Excerpt from Early Bench and Bar of Illinois Some years ago when in social conversation with two gentlemen of the Bar, I was relating some professional incidents which had occurred many years before, when one of them suggested that it would be interesting to the profession of the present day if I would note down, events which had occurred in the early times and lay them before the public; I promised to do so, and the result was a series of articles published in the Chicago Legal News. Upon their publication I received many letters from gentlemen of the Bar in various parts of the State, expressing the hope that the articles might be republished in book form. I finally revised these articles and prepared them for the press, with several new papers which have not been previously published, and placed them in the hands of the printer, thinking that many incidents and some peculiarities of former times might be thus perpetuated, which may in still later times be considered worth remembering. I do this the more readily as I am probably the only man now living who can speak from personal observations and recollections of events of fifty years and more ago. In the Appendix I have given an address delivered before the State Bar Association on the 24th of January last, and another given before the Chicago Bar Association February 11, 1893, in which will be found some statements germane to the subject, not previously given. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar of Illinois It is perfectly natural, at least it has always been, from the dawn of creation, and will doubtless be (as Governor Reynolds used to say, "till eternity in the afternoon") the case that people will reverence the past and desire to be fully posted as to the men and the events of by-gone periods; and this is particularly the case in reference to what are called the "transition periods" in the history of a people. Illinois has, within the last forty years, been passing through that period. Forty years ago she had not to exceed 140,000 inhabitants, and not a mile of railroad; now she has a population of at least 3,000,000, and more miles of railroad than any other State in the Union. She produces more of the means of subsistence than any territory of equal extent in America. In 1838, she was in debt more than $18,000,000. She has paid, to the uttermost farthing, that debt, principal and interest, with the exception of a small sum - not yet due - but which she could this day discharge without occasioning the slightest embarrassment. She is in receipt from the Illinois Central railroad of an annual stipend, varying between half and three-quarters of a million of dollars - enough almost to run the State government. She has cut no mean or inconsiderable figure in the political history of the country. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Bench and Bar of Illinois, Vol. 1: Historical and Reminiscent It may be recalled that in the prospectus of this work there appeared the following words, which, per se, stand in justification of the history of the Bench and Bar of Illinois: "The memory of the life of even a lawyer is fleeting - a name written upon the sandy shore of time, effaced by the oncoming wave of the next generation; his work is for the present, and unless some effort is made to preserve in permanent form a record of that work it will be lost to the future. Even the great judges are forgotten; they live only in the pages of dry and musty reports, and then the recollection is only a shadow. In no better way can some of the most valued items in the history of the lives of such men be preserved than through the medium of such a work. Thus may the merits and virtues of those eminent in the profession be recorded for the emulation and guidance of the younger generation." In the compilation of the work the editor and the publishers have fully recognized the magnitude of the task set them, and in the collation of material for the same there has been a constant aim to use a wise discrimination in regard to the selection of subjects and the methods of treatment. The province of the work is entirely aside from technical lines, and the subject-matter is presented in a style which is mainly reminiscent, though due recognition is accorded the contemporaries of the bench and bar of this end-of-the-century period. In the compilation recourse has been had to divers authorities, including various histories and historical collections, and implying an almost endless array of papers and documents, both public and private. That so much matter could be gathered from so many original sources and then sifted and assimilated for the production of a single work without incurring a modicum of errors and inaccuracies-, would be too much to expect of any corps of writers, no matter how able they might be as statisticians or skilled as compilers of such works. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.