Ethelbert Callahan was a prominent Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Biography

Ethelbert Callahan was born in Licking County, Ohio

Licking County, Ohio

Licking County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 166,492. Its county seat is Newark and is named for the salt licks that were in the area....

 on December 17, 1829. As a boy, he determined to become a lawyer after watching an argument delivered by Thomas Ewing

Thomas Ewing

Thomas Ewing, Sr. was a National Republican and Whig politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate as well as serving as the Secretary of the Treasury and the first Secretary of the Interior.-Biography:...

, but it would be a number of years before Callahan achieved his goal of becoming a lawyer. In 1849, he relocated to Crawford County, Illinois, where he became a teacher. In 1853, he entered the world of political journalism as editor of the Wabash

Wabash County, Illinois

Wabash County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 11,947, which is a decrease of 7.7% from 12,937 in 2000...

 Sentinel. A year later, he moved to Marshall, Illinois

Marshall, Illinois

Marshall is a city in Clark County, Illinois, United States, locatedabout west of Terre Haute, Indiana. The population was 3,771 at the 2000 census...

 to edit the Telegraph, a paper that supported the Know Nothing

Know Nothing

The Know Nothing was a movement by the nativist American political faction of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by...

 movement. He married Mary Barlow Jones on June 27, 1854.

Callahan was elected as a justice of the peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 in 1857, and it was at this time that he began to read law. He was admitted to the bar in 1859. He opened his own law practice in Robinson, Illinois

Robinson, Illinois

Robinson is a city in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,822 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.-Geography:Robinson is located at ....

 in 1861. Over the next four decades, he built one of the most successful practices in southern Illinois. Callahan played a role in organizing the Illinois State Bar Association

Illinois State Bar Association

The Illinois State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the country. Approximately 30,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA membership is not required of lawyers licensed to practice in...

 in 1877, and served as its president in 1889.

Callahan was the first Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 to speak in Crawford County. He was elected to four two-year terms in the Illinois House of Representatives

Illinois House of Representatives

The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...

 on the Republican Ticket.

McKendree College

McKendree College

McKendree University, formerly known as McKendree College, is a private liberal arts college located in Lebanon, Illinois. The area is a part of the Metro-East region of Greater St. Louis. Founded in 1828 as the Lebanon Seminary, it is the oldest college in Illinois...

 awarded Callahan an honorary LL.D. in June 1898.

In 1883, Callahan gave a paper at the Illinois State Bar Association entitled "The Lawyers of the Bible." The work was widely copied, and in January 1911, he was invited to deliver the paper as an address at the Indiana University School of Law

Indiana University Maurer School of Law

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law is located on the flagship campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The law school is one of two law schools operated by the Indiana University system, the other being the Indiana University McKinney School of Law...

. This address was very well received and was therefore published the next year by Hollenbeck Press.