History of Alton, (Madison County) Illinois United States of America

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Local History Notes:

ALTON, a city and river port of Madison county, Illinois, on the Mississippi river, 21 miles above St. Louis, 3 miles above the mouth of the Missouri, and 76 miles S. S. W. from Springfield. It has a favorable position for trade, and its landing is one of the best on the river. A railroad has been completed from this place to Springfield, and two others are in course of construction, which will connect it with Jacksonville, and with Terre Haute, Indiana. Alton contained but few houses until the penitentiary was located here in 1832, since which it has increased rapidly. It has wide streets, several public squares, and a large space along the margin of the river reserved for a public landing and promenade. It contains about 6 churches, a lyceum, a theological seminary, and a newspaper office. Upper Alton, 1 1/2 or 2 miles to the E., is the seat of Shurtleff College, under the direction of the Baptists. Large quarries of fine limestone have been opened near Alton, and stone coal and timber are abundant in the vicinity. Population, 3875.

Biographies:

Henry Damian Juncker, R.C. bishop, was born at Fenetrange, Lorraine, France, Aug. 22, 1809. He immigrated to America in early manhood and attached himself to the diocese of Cincinnati, and there studied for the priesthood. He was ordained sub-deacon, Feb. 23, 1833; deacon, March 9, 1833, and priest at Cincinnati, Ohio, by Bishop Purcell, March 16, 1834, the first to be ordained by that prelate, and was placed in charge of Holy Trinity, a German Catholic church in Cincinnati. He was transferred to Canton, Ohio; engaged in missionary work; was made pastor of Emmanuel's church, German, at Dayton, Ohio, in 1846, and was given charge of several English and German congregations in the central part of the state. He was appointed bishop of the newly-created see of Alton, Ill., in 1857, and was consecrated bishop at Cincinnati, Ohio, by Archbishop Purcell, assisted by Bishops Henni and Young, April 26, 1857. His diocese took in the greater part of Illinois and contained at first only eighteen priests. He visited Europe in 1858 to secure more priests, and within one year had held four ordinations, increased the number of priests to forty-four and built eight churches and the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, which was consecrated, April 19, 1859, by Archbishop Kenrick, of St. Louis, Mo. He founded several new congregations and parochial schools. In 1868 his priests numbered 100, with 125 theological students, 123 churches, fifty-six parochial schools, two colleges for boys, six academies for girls, two hospitals and one orphan asylum. He was master of the French, German and English languages. Bishop Juncker died at Alton, Ill., Oct. 2, 1868.

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

Peter Joseph Baltes, R. C. bishop, born at Enshein, Rhenish Bavaria, April 7, 1827. He studied at the college of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass., passed from thence to St. Ignatius college, Chicago, and completed his education by a course at Laval university, Montreal. In 1853 he received his ordination as a priest, and after seventeen years of faithful service in that capacity, was consecrated bishop of Alton in 1870. He wrote and published, in 1875, a book of "Pastoral Instruction," of which a third and enlarged edition was printed in 1880. He founded the Ecclesiastical college of the sacred heart at Ruma, Ill., and endowed his diocese with many schools and charitable institutions. He died at Alton, Ill., Feb. 15, 1886.

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

Arthur Gilman, educator, was born in Alton, Ill, June 22, 1837; son of Winthrop Sargent and Abia Swift (Lippincott), grandson of Benjamin Ives and Hannah (Robbins), great-grandson of Joseph and Rebecca (Ives), great, great-grandson of Nicholas and Mary (Thing), great, great, great-grandson of royal councillor Nicholas and Sarah (Clark), great, great, great, great-grandson of John and Elizabeth (Treworgie), and great, great, great, great, great-grandson of Edward and Mary (Clark) Gilman, of an ancient Welsh family, who emigrated from Norfolk, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts colony, in 1638. He was educated in the schools of St. Louis, Mo., 1843-49. and in New York city, 1849-53. He established the banking house of Halsted & Gilman in 1857. Subsequently the firm name was changed to Gilman, Son & Co. In 1862 he was obliged to seek respite from business cares in consequence of ill health and he removed to Lee, Mass., where he purchased an estate near Lenox, named it "Glynllyn" and engaged in literary studies, occupying part of his time with agriculture and work for the cause of education in Berkshire county. In 1865 he visited England and made a study of the genealogy of the Gilman family. He also visited Paris and Rome. In 1870 he removed to Cambridge, Mass., where he was connected with the Riverside press for some years, and in 1871 he became treasurer of and editor for the American tract society in Boston. In 1876, with his wife, he formulated a plan by which the courses of study at Harvard college should be systematically repeated to young women. This led to the incorporation of the society for the collegiate instruction of women, familiarly called the "Harvard annex." He was the executive officer of the annex from the beginning, and when it became Radcliffe college in 1894 he was made its regent and retained that office till 1896. In 1886 he founded and became director of the Cambridge school for girls When he resigned his position as regent of Radcliffe college, the students and other friends united in founding the "Arthur Gilman book fund of the Radcliffe college library," the income of which was to purchase books on history and literature, those being the subjects in which he was especially interested. On April 12, 1860, he was married to Amy Cooke, daughter of Samuel Ball, of Lee, Mass., by whom he had four children, and on July 11, 1876, to Stella, daughter of David Scott of Tuscaloosa, Ala., by whom he had three children. Mrs. Gilman is the author of "Mothers in Council" (1884) and "The Mother's Record" (1883). Mr. Gilman was elected to membership in a number of historical and literary societies. He was made a life member of the American historical association. He was for years secretary of the Humane society of Cambridge. Upon the death of the poet Longfellow, he was one of those who formed the Longfellow memorial association, of which he was secretary from the beginning. He was one of the original members of the St. Botolph club of Boston; was elected corresponding member of the New York biographical and genealogical society, and of the Wisconsin historical society, and was a member of the Lowell memorial society. He received the degree of M.A. from Williams college in 1867. He wrote much for periodicals; edited and contributed to Boston, Past and Present (1873), Library of Religious Poetry (1880), The Kingdom of Home (1881), and Magna Charta Stories (1882); also edited the Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (3 vols., 1879); compiled an Index to the Complete Edition of the Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1884); and is the author of The Gilman Family, Traced in the Line of the Hon. John Gilman of Exeter, N.H. (1869); First Steps in English Literature (1870); Kings, Queens and Barbarians (1870); First Steps in General History (1874); The Cambridge of 1776 (1876); Shakespeare's Morals (1879); History of the American People (1883); Tales of the Pathfinders (1884); The Story of Rome (1885); Short Stories from the Dictionary (1886); Story of the Saracens (1886); The Story of Boston (1889, new ed., 1895); The Cambridge of 1896 (1896); Palemon and Arcite for the Riverside literature series (1898). He was also associated with Baring-Gould, Church, Stanley, Lane-Poole, Mahaffy and Rawlinson in preparing for the Story of the Nation series the volumes on Germany, Carthage, the Moors in Spain, the Turks, the empire of Alexander, and Egypt.

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