Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

METHODISTS ERECT MONUMENT

TO REV.

JESSE WALKER AT PLAINFIELD, ILL.

The Rock River conference of the Methodist Episcopal church met in the Ottawa street Methodist Episcopal church, at Joliet, Ill., Sept. 27, 1911. An official welcome was tendered the ministers Tuesday evening by the citizens of Joliet.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon Wednesday the scene of activities of the preachers was shifted from Joliet to Plainfield for the dedication of the Jesse Walker monument under the joint auspices of the Methodist Episcopal churches, north and south.

Bishop E. R. Hendrix of the Methodist Church South, and Bishop Hamilton made addresses, with the unveiling by Master Everett Davis Weese, great-great-great-grandson of Jesse Walker.

Bishop Hamilton said in part:

"Jesse Walker was the founder of the Methodist Episcopal church in Illinois and Missouri and was the first presiding elder of the district known as Illinois and of the district afterward known as Missouri. He was also the first Methodist minister to enter the present confines of the Rock River conference, and as superintendent of the Chicago mission, held the first Methodist church services in Chicago.

"He was born in my native state (Virginia) June 9, 1766, and did not become a minister before he had reached his thirty-second year. While preaching in Tennessee he gave Peter Cartwright a license to preach.

"Jesse Walker made his home at Plainfield, then known as Walker's Grove. Mr. Walker was to the religious life of the Mississippi valley what Daniel Boone was to its civic life. He died in 1835 and was buried in an unmarked grave until Methodists of both the church north and the church south decided to erect this monument, which we dedicate this afternoon."

LORADO TAFT'S INDIAN STATUE.

The statue of an Indian, the work of Lorado Taft, was unveiled at Oregon, Ill., July 11, 1911.

The statue is of heroic size and stands on Eagle's Nest Bluff above Oregon. The bluff is two hundred feet high and the statue can be seen for several miles. The statue is said by many to represent Black Hawk.

An account of the dedication ceremonies and a description of the statue will be given in the January Journal.

TABLET TO SOLDIERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BURIED IN SANGAMON COUNTY.

As stated in the last number of the Journal the Springfield Chapters of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, will on October 19, 1911, the anniversary of the surrender of Yorktown, place in the Sangamon county court house a tablet to the soldiers of the American Revolution who are buried in Sangamon county.

Mrs. George A. Lawrence, of Galesburg, State Regent of the D. A. R., will be present, as will the State President of the S. A. R.

Interesting exercises will be held and a reception will be given by Governor and Mrs. Charles S. Deneen and the Springfield Chapters at the executive mansion.

A full account of the celebration and a list of the soldiers whose names are engraved on the tablet with an account of their service, written by Mrs. E. S. Walker, of Springfield, will appear in the January Journal.

It is due to Mrs. Walker's untiring efforts that the names of the soldiers have been found, their places of burial located, and their military services verified by the War Department Records.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has recently published two books of especial interest to Illinois and western readers; they are entitled:

Wisconsin Women in the War, by Ethel Alice Hurn, which is Original Papers No. 4, of the Society, and;The Chattanooga Campaign, by Michael Hendrick Fitch, Original Papers No. 6.

GENEALOGICAL NOTES.

Mr. Charles L. Capen, of Bloomington, Ill., has compiled a sketch of the descendants of John Capen (17651849) and Rhoda Thomson, with some account of his ancestry. 20 page. Bloomington, Ill.

DANIEL BRAZNELL, A MADISON COUNTY
PIONEER.

By Kizzie Huskinson Shifflett.

Daniel Braznell was born at Dudley, Staffordshire, England, January 6th,1813, being a direct descendant of the ancient family of Neville, on his maternal side.

He was a man of fine physique, being fully six feet tall and was of robust appearance. His manner was most engaging and none feared to approach him.

He married petite Nancy Johnson of Sedgely, Staffordshire, England, whose people were the famous iron workers of that place, by name of Wales.

With her, he emigrated to America, following the emigrants' trail to Cincinnati in 1833. From there he came direct to Alton, Illinois, and remained here permanently; following his trade as contractor and builder in various parts of Illinois.

On the old State House of Springfield, Illinois he was one of the contractors, and also the pioneer college of

Illinois, namely, Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, was his work.

Most of the buildings standing intact today on Second and Third streets, Alton, are the labor of his hands, and the product of his brick plant, the first of its kind in the city.

Mr. Braznell was one of the defenders of the fatal Lovejoy press, and on the eventful night of Mr. Lovejoy's murder, was the only person cognizant of the secret trap door through which the famous press was dropped to its final resting place in the Mississippi river-safe from further devastation. This noted warehouse was built by Mr. Braznell.

Mr. Braznell was a man of large and generous impulses, giving most freely of his plentiful earnings.

He and his good wife were primitive Christians, earnest in effort determined in well doing. They were prominent pillars of the Methodist church, and the first pipe organ was partly due to the untiring efforts of Nancy Braznell, his wife.

Mr. Braznell possessed a fine voice, and heartily enjoyed singing some of the grand old hymns with Peter Cartwright, the itinerant circuit rider of that day, who was often a guest of the Braznell home.

The striking traits in Mr. Braznell's character were kindness and benevolence, as was manifested by the many lamentations at his sudden death, February 13, 1877, while visiting in Springfield, Illinois.

Mr. Braznell's life was fruitful of four children: Mary Jane Braznell, who married Wm. Huskinson, civil engineer and railroad builder; Edward Braznell, who married Amanda Green, of Shipman, Illinois; Sarah Braznell, who married Phil. J. Sargent, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Mr. Braznell was survived by his widow five years. Beloved by friend and trusted by foe Mr. Braznell was soothed and sustained by that unfaltering trust that

says, "He wrapped the drapery of his couch around him and sank gently down to pleasant dreams, for his conscience was clear."

LITERARY EXECUTOR OF MISS CLARA BARTON.

Rev. Percy Epler, a son of the late Judge Cyrus Epler, of Jacksonville, Ill., has been appointed by Miss Clara Barton her literary executor by which arrangement he will, at Miss Barton's death, have charge of the books, papers and similar articles which she may leave and he will be a good man to handle the precious property. Doubtless there are many letters and manuscripts pertaining to her work which have not been published and Mr. Epler will see that the world gets the best use possible of them all as far as in him lies.

« AnteriorContinuar »