Champaign County IL Archives Biographies.....Gere, George W 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Celia Snyder cgsnyder@uiuc.edu September 1999

Biography of George W GERE, Champaign County, Illinois

From:  "History of Champaign County, Illinois with Illustrations," 1878


GEORGE W. GERE, the subject of the following brief biographical sketch,
was born in Clark county, Ill., on the 22d day of March, 1843.  His father,
John GERE, is a native of Vermont, in which state he was born about the
year 1811, but from which he removed with his parents when about two years
of age, and settled in Genesee county, New York state.  In 1836 he removed
to Covington, Indiana, and in the spring of 1837 took a trip down the
Mississippi to the Crescent City, but returned the same summer and took up
his residence in the town of Darwin, Clark county, Ill., where he remained
until the year 1847, when he struck his tent and removed to and permanently
located in Urbana, his present home.  Previous to his settlement in Urbana,
Mr. Gere had been engaged in agricultural pursuits; since then he has
strictly devoted his time and attention to merchandising.  In the year 1838
Mr. John GERE was united in the sacred bonds of wedlock, to Miss Emily
CATRON, niece of Hon. Judge CATRON, formerly one of the Justices of the
Supreme Court of the United States, and who at the time of her marriage was
a resident of Clark county, this state.  The Gere family is of English
extraction.  George the son spent the greater part of his early youth in
attending school, until he arrived at the age of nineteen, when he
commenced the study of law, and attended a course of lectures at the law
Department of the University, at Chicago.  After his return from Chicago,
Mr. Gere commenced the practice of his profession in Urbana, but afterward
removed to Champaign, where he has continued it until the present time.
Shortly after entering upon his practice, he abandoned the criminal
practice and devoted his time and attention considerably to that phase of
the law whose practice comes within the jurisdiction of the United States
Courts.  On the 14th day of October, 1867, Mr. Gere was united to Miss Mary
H. LEE in the bonds of wedlock, which union has been blessed by the birth
of two daughters.  In 1864 he cast his first vote for Gen. George B.
McClellan.  He is wedded to no particular party, is a man of an independent
cast of mind and does his own thinking.  In the Democratic convention
assembled in 1872, he was nominated for the office of States Attorney, and
made a most able and efficient canvass, running 752 votes ahead of the
ticket.  He has one of the best, and most complete law libraries in Central
Illinois.  The foregoing is a brief summary of the leading facts in Mr.
Gere's life arranged as nearly as possible in chronological order.  He is a
young attorney, yet in the prime of life, with a wide field and a long and
promising future before him.  A man of more than ordinary ability and
admirably adapted for the profession he has chosen.  He is an indefatigable
worker, a close student, and has already established a reputation as a
capable and successful advocate, and well deserves the reputation which he
enjoys, that of being thoroughly honest in his profession.  He has an
extensive and lucrative practice.  Mr. Gere possesses an analytical mind,
is a close, clear and logical reasoner, and excels in equity and
corporation cases.  He would no doubt with his talents have succeeded
equally well in any other department of professional life to which he might
have given his attention.


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