History of Quincy, (Adams County) Illinois United States of America

QUINCY, a handsome town, capital of Adams county, Illinois, on the Mississippi river, 170 miles above St. Louis, and 104 miles W. from Springfield. It is finely situated on a limestone bluff, 125 feet above the river, of which it commands an extensive view. It has a large public square, a good court house, 18 churches, a United States land-office, and 3 banks. Seven newspapers and periodicals are published here, two of which are dailies. Quincy carries on an active trade by steamboats on the Mississippi. It is the terminus of the Military Tract railroad, now in course of construction, which leads to Chicago. The country in the vicinity is a rich and rolling prairie, and one of the most highly cultivated parts of the state. Quincy contains (in 1853) 5 lumber-yards, 2 large distilleries, 4 large foundries, 6 machine shops, 5 or 6 steam mills for grain, 2 steam saw mills, 2 planing machines, 3 door sash and blind manufactories, 3 carriage furniture manufactories, 1 cotton mill, besides numerous other establishments. Coopering is carried on very extensively. Pop. in 1840, about 2000; in 1850, 6901; in 1853, 11,000.

Biographies:

Nicholas Paine Gilman, author and educator, was born at Quincy, Ill., Dec. 21, 1849; son of Charles and Annette Maria (Dearborn) Gilman; grandson of Allen Gilman and of Wear Dearborn; and great-grandson of John Ward Gilman. He attended academies at Parsonsfield, Maine, and Effingham, N.H., and was graduated from the Harvard divinity school in 1871. He was pastor at Scituate, Mass., 1872-84, and at Bolton, Mass., 1875-78, and then served as college preacher and professor of ethics and English literature in Antioch college, Ohio, 1878-81. Returning to New England, he was pastor at Wayland, Mass., 1882-84, removing to West Newton in the latter year and devoting his time chiefly to editorial work. After a number of years of service on the staff of the Literary World, of Boston, he was its editor, 1888-95. He was for several years assistant editor of the Unitarian Review, and edited The New World, quarterly, Boston, from its beginning in 1892. In 1895 he removed to Meadville, Pa., where he accepted the Hackley professorship of sociology and ethics in the Theological seminary, still retaining the editorship of The New World. He is the author of: Profit Sharing Between Employer and Employee; a Study in the Evolution of the Wages System (1889); The Laws of Daily Conduct (1891); Socialism and the American Spirit (1893); A Dividend to Labor (1899); and many contributions to periodicals.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Frederick William Taylor, second bishop of Quincy and 200th in succession in the American episcopate, was born in Toledo, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1853; son of Dr. Alfred and Helen (Leonard) Taylor; grandson of Elisha and Anne (Dunlap) Taylor and of Henry and Sarah (Morrison) Leonard, and a descendant of Judge John Taylor of Charlton, Saratoga county, N.Y., and of Maj. Henry Leonard of Monmouth county, N.J., and Napoleon, Ohio, who served in the war of 1812. He was graduated from Adelbert College of Western Reserve university, A.B., 1873, A.M., 1876, and was married, Aug. 11, 1874, to Cora Lucinda, daughter of Horace B. and Philena (Lamb) Kingsley of Cleveland, Ohio. He was graduated from the General Theological seminary, New York, 1876; was admitted to the diaconate, July, 1876, and advanced to the priesthood, Sept. 30, 1877; did mission work in and near Cleveland, Ohio, 1876; in Ulster county, N.Y., in 1877, and was rector of Holy Trinity, Danville, Ill., 1878-86, and of St. Paul's (the Pro-Cathedral), Springfield, Ill., 1886-1901. He was consecrated bishop-coadjutor of Quincy at the Cathedral of St. John, Quincy, Aug. 6, 1901, by Bishops Seymour, Grafton and Nicholson, assisted by Bishops Francis, Williams, Anderson and Weller, and became the second bishop of Quincy on the death of Bishop Burgess, Oct. 8, 1901. He was for some time an instructor in the Western Theological seminary, Chicago; was a trustee of the Public library, Danville, Ill., and Springfield, Ill.; local secretary of the Egypt Exploration Fund; deputy to the general convention from the diocese of Springfield in and after 1883; treasurer of the province of Illinois; archdeacon of Springfield; secretary and president of the standing committee; examining chaplain; chaplain of St. Agatha's school and of the Orphanage of the Holy Child, Springfield, and chaplain of the Illinois state senate, 1892. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Nashotah in 1890, and was instructor in canon law in the Western Theological seminary, Chicago, 1895-1903. His wife died in 1894, leaving six children, one of whom lived but a few years. Bishop Taylor was for many years a reviewer on the staff of the Living Church, and the author of numerous historical and theological papers. He died at Quincy, Ill., April 25, 1903.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Quincy, (Adams County) Illinois

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Biographies: