History of Jacksonville, (Morgan County) Illinois United States of America

JACKSONVILLE, a flourishing town, capital of Morgan county, Illinois, on the Sangamon and Morgan railroad, 32 miles W. from Springfield. It is situated in an undulating and fertile prairie, in the vicinity of a small affluent of the Illinois river, called Movestar creek, a corruption of "Mauvaise Terre." This town is distinguished for the elegance of its public buildings, and for the number of its educational and charitable institutions, among which are Illinois College, the state asylums for the blind, the insane, and the deaf and dumb, a female academy, under the direction of the Methodists, and 2 other academies. The asylums above named occupy relatively three sides of a quadrangle around the town, each about a mile from its centre. Illinois College occupies a beautiful and commanding position, and is one of the most flourishing and respectable institutions in the state. It was founded in 1830, and has a library of 2500 volumes. An intelligent traveller, who recently visited this place, remarks, "It looks like a village made to order at the East, with neat houses, some wood, some brick; with gardens filled with flowers and shrubbery, with wide and cleanly streets adorned with shade-trees, with academies, churches, and a college, clustering about the village centre, while well-tilled farms stretch along the borders on every side."

Biographies:

Joseph Duncan, governor of Illinois, was born in Paris, Ky., Feb. 22, 1789; son of David Duncan, an officer of the Revolutionary army, who migrated from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, and thence to Kentucky soon after the close of the war. Joseph was admitted to the bar but entered the army before practising his profession, serving throughout the war of 1812. In 1818 he removed to Kaskaskia, Ill., where he served as major-general of militia and as state senator from Brownsville, 1824-26. He was a representative in the 20th, 21st, 22d and 23d congresses, 1827-31, and resigned his seat in congress in 1834, having been elected to the office of governor of Illinois, in which office he served, 1834-38. He died at Jacksonville, Ill., Jan. 15, 1844.

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

Edmund Janes James, political economist, was born at Jacksonville, Ill., May 21, 1855; son of the Rev. Colin D. and Amanda (Casad) James; grandson of the Rev. Dr. William B. and Elizabeth (Duling) James, and descendant on his mother's side of Jacques Casad (Cossart), New York city, April, 1663; also of Thomas Blossom, deacon of the first Plymouth church elected in America; also of Francis Drake, William Trotter and John Martin, all of whom came to New England before 1650. His father was one of the early pioneer Methodist preachers in Illinois and was especially known for his interest in education, several of the principal educational institutions of Illinois owing much of their original impetus to him. Edmund was graduated from the Illinois State Normal school, studied at the Northwestern university and Harvard college and pursued courses in economics and social science at the universities of Halle, Leipzig, and Berlin, taking the degree of Ph.D. in 1877 at Halle. He was principal of the Evanston, Ill., public high school, 1878-79; principal of the model school of the Illinois State Normal university, 1879-83; and was chosen professor of public finance and administration at the University of Pennsylvania in 1883, and at the same time was given charge of the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, connected with the university. He declined a professorship of political economy at Harvard in 1890; the head professorship of political science at the University of Chicago in 1892, and one in economics at the Leland Stanford, Jr., university, and the presidency of two great western state universities, and that of the University of Cincinnati. He was sent to Europe in 1892, by the Bankers' association, to report on the education of business men in Europe. He accepted the chair of public administration in the University of Chicago in 1896. He was actively interested in the movement for the general introduction of the kindergarten into the public school system; in the manual training movement; in the introduction of the elective system into colleges; in the development of higher commercial education, and in the agitation for the professional training of teachers at the universities. He was elected a member of the National Council of Education, 1891, and of the American Philosophical society; director of the American Social Science association; first president of the Municipal league, Philadelphia; vice-president of the American Economic association in 1885; president of the University Extension society in 1894; president of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 1889; and member and vice-president of the Illinois State Historical Library board. He founded in 1881 and edited the Illinois School Journal (1881-83); was co-editor of the Finanzarchir, W?rtemburg, Germany, 1884, and editor of Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1889-96). His bibliography, which contains papers, monographs, and over one hundred articles in cyclop?dias and educational journals, includes, among his published volumes: St?dien ?ber den Amerikanschen Zolltarif (1877); Introduction to Ingram's History of Political Economy (1888); addresses on the Education of Business Men (1891); The Farmer and Taxation (1891); Education of Business Men in Europe (1893); The City Charters of Chicago (1898 and 1900); Municipal Government in Prussia, and The Territorial Laws of Illinois, 1809-1812.

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

History of Jacksonville, (Morgan County) Illinois

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