Lincoln, Timothy D.

Born: 1815-05-11 Massachusetts

Died: 1890-04-01 Cincinnati, Ohio

Born in Brimfield in Hampton County, Massachusetts, Timothy D. Lincoln was a teacher, attorney, and Republican. After receiving his education in Brimfield public schools, he earned a degree from Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut. He taught at a local public school while studying law, and, after reading law in the office of Charles H. Warren in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was admitted to the bar in 1841. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio soon afterward. Due to Ohio's requirement that lawyers must have one year of legal study within the state, he read law under Charles Fox for a year and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1842. He became a law partner with Fox until the firm dissolved in 1846. After practicing law alone for eight years, Lincoln took on Fayette Smith and James Warnock, two young law students in his office, as partners to form the firm Lincoln, Smith & Warnock. Lincoln earned a reputation as an excellent lawyer in marine and insurance litigation. He participated in the renowned Rock Island bridge legal case, opposite Abraham Lincoln. He married Mary Clarke in 1845, and together they had eleven children. In 1860, he owned $40,000 in real property and $5,000 in personal property.

J. Fletcher Brennan, ed., A Biographical Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Men, with an Historical Sketch, of the State of Ohio (Cincinnati: John C. Yorston, 1879), 1:184-85; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 15, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH, 47; For details on the Rock Island bridge legal case, see Hurd et al. v. Rock Island Bridge Co., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137684; C. T. Winchester, Wm. North Rice, G. Brown Goode, Alumni Record of Wesleyan University (Boston: Rand, Avery, 1873), 27; Gravestone, Saint Joseph New Cemetery, Cincinnati, OH.