James C. Conkling

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James Cook Conkling (October 13, 1816 – March 1, 1899) was an American lawyer and politician who moved from New York City to Springfield, Illinois. After graduating from Princeton in 1835 and studying law, he settled in Illinois in 1838, forming a long-running legal partnership. He served as mayor of Springfield in 1844 as a Whig.

Conkling was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives for the 26th district (1850–1852) and later for the 20th district (1866–1868). He helped launch the Republican Party in Illinois, attending the Bloomington Convention in 1856 with Abraham Lincoln and serving on the state party’s central committee. He was a presidential elector for Lincoln in 1860 and 1864 and delivered the dedication address at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield.

During the Civil War, Governor Richard Yates named him a State Agent to settle Illinois’ claims against the U.S. government for equipping volunteers. In 1863 he read Lincoln’s address, later known as the “Conkling Letter,” at a mass gathering in Springfield. As a legislator, he authored the bill authorizing the construction of a new Illinois State Capitol.

After Lincoln’s assassination, Conkling became one of the first fourteen members of the Lincoln Monument Association, a role he held for over thirty years. He served as a trustee of the University of Illinois (1879–1880) and was appointed Springfield Postmaster by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, serving four years.

Conkling married Mercie A. Levering in 1841, and they had five children: Clinton Levering, James, Charles, Annie V., and Alice. He was a longtime elder at the Second Presbyterian Church in Springfield and was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery after his death in 1899.