HON. REED GREEN. The legal fraternity of Cairo, Illinois, has among its
members Hon. Reed Green, who has been conspicuously identified with the bar
of that city and who stands prominently among the foremost citizens of this
community. He is a son of the late Judge William H. Green, a distinguished
lawyer of Southern Illinois, whose identity with the commonwealth began at
an early period in his life, and whose citizenship marked him as a strong
character and an able man. Palmer's Bench and Bar of Illinois says of him in
part as follows:
"Judge William H. Green, of Cairo, in the most
exacting of all professions has won distinguished honors, and as jurist,
statesman or writer stands among the eminent men of Southern Illinois who
have shaped the destiny of this section of the state and left the impress of
their individuality for good upon the annals of the commonwealth.
"A
man's reputation is the property of the world. The laws of nature have
forbidden isolation. Every human being submits to the controlling influence
of others, or as a master yields a power for good or evil on the masses of
mankind. There can be no impropriety in justly scanning the acts of any man
as they affect his public, social and business relations. If he be honest
and successful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten
his fame and point the path along which others may follow with like success.
"William H. Green was born in Danville, Boyle county, Kentucky,
December 8, 1830, and is a worthy representative of a family whose ancestral
history is one of close connection with the development of Virginia and
Kentucky. His parents were Dr. Duff and Lucy (Kenton) Green, the former a
most capable physician and scientist. His grandfather, Willis Green, was one
of the pioneers of Kentucky and was the first delegate from the district of
Kentucky to the Virginia legislature. He was also a soldier in the
Continental army during the Revolutionary war and afterwards one of the
pioneers of Kentucky and a delegate from the district of Kentucky to the
Virginia legislature. The great-grandfather of Judge Green was General Duff
Green, of Virginia, who married Anne Willis, who was the daughter of Colonel
Henry Willis and Mildred Washington, who was an aunt to General George
Washington. His ancestors were among the first settlers of Virginia and were
extensive land-owners in the Shenandoah valley. The mother of Judge Green
was of Scotch descent and of the same family as the celebrated pioneer and
Indian fighter, Simon Kenton, who was contemporary with Daniel Boone in the
exploration of Kentucky.
William H. Green was educated in Center
College of Danville, Kentucky, and he became a fair classical scholar. He
has always been a profound student, an extensive reader of history and
scientific works, and his range of thought and investigation has been most
comprehensive. At the bar, in the field of politics and as a writer for the
press he has manifested ability of a superior order, and his merit has won
him high encomiums. While yet a boy he accompanied his parents on their
removal to Illinois, the family locating in Mount Vernon, where Dr. Duff
Green, his father, died and is buried. On the completion of his education
the Judge successfully engaged in teaching in Benton and St. Louis counties,
Missouri, and in Mount Vernon, Illinois. In the last named place he began
reading law under the direction of Judge Walter B. Scates, and was admitted
to the bar in 1852. Opening an office in Mount Vernon, he practiced there
for a year, after which he removed to Metropolis, where he conducted a large
and lucrative practice for ten years. Since 1863 he has been a resident of
Cairo, and thirty years ago he formed a partnership with W. B. Gilbert,
under the firm name of Green and Gilbert. Later Miles Frederick Gilbert, and
his son, Reed Green, were admitted to a share in the business and the firm
still continues, and is now without a superior and has few equals at the bar
in this section of the state. Judge Green is equally at home in all
departments of jurisprudence, making a strong, logical and forceful plea
before a jury in the trial of a criminal suit, or handling with masterful
skill the intricate and complex problems of civil law. The greatest
characteristic of his mind is strength, his predominant faculty is reason
and the aim of his eloquence is to convince.
"In 1865 he was elected
judge of the third judicial district, and for three years served upon the
bench. During the past twenty-five years he has been the principal council
for the Illinois Central Railroad Company in Southern Illinois, and he is
now district attorney for that company. He has twice represented his
district in the state legislature, as a member of the house, and once in the
senate. While acting as a representative he was chairman of the judiciary
committee, having been appointed by the speaker, Hon. W. R. Morrison. He was
a very prominent member of the house and did not a little towards moulding
the public policy of the state at that period. For more than thirty-six
years he has been a member of the state board of education, and his labors
have been most effective and commendable in advancing the standard of his
schools of Illinois. He has six times been a delegate to the national
convention of the Democratic party, when its sessions were held in
Charleston, Chicago, New York, Cincinnati and St. Louis. He has served eight
years as a member of the state central committee and for over twelve years
chairman of the district central committee of his party. He has been a most
important factor in its management and is a recognized leader in its ranks
in Illinois. He has been a frequent contributor to the press and is a fluent
and entertaining writer. In the various walks of life in which he has been
seen, political, professional and social, he has attained a conspicuous
position that has been a tribute to his superior talents and high personal
worth."
The birth of Reed Green occurred in Mount Vernon, Illinois,
September 22, 1866, and as a young child he came to Cairo with his parents.
He passed through the grades of the public schools, following which he
attended the Northern Illinois Normal University near Bloomington and then
the Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbondale. When he left school
he spent two years in the country districts as a teacher, after which he
began reading law and in 1887 he was graduated from the law school at
Bloomington. Immediately upon his graduation he became a member of the law
firm of Green & Gilbert, in Cairo, his father being the head of the firm
established there in 1869, and this professional connection continued until
in 1902, when he decided to open an office for himself, and in conducting a
practice on his own merits he has proved himself to be the worthy son of an
able father.
The political history of Hon. Reed Green shows him to
have taken a modest part in the political contests of Alexander county in
the past as a Democrat. In 1888 he was elected to the general assembly. Two
years later he was returned to the house and in that body was made chairman
of the election committee, having under consideration the Australian Ballot
Bill, upon which that committee reported favorably to the house and the bill
became a law. He was a member of the judiciary committees of both sessions
and as a member of the appropriations committee he was the means of securing
an appropriation for a new building for the Southern Illinois Normal. He
lent his influence and aid to the candidacy of General Palmer for the United
States senate and saw him elected. In 1902 he was sent to the senate of the
state by election from his district and in that body was chairman of the
committee on municipal corporations. On the expiration of his term in 1896
he retired from politics, and since that time he has devoted himself
assiduously to his profession. His active interest in education in all its
phases is indicated by his connection with the public schools as a member of
the board of education and by his membership on the official board of the
public library. He was one of the charter members of the First Bank and
Trust Company, and has been a director since its organization.
Mr.
Green was married to Mrs. Lula Ellis on December 21, 1910, in Cairo.
Extracted 15 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 History of Southern Illinois, Volume 2, pages 842-844.
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