DeGoy Bowman Ellis (1876-1949)

DeGoy Bowman Ellis, from the 1915-16 Illinois Blue Book.

   A three-term member of the Illinois state House of Representatives, DeGoy Bowman Ellis was a prominent figure in the city of Elgin, being a successful attorney and past master in chancery of the city court of Elgin. Born on November 27, 1876, in Boone County, Illinois, Ellis was the only child born to William DeGoy (1845-1935) and Sophia Bowman Ellis (1846-1906). He inherited his unusual first name from his father and attended the Belvidere High School in Belvidere, Illinois, later graduating from Dixon College in 1897. Ellis continued his schooling at the Illinois Law School and after graduating in 1899 relocated to Elgin to open a law practice, "giving special attention to insurance and corporate law."
  In 1903 Ellis won election as city attorney for Elgin and served in this capacity until 1905. He married in 1904 to Ms. Ina Ames (1879-1964) and later became the father to two children, Eloise (1906-1961) and DeGoy Bowman Ellis Jr. (1908-1929). Shortly after leaving the office of Elgin city attorney, Ellis was named as master-in-chancery of the Elgin court system, holding this post from 1906-1914. In 1910 he established the law firm of Ellis and Western and four years later became a Republican candidate for a seat in the Illinois State House of Representatives.
  In November 1914 Ellis won election to the house with a vote of 11,939 and after taking his seat in January 1915 was named to a seat on the house committee on Fees and Salaries. He was subsequently reelected to the Illinois legislature in 1916 and 1918 and during these later terms served as Chairman of the Judicial Department and Practice Committees. Ellis wasn't a candidate for a fourth term in 1920 and after his term returned to his law practice in Elgin.

                                       Ellis' official legislative portrait from the 1919-20 Illinois Blue Book.

   After his service in the legislature, Ellis continued with his work as an attorney in Elgin and in 1920 took on an important position in the Illinois State Bar Association, being a member of the Law Reform committee for the 1920-21 year. In 1925-26 Ellis held a seat on the Association's Enforcement of Criminal Law Committee, and three years after concluding his work on the above committee experienced personal tragedy with the sudden death of his only son, DeGoy Bowman Ellis Jr.
  DeGoy Jr. was a standout track athlete at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, and is recorded as holding the school's broad jump record at 22 feet 2 inches. Ellis was active in several other campus activities, winning "letters in basketball and swimming" in addition to success in academics. Ellis's bright future ended in tragedy on September 20, 1929, when he succumbed to injuries he had sustained in a car accident a few days prior. A substantial write up on the loss of the popular college student appeared in the September 20, 1929 edition of the Lawrentian and is shown below.

   Despite the loss of their only son, DeGoy and Ina Ellis pressed on, and in June of the following year honored their son's memory with the DeGoy B. Ellis Jr. Memorial Award, a bronze plaque to be given out annually to the high point winner on the Lawrence College track squad. 
  During the latter period of his life, DeGoy Ellis Sr. continued to be a prominent fixture in Illinois law circles, being a special master in chancery for the U.S. District Court of Illinois' Northern District from 1942-1949 and was a past director of the Fraternal Reserve Life Association. On January 16, 1949, DeGoy B. Ellis died at age 72 at the St. Joseph's Hospital in Elgin. He was buried in the same plot as his son in the Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin and was survived by his daughter Eloise and wife Marian, who were interred here in 1961 and 1964 following their respective deaths.

DeGoy Ellis, from the 1917-1918 Illinois Blue Book.

Cairo Alwin Trimble (1869-1952)

From the Republicans of Illinois, 1905.

   Prominent for many years in Illinois legal circles, Cairo Alwin Trimble served as a Presidential elector for Illinois and was later a delegate to the 1912 and 1936 Republican National Conventions. Besides having a first name that is also a city in Egypt, Trimble went on to further prominence later in life, serving as the President of the Illinois State Bar Association. He was born in Princeton, Illinois on March 15, 1869, a son of Harvey Marion and Margaret Sabin Dakin Trimble. His early education took place in schools local to Princeton and he later went on to graduate from Princeton High School. Trimble decided upon a career in law early in his life and in 1892 was admitted to the Illinois bar.

  Cairo Trimble married twice during his life, the first being to Ms. Alice McKey in 1894. Two children were born to the couple, Margaret Victoria Trimble Towne (1897-1974) and Cairo Dakin Trimble (1905-1931). Following Alice McKey Trimble's death in 1916, Trimble remarried in January 1919 to Nancy Creswell Kyle, who died in 1947.

   Trimble opened a law practice in Princeton and operated here for many years, and while a lawyer by trade, he gained additional repute through involvement in several other civic endeavors in Princeton. He was for many years a member (as well as President) of the Princeton High School Board of Education and was also a bank director. In addition to his work in Princeton, Trimble was later elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. He served on the board for eight years (1917-1925) and would continue to have involvement with the university for many years afterward.

  In addition to his law practice in Princeton, Trimble was named as a Republican Presidential Elector for Illinois in 1908, and four years later was a member of the Illinois delegation to the 1912 Republican National Convention being held in Chicago. Trimble would serve again as a delegate in 1936, journeying to Cleveland to take part in the Republican National Convention that nominated Alf Landon for the Presidency.

From the Alumni Quarterly and Fortnightly Notes of the University of Illinois, 1918.

  Trimble's lengthy career as one of Bureau County's most prominent practitioners of law culminated with his election as President of the Illinois State Bar Association in 1936. His tenure in this post (1936-1937) came at a time when President Franklin Roosevelt's "court packing" plan was largely derided by those in legal circles, and Cairo Trimble's viewpoint on the matter was no exception. He was mentioned by the February 1937 edition of the Telegraph Herald as stating that half of the Illinois State Bar Association's members had taken part in a statewide referendum, with 3,062 members voting against Roosevelt's plan while 377 voted for it.

  In his later years, Trimble maintained an active schedule, being a member of the local Masonic chapter, the Bureau Valley Country Club, the Hamilton Club of Chicago, and was a past member of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association. Trimble is recorded as serving as the President of the Illinois State Board of Law Examiners, although his dates of service in this office are unknown at this time. Cairo Alwin Trimble died in his native city of Princeton on September 23, 1952, at age 83, having outlived two wives and one of his children. He was survived by his daughter Margaret and was later interred in the Trimble family plot at the Oakland Cemetery in Princeton.

  

Trimble as he looked during his later years, from a 1940 edition of the ABA Journal.

From the Dixon Evening Telegraph, September 24, 1952.