Published May 10, 2025
By Dave Dulaney
Boscobel was the elegant mansion belonging to General James Washington Singleton just outside Quincy’s northeast city limits. Today it would be located near Moorman Park on the northeast corner of Orchard Road and Christopher Court. Singleton was described by Mark Twain as “one of the farmer princes of Illinois” after Twain spent a night at Boscobel in April 1867. Singleton was an important agriculturalist and twice brought the Illinois Agricultural Fair to Quincy. He was a prominent lawyer and politician who also served as president of two railroads. He made and lost several fortunes in his life. He served as general of volunteer militia during the Mormon difficulties of the 1840s and used the title the rest of his life. He was one of the nation’s leading Peace Democrats during the Civil War.
The mansion was erected in 1837 by D. B. Whitney at a cost of $40,000. Singleton purchased the home in 1862 for $30,000. He enlarged it to twenty-six rooms, adding gas and water systems to the structure. The mansion and its large carriage barn were situated in the center of the 340-acre estate, surrounded on one side by a 1,200-tree orchard of apples, pears, plums, peaches and cherries. The other side contained pastures of prize horses, cattle and sheep. A stream fed by two never-failing springs ran through the pastures. A whitewashed post and board fence marked the estate’s border, which was broken by a winding avenue of large elm trees leading to the mansion. Boscobel contained a number of parlors and bedrooms, a fine dining room, an extensive library, and a large brick-lined wine cellar.
The Quincy Whig reported that on the second day of 1884 Boscobel was the location of a wedding that was “a social event of importance and general interest.” The marriage of Singleton’s daughter, Lillie, to Francis Thomas of Baltimore was equal to any social event in the country. Fashionable appointments decorated the General’s home to welcome a number of distinguished guests.
The theme throughout the 26-room mansion was an evergreen wedding. All the rooms were festooned with larch, cedar and pine. The parlors were filled with violets, roses, and exotic flowering plants punctuated with rare palms. In the front drawing room was a suspended arch whose apex displayed a marriage bell composed of tea roses and carnations; the clapper being formed by a bunch of roses.
The local newspaper named the more than 100 out-of-town guests from twelve states and the District of Columbia. The General’s acquaintances from his professional and political life, a virtual “Who’s Who” of the country’s business and government, attended to extend best wishes for the couple and their families.
Ten congressmen were on the list. One guest, William Hatch of Missouri, introduced the Hatch Act of 1887 in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill funded the creation of agricultural experiment stations by state land-grant colleges, connected with the earlier Morrill Act. Another attendee was William Ralls Morrison of Illinois, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Seven U.S. senators came to the celebration. Former Illinois Senator David Davis was at the top of the guest list. He had been appointed by President Lincoln to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, resigning in 1877 to become a senator. Senator John A. Logan from southern Illinois would later that year be nominated to run for vice-president with Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine. Another senator, Benjamin Jonas of New Orleans, had been reared in Quincy and was the son of Abraham Jonas, a close friend and early supporter of Abraham Lincoln.
Including the host, six generals attended. General William Tecumseh Sherman was the most famous. Sherman, commanding general of the U.S. Army since 1869, had resigned the top position two months earlier. Four men at the wedding had served as governors of their respective states, while four had been or would become U.S. ambassadors.
Other prominent men included railroad magnates like John B. Carson, formerly the head of the Hannibal and St. Jo Railroad and Commodore Cornelius Garrison, who made his fortune by building and running Mississippi steamboats and large Pacific sailing ships. He served as San Francisco’s fourth mayor before returning east to take control of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
The wedding supper for the guests included six kinds of game, as well as oysters, turkey, beef, ham, relishes, salads, wines from the General’s cellar, and “Bride’s cake.” A display of wedding presents filled an adjacent room. Gifts included a rare Doulton vase and a total of fifteen trays of table silver. Other gifts included a set of Dresden after-dinner china, a candelabra, paintings, and clocks. At the conclusion of the dinner, a bottle of 1793 vintage wine was obtained from the General’s cellar and served to the family. The bridal party left at the end of the evening in railroad man John Carson’s private rail car.
The bride’s dress was made by Madame Snow of Berneimer’s in Quincy. It was made of ivory white Lyons satin with a full court train. The garment had a Medici collar, and sleeves edged in Point de Venise lace. Miss Singleton was ornamented with a gold bracelet and several diamonds, including a large diamond pendant. In 1986 Elizabeth Keyser, the great-granddaughter of the 1884 bride, wore the same dress, gold bracelet and diamond pendant in her wedding. The Singleton wedding was an event that is revered by the family to the present day. The dress and jewelry have been worn by the bride’s daughter, three of her granddaughters and her great-granddaughter. The family’s memory of the Boscobel wedding is one that has transcended time.
Boscobel was sold by Singleton in 1889, and it was destroyed by fire one year later. A few decades after fire destroyed Boscobel, an eight-room house was built on the original foundation of the 26-room mansion. The orchard still had many pear and peach, and a few remaining apple and cherry trees. The large carriage barn was used for storage. The brick-lined cellar where Singleton stored his wines remained in the basement.
Dave Dulaney was a local historian, an author, and a frequent speaker on the local history of breweries and steamboats. Dave served as a tour guide for the John Wood Mansion and was a past president of the Society. He died in 2024.
Sources:
“A Wedding. The Marriage of Mr. F. W. Thomas and Miss Lillie Singleton.” Quincy Daily Whig. January 3, 1884.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp.
“Buena Vista Hills Farm-Rare Chance.” Quincy Whig. June 20, 1848, 3.
“Gen. Singleton.” Chicago Times. December 26, 1885. (In J. W. Singleton MS File, Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County.)
Kelley, Anne M. “A Wedding Gown That Transcended Time.” Frederick News-Post. January 27, 1987, 20-21.
Landrum, Carl. “From Quincy’s Past; Landmarks gone but not forgotten.” Quincy Herald-Whig. June 4, 1978.
Landrum, Carl. “The Story of Boscobel, a country home.” Quincy Herald-Whig. March 25, 2001.
“The State Fair Grounds.” Quincy Daily Herald. July 30, 1867. (A reprinting of an article by Col. Joe Forrest in the Chicago Times, July 27, 1867.)
Twain, Mark. Mark Twain’s travels with Mr. Brown being heretofore uncollected sketches. Collected and edited with an introduction by Franklin Walker and G. Ezra Dane. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1940.
“Valuable Farm for Sale near Quincy.” Quincy Weekly Whig. March 3, 1855.
