Aylesworth, Egbert E. (1838-1918)

AYLESWORTH

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 1/3/2024 at 11:51:23

Egbert E. Aylesworth
(April 22, 1838 – October 12, 1918)

Judge Egbert E. Aylesworth, of Council Bluffs, has occupied a prominent position at the bar and on the bench in Pottawattamie County for thirty-three years. He located in Council Bluffs in September 1866, having been admitted to the bar in Binghamton, New York, May 12, 1863. Judge Aylesworth is the son of John Aylesworth, a farmer, and Savina Adams Aylesworth, a descendant of the Massachusetts Adams. He was born in Milford, Otsego County, New York, April 22, 1838. He enjoyed good educational advantages for those days, attending the district school, and later the Hartwick Seminary and Delaware Literary Institute at Franklin, in Delaware County, New York. At the beginning of the year 1861 he entered the law office of R. M. Townsend in Portlandville, New York, as a student and remained with him until he came west in 1866. Upon reaching Council Bluffs Mr. Aylesworth became a partner of Judge Street, but in 1867 this partnership was dissolved and a year later an association was formed with W. S. Willliams, which lasted three years. In 1874 a law partnership was arranged with W. C. James and W. A. Mynsten, which continued for six years. Judge Aylesworth is a democrat and was the democratic nominee for district judge in 1880, lacking but sixty votes of election over C. F. Loofbourow in a district which gave 3,000 republican majority. Two years later he was elected judge of the Superior Court of Council Bluffs, and in 1884 was again a candidate for district judge against the same man who was elected in 1880. This time the canvass of the votes gave Judge Aylesworth a majority of two, but a contest being made, the decision was favorable to his opponent by a majority of fourteen. In 1886 and in 1898 he was again elected to the office of judge of the Superior Court, which office he now holds. He has also served as alderman in 1870, city attorney in 1873, 1875 and 1880, and member of the school board in 1881. His life in Iowa has been a series of professional and political successes which have been won upon his merits as a lawyer.
Judge Aylesworth was married September 20, 1864, to Marcella R. Windsor, a native of Otsego County, New York. Their four children are Paul Clark, born July 15, 1870; Ellen Windsor, born May 22, 1876; Egbert DeWitt, born May 15, 1882, and Seth Windsor, born November 7, 1884. The family attends the Episcopal Church. [Source – Biographies and Portraits of Progressive Men of Iowa…, by Gue & Shambaugh, 1899, vol.2, p.121]