Genoa Sebastian Washington (1897-1972)

Portrait from the Illinois Blue Book, 1967-68.

   Noted as being a "champion of civil rights laws and women's legislation", Genoa Sebastian Washington was a leading legal figure in Chicago, Illinois, serving as a vice president of the Cook County Bar Association. Active in politics as well as law, Washington twice served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention and was a three-term member of the Illinois State House of Representatives from 1966-1972, dying in office in the last-named year.

   The son of the Rev. Virgil William Washington and the former Lucy Virginia Bonner, Genoa S. Washington was born in Washington D.C. on September 26, 1897. Virgil Washington was a minister and General Secretary in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and due to his father's church work "attended the primary and secondary schools wherever the work of his father carried him". A veteran of World War I, Genoa Washington had enlisted as a private and would be honorably discharged as a "captain of infantry" at the war's conclusion.

   Following his military service, Washington attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, graduating from that school in the 1920s with his B.S. degree. He would continue study at Northwestern Law School and in 1929 was admitted to the Illinois Bar. He would practice law in Cook County for many years afterward and also served as a past vice president of the Cook County Bar Association. In addition to practicing law, Washington attained high office in the Chicago branch of the NAACP, of which he served as president. A longstanding Mason, Washington served as a past master of the Richard E. Moore Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and is also remarked as having served on "the Imperial Council of the Mystic Shrine." In 1952 he served as an alternate delegate from Illinois to the Republican National Convention that nominated Dwight Eisenhower for the Presidency.

    In 1954 Washington made his first attempt at elective office when he announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois' 1st district. After winning the Republican primary in April Washington became the Republican candidate for the seat, squaring off against Democratic incumbent William L. Dawson. On election day 1954, it was Dawson who won out, besting Washington by a wide margin, 71, 472 votes to 23, 470.

   Genoa Washington achieved national prominence in September 1957 when he was selected by President Eisenhower to serve as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations 12th General Assembly. Washington represented the United States on a special political committee of the UN General Assembly and early in his tenure at the UN conferred with both Israel and the "delegations of Arab countries" regarding the latter's advocation of a strong resolution against Israel and its stance on Palestinian refugees. Washington would also host a banquet for UN delegates at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in December 1957, where he stated:

"These friends from a far have had too little opportunity to know colored Americans due to the lack of suitable contact. I believe that the American cause would be enhanced if these opportunities are increased."

Genoa Washington (center), from Jet Magazine, January 1958.

  In 1960 Genoa Washington was again a candidate for Congress from Illinois's 1st district. In a nearly identical repeat of the 1954 race, Washington won the Republican primary held in April of that year and in November again faced incumbent representative William Dawson. On November 8th it was Dawson who cruised to an easy victory, beating Washington by a 54,000 vote margin! 

   Four years following his defeat Washington journeyed to San Francisco as part of the Illinois delegation to the 1964 Republican National Convention that nominated Barry Goldwater for President. Washington's political fortunes changed in 1966 when he launched a candidacy for a seat in the Illinois State Assembly. Hoping to represent Cook County's 23rd district, he would win election to the state house in November of that year. His freshman term in the legislature saw him sit on the committees on Revenue, Industry and Labor Relations, and Registration and Regulation.

   Elected to his second term in the state house in 1968, Washington served on the House Committee on Education and the Judiciary during the 1968-70 term. He would win a third term in the legislature in November 1970 and in the March 1972 Republican primary defeated three other Republican candidates to once again become that party's assembly nominee from Cook County's 23rd district. Washington's death at age 75 on October 14, 1972 (just a few weeks prior to the election) curtailed his being elected to a fourth term in the assembly. A lifelong bachelor, Washington's burial location is unknown at this time, but it's presumed to be in Chicago, where he had resided and worked for nearly all his life.

Genoa Washington in 1963 during his time as imperial potentate of the Prince Hall Shriners.

McKendree Hypes Chamberlain (1838-1914)

From the 1928 McKendrean Centennial Yearbook.

     A prominent son of Illinois, McKendree Hypes Chamberlain gained distinction as the President of McKendree College during the late 19th century, and during his decade-plus tenure in that office took great strides to help the school succeed both academically and financially. While his time as President of McKendree College is undoubtedly the most important aspect of his life, Chamberlain had earlier been a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1872, earning him a write-up here.

   It can rightly be said that McKendree Hypes Chamberlain's connection with McKendree College extended back to his birth, which occurred on the college grounds on November 17, 1838. McKendree's father, the Rev. David Chamberlain (1788-1880), is recorded as having been "one of the original subscribers to the fund for the founding of the institution" and at the time of his son's birth was head of the college's boarding department. Chamberlain's unusual name also has a connection to the college that he later oversaw, as he was bestowed the name "McKendree" in honor of the school's namesake, Bishop William McKendree (1757-1835), the first Methodist bishop to be born in the United States. Chamberlain's middle name Hypes came about from one Benjamin "Uncle Ben" Hypes (1805-1896), a prominent citizen who resided in Chamberlain's hometown of Lebanon.

   Recorded as having grown up in the "college atmosphere", McKendree Chamberlain attended McKendree College for six years and graduated in the class of 1859 with an A.B. (bachelor of arts) degree. Shortly afterward he began pursuing the study of law at Harvard University and after graduating in 1861 relocated to Kansas City, Missouri to begin his career in law. His stay here proved to be short-lived, as he moved back to Illinois, settling in the village of Beardstown. Once settled, Chamberlain established a law practice in town and is mentioned by the 1905 edition of the McKendree Pigskin yearbook as developing an interest in newspaper publishing. His newfound interest led him to the Beardstown Illinoisan, where he served as an editor. In 1862 Chamberlain was awarded a master of arts degree by his alma mater and in June of 1869 married in Kansas City, Missouri to Helen Lemira Dana (1841-1928) and later had two children, Clifford Dana (born 1870) and Ellen, who died aged two months in 1876. Shortly following his marriage Chamberlain became engaged in the railroad industry and later was named to the Illinois Railroad Commission for a five-year term. 

   In 1872 Chamberlain was selected "without his knowledge or consent" as a Presidential Elector for the Springfield district of Illinois and was accorded further honors later in the election year when he "was removed from the electoral ticket, and despite his earnest protest, was made the congressional candidate from this district." While having the Republican nomination for Congress quite literally fall into his lap, Chamberlain accepted the offer tendered to him and in the November 1872 election faced incumbent Democrat James Carroll Robinson (1823-1886). As a Republican nominee in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, Chamberlain lost out on election day by a slim margin of only 934 votes. A result from that contest appeared in the Tribune Almanac and Political Register of 1872 and is shown below (with the candidate's names abbreviated.)

    Chamberlain's 1872 candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives marked the beginning and the end of his involvement in politics, and after his defeat migrated west, where he entered the mining industry. After several years he moved to St. Louis and was still a resident of this city in 1894, the year that he became the President of McKendree College. Elected to this post by the college board, Chamberlain was faced with the daunting task of heading a college that was badly in debt, and within a few months of becoming president had instituted a plan that would help the college out of financial stress. As the 1928 McKendree College Centennial yearbook detailed, President Chamberlain noted that "the college must have at least $100,000 of new endowment to make its foundation safe" and after some deliberation made the announcement that "he would expect the people of Lebanon to pay for the debt, then he would ask a wider constituency to furnish the endowment."

   While his plan may have been ambitious, it did succeed. After a year or so of constant work on college finances, the debt was paid off, and over the succeeding years Chamberlain continued to make advances for the college, including having college professor's salaries increased "from seven hundred dollars annually to one thousand two hundred,  paid in full" and had "buildings repaired and steam heat installed, and the curriculum has been changed, until to-day it is second to none." Chamberlain's presidency extended from 1894-1908 and at the time of his retirement in 1908 was honored with the position of president-meritus and college trustee. 

   Around 1910 Chamberlain and his wife removed from Lebanon, Illinois to Los Angeles, California, where they would reside for the remainder of their lives. McKendree Hypes Chamberlain died at his home in Los Angeles on July 28, 1914, at age 76 and was later cremated. His ashes were later returned to Lebanon for burial at the College Hill Cemetery, located a short distance from McKendree College. Chamberlain's widow Helen continued to reside in California following her husband's death and after her passing in 1928 was also interred at the College Hill Cemetery.

From the 1905 McKendrean Yearbook.