Edward D. Sweeney Oration
Mr . Chairman and Fellow Citizens :
We celebrate today the laying of the corner stone for the new court house,
and the occasion is an event which awakens in us emotions of the deepest
interest. While it is true that this vast assemblage of citizens are of
divers nationalities, of varied political faiths, and of many religious
beliefs, we all stand before this mute block of granite as before the
throne of the Eternal on equal footing, no special privilege of nobility
or preference places one before the other.
The significance of this great gathering is a tribute of respect to the
grand temple of justice planned to rise from this corner stone; and an
acknowledgement of homage to the fair Goddess of Justice, who, with
sightless eyes and extended hand under the law, holds the balances in
which causes between man and man are weighed without partiality or favor,
and determined. The law-abiding people of this great county as by one
common impulse, from the various pursuits of life, the farmers from their
fields, the merchants from their counters, the mechanics from their shops,
the bankers from their desks, and the hum-blest toilers from their work,
have come to witness the simple act of the laying of this stone. It must
be that in this there is much that ought to challenge our thoughtful
consideration and engage our earnest contemplation for the hour which we
are permitted to spend together on this event. It is the transition moment
from the old to the new; it is the passing of a great milestone in the
career of our county. More than fifty years of history is about to close
its record today, and a new book presents itself in which we are to record
events, yet in the bosom of the future; to be born each day and each month
in the coming years. The thought which occupies every-one here assembled
must be in reference to the old court house, its associations of lawyers,
and judges, of law suits, of law and its administration, and of
officers-and this is my theme.
The early beginnings of all communities are remembered with the greatest
of interest and cherished in the fond recollections of those who have
participated therein. The County of Rock Island was organized on the 8th
day of July, 1833, it having been formerly a part of Jo Daviess County,
and the first term of the circuit court was held at the house of John
Barrel, beginning on the 28th day of April, 1834. This house stood on the
banks of the Sylvan Waters, just west of the Cable residence, and was
chosen by the county commissioners as the temporary place of holding the
court and the village was called Farnhamsburg. In this house was held the
court until abandoned at the September term, 1837; in all six terms of
court. At each of these terms there was a grand jury selected and chosen,
and in looking over the list of names which compose these grand juries, I
find that Benjamin Goble, the old settler who lays the corner stone today,
was a grand juror at three of these terms.- It is very evident that they
in those days had as good an opinion of Mr. Goble as we of the present
day, while we think he is a little too old to do heavy mason work; yet, if
called upon, that he would be as willing to serve as a grand juror to
punish wrong doers as he was in those early times. I also find the name of
our venerable and worthy friend, Michael Hartzell, that he served two
terms as a grand juror in vindicating the law in this new-forming
community. I also find that John Tindall, the sturdy and prosperous farmer
of Bowling Township, and Charles Titterington, the leading farmer of
Edgington, the father of our present county treasurer, each served a term
as a grand juror in the house of John Barrel; all of these four are now
present on this glad day to witness the laying of the corner stone of the
new court house, which to them must be an event of more than usual
interest. I also find that William Bell was a grand juror at the house of
John Barrel at the April term, 1837. This gentleman, who always took such
an interest in the affairs of our county and City of Rock Island, and
always had a pleasant word and smile for everybody, is absent in body, but
we know must be present in mind. He is living with his daughter, Rosa, at
Toledo, Ohio, and in a ripe old age.
This was the beginning of our long court dockets of hundreds of cases and
terms of court dragging through tedious months. to which has been added
the county court, now given common law jurisdiction with a civil and
criminal docket, and with its long probate docket upon which are the
estates and through which already has passed nearly all the titles to real
estate within the limits of the county. The population of the county has
grown from 350 to about 45,000; at the time of the organization there was
one straggling village on the site of the City of Rock Island and here and
there a settler throughout the county. Now there are six incorporate towns
and villages, full of activity and business, and two large commercial
cities, teeming with industry, thrift and enterprise, growing in
importance and multiplying in wealth; then the taxable property of the
county was a few hundred dollars, now it is over eight millions. For a few
years there were only two terms of court in each year, but very soon the
legislature gave this county three terms of the circuit court, with a
probate court in session substantially all the year round.
The number of criminals which come before the courts of our county for
correction are surprisingly small. Few counties in the state send a less
number to the penitentiary, schools, and the jails for punishment, in
accordance with their population than the County of Rock Island. As
evidence of how carefully the legal limits are observed among us stands
forth the fact that in the affairs of our county, transacted by our
honorable board of supervisors, every step of the way in which they
proceed being regulated and determined by law, not a legal contest is
raised or issue made concerning the new court house, the greatest building
ever yet erected in the county, which is rising to is completion and will
be built from foundation to dome without the circuit court having taken
cognizance of it in any manner whatever except to hear the hammers of the
workmen and to finally obey the summons to quarter itself in the
magnificent court room; as grand as the old hall of William Rufus, the
pride of England for a thousand years; which is being provided for it in
accordance with law, there to administer the law for the people "with
malice towards none and with charity for all".
Among the names of those who have served their day and stamped upon the
events of the times in which they lived, the impress of their character
and have gone to their reward, and are in your memories while I speak,
are; Joseph Knox, Ira O. Wilkinson, E. R. Bean, John B. Ham ley, Alfred
Webster, J. J. Beardsley, Robert W. Smith and Patrick O'Mara.
The oratory of Joseph Knox will always be remembered by those who have
heard him. The impression that his oratory made upon my mind when a young
man, was that it was close akin to that of Demosthenes. History records
that when the issue was before the Athenians whether they would submit to
Phillip of Macedon, or resist him with arms, that Demosthenes espoused the
cause of war; in this he was opposed by the accomplished orator, Aschines.
When Aschines addressed the people they would say, what wonderful
eloquence, what a great orator; when Demosthenes would speak they would
leap and shout, "let us go and fight Phillip." Mr. Knox was often greeted
with similar responses. Judge Wilkinson was a slave to his profession; he
never allowed his mind to be occupied by anything which would draw him
away from the pure pursuit and practice of the law. He was for many years
the mentor of our bar and no young lawyer struggling with legal
difficulties ever went to him but he received him kindly and furnished
material help with-out claim of compensation. He did not lay down his work
until the hand of disease arrested his powers, and like "Nicanor" he "lay
dead in his harness." General Hawley will be remembered as the impetuous,
vigilant and aggressive advocate. He was like the plumed knight of Ivry,
always to the front in the thickest of the contest, pushing every
advantage until victory crowned efforts. Patrick O'Mara was the
silver-tongued orator of the bar, young, promising and brilliant; he was a
shining mark for the shafts. of death, which too soon claimed him for a
prey. Time forbids further mention of the merits of the dead, but the best
and the highest efforts of those who have gone and those who remain are to
be found in the records of the courts, published in the 58 volumes of the
Appellate and in the 155 volumes of the Supreme Court reports. It is in
this work the real test comes of the lawyer's knowledge of the law and his
merits as a lawyer, who has within his grasp and comprehension the highest
elements of law.
There have been nineteen different judges who have held court in our
county. Richard M. Young was the first judge who ever held court in our
county. He came from Galena and was succeeded by Daniel Stone, who came
from the same place. Sidney Breese held the second term. He afterwards
became a member of the supreme court and served a number of years; was
elected to the United States Senate where he served a term, after which he
went to the supreme bench again, where he remained until his death in
1878, full of years, honors and good deeds. Benjamin R. Sheldon held the
May term. 1849; He afterwards went on the supreme bench, where he remained
until his death, a good man and a strong judge. Thomas Ford held the April
term of our court in 1836; he afterwards became governor of the state and
in his declining days wrote Ford's History of Illinois, the best yet
written of the state. Of those who are not now in office, I know of only
two who are living-the Honorable J. W. Drury, who was circuit judge from
1856 until 1859 or '60, and the Honorable Arthur A. Smith, who first held
court here in 1879 and resigned on account of ill health in the fall of
1894.
Thus far I have said nothing about the offices of county judge and county
clerk. The county clerk's office is the great work-shop of the county; in
that office all the taxes are levied and extended, the judgment for tax
sales entered and the record of the sales made and kept. In that office
all the business done by the board of supervisors is written up and
recorded; aside from this is the probate business of the county, which has
grown to be of immense magnitude, and to which is added the records of the
county court, civil and criminal proceedings; within the last few years
has passed through the county clerk's office the proceedings for the
paving assessments, which has been a stupendous work in itself. To
appreciate the volume of the work which is done in. this office you must
be acquainted 'with its vastness and its importance. I would be pleased on
this occasion to speak of the men who have acted as county clerks, and who
have been responsible for and so ably and faith-fully discharged their
obligations, but time forbids any lengthy notice. Of the ex-county clerks
who are still with us, Joseph Conet is the oldest. He will be remembered
by all as long as we can remember anybody, as being the most
accommodating, courteous and willing public servant that ever served in
the court house. The readiness to serve and aid anyone who had business in
his office came natural to him; what he did was disrobed of every
semblance of affectation or effort. Mr. Conet was succeeded by Major
Beardsley, who came into office in the latter part of the war and
performed herculean labors in the interests of the widows and orphans of
the soldiers who died or had fallen in battle during the Rebellion, whom
he ever carried on his heart. The accounts kept in the book of remembrance
by Him, "who neither slumbers or sleeps" will show a great credit to the
major's account for the disinterested and patriotic work of these years.
John V. Cook succeeded the major and his memory is embalmed in the hearts
of all who knew him; he was succeeded by Mr. Donaldson, whose efficiency
and reliability were not excelled by any one. Colonel Hjalmar Kohler, the
present incumbent needs no commendation from me, his work shows for itself
and his manner and demeanor in office are sufficient to win for him the
highest respect and regard.
Of the ex-probate justices and county judges there are only two living
today, Captain T. J. Robinson, who acted as associate justice, with John
W. Spencer as judge in 1849, and J. M. Gould who takes part in the
exercises of this occasion, who was county judge in 1854 to 1857. There
has been no more responsible position in our county than that of looking
after the trusts in the hands of executors, administrators and guardians,
and faithfully have these trust estates been guarded and protected by our
county judges. The present incumbent, the Honorable Lucian Adams, has
grown gray in the service of these trusts and no one has ever been allowed
to suffer in his hands.
Three members of Congress have been sent from our County. The Honorable
John B. Hawley, the Honorable William H. Gest and the Honorable Benjamin
Cable. We are indebted to these gentlemen for great services in securing
appropriations for the National armory on the Island, for the great bridge
across the Mississippi River, the Moline darn, the viaduct, the new
government building now being erected, and the Hennepin Canal.
The soldiers of Illinois were foremost at Donaldson, Shiloh, Vicksburg,
Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and in Sherman's march to the sea. General
Sherman was their great leader in that famous march, but it is said if the
old hero had fallen by the way, the boys would have gone right on to the
sea. The Illinois soldiers brought home from the fields of the south three
hundred battle flags taken from the enemy, and it was an Illinois flag
that floated over the advance guard of the soldiers who first marched into
Richmond with President Lincoln at their head, in April, 1865. All honor
to the old soldiers and love and charity to all their kith and kin.
Solomon's Temple surpassed all former ones in its glory and grandeur, but
in following years there was erected a second temple, and the glory of the
latter house exceeded the former. The days of the early pioneers were full
of noble deeds, efforts and struggles, around which a halo of heroism
lingers, while the names of the men and women who took part in the
stirring events of those days are held in tender remembrance by their
descend-ants and the people of today. No state in the Union excels
Illinois in the race of noble pioneers who wrought out of the broad
untracked and untilled prairies the beginnings of the greatest
agricultural state of the Mississippi valley, and which laid the
foundations of greatest and grandest common-wealth of the Union, and no
county in all of the one hundred and two in the state can boast of a
nobler band of early settlers than can our County. The limit line of
pioneer and old settlers' life is drawn at the year 1850 and all time
subsequent is counted out. Let due honor and credit be given to the early
settlers and old pioneers and to all who have helped in the early efforts
to lay the base of the institutions of which we are so proud today and to
which we can point with becoming pride; but no one will think of comparing
what has been accomplished in the advancements of civilization since the
date of the limit with what has gone before.
In 1850 the City of Rock Island had been organized only one year and was a
municipal infant, and Moline, now the proud city of factories, schools and
churches, was still a village, and outside of these there was not an
organized town or village in the county; the iron horse had never sounded
his sonorous tones on the shores of the Father of Waters; the great plow
factories of the Twin Cities were only in the prophecies of the dim
future; the magnificent water works, now sending flowing water through
every street and into every house, were unthought of; paved streets, which
have come to us within the last eight years, and which make our cities the
rivals of those in the old world of a century's growth, were not even in
the dreams of the oldest inhabitant; while every man was his own letter
carrier, express messenger and "telephone girl." Never since the days when
Adam and Eve went forth from the Garden of Eden, unsandaled and uncovered,
was human nature so well clothed, so well fed, so well housed and
surrounded with the conveniences and luxuries of life, as today; we are
all pleased to hear the old settlers talk of the "good old times," and
never tire of hearing rehearsed the events of early pioneer life; but we
who did not live in these "good old times" may be excused for speaking of
the "good new times."
Today the forces of the "good old times" and the forces of the "good new
times" meet on this common platform to lay the corner stone of the new
court house and blend without rivalry in a united effort for the common
weal.
At the April term, A. D., 1893, of the board of supervisors, F. M. Sinnet,
Esq., was elected chairman, and in his address to the board, returning
thanks for his election, among other things he said that the necessity
existed for the erection of a new court house, and he believed that the
times were propitious for its erection. During this session of the board,
Joseph Fitzpatrick, Esq., then supervisor from Black Hawk, came to the
office of Sweeney & Walker and talked to the same effect, and Mr. C. L.
Walker prepared resolutions setting forth that the necessity existed for a
new court house and that the times were propitious for the building of the
same. The resolutions were delivered to Mr. Fitzpatrick who introduced
them in the board then in session and they were adopted. The resolutions,
among other things, provided for the appointment of a committee to report
on the feasibility of the project at the next meeting in July.
In the meantime Charles J. Searle, our young and vigorous state's
attorney, with his accustomed zeal and enthusiasm, took hold of the work
and put the report of the committee in shape, which was presented at the
next session of the board and adopted, and the cause of the new court
house was squarely before the people. The press, which has always been a
great factor in the pushing forward of the welfare of the county in all
channels, took hold and advocated the enter-prise, the people with great
unanimity seconded the move and the board of super-visors, pushed on until
the building of the new court house became a fixed fact.
Messrs. Larkin and Collins and the Rock Island mechanics have completed a
credit-able foundation--one strong enough to sustain the National
Capitol-from which will rise a building worthy of our county and the times
in which we live.
Early Settlements of Rock Island County
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908