Biography - ROBERT B. SHIRLEY

Hon. Robert B. Shirley, a prominent resident of Carlinville, Macoupin County, and judge of the Seventh Judicial District of the State, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, was born in Madison County, Illinois, October 9, 1850, and is a son of Hon. William C. and Mary J. (Hoxsey) Shirley. His family has long been one of prominence in Southern Illinois.

William C. Shirley was born in White County, Tennessee, November 20, 1823, and at an early day removed to Illinois, where he located in Madison County and engaged in farming for some years, and was there married. He later moved to Staunton, Macoupin County, and there engaged in mercantile business for a period of years. He also engaged in government contracting in 1861, and was a prosperous business man. He was a member of the Illinois State Legislature in 1858 and voted for Judge Douglas in the celebrated Lincoln-Douglas contest for United States Senator. In 1867 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and was a very active participant in the actions of that body. He procured the passage of an act chartering the Decatur & East St. Louis Railroad Company, now the St. Louis Division of the Wabash, and afterward built the road. His wife, Mary J. Hoxsey, was born in Madison County, Illinois, August 17, 1825, and was a daughter of Dr. Archibald Hoxsey, who was born in Christian County, Kentucky, and was a pioneer settler of southern Illinois, locating on Silver Creek in Madison County in 1817.

Robert B. Shirley attended the common schools of Madison and Macoupin Counties, and received a good common school education. In 1873, he entered upon the study of law in the office of William R. Welch at Carlinville, Macoupin County, and was admitted to practice July 4, 1876. In 1878 he entered into partnership with Hon. S. T. Corn, now chief justice of the Supreme Court of Wyoming, and they continued together with success until 1885, when our subject began practicing alone. He has always been an active worker for the success of the Democratic party, and has frequently been called to offices of public trust. He has served as chairman of the Democratic Central Committee, held the office of city attorney of Carlinville three terms, was master of chancery from 1885 to 1887, and was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held at Kansas City in 1900. In 1893 he was his party's nominee for judge of the Circuit Court in the Fifth Judicial District to succeed Hon. Jesse J. Phillips, who had been elected to the Supreme bench, and he was elected the following July without opposition. He was nominated by acclamation in the same district in 1897, and when the districts were changed and Macoupin County was placed in the Seventh Judicial District, he was nominated as judge of the Seventh District and elected by a large majority. He was re-elected to the office in 1903 for a term of six years and now serves in that capacity. In 1900 he was a leading candidate for the Supreme bench of the State but failed to receive the nomination. Judge Shirley's record on the bench is above reproach and redounds greatly to his credit. Possessing essentially a judicial mind, his many years of experience in practice before the courts have well fitted him for so important an office, and in the discharge of his official duties he has gained not only the good will of the entire bar but of the citizens of the Seventh Judicial District as well. Of keen, discriminating and impartial mind, he knows no parties to the actions brought before him and adjudicates all matters according to their legal light, tempered with a high sense of justice.

On October 16, 1879, Judge Shirley was joined in marriage with Etta W. Burton, a daughter of Henry W. Burton, an honored resident of Carlinville. Fraternally he is a Mason and Knight Templar, and a member of the Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Extracted 2018 May 04 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 66-69.