Colostin DeKalb Myers (1847-1920)

   This mustachioed man is Colostin DeKalb Myers, an Ohio native who gained prominence as a Circuit Court judge for Illinois's 11th judicial district. I first discovered Myers's unusual name in a 1915 Illinois Blue Book two years ago and since that time have been searching for a portrait of him. Fortune has smiled upon me once again, as a picture of Judge Myers has been found, courtesy of a McLean County Historical Society bulletin that was originally published in 1899. 
  Colostin D. Myers received a brief mention in yesterday's profile on Sain Welty (1853-1920), another Illinois lawmaker whom Myers appointed to the position of Master of Chancery for McLean County, Illinois. It's interesting to note that both of these oddly named judicial figures were born in the same state (Ohio) within a few years of one another and both ended up settling in the same city (Bloomington, Illinois) years later. In an even more amazing connection, both men went on to serve as judges in the same district and died within a few months of one another in the early part of 1920. 
   Colostin D. Myers was born in Racine, Meigs County, Ohio on May 7, 1847, the son of Benjamin and Serena Elliott Myers. At age four Myers suffered the death of his father and following his death, Serena Myers remarried William Swearingen. Colostin Myers moved with his family to Palatine, Virginia at a young age and during his youth worked the family farm and also at a local tannery. 

  At age 16 Myers left home and moved back to Ohio, and after a brief residence at his old home at Racine, continued travel to Pomeroy, then the county seat of Meigs County. In early 1864 he took work as a clerk in a local dry goods store, and two months later enlisted in the Union Army. Myers took rank as a private in Co. K., 140th Reg. of the Ohio National Guard, and served with that regiment for three months. He subsequently re-enlisted in Co. B.,  32nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and continued with that regiment until the conclusion of the Civil War. 

  After returning to his mother's home in Virginia, Myers worked on the family farm while also pursuing his education at the National Normal University in Lebanon, Ohio. His stay at the latter institution was intermittent, as he would leave Ohio to teach school in West Virginia for an unspecified amount of time. Myers returned to his home state of Ohio in 1869 and reentered the National Normal University, graduating from there in 1872. That same year he began pursuing a law degree at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He married in Michigan in 1872 to Dora Yager (1851-1941) and graduated with his law degree in 1874 after nearly two years of study.

From the Historical Sketch of the Illinois Wesleyan University, 1895.

   Colostin D. Myers and his wife moved to Bloomington, Illinois in 1874, where he was admitted to the bar in June of that year. He established a law partnership with local lawyer Albert Bushnell in 1874, which continued until the latter's removal to Kansas City. In 1879 Myers established another practice with Isaac Stroud, which lasted until ill health compelled Stroud's retirement in 1881. Beginning in 1880 Myers entered into a position at Illinois Wesleyan University, being a professor on contract law well into the 1890s.
   In 1886 Colostin Myers was elected to the first of three terms as McLean County judge, the last of which concluded in 1897. In the last-named year, he was elected to the Illinois Circuit Court (11th circuit) and served in this position until his retirement in June of 1915. In addition to his circuit court service, Myers was named to the Illinois Appellate Court's 4th district in 1903 and served a six-year term.
  Shortly after retiring from the bench, Myers was called to public service once more when he was named by Illinois Governor Edward Fitzsimmons Dunn to the McLean County Examining Board at the beginning of America's involvement in WWI. He served on this board until the war's conclusion and died on January 12, 1920, at age 72. Myers was survived by his wife Dora by over 20 years and both are buried in the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington. Myers was subsequently memorialized by the Illinois State Bar as having been "gentle and kind and lovable. He was patient almost beyond measure." Further character assessments were given by his fellow bar members, who noted:

"Retiring, not given to parade or ostentation, he lived a simple, quiet, life. He kept himself aloof from business or social enterprises which he though might in any way tend to affect his judicial duties."