Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Akin, Hon Edward C 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 10:39 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

HON. EDWARD C. AKIN, attorney-general, was born in Will County, July 19, 1852, 
and was educated in the public schools of Joliet, and at Ann Arbor, Mich. For 
four years he was paying and receiving teller in the First National Bank of 
Joliet, where he acquired an extensive acquaintance throughout Will County. He 
was admitted to the bar of Illinois in the fall of 1878, and has continued in 
active practice ever since. He began his political career in 1887, when he was 
nominated as the Republican candidate for city attorney of Joliet, and 
although the city was at the time Democratic from five to six hundred, he 
defeated the Democratic nominee by a majority of over seven hundred. In 1888 
he was nominated for state's attorney of Will County, and at the ensuing 
election led the entire state and county ticket by eight hundred votes. In 
1892 he was renominated for that office and again led his ticket by hundreds 
of votes, and is credited by the leaders of both political parties with having 
saved the county ticket from defeat. His most brilliant political victory was 
achieved in the spring of 1895, when he ran as the Republican candidate for 
mayor of the city of Joliet. Although opposed by a citizen's ticket, led by a 
Republican, he defeated the Democratic nominee by a majority of over two 
hundred, receiving nearly as many votes as both his opponents combined. As a 
lawyer he stands among the leaders of the Will County bar. As a public 
prosecutor he has no superior in the state, and his conduct of municipal 
affairs has won for him the admiration of all good citizens, regardless of 
party affiliations. He is a man of high character and sterling integrity, and 
although he has been prominently before the people of this county for the past 
ten years, no breath of suspicion has ever been cast upon his private life or 
official acts. He is a man of fine appearance and pleasing address, and has 
won an enviable reputation throughout the state as a public speaker.—Chicago 
Inter Ocean, 1896. A public official, and especially one who holds a 
responsible and important position, no matter whether he is or is not a 
candidate for re-election, as a servant of the people, should be able to give 
a good account of his stewartship. Those whom he serves have the right to know 
in what manner he has performed the duties of his office, although they may 
not always insist upon knownng. To show conclusively that an officer has 
administered his trust ably, impartially, conscientiously, fearlessly and 
economically is the best argument in favor of his renomination for a second 
term that can be presented, and is also a sufficient reason for his re-
election. That no opinion rendered by Mr. Akin has been overruled is as 
gratifying to his friends as it is flattering to himself as a lawyer, and is 
evidence that his legal ability and judicial acumen are of the highest order. 
It is all the more creditable to Mr. Akin from the fact that a number of these 
opinions were in connection with the construction of the new laws, such as the 
revenue law of 1898, the amended statute in relation to loan and building 
associations, and others of equal importance. The large increase in the work 
of the department is ascertained by comparing the figures of the past three 
years with those for the full term of Mr. Akin's predecessor, which was 
considered at the time, and justly so, a record-breaker. Mr. Akin has lost no 
cases except in the supreme court, and of the twenty-eight there decided 
against him, as will be noted, twenty-seven were criminal cases, which were 
lost because of errors in the trial courts. It may be fairly claimed, 
therefore, that he has, in reality, lost but one case. Particular attention is 
called to his efforts to secure the enforcement of the anti-trust law. This 
was not done for the purpose of bleeding the corporations, nor on account of 
any unreasonable prejudice against, or hostility to, the corporations, but 
because the law requires him to proceed in the manner he did. In the decision 
of the inheritance tax cases by the United States supreme court in favor of 
the constitutionality of the law, Mr. Akin won a great legal victory, and the 
state has been benefited to the amount of nearly $1,000,000 of taxes from this 
source. All these combine to make up a record of which Mr. Akin may well be 
proud. His friends are proud of it, and they believe that upon this record 
alone he should be renominated and re-elected. In placing him on the ticket 
for a second term, the Republican convention will do a creditable act and one 
that will be indorsed by the people at the polls in November next.—Joliet 
Republican, February 2, 1900.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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