Reavis, Jr., Isham

Born: 1836-01-28 Cass County, Illinois

Died: 1914-05-08 Falls City, Nebraska

Flourished: Falls City, Nebraska

Isham Reavis, lawyer and judge, grew up on his family’s farm in what is now Cass County, Illinois. He attended local schools, then studied at Virginia Seminary, in Virginia, Illinois, and Illinois College in Jacksonville. Reavis ended his studies at Illinois College in 1855, following the death of his mother. In the latter part of that same year, he undertook the study of law in Beardstown, and earned admission to the Illinois bar in 1857. The following year, he moved to Falls City, Nebraska, where he practiced law.

John S. Goff, “Isham Reavis, Pioneer Lawyer and Judge,” Nebraska History 54 (1973), 1-43; “An Incident in the Life of Lincoln: His Letter of November 5, 1855 to Isham Reavis,” The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 20 (February 1965), 92-96; Lewis C. Edwards, History of Richardson County, Nebraska (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen, 1917), 2:760-65; A. T. Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska Chicago: Western Historical, 1882), 2:1318; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Cass County, IL, 19; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Richardson County, NE, 15; Lincoln Daily News (NE), 8 May 1914, 1:3-5; Gravestone, Steele Cemetery, Falls City, NE.