Boyhood and College William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois, on the 19th of March, 1860. His father, a native of Virginia, was a lawyer by profession and represented his district in the State Senate for eight years. Later he was Circuit Judge. He held this last position for twelve years. William Jennings Bryan entered Illinois College in 1877. He had taken a fancy for public speaking early in his life and while yet in the preparatory department of Illinois College he had placed in oratorical contests. During his Freshman year in College he tied for second place in a Latin prose contest. "Later in the year, he declaimed " 1 The winning of the Junior Prize entitled him to represent Illinois College in the intercollegiate oratorical contest which was held at Galesburg, Illinois, in the fall of 1880. His oration was upon "Justice" and was awarded the second prize of fifty dollars. At the time of graduation he was elected class orator and having the highest scholarship during the four years course, delivered the valedictory. 1. William Jennings Bryan, The First Battle, (Chicago, 1846) pp. 38-39. During the fall of 1880, while yet a student in college "he made four speeches for Hancock and English, the first being delivered in the court house at Salem." 2 He graduated from college in June, 1881. In the fall of that year he entered the Union College of Law at Chicago. While attending the college he secured some practical experience in the law office of ex-Senator Lyman Trumbull. Mr. Bryan stood well in the law school and, as in his undergraduate days in Illinois College, he took an active interest in debating. His thesis was on the defense of the Jury In the summer of 1883, Mr. Bryan began the practice of law in Jacksonville, Illinois. He obtained desk space in the office of Brown and Kirby, one of the leading law firms in the city. After about six months of tedious waiting, clients began to come and he seems to have decided to make Jacksonville his permanent home. In the spring he did additional work for Brown and Kirby and "during the summer of 1884, a modest home 4 was planned and built, and on October first" he was married. During the next three years, Mr. Bryan continued the practice of law and at the same time became active in the politics of the state. We are told that "politics lost none of its charms 2. William Jennings Bryan, The First Battle, (Chicago, 1846) P. 44. 3. Ibid., p. 46. 4. Ibid., p. 47. |