W. Ross, of Lewiston, since a member of congress, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. In the
autumn of that year he settled in Havana, and was in practice here until he went on the bench.
In 1862 he was elected by his democratic constituents a member of the lower house of the legisla-
ture, and served one term. In June, 1873 he was elected judge of the seventeenth district, comprising
the counties of Mason, Menard, Logan and Be Witt. Four years afterward the seventeenth and
eighteenth districts were consolidated, and designated the seventh judicial circuit, and Judge
Lacey was appointed by the supreme court one of the three appellate judges of the third or
Springfield district. He was reflected one of the circuit judges in June, 1879, of the seventh



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UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 757

judicial circuit, comprising the ten counties of Mason, Logan, De Witt, Menard, Cass, Morgan,
Scott, Calhoun, Greene and Jersey, and he was appointed one of the appellate judges by the
supreme court for the second district, held at Ottawa. Judge Lacey is a clear-headed man, with
a fine judicial mind, and stands high among the jurists of the state.

Judge Lacey was first married May 9, 1860, to Miss Caroline A. Potter, of Beardstown, Cass
county, she dying September 12, 1863; and the second time May 19, 1865, to Mattie A. Warner, of
Havana. He has one child living by the first wife, Lyman Lacey, Jr., and five by his present
wife: Charles, Frank, Mattie, Edward and Alice G. One child by the first wife and two by the
second have died.



HON. CONSIDER H. WILLETT.

CHICAGO.

/CONSIDER HEATH WILLETT was born in the town of Onondaga, near Syracuse, New
V_x York, December 12, 1840. His education was obtained in a select school near his home, and
in Onondaga and Cortlandville academies. He took a course of private instruction in higher
mathematics under Professor H. N. Robinson, at Elbridge, New York, and was graduated at the
New York State Normal School at Albany, in the spring of 1862. He then volunteered as a pri-
vate soldier at thirteen dollars a month and rations, and was afterward promoted to a captaincy,
and served in the army of the rebellion till the close of the war. After his army life he attended
a short course of medical lectures at Bellevue Medical Hospital College, in New York city.

In the army our soldier, after studying every work on military tactics, and on international
and military law, read Kent and Blackstone under the instructions of another captain, who had
practiced law in Boston for many years. He attended the war class of the Albany Law School,
it being the first lectures after the war, and most of its members being veterans. The lecturers
were Professor Amos Dean, Senator Ira Harris and Judge Amasa J. Parker. May 10, 1866, he
was admitted to the bar upon an examination in open court, in the supreme court at Albany, New
York. He studied law in Syracuse, in the office of the well known firms of Sedgwick, Andrews
and Kennedy, and Ruger and Jenney, Charles H. Andrews being the late chief-justice of the
court of appeals of New York, and Henry C. Ruger occupying that position at present.

He then entered the law department of Michigan University, and was graduated in 1867, the
professors being Judges J. V. Campbell, Thomas M. Cooley and C. I. Walker and Ashley Pond.
After spending a few weeks in Syracuse, New York, in closing up a law and pension claim busi-
ness established there, he located in Chicago, and became a member of the Illinois bar, July 29,
1867. He was married at Ann Arbor, Michigan, November 5, 1867, to Miss L. Addie Wilder, who
is an educated and accomplished lady. They have a pleasant home, and a flock of little ones.
He has been conscientious and fearless in the discharge of public duties, giving satisfaction to
those who sought the public good, and being feared and traduced by those who only sought
their own good at the expense of the public. The parents of the subject of this sketch were pio-
neer farmers in the most fertile and beautiful parts of the Empire State. When a lad, he was
taught all sorts of work which constitute farming, besides obtaining a practical knowledge of
many kinds of manual labor. He was a clerk in a store, and deputy postmaster, and for two
winters taught school. In the army he spent his time first with the Army of the Potomac, and
then in Florida, in the department of the Gulf.

His life in Chicago has been that of a laborious lawyer. He has never been a candidate for a
popular office, though he has been an active, influential and earnest politician ; b'ut has been
appointed village attorney of the village of Hyde Park three times, and county attorney of Cook
county four times, the duties of such appointments being strictly within the line of his law busi-
ness. His legal attainments, and attention to business early made his success assured. He has
had his share of the varied law business which centers at Chicago. His employment has been
sought in the most intricate and difficult cases, which are finally to be determined by the courts



758 UNITKn STATES BIOUKAP111CAI. jnCTIONARY.

of last resort. The legal accuracy and attention to close questions by Mr. Willett is well illus-
trated by the case of Fisher vs. Deering, 60 111., 114. To win his case he had to overrule Chap-
man vs. McGrew, 20 111., 101, and Dixon vs. Buell, 21 111., 203, which held that leases were not
assignable because not embraced in the statutes concerning negotiable instruments. Mr. Willett
demonstrated that leases were assignable at the common law by virtue of the 32, Hen. VIII,
Chap. 34, Sec. i, which had been adopted by our statutes concerning the common law. The
principles of the ancient common law are living forces to-day in the titles and complications of
real estate.

He has an industry in the preparation of cases which will not permit any details to escape
their place of usefulness, and understanding the principle which should govern the case, all
things else are subordinated to the main design, and help to bring success. In the discharge of
his duty to his clients, are found integrity and industry, honesty and zeal, and none ever feel that
aught has been left undone that could contribute aid to the case. He has the ability, and takes
rank among those who excel in whatever work is undertaken, and these are some of the many
qualifications which indicate the sort of character he has built.

Mr. Willett is not a man to waste time and force in keeping up mere appearances. He is in*
no sense a conventional man, and is too thoroughly in earnest to ever be contented with the
petty aim of mere success. He has to the thoughtful observer always an earnestness akin to
tragedy, yet his manner is undemonstrative, and his speech reserved. His earnestness shows an
utter indifference to the trivialities, and in being absorbed in the principal things which are
essential to accomplish results. Opportunity, which comes to most men veiled, so that they do
not recognize her until she has passed, is to this man an open secret, consequently he pushes by,
and wins the race, while other men wonder at his audacity and success.



A 1



AREA N. WATERMAN.

CHICAGO.
RBA NELSON WATERMAN is a native of Orleans county, Vermont, and was born at



Greensboro, February 5, 1836. His father, Loring F. Waterman, a merchant, was born at
Johnson, Vermont, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Stevens, was born in Greens-
boro, her father being a mill owner and prominent^ business man in that town. The paternal
great-grandfather of Arba was a captain in the revolutionary army, and had a number of sons
who were substantial men, and among the leading citizens of Lamoille county, Vermont. One
of them, Arunah Waterman, grandfather of our subject, was a woolen manufacturer at Mont-
pelier, and served in the state senate for several years. Mr. Waterman received a first class aca-
demic education at Johnson, Montpelier, Georgia, and Norwich military schools, all in his native
state; taught one year in the Georgia Academy; studied law at Montpelier and the Albany (New
York) Law School: was admitted to practice in 1861; opened a law office in Joliet, Illinois, and in
1862 enlisted as a private in the tooth regiment Illinois infantry, made up in Will county, and
connected with the department of the Cumberland; was in numerous engagements, including
Chicamaugua, Resaca, Dalton, and Altoona Mountains, etc. At the first-named battle he had his
horse killed under him, and was afterward shot through the right arm and in the right side, but
did not leave the service until August, 1864, being mustered out as a lieutenant-colonel of the
regiment. On leaving the army Colonel Waterman opened a law office in Chicago, with residence
at Waukegan, until 1868, when he removed to this city. He is doing a general civil business, and
has a good class of clients, who impose in him the most implicit confidence. He is a thorough
lawyer, and maintains the esteem and respect of both bench and bar.

Mr. Waterman represented the eleventh ward in the city council for two years, 1*73-1874, that
being the only civil office that he has ever held. He is a decided and somewhat active republi-
can and a Master Mason.



UNITED STATS lUOCKArillCAI. DICTIONARY

He married in December, 1862, Ella Louisa, daughter of Samuel Hall, formerly a merchant in
Brooklyn, New York.

Mr. Waterman has been a student all his life, and has a keen relish for scientific studies. He
was one of the founders of the Chicago Philosophical Society, before which he has lectured on
one or more occasions. He is president of the Irving Literary Society, which is composed of pro-
fessional men and others residing in the west division of Chicago.



HON. LYMAN TRUMBULL.

CHICAGO.

NATURE is sometimes generous, but never prodigal of her resources. Notwithstanding its
general intelligence, its intense mental activities, its scientific, artistic and literary develop-
ment, our country has produced few men worthy to be called statesmen, and still fewer profound
constitutional lawyers. Of these, however, Illinois is conceded to have given the nation one, Hon.
Lyman Trumbull.

He was born in Colchester, Connecticut, October 12, 1813, and received his early education at
Bacon Academy, in his native town. At the age of sixteen years he commenced teaching school,
and at twenty assumed charge of an academy at Greenville, Georgia. In addition to the onerous
duties of teacher, Mr. Trumbull now devoted his leisure hours to the study of law, and in 1837
was admitted to the bar of Georgia. Sagaciously perceiving the Mississippi Valley was destined
to become the seat of mighty states, he immediately removed to Illinois, and settled at Belleville,
in Saint Clair county, and commenced the practice of law. This, however, was soon interrupted,
for in 1840 he was a representative to the legislature of Illinois, and before the expiration of his
term was appointed secretary of state, which position he filled for two years. Returning to the
practice of his profession, he devoted himself so zealously and assiduously thereto that in a few
years he became the peer of the most eminent and experienced lawyers in the state. In recogni-
tion of his peculiar fitness for the position, he was, in 1848, elected one of the justices of the
supreme court of Illinois, and in 1852 was reelected for nine years. In 1853 he resigned from the
supreme bench, and in the following year was chosen to represent his district in congress. Before
he had taken his seat, the legislature elected him senator for six years, from March, 1855. In
1861 he was reelected senator, and again in 1867. After eighteen consecutive years' servicfe as
senator from Illinois, he returned to the state he had served so long and faithfully, and resumed
the practice in Chicago, where he still resides.

His ability and eminence as a statesman and constitutional lawyer have received fitting and
graceful recognition from McKendree and Yale Colleges, both of which have conferred upon him
the honorary degree of doctor of laws. Unlike too many of our public men, Judge TrumbuH's
private life has been pure, unsullied and upright, as his public career has been brilliant, honorable
and successful.

JOHN OLNEY.

CHICAGO.

THE subject of this biography was born January 10, 1822, at Shawneetown, Illinois, where
his family had settled, having come thither from the East. John passed his boyhood and
youth in his native place, receiving a good common-school education. He was studious and
industrious in his habits, and early in life evinced a strong liking for the legal profession, and a
determination to prepare himself for its duties. With this purpose in view, he entered an office
at his nativejjlace, and in 1844, after a thorough and careful course of study, passed an examina-
tion, and received his license to practice. He at once entered upon the duties of his profession
in his native town, and gradually rose to an honorable position at the bar, being known as an
able advocate and a safe and conscientious adviser.



760 UNrri'.n sr.-irxs /.vo(;A',//v//r..//. D

At the opening of the war of the rebellion, in 1861, Mr. Olney enlisted in the service, and
being chosen lieutenant-colonel of the 6tli regiment Illinois cavalry, at once proceeded to Padu-
cah, Kentucky, at which post he was placed in command. Colonel Olney was actively engaged
in the service until 1863, when he was honorably discharged, having been wounded and disabled,
and returned to his home, and resumed the practice of his profession. Two years later, in 1865,
he removed to Cairo, Illinois, where, in 1867, he was elected judge of the circuit court of Alexan-
der, Pulaski, Massac and Pope countTes. Although elected for a term of six years, he resigned
his office in 1869, and accepting the office of supervisor of internal revenue, to which he was
appointed by President Grant, removed to Chicago, where he still resides. Judge Olney satisfac-
torily performed the duties of his appointment until 1871, when, being removed from office, he
again resumed his profession, giving his attention especially to matters growing out of the law
respecting internal revenue, a line of work to which he was peculiarly adapted, and in which he
secured an extensive practice. Like many others, Judge Olney suffered the loss of his valuable
law library and many valuable papers in the great fire of October 9, 1871, but with unabated
vigor, and courage undaunted, he immediately opened another office and began to repair his
losses.

In 1876 Judge Olney was the recipient of a very high compliment, being appointed revenue
agent at Chicago, the duties of which office were very like those which devolved upon him as
supervisor of internal revenue, that office having been abolished. To form any just estimate of
the responsibilities of this office during the time of Judge Olney's appointment, and to appreciate
the position in which he was placed, one needs to review the history of that period, the high-
handed and open defiance of the law, the bargain and sale among politicians, the offers of bribery,
to which so many fell willing victims, the criminal prosecutions, in which were involved so many
high in office and in public esteem, and the final disgrace that came to those who had participated
in the revenue frauds. Through this trying time Judge Olney passed, faithful to his trust, show-
ing at the close of his official career a clean record, and a character above the slightest reproach.
Judge Olney is now engaged in the general practice of his profession, and wherever known is
recognized as an able lawyer and upright man.



HON. ELIJAH B. SHERMAN.

CHIC A GO.

OF Mr. Sherman it may be truthfully said that he belongs to that class of self-made men to
whom Chicago owes so much of its prosperity. He is of Anglo-Welsh ancestry, his father
being Elias H. Sherman, and his mother Clarissa (Wilmarth) Sherman, who were residents of
Fairfield, Vermont, where he was born June 13, 1832. He remained upon the ancestral farm en-
gaged in farm avocations during the summer months, and in attending school and teaching
during the winter- until about twenty-two years of age. In 1854 he removed to Brandon, Ver-
mont, where he was for a time employed as a clerk in a drug store. During the following year
he entered the academy at Manchester, where he began a course of study preparatory to entering
college. Upon leaving the academy he entered Middlebury College at Middlebury, Vermont,
where he completed the full college course, graduating in 1860. From the first he took high rank
in college, and was selected as poet for the junior exhibition as well as for the graduating exer-
cises of his class. Since graduation he has been twice invited to address the associated alumni
of his college.

After graduation Mr. Sherman spent a year in teaching at South Woodstock, Vermont, at the
expiration of which time he took charge of the Brandon Seminary, where he continued until May,
1862. He then enlisted as a private in the gth Vermont infantry, and was soon after elected lieu-
tenant of company C. He served with his regiment until January, 1863, when he resigned, his
regiment then being on duty at Camp Douglas, Chicago. He immediately entered upon the



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study of law, and attended the full course of lectures at the law department of the University of
Chicago, graduating in 1864. He was admitted to the bar upon graduation, and at once engaged
in the practice of his profession in Chicago, and has been in continuous and successful practice
from that time. He has for several years been the solicitor for the state auditor, and in that
capacity has had charge of many important litigations. As such solicitor he instituted the pro-
ceedings for closing the affairs of the Republic Life Insurance Company, the Chicago Life Insur-
ance Company, and the Protection Life Insurance Company, in all of which cases constitutional
questions of the first importance were involved. Mr. Sherman's interpretation of the general
insurance laws under which these companies are being wound up have been sustained by the
highest courts, and have thus become precedents for guidance in future cases. One of these cases
is now pending in the supreme court of the United States, involving the entire question of legis-
lative control over corporations, and the extent to which such control may be exercised without
impairing the obligation of the charter contract. The decision of this question will make this
litigation the most important as regards the law of corporations since the historic Dartmouth
College case. He has also prosecuted other important cases involving kindred questions, among
the more notable of which is the case of Eames vs. The State Savings Institution, in which the
largest savings bank in the West was taken from a voluntary assignee and placed under the man-
agement of a receiver, upon a bill filed by Mr. Sherman, assisted by other eminent lawyers, in
behalf of all the depositors and creditors of the bank.

In 1876 he accepted the republican nomination for the Illinois house of representatives for the
then fourth senatorial district. He was elected by a flattering majority, and was reelected in
1878. His thorough training and ripe scholarship, coupled with his experience at the bar and his
profound knowledge of the law, at once gave him high rank as a legislator, and his name is iden-
tified with all the more important legislation of those years. He served as chairman of the com-
mittee on judicial department, and was chiefly instrumental in formulating the law establishing
the system of appellate courts which are now a part of the judicial system of Illinois. He was
also chairman of the committee on corporations and a member of the judiciary committee, as
well as of the military committee which prepared the military code now in force. As a legislator
he was uniformly arrayed against all jobbing schemes, and proved himself an earnest and elo-
quent champion of the rights of the people. His long experience in the trial of- causes at the
bar gave him a quickness and readiness in debate which placed him in the front rank as a de-
bater, and his services as a legislator constitute one of the most satisfactory features of his suc-
cessful career.

In 1879 Mr. Sherman was appointed one of the masters in chancery of the United States cir-
cuit court for the northern district of Illinois by Judges Harlan, Drummond and Blodgett. The
appointment was made at the request of the leading members of the bar of the city and state,
and, as the result has shown, was in every respect a most fitting one. His long and successful
practice in chancery causes, his thorough familiarity both with the principles and procedure of
courts of chancery, coupled with unusual habits of industry, application and accuracy, have ena-
bled him to discharge the duties of this important office to the complete satisfaction of the bench
and bar, while he has at the same time continued in the successful practice of his profession.
His name has frequently been mentioned for higher office upon the bench and elsewhere, for
which h's experience and abilities have well qualified him, but he has thus far preferred to retain
the very satisfactory position which he now occupies in his profession.

Mr. Sherman has served as grand master of the grand lodge of the order of Odd-Fellows,
and was its representative for two years to the sovereign grand lodge. He is an active member
of the Chicago Philosophical Society, of the Chicago Bar Association, and of the Chicago Law
Institute. He is a member of the State Bar Association, of which he has been president, and he
delivered the annual address before that body at its association in January, 1882. This address
was published by the association and was largely circulated, attracting much attention, not only
for its merit as a brilliant literary production, but because of its keen, incisive and well aimed

74



764 UNITED STATES RIOGKArillCAl. DICTIONARY.

blows at the existing faults in our jurisprudence, coupled with some admirable suggestions for
their reform. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, and a member of the
General Council, and has been prominently identified with various other societies and organiza-
tions of a public and philanthropic character.

In private and in social life he is one of the most agreeable of gentlemen. Well read in the
literature of the times, a close and accurate thinker, a brilliant conversationalist, courteous, chari-
table and considerate to all, he combines" in an eminent degree the qualities essential to a culti-
vated gentleman, in the best sense of that much abused term.

In 1866 he was married to Hattie G. Lovering, daughter of S. M. Levering, of Iowa Falls,
Iowa, a lady of most estimable character, and possessing in a marked degree the solid accom-
plishments and womanly devotion which render home and home life restful and happy.



LUTHER M. SHREVE.

CHICAGO.

T OTHER MARTIN SHREVE was born September n, 1819, near Nicholasville, in the county
1 j of Jessamine, state of Kentucky, and was the youngest child of William and Ann Shreve,
each of whom had families of sons and daughters at the time of their marriage by former mar-
riage. William Shreve, for many years judge of the county court of Jessamine, was. born in Mary-
land, and while but a boy at a country school in his native state, joined a passing company of
volunteer infantry, and served the full term for which he enlisted in the revolutionary war, and was
awarded a pension in after life. He emigrated to Kentucky in early manhood, where he acquired
an ample fortune, and lived and died respected and beloved by all who knew him. A lofty shaft
of Italian marble reared over his remains can be seen by every passenger upon the Kentucky Cen-
tral, and though the beautiful farm has passed into other hands, the family burying ground with its
broad approach is preserved in perpetuity, where repose his widow and many of the family. His
eldest sons, L. L. Shreve and I. T. Shreve, of Louisville, engaged in the iron manufacture, and
through his direction and financial indorsement in every crisis which attended the business, and
closed every manufactory which could not withstand the fluctuations that changes in the tariff
system produced, they were enabled to amass large fortunes, and L. L. Shreve is remembered by
the people of Louisville to-day, as one of the largest-minded, public-spirited men of that city.