Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Antram, Caleb E 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 14, 2008, 3:16 am

Author: Past & Present Will County IL 1907

Caleb E. Antram, a member of the Will county bar who in the practice of his 
profession has made a specialty of probate and real-estate law, is a native of 
Pennsylvania, having been born near Salem in Fayette county, February 12, 
1865. His parents were Robert and Sarah (Woodward) Antram. Both came of old 
Pennsylvania families, the paternal grandfather spending his entire life upon 
a farm in that state, while Joseph Woodward, the maternal grandfather, was a 
leading and influential agriculturist of Fayette county. When twenty-three 
years of age Robert Antram began business on his own account by establishing a 
grist and flour mill in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until 
1869, when he removed westward to La Salle county. Illinois. There he bought 
land and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. As the years passed 
and his financial resources increased he added to his property and became one 
of the extensive landholders of the county. For many years he continued to 
engage in farming but eventually retired to enjoy his remaining days in 
comfort and ease. In his childhood days he became a member of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian church, of which he has always been a faithful adherent, and his 
political allegiance is given to the democracy. He has always been active in 
the local ranks of the party and even after retiring from active life he kept 
in touch with the trend of thought and progress in the history of the world 
and manifested a warm interest in local advancement. At the present time he is 
serving as supervisor of his township and at different times has filled other 
offices, including that of village trustee. Caleb E. Antram is the only 
representative of the family in Will county and is the eldest of eight 
children. Brought to Illinois when four years of age, he began his education 
in the district schools and when he had mastered the common branches of 
learning he was sent to Lincoln University, a Cumberland Presbyterian 
institution, at Lincoln, Illinois, in which his father was deeply interested. 
He afterward became a student in Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, 
where he remained for a year, and he spent a similar period in teaching. Then 
resuming his own education he matriculated as a junior in Knox College at 
Galesburg, Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1889, the degree of 
bachelor of science being conferred upon him. In the meantime he had 
determined upon the practice of law as a life work and as a preparation 
therefor he entered the law department of the Northwestern University of 
Chicago and completed the regular course by graduation in June, 1891, with the 
degree of Bachelor of Laws. Following his admission to the bar Mr. Antram 
located for practice in Joliet in September, 1891. Professional progress is 
proverbially slow and Mr. Antram had no influential friends to assist him, 
being unknown in this city, but he soon won public recognition and his fellow 
members of the bar recognized his ability, so that no long and dreary 
novitiate awaited him. On the contrary his success came soon because his 
equipment was good and because he manifested unfaltering fidelity to the 
interests that were entrusted to his care. He has won notable victories in the 
trial of criminal cases and is well versed in all departments of the law, yet 
has given his time and attention more specifically to real-estate and probate 
business, in which lines of legal practice he has been particularly 
successful. On the 30th of June, 1897, Mr. Antram was married to Miss Lillian 
B. Van Wormer, a daughter of Rev. A. J. Van Wormer, of Albion, Michigan, and 
they have three children: Robert S., Fred and Margaret E. Mr. Antram and his 
wife hold membership in the First Presbyterian church of Joliet and are much 
interested in its work and in charitable and benevolent movements. His 
official connection with the church covers some years. He belongs to Joliet 
lodge, No. 856, I. 0. 0. F., and is a charter member of the Knights of White 
Cross. In politics he is independent yet with democratic tendencies, and his 
interest in public affairs is manifest by his thorough and comprehensive 
understanding of the important questions and issues before the people. For 
four years he served as commissioner of special assessments but has not been a 
politician in the sense of office seeking. In 1896 he was commissioned by the 
family to go to the old country and attend to various business matters in 
connection with the estate and while abroad he visited many points of interest 
on the British Isles, carrying with him a personal letter from Secretary of 
State Olney to the foreign officials, which caused him to receive considerable 
attention in various cities visited. He is a man of marked individuality and 
force of character, strong in support of his convictions and actuated by high 
principles and ideals. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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