The Jesse Spencer Family Story:  Escaping Slavery and Re-uniting in Freedom, Part 1

Wrist irons worn by George Azerodt, a hood worn by Lewis Powell, the key to Mary Suratt’s cell and keys to the Capitol Prison are displayed in the Lincoln Gallery at the Historical Society. The three suspects were among the four hanged for conspiring to kill President Lincoln. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot. An attack was also made on the life of Secretary of State William Seward. These events started one of the greatest manhunts in our history searching for the assassin in the Maryland countryside. On April 26 John Wilkes Booth was found. He refused to surrender and was shot and killed. Today we know that nine others were arrested as part of the conspiracy to kill the President, the Secretary of State, and as was later discovered, the Secretary of War. Of the nine who were tried, only one, John Surratt, was acquitted. Edman Spangler was sentenced to six years of hard labor. Samuel Arnold, Dr. Samuel Mudd, and Michael O’Laughlen were sentenced to life imprisonment. Four conspirators were sentenced to be hanged: George Atzerodt, Lewis (Payne) Powell, David Herold, and Mary Surratt. All four were hanged on July 7, 1865. The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County has some very rare artifacts pertaining to the last four conspirators. The Society has on display the keys to the Capitol Prison and the key to Mary Surratt’s cell. Many people thought at the time that Mrs. Surratt’s life would be spared. A woman had never been hanged before, and surely the government would not do so now. Mrs. Surratt’s daughter stood crying outside the White House, pleading for President Andrew Johnson to spare her mother’s life, but to no avail. Mrs. Surratt became the first woman to be hanged by the United States government. The Historical Society also has the wrist irons worn by George Atzerodt. These wrist irons are known as “Lily Irons” and are far different from handcuffs today. The irons were made to prevent the hands from touching each other. Imagine two metal circles in which to place your hands, separated by a metal bar about fifteen inches long. The circles for the wrist irons were applied very tightly. Samuel Arnold later wrote: “The irons were so tightly fitting that the blood could not circulate, and my hands were fearfully swollen, the outward skin changing its appearance to a mixture of black, red, and purple color . . .” The prisoners were at first kept aboard ironclad ships in the Potomac River and later transferred to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington DC. During their imprisonment, all were kept in hoods to keep them from seeing and communicating with each other. Different types of hoods were used. One type was used while transporting them from their cells to the courtroom, but a much more confining type was used while the prisoners were in their cells. While still being held in the ironclads, Lewis Powell tried to kill himself by banging his head against the iron walls of his cell. History tells us that Secretary of War Stanton ordered that: “. . . prisoners on board the Ironclads . . . shall have for better security against conversation a canvas bag put over the head of each and tied around the neck with a hole for proper breathing and eating, but not seeing, and that (Powell) be secured to prevent self-destruction . . .” Once moved to the Old Capitol Prison, a more severe type of hood awaited them. As related by Samuel Arnold: “. . . I found a differently constructed hood . . . of a much more tortuous and painful pattern than the one formerly used. It fitted tightly, containing cotton pads which were placed directly over the eyes and ears, having the tendency to push the eye balls far back in their sockets, one small aperture allowed about the nose through which to breathe, and one by which food could be served to the mouth . . . cords were drawn as tight as the jailer in charge could pull them, causing the most excruciating pain . . . tied in such a manner around the neck that it was impossible to remove them . . . the hoods never being removed excepting when brought before the Court and always replaced on our exit . . .” The Historical Society has on display the hood believed to have been worn by Lewis Powell. The hood, the wrist irons, and the keys are in the Lincoln Gallery of the Historical Society Visitor’s Center at 12th and State Streets. Senator Orville Browning of Quincy was a very close friend and confidant of Abraham Lincoln. He was present at the autopsy of the President. He assisted Mrs. Lincoln with the funeral arrangements and was chosen as one of Lincoln’s pall bearers. He helped write the defense of the conspirators for their trial before a Military Commission and objected to the fact that the conspirators were not given a fair trial in a civil court. In his diary entry of July 6th, Senator Browning wrote: “The findings of the Military Commission were approved today by the President, and Mrs. Surratt, Atzerodt, Herald (sic) and Payne were directed to be hung tomorrow . . . this commission was without authority and its proceedings void. The execution of these persons will be murder.” A good question to ask would be how these artifacts ended up in Quincy, Illinois. Henry Asbury, who was a longtime friend of Abraham Lincoln was in Washington DC when the conspirators were executed. He obtained the relics and returned to Quincy where he had been the Provost Marshall during the Civil War. Later in life, Asbury lived on Maine Street, next door to Colonel W. L. Distin. They became close friends, and the relics were given to Colonel Distin when Asbury died in 1896. Distin passed them on to his daughter, Mrs. L. E. Emmons, who presented them to the Historical Society. Patrick McGinley taught for the Quincy Public Schools and John Wood Community College. He received his Ph. D. from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and served on the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. He died in 2017. Sources Panels from the exhibit, “Blood on the Moon.” Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, 2005. Pease, Theodore Calvin and James G. Randall (eds.). The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Volume II, 1865-1881, Springfield, Illinois, Illinois State Historical Society, 1925. “Valuable Abraham Lincoln Relics Pride of Quincy Historical Society.” Quincy Herald-Whig, February 12, 1950, 24.

In the book, the golden-haired little girl beckons her brother’s attention. “Look, look.” The boy is watering deep green grass. The girl is splashing through a puddle, wearing her mother’s large and loose-fitting black shoes. The boy smiles. Then the worst possible thing in a child’s world happens. The girl despairs: “Oh, oh, oh.” One of the big shoes has come off. The girl hovers on one foot over the puddle. The foot will have to drop. The sock will get wet. Mother will be mad. The boy sees his sister’s distress. His eyes are lit with determination. On the next page, deliverance. Quick-witted Dick had raced a red wagon to Jane’s rescue. Smiling and dry, Jane rides out of the puddle. This is one of hundreds of stories in Dick and Jane books, which from their first appearance were the instrument that taught 85 million children to read. During the 1950s, 80% of school children used the Dick and Jane Books. The stories and books were the inspiration of William Scott Gray, Jr., of Coatsburg, Illinois. Born June 5, 1885, to a school teacher father. His family arrived into Adams County in 1836. His grandfather, Isaac Gray, bought 160 acres just north of Coatsburg in Honey Creek Township the next year. Gray Jr. attended Adams County schools and is credited with changing the way children in America learned to read for over five decades. By the time of his death September 8, 1960, Gray was recognized as the country’s foremost authority in literacy and reading education. School readers before Gray’s Dick and Jane books were mostly text with excerpts from literature or the Bible known as McGuffey readers. They taught how to read through phonics. Illustrations were few. Gray Jr. also taught school in Adams County and his classroom experiences had taught him that children could learn to read more easily by reversing that equation. He saw the value of illustration rather than description in telling stories in a way to interest children in reading. Simple stories. Few words. Large, color illustrations, now known as the whole word or look-say method of teaching reading. Gray affiliated with Scott Foresman; an elementary educational publisher located in Glenview Illinois in 1929. His colleague Zerna Sharp suggested the creation of such a reader. Gray was ready to promote the idea. Sharp, who had once been a teacher, created the two main characters, Dick and Jane with little sister Sally. Mother and Father were simply known as Mother and Father, as a child would address them. Gray wrote the stories. Gray’s series of readers, first known as the Elson Basic Readers and then the Elson-Gray Basic Readers, were the books with which young children learned to read beginning in 1930. The Dick and Jane books as they came to be known, were hugely popular in the 1950s and still used up to the 1960s and early 1970s. The series was reading fare in elementary schools across America from the time of the Great Depression to X-Men comics. The popularity of the series declined in the mid to late 1960s as other experts began to challenge the Dick and Jane books for its lack of cultural diversity only showcasing white middle-class children who lived on a suburban street in middle America. Gray was well acquainted with the power of an illustrated story to capture children’s interest. His cousin Harold Gray was a cartoonist originally from Kankakee, Illinois. His brightly illustrated serial Little Orphan Annie had become the most popular weekly comic strip in America. In William Gray’s books, Dick emerged as the older brother to an inquisitive Jane. Scrambling through the pages with them were their pet Cocker Spaniel Spot and yellow cat Puff. Their world was a place “where night never comes, knees never scrape, parents never yell, and the fun never stops.” Graduating from Camp Point High School in 1904, Gray taught in Fowler elementary school and was its principal until 1908. Gray wrote his students, who were gathering for a 50-year reunion, that his time in Fowler was “the most valuable in my career of more than a half-century of teaching.” Through the years, Gray would return to Coatsburg for annual family reunions where he would entertain family and friends with talks about education. Gray earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago in 1913 and established his credentials in literacy education reform as a graduate student at Columbia University in New York. His master’s thesis developed a reading skills assessment system that was published in 1915 and used for the next 40 years. It also was the foundation for teaching reading with Dick and Jane. Gray returned to the University of Chicago, where he wrote three doctoral dissertations on reading and earned his PhD in 1916. He spent his academic career at the university, serving as professor and dean of the College of Education for 14 years. Gray led an international literacy initiative for the United Nations and in 1955 was elected president of the International Reading Association, which he co-founded. Gray’s credits include several books and hundreds of articles and essays on literacy. The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County has several Elson-Gray readers, which were early illustrated versions of Dick and Jane, donated by retired Adams County teachers Paul and Jane Moody. The Moodys’ interest in Gray’s work began when they learned he was from Adams County. Paul Moody taught in Camp Point schools for 34 years, and Jane continued to use Dick and Jane to teach reading most of her teaching career. Both are now retired but still active in promoting the county’s school history. Reg Ankrom is a former director of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. He is a local historian, author of a prize-winning two-volume biography of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and a frequent speaker on Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and antebellum America. Sources: Ahern, Kevin. From Rails to Roads . . . The Story of Fowler, Illinois. Davinci Press Ink, 2007. Gray, Lillian Reaugh and William S. Gray, Jr. “Record of the Family of Isaac and Sarah Hawkins Gray.” 2nd Edition, 1955. Kismaric, Carole and Marvin Heiferman. Growing Up with Dick and Jane: Learning and Living the American Dream. San Francisco: Collins Publishers, 1996. “The Most Famous Man Ever To Live in Fowler.” (Publication information unavailable). “William S. Gray.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Gray “William Scott Gray (1885-1960) – Influence of Reform Movements, Literacy Efforts.” http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2021/Gray-William-Scott-1885-1960.html edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Fr. Phil Hoebing O.F.M. works with 11 year-old Brianna Altmix using Matthew Lipman’s philosophy book, Pixie, for children to learn reasoning skills. Hoebing outlined and taught in Quincy some of the first experimental classes in philosophy for children, and the methods he used are now a vital part of many classrooms around the world.” (Photo courtesy of the author) During the late 19th century, schools in Quincy and across the country relied largely on memorization through repetition, with teachers using primers for rote instruction. The February 5, 1880 Quincy Daily Whig, reprinted a speech given in New York City by Dr. Francis Weyland Parker, one of the country’s foremost educators, about this teaching method, which he himself practiced at that time, “When a child leaves school, if it doesn’t love books and can repeat page after page by heart, the teaching has not been successful.” Corporal punishment—administered swiftly and often vehemently—usually accompanied this drilling into children’s minds for failure to parrot back the teacher's words. By 1900, though, physically punishing pupils had mostly given way to a new method called “grading.” At an educational conference in Quincy in 1901, Dr. Parker reflected on this change in his keynote speech, “In the old system flogging was a common method of punishment and nothing was pleasant. If anything was pleasant it was considered suspicious. If a word were dropped out so much flogging followed, and to avoid punishment was the object of the child. Then they [educators] changed the plan from punishment to bribery, as recorded by percentages, etc.” The next major change in formal schooling occurred in 1916 when John Dewey, the most influential educator of the first half 20th century, published Democracy and Education. Schools now expected teachers to introduce a modicum of reasoning in their classes rather than have pupils merely mimic what they had said. Dewey believed that only children older than 12 could reason abstractly and instruction too early in these skills would prove harmful. Some high schools gradually adopted these new classroom methods into their teaching, but repetition and memorization continued in lower grades. Quincy Public Schools kept the rote instruction and rigid examination process it had begun in the 1870s into the second half of the 20th century. Class placement and entry into academic programs continued to be based on standardized tests and a pupil’s ability to answer questions with only one “correct” response. In the late 1960s, Quincy native Fr. Phil Hoebing, a Franciscan priest and Quincy College philosophy professor of logic and ethics, became intrigued with the work of Dr. Matthew Lipman of Columbia University. Lipman, after working with his own children at home, had challenged these prevailing assumptions that reasoning cannot be taught to very young children and classrooms should only be places of drill. Along with other philosophers, Hoebing enrolled in a 10-week summer seminar with Lipman at Columbia, and for five hours a day they discussed the practical applications of these innovative ideas about children and thinking. Seminar members noted that their college-age students were poor readers and mostly ill-prepared to present logical arguments and could perhaps benefit from early instruction in reasoning. Hoebing left the seminar with the tools he needed to outline a course in philosophical thinking for young children that would lead, he believed, to improving their reading skills and becoming more rational and analytical long before they reach college. After discussing his plan with other faculty members at Quincy College, he and Dr. Barbara Schleppenbach, a professor of English whose son was among the students, began teaching an eight-week course in 1973 at St. Anthony School in Quincy for 5th and 6th graders using Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery, Lipman’s text about logic. This was among the first experimental classes of philosophy for children in the United States. The results startled observers: following this course the depth of questions students asked and their reasoning skills surged. Instead of not supporting answers or responding, “Because I feel” or “I’ve been told...,” students now gave reasons based on evidence, facts, and the construction of a logical argument. Dr. Lipman’s book, Thinking in Education later corroborated these and other anecdotal results with formal studies and empirical data. As he continued to collaborate with Dr. Lipman, Hoebing began teaching similar courses in other Quincy elementary schools and speaking and holding workshops around the country about philosophy classes for children. After seeing the initial success of classes in Quincy, Lipman, who later received an honorary doctorate from Quincy University, founded the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at New Jersey’s Montclair State University in 1974. In response to the pioneering programs of Fr. Phil Hoebing based on the ideas of Dr. Mathew Lipman, a group of educators who realized the importance of teaching philosophy to young children founded the International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children and its journal Thinking. Hoebing’s article for Thinking titled, “Pixie the Tree Hugger,” introduced metaphysics—the study of being and reality—into the curriculum of these pioneering classes. In an interview with the author and feature story in Catholic Times about his work, he elaborated, “Children are naturally curious about the world around them and—if given the chance—will pose questions and explore aspects of life that most adults take for granted or assume. Children still look at the world with wonder and ask, ‘Why do we exist? and ‘What is really real?’” Hoebing went on to establish “College for Kids” at Quincy College; it became the model for similar programs around the world, where trained instructors teach young children to be more careful readers and think and reason with logic rather than feelings, hunches or, in many cases, haphazard thoughts. For two generations, he and other members of Lipman’s seminars instilled teachers with the skills to use philosophical inquiry and analysis in their classes. These innovative teaching programs can now be found in many colleges and universities in over 20 countries, where future educators learn to mentor children as young as kindergarten to think and reason logically. These flagship classes in philosophy for children taught in Quincy played an important role in the increasing emphasis of educators on “critical thinking” and widely acknowledging that early instruction in these skills helps children move from drill to discovery and become more reasoning, rational, and responsible adults. Joseph Newkirk is a local writer and photographer whose work has been widely published as a contributor to literary magazines, as a correspondent for Catholic Times, and for the past 23 years as a writer for the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project. He is a member of the reorganized Quincy Bicycle Club and has logged more than 10,000 miles on bicycles in his life. Sources Dewey, John. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: MacMillan Co. 1916, 152-63. Fr. Phil Hoebing, O.F.M. , in discussions with the author, March 2009. Hoebing, Fr. Phil. “Pixie the Tree Hugger.” Thinking: the Journal of the Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children. June 1987. Lipman, Matthew. Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery. Upper Montclair, N.J. Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, Montclair State College, 1977. Lipman, Matthew. Thinking in Education. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 131-41. Newkirk, Joseph. “Father Phil’s Passion.” Catholic Times, April 18, 2009, 24. “Parker on Education,” Quincy Daily Journal, December 9, 1901, 2. “Philosophy for Children.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu>entries. “Quincy School System: A Clear Exposition of Its Methods and Advantages.” Quincy Daily Whig, Feb. 5, 1880, 2.

The South Side Boat Club’s Senior 4 Oared Crew competed in the International Regatta at Liege, Belgium, in 1930. Crew members, left to right, were Chester Holtman, George Meyer Jr., Ray Bennett, Roy Gibbs and George Hussong. (Photo Courtesy of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County) On Quincy’s waterfront there are two historic boat clubs. The North Side Boat Club has a pair of oars for their logo. Further down Front Street at the South Side Boat Club has a collection of photographs and trophies documenting the glory this part of Quincy's waterfront produced, fame that was not powered by motors but by strong backs and oars. From the 1890s to the 1940s, Quincy was a regional rowing powerhouse. Workers in Quincy's manufacturing and construction industries gathered after the workday ended to take their racing shells containing anywhere from one to eight rowers -- referred to as singles, double/pairs, fours and eights -- onto the Mississippi River and Quincy Bay to practice and compete. The protected bay waters and riverfront provided a good straight stretch of water and enough shoreline (along what was then called Edgewater Park) for 5,000 Quincyans to turn out in July,1910 to watch and cheer on their favorites. Even the Quincy Naval Reserve entered their cutter and whale boat into the races. The July 11,1999 Quincy Herald-Whig noted that the South Side Boat Club was founded in 1886 and the North Side Boat Club in 1894. The original South Side Boat Club was organized in a cooper (barrel) shop in a Quincy alley and had only a handful of members. The sport gained popularity, and in 1903, the Quincy City Council recognized its importance by granting use of city land for shell storage. The numerous trophies displayed at the South Side Boat Club attest to the fact that the distance from other rowing venues was not a problem. Club boats (more than 60 feet long for a racing "eight") were loaded onto train cars on the tracks next to Front Street and hauled to races in St. Louis, Peoria, Detroit, and Chicago on a regular basis. Quincy rowers even won the national championship in an "eight" in Philadelphia in 1904 and took the national championship the following year in a "four" in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1930, a crew of Quincyans traveled to Liege, Belgium, for the International Rowing Regatta. They defeated Czechoslovakia in the first round with the fastest time of the day. They were favorites to win but were defeated by Denmark by ¼ second which was one of the closest finishes on record. SSBC was number two in the world. The “fours” and their racing shell had competed and distinguished themselves against an international field and returned home to heroes' welcomes. Rowing was one of the first sports in which both men and women competed. The South Side Boat Club created a "Ladies Aid" division in 1910 and fielded a women's crew in July 1935. In that same month the club's junior team won the Central States Junior Rowing Tournament, with host St. Louis taking second. Quincy's rowing culture ended after World War II, when soldiers returning home were preoccupied with the needs of new families and the dream of home ownership. Rowers went home after work, not out on the river. Bowling alleys and baseball diamonds with artificial lighting provided an after-supper team activity, and the river became a place for motor-powered boats. While the new sports were no match for the physical and endurance challenges of rowing (which required sustained bursts of full-on power beyond the comfortable bounds of aerobic capacity), they allowed for greater participation by regular folks. Labor-saving conveniences saved time and effort, but the result was that Americans by and large lost touch with intense sustained exertion in work and sport. America's postwar mindset emphasized "modern" living, a lifestyle that, to the extent possible, supplanted the old physical ways with use of electric and internal combustion devices. While folks still used their bodies for strenuous physical labor when there was no labor-saving alternative, rowing for sport went away like the all-night dance contests and the washboard. Fashion conscious young men wore gloves and hats so as not to look so tanned and "coarse," and magazines urged homemakers to improve their status by increasing the labor-saving appliances in the kitchen. New homes and subdivisions were built without incurring the extra cost of sidewalks because modern families used the car to travel, bicycles became children's toys, and when someone went for a boat ride it usually involved a motor, not oars or a paddle. The intense exertion required for rowing intervals ("full power 20s" involved repetitions of 20 stroke "pieces" as hard as the crew could pull) required strong commitment, and it was just a whole lot easier to be on a bowling or baseball team where exertion was still intense, but in much shorter bursts. America's belief in the value of strenuous activities that produced physical endurance for the regular person drifted off into the smoky haze of the bowling alley and the walking or golf cart driven pace of the golf course. The new intensive physical sports that did develop like basketball and football involved cutting and moving on the court and field, sometimes damaging joints. The physical toll imposed was so great that many athletes carried a bad knee, ankle or shoulder into their mid-20s, an age when elite level rowers were just hitting their prime. No longer in use, Quincy's rowing boats were sent to other communities with surviving rowing programs, and the Quincy waterfront was transformed to a place where motorboats carried people onto the water. Gradually, the community forgot that Quincy Bay was once the stage for Quincy's triumph with oars. Ray Thomas is a former Quincyan (QHS 1970, QU 1974) whose mother, Maggie Thomas, was a longtime Quincy radio and television reporter and an actress. He is a lawyer, recently retired, who lives in Portland, Oregon. Sources Berendzen, Gerri, ed. Images of History; Quincy & Adams County, Volume III. Quincy, IL: Quincy Herald-Whig, 2003. “Cable From Quincyans Shows Local Crew One-Fourth Of A Second Behind The Winner.” Quincy Herald Whig, August 17, 1930, 14. Gray, Fred. “This ‘N That in Sports.” Quincy Herald Whig, August 17, 1930, 14. Landrum, Carl. "North Side Boat Club born of 1890s rowing competitions on the river." Quincy Herald-Whig, July 11, 1999. "JULY, 1935: A month of storms, a time for debate over a decade." Quincy Herald- Whig, July 28, 1985. "South Side Boat Club Started with 1886 Curbside Conversation." Quincy Herald-Whig, September 6, 1981. "South Side Boat Club Will Build New Home." Quincy Daily Whig, December 6, 1903. Young, Harold. “River History." People's History of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois; A Sesquicentennial History, Landry Genosky, ed. 646-660. Quincy: Jost & Kiefer Printing Co., 1976.

Early picture of the Woelful Saloon at 8th and Locust Streets. (Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County) In December 1885, Illinois decided to locate the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home on the Dudley estate, just north of Quincy. The lure of the soldiers and sailors who would live there with pension dollars to spend, had drawn Lorenzo Woelfel’s attention. He was operating a saloon at 190 South 6th Street in Quincy. At that time, there were more than 70 saloons in operation in Quincy. In August 1886, Suzanne Woelfel paid $400 for a lot on the southwest corner of 8th and Locust Streets, directly across from the Dudley property. The Woelfels built a two-story building which would house a tavern on the first floor, with living space above. Thus began a contest between the Woelfels, the management of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home and the Quincy City Council, about selling spirits and beer to the residents of the home. Various temperance groups formed throughout the 19th century. Prominent among these groups was the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). They boasted a membership of over 100,000 by the 1870’s. In response, distillers and brewers formed their own organizations such as the local “Quincy Saloon Keepers Association,” founded in 1886. Before national prohibition began in 1919, a number of tactics were employed to limit or prohibit the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Local preachers were speaking of the evils of unrestricted consumption of spirits. By June 1884, despite a large and vocal beer loving German immigrant population, the city council first considered a local law mandating the closure of all businesses selling alcoholic beverages on Sundays. Although this statute was rejected by the council, aldermen successfully passed a local law that required saloon keepers to purchase a liquor license for a fee of $150. This fee would rise over the years, eventually topping $500 per year. It was thought that such a high fee would limit the number of saloons and taverns. However, by 1898 there were more than 140 saloons operating within the city limits. Lorenzo and Suzanne Woelful began operating their saloon with the opening of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home by early 1887. Within months they were running afoul of both the home officials and Quincy officials. True to the Woelfuls expectations, a number of veterans, having time to pass and pension dollars to spend, found their way to their establishment. Occasionally the veterans drank to excess and caused disturbances. The Woelfuls were not alone in their ambitions to serve the clientele of the northwest side. By 1891, there were three saloons operating just outside the gates of the Home. Leo J. Goerres opened a saloon at 12th and Locust Streets. South of the Woelfuls on 8th street, Herbst and Buckheit opened a third saloon. Following Mr. Woelfuls death in 1887, Suzanne ran the saloon herself. She subsequently married Julius Linneman, who took charge of tavern. In response to the perceived threat to the resident’s health and wellbeing, the administration of the Home petitioned the Quincy city council to ban the granting of licenses and sale of liquor in areas within ¼ mile of the Soldiers’ Home. Initially the council reacted positively and passed the proposed ordinance. It soon became a contested issue, with sides being taken by the Homes’s administration and temperance advocates, vs. the Saloon Keepers Association and local tavern keepers. Less than six months after the first residents were admitted to the Home, Lorenzo Woelfel was issued a summons for selling “intoxicants within three blocks of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home.” The local papers said he was “notified a few days ago to shut up shop, which order, it seems, he has disobeyed.” When the city refused to issue a license to the Woelfuls, they continued to operate their business anyway, and were repeatedly cited and brought into court, under “ordinance No. 55.” After hiring an attorney and asking for a change of venue, Lorenzo successfully fought the summons. Despite the efforts of the temperance minded, the residents of the home continued to patronize the so called “h*** hole on 8th street” as one local newspaper christened it. In September 1887, a serious fracas occurred at the Woelfuls, when two veterans got into an argument. Shots were fired. According to the local newspapers, “The place is said to be the worst of its kind in the city and shooting affrays and fights have occurred there of late. The veterans addicted to strong drink visit the place, and after getting drunk, make it lively for the neighborhood. The last shooting affray occurred there on Saturday last, but luckily all who took part were unable to hit anyone.” They were too inebriated to aim their weapons. One veteran stubbed his toe while chasing his opponent and broke his foot. Suzanne Woelful was again brought before the courts for operating an establishment without a liquor license, and, in an article on doings at the Home, the writer noted, “The woman who keeps the h*** hole at the corner of Eighth and Locust got soldiers to swear that she sold nothing but soda-water. Could not the attorney against her find anyone to prove that assertion false? The beer wagon drives up there every morning and unloads beer kegs, and intoxicated men come out of the place every day. The principal witness for her on her last suit got so drunk there Monday that she had to put him out and lock the door to keep him out.” As the newspapers noted, it was not only residents of the Home that got into trouble at Woelfuls’, but “the worst sort” of local toughs. A number of owners would operate the Woelful place over the next few years. In 1892, although the name of the saloon had been changed to the “Bouilvard” by its current owner, who had also erected signs advertizing a “summer garden” with “Gentlemen’s” and “Ladies’” entrances, the establishment was still receiving summonses for operating “an open grog shop on Sunday.” Finally, in the 1920’s, after prohibition had closed all such establishments throughout the nation, Ed Murray opened Murray’s Groceries in the former Woelful building. Lynn M. Snyder is a native of Adams County, a semi-retired archaeologist, museum researcher, and a former librarian. She is a board member and Museum Coordinator for the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County Sources Code of the City of Quincy, Illinois. Quincy: City Clerk’s Office. Okrent, Daniel. Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition. New York: Scribner, 2010. The Revised Statutes of the State of Illinois, 1891. Chicago: Chicago Legal News Company. “Criminal Court.” Quincy Daily Herald, February 9, 1890, 3. “How Shameful.” Quincy Daily Journal, December 21, 1891, 6. “Police Court.” Quincy Daily Journal, July 1, 1892, 5. “Abolish It.” Quincy Daily Whig, September 10, 1887, 4. Resident Action Group. A Promise Kept: the Story of the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy. Quincy: Illinois Veterans Home, 1996.

Faculty and Students of St. Francis College in 1909. (Photo courtesy of Quincy University) Founded in 1860, Quincy University is a liberal arts institution grounded in the mission of St. Francis of Assisi. Located at 18th and College, the university today serves more than 1200 undergraduate and graduate students. For more than 150 years, Quincy University has been a staple of life in the Gem City, but it has gone through many changes since it opened. The school began in 1860, when a group of Franciscan friars received permission from their superiors in Germany to charter a school. The first college classes were offered at a small three story-building on the south side of Eighth and Maine Streets in 1860. Around the same time, a new Catholic parish, St. Francis Solanus, opened on 18th and Vine (since 1926, called College Avenue), and in 1865 the college friars began teaching classes in the parish school. With just a few dozen students and few faculty members, the friars struggled to keep the college going, but under the direction of a young German friar, Father Anselm Mueller, St. Francis Solanus College. In 1871, classes were moved to a new building on the 18th Street campus. The school continued to grow and in 1873 the state of Illinois chartered Quincy College. Over the next few decades, the college continued to expand, though it still mostly served the large German Catholic population in the Quincy area. For decades, enrollment stood between 100 to 300 students, with that number rising to 400 only in the 1930s. Initially the college did not admit women. Most Catholic schools at the time, along with many other private institutions, were segregated by sex, so it was not unusual that during its first sixty years Quincy College had no women. It was not until 1932 that the first female students registered for classes as full-time day students. But what did stand out about Quincy College and demonstrates the environment that has marked it since 1860, was the presence of an African American student, Augustine Tolton. He was to become the first African American Roman Catholic priest in the United States, and one who is on the canonical path to sainthood. Born into a slave family in Missouri, Augustine Tolton moved to Quincy shortly after the Civil War broke out. At the time Quincy had an African American population of about 300, sizable enough for the family to feel at home. The Toltons, however, were Catholic, a rarity among African Americans. His mother sent Augustine to St. Boniface School, where the child suffered racial taunts and worse from the other children. When the situation grew intolerable, Augustine left the school and received private tutoring from a Catholic priest, Father Michael Richardt. A brilliant student, Augustine thrived and even became fluent in German. By his early teens, Augustine yearned to enter the priesthood, but the racism of the day threatened to deny him his calling, as no seminaries in the United States would allow in a black student. He entered Quincy College as a student in 1878 and with the aid of Father Richardt entered a seminary in Rome and was ordained in 1886. Father Tolton died in Chicago in 1897 but asked to be buried in Quincy in St. Peter's Cemetery, where his body rests today. Some 60 years later, George Iles enrolled at Quincy College. In 1939, while still enrolled, Iles took the opportunity to earn a private pilot’s license under the Civilian Pilot Training Program, thus becoming Quincy’s first black pilot. He went on to become one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and a multi-awarded Colonel in the U. S. Air Force. By the early 20th century, the college was expanding, and the original building was enlarged as construction of Francis Hall continued. In 1917 the college changed its name again, this time to Quincy College and Seminary. After thriving for decades, the college, along with the rest of nation, suffered greatly as a result of the Great Depression and during the 1930s the college had to lay off all but two members of its faculty. Times were not much easier during World War II, as enrollment dropped, and all varsity athletics were canceled. But the college stayed open training Naval cadets and Army reservists. The College began to grow during the 1950s. In 1959 enrollment for the first time topped 1,000 students. During the 1940s and 1950s, as enrollment grew, the character of the college changed. Ever since the 1860s, most of Quincy's students were local residents who commuted to school. But thanks in part to the GI Bill created for World War II veterans, college become accessible to millions of young men and women who previously would not have been able to afford the tuition. Higher education enrollment boomed during the 1940s through the 1960s, and Quincy College saw a sharp upsurge, which necessitated construction of new residence halls to house the students. Between 1957 and 1965, Quincy opened five dormitories, several of which are still operating today. With the influx of students came an expansion of extracurricular activities, particularly in athletics, a tradition that carries on today, as the university competes in fifteen men's and women's sports programs. In 1993 the school officially adopted its present name, "Quincy University." The university celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2009-2010, and it continues to be a staple of life in Quincy and the surrounding community. The university today continues to change. A student living center opened on 18th and Lind Streets in August 2011. Quincy University continues the traditions handed down from its beginnings in 1860: a Franciscan institution, guided by the principles of Francis of Assisi. The University’s mission statement reads in part, “Quincy University stands as a Catholic, independent, liberal arts institution of higher learning in the Franciscan tradition. Inspired by the spirit of Francis and Clare of Assisi, we respect each person as a sister or brother with dignity, value, and worth. We work for justice, peace and the integrity of creation." It is those values that have shaped Quincy University since its inception and that spirit lives on today. Justin Coffey is an Associate Professor of History at Quincy University with a PhD from the University of Illinois. He is a former president of the Historical Society and is currently the chief political analyst for WGEM. Sources “About Us: History,” Quincy University, http://www.quincy.edu/AboutQU/history.php. ”Father Augustus Tolton: Cause for Canonization,” Archdiocese of Chicago, 2010, http://www.toltoncanonization.org/ Mayfield, Linda. “Col. George Iles: Pilot From Quincy To The World.” Quincy Herald-Whig, November 25, 2018. Zimmerman, Joseph, O.F.M. A Story of Quincy University: Catholic, Franciscan, Beginning Again, The First 150 Years. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Donning Company Publishers, 2009.

A photo of Asa Tyrer. (Photo courtesy of Family Search) Chloe Andrews Tyrer would be no more specific with her children about the date of her wedding to their father, Asa Tyrer, than to say it was in 1810. To do so would have risked scandal in the Tyrer family. Son William L. Tyrer was born in September―in the ninth month after January 1810. The date of the oldest child’s birth and their parents’ silence about the date of their wedding raised suspicions among the children about why their parents married. In the years that followed, Chloe Tyrer gave birth to two more boys and two daughters. In 1818 Asa asked her to join him on an adventure to western Illinois to locate land he bought there. Stephen B. Leonard, a friend of the Andrews family in Broome County, New York, and land speculator, sold Tyrer two adjoining quarter sections, 320 acres of land, for $300 in the Illinois Military Tract. Congress in May 1812 designated 3.5 million acres of federal land on the western side of the Illinois Territory as bounty land for veterans of the War of 1812. Though her husband was eager to find his property, wife Chloe twice refused his pleas to accompany him. She would not leave “civilization for this howling wilderness with wild Indians for companions,” she told daughter Mahala Tyrer Shauce. Asa Tyrer had no difficulty finding his land. Edmund Dana and his crew of federal mapmakers had just surveyed the region of the Military Tract that in 1825 would become Adams County. Illinois had gained statehood in 1818, and the General Assembly on January 13, 1825, granted New York émigré John Wood’s application to carve an 855-square-mile Adams County from Pike County Tyrer’s property was situated in the eastern half of Section 12, about two miles southeast of the town, once named Bluffs and in 1825 renamed Quincy for the second President Adams. The Tyrer farm would be in Melrose Township when it was organized in 1849. Tyrer built a log cabin and established the first blacksmith shop in Adams County. For several years, Tyrer’s only competition was William Ross’s blacksmith shop in Atlas, then the county seat of Pike County. Forty miles away, it was no competition. In 1895, South Park was established on 52 acres of the old Tyrer farm, then owned by Judge B.F. Berrian and his brothers. The park would ultimately take up 135 acres. Tyrer also built the county’s first corn mill, which was powered by a spring on his land that fell about six feet from a rock crag. As the water plunged over the rock ledge, it was captured in a trough, which descended as the weight of the water filled it. When a granite pestle at the other end of the lanyard reached its apogee, the trough sprang open, the water gushed out, and the pestle fell in a crushing blow on the grains of corn on a stone mortar below. This first industrial machine in Adams County would repeat the action three times a minute and make several quarts of hominy daily. Men cast their first votes in Adams County on July 5, 1825, at Willard Keyes’s log cabin, the county’s only polling place, at today’s Front and Vermont Streets. They elected Tyrer Adams County’s first coroner. That might have suggested Tyrer’s growing reputation. Or, it might have reflected the county’s scant population. All but two men of the county were either elected to offices or were selected to serve on petit and grand juries. Keyes’s cabin also served as the first county court house. Assured that her husband could provide for the family’s subsistence, Chloe Tyrer in 1825 packed up her belongings and her now-six children to join her husband in Illinois. Asa and Chloe Tyrer had six more children in the next ten years. The Tyrers settled into their pioneer life. Tyrer was re-elected coroner and served a term as a grand juryman. But wanderlust tugged at him again, this time calling him to Galena, where lead mining was booming. Federal mining permits, which numbered 419 in 1824, were 2,384 in 1827. Tyrer and son William, 18, avoided federal regulations that required miners to live year-round on their claims. The Tyrers leased land and mined on a farm near Dodgeville, Wisconsin, 50 miles north of Galena—out of federal regulations’ reach. They worked their mine in summer and returned to Quincy the rest of the year. William settled permanently in Dodgeville after the Black Hawk War ended in 1832. Tyrer moved his family to Dodgeville sometime in the 1840s. Asa and Chloe Tyrer were considered miracle workers by the people they treated when cholera visited Dodgeville in summer 1850. Several said the “steam treatment” the Tyrers used saved lives. In a memoir held by the Wisconsin State Historical Society, James Rogers of Dodgeville wrote: “My father and brother-in-law were attended by no regular physician but were waited on by ‘Old Man Tyer (sic) as he was called, who lived about a mile west of the present NW Depot. He had remarkable success with the cases he treated. He waited on my father and Mathew Rogers, and both recovered. His treatment was medicated steam inhaled through the nose.” Chloe Tyrer wrote the concoction for her children. “To one quart of whiskey, drown10 to 12 live coals of fire in it, then strain it. Add three tablespoonfuls of saltpeter and three of sulphur.” A stricken person was covered with a wet sheet and the medicated steam was inhaled through the nose. The Tyrers returned to Quincy and lived on South 12th, near Harrison Street. Asa Tyrer, 86, died there on August 6, 1873, and was buried in Woodland Cemetery. Chloe Tyrer continued to live in Quincy until 1882, when she returned to Dodgeville to live with her daughter, Mahala Tyrer Shaunce. She died on July 22, 1883. Her obituary in the Quincy Daily Herald indicated she had 47 grandchildren, “not more than half of the original number, many of them having died,” and at least 85 great grandchildren. Reg Ankrom is a former director of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. He is a local historian, author of a prize-winning two-volume biography of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and a frequent speaker on Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and antebellum America. Sources: Ankrom, Reg, “Ross Brothers settle in Western Illinois, founding Pike County,” Quincy Herald-Whig, December 8, 2019. “Chloe Andrews Tyrer,” https:///www.findagrave.com/memorial/6996655/chloe_tyrer Dodgeville Chronicle, September 12, 1884. Henry, Gary. ’Galena, Illinois, During the Lead Mine Era.” (master’s thesis, Eastern Illinois University, 1976) Iowa County, Wisconsin, Genealogy Trails History Group, https://genealogytrails.com/wis/iowa/biosT.html “Mahala Tyrer Shauce,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9434571/mahala_shaunce Oakley, Hal. “Sauk village becomes Quincy,” Quincy Herald-Whig, July 15, 2012. Quincy Daily Herald, August 18, 1833. “William L. Tyrer,” Iowa County, Wisconsin, Genealogy Trails History Group, https://genealogytrails.com/wis/iowa/biosT.httml Wilcox, David F. Quincy and Adams County History and Representative Men, Vol 1. (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1919), 32-33, 100-102, 128.

Note: Part I of this series dealt with the history of Michael Becker’s ownership of the Harrison Brewery located at 9th and Harrison Streets and the use of Watson’s springs by German families. Watson’s springs was named for the son-in-law of Asa Tyrer who first settled and farmed the area in 1820 sometime before John Wood built the first log cabin in nearby Quincy. German immigrant families were eager to engage in the outdoor social recreation important to their heritage. They were drawn to Quincy’s south end farm venue. The families went there for picnics on Sundays and listened to German brass band music while consuming German style lager in the natural environment. Several beer gardens were built as early as the 1850s in the south end for their German clientele. In 1865 Michael Becker started his beer garden and, like the other area breweries, he took advantage of the natural ambiance and pure spring water of Watson’s springs to help him make, cool and sell the beer. Becker’s ownership of the Harrison Street Brewery lasted until 1879. In June 1879 the Quincy Daily Herald reported the sale of Becker’s brewery buildings but there was no mention of the purchaser’s name. The first announcement of new owners appeared in the 1882 City Directory. It listed John Schanz and Charles Prante as the proprietors and Gottlieb Schanz as the foreman of the Harrison Brewery. Prante and his large family were brick masons who came to Quincy from Lippe Depmolt, Germany. Charles, or Carl as he was also known, arrived in 1854 and his brothers soon followed. Once in Quincy his brothers used bricks produced in Carl’s Jefferson Street factory to build homes for other immigrants. His family built many of the houses on the south end of town. The houses were built at the time of Quincy’s greatest growth. The city grew 98 percent in the 1850s. Another ten years saw an increase of an additional 75 percent in the population. By the 1870 census Quincy had 24,052 residents and was the 55th largest city in the United States. This boom in population became a prolonged opportunity for Prante to fill the need for immigrant homes in the south end. In his first sixteen years in Quincy Prante prospered. According to the 1870 census he had accumulated $10,000 in land and $1,500 in personal property. This was a considerable sum for the time. By the time he purchased a share of the Harrison Brewery his wealth had increased substantially. He almost certainly contributed the financial investment when the brewery became available and was purchased by the firm of Schanz and Prante in 1880. Gottlieb Schanz had come to America from Wurttemberg, Germany in 1865. His brother John followed him to Quincy in 1880. In Germany Gottlieb apprenticed as a brewer. In America he honed his craft in several breweries before coming to St. Louis in 1870. In St. Louis he gained further experience working for breweries and in 1874 he became foreman for the Wainwright Brewery. In 1875 Mathew Dick brought Schanz to Quincy to be his brew master. Three years later Gottlieb left to become head brewer at the Washington Brewery. He was there for two years when the Harrison Brewery came up for sale. When his brother John and Prante purchased the Harrison Brewery, Gottlieb became their head brewer. Gottlieb continued to run the Harrison Brewery with the same summer events associated with the German immigrants’ outdoor heritage. The first newspaper advertisement for the reorganized brewery was in May 1880. It was for a picnic held by the Furniture Workers’ Union that included a concert by Kuehn’s German Brass Band. The advertisement stated that it was now the Harrison Garden, formerly known as Mike Becker’s Garden. Within the year it was known as Schanz’s Garden or Harrison’s Garden and the new ownership transition was complete. In February 1882 the brewery had a fire and partially burned. Schanz quickly rebuilt the affected part of the facility and business resumed. In October 1883 a new ice house was built for the brewery and by December it was cold enough to have ice cut from the river slough south of Quincy to fill the new building. The 1884 City Directory lists Gottlieb as the sole proprietor. Brother John is listed as proprietor of a saloon at 4th and State. Charles Prante is listed as proprietor of the brick yard but he retained ownership of the brewery buildings. In early 1885 the larger Eber Brothers Brewery closed due to inability to pay its creditors and became available for sale. By May 1886 Schanz left the Harrison Brewery and obtained the Eber property located on Chestnut Street. Henry Eber replaced Gottlieb Schanz as head brewer at Harrison’s. The Schanz departure left an ownership vacuum in the Harrison Brewery which was filled by a coalition of saloon owners who formed a co-operative organization that included a number of city businessmen. The group’s efforts began early in 1885 and by December 1886 application for a license to incorporate as the Gem City Brewing Company was sent to the Secretary of State. The corporation had seventeen stockholders, fifteen of whom were saloon keepers. Fred Tellbuscher was president. He had a saloon at 721 South Front Street. Frederick Wemhoener was secretary and treasurer of the new company. Other Quincy saloon keepers in the corporation were Gus Roth, Joseph Freiburg, Champ Dicks, Joseph VandenBoom, Henry Gnuse and from La Grange, Henry Lehr. In December, 1895 the Herald announced that Gem City Brewery would go out of business. Tellbuscher stated that the directors preferred to retire while they could still get their money out of the investment. He also said that it was the tendency for metropolitan breweries to drive the smaller concerns out of business with their superior advantages of scale. The time of the small beer garden breweries that made beer as fresh as spring water and served it in the garden air was coming to an end. Harrison Brewery Part II. Sources List “Aged Citizen Answers Summons.” Quincy Herald-Whig, May 22, 1912, p. 4. “The Best Brewer, the Best Brewer and the Best Beer Quincy Daily Journal, May 27, 1893, p. 5. Brinkman, Michael K. Quincy, Illinois Immigrants from Lippe, Germany. Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2017. p. 184, 245-46. Bornmann, Heinrich J. Bornmann’s Sketches of Early Germans of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois. Reprinted: Quincy, Illinois, 2013. Published by The Great River Genealogical Society. “City News.” Quincy Daily Journal, October 30, 1883, p. 4. “City news.” Quincy Daily Journal, December 29, 1883, p. 4. Cray, Marcia Kuhlman. Undated, Breweries of Quincy, Illinois: 1834-1950. Self-published Quincy, Illinois. “Death Calls Carl Prante.” Quincy Daily Journal, May 22, 1912, p. 7. Family Search: “United States Census, 1870,” data base with images, Family Search, Illinois, Adams, Quincy, Ward 4, image 38 of 114; NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington, D. C.; National Archives and Records Administration.) “Furniture Workers’ Picnic.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 25, 1880, p. 3. “Gem City Brewery.” Quincy Daily Herald, December 17, 1895, p. 4. “Gottlieb Schanz Quincy Resident Sixty Years, Dies.” Quincy Herald-Whig, January 22, 1935. Gould’s Saint Louis City Directory, Saint Louis, 1874. p. 505, 778 & 914. Gould’s Quincy City Directory, Quincy, 1884-85. P. 172, 293, 319. Gould’s Quincy City Directory, Quincy, 1886-87. p. 175, 302, 329, 426. “Grand Concert.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 15, 1881, p. 3. History of the Park System of Quincy, Illinois, 1888 to 1917. Published by Quincy Boulevard and Park Association. Quincy, IL. (No date given.) p. 36-42. “Items in Brief.” Quincy Daily Herald, April 11, 1882, p. 4. “Items in Brief.” Quincy Daily Herald, June 28, 1879, p. 3. “Local Miscellany.” Quincy Daily Whig, October 22, 1887, p. 8. “A New Brewing company.” Quincy Daily Journal, December 8, 1886, p. 3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. Sanborn Map Company, 1888. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . Simmons, Cary & Co.’s, Quincy City Directory, 1882-83, p. 204, 220. Stone’s Quincy City Directory, Quincy, 1887-88. P. 178, 387, 436, 469, 501. Table 9 Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1860.” www.Census.gov/population/www/docummentation/twps0027/tab09.txt. “Table 10 Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1870.” www.Census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab10.txt “Will not be a Candidate for City Clerk.” Quincy Daily Journal, February 11, 1891, p. 4.

The 1866 Quincy City Directory listed eight brewers in the Breweries category. With the addition of the Bluff Brewery which was overlooked by the publishers of the book, a total of nine breweries were serving the needs of the local consumer. Of the nine, one was a new brewery that had started the year before. This new brewery was owned by Michael Becker and it was located on the city’s south edge at 9th and Harrison. The Harrison Brewery was a brewery garden with a picnic grounds located under a grove filled with large oak, elm and hickory trees that enhanced the quality of the country setting. The area borders on South Park and Notre Dame School today. At the time it was a rural environment with spring fed brooks and ponds. The decade before saw other beer gardens, from the Watson Springs (South Park) area become popular with German immigrants looking to socialize at Sunday events with popular amusements of the day. Union Springs and Kaiser’s Cave were established as beer garden venues in this south part of town. Watson’s Springs was named for the son-in-law of the reverend Asa Tyer the Congregational abolitionist minister who first settled the farm in 1821. Union Springs Garden was located on south 12th at Adams Street just north of Ruff’s Union Brewery. The garden had been founded by brewer John Nelch who operated it as a summer open air resort. At least in his later years of operation Nelch brewed his own beer. In 1856 Nelch sold out to another brewer, Anton Delabar who with his son Charles continued the events for many years. Kaiser’s Cave was located on the southwest corner of 8th and Harrison one block away from Becker’s place. The proprietor, Lambert Kaiser served beer at his picnic grounds and maintained a social hall. Any cave associated with his facility would most likely be a man-made cave. The area had a lot of springs so Kaiser could easily find a source of spring water and place a brick arched cellar over the water’s source, then cover the cellar with earth to keep the naturally cool spring water for the storage of beer. The Harrison Brewery Garden added to the above venues that remained popular with Germans seeking Sunday recreation while renewing their heritage. These Sunday amusements in addition to enjoying spring cooled beer would include listening and dancing to German brass band music like Sohn’s or Kuehn’s Band. Sometimes it was with the German vocal clubs like the Concordia singers or the German Leiderkrantz singing society. Sunday mornings might start with a shooting contest and end with a grand ball. It was this type of environment that Becker erected his brewery on the southern edge of town. Michael Becker and his wife arrived from Germany sometime before the construction of the Harrison Brewery in 1865. The Quincy 1870 census indicated he was born in Bavaria. It also stated that he owned $12,000 in real estate and $6,000 in personal property which was likely the brewery value. The first advertisement known for the brewery was in the 1866 Quincy City Directory published in February of that year. It stated that Michael Becker was proprietor of the Harrison Brewery located on the South-east Corner of 9th and Harrison and that they were manufactures of a superior Lager Beer. At first Becker ran the business by himself taking Henry Ringstorff as his partner in 1869. Ringstorff was only able to participate until 1871 when he left to run a saloon. In 1872 Charles Yeck replaced Ringstorff and the firm was known as Yeck And Becker. Yeck came to Quincy from Beardstown where his wife, the former Nancy Beard was related to the town’s founder, Thomas Beard. Charles and his wife had accumulated $20,000 in land while living in Beardstown where he had been a merchant. With the obvious increase in capital from a new partner the business prospered. During 1874 they sold 3,000 barrels of beer and gained distribution in Missouri. All the beer was produced from a 40 by 150-foot, three-story brew house by seven employees. This amount compares to 30,000 barrels from Dick Brothers for the same year. Two years later output fell to 2,000 barrels at Harrison and just 16,000 barrels at Dick’s. No explanation was given for decrease in sales in the local papers but nationally the country had fallen on financial hard times. In January of 1879 a sheriff’s sale was held to dissolve the partnership. The sale-bill listed the rudimentary brewery equipment used by the firm. The auction included the following: 25 large beer casks, 300 kegs, 6 tubs, 200 bushels of malt, a copper beer-cooler, boiler, engine, water tank, malt mill, 3 horses, 1 beer wagon, 1 spring wagon, 2 old wagons, 50 benches and tables, an ice box, a counter with shelves, 4 tables, 10 chairs, 75 beer glasses, bowling equipment, a desk, safe, clock and stove. The equipment was sold dissolving the partnership. The proceeds then were divided up according to the ownership agreement. In the following June of 1879 the newspaper reported that the brewery and land were sold but the newspaper was unable to name the purchasers. After the liquidation Becker ran a saloon on Maine street until his death in 1884. Yeck and his family moved back to Cass County where Charles died a year later. The south end forested park like setting that Becker’s Garden and other garden venues used to attract German families eager to engage in the outdoor social recreation that was important to their heritage would in time turn into the South Park that we know today. In 1891 talks began with the owner to acquire the adjacent land for the city and by 1895 South Park was open to the public. As for the beer garden that Michael Becker started to take advantage of the natural environment, it would continue with new owners well after the sheriff’s sale of 1879. South Park would remain a part of Quincy’s heritage for generations to come. Next week’s article will continue with the history of subsequent owners of the Harrison Brewery The Harrison Brewery Part I, Sources Cray, Marcia Kuhlman. undated, Breweries of Quincy, Illinois: 1834-1950. Self-published Quincy, Illinois. Bornmann, Heinrich J. Bornmann’s Sketches of Early Germans of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois. Reprinted: Quincy, Illinois, 2013. Published by The Great River Genealogical Society. History of the Park System of Quincy, Illinois, 1888 to 1917. Published by Quincy Boulevard and Park Association. Quincy, Il. (no date given.) p. 36-42. Root’s Quincy City Directory, Quincy, 1866. P. 21, 33, 95, 206, 214. Root’s Quincy City Directory, Quincy, 1869-70. p. 32, 67, 195. Langdon and Arntzen Quincy City Directory and Reference Book, 1871-72. p. 20, 152, 206. Langdon’s Quincy City Directory, Quincy, 1880-81. p. 69, 271. Simmons, Cary and Company’s Quincy and Canton City Directory, Quincy 1881-82. p. 45, 326. Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway Gazetteer & Directory, Detroit: Burch & Polk Publisher, 1872, p. 385, 403, 421. Simmons, Cary And Company Quincy and Canton City Directory, 1882-83. p. 49, p. 204, p. 220. “Sunday Amusements-Tomorrow.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 7, 1859, p. 3. “Amusements Last Sunday.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 11, 1859, p. 3. “Sunday Amusements.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 23, 1859, p. 3. Quincy Daily Herald, June 07, 1859, p. 3, col, 2. Quincy Daily Herald, June 08, 1859, p. 3, col, 1. Quincy Daily Herald, June 11, 1859, p. 3, col, 1. Quincy Daily Herald, June 13, 1859, p. 3, col, 1. Quincy Daily Herald, June 15. 1859, p. 3, col, 1. Quincy Daily Herald, June 25, 1859, p. 3, col, 1. Quincy Daily Herald, June 30, 1589, p. 3, col, 1. “The Celebration of the Fourth.” Quincy Daily Herald, July 06, 1859, p. 3, col, 1. Quincy Daily Herald, July 11, 1859, p. 3, col, 1. “Breweries.” Quincy Whig, January 07, 1875, p. 1. “City News.” Quincy Daily Herald, June 19, 1875, p. 4. “Beer.” Quincy Daily Herald, December 30, 1876, p. 5. “Items in Brief.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 14, 1878, p. 3. Quincy Daily Herald, May 28, 1878, p. 3, col, 1. “Items in Brief.” Quincy Daily Herald, June 17, 1879, p. 3, col, 2. “Michael Becker, #3002. Vs. Charles E. Yeck.” Quincy Daily Herald, January 25, 1879, p. 2. “Items in Brief.” Quincy Daily Herald, June 28, 1879, p. 3. “A Superb Place.” Quincy Daily Herald, May 25, 1893, p. 8. Immigration Records for State of Illinois, Adams County, 1856. Henry Ringstorff. Film #007794040, From Family Search.org. United States Census, 1870, Illinois, Adams County, Melrose. Image 1of 54; citing NARA Microfilm Publication M593. Washington D. C.; National Archives & Records Adm.) From Familysearch.org. United States Census, 1870, Illinois, Cass County, Beardstown, Ward 2. Image 13 of 20; citing NARA Microfilm Publication M593. Washington D. C.; National Archives & Records Adm.) From Familysearch.org.