John Howard Burnham (1834-1917)

 
John Howard Burnham was born on October 31, 1834 in Essex, Massachusetts. His parents, John Burnham and Sarah Choate Perkins, were descended from some of the first settlers of New England. His father was descended from another John Burnham who came to America in 1634 from Norwich, England and fought in the Pequot Indian War of 1637.

            In 1855, John moved to Barrington, Cook County, Illinois on an emigrant train. He taught school there for two years until he had saved up enough money to come to Bloomington, Illinois and enroll at Illinois State Normal University in 1858. He was the first student from Cook County to graduate from the school. At the time, ISNU was full of lively political discussions about the two leading presidential candidates—Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Although Burnham himself supported Lincoln and the abolition of slavery, both candidates were popular at ISNU. After all, they were both native Illinoisans. As the possibility of war became more and more likely, the students found it hard to concentrate on their studies.

            Shortly after John graduated from ISNU on July 2, 1861, news of the Civil War breaking out arrived in Bloomington. The students had been preparing for quite awhile, as the administration had hired a drill master to come and instruct them in riflery and military marching. These young men drilled every day after school and all day on Saturday. On August 20,1861, the 46 patriotic members of the “Normal Rifles,” as they called their club, enlisted en masse and formed Company A of the 33^rd Regiment of the Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Colonel Charles Hovey, first president of ISNU, was the commander of the 33^rd. It was often called the “Teacher’s Regiment” because many members of Company A were faculty and students at ISNU. Burnham served in the rank of a first lieutenant. The regiment was originally stationed in Arcadia, Missouri, where                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         they fought in the battle of Fredrickstown, Missouri, then continued to march to Helena, Arkansas.

On April 1, 1863, Burnham was forced to resign his commission because of a series of illnesses (he had been promoted to the rank of Captain on September 5, 1862.) He had contracted typhoid fever in Arcadia, Missouri during the winter of 1861-62 and in the summer of 1862, contracted malarial fever in Arkansas. Shortly after he left, however, the regiment was ordered to Mississippi, where they merged with the 13^th Army Corps. Thirty officers and men from Normal were killed at Vicksburg, in addition to 100 wounded. In 1906, a monument was placed on the ISNU campus in honor of these men and the 128 total ISNU faculty and students who fought in the Union Army. Every male student in the classes of 1860, 1861, and 1862 volunteered, except for those with physical disabilities.

            Upon returning to Bloomington in 1863, Burnham became the Superintendent of Bloomington Public Schools. A year later, he became the editor of The Daily Pantagraph, a position which he remained in for the next three years. In 1867, he was hired as a contractor for the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Through this job, he was responsible for the construction of iron highway bridges in half of the counties in Illinois, as well as many Wisconsin counties. He also acquired much knowledge about the history and geography of Illinois in his 35 years of bridge contracting.

On January 23, 1866, Burnham married Almira S. Ives. Almira was known as a talented artist, and her work hung in the home of art lovers throughout the community. She was also very active in the community and was well respected because of that. She participated on the fundraising committee to build the Episcopal Church in 1876 and was a member of the Letitia Green Stevenson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Although they had no children, their marriage was reported to have been a very happy one that lasted for fifty-one years. Almira’s brothers Charles and Frank Ives became important business associates of Burnham, and he eventually formed a partnership with Frank, called Burnham and Ives.

            But today, Burnham is perhaps best known for his love of history and contributions towards recording Illinois history. His first known project was in 1879, when he wrote “A History of Bloomington-Normal” in the intervals between business pursuits. Some of his historical articles also made it into The Daily Pantagraph, including one on April 17, 1870, where he refuted a previous claim that Illinois has no natural scenery worth seeing by citing beautiful Starved Rock State Park in nearby Utica, Illinois.

            This love of history led Burnham to become one of the founding members of the McLean County Historical Society, founded in 1892. He held the position of treasurer in addition to editing the historical society’s journals until his death in 1917. His “War Records of the County,” published in 1902, described the Civil War service of himself and other ISNU students. This book became the first volume of the McLean County Historical Society’s publications. He also wrote several other books, including “A History of the Destruction of Kaskaskia by the Mississippi River,” “History of an Ancient Indian Fort in McLean County,” and “School Records of McLean County.” Burnham was also the Director of the Illinois State Historical Society as well as one of the founding members of the society in 1900.

            In addition to his devotion to Illinois history, Burnham never forgot his ancestral home in Massachusetts. When he died, it became known that he had in his possession an original copy of the Salem Gazette, dated September 11, 1792. The newspaper contained accounts of events of the French Revolution, especially riots in Paris that had occurred months before publication due to the lack of cable and telephone lines. There was also an appeal to the English government by General Lafayette to aid the revolutionaries in France and a Salem town hall meeting to decide whether or not to allow smallpox vaccinations (they decided against the inoculations).

            Sadly, on October 14, 1892, the same year the McLean County Historical Society was founded, a fire destroyed Burnham’s house, located on the southeast corner of Evans and Mulberry Streets. The house could not be saved, due to an inadequate reaction by the fire department. However, neighbors helped the Burnhams remove their belongings, including Almira’s paintings. The home and barn of neighbor General George F. Dick burned as well. The cause of the fire was unknown but was thought to have been an act of arson.

            In addition to his work with the historical society, Burnham participated in many other community organizations, including the Masonic Lodge, Odd Fellow’s Lodge, Normal College Alumni Club, various Republican political organizations, and the Board of Illinois Soldier’s Orphan’s Home (later renamed the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Children’s School). He was a vital member of the committee which designed Miller Park, and he personally supervised the planting of trees and building of the dam that created the lake. He was also the chairman of the 1^st Board of Park Commissioners, as well as serving on the McLean County Board of Supervisors from December 1914 until his death.  One of Burnham’s final projects was to assist in preparing the history of the University of Illinois.

            John H. Burnham died on January 20, 1917 at Brokaw Hospital, four weeks after a major operation for an unknown chronic ailment. Funeral services were held at Second Presbyterian Church on January 22, and he was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. On June 26 of that year, the McLean County Historical Society held a joint memorial for founding members Burnham and George P. Davis. They said that “as a writer, Captain Burnham was both original and resourceful. His aim was to get at the pith of the subject with as much brevity as possible. He disliked garbled or warped history in whatever form it may appear…He was always an ardent seeker after truth and the marvelous things of history…nothing ever daunted his courage when in the pursuit of a laudable purpose…as a citizen, he was always loyal, conscientious and upright, and made for himself a good name and fame, which he spread over the entire state of Illinois…He was always gentlemanly and courteous in his demeanor to others and was never accused of slighting a friend or of misleading him.”

-Laurie Peterson