Sangamon County IL Archives News.....In Memoriam, Alice Edwards Ferguson 1844-1921 1921 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 October 24, 2011, 8:41 pm Journal Of IL State Historical Society, Vol 14 1921 By Stuart Brown. The government eighty acre tract, upon which we stand, was first individually owned by William Kelly, who acquired it from the United States in 1823. This William Kelly was one of those five brothers, who came to Sangamon county in 1819. His brother, John, built on the corner of Second and Jefferson streets the first cabin erected within the limits of Springfield. There the first court in Sangamon county was held. William Kelly came from Rutherfurd county, North Carolina, and left the shadow of Asheville to come to live on the upper northern branch of the waters of Spring creek. In 1832 Kelly sold the whole eighty acres for $2800 to Dr. Thomas Houghan, who had come here from the north. On June 26, 1843, Dr. Thomas Houghan sold fifteen acres of that eighty, with his house to Benjamin Stephenson Edwards, and until this particular part of that fifteen acres was conveyed to the Springfield Art Association, it remained in the control and was used by the Edwards' family as their home. Here in 1844 Alice Edwards was born; and, on this Edwards place she continuously lived until March 4, 1921. In our American unrest, our frequent change of abode, it seems remarkable to us that a woman should be born, should live for 76 years and should die upon the same place. The conditions of the holding of this Edwards place but typify the conditions of Sangamon county. Here south met north and middle east. Here in 1839, B. S. Edwards, with cavalier forbears of Virginia, brought Helen K. Dodge, with Puritan forbears from Connecticut.* * A brief biographical sketch of Mrs. B. S. Edwards, who was an honorary member of the Illinois State Historical Society was published in the Journal of the Society, Vol. II, No. I, April, 1909. In the conflict of ideas from widely separated places, we best reach the readjustment of common sense. Logan of Kentucky meets Conkling of New York City, Treat or Lockwood of western New York debates with Reynolds of Tennessee or Stuart of Kentucky, and strangest contrariety of fate, Douglas of Vermont, advocating the right of territories to decide for themselves the ownership of slaves, opposes Lincoln of Kentucky. Benjamin S. Edwards I loved and admired. He had the southern pride and impetuosity, without it languor. He was my first questioner in the law. My beginner's book of legal study was Blackstone's Commentaries, and I proudly finished the introduction of thirty-four pages the first day. Mr. Edwards asked me how I was getting along at the end of the day, and I told him what I had read. He replied: "You should have taken a week on that.'' Then by a few questions he convinced me that he was right. I have known him to make a cutting remark to a friend, to brood over it until 11 o'clock at night and then walk a mile in darkness to make amends before he could go to sleep. I have heard that at one time when he was impressed by an appeal for the starving children of Asia Minor, he impetuously deposited his watch and chain in the contribution box i and redeemed them next day at their original cost. Mrs. Ferguson's mother was of a different temperament. Decided in her opinions, she was temperate in statement. Courteous to all was she—but no one presumed on that. I admired the calmness and the poise of her nature. It has been considered remarkable, by many of those who wrote about our distinguished fellow citizen, Mr. Lincoln, that he displayed qualities of culture and understandings of polite manners. They call him a "self made man," and contrast his rude beginnings with his later conduct in high position. They forget the unusual and brilliant men and women with whom he lived here during many years. To us, who have known the Lambs, the Cooks, the Trumbulls, the Edwards, the Forquers, the Bunns, the elder Mrs. Ferguson—speaking only this day of a very few of those charming women related by family ties, it is not at all remarkable. We have always thought that among those character forming women, Mrs. Benjamin S. Edwards was not the least important. She brought to this middle post of civilization the breadth and influence of what was then known as Yale college with whatever of its New Haven environment there was for good breeding. She brought the traditional New England zeal of the Hodge family with its hundred year life of development. At the time Mrs. Ferguson grew up to girlhood there were no good common schools, such as we have now. Girls of her age received what education they had, in private schools or by tutors in the home. When she was 16 our Civil war threw the country into turmoil and trouble. I do not believe she had what we call educational advantages, but she was a reader of good books from a well-selected home library. She had the privilege of contact with people far above the average of that day. I have often thought that the persons who were a part of the growth of the state of Illinois from a small beginning to the glorious commonwealth of today, had special advantage, for they grew as science, art and general knowledge grew. Education is not so much what you know, as what you know how to use. From my acquaintance with Mrs. Ferguson I should say she was a well- informed person. Mrs. Ferguson had a rich heritage in her parents and a most rare companionship with her sisters, Helen and Molly, whom we know as Mrs. Condell and Mrs. Raymond. We were not of the same generation and our meetings were infrequent. As a growing boy I watched them from afar and with a boyish awe. We have always been proud in Springfield of our good women. We may have been provincial in the highest degree and yet, we felt in those days and still feel that Springfield had an atmosphere of its own that could bear comparison with much larger places. There was a gracious hospitality and a kindly spirit that permeated all circles. There seemed to be, I will not say a depth of learning, but a general culture that was marked. There was a spirit of tolerance and yet there was a well-drawn line of conduct. How much of this we owed to the selected good people, who were sent to us from other parts of the state and how much we owed to other favorable circumstances, I cannot say. But we thought our women were above the average and among those to whom we attributed one satisfaction, were the ladies at the Edwards place. Mrs. Ferguson was greatly benefited by companionship with her husband. To that gallant yet modest soldier, who forgot that he could claim a title—to that honorable and upright citizen, Benjamin H. Ferguson, Springfield owes much and then there was his own mother, Mrs. Sarah Ferguson. I speak with veneration, when I recall the modesty with which she shrank from conflict about immaterial matters and the nobility and steadfastness with which she met the real things of life. My first real acquaintance with Mrs. B. H. Ferguson was when I was ten years old. My father took me with him and we joined a party for a summer trip to Chicago, St. Paul and Duluth. I was not ten years old, but I can remember Mrs. Ferguson distinctly. My child's mind wondered how she could keep her travelling suit so immaculately clean after a day's dusty travel; how becomingly her hair graced her forehead; how she could maintain serenity amidst those unlooked-for disturbances, which come out of a clear sky to all travellers. To my childish eyes she seemed old and now, when I think back and recall that she was not 25 years old, I can see her in a different fight. The younger set cannot appreciate the real charm of Mrs. Ferguson because they did not know her in her happy time. The last part of her life she suffered much bodily pain— no one can work or play greatly when in pain. Yet as I look back upon our many meetings and reflect on what I have heard from others I do not recall that she ever spoke unkindly of any one, that she ever displayed anger or malice, that she ever did an unworthy act. Mrs. Ferguson had an urge toward the beautiful in nature. She wanted to raise to higher degree her appreciation of art and artistry. With a modesty all her own, she wanted to carry along with her her friends and companions. She made no pretense to having technical knowledge. She enjoyed what was worthy and she wished others to enjoy it with her. She was sowing a seed, which, if you will but watch over it tenderly and keep it away from destructive agents, will grow and develop a flower beautiful. On the pages of the golden book of Springfield her name should be inscribed. Additional Comments: Source: Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Published Quarterly by the Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield, Illinois. Vol. 14 April- July, 1921 No. 1-2. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/sangamon/newspapers/inmemori274gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 9.4 Kb