Hon. JOhn Coates, a prominent attorney-at-law in the city of Freeport, is not only one of the oldest settlers of Northern Illi­nois, but is one of the oldest members of the Stephenson County bar. He possesses talents of a high order, and having been a close student and an extensive reader, has attained to a position second to none in the profession in this locality. He has filled many important offices, the duties of which have been discharged with the honesty and fidelity characteristic of the man, and which long years ago established him in the esteem and con­fidence of his fellow-citizens.

The family of Judge Coates was of old Scotch stock. He himself was born near the city of Williamsport, Lycoming county Pa., June 23, 1819. His paternal grandfather, John Coates, a native of Scotland, emigrated to America in 1773, having previously married Miss Sarah Smith, by whon he became the father of two children, a son and a daughter. He came to this country at the time of its deepest agitation and settled on a farm near the city of Philadelphia, but on the breaking out of the war with Great Britain, he went into the army as Wagonmaster, and died in the service in the autumn of 1777. His son John, the father of subject, was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland in July, 1771, and was reared by his widowed mother, whom he in turn tenderly cherished until his death in 1809. He was a farmer by vocation. He was married, about 1805,. to Miss Jane Eason, daughter of John Eason, who had emigrated from the North of Ireland and located in Northumber­land County, Pa., some years prior to the Revolu­tion. .

The parents of our subject, after their marriage, settled in Lycoming County, Pa., where they reared a family of nine children, three sons and six daughters. John, our subject, passed his boyhood and youth amid the scenes of rural life, pursuing his primary studies in the district school and later attending an academy. He took kindly to his books and at an early age developed as a teacher, which calling he pursued about two years.

In 1845 he came to Illinois, and the next year entered the office of Judge Wilson, of Mt. Carro11 and began the study of law under the instruction of that eminent attorney. A year later he came to Free­port and took charge of the law office of Thomas J. Turner, then Member of Congress from this district. Here he continued his studies and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1848.

He commenced the practice of his profession in the city of his adoption and devoted his whole time and energies to perfecting himself as an attorney and jurist. His natural abilities and his close attention to the duties of his profession secured acknowledgement at the hands of his fellow citizens and in 1853 he was elected County Judge of Stephenson County, which office he filled creditably until the expiration of his term. Upon retiring from the Judgeship he was elected County Attorney and later Justice of the Peace and City Attorney. He still continues his law practice, and each year adds something to his erudition and his proficiency in one of the noblest of professions.

Judge Coates, in 1856, was united in marriage with Ellen V. Carroll, a native of Princeton, N. J., and who died Sept. 26, 1871. This union resulted in the birth of one child, a daughter, Helen J., who has inherited largely the mental capacities of her father. After passing through the pirimary course in schoo, she was graduated at a seminary in Pennsylvania, and completed her education under some of the best instructors in music and modern languages, across the ocean in Germany and Switzerland. The Judge is a member in good standing of the Presbyterian Church, and has ever been among its most generous supporters. He is also one of the oldest members of the Board of Directors of McCormick Seminary. In politics, he is a Democrat. As a member of the Baltimore convention of 1852, he voted fifty-two ballots for Stephen A. Douglas for President, and has never abated his admiration for that gifted statesman.

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Judge Coates was at the time of his death, the patriarch of the Freeport bar, and enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest attorney in practice in Stephenson county. For almost half a century he was a familiar figure in our court rooms, and in the little brick office where the German Insurance Company’s building now stands. Long before our city had become incor­porated, he had been elected county judge, and had filled other important offices incident to the profession. The family of Judge Coates was of old South stock. His paternal grandfather emigrated from Scotland to America in 1773 and died while participating in the Revolutionary war. Mr. Coates was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, on the 23rd day of June, 1819. He early attended the district schools of his native county and after attaining manhood came west and settled in Illinois in 1845. He at once determined to enter the legal profes­sion and began to read law that year. In 1847 he removed to Stephenson county and entered the law office of T. J. Turner, and in the fol­lowing spring was admitted to the bar. After five years of active practice, during which time his natural abilities and attention to the duties of his profession secured acknowledg­ment at the hands of his fellow citizens, he was elected county judge in 1853, which office he held four years. In 1866 he was elected city attorney, and was subsequently chosen to fill the offices of justice of the peace, county attor­ney and supervisor. In November, 1856, he was united in marriage to Mrs. Ellen V. Carroll, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, and the widow of Rev. J. W. Carroll, a Presbyterian minister. Judge Coates was long an active and consistent churchman, and helped to organize the Second Presbyterian church of this city, of which he was one of the strongest sup­porters. He was a quiet, unassuming man, well read in all lines, an able counsellor and a suc­cessful practicioner. Although beyond the three score years and ten allotted to man, Judge Coates continued active in the profession and in the discharge of the various business and social duties to the close of life.

Footsteps of the Pioneers