Zearing, William M.

William M. Zearing papers, 1799-1956, bulk 1851-1875

Descriptive Inventory for the Manuscript Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center

Rev. by Alex Raynor, 2014

Please address questions to:

Chicago History Museum, Research Center

1601 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-6038

Web-site: http://www.chicagohistory.org/research

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Title: William M. Zearing papers [manuscript], 1799-1956, bulk 1851-1875

Main entry: Zearing, William M. (William Mitchell), 1824-1899.

Inclusive dates: 1799-1956, bulk 1851-1875

Size:

ca. 300 items (15 folders)

1 oversize folder (deeds 1862-1871)

Access: This collection is open for research use.

Provenance statement: Gift of Dr. Otto Schmidt (M1917.0013; M1919.0083, 0084, 0097, 0133, 0134, 0136, 0137); gift of Donald H. Grimm (M1957.0022); and other sources.

Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Please cite this collection as: William M. Zearing papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

This descriptive inventory contains the following sections:

Biographical/historical note,

Summary description of the collection,

Description of some material related to the collection,

List of online catalog headings about the collection,

Arrangement of the collection,

Detailed description of portions of the collection,

List of contents of the collection.

Biographical/historical note:

William Mitchell Zearing was a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Born in 1824 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Zearing was educated at the William Mitchell School. He came to Illinois with his parents and eight brothers and sisters in 1842, when the Zearing family settled near Princeton. "He was a clerk in a store, and between times in compounding pills he studied Blackstone." He had some legal education at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1844 and, later, in 1888, at Harvard University. He was admitted to the practice of law in Illinois in 1851, but "his tastes were for speculation in real estate, and he moved to Chicago where he made a fortune." He became a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County and was one of the leading property owners in Chicago before the great fire.

--Information from Bradsby, History of Bureau County; Luella Zearing Gross, "The Zearings" (booklet in printer's proof from Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany (N.Y.).

Summary description of the collection:

Letters to William M. Zearing, who was a notary public and lawyer in Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois and, later, a judge of the Cook County circuit court; with annotations or separate copies of his replies and letters; deeds, account books (daybooks and ledgers); notes for debates and speeches; notes on arguments presented in court cases between 1851-1855, 1855-1856; poetry and notes by women, 1860s. Topics discussed in the papers include claims for bounty lands awarded to veterans of the War of 1812; land speculation in Illinois and Iowa; collection of debts; Democratic politics and patronage; Fourth of July celebrations (1851); family; Civil War recruitment and camp life; a proposal for a national charity farm (1875); and common schools in Illinois and Wisconsin. Correspondents include Thomas Dent; John Gross of Shiremanstown and Eberlys Mills, Pennsylvania, and Mt. Carroll, Illinois; and Zearing's brother, James R. Zearing. Copies of letters to Stephen A. Douglas, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln are present as well.

Description of some material related to the collection:

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the James Roberts Zearing papers and other materials cataloged separately about W. Zearing and other members of the family.

List of online catalog headings about the collection:

Zearing, William M. (William Mitchell), 1824-1899--Archives.

Zearing, James Roberts, 1828-1911--Archives.

Zearing family.

Democratic Party (Ill.)

Illinois. Circuit Court (Cook County)

Princeton Literary Society (Princeton, Illinois)

Bounties, Military--Illinois--19th century.

Fourth of July celebrations--Illinois--19th century. (1851).

Judges--Illinois--Cook Court--19th century.

Lawyers--Illinois--19th century.

Notaries--Illinois--19th century.

Real estate investment--Illinois--19th century.

Public schools--Illinois--19th century.

Public schools--Wisconsin--19th century.

Taxation--United States--19th century.

Teachers--Illinois--19th century.

Trial practice--Illinois--19th century.

Bureau County (Ill.)--Politics and government--19th century.

Cook County (Ill.)--Politics and government--19th century.

Princeton (Ill.)--Economic conditions--19th century.

Illinois--Politics and government--To 1865.

Illinois--Politics and government--1861-1865.

Illinois--Politics and government--1865-1950.

Iowa--Description and travel--1855.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865. (1862 Aug. 14; 1865).

Zearing (Iowa)--History.

Form/genre:

Account books.

Certificates.

Correspondence.

Daybooks.

Deeds.

Licenses.

Maps.

Speeches.

Added entries:

Buchanan, James, 1791-1868, recipient. (1856 Oct; 1857 Jan. 26).

Dent, Thomas, 1831-1925.

Douglas, Stephen A, (Stephen Arnold), 1813-1861, recipient. (1855 Nov 17; 1857 Dec 22).

Grimm, Donald H. Zearing, Iowa.

Gross, John C.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865, recipient.

Zearing, James Roberts, 1828-1911.

Illinois. Supreme Court.

Princeton Literary Society (Princeton, Illinois)

United States--Illinois--Bureau County--Princeton.

United States--Illinois--Cook County.

United States--Pennsylvania--Cumberland County.

Arrangement of the collection:

Most of the collection is in chronological order.

Detailed description of portions of the collection:

The collection includes materials on the common schools (ca. 1846-1869); including certificates from officials in St. Louis County, Missouri, and in Bureau County, Illinois, which state that Zearing was qualified by moral character, learning, and ability to teach (1846, 1848, and 1850). Later items by various persons pertaining to Wisconsin schools are often addressed to A.C. Barry, State Superintendent, and discuss financing for common schools and the legal authority of local officials in disputes. [Folder 12]

Also included are Zearing's appointments as notary public by governors of Illinois and as Commissioner of Deeds by governors of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (all signed by the governors' secretaries). The collection includes Zearing’s licenses (4 items; 1851-1866) to practice law in Illinois, the first being issued by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1851 and signed by J.D. Caton and S.H. Trent, and the others indicating tax payment to internal revenue collectors, 1864-1866.

The correspondence includes many applications for bounty lands by veterans of the War of 1812 for whom Zearing served as counsel. The entry of new land, purchase and sale of property, and collections are all discussed.

The collection includes two real estate record books (1858-1869). Volume 1 contains entries for real property, detailing locations, taxes paid, and surveyors' reports for land and other property in Bureau, La Salle, Livingston, Macon, Pike, Warren, and Schuyler counties in Illinois; in Chicago; and in Story and Hamilton counties of Iowa. Volume 2 contains the record of receipts and expenditures on a house and lot at 351 State Street in Chicago.

The collection also includes a day book and ledger (1845-1856) containing a journal of activities and expenses; notes on admission to the Bar, cases and clients, fees paid, etc.; Governor Yates and his views on slavery and on Fillmore; interest in obtaining federal funding to improve Illinois waterways; and Governor Yates' opponents in election for Congress (Thomas and Harrison). Many people in Illinois and Pennsylvania are mentioned.

The miscellaneous correspondence, notes for debates or court arguments, and speeches in the collection relate to politics in 1848, land grants, legal cases, slavery, "whiggery," and a lack of faith in Zachary Taylor. The general tone is pro-Cass and Butler. There are also mentions of Mormons and of Joseph Smith.

A case book from 1858 is included in the collection.

Zearing's notary public record for Princeton, Illinois (1856 Apr.-1857 Sept.) contains incorporation and proceedings records of the Princeton Literary Society for 1853.

The collection includes three maps, two of Chicago subdivisions and one of Kalamick Lake (i.e., Calumet Lake). The Calumet map is stored with the Library collection of Chicago (Ill.) maps at Chicago History Museum.

List of contents of the collection:

1 Miscellaneous

2 Writings, speeches, address given before the Princeton, Illinois Literary Club

3 Papers, 1850-1854

4 Papers, 1855 Jan.-June

5 Papers, 1855 July-1856 Apr.

6 Papers, 1856 May-Dec.

7 Papers, 1857

8 Papers, 1858-1864

9 Papers, 1865-1869

10 Papers, 1870-1874

11 Papers, 1875-1897

12 Papers: schools, 1846-1869

13 Notary public record, 1853-1856; Princeton Literary Society, 1853; 2 real estate books, 1858-1869; 1 case book, 1858 (in two envelopes)

14 Day book & ledger, 1845-1856; (in envelope)

15 Zearing, Iowa: Community history, by Donald H. Grimm.

Oversize folder

deeds, 1862-1871; Pa. certificate, 1853