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Coles County
Coles County is a county in Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,863. Its county seat is Charleston, which is also the home of Eastern Illinois University. Coles County is part of the Charleston- Mattoon, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Coles County was organized by on December 25, 1830, from Clark and Edgar counties. It was named after Edward Coles, the second governor of Illinois, from 1822 to 1826. The majority of the American settlers who founded Coles County were either from the six New England states, or were born in upstate New York to parents who had moved to that region from New England shortly after the American Revolution. They were part of a wave of farmers who headed west into the frontier of the Northwest Territory during the early 1800s. The completion of the Erie Canal led to an increase in such migrants heading west. When these settlers originally reached what is today Coles County, they found dense virgin forest and prairie. T ...
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Coles County Courthouse
Coles County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Charleston, Illinois. The courthouse is located in a public square in central Charleston and houses most of Coles County, Illinois's administrative offices as well as its courts. It was built in 1898 and designed by Chicago architect C. W. Rapp in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The building's exterior is faced in brown stone from the Embarras River; Bedford stone is used for several architectural details. The corners of the building feature pavilions topped by pyramids, and a clock tower topped with a pyramid is situated atop the center of the courthouse. The four main entrances, located on each side of the building, feature an arcaded porch with recessed doors. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation ...
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Abolitionism
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British abolitionist movement started in the late 18th century when English and American Quakers began to question the morality of slavery. James Oglethorpe was among the first to articulate the Enlightenment case against slavery, banning it in the Province of Georgia on humanitarian grounds, and arguing against it in Parliament, and eventually encouraging his friends Granville Sharp and Hannah More to vigorously pursue the cause. Soon after Oglethorpe's death in 1785, Sharp and More united with William Wilberforce and others in forming the Clapham Sect. The Somersett case in 1772, in which a fugitive slave was freed with the judgement that slavery did not exist under English common law, helped launch the British movement to abolish slavery. T ...
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Ghost Hunting
Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters use a variety of electronic devices, including EMF meters, digital thermometers, both handheld and static digital video cameras, including thermographic and night vision cameras, night vision goggles, as well as digital audio recorders. Other more traditional techniques are also used, such as conducting interviews and researching the history of allegedly haunted sites. Ghost hunters may also refer to themselves as "paranormal investigators." Ghost hunting has been heavily criticized for its dismissal of the scientific method. No scientific study has ever been able to confirm the existence of ghosts. The practice is considered a pseudoscience by the vast majority of educators, academics, and science writers. Regal, Brian. (2009). ''Pseudoscience: A Criti ...
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Ashmore Estates
Ashmore Estates is a historic building outside Ashmore, Illinois, United States. It was built in 1916 as the second almshouse on the property, part of the Coles County Poor Farm. This complex operated until 1959. That year, the building and related grounds were purchased (and named) by Ashmore Estates, Inc. for use as a private care facility for people with mental and other disabilities. Ashmore Estates closed in 1986 because of financial difficulties in a changing health care environment. The structure was abandoned and vacant until 2006. Under new ownership, it was adapted and operated as a commercial haunted house. Storm damage in 2013 resulted in another change of ownership. Owners since 2014 have performed basic repairs for structural preservation, and intend to feature it as a historic structure and site for paranormal investigation. History Coles County Poor Farm From 1857 until 1869, the Coles County Poor Farm was located in Charleston Township near the small town of L ...
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Michael Kleen
Michael Alan Kleen is a publisher, folklorist, and politician from Illinois. He was the 2013 Republican nominee for mayor of Rockford, Illinois. In a three-way race, he finished third with 18 percent of the vote. Early life and education Kleen was born in Chicago and grew up in the northwest suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois. He received a B.A. in Philosophy in 2006 and M.A. in History in 2008 from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, and a M.S. in Education in 2011 from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. While at Eastern, Michael began writing about local folklore, founded the publishing company Black Oak Press Illinois, and wrote a bi weekly column for the Daily Eastern News. From 2004 to 2007, he was head of an informal group at EIU that visited allegedly haunted places around Coles County, Illinois. In 2005 he wrote and published ''Tales of Coles County, Illinois'', a collection of short historical fiction stories set in Coles County. He also auth ...
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Pemberton Hall (Eastern Illinois University)
Pemberton Hall is a women's residence hall at Eastern Illinois University, in Charleston, Illinois. Located at the north end of the university campus, at the corner of 4th street and Lincoln Avenue, Pemberton Hall is registered as a historic landmark, due to its status as the oldest women's college residence hall in the state. History Construction of Pemberton Hall was completed in 1909, when Eastern Illinois University (EIU) was still Eastern Illinois State Normal School. The building was named for Illinois state senator Stanton C. Pemberton, who was instrumental in getting funding for the building approved. The four-story building was designed for residency by approximately 100 female students, and included parlors, fireplaces, fourth floor maid's quarters, a matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The ...
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Mad Gasser Of Mattoon
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon (also known as the "Anesthetic Prowler," the "Phantom Anesthetist," or simply the "Mad Gasser") was the name given to the person or people believed to be responsible for a series of apparent gas attacks that occurred in Mattoon, Illinois, during the mid-1940s. More than two dozen separate cases of gassings were reported to police over the span of two weeks, in addition to many more reported sightings of the suspected assailant. The gasser's supposed victims reported smelling strange odors in their homes which were soon followed by symptoms such as paralysis of the legs, coughing, nausea and vomiting. No one died or had serious medical consequences. Police remained skeptical of the accounts throughout the entire incident. No physical evidence was ever found, and many reported gassings had simple explanations, such as spilled nail polish or odors emanating from animals or local factories. Victims made quick recoveries from their symptoms and suffered no long- ...
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Copperhead (politics)
In the 1860s, the Copperheads, also known as Peace Democrats, were a faction of Democrats in the Union who opposed the American Civil War and wanted an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. Republicans started calling anti-war Democrats "Copperheads", after the eastern copperhead (''Agkistrodon contortrix''), a species of venomous snake. Those Democrats accepted the label, reinterpreting the copper "head" as the likeness of Liberty, which they cut from Liberty Head large cent coins and proudly wore as badges. By contrast, Democratic supporters of the war were called War Democrats. Notable Copperheads included two Democratic Congressmen from Ohio: Clement L. Vallandigham and Alexander Long. Republican prosecutors accused some prominent Copperheads of treason in a series of trials in 1864. Copperheadism was a highly contentious grassroots movement. It had its strongest base in the area just north of the Ohio River as well as in some urban ethnic wards. Historians ...
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Stephen Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which was won by Republican Abraham Lincoln. Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in the 1858 United States Senate election in Illinois, known for the pivotal Lincoln–Douglas debates. He was one of the brokers of the Compromise of 1850 which sought to avert a sectional crisis; to further deal with the volatile issue of extending slavery into the territories, Douglas became the foremost advocate of popular sovereignty, which held that each territory should be allowed to determine whether to permit slavery within its borders. This attempt to address the issue was rejected by both pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates. Douglas was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature but a forceful and dominant figure in politic ...
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Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Many Reformed churches are organised this way, but the word ''Presbyterian'', when capitalized, is often applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of grace through faith in Christ. Presbyterian church government was ensured in Scotland by the Acts of Union in 1707, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. In fact, most Presbyterians found in England can trace a Scottish connection, and the Presbyterian denomination was also taken ...
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Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement. They were named ''Methodists'' for "the methodical way in which they carried out their Christian faith". Methodism originated as a revival movement within the 18th-century Church of England and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death. The movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond because of vigorous missionary work, today claiming approximately 80 million adherents worldwide. Wesleyan theology, which is upheld by the Methodist churches, focuses on sanctification and the transforming effect of faith on the character of a Christian. Distinguishing doctrines include the new birth, assurance, imparted righteousness, ...
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Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul competency (the responsibility and accountability of every person before God), ''sola fide'' (salvation by just faith alone), ''sola scriptura'' (scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice) and congregationalist church government. Baptists generally recognize two ordinances: baptism and communion. Diverse from their beginning, those identifying as Baptists today differ widely from one another in what they believe, how they worship, their attitudes toward other Christians, and their understanding of what is important in Christian discipleship. For example, Baptist theology may include Arminian or Calvinist beliefs with various sub-groups holding different or competing positions, while others allow for diversity in this matter within t ...
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