... Edward S. Joslyn was by profession a lawyer, and in 1835, when but seven years of age, was brought by his parents to McHenry county, Illinois, where he grew to manhood. His primary education was obtained In the subscription schools of McHenry county. When fifteen years of age he went into a blacksmith shop to learn the trade, and there continued for five years. He then took a course in Elgin Academy, later read law in the office of Paul R. Wright, and after examination was admitted to the bar. Like all attorneys of an early day, he mixed politics with his legal business, and in 1856 stumped the state for Fremont, the first presidential candidate of the Republican party. For some cause, in 1859 he endorsed the views of Stephen A. Douglas, and was known as a Douglas Democrat during the remainder of his life.
Like his lamented leader, Edward S. Joslyn was a strong Union man, and when the south attempted to secede he took up arms in defense of the Union. He was first commissioned captain of Company A, Seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was the first company of the first regiment from Illinois, with which he served six months. Resigning his commission, he came home and assisted in organizing the Thirty-sixth Regiment of Illinois Infantry, and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. With his regiment went to the front, and was actively engaged until the battle of Pea Ridge, where he was wounded. Soon after the battle, and on account of his wound, and also from having contracted dysentery, he received a furlough and returned to his home in Elgin. His health not being restored as soon as anticipated, he tendered his resignation. His bravery being recognized by his superior officers, the resignation was not accepted, but the time of his furlough was extended. This extension was made several times with the hope that he could return to his post of duty, brave men and efficient officers being then in great demand. On the statement of his physician, his resignation was finally, but reluctantly, received, and his discharge granted in the fall of 1862.
It was some time, however, before he regained his usual health. In the meantime he gradually resumed his law practice, and for many years was recognized as one of the ablest criminal lawyers in Illinois, and as a general practitioner had few superiors. Among the most noted cases in which he figured was that of the Emma mine case in Utah, involving some three million dollars, which he won for his clients.
As an orator, his reputation extended far and wide. While in Utah obtaining evidence in the case just mentioned, he dressed as a mountaineer, in buckskin breeches, jacket, wore a sombrero hat, and went in and out among the natives as one of them. His oratorical ability was soon discovered, and was often called upon for a speech, and responding spoke upon various subjects to the edification of all. By the citizens of that region he was dubbed "the old man eloquent of the mountains." While there he defended the accused in two murder cases, winning them both. At home he was often called upon on short notice for a speech, and it mattered not what the subject, he Was, always ready. His imitative powers were great, and few were the public men but what he could imitate their style of speech. His speeches always abounded in apt illustrations, bright witicisms, and caught the crowd.
As a citizen he was at all times progressive and devoted much time to advancing the material interests of his adopted city. For a number of years he served as alderman and for two terms was mayor of Elgin. A friend of education he helped establish the free school system for the state. Religiously he was a Baptist, of which church his wife is also a member.
His death occurred at the age of fifty-eight years, and his loss was felt most deeply, not alone by his good wife, who still survives him, but by many friends throughout the county who knew his worth as a lawyer and as a man.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, Lindsey Joslyn, was a native of Vermont, of English origin. In early life he followed farming and the millwright trade. About 1858 he came to Kane county, where he practiced law and served as justice of the peace some years. He was better known among the settlers of Crystal Lake and around Woodstock, McHenry county, where he lived many years. His death occurred in Elgin, when seventy-three years of age.
The maternal grandfather, Rodolphus W. Padelford, was born at Savoy, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in 1806, and came west in 1842, locating in Elgin. He was of English descent, a descendant of Jonathan Padelford, who came across the water in a very early day. In early life he followed farming, but learning the daguerreotype business he established the first gallery in Elgin, and followed that profession until 1866, when he was burned out. A friend of liberty, while residing in Buffalo, New York, he conducted a station on the underground railroad, and many a poor colored person owed his liberty to Mr. Padelford's watchful care. Owen Lovejoy, Wendell Phillips and other noted abolitionists were numbered among his personal friends.
Few men were ever better known in Kane county than Adolphus Padelford. On the organization of the city of Elgin in 1854, he was elected its first city clerk, and continued in that office for twenty years consecutively. In 1866 he was elected clerk of the city court of Elgin, and served as such until 1889. In 1886 he was elected police magistrate of Elgin and held that office two terms. A strong Baptist, he was clerk of the Baptist Association of Illinois from 1850 until his death, and was clerk of the First Baptist church of Elgin for over forty years, and deacon for the same length of time. He was clerk of the board of trustees of the Northern Illinois Hospital for the Insane for twenty years, and township treasurer of Elgin for twenty-five years. As a bookkeeper and accountant he had few superiors.
His death occurred at Elgin in 1894 at the age of eighty-eight years, four months and twenty-four days.
