Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Cowing, Judge George J 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 2, 2008, 3:29 am

Author: Past & Present Will County, 1907

JUDGE GEORGE J. COWING. George J. Cowing, recently elected county judge of 
Will county, has been successfully engaged in the practice of law in Joliet 
for over twenty years. He was born on the 25th of March, 1859, in Peotone 
township, this county, and is a son of the late John C. Cowing, whose sketch 
appears on another page of this volume. The judge acquired his early education 
in the public schools and continued his studies under private instruction for 
a time. Between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one years he engaged in 
teaching in the district schools and with the money thus earned he began a 
course of study in the Northwestern University in 1880, but his incessant 
labor had impaired his health and he was obliged to temporarily discontinue 
his collegiate work. He went to Colorado in the spring of 1881 and spent 
fifteen months in that state, returning in time to enter the law department of 
the Michigan University at Ann Arbor in the summer of 1882. He there pursued 
the regular course and was graduated in 1884, one of his classmates being Hon. 
Richard Yates, afterward republican governor of Illinois. Again Judge Cowing 
found it necessary to spend several months in recuperating his health, which 
had once more become impaired by reason of his close and unrelaxing attention 
to his studies. He finally entered into practice at Joliet in connection with 
the firm of Olin & Phelps, but a year and a half later he opened an office of 
his own at No. 317 Jefferson street. It was not long afterward that he formed 
a partnership with Colonel J. B. Fithian, under the firm name of Fithian & 
Cowing, and they were soon at the head of a large and growing practice, both 
being men of recognized ability in their chosen profession. This partnership 
was dissolved in 1889 and Judge Cowing became connected writh the Hon. 
Benjamin Olin, the partnership being maintained until the latter's election to 
the office of county judge. Judge Cowing next formed a partnership with George 
W. Young in 1892 and continued in active practice until his election to the 
bench, on the 6th of November, 1906. He was the candidate of the republican 
party and received a large majority. In the practice of law Judge Cowing 
demonstrated his ability to successfully cope with intricate and complex legal 
problems. He has trained his mind in a severe school of reasoning and 
analysis, is logical in his deductions and clear and accurate in his 
conclusions. With precision he marshals all of the forces bearing upon his 
case and yet never fails to recognize and give due prominence to the most 
important points in his case—that upon which the decision finally turns. In 
1890 was celebrated the marriage of Judge Cowing and Miss Stella Titsworth, a 
daughter of H. M. Titsworth, of Aurora, Illinois. Unto them have been born 
four children: Luella A., Glenn L., John C. and G. Jessemen. The parents are 
members of the Richards Street Methodist Episcopal church, of which the Judge 
is a trustee. He belongs to Matteson lodge, No. 175, A. F. & A. M.; Paul 
Revere lodge. No. 371, K. P.; and Mound City camp, M. W. A. In all of these 
organizations he is popular because of his devotion to their principles and 
his exemplification of their purposes in life. The profession which he has 
chosen as a life work finds in him a devoted follower and one who takes deep 
interest in the science of the law as well as in its practice as applied to 
litigated interests of the day. He is constantly broadening his mind by 
reading and investigating and he is well qualified to fill the office to which 
he has been chosen.

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

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/cowing2461nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 4.4 Kb