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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDIES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SOCIAL SCIENCES 
 
 VOL. V JUNE, 1916 No. 2 
 
 BOARD OF EDITORS 
 
 ERNEST L. BOGART JOHN A. FAIRLIE 
 
 LAURENCE M. LARSON 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL 
 
 URBAN A, ILLINOIS
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1916 
 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
 
 The Life of Jesse W. Fell 
 
 FRANCES MILTON I. MOREHOUSE, A.M. 
 
 507532
 
 FELLS OF DALTON GATE 
 
 FELLS OF LONGLANDS 
 
 FELLS OF SWARTHMORE HALL 
 
 COATS OF ARMS OF THE FELL FAMILIES 
 
 Jesse W. Fell was a direct descendant of the 
 Fells of Longlands
 
 

 
 FOREWORD 
 
 There are few men in any generation who see their lives 
 in relation to the accomplishment of that generation. Few 
 realize, altho all profess to believe, that appraisal of worth 
 must be according to the proportion of a man's part in the 
 advance of his day; and that all honors and distinctions fall 
 away from men when they stand before the bar of years, to be 
 judged in the stark light of truth as to character and service. 
 All men acknowledge this true, but the men are rare indeed 
 who apply it to their own lives, and make it the basis of their 
 individual schedule of values. Many men assert the immortal- 
 ity of the soul, but few can conceive themselves in any scheme 
 of time which transcends the limits of their own lives; or con- 
 tent themselves to labor without reward, because they believe 
 that in the fulness of time all souls must find full compensation. 
 
 In writing the story of a man whose part in the life of his 
 generation might in itself bring him some meed of remem- 
 brance, I am nevertheless most anxious that his rare quality of 
 indifference to such rewards as men might give, of steadfastness 
 to ideals hot generally held in his day, of faith in ultimate 
 things, should stand out as the true reason for his being brought 
 as fully as possible before men. Here was one who steadily 
 ignored or refused honor and fame, who despised no quiet and 
 unrecognized labor, who was not turned aside from his steady 
 aim by the pressure of circumstance; in short, whose belief in 
 the future was interpreted in all the doings of his busy life. 
 This is the sufficient reason for writing a life of Jesse W. Fell. 
 
 FRANCES M. MOEEHOUSE.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Early Years, 1808-1836 9-21 
 
 II. Business Ventures and Home Life, 1834-1856 22-35 
 
 III. The Journalist, 1836-1858 36-38 
 
 IV. Founding the Normal School, 1853-1860 39-40 
 
 V. Political Activities, 1840-1860 50-62 
 
 VI. The Years of the Civil War 63-72 
 
 VII. Public Service After the Civil War 73-84 
 
 VIII. Railroads 85-91 
 
 IX. The Religious Liberal 92-95 
 
 X. Local Political Activities 96-105 
 
 XL The Tree Planter 106-111 
 
 XII. Last Years 112-118 
 
 Bibliography 119-121 
 
 Index _ 123
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY YEARS, 1808-1836 
 
 The Fell farm in New Garden Township, Chester County, 
 Pennsylvania, lay mainly upon a high ridge, which was known 
 by the Indian name of Toughkenamon, or Fire Brand Hill. It 
 is a region rich in historical associations, not far from Brandy- 
 wine battlefield. The house was built of stone, and in later 
 years was remodeled into a handsome country residence. Here 
 Jesse W. Fell was born, November 10, 1808. His parents were 
 Friends, of ancient and honorable English lineage, but of lim- 
 ited means and simple tastes. His father was a hatter, his 
 mother a preacher of the Hicksites. Because he had much skill 
 in song, his father, when he later united with the Methodists, 
 became a choir leader; and he sometimes turned his resonant 
 speaking voice to account in crying sales. There was a large 
 family; Jesse, named for his father, was the third child. 
 
 When he was eight years old, the family moved to another 
 town in New Britain Township, and subsequently to Downing- 
 ton. In the country Jesse attended, with his brothers and sis- 
 ters, the neighborhood subscription schools maintained among the 
 Friends of Pennsylvania; for there were then no public schools 
 in the state. These schools, within the limited scope of their 
 courses of study, were usually good, and the Fell children re- 
 ceived a solid foundation in the elementary subjects. The elder 
 brothers were apprenticed, upon reaching the proper age, to a 
 blacksmith and a wheelwright respectively. As Jesse was not 
 a robust lad, the parents and other relatives thought it best to 
 apprentice him to a tailor, and cast about for a skilful master 
 who might teach him this trade. But the boy himself objected 
 so strenuously that the plan was abandoned. He "would learn 
 a better business, ' ' he declared ; and his parents, not wishing to 
 coerce him, waited for some definite talent or liking to appear, 
 which might guide their son in deciding upon his vocation. As 
 yet the boy had no plan, save that of becoming wiser than he 
 was. He wanted to go to some school that would teach him 
 more than the country subscription schools offered. 
 
 9
 
 10 JESSE W. FELL [274 
 
 Joshua Hoopes conducted a boarding school for boys in 
 Downington at the time, which was the best school in that part 
 of Pennsylvania. It was remarkable in that, at a time when 
 the classics formed the core of instruction in almost all sec- 
 ondary schools, it emphasized the natural sciences. The master 
 was an enthusiastic botanist, a popular lecturer on astronomy, 
 and sufficiently adept at mathematics to win the admiration of his 
 community. These subjects he had mastered by dint of sys- 
 tematic application of his really brilliant mind to printed treat- 
 ises, and by giving rein to an originality which the higher 
 schools of those days did not greatly encourage. Free from 
 the traditions of schools, this village schoolmaster gave to his 
 boys a type of education destined to become popular afterward, 
 but in other places practically unknown to his own day. He 
 taught of plants and animals, of husbandry and astronomy, of 
 literature and mathematics, with a wealth of practical applica- 
 tion which linked books with life and study with pleasure. 
 
 Jesse Fell wanted to attend this school but lacked funds. 
 He applied for admission, however, offering to pay for his tui- 
 tion by any kind of work that he could do. An arrangement 
 was made by which Jesse was to work in the master's kitchen- 
 garden and help about the house in return for his board and 
 tuition. The work was hard, but not unpleasant. His master 
 introduced him to the joy of intelligent gardening, took him 
 for long tramps in the woods, and allowed him the freedom of 
 his library. The books were a mine of riches to the boy, and 
 Joshua Hoopes' enthusiastic love of plant life stirred to re- 
 sponse a kindred feeling in the heart of his pupil. There grew 
 out of this pleasant period in the life of the boy that love of 
 trees which, in the man grown, was to give so richly to the 
 prairies of the "West. 1 
 
 That West continually called him. The idea of going into 
 the new country beyond the mountains grew in him during the 
 two years of his stay at Joshua Hoopes' school. When he had 
 finished the course of study, Friend Hoopes wished him to enter 
 into a partnership with him in a vineyard enterprise which he 
 was then planning. Jesse Fell declined, not being willing to 
 relinquish his dreams of a larger career in a new country ; and 
 Friend Hoopes abandoned the scheme "for want of a suitable 
 partner." To further his plan of going west, Fell taught school 
 for a period of about two years, from 1826 to 1828. The schools 
 
 1 Richard Edwards, Jesse W. Fell, 3.
 
 275] EARLY TEARS 11 
 
 he taught were near his home, at "Buckingham, Colerain, 
 Brown's, and Little Britain. As he understood surveying and 
 other branches of higher mathematics, he was able to command 
 a higher salary than the customary one of two dollars per quar- 
 ter in cash. In the intervals of teaching he "kept store" for 
 Issachar Price of Callaghersville, while that country merchant 
 was away crying sales ; and in all his spare time he was reading 
 diligently. 
 
 The two years of teaching were a time of growth and devel- 
 opment for the slim, blue-eyed Quaker boy. He tested his 
 powers, enlarged his knowledge, broadened his interests. Altho 
 he later considered himself "but an indifferent pedagogue," he 
 was thought very efficient by those who employed him, except 
 at Colerain. This was an extremely rigid Presbyterian com- 
 munity, with a school in which the New Testament had been 
 the sole text in reading for a long time. Mr. Fell suggested that 
 his pupils bring other books that the reading might be varied, 
 whereupon he was denounced from the local pulpit as a Hick- 
 site who had "expelled the Bible from his school." Without 
 denying the first part of this charge, which was true, Jesse Fell 
 asked that the second accusation might be inquired into offi- 
 cially, and when it was repeated without investigation, he closed 
 the school, very hurt and very indignant. 
 
 It was while teaching that he had his first great lesson 
 in the uses of force and diplomacy. A school bully, larger than 
 himself, had defied him and had been whipped. After the 
 whipping he administered a lecture, so tinctured with kindness 
 and well-directed flattery "what all men like if skilfully ap- 
 plied," said Mr. Fell in telling afterward of this experience 
 that the boy resolved to reform his ways. He became later a 
 Methodist Episcopal minister of fine character and widespread 
 influence. 
 
 At this time, also, Fell began to speak in public, and 
 especially to debate whenever opportunity offered. At the little 
 country school-houses there were held political debates, as well 
 as other neighborhood meetings; and at these debates Fell, 
 when he was only seventeen years of age, made for himself a 
 name as a speaker, particularly upon the tariff, that subject so 
 dear to the Pennsylvanian. 2 
 
 2 The principal source of information for Fell's early life is the un- 
 finished manuscript biography begun by Richard Edwards from notes 
 dictated by Mr. Fell, and already noted. It is among the Fell MSS., as 
 are all papers, not otherwise placed, in the following pages.
 
 12 JESSE W. FELL [276 
 
 In the fall of 1828, having saved a little money and bor- 
 rowed more from his brother Joshua, Jesse Fell started for the 
 West. He was twenty years of age, still slight and rather frail 
 in physique, and unacquainted with the world. He was going 
 to seek his fortune in an unknown country, with no definite 
 trade or profession as an asset. His family, with a helpful 
 confidence in his ability to do what he wished to do, bade him 
 godspeed. He spent the last night before starting for the West 
 with a dear friend, R. Henry Carter, with whom he talked far 
 into the night, of old days and days to come. In the morning 
 he set out for Pittsburg. A young man by the name of Drum- 
 mond, from Washington, started with him, but soon became 
 discouraged and returned to his home. 3 
 
 This first stage of the journey was accomplished on foot, 
 except for a few miles at the end, when, very footsore, Fell 
 wavered in his resolve not to spend his money until he was 
 started upon the farther pilgrimage. He entered Pittsburg 
 upon the deck of a little canal boat. This city was then the 
 clearing house of all western enterprise, the gateway to the new 
 land, and a center for securing employment. Here Jesse Fell 
 met a Mr. Reese, who employed him as a book agent. He was 
 to take orders for- Malte Brun's Geography, Rollin's Ancient 
 History, Josephus' works, and one other book, the name of 
 which Mr. Fell afterward forgot. Armed with this means of 
 defraying expenses, he boarded a steamer for Wheeling, where 
 he soon fell in with a certain Mr. Howell, the publisher of the 
 Eclectic Observer, Mr. Howell conceived a fancy for the young 
 Quaker, and wished to interest him in his paper. This was a 
 journal of protest against slavery, capital punishment, and any 
 other institution which, in the eyes of the editor, deserved cen- 
 sure. Jesse Fell again decided against the half-gods; he was 
 bound for the newer and greater West. 
 
 While canvassing Wheeling, however, he found time to 
 write his first contribution to a periodical. The subject was one 
 upon which he had often grown eloquent in the country school 
 debates of Chester County: "The Abolition of Imprisonment 
 for Debt." Howell was delighted with its force and fervor. 
 Here was material worth the working what an abolitionist he 
 
 3 R. Henry Carter to E. J. Lewis, Mar. 8, 1887. Grace Hurwood to 
 Fannie Fell, Mar. 16, 1913. The latter includes notes of facts related to 
 Miss Hurwood by Mr. Fell. Franklin Price in the Fell Memorial (MS.), 
 9-10.
 
 277] EARLY YEARS 13 
 
 would make ! He offered him an assistant editorship. But Fell 
 declined, and went on with his own plans. They carried him, 
 with his books, over the National Road, opened at that time 
 as far as Zanesville. He met interesting people on the road, 
 notably the Honorable Benjamin Ruggles, United States senator 
 from Ohio from 1815 to 1833. 
 
 But the people along the National Road, being busily en- 
 gaged in making homes in the wilderness, had no great thirst 
 for Josephus and Rollin. Mr. Fell perceived that the business 
 of selling books would give him no very speedy or considerable 
 help in winning his way to the "West. An illness took his small 
 savings. Consequently, as the winter of 1829-30 drew near, 
 he made his way back to Wheeling, where he spent the cold 
 months in Mr. Howell's office, setting type, writing for the 
 Eclectic Observer, and learning the tricks of a literary trade. 
 At this time he asked his father for money to invest in a part 
 interest in the Amulet, for which he had been agent. Very 
 fortunately, as he himself said afterward, his father was not 
 able to help him at that time, and the idea of this partnership 
 was given up. 
 
 When the spring returned, he set off again with his books 
 under his arm, up the Ohio and toward the north, through the 
 counties of Jefferson and Columbiana (where were people of 
 his own religious faith, upon whose friendly interest he might 
 confidently depend), and back to Pittsburg, the headquarters 
 of his book house. Throughout the journey he had kept a note- 
 book, which was later lost. The uncertain fortunes of a travel- 
 ing agent, his illness of the year before, and the knowledge of 
 the world which his experience was giving him, crystallized 
 what had before been but a vague ambition into a settled deter- 
 mination. He would prepare himself for a profession, which 
 in those days even more generally than at the present time, led 
 to honor, influence and power. He would be a lawyer. 4 
 
 With this resolution in mind, but with his agent's para- 
 phernalia still in hand, he turned his face westward again in 
 the spring of 1830. He had gone as far as Steubenville when 
 the event occurred which was to prove the means of accomplish- 
 ing his desire. Walking along the sidewalk with an agent's 
 ready eye for a possible buyer, he espied a young man busily 
 
 4 Elwood Brown to Jesse W. Fell, Dec. 20, 1829. Jesse Fell to Jesse 
 W. Fell, Jan. 16, 1830. Hannah Fell (an aunt) and Rebecca Fell (his 
 mother) to Fell, Feb. 6, 1830.
 
 14 JESSE W. PELL [278 
 
 chopping wood. He looked not averse to good reading, and the 
 agent approached him in the interests of Josephus, Bollin, and 
 Fell. But the woodchopper was as poor as Fell himself, and 
 the two, finding a common interest in their common situation, 
 fell to discussing ways, means, and prospects. The woodchopper 
 was studying law, he said, in the office of a local firm of excel- 
 lent reputation. He would like to buy books, but needed every 
 cent he could make for bare living expenses. After he had been 
 admitted to the bar, he was to pay for his tuition ; and then he 
 would need all surplus funds for his law library. There was a 
 place for one more student with Stokeley and Marsh, and he 
 would introduce Fell to the firm. 5 
 
 Fell soon made arrangements for his law course. He was 
 to pay his way in part by doing office work for the firm, and 
 partly by such odd jobs as he might find to do in that frontier 
 community, where there was usually work for all. His two 
 elder brothers helped him from time to time as their limited 
 means permitted. Stokeley and Marsh soon came to value him 
 very highly, while he regarded both the partners with the 
 greatest affection. About a year after beginning his studies in 
 their office, he made a visit to his old home, and was present at 
 the wedding of his brother Joshua, on January 16, 1831. On 
 the return journey his father brought him as far as Shippens- 
 burg, a point some forty miles west of Harrisburg. 
 
 For another year the law lessons in the office of Stokeley 
 and Marsh went on. The young men in the office had practice 
 in public speaking, for they were eligible to membership in The 
 Forum, a society whose object was the improvement of its 
 members "in speaking and general culture". Jesse Fell made 
 his first speech before this body upon his old theme of the 
 abolition of imprisonment for debt. The presiding officer, a 
 Mr. Wright, who had been a congressman and was later a judge, 
 praised his speech; and Fell tried again. Mr. Stokeley was a 
 local leader in the ranks of the Whigs, who were at that time 
 actively opposing Jackson. There were innumerable stump 
 
 B Fell to Jesse Fell, June 26, 1830. The story as told by Edwards 
 implies that the idea of becoming a lawyer did not occur to Fell until 
 the time of his interview with the woodchopper. But a letter to his 
 parents, dated June 6, 1830, indicates that the idea had been with him for 
 some time; while Franklin Price states (Fell Memorial, 9) that he had 
 read Blackstone while still in Chester County.
 
 279] EARLY YEARS 15 
 
 speeches to be made, and Mr. Stokeley gave to Jesse Fell his 
 share in the work. The younger man conceived a great admi- 
 ration for Henry Clay, which guided his political opinions and 
 activities while Clay lived. A youth working in Trumbull's 
 bookstore, and at that time a Clay enthusiast with the rest, 
 became his friend. This boy was Edwin M. Stanton, afterward 
 secretary of war under Lincoln. 
 
 The autumn of 1832, when Jesse Fell was preparing for 
 his bar examination, was an especially busy season. He took 
 these examinations, with three other aspirants, on the first of 
 October, passed them successfully, was admitted, and started 
 on foot for the West about a fortnight later. 6 It was a some- 
 what risky enterprise, for the payment of his debts took most 
 of his money, leaving very little for the outfit and for traveling 
 expenses. His family helped him as they could, but this was 
 not much. Mr. Marsh, regretting to lose a youth who gave so 
 great promise, had offered him a partnership if he would stay 
 with him, his own partnership with Mr. Stokeley having recently 
 been dissolved. Again Fell chose to answer the call of the ulti- 
 mate mission. His plan was to travel through parts of Ohio 
 which he had not yet visited and through Indiana and Illinois. 
 He seems not to have thought of settling at once, as he suggested 
 to his father at the time that he "might return by steamboat 
 from St. Louis, as this may be done with little expense." He 
 seems also to have left with Mr. Marsh the idea of possibly re- 
 turning to enter into a partnership at a later time. 
 
 Traveling on foot through Ohio and Indiana, Mr. Fell came 
 to Eastern Illinois in November, 1832. The presidential election 
 had been held the day before he entered the state. At Danville 
 he met Judge McBoberts, a prominent citizen of those days, who 
 told him of a village then but lately founded, named Blooming- 
 ton. Its location Judge McRoberts thought good ; it was a ' ' com- 
 ing" town. In Decatur, the next considerable place which Fell 
 visited, this report of Bloomington was repeated. At Jackson- 
 ville, Judges Lockwood and Smith made out for him his certifi- 
 cate of admission to the bar of Illinois. 7 
 
 In Springfield Fell was to talk to John T. Stuart, to whom 
 he had letters of introduction, and whose advice he wished be- 
 
 'Certificate of admission to Ohio Bar (James Ross Wells, clerk), 
 dated Oct. 13, 1832. Fell to some member of his family, Sept. 23, 1832. 
 Jesse or Rebecca Fell to Fell, Sept. 2, 1832. 
 
 7 Nov. I, 1832. This certificate is also among the Fell MSS.
 
 16 JESSE W. FELL [280 
 
 fore deciding upon a location. At sunset of a warm day in late 
 November, he arrived in the city which was afterward to be the 
 capital of Illinois. John Todd Stuart was sitting before the door 
 of his house when Fell approached, carrying the stout stick and 
 carpet-bag which were his worldly possessions. Many young 
 men so accoutred trod the streets of the new cities of the West 
 in those days, and Stuart with a characteristic friendliness spoke 
 cordially to this newcomer and asked him what he might do for 
 him. Fell answered that he was looking for John T. Stuart, and 
 would like to be directed to his house. Upon learning that he was 
 speaking to Mr. Stuart, Fell produced a letter from one of Stu- 
 art's clients in Philadelphia, introducing the Pennsylvanian and 
 asking the favor of advice and help for him. The two men sat 
 down then and there to discuss the question of location and op- 
 portunity. 8 
 
 Mr. Stuart spoke especially, as had Fell's previous advisors, 
 of the new county of McLean, lately created by the legislature, 
 and its county seat of Bloomington. It was, he said, a very new 
 town, and he was quite sure that there was no lawyer there as 
 yet. With the quick decision which was one of his characteris- 
 tics, Fell determined to go at once to Bloomington, and rose to 
 depart. Stuart invited him to stay the night, but so eager was 
 Fell to reach his destination, that he declined the proffered rest 
 and entertainment, and trudged that night many miles on his 
 way to Bloomington. At New Salem, pausing for food and rest, 
 he first heard the name of Abraham Lincoln, when the townspeo- 
 ple told him of the company they had sent to the Black Hawk 
 "War. From there he went to Pekin, and then sixteen miles 
 farther to Dillon, since called Delavan, in Tazewell County. Here 
 he stopped to visit at the home of William Brown, members of 
 whose family he had known in Pennsylvania. He was almost 
 without money, but came "carrying a knapsack and feeling as 
 big as King Solomon in all his glory, ' ' and full of that buoyancy 
 and faith in the future which made him both representative and 
 leader in his day and place. 9 
 
 William Evans built the first house in Bloomington in 1826. 
 Four years later, on the twenty-fifth of December, 1830, McLean 
 County was created. The first sale of town lots was on July 4, 
 
 8 These facts were related to the writer by Judge James Ewing of 
 Bloomington, Dec. 4, 1912. Mr. Stuart had himself told them to Judge 
 Ewing. See also Fell to David Davis, Dec. 16, 1885. 
 
 9 Joshua Brown to E. J. Lewis, Dec., 1896.
 
 281] EARLY YEARS 17 
 
 1831. At the close of 1832 the town numbered about one hun- 
 dred people, while the neighboring settlement of Blooming Grove 
 had fully two hundred and fifty. General Gridley, lately re- 
 turned from the Black Hawk War, was the leading citizen. 
 When Jesse Fell arrived, William Evans had but lately sold his 
 house to James Allin, who opened a store in it, and laid out the 
 town in lots. There was no resident clergyman at that time, no 
 newspaper, and no lawyer. 
 
 Fell's survey of the situation satisfied him that there existed 
 a favorable opening for him, and he returned to Delavan, where 
 William Brown offered him employment for the winter as a tutor 
 to his children. Mr. Brown was the great man of his locality 
 a man who had glass panes in the windows of his cabin, whose 
 family had "come west" in a carriage, and who employed a 
 teacher to instruct his children. He had brought his family from 
 Pennsylvania in 1828. Later, he became known in central Illi- 
 nois as "Joseph," because in a year of crop-failure he had sold 
 his good crop of corn for a dollar a bushel, the normal price of 
 grain in early days in Illinois. People for many miles around 
 came to him for food and seed. His home was a social center. 
 From it the young people started on long rides to lectures or 
 parties at Pekin or at distant farmhouses and settlements. The 
 eldest son, Joshua, was the leading spirit among the younger 
 men. Eliza, the eldest of the sisters, was a girl of rare loveli- 
 ness and ability, whose early death a few years later brought 
 great sorrow to the whole neighborhood. The children of two 
 other families attended Jesse Fell's classes that winter. In the 
 Brown home he found congenial friends, encouragement, and 
 good counsel, as well as the material help he needed. 10 
 
 When the spring came he went back to Bloomington, and 
 opened his office in a small brick building at the northeast cor- 
 ner of Main and Front streets. The small legal library, which 
 Mr. Marsh had agreed to send him when he was located, to be 
 paid for when practice gave him means, arrived during the 
 spring, after a long journey down the Ohio and up the Missis- 
 sippi and the Illinois to Pekin, whence it was carted overland to 
 Bloomington. Fell boarded with James Allin, who, in addition 
 to his other activities, kept the only inn of that locality, at what 
 came afterward to be known as ' ' the old Stipp place. ' ' 
 
 With the growth of population and the inevitable troubles 
 
 10 E. M. Prince, "Hester Vernon (Brown) Fell", in Historical Ency- 
 clopedia of Illinois and History of McLean County, II, 1024-27.
 
 18 JESSE W. PELL [282 
 
 in adjusting titles and claims to lands, there came legal business 
 in plenty to Bloomington 's first lawyer. 11 On the second of May, 
 1833, he made his initial appearance in an Illinois courtroom. 
 This was at the third session of the Circuit Court in McLean 
 County, which sat for three days, and disposed of several cases. 
 Fell was attorney in two of these cases, securing favorable judg- 
 ment in both by default. At the next session, in September, he 
 had a number of cases, which he managed so well that his posi- 
 tion and clientele were henceforth assured. 12 
 
 John T. Stuart continued to be his friend, furnishing him 
 letters of introduction and recommending him to clients. He be- 
 came known as a good judge of land, and located innumerable 
 farms for his clients, making the entries at the land office in Dan- 
 ville. Before long he began to acquire land for himself, and to 
 exhibit the outward and visible signs of prosperity. He bought 
 
 "John T. Stuart told Judge James Ewing that when he attended 
 court in Bloomington six months after Fell had settled there, Fell 
 told him he was worth about $60,000 above all debts. The statement is 
 manifestly inaccurate, as to the time of the occurrence ; but it gives 
 some idea of the rapidity with which fortunes were built up in the pros- 
 perous days of the early land-exchange. Fell was "worth $60,000" in 1837. 
 
 The first professional card used by Mr. Fell gives as references the 
 following lawyers : Richard Dorsey, Baltimore ; William Dorsey, Richard 
 Sturgeon and Amos Jeans, Philadelphia ; William P. Dixon, New York ; 
 Willis Hall, Albany, New York; D. B. Leight and Company, Louisville; 
 Hon. John C. Wright and Hon. Samuel Stokeley, Ohio ; and Hon. John 
 T. Stuart, Illinois. 
 
 12 The first session of Circuit Court in McLean County was held 
 Sept. 22, 1831, at Mr. Allin's house, but with no docket; at the second, 
 held Sept. 27, 1832, the jury tried one appealed case, dismissed several 
 on the docket, and continued one. Record I, Circuit Court, McLean 
 County, 1-14. Fell to his parents, Nov. 17, 1833. 
 
 An incident related by Fell to Miss Grace Hurwood, and repeated 
 from her notes in the letter of March 16, 1913, referred to elsewhere, 
 goes to show that although a Quaker, Fell was not averse to defending 
 himself in traditional ways. He and another young lawyer became en- 
 gaged in an altercation in which his opponent accused him of lying. "I 
 told him that would have to be settled outside the courtroom, so when 
 court adjourned, we promptly went out to settle it in the time-honored 
 way. Neither of us gained much advantage over the other, as while he 
 was the stronger, I was the quicker, and we were parted before we could 
 finish. We had fought hard enough however to be willing to shake hands. 
 In the morning we were indicted for fighting 'to the disturbance and 
 alarm of the people'. My defense was that nobody was at all alarmed, 
 much to Lincoln's amusement, and the indictment was quashed."
 
 283] EARLY YEARS 19 
 
 his first horse, McLean, on which he took those long night rides 
 to Danville, Springfield, Urbana and Vandalia, that soon began 
 to tell sadly upon his health. His restless energy responded to 
 the insistent demands of a growing, changing, developing 
 country. Some prophetic idea of its possibilities, and much boy- 
 ish eagerness to realize his dreams speedily, urged him to an ac- 
 tivity which was the continual wonder of all his friends. He was 
 interested in everything that promised to help the country of his 
 adoption, and developed early that loyalty to Bloomington and 
 McLean county which characterized him in so much that he did. 
 
 An instance of this loyalty to Bloomington occurred early 
 in his career. In 1834 an effort was made to take from McLean 
 County its territory west of the third principal meridian, and 
 add it to Tazewell County. This would have made the western 
 boundary line of McLean County scarce eight miles from Bloom- 
 ington, thus changing its central location to a western one, and 
 so furnishing a possible reason for removing the county seat to 
 another town at some future time. Mr. Fell opposed the move- 
 ment valiantly from the first. Fearing that its friends might 
 push the measure through the legislature if that body were left 
 unguarded, he spent most of the winter of 1834-35 in Vandalia, 
 where his efforts and influence were such that the project failed 
 of realization. McLean County owes to him, consequently, and 
 to those who worked with him, the distinction of being the 
 largest county in the state. 13 
 
 The winter in Vandalia had results other than the preser- 
 vation of the territorial integrity of McLean County. John T. 
 Stuart of Springfield and Abraham Lincoln of New Salem were 
 both at that time members of the legislature from Sangamon 
 County. The two men roomed together, and Jesse Fell lived in 
 the same house. These men were very interesting to the east- 
 erner, who noted the sharp contrast between Stuart's attractive 
 person and polished manners and Lincoln's big-boned, angular, 
 wrinkled face and direct ways. Stuart introduced Fell to Lin- 
 coln, and the two became almost at once great friends, for there 
 was in them a fundamental likeness which transcended all dif- 
 ferences of creed, training or destiny. The friendship of the 
 trio lasted to the death of the president in 1865, and was ce- 
 mented by much mutual service. In 1838, when Stuart was a 
 candidate for Congress against Stephen A. Douglas, both Fell 
 
 13 Fell to David Davis, Dec. 15, 1885. Lewis, Life, 3. Lawrence 
 Weldon, "Memorial of Jesse W. Fell" in Fell Memorial.
 
 20 JESSE W. FELL [284 
 
 and Lincoln exerted themselves to the utmost to insure his elec- 
 tion. Douglas and Fell also, in spite of the vigorous opposition 
 of the latter on this and other occasions, were good friends, 
 serving each other in many ways with the greatest cordiality. 14 
 
 Mr. Fell almost immediately, in spite of his youth and inex- 
 perience, seems to have become a leading citizen. This was 
 partly due, of course, to the fact that he was Bloomington 's 
 first regularly trained and capable lawyer ; but it must also have 
 been largely owing to innate qualities of leadership and to that 
 singular charm and adaptability to which many of his generation 
 have borne witness. In 1833, Benjamin Mills wrote to him ask- 
 ing for support for his candidacy to represent the third con- 
 gressional district in the next Congress. He interested himself 
 in securing a mail route from Bloomington to Springfield, con- 
 cerning which Governor Joseph Duncan wrote encouragingly in 
 the spring of 1834. He was in requisition for Fourth of July 
 orations, citizens ' mass meetings, and debating-clubs. In 1834 
 he became, by appointment, commissioner of school lands for 
 McLean County. The county records of that and the succeeding 
 year show many mortgages which he drew up with the school 
 money, both for town lots and for farms. The last of these was 
 made in October of 1835. 15 
 
 Early in that year the state legislature chartered the State 
 Bank of Illinois, of which Mr. Fell became an agent. This insti- 
 tution consisted of a "parent bank" at Springfield, with 
 branches scattered over the state, and had a capital of one and 
 a half million dollars. During 1835 and 1836 the bank made 
 seventy-seven mortgages in the city and vicinity of Bloomington, 
 to most of which Fell's name is signed as witness to instrument. 
 The bank passed out of existence in February, 1842, having sus- 
 
 14 Fell to Lincoln, July 20, 1838. Lincoln to Fell, undated, about July 
 25, 1838. Douglas to Fell, March 21, 1844. 
 
 15 School money in Illinois was at this time unappropriated to its 
 ultimate use. Benjamin Mills to Fell, Feb. 22, 1833. (Mills was opposed 
 in this election by W. L. May, another personal friend of Fell.) Joseph 
 Duncan to Fell, Apr. 4, 1834. The manuscript of a Fourth of July ora- 
 tion, delivered in 1833 or 1834, is interesting in that it contains, besides 
 the usual congratulatory and patriotic sentiments, a strong plea for free 
 public schools. Fell delivered this same oration again in Clinton many 
 years later, at which time he noted the presence of two or three Revo- 
 lutionary soldiers.
 
 285] EARLY YEARS 21 
 
 pended specie payment in May, 1837, with its bills at fifteen per 
 cent discount. 16 
 
 The records of these and other enterprises show that by 1840 
 Fell had become a man of position and prominence in Central 
 Illinois. He was known chiefly for his dealings in real estate, 
 and of these it is meet to speak more fully. 
 
 16 N. H. Ridgley to Fell, Oct. 30, Nov. 2, Nov. 6, Nov. 13, 1835; May 
 3, 1836. E. J. Phillips to Fell, May 10, 1836. Ridgley to Fell, Oct. 11, Oct. 
 29, Nov. 18, 1836. Phillips to Fell, Nov. 26; Ridgley to Fell, Oct. 26 
 and 29, 1836. See Thompson, "A Study of the Administration of Gov- 
 ernor Thomas Ford," in Governors' Letter-Books, 1840-1853^ xii'-l, 
 (///. Hist. Col. VII) ; Ford, History of Illinois, 191 ff.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE, 1834-1856 
 
 The preemption law of 1830, practically reenacted in 1834, 
 provided that when two men settled on the same quarter-section 
 of government land, each of them might preempt an additional 
 eighty acres anywhere in the same land district. 1 These claims 
 were called "floats." Many poor men were induced by capital- 
 ists to lend their names for floats, later to sell the claims so ac- 
 quired for enough to pay for the land they lived on. In this 
 way many hard-pressed pioneers were enabled to gain a title to 
 their farms, while such land-buyers as were shrewd enough and 
 had the requisite ready money, secured much fine land in Illi- 
 nois during the '30 's. Mr. Fell, who first visited the village of 
 Chicago late in 1833, afterward remarked to friends that land 
 in that locality might be secured in this way, and that it would 
 be a paying investment, as a great city would eventually stand 
 on the lake-front at that point. His friends laughed at him, as 
 much of the land for which he prophesied immense future values 
 was covered with water during most of the year. 
 
 But one man in Bloomington, William Durley, declared that 
 he believed Fell right in his estimate of Chicago's future, and 
 loaned him money for real-estate operations there. He de- 
 manded a high rate of interest as compensation, or if he pre- 
 ferred it when the time of settlement came, half of the land. 
 With this money Fell secured four floats in the fall of 1834, the 
 land being within the limits of the present city. When the notes 
 were due, Mr. Durley chose half the land as his share. Part of 
 the two "eighties" which came to him, Fell laid out in town 
 lots. 2 The rest of the land he sold to David Davis, Dr. John An- 
 
 1 2ist Cong. Sess. I., Acts of the United States, Chap. 209, 2. (May 
 29, 1830.) 23rd Cong. Sess. I., Acts of the United States, Chap. 54, 2-3. 
 (June 19, 1834.) Treat, The National Land System, 1785-1820, 306, 386. 
 Fell to his parents, Nov. 17, 1833. 
 
 2 Lewis states {Life, 26) that they comprised "Fell's addition to Ca- 
 nalport". The property lies between 26th and 3ist streets, and west of 
 the tracks of the former Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago R. R. (now 
 part of the Pennsylvania System). 
 
 22
 
 287] BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE 23 
 
 derson, James Allin, M. L. Covell and O. Covell for eight thou- 
 sand dollars, taking their notes for the amount. After the crash 
 of 1837 he took back the land and surrendered the notes at the 
 earnest entreaty of the purchasers. His purpose was to hold the 
 land for the advance which he knew would follow when better 
 times had restored confidence. But altho he held out against 
 the storm longer than many, his liabilities were such finally 
 that he had to sacrifice even this resource. He mortgaged the 
 *' eighties" for eight hundred dollars each, the mortgages being 
 foreclosed by David Davis and others. 3 
 
 While he owned land in and around Milwaukee, Fell was 
 much interested in the development of that city and of the 
 state of Wisconsin. Governor John Reynolds, writing to him 
 from Washington in 1836, sent the pleasant news of assured fed- 
 eral aid for a lighthouse in Milwaukee harbor, a survey of the 
 harbor, and a "road to start from that point running west to 
 the Mississippi." William L. May, having been elected to the 
 National House of Representatives, attempted at Fell's earnest 
 solicitation to secure a post-office at Chippewa, but failed, be- 
 cause Chippewa was then still in the Indian country. Fell 
 owned lands "up the river from Cassville" in Wisconsin, in 
 1837, and made an inspecting tour among the Indians in "the 
 pine country" in the autumn of that year. 4 
 
 But these operations in real estate in places far distant from 
 his own home, were insignificant when compared with Fell's 
 part in the development of Central Illinois. Gaining a reputa- 
 tion as a judge of land in connection with his business of locat- 
 ing tracts for settlement and investment, and becoming thor- 
 oly acquainted with the topography of the country and with 
 land values, through his work of loaning school funds and State 
 Bank funds, he entered early into extensive operations in Illinois 
 lands for himself and others. He had great faith in land. When 
 a boy, spending unhappy hours picking the stones from the 
 rocky farm in Pennsylvania, he had dreamed of the prairie, and 
 
 3 Lewis, Life, 25-27. Fell was at this time unable to borrow money 
 of Eastern capitalists, while Davis had friends from whom he secured 
 the funds. William L. May to Fell, Feb. 28, 1838. 
 
 4 John Reynolds to Fell, June 28 and July 6, 1836. (Reynolds was 
 financially interested in the lands dealt in by Durley and Fell.) Fell to 
 Hester Vernon Brown, July 30, 1837 : "from the Plain River, Cook County, 
 "Wisconsin." Fell to Wm. Brown, Aug. 24, 1837.
 
 24 JESSE W. FELL [288 
 
 wished that he might own farms in the land where, travelers 
 said, there were no stones in the fields. He was in a position,, 
 during those halcyon years between his arrival in Illinois and the 
 great panic of 1837, to satisfy this early ambition. He did so on 
 a scale which only the low land values and the easy speculation 
 of the day made possible. He was one of a generation of men of 
 large faith and far vision, who believed in their states, who fore- 
 saw the empire of the West that was to be, and who supported 
 their faith by generous investments. There were, besides men of 
 such a stripe, any number of mere adventurers, wildcat specula- 
 tors, who also contributed to the false feeling of security and pros- 
 perity that preceded the panic of 1837. The General Assembly, in 
 1836 and 1837, entered into an ambitious series of internal im- 
 provements, which while it saddled the state with a debt of more 
 than fourteen million dollars, was nevertheless a strong stimu- 
 lant to progress. The period was one of rapid development. 
 Merely to have been upon the market, to have been bought and 
 sold, to have a price, gave value and prominence to the western 
 lands and to western enterprise. When in addition to this towns 
 were founded and eastern people settled upon the prairie farms, 
 when mail routes and railroads were projected and built across 
 the wastes that separated the frontier cities, when schools and 
 churches and shops gave to western life an approximation of 
 conditions ''back East," the goal of the builders of the West 
 seemed in sight. 6 
 
 In this work of nation-building Jesse Fell had no small part 
 in that region which he adopted for his home. He worked mainly 
 in Central Illinois, with Bloomington as a center, but branched 
 out wherever opportunity offered. Clinton was among the first 
 towns in which he became interested. He founded the town, 
 with James Allin, in 1835, naming it for DeWitt Clinton. Mr. 
 Fell had entered a goodly amount of land about the site of his 
 proposed town before laying it out, and made a handsome profit 
 from the sale of town lots. The town owes to him, as did all the 
 places where he had a chance to plant, its early growth of trees. 
 
 Fell did not escape paying the price for what he accom- 
 plished. His restless energy led him to overwork, and in June, 
 
 5 Mail routes were established by Congress in response to petitions 
 from citizens of the localities to be served. In 1838, for instance, the- 
 people of McLean and Tazewell counties asked for a mail route from 
 Bloomington to Lacon. It was not granted at once, but came after some 
 delay. Richard M. Young to Fell, Feb. 21, 1839.
 
 289] BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE 25 
 
 1835, he became very seriously ill. He was in Chicago at the 
 time of his seizure, on the twenty-third of the month, and started 
 on the next day for Bloomington, hoping to reach his friends be- 
 fore the malady developed into one requiring constant care. He 
 succeeded in reaching the home of Dr. Gaylord at Oxbow Prairie 
 in Putnam County, where he was taken in and cared for while he 
 lay helplessly ill for three weeks. At the end of that time he 
 was placed in a carriage and taken to Bloomington, not without 
 further injury to his health, and was unable to attend to his us- 
 ual duties until about the end of July. Early in August, how- 
 ever, he made a long trip to St. Louis, stopping at the Brown 
 home in Delavan on the way. He himself attributed his illness 
 to exposure and overwork, explaining to his family that in the 
 six months preceding it he had ridden not less than five thou- 
 sand miles, going sixty, seventy, eighty, and even eighty-five 
 miles a day. These journeys, he further pointed out, he had made 
 in every kind of weather, hot and cold, wet and dry, swimming 
 his horse through streams and afterward riding in wet clothes 
 for hours, and making long rides at night. But the end for 
 which he had endured these hardships was by that time gained, 
 and he registered a vow never again to abuse his health and 
 strength in this manner. He had made, he said, not only what 
 he himself needed, but also a surplus with which to aid those 
 who had long aided him. 6 
 
 Having thus earned a rest, in the autumn of that year he 
 went back to his old home for the first time since settling in the 
 West, stopping on the way for a visit at the home of his brother 
 Thomas in Lancaster, Ohio. In Pennsylvania he suffered a re- 
 turn of his former illness, lying ill at his brother Robert's in Lit- 
 tle Britain for over a month. In the spring of 1836, however, he 
 was back in Bloomington, not only looking after his own inter- 
 ests, but planning for his brother Kersey. He had entered land 
 for his brother Joshua during the preceding year, and this was 
 deeded to him in May, 1836. Kersey Fell, after a period of 
 clerkship for Covell and Gridley, was made clerk of the newly 
 erected DeWitt County with power to organize it. He was later 
 admitted to the McLean County bar and practised for many 
 years in Bloomington. Thomas left Ohio for the same place af- 
 ter his brother's visit in the autumn of 1835. Rebecca Fell, a 
 
 6 Fell to some member of his family, Aug. 3, 1835. When Kersey 
 Fell arrived in Bloomington the next spring, he was told that his brother 
 was "one of the richest men in town". Lewis, Life, 25.
 
 26 JESSE W. FELL [290 
 
 favorite sister, was being educated at Kimberton Boarding 
 School, and later became a teacher in McLean County. 7 In 1837 
 all of Fell's family who were not already in the West came to 
 Bloomington, where they made their home subsequently. 
 
 Two years after his family had followed him to Illinois, Mr. 
 Fell married Hester Vernon Brown, a daughter of that home 
 which had first welcomed him to the West. She had been "fin- 
 ished" at a boarding school in Springfield since the days when 
 Fell had been tutor in the Brown home. Rev. Nathaniel Wright of 
 Tremont, a Universalist clergyman, performed the marriage cere- 
 mony, for both bride and bridegroom had become somewhat 
 liberal as to Quaker ways and Quaker customs. 8 The wed- 
 ding day was January 26, 1838. Mr. Fell's parents were not 
 present, but his sister Rebecca and his brother Kersey attended, 
 and his close friend David Davis was best man. Joshua Brown, 
 brother of Hester, who was also a friend much valued, came to 
 the wedding from his home in Edwards County, and afterwards 
 helped to move the household goods into the cottage that Mr. Fell 
 had built in Bloomington. This cottage, later enlarged by many 
 additions, was on the land which Fell subsequently sold to David 
 Davis. In the accomplishments of Jesse Fell his wife had no 
 small part. She was a notable "manager," in the comprehen- 
 sive sense in which that word is used in speaking of housewives. 
 She was courageous, capable, and independent. In her own 
 home and in the community she seconded the efforts of her hus- 
 band with sympathy and ability. Outliving him by twenty 
 years, she was privileged to carry out some of the plans which he 
 himself had left unfinished; and in the same time she demon- 
 strated the force of her own personality, which for so many years 
 she had chosen to make second to his. 
 
 After the first few years in Bloomington Fell neglected his 
 law practice in favor of the more congenial work of buying and 
 
 7 McLean County Historical Society Transactions, II, 35. Fell to 
 Hester V. Brown, Feb. 28, 1837. Rebecca Fell to Fell, Nov. 20, 1836. 
 In this letter Fell's sister expresses the greatest love for and gratitude 
 to him. It is finely written and quaintly composed, but unbends in places 
 to a degree of childish carelessness and even to one faint suspicion of 
 slang. Other letters, models of an art carefully taught in girls' board- 
 ing schools of that day and showing both strength of character and an 
 irrepressible sense of humor, are dated June 10, Sept. 25, Oct. 23, and 
 Christmas, 1836. 
 
 8 Rachel Sharpless (a great-aunt) to Hester Brown. Undated, but 
 about 1836.
 
 291] BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE 27 
 
 selling land. In 1836 he sold out both books and practice to 
 David Davis, altho he continued to use the same office with 
 him for some time. Davis had come from Maryland in the au- 
 tumn of 1835, and settled in Pekin. The chills and fever of the 
 early prairie days so sapped his strength that he had about de- 
 cided to leave Illinois, when Jesse Fell, alert for a good lawyer 
 to whom he might turn over his now burdensome practice, per- 
 suaded him to go to Bloomington. He offered his own books, 
 office and whatever financial aid might be necessary, as an in- 
 ducement ; and kept through a long life his promise of friendship 
 and help. With the practice and office, Fell sold him several hun- 
 dred acres of land, at the prevalent price of eight dollars per acre, 
 and this land became the nucleus of Davis' subsequently consid- 
 erable fortune. 9 
 
 His real estate and other business took Fell frequently to 
 the eastern cities. In 1841 he made such a trip, of which inter- 
 esting details are to be found in various letters. Bidding his 
 wife good-bye at Pekin, whence she went to her father's home 
 with her son Henry, to stay until her husband's return, he 
 boarded the Glaugus for St. Louis. There he waited from 
 Monday until Wednesday for a boat to Cincinnati, taking then 
 the Goddess of Liberty, which he declared " a splendid boat," 
 and which reached the city on Sunday evening. On Monday 
 morning he took passage in the Tioga for Wheeling, thence by 
 stage to Baltimore, where he arrived June 20, 1841. Two days 
 later he was in Washington. 
 
 In that city he met, in the House of Representatives, his old 
 preceptor and friend, General Stokeley of Steubenville. He in- 
 terested Stokeley in the manuscript of a book he had with him, 
 which had been copyrighted in March; and the two men ar- 
 ranged for its publication. It was a digest of laws and forms 
 relative to real estate, evidently intended. to be used as a refer- 
 ence or text book. No further reference is made to it after 1841, 
 and it was never published. Fell wrote to his -wife at the time 
 that he had secured favorable attention from some of the best 
 
 9 The Bloomington Observer and M'Lean County Advocate of April 
 22, 1837, contains the professional card of "David Davis, Attorney and 
 Counsellor at Law. . . Office on Front street, with J. W. Fell, Esq. . ." 
 The same newspaper contains the card of Thomas Fell, vendue crier. 
 Fell in the Pantograph, June 29, 1886.
 
 28 JESSE W. FELL [292 
 
 lawyers in the country concerning it. ' ' We think we shall be able 
 to make some money out of it, ' ' he added. 10 
 
 Jeremiah Brown, a member of the House, was another old 
 friend whom it was a pleasure to greet. The Westerner found 
 much entertainment in visiting sessions of Congress, and wrote 
 his wife faithful accounts of what he saw there. Clay had intro- 
 duced his bank bill, which many thought would pass, " although 
 some fear." Fell heard him make a strong plea for it, which, 
 he wrote home, was ' ' a great effort ; " he still thought Clay a very 
 great man, but had decided that noted men are in general like 
 others ' ' distance lends enchantment . . . " "I yesterday vis- 
 ited the President and Post Office Department and had a cou- 
 ple of local postmasters dismissed. The President [Tyler] is a 
 clean, good sort of man but 'ugly as sin.' ' He predicted the 
 creation of a national bank, the repeal of the sub-treasury law, 
 the distribution of the proceeds of the sale of public lands, 
 a slight modification of the tariff events that any loyal Whig 
 might easily persuade himself that he saw upon the political 
 horizon. 
 
 From Washington he returned to Baltimore, and took pass- 
 age in a steamboat down Chesapeake Bay to the eastern shore of 
 Maryland, where he visited Frank Brattan, an old Bloomington 
 friend. Returning to Baltimore, he went the next day to Phil- 
 adelphia, noting the fact that it required but five hours to go a 
 hundred miles. In Philadelphia he was most impressed, to judge 
 by the space given to the matter in one of his punctiliously fre- 
 quent letters to his wife, by a new " bonne tt" being worn by the 
 Quaker girls of that city. "I have concluded," he wrote her, 
 ' ' when I get ready to start home to buy thee a Bonnett, if I can 
 muster money enough to spare of a very pretty fashion lately 
 introduced. If I get one I will get the materials to make some 
 more of the same kind. ... I have almost fallen in love with 
 the Quaker bells of Chestnut Street on account of their pretty 
 bonnetts. Not perhaps entirely on account of their bonnetts 
 either but because they are in the first place in themselves very 
 pretty and secondly because their dress and deportment is so 
 
 10 The complete title : Digest of the Statute Laws of the States and 
 Territories of the United States concerning the promissory notes and 
 bills of exchange the limitations of actions the conveyance of real es- 
 tate and the appropriate modes of authenticating deeds, devises, letters 
 of attorney, etc. Copyright Office Records, U. S. D. C. MISC., March 
 6, 1841 ; District of Illinois. Fell to his wife, June 22 and July 6, 1841.
 
 293] BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE 29 
 
 neat and modest. Of all the city girls in the world commend 
 me to the Philadelphians. " He promised his son Henry books 
 and toys in the same letter. 
 
 During his stay in Philadelphia, besides attending to the 
 business which had taken him to the East, he visited a close 
 friend, Joseph J. Lewis, at Westchester. The return trip was 
 made by way of New York City and the Great Lakes. Fell ex- 
 pected to reach his home by the first of August or thereabouts; 
 there is no record of the exact date of his return. The details 
 of this trip to the East have been given with some degree of ful- 
 ness, not only because they serve to illustrate many of Fell's in- 
 terests, but because this was the first of many similar journeys; 
 for until old age forced him to limit his activities, he made one 
 or two trips to the Atlantic seaboard each year. 
 
 The real estate business, indeed, entailed far more absence 
 from home than suited Fell, but it also took him much into the 
 open, which was with him a strong consideration. Its financial 
 returns were greater than those of law practice, and it brought 
 him into constant contact with many men, and with the very 
 heart and spirit of the growth of the West. But the panic of 1837 
 put a stop to real estate operations, as to all other business. Fell 
 lost all that he had gathered together, and was compelled to take 
 benefit of the bankruptcy law of 1841. Surrendering all his lands, 
 he was discharged from his indebtedness (which was later en- 
 tirely repaid), and began again, as penniless as when he first 
 came to Illinois in 1832. As the bankruptcy court offered much 
 business for lawyers, he took up his old profession again, re- 
 luctantly but with marked success. The sessions were held in 
 the United States court at Springfield, and the work brought Fell 
 again into his old strenuous habits. He invariably prepared his 
 cases in Bloomington, that he might be with or near his family 
 as much as possible ; then leaving his home at sunset, he would 
 appear in court the next morning, ready after his all-night drive 
 to prosecute the business of the day. 11 
 
 "Certificate of admission to the Illinois District Court, Feb. 10, 1842. 
 In an interview with Richard Edwards long afterwards, Fell explained 
 his dislike of law by saying that he wished to be able to use his powers 
 of persuasion where conviction urged, and not for money from clients; 
 and that he disliked to live indoors. "A few years later, having accu- 
 mulated some property, he voluntarily paid all his indebtedness, although 
 not legally liable." E. M. Prince, "Jesse W. Fell;" Lewis, Life, 34.
 
 30 JESSE W. PELL [294 
 
 But the practice of law was as irksome to him as it had been 
 before, and he planned to escape from it as soon as possible. Since 
 real estate offered no means at that time, he resolved to try farm- 
 ing, and for that purpose moved in 1844 to a new home, which 
 was known then and for many years after as Fort Jesse. Some 
 people, appalled at its distance of four miles from the town, 
 called it Fell's Folly. It had been entered for Joseph J. Lewis, 
 and was far from any other habitation, having but one house 
 between it and Bloomington. There was a stream upon the 
 place, which in rainy seasons of the year became too swollen to 
 be forded. Here Fell made a cabin, and broke the virgin prairie 
 in very real pioneer fashion. He rejoiced in the opportunity to 
 plant trees, and put out many of the black locusts which were re- 
 garded at that time as particularly well fitted to Illinois condi- 
 tions, since they grew rapidly and produced a very hard and dur- 
 able wood. The borer, which makes the black locust an enemy 
 to all other trees and a nuisance in a community, had not then 
 appeared. 12 
 
 The life of the Fells at Fort Jesse was the life of a typical 
 pioneer family. Nightly there burned in their window the 
 candle which pioneer custom prescribed as a guide for travel- 
 ers; and nightly, there howled around it the prairie wolves. 
 Henry Clay Fell relates an incident which illustrates the condi- 
 tions under which the prairie farm became a home. Mr. Fell 
 and his wife had gone to Bloomington, and while they were ab- 
 sent a storm had swollen the stream so that it became impass- 
 able. Two children, Henry and Eliza, had been left at the farm, 
 and at the coming of the storm they became much frightened. 
 While they crouched in a corner, a big grey wolf thrust in his 
 head at the window, where a pane of glass had been broken out. 
 Henry, altho then but seven years of age, had the courage of 
 pioneer children, and threw a footstool at the wolf's head, which 
 frightened him away. The pet deer, which the children had 
 brought into the cabin, and which attracted the wolves, was later 
 given to a son of General Gridley. 13 
 
 In 1845 Fell bought a farm of one hundred acres near Pay- 
 son, Adams County, to which he moved from Fort Jesse that au- 
 tumn. About forty acres of the farm were in timber ; and thirty 
 acres of that under cultivation were set out to trees, Fell's inten- 
 tion being to establish a nursery which should cater to the mar- 
 
 12 Jacob Spawr in Pantagraph, July I, 1881. Lewis, Life, 35. 
 13 Lewis, Life, 35. Interview with Henry Fell, May 31, 1913.
 
 295] BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE 31 
 
 ket afforded by the increasing settlements in the neighborhood 
 of Quincy. The nursery business did not meet his expectations, 
 altho he sold enough fruit to make the venture a paying one. 
 The farm, which was about a mile and a quarter northwest of 
 the village, was known as Fruit Hill. As Quincy afforded him 
 his nearest large market, Fell set to work to have a good road 
 made to that town. He succeeded, largely through his own exer- 
 tions, in securing a straight road of twelve miles which passed 
 through his farm. 14 
 
 During this period he found time to take an interest in 
 various public affairs, and particularly in education. He spoke 
 at teachers' institutes, 15 and was much concerned for the wel- 
 fare of the local Methodist church, of which he became a member. 
 When he moved to Fruit Farm there was only a private school 
 at Payson, but during his residence a "seminary," kept in such 
 a way as more fully to serve the needs of the community, was 
 opened. Farming did not prevent an active interest in state 
 and national affairs, as a letter from Lincoln at this time shows. 
 As an orthodox Whig, he strongly disapproved the management 
 of the Mexican War, and wrote to Lincoln, then serving his state 
 in Washington, to ask him to present a petition for a speedy 
 peace. Lincoln promised to do so at the proper time, but added 
 that there was in Washington a feeling that the war was over 
 and that the treaty sent in would be endorsed. 16 v 
 
 In 1849 a number of the citizens of Quincy, led by John 
 Wood, afterward governor, resolved to go to California, where 
 the gold fields were attracting people from all parts of the world. 
 Fell was asked to join^the party, and made preparations to go, 
 altho it was necessary to borrow money for the expedition. He 
 went to Bloomington and bade his friends good-bye, but at the 
 last minute failed to raise the funds necessary for an outfit, and 
 gave up the project. 
 
 In 1851 he arranged to return to Bloomington by trading 
 his Payson farm to his brother Robert for a farm of two hun- 
 dred forty acres near Bloomington. Robert Fell disposed of his 
 nursery stock to F. K. Phoenix, who came to Bloomington from 
 Delavan, Wisconsin, at Jesse Fell's earnest solicitation. Start- 
 ing with Robert Fell's stock of trees, Phoenix in time developed 
 
 14 Lewis, Life, 37. Fell to Rachel Brown, Oct. i, 1848. 
 "The report of one such address, given before the Adams County- 
 Institute, is in the Western Whig of July 20, 1850. Lewis, Life, 36. 
 "Lincoln to Fell, Mar. i, 1848.
 
 32 JESSE W. FELL [296 
 
 one of the most famous of the nurseries for which Normal was 
 later notable. 
 
 Upon his return to Bloomington Fell first engaged in news- 
 paper work, of which mention is made elsewhere more particu- 
 larly. He soon gave that up, however, to reenter the field of real 
 estate, which was again becoming a source of profit. Having lit- 
 tle money of his own, he made a trip to New York and Boston 
 in the autumn of 1852, for the purpose of interesting eastern 
 capitalists in Illinois land. 17 In this he was very successful, and 
 during the decade following he bought and sold great tracts of 
 land throughout Central Illinois, founded several towns, and en- 
 larged others. Pontiac, Lexington, Towanda, Clinton, LeRoy, 
 El Paso and other towns were among those in which he was 
 largely interested. He made additions to Bloomington and De- 
 <?atur, and dealt in town lots in Joliet and Dwight. North Bloom- 
 ington, later Normal, was first planned in 1854. 18 
 
 "With the founding of these towns came the need of means of 
 communication and transportation. In road-building of the 
 primitive sort which served Illinois for years, Fell did his part. 
 He secured, for instance, the surveying of a wagon-road parallel 
 to the railroad, from Bloomington to Towanda, altho he did 
 not succeed in having it extended to Lexington. He was active in 
 making a similar road from Lincoln to Minonk. Early in his life 
 he had learned surveying, and this stood him in hand later in 
 many ways. His ability to measure land and determine lines 
 saved time and money in numberless instances. 19 
 
 17 Fell to his wife, Sept. 26, 1852. 
 
 ^Pantograph, Sept. i, 1899, Nov. 28, 29, and Dec. i, 1902. Bloom- 
 ington Intelligencer, Aug. 10, 1853. The first plats of North Bloomington 
 (undated, probably 1854) were lithographed by Latimer Brothers and 
 Seymour, 15 Nassau st., corner of Pine, N. Y. Mr. Fell's interests in 
 Pontiac came very near ending disastrously. An addition to the original 
 town was made on land bought from a youth whose father sold it as 
 his guardian. Later, the Supreme Court made a decision in a similar 
 case which would have invalidated the Fell title and all subsequent 
 titles, had not an astute lawyer of Pontiac, R. E. Williams, been able 
 to prove that the young man had accepted his guardian's arrangements 
 and receipted him. The Supreme Court upheld the Fell title. 
 
 For an account of an unsuccessful attempt at town-founding, see 
 J. O. Cunningham, History of Champaign County, 672 ff. Judge Cun- 
 ningham quotes Peck's Gazetteer (1837), which mentions "Byron, a town- 
 site in Champaign County", on page 168. Bloomington Observer, Nov. 
 17, 1838. Pantograph, Aug. 24, 1901, and Nov. 29, 1902. 
 
 "Interview, Henry Fell, May 31, 1913.
 
 297] BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE 33 
 
 Going farther afield, in 1855 he bought timber lands in 
 Southern Illinois, and built a lumber mill at Ullin, where the 
 Illinois Central railroad crosses the Cache Eiver about twenty 
 miles north of Cairo. Lyman Blakeslee was his partner in this 
 mill, and his brother Kersey in another at Valley Forge, which 
 was operated by Elijah Depew, an old neighbor in Bloomington. 
 E. J. Lewis, who was employed by Fell for about six months at 
 Ullin, records that the winter of 1855-56 was an unusually cold 
 one in Southern Illinois, the thermometer often falling to eight- 
 een degrees below zero. Armed with stout sticks and a compass, 
 Fell and Lewis tramped over the frozen swamps, personally in- 
 specting the low lands. The growth was cypress for the most 
 part, and the strange "knees" (root protuberances) greatly im- 
 pressed the two Pennsylvanians, to whom growths so fantastic 
 were entirely new. The mill at Ullin was kept busy sawing out 
 logs, for the unusual amount of ice in the rivers did great dam- 
 age to the steamboats on the Mississippi and the Ohio, breaking 
 wheels and injuring hulls. Putting into Cairo, they secured oak 
 and other lumber for repairs from Ullin by rail. 
 
 The brisk business of that winter led Fell to put great faith 
 in the Ullin venture, and in the autumn of 1856 he moved his 
 family to that place. But the normal demand for lumber in 
 Southern Illinois was not sufficient to guarantee a prosperous 
 business, and in the spring the family returned to North Bloom- 
 ington. The mills not having fulfilled their initial promise, Fell 
 again turned his attention chiefly to real estate, which had not 
 been neglected during his residence at Ullin. 20 In 1856 he adver- 
 tised for sale "about 5000 acres of land" in Livingston, McLean, 
 and Vermillion counties, and about three hundred fifty town 
 lots in various parts of Illinois. 21 In the autumn of that year he 
 conducted at least one auction sale of lots (at Towanda) and this 
 method of sale was repeated on a considerable scale in the fall of 
 1857. Late in the decade his holdings became very large, while 
 records in the abstract offices show that he drove a lively business 
 in transferring property. 
 
 It was during the summers of 1856 and 1857 that Fell built 
 the house at Fell Park in North Bloomington, which became aft- 
 erward one of the landmarks of Normal. The house still stands 
 (1916), altho removed from its original site. It was a roomy 
 square wooden structure, with a cupola atop, and verandas built 
 
 2 Lewis, Life, 44. 
 
 ^Pantagraph, July 2, 1856. Tax list, May 14, 1859.
 
 34 JESSE W. PELL. [298 
 
 around three sides. It stood upon a knoll which Mr. Fell had 
 selected more than twenty years before as a good place for his 
 final residence. 22 Here he secured about eighteen acres on the 
 edge of the town, and planted the land to trees and shrubs ac- 
 cording to the plans of William Saunders of Philadelphia, a land- 
 scape gardener of reputation. A herd of deer was added later, 
 and the park was frequently opened to the public. 23 Men 
 great in the history of Illinois and the nation were entertained 
 there ; it became a famous meeting-place of notable people. Love- 
 joy, Bryant, Lincoln, Davis, Swett, and other leaders were fre- 
 quent visitors. The Fell children entertained their friends there 
 freely; it was a center of social life. The master of the house, 
 himself usually absorbed in business, liked to have people about 
 him enjoy themselves. In the town's first years, this was the 
 only private house in Normal in which dancing was permitted. 
 
 The years at Fell Park were so full and so pleasant that one 
 likes to linger upon the story of its life. There Mr. Fell's chil- 
 dren grew to maturity, busy with many tasks and very happy. 
 Here his elder daughters Eliza and Clara were married, the for- 
 mer to "W. 0. Davis, for many years editor of the Pantagraph, 
 and the latter to Lieutenant James B. Fyffe, an officer of the 
 Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer regiment. Here the older chil- 
 dren went to school, with their cousins and neighbors, in a small 
 building used temporarily as a carpenter shop during the 
 building of the house. This was a district school, but as 
 it failed to meet all requirements, Mr. Fell employed Miss Mary 
 Daniels, lately graduated from Mt. Holyoke, to teach his own 
 children, their cousins, and the McCambridge children in his 
 own home. This private school was continued until the "model 
 school ' ' at the Normal School opened. 24 
 
 The master of the house, who never grew away from the 
 simple ways of living in which he had been bred, directed the in- 
 dustries of the home group. He was himself a man busy with his 
 
 22 In 1833, when riding over the prairie with a neighbor named Kim- 
 ler, Mr. Fell remarked that the roll in the prairie would be an ideal 
 place for a home ; whereupon Kimler had replied that probably no one 
 would be fool enough to build so far from the timber. Grace Hurwood 
 to Fannie Fell, Mar. 16, 1913. Captain J. H. Burnham, in his "Our 
 Duty to Future Generations," an Arbor Day address delivered at the 
 I. S. N. U. on April 21, 1905, relates the same incident. 
 
 23 J. D. Caton to Fell, Aug. 9, 1866. 
 
 24 William McCambridge, My Remembrances of Jesse W. Fell. (MS.)
 
 299] BUSINESS VENTURES AND HOME LIFE 35 
 
 hands, where other men of his interests would have had manual 
 labor done by others. He pruned his own trees and supervised 
 personally the planting of shrubs or the erection of new build- 
 ings. All this workaday enterprise was not conducive to an ap- 
 pearance of immaculate grooming. His wife, and more especially 
 his daughters, tried to look after him to keep him fresh and trig. 
 His friends, driving to Fell Park to consult him on business or 
 politics, found him perspiringly industrious on the warmest sum- 
 mer days. Distinguished company, received in the parlor, waited 
 while Mr. Fell was being hunted through field and orchard. ' ' The 
 girls" waylaid his path with the paraphernalia of refreshment. 
 Somewhere between the back porch and the front parlor, a hasty 
 scrub, a brushing and a clean collar must be administered. He 
 submitted to this loving supervision good-naturedly; he loved to 
 be ' ' fussed over ' ' by his daughters, and he himself was a man of 
 fastidious personal habits. "It's all right, girls, it's all right," 
 he would say. No amount of feminine emphasis, however, could 
 persuade him that one's personal appearance was a matter of 
 great moment; he was interested in bigger things. The happi- 
 ness of generations to come was the enterprise of men such as 
 he, and in view of that a dusty coat or work-soiled hands could 
 matter little. 25 
 
 25 Mrs. L. B. Merwin (a grand-daughter), interview, Nov. 29, 1912. 
 Dr. Sweney, the family physician, related a story which shows Fell's 
 indefatigable energy. A refractory horse had kicked him until he was a 
 mass of bruises, and the doctor, being called to repair the damage, had 
 swathed him in bandages and soaked him in liniment and left strict 
 orders that he was to be kept quiet. The next day, calling to redress 
 the bruises, the distressed and apologetic family had to "chase after 
 father" down to the edge of the place, about a quarter of a mile, and 
 bring him up for examination and admonition. John Dodge, "Concern- 
 ing Jesse W. Fell," in the Fell Memorial.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE JOURNALIST, 1836-1858 
 
 In the very early days of Bloomington, General Gridley made 
 a yearly trip to the East to buy stock for his general store. In 
 the autumn of 1836, Jesse Fell and James Allin intrusted to him 
 the important commission of purchasing the equipment of a 
 printing establishment, and of finding a man to edit and print a 
 newspaper for McLean County. Gridley induced two men, -na- 
 tives of Philadelphia, to return with him : William Hill and W. 
 B. Brittain. Hill had been employed for some time upon the St. 
 Louis Democrat, and was acquainted with Western ways and con- 
 ditions. Brittain came directly from Philadelphia, having 
 shipped the press and type by way of New Orleans. The two 
 men arrived in October, but Brittain became discouraged and 
 went back to Pennsylvania before the coming of the outfit. Hill 
 stayed, and setting up his press in a room in the court house, 
 brought out on January 14, 1837, the first number of the Bloom- 
 ington Observer. About twenty numbers were printed before 
 the paper suspended publication. It was well edited and well 
 printed, for a frontier paper; but in the little struggling town 
 it found insufficient support, despite its spirited interest in all 
 that concerned the welfare of the place. 1 
 
 Fell and Allin were sadly disappointed at the fiasco. Al- 
 tho his finances were then at a low ebb, or possibly because 
 of that Fell bought what he did not already own of the sus- 
 pended Observer, and began to edit it himself in January, 1838. 
 This venture was somewhat more successful than the first one, 
 as the paper continued to appear for over a year, until condi- 
 tions caused by the hard times forced Fell again to stop its pub- 
 lication. The last number appeared in June, 1839, after which 
 time Bloomington had no paper for several years. Fell sold the 
 printing outfit, which tradition says was moved to Peoria. 2 
 
 The recovery from the severe depression of 1837 seems to 
 have been especially slow in McLean County, where land specu- 
 
 iPantagraph, Jan. 14, 1857. Interview with Henry Fell, May 31, 1913. 
 Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 27. 
 
 2 The Democratic Press was established there in February, 1840. Scott, 
 Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 278. 
 
 36
 
 301] THE JOURNALIST 37 
 
 lation had been very brisk. Not until 1845 was there found a 
 man who had the courage to undertake to publish a newspaper 
 there. In that year E. B. Mitchell started the McLean County 
 Register, but shortly gave it up to Charles P. Merriman, who es- 
 tablished a weekly, the Western Whig. He associated R. H. 
 Johnson with him late in 1849, and early in 1850 Johnson and 
 I. N. Underwood became proprietors and editors. They asso- 
 ciated Merriman with them again somewhat later for about six 
 months. This arrangement terminated on November 19, 1851, 
 at the end of the fifth volume of the Western Whig, when Mr. 
 Fell and Mr. Merriman undertook the joint management and 
 editorship of the paper. A new outfit of type, brought up the 
 Illinois River and carted over from Pekin, was purchased and the 
 name of the publication changed to the Bloomington Intelli- 
 gencer. This partnership was in turn dissolved on March 17, 
 1852, when Mr. Fell became sole editor and publisher. He man- 
 aged the paper until the end of that volume, November 17, 1852, 
 and then retired, being succeeded by Mr. Merriman as sole owner. 
 Mr. Merriman was a classical scholar of some repute, and 
 changed the name again to the Pantagraph, a name under which 
 it has become well known and very influential throughout Central 
 Illinois. 3 
 
 Fell 's connection with the Pantagraph did not cease with the 
 termination of his official editorship. His name appeared as 
 late as February 9, 1853, as contributing editor of the Intelli- 
 gencer. As a medium for moulding public opinion, he found it a 
 useful ally, and wrote for it often. Its editors and managers 
 found him a constant source of helpful suggestions, and seem to 
 have consulted with him on questions of business policy. 
 
 For many years after disposing of his partnership in the 
 Intelligencer, his newspaper work was of this occasional and un- 
 official nature. During the Civil War, his interest in reform cen- 
 tered in the struggle then waging, but after its close he cher- 
 ished the hope of establishing at Normal some kind of journal 
 which might become the mouthpiece of various reform move- 
 ments then more or less before the public. Interesting some of 
 his friends, he purchased an outfit for publishing a paper, and 
 was rapidly completing plans for its appearance when he learned 
 
 3 Lewis, Life, 38. The issue of the Western Whig for Dec. u, 1847, 
 is No. 6, Vol. II. It was published at No. 3 Brick Row, Front street. The 
 inventory of the printing outfit of the Western Whig (no date, probably 
 Nov., 1851), is among the Fell MSS.
 
 38 JESSE W. FELL [302 
 
 that Scibird and Waters, then proprietors of the Pantagraph, 
 were seeking a buyer for their paper. He had already carried 
 negotiations for an editor for his proposed paper, through corre- 
 spondence with Greeley and others, almost to the point of engag- 
 ing a certain Dr. Weil. 4 But as the Pantagraph had already a 
 wide circulation and a considerable influence, it was far more 
 valuable to a man with a propaganda than any newly estab- 
 lished sheet could be, and Mr. Fell, with James P. Taylor and his 
 son-in-law William O. Davis, made haste to secure it. This was 
 in August, 1868. , 
 
 The Pantagraph was a Republican organ of moderate parti- 
 zanship. Mr. Fell abandoned the idea of making Mr. Weil edi- 
 tor, deciding to fill that post himself. He entered into editorial 
 duties with zest, perhaps remembering his experience with the 
 ultra-ethical Eclectic Observer. Mr. Davis became business 
 manager. Fell was, however, a somewhat impractical chief, by 
 far too idealistic for the environment of a newspaper office. 
 Moreover, the confinement of office life was as irksome as ever. 
 After a few months, he gave up the editorial management, which 
 was taken over by his old friend Dr. E. R. Roe, in June of 1869. 5 
 Mr. Fell retained his connection with the paper until late Octo- 
 ber, 1870, when he sold out his entire interest to his son-in-law. 
 Mr. Taylor also disposed of his share to Mr. Davis, leaving the 
 latter entirely responsible. Mr. Fell thereafter confined his 
 newspaper work to occasional editorials and to special articles 
 upon the subjects which engaged his interest. 
 
 4 T. Tilton to Fell, Nov. 24, 1868. In this letter Dr. Weil, "long . . . 
 known to Mr. Bungay and Mr. Greeley," is recommended for the editor- 
 ship. 
 
 5 Dr. Roe had entered the Federal army as "a bitter Jackson Demo- 
 crat," but came back "a Black Republican." He was in every way the 
 man to carry on Fell's dream of a popular newspaper advocating reform. 
 He was very popular, having been advanced to a colonelcy in the army 
 from the ranks. Upon his return to civil life he was elected a deputy in 
 the circuit clerk's office to follow Luman Burr. Luman Burr in the Daily 
 Bulletin, July 6, 1913. Bloomington Democrat, Sept. 30, 1864; Panta- 
 graph, Oct. i, 3, 1864; Aug. 12, 1868; Nov. i, 1870; Mar. 13, Oct. 23, 1871.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 FOUNDING THE NORMAL SCHOOL, 1853-1860 
 
 The advocates of free public schools in Illinois secured a 
 law authorizing but not establishing them, as early as 1825. This 
 law was so amended as practically to annul it two years later, 
 which means that Illinois had no public school system until 1855. 
 The desire for an effective public school law took definite form 
 ^fter an impromptu conference at Bloomington of three men 
 who realized the need of the state and were disposed to take 
 measures to relieve it. These men were J. A. Hawley of Dixon, 
 H. H. Lee of Chicago, and Daniel Wilkins of Bloomington. 
 They issued a call to all friends of free schools for a meeting to 
 be held at Bloomington on December 26-28, 1853. The call was 
 signed by the secretary of state, who had charge of all educa- 
 tional affairs in those days, by the presidents and faculties of 
 two of the leading colleges of the state Shurtleff and Illinois 
 Wesleyan by the clergymen of Bloomington, and by others 
 who were interested. E. W. Brewster of Elgin was made presi- 
 dent of the conference, which was large and enthusiastic. Every 
 man who had a solution to offer for the educational problems of 
 the state was there with his resolutions, his friends, and his ar- 
 guments. 1 
 
 Several of the principles embodied in the resolutions passed 
 at that meeting were afterward incorporated in the state law, 
 and have been largely instrumental in shaping the educational 
 policy of Illinois. They included a plan for a State Teachers' 
 Institute, afterward the State Teachers' Association, which was 
 -carried out immediately and has been in operation ever since. 
 Another called for a state superintendent of schools, who should 
 -devote all his time to the interests of education. Authorized 
 
 1 State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, I, 127-138. Illi- 
 nois Teacher, I, 321-328. The convention here mentioned was not the first 
 -of an educational nature in the state, but the first that concerned itself 
 especially with the common school system. Illinois Teacher, I, 328-336. 
 .J. H. Burnham, "Educational Convention of 1853" in School Record of 
 McLean County (McLean County Historical Society; Transactions, II), 
 118-127. 
 
 39
 
 40 JESSE W. PELL [304 
 
 by a new state law, Governor Matteson appointed, on February 9, 
 1854, Ninian W. Edwards as the first superintendent of schools 
 in Illinois. A third resolution was in favor of a journal de- 
 voted to education. This periodical, called the Illinois Teacher, 
 was started after the Peoria meeting of 1854, with a curious 
 scheme of editorial management by which a different man was 
 made responsible for its contents each month. The result of this 
 division of labor was an uncertain quality of content and finan- 
 cial disaster. After a year's trial of the plan Mr. Charles E. 
 Hovey of Peoria, one of a valiant group of New Englanders who 
 were then the educational leaders of the state, was made editor 
 and manager. He was vigorous and able, and put the publica- 
 tion speedily and effectively upon its feet. 2 
 
 Then there came up a question which was bound to cause a 
 discussion, for it involved the fundamental differences of men 
 whose training and ideals gave them widely diverging concep- 
 tions of the needs and the consequent policies of the state. This 
 was the question of the establishment of some institution for the 
 better training of teachers. All were agreed that such a school 
 was a vital need; scarcely any two were agreed as to just what 
 type of school could, in this new and growing country, accom- 
 plish the end sought in the best way. Jonathan B. Turner, from 
 whose fertile brain came the vast and comprehensive scheme re- 
 sulting finally in the founding of the great state universities of 
 the Middle and Far West, 3 was trying to awaken enthusiasm for 
 a combination school to include agricultural, industrial, and nor- 
 mal school departments. The friends of the already established 
 denominational colleges, who feared the results of separating 
 education and religion by the founding of state schools, wished 
 to add normal departments to Shurtleff, McKendrie, Knox, and 
 "Wesleyan. A third group, armed with the record of the normal 
 schools of Massachusetts, strongly advocated a separate and "un- 
 trammeled" training-school exclusively for teachers.* 
 
 Jonathan Turner had organized the State Industrial League^ 
 a society working for a state industrial college, and numbered 
 Mr. Fell, who was director of the McLean County division, 5 
 
 2 State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, I, 146. Illinois' 
 Teacher, I, 8-18. 
 
 8 E. J. James, Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862, 25-27 (Univer^ 
 sity of Illinois Studies, IV, No. i). 
 
 *Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, II, 52. 
 
 5 Organized Feb. 9, 1854.
 
 305] POUNDING THE NORMAL SCHOOL 41 
 
 among his sympathizers and helpers. Fell was eager to see the 
 industrial college founded, but knowing that a normal school was 
 both more popular and more immediately needed, was willing to 
 wait for the realization of the more comprehensive plan. With 
 Turner he bent his energies toward uniting educational forces 
 for the accomplishment of some one definite object. 
 
 The various schemes were further discussed and worked 
 over at a meeting held in Peoria in December of 1854. At the 
 third meeting in Springfield it became plain that the advocates 
 of a separate normal school were strongly in the majority, and 
 the next year in Chicago they secured the passage of a resolution 
 to the effect that the Association did not wish "to discuss any 
 university question, but occupy themselves with the interests of 
 common schools and Normal schools." Mr. Turner, whose vis- 
 ions of the future did not blind him to immediate demands and 
 practical methods, yielded his own larger plan with a grace 
 made possible by his great faith in its ultimate realization : and 
 the Association passed a resolution which called for an appro- 
 priation for "the immediate establishment of a State Normal 
 School for the education of teachers." 6 
 
 The legislature, which had already (in 1855) established a 
 free school system, passed the desired law, and Governor Bissell 
 signed it on February 18, 1857. The law designated the members 
 of the state board of education, who were in charge of the af- 
 fairs of the school, but did not state its location, which was to be 
 decided by competitive bids. 
 
 It was after the passing of this law that Fell's interest iu 
 the normal school became intensified by the hope of securing it 
 for Bloomington. Long before this he had hoped to see an insti- 
 tution of learning, the exact nature of which was not then clear 
 to himself, in the town of North Bloomington. Upon his return 
 from Payson he had become a member of the first incorporated 
 board of trustees of the "Wesleyan University, serving until 1857. 7 
 Now he saw in the projected normal school an opportunity of 
 realizing quickly his dream of making North Bloomington a 
 school town, and so attracting to it the class of citizens he wanted 
 
 'Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, II, 53ff. Illinois 
 Teacher, I, 254. 
 
 7 His greatest service to the institution lay in his influence in changing 
 its location from Seminary Avenue near the present Chicago and Alton 
 shops, in the outskirts of Bloomington, to the central site which it occupies. 
 James Shaw in Fell Memorial, 4; John F. Eberhart, ibid. 19.
 
 42 JESSE W. FELL [306 
 
 it to have. The block for the ' ' Seminary ' ' had long been selected, 
 but he abandoned it in favor of a larger tract farther removed 
 from Bloomington. Other people had other ideas as to what was 
 the best site. Five, besides the one favored, were offered. The 
 other five, however, had less in the way of subscription attached 
 than the one he advocated. This was part of the Parkinson farm 
 of three hundred fifty acres, owned at that time by Dr. Joseph 
 Payne and Meshac Pike, who had recently bought it. David Da- 
 vis and E. W. Bake well each added about forty acres, which 
 made the tract about a quarter-section. 
 
 Mr. Fell carried on the work of securing subscriptions, aided 
 by others who reported to him regularly. The amount of the 
 subscription was kept out of the newspapers, and very little 
 said of the matter where rival towns might hear of it. Any- 
 thing that could be used was solicited; and land, cash, notes, 
 even nursery stock and freight donations, were given. Friends 
 of popular education outside the state were appealed to by some, 
 altho few if any responded. 8 As is often the case, many 
 of the offers were saddled with embarrassing conditions. One 
 set of offers stipulated that the site should be within a mile of 
 Bloomington ; another, that it must be within three-fourths of 
 a mile of the railroad crossing at North Bloomington; still an- 
 other, within three miles of Bloomington. Mr. Fell's site satis- 
 fied all these conditions. 
 
 Meantime other towns had not been idle. Batavia offered 
 a ready-made plant in the grounds and buildings of the Batavia 
 Institute and fifteen thousand dollars in cash. Washington, in 
 Tazewell County, offered the buildings and grounds of Washing- 
 ton Academy and cash to the amount of twelve hundred dollars. 
 Peoria was known to be piling up a large subscription, but no 
 one in Bloomington could find out just how formidable this rival 
 was. 9 
 
 It was at this point that John F. Eberhart gave substantial 
 help. He was a teacher who had been forced by ill-health to give 
 up regular classroom work, and who spent much time in holding 
 
 8 Among these was Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Church 
 of the Disciples. He seems to have been favorable to the project at first, 
 but later declined to help. Thirty years after, Fell attributed this to 
 Campbell's statement that "Mr. Bakewell and wife had done enough." 
 Bakewell had married Campbell's daughter. Campbell (Bethany, Va.) tp 
 Fell, 1857. 
 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, II, 286-291.
 
 307] POUNDING THE NORMAL SCHOOL 43 
 
 institutes throughout the state. This gave him an opportunity 
 to know conditions thoroly, and his knowledge of conditions 
 made him greatly interested in the projected normal school. He 
 met Mr. Fell first when attending an educational meeting in 1855 
 or 1856, when he was entertained at the Fell home. The two men 
 became fast friends, and when Eberhart found out how keenly 
 Fell wanted the normal school for his own town, he was minded 
 to give all possible aid. This resolution was strengthened by his 
 own dislike for Peoria, which he considered undesirable because 
 it was ' ' a river town and a whiskey town. ' ' He entered into the 
 contest for Fell and Bloomington, even as Simeon W. Wright 
 was entering it as a champion of Hovey and Peoria. For about 
 three months he worked with Fell in McLean County, a guest at 
 his home and party to all his plans. 10 
 
 About a week before the final decision was to be made, Eber- 
 hart made a trip to Peoria to see clearly just what the situation 
 there might be ; and chanced, fortunately for his purpose, upon 
 a friend, a teacher, who in his enthusiasm told him the amount 
 of the subscription already secured. Returning at once to Bloom- 
 ington, he told Fell that it would be necessary to raise the Bloom- 
 ington subscription. Fell asked him if a ten thousand dollar ad- 
 vance would be sufficient, and Eberhart replied that it would 
 have to be more than that. Fell suggested fifteen thousand, but 
 Eberhart repeated that it must be still more. Fell inquired if 
 twenty thousand would do, and received the same reply. But 
 when he was asked if twenty-five thousand would cap Peoria 's 
 bid, Eberhart replied that such a bid would secure the normal 
 school. Fell vowed that Bloomington would raise the money. 
 
 But he wanted to see for himself just how things were at 
 Peoria, since Eberhart 's sense of honor prevented him from tell- 
 ing details. He knew that a powerful stimulus, combined with 
 knowledge of the real situation, would be necessary if his towns- 
 men were to be persuaded to raise their already generous bid. 
 Eberhart had brought him the news from Peoria on Friday, May 
 3, 1857. At Fell's request, he set off at once for Chicago, to in- 
 terview the three members of the board resident there, in the in- 
 terests of the Bloomington location. If these men were at all un- 
 friendly, they were effectively won over by Eberhart during the 
 week-end he spent in Chicago. 
 
 Meantime, having seen Eberhart off, Fell harnessed Tom to 
 the buggy and set off for Peoria, where he knew there was to be 
 
 10 John Eberhart, in Fell Memorial, 23.
 
 44 JESSE W. FELL [308 
 
 a citizens' mass meeting that night. He covered the forty-five 
 miles in time to attend the meeting, and was observed in the 
 audience by Hovey. No attempt, however, was made to keep 
 secret the amount of the subscription at this meeting. The jubi- 
 lant committee, sure that in the short time left no competitor 
 could equal their offerings, were not alarmed even at the sight 
 of their rival's appearance an apparition that would have 
 meant more to them had they know him better. 
 
 It was late when the meeting adjourned, but early the next 
 morning Fell was back in Bloomington, briskly presenting to the 
 leading citizens the somewhat appalling dictum that an addi- 
 tional twenty-five thousand dollars must be subscribed. He be- 
 gan by raising his own cash subscription to two thousand dollars, 
 with seventy-five hundred dollars in Jackson County lands, worth 
 about five dollars an acre. Others caught his enthusiasm and 
 added to their subscriptions until the individual pledges, already 
 totalling fifty thousand dollars, amounted to seventy-one thou- 
 sand. The county commissioners, who had before subscribed for 
 the county a sum equal to the private subscriptions, now added 
 to the swamp lands already promised, enough to bring the whole 
 amount raised to one hundred forty-one thousand dollars. 11 
 
 The meeting of the board was to be in Peoria on the seventh 
 of May. A tour of inspection to the proposed site at ' ' the Junc- 
 tion, " as Normal was commonly called then, preceded the meet- 
 ing. The weather had been very rainy and the bare prairie about 
 Bloomington was a hopeless swamp, not liable to make a favor- 
 able impression upon critical visitors. Mr. Fell went over the 
 ground carefully the night before, found every mud-hole and 
 every dry ridge, and mapped out a course for the carriages in- 
 tended to minimize the danger of being mired in a bottomless pit 
 of Illinois mud. When the board made its tour of inspection, 
 Fell rode in the first carriage, and personally directed the driver 
 over the uncharted, soggy ground. The drivers of the other 
 carriages had orders to follow the first undeviatingly on pain of 
 losing life and wages, and on no account to allow the horses to 
 become mired. So conducted, the board made a safe trip and 
 
 "The three county commissioners who risked their popularity and 
 tenure of office to secure the normal school (for the pledge had to he 
 made without recourse to a vote) were A. J. Merriman, Milton Smith, 
 and Hiram Buck. They were reelected that fall, but were superseded by 
 a board of supervisors which ratified their action in May. Superintend- 
 ent of Public Instruction, Reports, II, Appendix 22, 37iff.
 
 309] FOUNDING THE NORMAL SCHOOL 45 
 
 was returned to the station without accident. The young trees 
 planted along the streets of North Bloomington made a good im- 
 pression upon the members, it is recorded. From the proposed 
 site they went to the station, where they were to board the train 
 for Peoria. Some half a dozen Bloomingtonians and a reporter 
 accompanied them. 12 
 
 At Peoria there was a similar inspection of the site offered, 
 after which the board sat publicly at the court house. The Bloom- 
 ington bid was accepted, with conditions attached to secure the 
 somewhat precarious county subscription, which had to be guar- 
 anteed by citizens. 13 Over eighty prominent Bloomingtonians 
 signed this guarantee, Abraham Lincoln drew up the bond, and 
 the pledges were all met. 14 
 
 Bloomington was exultant when Fell and his friends brought 
 back to them the news that they had won the new school, and 
 plans for the town that would in time grow up around it were 
 rampant. Ground for the building was broken promptly, the 
 cornerstone being laid on the twenty-fifth of September with 
 all due ceremony. Fell's address on that occasion revealed hi* 
 own conception of the future of the school. He hoped in time it 
 might become what, for reasons of financial expediency, it was 
 then called : a university. Especially, he hoped that an agricul- 
 tural school with an experiment farm would eventually become 
 part of the school, and that courses in mechanical studies might 
 be added as opportunity offered. 15 
 
 The question of the principalship was a lively issue. Fell, 
 who was a warm personal friend of Horace Mann, had long cher- 
 ished in his heart the hope of securing his services for the need- 
 ful West. When planning the "seminary" which was to have 
 been located on the east side of the present Broadway in Nor- 
 
 12 This reporter was Edward J. Lewis, later editor of the Pantograph, 
 and Fell's lifelong friend. The account given, with many incidents not 
 here noted, is found in his manuscript Life of Fell. Weekly Pantograph, 
 May 27, 1857. Lincoln Weldon, interview, July 12, 1913. 
 
 "Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, II, 359-364. 
 
 "7Wd, II, 373-378. 
 
 15 The new school was to be financed from the income of the college 
 and seminary fund, then about ten thousand dollars per year, which was 
 permanently diverted for this purpose. Many, not without good ground, 
 objected to this diversion, and it was to answer their representations that 
 the singularly inappropriate name of the Illinois State Normal "Univer- 
 sity" was used, a name which has been retained even after the founding 
 of the state university. State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Re- 
 ports, I, 123 ; II, 276 ; Illinois Teacher, III, 395.
 
 46 JESSE W. PELL [310 
 
 mal, he had corresponded with Mann and others relative to its 
 constitution, scope and curriculum. He now asked the great edu- 
 cator if he would consider the presidency of the proposed nor- 
 mal school. Mr. Mann was favorably disposed, and before the 
 location of the school had been actually secured, a subscription 
 list signed by Bloomington citizens promised material aid in 
 raising the salary of Horace Mann were he to become the head 
 of the new institution. 16 
 
 The meeting of the board at which a ' ' principal ' ' was to be 
 elected was held in Bloomington. Shortly before the time of 
 meeting, a prominent friend of the Peoria faction came to John 
 F. Eberhart, who with Fell led the pro-Mann party, and told him 
 that it was a matter of political necessity that an Illinois man 
 be elected to the position. "If you elect Mann we'll kill him," 
 said this advocate of local sovereignty ; and he further intimated 
 that nothing but the appointment of a Peorian could satisfy the 
 disappointed politicians of that city. When the situation be- 
 came known to Horace Mann, he telegraphed to Eberhart that 
 he would not be a candidate for the place if there were to be any 
 fight connected with it. Since Fell was equally opposed to dis- 
 sensions at this critical time and realized thoroly the need of 
 united support for the principal of -the struggling institution, the 
 plan of securing Horace Mann was reluctantly given up by his 
 friends, and the Middle West lost the strength which might have 
 accrued to this school through the leadership of the greatest edu- 
 cator of his day. 17 After Mann, Mr. Charles Hovey was gener- 
 
 1<5 The subscription list, dated May I, 1857, was signed by Jesse W. 
 Fell, K. H. Fell, W. H. Allin, C W. Holder, Jos. Payne, John Magoun, 
 F. K. Phoenix, John Dietrich, E. Thomas, McCann Davis, and amounted 
 to $750. Mr. Mann had agreed to accept the presidency at $2500. John 
 F. Eberhart, in Fell Memorial, 24, and interview, June 20, 1913. Mann to 
 Fell, June 23, 1856. President F. Wayland of Brown University to Fell, 
 Jan. 29, 1853. Illinois Teacher, III, 107. 
 
 17 It has been said that the liberal religious views of Mann were 
 largely responsible for that disapproval which resulted in the vigorous 
 opposition to his presidency, the powerful Methodist faction in the state 
 considering him a dangerous leader of the young in spite of his ability. 
 Certain it is that his abolitionist leanings aroused antipathy among that 
 large number who sympathized with slavery or feared to have the ques- 
 tion agitated. Pro-slavery advocates especially remembered a speech of 
 Mr. Mann in which he had vigorously assailed Daniel Webster and the 
 Compromise of 1850. These considerations, combined with the fact that 
 Hovey was able to command powerful forces in support of his own can- 
 didacy, were quite sufficient to defeat the large-visioned plan of FelL
 
 311] FOUNDING THE NORMAL SCHOOL 47 
 
 ally considered the best man for the position, although Eberhart, 
 who declined the nomination, and a Mr. Phelps were also con- 
 sidered. On the final vote, Hovey was elected by a bare majority. 
 
 Once elected, Hovey set to work with great energy and abil- 
 ity to make the normal school a success. The task was a hard 
 one. School opened in the historic Major's Hall, perched atop 
 a grocery store on Front street in Blopmington. There were 
 twenty-nine pupils on the opening day, October 5, 1857, and 
 more followed soon, the total enrollment for the year being one 
 hundred twenty-seven. There were two assistants, and a "model 
 school ' ' for observation and practice. 
 
 The troubles of the normal school began with the panic of 
 1857. Many of the men who had led in the subscriptions found 
 themselves unable to pay what they had promised, and the com- 
 missioners were unable to sell the swamp lands that had been 
 counted upon so confidently. Even the title to these lands was 
 found to be uncertain, and Fell made a trip to "Washington to 
 secure the complete and formal deed, in order that the lands 
 might be available in case buyers appeared. 18 He returned early 
 in November, with word that the official confirmation would be 
 sent to Springfield. New complications arose, however, after he 
 had left Washington, and the patents for the thirty thousand 
 acres were not issued until January, 1858. The last payment on 
 the pledge from the county lands was paid in October, 1864. 
 
 The uncertainty of realizing money from the county grant, 
 with the scarcity of money in general and the unwillingness of 
 one or two of the wealthy land-owners to turn over their prom- 
 ised acres at the time when they were most needed, made it im- 
 possible to make the first payment to the contractors, and work 
 was suspended in December of 1857. Of all the thousands sub- 
 scribed, not even six or seven could be collected for immediate 
 use. The ingenious expedients of Charles Hovey during the dark 
 days that ensued included every possible scheme for making 
 something out of nothing. The school was without money, with- 
 out established credit, and without that public support which 
 comes with the tradition of success. Some of its opponents began 
 to suggest that a failure so apparent be abandoned. A few stanch 
 
 18 In August, 1855, being himself unable to go, Fell had sent his son 
 Henry, now grown to manhood, to Washington to look after the school 
 warrants for Illinois, W. F. M. Arny being then in the patent office. He 
 (Henry Fell) remained until the last of October, and was moderately 
 successful in his mission.
 
 48 JESSE W. FELL [312 
 
 friends upheld the hands of the determined president at this 
 time, risking their own property by signing the notes it was 
 necessary to make. These men were Charles and Richard Holder, 
 and Jesse and Kersey Fell. Dr. George P. Rex and S. "W. Moid- 
 ton also helped by giving personal notes. The merchants of 
 Bloomington stood loyally by the school, furnishing materials on 
 credit upon the basis of the faith of the friends and guarantors 
 that the next legislature would make appropriations to cover all 
 debts. This was done at the next session, and work upon the 
 building was resumed in the spring of 1859. The school moved 
 into its new quarters in the autumn of 1860, and on October 5 
 of that year the last brick was laid, with short speeches, cheers, 
 and a free picnic lunch for all. 19 
 
 It seemed to Fell and to other friends of the normal school, 
 that a formal dedication of the building would call attention to 
 the institution, and gain it friends and influence. It was a time 
 of great anxiety and uncertainty, and there were some who hesi- 
 tated to take time and expense for such an occasion during a 
 period of national peril. The dedication, however, which was on 
 January 30, 1861, not only gained the end for which it was 
 planned, but afforded a relief from the tense anxiety of the time, 
 a, comforting assurance of at least one great good accomplished, 
 which gave heart and encouragement to all who attended it. Mr. 
 Fell worked indefatigably to make the occasion successful. In- 
 vitations were sent to all the prominent men in the state, and 
 great crowds attended from Bloomington and the nearby towns. 
 It was one of the first normal schools built west of the Allegha- 
 nies, and the first state-endowed educational institution in Illi- 
 nois. Governor Yates and Ex-Governor Bebb of Ohio were there, 
 and many lesser stars. The speeches were given in the great hall 
 of the new building, and the feast which crowned the occasion 
 was in Royce's Hall in Bloomington. Mrs. Fell and her cousin, 
 Mrs. Holder, planned and managed the banquet, at which the 
 mayor presided and Mr. Fell was toastmaster. 20 
 
 Fell's interest in the school continued always, and for many 
 years was actively shown. He attended the public meetings, en- 
 couraged the literary societies, and while a member of the board 
 of education superintended the planting of the campus, of which 
 
 "Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, II, 99-103. 
 20 Newspaper clippings, undated, in the Scrapbook. Illinois Teacher, 
 VII, 78.
 
 313] FOUNDING THE NORMAL SCHOOL 49 
 
 more in another chapter. 21 Through the years of its gradual 
 growth and establishment he was regularly the man who secured 
 the necessary appropriations at Springfield. 
 
 21 G. B. Robinson, secretary of the Wrightonian Society, to Fell, April 
 30, 1861. Mr. Fell became an honorary member of this society.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 POLITICAL ACTIVITIES, 1840-1860 
 
 The strong admiration which Fell had for Henry Clay led 
 him to take a prominent part in local politics during the first 
 three years of his residence in Bloomington. He was never of 
 those who consider politics so inherently and ineradicably evil 
 that honest men can have no part in them. Politics interested him 
 in an absorbing way at times. He used the machinery of govern- 
 ment as a means of securing good ends, and also probably with 
 a keen appreciation of the fun of the game. And he was one of 
 the few men who do not ask or receive material compensation for 
 their participation in public affairs. 1 
 
 Until 1840, his political activities seem to have been mainly 
 along the line of securing various favors for the districts in which 
 he was interested, and in urging the election of men who fa- 
 vored internal improvements. In that year he was much in de- 
 mand for stump speeches throughout Central Illinois, where the 
 campaign lacked none of that picturesqueness which character- 
 ized it in the country as a whole. On one occasion a monster pro- 
 cession was organized in Bloomington, to go to Peoria, forty 
 miles away. The chef-d'oeuvre of the expedition was a great 
 cannon Black Betty drawn by twelve horses, and with twelve 
 veterans of the War of 1812 upon it. The procession stopped at 
 Mackinaw, Tremont, Washington, and other towns on the way 
 for meetings. At Washington, after Fell and others had spoken, 
 General Gridley was called upon for a speech, and responded 
 acceptably. The possibility of entering political life appealed ta 
 General Gridley, and that fall he was nominated and elected to 
 the lower house at Springfield. Fell advised him the next year 
 to study law, and had afterward the pleasure of seeing him very 
 successful in this profession. The friendship between these two 
 men was cemented by mutual service and sacrifice, for part of 
 the debts for which General Gridley filed a petition in bankruptcy 
 in 1842 were contracted as security for Fell and others in enter- 
 
 1 James Ewing, Memorial Address to Bloomington Bar Association,. 
 1887. Manuscript in Fell Papers. 
 
 50
 
 315] POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 51 
 
 prises in which both were interested. 2 Fell was able later amply 
 to compensate his friend for his devotion, but he never forgot the 
 service rendered at the time of the great panic. 
 
 Besides the stump speaking, Fell reached the people by 
 means of a circular letter, dated January 20, 1840, which set 
 forth the evils of the Jackson regime and the necessity for re- 
 form in the person and under the leadership of General Harri- 
 son. This document is couched in somewhat pompous phrase- 
 ology, but direct, pointed, and dignified the latter a character- 
 ictic rare enough to be appreciated in the Western campaign lit- 
 erature of that day. 
 
 Fell's position on the question of repudiation is worthy of 
 comment. The financial panic of 1837 was of unequaled sever- 
 ity throughout the Middle "West, and its effects lasted well into 
 the next decade. Men who were able to weather the first months 
 of the long depression went under after brave resistance, when 
 the depression had continued until their hoarded resources were 
 exhausted. One after another, they took benefit of the bank- 
 ruptcy law passed by a special session of Congress called by Har- 
 rison. Land depreciated in value until the best tracts were sold 
 for a song, and then were offered vainly to buyers at any price. 3 
 Not only were individuals ruined by the panic and hard times; 
 it was many years before the state of Illinois recovered from the 
 effects of 1837. The State Bank, as has been noted, suspended 
 payment in 1837, and failed in 1842. The state's internal im- 
 provement scheme did not collapse until about 1840, when the 
 legislature repealed the law. The construction of the Illinois 
 and Michigan Canal had stopped in 1839, and was not resumed 
 for some years. Interest on the state debt was paid regularly, 
 however, until 1841, when payments were suspended until July, 
 1846. The state became so seriously involved that many recom- 
 mended the extreme means of practical repudiation of the state 
 debt. This proposal aroused the more thoughtful of the men of Ill- 
 inois to a strong protest, and none opposed the suggestion more 
 vigorously than Jesse Fell. He published, in 1845, an open letter 
 to the Senate and House of Illinois, which was widely copied and 
 
 2 The petition was made under the law of 1841, and bears date of Feb. 
 10, 1842. The schedule of debts amounts to $52,999.42. See Fell's sketch 
 of Gridley in Duis, Good Old Times in McLean County, 262-276. 
 
 3 So late as 1848, Robert Fell was offered eighty acres near the farm 
 of his brother close to Bloomington for $3 per acre. Lewis, Life, 27.
 
 52 JESSE W. FELL [316 
 
 probably had a considerable influence upon the public opinion of 
 the day regarding repudiation. He recommended the imposition 
 of a slight tax, which he said the people would gladly pay, and 
 which would recognize the moral obligation of the state. In ad- 
 dition to the primary motive of common honesty, he urged that 
 the passage of such a law would relieve the state of the responsi- 
 bility for the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which the bondhold- 
 ers would then take off its hands. 4 
 
 During these years Fell remained a loyal Whig, working in 
 the party councils when occasion required, but steadily refusing 
 to accept office. In 1850 the Whigs of the neighborhood of 
 Quincy it will be remembered that this was while he lived at 
 Payson urged him to stand for representative. " [Your views] 
 on the really important question of the times the non-extension 
 of slavery, will not only meet the approval of the entire Whigs 
 
 4 Copy of a Letter upon State Repudiation, Jesse W. Fell to the Sen- 
 ate and House of Illinois, 1845. The following quotations will serve to 
 show his position, which was that of the more conservative thinkers in the 
 state generally : 
 
 "... We stand as on the verge of a precipice, and one false step 
 may precipitate us to a depth of dishonor and infamy from which we may 
 never recover. ... In such a contingency [practical repudiation] our credit 
 and reputation as a state will not only be gone but, it is feared, past re- 
 demption ; practical repudiation will have received your sanction, and, 
 in return, will consign the State to a depth of infamy from which 
 she can never hope to emerge; . . . Where, let me ask, is the 
 distinction, in morals or common honesty, between the man who boldly 
 proclaims he will not pay a debt, which he alleges was illegally contracted, 
 though based on a valuable consideration, and him who acknowledges that 
 he justly owes, has the means of making restitution, but refuses to make 
 the first effort to do so? ... 
 
 "Let us inquire, in the next place, what will be the practical effect, 
 what the objects to be attained by this tax, light tho' it be. If no other 
 object was attainable, that of merely paying the amount of what we justly 
 owe would of itself be all-sufficient, and should impel us to a prompt and 
 cheerful performance of the act. But this is not all. By so doing you 
 will practically extinguish, you will relieve the people of $6,000,000 of 
 their public indebtedness. Our bond holders stand pledged, in the event 
 of the passage through your bodies of a revenue law, imposing a light tax 
 for the purpose of paying a part of the accrueing interest on our debt, to 
 take the Michigan and Illinois Canal, with its attendant burdens, off our 
 hands, and prosecute it to completion within a given period. Thus reliev- 
 ing us of about one half of our immense State debt."
 
 317] POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 53 
 
 of the county, but will I believe tend to secure a strong vote from 
 the free-soilers, who probably in this county and certainly in the 
 congressional district, hold the balance of power," wrote a local 
 Whig leader to him at the time. 5 Fell refused the nomination. 
 
 A little later he found in the columns of the Intelligencer a 
 means of influencing public opinion which was practicable even 
 when his private affairs kept him busiest. 6 He was untiring in 
 his efforts for his friends, and seems in all cases to have given ad- 
 vice which subsequent events justified. Again in 1854 there was 
 a demand that he be a candidate for the legislature, and another 
 refusal. He was wont to remark to his friends, indeed, that after 
 1852 his interest in politics was buried in the grave of Henry 
 Clay. That interest experienced a prompt and complete resusci- 
 tation, however, upon the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. 
 In common with most Friends, the Fell family had long been 
 abolitionists, and when it became clear that the new Bepublican 
 party was to be organized about the central idea of opposition to 
 the extension of slavery, they united with it eagerly. 7 
 
 The party was organized in Illinois on the 29th of May, 
 1856, in Major's Hall in Bloomington, altho several prelimi- 
 nary meetings had been held and the leaders were already well 
 
 5 N. Bushnell to Fell, Aug. 23, 1850. 
 
 6 For instance, Richard Yates, in a letter dated Nov. 17, 1852, explains 
 his methods of winning the election of 1852, and thanks Fell for his de- 
 fense of him in the Intelligencer, and for his help for several years past. 
 Yates' account of the campaign is very interesting. He wrote letters, of 
 which he had 150 copies made, to send to Whigs of influence, both known 
 and unknown to him. After ten days he went through each county in the 
 district, "had a little night meeting in each (this is what the Register 
 called my still hunt) and at the end of that time I commenced speaking 
 at the various county seats on a run, and in twenty days the whole Whig 
 columns from center to circumference were moving in solid phalanx and 
 shouting victory all along the line Calhoun was cowed his friends 
 alarmed Judge Douglas and Shields and Gregg and Harris &c were 
 brought to the rescue lying handbills and malignant falsehoods were 
 brought in requisition, but in vain I went to bed the night of the election 
 conscious of victory." 
 
 7 Jesse Fell to his son, Jesse W. Fell, June 16, 1832. In this letter 
 Fell's father tells of his mother's activity and interest in meetings held to 
 express sympathy for the colored people. Mrs. Fell the elder was an ad- 
 mirer of Mrs. Mott and cooperated with her in her efforts. E. M. Prince 
 states in the Fell Memorial that the senior Fell operated a station of the 
 Underground Railroad.
 
 54 JESSE W. FELL [318 
 
 united. 8 The convention held at that time was supposed to be 
 composed of one delegate for each six thousand people, which 
 gave three delegates to McLean County; but others besides dele- 
 gates participated freely in its business, especially as there seems 
 to have been practical unanimity concerning what was to be 
 done. People came in crowds from all parts of the state, and 
 there was great enthusiasm, which reached its highest pitch when 
 Lincoln gave the famous ' ' Lost Speech. ' ' Local tradition places 
 Fell among the many speakers whose efforts were entirely lost 
 sight of in the splendor of that matchless oration ; but his charac- 
 teristic activity at such times, it may be remarked in passing, 
 was rather the framing of resolutions and the urging of progres- 
 sive measures privately among his friends, than the making of 
 speeches. 
 
 By 1856, Illinois people had come thoroly to realize that 
 the Whig party had ceased to be ; but the character and policy of 
 its successor was not altogether clear. In no state, perhaps, was 
 the Republican party made up of elements more diverse than 
 composed it in Illinois. The third congressional district, for in- 
 stance, comprised in 1856 thirteen counties. 9 The southern coun- 
 ties, still largely influenced by their southern antecedents, abomi- 
 nated abolitionists. The northern counties had been settled 
 mainly by New England and Ohio people, who brought with them 
 very decided anti-slavery views. Fifty-five delegates, represent- 
 ing the thirteen counties, met in convention July 2, 1856, and 
 nominated Owen Love joy, altho McLean and all the southern 
 counties had been instructed for Leonard Swett. Love joy was 
 known to be an abolitionist, an ex-member of the Liberty party. 
 Moreover, the southern counties had long yielded the nomination 
 to those of the north, and thought that a sense of fairness should 
 have granted them the nomination when they urged so able a 
 candidate as Leonard Swett. Because of these things, the dis- 
 gruntled counties held another convention on the sixteenth of 
 
 8 Major's Hall was the third story, now demolished, of a building still 
 (1916) standing on Front street in Bloomington. Pantograph, June 4, 
 1856. Joseph Medill, "Lincoln's Lost Speech," in McClure's Magazine, 
 Sept., 1896. For an account of attempts at Republican organization before 
 1856, see J. H. Burnham, History of Bloomington and Normal, 109-114. 
 
 9 Kendall, Will, Grundy, La Salle, Bureau, Putnam, Kankakee, Iro- 
 quois, McLean, DeWitt, Champaign, and Vermillion, of which the present 
 Ford County then formed a part.
 
 319] POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 55 
 
 July at Bloomington, and nominated Judge T. L. Dickey of 
 Ottawa. 10 
 
 Fell had been in the East during the first convention, at Ot- 
 tawa, but he was known to be strongly in favor of Swett. He 
 had gone on private business, but hoping to attend the latter part 
 of the Republican convention at Philadelphia, a hope which was 
 frustrated by delay in his business affairs. He returned, how- 
 ever, in time to attend the great ratification meeting in the square 
 in Bloomington, on the evening of the convention day. After 
 the "bolters" had spoken, some one called on Love joy, who had 
 appeared upon the scene. He came to the front and delivered a 
 speech so powerful that he won the unfriendly crowd completely. 
 It was a wonderful victory for the abolitionist, and for the prin- 
 ciples of freedom and equality which he advocated. 11 
 
 On the second evening after, another mass meeting was held 
 on the square, at which Fell offered resolutions in favor of Love- 
 joy. The crowd was again carried away with enthusiasm, and 
 readily adopted them. Lovejoy sentiment grew from day to day. 
 Judge Dickey later withdrew from the contest, and Lovejoy was 
 elected by a large majority. It was during this campaign that 
 there sprang up the warm friendship between Fell and Lovejoy, 
 which was to last until the death of the latter in 1864. 
 
 During the campaign that followed Mr. Fell made many 
 speeches. The Republican organization in Illinois was rapidly 
 completed, and the party pushed its campaign so energetically 
 that it won the governorship, altho the Democrats were suc- 
 cessful in the general elections. During the summer the Bloom- 
 ington Democratic and Republican clubs exchanged speakers, 
 Mr. Fell being invited to represent his party before the Demo- 
 cratic Club. 12 He was active in the county nominating conven- 
 tion in September. Throughout the summer, however, he seems 
 studiously to have confined himself to local activities. 
 
 Among the forces that were powerful in shaping public 
 opinion in Illinois after 1853, were the Kansas Aid Committee 
 
 10 Pantagraph, June 11, July 2, 9, 23, 1856; April II, 1868. 
 
 "Brush, The Political Career of Owen Lovejoy (manuscript thesis, 
 University of Illinois), 12. Prince says (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois 
 and History of McLean County, 1029) that this appearance of Lovejoy 
 had been planned by Mr. Fell, who thought it the best way of reconciling 
 discordant elements in the party. Burnham, History of Bloomington and 
 Normal, 114. 
 
 12 Adlai Stevenson in Fell Memorial, 4pff.
 
 56 JESSE W. PELL [320 
 
 and its allies. General W. F. M. Arny, a West Virginian who 
 lived in North Bloomington, was a leader in the work of helping 
 Northern men in Kansas. 13 The big barn at his home was a depot 
 of supplies for Kansas families sent in by sympathizers from far 
 and near. The town was a recruiting station for immigrants 
 bound for Kansas. The Fells, being anti-slavery people, helped 
 in the work. In 1856, at the national convention of the society 
 held in Buffalo, Abraham Lincoln was appointed on the National 
 Kansas Aid Committee. He declined to serve, however, alleging 
 other pressing duties, and recommended Fell as a substitute. 
 General Arny wrote at once to Fell offering him membership, as 
 representative for Illinois, and asking him to attend the meeting- 
 in Chicago on July 30. Fell in turn declined, recommending 
 Arny himself for the post, to which in due time he was ap- 
 pointed, and served with marked ability. 14 
 
 After 1856 Fell's interest in politics did not flag. His map 
 of Illinois, with the senatorial districts carefully inked in, and 
 the party vote for each district for 1858 written in the margin, 
 shows how closely he kept track of conditions and tendencies. He 
 was close to the people, and knew their ideas and their heroes. 
 He was close to the leaders, knowing their ambitions and their 
 motives. He was interested in all public affairs, concerned with 
 the growth of the country, solicitous for the right solution to na- 
 tional problems. 15 In 1857 he was commissioned by the state 
 central committee as corresponding secretary to visit different 
 parts of Illinois for conferences with leaders. He knew the pulse 
 of the state as no one else could. 
 
 As has been noted, Fell met Lincoln in 1834-5, when Lincoln 
 and Stuart were serving in the state legislature. At circuit court 
 sessions they were more or less closely associated while Fell con- 
 tinued to ride the circuit, and after he had given up law for real 
 estate their friendship continued. In the campaigns of 1840 and 
 1844 they were active and friendly Whig partisans. They called 
 each other by their Christian names, and it was noted with 
 
 13 Wm. M. McCambridge, "My Remembrances of Jesse W. Fell," man- 
 uscript. Pantograph, June 25, July 2 and 23, 1856. 
 
 14 Arny to Fell, July 22, 1856. Chicago Tribune, same date. The Pan- 
 tograph of July 23, 1856, says that "A. Lincoln is a member of the na- 
 tional committee." The facts were related by Fell himself in a letter to 
 a newspaper, Oct. 3, 1881 ; Scrapbook. 
 
 "Dept. of Interior to Owen Lovejoy, May 25, 1858. Lovejoy to Fell; 
 undated.
 
 321] POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 57 
 
 amusement by their common acquaintances that Fell never 
 called Lincoln ''Abe" after the easy fashion of most Illinoisans. 
 It was one of the Quaker characteristics which gave him a gentle 
 dignity which all men respected, that he did not use nicknames. 
 Lincoln was often at the Fell home in Bloomington, and the two 
 men seem to have carried on a friendly correspondence whenever 
 there was public business upon which they might cooperate. 
 
 John F. Eberhart says that Jesse W. Fell and his brother 
 Kersey were the first men to suggest Mr. Lincoln as presidential 
 timber. 16 Be this as it may, there is no question that the idea of 
 joint debates between Lincoln and Douglas originated with Jesse 
 Fell and was repeatedly suggested until the debates became a 
 reality. They were first proposed by Mr. Fell in September of 
 1854 on the occasion of a speech by Senator Douglas in Bloom- 
 ington. Mr. Fell's request was then based on a general desire 
 of people to hear the two together. Douglas declined to debate, 
 and Lincoln goodnaturedly agreed to postpone his own talk until 
 "candlelight". 17 
 
 There was no doubt among the Republicans of Illinois as to 
 their choice for senator in 1858. They wished to make the nomi- 
 nation at the state convention, a proceeding until then unheard- 
 of. In the McLean County convention, held June 5, Fell offered 
 resolutions ' ' that Lincoln is our first, last and only choice for the 
 vacancy soon to occur in the United States Senate ; and that de- 
 spite all influences at home or abroad, domestic or foreign, the 
 Eepublicans of Illinois, as with the voice of one man, are unalter- 
 ably so resolved ; to the end that we may have a big man, with a 
 big mind, and a big heart, to represent our big state." 16 The 
 resolutions were read amid shouts of approval, and were adopted 
 with rounds of applause. Throughout the state the feeling was 
 the same. At the state convention, held in Springfield on the 
 16th, practically the same resolutions were adopted. 19 It was at 
 
 Memorial, 26. J. R. Rowell in ibid. 
 
 "Stevenson, Something of Men I Have Known, 8. Lawrence Weldon, 
 "New Lincoln Stories" in Chicago Tribune, Feb. 9 and Pantagraph, Feb. 
 10, 1902. Fell's own account is in Oldroyd, Lincoln Memorial Album, 468- 
 472. James T. Ewing tells it in his contribution to the Fell Memorial. 
 
 ^Pantograph, June I and 7, 1858. 
 
 19 The comment in the Democratic organ, the Illinois Statesman, of 
 June 3, 1858, besides furnishing a typical example of the attitude of non- 
 Republicans toward Lincoln, refers to a "secret caucus" of the night be- 
 fore. Probably the presentation of the resolutions was carefully planned 
 by the leaders at this meeting.
 
 58 JESSE W. FELL [322 
 
 the evening session of this convention that Lincoln delivered his 
 "House Divided" speech. To trace the courses of speeches and 
 replies that followed, as Lincoln and Douglas pushed their 
 rivalry, would be to repeat a story that has already been well and 
 fully told. Of especial interest here is the journey of Fell 
 through the states north and east of Illinois, during the time 
 when the debates were taking place in Illinois, and later. He 
 visited all the New England states but Maine, and New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Every- 
 where he found Eepublicans who were interested in the debates, 
 and who were eager to hear about the man who was successfully 
 defying and answering Stephen A. Douglas. As he sounded the 
 praises of his friend, the conviction grew in him that in a still 
 larger field Lincoln might become the successful rival of the 
 great Douglas. 20 
 
 When he returned to Bloomington, Fell proposed to Lincoln 
 that he should be the next Republican candidate for president. 
 This was in his brother Kersey's law office. The story of that 
 conversation, which Mr. Fell afterward substantially repro- 
 duced, is well known. Lincoln professed to think it a very fool- 
 ish idea, and declined to write the autobiography for which his 
 friend asked, that he might acquaint people in the East with 
 Lincoln's personal history. 21 Nevertheless Fell quietly pursued 
 the realization of his ' ' big idea, ' ' which other f oresighted Repub- 
 licans shared with him, through 1859. He was secretary of the 
 state central committee for his party, and in that capacity he 
 kept a sensitive finger on the pulse of the state. He found occa- 
 sion, moreover, in perfecting the state organization, to visit most 
 of the counties, where the people as a rule were eager to see 
 "Abe" Lincoln a presidential candidate. There was no need, 
 apparently, to urge Lincoln's name to Illinoisans. It was in 
 other states that the Lincoln propaganda must be pushed. 
 
 Lincoln himself began to think seriously of running for 
 president during the summer, and especially after visiting Kan- 
 sas and Ohio in the fall. On December 20, when Fell repeated 
 his request, Lincoln gave him the famous autobiography. With- 
 out waiting to copy the paper, Fell sent it at once to his friend, 
 Joseph J. Lewis, in Westchester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Lewis' use 
 
 20 Lewis, Life, 64; Oldroyd, Lincoln Memorial Album, 472-478. 
 
 21 Oldroyd, Lincoln Memorial Album, 477 (Fell's own account). Ar- 
 nold, Life of Lincoln, 155. Tarbell, Life of Lincoln, II, 128-130. Bloom- 
 ington Eye, March 6, 1887.
 
 323] POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 59 
 
 of it forms one of the most interesting chapters in the story of 
 Lincoln's rise to the presidency. 22 
 
 During all the years since leaving Pennsylvania, Fell had 
 never suffered himself to lose touch with public affairs in his na- 
 tive state. Through correspondence and through many return 
 visits, even after all his family had removed to Illinois, he kept 
 himself well informed of tendencies and opinions in Pennsyl- 
 vania. 23 He knew that that state had already, in 1859, become a 
 stronghold of the new party, with opposition to slavery extension 
 and high tariff for the backbone of its platform. He knew that 
 Seward, who held the unswerving allegiance of New York, was not 
 popular in Pennsylvania. He knew that Lincoln, popular in the 
 West, needed the support of the East also, if he were to win 
 from Seward the Republican nomination in 1860; and that the 
 influence of Pennsylvania, direct and indirect, would be an im- 
 portant factor in the coming national convention. Pennsylva- 
 nia, if won for Lincoln, must know about him. 
 
 22 Arnold, Life of Lincoln, 14. Joseph J. Lewis to Fell, Mar. 28, 1872. 
 Lewis to J. R. Osgood, same date. This autobiography, with the letter 
 from Lincoln which accompanied it (dated Dec. 20, 1859, and now in the 
 Oldroyd collection), was later the subject of a prolonged controversy be- 
 tween Mr. Fell and his family and Mr. Oldroyd, who made a notable col- 
 lection of Lincolniana. The manuscript was returned by Lewis to Fell, 
 and was later loaned, with the letter, to Mr. Oldroyd. Mr. Oldroyd re- 
 turned the autobiography, but has never returned the letter. Memoranda 
 among the Fell Papers, and letters ; from O. H. Oldroyd to Fell, April 3, 
 1882; Shelby M. Cullom to Lawrence Weldon, Aug. 30, 1887. A facsimile 
 of the autobiography was published in 1872 with an introduction by Mr. 
 Fell. 
 
 23 Issachar Price to Fell, Downington, Pa., Sept. 24 1838. In this let- 
 ter, one of the most interesting in the Fell collection, Mr. Price gives a 
 rather pessimistic view of political conditions in Van Buren's administra- 
 tion. "Ritner cannot be elected ; he is the most prevaricating shuffling tool 
 that ever set on a throne," he says ; "promise one thing today and go right 
 to the contrary tomorrow ; this he has done in 20 instances to my own 
 knowledge & his great drill Sargeant Thad Stevens is the most barefaced 
 impudent scoundrel now unchained and running at large in the state." 
 This estimate, from which doubtless Fell deduced his own more charitable 
 conclusions, is followed by a prophecy of the vote in the coming election. 
 Speaking of national politics, this Pennsylvania village postmaster pre- 
 dicts : "Abolition will entirely swallow up antiism in fact anti-masonry 
 is defunct abolitionism takes its place & the party that adopts it as a test 
 is destined to growl in a glorious minority for many a year to come & this 
 will be the end of the great and talented Whig party in the U States."
 
 60 JESSE W. FELL [324 
 
 Joseph J. Lewis was a prominent Republican who wrote 
 persuasively, and who was personally influential in Eastern 
 Pennsylvania. He took care to inform himself rather minutely 
 concerning the Westerner before he prepared, from the auto- 
 biography and from other material which Fell furnished, an arti- 
 cle which introduced Lincoln to the people of his part of the 
 state. This article .appeared first in the Chester County Times 
 of February 11, 1860. It was widely copied throughout the 
 state and beyond it, and together with the personal work and 
 speeches of Lewis and others whom he interested, served to ac- 
 quaint the Pennsylvanians with the career and character of Ab- 
 raham Lincoln. 2 * 
 
 It is interesting to note how the two men who planned Lin- 
 coln's introduction to Pennsylvania selected from the material 
 at hand those elements which they knew would count for most 
 with the people with whom they dealt. He was "certainly not 
 of the first families," said Mr. Lewis. His ancestors were 
 Friends a circumstance with which, it is safe to say, very few 
 Ulinoisans were acquainted. They had gone from Berks County, 
 Pennsylvania; but in Illinois no one traced the Lincoln family 
 back of its Virginia antecedents. Descendants of the same stock, 
 Mr. Lewis continued, still lived in Eastern Pennsylvania. He 
 had been a strong Whig leader, a friend of Henry Clay, a great 
 worker in the campaign of 1844, and was master of "the princi- 
 ples of political economy that underlie the tariff" question. 
 Pennsylvania was especially assured that: "Mr. Lincoln has 
 been a consistent and earnest tariff man from the first hour of 
 his entering public life. He is such from principle, and from a 
 deeply rooted conviction of the wisdom of the protective policy ; 
 and what ever influence he may hereafter exert upon the govern- 
 ment will be in favor of that policy." 25 Lewis' account of Lin- 
 coln's sacrifice of his own chances of election to the Senate in 
 1854, when he asked his friends to vote for Trumbull rather than 
 risk the election of Governor Matteson, a Nebraska Democrat, 
 must have had its intended effect with the anti-slavery Repub- 
 licans of Pennsylvania. He attributed Douglas' success after the 
 debates of 1858 to an "old and grossly unequal apportionment 
 of the districts." 
 
 As the time for the national Republican convention drew 
 
 24 J. J. Lewis to Fell, Jan. 30, 1860. Vickers Fell to E. J. Lewis, June 
 3, 1896. Daily Local News (Westchester, Pa.), Apr. 9, 1883. 
 25 Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress, I, 196-207.
 
 325] POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 61 
 
 near Lincoln's friends realized that, barring the chance of one 
 of those tricks of fate which sometimes change the course of 
 events at political meetings, his only serious rival was Seward. 
 Cameron and Bates had only local support, and were not greatly 
 feared. Leonard Swett, David Davis, and Jesse Fell were the 
 three Illinoisans most active in their efforts for Lincoln. Fell 
 had declined to be secretary of the Republican state committee 
 again, that he might have more time for field work. In the 
 spring of 1860 he had endeavored to secure full lists of names 
 from the entire state for the documents sent out by the Repub- 
 lican national committee. Nothing that could aid in preparing 
 Illinois to play her part in the coming drama was omitted. 28 
 Financial support was assured through a well-organized system 
 of county assessments, collected in 1859 to be ready for campaign 
 purposes. It was planned that a great delegation should go 
 from Central Illinois to Chicago to support Lincoln. 27 
 
 26 Fell, in Duis, Good Old Times in McLean County, 280. Circular let- 
 ter of the Republican State Central Committee, June 23, 1860. This letter 
 was issued by the secretary, Horace White, who succeeded Fell. Circular 
 letter from Fell to chairmen of county central committees, May 8, 1860. 
 Both of these latter circulars show the methodical business administra- 
 tion by which Fell secured an unusual degree of unity and assured re- 
 sources for the great campaign. 
 
 27 The account of the convention has been told many times. There is 
 a story of the events of the meeting which because of its connection with 
 Mr. Fell may be repeated here. It is unsupported by any sort of docu- 
 mentary evidence but persists among the older citizens of Bloomington to 
 an extent which at least warrants its repetition. It is to the effect that 
 the Illinois leaders discovered that the tickets of admission issued to dele- 
 gates and visitors to the convention were almost monopolized by the 
 large delegations from the East which supported Seward. The Lincoln 
 contingent, having gathered with great enthusiasm, was suddenly reduced 
 to the depths of despair by the announcement, on the morning of May 
 18, that all the tickets had been given out, and that they would therefore 
 have to content themselves with standing outside the Wigwam. The West- 
 ern leaders gathered quickly for a conference, because the popular enthu- 
 siasm for Lincoln of the delegations from Indiana and Illinois was an as- 
 set upon which they definitely counted in the session to come. Fell prom- 
 ised a solution, and made good his promise by securing another set of 
 tickets, similar to the first, which he had hastily printed. These were 
 fairly distributed to the leaders of the various delegations, including the 
 Seward men, who distributed them to their adherents. During the morn- 
 ing the Seward men, feeling secure of their seats in the Wigwam because 
 of the tickets they held, organized a monster parade for Seward, led by
 
 62 JESSE W. FELL [326 
 
 Joseph Lewis, with other delegates from Pennsylvania, did 
 valiant work for Lincoln, and nominated Lewis ' old friend, John 
 Hiekman, for the vice-presidency. General Stokeley was a dele- 
 gate from Ohio who gave substantial aid. 28 The Pennsylvania 
 contingent, returning full of enthusiasm to its own state, pushed 
 the campaign vigorously, Lewis keeping in close touch with Lin- 
 coln through his -correspondence with Fell. In order to bring to 
 Pennsylvania some of the enthusiasm of the Western men, Lewis 
 tried to secure Davis and Swett as campaign speakers for his 
 state, but failed to convince the central committee of the advis- 
 ability of this plan. Davis and Swett, of course, were well oc- 
 cupied in Illinois. Owen Love joy, candidate for the House, con- 
 ducted a lively campaign, guided in his methods by the advice 
 of Fell, who had become his close friend and hearty supporter. 
 Fell's own campaign notebook, filled with newspaper clippings 
 and notes for comment and reply, has been preserved, and shows 
 a collection of indictments of slavery, Southern commendations 
 of Buchanan (with caustic comment very belligerent for a 
 Quaker) and clippings about "Bully" Brooks. The summer and 
 autumn were for him, as for many Illinoisans, one long effort to 
 make Lincoln the head of the nation. 29 
 
 the band which had come with them from New York. Returning to the 
 hall, they found the Western men already admitted in large numbers, and 
 ready to shout for Lincoln, while other crowds filled the streets for 
 blocks in every direction. Henry Fell in the Fell Memorial, 12. Horace 
 White considers the story improbable. Horace White to the writer, 
 April 30, 1914. A good account of the convention from the standpoint of 
 an Illinoisan is found in a letter by Leonard Swett to the Hon. Josiah H. 
 Drummond of Portland, Maine, and dated May 27, 1860. Published in 
 the Moline (III.) Mail, and later in the Pantograph of Jan. 8, 1909. 
 
 28 J. J. Lewis to Fell, May 28, 1860. Gen. Stokeley to Fell, Dec. 21, 
 1860. 
 
 29 Concerning the campaign in Pennsylvania : Lewis to Fell, May 28, 
 June 17, July 9, Sept. i, Sept. 25, Oct. I, Oct. 21, 1860; John G. Nicolay to 
 Fell, July 19, 1860; Lincoln to Fell, Oct. 5, 1860. Concerning Owen Love- 
 joy: Lovejoy to Fell, May 28, June 27, July 21, Sept. II, 1860.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE YEARS OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Following his election Lincoln stood the fire of a brisk siege 
 of office-seekers. Joseph J. Lewis was actively corresponding 
 with him and Fell during this time, not only because he hoped 
 to receive some sort of reward for his services in Pennsylvania, 
 but also because a man whom he had cordially disliked, and of 
 whose loyalty to Lincoln during the campaign he had the strong- 
 est doubts, seemed destined to receive a cabinet appointment. 
 This man was Simon Cameron. Stimulated by Lewis' represen- 
 tations concerning the character and ability of Cameron, Fell 
 visited the president-elect and told him what Lewis had written 
 him. 1 Lyman Trumbull and others also told Lincoln of Camer- 
 
 1 Lewis to Fell, Dec. 17, 1860; Jan. 15, 1861. In view of Cameron's 
 subsequent record as secretary of war it is interesting to note Lewis' un- 
 qualified condemnation. "At Harrisburg I found but one sentiment prev- 
 alent, and that was, of extreme satisfaction that the incarnation of the 
 idea of public corruption was not to enter the cabinet. Men spoke out 
 who had before been restrained by fear, and the feeling was one of great 
 relief. When we were informed that the place of secretary of the treas- 
 ury was offered to Cameron, and accepted by him, the information pro- 
 duced grief, and mortification. I felt mortified and humbled. I hap- 
 pened to enter a few nights after a room where a number of leading 
 Republicans were assembled discussing the subject. 'Is this the man,' 
 said one of them to me, 'that you promised us, had such an instinctive 
 horror of corruption that it could not be suffered to come near him? 
 What will you say when you find all the banality of Albany and Harris- 
 burg combined transferred to Washington and pervading all the highest 
 places in the government?' I was urged to undertake in company of 
 Henry C. Casey a mission to Springfield to disabuse the mind of the 
 president-elect, and relieve it from its delusion. I had but to answer that 
 Mr. Lincoln had but to know that he had been imposed upon & he would 
 certainly retrace his steps that it was hard for a man in his position to 
 resist the pressure upon him from unexpected quarters and from men 
 who possessed his confidence and that it was our duty to make the truth 
 perfectly clear and apparent to his mind so that he might discover it even 
 through the mist which the hopes of personal favor or the fears of per- 
 sonal resentment had raised to obscure it. When the news came that Mr. 
 Lincoln had become informed and had acted on that information the joy 
 
 63
 
 64 JESSE W. FELL [328 
 
 on's reputation and record. The president-elect seems to have 
 given up the idea of appointing him to the portfolio of war by 
 early January, but afterward again altered his plans ; and Cam- 
 eron 's name appeared with the other appointments in March. 
 
 In the case of Norman B. Judd, who made the nomination 
 of Lincoln for the Illinoisans, Lincoln was more effectively coun- 
 seled. No paper "left by Mr. Fell illustrates better his sound po- 
 litical judgment than the letter of January 2, 1861, in which he 
 discusses with Lincoln the possibility of a cabinet appointment 
 for Judd or Davis. After speaking of his own high regard for 
 Judd, he said that in the state there was much bitterness toward 
 him, particularly in the Whig element of the party. The causes 
 of this included his opposition to Lincoln in his first contest for 
 the senatorship, which was still remembered in a way to make 
 his appointment "a bitter pill to many of your old and tried 
 friends." The Republicans of Whig antecedents wanted to see 
 David Davis in the cabinet; and of his loyalty and devotion 
 there could be no question. But Fell thought it unwise, since 
 Illinois had the presidency, to make any first-class appointments 
 there. He begged Lincoln not to increase the feud between the 
 two elements of the party (just then at its height because of the 
 imminence of the slavery conflict) by appointing the leader of 
 either. Indiana and Pennsylvania should be given cabinet ap- 
 pointments, but by avoiding the gift of any in Illinois friction 
 could be allayed. Davis had agreed with these sentiments in 
 October; nor did Fell add, what was probably patent to him, 
 that Davis might have changed his mind since then. He ex- 
 pressed a strong hope that his friend might be given a "first- 
 rate second class appointment." 
 
 Joseph Lewis would gladly have accepted a foreign post. 
 But this was not forthcoming, nor was any other federal ap- 
 pointment until March, 1863, when he was appointed commis- 
 sioner of internal revenue, a position for which Lincoln had been 
 considering him for about a year. 2 Fell 's friends confidently ex- 
 pected to see him appointed to some place of importance, but 
 such an appointment was as distasteful to him then as at any 
 other time in his life. The circumstances of Lincoln's elevation 
 did not alter his own fixed plans, principles, and preferences, 
 
 was great. Many felt that a step had been taken which would save the 
 nation from disgrace and the Republican party in Penna from shame and 
 confusion . . ." See White, Life of Lyman Trumbult, 142-152. 
 2 Lewis to Fell, Mar. i and 27, 1862; Mar. 13, 1863.
 
 329] THE CIVIL WAR 65 
 
 which seem to have been to bring about what he considered desir- 
 able events and results, through personal influence rather than 
 by personal administration. At the outbreak of the war he was 
 offered a place as assistant quartermaster, with rank of captain. 
 This, with probably other similar offers, he declined, and con- 
 tinued for a time to carry on his regular business as usual. 3 
 
 When the certainty of war was clear to everyone, at the fall 
 of Sumter, men who felt the responsibility of leading public 
 opinion bent their energies toward uniting the country in sup- 
 port of the government. The friends of Lincoln in Central Illi- 
 nois wished especially to hold up the hands of the president by 
 assuring him of popular support. On the day after the fall of 
 Fort Sumter, Mr. Fell hurriedly gathered together a group of 
 the leading men of Bloomington, both Republicans and Demo- 
 crats, in an upper room on Washington street. He had resolu- 
 tions ready as usual, which were voted for by everyone except 
 Mr. Snow, who sympathized with secession and had the courage 
 to say so in an overwhelmingly loyal community. Being united 
 among themselves these local leaders next turned their attention 
 to building up popular union sentiment. They had handbills 
 printed and distributed announcing a mass-meeting to be held 
 in Phoenix Hall that night; and before separating, agreed upon 
 a long program of speakers upon whose sentiments they could 
 rely, that there might be no time for possible dissenting volun- 
 teers from the audience. 4 Mr. Spencer presided that evening, 
 and one prominent man after another addressed the people. A 
 great flag draped across the platform gave the keynote of loy- 
 alty. The people cheered it enthusiastically, and sang patriotic 
 songs. The resolutions were presented by Rev. C. G. Ames, who 
 called upon those "who in their hearts swore to the sentiments 
 therein expressed" to hold up their right hands in voting. "A 
 response like thunder came up from the densely packed audience, 
 
 3 Fell to Richard Yates, Aug. 21, 1861. This letter has been lost, but 
 is on record. 
 
 4 Among those who attended were C. P. Merriman and Dr. David 
 Brier, Republicans; Hamilton Spencer, T. P. Rogers, Allen Withers, Dr. 
 E. R. Roe, and H. P. Merriman, Democrats the last two of the Demo- 
 cratic Statesman; and D. J. Snow of the Times. The speakers of the 
 evening meeting included James S. Ewing, Col. W. P. Boyd, Dr. T. P. 
 Rogers, Dr. E. R. Roe, Rev. C. G. Ames, Harvey Hogg, and E. M. 
 Prince. The resolutions are given in the Lewis Life, 68, and in the 
 Pantograph, Apr. 17, 1861. Dr. Roe's account of the meeting is in the 
 Pantograph for July 29, 1871.
 
 66 JESSE W. FELL [330 
 
 and a thousand hands flashed in the light above the sea of heads, 
 like the drawing of myriad swords." This meeting, the first of 
 its kind in Illinois, was followed by many in other towns all over 
 the region, and is a type of the means by which the people were 
 stirred to loyal support of the administration. 
 
 As the friend of Lincoln, Mr. Fell found himself more in de- 
 mand as a political power than he had ever been. His old 
 friends found him responsive as formerly; new friends, called 
 to his attention by the circumstances of the times, found him 
 ready and anxious to help where help was needed. Owen Love- 
 joy called upon him freely for aid and advice ; Governor Yates 
 and Lyman Trumbull asked and received suggestions from him. 
 He united with Love joy to urge Davis' appointment to the su- 
 preme bench. 5 Yates, who met determined and influential op- 
 position, largely upon personal grounds, especially appreciated 
 his loyal support. Opposition to the governor, at a time when 
 every element in Illinois should have been united in support of 
 the administration, seemed very foolish and wrong to Jesse Fell, 
 and he used his pen and his personal influence to gain better co- 
 operation for the governor.' 
 
 Fell's relations to Owen Love joy, whom he greatly admired, 
 
 5 Owen Lovejoy to Fell, Apr. i, 1861 ; Fell to Yates, Apr. 8, June 12, 
 1861 ; Lyman Trumbull to Fell, Feb. i, June 7, 1861 ; Yates to Fell, Aug. 
 13, 1864. 
 
 Among the letters of this period is one from Fell to Governor Yates, 
 dated Aug. 18, 1864. It called Yates' attention to the fact that there was 
 no practical farmer among those appointed to suggest an application of 
 the funds accruing to Illinois under the Morrill Act, and suggested 
 George W. Minier of Tazewell County, a successful farmer and a forci- 
 ble writer, as a member of this committee. Letters concerning the ap- 
 pointment of Davis are not now available, but Fell's article in the Panto- 
 graph of Apr. n, 1868, contains a statement of his agency. 
 
 An undated petition to Lincoln in behalf of Jesse Bishop of Marion, 
 111., who had suffered at the hands of secession sympathizers, belongs 
 to this period. It is signed by Thomas I. Turner, Jesse W. Fell, Richard 
 Yates, W. Bushnell, Richard Oglesby, S. M. Cullom, and others. Kersey 
 Fell seems especially to have interested himself in helping those upon 
 whom the burdens of the war were heavy. A set of letters from him to 
 Governor Yates, dated from Sept. 21, 1861, to Dec. 27, 1864, are filled 
 with requests for passes, money, or permits to all sorts of folk who 
 needed help. ( Yates MSS.) 
 
 6 Richard Yates to Fell, June 7, 1862.
 
 331] THE CIVIL WAR 67 
 
 were especially close during the war. 7 Love joy at Washington 
 and Fell in Illinois and other states of the Middle West found 
 many ways of helping each other; and they liked to compare 
 notes and opinions. Writing to his friend early in October, 1862, 
 Fell said: "Can it be possible that the Almighty, (who will 
 pardon my presumption) is so poor a general as to suffer this 
 war to come to a close without sweeping, as with the besom of 
 destruction, that damning sin that has thus culminated in civil 
 war. We will trust not and will pray not ; at least till the ' old 
 cuss' shall be 'placed' as Honest Old Abe expressed it 'in 
 process of final' and may we justly add 'speedy extinction.' ' 
 Love joy replied, "My trust is in God for the nation." 8 
 
 Among the friends of Mr. Fell who by no means shared his 
 own Quaker aversion to war, was the "Fighting Schoolmaster," 
 Charles E. Hovey, the normal school president who led the Thir- 
 ty-third Illinois out of the schoolroom into the field. Without 
 having had technical training in tactics he proved an able com- 
 mander. But he was never able to qualify his outspoken New 
 England anti-slavery sentiments, nor did he find any common 
 ground with the West Point officers with whom he was asso- 
 ciated, and who were able to understand the point of view of 
 Southern men. He asked and received Mr. Fell's aid in enter- 
 prises for which he needed an agent in civil life, while Fell ap- 
 preciated the opportunity of keeping in close touch with field 
 operations through a man whom he knew to be trustworthy. 
 
 His own participation in the war, until now delayed by the 
 pressure of private business and a distaste for military life, be- 
 gan in 1862. He had gone with Hovey to Washington in late 
 June, 1861, to see Lincoln about the organization of the normal 
 school regiment, and to observe the situation there for himself. 
 With Hovey he went out with the crowds which followed the 
 army to the disastrous battle of Bull Run. After the battle, 
 
 7 Lovejoy to Fell, Dec. /, 1862; Fell to his brother Vickers Fell, Oct. 
 7, 1862. 
 
 8 Lovejoy selected Fell to prepare, after his death, such a memoir as 
 might seem suitable. In April, 1864, therefore, his daughter wrote to 
 Fell asking him to do this last service for his friend. Fell was also among 
 those who raised money for the erection of a monument, and he seems 
 to have secured payment to Lovejoy's heirs of money owed him. Lucy I. 
 Lovejoy to Fell, Apr. 6, 1864. Circular letter from Princeton, signed by 
 John H. Bryant, C. C. Mason, and F. Bascom, May 10, 1864; Bryant to 
 Fell, Nov. 18, 1865.
 
 68 JESSE W. FELL [332 
 
 while Hovey surveyed the field and interviewed spectators, Fell 
 found congenial employment in helping about the hospitals which 
 had been hastily improvised. He found there a certain Captain 
 McCook lying mortally wounded. He was able to help many, 
 and remained with Captain McCook and his father until the 
 death of the former. Returning from Washington impressed with 
 the magnitude of the coming struggle, the sense of his own obli- 
 gation to bear a part in it grew as time passed. In the second 
 year of the war he arranged his nursery and real estate busi- 
 nesses for a long absence, and offered his services to the presi- 
 dent. Knowing that his talents were not military, and that he 
 had passed the age when he might have been trained into a 
 fighting man, he accepted gladly the position of paymaster, to 
 which the rank of major was attached. The appointment seems 
 to have been a pet project of Lincoln, as his letters on the sub- 
 ject attest. 9 
 
 He accepted the appointment on the 19th of July, 1862, and 
 began his duties soon afterward at Louisville, Kentucky. He 
 took with him as a clerk William 0. Davis, who was betrothed 
 to his daughter Eliza. 10 As a friend of the president, he was 
 received among his colleagues with unusual interest, which gave 
 place soon, as Rodney Smith bears witness, to deep respect and 
 admiration. His habit of going about unarmed the expression 
 of a fixed principle of trusting men was regarded as a fool- 
 hardy concession to these ideals by his colleagues ; but there is no 
 record of any attack upon him during the entire time of his serv- 
 ice. He employed himself first in mastering the intricate red- 
 tape of the service, after which in August he was sent to Indian- 
 apolis to pay the Sixty-ninth Indiana Infantry. From there he 
 went to Springfield, Illinois, which was his headquarters while 
 he paid the Illinois troops then being hurried to the front. Ma- 
 jor William Smith, a more experienced paymaster, took Mr. Da- 
 
 9 Lincoln to the secretary of war, Dec. 23, 1861, Mar. 29, 1862. "I 
 really wish Jesse W. Fell, of Illinois, to be appointed a Paymaster in the 
 Regular Army, at farthest, as early as the 1st of July, 1862. I wish noth- 
 ing to interfere with this; and I have so written as much as two months 
 ago, I think." Adjutant General's Office, War Department, Washington, 
 File No. F-290-C.B. 1863. See also O. H. Browning to Fell, June 26, June 
 30, 1862. 
 
 10 Rodney Smith to Captain E. J. Lewis, July 15, 1897. The letter is 
 copied in full on pages 73-78 of Lewis' Life. Mr. Davis was later trans- 
 ferred to the office of Internal Revenue at Washington, there to serve 
 under Fell's old Friend J. J. Lewis. Davis to Fell, Oct. 18, 1863.
 
 333] THE CIVIL WAB 69 
 
 vis into his personal employ, giving Fell Rodney Smith, an ex- 
 perienced clerk, who had been in the service for some time. 
 Smith remained with him during the time of his service, and at 
 his request then became his successor. 
 
 The official records of Mr. Fell's service, which lasted about 
 eighteen months, show that he remained in Illinois until late in 
 September, when he made a trip to Fort Donelson to pay the 
 Eighty-third Illinois Infantry. After returning to Illinois, he 
 went to Camp Morton in Indiana in November, then spent six 
 months in Kentucky and Tennessee, going from Paducah to Cin- 
 cinnati about the first of August, 1863. In the spring of that 
 year he had a short leave of absence. Eemaining in Ohio after 
 his return to work but a short time, he returned to Kentucky, 
 to Covington and Camp "Wild Cat. His last payment was made 
 to the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania near London, Kentucky, on 
 September 18, 1863. The condition of his private affairs was 
 such at that time as imperatively to demand his attention, and 
 knowing that there were others who were capable of doing the 
 work without loss to the service, he resigned at Christmas time. 
 The resignation was accepted, and Fell hurried from Washing- 
 ton to Normal, to look after an accumulation of both private and 
 public business. 11 
 
 Scarcely had he arrived at home when his friends began to 
 urge him to enter politics. The first public request was a "sug- 
 gestion" in the Pantagraph of December 26, 1863, that he be 
 sent to the next Congress as representative for the eighth dis- 
 trict. In an editorial on January 26 his name was suggested 
 again, with a repetition of the arguments in the first article. He 
 replied at once that the public work he had already done had en- 
 tailed a sacrifice of personal interests which he felt he could ill 
 afford to make, and added, "while the district can boast of a 
 Leonard Swett, my consent to be placed in such a position would 
 indicate a recklessness of the public weal, not to say vanity, that 
 I trust I cannot be capable of. ' ' Some of his friends refused to 
 consider this answer final, and made out a petition, signed by a 
 long roll of names, begging him to accept the nomination. 12 Al- 
 
 "Major William Cumback to Fell, Feb. 4, 1864. Fell to his wife, Oct. 
 19, 1862, Feb. 23, 1863. Receipts, 1863. 
 
 12 Mr. Fell, in his endorsement upon this paper, says he declined it 
 "as incompatible with proper attention to my private affairs ... & for the 
 further reason that I had solicited another and a better man to become 
 a candidate To wit Leonard Swett." No date; about Feb. I, 1864.
 
 70 JESSE W. FELL [334 
 
 exander Campbell paused in his advocacy of the "True Ameri- 
 can System of Finance" long enough to urge Fell to run for 
 Congress ; John H. Bryant, projbably feeling with Campbell that 
 Fell might take the place of the sadly missed Love joy, begged 
 him not to decline. But Fell was firm in his determination not 
 again to enter public life. Shelby M. Cullom was nominated at 
 the convention, and elected over John T. Stuart by a large ma- 
 jority. It may be mentioned here that Fell was again asked to 
 stand for Congress in 1866, and once more refused. 13 
 
 Throughout the war his support of Lincoln, with that of 
 many other of the president's old friends in the "West, was un- 
 swerving and practical. The partial emancipation message of 
 March 6, 1862, drew from him a burst of loyal and affectionate 
 congratulation, which reveals the whole-heartedness of his faith 
 in Lincoln, at a time when even Illinois was rife with criticism. 
 He took the stump again in the campaign of 1864, speaking with 
 E. M. Prince at a series of meetings in country schoolhouses and 
 village halls. But he declined the post of secretary of the state 
 central committee. 1 * 
 
 The news of the assassination of Lincoln came with a pecul- 
 iar shock to the Illinois towns in which he had been a familiar 
 figure, and in which there were scores of his personal friends. 
 Fell heard of it as he returned from a business trip. Hurrying 
 home, but not stopping to have old Tom unharnessed from the 
 buggy, he told his wife the sad news, and then started back to 
 Bloomington to verify the report and have further particulars. 
 On the way he met his son Henry, took him into the buggy with 
 him, and begged for details. 15 The day after, the McLean 
 County people expressed their sorrow at a great public meeting 
 
 13 Alexander Campbell to Fell, Apr. 2, 1864. Bryant to Fell, May 14, 
 1864. Fell in the Pantograph, Apr. u, 1868. 
 
 14 The Pantograph of May 23, 1862, has an account of a public meet- 
 ing held the night before, at which Fell spoke warmly in defense of the 
 presidential policy, then much criticized. In August another great meet- 
 ing of the same sort was held. Fell to Lincoln, Mar. 17, 1862. Panto- 
 graph, Oct. 5 and Oct. n, 1864. Lewis, Life, 80. Telegram from Thomas 
 J. Turner to Fell, July 11, 1864. Lincoln to Fell, Oct. 5, 1860. 
 
 15 Henry C. Fell, "When Lincoln Visited Normal," in Normalite, June 
 7,
 
 335] THE CIVIL WAR 71 
 
 held in the court house square, at which Fell presided and 
 spoke. 16 
 
 A very dramatic episode gave to the days that followed a 
 lively interest, and may be related here because it illustrates 
 a prominent trait of Fell's character. Eev. Charles Ellis, the 
 pastor of the Free Congregational Church, was a New Englander 
 of strongly abolitionist views. In his sermon of April 23, 1865, 
 he essayed to speak upon the subject of the assassination and its 
 causes. His audience, which numbered many personal friends 
 of the dead president, was perhaps as keenly sensitive to the es- 
 timate placed upon Lincoln as any audience could have been. 
 Mr. Ellis began by saying that he believed that before God 
 Adams, Jefferson and Washington were more to blame for the 
 murder than Booth, for they had admitted slavery at the time 
 when the constitution was made. He then blamed Lincoln for 
 so long supporting a constitution which protected slavery, and 
 said that "he had not the moral courage to step forth like a 
 strong man in his might and do what his better nature told him 
 was his highest duty. He sacrificed the demands of God that he 
 might not offend a political party in the land, ' ' with much more 
 to the same effect. 
 
 In attributing the murder of Lincoln to his own fault in no 
 uncertain terms, Mr. Ellis aroused the indignation of the Bloom- 
 ington people to fever heat. Members of the congregation were 
 so angered that they were scarcely restrained from creating a 
 disturbance in the church. Mob violence was not unknown in 
 Bloomington during the war, as the Snow brothers could tes- 
 tify. 17 A meeting of the members of the church was held a few 
 days later, for the purpose of demanding the immediate resigna- 
 tion of the pastor. Mr. Fell, however, spoke so forcibly of the 
 
 16 On the day after the assassination President Edwards called a 
 meeting to be held in the assembly hall of the normal school, at which 
 Fell presided and spoke, it is said, with singular eloquence of his old 
 friend. 
 
 17 These two brothers, with their sister, the president of the Bloom- 
 ington Ladies' Library Board, were considered to be among the finest peo- 
 ple in the town, but were extremely unpopular because of their frank 
 sympathy with the South. On one occasion, when recent recruiting had 
 aroused patriotic feeling to fever heat, a crowd of men and boys bom- 
 barded the office of the Times, and destroyed it. They were not satisfied 
 until "the crude little press and all the types were scattered on the street 
 below." The Snows sued for damages, but could get no conviction. Lu- 
 ;man Burr, interview in Bloomington Bulletin, July 6, 1913.
 
 72 JESSE W. FELL [336 
 
 fundamental principle upon which that church had been 
 founded the principle of free speech that he dissuaded the 
 congregation from a step which would have denied it. The Con- 
 gregationalists adopted instead a set of resolutions which he of- 
 fered, in which they refused to censure the sermon, asserting the 
 right of any man to express his ideas untrammeled in their 
 church; and reproved the "mob" which had caused the disturb- 
 ance on the Sunday before. 18 Although thus formally vindi- 
 cated, Mr. Ellis found public opinion so against him that his use- 
 fulness in the community seemed at an end, and he resigned 
 within a few days. 
 
 Pantagraph, May 6, 1865. It is said that Dr. McCann Dunn paid for 
 printing of the sermon, that all might know exactly what was said, since 
 highly colored reports concerning Dr. Ellis' words were promptly circu- 
 lated. John W. Cook says of this occurrence : "This community has 
 often had occasion to feel a sense of pride in the citizenship of Mr. Fell,, 
 but on this occasion he illustrated a degree of fidelity to a cherished prin- 
 ciple that lifted him to the serene heights of supreme manhood. His. 
 heart was heavy because of the national calamity and he mourned the 
 loss of his honored friend, but the principle of free speech could not be- 
 violated without his indignant protest." A Western Pioneer (MS).
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PUBLIC SERVICE AFTER THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Altho keenly interested in national affairs, it was al- 
 ways for the concerns of his community that Mr. Fell found 
 deepest pleasure in planning and execution. In 1864 the people 
 of the township in which he lived resolved to correct an old 
 wrong that had caused great confusion and expense for many 
 years. The corner marks usually set up by government survey- 
 ors could not be located in Normal township, and people came 
 finally to the conclusion that only the outside boundaries had 
 ever been properly run. Judge Davis, C. R. Overman, and Mr. 
 Fell addressed a meeting on the first of October, 1864, and Mr. 
 Fell secured the adoption of a set of resolutions, which, after re- 
 citing the conditions, recommended legislative action to secure a 
 resurvey and an adjustment of all difficulties between those 
 whose boundary lines conflicted. A petition was signed, a com- 
 mittee appointed to circulate it, and Mr. Fell was commissioned 
 to present it at Springfield. He did this effectively, and the 
 necessary bill was passed on February 16, 1865. A case in chan- 
 cery was instituted accordingly, the next September, and a de- 
 cree for the resurvey secured, the commissioners' report being 
 confirmed by both lower and supreme courts. 1 The decisions 
 which were thus reached in the most friendly and united spirit, 
 doubtless saved endless expensive law suits and hard feelings. 
 Perhaps no service of Mr. Fell to his community required more 
 tact, foresight, and hard work to accomplish than this achieve- 
 ment of the resurvey of the township, or meant more to the peo- 
 ple among whom he lived and worked. 
 
 On the same day on which he signed the resurvey bill, Gov- 
 ernor Oglesby also approved a bill changing the name of North 
 Bloomington to Normal. Under that name it was incorporated 
 February 25, 1867, with a charter which embodied a perpetual 
 
 1 Samuel Colvin et al vs. Kersey H. Fell et al., 40 Illinois Reports 418. 
 The petition signed at the meeting is among the Fell MSS. It contains 
 about twenty-five names, with subscriptions for the expense involved, of 
 from twenty to twenty-five dollars. Pantograph, Oct. 6, 1864. Private 
 Laws of Illinois, 1867, III, 628-631 
 
 73
 
 74 JESSE W. FELL [338 
 
 no-saloon clause. 2 In making the deeds of sale to lots in Normal 
 (and there is little land in the town which was not at some time 
 owned by Mr. Fell) he had always stipulated that no intoxicat- 
 ing liquors should be sold upon the premises. Others who owned 
 land were in sympathy with his ideas, and it was understood 
 from the first that Normal should always be, as Bloomington was 
 in 1854 and 1855, a prohibition town. In 1866 the growing town 
 required a charter and its people wished it to include a clause 
 guaranteeing the continuance of this policy. The legislature of 
 Illinois was not so ardently temperate as Normal; and interests 
 which hoped to gain advantage from the change, tried to induce 
 it to omit the prohibition clause from the proposed charter. Hear- 
 ing of this, Mr. Fell called a citizens' meeting at the Baptist 
 Church on November 22, 1866, at which the people discussed the 
 situation and adopted a set of resolutions, ready to hand as us- 
 ual. 3 At the suggestion of John Dodge, a close friend of Fell 
 and a man thoroly in sympathy with his ideas, the people 
 present signed the resolutions, and other signatures were se- 
 cured before an adjourned meeting held on December 6. At this 
 subsequent meeting a thoro canvass was reported, in which 
 President Edwards of the Normal School had cooperated by se- 
 curing the signatures of the students. Over nine hundred names 
 appeared on the petition, the names it is said of every man, 
 woman and child of six or over in the town. William A. Pennell 
 was appointed to go with Mr. Fell to present it to the legislature, 
 which granted the charter with the desired clause. 4 
 
 Mr. Fell had been able by careful attention to his affairs 
 largely to free himself of debt by this time, and so felt free to 
 give some time to furthering the political prospects of his friends, 
 and to take a rest which he felt that several years of unremitting 
 labor had earned. Early in July of 1865 he received an invita- 
 tion from General Thomas Osborn, who was in charge of the 
 Twenty-fourth Army Corps at Richmond, to visit that city as 
 the guest of the corps. He accepted this invitation, and while in 
 the East went to New York and had an interview with Henry 
 Ward Beecher. Upon his return he was busied with the test case 
 
 ^Private Laws, 1867, III, 321-336. The seal was affixed to the char- 
 ter Mar. 4, 1867. 
 
 3 The resolutions are given, with an account of the meeting, in the 
 Pantagraph, Dec. 19, 1866. Fell, letter published in the Normalite, Mar. 
 26, 1908. 
 
 4 Lewis, Life, 57.
 
 339] PUBLIC SERVICE AFTER THE WAR 75 
 
 for securing the resurvey, spoken of before, and with efforts to 
 facilitate the discharge of certain Illinois regiments. 5 
 
 During the years following the close of the war Mr. Fell de- 
 voted much time and effort to the building up of Bloomington 
 and Normal. He planted trees indefatigably, procured grants 
 that improved and enlarged the normal school, and encouraged 
 every enterprise which could bring desirable citizens or increased 
 wealth to the sections in which he was interested. No public en- 
 terprise asked his aid in vain, it is said ; certainly the list of his 
 interests is a long one. During the first few years of his resi- 
 dence in North Bloomington, he planned to develop the new 
 town as a manufacturing place as well as a school town. In 1857 
 he was much interested in the production of sorghum, for which 
 people then predicted a great future. He planted it generously, 
 set up a mill, with press, vats and reducing pans, and put his 
 product upon the market. There was not, however, an encour- 
 aging demand for it, and farmers generally declined to trouble 
 themselves with the crop, which required an outlay of labor in- 
 commensurate with returns. Mr. Fell after a time abandoned 
 the experiment. 6 
 
 At about the same time he secured the location of a foundry 
 at North Bloomington, 7 but this enterprise, after a career of 
 
 5 C. Macalester to Fell, Nov. 7, 1864. Thomas O. Osborn to Fell, July 
 i, 1865. J. H. Bryant to Fell, Nov. 18, 1865. Lyman Trumbull to Fell, 
 Dec. 27, 1866. Stephen A. Douglas to Fell, Mar. 21, 1866. Gov. Oglesby 
 to Fell, Sept. 16, 1865. Fell to E. J. Lewis, July 26, 1865, quoting a letter 
 from himself to Secretary Stanton. (Lewis letters, in MSS of the Mc- 
 Lean County Historical Association.) These last letters referred to one 
 published substantially in the Pantograph of July 13, 1865, from Lewis, 
 in which he complained of being compelled to lie idly in camp with all 
 his men, after all action had ceased. Lewis could have been relieved at 
 any time, but did not like to leave camp (at Meridian, Miss.) without his 
 men. 
 
 6 In 1842 and 1843, he had been interested in some experiments look- 
 ing toward the making of sugar from Indian corn. No written account 
 of these experiments remains. His conclusion was that the thing was 
 possible, but not commercially profitable. Interview with Henry Fell, 
 May 31, 1913. 
 
 7 One Blakesly, his partner in this enterprise, built the foundry, and 
 also the huge boarding-house which was to accommodate the workmen. 
 Addison Reeder, a skilled mechanic and inventor, was brought from Lay- 
 town to be foreman and manager. Some cast iron fixtures, used in the 
 construction of the normal school buildings, were turned out before the 
 enterprise had to be given up, largely because of the impossibility of find-
 
 76 JESSE W. FELL [340 
 
 many vicissitudes, was also given up, Mr. Fell deciding that Nor- 
 mal was destined not to become a manufacturing town. This 
 was in spite of the fact that in 1867 two coal-shafts had been 
 sunk, and had found coal, in or near Bloomington. Mr. Fell was 
 financially interested in that one which was located near the Chi- 
 cago and Alton tracks, and which has been operated successfully 
 to the present time. One business venture which was a success 
 from every point of view was the large hotel in Normal which 
 he built in partnership with William A. Pennell. It was a four- 
 story Mansard-roofed structure, with spacious rooms and wide 
 verandas, and a ballroom that made it the social center of both 
 towns. Good hostelries were rare, and this one became a land- 
 mark. It was burned in 1872, some time after Mr. Fell had dis- 
 posed of his share in the ownership. 
 
 No enterprise upon which the state entered after the close 
 of the war was of greater importance than the establishing of 
 the state university. It has been noted that from the first ef- 
 forts, sidetracked for the normal school and later deferred dur- 
 ing the struggle between North and South, its friends hoped to 
 have eventually one many-sided institution, wherein training of 
 many kinds might be had. No sooner was the war well over, 
 than the project was again urged upon Illinois. In Bloomington 
 interest was especially keen, for there people thought that now 
 the time was come for the expansion of the normal school into a 
 real university. The funds made available by the Morrill Act 
 would provide for the industrial university of which Turner and 
 Fell had long dreamed. 8 
 
 ing efficient workmen; and Mr. Fell became liable for the greater part of 
 the loss of the venture. The plant was used about 1877 for the manufac- 
 ture of a patent furnace, by one Ruttan, a Canadian, who was the in- 
 ventor of a once-popular ventilating system. Neither the furnace nor 
 the stoves, which then and later were turned out of the same factory, 
 found a very good market. William McCambridge in the Pantograph, 
 Mar. 16, 1910. 
 
 8 John F. Eberhart, in his contribution to the Fell Memorial, tells of 
 an interesting but unsuccessful attempt to establish a great state univer- 
 sity, early in the decade following the passage of the Morrill Act. There 
 was to be a central school in Chicago, "with affiliated institutions through- 
 out the state, especially at Normal. . . . Our plan was to get donations 
 of $100,000 from each of ten different men in the state and to have in- 
 corporated into the constitution of the state at the constitutional conven- 
 tion in 1870, a provision for the maintenance of the university. The $i,- 
 000,000 had been duly pledged. Mr. Fell, himself, pledged $100,000, and
 
 341] PUBLIC SERVICE AFTER THE WAR 77 
 
 The first legislative action for the school was a bill author- 
 izing its establishment, and throwing open its location to bids. 
 The bill was introduced in 1865, but was defeated. A similar bill 
 was introduced two years later, providing for elections in coun- 
 ties or cities upon the question of raising money wherewith to 
 make a bid for the location of a state university. This bill 
 passed, and was approved by Governor Oglesby on January 25, 
 1867. 9 In the meantime, however, other forces were at work to 
 locate the school definitely at Urbana. After President Buch- 
 anan had vetoed the Morrill Bill in 1859 and before Lincoln ap- 
 proved it in 1862, Dr. Charles A. Hunt of Urbana conceived the 
 idea of securing a state school for his own town. A "seminary" 
 building was being erected then at the north end of what is now 
 Illinois Field, and Dr. Hunt's plan was to use it for a larger and 
 better endowed school than could be had by merely local support. 
 He therefore wrote a memorial, which was signed by a large 
 number of Urbana citizens, and which was presented to the leg- 
 islature in January, 1861. This memorial pleaded for agricultur- 
 al education on the two-fold basis of the elevation of labor and 
 of public economy. The time was unpropitious for such an en- 
 terprise, however, and the memorial came to no immediate 
 success. 10 
 
 No sooner was peace restored than the citizens of Urbana 
 set themselves anew to secure the industrial university, as it was 
 then called. Jonathan Turner, long the leader of the movement, 
 hoped that when it materialized this school would be at Jackson- 
 ville. Jesse Fell wanted it at Bloomington, a rounding out of 
 the university which had been begun with the normal school ten 
 years before. Several other communities in the state hoped to 
 gain it, and made generous offers for it. But the Urbana people 
 were both earliest in the field, and most resourceful in expedi- 
 
 had found six other men in the state who pledged $100,000 each. I 
 also pledged $100,000 and found two other men besides myself ..." 
 John Wentworth, upon whom the two leaders had relied to push the 
 project in the convention, grew cold in the cause, however, and it was 
 given up. Probably Turner's plan to put the state university upon a con- 
 stitutional basis appealed to Fell as a better idea. 
 
 ^Public Laws, 1867, 122. 
 
 10 The "Urbana and Champaign Institute" was incorporated by an act 
 approved Feb. 21, 1861. Private Laws, 1861, 24-26. 
 
 Dr. Hunt entered the army as a surgeon and died at the hospital at 
 Mound City in July, 1863. Joseph O. Cunningham, in the Times (Cham- 
 paign, 111.) of May 21, 1910.
 
 78 JESSE W. FELL [342 
 
 ents. They introduced a bill definitely locating the institution at 
 Urbana, providing the offer therein recited of the people of 
 Champaign County were made good. 11 Other towns were indig- 
 nant at this method, since it gave them no chance to compete. 
 Bloomington felt especially aggrieved, for the success of the Ur- 
 bana bill meant for them the death of a hope long cherished; 
 and Jacksonville was hardly less angry, because it had supported 
 Turner through the long years of his unsuccessful efforts. Not 
 a little heroic sacrifice had entered into the generous donation of 
 Bloomington in 1857, made when hard times were threatening 
 and war seemed imminent. One of the arguments most used by 
 those who had raised the money then was that in time other 
 schools might be added until a real university were founded. 12 
 
 Mr. Fell's own conception of the educational system of the 
 state was a comprehensive one, involving a university compris- 
 ing every necessary technical and cultural school, at the head of 
 a system of common schools which included industrial training in 
 their curriculum. Teachers, he said, would profit by the breadth 
 gained by coming into contact with those who were in turn train- 
 ing for other kinds of work ; and as education was a field as dig- 
 nified as that of any other calling, it was practicable to make the 
 normal school one of the colleges in the university. To supple- 
 ment this theoretical justification, he set to work to raise a sub- 
 scription which should rival, if not exceed, that of Urbana. 
 
 His efforts were now even more earnest, if that were possible, 
 than they had been ten years before. He wrote a memorial pre- 
 senting the claims of Bloomington, which was received by the 
 legislature about the first of February, 1867. He and a number 
 of others went to Springfield to use what influence they might to 
 assure the acceptance, or at least the consideration, of the bid. 
 The decision hung fire during the greater part of February, 
 while the lobbies of Champaign, McLean, Morgan and Logan 
 Counties pushed their respective claims. The people of Cham- 
 paign County, knowing the manner of men they had to deal with 
 in Turner and Fell, had elected to the legislature, especially for 
 the purpose of pleading their cause, a man who was almost if 
 not quite Fell's equal in powers of persuasion. This was Clark 
 
 ^Public Laws of Illinois, 1867, 123-129. 
 
 ^Illinois Industrial University: Report of the Committee (pamphlet, 
 no date) ; circular letter, Jan. 25, 1866; J. B. Turner, "Industrial Univer- 
 sity" in Jacksonville Journal, Feb. 8, 1866; subscription lists. All in the 
 Turner Manuscripts.
 
 343] PUBLIC SERVICE AFTER THE WAR 79 
 
 R. Griggs. 13 He was successful in his mission; Champaign 
 County won the Industrial University. An inconsequential sop 
 was thrown to the defeated parties in the shape of a supplemen- 
 tary bill, passed March 8, which provided that the trustees might 
 locate the school in McLean, Logan or Morgan Counties if Cham- 
 paign County failed to fulfill its contract, a contingency which, 
 of course, never arose. 
 
 The new institution was, at first, scarcely more of a univer- 
 sity than the normal school had been. It was small, poorly en- 
 dowed, limited in curriculum and service. Its friends wanted to 
 see it really fulfill the purpose for which it had been created. 
 The Northern Illinois Horticultural Society, meeting in Bloom- 
 ington on March 2, 1870, besides criticizing the struggling insti- 
 tution roundly, passed a resolution which showed its kindlier at- 
 
 18 Petition to the legislature, signed by Jesse W. Fell and fifteen others 
 of Bloomington and vicinity. Illinois State Journal, Jan. 17, 1867. The 
 subscription as given in the petition was $500,000; the Pantograph put it 
 at $550,000. (Lewis, Life, 89). Mr. Fell gave $15,000 of this, the largest 
 single subscription except that of Judge Davis. There was a site of 140 
 acres, and many smaller cash subscriptions. Both this and the offer of 
 Jacksonville exceeded that of Champaign County. 
 
 No shadow of reproach attaches to the methods used by Clark R. 
 Griggs in winning friends for the Urbana location. There were open ac- 
 cusations of bribery at the time, however, which involved some members 
 of the Urbana lobby. E. M. Prince, in his contribution to the Fell Me- 
 morial (p. 42) tells the story of the proposal of a bribe to the Blooming- 
 ton men. He went one morning, he says, to Mr. Fell's room, where Fell 
 was making plans for the day for the Bloomington contingent. He went 
 over the names of the members of the legislature, speaking of the char- 
 acteristics of each and of the kind of argument that would probably 
 prove effective in each case. One man "said that Urbana had contributed 
 quite a large amount of money to influence the members of the Legisla- 
 ture, but said that he thought a few hundred dollars from McLean County 
 would give it to them, as the members preferred McLean to Champaign. 
 Mr. Fell immediately spoke up and said, 'I am willing to procure a sub- 
 scription that will be conceded to be the greatest of any of the towns, 
 but I will not contribute a dollar to influence any member of the Legisla- 
 ture to vote for us. I will throw the whole thing up before I will have 
 anything of the kind.' " See Prince's article in the Pantograph of June 
 7, 1007. 
 
 See also affidavits, Jan. 25, 1867; G. W. Minier to Turner, Feb. 10,, 
 1867 ; History of the Champaign "Elephant" by One of the Ring, broad- 
 side, dated in pencil, Mar. 21, 1867 ; certificate of expenditure by Henry 
 E. Banner, Apr. 2, 1867. All in the Turner Manuscripts.
 
 80 JESSE W. FELL [344 
 
 titude toward it. This was that the constitutional convention 
 then in session should endow it by a constitutional provision. 14 
 But Fell had anticipated this action. Representing the 
 State Teachers' Association, he had addressed a memorial to the 
 convention on the last day of January preceding, which ex- 
 pressed his ideas of possible means and measures. It did not dic- 
 tate an exact scheme of support and management for the univer- 
 sity, altho it suggested several. It appealed to state pride, 
 urging that eight surrounding states had already established uni- 
 versities. It contained also a vivid prophecy of the service now 
 actually rendered the state in the study of soils, entomology, 
 engineering, agriculture, chemistry, mining methods, and the 
 use of waste by-products. But he adds: "To accomplish these 
 grand results, however, we must have, not a university in name 
 another pretentious high school but what has not yet been 
 fully organized upon this continent, a University in fact ; a grand 
 and comprehensive school, equal in its scope and power of devel- 
 opment to our present and future greatness, and in harmony 
 with the advancing civilization of the age. Anything that falls 
 short of this, at least in its scope and constitution, is alike un- 
 worthy of us as a people, and of the age in which it is our privi- 
 lege to live. The day of small endeavors in enterprises of this 
 kind, and with people like ours, has passed away, never to 
 return. WE WANT THIS OR NOTHING." 15 Then follows a very 
 
 14 Both Turner and Gregory were at this meeting. The latter invited 
 the members to visit Champaign and see for themselves what was being 
 done at the university. Turner's acceptance marked the beginning of his 
 personal friendship for Gregory, and his hearty cooperation with him in 
 building up the institution. Carriel, Life of Jonathan Baldwin Turner, 
 227-231. Joseph O. Cunningham, interview, May 10, 1914. 
 
 15 Saying that its friends were not urging any special plan for pro- 
 viding it with funds, Fell mentions that fact that "some" propose to use 
 for the university the five per cent of the Illinois Central ; but another 
 plan, if more acceptable, would be considered by the university party. 
 "In view of the general desire to perpetuate the present relations of the 
 State with the Illinois Central Railroad, in regard to the fund referred 
 to, and of a morbid sensibility in the public mind in reference thereto, 
 whenever any measure affecting the same, however remotely, is proposed, 
 it may be wise, should you determine to provide for such an institution, 
 to abstain from making even any allusion to that fund, and in lieu 
 thereof, to provide that the one-tenth part of the two mill tax, or its 
 equivalent one-fifth of one mill, shall be set apart to that object, after 
 the extinguishment of our present state indebtedness. ... By the impo-
 
 345] PUBLIC SERVICE AFTER THE WAR 81 
 
 earnest reply to the chief argument being urged against such 
 a plan that the state was too poor to afford it. The plea was 
 an eloquent one, but it failed to gain its point with the consti- 
 tution-makers, who declined to saddle the state with any such 
 "burden". 
 
 Besides writing this plea for the teachers of the state, Fell 
 traveled much in the interests of the effort, and wrote many 
 letters. A draft of the proposed constitutional provision is 
 found in a set of resolutions passed by the State Teachers' 
 Association. 16 
 
 sition, in this or some other way, of a slight tax, equal to the fiftieth 
 part of one per cent and by deferring the collection of even that till 
 our present bonded indebtedness is fully paid off, would seem to obviate 
 all reasonable objections ; and though it postponed for a few years a 
 work already too long delayed, the friends of this measure hope by this 
 concession, as to time, to receive not only your approval, but that of the 
 people to whom your work is soon to be submitted. 
 
 . . . "We not only have nothing of this kind within our limits, but 
 we are surrounded by six states, to wit: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, 
 Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, to say nothing of two still younger States, 
 Minnesota and Kansas all of which have State Universities. True, 
 Ann Arbor only has at present any just claims to this high rank; but 
 may we not reasonably hope and expect, . . . that in time some, possibly 
 all, of the States referred to may have their Universities in fact as well 
 as in name? . . ." 
 
 . . . "What we mean by the term 'University', in that broad and 
 comprehensive sense used to designate these the highest institutions of 
 learning known in the world, is, in the language of Webster, 'An assem- 
 blage of colleges established at any place, with professors for instructing 
 students in the sciences and other branches of learning, and where de- 
 grees are conferred. It is properly,' he continues, 'a universal school, 
 in which are taught all branches of learning, including the four profes- 
 sions of Theology, Medicine, Law, and the Arts and Sciences.' To 
 Americanize such an institution we should, perhaps, in present condi- 
 tion, at least, and acting for the State, have to drop the first of the 
 professions above named, and incorporate, more thoroughly than is 
 usually done, what is known as the elective principle a principle largely 
 adopted at Cornell and elsewhere, and which enables the student to strike 
 out in any given direction he may desire, and thus fit himself for the 
 active duties of life. . . ." 
 
 16 Notes indorsed by Fell upon an envelope containing a copy of the 
 Memorial. Henry Wing to Fell, Jan. 3, 1870; Pantograph, Feb. I, 1871; 
 "'State University' To the Members of the Illinois Constitutional Con- 
 vention", reprint from the Pantograph and the Illinois State Journal, in 
 Illinois Teacher, XVI, 65.
 
 82 JESSE W. FEkL. [346 
 
 In connection with the constitutional convention of 1870 
 one other occurrence is worthy of mention. Joseph Medill, a 
 member of the convention, wishing to procure the strong influ- 
 ence of Governor Palmer in favor of the proposed change, 
 asked Fell to call on the governor for an expression of opinion. 
 This Fell did, in a letter published in May. About a month 
 later the governor answered in a long letter which was a strong 
 plea for the new constitution. This reply was widely published, 
 and doubtless had much to do with the subsequent vote of the 
 people. 17 
 
 Altho his efforts for the location and endowment of th& 
 university failed, in another direction Fell succeeded better. 
 The legislature in 1865 authorized the erection of a soldiers' 
 orphans' home, which was to be located by a commission. Fell, 
 deeply disappointed at the failure to build up the longed-for 
 university at Normal, set briskly at work to secure this smaller 
 institution for his own community. There was an initial appro- 
 priation of a hundred thousand dollars made by the state, to 
 which he secured an addition of fifty thousand in local sub- 
 scriptions, heading the list with a generous donation. Rock 
 Island, Decatur, Irvington, and Springfield competed for the 
 home, but the Normal subscription was the largest and the 
 commissioners decided unanimously in its favor, May 5, 1867. 18 
 
 Mr. Fell's connection with the Soldiers' Orphans' Home did 
 not end with its location at Normal. Saying that, as homeless 
 and almost friendless children, they would have mainly to depend 
 upon their own exertions for a livelihood after their dismissal 
 from the Home, he claimed that it was both wisdom and obliga- 
 tion in the state to give to its charges not only a shelter, but a 
 training that would make them self-supporting upon reaching 
 maturity. In other words, he wanted the school which was con- 
 ducted at the Home to be a trade-school. But vocational educa- 
 tion was at that time almost unknown in the United States, and 
 was looked upon with disfavor as a dangerously paternal institu- 
 tion. No trades were taught at the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 
 
 17 Palmer to Fell, June 18, 1870. 
 
 18 A characteristic story is told of this canvass, concerning Fell and 
 Davis. Seeing his friend as he approached the office, Judge Davis de- 
 clared to Lawrence Weldon, who tells the story (Fell Memorial, p. 40) 
 "There's Fell. I reckon he wants me to subscribe more money. I won't 
 do it. I won't do it. Reckon I'll have to, though." Fell did indeed induce 
 him to increase his already generous subscription.
 
 347] PUBLIC SERVICE AFTER THE WAR 83 
 
 and Mr. Fell was thereat much disappointed. ' ' Don 't call it my 
 school," he is said to have rejoined when a friend asked him how 
 "his school" prospered. "It is not what I wanted it to be." 
 Thirty years after its founding, those features which he had 
 sought in vain to incorporate, were added to the Soldiers' Or- 
 phans' Home school. 19 
 
 A somewhat similar project under private management 
 failed to materialize. This was the "College for Soldiers and 
 their Sons" which was to occupy the buildings of Western Un- 
 ion College and Military Academy at Fulton, Illinois. Mr. Fell 
 held some stock in the company advocating this scheme, but seems 
 never actively to have pushed it. 
 
 Shortly after the dedication of the Soldiers ' Orphans ' Home, 
 a competition for a state reform school was opened. Mr. Fell 
 started a subscription in Bloomington, which reached a total of 
 over sixty thousand dollars. 20 There was at that time, however, a 
 strong opposition to the policy of concentration which he advo- 
 cated. The state was still imperfectly unified, and state institu- 
 tions were regarded as the perquisites of citizenship, to be dis- 
 tributed as equally as possible. The interests of the institution 
 were a secondary consideration. The prejudice against the pol- 
 icy of concentration was so strong, in fact, as to persuade Mr. 
 Fell of the wisdom of abandoning his efforts to locate the new in- 
 stitution in Normal. He did this the more willingly, perhaps, be- 
 cause the people of another town in which he was interested be- 
 gan to hope that they might win it. This town was Pontiac, 
 where Mr. Fell had owned land for many years. He found en- 
 thusiastic response when he started to raise a subscription there, 
 and was able to induce the township to vote bonds to the amount 
 of twenty-five thousand dollars, to which the board of supervisors 
 added twice as much in county bonds. He and his brother Ker- 
 sey offered the site for the buildings, sixty-four acres lying close 
 to the town. The total subscription of over ninety thousand 
 dollars won the location of the school. 21 
 
 19 E. M. Prince in Fell Memorial, 41. 
 
 20 Based on the "Classification of the Normal Bids for the State 
 Industrial Reform School" among the Fell MSS, and exclusive of five 
 subscriptions dependent upon a particular location. Lewis says (Life, 
 99) that the subscription was $35,567. 
 
 21 Pantagraph, July 8, 1869. The Fell Papers include the subscription 
 list and map used in the campaign. Comments by Mr. Fell are to the 
 effect that "we did not regard such an institution as a junior penitentiary,
 
 84 JESSE W. PELL [348 
 
 The last state institution for which Fell and the Bloomington 
 community made a strong effort, was the Eastern Illinois Insane 
 Asylum. The location of this institution was before the people 
 in 1877. Mr. Fell, chairman of the committee appointed to di- 
 rect the efforts of the Bloomington people, made a report of the 
 advantages of location there, which was printed in the Panta- 
 graph of August 3, 1877. Its chief interest for us lies in its ad- 
 vocacy of advantage to the state as a whole rather than to any 
 one region his old argument of "concentration versus scattera- 
 tion." Modern ideas of efficient and economical management 
 counted for so little at the time, however, when opposed to sec- 
 tional jealousy and local ambition, that the really excellent in- 
 ducements offered by Normal were declined in favor of the town 
 of Kankakee. Probably the same reasons accounted for the fact 
 that a committee composed of Jesse Fell, Lawrence "Weldon, and 
 Hamilton Spencer, appointed in 1885 to investigate the chances 
 of Bloomington for securing the projected home for the feeble- 
 minded, did not make a campaign for the institution. 
 
 but, as the name implies, as a reformatory institution." Fell presented 
 to Pontiac the land for a city park, which was named for him in 1915. 
 Pantograph, June 7, 1915, quoting from Pontiac Leader. 
 
 In 1871 occurred one of those movements for changing the capital 
 which often take place in states in which the center of population is still 
 shifting and uncertain. In March of that year, Peoria made an effort 
 to have the capital moved to that place. The discussion evoked many 
 statements of the shortcomings of Springfield, and when it became evi- 
 dent that the idea was to be thought of seriously, Bloomington people 
 had a meeting in their court house "to consider the question of making 
 an effort to have the capital brought here". After the explanatory 
 speeches a committee, of which Mr. Fell was a member, was appointed 
 to prepare an appeal to the legislature. The committee probably made 
 inquiries before doing the bidding of the townspeople, for nothing further 
 came of it. Lewis, Life, 101. 
 
 No account of Mr. Fell's service to his community could be com- 
 plete without mention of his unremitting efforts for the colored people 
 of Normal. He secured work for them, employing many himself, and 
 then showed them how to save and invest their earnings in homes, en- 
 couraging them to educate themselves and their children, and constituting 
 himself advisor and friend in their struggle for betterment. Largely as 
 a result of his interest in them, the colored people of that community 
 have become as a class self-respecting and property-owning citizens. Notes 
 on interview with George Brown, May 15, 1916.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 RAILROADS 
 
 Mr. Fell's active efforts in behalf of railroads for Central 
 Illinois seem to have begun in 1835, when General William L. D. 
 Ewing sent a number of Bloomington men a request for their co- 
 operation in building the Illinois Central Railroad. This docu- 
 ment was addressed to the leading men of Bloomington, "Gen. 
 Covell, J. W. Fell Esq., Jno. W. S. Moon, Esq., Doct. Miller &C." 1 
 It apprised them that General Ewing proposed to present at ' ' the 
 called session of our General Assembly" a bill for a railroad 
 from ' ' Ottawa, or some other suitable point on the Illinois river,, 
 through Bloomington, Decatur, Shelbyville, Vandalia, and thence 
 to the mouth (or near it) of the Ohio river on the most practica- 
 ble and convenient route. ' ' He asked their opinions on the mat- 
 ter, and indicated a willingness to appreciate the cooperation of 
 McLean County people. Nothing came of this early project. A 
 little later Fell became one of the incorporators of the Pekin, 
 Bloomington, and Wabash Railroad, which was to unite the Illi- 
 nois and Wabash rivers. 2 
 
 The Illinois Central Railroad became the backbone of the 
 elaborate internal improvement bill of 1837, was taken up by the 
 Great Western Railway Company in 1843, and was the especial 
 care of Senator Sidney Breese during 1843-1850. Senator Doug- 
 las finally succeeded in endowing it by a grant of public lands, 
 in September, 1850, and construction began December 23, 1851. 8 
 In the congressional grant, the termini of Galena and Cairo were 
 stipulated, but the course of the road between these two points 
 was left open. Powerful influences were endeavoring to change 
 it from E wing's proposed route eastward and westward, and 
 particularly to Peoria and to Springfield. Fell's candidate, Gen- 
 eral Gridley, elected to the state senate in 1850, worked untir- 
 ingly to maintain the original route through Bloomington, and 
 finally succeeded in securing a clause in the act of incorporation 
 with this provision. This was in February, 1851. The railroad 
 
 a Oct. 20, 1835. 
 
 ^Private Laws of Illinois, 1836, 8-12. E. M. Prince in Fell Memorial, 43. 
 3 Brownson, History of the Illinois Central Railroad, 18-48. 
 
 85
 
 86 JESSE W. PELL, [350 
 
 was to pass through Clinton and Decatur, towns in which Mr. 
 Fell was much interested, as well as through Bloomington. In 
 the spring of 1852 the road was started northward from Bloom- 
 ington to meet the line already begun from LaSalle southward. 
 Regular traffic on the completed road began May 23, 1853. 4 
 
 On the day when ground was broken near David Davis' 
 home for the Illinois Central Railroad, 5 engineers were locating 
 an extension of the Chicago and Alton (then called the Alton 
 and Sangamon) from Springfield to Bloomington. "Work pro- 
 gressed so rapidly that trains were running on this road just 
 five months from the date of location. Passengers from St. 
 Louis could change at Bloomington to the Illinois Central and 
 again at LaSalle to the Rock Island route, and so to Chicago. 
 At Bloomington there was no direct connection for many years 
 between the Chicago and Mississippi, of which the Alton and 
 Sangamon was a branch, and the Illinois Central. The transfer 
 was by cabs and omnibuses. 
 
 In 1853 Fell secured the right of way for the Chicago and 
 Mississippi from Bloomington to Joliet, and work began 
 promptly. Fell, who had lands along this route from which he 
 hoped to reap a profit, also secured from O. H. Lee, who had 
 charge of the building of the extension, a contract for himself 
 and his brother Thomas, to furnish ties and cord-wood. The 
 sale of lands in and around Pontiac, Lexington, Towanda, Nor- 
 mal, and Joliet, of course netted him handsome returns for the 
 investment of time and money for the Chicago and Alton. In- 
 deed, the dove-tailing of enterprises, the working-together-for- 
 good of all the forces that made for prosperity, was an accom- 
 plishment for which he had a peculiar talent. 6 
 
 In the meantime, ten and a quarter acres of ground had 
 been conveyed to the Chicago and Mississippi for the depots 
 and shops which have since helped to make Bloomington in a 
 small way an industrial center. Many citizens wanted the sta- 
 tion-house of the new road built close to that of the Illinois Cen- 
 tral, with the point of intersection near the present site of the 
 "Wesleyan University. But Fell, with an eye to the founding of 
 a suburban town at the intersection of the two roads, at a point 
 farther west where he and others had secured land, stood for 
 its location at a considerable distance. The Bloomington station 
 
 ^Bloomington Intelligencer, May 25, 1853. 
 
 5 May 15, 1852. 
 
 6 O. H. Lee to Fell, July 4, 1853. Pantograph, Apr. 18, 1908.
 
 351] RAILROADS 87 
 
 was located about a mile from the Illinois Central station, and 
 the intersection formed a center for the new town of North 
 Bloomington. 7 On August 4, 1854, the Pantagraph announced 
 that trains were running from Alton to Joliet, the full length of 
 the Chicago and Mississippi. 8 
 
 Central Illinois needed in addition an east-and-west road. 
 In 1853 Fell and others organized a company to realize a pro- 
 jected "Wabash and Warsaw" railroad. 9 On the third of May 
 he addressed a meeting at Carthage favoring a proposed road 
 from LaFayette, Indiana, through Bloomington, Pekin, and other 
 Illinois towns to Warsaw. Bloomington citizens subscribed fifty 
 thousand dollars to the stock by the middle of June, and the 
 county court ordered a vote on a county subscription of a hun- 
 dred thousand. The fifty thousand dollars, however, were rejected 
 later on technical grounds, and the order of the court was revoked 
 accordingly. The enthusiasm that had been so general died out 
 suddenly at this rebuff, and was reawakened later with some dif- 
 ficulty. 
 
 Mr. Fell had much opposition during this period from those 
 who would not be served by a road of the proposed route. A 
 Pekin paper questioned his motives in advocating a road through 
 towns in which he had holdings. The Bloomington Times also 
 attacked him vigorously, but was answered by Mr. Fell himself 
 in the Intelligencer. 10 He had by this time become the local di- 
 rector of the proposed road. In September he urged the sub- 
 scription of the fifty thousand dollars at a meeting at the court 
 house, and the subscription of a like amount to another proposed 
 road, the Quincy and Bloomington. He then entered into an ac- 
 
 7 John H. Burnham, Our Duty to Future Generations. An address 
 -delivered Apr. 21, 1905, at the I. S. N. U. 
 
 8 The tracks of the Chicago and Rock Island were used from Joliet 
 to Chicago until March 18, 1858, when the road transferred to its own 
 tracks. Lewis, Life, 42. 
 
 9 The Intelligencer of Mar. 23, 1853, gives the names of the corpo- 
 rators of "The Bloomington and Wabash Valley R. R. Company 1 ' as 
 follows : David Davis, Isaac Funk, James Miller, A. Gridley, E. H. 
 Didlake, R. O. Warriner, John W. Ewing, W. H. Temple, Wm. T. Major, 
 John Moore, John E. McClun, Jesse W. Fell, J. H. Robinson, A. Withers, 
 Wm. T. Flagg, W. H. Holmes. The issue of April 27 has an account 
 of the meeting at which Mr. Fell was sent "to the western part of the 
 route" to interest people in the venture. See also issues of May 18, 
 July 20, Aug. 10, Aug. 24, 1853; Pantagraph, Apr. 26 and June 28, 1853. 
 
 ^Intelligencer, Aug. 3, Aug. 24, Sept. 12, 1853.
 
 88 JESSE W. FELL [352 
 
 tive personal campaign to secure the money. The city voted it 
 almost unanimously on October 15. Large subscriptions had 
 been made in Tazewell County, Keokuk, and LaFayette, so that 
 the total amount by December 14 was over a million dollars. 11 
 
 Despite all these efforts the road was not built. In March, 
 1854, it was announced that steps had been taken to let the con- 
 tract of construction ; but construction did not follow. 12 In the 
 winter and spring of 1855-56 more meetings were held in the 
 towns along the proposed route, and Mr. Fell with others again 
 circulated the ready subscription-list. But people were tiring of 
 the subject, and there was little success. A new company was in- 
 corporated in 1855, for the building of the Bloomington, Kanka- 
 kee, and Indiana State Line Railroad, with Mr. Fell as a lead- 
 ing stockholder and worker. 13 It also failed to secure popular 
 support. Then in 1857, when the panic had added to the usual 
 chariness in giving to public enterprises, a futile attempt was 
 made. At the November election, a proposal that the county 
 should subscribe a hundred thousand dollars was defeated by a 
 vote of 1570 to 1166. 
 
 The east-and-west road was not again actively advocated 
 until 1866, when a number of Danville people began to push the 
 project. There were several groups, each urging a different 
 route, as usual ; but those who proposed a road from Danville to 
 Bloomington through Urbana and LeBoy were most active. An- 
 other projected road passed directly from Bloomington to La- 
 Fayette, through Cheney's Grove. The Tonica and Petersburg 
 line of the Chicago and Alton, already partly constructed, might 
 be deflected, urged Mr. Fell and others, to Bloomington. Fell 
 spoke in favor of this scheme at a meeting on December 29, 1866, 
 using a map a favorite device to show his meaning. 14 The 
 resolutions he offered at the close of his speech were adopted. 
 They endorsed the idea of the road and appointed a committee to 
 sound the community concerning the hundred thousand dollar 
 subscription. It proved to be very difficult to secure pledges, 
 partly because many people believed that the road would come in 
 any case, and the spending of so much money was therefore use- 
 
 >Intelligencer, Dec. 14, 1853. 
 
 ^Pantograph, Man. 15, 1854. 
 
 ^Private Laws of Illinois, 1853, 342-346. At about the same time 
 Mr. Fell and others incorporated the Bloomington Gas Light and Coke 
 Company. Ibid., 1855, 650. 
 
 ^Pantagraph, Dec. 29 and 31, 1866.
 
 353] RAILROADS 89 
 
 less. An accusation was made against Fell and Gridley, touching 
 their disinterestedness in the matter, to which Fell replied by 
 publishing a letter from T. B. Blackstone, the president of the 
 Chicago and Alton ; and the canvass went on. President Black- 
 stone convinced Mr. Fell that the new road would be built 
 through Washington were the money not subscribed at Blooming- 
 ton. 15 In April, Fell succeeded in securing a joint appropriation 
 of seventy-five thousand dollars from the township and the city. 
 In June the township voted a hundred thousand dollars each to 
 the "LaFayette, Bloomington and Mississippi" and to the "Dan- 
 ville, Urbana and Pekin" roads. 
 
 Then followed busy days in Bloomington, for there were 
 three railroads being built. The one from Jacksonville was com- 
 pleted for traffic on August 14, 1867. 16 The Danville road from 
 Bloomington to Pekin was completed in 1869, and to Covington 
 on September 2, 1870, giving railroad communication between 
 Indianapolis and Peoria. The other east-and-west road, of which 
 General Gridley was president and Fell an active director, was 
 less fortunate. Financial support was hard to find, but work 
 began in spite of this in October, 1869. The contractors, Howard 
 and Weston, had promised to finish the road to the Indiana line 
 by January 1, 1871; but the company failed early in 1870. A 
 new contract was let, but it was only partly fulfilled. The Wa- 
 bash company finally finished the road, which established regular 
 service on July 13, 1872. So at last, after efforts extending over 
 twenty years, east-and-west communication by rail was realized. 
 It was not in a form so direct as Mr. Fell and his colleagues had 
 hoped to have it, but it has proved practicable and helpful. 
 
 It has been noted that the Chicago and Alton Railroad estab- 
 lished shops at Bloomington soon after entering the town. These 
 shops were largely destroyed by fire on November 1, 1867. Al- 
 most at once, it was proposed to rebuild them in Chicago, or some 
 other city where labor might more easily be had. The loss to 
 Bloomington would have been very great, and Mr. Fell with 
 some friends set himself to find the means of making their reten- 
 tion sure. Judge David Davis, General Gridley and Mr. Fell in- 
 duced R. E. Williams, then local attorney for the road, to go 
 with them to Chicago for an interview with President Black- 
 stone. The latter assured the trio that, altho feeling for re- 
 
 15 Blackstone to Fell, Dec. 13 and 28, 1866, Jan. i, 1867. 
 16 This road was leased to the Chicago and Alton for 99 years in 
 June, 1868.
 
 90 JESSE W. PELL [354 
 
 moval was strong in the company, he himself favored the reten- 
 tion of the shops where they had been, if only additional land 
 for needed extension could be secured. This reasonable request 
 surprised the Bloomington men, who had expected to be asked 
 for a bonus in money. Returning to Bloomington, the matter 
 was presented to the people at a mass-meeting on November 26. 
 General Gridley and Mr. Fell spoke ; the latter had, as usual, 
 resolutions to be adopted and a definite plan for raising the 
 money. Many in the audience signed the guarantee that night, 
 and within a few days the number of guarantors reached 740. 
 After much negotiation, the citizens agreed to give about thirty 
 acres of land, some of which had to be gotten by condemnation 
 proceedings. The railroad company advanced the money to pay 
 for it, at the usual rate of ten per cent. The new shops were 
 larger and better than the old, and correspondingly more valu- 
 able to Bloomington. 17 
 
 One other enterprise of a similar nature remains to be re- 
 corded. In 1867 a number of people began to discuss the build- 
 ing of a street railway from Bloomington to Normal. A member 
 of the board of education who lived in southern Illinois objected 
 that the -noise of cars would disturb the scholastic quiet of the 
 community, but people in general thought it a good idea. 18 A 
 company was incorporated, to which was given a franchise to 
 build the railway through Bloomington, Normal, and the cam- 
 pus. It was operated at first by a dummy engine, later by horse 
 and mule power. The cars ran every forty minutes until nine 
 o'clock at night. 
 
 The purpose of presenting the somewhat detailed accounts 
 of enterprises in which Jesse Fell was interested, which have 
 filled the pages of this chapter and the preceding one, has been 
 to show by what means the leaders of the era of settlement in the 
 Middle West managed to achieve results which appear marvelous 
 in whatever light they may be seen. Fell was but one of a host 
 
 17 To raise the money required, the Bloomington constituency framed 
 a bill authorizing an issue of bonds. It passed the General Assembly, 
 but was vetoed by Governor Palmer on grounds of unconstitutionality. 
 A committee from Bloomington visited Palmer, and after explaining the 
 situation to him, received his promise not further to oppose the bill. 
 They worked to secure a repassage, succeeding only after much lobbying 
 in the senate. The bonds were paid duly, with no question of their 
 validity. 
 
 18 P. G. Roots to Messrs. Hatch and Fell, May 23, 1867.
 
 355] RAILROADS 91 
 
 of workers who changed the wilderness into a land of settled in- 
 stitutions within the measure of a generation. Few men, per- 
 haps, united so many qualities of leadership as he possessed ; but 
 the difference between him and other men in this respect was 
 one of degree rather than of kind. It was a period rich in social 
 service, altho "social service" had not then become so much 
 of a conscious slogan as it has been since. It was a period when 
 people were closer to the government than they are now, when 
 living was simpler, when the machinery of civilization was 
 formed by popular effort, in a more direct way than has been 
 the case in later years ; when men of limited means and many in- 
 terests laid the foundation for economic and political achieve- 
 ment carefully and solidly, knowing what structure they reared 
 and conscious that what they wrought would shape in great 
 measure the future of their commonwealth. It is as a type of 
 such men that Jesse Fell has real significance for the people of 
 the Middle West.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 THE RELIGIOUS LIBERAL 
 
 The Unitarian movement in New England had its parallel 
 among the Quakers in the Hicksite schism, begun in 1827 by 
 Elias Hicks, a brilliant and influential Friend. He denied the 
 deity of Christ and the special inspiration of the Scriptures, 
 tenets held by the orthodox Friends. Rebecca Fell, Jesse W. 
 Fell's mother, was a warm friend and admirer of Elias Hicks, 
 and followed him into the sect which he established. The father, 
 however, while he left the orthodox meeting at the same time, did 
 not become a Hicksite, but united with the Methodists, whose 
 creed agreed more nearly with his own personal belief. 1 The 
 father became an exhorter in his new church home, the mother a 
 preacher among the Hicksites. The harmony of the family was 
 in no wise disturbed, for both parents were tolerant and not dis- 
 posed to exaggerate differences. Some of the children followed 
 the father, some the mother in their religious faith. Jesse, 
 whose special privilege it was to accompany his mother to meet- 
 ing on First Days and Fourth Days, came closely to sympathize 
 with her in her religious ideas ; and his activity as a leader of lib- 
 eral religious thought in his community in after years, may 
 largely be attributed to the influence of his mother's teaching 
 and example. She was a woman of vigorous mentality, altho 
 of but rudimentary education, as were most of the women of her 
 time. With her husband, she centered the training of her chil- 
 dren about the necessity of uncompromising honesty, universal 
 freedom, and fidelity to conviction. 2 
 
 After removing to Bloomington in 1837, the Fell family con- 
 tinued to hold meetings after the fashion of Friends, altho 
 
 *At this time, the simplicity of dress and manners of the Methodists 
 was very like that of the Friends, and such a transition was easily made, 
 entailing little change of accepted doctrine or custom. 
 
 2 Jesse Fell to Fell, Sept. 2, 1832. This letter shows the intensely 
 religious nature of Jesse W. Fell's father. It describes a camp-meeting 
 in which he had taken part with great pleasure and profit, and expresses 
 the tenderest wishes for his son's spiritual welfare. Another letter of 
 Fell's father, dated Jan. 6, 1835, shows similar characteristics. 
 
 92
 
 357] THE RELIGIOUS LIBERAL 93 
 
 there were few of their faith in the town. The meetings were 
 held on Sunday afternoons at the house, and the attendance was 
 such as often to crowd the rooms. John Magoun, beloved by 
 everyone who knew him and an especial friend of the Fells, came 
 to these Quaker gatherings. The elder Mrs. Fell's voice was 
 often heard in admonition, and her husband's, altho he was 
 totally blind, in song. In his youth Jesse Fell the elder had been 
 a famous singer in his community, and in his old age his voice 
 was still sweet. 
 
 Under such influence, it was inevitable that Mr. Fell's relig- 
 ious faith should be both simple and strong. Wherever he was, 
 at appropriate times and places he joined people of many denom- 
 inations and shades of belief in their worship ; and in all his life 
 there appears no word of intolerance for the beliefs of others. 
 His temporary connection with the Methodist Episcopal church 
 at Payson has been mentioned on another page. Upon his return 
 to Bloomington he did not uite with any church, altho he 
 attended the "West Charge" Methodist church, then under the 
 care of James Shaw. 3 
 
 It is significant of the character of the people of Blooming- 
 ton that there were in the town a great many of differing views 
 but tolerant dispositions, who during the early years were drawn 
 together for purposes of worship. Westerners were usually af- 
 filiated, when they had religious affiliations at all, with the more 
 radically evangelical denominations. In Bloomington there had 
 been a Congregational church of abolitionist leanings for many 
 years, and Baptist and Methodist churches which, altho they 
 contained many families from the South, were for the most part 
 opposed to the extension of slavery. In 1855 the more radical 
 element in the Presbyterian church had separated itself from the 
 mother church, and formed the Second Presbyterian church. 
 Thus clearly, during the decade, the political and sectional prej- 
 udices held by people generally affected their church affiliations. 4 
 
 On the evening of the tenth of July, 1859, a group of people 
 who were interested in forming a religious organization to which 
 Christians of differing creeds might belong, met in the office of 
 Kersey Fell. There were about twenty in attendance. Eliel 
 Barber was chairman, Jesse Fell secretary. The result of the 
 
 3 James Shaw in Fell Memorial, 4. 
 
 4 Dr. John W. Cook, A Western Pioneer. Address at the semi- 
 centennial of the founding of the Unitarian Church in Bloomington, Oct. 
 3, 1909. (Manuscript in possession of the author.)
 
 94 JESSE W. FELL [358 
 
 conference was that the secretary was directed to write to Rev, 
 Charles G. Ames, of Boston, asking him to come to Bloomington 
 to look the field over. He came, preached a series of eight ser- 
 mons, and visited the people who were interested in the possibil- 
 ity of forming a new church. He made his home with the Fells 
 while in Bloomington, and became a very dear friend of that 
 household. 5 
 
 A church, known at first as the Free Congregational Society,, 
 was organized on the seventh and eighth of August. Many 
 shades of Protestant belief were included. There were Universal- 
 ists, Friends, Campbellites, Baptists, Episcopalians, Congrega- 
 tionalists and Spiritualists among the members. 6 The resident 
 clergymen of Bloomington were invited to preach for them until 
 the new pastor, Mr. Ames, could take up his work. 
 
 Phoenix Hall was used for the services of the new church for 
 almost ten years. Here the pastors, for the most part New Eng- 
 land men, nurtured anti-slavery sentiments and fostered devo- 
 tion to the federal union. Rev. Ichabod Codding, the fourth pas- 
 tor, was a fearless abolitionist, and spoke boldly his progressive 
 views. During his pastorate, which like those of most "Western pas- 
 tors was a short one, the society dedicated its house of worship, 
 on March 15, 1868. Other ministers succeeded Mr. Codding 
 free and fearless speakers and thinkers for the most part, reform- 
 ers rather than pastors, intellectual guides whose brief stay in 
 the community served to waken thought and to deepen religious 
 faith. Two of them, Rev. C. C. Burleigh and Rev. J. F. Thomp- 
 son, a New Englander and an Englishman, became strong friends 
 of Mr. Fell. Mr. Burleigh, a friend of the poet Whittier, was a 
 quiet man of great spiritual force, but a man who gained no de- 
 
 5 Ames to Fell, July 15, 1859. Ames to E. M. Prince, Sept. 23, 1899. 
 Vickers Fell to Fell, Mar. 4, 1862. J. J. Lewis to Fell, Mar. 2, 1862. It 
 was Mr. Ames, a radical New England abolitionist, who preached the 
 famous sermon known as "the funeral sermon of John Brown". It was 
 delivered on Sunday, Dec. 4, 1859, was printed in the local press, and 
 afterward in a pamphlet which had wide distribution. His personal esti- 
 mate of Mr. Fell is given in the letter to Mr. Prince just cited. C. G. 
 Ames, in the Christian Register, Mar. 18, 1909. 
 
 6 At a meeting held at the close of the regular service on the seventh 
 of August, attended by about fifty people, Fell presented a set of resolu- 
 tions looking toward the organization of the church. He and Kersey 
 Fell, Mr. Phoenix, Mr. Stillwell, and others talked, after which the 
 resolutions were adopted. Thirty-two people entered the society the next 
 night, twenty more on August 14. Dr. J. W. Cook, A Western Pioneer^
 
 359] THE EELIGIOUS LIBERAL 95 
 
 gree of popularity in the hustling "Western town in which his lot 
 was for a short time cast. 7 Mr. Thompson, who followed him, 
 was on the other hand most acceptable to Bloomington, and later 
 became immensely popular in Los Angeles. In speaking of the 
 friendships which came to Fell through his church relations, it 
 is meet here to mention Robert Collyer, with whom he often con- 
 sulted and who became a valued personal friend. 8 
 
 During the years after its founding the church gradually 
 lost its composite congregational character, and became more 
 homogeneous in belief. Unitarian doctrines came to be the pre- 
 vailing opinion of the congregation. The name was therefore 
 changed on December 9, 1885, to that of the "Unitarian Church 
 of Bloomington." Mr. Fell remained an active member and con- 
 stant attendant of this organization as long as he lived. 
 
 7 "Give him," wrote Robert Collyer to Fell in 1873, in introducing art 
 English clergyman who was viewing the sights of America, "if you can, 
 a chance to meet Charles Burleigh. He may not otherwise see one of 
 the Old Ironsides." Rev. Burleigh had preached in Pennsylvania many 
 years before upon the subject of slavery, and the Fells had known of 
 him then. "... last third-day evening we all (a few excepted) re- 
 paired to the Meeting-house where we heard a very interesting and 1 
 eloquent speech delivered by Charles Burleigh on the subject of immediate 
 emancipation. He is employed by the anti-slavery society of Philadel- 
 phia to deliver lectures on that subject; he is the most profound reasoner 
 I ever heard. And if dignity of manners, eloquence, and sound reason 
 can do anything to promote the cause, he is well adapted to the office."' 
 Rebecca Fell to Fell, Christmas, 1836. 
 
 8 Robert Collyer to Fell, July 3, Sept. 18, Nov. 8, 1866; June 7, 1870; 
 Sept. 15, 1873. A spirited letter upon "Broad-Gauge Theology", contain- 
 ing a clear defense of his liberal beliefs, appeared in the Pantograph of 
 February 15, 1868.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 LATER POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 
 
 The congressional campaign of 1868 was one of especial in- 
 terest to Mr. Fell. In March, an editorial in the Pantagraph 
 had again proposed his name as a candidate for Congress, a pro- 
 posal which received the usual short shrift from him. 1 The pub- 
 lic request was repeated, and again declined. The Republicans 
 of McLean then asked General Giles A. Smith to be their candi- 
 date, and he accepted. Fell, however, thought this a false and 
 foolish move, inasmuch as Shelby M. Cullom, the member then 
 sitting, was a tried and proved man. There followed a lively 
 controversy between the Cullom-Fell party and the Smith ad- 
 herents, waged both in the newspapers and in all public and pri- 
 vate places where Republicans gathered for council. The county 
 committee called a mass-meeting for the purpose of selecting and 
 instructing delegates to the district convention. It met on the 
 eleventh of April, but was so tumultuous a gathering that little 
 lousiness could be transacted. General Smith seems to have had 
 control of the party machinery, but the machine was so power- 
 fully opposed by Fell and his colleague Gridley, that none of the 
 routine business decided upon could be forced through. A dele- 
 gate county convention was therefore called, to meet on the 
 twenty-seventh ; and the war between Smith and Fell continued. 
 The friends of Smith published a vigorous attack entitled "The 
 Other Side, ' ' to which Fell replied as vigorously. 2 When it met, 
 the second county convention proved more tractable than the 
 first had been, and nominated Smith as McLean's candidate. 
 Fell continued his exertions throughout the district, however, 
 and on the fourth of May the friends of Cullom were gratified by 
 a vote of five counties to two in his favor, at the district conven- 
 tion. He was elected by a large majority in November. 
 
 The story of this congressional struggle in McLean County 
 illustrates a condition of division which was fairly typical of the 
 
 is, Life, 92. 
 
 2 Pantagraph, Apr. 9, 10, n for the notice of the mass convention; 
 Apr. ii, article by Fell answering attack in "The Other Side"; other 
 interesting matter in issues of Mar. 25-30, 1868. 
 
 96
 
 361] LATER POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 97 
 
 situation of the Republican party in Illinois after the war. The 
 unity which only a great common purpose can give, had passed 
 away with the coming of peace. Discontent with the extreme 
 congressional reconstruction policy, altho not then so decided 
 as later, had begun to appear; Johnson's foolish blunders had 
 complicated the situation. Locally, many men aspired to the 
 honors which the Republicans had to distribute. The struggle 
 for the nomination to the governorship, for instance, was unus- 
 ually sharp. Robert G. Ingersoll, who had expected to be a candi- 
 date for attorney general, upon the report of the withdrawal of 
 Palmer decided to try for this higher office. 3 In the convention, 
 however, Palmer took the nomination away from him and also 
 from Jesse K. Dubois and S. W. Moulton. Governor Palmer's 
 advocacy of states' rights divided the Republican ranks to some 
 extent, and finally resulted in his leaving the party in 1872, with 
 some adherents. 
 
 In 1870 a bitter quarrel arose between Mr. Cullom and Mr. 
 Fell, which resulted in Cullom 's defeat in his race for reelection. 
 The cause of this difference was Cullom 's appointment of John 
 F. Scibird as Bloomington 's postmaster. It will be remembered 
 that the firm of Scibird and Waters sold the Pantagraph to Davis 
 and Fell in August, 1868. Scarcely was the sale made, when 
 Scibird and Waters began to plan the publication of a rival Re- 
 publican paper, which appeared, under the name of The Leader, 
 the next December. Fell and Davis regarded this as a breach of 
 faith in their rivals, inasmuch as they had purchased the Panta- 
 graph with the understanding that they were buying the Repub- 
 lican paper of Bloomington; and the two newspapers soon 
 worked up a rivalry as spirited as usually develops under such 
 circumstances. Added to this circumstance were other consid- 
 erations which gave Fell a much stronger reason for resenting 
 Cullom 's appointment. 
 
 3 Ingersoll to Fell, Mar. 25, 1868. Another letter, dated four days 
 later, establishes Fell's position as favoring first Moulton, then Corwin, 
 and last Ingersoll himself. "In the meantime," says the irrepressible 
 Peorian, "dear friend, stick to your tree planting. There is nothing like 
 agriculture and horticulture. Stay in the beautiful fields. Hear the 
 birds sing praises to Corwin and Moulton. I would rather the birds 
 would do it than to have you. I know that you will enjoy yourself a 
 great deal more working in the garden than meddling about the governor 
 question." There is more of the same tenor, and finally this postscript: 
 "Now is the time to plant trees. All should be planted before the 6th 
 of May."
 
 98 JESSE W. FELL [362 
 
 General Gridley had asked in return for the assistance he 
 had given Fell in supporting Cullom in 1868, Fell's influence in 
 favor of the retention of Gridley 's brother-in-law, Dr. Cromwell, 
 as postmaster. Dr. Cromwell was a good postmaster, but his ap- 
 pointment by Andrew Johnson was with difficulty confirmed by 
 the senate, as were many other appointments by that unpopular 
 president. Mr. Fell, seeing no good reason for opposing his re- 
 appointment, urged it upon Cullom, and received what Fell un- 
 derstood to be his promise that he would retain him. But for 
 some reason Cullom changed his mind, and after Grant's elec- 
 tion Scibird was given the appointment. Added to this was the 
 fact that Fell had urged Cullom 's renomination in 1868 with the 
 understanding that he was not to run again. These considera- 
 tions put Fell in the position of a man who must either vindicate 
 his own honor or impeach that of others, and he took a course 
 calculated to clear himself of suspicion. 
 
 Cullom repeatedly acknowledged at the time that he owed 
 his nomination in 1868 to the efforts of Fell and Gridley. The 
 equally vigorous opposition which the Pantagraph and its guiding 
 spirit evinced two years later, made his prospects hopeless in Mc- 
 Lean County, and doubtful throughout the district. McLean de- 
 clared for General John McNulta, but the district, after a bitter 
 struggle lasting through the summer, nominated Colonel Jona- 
 than Merriam of Tazewell. Mr. Merriam was a man of fine char- 
 acter but comparatively unknown, and was defeated in Novem- 
 ber by the Democratic candidate, James C. Robinson. The fact 
 that the division among the Republicans had resulted in Repub- 
 lican defeat did not tend promptly to heal the wounds among the 
 factions. Nevertheless Fell and Cullom found that mutual ex- 
 planations removed the cause of their personal differences, and 
 they became again the best of friends. 4 
 
 Although his informal and unadvised ways of doing things 
 were distinctively Western and might have been expected to win 
 a degree of approval in that section of the country, the four years 
 of Grant's first administration seem to have aroused as much crit- 
 icism in his own state as in any other. There was in Illinois a 
 strong Southern element which, altho it had not made the 
 state disloyal during the great struggle, still felt much sympathy 
 for the subdued states, subjected to the indignities of military 
 
 *Mr. Fell's own account of the controversy to that date is in the 
 Pantagraph of July 22, 1870. Shelby M. Cullom to the writer, Mar. 15, 
 1912.
 
 363] LATER POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 99 
 
 and carpet-bag rule. Sunmer, toward whom Grant had behaved 
 with what most people considered inexcusable injustice, was no- 
 where more beloved than in the Middle West, where he had long 
 been a popular hero. And the best men everywhere were dis- 
 satisfied with the position of the party leaders upon the civil 
 service question. 
 
 Carl Schurz was the guiding spirit of the Liberal Republi- 
 can movement of 1872, and its strongest adherents were in those 
 states where his influence, and that of his friends, was strong. 
 His election to the senate in 1869 was the first sign of the tri- 
 umph of a new set of ideas in the Republican party. Tariff- 
 reform Republicans joined hands with the reconstruction-reform 
 men, but as tariff-reform men were comparatively few in most 
 of the states where the insurgents hoped to gain a following, this 
 issue was kept in the background. The passage of the Ku-Klux 
 hill in 1871 was so actively opposed by Schurz and Trumbull as 
 to cause these two leaders to draw together and to gather around 
 them the more liberal elements in the party ; and this group was 
 further unified by the New York Custom House affair. Never- 
 theless, as late as in December of 1871 neither Trumbull nor 
 Schurz had openly planned to oppose Grant's reelection. 5 
 
 Early in January the movement, which as yet had appeared 
 only as a division in Congress, began to take on a more popular 
 aspect. In Missouri and in Southern Illinois, where the South- 
 ern element was strong, there was a great deal of fighting among 
 the people in support of Schurz, Trumbull, and Sumner. The 
 Missouri Liberal Republicans held a convention in January, and 
 issued a call for a national mass convention in May. Preconven- 
 tion speculation as to the presidential candidate of this seceding 
 Republican gathering centered at that time about two men, Ly- 
 man Trumbull and Charles Francis Adams. The people of the 
 southern third of Illinois, as well' as many throughout the state 
 who remembered Trumbull 's service, were very hopeful concern- 
 ing his chances. Governor Palmer and the influential Jesse K. 
 Dubois were his leading supporters. Adams was probably better 
 known in the nation than Trumbull, and had proved his ability in 
 
 5 Horace White, Life of Lyman Trumbull, 269-271, quoting an inter- 
 view published in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Dec. 3, 1871, and New 
 York Times, Dec. 6. A letter from Trumbull to W. C. Flagg, among the 
 Flagg MSS, dated Jan. 10, 1872, however, shows that at that date Trum- 
 bull was contemplating open opposition to Grant in the Republican party. 
 Flagg was, according to his own statement, Trumbull's only confidant at 
 this time.
 
 100 JESSE W. PELL [364 
 
 the difficult position of minister to England during the Civil 
 War. 
 
 Just when Trumbull 's prospects were brightest, Judge David 
 Davis decided that he would be a candidate for the nomination. 
 Leonard Swett, the famous criminal lawyer, long an associate 
 and close personal friend of Judge Davis, became his manager, 
 and enlisted the services of Fell in arousing the people of Mc- 
 Lean County and Central Illinois to the support of a citizen of 
 their own community for the nomination. Fell, from the first an 
 advocate of a milder reconstruction policy and for that reason 
 thoroly in sympathy with the Liberals, had been a Trumbull 
 adherent until Davis made his decision, when he changed to sup- 
 port an old and dear friend. 6 By the first of April, then, he was 
 being consulted as to the plans for the Davis campaign at Cincin- 
 nati. Swett, ingenious and indefatigable, estimated the 
 strength of the Trumbull faction, and proposed that to counter- 
 act it a train load of Davis supporters should go to Cincinnati, 
 that they might influence the nomination there as the Illinois 
 delegations had in 1860. McLean, Tazewell, Livingston, Logan, 
 DeWitt, Champaign, Ford, Iroquois and Vermillion counties were 
 strongly in favor of Davis, and from these counties Swett drew 
 the delegations upon which he mainly depended. 7 Peoria 
 County, and especially the German population (the strength of 
 
 6 Fell to Lyman Trumbull, Mar. 4, Apr. 11, 1872. (Trumbull 
 Library of Congress.) Trumbull to Fell, Mar. 9, 1872. Mr. Fell's sym- 
 pathy for the once oppressed black man did not blind him to the shame 
 of the existing oppression of white men in the South. A letter to James 
 G. Elaine, written Mar. 3, 1885, but possibly never sent, shows plainly 
 his ideas upon the subject, and contains some very entertaining com- 
 ments. After referring to the failure of Republican reconstruction, he 
 says : "Unfortunately the Democracy of this country neither learns nor 
 forgets much, and without outside aid, I have slender hopes in that direc- 
 tion." He thinks reform must come through some liberal leader. "As 
 possibly you may know, I was quite intimately acquainted with Abm. 
 Lincoln, & in a feeble way did something in 1858, 9 and 60 in bringing 
 him before the people as a presidential candidate. In the enclosed I have 
 ventured to say what were some of his views touching the matter in 
 hand reconstruction. Had he lived doubtless they would have been 
 modified. . . . Whilst you are not where many of us would have you, 
 are you not in a position where you can be almost as influential? Your 
 2nd vol., in which you will discuss this very question, is yet to be pub- 
 lished. Why not give this matter your patient, very best thought?" 
 
 7 Swett to Fell, Apr. I, 1872.
 
 365] LATER POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 101 
 
 the Republican party there), would accept any man who might 
 be nominated, in the opinion of Robert Ingersoll. 8 
 
 Early in April a number of disaffected Republicans met at 
 the home of Horace White in Chicago, and agreed to issue a call 
 for the Cincinnati meeting, signed by as many influential men 
 as might be induced to join the movement. As this followed the 
 one already issued by Missouri (and was copied from the one is- 
 sued in New York), it was called a "Response." It appeared 
 first in the Chicago Times, April 17, 1872. Thirty-eight men, in- 
 cluding Gustav Koerner and Horace White, Dubois, Miner, 
 Jayne, and Fell, signed the call as first published, and within a 
 few days a longer list appeared, comprising the names of hun- 
 dreds of Illinois Republicans. 9 Palmer, at first inclined to favor 
 the Regulars, decided in March to espouse the new cause, and de- 
 clined the Regular Republican nomination for the governorship, 
 which was accepted by Oglesby. 10 
 
 Trumbull kept Fell informed of the trend of affairs *in Wash- 
 ington, while Fell wrote him of the local situation. 11 Trumbull 
 
 8 The letter from Robert Ingersoll to Mr. Fell, dated Peoria, Apr. 6, 
 1872, expresses with remarkable frankness that would-be statesman's 
 resentment of his rejection by the people of Illinois. "You must not 
 expect me to make a speech at Cincinnati," he says. "I am done. I can 
 conceive of no circumstances under which I would make a political 
 speech. If ever in this world a man was thoroughly sick of political 
 speaking, I am that man. Understand me, I am an admirer and a friend 
 of Judge Davis. I want to see him president of the United States and 
 I believe he will be. And what little I do will be done for him. I am 
 going to take no active part for anybody. For some reason, the leaders 
 in politics are not my friends, and never have been. My only ambition 
 is to get a living and to take good care of my family. The American 
 people have lost the power to confer honor. . . . Leonard Swett wrote 
 me upon the subject of going to Cincinnati. I wrote him that I was 
 sick of politics. By the way, if his letter had been about one-tenth as 
 long, it would have been infinitely better. His letter is good ; but too 
 much of it. All his points could have been made in one column. A 
 letter never should be so long as to require an index." 
 
 9 White to Fell, Apr. 10, 1872. Fell to Trumbull, Apr. 8. Chicago 
 Times, Apr. 17, and Pantograph, Apr. 19, 20. 
 
 Carlinville Democrat, Apr. 17. Pantograph, Apr. 18. On the 23d 
 of April, Palmer delivered a very influential anti-Grant speech at Spring- 
 field, which served greatly to strengthen the forces of the Liberals. 
 
 "Fell to Trumbull, Apr. 8, II, 1872. (Trumbull MSS, Library of 
 Congress.) Trumbull to Fell, Apr. u, 16, 1872. Trumbull's letter of 
 April u spoke of the Cooper Union meeting, at which Trumbull and
 
 102 JESSE W. FELL [366 
 
 would give no formal consent to the use of his name before the 
 convention until late in April, apparently with an unselfish de- 
 sire not to hamper the success of the, reform wave by introduc- 
 ing personal factions. Indeed, he tried to impose on other lead- 
 ers an entirely impracticable policy of entire silence with regard 
 to candidates until the meeting at Cincinnati. 
 
 Meantime the Davis group was vigorously pushing its candi- 
 date in the only region in which he could command much sup- 
 port ; for, being a jurist and not a political leader, and being but 
 little known throughout the country, his strongest claim to rec- 
 ognition lay in his having been the personal friend and appointee 
 of Lincoln, a claim that amounted to little except in Illinois. 
 Since men with even less fame have succeeded in winning nomina- 
 tions from the lottery of convention chance, Swett and Fell had 
 lively hopes that with a good delegation of local supporters they 
 might carry the day in Cincinnati. The Democrats, strong in 
 Illinois, were rallying to his support. Among these was Adlai 
 Stevenson, a man of considerable influence and a neighbor of 
 Judge Davis, who with his adherents formed part of the Davis 
 party at the convention. Swett was a skilful manager, and by 
 convention time had gained half the Illinois forces for Davis. 
 The Labor Reform party had already nominated him for presi- 
 dent in February. 12 
 
 Returning from a tree-planting expedition to his Iowa lands 
 just before the convention, Fell preceded by a few days the dele- 
 gation which started from Bloomington at five o'clock on April 
 29. Judge Davis' generosity in providing facilities for the at- 
 tendance of his supporters made the following a large one ; con- 
 temporary accounts say it was also a very noisy and confident 
 one. About 550 men from Bloomington and vicinity went to 
 Cincinnati; the entire Illinois contingent numbered over a 
 thousand. 13 
 
 The Davis party, ensconcing itself early at headquarters and 
 marshalling its forces in well-organized companies which gave a 
 strong impression of confidence and success, seemed to lead all 
 others before the convention opened. 14 There was an under- 
 
 Schurz both spoke to an immense audience, and said that the movement 
 had attained such proportions that no one faction could then control it. 
 
 12 Stanwood, History of the Presidency, 336. 
 
 13 Pantagraph, Apr. 10, 13, 17, 19, 27, 30, and later issues. 
 
 14 "It is obvious that the Davis crowd is the calmest, the most confi- 
 dent, and the best organized and disciplined. They pitched their tents
 
 367] LATER POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 103 
 
 standing in which it is natural to suspect the old combination 
 of Lewis and Fell that Davis should have first place, and Gov- 
 ernor Curtin of Pennsylvania second; an arrangement which 
 Curtin's own ambition to head the ticket brought to naught. 
 Adams, by far the most able and best prepared of all possible 
 candidates, was unpopular in the "West because of the very quali- 
 ties which made his strength his distinguished ancestry, his 
 long and successful diplomatic service, his thoro education 
 and statesmanlike qualities. His opponents reviled him as an 
 * ' aristocrat ; " to which his friends answered by inquiring with 
 asperity if it were in the Constitution that the president had to 
 come from Illinois? 
 
 The "hordes" from that state had but a fictitious strength, 
 for they were divided into three factions, supporting Palmer, 
 Trumbull and Davis respectively. On the twenty-ninth of April 
 there was waged an all-day fight among the Illinois leaders, who 
 could arrive at no kind of agreement. Swett and Fell found 
 themselves pitted against White and Bryant, the capable Trum- 
 Imll managers. On the thirtieth Tuesday the leaders decided 
 to divide the Illinois vote among the three candidates. They 
 called a meeting at three o'clock in Greenwood Hall. Dr. Jayne 
 of Springfield, a Trumbull supporter, issued the call. Fell pre- 
 sided, and the secretary was a Palmer man. About a thousand 
 
 the earliest, and have worked up in detail all the strong points of their 
 candidate and all the weak points of his rivals. 
 
 "It is claimed that Davis is the only man in the crowd who is per- 
 sonally popular. Adams is aristocratic, Brown belongs to the 'hurrah' 
 school, but has few warm friends ; Trumbull is cold as a fish ; Cox is 
 phlegmatic and Greeley is pudgy and eccentric. 'But Davis,' says Jesse 
 Fell, 'is a man who is beloved by those who know him. I have known 
 him personally and intimately for thirty years, as I knew Lincoln, and 
 Tie is just such an honest, faithful, straightforward, incorruptible man; 
 and he possesses the same personal magnetism. He would give us the 
 same enthusiastic campaign and the same overwhelming victory. All 
 of those who were old Abe's associates before 1860 are now asking 
 Davis' nomination. He now lives in Central Illinois, and has made two 
 million dollars in fair dealing, and he hasn't an enemy in all that region, 
 nor in the world. The last two times he was elected Judge without a 
 single dissenting vote from either party. ['] This is the way his friends 
 talk; and Fell is one of the sincerest of men, and his moderation gives 
 weight to his words. Davis seems ahead at this hour. Curtin is to get 
 the second place, in consideration of giving Pennsylvania's vote to Davis 
 ior the first." Chicago Post of Apr. 28, quoted in Pantograph.
 
 104 JESSE W. PELL [368 
 
 Illinoisans attended the meeting, and came to an agreement con- 
 cerning the division of the votes. 15 There was a street procession 
 for Davis after the meeting, and great enthusiasm. In the even- 
 ing an adjourned meeting was addressed by Judge Wentworth 
 and John Hickman, the latter from Pennsylvania. 
 
 In spite of all these well-laid plans Davis was foredoomed 
 to failure, the leaders in the party being uncertain both of his 
 ability to attract the popular vote and of his interest in the par- 
 ticular reforms they advocated. 16 Starting with a vote of ninety- 
 two and a half, he lost steadily, retaining only six in the final 
 ballot. His supporters were scarcely less disappointed than was 
 Schurz at the failure to nominate Adams or Trumbull, both men 
 far more likely to carry the Liberal banner to victory. The 
 "Gratz Brown trick" by which Greeley won the nomination in 
 spite of his eccentricities, his extreme views, and the lack of con- 
 fidence of his colleagues, seemed to stun the party leaders every- 
 where. 
 
 Governor Palmer was among the first to recover from the 
 shock and to shape a definite program. Assuming that despite 
 personal disappointment the Davis supporters would rally to the 
 ticket, he wrote to Fell asking for a survey of the field in his- 
 county and estimates of Liberal strength, and asking his support 
 for Greeley. 17 Palmer was personally much attached to Greeley, 
 who had befriended him in the Tribune the winter before, and 
 was therefore the more willing to urge the disgruntled into self- 
 forgetting efforts for the cause. A state convention was to be ar- 
 ranged for, and -strong efforts would be necessary to popularize 
 the erratic editor of the Tribune, against whom the Middle West 
 still remembered his harsh criticisms of Lincoln. With Adlai 
 Stevenson, leader of the Democrats, Fell arranged a mass-meet- 
 ing to ratify the nomination. This was held on May 12. Fell 
 
 "Twenty-one were to go to Davis, eleven to Trumbull, and ten to* 
 Palmer. Cincinnati Commercial, May I ; Chicago Times, May I ; Panto- 
 graph, May 2. 
 
 16 Horace White attributes the failure of Davis to "the editorial fra- 
 ternity, who, at a dinner at Murat Halstead's house, resolved that they 
 would not support him if nominated, and caused that fact to be made 
 known." Lyman Trumbull, 380-381. A letter from one of the McLean 
 County delegates to the Pantograph of May 3 says that "It is believed, 
 and is doubtless true, that Belmont's visit here resulted in buying every 
 Cincinnati paper as well as those of Louisville, to oppose Davis at all! 
 hazards." This letter is dated 1 :3O p. m., Thursday. 
 
 "Palmer to Fell, May 8, 1872.
 
 369] LATER POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 105 
 
 presented the ratification resolutions with a speech, which was 
 followed by speeches by Adlai Stevenson, General Gridley, Major 
 Sterlein (speaking for the Germans), Dr. Rogers, and others. 
 A letter from Governor Palmer was read. By the end of the 
 meeting, it is fair to assume that the leaders themselves were al- 
 most persuaded that they wanted Horace Greeley to be 
 president. 18 
 
 Horace White of the Chicago Tribune, stanch Trumbull man 
 that he was, entered heartily into the Greeley campaign through 
 loyalty to a cause which he did not feel justified in abandoning be- 
 cause of poor leadership. He wrote to Fell in late May to tell 
 him that it had been agreed at the state convention (which Fell 
 did not attend) that the Illinois member of the national executive 
 committee was to be Jesse Fell. This appointment was declined, 
 Mr. Fell doubtless feeling that he could not effectively serve a 
 man of whose fitness for the presidency he was not sure. 19 
 
 Nevertheless his personal relations with Greeley during the 
 summer and autumn of 1872 continued to be friendly, and while 
 in New York late in November, he was granted one of the last 
 interviews which that sadly disappointed and broken man could 
 have given to any of his friends. 20 Fell himself gradually with- 
 drew from active participation in politics after the Cincinnati 
 meeting, feeling that the day of his service in that field was past. 
 
 **Panta,graph, May 7, 1872, for Fell's declaration in favor of Greeley ; 
 May 9, call for a ratification meeting; May 13, account of the meeting. 
 
 "White to Fell, May 28, 1872. 
 
 20 Greeley to Fell, Nov. 23, 1872. The note, in Greeley's altogether 
 inimitable scrawl, is very characteristic : 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Call at the Tribune office at 4 P. M. (Sunday,) second floor 
 on the south side. Knock and it shall be opened. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Horace Greeley. 
 Mr. Fell, of Illinois, Astor House, city.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE TREE-PLANTER 
 
 It was J. A. Sewall who, when the etherialized earthiness of 
 Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' Gates Ajar had set every-one to discuss- 
 ing his idea of heaven, replied to a young woman who had asked 
 him if he thought there were trees in heaven: "I really don't 
 know, but if Jesse Fell gets there and finds none, he will hunt 
 around and find some somewhere and plant them." 1 
 
 The remark shows the extent to which Mr. Fell and tree- 
 planting were associated in the minds of those who knew him. It 
 was his great passion, perhaps more than anything else his life- 
 work, to set trees in the bare prairie and watch them make of 
 it a garden. From his first months in the new land, when the 
 bleakness of its prairie struck his eyes with especial force, used as 
 they were to the rolling wooded stretches of Pennsylvania and 
 Ohio, he looked forward to the planting of trees. That there 
 were no trees except along the streams was, to him, the one dis- 
 advantage of the prairie. 2 Therefore he planted trees in the 
 towns in which he owned land. He lined the streets of Lexing- 
 ton, Clinton, Pontiac, and other places with rows of maples and 
 elms. Wherever he held a block of lots, there clumps or rows of 
 trees marked the land that Fell owned. 
 
 But at no other place did Mr. Fell plant trees with quite the 
 loving enthusiasm which he gave to that work in Bloomington 
 and Normal. In the summer of 1856, when visiting in West 
 Philadelphia and Germantown, he was especially impressed with 
 the beauty of the streets there. Germantown was shaded by 
 stately old trees, but West Philadelphia was a new town, al- 
 ready beautified by careful and extensive planting. Vowing that 
 he would make his own town in Illinois as lovely as West Phil- 
 
 1 J. A. Sewall to Fannie Fell, March 15, 1909. 
 
 2 Fell to his parents, Nov. 17, 1833. The settlements were built in the 
 edges of the groves, he says, in some places extending two miles into 
 the plain. "As the settlements move out into the prairie, people will turn 
 their attention to the cultivation of the forest trees. This in some neigh- 
 borhoods has already been done." A. W. Kellogg in Pontiac Sentinel, 
 Aug. 29, 1889. 
 
 106
 
 371] THE TREE-PLANTER 107 
 
 adelphia, Fell planned a comprehensive planting campaign, 
 which he began to put into effect the next year. 8 
 
 His first move was to secure a special act from the legisla- 
 ture to permit the fencing of young trees planted hi open 
 streets, for their temporary protection. 4 His desire was to plant 
 double rows along all the streets, with something like the spa- 
 cious prodigality of Hadley, Massachusetts. But North Bloom- 
 ington streets were not surveyed upon so generous a scale, and 
 so only a few streets could have double rows. Even so, twelve 
 thousand trees were set out in Normal before a single house was 
 erected. 5 The stimulus and example so given, together with the 
 ease of acquisition afforded by the nurseries, made planting a 
 fashion. People vied with each other in making their private 
 grounds beautiful. They quoted Mr. Fell's version of an old 
 couplet 
 
 "He who plants a tree (and cares for it) 
 Does something for posterity," 
 
 and acted upon its suggestion. Bloomington had already be- 
 come known as the ' ' Evergreen City, ' ' and Normal came to share 
 in the name. But evergreens do not attain a permanent growth 
 in prairie soil, and of late years the greater part of the conifers 
 so enthusiastically planted by that generation, have given way 
 to the more adaptable maples and elms. 6 
 
 Many of the trees planted were from Mr. Fell's own nurser- 
 ies. Unsold lots were utilized as branch nurseries, and the noble 
 Fell Park, with its groves, lawns, drives and gardens, set an ex- 
 ample of beauty and gave Normal a place of recreation. Mr. 
 Fell personally supervised all planting, and it is due to his great 
 and loving care that of the trees suited to Illinois conditions, 
 scarcely one has died in the half century since their planting. 
 The original twelve thousand trees were increased to thirty-five 
 thousand before many years. It is to be noted that long before 
 the transplanting of large trees became a common feat, Fell in- 
 vented a variety of huge cart which could be used for this pur- 
 
 3 Lewis, who tells this anecdote of Mr. Fell (Life, 54), was with him 
 during the drive through West Philadelphia when this resolution took 
 form. 
 
 *Laws of Illinois, 1857, I, 509. Approved Feb. 13, 1857. 
 
 5 Pantograph, May 27, 1857; July 26, 1865. Raymond Buchan in 
 Pantograph, Mar. 16, 1898. 
 
 6 Henry Shaw, "Evergreens," in Pantograph, July 19, 1854.
 
 108 JESSE W. PELL [372 
 
 pose, and full-grown trees were transplanted in Normal to beau- 
 tify the homes of those who wanted results quickly. 7 
 
 From the first, Mr. Fell assumed the responsibility of look- 
 ing after the grounds of the Normal School. He wanted to have 
 planted upon its campus every tree that would flourish in Central 
 Illinois, that the studies of botany and forestry might be pur- 
 sued there to advantage. He insisted, at a time when expert ad- 
 vice upon aesthetic matters was not highly valued, that the 
 grounds should be planned by a professional landscape gar- 
 dener, and secured the services of William Saunders of Phila- 
 delphia, who had planned his own grounds at Fell Park, for this 
 purpose. 8 
 
 The rather elaborate plans of Saunders were not carried out 
 by the board of education during the first hard years, when the 
 school was struggling for life. Year after year passed indeed, 
 and the campus remained almost as bare as in the beginning. 
 Finally, to secure the realization of his hopes and plans, Mr. 
 Fell became a member of the board of education in 1866, contin- 
 uing until 1872. He secured, with the cooperation of interested 
 friends, the passage of a law which went into effect February 28, 
 1867, relative to the planting of the campus. 9 This act included 
 an appropriation of three thousand dollars, and with the pros- 
 pect of this cash assistance he set to work. The entire campus 
 was subsoiled and plowed during the spring and summer of 
 1867. Before his official work had begun, Mr. Fell had planted 
 some trees upon the grounds ; in 1868 he set out 1740, and 107 
 more the next year. Saunders' plan was followed as closely 
 as circumstances permitted. In 1870, patches of oats and pota- 
 toes yielded a small income for use in defraying the expense of 
 this planting. Even with this help, the appropriation was in- 
 sufficient, and the work had to be completed at Fell's own ex- 
 pense. Having finished as nearly as was then possible the work 
 which he regarded as peculiarly his own, he resigned from the 
 hoard. 
 
 7 Lewis, Life, 55. Raymond Buchan, of Osman, Illinois, set out most 
 of the trees under Fell's direction. "He was the best man I ever knew," 
 said Buchan of him. Pantograph, May 27, 1857. John Dodge, "Concern- 
 ing Jesse W. Fell," in Fell Memorial. 
 
 8 Saunders to Fell, Oct. 15 and 29, 1858. Saunders advised that a 
 nursery be started upon the grounds, a plan which was carried out in a 
 small way. The planting plans (for which Saunders charged $65) are 
 among the Fell papers. 
 
 ^Public Laws of Illinois, 1867, 21.
 
 373] THE TREE-PLANTER 109 
 
 In 1885 he became interested in the efforts of Dr. Stennett 
 of the Northwestern Railroad to induce railroad companies to 
 plant trees for ties. The more scientific control of the supply of 
 wood for railroads had been, years before, a hobby of his own. 10 
 Mr. M. G. Kerr of St. Louis, also interested in the project, asked 
 him to write for the forthcoming report of the bureau of forestry, 
 which Kerr hoped to make of commercial value. So far as known, 
 this article was never written, probably on account of the condi- 
 tion of Mr. Fell's health. 11 
 
 His interest in trees led to his friendship with Henry Shaw 
 of St. Louis. For Jesse Fell alone, it was said, would this rigid 
 Presbyterian Puritan open his famous garden on the Sabbath. 
 Then the two men would walk around together, admiring new 
 or particularly fine specimens, and discussing varieties and cul- 
 ture. Sometimes Mr. Fell took his son Henry with him on these 
 week-end trips to St. Louis. 12 
 
 Mr. Fell's last extensive venture in real estate was so essen- 
 tially a tree-planting enterprise that it may best be related here. 
 In 1869 a number of Bloomington men became interested in Iowa 
 lands. As the representative of this group of men, Mr. Fell went 
 to Iowa that summer, and selected a tract of about forty sections 
 more than twenty-five thousand acres in Lyon County in the 
 northwestern corner of the state. Even in its unimproved state 
 this section of the country was exceedingly attractive. "In thir- 
 ty-two of the thirty-seven states comprising our union, ' ' said Mr. 
 Fell in describing it, "I have never beheld so large a body of 
 surpassingly beautiful prairie as is here to be found. There is 
 absolutely no waste land, and scarce a quarter-section not af- 
 fording an admirable building-site." 
 
 The plan of the proprietors was to survey a town in the cen- 
 ter of their holdings, and to start the work of improvement on 
 each farm by breaking a few acres of land, and by planting trees 
 and willow hedge. 13 The town was named Larchwood, and the 
 
 10 O. H. Lee to Fell, July 4, 1853. 
 
 11 M. G. Kerr to Fell, Sept. 22, 1885. The letter is accompanied by 
 "A Circular addressed to presidents of Railways, with the request that 
 you may express to me your views and experience on the uphill road 
 of interesting Railroad men in matters of Forest Culture," a set of 
 "Inquiries addressed to Railway Managers," and a circular from the 
 Department of Agriculture. 
 
 12 Henry Fell, interview, May 31, 1913. 
 
 13 Lewis, Life, 104. The original company included, besides Mr. Fell, 
 Charles W. Holder, John Magoun, R. E. Williams, A. Burr, E. H. Rood,
 
 110 JESSE W. PELL, [374 
 
 settlement came to be known as the Larchwood Colony. For 
 many years Mr. Fell devoted much time each spring and fall to 
 personal supervision of the improvements there. As in Normal and 
 other places in Illinois, he did not trust the work to employees, 
 but superintended the setting of the trees himself, sometimes 
 helping with the actual labor. The improvements accomplished 
 were unusual. In May, 1873, Fell set out a hundred thousand 
 trees and cuttings, distributed through eight sections of land. At 
 that time a hundred fifty thousand trees had already been set 
 out, and a tract of forty acres in the center of a number of sec- 
 tions insured a "start" of ten acres of broken ground to every 
 immigrant who bought a quarter-section. Larchwood farms at 
 that time were selling at from four to six dollars the acre. 14 
 
 The history of Larchwood serves to illustrate one of Jesse 
 Fell's notable characteristics. General Gridley, who knew him 
 well, was wont to say of him that he was never mistaken in his 
 estimate of the ultimate value of a piece of land, but that his 
 eager nature greatly discounted the length of time which would 
 elapse before that value was realized. Imaginative and enthusi- 
 astic, full of faith in the development of the West, he calculated 
 upon an increase in value far more rapid than the actual rate 
 of settlement justified. What he thought would be an accom- 
 plished fact in ten years, the slow moving forces of development 
 realized, perhaps, after thirty or forty. Larchwood, with its un- 
 usual advantages, did not grow as its promoters hoped it would,, 
 and about 1880 the Illinois owners decided to sell what was left 
 of the tract. 15 An Englishman, Richard Sykes, who dealt exten- 
 
 Richard Edwards, Milner Brown, and Daniel Brown. The willow hedge 
 was planted because it would grow quickly, and later furnish fuel. Fell, 
 To Hon. George D. Perkins, Commissioner of Immigration for the State 
 of Iowa, June 27, 1880. (A printed letter.) 
 
 14 An account of a settler appeared in the Pantograph, Apr. 12, 1872. 
 One by a settler in a neighboring vicinity, ibid., Apr. 25, 1872. 
 
 1B At that time, there were about fifty miles of willow hedge outlining 
 the farms, and many of the trees were from twenty to thirty feet high. 
 White willow, box elder, white maple, white ash, cottonwood, basswood,, 
 black walnut, honey locust, chestnut, European and American larch, white 
 and Scotch pines, osage orange, arbor vitae, Norway and native spruces, 
 were among the trees and shrubs then growing. The catalpa speciosa > 
 Mr. Fell's favorite protege, was a feature of the village planting. See 
 Dr. John A. Warder, American Journal of Forestry for Oct., 1882. (Also 
 reprinted as a circular.) 
 
 Captain Henry Augustine, long a prominent nurseryman of Normal*
 
 375] THE TREE-PLANTER 111 
 
 sively in American lands, purchased the Larchwood farms, and 
 came to America with his brother and a party of friends in April, 
 1882, to see the estate that he had acquired. 16 He had previously 
 brought out a pamphlet con'cerning Larchwood, and after in- 
 specting the farms took up the work of further development with 
 enthusiasm. He sent George E. Brown, an experienced forester 
 from Scotland, to take charge of the groves, and sent saplings 
 for planting. Delighted to find a successor so in sympathy with 
 his ideas, Fell long kept up friendly relations with Mr. Sybes 
 and various Larchwood residents. 17 
 
 has told of his first meeting with Mr. Fell and of his championing of 
 the Speciosa. A shy, awkward German boy, seeking his fortune in the 
 new country, Mr. Fell called him in from the road one day, and had a 
 long talk with him in his office. Finding that he loved trees, Mr. Fell 
 explained to him the difference between the worthless and harmful varie- 
 ties of the catalpa, and the useful Speciosa. He showed him the slight 
 difference in the seed which is the only distinguishing mark in appear- 
 ance. Mr. Augustine in later years himself became an extensive grower 
 and dealer in the Speciosa. Henry Augustine, interviews. Fell in the 
 Pantograph, Dec. 30, 1882. 
 
 16 The sale took place in 1881. Sykes to Fell, Nov. 26, 1881 ; March 
 10, 19, 1882; March 10, 1884; Aug. 4, 1886. Close Brothers to Fell, Jan. 
 26, 1882. Newspaper clipping of Jan. 19, 1881, in Scrap Book. 
 
 17 As late as 1886, Fell was still corresponding concerning titles to 
 Larchwood property. Sykes to Fell, Aug. 4, 1886.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 THE LAST YEAES 
 
 His unsuccessful efforts for David Davis were, as has been 
 said, Fell 's last important active participation in politics. After 
 that, altho still interested in the issues of the day, he did 
 no campaigning, save for some local projects in which he was in- 
 terested. He continued to correspond with men who were in the 
 field, and occasionally, upon request, expressed his opinions in 
 the press. 1 Logan, engaged in 1874 with the formulation and 
 passage of the Resumption Act, wrote to him upon finance; 
 Wentworth and Murray discussed the election of 1876 with him.* 
 As the faithful friend of Judge Davis, he seems to have arranged 
 for his election to the Senate in 1877. He induced Palmer, the 
 incumbent at that time, to withdraw from the race, and to throw 
 the weight of his influence to the side of Davis. Logan was de- 
 feated, and Cullom became governor of Illinois. 3 Any injustice 
 still called forth a spirited defense of the person wronged, as in 
 the case of S. W. Moulton, who was accused by political enemies 
 of having had secession sympathies ; and in the campaign against 
 severe corporal punishment at the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 
 waged in 1877. 4 With his brother Kersey, he induced William 
 
 1 Note, for example, the undated newspaper clipping, quoting a letter 
 of Fell's dated Sept. 20, 1880, at Larchwood, giving reasons for support- 
 ing Garfield. 
 
 2 Logan to Fell, Feb. 16, 1874; Jan. n, 1875. Wentworth to Fell, 
 July 3, 1876. Bronson Murray to Fell, Dec. 18, 1876. 
 
 3 Fell to Palmer, Jan. 15, 1877. Endorsement by Fell. Later, Fell 
 was active in a movement for erecting a bust to Judge Davis. H. C. 
 Whitney to Fell, Jan. 23, 1887. 
 
 *Moulton to Fell, Jan. 9, 1884. Davis to Fell, Feb. 4, 1882; Jan. 22, 
 1885. Oglesby to Fell, Mar. 17, 1884; Sept. 18, 1886. J. B. Foraker to 
 Fell, Jan. 26, 1887. This last letter is in reference to an abortive attempt 
 to secure the nomination of Robert T. Lincoln for president in 1888. 
 Pantagraph, Jan. 4, 1884. Fell, "Oglesby and Logan," in Chicago Tribune, 
 Jan. 13, 1879. Bloomington Leader, July 23, 1877. 
 
 112
 
 377] THE LAST YEARS 113 
 
 A. Allin and David Davis to give Franklin Park to the city of 
 Bloomington. 5 
 
 Business was not by any means given up. Altho he had 
 always made money easily, he had lost as well, and had given 
 much away. He was no hoarder; money in itself was nothing 
 to him. 8 Withdrawing from the larger enterprises of his prime, 
 in his old age Mr. Fell bent his energies toward securing 
 property which might be depended upon to yield an income to 
 his family after his death. Some land he owned in the out- 
 skirts of Normal was planted to strawberries and larger fruit, 
 and from this he derived an incalculable amount of pleasure and 
 a satisfactory return in money. Fell Park was sold to a syndi- 
 cate, which after his death divided it up into city lots. Its great 
 beauty became but a memory to the people of Normal, altho 
 some of the fine trees still shade that part of the town. 7 
 
 He kept in close touch with friends, among whom Jonathan 
 Turner, Richard Edwards, Lawrence "Weldon, John H. Bryant, 
 and Charles G. Ames were perhaps nearest to him. 8 His grand- 
 children, who lived very close to his home, were a source of 
 great pleasure to him, and he took the keenest interest in their 
 education. When not in school, these children were usually at 
 their grandfather's, "keeping store" in the playhouse he had 
 built years before for his own children, or listening to him as 
 he sang to them or told them stories, working as he did so 
 among his trees and shrubs. They took long drives with him 
 into the country, and planned with him wonderful things to do 
 in the future ; for when he was an old man, Jesse Fell retained 
 that fresh and buoyant forward-looking which had made him 
 strong to accomplish in his youth, and passed it on to those who 
 had their lives still before them. And with these family ties he 
 kept up, later than any secular activity, his church work and 
 church attendance. A new movement to which he gave some 
 
 5 Franklin Price in Pantograph, May 10, 1900, and Normal Advocate, 
 Apr. 21, 1894. 
 
 6 He told Eberhart once that he liked to make it, and enjoyed spending 
 it for the benefit of other people, many of whom didn't know how to 
 take care of themselves. The remark shows his somewhat paternal 
 attitude toward society, and explains many of his projects. 
 
 7 Pantagraph, Mar. 18, 25, 1888. Thomas Slade in Bloomington Leader, 
 Mar. 2, 1877. Bloomington Eye, Mar. 25, 1888. 
 
 8 Turner to Fell, Jan. i, 1879. Bryant to Fell, Feb. 25, 1885. Ames to 
 Fell, Mar. 20, 1883.
 
 114 JESSE W. FELL [378 
 
 time and attention and his unqualified assent, was that of woman 
 suffrage, then in the days of its greatest struggle for a hearing. 
 When Susan B. Anthony debated with President Hewitt of the 
 normal school, it was he who introduced the pioneer suffrage 
 advocate, and in his home she was entertained. 9 
 
 Some time was spent in travel. In 1872 he made his first 
 trip to the Pacific coast. 10 In 1873 he paid a visit to his old home 
 in Pennsylvania, and treasured until his death the memory of 
 drinking water again at the spring in the milk-house, sitting by 
 the fire-side, and having tea with the hospitable people who had 
 bought his father's old farm. He spent the night with B. Henry 
 Carter, as he had the last night before starting for the "West 
 in 1828. In later years he took, with various members of his 
 family, trips through the farther West, which seemed to him a 
 wonderful new world. He was planning a winter in California 
 when overtaken by his last illness. 11 
 
 In ripening years a keen sense of humor, which during his 
 more strenuous days was either subordinated to more important 
 things, or forgotten by others in the memory of accomplishment, 
 found frequent expression. It crept into conversation, bright- 
 ened letters, even led to gentle Quaker jokes. These he could 
 take as well as give, as two newspaper notices, quoted by Mr. 
 Lewis, prove. 12 The first appeared on January 28, 1874, and 
 read "J. W. Fell mourns the loss of an umbrella, left in the 
 court room yesterday. He would be pleased if the finder would 
 leave it at the Pantagraph office." The sequel came the next 
 day: "J. W. Fell desires to return thanks for the generous 
 supply of umbrellas left for him at the Pantagraph office yester- 
 day in answer to his advertisement of one lost. Altho most of 
 these offerings are better adapted to dry weather than wet, Mr. 
 Fell is not disposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but accepts 
 the varied assortment with the feeling that it is pleasant to be 
 remembered in the hour of one's distress." 
 
 9 Fell to Sarah E. Raymond (Mrs. S. R. Fitzwilliam), Nov. 22, 1886. 
 10 Leonard Swett to Thomas A. Scott, Sept. 6, 1872. 
 "Newspaper clipping in the Scrap Book, Sept. 8, 1884. Bloomington 
 Leader, Feb. 18, 1887. 
 12 Lewis, Life, 104.
 
 379] THE LAST YEARS 115 
 
 It was a few years later that a young girl invited him to 
 a dance. The reply was as follows: 13 
 Miss Florence Richardson: 
 
 The fair invites ! and so, you bet, 
 
 Your invitation I'll accept. 
 
 But I must tell you in advance 
 
 My Quaker foot it will not dance. 
 
 A thousand times I have lamented 
 
 That Fox and Penn were so demented 
 
 As to proscribe what all can see 
 
 With half an eye, is poetry; 
 
 If not in words, in what is better, 
 
 In motion, life, spirit, letter. 
 
 Yes, if I could, I'd skip and prance 
 
 In all the ecstacy of dance; 
 
 For I am young, and supple too, 
 
 I'm not quite three-score ten and two. 
 
 But what's the use? My education's 
 
 So neglected I'd scare the nation ! 
 
 So goodbye dance, it's not for me, 
 
 As you and all can plainly see. 
 
 But, what of that? I shall propose 
 
 To play a game of dominoes ; 
 
 And if perchance you're so inclined 
 
 Will play a game of mind with mind, 
 
 Holding to each other's view 
 
 The things of life, both old and new; 
 
 The ups and downs, the weals and woes 
 
 That follow man, where'er he goes. 
 Meet at the hotel? Very well, 
 
 There you'll find Yours, 
 
 J. W. Fell. 
 
 These instances will suffice to show the quality of the humor 
 in which he met the days of declining strength. His last years 
 were happy as they were busy. "I was glad to know," wrote 
 John H. Bryant to him in 1885, "that you had got beyond all 
 fears of the future, that terrible burden that weighs down with 
 gloom, misery, and wretched forebodings so many of our race, 
 and especially innocent children who are reared under orthodox 
 instruction." 1 * 
 
 In the winter of 1885-86 he suffered a severe illness, begin- 
 ning with an attack of pneumonia in December, from which his 
 
 13 Jan. 24, 1880. Newspaper clipping in Scrap Book, and manuscript. 
 
 Normal, Jan., 1880. 
 "Bryant to Fell, Feb. 25, 1885.
 
 116 JESSE W. PELL [380 
 
 convalescence was very slow. At times his family despaired 
 of his recovery. He did rally, however, and grew stronger dur- 
 ing the summer, so that people hoped he might be spared for 
 several years. But when cold weather came again, there was a 
 relapse. He became really ill in January, but refused to stay 
 closely at home. In February he spent two days in Chicago, 
 attending to business for the Normal School which urgently 
 demanded attention. He returned to his home in a very serious 
 condition, made worse perhaps by worry over school affairs, 
 then at a most critical juncture. The family physician, in con- 
 sultation with others, pronounced it a case of anaemia of the 
 brain. For a week he lay in a comatose sleep. Bousing himself 
 finally, he spoke to members of the family, repeated Pope's 
 "Universal Prayer", a favorite poem, and the "Now I Lay me" 
 which he had said since boyhood. His death occurred on Feb- 
 ruary 25, 1887. 15 
 
 The usual marks of respect and regret at the death of a 
 prominent and beloved citizen were paid him. Telegrams, let- 
 ters, and flowers were sent from far and near. Newspapers 
 printed eulogies and reviewed his life and work. Town councils, 
 the Bloomington Bar Association, churches, schools, passed reso- 
 lutions of respect. 16 The funeral, on the twenty-eighth of Feb- 
 ruary, was held in the large assembly hall of the Normal 
 School; no church could have held the crowds that attended. 
 The public schools were closed. Business in Normal was sus- 
 pended. 17 Special cars were run from Bloomington to Normal, 
 to accommodate the people who wished to pay the last honors 
 to Jesse Fell. The aisles, corridors, and stairs, and the steps of 
 the building were filled with silent mourners who could not find 
 room in the hall. Eev. Eichard Edwards, his old friend and 
 neighbor, preached the funeral sermon. Mr. Fell had selected 
 him for this duty, pledging him to the briefest possible account 
 of his accomplishment, a pledge which Dr. Edwards kept at the 
 cost of some criticism from those who did not understand the 
 circumstances. 
 
 ^Chicago Tribune, Feb. 26, 1887. Pantograph, Mar. 7, 15, 19, 1887. 
 Richard Edwards to Fell, Feb. 4, 1887. 
 
 16 A lodge of Knights of Pythias, shortly after organized in Bloom- 
 ington, was named for him, altho he himself was never a member 
 of any such organization. 
 
 i- 1 Bloomington Leader, Feb. 26, 1887. California (Missouri) Demo- 
 crat, Mar. 3, 1887, quoting from St. Louis Republican of Feb. 26, 1887.
 
 381] THE LAST TEAES 117 
 
 The service over, the procession formed for the long drive 
 to the cemetery at Bloomington. No tribute could have been 
 more eloquent than the appearance of the funeral procession. 
 The country roads were as bad as Illinois country roads can be 
 in spring, but carriages, carts and heavy farm wagons had come 
 in from all the surrounding country. Shabby and smart vehicles 
 alternated in the line that followed the hearse; and the proces- 
 sion was so long that when the last mourners were leaving the 
 Normal School, the first ones had reached the court house in 
 Bloomington. The Bloomington school children joined those of 
 Normal at this point. 18 
 
 There was sincere mourning, for in death men pay eager 
 tribute to qualities which are accepted without appreciation, or 
 quite ignored, in life. Mr. Fell had not been unappreciated in 
 life. He had won from men the only thing he asked of them, 
 a trust and goodwill answering to that he bore them. It is doubt- 
 ful if those among whom he lived had any adequate idea of the 
 part he had played in public affairs for many years, and few of 
 them understood the magnitude of the work of development 
 which he, and others like him, accomplished for the Middle West. 
 But those personal qualities which distinguished him among 
 men, all men saw and honored. " It is a good thing, ' ' said Judge 
 James Ewing of him, in voicing this appreciation, "to have 
 known one man whose life was without spot or blemish ; against 
 whose honor no man ever spoke; who had no skeleton in his 
 closet; whose life was open as the day and whose death comes 
 to a whole community as a personal sorrow." And John W. 
 Cook, who knew him well, said of him at the memorial service 
 held in his own church on the sixth of March : 19 
 
 "In that picture gallery of the soul that we call memory, 
 there will always be a gracious presence. The personality is 
 vivid ; the outlines are sharply defined ; the face is full of earnest 
 purpose ; every line is suggestive of tireless energy and the rad- 
 iance of hope. A simple, honest, unostentatious man; yet 
 wherever he has gone good deeds have marked his footsteps. As 
 if by magic, stately trees have sprung from the path over which 
 
 18 The telephone was then just coming into use, and the one connect- 
 ing the court house with the Normal School was used on this occasion 
 by Henry Augustine, who had charge of arrangements, and who related 
 the details given to the writer. 
 
 19 James S. Ewing in the Fell Memorial. Pantograph, Mar. 7, 1887; 
 Mar. 27, 1890; June 20, 1892.
 
 118 JESSE W. FELL [382 
 
 he has walked. In their gracious shade generations yet unborn 
 shall mention his name with gratitude. Institutions whose only 
 aim is helpfulness to man record his generosity and public 
 spirit."
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 I, MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 The Fell Manuscripts. A collection of letters, memoranda, drafts, 
 and other documents, in the possession of the Misses Alice and Fannie 
 Fell, of Normal, Illinois. Unless otherwise indicated, all references to- 
 manuscripts are to parts of this collection. Transcripts in the Historical 
 Survey, University of Illinois. 
 
 The Lewis Life of Jesse W. Fell. A manuscript biography by Ed- 
 ward J. Lewis, a friend of Mr. Fell, written about 1900. It was prepared 
 from facts gained by long personal acquaintance with Mr. Fell, from 
 access to sources in the Fell Manuscripts, and from notes by Richard 
 Edwards. In the possession of the Misses Fell. Referred to as the 
 Lewis Life. 
 
 Notes by Richard Edwards, in the possession of his daughter, Miss 
 Ellen S. Edwards, of Bloomington, Illinois. These are contemporary 
 notes of interviews with Mr. Fell regarding events extending down to 
 about 1840. 
 
 The Fell Memorial. A collection of sketches and appreciations of 
 Mr. Fell by various personal friends. In the possession of the Misses 
 Fell. The page references to the Memorial in this thesis refer to the 
 abridged transcript in the Illinois Historical Survey, University of 
 Illinois. 
 
 Flagg Manuscripts. Transcripts in the Illinois Historical Survey, 
 University of Illinois. 
 
 Photostatic reproductions of letters from Fell to Trumbull, from the 
 Trumbull Papers in the Library of Congress, Washington. The repro- 
 ductions are in the Illinois Historical Survey. 
 
 Transcripts from Records of the War Department and Copyright 
 Office, Washington, in the possession of the author. 
 
 Brush, Elizabeth P. The Political Career of Owen Lovejoy. Manu- 
 script thesis, University of Illinois, 1912. 
 
 II. PERIODICALS. 
 
 Files of the Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advocate, 
 the Western Whig, the Intelligencer, the Pantagraph, in the McLean- 
 County Historical Society Collection, Court House, Bloomington. 
 
 The Illinois Teacher. 
 
 McClure's Magazine. 
 
 Clippings from newspapers. A collection of these in a book, in the 
 possession of Miss Alice Fell, of Normal, is referred to as the Scrap 
 Book. 
 
 119
 
 120 JESSE W. PELL. [384 
 
 III. DOCUMENTS. 
 
 United States Congress, Statutes at Large. 
 
 Illinois, Session Laws. 
 
 Illinois State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports. 
 
 IV. MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Arnold, Isaac N. The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Chicago, 1891. 
 
 Elaine, James G. Twenty Years of Congress. Norwich, Conn. 
 1884-6. 
 
 Browne, Robert H. Abraham Lincoln and the Men of His Time. 
 z vols. Chicago, 1907. 
 
 Brownson, Howard G. A History of the Illinois Central Railroad 
 to 1870. Urbana, 1915. University of Illinois Studies in the Social Sci- 
 ences, IV. 
 
 Cunningham, Joseph C. (editor). History of Champaign County, 
 with Newton Bateman and Paul Selby's Historical Encyclopedia of Illi- 
 nois. Chicago, 1905. 
 
 Duis, E. Good Old Times in McLean County. Bloomington, 1874. 
 
 Ford, Thomas. History of Illinois. Chicago, 1854. 
 
 Herndon, William H., and J. W. Weik. Lincoln, the true story of a 
 great life. 3 vols. Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, 1889. 
 
 Hill, Frederick Trevor. Lincoln the Lawyer. New York, 1906. 
 
 History of McLean County, Illinois. Chicago, 1879. 
 
 James, Edmund Janes. Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862. 
 University of Illinois Studies, IV, No. 7. 
 
 Lamon, Ward H. The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Boston, 1872. 
 
 Lapsley, Arthur B. (editor). The Writings of Abraham Lincoln. 
 New York, 1905. 
 
 McLean County Historical Transactions. Bloomington, 1809. 
 
 Moses, John. Illinois, Historical and Statistical. 2 vols. Chicago, 
 1892. 
 
 Newton, Joseph Fort. Lincoln and Herndon. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 
 1910. 
 
 Nicolay, John G., and Hay, John. Abraham Lincoln : a History. 10 
 vols. New York, 1800. 
 
 Oldroyd, Osborn H. Lincoln Memorial Album. Springfield, 1882. 
 
 Peck, John Mason. Gazeteer of Illinois. Jacksonville, Illinois, 1834. 
 
 Portrait and Biographical Album of McLean County. Chicago, 1887. 
 
 Prince, Ezra M., and John H. Burnham. History of McLean County, 
 in Newton Bateman and Paul Selby's Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois. 
 Chicago, 1008. 2 vols. 
 
 Scott, Franklin W. Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814- 
 1879. Springfield, 1910. Illinois Historical Collections, VI. 
 
 Stevenson, Adlai E. Something of Men I Have Known. Chicago, 
 1009. 
 
 Tarbell, Ida M. The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York, 
 1896.
 
 385] BIBLIOGRAPHY 121 
 
 Tarbell, Ida M. The Life of Abraham Lincoln. 2 vols. New York, 
 1900. 
 
 Thompson, Charles M. A Study of the Administration of Governor 
 Thomas Ford. Springfield, 1911. Illinois Historical Collections, VII. 
 
 Weldon, Lawrence. "Reminiscences of Lincoln as a Lawyer," in 
 Abraham Lincoln, Tribute from his Associates. Pp. 237-255. New York, 
 ca, 1889. 
 
 Whitney, Henry C. Lincoln, the President. 2 vols. New York, 
 1908.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abolition movement, 54, 55, 93. 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, 99. 
 
 Allin, James, 17, 22, 24, 36. 
 
 Allin, William A., 113. 
 
 Alton and Sangamon R. R., 86. 
 
 Ames, Rev. Charles G., 65, 94, 113. 
 
 Amulet, 13. 
 
 Anderson, Dr. John, 22. 
 
 Anthony, Susan B., 114. 
 
 Arny, W. F. M., 47, 56. 
 
 Barber, Eliel, 93. 
 
 Batavia Institute, 42. 
 
 Beecher, Henry Ward, 74. 
 
 Bishop, Jesse, 66. 
 
 Bissell, Gov., 41. 
 
 Black Betty, 50. 
 
 Blackstone, T. B., 89. 
 
 Blakeslee, Lyman, 33. 
 
 Bloomington, 16, 19, 32, 106. 
 
 Bloomington, Kankakee and Indiana State Line R. R., 
 
 Bloomington and Wabash Valley R. R., 87. 
 
 Boyd, Col. W. P., 65. 
 
 Brattan, Frank, 28. 
 
 Breese, Sidney, 85. 
 
 Brewster, E. W., 39. 
 
 Briar, Dr. David, 65. 
 
 Brown, Daniel, HO. 
 
 Brown, Eliza, 17. 
 
 Brown, Ellwood, 13. 
 
 Brown, Hester Vernon, 26. 
 
 Brown, Jeremiah, 28. 
 
 Brown, Joshua, 16, 26. 
 
 Brown, George E., in. 
 
 Brown, Milner, no. 
 
 Brown, Rachel, 31. 
 
 Brown, William, 16. 
 
 Brown's, n. 
 
 Bryant, John H., 34, 70, 103, 113, 115. 
 
 Buck, Hiram, 44. 
 
 Buckingham, u. 
 
 Burleigh, R e c. C. C, 94. 
 
 123
 
 124 JESSE W. FELL [388 
 
 Burr, A., lOQ. 
 Byron, Illinois, 32. 
 
 Cabinet appointments, 1860-61, 63. 
 
 Cameron, Simon, 63. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander, 42, 70. 
 
 Carter, R. Henry, 12, 114. 
 
 Caton, J. D., 34. 
 
 Charter of Normal, 73. 
 
 Chippewa, Wisconsin, 23. 
 
 Clay, Henry, 15, 28. 
 
 Clinton, Illinois, 20, 24, 32, 106. 
 
 Colerain, Pennsylvania, II. 
 
 College and Seminary Fund, 45. 
 
 Cook, John W., 117. 
 
 Covell, M. L., 22, 85. 
 
 Covell, O., 22. 
 
 Cullom, Shelby M., 70, 96. 
 
 Cunningham, J. O., 32. 
 
 Daniels, Mary, 34. 
 
 Banner, Henry E., 79. 
 
 Danville, Urbana and Pekin R. R., 89. 
 
 Davis, David : buys Chicago land of Fell, 22 ; serves as best man at 
 Fell's wedding, 26 ; takes Fell's law practice, 27 ; a guest at Fell 
 Park, 34 ; a Lincoln supporter in 1860, 61 ; considered for a cabinet 
 position, 64; urged by Fell for supreme bench, 66; urges resurvey 
 of Normal Township, 73 ; interested in retention of Chicago and 
 Alton shops, 89; decides to try for presidential nomination, 1872, 
 100; elected to Senate, 1877, 112; gives part of Franklin Park to 
 Bloomington, 113. 
 
 Davis, W. O., 34, 38, 68. 
 
 Decatur, Illinois, 32. 
 
 Delavan, Illinois, 16. 
 
 Depew, Elijah, 33. 
 
 Dickey, T. L., 55. 
 
 Digest of State Laws, etc., 28. 
 
 Dodge, John, 35, 74. 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 19, 20, 85. 
 
 Downington, Pennsylvania, 9. 
 
 Dwight, Illinois, 32. 
 
 Dubois, Jesse K., 97, 99, 101. 
 
 Duncan, Gov. Joseph, 20. 
 
 Dunn, Dr. McCann, 72. 
 
 Durley, William, 22. 
 
 Eastern Illinois Insane Asylum, 84,
 
 389] INDEX 125 
 
 Eberhart, John F., 42, 46, 76. 
 Eclectic Observer, 12, 38. 
 Edwards, Ninian W., 40. 
 Edwards, Richard, n, 29, 74, no, 113, 116. 
 Ellis, Rev. Charles, 71. 
 El Paso, Illinois, 32. 
 Evans, William, 16. 
 "Evergreen City", 107. 
 Ewing, James, 16, 18, 65, 117. 
 Ewing, William L. D., 85. 
 
 Fell, Clara, 34. 
 Fell, Eliza, 30, 34, 68. 
 Fell, Hannah, 13. 
 Fell, Henry C, 27, 30, 47, 70, 109. 
 Fell, Jesse, Sr., 9, 53, 92. 
 Fell, Kersey, 24, 26, 33, 48, 83, 93, 112. 
 Fell, Rebecca, 13, 24, 26, 92. 
 Fell, Robert, 24, 31, 51. 
 Fell, Thomas, 24, 27. 
 Fell Park, 33, 107, 113. 
 "Floats," 22. 
 
 Grant, U. S., 98. 
 "Gratz Brown Trick," 104. 
 
 Great Western R. R. Company, 85. 
 
 Greeley, Horace, 38, 104, 105. 
 
 Gregory, John Milton, 80. 
 
 Gridley, Gen. Asahel: Bloomington's leading citizen, 1832, 17; goes to 
 the East for goods, 36; begins his political career, 50; attitude toward 
 Illinois Central, 85; accused of self-interest, 89; works with Fell 
 against Smith, 96; wishes to retain Dr. Cromwell, 98; endorses 
 Horace Greeley, 1872, 105. 
 
 Griggs, Clark R., 79. 
 
 Harrison Campaign, 1840, 50. 
 
 Halstead, Murat, 104. 
 
 Hawley, J. A., 39. 
 
 Hewett, C. E., 114. 
 
 Hickman, John, 62, 104. 
 
 Hicksites, 92. 
 
 Hill, William, 36. 
 
 Hogg, Harvey, 65. 
 
 Holder, Charles and Richard, 48, 109. 
 
 Hoopes, Joshua, 10. 
 
 Hovey, Charles, 40, 46, 47, 67. 
 
 Hunt, Dr. Charles A., 77. 
 
 Hurwood, Grace, 12, 18, 34.
 
 126 JESSE W. PELL [390 
 
 Illinois and Michigan Canal, 51. 
 
 Illinois Central R. R., 85. 
 
 Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 82, 112. 
 
 Illinois State Normal University, 45, 108, 116. 
 
 Illinois State Reform School, 83. 
 
 Illinois State Teachers' Association, 80. 
 
 Illinois Teacher, 40. 
 
 Illinois Wesleyan University, 41. 
 
 Industrial University, 78. 
 
 Ingersoll, Robert G., 97. 
 
 Johnson, R. H., 37. 
 Joliet, Illinois, 32. 
 Judd, Norman B., 64. 
 
 Kansas Aid Committee, 55. 
 Kansas-Nebraska Act, 53. 
 Kimberton Boarding School, 24. 
 
 LaFayette, Bloomington and Mississippi R. R., 89. 
 
 Larchwood, 109. 
 
 Leader, 97. 
 
 Lee, H. H., 39. 
 
 Lee, O. H., 86. 
 
 LeRoy, Illinois, 32. 
 
 Lewis, E. J., 16, 33. 
 
 Lewis, Joseph J., 29, 58, 60, 63, 64. 
 
 Lexington, Illinois, 32, 106. 
 
 Liberal Republican Movement, 99. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham: in the Black Hawk War, 1832,. 16; meets Fell, 19; 
 with Fell works for Stuart, 1838, 20; Fell writes him about Mexican 
 War, 31 ; a guest at Fell Park, 34; draws up bond for I. S. N. U., 
 45; the Lost Speech, 54; appointed on Kansas Aid Committee, 56; 
 nominated for Senate, 1858, 57; autobiography, 58; introduced to 
 Pennsylvania, 60 ; Cameron, 63 ; Judd, 64; appoints Fell paymaster, 
 68; assassination of, 70. 
 
 Lincoln-Douglas debates, suggested by Fell, 57. 
 
 Lincoln, Illinois, 32. 
 
 Little Britain, Pa., 11. 
 
 Livingston County, 33. 
 
 Lockwood, Judge, 15. 
 
 Logan, John A., 112. 
 
 Love joy, Owen, 34, 54, 62, 65, 66. 
 
 McCambridge, William, 34. 
 
 McCook, Captain, 68. 
 
 McLean County, 16, 18, 20, 24, 33, 70, 78, 96, 100.
 
 391] INDEX 127 
 
 McLean County Register, 37. 
 McNulta, Gen. John, 98. 
 McRoberts, Judge, 15. 
 Magoun, John, 93, 109. 
 Major's Hall, 47, 53. 
 Mann, Horace, 45. 
 May, W. L., 20, 23. 
 Merriam, Col. Jonathan, 98. 
 Merriman, A. J., 44. 
 Merriman, Charles P., 37, 65. 
 Merriman, H. P., 65. 
 Mexican War, protest, 31. 
 Mills, Benjamin, 20. 
 Milwaukee, 23. 
 Minier, George W., 66. 
 Minonk, Illinois, 32. 
 Mitchell, R. B., 37. 
 Moon, John W. S., 85. 
 Morrill Bill, 77. 
 Moulton, S. W., 97, 112. 
 
 New Salem, Illinois, 16. 
 
 Normal, Illinois, 32, 74, 106. 
 
 North Bloomington, Illinois, 32, 41, 45, 86. 
 
 Northern Illinois Horticultural Society, 79. 
 
 Oglesby, Gov., 73, 77, 101. 
 Oldroyd controversy, 59. 
 "Other Side, The," 96. 
 Osborn, Gen. Thomas, 74. 
 Overman, C. R., 73. 
 
 Palmer, Gov., 82, 90, 97, 99, 101, 104, 112. 
 
 Panic of 1837, 47. 
 
 Pantagraph, 37. 
 
 Paymaster's service, 68. 
 
 Payne, Dr. Joseph, 42. 
 
 Payson Farm, 30. 
 
 Pekin, Bloomington and Wabash R. R., 85. 
 
 Pennell, William A., 74, 76. 
 
 Pennsylvania campaign, 1860, 62. 
 
 Phillips, E. J., 20. 
 
 Pike, Meshac, 42. 
 
 Phoenix, F. K., 31. 
 
 Pontiac, 32, 83, 106. 
 
 Preemption laws, 22. 
 
 Price, Franklin, 14.
 
 128 JESSE W. PELL [392 
 
 Price, Issacher, 11, 59. 
 Prince, E. M., 17, 29, 65, 70. 
 Public school law, 39. 
 
 Quincy road, 31. .' 
 
 Real estate operations, 32, 86, 109. 
 
 Reeder, Addison, 75. 
 
 Republican party in Illinois, 53, 61. 
 
 Repudiation in Illinois, 51. 
 
 Resurvey of Normal Township, 73. 
 
 Rex, Dr. George P., 48. 
 
 Reynolds, Gov. John, 23. 
 
 Richardson, Miss Florence, 115. 
 
 Ridgley, N. H., 20. 
 
 Robinson, James C, 98. 
 
 Roe, E. R., 38, 65. 
 
 Rogers, T. P., 65. 
 
 Rood, E. H., 109. 
 
 Ruggles, Benjamin, 13. 
 
 Saunders, William, 34, 108. 
 
 Schurz, Carl, 99. 
 
 Scibird and Waters, 38, 97. 
 
 Sewall, J. A., 106. 
 
 Seward, unpopular in Pennsylvania, 59. 
 
 Sharpless, Rachel, 26. 
 
 Shaw, Henry, 109. 
 
 Shaw, James, 93. 
 
 Smith, Gen. Giles A., 96. 
 
 Smith, Milton, 44. 
 
 Smith, Rodney, 68. 
 
 Snow Brothers, 71. 
 
 Snow, D. J., 65. 
 
 Sorghum, 75. 
 
 Spawr, Jacob, 30. 
 
 Spencer, Hamilton, 65, 84. 
 
 Stanton, Edwin M., 15. 
 
 State Bank of Illinois, 20, 51. 
 
 State Industrial League, 40. 
 
 Sterlein, Mayor, 105. 
 
 Steubenville, 13. 
 
 Stevenson, Adlai E., 102, 104. 
 
 Stokeley and Marsh, 14, 17. 
 
 Stokeley, Gen. Samuel, 27, 62. 
 
 Stuart, John T., 15, 18, 70. 
 
 Sumner, Charles, 99.
 
 393] INDEX 129 
 
 Swamp lands, McLean County, 47. 
 Sweet, Leonard, 34, 54, 61, 69, 100, 102. 
 Sykes, Richard, no. 
 
 Taylor, James P., 38. 
 
 Tazewell County, 19, 24, 88. 
 
 Thompson, Rev. J. F., 94. 
 
 Towanda, 32. 
 
 Trumbull, Lyman, 66, 99. 
 
 Turner, Jonathan B., 40, 77, 80, 113. 
 
 Tyler, President, 28. 
 
 Ullin, Illinois, 33. 
 Underwood, I. N., 37. 
 University of Illinois, 45, 77. 
 
 Vandalia, 19. 
 Vermilion County, 33. 
 
 Wabash and Warsaw R. R., 87. 
 
 Washington Academy, 42. 
 
 Weldon, Lawrence, 19, 84, 113. 
 
 Wentworth, Judge John, 104, 112. 
 
 Western Whig, 37. 
 
 White, Horace, 62, 101, 103, 105. 
 
 Whittier, John G., 94. 
 
 Wilkins, Daniel, 39. 
 
 Williams, R. E., 32, 89, 109. 
 
 Withers, Allen, 65. 
 
 Wood, Gov. John, 31. 
 
 Wright, Rev. Nathaniel, 26. 
 
 Wright, Simeon W., 43. 
 
 Yates, Gov. Richard, Sr., 48, 53, 66. 
 
 Young, Richard M., 24.
 
 Jesse W. Fell Memorial Gateway 
 
 MONDAY, JUNE FIVE 
 ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN 
 
 at three o'clock 
 ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
 
 DEDICATORY SERVICES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Jesse W. Fell Memoriel Gateway 
 
 MONDAY, JUNE FIVE 
 ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN 
 
 at three o'clock 
 ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
 
 EDITORIAL COMMENT 
 
 THE FELL MEMORIAL 
 
 It would be difficult to overestimate the real significance of the 
 simple yet beautiful exercises that wer held on the campus on the 
 afternoon of June 5, 1916, in connection with the dedication of the 
 Jesse VV. Fell Memorial Gateway. Mr. Fell had finisht his life work 
 more than twenty-nine years before, but the perspective that these 
 years had lent to the events of his life had servd but to bring their 
 meaning into bolder relief and to show with greater vividness the 
 bredth of his vision and the sterling qualities of his character. What 
 to him in his life had been an inspiring vision had now become a living 
 reality whose value to the people of the state, the simplest observer 
 can appreciate. It is indeed a fortunate thing that the good women 
 of the Women's Improvement League of Normal caught the signifi- 
 cance of Mr. Fell's life work and sought, through the aid of friends, to 
 bild an enduring monument of stone to his memory, which wil catch 
 the eye of every one of the thousands of students who, during the 
 years to come, wil seek training and inspiration in the institution he 
 lielpt to found.
 
 The Alumni Quarterly 
 
 OF THE I. 5. N. V. 
 Volume V AUGUST, 19i6 Number 3 
 
 DEDICATION OF JESSE FELL MEMORIAL GATEWAY 
 
 JUNE 5, 1916 
 The following words of welcome were extended by Col. D. C. Smith, president of the day. 
 
 Fellow Citizens: 
 
 The large numbers in which you have gathered here this afternoon 
 in memory of Jesse W. Fell, who more than a quarter of a century 
 ago passed into the "quiet haven of us all," testify, as words cannot, 
 that he was far more than an ordinary man. 
 
 And the fact that his many friends throughout the state and else- 
 where, through the signal aid of the Women's Improvement League of 
 Normal, have caused to be erected the "Jesse W. Fell Memorial Gate- 
 way" that we have met to dedicate, is evidence of their abiding love 
 for his memory and their continued gratitude for his simple, earnest 
 life, of which we shall presently hear from some who knew him best. 
 
 THE DEBT OF NORMAL UNIVERSITY TO JESSE W. FELL 
 DAVID FELMLEY 
 
 It is always an interesting study to trace the influence of early en- 
 vironment upon the subsequent careers of notable men and women, 
 for we usually find that the associations, the interests, and the activ- 
 ities of youth and early manhood determine the trend of one's entire 
 life. 
 
 In the opinion of many American writers, the best body of immi- 
 grants from England settled not on the banks of the James nor on 
 the shores of Massachusetts Bay but in the five southeastern counties 
 of Pennylvania. It was from this stock that Jesse W. Fell was de- 
 scended. In early life he showed unusual aptitude for study so his 
 parents sent him to the best schools available. After reaching the 
 age of eighteen he taught school for two years, then turned his atten- 
 tion to law, studying for two years with a law firm at Steubenville, 
 Ohio. This firm offered him a partnership, but he had heard won- 
 derful stories of the fertility and beauty of Central Illinois. In the 
 fall of 1832, with carpetbag and walking stick, he came into the little
 
 2 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 village built in the hazel brush that skirted the northern margin of 
 Blooming Grove and stretched off to the prairie to the north. Mc- 
 Lean county was less than two years old, Bloomington scarcely eigh- 
 teen months. He was Bloomington's first lawyer, but if he had de- 
 pended upon law alone he would have had little to do. Immigration 
 was active, real estate in demand, so we find young Mr. Fell locating 
 claims, buying lands for his eastern friends, making shrewd invest- 
 ments for himself. On one of his trips to the country in 1833 he 
 stopped on the ridge now just south of the Alton railroad between 
 Broadway and Fell avenue. Behind him to the south and southwest 
 lay Blooming Grove and Major's Grove. To the west, north, and east 
 lay the billowy swell of the prairie, not a tree in sight, hardly a set- 
 tler's cabin. Here, he said 'to his companion, some day I shall build 
 my home. 
 
 Lands rose rapidly in value. In 1836 he was already esteemed a 
 wealthy man. Then came the crash of 1837 with failure and bank- 
 ruptcy in its train. The real estate business was dead. Mr. Fell re- 
 sumed his law practice for a few years, but in 1844 he definitely and 
 finally abandoned it. There is no doubt that with his industry, his 
 clearness of vision, and his rare powers of persuasion he would have 
 made a success of the law, but it was altogether too narrow a field 
 for him. It is an old maxim that the law is a jealous mistress. He who 
 is to attain a high place in this profession early learns that it is not 
 conducive to the development of many of the finer qualities of the 
 human soul. Jesse Fell preferred to do things, to mold the physical 
 world, to civilize this raw country, to convert the wilderness and the 
 prairie into the garden and the city and to aid in developing the in- 
 tellectual and social life that are the chief elements of civilization. 
 
 In 1851 began the most active period of his life. The Federal land 
 grant had been made for the Illinois Central Railroad, but the location 
 of the road had not been finally established. A powerful faction 
 was determined to carry the road not directly north from Cairo to 
 LaSalle, but to carry it from Vandalia to the northwest through 
 Springfield and Peoria to Galena. General Gridley was then the 
 state senator. It was through his efforts and Fell's that the final 
 location of the road was made through Decatur, Clinton, and Bloom- 
 ington. After May, 1853, trains were running regularly through 
 Bloomington. 
 
 Meanwhile the Chicago and Alton railroad was creeping up from 
 the southwest. Mr. Fell was an intimate friend of E. P. Morgan, the 
 chief engineer of the road, and of Mr. Blackstone, its president and 
 chief operator. He helped secure the right-of-way from Bloomington 
 to Chicago and laid out Pontiac, Dwight, and other towns. 
 
 Early in 1854 it was definitely settled that the route through Bloom- 
 ington should be half a mile to the west of the public square and that 
 the crossing point should be two miles to the north. This distance 
 made it possible to locate a new town at the junction. So Mr. Fell 
 immediately bought a large tract of land around the intersection and 
 began to lay it off in city blocks.
 
 DEBT OF NORMAL UNIVERSITY TO JESSE W. FELL 3 
 
 In 1856 he began the erection of his residence on the site that he 
 had selected twenty-two years before, the house now standing on the 
 southeast corner of Irving and Fell avenue and occupied by Mrs. J. W. 
 Heckethorn. There was then only one house within the present 
 limits of Normal, the cottage occupied by the station agent. Mr. Mc- 
 Cambridge. 
 
 From the first Mr. Fell had planned to make something more of 
 North Bloomington than the ordinary prairie village. He wished to 
 build a town that would be noted for its morality, sobriety, and good 
 society, and was already planning the establishment of a college or 
 seminary of learning, when in 1857 the legislature passed the Act es- 
 tablishing the Normal University. 
 
 Although occasional suggestions of a normal school for Illinois 
 were made from time to time in newspaper articles and addresses 
 after the founding of the first Massachusetts Normal Schools in 1839, 
 it was not until 1854 that an organized movement really began. At 
 the second meeting of the State Teachers Association held at Peoria 
 in 1854, the proposition was made to use the College and Seminary 
 funds, about $216,000, lying idle in the state treasury, for founding a 
 normal school. 
 
 There were two counter propositions. One by Jonathan Turner to 
 use the funds for an Industrial University; the other by the old col- 
 lege men who feared a divorce between religion and education to dis- 
 tribute the funds among existing denominational colleges. Mr. Fell 
 was with Turner in the early stages of the discussion, for he was a 
 life-long advocate of vocational and industrial education, but his ex- 
 perience as a teacher and school official brought him in 1856 and Tur- 
 ner also to the support of the normal school, and the bill creating this 
 institution became a law on February 18, 1857. The Board was author- 
 ized to fix the permanent location of said Normal University at the 
 place where the most favorable inducements were offered. 
 
 Mr. Fell began at once to secure subscriptions of land and money 
 to induce the Board to fix the location at North Bloomington. He 
 pleaded, argued, persuaded. If we can believe contemporary accounts 
 he soon had Bloomington as thoroughly aroused as Chicago seems to 
 be on the "preparedness" proposition. On April 8, 1857, appeared in 
 the Bloomington Pantagraph: 
 
 "The advantages to be conferred by such an institution upon the 
 place of its location are too obvious to need enlarging upon. Richly 
 endowed from a government fund, collecting within its walls every 
 year the flower of the youth of every part of the state, and organized 
 with a full corps of the ablest instructors, the Normal University will 
 doubtless take rank among the noblest institutions of learning in the 
 country, and give to the town which contains it a degree of promin- 
 ence at home and abroad scarcely second to that enjoyed by the state 
 capital itself." 
 
 To the individual subscriptions of land and money the county com-
 
 4 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 missioners were induced to add $70,000 of the fund derived from the 
 
 sale of swamp lands. The subscription totalled: 
 
 Swamp lands $70,000 
 
 Other lands 38,000 
 
 Cash 33,725 
 
 In all $141,725 
 
 Jesse Fell's subscription of $9,000 was the largest single subscrip- 
 tion from cash subscribers. 
 
 When the bids were opened Bloomington's total was so far above 
 Peoria's the Board of Education agreed to locate the institution in 
 Bloomington, provided that suitable security should be given to guar- 
 antee the swamp land funds. Abraham Lincoln drew up the bond, and 
 Jesse Fell and his brother, Kersey Fell, headed the list of bondsmen 
 Thus was secured for McLean county the State Normal University. 
 
 With the location of the Normal University on May 7, 1857, the trou- 
 bles of the Board had just begun. George N. Randall, of Chicago, was 
 secured as architect, the main building planned, the contract let for 
 $83,000, and work started. By fall the foundation was up. Then burst 
 the financial panic of 1857 and progress was stopped for eighteen 
 months. Almost every bank in the state suspended payment. Central 
 Illinois was hit very hard. Money could not be had, there was no 
 market for the swamp lands whose sale was to provide funds for the 
 building. The wealthiest and most eminent of all the subscribers de- 
 clared that he would not pay his subscription until the building was 
 finished, that is, until it was no longer needed. There were trying 
 times. President C. E. Hovey, charged by the Board with the duty of 
 realizing upon the subscription, was aided at every turn by Jesse W. 
 Fell. The building was completed in 1861, though with serious shrink- 
 age in some of the subscriptions. The legislature came to the rescue 
 with two appropriations aggregating $100,000 to lift the mortgage and 
 complete the furnishing and equipment of the institution. 
 
 In 1858 the name of the settlement at the junction was changed 
 from North Bloomington to Normal. In 1867 when the population had 
 grown to several hundred Mr. Fell secured from the legislature a 
 special charter under which the town is now governed. It provides that 
 no intoxicating liquors shall ever be sold within its borders. In fact 
 Mr. Fell had previously provided in many title deeds for lots that no 
 liquor should ever be sold upon the premises. It is notable that the 
 petition to the legislature for the prohibition clause was signed by 
 every man, woman, and child in Normal over six years of age. 
 
 By this provision of the charter many desirable citizens have been 
 attracted to Normal. Parents have felt that the absence of the saloons, 
 of the pool rooms that accompany them, of the undesirable citizens 
 that so frequently haunt them, make Normal a much safer place 
 of residence for their sons and daughters while off at school. 
 
 In his boyhood Mr. Fell had as a teacher Joshua Hooper, a famous 
 schoolmaster of Chester county, Pennsylvania, one of the best botan- 
 ists of his day. Jesse Fell was more than a pupil. He became a com- 
 panion of his master, and under him developed a life-long interest
 
 DEBT OF NORMAL UNIVERSITY TO JESSE W. FELL 5 
 
 in trees and flowers. It was in the early forties that Mr. Fell began 
 to manifest his passion for tree planting. A year spent on the open 
 prairie northeast of Bloomington probably hastened the conviction 
 that nothing was more necessary to the taming of the prairie than to 
 plant it with trees. At first the black locust, with its rapid growth and 
 durable wood, finely adapted for fencing, attracted his attention. 
 When the borers attacked the young locust groves, he tried other 
 trees in our prairie soils, hard and soft maples, ash and American and 
 British elm, linden, catalpa speciosa, tulip tree, European larch, 
 and many evergreens were planted in great numbers by him. It is 
 said that 13,000 trees had been planted by him along the streets of 
 Normal and in the grounds about his residence when there were 
 still hardly a dozen houses in the present town. He brought to 
 Bloomington Mann, Overman, Phoenix, and other men who made 
 Bloomington one of the largest nursery centers in the country. 
 
 Furthers the Work 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Fell was appointed the local member of the Board of 
 Education, the position now held by Mr. Capen. He at once secured 
 an appropriation of $3500 from the legislature for the proper planting 
 of the campus, a project that had always been near his heart. Wil- 
 liam Saunders, the foremost landscape gardener of the day, had been 
 brought on from Philadelphia eight years before to make a suitable 
 plan. The planting was done under Mr. Fell's personal management, 
 many fine trees being transplanted from his own private grounds 
 known as Fell Park. The original plantings in the campus included 
 almost every species that would flourish in this soil and climate. 
 After the losses incident to storm and sleet, the ravages of borers 
 and to the removal of trees to make way for new buildings, we still 
 had in 1901, 940 trees of forty-one species. The great storm of June 10, 
 1902, destroyed many of these, but later plantings have more than 
 replaced the losses in numbers and variety. 
 
 The six years which Mr. Fell sat upon the Board of Education 
 were years of rapid development of the Normal University. It was 
 then everywhere recognized as the leading normal school of the 
 United States in the extent of its revenue, the value of its building 
 and grounds, the number of students and the ability and reputation of 
 its faculty. 
 
 The Home and School 
 
 In 1865 Jesse Fell headed a movement to establish a home for the 
 orphans of the soldiers of the Civil war. Normal, under his leader- 
 ship, raised a large subscription and secured the location. This in- 
 stitution has for fifty years served its purpose in an admirable way. 
 With the passing of the veterans of the Civil War, the institution has 
 been converted into a State Home for dependent children. It must 
 be a source of gratification to the friends of Jesse W. Fell that the 
 two institutions in Normal to which he gave so much are now brought 
 into organic union. 
 
 Beginning with September the school at this Home will become a 
 part of the training school of the State Normal University.
 
 6 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 The Man HimseM 
 
 In summing up the services of Jesse W. Fell to the Normal Univer- 
 sity we do not forget that the best part of it has not yet been told. 
 In viewing this memorial that his friends have erected we are not 
 unmindful that its highest values are not those of the mason or of 
 the brass founder, nor are they to be found in the taste and skill of 
 the architect who plans the work, or of the artists who have designed 
 the bronzes. They are to be found in the character of the man whose 
 name this memorial bears and whose services it commemorates. 
 
 The character of a people is measured by the type of man it honors. 
 Every country has its heroes who embody the national ideals, every 
 town its distinguished citizens who, through personal excellence and 
 public service, win universal esteem and are held in memory long 
 after they are passed away. Normal is singularly fortunate in the man 
 who, by common accord, is ranked as its founder and most distin- 
 guished citizen. As a friend he was loyal, true, self-sacrificing, and 
 obliging. But his love did not stop with the companion into whose 
 eyes he might look or whose hand he might grasp. The breadth of 
 his sympathy and affection embraced men of all faiths, of all races, 
 and of generations yet unborn. As a man of Quaker birth and breed- 
 ing he loved and practiced the arts of peace. As a lawyer he was a 
 potent force in the political life of the state. As a promoter of rail- 
 road building he took an active part in the industrial development of 
 the state. When the steady encroachment of the slave power made it 
 clear to every lover of human liberty that the friends of freedom 
 must stand together, he was a leader in the formation of the Repub- 
 lican party. He saw the greatness of Lincoln and was most zealous in 
 securing his nomination for the presidency. He was a lover of trees 
 and planted them by the thousand. He valued education and with 
 characteristic energy persuaded the people of McLean county by 
 generous subscriptions of land and money to establish the State Nor- 
 mal University within its borders. He saw the degradation wrought 
 by alcohol and secured for his new town a charter that forever forbids 
 the sale of intoxicants within its borders. 
 
 But Jesse Fell was not merely great in the excellence of his charac- 
 ter, in his honesty, his unselfishness, his kind heartedness, his patriot- 
 ism as abstract qualities; he was pre-eminently a man of action. We 
 honor him for what he did, both for the kind of enterprises he under- 
 took and the spirit in which he wrought. Mr. Fell had faith in the 
 future. He saw the great city of Bloomington in the strangling, un- 
 kempt country village of eighty years ago; he saw in Normal the seat 
 of a great educational institution; he saw in Illinois a real empire 
 state, great in its natural resources, greater still in intellectual and 
 moral worth, and he shaped his life in accordance with these visions. 
 Some men called him visionary. Like all other seers he merely lived 
 in advance of his generation. His only mistakes seemed to have 
 been in underestimating the amount of time needed for the realiza- 
 tion of his hopes. 
 
 The greatest indebtedness of the Normal University to Jesse Fell 
 is the example of his life, his character and his worth. It is difficult
 
 DEBT OF NORMAL UNIVERSITY TO JESSE W. FELL 7 
 
 to summarize in a few words the character of Jesse W. Fell. I have 
 read the estimates placed upon him by more than a score of his con- 
 temporaries, the men who knew him well and were abundantly able 
 to set forth their estimate of his character. They all testify to his 
 superlative worth as a man and as a citizen. Yet it seems that no two 
 have viewed his life from the same angle nor have caught the same 
 radiant light from the soul within. His most conspicuous quality 
 seems to have been his energy. While other men thought and planned 
 and talked, Jesse Fell brought to pass. He possessed a genius for 
 accomplishment, tireless energy, undaunted courage, and a persist- 
 ence that was rarely unsuccessful. He was a born leader, skillful in 
 plan, to organize, to enlist aid and sympathy, to convince and to per- 
 suade, to subdue opposition, to kindle in others the flame of his own 
 enthusiasm. He was a born advocate, skillful yet fair to his oppon- 
 ents, more anxious to persuade them than to overwhelm them. 
 
 Others who knew him personally will speak at length of his per- 
 sonal characteristics. For me it is enough to say in closing, that this 
 memorial has been erected in order that we may show to our children 
 and to our children's children the type of man that we delight to 
 honor, the citizen of whom we are justly proud. 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 JOHN W. COOK 
 
 Memorial structures are the efforts of a grateful people to celebrate 
 in imperishable material the virtues of those who have wrought well 
 for their kind. They are an endeavor to keep active and beneficent 
 in the lives of men, those wholesome and regenerating principles that 
 were the springs of action of the characters in whose honor and whose 
 memory they are erected. 
 
 We are here today to give meaning to this graceful entrance to 
 these beautiful grounds. If the words we shall say could, by some 
 art of magician, be an open book for the passer by, its significance 
 would be for the aspiring and sensitive mind an evangel, for we are 
 to tell the story of a man whose supreme ambition was to promote 
 justice throughout the land. He sought the freedom of the slave 
 from the cruel tyranny that gave the lie to our fundamental political 
 principle. He championed the cause of freedom and toleration in re- 
 ligious belief. He defended the sacred privilege of freedom of speech 
 when the cause that he regarded as the noblest in annals of mankind 
 was attacked. He fought the battle for the care of the orphan of the 
 man who had given his life for his country. He built about the com- 
 munity of his love the high wall of protection against the tempting 
 devil of drink. He fostered with liberal hand the institutions that 
 make for the rule of reason in the world. He fought with relentless 
 energy corruption in high places and in all places. He sought no 
 public recognition and aspired to no place of honor. He was content 
 to fight for the good cause in his own way with no ulterior end to
 
 8 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 subserve. Such a character is rare enough to merit especial recog- 
 nition and to have dedicated to his memory a perpetual reminder of 
 his virtues. 
 
 Life Full of Incident 
 
 In anticipation of this event my mind, of late, has been dwelling 
 with fond recurrence upon its memories of Mr. Fell. Indeed, brief 
 have been the periods that I have not recalled some familiar incident 
 of his noble life, in all of the intervening years since I last looked 
 upon his face. Again I have been reading the rich material that I 
 eagerly gleaned from all available sources and carefully treasured 
 nearly thirty years ago. Through it all, like the call of a melodious 
 bugle, in the still air of the quiet morning rings the one insistent, in- 
 spiring, engaging note. Men seemed striving with each other in an 
 all-accordant chorus, to swell the voice of appreciation of the ines- 
 timable worth of this modest, self-forgetful man, whose eyes always 
 were seeking the welfare of his fellow men. I have slight need to 
 go afield for what I have to say today. The brief minutes will permit 
 only a scanty clipping from what would require far more time than is 
 at my disposal in even a hasty telling. 
 
 Under His Own Trees 
 
 And first of all I wish to say that I know of no place more fitting 
 for his memorial than here. Beside this ever flowing and inspiring 
 spring of life, where youth is breaking the seals of futurity and fore- 
 casting high destiny and striving for its ample realization, let an in- 
 destructible reminder of his career defy the ruthless hand of time. As 
 the years shall come and go and the long processions of the young 
 shall pass through this noble gateway, let them receive a new and 
 perpetual baptism of that generous spirit which is aptly character- 
 ized by his immortal friend "With malice toward none; with charity 
 for all." And let there be a fitting volume writ in simple phrase that 
 shall tell of him and of his gracious life, and on each recurring birth- 
 day of the institution that he did so much to found and foster, let his 
 name be spoken so those who go out to help to make the new and 
 better commonwealth shall keep his spirit in the transforming energy 
 of their lives. 
 
 His First Acquaintance 
 
 Although I became a student at the Normal School in 1862 I had no 
 personal acquaintance with Mr. Fell until some two years later. His 
 name was a household word among the students but it would have 
 been an honor beyond our most ardent expectations to be recog- 
 nized by a man so widely known and so universally esteemed. The 
 time came, however, when I had the coveted privilege of winning his 
 attention although I have forgotten the occasion. After that the 
 going was delightful and as the years slipped by the intimacy 
 increased. 
 
 A Pen Portrait 
 
 You would like to know about his personal appearance. He was of 
 medium height, spare of figure, and with a face full of intelligence and 
 light. You have become familiar with it as it is portrayed by his
 
 THE JESSE W. FELL, HOMESTEAD
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 9 
 
 picture that hangs in the reception room of the main building. He 
 was the most industrious of men and Judge Davis declared him to be 
 the most energetic man that he had ever known. With this estimate 
 I am in entire agreement. Even in his walk there was a slight in- 
 clination forward as if he could not keep his body apace with the 
 plans which his busy brain was ever organizing. He it was who 
 carried out the original plans for the decoration of the campus. It 
 was a treeless plain before he began his work upon it. There could 
 not have been found in all its area a riding whip for a horseman. He 
 prepared for it by circling the root of the superb evergreens with 
 which his home place was crowded and when the clump of solidly 
 attached earth was ready for removal he personally superintended the 
 transfer of these great trees to the already prepared field. He had 
 zealously cultivated it the preceding year so that everything was in 
 readiness. At this task he worked with more physical energy than 
 any of his helpers. I never heard of one of the transplanted trees 
 that disappointed him. In consequence, the campus was transformed 
 in a single year from a bare prairie to a place of beauty. 
 
 Mind and Body 
 
 Indeed, so intense was his physical activity that he found it difficult 
 in his more advanced life to induce his body to take the requisite 
 amount of sustenance to keep the fires burning hot enough for his de- 
 mands, and I recall a conversation in which he related his annoyance 
 that the machinery, upon which he had been accustomed to rely with 
 such complete confidence, would not steam in harmony with his ex- 
 pectations. And this physical energy was but the concomitant of his 
 mental energy. He was afire with enthusiasm. He subordinated all 
 of his fine endowment to the leadership of his splendid will. And all 
 who came within the range of his influence caught the contagious 
 inspiration. Was he a visionary? It never seemed so to me, for his 
 large plans, with few exceptions, rounded to noble consummation. I 
 am quite convinced that the one disappointment of his life was the 
 failure of the plan to secure at Normal the location of the University 
 of Illinois. It has always been my understanding that the offer of 
 this county far surpassed that of any other. What it was that de- 
 feated his undertaking I have never learned. I well remember that 
 historic contest and the alternating hopes and fears that filled the 
 minds of our people. 
 
 An Old School Gentleman 
 
 Mr. Fell is aptly described by the familiar phrase, "A gentleman of 
 the old school." By this is meant that he was characterized by a 
 courtliness of manner quite unusual in these less chivalrous days. 
 He was a careful observer of the canons of etiquette and employed 
 them in his relations to others with strict impartiality. Politeness 
 has been defined as, "the ceremonial form in which we celebrate the 
 equality of all men in the substance of their humanity." To be a 
 human being was to win his respect and to receive the homage which 
 he conceived to be due a human being. I have seen him rise in a 
 crowded street car and offer his seat to a poor negro woman, with
 
 10 THB ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 the irresistible grace that was his wont. That she was a woman was 
 enough to win his recognition as entitled to the conventional cour- 
 tesies of polite society. And with him they were far from being 
 formal ceremonies for there was always shining through them the 
 knightly spirit of the true cavalier. His kindness of heart was always 
 evident and he was scrupulously careful lest he should inflict pain 
 when dealing with the humblest. 
 
 His Gift in Writing 
 
 As a writer he was unusually engaging. He had the art of speech 
 when his pen was in his hand. When I knew him he shrank from 
 public addresses, but earlier in his life he was a rapid, terse and force- 
 ful speaker. His letters best illustrated his gracefulness of expres- 
 sion. Our relations were not of a character to invite correspondence, 
 yet I carefully preserved the two that I received from him. They 
 exhibited a grace of expression that lifted them out of the ordinary, 
 and although one of them was only a request for an interview upon a 
 matter of mutual interest, it was so charmingly rendered as to invite 
 many readings before it was put among my epistolary treasures. 
 
 One cannot but linger fondly over these memories, and before 
 turning to other aspects of his rich and varied life I must be permitted 
 to quote briefly from his loving friend of many years, former Presi- 
 dent Richard Edwards. In the address which Dr. Edwards delivered 
 at the funeral in Normal Hall he said: "Let me begin by saying that 
 Mr. Fell was an honest man. He had so many other high qualities 
 that we are in danger of not observing this * * *. *He who has been 
 through the intensest activities of life, through those scenes where 
 selfishness, duplicity, corruption are most apt to have full sway, and 
 who has come out of it all with a maiden sensitiveness to anything 
 like unfairness or dishonesty, deserves our esteem * * *. He kept his 
 hands clean and his heart pure. He committed no false or foul act. 
 He entertained no debasing or unworthy thought. So sensitive was 
 Mr. Fell to this principle of rigid honesty that I have known him to 
 insist upon making good pecuniary losses sustained by his friends 
 through the dishonesty of other men, because he had been the means 
 of making the parties acquainted with each other." 
 
 His Forceful Character 
 
 To this testimony of Dr. Edwards I may add that any indirection 
 on the part of men in public life made hot his indignation. He would 
 have none of them henceforth. There are men still living in Bloom- 
 ington who are members of a political convention held there on a 
 day almost fifty years ago, in which instructions were sought for the 
 county delegation to assist in the renomination of a public official. I 
 may add that I was the candidate's cordial supporter as I was during 
 his long subsequent official career. Mr. Fell, however, believed that 
 he had broken faith with some of his friends and opposed him with 
 such vigor that he succeeded in securing the adjournment of the con- 
 vention after a scene that defies description. His opposition defeated 
 the desired renomination and resulted in the temporary retirement of 
 the candidate from public life. Prominent in that historic struggle
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES tl 
 
 were a few whose names are household words in this community. 
 Their number was small but under the rallying enthusiasm of Mr. 
 Fell their effectiveness was irresistible. 
 
 Words of His Friends 
 
 In further view of this aspect of Mr. Fell's character Honorable 
 James S. Ewing, at the memorial meeting of the Bloomington Bar 
 Association, in an exquisite tribute to his memory, said: "It is a good 
 thing to have known one man whose life was without spot or blem- 
 ish; against whose honor no man ever spoke; who had no skeleton in 
 his closet; whose life was as open as the day and whose death comes 
 to a whole community as a personal sorrow." 
 
 Similarly Honorable Joseph W. Fifer: "Jesse Fell was one of these 
 moral heroes; he was the product of our free institutions, and I am 
 proud he was an American citizen. His pure, exalted and unselfish 
 life will help teach the world the great lesson that the indispensable 
 basis of all true greatness is integrity of character, and that the only 
 way to be happy in this life is to make others happy." 
 
 Brave words these. They ring the recurring sentiment of every 
 utterance of that memorial occasion. 
 
 His Ancestry 
 
 And now that I have tried in these brief minutes to tell you some- 
 thing of his personality, you will anticipate his political alignment. 
 As another will tell you he came from a family that had been identified 
 with the Society of Friends from its origin about the middle of the 
 seventeenth century. That he would ally himself with the anti-slavery 
 party was thus a foregone conclusion. Like men of his kind, he was 
 an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, with whom he became personally 
 acquainted and whose name he perpetuated in his own family by 
 conferring it upon his only, son. Few of the present generation can 
 imagine the ardor with which the followers of the great Commoner 
 attached themselves to his cause. His failure to achieve the place for 
 which he repeatedly strove was a heart breaking experience to vast 
 numbers of his adherents. My father once cautioned me, with quiv- 
 ering lip, against ever attaching myself to any political leader whose 
 defeat I could not contemplate with comparative equanimity. We had 
 been talking of his political idol, Henry Clay. 
 His Stand in Politics 
 
 Although bitterly opposed to slavery, Mr. Fell had not indentified 
 himself actively with the Abolition party. Unconsciously he was 
 waiting for the evolution of a political party that should incorporate 
 the slavery question in some of its multifarious aspects in its plat- 
 form. Time was to give him his ample opportunity. The Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill so solidified the anti-slavery sentiment as to make the 
 creation of the Republican party a logical necessity. As soon as it 
 appeared he was one of its active adherents. 
 
 And now I am going to make a claim for Mr. Fell that I have not 
 thus far come upon. I cannot resist the conviction that there orig- 
 inated with him an idea that made him an historic character and thus 
 identified him personally and potentially with tremendous events
 
 12 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 that were world wide in their consequences. I do not claim for him 
 the far vision that might have foreseen what followed from the forces 
 that were set in motion. Short-sighted creatures of a day, we may, 
 nevertheless, release energies that by the natural accumulation of in- 
 ertia may precipitate catastrophies that rock a world, bury old wrongs 
 in the ruins of the castles they have built for their own preservation, 
 and thus make possible a new day of freedom for mankind. 
 
 Here are some statements whose correctness is amply verified by 
 Hon. Owen T. Reeves, Hon. A. E. Stevenson, and Hon. James S. 
 Ewing. 
 
 On the twelfth day of September, 1854, Senator Stephen A. Doug- 
 las came to Bloomington to make a public address. He stopped at 
 the old National Hotel, at the corner of Front and Main streets. 
 Lawrence Weldon, then engaged at the practice of the law, at Clinton, 
 came up to hear the speech and went with Mr. Ewing and Dr. Stev- 
 enson to call upon the senator. Shortly after, Mr. Lincoln, who had 
 probably come up from Springfield for the same purpose, came in to 
 pay his respects to the honored guest. After a brief conversation 
 Mr. Lincoln withdrew. Shortly after, Mr. Fell entered the room and 
 was cordially greeted by Judge Douglas, for they were old acquaint- 
 ances. The tide of conversation ran along in the usual way for a 
 time, but Mr. Fell had an especial purpose to subserve. He therefore 
 said to the Judge that there was much feeling over the question of 
 the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and that many of Mr. Lincoln's friends 
 would be greatly pleased to hear a joint discussion between himself 
 and Mr. Lincoln on these new and vital questions that were so vitally 
 interesting the people. 
 
 Judge Douglas seemed much annoyed and after hesitating a mo- 
 irent said: "No! I won't do it. I come to Chicago. I am met by 
 an old-line Abolitionist; I come to the center of the state and am met 
 by an Administration Democrat. I can't hold the Abolitionists re- 
 sponsible for what the Whigs say; I can't hold the Whigs responsible 
 for what the Abolitionists say, and I can't hold either responsible for 
 what the Democrats say. It looks like 'dogging' a man over the state. 
 This is my meeting. The people came here to hear me and I want to 
 talk to them." Mr. Fell said: "Well, Judge, perhaps you may be right; 
 perhaps some other time it may be arranged." And so it was that Mr. 
 Fell did not carry his point for that 'meeting. 
 The Joint Discussion 
 
 But Mr. Fell did not give up the idea of the joint discussion. It 
 was his pertinacious following of the scheme that gave to the country 
 that memorable series of illuminating addresses, unsurpassed in all 
 the annals of debate in which the supreme question, the question of 
 fate, in the forum of a nation, was held up to the reason and the con- 
 sciences of men. 
 
 Who doubts for a moment the effect of those debates upon the 
 destiny of Abraham Lincoln? It would be the most violent of as- 
 sumptions to assert that he would have been nominated for the presi- 
 dency of the Republican party in 1860 without the prominence they 
 gave him. He took his logical place thereafter at the front of the
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 13 
 
 champions of the anti-slavery movement, for he had proved himself 
 more than equal to the most redoubtable protagenist of the pro- 
 slavery movement. I cannot resist the conclusion that this remark- 
 able train of sequences logically followed Mr. Fell's resolute purpose 
 as foreshadowed in the brief incident that I have related. 
 
 His Part in Debate 
 
 But again. After the first debate at Ottawa, Lincoln came to 
 Bloomington for a conference with friends from all parts of the 
 state. Judge Reeves is responsible for the statement that Mr. Fell 
 was present at that conference, as we should fully expect. At the 
 Ottawa meeting Judge Douglas had propounded to Mr. Lincoln a 
 number of questions to be answered at Freeport. Mr. Lincoln told 
 his friends what answers he should give to those questions, and he also 
 told them, he proposed to propound certain questions to Judge Doug- 
 las at that meeting. Among them was this one: "Can the people of a 
 territory, in any legal way, against the consent of any citizen of the 
 United States, exclude slavery from a territory prior to its admission 
 as a state?" 
 
 The members of the conference saw clearly that if Judge Douglas 
 should answer this question in the affirmative he would certainly be 
 elected to the Senate, for there were many Republicans favorably 
 disposed to him because of his opposition to the attitude of the admin- 
 istration. It was believed that he would so answer. Lincoln saw that, 
 although such an answer would close his hope for the coveted sena- 
 torship, the South would never nominate so uncertain a candidate 
 in 1860. In consequence, the conference therefore protested against 
 the submission of such an interrogative and voted against it with a 
 single exception. That exception, I need not say, was Mr. Fell. Did 
 his stand in the premises account in any way for Lincoln's reply to 
 the conference "Judge Douglas may indeed defeat me for the Senate 
 but he will at the same time defeat himself for the presidency in 1860, 
 and that is a far greater issue." 
 
 Shaped the Result 
 
 Prophetic words! They were verified to the letter. Did Jesse 
 Fell's support of Lincoln's plan fall into the causal series again? 
 Who can answer? The logic, if so, is firmly knit Mr. Fell's sugges- 
 tion of the joint debate; the consequent nation-wide fame of Lin- 
 coln; the consequent nomination; the fatal question; the two Demo- 
 ocratic candidates in 1860; the triumphant election of Lincoln; the 
 abolition of slavery; the indissoluble reunion of the states; one flag! 
 One common destiny! 
 
 Did this modest man ever allow himself to trace the conclusions 
 of the successive syllogisms to the final conclusion? Dr. Edwards 
 besought him to write a frank and free autobiography and he really 
 began it, but his modesty soon got the better of his resolution and 
 he gave it up, declaring that he could not bring himself to the task. 
 If he had only been willing to write a book of "Recollections" what 
 revelations we might have had!
 
 14 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 Champion of Liberty 
 
 I said, a few minutes ago, that he championed the cause of free- 
 dom and toleration in religious matters. This he did especially in the 
 part he took in the organization of what was long known as the Free 
 Congregational Church of Bloomington. 
 
 Which of two of the major differences that formerly drove sharp 
 lines of social cleavage among men arouses the bitterer controversies, 
 icligion or politics? We oi the present know little of the implacable- 
 ness of the hostility which formerly existed between men who were 
 in separate political camps and who affirmed belief in separate relig- 
 ious creeds. At the same polling place we interrupt a friendly con- 
 versation to deposit our several ballots and resume the cordial inter- 
 change of thoughts as we again go together on our common way. 
 The spirit of conflict over religious differences has quite folded its 
 wings and shed its sharp talons and taken on the semblance of the 
 dove rather than that of the hawk. There was a time, however, and 
 it was not long ago, when the bitterness engendered by the rise of 
 differing sects was the death of friendships, the divider of families 
 and the destroyer of community peace. And this conflict over creeds 
 often appeared to be a minor difference of doctrine or an inconse- 
 quential variation in ceremonial observance, but the hostility was 
 none the less intense. 
 
 In Church Organization 
 
 Imagine, then, the introduction into the institutional life of Bloom- 
 ington of an organization that seemed to be indifferent to a body of 
 doctrine that was regarded by the great majority of men and women 
 in the west as indispensable to give validity to any rightful claim to 
 the name religion. Such a phenomenon appeared in July, 1839. I 
 have not time now to trace its history. Of course, the Fells, Jesse 
 and Kersey, were there. Let it suffice to say that an organization was 
 effected and that Charles G. Ames, predestined to a notable career, 
 was called to conduct the Sabbath services of The Free Congrega- 
 tional Society. On another occasion I tried to tell, with some degree 
 of fullness, the history of the first half century of the life of this 
 pioneer society. Its rank represented many shades of opinion, both 
 theological and political. Of course, its personnel had at least one 
 common point of agreement; all were committed to the idea of entire 
 freedom of religious belief and of speech. 
 
 Of course Mr. Ames would speak his mind on the slavery question. 
 He did so and some of his parish were so offended that they with- 
 drew. But Mr. Ames was incapable of bitterness. While he pre- 
 ferred that they should stay, he could not deprive himseli of freedom 
 of speech to retain them, for freedom was the principle upon which 
 the society was founded. 
 
 Before his nomination Mr. Lincoln dined with Mr. Ames. The 
 "Irrepressible Conflict" was thoroughly discussed, Mr. Ames taking 
 very advanced grounds. Upon leaving, Mr. Lincoln said, "I am as 
 strong an anti-slavery man as you are, but I recognize some practical 
 difficulties in dealing with it that you do not seem to see."
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 15 
 
 Some Intimate Details 
 
 After the execution of John Brown Mr. Ames preached his funeral 
 sermon. Having been a member of his choir in old Phoenix Hall I 
 had enjoyed some acquaintance with him and therefore felt free to 
 write him, some seven years ago, with regard to this famous address. 
 I quote briefly from his reply: 
 
 "On the last Sunday of November, 1859, I gave notice that on the 
 following vSunday, if the telegraph brought the news of the execution 
 of John Brown, I should preach his funeral sermon. The Society was 
 in no mood to lay restrictions on freedom of speech, but there were 
 those who said 'we've just launched our little bark in troubled waters 
 and now Mr. Ames will blow us sky-high.' Phoenix Hall was none 
 too large for those who came and there was great seriousness and 
 perfect attention through the full hour's discourse. The next morn- 
 ing came the request for a copy for publication which was granted. 
 * * * oh, those were great days. I wonder if you live them over 
 with such palpitations as come to me." I regard this quotation as 
 germane to my theme as Mr. Fell was one of those who were called 
 upon to stand behind Mr. Ames in those troublous times. 
 
 I am deeply conscious of the need of brevity but I must be per- 
 mitted to relate a single additional incident in this connection. One of 
 the successors of Mr. Annes was Mr. Ellis whose pastoral relations 
 were very abruptly discontinued. He was a strong abolitionist and 
 was so extreme as to have been one of those who volunteered to at- 
 tempt to rescue John Brown from his Virginia captors. On April 23, 
 1865, when the country was speechless with grief over the tragic 
 ending of the life of the great president, M)r. Ellis preached a sermon 
 in Phoenix Hall in which he took occasion to criticise Mr. Lincoln 
 in severe terms. 
 
 A Startling Incident 
 
 It is easy to imagine the effect upon the Bloomington audience of 
 such an address and especially at such a time. In the Hall were 
 many of Lincoln's personal friends, men who were bound to him not 
 alone by political ties, but also by the bonds of warm affection. Here 
 and there were soldiers recently from the front, whose veneration 
 for the murdered chief magistrate was greater than for any other 
 character in American annals. Here was Mr. Jesse Fell, the man to 
 whom in 1860 Mr. Lincoln had addressed his autobiography, and one 
 can possibly imagine how his heart must have been wrung by so 
 ruthless and so utterly foolish a violation of. the canons of the most 
 ordinary common sense. The speaker was hissed and hooted and 
 escaped by the back stairs to a drug store near by, from which he 
 was rescued by Mrs. William Lewis, a present resident of Blooming- 
 ton, and taken to her home. On the succeeding Monday the address 
 was published in full and may be found, as may Mr. Ames' funeral 
 sermon, in the files of the Pantagraph. An opportunity was thus 
 offered to read exactly what Mr. Ellis had said. 
 
 But nothing could induce Mr. Fell to do violence to his principle of 
 free speech and a free pulpit. At the next meeting of the Society he
 
 1 6 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 offered a series of resolutions denouncing the interference with the 
 speaker's explicit right to be heard, however unpalatable his utter- 
 ances might be. This single illustration of his fidelity, under the 
 most trying circumstances, to a principle which he regarded as a 
 fundamental necessity in a free country lifted him in my esteem to 
 the serene heights of supreme manhood. 
 
 His Philanthropy and Zeal 
 
 No time remains to give other illustrations of those qualities which 
 mark him off so distinctly and so superbly. Yonder on the hill is 
 the home of those wards of the state who, orphaned by their fathers' 
 devotion to the country were deprived of that parental care which 
 is the due of every child of our common humanity. It is there be- 
 cause of his philanthropy and patriotic zeal. Here rise the noble 
 buildings of an institution to which thousands of grateful hearts turn 
 with the most tender emotions. He wrought the deed, far more than 
 any one else, that brought it here. We walk between these double 
 rows of trees that he planted. One day he told me why he was im- 
 pelled to adopt this particular plan. It was because he had happened 
 to be in old Germantown, Pennsylvania, in the heat of a summer day. 
 As he walked beneath the over-arching branches that met above his 
 head, he determined to go to his new home and imitate the thought- 
 fulness of an unknown benefactor. 
 
 That I knew him, and had at least some modest share in his regard, 
 has been one of the great gratifications of my life. Among my treas- 
 ures is a memento which he ordered sent to me as he lay upon his 
 couch of pain from which he realized he should never rise. Thank 
 God for all of His heroes. They lift the world to the arching sky 
 and leave an open door between the earth and the heavens. He was 
 one of that great company and lived his life of simple devotion here in 
 our own little comrrtunity. Great souls need no hilltops for their 
 homes in order that they may be singled out as the benefactors of 
 mankind. 
 
 His memory is a precious treasure and as the new generations come 
 and go this memorial structure will retell the inestimable worth of 
 this simple, unostentatious man. 
 
 VALUE OF MEMORIALS 
 
 EDMUND J. JAMES 
 
 It was a little over fifty-three years ago that I first saw Jesse W. 
 Fell. It was on the occasion of a visit of my parents to the Illinois 
 State Normal University who, in looking for a place to buy a farm and 
 "settle down permanently," as they expressed it, were especially con- 
 cerned about the schools of the neighborhood. They had examined 
 one or two farms north of Normal and so wished to see whether the 
 educational facilities offered by this school met their desires as to the 
 opportunities for their children. I was tagging as a lad 8 years old
 
 VALUE OF MEMORIALS 17 
 
 after my mother as she went into the primary room, then conducted 
 by Miss Hammond, who afterwards became the wife of W. L. Pills- 
 bury. As we came out on the porch on the south side of the Normal 
 University building, Dr. Edwards, who was kindly showing us about, 
 stretched his arm out in a sweeping way towards the south campus 
 and said: "The trees you see here have all been planted by the Hon- 
 orable Jesse W. Fell. And there he is now, planting still others," 
 he said, as he pointed toward a man superintending the planting of 
 certain shrubs or sm,all trees. "He is sometimes called," Dr. Ed- 
 wards remarked to my mother, "Jesse the tree planter." 
 
 My parents purchased a farm immediately north of Normal, where 
 for ten years I lived and from which for six years I trudged back and 
 forth to school while I was preparing for college in the grammar and 
 high school departments of the Normal University. Mr. Fell was a 
 favorite of mine, as he was of all the children, so far as I know. 
 He was kind to us and let us play without disturbance wherever he 
 was working, provided we did not interfere too much with the pro- 
 gress of the work, and sometimes, I think, even when we did. I 
 remember my mother's saying once that Mr. Fell was a real public 
 benefactor, and I wondered what that was and asked her what she 
 meant. "A public benefactor " she said, "is a man who is doing things 
 for the benefit of other people all the while and especially for the 
 benefit of the community in which he is living." 
 
 I think there could be better descriptions of Mr. Fell and his work 
 than this. I need not make any extended reference to the life and 
 services of Mr. Fell. They will be fully discussed and presented by 
 persons better able to treat that subject than I. I only desire to add 
 my testimony to that of all the others to the fact that Mr. Fell was 
 a man of power and influence in many different directions in the com- 
 munity in which he lived, and that in every direction this power and 
 influence when exerted were exerted for the public good, for the ad- 
 vancement of the common interest; and in this respect he was a 
 model citizen, a man after whom his fellow citizens could well pat- 
 tern their own conduct, and to whom the teachers and preachers and 
 mothers of the community could point with pride as one whose life 
 and activity were worthy of emulation by the children of the 
 community. 
 
 I should like to emphasize on this occasion the service which this 
 community is rendering to itself by this formal recognition of the 
 great work which Mr. Fell did for it and for the successive genera- 
 tions which will make up this community in all the years to come. 
 
 We have been very much concerned just at the present time with 
 the question whether, as a matter of fact, we are at all, in any proper 
 sense of that term, a nation. 
 
 We had a most astonishing illustration more than fifty years ago of 
 how loose were the bonds which held us together as a people when 
 the country suddenly divided into two great sections. These sec- 
 tions flew at each other's throats with all the ferocity and bitterness 
 and energy which have been displayed in the great war now going on 
 beyond the seas. And many things have since happened and some
 
 1 8 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 things have happened lately that have rather called our attention to 
 the fact that we do not, all of us at any rate, who live within the 
 confines of the American Republic, think as Americans, think in the 
 terms of the nation; but that we are still in some respects only an 
 aggregate and not a thoroughly organized life unit. We are a collec- 
 tion of states and territories, of people from different races and differ- 
 ent faiths and different histories not yet melted and unified into a 
 single people of uniform texture. 
 
 There is little hope of this ever being accomplished until the nation 
 has become a true organic instead of an aggregate unit. 
 
 The comparison has often been made between the "body politic" and 
 the "body physical" and there are some lessons which may be learned 
 by us from the comparison. The body physical, according to modern 
 theories of biology, is made up in essence of cells which are the last 
 and final units out of which all portions of the body, and, finally the en- 
 tire body, are composed. In these cells is the center of life and activ- 
 ity,' the center of bodily health and bodily weakness and disease and 
 death. If the cells function as they ought to do, all of them, each in its 
 own way, we may be' sure that the body as a whole will be vigorous and 
 strong and effective. If the cells, however, become weak and anaemic 
 and ineffectual, we may expect to see the body dry up and disappear. 
 
 So I should think of the nation as constituted of cells, not the 
 individual human beings, but the ultimate or, if you please, the primal 
 unit of organization, namely, the comm,unity. If the community is 
 of the right composition, if it is organized in a healthy and vigorous 
 way and performs its duties in a healthy and vigorous way, and all 
 the communities do this, then we may expect to see a perfect national 
 life as the flower and fruitage, so to speak, of this perfect community 
 life, and unless this community life is of the right type, it is vain 
 indeed that we build upon the tower, so to speak, upon the roof of 
 this great structure when the foundation elements are decayed. If 
 the civic life of the community is conducted on a low level, we have 
 in so far as it is a part of the nation, a weak element which itself may 
 become the source of disease and, like a cancer, by spreading its 
 influence in the surrounding tissue, may ultimately undermine and 
 develop a running sore which may seriously hamper, if not ultimately 
 destroy, the organism of which it is a part. 
 
 Those communities in the United States in which education is neg- 
 lected, in which the health of the community receives no attention, in 
 which moral and religious influences are not cultivated, in which a 
 low type of civilization prevails, are communities which may become 
 centers of disease, stretching far and wide through the body politic. 
 This is something we do not always realize. In a large way, we have 
 a classic example in our own history. When the people of certain 
 communities thought it was a good thing to import the black man 
 from Africa and make him a slave, the foundation was laid for infinite 
 trouble, not so much for the slave, for in many cases his condition 
 was really improved over that in the native wildness from which he 
 -.vas taken, but the masters and the life of the master's wife and chil-
 
 VALUE OF MEMORIALS 19 
 
 dren and the life of the community which was made up of the masters 
 of these black slaves. 
 
 In the course of time as the country became industrially part slave 
 and part free, it became perfectly plain to far-seeing men, even of the 
 time of the Revolution, nearly a hundred years before the struggle 
 finally came, that no community could endure, no body politic could 
 continue to live, in which one part of the body was made up of cells 
 depending for their industrial development upon the institution of 
 human slavery and another part of the body was made up of cells 
 whose industrial life was based upon a system of free and independent 
 labor. It took a long time for this cancerous growth of slavery to 
 make such headway as to finally threaten the destruction of the en- 
 tire nation. But it came, just as inevitably as the sun rose and set, 
 and it finally had to be cut out in all its ramifications we have not 
 completed the work yet by any means by a process which for a 
 time threatened to destroy the entire organism. 
 
 So today any community which permits its children to grow up in 
 ignorance, which does not cultivate and organize and develop the 
 various elements which enter into a complete and well-rounded 
 education, is a cell full of danger to itself and to the larger commun- 
 ities and the body politic as a whole. 
 
 We have com'munities in the United States today and they are not 
 all in one part of the country, either communities which are so de- 
 based as to form real centers of danger to the health of the common- 
 wealth and the nation. 
 
 Now the process of civilization is not by any means an easy one, 
 and every higher civilization is brought forth in pain and tears, and 
 the human race tends steadily to fall behind unless efforts are con- 
 tinually put forth which involve blood and sweat. History has 
 shown that in nearly every country and in nearly every time this 
 work of standing, in season and out of season, for the forces which 
 make for the uplift of the community, this standing for the right 
 against the wrong, for the light against the darkness, for freedom 
 against slavery, for justice over against injustice, for equal oppor- 
 tunity for all over against monopoly and slavery, has been the privi- 
 lege and the burden of comparatively few members of the commun- 
 ity, those men whom we call leaders, those men to whose call to ad- 
 vance we respond, those men whose leadership we recognize and 
 follow. 
 
 Jesse W. Fell was one of these men, and this community, thanks to 
 his leadership and that of men like him, thanks to the original consti- 
 tution of the community, made up of many different elements from 
 many different parts of the country, has moved forward steadily to the 
 ever completer life as one of those fundamental cells of national 
 existence. 
 
 Next to working out in a direct and immediate way through com- 
 petent organs of action the welfare of the community, the element 
 which has added most to civilization is the public spirit of private 
 individuals, men of far-seeing vision like the man whom we honor 
 today. Next to leading itself in all these respects, a group of people
 
 20 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 shows its fitness as an element in civilization by its willingness to 
 follow the leadership of men like Mr. Fell. And in that respect Nor- 
 mal has shown a wise capability. 
 
 I am greatly pleased to see that this community recognizes the 
 great significance of an event like this namely, the erection of a 
 memorial in honor of the men who have done things worth while in 
 the community, especially in honor of the men who saw the best 
 things that were possible to the community and stirred up and spur- 
 red it on to realize these best things. It was not merely the work 
 Mr. Fell did himself directly in planting these trees, in urging the 
 improvement of the schools, in bringing one after another of the 
 public agencies into more efficient action, but it was his work in 
 stimulating other people to emulate his example. And one of the 
 evidences that you have done that is not only to be seen in the 
 external evidences which we see around us in improved schools, in 
 paved streets, in improved water supply, and in enlarged and im- 
 proved churches, in adequate drainage, etc., etc., but one sees it also 
 in this willingness to acknowledge an indebtedness to the men who 
 are wise enough to lead such enterprises. 
 
 I have often said to members of the Illinois Legislature when pre- 
 senting to it the claims for the support of the institution which I 
 have the honor to represent today, that the people of Illinois have 
 vested for the time being in them the trusteeship for determining the 
 level upon which the community shall move. The business of a leg- 
 islator is not simply to do what his constituents want him to do, but 
 to do the thing which his constituents ought to do and to throw the 
 full impetus of his power and strength into compelling the state to 
 undertake the tasks which the interests of society demand it should 
 undertake. The duty of your local member in the legislature and of 
 every other member in the Illinois Legislature is not merely to see 
 how little money he can give to the building up of this great Normal 
 University, of which we are all so proud, but to discern if possible 
 what the function of this institution ought to be and then by every 
 means in his power help to the realization of that function. In fact 
 the member of a board of trustees should be a prophet. He should 
 have visions and these should be visions of the higher life of the com- 
 munity and the higher level upon which the community may walk, 
 and the fundamental purpose of his trusteeship is that he shall help 
 the community up to those higher levels and hold it steadily and true 
 to its higher levels. This was the work as Mr. Fell conceived it, and 
 to which he gave unsparing industry and absolute devotion, and be- 
 cause you recognize that end, because you recognize, even though 
 in large part unconsciously, that somehow or other this is your in- 
 terest projected in this large way by this seer and prophet, you are 
 willing to honor him by this beautiful memorial. He cares nothing 
 about it, of course. His family in a few years will care nothing about 
 it. It will not be long until everyone will have passed away who ever 
 saw Mr. Fell or who ever saw anybody who ever saw him, or spoke 
 to him, and the personal element will disappear as the years go on, 
 but this monument will ever stand here to remind the boys and girls
 
 VALUE OF MEMORIALS 21 
 
 of this community as they play about its foundation, and the men 
 and women who pass by, that here was a man who deserved well of 
 his community, and they will be led by the existence of this monu- 
 ment to ask what he did and why and how, and the story will ever 
 again be told to bring new inspiration and new life into each suc- 
 ceeding generation. 
 
 I have a friend, a most competent and brilliant and highly edu- 
 cated woman, who declared to me when she saw the monument 
 erected to her father, who was one of the greatest Americans, that no 
 man deserved a monument, no man had ever done so much as to 
 really deserve in any proper sense that his memory should be kept 
 alivq, that none of us, no matter how hard we labored, could perform 
 any work of supererogation, and that therefore it was an idle, nay 
 an immoral act, this erection of monuments in honor of men and 
 women who, no matter how much they have accomplished, have 
 fallen far short of their duty to their day and generation. There is, 
 of course, something to be said for this point of view, and I am sure 
 that no man or woman ever performed any service for the com- 
 munity of any great value who did not, in the bottom of his heart, 
 feel that it was such an infinitely slight service that he should be 
 almost ashamed of thinking of it as a service to his fellowmen. 
 
 But monuments of this sort are erected not to flatter living men, 
 but to call the attention of the boys and girls of each successive 
 generation to the things that are most worth while in the lives of 
 members of their own community, to the things that men will be 
 m>ost grateful for, to the things upon which the community will lay 
 the most weight, to the things that men will think about after one 
 has passed out. 
 
 This people will remember Andrew Carnegie, for example, not for 
 the fact that he accumulated a great fortune of millions of dollars, 
 not that he was one of the great industrial figures in the day and gen- 
 eration in which he lived, not that he was one of the captains of in- 
 dustry who shaped the course of men's occupations, in many different 
 directions, but because he devoted this money which he accumulated 
 in this way to what he conceived to be good purposes, and even 
 though he should be mistaken in the form of its application, and even 
 though the gifts he made should produce harm rather than good, yet 
 the motives of the man will be the things that are remembered, and 
 if the American people should decide that his motives were unworthy, 
 that he gave this money not for the purpose of accomplishing good, 
 from a sincere wish to do it, but simply for the purpose of magnifying 
 his own name, they will forget him or they will blame him. 
 
 Monuments of this sort help us to teach in a concrete and direct 
 way to our children what are the really worth while things in the de- 
 velopment of a community and a nation, and so I have always been 
 in favor of seeing them erected in honor of men who have done 
 really great and useful things. It is an honor to Mr. Fell that the 
 people of this generation, that you, standing about here, few of whom 
 knew him personally, few of whom could really have had any con- 
 ception of the largeness of the man's mind and activities, erect this
 
 22 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 monument to him. It is a much more significant, much more helpful, 
 and to my mind much more useful service which this memorial will 
 do by virtue of the fact that it is an honor to the community which 
 has raised it, for you honor yourselves far more than you honor him 
 in the events of this day. 
 
 Let every citizen, no matter how humble, take new heart in view of 
 these facts. We are sometimes inclined to despair of the Republic 
 when we see so many difficulties in life, communal, state and national. 
 We sometimes hang our head in shame at the events which have oc- 
 curred within the limits of the great Republic without any adequate 
 reaction in the direction of national or local uplift. But in the life 
 of every man who has fixed before himself as a goal the ideal of ren- 
 dering public service, we get a new inspiration, a new outlook, a 
 new hope. 
 
 From the contemplation of this gateway, let the little boy and girl 
 learn the humble lesson of picking up the papers and other rubbish 
 which are flying over the streets, which they perhaps have themselves 
 thrown there. Let the citizen living in a humble cottage with a few 
 square feet about it realize that as he keeps that lot, as he improves 
 that lot, he is doing a duty by his community and by his fellowmen 
 that will help raise the standard of life in the community as a whole. 
 Let every man of influence and power and wealth and resources in the 
 community recognize that it is a part of his business to work to im- 
 prove these conditions under which the life of this community must 
 be carried on, that it is a part of his business to see that the schools 
 are improved, that the churches are supported, that the public insti- 
 tutions of all kinds are made as efficient for their purpose as they 
 can possibly be made. Let the member of the city council have borne 
 in upon him the conviction that a public office is a public trust and 
 that the man who violates in any way the interest of the community 
 for any purpose whatever, whether it is in violation of the law or 
 not, is a scoundrel, is an unworthy citizen, one who ought not to walk 
 in the shadow or come into the same street where a monument has 
 been erected to such a man as Jesse W. Fell. With such a spirit, with 
 such a life, we may be sure that this prime cell of our great Republic 
 can give an example in its local health which all other similar cells of 
 the nation might follow. 
 
 A PHILANTHROPIST OF MIGHTY VISION 
 
 J. H. BURNHAM 
 
 Jesse. W. Fell was a lover of mankind, a man of mighty vision. He 
 loved his family and was never happier than when in their midst, 
 planning and working for their future welfare. He wisely planned 
 for the benefit of his adopted town, for the county of McLean, for 
 the state of Illinois, for the nation, for the freedom of the slave, and 
 always labored for the good of all mankind.
 
 *N - 
 
 
 Vt 
 
 
 Wv 
 
 ~s-;i 
 
 N.r^
 
 A PHILANTHROPIST OF MIGHTY VISION 23 
 
 As early as 1834, when for two years he had lived in Bloomington 
 as its first lawyer, he spent nearly a whole session of the Illinois 
 Legislature at Vandalia, and, almost unaided, prevented the western 
 tier of townships from being sliced off from McLean county in the 
 interest of a new county seat. His clear vision told him that only 
 thus could the new town of Bloomington retain its prestige and the 
 new county of MfcLean preserve its grand outline, and the service he 
 then performed has never yet been sufficiently appreciated. 
 
 The new county of McLean was tolerably well established by this 
 time but Mr. Fell was exceedingly anxious that its future should be 
 provided for, and so became one of the prime movers in the pioneer 
 effort to start a newspaper. The first issue of "The Bloomington 
 Observer" started, mainly, by the personal efforts of Mr. Fell, was 
 dated January 14, 1837. After going through the vicissitudes inci- 
 dent to a newspaper in a new county, we find its successor, "The 
 Bloomington Intelligencer" in the sole ownership of Mr. Fell on 
 March 17, 1852. The paper passed the next year to the ownership 
 of Mr. C. P. Merriman and then became the well known Pantagraph. 
 This newspaper has been published the most of the time as a daily. 
 However it was believed by Mr. Fell and his friends to be scarcely 
 up to the requirements of the town and county. Being resolutely re- 
 solved upon making this newspaper of more service to the public, 
 Mr. Fell, in company with his son-in-law, Mr. Wm. O. Davis, pur- 
 chased a controlling interest in 1868, and the two entered most ener- 
 getically upon their chosen labor of developing the journal in ac- 
 cordance with the needs of this intelligent community. Fortu- 
 nately, Mr. Davis had the necessary financial means, and experience 
 soon proved that he also possessed a remarkable aptitude for news- 
 paper management. Its growth has been of the most substantial 
 character, and the descendants of Mr. Davis, now owning the news- 
 paper, are proVing themselves true to the tradition of their ancestors. 
 
 In 1845 when the state of Illinois was in imminent danger of re- 
 pudiating its enormous bonded indebtedness, and was about to be 
 driven into hopeless bankruptcy by incompetent leaders, Mr. Fell 
 published an open letter to the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 boldly advocating the imposition of taxes and he eloquently urged 
 the policy of re-establishing the state's financial credit upon a sound 
 and reliable basis. The plan which he recommended was followed in 
 the main, and his influence at that early day is said to have been very 
 powerful. His vision told him that this state's magnificent agricul- 
 tural domain could only thus be put in the way of its subsequent 
 wonderful development. 
 
 In the various periods of railroad building in 1838 to 1881 he was 
 always a vigorous leader. He was either a projector or a railroad 
 official in every scheme for a north and south or an east and west 
 railroad in this vicinity. He secured a large portion of the right-of- 
 way for the Chicago and Alton railroad from Bloomington to Joliet, 
 was the chief agent in the donation of the machine shop site in 1853 
 and thus secured for Bloomington the immense advantages which 
 have followed, and which will no doubt permanently continue.
 
 24 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 While we are considering some of these almost marvelous achieve- 
 ments of this great man, we may reflect that no doubt his active and 
 vigorous mind contemplated many a project which was never carried 
 to a successful issue. His vision was so broad and his mind dwelt so 
 intensely on benefiting his fellow men that we can well conceive that 
 he must often have felt the want of practical co-operation in some 
 of his most heartfelt projects. 
 
 Mr. Fell once told me that at a very early day when wearily riding 
 on Horseback along the line of the present Illinois Central railroad 
 in company with General Gridley, they discussed the possible im- 
 provements likely to be enjoyed by future travelers along the iron 
 rails which they fondly hoped would follow their route. How pleas- 
 ant must have been his reflections in after life when all, and more 
 than all, that his prophetic vision had predicted, actually came to 
 pass in the lifetime of this earnest and brilliant railroad advocate. 
 
 The present generation needs to be told on this and other appro- 
 priate occasions, of Mr. Fell's almost superhuman exertions in be- 
 half of all suggestions and plans for the advancement of the religi- 
 ous, educational, moral, agricultural and community development of 
 his neighborhood, the county, the state, the nation and the whole 
 world in which he lived, but this paper can touch only a few of his 
 characteristic efforts in the directions indicated. 
 
 The man who planned our Normal campus, who planted with his 
 own hands many of its grandly spreading trees upon a broad and 
 almost desolate prairie, which I well remember, and who planted 
 thousands of others in the streets of Normal twelve thousand of 
 them before Normal was anything but North Bloomington no doubt 
 had a vision of what their noble grandeur would be in fifty to sixty 
 years, and perhaps believed that some of them would survive for 
 centuries and in their final enormous growth in this rich soil would 
 carry forward to future observers some remembrance of their origin. 
 But the same man in giving names of trees to no less than thirteen 
 of the streets of Normal perhaps never realized in his own modest 
 mind that he was thus preserving for all time a most beautiful and 
 touching reminder of his affectionate love for the town he had 
 founded. Normal is truly indebted to the charming visions which 
 must have occupied the founder's thoughts during this labor of love 
 for coming generations. 
 
 In the early part of 1867, when the grand effort was being made in 
 this county to secure the location of the Industrial University, which 
 is now the Illinois State University at Champaign, Mr. Fell's efforts 
 were little short of miraculous. I was one of the workers in the cause 
 and had opportunity to become acquainted with the man and ob- 
 serve his methods of action, and I have never forgotten how ably, 
 earnestly, enthusiastically, eloquently and persuasively Mr. Fell pre- 
 sented his arguments which resulted in an offer of five hundred and 
 thirty thousand dollars for the coveted prize. Most of this was in 
 eight and ten per cent county, town and city bonds voted by McLean 
 county, the township and city of Bloomington and by Normal town- 
 ship and village.
 
 A PHILANTHROPIST OF MIGHTY VISION 25 
 
 Very few of us realized the actual possibilities of the university 
 idea, but from the success which had then already been exhibited at 
 the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, it is evident that Mr. 
 Fell had in mind almost a complete vision of what is now to be seen 
 at Urbana and Champaign. Had that institution been located here 
 and had it been properly fostered, what a boon Normal real estate 
 would have secured! That it would have been fostered here was 
 proved by the fact that nothwithstanding Mr. Fell's bitter disap- 
 pointment, which it took years to heal, he nobly seconded the effort 
 made in 1870 to induce the State Constitutional Convention, then in 
 session, to provide in the new instrument for very liberal permanent 
 assistance to be given to the great institution. Mr. Fell grandly and 
 magnanimously took the lead in this effort through a memorial from 
 the Illinois State Teachers' Association to the convention, and he 
 thus nobly proved that his early efforts in behalf of that institution 
 as well as in aid of Normal, were based as much on his desire for 
 general educational advancement as for his own pecuniary profit. 
 
 We ought to give a brief notice of Mr. Fell's efforts to have this 
 state adopt the Maine Liquor Law at the June election in 1855, and 
 we must not forget the remarkable steps he took in 1867 to perpetually 
 prevent the sale of liquor in this town of Normal. 
 
 We shall also find that there has been running through all of Mr. 
 Fell's life efforts a never ending thread of elevated thought and action 
 in behalf of great public questions. He never forgot the poor and 
 needy and by his wise advice and counsel he placed many a poor 
 man in the way of future comfort and competence. Some of these 
 were ex-slaves for whom he had a peculiar sympathy, and he entered 
 heartily into plans for their future welfare. Nothing appeared to 
 give him more pleasure than to witness the progress these once 
 down-trodden people began to make at oncei, in their new environ- 
 ments, and to the very last he eagerly watched their advancement in 
 all parts of the nation. From the very first he was active in his op- 
 position to slavery, and gave most effective aid to the great cause of 
 freedom through his wonderful assistance in bringing Abraham Lin- 
 coln's abilities to the notice of the people, both before and after 1858. 
 He was enthusiastic in advocating Lincoln's nomination and election 
 to the presidency. It is a candid opinion of good judges that no 
 single individual in the United States performed more important 
 service, everything considered, in bringing about the election of him 
 who has proved to be the nation's idol. 
 
 The statements embodied in imperishable bronze upon the tablet 
 dedicated here today are most admirably calculated to impress and 
 inform future generations as to the most important characteristics of 
 this great man this noble-hearted philanthropist although it will 
 be almost impossible for those who never had the good fortune of his 
 personal acquaintance to realize the grandeur and great modesty of 
 his character. It appears proper to add that such was the simplicity 
 of the man that we may well believe he never anticipated he would 
 be deemed worthy of such public remembrance as has been mani- 
 fested today, or had any idea of its possible occurrence.
 
 26 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 PRESENTATION OF MEMORIAL GATEWAY TO TOWN OF 
 
 NORMAL 
 
 MRS. D. C. SMITH 
 
 As President of the Women's Improvement League of Normal, the 
 pleasing task is mine to present to the Town of Normal, through you, 
 its Mayor, the stone gateway just erected at the east entrance to this 
 campus in memory of Jesse W. Fell. 
 
 It is a tribute of love from his many friends far and near, who ad- 
 mired him while he was with them and who now honor his memory. 
 
 The bronze medallion portrait upon one of the main posts is a gift 
 from the grandchildren, and is dedicated by them with affection to the 
 grandfather whom they knew and loved. 
 
 The League is exceedingly pleased to know that the Town has au- 
 thorized you to present this gateway for perpetual preservation to the 
 Illinois State Normal University, thus linking together the University 
 and the Town in further memory of him who was the friend and lover 
 of both. 
 
 The members of the League feel a sense of pride, pardonable I 
 trust, in the fact that they have been permitted to bear some humble 
 part in the erection of this memorial gateway, and they cherish the 
 hope that in the years to come many who look upon it, and pause to 
 study the portrait and read the inscription it bears, .may be inspired 
 with Jesse W. Fell's rare public spirit and be moved to walk' in 
 his ways. 
 
 ACCEPTANCE FOR MEMORIAL GATEWAY FOR TOWN OF 
 
 NORMAL 
 
 O. L. MANCHESTER 
 Mr. Chairman, Madam President of the Women's Improvement 
 
 League: 
 
 In behalf of the Town of Normal I accept this gift. While it is 
 primarily and fundamentally a memorial to Jesse W. Fell, it will, in 
 a secondary and less important way stand as a testimony to the good 
 will, the thoughtfulness, and the perseverance of the Women's Im- 
 provement League. 
 
 By the Town Council of the Town of Normal I am authorized 
 not only to accept this gateway but to give it away. Therefore, to 
 the Illinois State Normal University, as represented by its Board of 
 Trustees and its President present here today, I now present this 
 memorial. That the women have wished that this transfer be made 
 in this way emphasizes the fact that they wish the most cordial and 
 helpful relations to continue to exist between the school and the town. 
 
 May this beautiful memorial for generations and centuries to come 
 continue to stretch out its ample white arms in welcome to the young 
 men and women not only of Normal and McLean county but to those 
 of the whole state of Illinois.
 
 ACCEPTANCE FOR UNIVERSITY 27 
 
 ACCEPTANCE FOR PERPETUAL PRESERVATION 
 
 CHAS. L. CAPEN 
 
 The first Constitution ever written provided that rewards should be 
 conferred upon public benefactors. When such are bestowed by pri- 
 vate liberality, and by affection, it is a coronation. It has been well 
 said the greatest of public benefactors are the founders of such in- 
 stitutions as that upon whose ground we celebrate today. Every such 
 a one is but the shadow of a great philanthropist who created it. 
 
 Illinois is blest more than in all other mighty achievements in the 
 character of her pioneers, whose pure souls with unflagging energy 
 established the foundations and set up the ideals of the highest civili- 
 zation. The guide posts and land marks they handed down to us 
 were those of education, progress and the higher life that for all time 
 point and illuminate the true path. 
 
 Never had any community bestowed upon it, one whose public and 
 private virtue, whose deeds and achievements were greater or more 
 lasting in good, than was and is Jesse W. Fell none of whom the 
 saying of Lamartine is truer that Providence seems to delight at rare 
 intervals in bestowing upon a community a great spiritual leader. 
 
 Of the most modest of men, working always for others and not for 
 himself, he never sought personal distinction. He had much to do 
 in establishing the common school system of the state; then with 
 wise foresight recognizing schools could not succeed well without 
 trained teachers, he rendered yeoman service in having passed the 
 charter of our Normal School: but for his heroic and long-continued 
 labors, it would have been located elsewhere, and this village not have 
 been. He provided important surroundings, one being the curse of 
 the saloon should not tempt the student; he planted many of the trees 
 on the campus with his own hands and at his own expense; at the 
 critical time in the panic of 1857 he, with one or two others, saved the 
 institution from its creditors; during the after period of stress and 
 storm he never hesitated to make any individual sacrifice, to devote 
 his time and wisdom for its good. The debt of gratitude is none the 
 less if he builded better than he knew. 
 
 We owe it to his character, as well as to ourselves, in this critical 
 time when such strong efforts are being made to discard the ideals of 
 the past, and to substitute for them those so strongly advocated in 
 certain quarters, that this beautiful gateway built by the loving hands 
 of the women of Normal, and by them given, shall stand as a perpetual 
 protest against the false and dangerous doctrine the acquisition of 
 wealth and the devotion of the chief energy and concern should be 
 that which has wrecked the principal nations of Europe, and, if ac- 
 cepted, cannot fail to produce a like result for us. The beautiful 
 architecture is in itself an inspiration and culture to every one who 
 passes through its portals, and teaches that we must depend more 
 than ever before upon the lessons of our schools and churches, that 
 the most important ambition should be for a broader and deeper life 
 rather than for a more extravagant living, and that love of country 
 is to be exhibited in the upper and nobler spheres. Mr. Fell was of
 
 28 THE ALUMNI QUARTERLY 
 
 the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, whose every action 
 is controlled by the inner light, and was one of the truest of that de- 
 nomination. It is justice to call him the height of Normal, as Scipio 
 was called the height of Rome. 
 
 It is my good fortune to accept with gratitude, in the name of the 
 State Board of Education this noble gift, and to promise in its name 
 it shall be sacredly cherished and preserved. The Board is only a 
 trustee, and acts for all the citizens of the state in memory of her 
 distinguished son; for the residents of this county and village who 
 are what they are because he lived and strove among them and still 
 lives and strives for the hundreds of students now fitting themselves 
 for the highest employment of life, and the thousands yet to come. 
 This gift is not limited to the present generation, but is for posterity 
 as well; example and influence cannot die; it will act something like 
 a miracle upon the hearts and minds of all.
 
 THE EARLY DAYS OF NORMAL 
 
 URBAN A-CHAMPAIGN, ILL., May 23, 1914. 
 
 * * * I can still remember the bare appearance of almost 
 everything in and about the village, when the trees which "Jesse, 
 the Tree Planter, ' ' had set out were not yet grown. They were 
 of the promise of things to be, a promise which has been more 
 than realized, but it took the eye of faith to see in the distant 
 future what was to come out of his life and work. 
 
 EDMUND J. JAMES. 
 
 NATURE PAINTED IN GREEN AND GOLD 
 
 * * * In the early fifties between the Illinois Central and 
 the land, whereon three or four years later was to arise the 
 stately edifice of the Normal University, rolling, unbroken prairie 
 sloped down from the hilltops to the north to the "slough" which 
 meandered southwesterly across the valley and flowed beneath 
 the Alton through the gap of a spindly bridge of piling where 
 now the street car subway is found. The prairie, upland and 
 slough, stretched southward until the cultivated fields near Sugar 
 Creek were reached. 
 
 Drear and desolate in the dead of winter as an arctic land- 
 scape, the country took on thrilling beauties with the dawn of 
 spring. From the days when the streams were yet scarcely freed 
 from their icy fetters, when the buds were swelling on the cotton- 
 woods and the catkins were showing on the willows; when the 
 grasses of valley and hillside were beginning to tinge the land 
 with green, thruout all the spring and summer and all the 
 autumn until the frost colored the foliage and cut down the 
 golden sunflowers, an ever-changing panorama of beauty was 
 painted on the prairie.
 
 THE SPRING FRESHETS 
 
 In those times before the surface waters were spirited away 
 by drainage, the rainfall did not disappear quickly as it does 
 now. In the spring the valleys were often flooded by heavy 
 downpours, the little streams which never ceased to flow except 
 for a few weeks in summers of drought, were quickly swollen 
 and spread wide. The thickest slough grasses impeded the cur- 
 rent and the water escaped but slowly thru the grassy barriers. 
 
 IN THE HEART OF NORMAL 
 
 These marshy places were the homes of almost countless 
 varieties of beautiful and fragrant flowers, and tall and graceful 
 grasses. The red-tipped blackbird swung upon the willows, the 
 meadow lark piped in grass, flocks of snipe wheeled low in air 
 and waded in the shallows. 
 
 Such was the picture presented by the low-lying parts of 
 Normal in the prairie days of sixty years ago. Such scenes are 
 to be found today only upon the rapidly disappearing frontiers. 
 
 CLEAR STREAMS OF LONG AGO 
 
 A clear stream used then to flow from the northwest to the 
 Illinois Central embankment, there turning south thru a ditch 
 cut for it when the railway barred its southeastward flow. A 
 few yards farther south, it was joined by another brook rippling 
 from the northeast, passing under the Central thru a one-arch 
 culvert. At what is now the west end of Beaufort street, the 
 united stream wound southwesterly here and there beneath 
 clumps of bending willows and thru grassy expanses, a veritable 
 paradise of flowers. 
 
 This rivulet in springtime now and then spread beyond its 
 shallow banks, the water reaching almost to the Chicago & Alton 
 and extending on the north to the rise of the hillsides. 
 
 A MEMORY OF GOLDEN YELLOW 
 
 One of the most beautiful of floral transformations of early 
 spring days in this little valley, now in the very center of things, 
 in the busy town, was the bursting forth of the cowslips, by 
 which the marsh was bordered growing on the edges of the water 
 and in it wide ribbons of vivid light green leaves brilliant in 
 the sunlight. Last night an open blossom amid the leaves ! This 
 morning, the green has turned to gold, the May flowers are in 
 bloom ! It is as if some fairy host has splashed paint of golden 
 yellow upon the verdant stripes of yesterday. Down the valley 
 and up as far as one can see is the cowslip glory, brighter than 
 the yellow primrose and the buttercup.
 
 THE VARIED COLORS 
 
 And then came that morning later on, when the swamp mus- 
 tard blossoms made great splashes of pure white ; and the days 
 when the philox bloomed pink patches set on the tawny green 
 upland grass and the deeper and ranker green of the lowland. 
 
 THE SUNFLOWERS 
 
 Next in beauty to the April surprise of the cowslips, per- 
 haps, was the blooming of the sunflowers. Late in the summer 
 they began to glow. Of these there were scores of varieties 
 great tall ones lifting their golden blooms ten feet in air and 
 lesser ones bearing yellow flowers and yellow with black centers 
 nearer to the ground. When the sun flower season was at its 
 prime, there was a wide golden border on either side of the tall 
 slough grass. 
 
 Flags, the wild fleur de lys, flaunted their banners of blue 
 and gold in marshy places and when they faded bequeathed an 
 Egyptian heritage of cat-tails. 
 
 THE PRAIRIE UPLANDS 
 
 How beautiful, too, were the upland levels and the hillsides ! 
 Clad in verdure by the grasses brilliant green in spring, chang- 
 ing to yellow and russets in the summer and autumn, spangled 
 by a continually changing host of flowers! In early spring the 
 violets, blue, and delicately veined with white; pansies, spring 
 beauties, big sorrel flowers, pink and yellow and white ; odorous 
 clumps of fragrant, creamy meadow sweet; blue gentians, the 
 swamp and upland anemones; wild flax, flowering grasses, the 
 gleaming yellow puccoon, wonderful groups of deep red and 
 orange milkweeds. 
 
 THE PRAIRIE ROSES 
 
 And the roses ! Deep pink, and pinkish white, they bloomed 
 in profusion everywhere along the edges of the slough-grass, 
 on the hillsides and hilltops and by the dusty roadsides. They 
 reveled on the railway embankments and hung their perfumed 
 buds and blossoms over the edges of cuts. 
 
 WILLIAM MCCAMBRIDGE. 
 Washington, D. C., June 3, 1916.
 
 A STUDENT'S MEMORY OF THE CAMPUS 
 
 (The Daily Pantagraph) 
 
 The approach of the occasion on June 5, upon which the 
 Jesse W. Fell memorial gateway will be dedicated, has brought 
 from many Normal students of earlier days, a message of appre- 
 ciation. With each student passing from the university there 
 goes a recollection of the remarkable beauty of the grounds, the 
 beauty that was made possible thru the thought and effort of 
 Jesse W. Fell. 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Robinson, of Cambridge, has written con- 
 cerning the effect which his memory holds of school days at 
 Normal : 
 
 "Having heard of the approaching dedication of the Jesse 
 Fell gateway at Normal, I have been thinking with a great deal 
 of interest and affection of the beautiful campus to which this 
 new gateway will give appropriate and dignified approach. 
 
 ' ' While a student at Normal more than thirty years ago, the 
 campus meant a great deal to me. Its wide lawns, gentle slopes 
 and abundant shade made it a constant joy. But I fear at the 
 time I took these blessings too much for granted. 
 
 "On the other hand, as from time to time I have revisited 
 Normal, I have been more and more impressed with the extent 
 to which the beauty of the campus is the matured result of wise 
 and farsighted planning. In the first place, the grounds of the 
 University were laid out on a surprisingly liberal scale with 
 ample foresight and obviously with a fine faith in the future of 
 the institution, a faith which is certainly worthily justified. 
 
 "The next impressive feature of the campus is the variety 
 of its trees. This must have been the result of considerable study 
 and selection with due regard to soil and climate and their group- 
 ing tho undertaken long before landscape gardening had become 
 a recognized science in our country, was nevertheless accom- 
 plished in a very pleasing way to give fine vistas and beautiful 
 mass of foliage with just enough of plan and no obtrusive 
 formality. 
 
 ' ' On inquiry I learned long ago, that Mr. Jesse W. Fell was 
 in large measure responsible for all this and it is on this account 
 that on the dedication of the Jesse Fell gate I am taking the 
 liberty to write and tell you how much the campus has meant 
 to an old Normal student.
 
 " It is a highly interesting sort of arboratum where successive 
 generations of students may learn to distinguish a fine variety 
 of trees and derive from them many admirable ideas for attractive 
 planting about public buildings elsewhere as they scatter to other 
 centers. It is furthermore a wonderful object lesson of what can 
 be accomplished in the beautifying of a tract of bare prairie 
 land by the faith, foresight and intelligent efforts of one public 
 spirited man." 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 BENJAMIN LINCOLN ROBINSON. 
 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 FELL HALL 
 
 DEAR MISSES FELL: 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to inform you that by a unanimous 
 vote the State Board of Education, at its recent meeting, named 
 the new dormitory, on the grounds of the Normal School, ' ' Fell 
 Hall ' ', in recognition of the great services your honored father 
 rendered the institution : in its creation and thereafter as long as 
 he lived. The Board well knows that but for his remarkable 
 labors, enthusiasm and executive ability, the school would have 
 been located elsewhere, and the Village of Normal have been 
 little more than a railroad crossing. The State Board was glad 
 to bestow this little tribute in memory of a great benefactor. 
 
 It also appointed a Committee to prepare a suitable bronze 
 tablet to be placed upon or near the main entrance. Only part 
 of the building is now under construction : when fully completed, 
 the dormitory will be the largest and most noticeable of all the 
 structures upon the grounds. 
 
 This action of the Board has received the approbation of all 
 connected with the School and of the entire community. 
 Very sincerely, your friend, 
 
 CHARLES L. CAPEN, 
 President State Board of Education. 
 Bloomington, Illinois, 
 December Twenty-third, 
 Nineteen Hundred, Sixteen.
 
 A SHORT SKETCH 
 
 of 
 
 HESTER BROWN FELL 
 
 BROWNS OF NOTTINGHAM 
 
 From Authentic Records
 
 HESTER VERNON (BROWN) FELL 
 
 Hester Vernon (Brown) Fell was the daughter of William 
 and Rachel (Milner) Brown and a direct descendant of James 
 Brown who came from England prior to 1679. James Brown's 
 brother, William, who in 1682 came over to America in the same 
 vessel with the great leader of their faith, William Penn, tells 
 of their father's "convincement" in the following quaint lan- 
 guage. "About the first going forth of that eminent minister 
 of the Gospel, William Dewsbury, he came to the town where 
 this pious man dwelt, who observed him as he was passing 
 along, and taking notice of the solidity of his countenance, 
 invited him to turn in and to break bread with him. He accept- 
 ed the invitation and when they sat down the said William 
 Brown had a little ceremony, or what is called 'grace before 
 meat'. William Dewsbury was invited to help himself, but sit- 
 ting in a grave manner, he replied, 'If thou wilt first partake 
 with me T shall be free to partake with thee.' After a short 
 silence he was drawn forth in testimony, beginning with these 
 words, '0, Earth ! Earth ! hear the word of the Lord !' branch- 
 ing out in a powerful manner which effectually reached and 
 convinced this religious man. After this he accompanied W. 
 Dewsbury on the way towards a neighboring village, and 
 recommended him to a certain man's house, who was likewise 
 religiously inclined and also effectively convinced on W. D.'s 
 visit. 
 
 "When William Brown came back, his wife asked him 
 wherefore he brought that madman to their house ; he answered, 
 'Why, woman, he hath brought the Eternal Truth from God to 
 us. ' She was somewhat affected and did not know the mean- 
 ing of it ; but becoming more inwardly thoughtful, she was also 
 convinced." 
 
 "After William Penn obtained a grant from King Charles 
 IT., for the province of Pennsylvania, and upon the proposal 
 thereupon of many Quakers or Friends, as they styled them- 
 selves removing from England to settle in America, there was 
 a doubt in the minds of some (who were valuable) about the 
 propriety of such a removal, lest it should be deemed flying 
 from persecution ; but William Dewsbury, traveling into those 
 parts where the Browns lived, had a meeting there and proved 
 the means of settling and reconciling the minds of some that 
 were in doubts, expressing in his testimony to this effect; 'The
 
 HESTER VERNON (BROWN) FELL 
 
 Lord is about to plant the wilderness of America with a choice 
 vine or noble seed, which shall grow and flourish,' and, in the 
 language of a prophet divinely inspired, he added nearly thus : 
 'I see them, I see them, under his blessing arising into a state 
 of prosperity,' thereby foretelling the spreading of the Truth 
 in America." 
 
 James Brown settled first at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. 
 "At a Friends' meeting in Burlington, Ye 8th of Ye 6th 
 Month, 1679, he was joyned in marriage to Honour Clayton, 
 daughter of William Clayton, who had immigrated in 1677. *' 
 William Clayton was one of the nine justices who in 1681 sat 
 at Upland, Pennsylvania, afterward called Chester by William 
 Penn, and was a member of Penn's Council, 1682- '84. 
 
 In 1702 James, with his brother William, moved to Not- 
 tingham, forty miles distant, a place "accounted far back in 
 the wilderness," where he spent the remainder of his days. It 
 is natural to believe that William Brown, who laid out the 
 "Nottingham lots" gave this name from Nottinghamshire in 
 remembrance of his early home in England. About ten miles 
 west of this place, in Little Brittain, Lancaster County, more 
 than a century later, on March 2, 1819, was born to William 
 and Rachel Brown their daughter, Hester Vernon, the great, 
 great, great granddaughter of James Brown. 
 
 In 1828, Hester's father, William Brown, brought his 
 family to Illinois, settling on a farm on the Mackinaw River in 
 Tazewell County. They drove from Pennsylvania, having a 
 four-horse team to convey their household goods and a two- 
 horse carriage in which the family rode. They were nearly 
 four weeks on the way, often stopping at farm houses for the 
 night. If the house was too small to accommodate the family, 
 they spread their own bedding on the floor for a part of them, 
 and the rest slept on beds prepared in their wagon, which was 
 covered and comfortably arranged for this itinerant living. 
 The event of the journey which impressed itself most vividly on 
 the mind of Hester, then a child of nine years, was jolting over 
 the corduroy roads across the marshy lands of Indiana. 
 
 There were other than financial reasons that lead William 
 Brown at the age of forty-eight to leave his comfortable eastern 
 home, surrounded as it was by old friends and numerous rela- 
 tives, to brave the inevitable hardships of pioneer life. His 
 thought was for his children, three of whom were entering upon 
 manhood. For these sons he was looking forward to the time 
 when they would be forming homes of their own with new 
 ties and relationships and this gentleman of the old school and 
 his good wife were willing to make any sacrifice for the future 
 of their children.
 
 However, while he thus cheerfully gave up ease and com- 
 fort to face the uncertainty of western pioneer life, he always 
 held to his inherited ideals of home life and manners and 
 required conformity to these from all in his home, whether 
 members of the family or helpers on the farm which soon 
 amounted to a section of land. 
 
 The family arrived at their new home in October. On the 
 farm, which William Brown had purchased from the govern- 
 ment and which he owned till the time of his death, were two 
 log-cabins which the family occupied until spring, when a 
 house of hewn logs was built. None of the houses in the vicinity 
 were furnished with windows. There were openings left for 
 air and light which, in some cases, were closed by oiled paper, 
 excluding the cold and admitting some light. William Brown, 
 however, went to St. Louis before the coming on of cold weather 
 to procure glass window panes. In taking this journey, 
 he walked to Pekin, a distance of sixteen miles, where he took 
 a boat to St. Louis. Upon his return his eldest son, Isaiah, 
 met him with a wagon at Pekin. 
 
 The winter of 1828 was a severe season, two years before 
 the winter of the "big snow". Snow fell early and almost con- 
 tinuously and lay on the ground to a depth of two and three 
 feet. At that time game was abundant and one of the brothers 
 trapped one hundred and twenty-five prairie chickens during 
 the winter ; venison, too, was plentiful. They had brought with 
 them a goodly amount of provisions and these, in addition to 
 what was obtained on the trip to St. Louis, kept the family well 
 supplied during this first winter in their new western home. 
 William's wife, Rachel Milner Brown, by her thrift and ingenu- 
 ity, helped to keep the family from suffering many of the 
 privations that usually fell to the lot of early pioneers. 
 
 As was usual in this new western country, there were no 
 schools near at hand. On this account, a teacher was em- 
 ployed for a time in the Brown home to instruct the younger 
 members of the family. Joshua, the second son of William and 
 Rachel Brown, who was about nineteen years old when they 
 arrived in Illinois, in a letter written by him in his eighty eighth 
 year, says he remembers perfectly Jesse W. Fell's arrival at his 
 father's in the fall of 1832. "He came by steamboat to Pekin, and 
 footed it to our house, a distance of sixteen miles, carrying a 
 knapsack and feeling as big as King Solomon in the height of 
 his glory. ' ' Jesse, the young pioneer, readily accepted an invita- 
 tion to teach the younger children of the Brown family during 
 the ensuing winter. 
 
 At the age of seventeen, Hester and one of her sisters were 
 sent to Springfield to attend a school for young ladies, kept by
 
 HESTEE VERNON (BROWN) FELL 
 
 a very excellent teacher, and the girls received what, at that 
 time, was considered a superior education. 
 
 Among the reminsicences of her girlhood days, given by 
 Mrs. Jesse W. Fell, are these ; one winter day in 1836, a brother 
 rode horseback to the post-office, four miles distant. It was 
 raining when he left home, but before his return the weather 
 turned cold, and his clothing was frozen so tightly to the sad- 
 dle that it had to be thawed to release him. In recalling with 
 her grandchildren her childhood days in Illinois she often 
 said: "Thoughts of my mother always bring to my mind the 
 picture of a trim figure in a neat, quaker drab garb." This 
 mother of hers never failed to order her new friends' bonnet 
 from Philadelphia, where alone they had the art, or fine art, 
 of constructing those perfect creations of simplicity with never 
 a wrinkle nor twist nor sign of a stitch. The few plaits needed 
 in joining the crown to the front and main part of the bonnet 
 were so exact that no tape could discover in them a hint of 
 variation. The narrow bonnet strings of ribbon were its nearest 
 approach to ornamentation. Beneath the bonnet was worn a 
 net cap to save the slightest soil from the immaculate bonnet 
 and soften the outline of the face. When not in use the bonnet 
 was stored away in a clothes press in a round bandbox with an 
 outside cover of cotton goods, which was drawn together at the 
 top with a cord. 
 
 Her father was very fond of well bred horses and had 
 none but the best on his place. One which was of immense size 
 and strength, was often brought into requisition to carry people 
 across the Mackinaw when the water was unusually high a 
 sort of living ferry. Mrs. Fell often told of what a fine "eques- 
 trian" he was and with what ease and grace he would place 
 his hand on the pommel of the saddle and vault upon his horse. 
 
 In 1833, when there was a general failure of the corn crop, 
 her father having an abundance was called upon for seed corn 
 by the farmers far and near. The grain would have com- 
 manded almost any price, but William Brown would not take 
 advantage of their necessity and charged only the current price 
 of $1.00 per bushel. Consequently he was known in all that 
 region as "Joseph." 
 
 Extracts from letters of her father to his cousin, Jeremiah 
 Brown, of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, will give a glimpse 
 of the life of the early Illinois pioneer. 
 
 Tazewell County, 11 mo, 5th, 1829. 
 
 * * * I have purchased two hundred acres of land which 
 will be as much as I need at present. My prospects are fair, how 
 they will turn out Providence only knows. Besides this purchase
 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 I have been able to lend as much money as will bring me a hand- 
 some farm every year and still as much cash as will purchase, as 
 I need and what I will need for other purposes. Among all dis- 
 advantages I have one satisfaction, that is, I owe no man any- 
 thing but good will and I feel myself a free man and, if I keep 
 my senses, no man will ever catch me otherwise. * * * 
 
 Tazewell County, 4th mo, 20th, 1830. 
 
 * * * The people of this country are from all parts of the 
 Union; with different manners and habits from what we have 
 been used to and almost as many religions as people, but they 
 are very kind and obliging. I can do very well with them. * * * 
 
 May peace, prosperity and happiness attend thee and thine 
 with all my friends and relations, which is the sincere wish of 
 thy old friend and relation, 
 
 J. Brown, Jr. WILLIAM BROWN. 
 
 From another letter written in eighteen thirty four, when he 
 was a member of the Illinois Legislature from Tazewell County, 
 to this same cousin, then a member of the Pennsylvania House 
 of Representatives, we have the following: 
 
 * * * " I am in Vandalia at this time and shall remain here 
 until the first of March. I should like it, if thee would write to 
 me, as soon as thee receives this, and send a statement of how the 
 canals and railroads of thy state are coming on. I was elected 
 to the Legislature at the last election, and, as our State seems 
 wild to follow the Eastern States in improvements, I would like 
 to know whether the works are like to be an advantage to the 
 State in general or not." * * * 
 
 The young people of those days did not lack for entertain- 
 ment, and those of the Brown neighborhood thought nothing 
 of riding on horseback to a party at Pekin, sixteen miles dis- 
 tant. But those were the good old days of work as well as 
 play, and the girls, as well as the boys, had their tasks or 
 "stints", as they were called, to perform each day, and this 
 discipline prepared Hester Brown for the accomplishment of 
 the arduous duties which fell to her lot, at a later period, as 
 the wife of a pioneer in the city many of whose streets and 
 avenues bear testimony to the interest taken in the- infant enter- 
 prise by herself and her worthy husban'd. 
 
 On January 26, 1838, Hester Brown married Jesse W. Fell, 
 who by this time had opened the first law office in Bloomington. 
 Jesse W. Fell as well as his wife came from a Quaker family, 
 his mother being a speaker in the Quaker meetings. His family 
 were the first Quakers in Bloomington and religious meetings
 
 HESTER VERNON (BROWN) FELL 
 
 were held in their home. Her father, as well as her husband's 
 father, in common with all Quakers, were strong anti-slavery 
 men. Both William Brown and Jesse Fell, Sr., were known to 
 have assisted slaves in getting from the South to Canada via the 
 "underground railroad," as it was called. 
 
 The exact route of this so-called "underground railway" 
 through the portion of the Illinois where the Brown family 
 lived, has been obliterated by forgetfulness and the long num- 
 ber of years that have passed by since it was used. In fact, it 
 is doubtful if there were ever a distinct line along which all the 
 negroes were transported by friendly assistance. However, it 
 is recalled that the runaways generally took the route along 
 the Illinois river north from St. Louis, then followed the Macki- 
 naw so as to keep within the protection of the timber as long 
 as possible. They seldom sought the road across the open 
 prairie, for fear of being detected. 
 
 There was a large hound named "Pete" in the family in 
 those days, and the stories of his service to the runaway negroes 
 are still extant. It is said that he would growl and bark at 
 any strange white man who approached the house, but if a 
 negro was discovered by him Pete would scratch at the door and 
 later at the garments of some member of the family until 
 attention was called to the hiding place of the colored man 
 and the latter was thus, through the intelligence of the dog, 
 assisted to shelter. Pete's life of service extended over twenty- 
 years. 
 
 The young people went to housekeeping on what is now the 
 George P. Davis place, and Jesse W. Fell, who was fond of 
 horticulture and was something of a botanist, began what 
 proved to be his life work, the planting of trees. In 1857 they 
 removed to Normal, building the first house erected in that 
 village, on the corner of Broadway and what is now Irving 
 Avenue. The Fell residence was, for many years, the finest in 
 Normal and many will recall the extensive and beautiful park 
 which filled the triangle between the Chicago and Alton rail- 
 road, Broadway and Vernon Avenue. In this home Mr. and 
 Mrs. Fell reared their children. Mrs. Fell was always noted 
 for her energy and good management. At the time of the dedi- 
 cation of the Normal University building, she and her cousin, 
 Mrs. Charles Holder, were the prime movers in preparing the 
 banquet they called it a big dinner then which was given 
 in the large hall. 
 
 Church services were held at that time in the University 
 building, as no church had as yet been erected in Normal, and 
 some of Mrs. Fell's children attended their first Sunday school
 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 there. In these early days the grounds of the Fell homestead 
 were always open to the students. 
 
 Mr. Fell died in Normal on the 25th day of February, 1887, 
 in his seventy-ninth year. Mrs. Fell survived him by nearly 
 twenty years, her death occurring in Normal on June 12, 1906. 
 We believe the best insight into her character will be gained 
 from the following words uttered at that time by Rev. J. H. 
 Mueller, who had been her pastor for fourteen years : 
 
 "Mrs. Fell has always appeared to me more than anything 
 else the pattern of a great fidelity. I do not know anybody 
 who has been more faithful to life 's trust. I have often listened 
 to portions of the beautiful story of her life, especially the 
 stories of those early years of hardship and denial, and yet of 
 her triumphant faith. Those of us who knew her only in the 
 gentleness of her latter years, could hardly think of her as on* 
 among those early pioneers whose nerves were iron and whose 
 confidence in human nature was almost divine. There was 
 something in those brave pathfinders of our civilization in this 
 western land, something so strong, so confident, so self-reliant, 
 that we who now live can hardly understand. The duties of 
 these men and women were hard ; and the harvests often scant; 
 and the joys of life always mixed with hunger and fatigue and 
 loneliness. Hers was that gracious faculty may I call it the 
 Christlike gift ? of always thinking and speaking well and 
 kindly of every fellow mortal. I do not recall the first unkindly 
 word she ever spoke. 
 
 She never forgot life's spring; she never forgot how to 
 be young and joyous. She was the friend of the children; and 
 they, in turn, came to her for friendship's sake. 
 
 "She was like herself alone, especially in her thinking. 
 Of Quaker stock, hers was the independent faith the faith in 
 God which knows no limitations. She cared nothing for the 
 beaten paths, the 'footprints' made by others. She went where 
 truth and conscience called her. I have heard her give ex- 
 pression to very quaint, yet always generous, ideas. Her life was 
 full of motion. Her heart was always open as the gates of day. 
 She never lacked the sentiment of appreciation. She sought the 
 light and found it ; and stranger than all else, she never kept it 
 for herself alone. She had the courage and the goodness to tell 
 her honest thoughts. I never discovered a taint or touch of malice 
 in her life. Surely, she, if anyone, leaves behind an untarnished 
 memory. Her light will keep on burning."