Fortune and Faith in Old Chicago: A Dual Biography of Mayor Augustus Garrett and Seminary Founder Eliza Clark Garrett

321 Pages·2020·22.197 MB·English

by  Charles H. Cosgrove

FORTUNE
AND
FAITH
IN
OLD CHICAGO

A DUAL BIOGRAPHY OF
MAYOR AUGUSTUS GARRETT
AND

SEMINARY FOUNDER
ELIZA CLARK GARRETT
Charles H. Cosgrove
FORTUNE AND FAITH IN OLD CHICAGO

FORTUNE
AND
FAITH
IN
OLD CHICAGO
A DUAL BIOGRAPHY OF
MAYOR AUGUSTUS GARRETT
AND

SEMINARY FOUNDER
ELIZA CLARK GARRETT
Charles H. Cosgrove
Southern Illinois University Press • Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Press
www.siupress.com
Copyright © 2020 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
23 22 21 20 4 3 2 1
Publication of this volume has been made possible in part through a
generous contribution by Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Jacket illustrations: oil paintings of Augustus Garrett and Eliza Garrett,
by C. V. Bond (posthumous, 1856); both images courtesy of Garrett-
Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cosgrove, Charles H., author.
Title: Fortune and faith in old Chicago : a dual biography of Mayor
Augustus Garrett and seminary founder Eliza Clark Garrett /
Charles H. Cosgrove.
Description: Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, [2020]
| Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019023445 (print) | LCCN 2019023446 (ebook)
| ISBN 9780809337941 (cloth) | ISBN 9780809337958 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Garrett, Augustus, 1801–1848. | Garrett, Eliza Clark,
1805–1855. | Garrett Biblical Institute—History. | Mayors—Illinois—
Chicago—Biography. | Women philanthropists—Illinois—Chicago—
Biography. | Chicago (Ill.)—Politics and government—19th century.
| Chicago (Ill.)—History—19th century.
Classification: LCC F548.25 .C67 2020 (print) | LCC F548.25 (ebook)
| DDC 977.3/11030922 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023445
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023446
Printed on recycled paper
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
To Lallene J. Rector
with gratitude
for your leadership and grace

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
A Note to the Reader xi
Prologue 1
1. Newburgh Beginnings 3
2. Prosecuted and Put to Cost 21
3. The Great Fairy Land of Fortunes 43
4. Crash and Conversion 70
5. The Politician 90
6. Their Separate Spheres 131
7. The Founder 157
Postscript 177
Acknowledgments 187
Notes 189
Bibliography 275
Index 297
vii

illustrations
Maps
Chicago, 1834, showing old Dearborn Street bridge across
Chicago River 94
Chicago, 1834, showing blocks 21 and 31 at Wolf Point 135
Figures
Balmville tree 5
Eliza Clark Garrett’s partial family tree 6
Old First Presbyterian Church of Marlborough 9
Samuel Fowler house 10
Asbury Chapel 11
Cincinnati, circa 1835 25
Cincinnati, Fourth Street West from Vine, circa 1835 31
Wolf Point, circa 1833 46
South Water Street in 1834 47
Garrett Auction and Commission House ad, 1835 51
Garrett “For Sale” ad, 1835 51
Village of Newburgh in 1842 53
Sauganash Hotel in the mid-1830s 55
Garrett newspaper ad for lots in Milwaukee, 1835 71
Garrett, Thompson, Brown, and Brown announcement of
copartnership, 1835 73
Garrett, Thompson, Brown & Company newspaper ad, 1835 74
Garrett, Brown & Brother ad for lots in Juliet (now Joliet),
Illinois, 1836 75
Garrett, Brown & Brother auction broadside (probably 1836) 76
ix