Biography - Hon. Newton Bateman
1878 Biography
HON. NEWTON BATEMAN. President of Knox College, he was born in Cumberland County, NJ, on July 27, 1822. He came to Illinois in 1833. In 1835, he attended the anniversary exercises of Illinois College and was deeply impressed with the addresses of the graduates, and then and there he formed the determination that he too would deliver a graduate's oration from that platform. Poverty stared him in the face and for four years he was prevented from commencing to execute his plans. In 1839, he entered upon preparation. So zealous were his efforts and so remarkable his powers of acquisition, that in less than four months he passed a satisfactory examination and entered the freshman class. The rigid economy practiced, the arduous labor performed --- chopping wood, sweeping rooms, making fires, besides teaching at intervals, and his constancy of purpose and application and the marvelous rapidity with which he advanced appear like a stirring romance. While fitting for college he studied in the woods in warm weather, but in the cool season he selected a huge elm tree which stood near his home. It was hollow. He cut a hole in one side for a door, cleared it out and furnished it with a rough stool and table and a piece of carpet. In June, he did deliver his graduating oration from that same platform. After a brief attendance at Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati he traveled extensively in several states. In 1845, he opened a private school in St. Louis. In 1847, he was chosen Professor of Mathematics in St. Charles College, MO, and remained there till 1851, when he went to Jacksonville, where he was elected Principal of the Public Schools. While there he was twice elected County Superintendent of Schools. In 1854, he assisted in organizing the State Teachers Assoc. and was one of the committee who established the "Illinois Teacher". In 1858, he was chosen Principal of Jacksonville Female Academy. He was first nominated for position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction by the teachers in convention in 1855. In 1858, he was elected to that office. He was elected President of Knox College in 1874.
Contributed by Joan Achille, extracted from the 1878 History of Knox County, Illinois, published by Charles C. Chapman
1904 Biography
NEWTON BATEMAN, A.M., L. L. D., educator and editor-in-chief of the
"Historical Encyclopedia of Ill.", was born at Fairfield, New Jersey, July
27, 1822, of mixed English and Scotch ancestry; was brought by his parents
to Illinois in 1833; in youth enjoyed only limited educational advantages,
but graduated from Illinois College at Jacksonville in 1843, supporting
himself during his college course wholly by his own labor. Having
contemplated entering the Christian ministry, he spent the following year at
Lane Theological Seminary, but was compelled to withdraw on account of
failing health, when he gave a year to travel. He then entered upon his life
work as a teacher by engaging as Principal of an English and classical
school in St. Louis, remaining there two years, when he accepted that
Professorship of Mathematics in St. Charles College, at St. Charles, Mo.,
continuing in that position four years (1847-51). Returning to Jacksonville,
Ill., in the latter year, he assumed the principalship of the main public
school of that city. Here he remained seven years, during four of them
discharging the duties of County Superintendent of Schools for Morgan
County.
In the fall of 1857 he became principal of Jacksonville Female Academy, but
the following year was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction,
having been nominated for the office by the Republican State Convention of
1858, which put Abraham Lincoln in nomination for United States Senate. By
successive reelections he continued in this office 14 years, serving
continuously from 1859 to 1875, except two years (1863-65), as a result of
his defeat for reelection in 1862. He was also endorsed for the same office
by the State Teachers' Association in 1856, but was not formally nominated
by a State convention. During his incumbency the Illinois common schools
system was developed and brought to the state of efficiency which it has so
well maintained. He also prepared some seven volumes of biennial reports,
portions of which have been re-published in five different languages of
Europe, besides a volume of "Common School Decisions," originally published
by authority of the General Assembly, and of which several editions have
since been issued. This volume has been recognized by the courts, and still
regarded as authoritative on the subjects to which it relates.
In addition to his official duties during a part of this period, for three
years he served as editor of "The Illinois Teacher," and was one of the
committee of three which prepared the bill adopted by Congress creating the
National Bureau of Education. Occupying a room in the old State Capital at
Springfield adjoining that used as an office by Abraham Lincoln during the
first candidacy of the latter for the Presidency, in 1860, a close intimacy
sprang up between the two men, which enabled the "School master," as Mr.
Lincoln playfully called the doctor, to acquire an insight into the
character of the future emancipator of a race, enjoyed by few man of that
time, and of which he gave evidence by his lectures full of interesting
reminiscence and eloquent appreciation of the high character of the "Martyr
President."
A few months after his retirement from the State Superintendency (1875), Dr.
Bateman was offered and accepted the Presidency of Knox College at
Galesburg, remaining until 1893, when he voluntarily tendered his
resignation. This, after having been repeatedly urged upon the board, was
finally accepted; but that body immediately, and by unanimous vote,
appointed him President Emeritus and Professor of Mental and Moral Science,
under which he continued to discharges duties as a special lecturer as his
health enabled him to do so.
During his incumbency as President of Knox College, he twice received a
tender of the Presidency of Iowa State University and the Chancellorship of
two other important state institutions. He also served, by appointment of
successive governors between 1877 in 1891, as a member of the state board of
health, for four years of this period being President of the Board.
In February, 1878, Dr. Bateman, unexpectedly and without solicitation on his
part, received from President Hayes an appointment as "Assay Commissioner"
to examine and test the fineness and weight of United States coins, in
accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress of June 22nd, 1874,
and discharged the duties assigned at the mint in Philadelphia.
Never of a very strong physique, which was rather weakened by his privations
while a student and his many years of close confinement to mental labor,
towards the close of his life Dr. Bateman suffered much from a chest trouble
which finally developed into "angina pectoris," or heart disease, from
which, as a result of the most painful attack, he died at his home in
Galesburg, Oct. 21, 1897. The event produced the most profound sorrow, not
only among his associates in the faculty and among the students of Knox
College, but a large number of friends throughout the state, who had known
him officially or personally, and had learned to admire his many noble and
beautiful traits of character. His funeral, which occurred in Galesburg on
Oct. 25, called out an immense concourse of sorrowing friends. Almost the
last labors performed by Dr. Bateman were in the revision of matter for this
volume, in which he manifested deepest interest from the time of his
assumption of the duties of its editor-in-chief. At the time of his death he
had the satisfaction of knowing that his work in this field was practically
complete.
Dr. Bateman had been twice married, first on Aug. 13, 1850 to Miss Sarah
Dayton of Jacksonville, who died in 1857, and a second time in October,
1859, to Miss Annie N. Tyler, of Massachusetts (but for some time a teacher
in Jacksonville Female Academy), who died, May 28, 1878.
Contributed by Todd Walter, extracted from the 1904 Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, edited by John S. Wilcox
