The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. IX, 1910

by Various

IRISH PIONEERS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY—JOHN WOOD, THE FIRST REAL PIONEER SETTLER—FOUNDER OF QUINCY, MODEL STATE EXECUTIVE AND PATRIOT—HEROIC SETTLERS IN VARIOUS STATES.

BY MR. MICHAEL PIGGOTT, QUINCY, ILL.

After many thousand years separation at the cradle of their race, in India, it was the coming together and blending of pure Celtic and Teutonic families that finally gave order and civilization to Europe after the fall of Greece and Rome produced the dark ages. It was the further mingling and blending of the same kindred blood in America that produced the men, who, in 1776, gave the governments and civilizations of the world their brightest jewel in the Declaration of American Independence, a new civic chart to inspire and guide all nations on the highway of justice, freedom and equality to the highest civilization. It was a further blend of the same virile and liberty-loving blood that enabled the immortal Lincoln to save the Republic in 1861 and place it at the head of the nations, without a peer in ancient or modern history.

It was the marriage of an Irishman and a German woman in the Mohawk Valley of New York in 1795 that gave America, in the person of John Wood, one of her best and bravest sons; the Mississippi Valley, its first real pioneer settler; Quincy, its beloved founder; Illinois, a model executive and the republic a patriotic defender.

Governor John Wood was born in Moravia, New York, December 20th, 1798. He was the second child and only son of Doctor Daniel Wood, and Catherine (Crouse) Wood. His father, a surgeon and captain under Washington during the war of freedom from British despotism, was of Irish descent, being the grandson of Timothy Wood, of Longford, Ireland.

Doctor Daniel Wood was a man of unusual attainments as a scholar and linguist. He was proficient in several languages; his medical books in French and German, with his own marginal notes, indicate the high standard of his professional acquirements.

At the close of the revolution, he settled in Cayuga County, on a large tract of land which he received as a bounty from the government, where he died at the ripe age of ninety-two years. His body was exhumed by his son and brought to Quincy and buried in Woodland Cemetery on a high natural knoll overlooking the waters of the Mississippi, in view of George Rogers Clark’s monument, designed by a son of General Mulligan and erected by the State of Illinois during the past year. Irish patriotism and valor are here well represented by the names of Clark, Wood and Mulligan.

The mother of Governor Wood, who died while he was under five years of age, was a woman of unusual beauty and was several years younger than her husband. She was of old “Mohawk Dutch” stock, and while well informed could only speak the “Dutch” language.

In 1818, John Wood came West in quest of home and fortune. He spent two years exploring the advantages offered to young men in the valleys of Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, also in southern Ohio and Indiana. In 1820, while at Cincinnati, he met a young man by the name of Willard Keyes, a native of Vermont and two years older than himself. Keyes had spent a year at Prairie du Chien, on the Upper Mississippi, teaching French and Indian half-breeds. They entered into a partnership to go on the frontier and commence farming. They secured between them some young steers, a heifer and a few swine, a plow and a limited supply of provisions, then treked across the country into the wilderness of the great Northwest to find a suitable location, finally stopping at a place about thirty miles southeast of Quincy, where they established a rude bachelors’ hall and raised three crops.

In the spring of 1821, Wood, while hunting for game, met two Irishmen named Peter Flynn and James Moffatt, soldiers of 1812, who had located government warrants on the banks of the Mississippi, west of the Wood and Keyes locations. John Wood visited the Flynn and Moffatt locations and, being a keen observer and a natural lover of beauty, admiring their high advantages and beautiful surroundings, immediately resolved to make his home with them.

In the fall of that year, Jeremiah Rose, wife and five-year-old daughter came to the Wood and Keyes settlement. He was of Irish descent, born in Rensselear County, New York. In the fall of 1822, Wood and Rose arranged to locate at the Flynn and Moffatt settlements, but Rose took sick and remained with his family, while Wood went on, and with the assistance of Flynn and Moffatt built a log cabin eighteen by twenty feet, the first white man’s home in this section of Illinois, as Flynn and Moffatt had built no cabins on their locations but camped with the Indians who lined the river banks north and south for several miles. John Wood being unmarried, the Rose family occupied his cabin and remained with him until 1826, when Rose located a mile back from the river and about a mile north, on what is now known as Twelfth Street.

In the spring of 1824, Williard Keyes came and built a cabin sixteen by sixteen feet at the foot of what is now Vermont Street. In the same fall, John Drulard, a Frenchman, built a cabin a short distance south of Wood, making a white man’s village of three cabins where Indians had held dominion and war dances for ages. Between the cabins of Wood and Keyes, on the high bluffs where Main Street has been cut through to the river, there was a “Sauk” village of friendly Indians. They lingered in the vicinity for several years, coming back annually until after the Black Hawk war to decorate and worship at the graves of their fathers.

In the fall of 1824, John Wood caused to be inserted in the Edwardsville Spectator a notice that application would be made at the next session of the legislature, for the organization of a new county, defining its boundaries. In 1825 the Legislature authorized its establishment, fixing the boundaries described in Wood’s notice and as they now exist. Three commissioners were appointed to locate the county seat. After going over the boundaries, they selected the place suggested by John Wood as the most suitable. They christened the new town Quincy and the county Adams, in honor of the president. Thenceforth the little village of three log cabins rejoiced in a name. A space four hundred feet square was reserved in the center of the town for a public square, now known as Washington Park, the home of the friendly squirrels and birds that sport in safety amid its elms, shrubs and fountains. The first election for officers of the county was held July 2, 1825, when forty votes were polled.

From 1825 to 1830, the growth of Quincy was very slow, caused by the privations incident to a pioneer’s life. The little settlement was many miles distant from mills or places where necessary family supplies could be obtained. Instead of coffee the settlers used okra seeds, which they cultivated for that purpose and sweetened with wild honey found in great abundance in the neighboring woods. Their nearest blacksmith was at Atlas, forty miles distant, where they carried their plows to be sharpened, swung upon horses’ backs.

Among the voters who took part in the election for county officers in July, 1825, appear the Celtic names of George Frazier, Michael Dodd, Thomas McCreary, Louis Kinney, Daniel Moore, H. Hawley and Ben McNitt, besides the others above mentioned. Below appear the names of the Irish pioneers who came after the county and the town were organized.

From the beginning, John Wood was the moving spirit of the young settlement. Its subsequent growth and prosperity were due to his untiring zeal which he maintained to the end of his long and useful life.

In 1827, John Wood visited the lead mines at Galena, but maintained his home at Quincy and was constantly identified with its progress, serving as its mayor four times and a number of years as one of its councilmen. His influence was not confined to Quincy alone. He was early recognized throughout the State as a rising man of mark. The manner in which he organized Adams County and defeated a movement of men from Kentucky, who, in 1824, desired a convention for a new constitution to allow them to bring their slaves to Illinois, gave him prominence among the politicians of the State.

At the time John Wood built his Quincy cabin, St. Louis and Missouri were the attractive places of the opening West, but the black gangrene of human slavery repelled John Wood and caused him to prefer the free soil of Illinois. When the question was submitted to the people, John Wood made a canvass of the Bounty Land or Military Tract as it was called, and out of one hundred and three votes cast secured all but four against a change. He regarded with equal disfavor the political organization known as the abolitionists, considering them civic disturbers.

THOMAS F. RYAN, ESQ.,
Of New York City.
Life Member of the Society.

In 1832 John Wood served as a volunteer in the Blackhawk War. In 1848, with two sons, he went to California, but remained there only a year. In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate and in 1856 was elected Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, and became governor of the State in 1859 on the death of Governor Bissell. He was one of the five delegates who, in February, 1861, represented Illinois at the peace convention in Washington. On the breaking out of the rebellion he was appointed Quartermaster General of Illinois, and served with great efficiency until June, 1864, when, at the age of sixty-six years, he went to the field of war as Colonel of the One Hundredth and Thirty-Seventh Illinois. At Memphis, Tennessee, he was assigned to the command of a brigade and discharged his duties gallantly while under fire.

The value of Governor Wood’s services to State and Nation were handsomely acknowledged in 1868 by Illinois’ great war governor, Richard Yates, then United States Senator, in a letter to Governor Wood. Senator Yates wrote: “I have never expressed to you, though I have many times spoken of it to others, my grateful remembrance of your great assistance during those trying times. Often when discouraged, as we all were, I believe, except you, I have been cheered and sustained by your confidence and what many persons told me of your kindly mention of my acts as governor. This, I assure you, my dear Governor, is one of the pleasant memories connected with those eventful and trying times, and it is not too late, I hope, for me to express my unfeigned gratitude. It has always afforded me pleasure, when friends have given me the credit, to tell them the truth, how vastly the State was indebted to Governor Wood for the great energy he displayed in his office, which was the most trying office of us all, and for his warm and enthusiastic words for his country in those days of doubt and trial. I hope you will not consider these words flattering, but as a grateful expression of your true friend, Richard Yates.”

Governor Wood “was a superb specimen of the highest human type; six feet in height; hair and beard flowing and as white as snow; ruddy face; strong cut features; muscular frame and a pleasing dignity gave him the appearance of a Roman Senator, causing Governor Yates and others to refer to him frequently as the “Old Roman from Adams.” His nature was bold, frank and generous. He was a stranger to moral or physical fear. A few years before his death, with his wife, and a party of Quincy friends, he visited California. While on a steamer visiting places in Southern California, he was wrecked by the boat running on a rock. The Captain, after placing women and children safely on boats, said: “Now, Governor Wood, you take your place.” His answer was that of a hero. “Send the young folks first. I am seventy years old. Save the young.””

Before 1858, Governor Wood resided in a large two-story frame dwelling with pilastered portico, which that year he moved across Twelfth Street into his old orchard, and on the old site he erected a magnificent sandstone palace, the finest then in the State, costing $125,000. It is now used as a boy’s school by the Methodist Church, while the old frame dwelling is owned by the Quincy Historical Society, both, with immense tracts of land within the city limits, having passed from the Governor shortly before his death through the unfortunate speculations of his sons on the Chicago Board of Trade; he surrendered everything to pay their debts.

He died in Quincy, June 4th, 1880, full of honor, at the ripe age of eighty-two years, and was buried by the side of his patriotic father in Woodland Cemetery, on a high knoll facing the magnificent waters of the Mississippi and within four blocks of where he built his log cabin in 1822. Immediately south of Woodland lies Indian Mound Park, and a mile north is Riverview Park, where George Rogers Clark’s monument stands in repose with a Continental hat in hand and arms folded, looking out in admiration on the lands his valor had saved for American freemen. There are numerous Indian mounds, both in the cemetery and parks, and they extend for many miles along the bluffs, North and South of Quincy.

A life-sized bronze statue of Governor Wood is in Washington Park, located in the business center of the city, erected by the city which he founded, nursed through infancy with care to the full maturity of the “Gem City” of the Mississippi, with a prosperous population of forty-five thousand intelligent people, whom he honored by a patriotic and a stainless Christian life.

Before the election of Governor Wood, Illinois had three governors of Celtic descent—Duncan, Carlin and Ford. Both Ford and Carlin, previous to their election, had resided in Quincy.

In 1812, the territory between the Illinois and the Mississippi Rivers, was set aside by Congress as a military or bounty land district, wherein the soldiers of the War of 1812 might locate their warrants for a one hundred and sixty-acre land grant as a bounty from the government. Quincy was made one of the land offices for that purpose, which brought many of the ex-soldiers, especially from Tennessee and Kentucky, to Adams County. The names of those who were Irish, or of Irish descent, holding warrants issued in 1817 and 1818 and located in Adams County before 1836, were the following: Peter Flynn, James Moffatt, Patrick Nugent, John McDade, David Higgins, John W. McFadon, John O’Roork, Williams McCauley, John Arthur, David Bagley, John Patterson, Nicholas Farrell, John McKenzie, David McIntire, Hugh Cannon, John Smith, John McIlvain, Dennis Sweeny, James Murry, Thomas Boyd, Peter Long, Thomas Smith, Arch McCrea, Joseph Carter, David Smith, Samuel Thayer, Joseph Clark, Butler Powers, John Thompson, Henry Kelly, William Keen, John Manning, James Kernan, Thomas Moore, Joseph Cady, Thomas Matthews, Thomas Rankins, James Connor, Dennis Darling, Charles Mooney, Hugh Riley, Patrick Callahan, Robert McRey, James Doty, John Russell, John Blevins, James Denning, Patrick Coyle, Felix McNalley, Patrick Reardon, Dennis Kelley, Bernard Murphy, Nicholas Conner, Maurice O’Conner, Anson Kennedy, John Dempsey, John McClure, William Currey, George McIntire, Arch McLaughlin, James Clark, Isaac Gleason, Donald McQuinn, John Collins, John Murry, Martin Finnagin, Daniel Daugherty, John McInelley, John Carter, Solomon McKinney, James Welsh, John Campbell, Michael Smith, M. Garvin, William Steward, William Hynes, Robert McCulley, James Miles, James Flanigan, James Downey, William Green, Patrick Barrett, Dennis Carvin, Thomas Wall, Thomas Cochran, John Hayes, James Donaldson, William Bryant, James McKeen, Peter O’Donnel, John Fitzgerald, William Furguson, Hugh Neely, Ben Connelley, Patrick McGaugh, James Mullen, W. Bradley, J. H. Lancaster, James McDonald, Arthur Campbell, Michael McGuire, John Campbell, Michael McDermott, Timothy Shields, John Smith, Mathew Williams, Dennis Connor, Cornelius Kelly, John Ray, Simon Bradley, William Flynn, Peter Curry, Patrick McBrierly, Michael Moore, John Green, Jeremiah McChesney, Michael O’Cain, Hugh Brown, Barney McHatten, John Kincaid, Jeremiah Fallon, Samuel Cochran, Thomas Redmon, James Brannon, Daniel McDonald, Michael McKay, Daniel McNutt, Robert Bradley, Peter Kennedy, Barney O’Neil, John Dunn, George McConley, Henry McCleary, Thomas Burke, William Hughes, Patrick Haffey, Morris Walsh, Martin Eaton, Jeremiah Sullivan, Daniel McWright, Gago Murphy, Isaac Hughes, John Murphy, James Kirkpatrick, Thomas Kavin, Mathew Campbell, Jacob McMahon, Samuel McEvans, William Clemens, George McCoy, James Daugherty, David Hanes, James Doty, William Kelley, William McCassell, Patrick Hart, John McKinzey, Patrick Holland, John McCurdy, George Mahon, Richard Moody, James Kelley, Richard Harrington, William McClure, Thomas Higgins, Owen McGaffery, Thomas Powers, Cornelius McMahon, Edward Murphy, Hugh McDermott, John Fitzpatrick, John Butler, John Pickett, Richard Daily, William Clark, William McCullough, John Lawrence and William Haslett.

Many of those who located their warrants on land in Adams County before 1836, afterwards became prominent business men in Quincy, while others immediately after filing claims sold their locations to land sharks for a few dollars, and moved north to the lead mines at Galena.

During the decades between 1820 and 1840, large numbers of Irish pioneers came to Quincy, many of them direct from Ireland. They were the following: Rev. Fr. Michael Ahern, Richard and William Ahern, James Arthur, Nathaniel, Thomas, Robert and William Benneson, Rev. William Best and six sons (John H., Alexander, William, Jr., James, George, Joseph), Patrick and Michael Barry, Patrick and Matthew Brady, Patrick Britt, John Beattey, Thomas Burns, John Boles, George Callihan, Arthur Carroll, James Campbell, Matthew Cashman, William, Matthew, Andrew and Terence Clark, Matthew Campion, Matthew, David and John Cary, Matthew Carmody, Patrick Curnan, Thomas Clancy, Michael Corcary, Matthew and David Costigan, Martin Collins, John Connery, Edward Crotty, Michael Connell, Thomas Clancy, Edward Condon, Patrick Costigan, Patrick and John Cronin, Anthony and Montgomery Coyle, Michael Crough, Patrick Cody, Patrick Curley, Patrick Corrigan, Perry Cushin, Rev. Fr. Derwin, Delany Desmonde, James Dillon, Patrick Dowd, Patrick Daily, John and Thomas Dwyer, Patrick and Michael Derry, Patrick Eagan, John Enright, Robert Evans, Michael, William and John Fitzgerald, Dr. John and William Fitzpatrick, James Flynn, Rev. William B., James B. and Matthew B. Finlay and their three sisters, Ann B. Padgett, Jane B. and Mary B. Finlay, Michael Feeney, James Fisher, Michael and Martin Farrell, Richard and James Grant, Mathew Gorman, John and James Gregory, Michael and Patrick Gerry, Oliver and William Geary, Jackson Grimshaw, Patrick and Michael Haley, Joseph and Robert Hartley, John Heelan, John Hurley, Thomas and Patrick Heires, Andrew and John Haire, Sylvester, Thomas, Michael, Patrick and Timothy Haires, Patrick Hade, David and Dennis Higgens, Edward Hoverton, Arthur Hughes, Daglon Hoolihan, Patrick Igo, Michael Ives, Daniel Karns, Patrick Kirby, Patrick Kinsella, James Kane, David Keef, Thomas Keough, Timothy, William and John Kelley, Patrick and Maurice Lenehan, William Kennedy, Andrew, Robert, Joseph and William Long, Thomas Landers, James Lawler, Thomas Leahy, Dr. John Leavey, Michael Lawton, Samuel Lowry, Barney Little and son Edward, John William and Charles Lee, Rev. Fr. Peter McGirr, James McGrath, Thomas McFall, Bernard McCann, Michael McKevitt, Bernard McDermott, Michael McCarty, Patrick McDonald, Joseph McConnell, Barney McCabe, John W. McFadon, John McDade, Michael Maloney, Patrick, Edward and John Murphy, Michael, John and Peter Meehan, John Murray, Michael Gilbert, John Mahaney, James and Richard Montgomery, Patrick Nealon, John Nolan, Richard Nagle, Timothy Noonan, John Nevins, James and Frederick O’Connor, Patrick, John, Daniel, Jeremiah, William, James and Michael O’Brien, Charles O’Neil, Michael and William B. Powers, Richard Purcell, George and John Padgett, John Piggot, Michael Quin, Patrick Quigley, William Richards, Thomas, Michael, George and James Redmond, Michael, James and Patrick Reardon, James, Daniel, Patrick and William Ryan, John and Patrick Reagan, David Roach, Patrick and Hugh Rudden, William, John and Patrick Shanahan, Hugh, John and William Smyth, John and Thomas Sheridan, Owen, A., Terrence and Peter Smith, Timothy, Daniel, Florence and Henry Sullivan, Maurice Savage, Patrick Sweeny, Darby and Jeremiah Shea, Michael Sheehan, Thomas, Tobin, James and William Troy, Edward Trulock, Patrick Tully, William Thompson, Sylvester and William B. Thayer, Terrence Waters, Michael, David, Richard, Edward, John and Perry Whalen, Benjamin Watson, James and Philip Walsh.

The following were among the farmers and land-holding taxpayers in Adams County, as appear by the tax records for the year 1845: James, John and Henry Burke, James Bailey, Thomas Bryan, Thomas Bray, Daniel Bradley, Thomas Boyd, John Buckley, John Brady, Thomas Beaty, John Burns, Sr., William Boyle, Michael Bradly, John Calihan, Thomas, William and Hugh Clark, Michael and James Collins, Edward Corrigan, Thomas Curry, J. W. Cassidy, William Cadogan, James, John and William Campbell, Hugh Connor, John Caldwell, Hugh Carlin, James Colvin, Philip Cain, John and Joseph Craig, John Cunningham, Jacob Dailey, Alexander Donovan, Peter Donnell, John Donnelly, Charles Dempsey, John Dorsey, Patrick and John Fitzgerald, Hugh Furguson, William Finley, James and L. Frazier, Ben Galliher, Jeremiah Galliger, James Galligher, Daniel Higgins, Sr., and Daniel Higgins, Jr., John and William Hughes, James Hawley, John Hagerty, William and Jesse Hogan, Joseph, John, James, Thomas, William and Patrick Kelly, Maurice Kelley, Andrew Long, Richard Lee, William Lynch, John, William, Ben and Joshua Laughlin, Michael Limbaugh, John Lawless, James Moore, James Mehan, John Moran, James Mulligan, Edward, William and Henry Murphy, John and Charles Mullan, John Malone, John Murry, William McAdams, James McNutt, William McKinney, James and Michael McCann, Mathias McNeal, Martin McNitt, Thomas McKee, James and William McLaughlin, Dennis McCalip, John, Isaac, Samuel and Thomas McVay, John McClarry, Dennis McKellup, John and Robert McBride, A. McClain, Robert and John McCoy, Dennis McDaniel, Philip McKay, John McKinzie, William and John McClintock, Samuel McNulty, William and Michael McGingley, William, John and James McCormick, Dorsy, Smith and James McGinnis, George McMurry, James McCorian, Robert and John McBratney, William McCreary, Ben and Joseph McFarland, Alex McGuire, James McAnulty, William McGaughey, William McFarlin, Robert McWiney, S. McKinney, Robert and Andrew McCully, Ed McCafferty, John, William and Andrew McNay, John McGibbons, Hugh Nevin, William O’Harra, Doud L. Patterson, William Piggott, John Padget, Robert Rankin, William and Luke Riley, Andrew Redman, Michael Rawlings, John and James Smith, William Smyth, John and Bradley Stewart, William Stewart, Sr., John Savage, James Shannon, Dennis Seals, John Shaw, M. Scoggan, D. Sullivan, Michael, Peter and James Thomas, John Terry, James and Michael Welsh.

The records of the county land warrants filed in Adams County before 1836, by ex-soldiers, plainly show that Irish-Americans were as well represented in the war of 1812 as they were in that for American Independence. The following names are taken from Volume 9, Adjutant General’s reports of Illinois, published by the State in 1902, giving a complete roster of Illinois officers and enlisted men in the Blackhawk war of 1831–2, and the Mexican war of 1846–8, both taken from the official rolls on file in the War Department, Washington, D. C., to show the strength of Irish-Americans among the pioneers of the Mississippi Valley in those early days, as well as to show that the race never fails to respond in large numbers to the war-call of their country in time of danger.

The following served in the Blackhawk war: John and Daniel Wood, Daniel Hayes, James McCarlin, Thomas Duncan, Bernard Fleming, Thomas Gulley, H. Riley, Timothy Inghram, John Russell, Thomas Stanly, John, James and George Karnes, John and James Caldwell, Richard Hogan, Aaron Quigley, Peter Smith, William Lafferty, James and Jacob L. Reynolds, James Pougee, James, William, John and Reubin Clark, Michael and Ezekiel Rawlings, William, John and William C. Murphy, Charles Dunn, James McColugh, John Dobbins, Richard Hughes, Jacob Kennedy, John McCove, James Rose, James Duncan, James Bryant, John Lowrey, William and F. A. Riley, John and A. S. Fitzgerald, Hugh and Robert McDaniel, Charles Sexton, David Ray, James, William and James N. Clark, Serratt Riley, John, Eagon, Franklin S. and I. S. Casey, William and Thomas Hayes, James Rhea, James Flannagan, William, John and Edward Kirkpatrick, John McMurphy, John Cain, William Finney, James Shaw, William Logan, James Cummings, John Cowan, Patrick and I. H. Tennery, John McConkey, James Bailey, John C. Bradley, Patrick Whalen, Josiah and Abraham Welsh, William F. McClure, Samuel Burk, James Dunlap, Marshall Lafferty, William and John McCabe, John McGuire, Cornelius Doherty, John McCoy, Dennis Keen, James McMillan, Patrick, William and Robert Campbell, Thomas McDonald, James Buchanan, Samuel Dunlap, Bonapart Gallaher, Joseph McCreary, William McKinney, Hugh McCrakin, John Haynes, Robert McClarney, Robert Patterson, Alexander McKinsey, Martin and John Farley, Nathan McCarty, John McCoy, John R. Mullins, Nimrod, John, Dudly, Richard and Benjamin Murphy, John McConnell, Edward McGovern, Nelson McDowell, D. B. McConnell, William and John Duncan, John Dougherty, James Kirby, William Patterson, Thomas McAdams, Joseph Burk, Thomas Evans, Thomas C. Hughes, John McCurry, James Kincaid, William Finley, John McFain, John Guffy, Phellonson and John Higgins, Joseph McKinney, Jonathan McClanan, George W. McCarty, William, William R. and Samuel McAdams, Josiah T. Bradley, Charles D. Kelley, John B. Logan, Samuel McCully, John M. O’Harnett, John O’Mulvany, Albert B. Murphy, Hiram Casey, Jesse Ford, Thomas McDowell, Andy and John McFarlin, Richard Bradley, Robert Caldwell, James McCabe, Keavan Murry, Edward McNabb, David McNair, Peter O’Leary, Patrick Clary, Patrick Gallagar, Patrick Karnes, Daniel McKaney, John Ragan, Timothy Barrett, John and James McDeed, Hugh Finley, John Lancaster, Thomas Welch, James, Francis, John and William Kirkpatrick, Dennis Quinlivan, John Foley, John Brophy, David, William and James McKee, Isaac Kilpatrick, James Patterson, John Hughes, James Mulligan, Patrick Flaherty, James Whalen, Michael Davis, John O’Hara, James, John and Samuel Burns, Mathew Lynch, John Nevins, John Powers, John McMullin, Jeremiah Kelly, Hugh McGary, Michael Brockett, Michael Fanin, John McDaniel, James Clark, Thomas Kenney, Andrew Malone, Daniel Moore, John Sheeney, William Shaw, Mathew Bailey, William Mallory, Thomas Kinney, William Lynch, James Green, Murry McConnell, John Laughrey, John, William and James McKee, James McNabb, Daniel Riley, James McGee, Michael Killion, Daniel Carter, Michael and Jacob Kellyon, William Kelly, Daniel Doolin, Michael Horin, James McMurty, George Higgins, Thomas McBride, Hugh Cochran, Robert McMahan, James McElroy, Thomas McConnell, Patrick Gray, Michael Klean, Patrick Kenney, Dennis Quinliven, John O’Neil, Patrick and John Dugan, Patrick Gilroy and Michael Meara.

There were six Illinois regiments mustered for the Mexican war. The first, second and third were enrolled and mustered as a brigade by Gen. Philip Kearny at Alton, men principally from the “Bounty Land” district. The general, being the grandson of an Irishman, drew many of that race to his standard. The following are the names: John W. Burns, William Cassedy, William Finney, Richard Grant, John McCoy, Daniel McNeil, James Ramsey, Patrick Higgins, William A. Clark, Patrick Mehan, Patrick Burk, Peter Conover, Patrick Clemens, Chandler Bradley, Peter Dolin, Thomas Cain, Dennis Griffin, Thomas Gorman, Francis Quinn, Thomas Riley, John Smith, Jeremiah Sullivan, George Connor, Hiram Clark, R. F. Cochran, John W. Hughes, William Long, James Murry, Hugh Fee, Thomas Turley, John Crogan, James and Thomas Bryant, John Carter, C. McConnell, James Neeley, Patrick O’Neil, James Stewart, Isaac Curry, James Doyle, James T. Lawler, Daniel McClelland, John Scanland, Francis Ryan, John McKibbin, John Hughes, Daniel Curry, James Campbell, James Cavanaugh, Austin Daugherty, John Kincade, James McClure, Arch McBride, John McIntosh, Francis McLeary, Daniel Shean, William Taggart, James Buchanan, James Converse, William McAvoy, J. McCullum, Ezekiel and Thomas Flynn, John Fisher, Dawson Cary, Michael Little, Edward and Timothy Kelley, John Lynch, Timothy McCarty, John McDonnald, James Stewart, Mathew Moran, Michael Brennan, James Carlin, Michael Hyde, Michael McCarty, Frank Carney, James and Thomas Clark, John Carroll, Arthur Hughes, Patrick Murry, Michael Page, William and James Wall, Larkin Riley, Mathew Bradley, Benjamin Clark, Robert and Alex Kelley, Mathew McAnnelly, James McCoy, Thomas Kinney, Ben. F. McNeil, David Rawlings, James Russell, James McGuire, William Roach, John Tully, Joshua Walsh, George Burk, William Barry, George Clark, Clark Higgins, Isaac Kelly, Andrew McCauly, John Bostick, Murry Tully, Cornelius and Asa Cochran, John Burns, Mason and Jobe Kelly, Michael McHale, James Hayes, Michael McCarty, Michael Foy, John A. Logan, James Burk, James Dunn, Charles McAnelly, John and Daniel McCarty, Richard McCord, Daniel Carter, John Delancey, John Dougherty, Edward Little, Joseph and Reuben McDade, McDaniel Welch, Hugh McElhanan, William Dempsey, John Flanagan, John Curry, William Hughes, Patrick McGee, James Hayes, James Mulligan, James McCru, Thomas Montgomery, David McCann, Patrick Kelly, Robert Burk, Patrick Lanon, George Cochran, Dennis Campbell, Charles Devine, Andrew Hayes, James Lancaster, Joseph Quigley, Hardy Carroll, Myron Burns, William Cassidy, Martin Clark, Damon Kennedy, Josiah McCormick, William McCassilin, Thomas Mullen, Martin McRorgh, James McDonald, James McFadden, George Nolan, Thomas Sheridan, Patrick Casey, Thomas Carnahan, John Connor, Warwick Flanagan, John Fitzgerald, Robert and John McKinney, James, John and Keran McGinnis, John McMillan, James O’Leary, John McAllister, William Donley, Patrick Flarity, George McGuire, James Murphy, Patrick Cruis, John Duncan, John Dwyer, Charles Hunter, James Hackney, William Kennedy, James McGovern, James O’Connor, John Quirck, Michael Riley, James Ryan, Daniel Dougherty, James Phelan, James Regan, Arthur Gallagher, John Kennedy, William Murry, John, Felix and Edward Clark, George Carey, Carter Murry, John O’Brien, Daniel Sexton, James Collins, Hugh Kelly, Levi McBride, William Bryant, Mathew Gillespie, Patrick Green, George McConkey, James Rafferty, Andrew Shaw, Thomas Smith, Francis Clark, Alexander Dougherty, William McMullen, Michael Brennan, Daniel Doyle, David Sullivan, Mathew McWorter, William Bradley, Patrick Hannon, Henry McGuire, James Shaw, Hugh Duffy, Thomas Gaffeny, Daniel O’Melvaney, Andrew Burk, John Crowley, Patrick Murphy, John Welch, Hugh McKinley, James Barry, John Burns, Richard Carter, James Logan, James Fitzgerald, Timothy Ryan, Patrick and Samuel McDonald, Thomas McGill, Hugh Riley, David Mooney, James Collins, Timothy Ryan, Daniel Duff, William and James Flint, Jackson Larkin, Robert and John Patterson, John Little, Davis Murphy, James McCrary, James Rearden, Timothy and John Ingram, Patrick Scully, James Donovan, Charles Lowrey, Logan Lynch, Thomas Reynolds, John Brady, James O’Neil, John Mahan, George Haley, James and William Nolan, John Casey, Josiah O’Riley, William and John Burk, Charles and John Lynch, Thomas and James Kelly, Patrick McKelvy, James Murphy, William and Andrew McGuire, James Hughes, William Clark, James Galliher, Thomas McDonald, Dennis Bolan, James Eagan, Peter Murphy, John McCary, James McGuire, Patrick Toucy, Peter Foy, William Grace, Peter Welch; Mathew Murry, James Conolly, James McCabe, Charles Dillon, James Dailey, Michael Fitzpatrick, Daniel Shields, Patrick McKee, Patrick Kelly, Michael King, Daniel Kennedy, Daniel McClusky, John O’Malloy, Charles McCarty, Peter O’Neil, Cornelius Mahoney, Thomas Mulligan, James Lancaster, James Murphy, James Phalan, Jeremiah Sullivan, Patrick Plunkett, John Foley, Patrick Power and Michael K. Lawler.

Many of these soldiers became very prominent in the political and social affairs of the state and nation, especially John Wood, Murry McConnell, Michael K. Lawler and John A. Logan.

After the Blackhawk war, two militia companies were organized in Quincy, the “Quincy Rifles” and the “Montgomery Guards,” the latter principally Irish, organized and commanded by Timothy Kelley, who was afterwards killed at the battle of Buena Vista, Mexico. We were unable to secure a roster of Captain Kelley’s Militia Company, but from men of his time, we were informed that the following were among its members: William Kelley, a brother of Timothy; William Kennedy, James Ryan, James O’Connor, a veteran of 1812; Thomas Landon, Oliver and William Geary, William Thompson, Thomas Mannix, John Dwyer, Richard Grant, James Dillon, James Sheerin, Michael Corcary, Thomas Leahey, Bernard McDermott, John McDaniel, James Clark, Thomas Kenney, Andrew Malone, Daniel Moore, John Sheeney, William Shaw and Thomas Hickey, who still survives at the age of eighty years, in the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors’ Home at Quincy. John Kelley, a son of William, served honorably in an Ohio regiment during the war for the Union.

There were several Kelley families in Adams County. Next to the family of Timothy Kelley, that of Maurice Kelley became the most noted as men of mark. Maurice Kelley came to Adams County in 1836 with his parents and settled on a farm in the southeast part of the county. Being temperate and industrious, the family prospered. Maurice was elected sheriff of Adams County in 1860, and as a member of the Legislature in 1870; in 1874 as a state senator, where he served three terms. He was collector of internal revenue at Quincy under President Cleveland. He was for ten years a supervisor of the county, as was his brother Michael from an adjoining township. Maurice Kelley is still living at Mt. Sterling, Illinois.

Many of the old pioneers moved off with the human current to California and other attractive places in the Far West. Only a few of those who remained in Quincy are still living, but many of their children are among the leading men of affairs in every branch of business as well as the professions in Quincy and its vicinity.

In many instances, whole families came together, as will be noticed in the list of names given above, as having come before 1840. The most noted of them was that of the Rev. William Best, with his five sons and a daughter Charlotte Best Finlay, who with her husband accompanied them. The Reverend Best became a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Illinois and lived to a ripe old age, to see his family all successful in worldly affairs. His youngest son Joseph served as adjutant of the Twenty-first Missouri Infantry in the Union army; the other sons being over the military age supported the cause at home. His grandsons and great grandsons are now among our best business men. A grandson, John H. Best, has served as mayor of Quincy and is now president of one of our banks, a stockholder and director in nearly every corporation doing business here; also a large land owner in Illinois, Missouri, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, while his brother, Ezra Best, is president of the Best Plumbing and Steam Heating Company, one of the largest and most successful in the West. Both brothers coöperate and invest together. They are model citizens and have the respect and confidence of all our people.

The Finlay family, Rev. William B., James B., Matthew B., with their three sisters, Ann B. Padgett, Jane B. and Mary B. Finlay, became equally prominent. They came to America with the Best family in 1839, from County Cavan, Ireland. The Rev. William B. Finlay was an ardent church worker, and a school teacher in Ireland. His father, before him, was a school teacher and a member of the English church. His mother was a primitive Methodist and a member of the Bell family, hence the initial “B” was retained by the brothers and sisters. He had his religious training under such noted ministers as Rev. G. B. Moffatt, Doctor Averill and Gideon Ousley, D. D., a converted priest, who generally preached a part of his sermons in Irish. In his twentieth year, his father having died in 1829, the Rev. William Bell Finlay took charge of his father’s old parish school. In 1830 he attended the Kildare College in Dublin. He afterwards served five years as a government teacher, from which he resigned to accept charge of a school in the Parish of Tyholland, County Monaghan, where he married Charlotte Best and united with the Methodist Church. He remained at Tyholland, teaching and as an exhortor, until he started for Quincy, where he arrived June sixth, 1839, and the following Sunday united with the Methodist Church. He was licensed to exhort in September of that year, and in 1849 was ordained by Bishop Janes when the conference met at Quincy. The year before he died, he prepared a little sketch of his life work, which was found by his children after his death. The last paragraph, which we quote, shows that his was a beautiful Christian life: “So I am now in my eighty-ninth year, and an official member of the old Illinois Conference, still in the church of my childhood and of my youth, and of riper years. And now, old and grey-headed, I love the church of my choice; I love her doctrines and her ways. Though feeble in body, praise God, my mind is clear and sound as a bell. I don’t know how soon I may be permitted to leave for home, but it cannot be long. But Glory, honor, power and dominion be unto God, and the lamb, forever. Amen and Amen.” He died October fourth, 1898, at West Point, Illinois, within a few days of his ninetieth year. His four sons were all in the Union army and made excellent soldiers; William J. B. Finlay is dead; Matthew G. Finlay is a wealthy farmer; John H. Finlay is living at Warsaw, Illinois, a prominent lawyer and wealthy; Gerald H. Finlay is a retired, wealthy farmer and merchant in Quincy; all of fine reputations. His brother Matthew B. Finlay was a prosperous merchant and died wealthy, about ten years ago, leaving no children. James B. Finlay was not married. He died shortly after coming to Quincy. Ann B. Finlay married George Padgett before leaving Ireland. Her grandson, George H. Wilson, is a prominent attorney at the Quincy bar, and now a member of the State Legislature. Jane B. Finlay was married in Quincy to F. K. Carrott. Her son James Finlay Carrott, was a graduate of Harvard, and at the time of his death was an attorney for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and was succeeded by his son, Matthew Finlay Carrott, also of Harvard, who is married to a daughter of Judge Montgomery, president of the State Savings, Loan and Trust Company, one of the oldest banking institutions in Quincy, and lives in the handsome Matthew B. Finlay homestead. Her daughter, Helen Carrott Walz, had two sons, one now being dead, the other an attorney in Chicago. Mrs. Walz was at one time considered Quincy’s brightest daughter. She now resides in Chicago with her son. Mary B. Finlay married William Jones in Quincy. Three of her sons are now railroad men in the West. One of them is in charge of the telegraph system of the Santa Fé Railroad. William Finlay Morgan, a grandson of Mary B. Finlay Jones, is now located in New York City. He married the daughter and only child of Mr. Nevins, head of the American Cordage Company. Before his marriage, he was in the employ of the company, first at St. Louis and then in New York, and made good in every department entrusted to his care.

The Redmond family became quite prominent. Thomas Redmond was sixteen years of age when he came from Ireland. He first located in Vermont, where he obtained employment at whatever offered. He came to Quincy in 1837. Being young, vigorous and industrious, success attended him from the start. He soon accumulated sufficient capital as a common laborer to purchase a few horses, carts and wagons, which enabled him to accept contracts in constructing railroads, at which he made money rapidly and invested every surplus dollar in Quincy real estate. In 1848 he was elected a member of the city council; in 1860, mayor; in 1864 to a seat in the State Legislature. From 1837 until his death in 1883, he was a valuable servant of the city and state. He was one of the twenty citizens who furnished the capital from their private funds to build and equip the Quincy, Missouri and Pacific Railroad, from Quincy toward Omaha, Nebraska. Possessed of large wealth, he employed it liberally to beautify and advance the interests of the city in which it was accumulated. His son, Patrick H. Redmond, was educated at the Catholic College in Washington, D. C., and became a brilliant newspaper writer as editor of the Quincy Herald, but did not survive his father. His son, James Redmond, continued his father’s occupation as a contractor and is still in Quincy. Two of his daughters are living here. Margaret is the widow of Jacob Dick of the noted Dick Brothers Brewing Company. She is very wealthy, is a shrewd financier and is a prominent worker in the Catholic Church. She has two sons, who with their cousins manage the great brewing business established by their fathers. The daughter of Margaret Redmond Dick, Mrs. John B. Ellis, is a widow, who owns and manages the Quincy Whig and is a favorite in society. A daughter of Thomas Redmond, Catherine, is the wife of J. Frank Ricker, cashier of the Ricker National Bank, one of the strongest financial institutions in Illinois.

The Heire or Haire Brothers—spelled both ways—came to Quincy before 1840. They proved to be valuable and influential citizens as merchants and professional men. Captain Thomas J. Heire, a son of Thomas, Sr., served his country gallantly in the Union Army. He is a printer by trade and after the war published the Quincy Evening News. For a number of years he held the office of city clerk. He was popular and efficient, the soul of honor and as honest as the sun. In late years he held a position in the Treasury Department at Washington, but is now taking life easy among his relatives and the friends of his youth in Quincy.

The Long Brothers came in 1839 with the Best and Finlay families, to whom they were related. They were both contractors and farmers, settling in or near the city and becoming wealthy. Their sons are still in Quincy. They are grain buyers and large capitalists. They stand well in the community and are active members of the Methodist Church.

The McCormick Brothers came in company with the Longs and located on farms close to Quincy. A number of their collaterals are still in the city and county, all fairly prosperous and respected. James McCormick, Jr., went to California in 1848 and became very wealthy as a merchant at Redding. He died without direct heirs, a few years ago, leaving his wealth to his nephews and nieces here and at other places in the West.

Thomas Rhea came in 1839. He settled on a farm near the Longs and became wealthy. He is an admirable citizen, industrious and frugal. He has lately moved into the city to take his remnant of life easy.

Dr. John Fitzpatrick remained unmarried. He acquired much wealth, which he left to his nephews and nieces. It was said that he had been a priest. He was highly eccentric, but honorable.

John W. McFadon came before 1830, after serving his adopted country in the war of 1812. He followed merchandising and farming and became very wealthy. He left two sons and a daughter—William and Robert McFadon, both graduates of Harvard and lawyers of a high grade. Both died in Chicago, where they added to their wealth in the practice of their profession, and by largely dealing in real estate. At the time of his death, William McFadon was attorney for the Lake Shore Railroad. He left two sons, John W. and Donald, both of Harvard and attorneys, also a daughter Anna. His daughter Anna is the wife of Hon. William A. Richardson, son of Senator W. A. Richardson, who in the days of Douglas was one of the best known democrats in the republic. They have no children. Robert McFadon left one son, Robert, lately graduated as an attorney from Harvard, and two daughters who are in Chicago.

James Arthur was born in Londonderry, Ireland, March 2, 1811, and came to America in 1833. For a number of years he owned and operated steamboats on the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. In 1840 he located in Quincy as a pork packer and general merchant. He also operated a saw mill. He died wealthy in 1899, at the age of eighty-eight years. He was moral, temperate and frugal. Four sons and three daughters survived him. The only one of the family now in Quincy is a daughter Virginia M., widow of Col. Edward Prince. One of his sons, James A. Arthur, owns a large farm at La Belle, Missouri. The other sons, I. H., William N. and W. A., are successful merchants in western cities.

The Little, Carroll and Campbell families were related by marriage and came to Quincy direct from Ireland in 1836. Edward Little had two sons, Patrick H. and Frank E., both well educated, and are now successful business men in St. Louis, Missouri. James Campbell had three sons, who are now in the lime business in Quincy, as was their father and also their uncle Arthur Carroll.

The Benneson Brothers, Nathaniel, Thomas, Robert and William were born in Newcastle County, Delaware. Both parents came from Ireland in 1800. All of these brothers became prosperous citizens of Quincy. In their youth, all learned the carpenter’s trade, except William, who was the youngest. They came to Quincy in 1837. The carpenters worked at their trade as journeymen until they accumulated funds that enabled them to become contractors, in which Thomas continued until his death in 1870. Nathaniel and Robert became successful lumber merchants. Robert retired from the lumber business in 1872 and devoted himself to buying and improving real estate, in which he was also successful. Many of the most imposing and durable buildings in the city were erected and owned by Robert Benneson. He filled many positions of trust and honor. He served as alderman and as mayor, and for several years preceding his death was president of the school board. He was president of the gas company, which he helped to organize; was a director in numerous corporations, among them the First National Bank, the Gas Company and the Quincy, Alton and St. Louis Railroad. He was a zealous and generous supporter of the moral, social and commercial growth of the city, and none ranked higher in public esteem. He died at the age of eighty-five years.

HON. JOHN J. MEE,
Judge of Probate, Woonsocket, R. I.
A Member of the Society.

William Benneson was a lawyer. His first partner was Stephen A. Douglas. Theirs was the first law office in Quincy. Mr. Benneson had served as clerk of the circuit court. After Mr. Douglas went on the bench, Mr. Benneson was identified with several of the leading lawyers of Illinois. When the civil war broke out he was made Colonel of the Seventy-eighth Illinois. After the war, he resumed his practice. He was made postmaster of Quincy by President Johnston. He died in 1899 at the age of eighty-one years. Like his brothers, Colonel Benneson was a man of the strictest integrity.

The Brothers, David and Dennis Higgins, came to Quincy before 1840. Both were successful contractors in railroad building and street grading and became property holders. David died several years ago at a ripe age, leaving sons and daughters. Dennis died in 1904 at the age of ninety-two, and although married he had no children. Both brothers were devout Catholics. David was a staunch Democrat and Dennis equally as staunch a Republican. They were good citizens.

James Fisher was born in 1811 near Londonderry, Ireland, and with two sisters came to Quincy in 1833. They were strict Presbyterians. Mr. Fisher was a successful dry goods merchant and died wealthy while attending to his business at his store in 1898, at the age of eighty-eight. He had three sons, who are now doing business at Kansas City and other places in the West. Mr. Fisher’s sisters never married. Both are now dead.

William B. Powers was born at Temple, New Hampshire, of Irish descent. He came to Quincy in 1838; was a brickmason and followed that trade for several years, then entered into partnership with Matthew B. Finlay in the clothing business, where he accumulated much wealth. After the death of Governor Wood, the beautiful Woodland Cemetery was neglected and commenced to run down. Mr. Powers organized the Woodland Cemetery Association, of which he was chosen president, and soon restored that sacred garden of the dead to its former position, the most beautiful cemetery in the West. He died in 1895 at the age of eighty-four years. Only one son, W. C. Powers, survived him, and he is now a retired merchant.

The Shannahan Brothers, John, William and Patrick, born in Waterford County, Ireland, came to Quincy before 1840. They were all successful railroad builders and constructed roads in all parts of the country. In 1852 they built sections of the Iron Mountain Railroad in Missouri. They constructed the Northern Cross Railroad between Quincy and Clayton. Had contracts on the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, and the Quincy, Alton and St. Louis road. John and William lived to a ripe age. Patrick survived them. He died in 1895 at the age of eighty-four years, leaving three sons, James P., Richard and William, and four daughters, all in Quincy except William, who is in California. John Shannahan had two sons, but William had none. A brother, Thomas, came from Ireland in 1851.

John Burns, Sr., was born in Maine of Irish parents and came to Quincy in 1834 with a family of several sons. He was a man of strong religious convictions and a hater of slavery. John Burns, Jr., went to California in 1849 and became a prominent man of that state. George W. Burns went with his brother, but returned after one year and engaged in the mercantile business in the town of Payson, eighteen miles south of Quincy, where his father was then residing. In 1854 he returned to Quincy, and in company with John Wood, Jr., engaged in the flour milling business. In 1862 he was appointed paymaster in the army with the rank of Major, and was captured on the Red River and held for three months. He was elected a state senator in 1874. In 1880, he went again to California, where in a gallant effort to catch a team of runaway horses attached to a carriage containing ladies, he was killed on the streets of Sacramento. Major Burns inherited a brave and generous disposition to risk his own life to save that of others, as shown by the brave conduct of his father in saving and protecting the noted Doctor Nelson, the most brilliant man among the early pioneers. Dr. David Nelson was born in Tennessee. He was a friend of Andrew Jackson and served under him as surgeon during the war of 1812. He had been an infidel, but was converted and became an ardent advocate of Christianity. He was an extensive slave holder and moved with them to Missouri, near Palmyra, eighteen miles west of Quincy. He was a kind and humane master and soon caused a bitter feeling against himself among his slave holding neighbors by persisting in teaching his negroes to read and write and giving them religious instruction in defiance of a law then existing forbidding the teaching of negroes. He attempted to found a college at Palmyra, and had books shipped to him from the East. Upon opening one of the boxes, it was found that not being quite full of books, it had been filled with anti-slavery pamphlets, by some eastern man who knew his desires to educate and uplift the blacks. The knowledge of the receipt of the pamphlets spread like wild-fire among the slave holders, who determined to take his life. The Doctor was spirited away by his friends and hid in a cave, where he wrote the first chapter of his great work on “Infidelity,” while his enemies were scouring the country for him, with all of the roads guarded and every supposable means of escape cut off. His friends implored him to come to Quincy. Making his way through a heavy forest, he arrived at midnight on the west bank of the Mississippi River opposite Quincy, where John Burns and other friends were to meet him and row him across. While waiting at the edge of the forest for his friends to appear, with the wide sweeping river before him and the lights of Quincy on the opposite shore, he composed that beautiful hymn, “The Shining Shore”:

My days are gliding swiftly by

And I, a pilgrim stranger,

Would not detain them as they fly,

Those hours of toil and danger.

Chorus.

For Oh, we stand on Jordan’s strand,

Our friends are passing over,

And just before, the shining shore,

We may almost discover.

When Burns and his friends arrived with boats, they informed him that a number of infuriated slave holders were on the other side, determined to seize him and bring him back to Missouri. To avoid them, they rowed up the river twenty miles before crossing to Illinois, then quietly brought him down, overland, to Quincy. Several efforts were afterwards made to retake Doctor Nelson to Missouri, but John Burns and his loyal friends vigilantly guarded him until the bitter feeling subsided and died out. In Quincy Doctor Nelson established one of his four institutes to educate young men for Christian Missionaries, in which he spent all of his own means besides much money raised by him in the East. He died poor, at the age of fifty-one, and was buried in Woodland Cemetery, where friends have erected a large granite monument to his memory. He left only a daughter, a Mrs. Rose Clapp, who, if living, is now in California. One of John Burns’ daughters is in Quincy, Mrs. Schermerhorn. Miss Julia Burns, long a school teacher here, is now employed in the Treasury Department at Washington.

Samuel Hopkins Emery, D. D., born at Andover, Massachusetts, in 1815, died in Taunton, Massachusetts, October fifth, 1901, was a Manx and Irish Celt. His father was John Emery, who traced back to John Emery of Newbury, Massachusetts, who, with his brother Arthur, came to America from Ramsey, Isle of Man, England, in 1635. His mother was a daughter of Colonel Welch of New Hampshire, who commanded a regiment under Washington during the war for American freedom. Doctor Emery graduated at Amherst College, a classmate of Henry Ward Beecher. He was one of the brainy Americans, who made their age and time famous for high thought and culture. He came to Quincy as pastor of the First Congregational Church in 1855, at the height of the formative thought that lifted the Republic out of the black slime of human slavery and made of it in deed, as well as name, what their fathers of 1776 meant it should be, a real land of the free and home of the brave. Doctor Emery remained in Quincy fifteen years, during which time he endeared himself to all by a kind and generous nature and an untiring interest in the public welfare. During the war there were three military hospitals in Quincy, crowded with sick and wounded soldiers brought up the river on boats from the frontier. Doctor Emery was the army chaplain in charge. He comforted and cheered as few men could, the sick and wounded, especially those on whose brows the cold hand of death was laid, because his heart was in the cause of the country for which they were suffering and dying. Early in the war, he aided in organizing two patriotic bands of Quincy women devoted to the relief and comfort of soldiers, not only in his own hospitals, but on the fields everywhere. They were known as the “Needle Pickets” and “The Good Samaritans,” among whom were Mrs. Governor Wood, Mrs. Anna McFadon, Mrs. Robert Benneson, Mrs. Anna McMahon, Miss Ella Carrott and Mrs. Finlay, the wives and daughters of Irish pioneers. Those consecrated women devoted their time and strength and means to furnish supplies for the hospitals at home and on the fields of conflict. They commenced their work early, scraping lint and rolling bandages, and remained active until the close of the war. They organized an “Old Folks” concert company that gave entertainment in cities in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. They sent nurses to the front. They held a fair in Quincy that continued two weeks and netted them $36,000. With the consent of President Lincoln, they sent Doctor Emery to visit the hospitals in the South and report on their condition. The following is a copy of his pass or authority: