Notes for Stephen Arnold Douglas

Notes for Stephen Arnold Douglas

!The Life of Stephen A. Douglas; "The Little Giant" by J. E. Potter: Mr. Douglas was married twice. He left two little sons, the children of his first wife, who was a southern lady. In 1857, he married Miss Adele Cutts, daughter of James Madison Cutts, Esq., second Controller of the Treasury, a beautiful and accomplished woman, and well known in Washington for the amicability of her disposition, and the goodness of her heart. He had one child, a daughter, by his second marriage.

Stephen Arnold Douglas was born at Brandon, Vermont, on the 23rd of April, 1813. His father was a physician, descended from Scotch ancestors, who had settled in Connecticut before the Revolution. his mother was the daughter of a prosperous Vermont farmer. Before he was three months old his father, whose only fortune was his practice, suddenly died. A bachelor brother of the widow took the family to his home near Brandon, where they lived for fifteen years. When not needed at more important work Stephen attended the common school. but the serious business of life was tilling his uncle's fields.

The Douglases (Adele and Stephen) shared an unusually close and empathic relationship, particularly in times of trial. Adele suffered a miscarriage in February 1858, she was so weakened that for several days doctors feared for her life. In the following weeks, Stephen himself became seriously ill and briefly abandoned his senatorial obligations. The next year, after giving birth to a daughter, Ellen, who lived only a few weeks, Adele once more became desperately ill. Her health began to improve, but then Stephen succumbed to illness, and the two shared weeks of convalescence.

Douglas made his most significant gift for the advancement of learning in his home city of Chicago. In 1856, he offered ten acres of his Oakenwald estate worth $50,000 as the site for the University of Chicago, an institution being organized by local Baptists. The gift was immediately criticized by Douglas's political foes as an effort to increase the value of his property or curry the political support of the Baptists. Douglas offered to withdraw the gift and subscribe $50,000 to locate the University on another site. But the president and trustees refused to be swayed, and in 1858 Stephen and Adele Douglas gave the land to the University of Chicago. A predecessor of the present University of Chicago, this institution served the community for thirty years before closing for financial reasons.