Women Artists and the Civil War

Sculptors Edith Freeman Sherman and Lily Tolpo made significant contributions to the county's two  public Civil War monuments in Waukegan. 

Edith Freeman Sherman, circa 1960. News-Sun photo. 

Though no battles were fought here, Lake County gave significant support to the war effort, sending nearly 2,000 men to fight to preserve the Union and ultimately to abolish slavery. Communities rallied around the soldiers, and women coordinated donations of quilts and bandages, and advocated for better care of the sick and wounded.

After the war ended in 1865, a Soldiers Monument Association was formed to commemorate the war dead. It would take 34 years to raise enough money to build a monument. Edith Freeman Sherman (1876-1970) was selected to create four bronze panels for the base of the monument; panels depicted the county’s troops in the infantry, artillery, cavalry, and navy. 

Sherman was a talented sculptor and graduate of the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Her instructor in the Sculpture Department was American sculptor, writer and educator, Lorado Taft. Years later, her fellow alum considered her an "important sculptress" in Chicago. 

One of her most prominent commissions was to create four bronze panels for the sides of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which was erected on Waukegan's courthouse square in August 1899. In addition to her talent as a sculptor, her family's connection to the Civil War made her the perfect choice for the commission. 

Edith Sherman's grandfather 1st Lt. Addison B. Partridge (1807-1888), and uncle Sgt. Major Charles A. Partridge (1843-1910) both served in Company C of the 96th Illinois Regiment. Her father, Isaac A. Freeman (1840-1923), served with the 1st Vermont Cavalry. Additionally, uncle Charles was the 96th Illinois' historian and chairman of the monument association. (For more info, read my post on Addison Partridge).

Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Waukegan courthouse square. 
Dedicated August 29, 1899. Dunn Museum 61.8.88.

Soldiers and Sailors Monument with one of Edith Freeman's bronze friezes. Photo D. Dretske, Dunn Museum. 

The panels Sherman created represented dynamic images of the four aspects of military service during the Civil War. She gave up a summer trip to Europe to do the work, but the commission meant more to her than the vacation. In 1907, she married Edwin T. Sherman and set aside her art career to raise her family. After her husband's death in 1945, Edith returned to a full-time career as an artist. 

Ninety-six years later, Lily Tolpo was commissioned for another Civil War monument.

Lily Tolpo, circa 1960. Online.

Lily Tolpo (1917 - 2015) was the eldest of five children in a Chinese-Polish American family. She learned to play violin and performed as a Vaudeville musician from 1935-39, before becoming a professional artist and sculptor.

Tolpo was commissioned to do a pair of bronze bas relief plaques to complete a project started by her late husband, Carl Tolpo (1901 - 1976).

Lincoln Monument west side of county courthouse, Waukegan. Photo D. Dretske, Dunn Museum.

Lincoln monument by Carl Tolpo (1968), bronze plaques by Lily Tolpo (1996).
Lake County courthouse, Waukegan. 

In 1968, Lake County commissioned Carl Tolpo to make one of his famous Lincoln monuments. There were to be two plaques on the sides of the pedestal, but funds were not available to complete the project. The monument remained unfinished for nearly three decades.

Lily Tolpo with one of her clay models for the plaques. The image illustrates Abraham Lincoln's visit to
Waukegan on April 2, 1860. Northwestern Illinois Farmer photo.

In 1995, the county revived the Lincoln monument project and reached out to Lily Tolpo to complete her late husband’s work. Lily Mark Tolpo was an accomplished Lincoln sculptor and artist in her own right, and had previously created a hanging sculpture for the county’s courthouse. Lily was a graduate of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where she was a student of American sculptor, Lorado Taft.

According to Tolpo, she used her husband's concepts but rendered them "in another style more in keeping with the head [of the monument]." Her relief style captured "life-like reality and action."

Detail from Lily Tolpo's clay model for plaque. Featured on the plaque are some of Waukegan's
most prominent men: (left to right) Mayor Elisha Ferry, Samuel Greenleaf and Henry Blodgett. 

The scene represented on the plaque above depicts the evening of April 2, 1860 when Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Waukegan. The speech was interrupted by a fire at the Case Warehouse at the North Pier. Tradition has it that Lincoln helped the citizens of Waukegan put out the fire. Lincoln spent the night at the home of Mayor Elisha Ferry. The Ferry home still stands at the northwest corner of Julian and County Streets.

In 2014, the Bess Bower Dunn Museum (formerly Lake County Discovery Museum) received a donation from ArtbyTolpoartist.com of the molds for Lily Tolpo's bronze plaques, and the model for Carl Tolpo's Lincoln monument. 

Nearly 100 years separated the work of Edith Freeman Sherman and Lily Tolpo on the monuments. Both women were talented sculptors and uniquely qualified to lend their artistry in commemorating Lake County’s role in the Civil War. 

On your next visit to Waukegan, take a stroll around the courthouse to view the impressive monuments and the work of these artists in person.

Philip Brand, the Man Who Shaved Lincoln

In March and April of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was in Chicago attending sessions of the United States District Court, as counsel for the defendants in the "Sand Bar" case, which involved rights over sand bars along the Lake Michigan coast. By then, Lincoln was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the presidency, and it was thought he would be nominated at the Republican convention in May.

Lincoln received frequent invitations to speak, and accepted one from the citizens of Waukegan as presented by his friends and fellow attorneys, Elisha Ferry (also Mayor of Waukegan) and Henry Blodgett.

The day of the speech—April 2, 1860—Lincoln rode up to Waukegan on the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, accompanied by Illinois Senator, Norman B. Judd.

View of Brand's barber shop at 57 Genesee Street, Waukegan. Circa 1870. 

Miltimore family photo, Ancestry.com

That afternoon, Lincoln got a shave at Philip Brand’s barber shop on Genessee Street. In 1860, Brand's shop was new, since he had just immigrated from Germany the year before. How Lincoln came into Brand's shop is not known, but his patronage certainly increased the shop's business thereafter.  

Philip Brand, circa 1860. Miltimore family photo.

Brand (1840-1914) was a German immigrant from the Hesse region and came to Waukegan in 1859. His sense for business and a visit by Lincoln did a good deal to making his clientele grow. In the years to come, Brand's shop served Waukegan's elite businessmen. He eventually built a three-story building for his business interests, which included a bath house complete with bathtubs, shaving and hairdressing facilities.  

Brand was rightfully proud that Abraham Lincoln had come to him for a shave. Brand even stated that he was the last man to shave Lincoln. This claim to fame stuck with him for the rest of his life. However, it would have been more accurate had Brand said he was one of the last to shave him, since Lincoln grew his famous beard months after his visit to Waukegan. 

Lincoln was encouraged to grow a beard by 11-year old Grace Bedell of Westfield, New York. In a now famous letter dated October 15, 1860, Grace wrote: " I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin." In his reply of October 19, Lincoln wrote: "As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?" 

On the evening of April 2, 1860, hundreds of Waukeganites attended Lincoln's speech at Dickinson's Hall, including Philip Brand, William Besley (brewer), and George Lyon (store clerk). Lincoln spoke of the wrong of slavery, and that the country was half slavery and half freedom, and no government divided against itself in such manner could stand.

J.W. Hull, also in attendance, recalled that "While [Lincoln] was speaking, such was the sledge-hammer force of his logic, that we forgot the humble appearance and the squeaky voice, and were carried away by the man's simple eloquence, his power of reasoning...."

Twenty minutes into the speech, word came that there was a fire at the Case Warehouse at the North Pier. Elisha Ferry rose and said that he believed the alarm was a Democratic plot to break up the meeting. Lincoln in turn said, "Well, gentlemen, let us all go, as there really seems to be a fire, and help put it out." Local legend states that indeed, Lincoln helped to extinguish the blaze, ruining his suit in the process.

It has also been said that Lincoln promised to come back to finish his speech another time, but he never made it back to Waukegan.

A white-haired Philip Brand standing at the front of his shop on Genesee Street, circa 1895. 

Dunn Museum 2010.24

Philip Brand continued as a barber until his retirement about 1900 when he leased his building to the Waukegan Savings Bank Company. Lake County Independent, Libertyville, IL, 16 February 1900.

News of Philip Brand's death on May 11, 1914 made headlines in the Waukegan Daily Sun. Newspapers.com

Though it seemed Brand's barber shop was lost to time, in the spring of 1964, the shop was re-discovered during excavation work on Genesee Street. J.W. Peterson plumbers were digging a hole under the street and unexpectedly found barber mugs, bearing the names of former citizens.

J.W. Peterson and Einar Christensen on site of discovery of Brand's barber shop, 1964. 

News-Sun Collection, Dunn Museum.

Brand barber mug for G.P. Fleming, circa 1890. Note cement inside the mug. 

Dunn Museum 70.83.6

Brand barber mug for George R. Lyon, circa 1890. 

Lyon attended Lincoln's speech at Dickinson's Hall and served in the Civil War. 

He took over his father's general store in 1893, served on the county board 1886-1887, and state legislature 1896-1900. 

Dunn Museum 70.83.7

Robert Vogel, the director of the Lake County Museum of History in Wadsworth was notified about the discovery. Vogel managed to dig out other mugs and barber bottles, which became part of his museum's collection. 

Brand barber mug for Chase E. Webb, circa 1890. 

Webb was a Civil War veteran, Lake County Sheriff (1886-1890), and Chief of Police in Waukegan (1891-1897). 

Dunn Museum 70.83.1

The barber shop, which had originally been on the first floor of the building, was moved at some point to the basement. It was filled in when Genesee Street was widened and paved. 

The surviving mugs are in remarkably good condition considering the circumstances, and are part of the permanent collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (formerly the Lake County Discovery Museum).



Sources: 

• Currey, J. Seymour. “Mr. Lincoln’s Visit to Waukegan in 1860.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1911): 178-183.
• "Waukegan: Doings at the County Seat of Interest to Our Readers." Lake County Independent, Libertyville, IL, 16 February 1900. 
• "City Shocked to Learn of Death of Phillip Brand." The Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois, May 12, 1914.
• "Unearth Shop of Man Who Shaved Lincoln," Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1964. 
• Collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County. 

Lincoln Mythbusters

Happy birthday, Mr. Lincoln! On this day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky. His family settled in Illinois in 1830, and the next year, Lincoln struck out on his own.

Lake Countians long for connections to the great orator and 16th President of the United States, as evidenced by multiple local legends.

Lincoln's only documented visit to Lake County occurred in April 1860. While in Chicago, Lincoln took the train to Waukegan to give a speech and to visit his attorney friends, Elisha Ferry and Henry Blodgett. He had dinner at the Ferry home on Julian Street, followed by a speech at Dickinson Hall. A fire broke out at a nearby warehouse, ending the speech, and Lincoln is reported to have given a hand in putting out the blaze. Afterward, Lincoln returned to the Ferry home and spent the night, giving the home the legitimate claim of “Lincoln slept here.” The bed in which he slept is displayed at the Waukegan Historical Society.

Though this was Lincoln's only visit to the county, that hasn't stopped folks from finding other connections real or imagined.

Lincoln as photographed by Alexander Hesler, June 1860. (above) On Lincoln's visit to Waukegan in April, he reportedly got a shave at Philip Brand's barber shop. Though Brand could well have given Lincoln a shave, the photo above, taken two months later, easily discounts Brand's other assertion of being "the last man to shave Lincoln."

The earliest supposed connection between Lincoln and Lake County takes us back to the Black Hawk War of 1832. Local legend states that during the war, Captain Lincoln and the troops serving with him, marched to the York House Inn on Greenbay Road in Waukegan Township. However, the legend fails to mention that Lake County was not yet settled, and the York House Inn was built in 1836—four years after the war ended.

Additionally, troop movements archived in the State of Illinois' Archives, reveal that the closest Lincoln's company came to Lake County was Janesville, Wisconsin.

A second legend claims that Lincoln had a law office in Half Day. As exciting as this might be, there is no historical documentation to substantiate this claim and it simply doesn't add up. An enterprising young attorney would have certainly touted the fact that he had not one, but two offices, but Lincoln never mentions Half Day in his papers, letters or autobiographies.

Lincoln's family home and law practice were in Springfield, 200 hundred miles away. He rode the circuit on horseback six months out of the year for the Eighth Judicial Circuit in central Illinois, again hundreds of miles away.

He did have reason to come to northern Illinois; after the federal court relocated from Springfield to Chicago in 1855, Lincoln occasionally traveled to Chicago for court purposes. However, an occasional court appearance in the City would not make it feasible to hang his shingle in Half Day where he would have to rent or buy a building and duplicate his law library. Travel was slow and wearisome and a “commute” from Half Day would not be practical for timely attendance at federal court. Circa 1920 postcard of the Half Day Inn.

To entertain this notion further, we would have to wonder at Lincoln's common sense. For such an industrious man, why would he choose the tiny farm community of Half Day over bustling Libertyville or Waukegan—with its courthouse—to establish a second office?

The third legend is the most promising. It claims that Lincoln spent the night in Hainesville while visiting his friend Elijah Haines. There is no primary source documentation that this visit occurred, but locals have passed it down through generations. Oral history is sometimes the only clue to past events, and there is often truth in it, though sometimes just a grain. In this case, I believe that grain to be the fact that Haines and Lincoln were friends, and that locals were eager to promote it.

The men first met in Chicago during the Great River and Harbor Convention of July, 1847 as delegates from their regions. This convention was in response to President Polk vetoing funding for river and harbor improvements in the Great Lakes.

Haines went on to serve in the State Legislature, and had occasion to meet Lincoln in Springfield where Lincoln lived and worked. As mentioned above, Lincoln’s position as a trial and appellate attorney kept him occupied in central Illinois with occasional trips to Chicago. Taking a 49-mile detour from Chicago to visit a friend in Hainesville wasn’t impossible, but unnecessary since the men could see each other in Springfield.

A key factor in determining the credibility of Lincoln lore is the amount of documentation. Lincoln is one of the most documented people in American history. People went to great lengths to record his life, including Lincoln, who wrote three autobiographies.

If you've heard other Lake County Lincoln legends, please let me know. I'd enjoy hearing them and adding them to the list.

Lincoln's First Inauguration

President Lincoln's first Inauguration was held on March 4, 1861 with the oath of office taking place on the steps of the capitol. Shown here is an artist's drawing made at the event from the collections of Georgetown University.

Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, felt it was important for the new First Family to put their best foot forward. She worried that Washington, D.C. society would look down their noses at the Illinoisians. Mrs. Lincoln's efforts which included wearing the most fashionable clothes and re-decorating the White House were highly criticized.

Mary wore an elegant gown to the Inaugural Ball, as shown here in a photograph by Matthew Brady and held in the collections of the Library of Congress. Brady was famous for his portraits of the most celebrated people of the day, and later for his Civil War battlefield photographs.











A dress worn at the first Inaugural Ball is in the collections of the Lake County Discovery Museum. The wearer's name is unknown, but she was related to a woman who lived in Waukegan. The gown is shown here without undergarments.

Though the dress is in need of conservation, its former beauty is still evident in the details. Shown here is one of the lovely purple florettes that embellish the dress.



The donor, Adaline Roemer Banta, was the granddaughter of Union General Louis Blenker. The dress and the General's papers were donated to the Museum in 1961.

Lincoln's Hands by Leonard W. Volk

Casts of Abraham Lincoln's hands are commonly found in museum collections, even the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a set. I'm sure Lincoln would be surprised by the amount of memorabilia preserved in his honor--copies of the Gettysburg Address, lithograph portraits, busts, and so on.

The plaster casts of Lincoln's right and left hands from the Lake County Discovery Museum's collection (as shown), are copies made from the original bronze casts. The plaster casts were relatively inexpensive and widely sold throughout the country. No doubt a previous museum director thought them a necessary addition to the Museum's collection because of Lincoln's connection to Lake County. He visited here during his campaign for the presidency in 1860.


The original casts were made in Springfield, Illinois, in May 1860, by American sculptor Leonard W. Volk (1828–1895). It was just after Lincoln received the nomination for president and he had been shaking a lot of hands in congratulations. His right hand had swollen from giving and receiving so many firm handshakes, and to minimize this fact, Volk asked Lincoln to hold an object. Lincoln produced a broom handle and widdled the ends.

Despite the plaster casts having little monetary value, they are popular exhibition pieces, and are a reminder of the great respect Americans hold for Lincoln.