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Letters to the Editor
Editor:
In the [last] issue of Illinois Heritage (Winter 1998) is an article by Charles A. Chapin devoted to the South Carolina Revolutionary War heroes, Newton and Jasper.
I was disappointed that a six-page article would carry the conclusion that the forename of
Newton is unknown. As a native of Illinois, an alumnus of the Library School of the University of
Illinois, and as a genealogy librarian who regularly lectures about the Revolutionary War, I find
that anyone with a scholarly bent would fail to know or to discover Joseph N. Kane's The
American Counties. I am enclosing a copy of the page setting forth the various counties bearing
the name of Newton. It clearly identifier the veteran, John Newton, and eliminates other counties in the nation named in honor of others.
Such an oversight does not do the Illinois State Historical Society justice.
Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck
Supervisor, Genealogy Section
Dallas (Texas) Public Library
The author responds:
I'm grateful to Mr. Bockstruck, who has helped us in two ways. He has supplied us with Sgt.
Newton's first name, John, and has identified two Newton Counties, (of the eight in the United
States), named for other Newtons.
Newton County, Arkansas, attributes its name to Thomas Willoughby Newton, apparently an
Arkansas legislator; by coincidence, the county seat is Jasper. Newton County, Mississippi, attributes
its name to Sir Isaac Newton; by another coincidence, Jasper County adjoins this Newton on its
south boundary.
Other facts accumulate. At one time, Illinois had "Newtons" in Adams, DeKalb, DuPage,
Livingston and Vermilion counties. It had "Jaspers" in Cook, Edwards, Franklin, and Schuyler counties. All of these towns, have either been engulfed by nearby communities, changed names, or vanished. Enthusiasm for remembering these heroes was by no means limited to the early settlers of Jasper
County in Illinois.
Charles A. Chapin
Editor:
Congratulations on your new publication, Illinois Heritage. We appreciate the fact that the
feature article in your second issue honors an African American, Amanda Berry Smith. Her
accomplishments as an evangelist, author, temperance advocate, and her work with the Harvey
Orphanage and the Colored Women's Clubs certainly rank her as an outstanding example of
womanhood.
However, in doing research on the Lincoln Colored Home, 427 South Twelfth Street in
Springfield, another orphanage for African American children, we find that it was opened on
March 8, 1898, by Eva Carroll Monroe. According to your article, Amanda Smith opened the
Harvey Orphanage on June 28, 1899. This would make the Lincoln Colored Home the first
African American orphanage in the State of Illinois...
The Lincoln Colored Home operated until 1933, when its function was taken over by the
Colored Children's Service Bureau. In 1959, this bureau was merged with the Child and Family
Service Center of Sangamon County.
Carl Madison, President
NAACP, Springfield Branch
Barbara Dickerman, Executive Board
NAACP, Springfield Branch
The Editor replies:
Thanks to the interest of avid local historians, our knowledge of downstate African American history has been broadened. Both the Lincoln Colored Home and Amanda Smith's orphanage met the
critical need of caring for African American children who were orphaned. Congratulations are in
order in that the Lincoln Colored Home was recently listed on the National Register of Historic
Places.
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Contributors
Charles J. Balesi was born in France, and he is a member of an old Corsican family with a long military tradition. He served as a reserve officer in the French army in North Africa during the Algerian War. After he emigrated to America, he completed advanced degrees, recieving a Ph.D. in African History in 1976. He is a past president of the French Colonial Historical Society, and he lectures and publishes widely in the field of colonial military and social history. He teaches in the Chicago Public Schools, and he lives in Highland Park.
William H. Kooser is an independent scholar who has been researching, writing, and speaking on Illinois in the Civil War since 1995. His areas of expertise are DuPage's military invlovement in the Civil War - the men and regiments; and Barker's Chicago Dragoons and the men who served under Captain Barker. Mr. Kooser is Secretary of the DuPage County Historical Society. He is a resident of Wheaton.
Delbert E. Wylder retired from Murray State University in 1989. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the State University of Iowa. He was co-author with John C. Gerber and Jeffrey Fleece of Toward Better Writing. He is author of Hemingway's Heroes and Emerson Hough. Mr. Wylder has published a number of articles on Ernest Hemingway as well as some Western writiers. He is also the author of several works of fiction. He lives in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
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