Excerpt from Brief History of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Blind, Located at Jacksonville, Ill: 1849-1893

In the summer of 1847, Samuel Bacon, who had just graduated from the Ohio Institution for the Instruction of the Blind at Colum bus and who had been employed there during the previous year as a pupil teacher, determined to seek his fortune in the West. Accordingly he embarked at Cincinnati with the intention of goingto Galena, Illinois. While on the steamboat below St. Louis, he became acquainted with a gentleman from Southern Illinois who was a member of the Constitutional Convention then in session at Springfield. By him Mr. Bacon was informed that a large building was about to be erected in Jacksonville, Illinois, in which, when completed, a school for the blind was to be Opened. Thinking that he might obtain employment as a teacher in the new institution, he turned his course toward Morgan county and arrived at J ackson ville, August 12, 1847. Here he learned that the supposed insti tution for the blind was a hospital for the insane.

Mr. Bacon remained several days in Jacksonville during which time he met Mr. John W. Lathrop and by him was introduced to Dr. English, Judge Lockwood, Judge Berdan, Dennis Rockwell, and others, by whom he was encouraged to attempt the establish ment of a school for the blind.

Concerning the visit of Mr. Bacon to Jacksonville, Mr. Lathrop relates several interesting incidents. On one occasion Mr. Bacon was in Mr. Lathrop's store in consultation with Judge Lockwood, Dennis Rockwell, and others. A gentleman entered who desired to pay a note the amount of which was at that time due Mr. Lathrop. The note was produced and read in an undertone, but loud enough for the sensitive ear of a blind man to hear every word. The note bore an endorsement indicating that one partial payment had been made. What'is the legal rate of interest in Illinois? Inquired Mr. Bacon. Ten per cent, replied the holder of the note, and before Mr. Lathrop with paper and pencil could solve the problem presented, the blind man named the amount due which proved to be correct to a cent.

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