38
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
close intimacy sprang up between the two men, which enabled the "Schoolmaster," as Mr. Lincoln playfully called the Doctor, to acquire an insight into the character of the future emancipator of a race, enjoyed by few men 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 discharge his 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 and 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 23, 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 the result of a 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
