Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Gorin, Jerome R.

Born: 1817-10-12 Hopkinsville, Kentucky

Jerome R. Gorin was a merchant, lawyer, town and city official, state legislator, cashier, and city clerk and attorney. Gorin moved with his family from his native Kentucky to Illinois in 1828, settling in Vandalia. In 1833, he relocated to Decatur, joining his two older brothers, who resided in Decatur. He found work as a clerk and salesman. Gorin continued in that capacity until 1841, when he began reading law. He earned admittance to the bar in 1842 and spent a winter in Scotland County, Missouri. Returning to Decatur, he opened a law practice and engaged in mercantile pursuits. In April 1845, Gorin married Eleanor E. Fawcett , with whom he had six children. In 1850, he was working as a merchant in Christian County and owned real property valued at $200. Gorin sat on the Decatur Board of Trustees in 1855 and City Council in 1856. He supported the Whig Party until its dissolution, when he briefly aligned with the American Party. In 1856, Gorin won election, as a candidate of the American Party, to the Illinois House of Representatives, serving in that body from January to February 1857. After the American Party collapsed, Gorin became a Republican. In 1860, he was practicing law in Decatur and owned real property valued at $6,000 and had a personal estate of $500. Gorin won election as Decatur's clerk and attorney and remained in that office until 1864. He also worked as a cashier in the bank of Millikin & Oder. He was a Mason and adherent of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Portrait and Biographical Record of Macon County, Illinois (Chicago: Lake City, 1893), 585-86; William E. Nelson, ed., City of Decatur and Macon County Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1910), 2:60-64; John W. Smith, History of Macon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Rokker's, 1876), 222-23, 261; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Macon County, 1 April 1845, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Christian County, IL, 124; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Decatur, Macon County, IL, 59; John Clayton, The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 221; Gravestone, Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur, IL.