely through his influence that the proceedings of that body were subsequently
published in an official form. During the same year Governor Bissell appointed him State Treasurer to
fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of James Miller, and he was elected to the same office in
1860. Mr. Butler was an ardent supporter of Abraham Lincoln, whom he efficiently befriended in the
early struggles of the latter in Springfield. He died in Springfield, Jan. 11, 1876.
BUTTERFIELD, Justin, early lawyer, was born at Keene, N. H., in 1790. He studied at
"Williams College, and was admitted to the bar at Watertown, N. Y., in 1812. After some years devoted
to practice at Adams and at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., he removed to New Orleans, where he attained a
high rank at the bar. In 1835 he settled in Chicago and soon became a leader in his profession there
also. In 1841 he was appointed by President Harrison United States District Attorney for the District
of Illinois, and, in 1849, by President Taylor Commissioner of the General Land Office, one of his
chief competitors for the latter place being Abraham Lincoln. This distinction he probably owed to the
personal influence of Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, of whom Mr. Butterfield was a personal
friend and warm admirer. While Commissioner, he rendered valuable service to the State in securing the
canal land grant. As a lawyer he was logical and resourceful, as well as witty and quick at repartee,
yet his chief strength lay before the Court rather than the jury. Numerous stories are told of his
brilliant sallies at the bar and elsewhere. One of the former relates to his address before Judge
Nathaniel Pope, of the United States Court at Springfield, in a habeas-corpus case to secure the
release of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, who was under arrest under the charge of complicity in an
attempt to assassinate Governor Boggs of Missouri. Rising to begin his argument, Mr. Butterfield
said: "I am to address the Pope" (bowing to the Court), "surrounded by angels" (bowing still lower to
a party of ladies in the audience), "in the presence of the holy apostles, in behalf of the prophet of
the Lord." On another occasion, being asked if he was opposed to the war with Mexico, he replied, "I
opposed one war"—meaning his opposition as a Federalist to the War of 1812— "but learned the folly of
it. Henceforth I am for war, pestilence and famine." He died, Oct. 25, 1855.
BYFORD, William H., physician and author, was born at Eaton, Ohio, March 20, 1817;
in 1830 came with his widowed mother to Crawford County, Ill., and began learning the tailor's trade
at Palestine; later studied medicine at Vincennes and practiced at different points in Indiana.
Meanwhile, having graduated at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, in 1850, he assumed a
professorship in a Medical College at Evansville, Ind., also editing a medical journal. In 1857 he
removed to Chicago, where he accepted a chair in Rush Medical College, but two years later became one
of the founders of the Chicago Medical College, where he remained twerty years. He then (1879) returned
to Rush, assuming the chair of Gynecology. In 1870 he assisted in founding the Woman's Medical College
of Chicago, remaining President of the Faculty and Board of Trustees until his death, May 21,1890. He
published a number of medical works which are regarded as standard by the profession, besides acting as
associate of Dr. N. S. Davis in the editorship of "The Chicago Medical Journal" and as editor-in-chief
of "The Medical Journal and Examiner," the successor of the former. Dr. Byford was held in the highest
esteem as a physician and a man, both by the general public and his professional associates.
BYRON, a village of Ogle County, in a picturesque region on Rock River, at junction
of the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways, 83 miles west-northwest
from Chicago; is in rich farming and dairying district; has two banks and one weekly paper. Population
(1890), 698; (1900), 1,015; (1910), 932.
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