Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Dibell, Dorrance 1844 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 5, 2007, 3:09 pm

Author: Portraits & Bio Sketches, 1890

DORRANCE DIBELL. 

One fundamental idea has been retained as a common basis for the principal 
forms of Government. In the theocracy, the patriarchal system, and the 
democracy, the principle that the judiciary stands first in importance, has 
ever been recognized, and, as a logical sequence, to be chosen to discharge 
that function carries with it a signal honor. Dorrance Dibell was invested 
with this dignity by being elected, on the 3d of November, 1885, Judge of the 
Ninth Judicial Circuit, consisting of Will, Grundy, LaSalle and Bureau 
Counties. Born February 16, 1844, he was forty-one years of age at the time of 
his election, thus being the youngest of those who have been called to that 
office in the circuit mentioned. Judge Dibell is the son of the Rev. J. B. 
Dibell, a native of Kingsville, Ashtabula County, Ohio, and Louisa (Ward) 
Dibell, whose birthplace was Ellington, Tolland County, Conn. His own 
birthplace was Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio. His parents lived in Homer and New 
Lenox Townships, Will County, Ill., from 1850. The father was a Baptist 
minister whose sacred calling was terminated by death September 10, 1885. His 
thirty-five years of ministration in this county are rich in tributes to his 
faithfulness in the service of his divine Master. After his death the mother, 
with her daughter, Julia Louisa, took up her abode with her son Dorrance, in 
Joliet, where she resided until her death October 17, 1885. The daughter Julia 
was killed by the cars in that city September 20, 1889. Judge Dibell was a lad 
of but six years when his parents settled in the Prairie State and he grew to 
manhood on his father's farm, attending the public schools in boyhood and 
subsequently prosecuting his studies in the University of Chicago; beginning 
his personal career as a teacher he was afterward employed as a telegraph 
operator at Racine, Wis., and Wheatland and DeWitt, Iowa. At the latter place 
he began the study of law with the Hon. John C. Polley, further pursuing his 
professional researches with Messrs. Goodspeed, Snapp & Knox and Parks & Hill, 
all of Joliet. On the 23d of August. 1870, the young student was admitted to 
the bar and formed a partnership with the Hon. Charles A. Hill, now member of 
Congress from the Eighth District. The firm name was Hill & Dibell, and the 
connection, begun September 3, 1870, was not dissolved until November 13, 
1880, when the election of Mr. Dibell to the bench severed the oldest law 
partnership in the country. The firm enjoyed a large and important practice, 
both members holding high positions among the legal fraternity on account of 
their acumen and their skill in conducting cases. During the years of his 
active practice Judge Dibell was a member of the City Council, and assisted in 
establishing a great number of the best improvements of the city. He was in 
the council when the change was made from the special charter to incorporation 
under the general law. The first judicial term of the Judge is drawing to a 
close and it is well within bounds to say that his record will stand with the 
purest and ablest. One who has known Judge Dibell long and intimately says of 
him: "Judge Dibell is a large-brained, broad-minded, generous-spirited man, 
who commands the affectionate esteem and confidence of all who know him. Like 
most students, he is not in any sense a society man, but his equable temper 
and amiable disposition have made him a prime favorite with his neighbors and 
friends. The exacting demands and large requirements of his profession have 
not dulled his taste for general literature. He has gathered a large and 
valuable miscellaneous library, not for ornament, but for his own use and 
enjoyment. The great poets and dramatists are represented there, and the 
specialists of science, philosophy and political economy, have not been 
neglected nor overlooked. Even theology is not excluded, as is too frequently 
the case among lawyers. In short, to legal learning he adds a cultivated taste 
and a large store of general information.'' The marriage of Judge Dibell and 
Miss Sarah M. Snapp was celebrated in 1872. The chosen companion of our 
subject is the eldest daughter of the Hon. Henry Snapp, at the time of her 
marriage representing this district in Congress. The only living child of Mr. 
and Mrs. Dibell is Charles Dorrance, who was born March 19, 1875. Not only is 
Mrs. Dibell devoted to the interests of her home but she has the culture and 
disposition that wins friends, and her place in society is an assured one.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 
 


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