John P.
Altgeld,
twentieth
Governor
elected,
Democrat, of
Cook, Jan. 10,
1893, to Jan.
11, 1897, was
born in Prussia
in 1848 and came
to this country
when a boy, his
father settling
on a farm near
Mansfield, Ohio.
He attended the
district school
when farm work
was not
pressing, and at
the age of 16
enlisted in the
163d Ohio
Infantry and
participated in
the closing
campaign of the
great Civil war.
After the war he
taught school,
worked as a farm
hand, and
studied when
opportunity
offered. At
Savannah, Mo.,
he entered a law
office and
continued his
studies. In 1874
he was elected
prosecuting
attorney of
Andrew several
years, but in
1884 accepted
the Democratic
nomination to
Congress and
largely reduced
the overwhelming
Republican
majority . In
1886 he was
elected Superior
Court judge of
Cook county; he
resigned in
August, 1891. In
1892 he was
elected
Governor,
receiving
425,558 votes to
402,676 for
Joseph W.
Fifer.,
Republican. He
was renominated
for Governor by
acclamation by
the Democratic
and Populist
State
conventions in
1896, and
received
474,256 votes to
587,637 for John
R. tanner
Republican. In
1878 he
married Miss
Emma Ford of
Chicago, and
died March 12,
1902.
/Source:
Illinois Blue
Book 1903-04/
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