Ethelbert Callahan (17 December 1829 – 20 June 1918)Ethelbert Callahan
at findagrave.com was a prominent

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Biography

Callahan was born in

Licking County, Ohio Licking County is a County (United States), county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 178,519. Its county seat is Newark, Ohio, Newark. The county was form ...

. As a boy, he determined to become a lawyer after watching an argument delivered by

Thomas Ewing Thomas Ewing Sr. (December 28, 1789October 26, 1871) was a National Republican and Whig politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate and also served as the fourteenth secretary of the treasury and the first secretary of the interior. ...

, but it would be a number of years before Callahan achieved his goal of becoming a lawyer. In 1849, he relocated to Crawford County, Illinois, where he became a teacher. In 1853, he entered the world of political journalism as editor of the Wabash ''Sentinel''. A year later, he moved to

Marshall, Illinois Marshall is a city in and the county seat of Clark County, Illinois, United States, located approximately west of Terre Haute, Indiana. The population was 3,947 at the 2020 census. History Marshall was officially organized by William B. Arc ...

to edit the ''Telegraph'', a paper that supported the

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

movement. He married Mary Barlow Jones on June 27, 1854. Callahan was elected as a justice of the peace in 1857, and it was at this time that he began to

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1859. He opened his own law practice in Robinson, Illinois in 1861. Over the next four decades, he built one of the most successful practices in southern Illinois. Callahan played a role in organizing the

Illinois State Bar Association The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) is among the largest voluntary state bar associations in the United States. Approximately 28,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISB ...

in 1877, and served as its president in 1889. Callahan was the first Republican to speak in Crawford County. He was elected to four two-year terms in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

on the Republican Ticket. McKendree College awarded Callahan an honorary

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

in June 1898. In 1883, Callahan gave a paper at the Illinois State Bar Association entitled "The Lawyers of the Bible." The work was widely copied, and in January 1911, he was invited to deliver the paper as an address at the Indiana University School of Law. This address was very well received and was therefore published the next year by Hollenbeck Press.

References

Biography from ''The History of Southern Illinois''

PDF of ''The Lawyers of the Bible'' from www.classicapologetics.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callahan, Ethelbert 1829 births 1918 deaths Illinois lawyers Members of the Illinois House of Representatives People from Licking County, Ohio People from Robinson, Illinois Editors of Illinois newspapers American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly