McLain, Michael C.
Born: 1818-XX-XX Cincinnati, Ohio
Died: 1895-06-09 Indianapolis, Indiana
Flourished: 1850 to 1879 Coles County, Illinois
Michael C. McLain, attorney, moved with his family to Brookville, Indiana, about 1820. McLain later relocated to Richland County, Illinois, where he was county treasurer in 1845 and served as postmaster of Bonpas about 1850. In the latter year, he settled in Coles County, where he was first a merchant and later an attorney. By 1859, McLain was a partner with Elisha H. Starkweather in the legal firm of Starkweather & McLain and in the 1860s he partnered in the Charleston law firm of McLain, Hamlin & St. John. Abraham Lincoln is known to have been involved in two legal cases of McLain’s when they were appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. In one case, Lincoln represented McLain’s clients, and in the other he represented the Illinois Central Railroad, which was being sued by McLain’s client. McLain was active in Whig and later Republican party politics in Illinois. He married Emeline (Emaline) Cobleigh in 1844 and was survived by his wife and two sons.
John M. Palmer, ed., The Bench and Bar of Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent (Chicago: Lewis, 1899), 1:406, 407, 427; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Richland County, 29 September 1844, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois: Historical and Biographical (Chicago: F. A. Battey, 1884), 639; Edward Tremayne, comp., Tremayne’s Table of the Post-Offices in the United States (New York: W. F. Burgess, 1850), 41; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Charleston, Coles County, IL, 12; John Livingston, Livingston’s United States Law Register (New York: John A. Gray, 1859), 194; Headen et al. v. True, 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=135873; Radcliff et al. v. Pierce, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135704; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Coles County, IL, 192; The Indianapolis News (IN), 10 June 1895, 6:5; Gravestone, Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN.