apparent satisfaction that she visited at the "Mansion" in Springfield when "Father Wood was governor." She did not live many years, and the bereaved widower married afterwards his sister-in-law, a fine woman, but it would seem that he could never be happy after the loss of his first wife who had been his sweetheart almost from childhood, for he finally shot himself over her grave. But, happily, all have not died. Daughters have married and gone to husband's homes elsewhere. My own Tillson cousins come under that head. The eldest married Maitland Boon of Watertown, N. Y., and after a few years residence in Quincy they went back to his native town, with all their family, and never returned. Her sister, Sarah, married Dr. Brinton, of Philadelphia, who was for some time editor of a medical and surgical journal. He was, however, very devoted to literature, was considered a fine expositor of Robert Browning's poems, and especially, in later years, of the Maya Indian literature. He received honors from European, especially Spanish, societies, on account of his work in that line. A special section of a Philadelphia College library is devoted to his works. His family have always lived in Philadelphia. A daughter of Col. Edward Prince married Bishop Thomas of the Episcopal Church. They have never lived in Quincy. A very fine family, the Eliphalet Blatchfords, lived for a time in a handsome country house in the environs of Quincy. While on one of my trips home from the east, we met, and they gave me very kind attention on the difficult part of the journey. They moved to Chicago not very long afterwards, and were for many years among the most highly esteemed north side residents. Growing and prosperous Chicago became a lure to a number of Quincy families, and Quincy's loss became Chicago's gain. Several of the Messrs. Bull's families moved there, and many others also, of whom I had not heard till by chance meeting an early Quincy acquaintance during the Columbian Exposition each of us explained to the other "Oh, I have been living here several years!" Others have found attractions elsewhere, as in the case of Mr. Henry Bull's family,—no one is left in Quincy. My sister, Mrs. Kimball, has lived in Springfield, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston, for perhaps forty years. The first John Tillson's wife, daughter, and son Robert, left Quincy after the father's death, and went to New York to live. CHANGES. Among important changes that occurred during the late fifties or sixties, was the removal by Governor Wood of his first fine house to another location on his extensive grounds, and the erection of a much larger dwelling of a peculiar style of architecture, somewhat octagonal in form. After he and ather members of his family died, this building was purchased for what is now known as Chaddock College. The earlier family mansion was purchased for a building to be devoted to the memory of the city's early settlers. I visited Quincy a few years ago, and was kindly shown over the building by Mrs. E. J. Parker, the treasurer, and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzo Bull, esteemed early friends. The tablets that lined the marble walls of the Memorial Hall of the Quincy Historical Society, bore almost without exception the names of well remembered friends. The little home of "Friends in Council" had been moved to the grounds to which it had been given a legal right near the Memorial Building. A water supply had finally been obtained through the efforts of Col. Edward Prince (uncle of Dr. A. E. Prince) and Mr. Wm. Bull now of Chicago. One of the notable events to Quincy people was the fact that, by the death of Governor Bissell, our John Wood, Lieutenant Governor, became Governor of Illinois; and when Andrew Johnson became President, our admired and honored O. H. Browning was appointed Secretary of the Interior. The establishment of Monticello Seminary has proved the means of bringing together some Springfield and Quincy girls. My cousin, afterwards Mrs. Maitland Boon, made the acquaintance there of the Misses Lamb, especially of her who is now Mrs. Palmer, the widow of General John M. Palmer, and of her sister. She visited in Springfield on several occasions, and used to tell interested friends of the receptions at the Mansion, and of the band playing under the "rotunda," and of the dancing, etc., quite to the envy of Quincy girls. B Another of my Tillson cousins went to Monticello a numI ber of years later. My aunt asked me to go with her and introduce her. It was a very pleasant errand for me, as Miss Harriet N. Haskell and her assistant Miss Alden had been fellow students and friends of mine at Mt. Holyoke Seminary. A niece of Governor Wood's one of my school girl friends, went to Chicago to teach, while I was elsewhere than in Quincy, "more or less." She was a woman of fine mind, and well educated. I visited her occasionally. She finally married the brother of D. H. Burnham, architect of the Columbian Exposition, and when I moved to Chicago we were both very happy to renew our early intimacy, and to introduce each other as almost lifelong friends. She died in 1923, aged 91 years. The last of my childhood friends. Of the very early Quincy families who have no descendants in Quincy that I am aware of, are the Tillsons, Savages, Smiths, Brownings, Bushnells, Baldwins, Henry Bulls, Seamens, Mortons, Flaggs, Dimocks, Hurlburts, Palmers, Godfreys, Samuel Holmes, Shermans, Dr. Nichols, Lettons, and probably others of whom I have no knowledge, or whose names I do not recall. The final history of my honored friends the Brownings is a pitiful one, though he died before he learned the extent of his misfortunes, so his widow, and adopted daughter were the greatest sufferers. Their severe trials were the result of their too great generosity and misplaced confidence, as too often happens in this wicked world. As I look back through the fifty years since I ceased to be a citizen of Quincy, I cannot recall the name of one of my early friends of the "forties" who is now living. These scattering and imperfect records of old time conditions and events in Quincy, and of the fine people who were it founders, constitute a very inadequate testimonial of my regard for the friends of those years and of the pleasant remembrance of my earliest home. The marriages and deaths that I have recorded have been only of friends or near relatives. They show that I have scarcely a half dozen old friends left there, and no relatives, unless I claim the beautiful granddaughter of the Arthurs, a cousin of my son-in-law, Dr. Arthur Prince,—Mrs. W. G. Noll, as one. |