James, Benjamin F.

James was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1841. Abraham Lincoln and Albert Taylor Bledsoe were on the committee that examined him for admission. James practiced law in Tremont, Illinois, and participated in Whig politics. By 1860 he was practicing law in Chicago, and he supported Lincoln’s bid to the presidency.

Roy P. Basler et al., eds., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 8 vols. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 1:337, 4:103; John J. Duff, A. Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer (New York: Bramhall House, 1960), 295.