Lincoln Essay Medal
An idea of Jacob Bunn, Jr.'s in 1924, designed by Lincoln sculptor Douglas Volk, and awarded to high school students in more than 23,000 high schools by The Illinois Watch Company. The medal was given to winners of the Abraham Lincoln Essay Contest. It was given all over the world.

A typical Sangamo Electric meter, found on buildings and homes all over the world, even today. Check your meter at home, says the author!
 

An Illinois Watch Co. pocket watch, famous for the Bunn Special watches used by railroads.
 

Andrew can be contacted through blueridgetraditions.com
or by writing to:
Blue Lady Bookshop
P.O. Box 800
Rocky Mount, VA 24151

Surprising Connections
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From Springfield to the World

Bunn-O-Matic Corporation, started by a great-grandson of Jacob Bunn's.
 
Bunn Capitol Company - Still going strong since Jacob Bunn's time: Bunn Capitol Co.'s beautiful online store for gourmet meats, coffees, nuts, candies, desserts, and much more. Read their History section. Jacob Bunn lives on!
 
The Rosenwalds, colleagues and friends of Jacob Bunn: The Rosenwald family of Springfield and Sears Roebuck Co., Jewish philanthropy, Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
 
Rosenwald philanthropy for African-Americans in the South.
 
Romance, Politics, Business, silver mining, and other activities of
Jacob Bunn's world
 
NAACP, the corn dog on a stick, the [storm-stranded (cannibalist) Donner Party, and Marjorie Meriwether Post [founder of General Foods, mother of actress Dina Merrill, wife of E.F. Hutton] all started in Springfield.
 
Blue Ridge Traditions Magazine--published and owned by a great-great-granddaughter of Jacob Bunn: www.blueridgetraditions.com

The Lincoln Connection

Abraham Lincoln - American 19th Century Literature: see pages 94 for correspondence mentioning the Bunns, specifically this section.

The Unpublished Letters of Mary Todd Lincoln, by Thomas F. Schwartz and Anne V. Shaughnessy. 1990, Vol. 11. See her letters to Jacob Bunn from France in 1877.

Unpublished Mary Lincoln Letters, p. 35 [to Jacob Bunn from France, Oct. 1877) and the write-up of him and his relationship to the Lincolns

The Lincolns go shopping in Springfield in 1849

University of Illinois Press, Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association

Lincoln's Law Offices and Partners

"Plummer-Lincoln's Rail Splitter": Chapter 8, by Governor Richard J. Oglesby

Mark Twain, Charles Dana and Bunn's Chicago-Republican Newspaper

Charles Dana and the Chicago Republican newspaper:
     http://www.state.nh.us/nhdhr/warheroes/danac.html
    http://www.famousamericans.net/charlesandersondana/
    http://www.comm.wayne.edu/images/wright/14_newprofession.html
    http://www.theezine.net/c/chicago-illinois.html

Mark Twain, a correspondent to the Chicago-Republican Newspaper

See "A Fashion Item" by Twain on this site

Mark Twain's Old West stories for the Chicago-Republican

Mark Twain's article on "Congressional Poetry" in the Chicago-Republican

Assorted articles by Mark Twain in the Chicago-Republican

The Watch and Electric Meter Connection

National Association Watch Clock Collectors

A Collection of Bunn Special pocket watches

Illinois Watch information

Additional Illinois Watch information
 
Timeline of electric meter industry

Sangamo Electric history and meters

Working at Sangamo Electric--stories

Letter written by a British employee of Sangamo-Weston, and the history of Dr. Weston's role in the electric instrument industry
 
About Hungarian inventor Otto Blathy and the transformer:
http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/hunspir/hsp52.htm
and towards the end of this next article,
http://www.webenetics.com/hungary/sciencemathandtech.htm

The Railroad Connection

How the Panic of 1873 affected Virginia railroads, including those in the Roanoke and Salem areas.
 
This timeline of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad ties in with Watson Bradley Dickerman in the book. See pps. 169, 170. On this site, click onto the link for History of the Norfolk & Southern.

The Panic of 1873 Connection

Citation: Frank Steindl, "Review of Elmus Wicker Banking Panics of the Gilded Age" Economic History Services, Mar 8, 2001
 
"Greenbacks" as currency, and the Greenback Party, silver, President Grant, banks of the Interior.
 
An article that explains new political groups in Illinois, especially in Chicago, because of the Panic.

The Agriculture Connection

Antique Case Tractors
 
The National Agricultural Hall of Fame (Case, McCormick, Whitney, others)
 
History of Sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar.
 
Beet Sugar and Napoleon, giving rise to German expertise in beet sugar production.
 
CNH, the power behind leading agricultural and construction equipment brands of the Case and New Holland brand families.

The Sangamon County and Illinois Connection

The Sangamon County Community Foundation

Jacob Bunn, Jr. and peers, Sangamon County Community Foundation, then and now (PDF)

Riverton and its visitors!

Sangamon County Genealogy and History site

Sangamon County Historical Society links

Benjamin Hamilton Ferguson

Links of interest for Illinois history

History of the Illinois State Library from 1870-1920 and Jacob Bunn's role in it.
 
The Pasfield House - The first George Pasfield to arrive in Springfield assisted Abraham Lincoln and "the long nine" in having the state capital relocated from Vandalia to Springfield.

Other Links of Interest

Jacob Bunn, Jr.'s obituary

Laureates of the American National Business Hall of Fame; the list includes Jacob Bunn, who was nominated by Andrew T. Call. Jacob Bunn was born on March 18; Andrew T. Call was born on March 18, and Jacob Bunn was admitted into the American Business Hall of Fame AND the Illinois Business Hall of Fame, thanks to Andrew's nomination of him, on March 18, 2005.
  
New Jersey Historical Society
 
Ethics and Capitalism" by Richard E. Hattwick (of the American National Business Hall of Fame)  Note: This is a PDF file.
 
Descendant of Watson Bradley Dickerman, and his philanthropy around the world. See this site, page 20 for "Watson Dickerman Remembered."  Note: This is a PDF file.
 
The "old" Sangamo logo and a Lanphier descendant in a California company: Sangamo BioSciences.
 
The historic 19th century Benjamin and Alice Edwards Ferguson home where Theodore Roosevelt dined. See the photo of the house before it became a funeral home in the 20th century.