Probst, James (Propst)

Born: 1804-XX-XX Pennsylvania

Flourished: Danville, Illinois

Alternate name: Propst

James Probst was a tailor, constable (city marshal), and sheriff of Vermilion County, Illinois. In July 1831, he married Nancy Barnes. In 1850, Probst was employed as a tailor and owned real property valued at $600. As constable (city marshal) of Danville and later sheriff of Vermilion County in the 1850s, Probst was involved in numerous cases in the Vermilion County courts involving Abraham Lincoln and his partners. In 1860, he owned real property valued at $1,600 and a personal estate of $150.

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Vermilion County, 3 July 1831, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Danville, Vermilion County, IL, 59; For Lincoln's cases with Probst, search "Probst, James (Propst)," 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), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Danville, Vermilion County, IL, 22.