GOV. JOHN WOOD

THE MANSION

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The Society
425 South 12th Street
Quincy, Illinois 62301
217-222-1835
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History Shop and Office Hours: 
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tuesday - Saturday
February - December
(Closed in January)

Tours:
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
April 1 - November 30
 

Thad Ward’s Quincy

Click Image

     Historical Vignettes from
    Thad W. Ward’s
Quincy
and Adams County, Illinois
——
Old Time Happenings
and Events
of Pioneer Days

Available Now

In the History Shop

          The remarkable story of Fr.
Gus Tolton, spirited from slavery,
now a candidate for sainthood.

Visit our Online Book Store

How to become a member:
     Benefits of membership
     How to join
    Quincy’s Second Founder

               Archives

News Stories
“Once Upon a Time” Columns”
Historical Society Newsletters

       Also Inside

          The Lincoln Gallery
            Speakers Bureau
              Image Gallery
          Tours and Programs

Click to hear interview.

Calendar
of Adams County Historical Events

On this day in history:

1789
First U.S. president elected

February 4, 1862

President grants Capt. Gordon stay of execution until February 21, 1862.Stay of Execution for Nathaniel Gordon, 4 February 1862, CW, 5:128-29.

[Gordon was hanged February 21, 1862.] Recommends "that Captain Samuel F. DuPont [USN] receive a vote of thanks of Congress for his services and gallantry, displayed in the capture of Forts Walker and Beauregard."Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 4 February 1862, CW, 5:127-28.

[Irwin withdraws $2 from Springfield Marine Bank.Pratt, Personal Finances, 177.]

Mrs. Lincoln cancels weekly reception because of private party on 5th.Washington Star, 1 February 1862

Source: The Lincoln Log.

The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning

Tuesday  Feby 4  1862
[Washington]
               Engaged on Bright’s case—I made a speech against followed by Foster & others on same side—Willey of Va. for him—Summer agt him   At night at the Presidents with Carl Schurtz & Col Boswell of Mississippi

Source: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, 528.

‘Amateur History Road Show’ Coming this Month

                 You have a family heirloom. . .an old lithograph. . .or dog-eared letters you’d like to know more about. Or talk about.
               You’ll get your chance during the first “Amateur History Road Show” from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, February 19, at the old Emerson School Building at 13^th and Washington Streets in Quincy. The Historical Society and Quincy Park District are sponsoring the event to give Adams County residents a chance to show off their proud possessions—to talk about them and to learn about them.
               Artifacts of all types are welcome, although live ammunition and operable weapons will be prohibited. Experts in genealogy and history will be available during the afternoon to help answer questions and point to sources of further information.
                Participants are encouraged to register. Tables and electricity will be available to those who need them and register. A registration form, available by clicking here, can be completed online, printed and mailed.
                The event will be available free of charge, but participants are asked to provide a non-perishable food item that will be donated to local food pantry.

Historical Society Office, History Shop Open

               We’ve missed you.
               That’s why we’re glad to report that regular office hours have resumed. We look forward to seeing the smiling faces of visitors, family geneaology seekers, researchers, gift shoppers and our greatly appreciated volunteers.

               Regular hours  for the office and Quincy’s History Shop are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.  The History Shop also is open during those hours on Saturday.
               Tours of the John Wood Mansion, the Lincoln Gallery and the History Museum will resume April 1.

The Quincy Herald-Whig’s “Once upon a Time in Quincy”—

Irish Immigrant Leads Veteran Home Effort

               One of the first projects of the Internal Improvements law of 1837 was the Northern Cross Railroad, which was to link Quincy to the new state capital of Springfield.
               The project lured hundreds of Irish workers and their families to America, among them Maurice Kelly, a boy of seven who arrived with his family from County Cork.
               Patriarch Patrick Kelly had saved enough money by the mid-1840s to buy land in Adams County for farming. As industrious as his parents, Maurice also would buy land in Liberty Township.         
               An interest in politics stirred Kelly from farm life. He became Adams County sheriff in November 1861, state representative in 1870 and state Senator five years later. Kelly’s greatest contribution to Quincy was his leadership in bringing the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home to the community in 1885.
                Click here to read Scott Reed’s story of his ancestor Maurice Kelly.

Maurice Kelly
Historical Society Photo

Historical Society Wins Arts Organization Award

               The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County on Friday was named the winner of the 2011 City of Quincy Arts Award in the Arts Organization category.
               Mayor John Spring made the annoncement at an Arts Quincy luncheon at the Quincy Exchange Club.
               The awards program is sponsored by the Quincy Society of Fine Arts through  grants from the Quincy Herald-Whig, QNI, Inc., and the Oakley-Lindsay Foundation.
              The prize for the honor is shown at left, a work of art created by Quincy Junior High School student artist Bryslin Powell.
               The mayor said the Society “for more than 115 years had provided stewardship for some of our community’s most important historical treasures.”
               One of those, he said, was the 177-year-old John Wood Mansion, which the society’s members saved from destruction in 1906. Nearly 1,000 people toured the Greek Revival home during the HSQAC’s annual Christmas Candlelight tour in December. Five years ago , Spring told guests, the Association of Independent Architects named the home one of the 150 most important architectural structures in Illinois.
               “The mansion is a gallery of artworks and pieces that reflect the culture of Quincy in the 19th century,” Spring said.
               The society also was honored for its recently opened Lincoln Gallery, where rare artifacts that connect Quincy to President Lincoln are now on display. The mayor also pointed to the society’s website at which visitors can take virtual tours of the mansion and the two-story log cabin on the society’s campus at 12th and State.
               The mayor pointed to several partnershps recently created, including one with the Quincy Herald-Whig to renew a popular history column,  with several other museums for observances related to Quincy’s entry into the Civil War, its work with the Abraham Lincoln Association and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum to bring the “Lincoln in Illinois” exhibit to Quincy and hosting the Quincy Public Library’s annual Big Read program.
               In February, “Generations Project,“ a program of Brigham Young University’s PBS station, which was produced in part at the HSQAC campus, will be broadcast. It will be available locally by satellite.

Mississippi Thespians To Host 9th Civil War Ball

               The young people of the Mississippi Thespians will host their 9th annual Civil War Ball at Lippincott Hall, Illinois Veterans Home, from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, February 18.
               Made up of students, the Thespians perform historical reenactments focusing on antebellum and Civil War America. HSQAC Facilities Manager Roger Leach, a retired school teacher, leads the group.
               The Civil War Ball will feature authentic period music provided by the Ralugerri Band of Holden, Missouri, and square dancing called by Ms. Deborah Hyland of St. Louis. 19th century dress is encouraged but not required. Persons may rent period dress by contacting Leach at 217-223-9879.
               Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students 18 and under. They are available from Thespian members, Great Debate Books in Quincy, Picture Perfect Gallery in Hannibal or by calling Leach. They will be sold at the door that evening. Proceeds support Mississippi Thespian activities.
 

Young Civil War Re-enactors of the Mississippi Thespians

Intern Develops Database of Early County Schools

Early Adams County Schools:  Amen 125, Center 103 and Pea Green 127

Click here to access the Adams County Early Schools database.

               When Western Illinois University Senior Joel Koch of Quincy learned he needed 130 intern hours to complete his degree in history, he offered his services to the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. Any of the staffers will credit Koch with excellence in his services to the society.              
               Koch (pronounced Cook) has completed a variety of tasks, none more important—and none more needed, however, than his recent compilation of data on early schools of Adams County. His database provides information about 190 schools

City Museums, Sites Feature Quincy in Civil War

               The importance of Quincy and Adams County before and during the Civil War is featured in a variety of exhibits by historic museums and venues in the city. Click on the images at left for visiting hours and contact information.             

               As a young man, John Wood joined Edward Coles, the state’s second governor, in a successful fight to prevent Illinois from becoming a slave state in 1824, only five years after it entered the Union as a free state. Wood himself would become governor in 1860. He governed from his home at 12th and State, which allowed his fellow Republican Abraham Lincoln to use the governor’s office for his campaign for the presidency.

               From their home at 415 Jersey, Dr. Richard and Jane Eells helped spirit fugitive slaves to freedom. They were caught trying to help a fleeing Monticello, Missouri slave. An ensuing legal battle was pursued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to become the most celebrated litigation involving the Underground Railroad.

               Other Civil War exhibitions are:

0  The Quincy Museum, 1601 Maine Street,
    which has a large collection of wartime
    weapons.
0  The All-Wars Museum at the Illinois
    Veterans Home, 12th & Locust, also the
    home of numerous Civil War artifacts
0  The Gardner Museum of Architecture
    and Design, 4th & Maine, with exhibits
    of homes of the antebellum and civil
    war era;         

0  The Lincoln-Douglas Interpretive Center,
    128 N. 5th Street, which interprets the
    story of antebellum and Civil War Quincy.
0  The Debate Memorial in Washington Park,
     downtown, by famed sculptor Laredo
     Taft, celebrating the Sixth Lincoln-
    Douglas debate, which was in Quincy on
    October 13, 1858.