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Dr. Green Vardiman Black is known as the father of modern dentistry, a pioneer in bacteriology and patient comfort. He was born in 1836 in Winchester, Illinois. He studied for four years with his brother to become a physician. In 1856 he switched to dentistry and opened his office in Jacksonville. After serving in the Civil War, Black returned to Jacksonville and resumed his dental practice. He went on to teach dentistry at Northwestern University where he did extensive research, authored several books, and invented dental instruments. He served as Dean of the Northwestern Dental School from 1897 until he died in 1915.
William Jennings Bryant was born in Salem, Illinois, on March 19, 1860. He graduated from Illinois College and in 1883 started his Jacksonville law practice. Four years later Bryant moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he would go on to become a United States Representative, Secretary of State, and a 3-time Democratic Presidential candidate. Bryant died in 1925 and is remembered as an American politician and religious leader.
Steven Douglas was born in 1813 and moved to Illinois at the age of 20. He joined the Illinois Bar in Jacksonville and in 1835 became Morgan County’s prosecuting attorney. Douglas served in the Illinois House and Senate, as a Supreme Court Judge, Secretary of State, and in the United States House and Senate. He is famous for his 1858 senate race against Abraham Lincoln where the candidates held a series of debates across Illinois. Douglas won the election only to face Lincoln again in 1860 in the presidential race. Although Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election, Douglas joined Lincoln after the election to support the Civil War efforts. Douglas died on June 3, 1861, from pneumonia.
Richard Yates, one of three Illinois governors to come from Jacksonville, was born in 1815. He was one of Illinois College’s first graduates and went on to become a lawyer and politician. He served in the Illinois legislature as a United States congressman and in 1861 became Governor of Illinois. He was active in raising troops for the Civil War. Yates also served a term in the United States Senate before dying in 1873.
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