As one of the distinguished members of the bar of Southern Illinois and
as one who has given most effective service in offices of public trust,
Judge McElvain well merits consideration as one of the representative
citizens of the favored section of Illinois to which this publication is
devoted. Further interest attaches to his career by reason of the fact that
he is a native son of the state and a scion of one of its early and sterling
pioneer families.
Judge Robert James McElvain was born at DuQuoin,
Perry county, Illinois, on the 20th of March, 1849, and is a son of Joseph
H. and Esther (Lipe) McElvain, who established their home in that county in
an early day and who continued their residence in Southern Illinois during
the residue of their lives, secure in the high regard of all who knew them.
The father contributed his quota to the industrial and social development
and progress of this section of the state and wielded no little influence in
public affairs of a local order. Judge McElvain gained his early educational
discipline in the common schools of his native county and supplemented this
by a course of study in the Southern Illinois College, now known as the
Southern Illinois Normal University. In preparation for the work of his
chosen profession he began the study of law under effective private
preceptorship and thereafter continued his technical studies in the law
school at Lebanon, St. Glair county. He was admitted to the bar in 1878. In
1884 he found it expedient to establish an office in Murphysboro, the county
seat, to which city he removed in 1890, since which year he has here
maintained his home and professional headquarters. In 1884 he was elected
state attorney for Jackson county, in 1894 was elected county judge and at
the expiration of his term, in 1898, he was chosen as his own successor. In
1902, shortly after his retirement from the county bench, he was elected
representative of the Forty-fourth Senatorial District in the Lower House of
the State Legislature, and significant evidence of his popularity was again
given on this occasion, as he received at the polls a majority of more than
two thousand votes. In 1904 he was elected representative of the
Forty-fourth district in the State Senate, and the best voucher for his
effective record in this important office was that given in his re-election
in 1908, his second term expiring in 1912.
Judge McElvain has ever
given a stanch allegiance to the Republican party and has been one of its
influential representatives in Southern Illinois. He is known as a most
effective campaign speaker and his services in this connection have been
much in requisition in the various campaigns in the state. On the 19th of
September, 1901, he delivered the principal address at the memorial services
held in honor of the lamented President McKinley at Murphysboro, and he has
given many other public addresses of a general order.
Judge McElvain
and his wife and son hold membership in the Christian church, and he is
prominently affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed
the various official chairs of the local organization and in which he held
the office of grand chancellor of the Grand lodge of the state in 1900. He
also holds membership in the Murphysboro lodge of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks.
On the 29th of January, 1874, was
solemnized the marriage of Judge McElvain to Miss Mary A. Schwartz, of
Elkville, Jackson county, her parents, George and Sarah Schwartz, having
been early settlers in that locality, where her father became a
representative agriculturist and stockgrower. Judge and Mrs. McElvain have
one son, Robert J., Jr., who is now successfully established in the
real-estate and insurance business at Murphysboro. He was born on the 4th of
September, 1880, and was afforded the advantages of the excellent public
schools of Murphysboro, where he has gained distinctive prestige and
popularity as one of the representative young business men of the city. He
holds membership in the Christian church, is a stanch Republican in his
political proclivities, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. He
married Miss Naomi McCuan, of Creal Springs, Williamson county, Illinois,
and they have one son, Howard Harvey.
Extracted 11 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, volume 3, pages 1100-1102.