Blog Post

Some Facts About Thanksgiving 

Arlis Dittmer • Nov 29, 2020

The holiday of Thanksgiving has its origins in European, particularly English harvest festivals. In the United States we credit the Pilgrims of Plymouth Massachusetts for the first Thanksgiving as they brought their traditions of fasting days and thanksgiving days with them. At that time, Thanksgiving was a series of events and religious services. As President, George Washington proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving. The states were free to celebrate thanksgiving on whatever day they chose. It wasn’t until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln set the date as the last Thursday in November that there was a unified holiday.

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November because retailers convinced President Franklin Roosevelt to move the holiday in 1939. The country was still in a depression and retail sales needed a boost by having more shopping days until Christmas. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with political opposition. The fourth Thursday didn’t become the official holiday until a Congressional Resolution in 1941.

There are a few mentions of Thanksgiving in the early Quincy newspapers. Sometimes poems were published mentioning harvest foods, commentaries about farmers getting the turkey, and stories of turkeys being cared for by families, usually reprinted from eastern newspapers. One story republished from Birmingham, Connecticut in the Quincy Whig in December 1856, told about a woman with a long life and a large family saying, “We doubt if there is another case in this country where a venerable mother can call 230 of her lineal pedigree around her thanksgiving dinner table.”

Because there was no unified date in the 19th century, states were joining together and proclaiming a national thanksgiving on the same Thursday in November. The December 3, 1850 Quincy Whig wrote in an article titled Unique to the Last, “South Carolina will observe Sunday, Oct. 24th as its day of Thanksgiving. What on earth can a State be thankful for that is not thankful for the blessing of the Union?”

Even though governors of various states were making proclamations about a day of “thanksgiving and prayer,” few businesses were closed and churches were not open as the day was a Thursday. In one letter to the Quincy Daily Whig in 1859 an anonymous writer named “One of Many,” wrote that as a New Englander he was used to a proper Thanksgiving with businesses closed and churches open but was dismayed that was not the case in Quincy. He complained that only one church was open for a “union service” and that the clergy were indolent. A rebuttal was published that same day and said, “… you have seen fit to publish an exceedingly bitter and cowardly attach upon the motives and character of Protestant clergymen of this city.” At about the same time, the Bank of Quincy announced it would not be open on Thanksgiving.

With Lincoln’s proclamation of October 3, 1863 establishing Thanksgiving he was giving thanks that, “…peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed and that harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the great theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.” He goes on to write, “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States …. To observe and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer….”

Dispatches sent to the Quincy newspapers during December 1864, would mention Thanksgiving Day feasts for the various armies, one saying, “Our soldiers having been fed on turkey on Thanksgiving Day, it is supposed will now be better able to ‘gobble’ up the enemy.” While another dispatch said, “Our soldiers we fed on turkeys, mince pies and all Thanksgiving luxuries, sent to them at private expense, at a greater cost than Great Britain would pay for the whole rations of her standing army in several months.”

After the war, in the later part of the nineteenth century, Thanksgiving gained importance as a holiday. Each year the President and the Governor would issue proclamations. Governor John M. Palmer’s proclamation in 1872 said in part, “ [I] invite all the people of the state of Illinois and all strangers in their midst, to set apart Thursday, the Twenty-eight day of November A. D. 1872 as the holy day of giving thanks to the Father of all for the mercies He has bestowed upon us.”

Churches held early morning services; businesses were closed although restaurants were open and advertised their lunches or dinners. In 1874, The Daily Herald wrote a small article about Ed Lehman’s restaurant at Fourth and Hampshire saying, “Right here you could find all the delicacies of the season, consisting in part of roast turkey, cranberries, celery, oysters, fine cake and in fact everything nice. Ed is an old hand at the business….” Two days after Thanksgiving in 1877, the Quincy Daily Herald had four Thanksgiving notices in their “Items in Brief” column. First they said the weather was disagreeable, then there were not as many turkeys that year, then Mr. Hamilton gave a dinner at his residence on Hampshire, and finally, “The Tremont served a grand Thanksgiving dinner Thursday. The dining room was crowded with strangers and citizens.”

By 1881, Illinois had six legal holidays. New Year’s Day began the year, followed by Washington’s Birthday, Decoration Day, which was May 30, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Quincy Daily Herald ran an amusing editorial in 1882 which started with “Gentle reader, this is Thanksgiving day. …The turkey we ate last Thanksgiving day must have been two or three thousand years old. We remember it well. … Our Thanksgiving turkey this year will be a stuffed rabbit. … National banks and some stores close on Thanksgiving day. Some newspaper offices close on Thanksgiving day also, but the Herald office doesn’t. It is a cold day when the Herald office closes.”

Sources

“By Telegraph.” Quincy Whig, October 10, 1863, 1.

“Dangers of Acids and Alcohols.” Quincy Whig, December 6, 1856, 1.

History.com Editors. “Thanksgiving 2020.” Last Modified November 20, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

“Items in Brief.” Quincy Daily Herald , December 1, 1877, 1.

“Miscellaneous Items.” Quincy Whig , December 10, 1864, 1.

“Miscellaneous Items.” Quincy Whig , December 24, 1864, 1.

“News and Notions.” Quincy Daily Herald , December 20, 1881, 1.

“Origin of Thanksgiving.” Quincy Daily Whig , December 4, 1865, 1.

“Saturday, January 1.” Quincy Daily Whig , January 1, 1859, 1.

“Thanksgiving: Proclamation by the Governor.” Quincy Daily Whig , November 22, 1874, 1.

“Thanksgiving Day.” Quincy Daily Herald , November 30, 1882, 1.

“Thanksgiving Lunch.” Quincy Daily Herald , November 28, 1874, 1.

“Unique to The Last.” Quincy Whig , December 3, 1850, 1.


By Lynn Snyder 21 Mar, 2024
Along with 190 other passengers from the Grand Duchy of Baden, Joseph Mast set sail aboard the Bolivar from Le Havre, France, on April 5, 1834. After 58 days at sea, the ship arrived at the port of New Orleans, only to find the city in the throes of a cholera epidemic. To avoid the sickness in the city, a number of the immigrants, including Mast, took a steamboat north the next day. At the mouth of the Ohio they left the boat and camped for a night at the present site of Cairo. The next morning, they boarded another boat, which took them to St. Louis. From there, they headed up the river unfortunately colliding with boat headed downstream. Joseph Mast and others finally reached Quincy on June 16th, two and one-half months after leaving Le Havre. Joseph was the nephew of Michael Mast, the first German to settle in the Quincy area, in 1829. While Joseph’s trip across the ocean had been plagued by bad weather and sea sickness, all had survived the voyage. In a letter to his parents dated July 20, 1834, Joseph noted, “The trip on the Mississippi is a sour and unhealthy trip, for cholera reigns mostly on ships. On two ships eight days later we continued; on one 8 died and on the other 28 died.” Neither did Joseph find life in Illinois promising. Although his uncle had become “a rich respected man” with the five houses he had built in town all rented, and two more built on 130 acres outside town where he intended to move, Joseph cautioned his parents not to sell up in Germany and join him immediately. According to Joseph, work was not readily assured, clothes and equipment were expensive, and farming required work from dawn to dusk. But, he advised, if they had sold their holdings, and were intent on coming, they should provide themselves well with food for the ocean voyage, so as to arrive at their destination in good health. Notwithstanding this inauspicious beginning, Joseph and his relatives prospered as citizens of Quincy and as farmers of Adams County. Beginning in the 1830s, German settlers arrived in this area of Illinois in increasing numbers. They were drawn by a mixed topography of upland prairie and timber broken by spring-fed streams, and rich forest and river bottomland soils with agricultural potential. These German farmers, taking advantage of land for sale in the vast Illinois Military Tract, would settle in the southern sections of the county, particularly in Melrose and Fall Creek townships. Others, interested in labor and business opportunities offered by the rapidly growing town of Quincy, would purchase small city lots and build their homes primarily on the south side of the growing city, in the area variously known as “New Bielfield,” “Hereford Meadows,” or “Calftown.” In 1833 Anton Delabar, a cabinet maker in his native Baden, brought his wife and ten-year-old daughter with him to Quincy, where he built a water-driven saw mill in the area of Third and Delaware. He also established the first brewery, on Kentucky Street between 4th and 5th Streets. Many German immigrants, like Delabar, left Germany with the Quincy area as their destination. Others, who had settled elsewhere in the United States, were drawn to the area by reports of its growth and prosperity. In some cases, their relocation to Adams County represented the end stage in the “chain migration” of their family and acquaintances across the country. Such was the journey of the family of Adam Schmitt, born in 1805 in Hesse, who arrive in the port of Baltimore in 1831. He was a furniture maker in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, when he married. He moved his new family to Pittsburgh, where he built and operated a furniture store which burned down after two years, leaving him penniless. Next, with 15 relatives, Adam traveled to St. Louis, then on to Belleville, Illinois, to join family already living there. Still searching for a place to settle, Schmitt and Wilhelm Dickhut, another German immigrant, arrived in Quincy in 1834. Liking what he found, Schmitt rented a log “blockhouse” at 3rd and Hampshire, then returned to St. Louis by the next steamer to gather the remaining members of the family. While his father-in-law soon moved to a farm in the county, Schmitt remained in town, building a home and a furniture workshop at 10th and Broadway. Quincy founder John Wood was also of German descent. His mother, Katharine Krause Wood was German by birth, and spoke only German with her son John, who was born in the Sempronius, New York. When Wood, who had settled in what would become Quincy in 1821, set out to build his Greek Revival mansion at the corner of 12th Street and Burton Road, he made a trip to St. Louis to recruit German builders and craftsmen to help with the construction. Many of these men, drawn to the area by a job opportunity, stayed to settle on land initially belonging to Wood. Indeed, when the German voting block became an important element in the elections of the 1850s, the Quincy Whig, the Republican newspaper in town, quoted from a letter published by its political rival the Herald, which referred to Wood, stating, “His Whig friends here say he’s the only man in the district who can carry the ‘Dutch’ vote” of Quincy. Further, the letter suggested, “should John Wood ever remove from Quincy the ‘Dutch’ would follow him.” Woods influence on local citizens of German heritage may have been exaggerated. However, it is clear that the city of Quincy, as well as Adams County, was enriched by immigrants of German ancestry, who built homes, farms and businesses, and raised generations of their families in their adopted land. This heritage was profound and lasting, and in the 1990 U.S. Census over 56% of Quincy residents claimed at least partial German ancestry. These numbers were far higher than those reported for Chicago (9.7%), Rockford (30.1%), Peoria (34.7%) or Springfield (36.7%). Sources Bornmann’s Sketches of Early Germans of Quincy and Adams County. 1999 (reprinted 2013). Quincy, IL: Great River Genealogical Society. “Census shows Quincy’s Strong German Heritage.” Quincy Herald Whig, July 12, 1992. Jones, A.D. Illinois and the West. Boston: Weeks, Jordan and Company, 1838. “The Old Game.” Quincy Herald Whig, June 18, 1852, 2. Slack, Kent P. The Germans and The Gem Study: A Study of the Impact of German Immigrants on the Growth of Adams County and the City of Quincy, Illinois, from 1830 to 1890. MS thesis, Normal, IL: Illinois State University, 1994. Wilcox, David, ed. Quincy and Adams County History and Representative Men, 2 vols. Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1919.
By Jean McCarl Kay 21 Mar, 2024
The diary of Quincy’s Orville Hickman Browning – U.S. senator, friend and counselor to President Lincoln as well secretary of interior for President Andrew Johnson – was published in 1927 by the Illinois State Historical Library. The two-volume diary covers the years 1850 through 1881 and has become a valuable source of information for Lincoln scholars. Many familiar Quincy names are mentioned in its pages, yet some names over the intervening years have been lost. Such is the case with the Cox family. Quincy – Friday, June 17, 1853 – Charming day. At work in office. Cox and wife took tea with us. Mrs. Browning, Mrs. Cox, Miss Bettie and self-went to Kendall’s Hall at night to see McAllister. Quincy – Tuesday, September 6, 1853 – Cloudy and in consequence of the rain last night cool. Mrs. Cox and boys dined with us, and they and all of Mr. Erskine’s family took tea. At work in office. So read entries in Browning’s diary for a couple of summer days. There were frequent visits by the Coxes, who were not further identified in the diary for nearly a decade. Orville and Eliza Browning spent many hours with the Cox family. Who were they? Apparently, Theodore Calvin Pease, the editor of the Browning diary, didn’t know. Although he identified most other Browning associates whose names appear in the diary, Pease had no commentary about Mr. and Mrs. Cox. Eventually their identity was revealed with this entry on Dec. 10, 1859. The notation revealed a close Browning-Cox relationship: “Jno. (Jonathan) C. Cox came this evening to stay with us till Mrs. Cox’s return, who has gone East to spend the winter.” By the time of the entry, Cox, eleven years Browning’s junior, had become one of Browning’s proteges and closest friends. John C. and Anna Rowland Cox had left Philadelphia in 1846 to settle in Quincy. Although John was a lawyer by profession, when he came to Illinois, he purchased a farm fronting on Twelfth Street and extending from Cedar to Locust, naming the property Glen Annie. Here the family – sons Harry and Rowland, daughter Annie John, and Anna’s brother Joseph G. Rowland – lived in a country house on the road north out of town. The Cox family, though settled in Illinois, still had many ties to the east. When Harry and Rowland were old enough, they were sent east to further their education, which Browning related in this diary entry: August 14, 1859 – “Cox just got home from Princeton where he had placed his boys at college.” Once Abraham Lincoln was elected president, Browning used his relationship with Lincoln to seek positions for many of his friends. He recommended John C. Cox for the job of auditor in a governmental department, but Cox did not receive the coveted spot. Cox also had an interest in politics, having run unsuccessfully for the legislature in 1852 and 1854. In 1861 Browning was appointed senator to serve the remaining two years of the late Stephen A. Douglas’s term. Now a resident in Washington, D.C., Browning visited Lincoln often and used his influence with the president to seek positions for other friends, including an officer’s commission for Rowland Cox. After President Lincoln’s death on April 15, 1865, Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency. In June of 1866 Browning was still attempting to get Cox an appointment. This time it was a mission to The Hague. Then on July 27, 1866, President Johnson informed Browning that he wished to send Browning’s name to the Senate for nomination as secretary of the interior. Quickly confirmed, Browning could at last provide a much-wanted position for his friend. John C. Cox became clerk to the secretary of the interior. Browning attempted several times during 1868 to have President Johnson nominate Cox as Commissioner of Patents but to no avail. John and Anna Cox would have been comfortable with such a political appointment. Anna’s father, Judge Joseph G. Rowland, had served on the Supreme Court of Delaware and also had served in the state legislature. At the end of President Johnson’s term, the Browning’s returned to Quincy, but the Cox family remained in Washington where their two sons had established a successful law firm dealing in trademark and copyright law. With none of the immediate family members left in Quincy, part of the Glen Annie farm became a subdivision called the John C. Cox Addition. The Quincy Herald reported that John C. Cox did visit his Glen Annie farm in Quincy once more, returning the day before his death on March 30, 1872. The obituary likely was written by editor Joseph G. Rowland, Anna Cox’s nephew and Quincy mayor. Browning called on Cox the evening of his arrival home but did not see him. Browning went home but in a short time was summoned by Mrs. Cox to return. He reached Cox’s bedside to see him breathe his last. Browning’s last service to his longtime friend was to act as pallbearer at his funeral. The burial was in the Woodland Cemetery. Resting beside him is his son Harry, who returned to Quincy to die in 1878. Rowland Cox remained in the east, married and had several children, including a boy named Archibald, who married Frances Perkins. Archibald and Frances had a son, who also was named Archibald. This child, the great-grandson of John C. and Anna Rowland Cox of Quincy, was Archibald Cox, Jr., who would serve as U. S. solicitor general under President John F. Kennedy. On May 19, 1973, Archibald Cox Jr., accepted an appointment as the first Watergate special prosecutor during the administration of President Richard Nixon. The president fired Cox in what became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” when Cox’s investigation led to a subpoena of tapes of the president’s Oval Office conversations. It led, ultimately, to the only resignation of a U.S. president. Before his death in 2004, Archibald Cox, Jr., who traced his lineage to 19th century Quincy, was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton. Sources Ancestry. “1850 U. S. Census, Adams County. Illinois, Population Schedule, North Ward, 401.” www.ancestry.com Ancestry. “1850 U. S. Census, Adams County. Illinois, Population Schedule, South Ward, 12/638b.” www.ancestry.com Baxter, Maurice G. Orville H. Browning, Lincoln’s Friend and Critic. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press, 1957. “Cox, Mrs. Archibald (Frances Perkins) ’25.” In Notable Members in Plainfield Garden Club History. Plainfield IL: Plainfield Garden Club, 2008. http://plainfieldgardenclub.org “Death of John C. Cox.” Daily Quincy Herald, March 31, 1872, 4. “The Death Record: Harry Cox.” Quincy Weekly Whig, July 11, 1878, 6. Family Search. “John Cox.” Pedigree Resource File. HTTPS://Familyserach.org/pal/MM9.2.1/SPJ7-h6F Great River Genealogical Society. Block 10, Lot 48 Rowland-Cox. Quincy IL: Woodland Cemetery, Vol II, 17, 1991. “A List of Lands and Town Lots: J. C. Cox’s Addition.” Daily Quincy Herald, May 15, 1870, 3. Mahoney, Timothy R. Provincial Lives: Middle Class Experience in the Antebellum Middle West. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999. “Major Joseph G. Rowlands, August 5, 1903, and family.” File MS 920. Quincy, IL: Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. “Orville H. Browning.” File MS 920, Brow. Quincy, IL: Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. Pease, Theodore Calvin and James G. Randall (eds). The Diary of Orville H. Browning, 1850- 1881, 2 vols. Springfield, IL: Illinois State Historical Society, 1927. “Rowland Cox.” In Sixty-three: Fortieth-Year Book of the Members of the Class of 1863. Princton, NJ: Princton University, 1904.
By Willliam Mcintyre 21 Mar, 2024
At a cemetery in DeLand, Florida, I saw a dirty and moldy Civil War gravestone but could barely see the name: Lt. Col. William H. Minter, 18th Mo. Inf. I was intrigued and decided to research Col. Minter. Minter was not from Missouri, but he joined the 18th Regiment, Missouri Infantry from his nearby home in Illinois. At that time in his life, he was living in Quincy. Minter was born in 1827 in Monroe, Virginia (now West Virginia). His family and early life are a mystery, but he later listed his vocation as river boat captain, a profession that must have taken him to Louisville by the mid-1850s. At that time, he met and married Louisville widow Louisa McDonald Hardy. Louisa was more than 20 years older than Minter. She had numerous older sons and one young daughter, Charlotte. The Mississippi River must have called William and his new family to the river town of Quincy, Illinois. By 1860, he was working there as a bookkeeper. When the Civil War broke out, Minter and several associates joined the Illinois 10th Infantry, Co. E. on April 21, 1861. His papers listed him as 6 ft tall, with light hair and blue eyes. He was a leader and was promoted to 2nd Lt. on his 9th day of service. One of his comrades was John Tillson, Jr., son-in-law of John Wood, Quincy’s founder who just happened to be the Governor of Illinois in 1860-61. The company was stationed near Cairo, Illinois, until the 10th disbanded in July 1861. He lived a civilian life for nine months, but waiting no longer, he used his connections to Tillson and Wood to muster into the Missouri 18th Infantry on March 10, 1862, as an officer. Weeks after rejoining the Union Army, he found himself at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, site of the famous 1862 Battle of Shiloh. Led by fellow Quincy resident, General Benjamin Prentiss, Minter’s troops were the first to be attacked by the Confederates in what was called The Hornets’ Nest. The Union suffered major losses, Prentiss surrendered, and many, including Minter, were taken prisoner. In June they were released in a prisoner swap. They regrouped and rejoined the 18th. Minter had been elevated to Captain, then Major and on Aug. 15, 1864, to Lt. Colonel. He was known to be a stringent commander who was tough on rules and training. He would demote those who broke rules but also promoted those that he believed had earned the honor. In 1864, he participated in the Battle of Atlanta. On June 16, 1864, near Kennesaw, he was wounded when a bullet grazed his skull two inches above his right eye leaving a bad puncture wound and a small fracture. He refused to be sent home. When Atlanta fell, his group marched 364 rebel troops to a camp near Jonesboro, anticipating a prisoner swap. Minter commanded “Truce Camp” at East Point, Georgia, from November 15 to December 21, 1864. Lt. Col. Minter and the 18th joined in Sherman’s March to the Sea. Sherman took Savannah but did not destroy it as he said it was just too beautiful. He offered it to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift. On Christmas Day, 1864, Lt. Col. Minter met up with his old friend Tillson and dined in Savannah on roast turkey and eggnog. Minter wrote a colorful letter back to Quincy on that day to a friend “Mattie” in which he described the March and last efforts and retreat of the Johnny Rebs. The original letter is housed at the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. Still suffering from a head injury, he resigned on April 3, 1865. Back in Quincy, with his wife Louisa and stepdaughter “Lottie,” he worked with his friend Brig. General Tillson as a manager of the U.S. Revenue Office at 619 Maine Street. In 1875, Louisa died and is buried at Woodland Cemetery in Quincy. In 1874, Minter applied for and received a disability pension for his war service and injury. In 1876, at the age of 50, he married his stepdaughter, Lottie, who was 33. He continued to work in Quincy for five more years. At some point in the mid-1880s, Lt. Col. Minter and his wife Lottie moved to DeLand, Volusia County, Florida. How they were lured to DeLand is not known. They lived a comfortable life in the days of DeLand’s burgeoning growth. Minter purchased a few acres where he cultivated orange trees. As a decorated Union officer, William Minter would have been respected. His wife was involved in the good works of the community with other prominent women of DeLand. Unfortunately, his old head wound continued to give him great pain. There was little treatment available, especially in a remote Florida town. In July of 1888, Lieutenant Colonel William H. Minter took his service pistol and shot himself in the head, dying immediately. He was 61. The old soldier, who travelled from Virginia, to Louisville, to Quincy, enlisted and was sent to Shiloh and imprisoned in Mississippi. He survived Sherman’s March to the Sea, and finally retired in DeLand, Florida. He was laid to rest on top of a hill at the newly established Oakdale Cemetery there. His obituary in the Quincy Herald stated that Col. Minter was well and favorably known in Quincy where he had lived for thirty years. The article stated that he was a skilled and intelligent gentleman who commanded universal respect from all who knew him. Lottie Minter lived for another twenty-nine years. She died on December 3, 1917, and is buried next to William in an unmarked grave. Ironically, he rests next to a Confederate soldier’s grave. The two opposing flags fly just feet from each other on every Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Sources Adams County Illinois. City Directory, 1871-71, 1873-74. Anders, Leslie, The Eighteenth Missouri, Bobbs- Merrill Co.: Indianapolis, 1968. Cemetery Census, “Oakdale Cemetery,” DeLand, Florida. “Death Certificate.” Bureau of Vital Statistics, State Board of Health of Florida, 1917. “The Death of Colonel William H. Minter.” The Quincy Daily Herald, August 4, 1888, 4. Kentucky Marriage Records. “Property Records.” County of Volusia, Florida, 1888. Reyburn, Phil. “Quincy Soldier Wrote of Sherman’s March.” Quincy Herald Whig, December 28, 2014. U. S. Census Bureau. Kentucky, 1850. U. S. Census Bureau. Illinois, 1860, 1870, 1880.
By Joseph Newkirk 21 Mar, 2024
The late 19th and early 20th centuries dawned a golden age on the American musical scene. As immigrants from Europe brought their love of music to this country, clubs, opera companies and organizations devoted to promoting and hosting musical performances flourished. Founded in 1881, the Quincy Musical Club featured concerts by local musicians playing the works of classical composers. This club also held an annual National Music Week to kindle a passion for music in Quincy and sponsored junior and juvenile clubs for school children and budding musicians. For several years, the Quincy Musical Club had been losing money and in 1922 reorganized as the Quincy Music Club; it began looking for a way to continuing having concerts without going into the red. A nation-wide Civic Music Association Plan had begun a few years earlier, which brought well-known performers to smaller cities like Quincy to bolster their communities and enhance American culture. The Quincy Music Club formed a committee to look into sponsoring a local civic music association. This committee stipulated that at least 600 season ticket holders would be needed over the next three years to make this plan viable. Some prospective members questioned why individual concert tickets could not be bought instead of season passes. The potential Quincy Civic Music Association (QCMA) responded in a September 16, 1924, article in the Quincy Daily Herald. “The Civic Music Association recognizes no such selfish attitude. Those wanted as members of the Association are those who want music for music’s sake, who want Quincy musically alive and having the very best talent there is to offer. Join all or attend none.” In one week, though, in the fall of 1924, more than 600 local residents joined with memberships that would continue for the second season unless formally withdrawn. The board adopted the Civic Music Association Plan that year and elected Mrs. John T. Inghram II as president; and she would continue in this role for 20 years. Born Lilian Brown in Quincy, Mrs. Inghram studied at the Quincy Conservatory of Music under Professor Henry Bretherick and graduated in the Conservatory’s first class in 1888. She later joined the faculty there teaching voice and would eventually serve as president of the Conservatory. Opera had long been a musical favorite with Europeans, and it continued in the United States well into the 20th century. With many German and Italian families living in Quincy and strong supporters of the QCMA, opera thrived here, with singers like Enrico Caruso and Friedrich Weidemann esteemed as national heroes. The first concert of this newly-founded organization took place in the Empire Theater on October 8, 1924, and featured the leading tenor of the Chicago Civic Opera Company, Charles Marshall. He sang both operatic selections, such as “La Donna e Nobile” from “Rigoletto” and “O Sole Mio” from “Willoughby,” and more popular songs like “Little Boy Blue” and “Dr. McGin.” Enthusiastic audiences returned him to the stage for three encores. Miss Edith Orens, a young contralto, also performed that evening and, among other operatic numbers, sang “Gavotte” from the opera “Mignon.” The second concert of the maiden season shifted directions with “Tony Sarg’s Marionettes.” Known as “America’s Puppet Master” and the “Father of Modern Puppetry,” Sarg entertained audiences by singing while working his marionettes. He gave a free matinee performance for children that fostered the QCMA’s goal of introducing young people to music. The season finale on May 5, 1925, featured a double performance by the Little Symphony of Chicago. Before the evening concert, the Symphony played a matinee for 1200 Quincy children, many of whom were students of music educator, Paul E. Morrison, and attending their first concert. This initial season ended with $3.00 in the treasury and the need for 150 new members to fill every seat in the Empire Theater and continue for a second season. Local newspapers tried to promote the QCMA. The Quincy Daily Herald on May 6, 1925, ran an editorial that stated: “The Civic Music Association is felt to be the biggest thing musically that ever happened to Quincy and a final solution of a means of bringing good music here without a deficit. The Little Symphony with its exquisite music proved a fitting finale for a most successful season.” To increase memberships, the QCMA invited residents of nearby towns to join and allowed house guests of current members to attend at a reduced price. The public answered the call, and by the second season the Association had over 800 members. Many patrons requested Amelita Galli, one of the 20th century’s most popular operatic singers, but her manager declined citing the Empire’s limited seating capacity. The QCMA, though, did secure Claudia Mizio, hailed by St. Louis Symphony director, Rudolf Ganz, as the “greatest concert singer of the age.” The Quincy Music Club merged with QCMA in 1926, and the following year the Civic Music Association Plan formally chartered the local organization. The next season the QCMA had more than 900 members and moved their concerts from the Empire Theater to Quincy High School’s auditorium at 14th and Maine. In March 1929, Dema Harschberger, head of the Chicago Music Association Plan, told the Quincy Music Club: “The Quincy Civic Music Association is doing more for young people of the city in a musical way than any organization connected with the Civic Music Association Plan for the country.” The Great Depression did not hamper Quincy’s passion for musical excellence, although for three years local musicians played QCMA concerts. In 1937, during the depth of economic turmoil, QCMA had nearly 1,000 members and held four concerts a year. The Quincy Civic Music Association is the oldest existing local cultural organization devoted to professional performances and a founding member of the Quincy Society of Fine Arts, the first community arts council in the United States. As it nears its 100th season of hosting concerts, the Quincy Civic Music Association continues bringing world-class musicians to audiences and contributing to our rich musical heritage. Sources Inghram, Lillian Brown. “The Report of C.M.A. President.” Quincy Herald-Whig, May 26, 1941, 4. “Join Civic Music Association.” Quincy Daily Herald, Sept. 16, 1924, 4. “Join Civic Music Association; Only One Week is Allowed.” Quincy Daily Herald, June 9, 1924, 12. “Little Symphony Engaged to Return Next Year, After Two Concerts at Empire.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 6, 1925, 13. “Music Association Inaugurates New Plan for Bringing Arts Concerts to Quincy.” Quincy Daily Herald, June 9, 1924, 12. “Noted Tenor in Brilliant Concert Marks Opening of Civic Music Association.” Quincy Whig Journal, October 9, 1924, 4. People’s History of Quincy and Adams County: A Sesquicentennial History. Edited by Rev. Landry Genosky, O.F.M. Quincy, IL: Jost & Kiefer Printing Co., 1974, 212-13. “Quincy Musical Club.” Quincy Herald, May 5, 1881, 3. “Quincy’s Advancement in Music is Notable, Says Speaker Friday.” Quincy Herald Whig, March 23, 1929, 2.
By Reg Ankrom 21 Mar, 2024
Orville Hickman Browning, Whig senator from Adams County, in the spring of 1837 had just finished a frustrating session of the Illinois General Assembly. He had opposed the statewide frenzy for public works to fund bridges, canals, railroads, wagon roads, and river and harbor improvements in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln’s nine-member Sangamon legislative delegation—the legislature’s largest—advocated for public works. They traded their votes with those of other legislators, who lusted for public works, to relocate the state capital from Vandalia to their city of Springfield. Most legislators of the Tenth General Assembly in 1836 and 1837 were only too happy to give their vote for Springfield in exchange for internal improvements for which their constituents clamored. Surely, they believed improvements in public works would boost their local economy and the state’s. Browning thought the largesse would bankrupt the state. It almost did. When at the end of the fiscal year the first bill for $123,571.52 due on obligations the state had floated for internal improvement projects, Levi Davis, the state’s auditor of Public Accounts, reported that annual revenue of the state totaled about $67,500. And the state treasury at that moment contained only $92.15. Davis urged legislators to increase revenues through new taxes to pay the bills. In the days that followed, legislators not only ignored him. They proposed another $800,000 in additional projects. While Browning was disappointed by his spendthrift colleagues, he returned to a more pleasant interest that had occupied his mind from his earliest days in the legislature. He was a leading proponent of public education in Illinois. And while known for that work, a particular focus of the Adams County senator has largely gone unnoticed, partly because of his own modesty. It was Browning who conceived of a state school for the deaf in Illinois. In 1833 he was elected to an office in the Illinois Institute on Education, an organization whose purpose was to influence state government to fund education for Illinois children. Governor Joseph Duncan, a Jacksonville resident, in a message to the legislature on December 9, 1836, advocated a public school system. Browning told his legislative colleagues that education was required “to sustain our democratic republican institutions.” Duncan’s attack on President Andrew Jackson derailed any interest the Democratically controlled General Assembly might otherwise have had for his recommendations. Browning, however, used the occasion to involve himself in education issues before the legislature. Over the next three years, he served on Senate committees on seminaries, school lands, and education. Browning’s signal achievement in education was his success in establishing the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville in 1839, the first charitable institution in Illinois. His interest in deaf education had been aroused during a casual meeting on a Mississippi River steamboat in 1838 with an educated deaf man from Kentucky. Seeing that the deaf man had been taught to be a self-supporting citizen, Browning began an extensive study of deafness, and became the first leader in Illinois to commit to public policy to educate the deaf. He led the movement to establish an Illinois Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, as his bill referred to it. Section 3, in the words of one analyst, indicated Browning’s belief that deaf children, “as lovely and interesting as any others” need not grow into adults with “only the infant mind, manly passions, and brute strength.” The Browning bill defined the nature of the work a deaf school would do: “The object of said corporation shall be to promote by all proper and possible means, the intellectual, moral, and physical culture of that unfortunate portion of the community, who, by the mysterious dispensation of Providence, have been born, or by disease become deaf, and, of course, dumb; and by a judicious and well adopted course of education, to reclaim them from their lonely and cheerless condition, restore them to the rank of their species, and fit them for the discharge of the social and domestic duties of life.” The Senate unanimously passed Browning’s bill, and the House approved it by a large majority. On February 23, 1839, Governor Thomas Carlin, who had been registrar of the federal land office in Browning’s hometown of Quincy, signed Browning’s bill to create the School for the Deaf. Jacksonville was chosen as the site for the new school, largely because of its central location in the state and the recognition of the community as an educational center. Illinois College had been founded there in 1829 and the state’s first Female Academy founded there in 1835. Browning himself recruited the school’s first board of trustees. Their status indicated the importance Browning assigned to the job. Among the members were Governors Carlin and Duncan; Supreme Court Justices Samuel Drake Lockwood of Jacksonville, Samuel Treat, and Cyrus Walker; Illinois College President Julian Monson Sturtevant; Porter Clay of Jacksonville, brother of U.S. Senator Henry Clay; and several other men of distinction. A superintendent of the School for the Deaf who sketched the school’s history, wrote that Browning, “with characteristic modesty, omitted his own name from the original list, and the real founder of the institution was never officially connected with it.” Browning maintained an interest in the school throughout his life. The financial distress left by the Internal Improvements debacle and national economic Panic of 1837 delayed construction for seven years. Building began in 1842 and the school opened in its first three-story brick building on January 26, 1846. Room and board, instruction, and medical care were provided free of charge to deaf children of Illinois. Browning’s promotion of a state-sponsored institution and his influence to situate it in Jacksonville was the beginning of a new period of enlightenment there. The city’s leaders worked to attract other public institutions to care for the insane and blind. The School for the Insane opened in Jacksonville on March 1, 1847, the School for the Blind on January 13, 1849, and the School for Feeble-Minded Children on February 15, 1865. Sources Baxter, Maurice, Orville H. Browning, Lincoln’s Friend and Critic. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957), 11. Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 1927-1928. (Springfield: State of Illinois, 1929), 404. Brief History of the Charitable Institutions of the State of Illinois. (Chicago: John Morris Co., 1893), 10. Gordon, J.C. “The Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf,” School News and Practical Educator, June 1898, 290. Heinl, Frank J. “Jacksonville and Morgan County: A Historical Review,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 18, No. 1. (Springfield: ISHS, 1925), 22. Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, 1. Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, eds. (Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co., 1903), 187. Mather, Irwin F. The Making of Illinois: Historical Sketches. (Chicago: A. Flanagan, Publisher, 1900), 225. Moses, John. Illinois and Historical. (Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1892), 1015. Reports Made to the Seante and the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois at their Session Begun and Held in Vandalia, December 4, 1833. (Vandalia: William Walters, Public Printer)
By William McIntyre 21 Mar, 2024
Elder Elijah Lewis Craig led an interesting and accomplished life. His life exemplifies migration patterns of Americans, many of whom left Kentucky for Illinois and some who would continue to move on to other areas within Illinois and to other states. Families and friends travelled together and settled in adjacent areas. Church was a unifier of communities and important in individual lives. His life is a microcosm of Adams County and the Midwest during much of the 19th century. Elijah Craig was born on January 12, 1816, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, near Louisville. He was a member of the large Craig family whose patriarch was Taliaferro “Toliver” Craig and included the Craig brothers who were prominent ministers in the late 18th and early 19th century. Elder Craig died in Butler County, Kansas, in 1881 after living in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. As a boy he was raised by his parents along with his one sibling Lanthia Laura Craig. Elijah attended “common school” till the age of 9. In 1825 his parents moved to Port William, later named Carrollton, Kentucky, just northeast of Louisville on the Ohio River. The following year, his mother died. With his father’s consent he went to live with a relative, Benjamin Craig, Jr., who was a prominent and successful farmer and a veteran of the War of 1812. Benjamin Craig, Jr., and his wife Elizabeth Morris Craig and their 11 children welcomed and loved Elijah as a son and brother of the family. The Craigs lived in a mansion built in 1805 known as Riverview because it stood overlooking the Ohio River. Elijah received an education and apprenticed with Benjamin until the age of 21. Though the Craigs had been devout Baptists and highly respected church leaders, like many in that area at that time they began to follow the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) after the revivals at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1801. The denomination became formalized in 1832 at Lexington. At the age of 18, Elijah Lewis Craig joined the Christian Church. This set forth his life’s work and his passionate devotion. On February 18, 1836, at age 20, he married. In 1839, Elijah and his wife Adeline, moved to the river town of Alton, Illinois, after traveling by paddleboat. After one year, they settled further north near Quincy in Fall Creek Township, just outside the village of Payson. Soon after arrival in 1842, Elijah became an ordained minister of the Christian Church. This was at the time of the organization of the local Christian Church which was later referred to as the Craigtown Christian Church. The community looked up to him as a spiritual and community leader. The informal community became known as Craigtown in his honor. In 1849, the Quincy newspapers reported that at least 200 men from Adams County were planning to head west in the Spring to seek their fortunes in gold. In the 1850 Census of Adams County, taken early in the year, Elijah and his wife Adeline were counted in Fall Creek. However, in October of 1850 he was also counted in the Census of Pleasant Hill, El Dorado, California. His occupation was listed as a miner. With him in the Gold Rush were other Fall Creek residents, Nathaniel P. Rood, Charles Arterburn, Columbus Hunsaker, Ambrose Young, and Jacob Rood of Quincy. After an arduous trip out west and back, these Fall Creek adventurers returned to their families in Adams County without substantial gold fortunes. Soon after this western adventure, Elijah and Adeline moved to the nearby Pike County town of Barry. They stayed four years before moving to Jacksonville where he preached and was a financial agent for Illinois college. During the beginning days of the Civil War, Elijah and his family moved again to Carrollton, Illinois. He did not enlist in the Army but pastored a church in Carrollton. He wrote and edited what eventually became the Gospel Echo, a highly regarded publication, which was as a source of religious inspiration and news and was distributed across many states. He was a strong congregationalist, which reflected a principle of the Disciples of Christ denomination, in that each congregation, and not a church hierarchy, made the decisions about the focus of the church. He faced much opposition but also much camaraderie in his beliefs. Elijah’s kind demeanor and pure heart drew many to him in his decades of work in the ministry. After the death of his wife, the family moved to El Dorado, Kansas. He remarried a widow who had been born in at Cain Ridge, Bourbon County, Kentucky, site of the founding of the Christian Church-Disciples of Christ. He was described as a pleasant speaker who spoke with reason and had a dignified delivery. He was amiable, kind, eminently sociable and at times humorous. He held many warm and true friendships. He became ill in the Spring of 1881. His final words were that he always “meant to do well” and that to “those who think the religion of Jesus as fanaticism, that to himself it is more precious than gold and had brought him wisdom and its glorious radiance lights the darkest depths of the shadow of death.” Elder Elijah Lewis Craig lived a life of dedication to his faith, his family and his community. His writings in Christian Church journals will live on as a testament and his impact on those he served as a minister. For but a brief few years, he lived among family and friends on a small farm in the picturesque countryside of Fall Creek where the remembrances of Craigtown have not faded. The site where the Craigtown Church stood is still there for any to visit. Sources 1850 United States Federal Census for Elijah Craig. Ancestry.com Abilene Christian University. The Christian Evangelist. Digital Commons @ ACU. Baptist History Homepage. A Source for Original Baptist Documents. The Travelling Church, by George W. Ranck, 1891 (baptisthistoryhomepage.com) Cane Ridge Meeting House. Religion on the Frontier. Cane Ridge Meeting House - Official Web Site “Death of Elijah Craig.” The Daily Commonwealth, Topeka, Kansas, May 22, 1881. “The Death of Elijah Craig.” The Walnut Valley Times, Eldorado, Kansas, May 27, 1881. Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Digital Commons @ Disciples History. "The Gospel Echo, Volume 4 (1866)" by Elijah Lewis Craig and Elijah Perry Belshe (discipleshistory.org) Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Digital Commons @ Disciples History. Stone-Campbell Movement Resources (discipleshistory.org) Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124410377/elijah-lewis-craig Tucker, William E. and McAllister, Lester G. “Journey in Faith, A History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).” St. Louis, Mo: The Bethany Press, 1975. “The Wife of Elder E. L. Craig. Alton Telegraph, August 8, 1873.
By Arlis Dittmer 21 Mar, 2024
Where did the term Black Friday come from? Today the Friday after Thanksgiving, now known as Black Friday, is the largest shopping day in this country. Often entire families shop together celebrating the start of the Christmas season. But the term, Black Friday, used for this shopping day is a very recent phenomena. However, even more recently, Christmas begins in October where Christmas decorations crowd out Halloween decorations and overlook Thanksgiving decorations. Decorations, yes, but the holiday sales are yet to come. Throughout history the term black referred to something bad happening. There were two 19th events which were called Black Friday. The first was September 24, 1869, which was the day the stock market crashed because financiers Jay Gould and Jim Fisk had cornered the gold market. It was called a conspiracy and there was a government investigation. The other Black Friday event was September 19, 1873, which is credited as the day the Panic of 1873 began with the closure of the New York Stock Exchange the next day. The largest 20th century stock market crash in 1929 occurred on October 24th which was a Thursday, not Friday. That day was known as Black Thursday. The day saw the largest sell off of stocks in one day in American history. The New York Stock Market lost 11% of its value. The following week, on Black Monday there were more margin calls, and the market went down another 12.82%. Black Tuesday was another record loss which wiped out thousands of investors. This crash was the start of the Great Depression of the 1930s. There is even some speculation that the term black Friday was used in the mid-20th century for the day after Thanksgiving when industry was hit with a large percentage of worker absenteeism. Although some like to say that due to holiday shoppers, it is the first day that retailers make money, which they define as in the black, as opposed to operating at a loss most of the year, in the red. Macy’s first Thanksgiving parade was held in the 1924. It was advertised as the “Christmas Parade” and the official start of the holiday shopping season. There was no mention of Black Friday or any special “deals” shopping day. Apparently, a more likely origin story to our current Black Friday, is a reference to crowds coming to the Army-Navy football game held on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. The game has been played more times in Philadelphia since 1899 due to its neutral location between West Point, New York, and Annapolis, Maryland, the locations of the military academies. The Philadelphia police began describing the Friday before the game as “black Friday” due to the crowds of people arriving in town for the Saturday game. Police could not take any time off, they had to work overtime, the traffic was terrible, and shop lifting was prevalent with so many people in town. It was not a term of endearment. By 1961, Philadelphia’s merchants tried to use the term “Big Friday” thinking the term black Friday was considered a negative. The term for the shopping day may have been popular in Philadelphia but was not popular in the rest of the country until the 1980s. Although not the focus of the Thanksgiving holiday, Quincy retailers were advertising holiday sales and after Thanksgiving sales 100 years ago. In those days, the Thanksgiving focus was on church and family gatherings. But if you were out and about, bargains could be found. Some even advertised countless ways to save money with the holidays coming. A December 1, 1933, Halbach-Schroeder Co. After Thanksgiving Sales advertisement said, “It’s the kind of Halbach-Schroeder Event so many people watch and wait for.” The November 25, 1940 Quincy Herald Whig had a Grossman’s After Thanksgiving Sales advertisement suggesting “buy now—pay in January.” Throughout the 1960s, the term black Friday was used in the Herald Whig, but it would refer to losses in sports, accidents, movie titles, some television episodes, overburdened airlines, and generally bad days. The December 1, 1963 Quincy Herald Whig referred to the day John F. Kennedy was shot as Black Friday. Holiday shopping and Thanksgiving sales were all mentioned in the newspaper, and the Friday after Thanksgiving was considered a big shopping day, but not Black Friday. Downtown Quincy parking lots were full particularly because the city provided free parking for the season until December 26. The 1970s and 1980s proved to be the same as far as shopping and sales. There were plenty of after Thanksgiving sales, but no advertisement mentioned black Friday. Holiday shopping had definitely started but the black Friday term was not used much. Retailers really did not care about the origin of the name and also did not think it had a bad connotation. But in many ways today’s Black Friday does represent consumerism at its worst with crowds trying to get the same merchandise and the same deals resulting in some destruction of property, injuries, and even deaths. The November 29, 1996, Quincy Herald Whig quoted the National Retail Federation saying, “Last year, consumers did 16 percent of their Christmas shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving, also known as “Black Friday in the trade… .” Today, some stores are opening on Thanksgiving and advertising special one day sales. The one Friday after Thanksgiving has turned into a four-day shopping extravaganza with Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday completing the weekend with bargains galore. Sources “Big Shopping Crowds in Quincy.” Quincy Herald Whig, November 27, 1964, 16. Bond, Casey. “Black Friday History: The Dark True Story Behind The Name. Black Friday History: The Dark True Story Behind The Name | HuffPost Life Haskin. “Answers to Questions.” Quincy Herald Whig, July 22, 1958, 10. Lane, Beth. “Thanksgiving Bargains Common a Century Ago, Too. Quincy Herald Whig, November 22, 2015. Mussetter, William. “Quincy Shoppers are ‘really buying’ this year.” Quincy Herald Whig, November 29, 1996, 1. “Never Felt So Alone: Ache Lingers in Hearts of Dallas.” Quincy Herald Whig, December 1, 1963, 1, 18. Pruitt, Sarah. “What’s the Real History of Black Friday?” What’s the Real History of Black Friday? | HISTORY Vocabulary.com Blog. “Word Routes.” The Origins of "Black Friday" : Word Routes | Vocabulary.com
By William McIntyre 21 Mar, 2024
In the Township of Fall Creek in Adams County, Illinois was a small community informally known as the village of Craigtown. It existed from the 1840’s to the end of the 19th century. The village did not have formal boundaries, but generally included the farm families along what is now 550th Avenue between Payson Road (Illinois Route 96) and Marblehead. It was not a thriving town though the surrounding farms were prosperous. Scarce reminders of it exist today, except for the beautiful Craigtown Cemetery. Craigtown was the site of a general store, two blacksmiths, a school, and a Christian Church with its cemetery. Though never formally organized, in about 1843 the community became known as Craigtown for a resident of the area, Elijah Lewis Craig. He was not a large landowner, nor did he hold an office, but he was a popular and respected resident. Craig was a native of Kentucky, as were many of the pioneers of Fall Creek. He had come from Carroll County, Kentucky, to Adams County by way of Alton in about 1842 at the age of 26. He came with his wife Adeline. His sister Lanthia Craig Young and her husband Ambrose Young also migrated from Kentucky to Fall Creek. Craig farmed, traded in goods, and built barrels and casks. He also became an ordained minister of the Christian Church-Disciples of Christ not long after he arrived in Fall Creek. He had come from a family of pioneer ministers and evangelists. Fall Creek was populated by many followers of the Christian Church from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Craigtown was situated between Payson and Millville and about 11 miles southwest of Quincy. Millville was later renamed Marblehead. Because of these other thriving towns nearby, Craigtown never progressed and by the 1880’s it consisted only of the church, cemetery, and the Craigtown School. An advertisement was placed in the Quincy newspaper in 1858 seeking bids to build a schoolhouse one mile from Millville. The building was to be built on four feet of stone and would be 24 x 84 feet and 15 feet in height. The bids were to be returned to Nathaniel P. Rood, director of Schools, Fall Creek District of Adams County. The land for the school was donated by Curtis Cadwell and carved from the southern section of his farm. This was directly across the road from the farm of Lewis G. Carr and the Craigtown Church and Cemetery. The school was built. There were at one time about 200 one room schoolhouses in Adams County. They held grades 1-8, with one teacher holding classes for between 7 and 35 students. The teachers also acted as the janitor, administrator, and started the wood heating stove each cold morning. Some referred to the Craigtown Christian Church as the Campbellite Church after the name of one of the founders, Alexander Campbell. Certain records also refer to it as Mill Creek Church, because Mill Creek flows downhill from the church and cemetery site. Before the Christian Church was built in Craigtown in 1851, services were held in homes and schoolhouses. The congregation was formally organized in 1840. The simple wood church at Craigtown was the second oldest church of that denomination in Adams County, after Ursa. It was built on land where the community cemetery had been in use since 1841. Elder Holman Bowles was a prominent preacher in the area. He and his father, Elder Jesse Bowles, Jr. came to Adams County from Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1831. Rev. Jesse Bowles, Jr. was a founder of the Ursa Christian Church in 1833. Before coming to Adams County, the Bowles family was involved in the community of Cane Ridge near Paris, Kentucky. Cane Ridge was the site of an 1801 revival that attracted over 10,000 people for a weeklong, fervent religious event. The Cane Ridge Meeting House, which dates to 1780, is still standing and is now preserved inside the historical visitor’s center. Barton Warren Stone, the other founder of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ moved from Kentucky to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1832. He travelled the country spreading the good news of the church. He came to Illinois to free the slaves his wife had inherited as he was against slavery. In his 1832 migration from Kentucky to this part of Illinois, he was accompanied by many of the families who settled in Fall Creek. This devout group of families included the Robert’s family whose son, Corporal William Roberts, is buried at Craigtown Cemetery. Roberts died from wounds he received at the Battle of Shiloh while serving in the Illinois 50th Volunteer Infantry. Dr. Moses Bane of Payson organized the 50th, which was made up primarily of Adams County soldiers. In time, the Craigtown Church building was aging, and many of the original residents had died. In 1879, the funeral of Dr. George Morris, physician and Union Army Veteran was held in the church. A large crowd attended and just as the services began, the church floor collapsed, though, fortunately, without any serious injuries. The Craigtown Church ended services in the 1880’s. The church building remained in disuse for years until finally torn down around 1905. Though gone almost 120 years, the “ghost” of the church remains. The outline of the building can be seen upon a visit to the site. The stones of the threshold are still there. A great number of the congregation are peacefully resting on that small piece of ground surrounding the Church, known as Craigtown Cemetery. The families who lived in and around Craigtown were those whose dedication, labor, and faithfulness made the community what it was and built the foundation for what it is today. Today, a good number of Adams County and Quincy residents have these Craigtown pioneers as their ancestors. Sources 1850 United States Federal Census for Elijah Craig. Ancestry.com Abilene Christian University. The Christian Evangelist. Digital Commons @ ACU. Adams County Recorder. Craigtown Cemetery Survey Census. Baptist History Homepage. A Source for Original Baptist Documents. The Travelling Church, by George W. Ranck, 1891 (baptisthistoryhomepage.com) Boyd, Gregory A., J.D., “Family Maps of Adams County, Illinois,” Norman, OK: Arphax Publishing Co, 2007. Cane Ridge Meeting House. Religion on the Frontier. Cane Ridge Meeting House - Official Web Site Craigtown Cemetery Census Survey of 1980's , Recorded at Adams County Clerk, February 20, 2018. Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Digital Commons @ Disciples History. "The Gospel Echo, Volume 4 (1866)" by Elijah Lewis Craig and Elijah Perry Belshe (discipleshistory.org) Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Digital Commons @ Disciples History. Stone-Campbell Movement Resources (discipleshistory.org) Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124410377/elijah-lewis-craig Historic Map Works, Plat of Adams County, Illinois Map, 1872. The Wife of Elder E. L. Craig. Alton Telegraph, August 8, 1873.
By Arlis Dittmer 21 Mar, 2024
Pope Gregory designated All Saints Day to be November 1. The evening before became All Hallows Eve which over the centuries morphed into Halloween. Some say the traditions of Halloween are even earlier in Roman and Celtic traditions. Today the costume and candy rituals are responsible for one quarter of the candy sold in the United States. Early in American history, any kind of Halloween celebration was less common in New England than in the Southern colonies and was usually part of autumn harvest celebrations. It wasn’t until the second half of the 19th century that the Halloween became a popular time for parties. In Quincy, as in the rest of the United States, those celebrations were neighborly get togethers. Churches, civic organizations and schools held parties to celebrate the occasion. On October 31, 1923, the Woman’s Page of the Quincy Whig-Journal devoted several articles to Halloween celebrations. The Quincy Country Club held a dance featuring the Seifert orchestra and “A company of 60 ghosts, all looking so much alike that it was impossible to tell who was who… .” Another article listed the various groups who were holding parties. These parties consisted of dancing, games, decorations, and food such as popcorn, cider, and donuts. St. Peter’s had a ghost walk for several blocks before hosting a party. Quincy Daily Herald called their social page Women’s Interests. Their October 15, 1923 issue mentioned a Carthage social planned for Halloween with a pumpkin pie as the price of admission. The October 25, 1923, page reported on a country dance and box supper at the Spring Lake Country Club on Halloween. Most of these parties catered to adults. The paper’s October 26, 1923 Women’s Interests page featured two articles by “Sister Mary.” In one, old fashioned Halloween games were party suggestions. Nuts was a game which involved roasting chestnuts and naming them after your three best beaus, waiting for one to “pop the question” as they cooked. Oracles consisted of a shrouded character in a dark corner who answered questions. Swedish Lunch was described as a spookier game where odd shaped and textured objects were passed around under a table. The players had to leave the table when they dropped an object. The Daily Herald’s October 25, 1923 social page listed a dance and card party with a Halloween theme held at the Western Catholic Union. Orange and black streamers and lighted Jack-O-Lanterns decorated the Knights of Columbus Hall. Another article on the same page featured the various entertainments for children to be held at nine Quincy schools. These events were sponsored by the teachers and/or the Parent Teachers Associations. One October 25, 1923, article stated, “Quincy schools have a happy custom of entertaining at this season, and the frolics are fun for the children.” Some parties were after school and some in the evening. Jackson school had a gypsy fortune teller, a convention of witches and a play put on by the students. Emerson also had a play by the second-grade students and sold “homemade candies, pies, lolly pops, and cider.” Webster planned an entertainment with the school orchestra and “social dancing.” Madison’s teachers planned their party with a “witches well” and a fish pond. Not to be out done, Washington School advertised a “weird entertainment in keeping with the Hallowe’en season… a house of freaks, the fattest lady, the thinnest lady and the bearded lady.” They also planned a parade of spooks and witches with the students in costume. Candied apples, peanuts, cider, and donuts could be purchased. None of these entertainments mentioned trick or treating or candy bags. The school events seemed to get even more elaborate with Jefferson School planning “a real circus with trained animals, clowns, and acrobats. … and afterward Hallowe’en ally will be opened for the sale of refreshments and the enjoyment of side shows.” Halloween parties at schools, churches, and organizations continued throughout the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Halloween candy was mostly homemade, even though candy corn dates back to the 1880s. Because most of America was rural, candy corn was made to look like chicken feed. By 1900 chocolate bars were not considered a luxury but rather a treat for all. Trick or treating was organized in the 1930s mostly because vandalism and pranks were becoming dangerous around the Halloween celebrations, but candy and popcorn were usually part of the treats for a party, not given out door-to-door. World War II sugar rationing stopped trick or treating but then it took off after the war because of the mass production of candy. Candy companies promoted their goods to baby boomer parents which resulted in trick or treating becoming a truly nationwide event by the late 1940s. During October of 1947, The Herald Whig said, “Although Halloween is still nearly two weeks away, the ‘trick-or-treat’ boys and girls are already up and at ‘em. If you haven’t as yet become a victim of the trick-or-treat racket, don’t gloat. There’s still plenty of time.” Russell Stover advertised “candy for trick or treat’’ on October 27, 1950 in the Quincy Herald Whig. One large Kroger ad published in the Herald Whig, October 22, 1953 listed free Halloween masks if you purchased a five-pound bag of apples, “the kind trick or treat callers like the best.” In 1959, candy cigarettes were advertised by Woolworth’s on Maine Street as “ideal for trick or treat.” Halloween had a less savory reputation among certain religions. Pranking and destruction of property was a worry, and police reports would list what “unruly boys” had done in the community. Later came the scares of tainted candy. UNICEF, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, founded in 1946, began the practice of trick or treat for UNICEF. The October 29, 1957 Herald Whig said, “Quincy Churches of all denominations are joining in this new style Halloween celebration that is planned to give the children lots of fun and help a worldwide cause.” Children would go door-to-door with special containers to collect coins. Traditions change but Halloween endures. Sources “Bright Spots in the Day’s News.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 17, 1947, 10. “Children ‘Trick or Treat’ Wednesday for UNICEF.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 29, 1957, 14. “Circus At Jefferson School Will Draw Crowd Friday Night.” Quincy Daily Herald, October 26, 1923, 4. “Country Dance and Box Supper at Spring Lake Next Wednesday.” Quincy Daily Herald, October 26, 1923, 4. “Gay Assembly Of Ghosts At Event At County Club.” Quincy Whig-Journal, October 31, 1923,4. “Ghosts, Games, ‘n’ Punkin Pie for Your Hallowe’en Party.” Quincy Daily Herald, October 26, 1923, 4. “Halloween Begins at Woolworth’s.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 21, 1959, 8. “Halloween Candy.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 27, 1950, 14. “Halloween Dance And Card Party Of St. Barbara Branch.” Quincy Daily Herald, October 25, 1923, 4. “Halloween Social.” Quincy Daily Herald, October 15, 1923, 2. “Halloween’en Merry Making in Many Homes and Hall of City Tuesday Evening. Quincy Whig-Journal, October 31, 1923,4. “Halloween’en Parties in The Schools.” Quincy Daily Herald, October 25, 1923, 4. History.Com Editors. Halloween 2023, Halloween 2023: Origins, Meaning & Traditions | HISTORY The History of Halloween (October 2001, Volume 52, Issue 7) n:60737 (americanheritage.com) History of Halloween: The Meaning, Origin and Why We Celebrate – NBC Chicago Kroger. “Magic 9 Sale.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 22, 1953, 19. Nix, Elizabeth. “The Haunted History of Halloween Candy. The Haunted History of Halloween Candy | HISTORY Sheidlower, Noah and Radhika Marya, “Halloween Food traditions go way back-and didn’t always involve candy.” Halloween candy and food traditions throughout history | CNN
By Phil Reyburn 21 Mar, 2024
Like many who once called Quincy home, Dr. Stahl has long been forgotten. For more than three decades Dr. Stahl was both a highly respected physician and one of Quincy’s leading citizens. Not only Quincy’s newspapers but also both the New York Herald and the Times carried his obituary when he died in October 1874. Stahl was born in Gilserberg, Hesse-Kassel, July 12, 1806, to Moses Stahl and Breune Kaiserblueth, a Jewish couple. He grew up in an impoverished agricultural area, which offered a limited future. When funds were available, he took courses in medicine. He had not completed his medical studies when he immigrated to America in 1833. His first year in the United States was spent in Philadelphia where he resumed his goal to be a physician. By 1835, Stahl lived in Vincennes, Indiana, opened a medical practice, and married a woman of French descent, Therese DeHoule. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he attained a medical degree from Western Reserve University. In 1838, Dr. Stahl arrived in Quincy, and during the next two decades, his stature as a physician grew. When Illinois College in Jacksonville opened the state’s first medical school in 1843, Dr. Stahl was part of the faculty. Dr. Stahl’s pursuit of knowledge led him to travel many miles on horseback for first-hand observation. As a consequence, he made “some recognized contributions to the medical literature of the day . . .” He wrote: “’In medicine we want no idle words nor talk for talking sake; we want facts, true observations, and laws and principles deducted from them.’” It was his contention that the “course and treatment of western diseases were best taught by western physicians, schools, and hospitals.” Epidemics ravaged nineteenth century communities and Quincy suffered several. Sixteen years after Asiatic Cholera claimed 43 lives in Quincy---it struck again in summer of 1849. It is a disease spread by poor sanitation e.g. human feces contaminating water and food. By late August, the death toll stood at 236. In July alone, 142 people died. July 29th saw 15 deaths. The disease knew no distinction, taking victims from all walks of life. Enoch Conyers, the city’s mayor, was cut down. John Tillson later wrote: “Dr. Stahl, the earliest German physician, who had more to do with, the [study of the] disease than any other,” lost his wife and a daughter. The cholera outbreak in 1849 and the fight waged by local physicians resulted in the organization of the Adams County Medical Society in March 1850. Local doctors saw the need to co-operate and consult in both normal times and in emergencies. Besides being an officer in the inaugural Adams Country Medical Society, Dr. Stahl was a delegate to the convention that organized the Illinois State Medical Society that same year. Except for some months in 1857, which Dr. Stahl spent visiting medical clinics in France and Germany, he practiced medicine in Quincy. Politically, Dr. Stahl was a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas. In March 1861, at a gathering over the secession crisis, the Herald reported: “Dr. Stahl said he was a Democrat, but came to the meeting as a Union man . . . .” A month later and at another rally, the Whig and Republican stated that the crowd called on Dr. Stahl to speak, and he told all gathered that “he had sworn 25 years ago to support the government of this country, and he should not desert it now in its hour of trial.” At age 55, past the age for military duty, Dr. Stahl volunteered his services. In a letter to the Whig, one soldier wrote that the first man he met was Dr. Stahl, who had been “appointed Physician and Surgeon at large.” He added: “The Doctor seems at home, and the boys are well pleased that one so much interested in their welfare has been appointed. Certainly his skill and experience must be invaluable to the regiment.” Another man wrote: “Dr. Stahl seemed the most cheerful and happy man I saw at Cairo, and no man will look upon the sick with more kindness and sympathy than he.” A few days later Dr. Stahl was mustered into the army as a surgeon with the 10th Illinois Volunteer Infantry where he served until resigning on August 31, 1862. In two weeks Dr. Stahl was back in the army, but with the 7th Illinois Cavalry, commanded by fellow Quincyan Edward Prince. On September 29, 1864, Dr. Stahl was mustered out of the 7th Illinois Cavalry since the Senate had confirmed his “nomination as Assistant Surgeon U. S. V. [Volunteers].” The Whig added that Dr. Stahl had “justly won the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has been connected.” During the war, Congress saw the need to supplement the regular Army medical corps and created the position of Surgeon and Assistant Surgeon of Volunteers. Five hundred and forty-seven men were commissioned. Dr. Stahl was one of them. On January 23, 1865, Dr. Stahl was promoted to surgeon with the rank of major. When discharged in 1865, Dr. Stahl was breveted a lieutenant colonel. During the final year of the war, Dr. Stahl served in the hospitals in Memphis, Tennessee. While there, his daughter, Antoinette Elizabeth, joined him. The hospital commander was Dr. B. J. D. Irwin, a regular Army officer. Antoinette and Dr. Irwin were married in Quincy on June 20, 1864. After the war Dr. Stahl returned to Quincy. But while on an extended visit to Germany, he died in Baden-Baden on October 26, 1874. Before leaving, he told his children: “’The period during which I served in the army of the United States being the proudest of my life, I wish to preserve as heirlooms in the family my commissions. . . .’” He also wished that on his death that a plain white marble slab marks his grave, bearing the inscription: “Daniel Stahl, M.D., Late Brevet Lieutenant Colonel and Surgeon, U. S. V.” The Herald wrote: “Dr. Stahl was not only an American, but also heart and soul a Quincyite. He went into the army at the breaking out of the war---although then far advanced in age---to attest his devotion to republican institutions. . . .” SOURCES Adams, George W., Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War, New York: Henry Schuman, 1952. “Another Lie Disposed Of.” Daily Quincy Herald, October 23, 1858, 2. Asbury, Henry, Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, Quincy, Illinois: Wilcox & Sons, Printers, 1882. “The Death of Doctor Stahl.” Daily Quincy Herald, November 15, 1874, 2. “Dr. Stahl Disposed Of.” Quincy Daily Whig and Republican, October 25, 1858, 3. “From Cairo.” Quincy Whig and Republican, May 11, 1861, 3. “From Cairo-The Camp-The Officers-The Men.” Quincy Whig and Republican, June 8, 1861,3. Genosky, Rev. Landry, ed., People’s History of Quincy and Adams, County, Illinois, Quincy, Illinois: Jost & Kiefer Printing Co., 1973. “German Union Meeting.” Quincy Daily Herald, April 24, 1861, 1. Historical Society of Quincy & Adams County, Quincy, Illinois, MS File 920-Stahl Family. Holtschlag, Lester and Kimbrough, Lenore, trans., Bornmann’s Sketches of Germans in Quincy and Adams County, Quincy, Illinois: The Great River Genealogical Society, 1999. Illinois State Medical Society, History of Medical Practice in Illinois, vol. 1, Chicago: Book Press, 1927. LaPointe, Patricia M., “Military Hospitals in Memphis, 1861-1865,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, vol. 42 (4), 1983. “The Meeting Thursday Night.” Quincy Daily Herald, March 23, 1861, 3. Tillson, Gen. John, History of the City of Quincy, Illinois, Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1900. “What the German Democrats Say.” Quincy Whig and Republican, May 4, 1861, 1. Wilcox, David F., Quincy and Adams County, Illinois History and Representative Men, vol. 1, London: Forgotten Books, 1919
More Posts
Share by: