Eli Wilkin

WILKIN

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 10/14/2004 at 10:13:24

Eli Wilkin, Winterset; born in Licking county, Ohio, and raised there upon a farm, having common school advantages during the winter months while growing up; after arriving at the age of twenty-one years he borrowed money and by means of which obtained an academical education at Haynesville, Ohio; he left the academy just after the battle of Bull Run, in 1861, and enlisted as a private in Co. H, Thirty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which company, through different grades in promotion, became captain, and at the close of the war, returned from the field in command of the regiment, and was complimented for his services as such commander by the rank of brevet-major. On his return from the army he entered the law department of the University of Michigan as a student, and in 1867 graduated therein, having in the meantime between sessions read law in the office of Buckingham & Kibler, of Newark, Ohio; in 1867 he came to Iowa and stopped a few months at Des Moines, where he was admitted to practice in the different courts, and during which time he was acquainting himself with the State statutes and practice; in June 1868, he located in Winterset, an entire stranger, and commenced the practice of his profession; at that time the Winterset bar had a number of its brightest lights and most distinguished members in full practice, among whom were M. L. McPherson, John Leonard, Col. Cummings, V. Wainwright, B. F. Murray, S. G. Ruby, Judge Gilpin and Judge Lewis, then temporarily out of practice, were at the bar in 1869, with others not here names; after a starving process had been gone through with, and made longer and severer by the fine talent and extensive acquaintance of his competitors at the bar, he became established in a few years in a fairly good practice, and in 1876 he and S. G. Ruby became associated as partners in the practice, and have so continued to the present time; he may well be termed a self-made man; impelled by worthy ambition he has made his way in the world, and achieved an enviable reputation among his associates at the bar.

Taken from the book, "The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1879" page 555