Edwin M. Sabin
Edwin M. Sabin is connected with a profession which has always had important bearing upon stable progress and improvement and as a member of the bar of Northwood he has made for himself an enviable position in the ranks of the legal fraternity in northern Iowa. He holds to high professional standards, has developed marked ability and is accorded a clientage that is extensive and distinctively representative.
A native of Nova Scotia, Mr. Sabin was born on the 23d of April, 1876, a son of Jeremiah and Matilda (McAlpin) Sabin, who were also natives of Nova Scotia, where they were reared and married. The father there followed the occupation of farming until 1882, when he crossed the border into the United States with his family and settled in Hayward, Wisconsin. He took up a preemption claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Sawyer county, securing the land at a dollar and a quarter per acre, and with characteristic energy he began its development. He built thereon a log house and undertook the work of improvement. Later he homesteaded a quarter section, which he also improved, and to his farm he added from time to time as his financial resources increased until he was the owner of one thousand acres, becoming recognized as one of the foremost agriculturists of his state. He continued his residence in Wisconsin throughout his remaining days and there passed away in 1910, at the age of seventy-two years. His widow still makes her home in Hayward and is now seventy-eight years of age.
Edwin M. Sabin spent his youthful days at Hayward, Wisconsin, where he pursued his early education, which was supplemented by a course of study in the State Normal School at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. He then took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in Sheboygan for three years, and in 1900 he removed to the District of Columbia, where he occupied a position in the pension office and at the same time attended law school as a student in the George Washington University, where he won the Bachelor's and Master's degree, being graduated in 1903. The following year he resigned his government position and removed to Northwood, Iowa, to enter upon the active practice of law and in 1905 entered into partnership with A. L. Thompson, with whom he remained for three years. Since that time he has practiced alone, occupying an office over the First National Bank. He filled the office of county attorney for six years and was manager of the Northwood Telephone Company for eight years but concentrates the greater part of his time and attention upon his private practice, which has constantly grown in volume and importance. An excellent presence, an earnest manner, marked strength of character, a thorough grasp of the law and the ability to accurately apply its principles, make him an effective and successful advocate, and few lawyers have made a more lasting impression upon the bar of the state, both for legal ability of a high order and for individuality of character.
In 1903 Mr. Sabin was united in marriage to Miss Jennie E. Stewart, a daughter of Archibald and, Nettie (McEwen) Stewart. She was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and her father was a native of New York, whence he removed with his parents during his early boyhood to Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Stewarts were from Scotland and the grandparents of Mrs. Sabin engaged in farming near Waukesha, where Archibald Stewart and his wife resided until called to their final rest. To Mr. and Mrs. Sabin have been born three children: Jennette, Milburn and Constance.
In his political views Mr. Sabin has always been a stalwart advocate of republican principles and fraternally he is connected with the Masons and Elks, exemplifying in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. He has worked his way upward through sheer force of ability and determination and his colleagues in the profession entertain high consideration for him because of his integrity, his dignity, his impartiality, his strong common sense and his love of justice. principles and fraternally he is connected with the Masons and Elks, exemplifying in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. He has worked his way upward through sheer force of ability and determination and his colleagues in the profession entertain high consideration for him because of his integrity, his dignity, his impartiality, his strong common sense and his love of justice.
SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Pages 67 & 68
Transcription by Gordon Felland, 9/3/2006