John D. Caton

John Dean Caton (March 19, 1812 – July 30, 1895) was an American associate justice and chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court.

Family, early life, education

Caton was born in a Quaker family in Monroe County, New York, on March 19, 1812. His father died when he was 3 years old and his mother then brought the family to her brother's farm near Utica, New York. The family managed to gather the money needed to send him to the Utica Academy. During his studies, he worked as a teacher in Utica. He studied law and civil engineering.

Later he married Laura A. Sheril; they had a son, Arthur Caton (1849/50–1904).

Law practice

In 1833, Caton moved to Chicago, then a small town, and opened the first law office there with his partner, Giles Spring.

In his book, Early Bench and Bar of Illinois, inspired by an 1893 speech given to the Illinois Bar Association, Judge Caton claims to have tried the first jury case in a court of record in Cook County, Illinois. He recounts his experiences riding the circuit in the early days of Illinois statehood, and his later appointment to the Illinois Supreme Court, a period of some sixty years. He relates a number of humorous anecdotes about his days as a circuit rider.

Abraham Lincoln was an attorney in 214 cases in the Illinois Supreme Court in which Caton was a justice.

Natural history and Darwin

By the late 1860s, his wealth allowed him to start studying natural history and traveling. He published several authoritative papers and books, among which The Antelope and Deer of America (1877).

He exchanged correspondence with Charles Darwin, who cited his work numerous times in The descent of man (1871). When Darwin's sons George and Francis visited the United States in 1871, he sent a letter of introduction with them to Caton.

Later, Caton also published books and papers on Hawaii, Norway, and on Illinois history.

Publications (1863) The position and policy of the Democratic Party, letter to Gov. H. Seymour, New York Argus (1865) Death of Lincoln : proceedings in the Supreme Court of Illinois : presentation of the bar resolutions in regard to Mr. Lincoln's decease, Chicago, J.W. Middleton & Co., (1869) Origin of the prairies (read before the Ottawa Academy of Natural Sciences on December 30, 1869), Transactions of the Ottawa Academy of Natural Sciences, 30 p., (1870) Our courtship and our marriage : with incidents preceding and relating thereto, and observations suggested thereby : intended exclusively for our family, 280 p., (1870) The last of the Illinois, and a sketch of the Pottawatomies (read before the Chicago Historical Society on December 13, 1870), Chicago, ed. Rand, McNally & Co. (reedited 1876, Fergus Printing Co., Chicago), 36 p., (1875) A summer in Norway; with notes on the industries, habits, customs and peculiarities of the people, the history and institutions of the country..., Chicago, ed. Jansen, McClurg & Co., 401 p. + 6 pl.,

(1877) The antelope and deer of America, Boston, ed. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (revised edition in 1881), 426 p.,

(1880) Miscellanies, Houghton, Osgood & Co., 360 p. Shields, George Oliver (editor), with numerous contributors including (1893) Early bench and bar of Illinois, Chicago Legal News Company, 252 p., (1898) Argument favoring the annexation of Hawaii, 15 p.. This was part of the documents of reference for the Congress while debating the annexation of Hawaï between 1893 and 1898.