Lester Legrant Bond (October 27, 1829 – April 15, 1903) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Illinois state House of Representatives and a member of the

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...

(at the time known as the "Common Council"). He served several months of 1873 as the acting

mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...

, having been appointed by Mayor

Joseph Medill Joseph Medill (April 6, 1823 – March 16, 1899) was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the ''Chicago Tribune'', and he was M ...

in 1873 to assume this role while Medill traveled through Europe.

Early life and education,

Bond was born to Jonas and Elizabeth Bond. and grew up on his father's farm in Ravenna, Ohio. In Ravenna, studied law, initially under Francis W. Tappen. He later studied under other Ohio attorneies. He was admitted to the bar in October 1853, and traveled to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

the following year.

Law and business careers

In 1854, he formed a legal partnership with A.S. Seaton. By 1858, he had partnered with E.A. West. In 1859, Bond began representing

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

cases. In 1860, he focused himself on patent law. He would ultimately establish himself as one of the most skilled patent attorneys in the United States. In 1864, he formed the legal partnership West, Bond, & Driscoll. After Driscoll withdrew in 1865 to become Chicago city attorney, the firm became West & Bond. With the firm, Bond had many corporate clients, and represented clients in hundreds of cases in federal circuit courts, particularly defending agriculture-related corporate clients.. The law firm would remain in operation until 1891.

Political career

Inspired by his father having been a member of the

Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party, also called the Free Democratic Party or the Free Democracy, was a political party in the United States from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. The party was focused o ...

member in

1844 In the Philippines, 1844 had only 365 days, when Tuesday, December 31 was skipped as Monday, December 30 was immediately followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845, the next day after. The change also applied to Caroline Islands, Guam, Marian ...

, bond served as a town

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to the party's 1852 convention in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. Later, Bond became a staunch Republican, being one of the founders of the Republican organization in Chicago.

Chicago alderman (1863-1866)

In 1862 and 1864, Bond was elected a Chicago alderman representing the

11th Ward In music theory, an eleventh is a compound interval consisting of an octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration ...

on the

Chicago Common Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...

(city council). His first term was for a single year, while his second was for two years. He declined to seek a third term, citing a desire to focus on his business.

Illinois House of Representatives (1867–71)

In 1867, he became a member of 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 ...

. He was re-elected in 1869, and served until 1871. Dujring his first term, he was a member of the Committee on Internal Improvements, where he involved himself in the adoption of an act pertaining to improvements along the

Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...

. During his second term, he served on the Judiciary, which was considered the most important committee in the body.

Chicago Board of Education

Bond also served on the

Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently made up of 11 members appoin ...

Chicago City Council (1871–73)

Bond rejoined the Chicago Common Council in 1871, being elected the 1871 election to represent the 10th ward despite his wishes not to have been a candidate. He served through 1873. In 1872, he served as an Illinois

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

representing the state's 2nd congressional district.

1873 acting mayoralty and mayoral campaign

Before Chicago Mayor

traveled to Europe in 1873, on August 18 he named Bond to serve as acting mayor of Chicago in his absence. Bond assumed the office on August 22. With Medill's term set to expire that same year, Bond ran for mayor as an independent on a law and order platform, supporting laws which would ban the sale of liquor on Sundays. He was defeated by Harvey Colvin, who won with 60% of the voted despite Bond receiving the endorsements of all Chicago newspapers except the ''

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specificat ...

''.

Personal life and death

On October 12, 1856 Bond married Annie Scott Aspinwall, the daughter of Reverend Nathaniel W. Aspinwall of Vermont. They had one daughter, Laura, who was born in 1867. Bond died at his home in Chicago on April 15, 1903, and was buried at

Rosehill Cemetery Rosehill Cemetery (founded 1859) is a historic rural cemetery on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. At , it is the largest cemetery in the city of Chicago and its first private cemetery. The Entrance Gate and Administration ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Lester 1829 births 1903 deaths People from Ravenna, Ohio Burials at Rosehill Cemetery Mayors of Chicago Chicago City Council members Members of the Illinois House of Representatives Members of the Chicago Board of Education 19th-century mayors of places in Illinois 19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly 1872 United States presidential electors