mnioisBisTaMCUsmW IFn nibemoriain. P H I LO CARPENTER. PHILO CARPENTER. MEMORIAL SKETCH OF PHILO CARPENTER, February 27, 180^ — August 7, /c Read before the Chica(-.o Historical Society, July 17, 1888. BY Rev. henry L. HAMMOND. CHICAGO: FERGUS PRINTING COMPANY. 1888. >. PHILO CARPENTER. PERSONAL acquaintance of thirty years, official con- nection in the Chicago Theological Seminary, sketches of his life in the "Leading Men of Chicago," "United- States Biographical Dictionary of Eminent and Self-Made Men," "Records of Chicago Presbytery," church -records, and conferences with his children and friends, are the sources of my information. I have not hesitated to appro- priate whatever I have found that appeared essential to the completeness of this Memorial. Accuracy and fulness have been sought rather than originality. A good and wise man is a blessing to his generation. But he dies and the generation passes away. Apparently the blessing dies with him. Not so. The world is better for his life. Not Chicago only, but every part of the land which Chicago influences is other than it would have been but for the work of Philo Carpenter; and that though not one word more should ever be written of him, though no portrait or bust should show us how he looked, and no stone should tell us where he sleeps. Yet a true historical sketch of the man will be welcomed by coming genera- tions, and this Society would not be faithful to its mission if it did not seek to perserve for them such a memorial. It is natural to ask first after a man's antecedents, and trace his lineage. It is pleasant to note that Philo Car- 6 PHILO CARPENTER. penter came from New England, and from the Berkshire Hills of New England; and looking further back, that the line runs among the heroes and patriots of the last cen- tury. Both his grandfathers were in the army of the Revolution. Nathaniel Carpenter resigned a captaincy in his majesty's service and raised a company for the Con- tinental army, fought through the war and at its close was a major in command of West Point. An earlier ancestor was William Carpenter, a pilgrim who came from Southampton, England to Weymouth, Mass., in 1635, in the ship Bcvis* In 1787, the family came to western Massachusetts then a wilderness, where the subject of this sketch was born in the town of Savoy, Feb. 27, 1805, the fifth of eight child- ren of Abel Carpenter. One only of the eight is still living, Mrs. Emily C. Bridges of Oak Park, 111., who is with us this evening. Philo lived on the farm with his father till he was of age. He received little money from his parents, but did receive those greater gifts, good blood, a good constitution, a good common -school education — supplemented by a few terms at the academy at South Adams — and habits of morality, industry, and economy. He made two trips as a commercial traveler as far south as Richmond, Va. But having had his thoughts turned toward medical studies during his stay at South Adams, he went to Troy, New York, and entered the drug-store of Amatus Robbins, where, in connection with a clerkship, he continued his studies, and at length gained a half- interest in the business. He was married there in May, 1830, to Sarah Forbes Bridges, but she died the following November. It was at Troy that young Carpenter experienced that * Rev. Edward Hildreth, son-in-law of Dea. Carpenter writes: "I myself found at Plymouth an original appraisal, dated 1664, one of the items being a pair of leather breeches, with name William Carpenter attached. " MEMORIAL SKETCH. 7 great change which gives permanence to all the natural virtues and fixes the character on the bed-rock of Christ- ian principle. In March, 1830, he joined the First Presby- terian Church, then under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. Nathan S. S. Beman. As the record shows that thirty-six other persons joined at the same time, there must have been a revival then. Perhaps it was in connection with the labors of the brilliant and eloquent young preacher from Albany, Rev. Edward N. Kirk, who aided Dr. Beman in revival work about that time. Certain it is that not long before, that First church had fallen under the mold- ing power of the greatest evangelist, preacher, and theolo- gian, which perhaps this country ever has known, Charles G. Finney, and had become noted for its fervor and religious activities. Well was it for the man who was to be a pioneer, that his Christian life in its very beginnings was stamped with the positiveness of such spiritual leaders, who tolerated no time-serving, no half-heartedness, no cowardice in the convert. Every spiritual child was expected to be a soldier from the day of his birth. It is not surprising that such a young man should listen to the call for missionary labor in the great opening West. There was patriotic blood in him, pioneer blood, and new- born Christian zeal. The return of a cousin, Isaac Car- penter, who had explored the West, on an Indian-pony, from Detroit to St. Louis, and his report of the land to be possessed, and especially of the favorable opening at Fort Dearborn,, was the immediate occasion of young Carpenter's decision to come hither. He closed out his business early in the summer of 1832, shipped a stock of drugs and medicines to P'ort Dearborn, took the short railroad then built to Schenectady, thence took passage on a line-boat on the Erie Canal to Buffalo, thence on the small steamer Enterprise, Captain Augustus Walker, to 8 PHILO CARPENTER. Detroit, thence by mud-wagon, called a stage, to Niles, Michigan, thence on a lighter belonging to Hiram Wheeler, afterward a well-known merchant of Chicago, to St. Joseph at the mouth of the river, in company with George W. Snow; thence they had expected to sail in a schooner to Fort Dearborn, but on account of the report of cholera among the troops there, a captain, one Carver, refused to sail and had tied up his vessel. They however engaged two Indians to tow them around the head of the lake in a canoe, with an elm-bark tow-rope. At Calumet, one of the Indians was attacked with cholera, but the druggist-doctor prescribed for him and they kept on till, just fifty-six years ago this evening, they were within sight of the fort, at about the present location of the Douglas Monument, when the Indians refused to proceed. But Samuel Ellis lived there who had come from Berkshire County, Mass. They spent the night with him and he brought them the next morning in an ox-wagon to the fort, on the i8th of July, 1832.* There were then here, outside the fort, less than two hundred inhabitants, mostly Indians and half-breeds, who lived in poor log-houses, built on both sides of the river near its mouth. The cholera*!* was raging fearfully among the troops, and Mr. Carpenter engaged at once in ministries for their * Rev, Mr. Hildreth reports this trip a little differently : — "At St. Joseph a Frenchman told them of a 'very nice way to go;' they hired the two Ind- ians, left St. Joseph Monday, July i6, 1832. First night stayed in a place where a vessel had been beached. Tuesday night, reached a deserted house at Calumet. Wednesday morning, pushed along and breakfasted with Samuel Ellis. After breakfast, Mr. Ellis brought them with their trunks into Chi- cago, reaching there about noon, Wednesday, July 18." It is interesting ta note that the late Gurdon S. Hubbard made twenty-six such canoe voyages from Mackinac to Chicago, on the east shore of the lake from 181 8 onward, in the service of the American Fur-Company. t Rev. H. L. Hammond — Dear Sir: Will you permit a stranger to express her grateful appreciation of the Memorial of the late Philo Carpenter, re- MEMORIAL SKETCH. 9 relief. Detecting life in one young man, supposed to be dead, he saved him from a premature burial. With a Methodist brother and an officer of the fort, he held a prayer- meeting the first evening after his arrival.* At the end of the first month, viz.: on August 19, a Sunday-school was regularly organized, of which he was chosen superintendent. That Sunday-school still lives in the First Presbyterian Church of this city, whose pastor is Rev. Dr. John H. Barrows.-f- cently read by yourself before the Chicago Historical Society. It was a grat- ification to hear a tribute so truthful paid to the memory of one who was so truly a friend of humanity. During the dread summers of 1849 and 1850 it was my privilege to be a member of his family, and to know how tireless were his efforts in behalf of the sick and suffering. Fearless of disease himself, he seemed to lead a charmed life among the abject poor, with all their wretched surroundings. It was impossible in many cases to obtain a physician's attendance, and here Chicago's first druggist did their work as necessity forced it upon him. His devoted wife, while greatly fearing for her husband's safety, never sought to restrain him in his work of mercy, but with her own hands prepared nourish- ment to be used in his daily ministrations among the cholera-stricken to whom he was doctor, nurse, and minister. Said the Rev. Dudley Chase, the rector of the Church of the Atonement: "I never visit the stranger, the sick, and the poor, but I find that Deacon Carpenter has been there before me. He ought to be ordained." It is not strange that such devotion was unrecorded, for this man in the quietness of his daily life shunned the breath of praise more than that of pestilence. * *• » Yours Respectfully, Chicago, July 30, 1888. Sophia T. Griswold. * " Inquiring if there was any preaching on Sunday, he was told there was preaching neither Sundays nor week-days; and he began public service, July 22, 1832, reading a sermon in the absence of a minister. This was the begin- ning of uninterrupted public worship in Chicago." — Rev. Hildreth. + "This school was organized one Sabbath morning in the month of August, 1832. The place of meeting was an unfinished building owned by Mark Beaubien [a Catholic] now living at Naperville in this State, situated east of Michigan Avenue and south of Randolph Street. The following per- sons participated in the organization : Luther Childs, Mrs. Seth Johnson, Misses Elizabeth and Mary Noble, and myself. Thirteen children were pres- ent. The next Sabbath the school met at the house of Mark Noble, where 10 PHILO CARPENTER. When Mr. Carpenter's goods arrived, he opened the first drug-store in a log-building on Lake Street near the river, where there was a great demand for his drugs, especially his quinine. The anticipated opening of the lUinois-and-Michigan Canal, a bill for which, introduced by the late Gurdon S. Hubbard, passed the Illinois' house of representatives in 1833 — though it did not become a law till 1835, and the canal was not actually commenced till Mr. Hubbard removed one of the first shovelfuls of dirt, July 4, 1836 — turned attention to Fort Dearborn, the weekly prayer-meeting had been previously established." Both were con- tinued with slight interruptions during the fall and winter of 1832-3 in various places. An English friend by the name of Osborn helped much in the sing- ing, John Wright and John Stephen Wright, his son, came and became efficient helpers in the school ; the latter being librarian brought in a silk hand- kerchief the few books we had, which were a donation from Capt. Seth John- son. The school afterward found a home for awhile in the log-house of the venerable Jesse Walker, a Methodist preacher, near the corner of Canal and Fulton streets ; and later still over the store of Philip F. W. Peck, southeast corner of South- Water and LaSalle streets. There two gentlemen from New York, Charles Butler and Arthur Bronson, visited it, and seeing the meagre- ness of the library, made a donation of fifty dollars for its increase. This was a great encouragement to both teachers and scholars. There Jeremiah Porter found it, and soon had an organized church. "Another incident in the early history of the school, I will mention. A chief of one of the Indian tribes made his appearance in our school and being able to converse somewhat freely in English, he listened to the reading of Christ's words when he taught us to love one another and even our enemies, and after some remarks on the mission of Christ to this world to save sinners, his voluntary humiliation and death to accomplish so great an object, he pro- nounced it \i^ood' and called repeatedly at my place of business for me to read and converse with him on that interesting subject, and expressed a wish that he might have a bible, that he might learn to read it himself; but a bible could not be found for sale in Chicago at that time, and a few months later I purchased one for him in New York and presented it to him. He declined to receive it without paying for the same and expressed regret that he had not known more of this divine message in his earlier days. He was frequently seen in our meetings until his tribe were required to leave.this section of country, which they had ceded to the government, and enter upon lands designated for them in the Far West." — Extracts from an address by Philo Carpenter to the First Presbyterian Sunday-school in 1868. MEMORIAL SKETCH. II increased the population rapidly, and Mr. Carpenter's business prospered. He soon removed to a larger store vacated by George W. Dole, also a log-house, and enlarged his stock with other kinds of goods. He bought a lot on South-Water Street between Wells and La Salle and there built a frame-store, the lumber for which was brought from Indiana on a "prairie-schooner" drawn by ten or twelve oxen.* In 1833, he also built a two-story frame-house on La Salle Street opposite the court-house square, and having been married again in the spring of 1834, to Miss Ann Thompson of Saratoga, New York, he made there his home. Seven children were the fruit of that marriage, only two of whom, Mrs. W. W. Cheney and Mrs, Rev. Edward Hildreth, and the children of a third, Mrs. W. W. Strong, survive him. In 1842, he removed his business to 143 Lake Street; the next year he sold out to Dr. John Brinkerhoof; some of the fixtures are thought to have remained in use till consumed in the great fire of 1871. After the sale, Mr. Carpenter confined his business to the care of his real estate, which had then become considerable, as he had appropriated all his spare funds to its purchase. He had sublime faith in the future value of Chicago real estate. He early acquired a quarter- section, ten miles up the north branch of the river,-|* and another quarter on the * "Indiana contributed many customers, and it is noteworthy that in those primitive days the Hoosiers never wanted a bill ; they would buy a pair of boots, pay for them, carefully pocket the change, set the 'understandings' in one corner, then buy perhaps a bolt of sheeting, pay for that in the same way, and so on to the end of a list of a dozen or more articles. These were curi- ous customers, but they were a peculiar people. One of them came into the store one day shaking with fever and ague, which was also a peculiar western institution, and announced as he sat down on a candle-box, 'Say, stranger, I'm powerful weak.'" — "Leading Men of Chicago," page 8. t Col. Richard J. Hamilton, Capt. Seth Johnson, Lieut. Julius J. Backus Kingsbury, and Philo Carpenter bought each a quarter-section of timber-land 12 PHILO CARPENTER. west side, which he afterward subdivided as Carpenter's Addition to Chicago. It is that part of the west side now bounded by W.-Kinzie Street on the north, Halsted on the east, W.-Madison on the south, and a hne between Ann and Ehzabeth on the west. He went to Washington and secured a patent for this quarter-section signed by Andrew Jackson, which his heirs still possess.* Few shared his sanguine expectations when he preempted this tract as the foundation of his fortune. "It was so far from the village." "It would never be wanted except for farm purposes, and was too low and marshy even for cultivation." "In the spring of the year it was often under water and could be crossed only by boat," and "there was little prospect that it could ever be plowed except by anchors." Rev. Flavel Bascom tells us that when he first came with his wife to Illinois and was being carried by Philo Carpenter in a two-seated buggy across the mud bottoms of West Chi- cago toward the interior, at one place Mr. C. stopped, pointed to a marsh and said: "Here I have preempted a quarter-section of land which I expect will make me rich some day." The young minister and his wife on the back seat exchanged significant glances at the visionary antici- pations of the good deacon. About 1840, Mr. Carpenter removed his residence to the west side, built a fine house as it was then thought, in from Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, paying him two hundred dollars each, a dollar and a quarter per acre. This was the government price. The two lots, forty feet, he bought on South- Water Street, cost him seventy-five dollars. One lot on La Salle Street, 25 x 180 feet, he bought of Mark Beaubien for twenty-five dollars worth of goods. Beaubien had won this lot in a raffle, but he carefully concealed the fact from the Deacon till the bargain was completed. * It was probably on that journey to Washington, which occupied three weeks, that he set out at the same time with an U.-S. officer who traveled on the Sabbath in his haste on public business, but the deacon kept his con- science as well as holy time, and tho' he apparently lost three days, he yet rode into Washington on the same train with the official. — Rev. Hildreth, MEMORIAL SKETCH. 1 3 the middle of one block of his addition, which is bounded by W.-Randolph Street on the north, Morgan on the east, W.-Washington on the south, and Carpenter on the west. There I found him when I came to Chicago in 1856 — one of the earliest acquaintances I made here thirty-two years ago. I could but admire the place, for he had tried, as he told me, to plant in that block every kind of tree and shrub found in this region, and he showed his good taste by allowing them all to grow naturally. Not one was trained into any fantastic shape, or deformed with shears. That was long the most prominent house on the west side. It has lately been removed and the entire block offered for sale by the heirs. It is greatly to be desired that it should be bought by the city for a park — a little breathing place of convenient access to the people amid many blocks of buildings. It should be improved after his plan and called Carpenter Park, as a perpetual memor- ial of the good pioneer. And better still, if some tablet could tell that this was the resting-place of good men and women coming to the West for its salvation from barbar- ism, intemperance, and infidelity, who were refreshed by the generous hospitalities of Mr. Carpenter and his worthy wife, and sent on their way with a hearty God speed. And another tablet should tell of it as the hiding-place for the colored emigrant from the South, whom this officer on the underground railroad piloted by night to Canada-bound vessels, as they were seeking that liberty which was then denied them under the stars and stripes.* There he lived till 1865, when with the hope of benefit- ting his wife's health, he removed to Aurora, 111., where she died six months afterward;"!* and for the last twenty years of his life he was alone in his pilgrimage. * Two hundred fugitives it is said were thus helped to a land of liberty, and it is not known that one of thenr was ever recaptured. + Only the angels know how much of the usefulness of this good man was 14 PHILO CARPENTER. He returned to the city to spend the last twelve years, but not to the historic block. His health was delicate. He was unable to undertake new business, but lived quietly with his children till Aug. 7, 1886, when he passed to his eternal home. wrought by the prayerful influence of his sainted wife, Ann Thompson Car- penter. So symmetrical was her character in all the womanly virtues, so exalted her standard of personal piety, that one, who had known her intimately for years, hesitates to tell the simple truth lest the words find no credence. There was an indescribable charm in the house over which she presided, and the wanderer and the wayfarer always found a place and a welcome. In all the trials of life, in the sickness and death of three children there was the same unmurmuring spirit, the same loving submission to the will of God. In perfect sympathy with her husband in every work of reform, she was ever fear- ful that his zeal should find some hasty utterance that would wound the feelings of another. He was a person of strong convictions, she, of deep sympathies. While he denounced sin, her mantle of charity was covering the sinner. It is not too much to say, that in her sweet spirit every Christian grace had special prominence. As one, who in the press of life. Had touched the Garment-hem, Then passed away, as angels may, To wear a diadem; As one belov'd, at whose approach. The gates wide open spring, We dream of thee, thus welcomed home, O ! Daughter of the King. The dead, departed in the Lord, Are blest beyond compare; Yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest From all their toilsome care. While, one by one her works of love The angel reapers bring. How blessed her reward above. This daughter of the King ! Yet long and selfishly we mourned That Heaven's high behest Had quenched the love-light in our midst, And lulled her to her rest. The breath of song and tenderness — The sweetest notes of Spring, Recall thy spirit loveliness, O! Daughter of the King.— "Paulina." MEMORIAL SKETCH. 1 5 I have briefly followed the outline of his life with the intention to go back and speak more particularly of his characteristics and his labors: I. He was a pioneer of the best things. His coming here at that early day, that prayer - meeting the first evening, that first organization of a Sunday-school have already been mentioned. When Rev. Jeremiah Porter was considering the question of accepting a call to labor in Fort Dearborn, he was told, "There is one good man there who has organized a Sunday-school." He came, found the man and the school, and began his labors. Mr. Car- penter and a few others, under the guidance of the young minister, formed the first church here, the First Presbyter- ian, of which he was chosen one of the elders. The date of the organization was June 26, 1833. Dea. Carpenter wrote and circulated the first temperance pledge, and delivered the first temperance address. A meeting had been arranged, and a lawyer. Col. Richard J. Hamilton, engaged to deliver the address, but at a late day, the lawyer declined to speak. Our pioneer hastily prepared himself and filled the gap.* He was one of the first officers of the Chicago Bible- Society, founded August 18, 1835. He early interested himself in the cause of education^ earnestly opposing the sale of the school- section in Chicago, and pleaded that only alternate blocks should be put on the market. Other counsels prevailed, and all but four blocks of the tract, bounded north by Madison, east by State, south by 12th, and west by Halsted Streets, were sold for less than $40,000 dollars. But few years * "He used to laugh about the literary quality of the address, but the house was crowded and not a few items of interest have survived." — Hildreth. The meeting was held in the log - building of Rev. Jesse Walker. An Indian chief was persuaded to practise total abstinence and appeared to be a sincere Christian while he remained under Mr. Carpenter's influence. 1 6 PHILO CARPENTER. elapsed before the 138 blocks sold were worth many millions. For ten years he was a member of the board of education. His connection did not cease till his removal to Aurora in 1865. On his return from Europe in 1867, he found one of the palatial school-houses of the west side, at Centre Avenue, corner West -Huron Street, named in his honor, the Carpenter School, for which he gave $1000 as an endowment for text-books for indigent children. The first "one-horse shay" that made its appearance in Chicago in 1834, contained Philo Carpenter and his newly-married wife. The first dray was introduced by him; and the first platform-scales, which are now in pos- session of Daniel Warne of Batavia, 111., which can weigh up to 750 pounds; also the first fire-proof safe. He was one of the original members of the Third Pres- byterian Church, formed July i, 1847, ^"d was one of its elders. He was one of the first corporate members of the Chicago Eye-and-Ear Infirmary, and one of the founders of the Chicago Relief-and-Aid Society. He was the leader in the formation of the First Congregational Church in May, 185 1. And as that event gave him special prominence in that denomination and in the country, the circumstances are worth noting. He had long been interested in the anti- slavery cause. He was a patron of the Alton Observer, Elijah Parish Lovejoy's paper; he helped to establish Zebina Eastman's paper, the Western Citizen, here in Chi- cago. His activity in behalf of fugitive slaves has been already mentioned. He was a delegate to the Cincinnati convention, held in April, 1850, which resolved: "That the friends of pure Christianity ought to separate themselves from all slaveholding churches, ecclesiastical bodies, and missionary organizations that are not fully divorced from the sin of slave-holding; and we who may be still in connection with such bodies, pledge ourselves MEMORIAL SKETCH. 1/ that we will, by the aid of Divine grace, conform our action in accordance with this resohition, and come out from among them, unless such bodies shall speedily sepa- rate themselves from all support of or fellowship with slaveholding." He was not a man to vote for a resolution in public and forget all about it in private, and as the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, which met in Detroit in May of that year, failed, in Deacon Carpenter's view, to take right action, he led the church to adopt a minute that they would not be represented in presbytery, synod, or general assembly till right action was taken. This minute* was, of course, entirely unpresbyterial and unconstitutional. Nev- ertheless it was adopted by forty-eight out of sixty-eight resident members. The presbx'tery, after giving them a little time to rescind their vote, were compelled to treat the majority as seceders, and to recognize the minority as the Third Church— an act supposed to be ecclesiastically right, although it involved turning the majority of the church out of the building they had in great part erected, and to which they thought themselves justly entitled."!" * Minute of the majority of the Third Presbyterian Church in reference to fellowship with slave-holders: i. Resolved, That this Church holds that in the language of the Scripture, God hath made of one blood all nations of the earth. 2. Resolved, That chattel slavery is blasphemous toward God, inhu- man and cruel to our fellow-men, and that Christians are especially called on to discoutenance it and and have no fellowship with those who participate in its abominations. 3. Resolved, That this Church are dissatisfied with the present position of our general assembly on the subject of disciplining those guilty of holding their fellow-men in bondage; that their last acts at Detroit have been construed to represent black or white as suited the different sections of the church. 4. Resolved, That this Church, so long as this vascillating policy is pursusd, hereby declare their determination to stand aloof from all meetings of presbytery, synod, and general assembly, and thus, as they believe free, and relieve themselves of all responsibility. " t " History of the Chicago Presbytery," pps. lo-i i. "At a meeting of the presbytery, called to investigate the difficulties in the Third Presbyterian Church, May 2, 185 1, it appeared that a majority of that church had voted 1 8 PHILO CARPENTER. There was, however, an addition to the church which the Deacon had himself built for a session-room, which had not been turned over to the trustees. He therefore gave notice that Divine service would be conducted as usual in the session-room.* A council was soon called, and the First Congregational to stand aloof from all meetings of the presbytery, synod, and general assem- bly, so long as the assembly should maintain its then present attitude in relation to slavery. A committee appointed to confer with the church found that the majority would neither rescind their resolution of withdrawal, nor consent to an amicable separation and an equitable division of the property, and so reported. Therefore the presbytery appointed a committee, Rev. Henry Curtis, D.D., chairman, to consider the whole matter and report.. The committee in due time reported that in their judgment the action of the majority of the church involved secession from the Presbyterian church; and that the majority by this action and by refusing to rescind their resolution, did hereby disqualify themselves to act as members of the Presbyterian church, and recommended that the session, viz: the pastor and those elders who did not vote for the resolution aforesaid, be directed immediately to inform the majority that if any of them still wished to walk in fellowship with this church under the constitution of the Presbyterian church, their wish should be granted; and that those who should not express such wish within two weeks, be regarded as adhering to their previous action and the session be directed to strike their names from the roll of the church. " This report was, after full discussion, adopted. The records of the presbytery show that there was a proposal to end the strife in the Third church by an amicable division of the church and its property. But as the difficulties of the majority were not with the minority, but with the whole church as represented by the general assembly, no division of the Third church could meet the case; moreover, as the majority were declared to have disqualified themselves to act as members of the Presbyterian church, how they could have been received into the presbytery as perhaps a Fourth church does not appear. They were also exhorted by presbytery to study the things that make for peace," etc. The inspired precept, however, "first pure, then peaceable," restricted such studies. There is no record of any proposition to divide the property after the majority decided to become congregational in polity. In fact the minority retained it all. * While the divided congregation were worshiping, a part in the audience- room and a part in the session-room, one family at least was divided, and a young man was asked on his return: "Well ! how did you get along in the kitchen to-day?" "Very nicely," he replied. "The best things all come from the kitchen." MEMORIAL SKETCH. 19 Church of Chicago was formed, May 22, 185 1. The names of Philo Carpenter and Ann Carpenter stand first and second on its roll of members. He was elected deacon, and retained the office till he removed to Aurora, and after his return was made deacon emeritus^' Of two wooden church edifices erected for their accom- modation, largely at the expense of Deacon Carpenter, one which was occasionally besmeared and called "Car- penter's nigger church," was burned to the ground on a Sunday night after Rev. Joseph E. Roy, who had just come from an Eastern seminary, had preached in it his maiden western sermon. Whether the fire was communi- cated by a spark from the young man's discourse, or by an incendiary, or was purely accidental, does not appear. The other on Green Street, near West Washington, was soon outgrown — Rev. Geo. W. Perkins was then the pop- ular preacher — and a permanent house of rock-faced stone * From records of the First Congregational Church, Wednesday evening, July 19, 1882. At the prayer-meeting this evening, on motion duly made and seconded, the Church by a rising vote unanimously adopted the following: Whereas, Our brother Philo Carpenter, has just completed fifty years of resi- dence here, during which time all that is now called Chicago has come into existence, and all the history of the city has been made; and Whereas, In addition to his public and private life and labors, for which we in common with all our fellow-citizens do him honor, we desire to make grateful special mention of his relationship to this church: therefore, Resolved, That we recognize iu him the Father of this church, not only as first member on its records, but the one who above all others is to he regarded as its founder and its earliest benefactor and friend. Resolved, That we put on record our appreciation of his faithfulness to principles of right which led to the formation of this church, and our most hearty congratulations that his life has been spared, not only to see the feeble church of thirty years ago become the strong body it now is, but also to see the Nation adopt the principles he then labored and suffered for, by the put- ting away of slavery. Resolved, That this church in appreciation of its regard for Deacon Carpen- ter and of his long connection with it, does hereby elect him Deacon Emeritus for life, and the clerk is hereby instructed to forward to him a copy of this action duly attested. (Attest) J. W. Sykes, Clerk. — f. 20 PHILO CARPENTER. was put up on the corner of West-Washington and Green streets. Deacon Carpenter advanced most of the money, and waited on the society many years for its repayment without interest." A Httle later he united with Joseph Johnston, Rev. John C. Holbrook, and Chas. Goodrich Hammond in starting the first denominational paper here, the Congregational Herald- In 1855, he was one of the incorporators of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and for many years was one of its board of directors and chairman of its executive com- mittee. He afterward engaged with great zeal in oppos- ing secret, oath-bound societies. In early life, before he came West, his indignation had been aroused by the abduction in Western New York, of William Morgan, for publishing a little book revealing the secrets of Free- masonry. The abducted man was never found or heard of after, and was supposed to have been murdered. The perpetrators of the crime escaped justice, and public sentiment held the Masonic fraternity responsible for their escape. Deacon Carpenter suggested the establishment of a paper to oppose all such secret societies, and gave the money for the publication of the first number of the Christian Cynosure, and provided headquarters for the movement at a cost of $20,000, He bought for gratuitous circulation looo copies of Finney's book on Masonry, and wrote and distributed tracts of his own on the subject. Few of his colaborers in other reforms partook of his zeal in this, and the methods of some of the friends of the reform he could not approve, yet he continued the war undaunted while he lived, and provided in his will for its continuance after his death. Surely we have here specifications enough to show that * A second stone building was erected at the south-west corner of West Washington and Ann Streets in 1870 ; destroyed by fire January 16, 1873, rebuilt and is now occupied by the church. MEMORIAL SKETCH. 21 from first to last he was a grand pioneer of the best things. 2. Philo Carpenter was a wise man. With rare sagac- ity he foresaw the future of Chicago, discerning the great city through the small trading-post; and his con- fidence never wavered. He wisely bent his energies to the establishment of the most useful institutions for the coming city. His sagacious forecast for this trading-post is proved by its growth in a little more than half a century from two hundred souls to three-quarters of a million, and his judgment of the first institution needed has been confirmed by the establishment of nearly three hundred Sunday-schools in it, and more than four hundred in Cook County ; our citizens have indorsed the church by founding more than four hundred of them of all kinds. That First Congregational Church has here some fifty junior sisters. The public-school has been approved by the creation of nearly one hundred of those temples of learning, which are the pride of the city and the Meccas of the children. The need of that temperance pledge is sadly evinced by our four thousand saloons still foolishly patronized; his opinion of slavery became the opinion of the Nation a quarter of a century ago. During the war, Deacon Carpenter and one of the elders who remained in the Third Church were reading together from the bulletin at the Tribune office, when the elder, giving him his hand, said: "Deacon, you were right and we were wrong." That Theological Seminary has sent out more than three hun- dred graduates, has more than one hundred regular stu- dents, and nine professors and teachers, some of whom have obtained a national reputation. Four or five other denominations have imitated the Congregational.ists in their zeal for theological education in this metropolis of the West. As for secret societies, though our brother "received not the promise," he yet "died in the faith;" and we may 22 PHILO CARPENTER. say "the end is not yet." The Masonic fraternity could not do now what it was accused of doing in 1826, without being swept from the land by a cyclone of public opinion. Who shall say that the good man could, on the whole, have more wisely used his time, his strength, and his money .-' 3. Deacon Carpenter was an honest man. The finan- cial crash of 1837 found him an indorser on paper of unfortunate friends. He made no effort, as is often done, to evade his responsibilities, but borrowed the money and met the claims. When it became necessary to pay what he had borrowed, and money could not be procured, he spread out a full schedule of all his real estate, and allowed two disinterested men to select from any part of it what they deemed a fair equivalent for the debt. It is astonishing to note how much they selected, evincing, as it did, the immense depreciation of western lots and lands after 1837, viz.\ 960 acres in Fayette County, Illinois, four and a half blocks in Carpenter's Addition, half a block in the School Section, three lots on Washington Street near the Chamber of Commerce, and a house and lot, his homestead on LaSalle Street, opposite the court-house — property that was soon prized at more than one million dollars — to pay a claim of $8600! However excessive he may have thought the award, he faithfully carried out the agreement. Probably the severest thing he ever said about the award was: "I should have thought they might have left me my home!" My neighbor, the late James Ward, well known in con- nection with the public-school buildings, told me: "I located in Chicago against the earnest remonstrances of my father, who thought it a den of thieves, and could not believe there were any honest men here. I bought a lot of Philo Carpenter and partly paid for it. My father, hesi- tatingly, sent me from the East money to complete the MEMORIAL SKETCH. 2$ payment. I took the amount to Mr. Carpenter. He received and counted it, then took out his pencil and began to figure. I feared I had made some mistake, and asked him if there was not enough. He repHed, 'Yes; more than enough, for there is a premium on Eastern money.' He computed the sum and passed it back. I wrote to my father that there was at least one honest man in Chicago." A Milwaukee lawyer, who did not know him very well, once wrote him that through a defect in the conveyance he might recover possession of some property he had sold, which had greatly appreciated. He came out of his office holding the letter in his hand, with that look of scorn which meanness always evoked, and said to his wife: "Hear what a shyster lawyer has written to me." "Well, you will pay no attention to it, of course.'" she replied. "This," said he, "is my answer: 'Sir, I made that sale in good faith, and in good faith it shall stand.' " I do not find that Mr. Carpenter ever engaged in any of tHe questionable enterprises and speculations that abound here. He did not lend his name to the baseless mining, banking, insurance, and other schemes. He did not dabble in stocks. He was not in any combinations to corner the market and force up the prices of the neces- saries of life. He did not operate on the Board of Trade, although, as it seems to some of us, a too- lenient public sentiment tolerates there what is not thought honest in the common walks of life. He held a large amount of real estate, on which he put his own price — a higher price often than the estimate of his fellow-citizens. But this is not strange for one who had his remarkable faith in the future of Chicago, and who had seen those values arise from nothing. We think it not at all extravagant to point to him as an "Israel- ite, indeed, without guile." 24 PHILO CARPENTER. 4. Philo Carpenter was a benevolent man. Probably no object of charity, public or private, which he deemed worthy, ever appealed to him in vain. It is impossible to estimate the amount of his benefactions. They were a steady and ever-increasing stream, from the organization of that first Sunday-school in 1832, to the date of his last will and testament. No computation is known of the amounts he gave to the earlier churches with which he was connected, but it is known that he gave to the First Con- gregational Church, first and last, more than $50,000. To the Chicago Theological Seminary, he had given before his death more than $60,000, and in his will made it the residuary legatee of his estate, which, it is expected, will amount to not less than $50,000 more. To the American Home Missionary Society, the American Board, and the American Missionary Association he deeded, several years, ago, each a three-story brick-house on Ann Street, avail- able after his death. To the National Christian Associa- tion he had given property worth $40,000 or $50,000, aqd his will added $6000 to the objects it represented. Rela- tives and friends had been freely aided during his life,, and were provided for after his death. One-quarter of all his real estate was given to benevolent objects in his will. As the gross amount was about $400,000, this turned $100,000 into the channels of benevolence. 5. Philo Carpenter was a modest man. He was always unassuming. He never put himself forward. When there were reproaches to meet and trials to brave, or burdens to carry he never was found in the rear; but when there were honors to gain he never crowded to the front. While a member of the board of education, he declined the presi- dency, and could be prevailed upon to accept only the vice-presidency. He never was elected to a civil office^ and never ran for any. In the church, though its founder and wealthiest mem- MEMORIAL SKETCH. 2$ ber, he never sought to control, never claimed any superi- ority over the poorest of his brethren. I can emphatically say that in all my intercourse with him I was never once made to feel that I was the poor man and he was the millionaire. Where no principle was at stake he was deferential to others, polite, courteous — in short the true Christian gentleman. 6. Some of you may be surprised to hear me speak next of his great moral strength. A quiet, modest man, who pursues the even tenor of his way without noise, without bluster, without ostentation, seldom gets credit for his strength. People often forget that real power is best evinced by doing one's work easily, calmly, and uniformly. In all questions of reform or practical morality, everybody knew where Deacon Carpen- ter would be found. Nobody thought of the possibility of his yielding to the solicitations of the saloon, the fascinations of the private wine-cup, the excitement of the race-course, or the gamester's table. One instance of the kind would have brought all busy Chicago to a standstill, in perfect wonderment at what would occur next. Why so.^ How did it happen that with all the temptations of this great and wicked city, and so many lamentable examples of weak yielding to the strong current, Deacon Carpenter stood often alone, unmoved as old Mackinac, upon which the winds and waves of Lake Michigan come three hundred miles from the south and surround it, the northeasters from Lake Huron drive their floods into the Straits, the northwesters, roaring the three hundred and sixty miles down Lake Superior heap their waters high about it, but the little rock-rooted island stands as firm as when it was first discovered, some three hundred years ago! Such examples of moral power are by no means too common in this generation. We do well to mark and 26 PHILO CARPENTER. honor them. Doubtless other citizens of Chicago — Gur- don S. Hubbard, WilHam B. Ogden, John Wentworth, J. Young Scammon, Roswell B Mason, Charles G. Ham- mond, and others — did more directly to establish business enterprises of various kinds in this city; but in laying the moral foundations on which so much of the real prosper- ity of a city depends, no man probably equalled Philo Carpenter. To do and say the right thing at the right time has ever been considered an important element of strength. The story is told that when, after a day of hard fighting and terrible suffering in the Wilderness, Gen. Grant summoned his officers to receive orders for the morrow, and all were thinking by what route they should retreat, they were astounded to receive the order: "Ad- vance all along the line by break of day to-morrow morn- ing!" When Gen. Lee heard of it he is said to have exclaimed: "The Federal army has at last found a general." Smaller matters can illustrate great principles. When Philo Carpenter and his little band met a presbytery to whom ecclesiastically they were amenable, and who, backed by all the authority of the great general assem- bly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, declared them "disqualified to act as mem- bers of the Presbyterian church, and no longer to be recognized as such," and his friends were wondering how they should avert or survive the terrible blow, they must have been astounded when he arose and calmly an- nounced: "Divine service will beheld in the session-room next Sunday at the usual hour." It might well have been said at that moment, "This little band has a great leader." For that simple notice was stronger than the whole general assembly. 7. Yet withal he was a man of peace. Radically as he differed from men, and earnestly as he sought reforms, he MEMORIAL SKETCH. 2/ had no personal quarrels. The entire absence of litiga- tion during his long life is proof of his pacific disposition. He never sued a man, and he was never sued but twice in his life. One of them was about a dog, and the plaintiff was non-suited. Musicians tell us that there must always be some dis- cords in their anthems to make the music effective, and in theory I am greatly opposed to indiscriminate commenda- tion of even the best men; and I frankly confess to you that I have sought for the needed discords in this anthem, but with less success than usual. Sometimes, indeed, Mr. Carpenter was supposed to be deficient in business enterprise — especially that he did not improve more of his property, and provide himself with a greater income. But listen a moment to his own explana- tion: "I can't get money enough ahead, besides paying my taxes and assessments, to erect many buildings, for as soon as anything comes in, somebody wants it for a church, for a college, or for a seminary; or some friend gets into trouble and wants help in meeting a note, or releasing a farm from mortgage; or there comes some special appeal for our benevolent societies who are in straits, and the money seems imperatively needed else- where." In the later years of his life he made more improvements, but still left much unimproved property. Philo Carpenter was sometimes called "a man of one idea," but the record we have rehearsed shows, we think, several ideas — as many, indeed, as most men have, and all good ones. They might perhaps all be reduced to the "one idea" — that grand one of loyalty to the right, loy- alty to God and humanity. Oh! that we had many more such men with "one idea." He was sometimes called "an extreme man." If that means that he was in the front rank of progress, at the head of God's marching columns, we accept it as true, and no reproach, but a great honor. 28 PHILO CARPENTER. Without such men how could there be any advance in the church or the world? Events have proved that he was only ahead of his generation. Almost every one of his positions, once thought extreme, have been reached and occupied by his brethren and his fellow-citizens. But the good man was very far from thinking himself perfect, and he would be the first to frown upon us if we should presume to represent him as without fault. We will only quote the closing sentence of the minute adopted by the First Congregational Church soon after his decease: "Without claiming perfection for our brother, we would rejoice in the .invaluable legacy to this church of his faith and life, and praise our God that by His grace, No. i on our rolls, went in and out before a great and wicked city for half a century and left a record unstained." Deacon Carpenter was a man of commanding presence, in stature about six feet high; not being corpulent and continuing erect to the end of his life he seemed even taller. His normal weight -was about one hundred and seventy-five pounds. He had a light complexion, dark- brown hair, a mild blue eye, a countenance singularly benignant, pure, and inspiring confidence. No one could see him and not trust him. As he never drank intoxi- cants, nor used narcotics, there were no blotches to mar his face, which grew more serene and heavenly to the last. The afflictions which deprived him of his wife, and re- duced his seven children to two, and brought severe ill- ness upon him, diminished his strength and made him in his last years somewhat averse to society. He did not appear much in public, but as long as enough strength remained he attended public worship and retained to the last his interest in "the dear old First Church," as he lov- ingly called it. An affection which the church recipro- cated, as we have said by making him Deacon Emeritus. The Chicago Congregational Club, the first year of its MEMORIAL SKETCH. 29 existence, 1883, elected him an honorary member, "in recognition," as they said, "of his more than fifty years of residence in this city, of his leadership in its early relig- ious enterprises, of his faithfulness to the cause of freedom when it cost greatly to be faithful, and especially in grate- ful recognition not only of his being the first member of our First Church, but of his being the father of Congre- gationalism in this city."* On the fiftieth anniversary of his arrival in Chicago, July 18, 1882, a large number of our citizens called at his residence to do him honor. His death, August 7, 1886, resulted from a severe cold taken some time previously, terminating in congestion of the lungs. His body was embalmed and the funeral was postponed till August 15, awaiting the arrival from California of his daughter, Mrs. Rev. Edward Hildreth. In the absence of Rev. Dr. Goodwin, the pastor, the funeral was conducted by Rev. Dr. Franklin W. Fisk of the Chicago Theological Seminary, assisted byRev.Drs. Flavel Bascom, and Joseph E. Roy, and Rev. H. L. Hammond. The deacons of the church were pall-bearers, with E. W. Blatchford, Carlisle Mason, Judge Wm. W. Farwell, Dr. John H. HoUister, and Professors Hugh M. Scott and Jas. R. Dewey, honorary pall-bearers. A very large congre- gation was in attendance, including especially the old resi- dents of Chicago. The services were short, as a further memorial service was anticipated after the return of the * "The Chicago Congregational Club, March 21, 1883. Dea. Philo Carpenter, Dea?- Sir: — At the meeting of the Club last even- ing, at the suggestion of the executive committee, the following was adopted : Resolved. That in recognition of his more than fifty years of residence in this city, of his leadership in its early religious enterprises, of his faithfulness to the cause of freedom — when it cost greatly to be faithful, and especially in grateful recognition not only of his being the first member of our First Church but of his being the father of Congregationalism in this city we do hereby elect Dea. Philo Carpenter an honorary member of this Club. J. W. Sykes, Secretary. C. G. Hammond, President. 30 PHILO CARPENTER. pastor. They included, however, the reading of a very cordial appreciative letter from the First Presbyterian Church,* of which Mr. Carpenter, as already told, was one of the founders and first elders, and the singing of a touching hymn that had been a favorite of Mr. Carpenter^ of which a manuscript copy was found in his memoran- dum book after his death : "This is not my place of resting, Mine's a city yet to come; Onward to it I am hasting, On to my eternal home. ]n it all is light and glory, O'er it shines a nightless day, Every trace of sin's sad story. All the curse hath passed away. There the Lamb our Shepherd leads us By the stream of life along. On the freshest pastures feeds us, Turns our sighing into song. Soon we pass this desert dreary, Soon we bid farewell to pain. Never more are sad or weary, Never, never, sin again." * "At our meeting in the First Presbyterian Church, last evening, notice of Deacon Carpenter's funeral was given. Eulogies were given of his grand and noble life, his spotless character as a Christian gentleman, and his great benovelence and usefulness as a citizen, through all the trying periods of our city's history were acknowledged by all. It gives us great pleasure as a church to send a committee to represent us at his funeral, and to extend to his family and his friends our sympathy and condolence. The following gentlemen were appointed on the committee : O. D. Ranney, James Hollingsworth, B. Chamberlain, H. M. Sherwood, H. W. Dudley, and D. W. Irwin. The writer has known Deacon Carpenter more than thirty years, and were I to select an exemplary man, one whose life and character I could point to with pride, that life would be that of our dear brother Philo Carpenter. " Chicago, Aug. ii, 1886. D. W. Irwin. MEMORIAL SKETCH. 3 I The appointed memorial service was held by the pastor after his return, early in September. Text, Prov. V., 7, "The memory of the just is blessed." His sermon on that occasion was extensively reported in the papers. The mortal remains of this pioneer,* Sunday-school superintendent, church founder, deacon, abolitionist, reformer, philanthropist, and Christian brother, sleep in Graceland, but his spirit, who can doubt, is with the blessed on high. Among the bequests of Deacon Carpenter-f* was one of * Resolutions of Sunday-school Teachers at Farwell Hall, Chicago, Aug. 8, 1886: — tV/iereas, The officers and teachers of the Saturday noon-meeting, held in Farwell Hall, have heard of the death of Deacon Philo Carpenter, at the ripe age of 82 years, therefore. Resolved, That we place on record our appreciation of his zeal and faithful- ness "in organizing the first Sunday-school in our city in the fall of 1832, of which he was the first superintendent. Resolved, That we commend the example of his Christian activity and large benevolence through a long life as worthy of imitation by the young men of our city. Resolved, That we extend our sympathies to his bereaved family who have a priceless heritage in the memory of his faith in and loyalty to Christ. " + "His estate was valued at, personalities $100,000; real estate from $400,- 000 to $500,000. The picrsonal estate is to be divided between his two daughters and the children of a third; the real estate is to be divided into four equal parts, three of which are to be given to the heirs, and the fourth, after taking out some legacies, among which are $500 each to his old friends, Revs. Jeremiah Porter and Plavel Bascom, D. D., is to be devoted to religious and educational work as follows: to Oberlin College, $2000; Ripon College, $2000; Iowa College, $2000; Berea College, Ky., $5000; Chicago Theologi- cal Seminary, $2000; the library of the Chicago Theological Seminary, $1000; New-West Education Commission, $2000; Chicago Historical Society, $1000; Chicago City Missionary Soc'y, $2000; American Congregational Union, $2000; Illinois Home Missionary Society $1000; Camp-Nelson Academy, Ky. , $250; Rev. Joseph E. Roy, in trust in opposition to secret societies, $2000; American Board of Foreign Missions, $2000; American Missionary Association, $1000; American Home Missionary Society, $1000; American Christian Union, $1000; to his daughters to be used in opposition to secret societies, $4000; Chicago Theological Seminary, to endow an alcove in Hammond Libraiy, $5000; and the balance to the Chicago Theological Seminary. " 32 PHILO CARPENTER. $1000 to the Chicago Historical Society, which has been already paid over to the treasurer. The daughters, Mrs. Wm. W. Cheney of Chicago, and Mrs. Rev. Edward Hild- reth of Los Angeles, California, now have the pleasure of personally presenting a bronze bust of their father. The cast for this bust was taken after his death by Lorado Taft of this city. From it one of marble, made in Paris, has been already presented to the Chicago Theological Seminary. This of bronze was cast by the American Bronze Company of Grand Crossing, Hyde Park, and is certainly a creditable work of art that will be recognized at once by all who ever knew Deacon Carpenter. If any miss the benignity of his expression and the kindness of his mild blue eyes, the difficulty of reproducing these things in bronze must be remembered. A photograph of the old Carpenter homestead will also be an object of interest now and hereafter.