tion is due the fact that many admirable laws have been placed on
the statute books of the State of Illinois within the last decade.
From the beginning of his practice until his death Mr. Gray's
home was in Decatur. There he won eminent success as a lawyer,
for a number of years being regarded as one of the most brilliant
criminal attorneys in the judicial district. Whether regarded in the
light of a lawyer, legislator and public leader, or as an accomplished
gentleman, the late James M. Gray well deserves the memory and
gratitude of his native state. He was born in Ramsey, in Fayette
County, Illinois, June i, 1862, one of the five children of Richard
H. and Emily (Hall) Gray. His father moved from Fayette into
Coles County, Illinois, and there became a prosperous farmer.
The wholesome environment of the country and the rugged dis-
cipline of the home farm were factors of importance during the
formative period of James M. Gray's life. He attended the high
schools of Ramsey and Vandalia, Illinois, and later the university at
Valparaiso, Indiana. Following this came three years of school
teaching, by which means he secured capital with which to continue
his studies through the scientific course at Valparaiso, until graduat-
ing with an A. B. degree in the class of 1886. Those were years of
hard work when his earnestness of purpose was well tested in over-
coming numerous obstacles in the path of his ambition for the law.
Meanwhile he had begun the study of law in the office of Henry &
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS 467
Foulke, of Vandalia, Illinois, but later returned to the university to
complete his course. He graduated from the law department in the
class of 1890, with the well-deserved degree LL. B. His intellectual
powers came to be thoroughly appreciated even during his college
course, and while there he led his class and during his senior year
at university was class president. He came to Decatur in June, 1890,
and in the following fall was admitted to the bar. He was not long
in winning recognition and a profitable clientage. For one year he
practiced in partnership with James M. Lee, and after this associa-
tion was discontinued he was in practice alone for fourteen years.
His skill in the handling of criminal cases was demonstrated early
in his career, and he soon found this class of practice absorbing his
time and energies. Through his keen perception, knowledge of law,
and brilliant oratory, he acquired a reputation as the leading criminal
lawyer in his part of the state. He possessed wonderful powers as
a speaker, and at all times and under all circumstances was an honest
and fearless advocate of the right. In 1904 Mr. Gray formed a
second law partnership, associating himself with I. A. Buckingham,
a well-known attorney of Decatur. This professional connection
was still existing at the time of Mr. Gray's death, which occurred
at his home in Decatur June 6, 1912. He was then fifty years of age,
in the prime of his powers, and his solid achievements entitle him
to lasting recognition among the eminent lawyers of Central Illinois,
and his death could only be regarded as premature because of the
brilliant work which continued life would have enabled him to per-
form. In spite of his many public activities and his personal affairs,
Mr. Gray was never too busy or occupied to decline to give advice
and legal opinion to younger members of the bar, and this helpful-
ness is gratefully recalled by many lawyers now in practice in the
City of Decatur.
In early manhood Mr. Gray became interested in politics, and he
grew into great influence in this field. His efforts for the demo-
cratic party first came into notice in 1884, while in 1888 he was
chosen as a leading campaign speaker. In 1890 he served as chair-
man of the democratic city organization, and in 1891 of the county
committee, in the meanwhile being elected a delegate to the state
convention. He was elected a delegate to each succeeding state con-
vention as long as he lived. In 1898 Mr. Gray was first elected to the
State Legislature, and subsequently re-elected in 1900, 1902 and 1904.
During his third term he was chairman of the democratic caucus and
also chairman of the democratic steering committee. Although his
representative district has long been dominated by a large republican
majority, Mr. Gray gained the unique distinction of being the only
man, republican or democrat, who was ever elected by the district
for four terms in the Legislature. In his public work as in his prac-
tice as a lawyer, he was a fearless champion of every cause he
believed to be right, and his name appears conspicuously with the
passing of admirable laws in the interests of the people. His loyal
defense of his honest convictions was one of the strongest elements
468 COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS
of his popularity. He continued in public life as long as he lived,
and was an influential factor always in democratic ranks, where he
was universally recognized as a leader. For many years he was
chairman of Macon County's Democratic Executive Committee, and
in 1908 was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in
Denver. In 1912 he was elected a member of the State Central
Committee. While his interests and activities thus covered a wide
outside field, he never neglected those pertaining to Decatur or
Macon County, being ever ready to lend his influence and the pres-
tige of his name to forward laudable movements for the general
welfare. He was a prime factor in locating the James Millikin
University at Decatur, securing the passage of the bill through the
Legislature providing for its location. He was a highly respected
member of the State Bar Association as well as of the Macon
County bar, and was always proud of his position as a director in
the latter.
Mr. Gray was united in marriage June 14, 1894, to Miss Lillie M.
Belt, a daughter of the late James M. Belt, formerly a prominent
banker of Bunker Hill, Illinois, where he died February 4, 1906.
Mr. and Mrs. Gray became the parents of two children, James M.
and Lucile B. The former is now attending the University of Illi-
nois at Champaign. The family belongs to the First Presbyterian
Church at Decatur, of which congregation Mr. Gray was a liberal
supporter for its many avenues of usefulness. He was a thirty-
second degree Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He was
also identified with the Elks. The Decatur Chamber of Commerce
found in him an active worker, while his social qualities made him
a welcome member of the Decatur and the Country Clubs. Perhaps,
after all, it is in the home circle that his most admirable traits were
shown, for surely no greater praise can be accorded anyone than to
say that he was a devoted and tender husband, a careful and
judicious father, a dependable friend, and a loyal citizen. All these
relations and obligations of private life the late James M. Gray
effectively performed. He was a man whose character as well as
attainments may well be held up to the world as a stimulating
example.
SIGMUND ZEISLER has been one of the distinguished members of
the Chicago bar for thirty years, and besides his prominence in the
profession has exerted his influence as a vigorous thinker and a
courageous public leader in behalf of many reform movements in
political and social life.
Sigmund Zeisler was born at Bielitz, Silesia, Austria, April n,
1860, a son of Isaac L. and Anna (Kanner) Zeisler. He is a grad-
uate of the Imperial College (Gymnasium) at Bielitz, and received
the degree of Dr. Juris (Doctor of Jurisprudence) in 1883 from the
University of Vienna. He soon afterwards came to America, and
in 1844 graduated from the Northwestern Law School of Chicago
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS 469
with the degree LL. B., being admitted to the Illinois bar the same
year.
Mr. Zeisler was associate counsel for the defense in the anarchist
cases in 1886-87. ^ e was chief assistant corporation counsel of
Chicago in 1893-94, but with that exception has been chiefly engaged
in private practice, and is now senior member of the law firm of
Zeisler, Friedman & Zeisler with offices in the Straus Building. Since
1904 he has served as Master in Chancery of the Circuit Court.
Mr. Zeisler was prominent as a sound money democrat in the
-campaign of 1896. He was one of the speakers at the first anti-
imperialist meeting held west of the Alleghanies, in Central Music
Hall at Chicago, April 30, 1899. He became a member of the
executive committee of the American Anti-Imperialists League in
October, 1899, and was acting chairman during the entire business
session of the National Liberty Congress of the anti-imperialists at
Indianapolis on August 16, 1900. In the campaign of 1900 he went
all over the country as a speaker under the auspices of the National
Democratic Campaign Committee, favoring the election of Mr.
Bryan on the anti-imperialist issue. In 1904 he was president of the
German-American Parker League. Since 1904 he has been vice
president of the American Free Trade League and is one of the
strong advocates of the more important economic issues embodied
in the platforms of the democratic party.
From 1899 to 1905 Mr. Zeisler was a member of the executive
committee, and since 1905 has been on the advisory committee of
the Municipal Voters League of Chicago. He is first vice president
of the Civil Service Reform Association of Chicago ; a member of
the executive committee of the Illinois Constitutional Convention
League 1914-15 ; member of the executive committee of the, Chicago
Society of Advocates ; member of the American Bar Association,
Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, and .the
Chicago Law Institute.
Mr. Zeisler is a member of the following clubs : Law, Chicago
Literary, Quadrangle, Iroquois, City, South Shore Country, Cliff
Dwellers, The Little Room, Book and Play (president since 1907).
He has been occasional contributor to reviews and law journals.
His residence is at 5749 Woodlawn Avenue. Mr. Zeisler was mar-
ried in Chicago October 18, 1885, to Fannie Bloomfield, recognized
as one of the greatest living pianists. Their children are : Leonard,
Paul and Ernst.
DAVID B. LYMAN. At the time of his death, April 8, 1914, David
B. Lyman was one of the oldest members of the Chicago bar. He
had located in Chicago soon after the close of the Civil war, and
together with a large practice as a lawyer combined extensive busi-
ness interests, and from 1895 to 1902 was president of the Chicago
Title & Trust Company. For many years he was one of the out-
standing figures in Chicago commercial and professional life.
Of his work as a lawyer, no better estimate perhaps can be
470 COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS
found than one which appeared in Palmer's "Bench and Bar of
Illinois," about fifteen years ago : "From the beginning Mr. Lyman's
career at the bar has been one of marked success. He is an untir-
ing worker, preparing his cases with the utmost precision, exhaustive
in research, clear and concise in thought and logical in argument,
and such qualities predestined him for a foremost place in his pro-
fession. The history of the cases with which he has been connected
would comprise a record of much of the important civil litigation
that has been heard in the courts of Cook county for almost thirty
years, and yet his legal business is somewhat peculiar in that much
of it seldom finds its way into the courts. Mr. Lyman may be said
to be more of a counselor than advocate, and it has become known
to the business community that he will not advise the bringing of
a suit except in strong cases, and this only when there is no remedy
save in litigation. While real estate and corporation law has claimed
much of his attention, he is equally proficient in other branches of
practice and is always ready for attack or defense. A firm believer
in the maxim that there is no excellence without labor, he is noted
for his untiring industry and his painstaking preparation and man-
agement of his cases, no less than for his ability and learning in
the law. The one class of cases which he refuses altogether is that
which comes under the general designation of criminal practice.
Though he has probably a higher reputation as an able and learned
counselor than as an advocate, his arguments carry more weight
from the very honesty of his character than those of some more
eloquent but less trusted lawyers."
Varied experience in interesting environment filled the early
years of the late David B. Lyman, and his mature life was one of
exceptional achievement. He was born at Hilo, Hawaii, March 27,
1840, and spent the first twenty years of his life in the picturesque
surroundings of those Pacific islands. . His parents were of old New
England and Pilgrim stock. His father, Rev. D. B. Lyman, was in
early life a resident of New Hartford, Connecticut, and was a
graduate from Williams College and the Andover Theological Semi-
nary. In 1831 he married Miss Sarah Joiner of Royalton, Vermont,
and soon afterward as missionaries for the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions they sailed for the 'Sandwich
Islands, where they labored in the cause of Christianity more than
fifty years.
In Hawaii David Brainerd Lyman had the advantage of instruc-
tion from his parents, and also acquired business training through
service in several governmental posts, a training that was not only
a part of his practical education but also gave him the means for
a higher education in the United States. In 1859 Mr. Lyman
embarked on a vessel at Honolulu, sailed around Cape Horn and
arrived in Massachusetts in May, 1860. In September of the
same year he was enrolled as a student in Yale College and was
graduated A. B. in 1864. Then followed a course in the Harvard
Law School, where he was graduated in 1866, and won one of the
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS 471
two prizes for the best legal essays. During 1864-65 he was con-
nected with the Sanitary Commission as hospital visitor, and had
charge of the Fifth Corps Hospital of the Army of the Potomac,
and also of the hospital at the Point of Rocks, Virginia. Later he
had supervision of the Sanitary Commission station for the forces
concentrated about Washington. Mr. Lvman was admitted to the
Massachusetts bar in 18,66. In 1874 he received the degree Master
of Arts from Yale University.
A few months after his admission to the bar Mr. Lyman came
to Chicago, spent two years as clerk in the office of Waite & Clark,
and on July I, 1869, became associated with Col. Huntington W.
Jackson in the firm of Lyman & Jackson. When this firm -was
dissolved in 1895 it was said to be the oldest law firm in the city in
point of continuous existence under one organization. For several
years before his death Mr. Lyman was senior member of the firm
of Lyman, Lyman & O'Connor. One evidence of his high stand-
ing in the profession was his service by election in 1893 as president
of the Chicago Bar Association.
The late Mr. Lyman was a republican, but was never in politics,
and his chief official service was as member for nearly twenty-five
years of the LaGrange School Board, and he was one of the effective
leaders in the campaign which brought about the establishment of
the Lyons Township High School at LaGrange, in which city he
had his home for many years. Mr. Lyman was at one time presi-
dent of the Church Club, and also belonged to the Chicago, the
Union League and the University clubs. He was a member of the
Episcopal church. October 5, 1870, Mr. Lyman married Miss Mary
E. Cossitt, daughter of F. D. Cossitt of LaGrange. Their children
were David B., Jr., an active member of the Chicago bar, and Mary
C., now Mrs. Murray M. Baker, of Peoria, Illinois. Outside of his
professional and business interests the late Mr. Lyman was devoted
to his home and church. At LaGrange he indulged his taste in
horticulture and other outdoor recreation. He served as senior
warden of the LaGrange Episcopal Church from its organization in
1873, and held several important lay positions in the church affairs
of his diocese and in the general convention.
DAVID B. LYMAN, JR. A son of the prominent Chicago lawyer
and business man whose career has been sketched in preceding
paragraphs, David B. Lyman, Jr., has been a member of the Chi-
cago bar since 1897, and is now senior member of the firm of Lyman,
Adams & Bishop, with offices in the Chicago Title & Trust Building.
David Brainerd Lyman, Jr., was born in Chicago July n, 1871.
He attended the university which was his father's alma mater,
Yale, and graduated A. B. in 1895. He took his law course in the
Northwestern University College of Law, and was admitted to the
bar in August, 1897. He practiced as a member of the firm of
Jackson, Busby & Lyman during 1899-1901, of Lyman, Busby &
472 COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS
Lyman from 1901 to 1907, and as a junior member of Lyman,
Lyman & O'Connor from December, 1907, until the retirement of
his father and the formation of the present professional partner-
ship.
Mr. Lyman is a trustee of the Grant Land Association, and is
a director in Charles H. Beasly & Company and in the Duntley
Pneumatic Sweeper Company. He inherited some of the philan-
thropic and civic interests of his father, and on his own account
has taken much interest in various benevolent organizations. He
has served as treasurer of the Chicago Home for Boys since its
incorporation, and is a director of Lawrence Hall, a home for
boys. He is also a trustee of Waterman Hall, an Episcopal school
for girls, and is active in the work of the Episcopal church. In
politics he is a republican. Mr. Lyman served three successive
terms as secretary of the Union League Club of Chicago, was for
three years secretary of the Yale Club and also a director two years
and vice president one year of that organization, and is now one
of the five trustees of the Yale Scholarship Trust of Chicago and
a member of the Yale Club of New York City. Other social rela-
tions are with the Suburban and LaGrange Country Clubs at La-
Grange. Mr. Lyman was married in New York City May 10,
1894, to Miss Edith Oliver Rowe. They have one son, David
Brainerd IV.
MITCHELL DAVIS FOLLANSBEE. The name of Follansbee has
been known at the Chicago bar for almost fifty years. George
Alanson Follansbee was born in Cook County on February 26, 1843,
a son of Horatio N. and Emeline (Sherman) Follansbee. He was
graduated from Lawrence University at Appleton, Wisconsin, and
later in law at Harvard, being admitted to the bar on March 17,
1867, since which time he has practiced law on LaSalle Street. He
served as president of the Chicago Bar Association in 1898, president
of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Hyde Park before it
became a part of Chicago, as trustee of the State University at
Urbana, and is now associated as counsel with the law firm of
Adams, Follansbee, Hawley & Shorey. During his career at the
bar he has been identified with a number of notable causes and has
been known as a hard and consistent worker, enjoying in an unusual
degree the confidence of his clients and the esteem of the members
of the bar. He is a Unitarian, a republican, and lives at Winnetka.
His son, Mitchell Davis Follansbee, was born in Chicago, on
January 23, 1870. He was educated in the Chicago public schools,
Harvard University, and the Northwestern University Law School,
being admitted to the bar June I, 1894, and is now a member of
the law firm of Adams, Follansbee, Hawley & Shorey.
He is general counsel and chairman of the executive committee
of the Bucyrus Company, a director of the Erie Railroad and
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and other corporate enter-
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS 473
prises, and has lately been honored by the degree of LL. D. from
the Northwestern University in recognition of his long devotion to
the Law School, in which he taught for many years. He was
president of the Chicago Bar Association for the year 1914-1915,
and belongs to professional and social organizations in Chicago and
New York.
He was married on April 14, 1903, to Miss Julia Rogers Mc-
Connell, daughter of Hon. Samuel P. and Sarah R. McConnell.
Her father was a former judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County,
Illinois, and one of her grandfathers, Judge John M. Rogers, was a
judge on the same bench, and a great-grandfather was Chief Justice
Crenshaw of Kentucky.
HON. HORACE S. CLARK. To achieve marked success in one line
of human endeavor is a consummation that all men, from their best
efforts, do not realize, but to achieve along every line of exertion
gives indication of superior mentality and unusual personality.
Among the men so distinguished in Coles County was the .late
Horace S. Clark, lawyer, judge, soldier and statesman, a great part
of whose particularly useful life was spent in the State of Illinois.
Horace S. Clark was born at Huntsburg, Ohio, August 12, 1840,
and was a son of Joseph M. P. and Charlotte Clark, the father a
native of Vermont and the mother of Ohio. He attended the public
schools in Geauga county and entered the high school at Huntsburg,
but when sixteen years of age, with youthful love of adventure and
a man's dependence on himself, he started out to seek his fortune,
as it were, in other fields. He is next found working on a farm in
Kane County, Illinois, but he was formed for other than agricul-
tural pursuits and shortly afterward he made his way to Iowa City,
Iowa. In the meanwhile, realizing that his ambitious hopes for a
future professional life could not be brought to fruition without
further educational preparation, he devoted all his spare time to
study and afterwards, in Missouri, engaged in teaching school for a
time and then returned to Ohio and became a student of law in the
office of Smith & Page, at that time a prominent law firm at Circle-
ville. His law studies were interrupted, however, by the outbreak
of the Civil war, and in 1861 he tendered his services as a soldier,
enlisting in Company E, Seventy-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
He \vas rapidly promoted, serving first as orderly sergeant, then as
second and later as first lieutenant, participating in many of the most
serious battles of the great struggle, including Bull Run and Gettys-
burg, remaining in active service until disabled and was honorably
discharged on October i, 1863. All through his subsequent life he
was interested in military affairs and later became identified with
the Illinois National Guard and by Governor Tanner was appointed
commander, with rank of general, of the Second Brigade, in which
position he continued until his resignation, on account of other
pressing duties, in 1903. He was deeply interested also in the affairs
474 COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS
and welfare of the Grand Army of the Republic and during 1891-2
served as department commander of the Illinois Grand Army of the
Republic. In this as in other prominent positions, he became widely
known and thoroughly esteemed.
General Clark, after completing his law course, came to Illinois
and on February 25, 1865, was admitted to the bar and for many
years afterward made his home at Mattoon, where he built up a
large and substantial practice and became one of the stable citizens.
In 1870 he was elected to the bench as judge of the Common Pleas
Court, and through the entire period of judicial life sustained the
reputation his earlier course had established. Nature and harsh
experience had qualified him well to read human faces and determine
hidden motives, while equally well was he equipped with that sense
of justice which made him firm but impartial, conscientious but in-
flexible. Politics inevitably claimed the attention and interest of
such a man as General Clark and throughout life his affiliation was
with the republican party. In 1880 he was elected a member of the
Illinois State Senate, and during his term of service once more
proved his high abilities and his usefulness as a public man, so much
so that subsequently he was selected as his party's candidate for
the office of governor. Numerous prominent positions were tendered
him and in 1888 he served as a delegate at large to the National
Republican Convention, and in 1896 was chosen an elector at large.
General Clark was married on May 3, 1864, to Miss Lizzie Betts,
of Pickaway County, Ohio. Four children were born to them, three
of whom survive: Russel S:, who is a prominent attorney at
Chicago; Horace W., who is one of the leading business men of