130
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
and educated in Plymouth schools and at New Hampton Academy; in youth removed to Bear-born County, Ind., where he taught school and served as deputy Circuit Clerk; then came to Mason County, Ill., and, in 1844, to Elgin. Here he was elected Sheriff and, at the expiration of his term, Circuit Clerk, later engaging in the banking business, which proving disastrous in 1857, he returned to Mason County and began the practice of law. He then spent some years in Minnesota, finally returning to Illinois a second time, resumed practice at Havana, served one term in the State Senate (1876-80); in 1884 became member of a law firm in Chicago, but retired in 1887 to accept the attorneyship of the Chicago & Alton Railway, retaining this position until his death, which occurred suddenly at Springfield, April 5, 1889. For the last two years of his life Mr. Dearborn's residence was at Aurora.
DECATUR, the county-seat of Macon County; 39 miles east of Springfield and one mile north of the Sangamon River-also an important railway center. Three coal shafts are operated outside the city. It is a center for the grain trade, having five elevators. Extensive car and repair shops are located there, and several important manufacturing industries flourish, among them three flouring mills. Decatur has paved streets, water-works, electric street railways, and excellent public schools, including one of the best and most noted high schools in the State. Four newspapers are published there, each issuing a daily edition. Pop., (1890), 16,841; (1900), 20,754.
DECATUR EDITORIAL CONVENTION. (See Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention.)
DECATUR & EASTERN RAILWAY. (See Indiana, Decatur cfc Western Railway.}
DECATUR, MATTOON & SOUTHERN RAILROAD. (See Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway.)
DECATUR, SULLIVAN & MATTOON RAIL-ROAD. (See Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway.)
DEEP SNOW, THE, an event occurring in the winter of 1830-31 and referred to by old settlers of Illinois as constituting an epoch in State history. The late Dr. Julian M. Sturtevant, President of Illinois College, in an address to the "Old Settlers" of Morgan County, a few years before his death, gave the following account of it: "In the interval between Christmas, 1830, and January, 1831, snow fell all over Central Illinois to a depth of fully three feet on a level. Then came a rain with weather so cold that it froze as it
fell, forming a crust of ice over this three feet
