Conkling, James C.

Born: 1816-10-13 New York, New York

Died: 1899-03-01 Springfield, Illinois

Conkling graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1835 and then read law for three years. He moved to Springfield, Illinois, in 1838 and formed a law partnership with Cyrus Walker. In 1840, he formed a new partnership with James Shields. He married Marcy A. Levering of Baltimore, Maryland, on September 21, 1841. Conkling served as mayor of Springfield in 1845, and voters elected him as a Whig to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1851. Conkling was also a delegate to the Bloomington Convention in 1856. He actively campaigned in 1860 in Pennsylvania for the Lincoln campaign and was a presidential elector in 1860 and 1864.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia (New York: McGraw Hill, 1982), 68-69; John M. Palmer, ed., The Bench and Bar of Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent (Chicago: Lewis, 1899), 1:190; Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 2 March 1899, 2:3-4. Illustration courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL.