Dunbar, Alexander P.

Born: 1810-07-04 Fleming County, Kentucky

Died: 1883-04-22 Charleston, Illinois

Dunbar studied law in Kentucky before moving in 1831 to Charleston, Illinois, where he received a license to practice law and became the first resident lawyer in Coles County, Illinois. In 1832, he became circuit clerk and recorder, and in 1834, he was elected justice of the peace, a position he held for eight years. When the Black Hawk War broke out, Dunbar received a commission as a colonel and worked to recruit troops from Coles County. Dunbar represented Coles County in the Illinois House of Representatives on two occasions, from 1836 to 1838, and from 1844 to 1846. In 1834, Dunbar married Ellen (Eleanore) Monroe; she died in 1835. In 1836, he wed Susan F. Harrison, with whom he had eight children. An old line Whig, Dunbar joined the Republican Party in 1856. and canvassed for Republican presidential candidates for the remainder of his public life.

The History of Coles County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 518; Portrait and Biographical Album of Coles County, Ill. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), 384; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 293, 401; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 205, 212; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Coles County, 25 November 1834, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.