San Antonio Daily Light

LYMAN TRUMBULL.
One of the Grand Old Men of the United States.

Judge Lyman Trumbull, of Chicago, has a national reputation as a jurist and statesman. A colleague of Lincoln in the legislature and of Douglas in congress, he was high in the councils of the nation at a time when true statesmanship existed, and was honored. In those times the people had more say in public affairs than the politician permits them to have now.

Judge Trumbull is a product of the old school of statesmanship, and now, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, he looks back over a life distinguished by many tributes of respect and confidence from his city, state and country. He was born in 1813 at Colchester, Conn., received an academic education in his native town, and when sixteen years old began teaching school. At twenty he was placed in charge of a school at Greenville, Ga., and during his stay in the south began the study of law. In 1837 he came to Illinois to hang out his shingle at Belleville, St. Clair county. Three years later he was sent to the legislature by the republicans of that district. Political honors came thickly after that. After finishing his term in the house he was elected secretary of state, and in 1848 he was elected to the state supreme bench. In 1855 he was reelected for a term of nine years, but resigned in 1853, and the next year was sent to congress from the Belleville district. The next year he was elected United States senator to succeed James Shields. He was reelected in 1861 and again in 1867, serving eighteen years.

Judge Trumbull was among those who in 1872 left the republican party and became identified with the democrats. Upon leaving the senate he came to Chicago to practice his profession and soon acquired an extensive business. His fame as a constitutional lawyer is national. Yale and McKendree colleges have bestowed upon him the degree LL. D. Judge Trumbull is still actively pursuing the profession of the law. His health is good and his intellect remains undimmed.