Usher F. Linder

Usher Ferguson Linder (March 20, 1809 – June 5, 1876) served as Illinois Attorney General from 1837 until 1839. He was also a private-sector attorney in practice during the early statehood years of Illinois. In several of his cases, he practiced in affiliation with the Springfield, Illinois firm of Lincoln and Herndon and with its circuit partner, Abraham Lincoln.

Biography Usher F. Linder was a member of the generation of pioneer Kentuckians who moved to the frontier state of Illinois because of its opportunities in the making of a career. Moving to the new Prairie State in 1835, Linder settled in Coles County and was admitted to the bar.

He became active in politics, being elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1836, 1846, and 1850.

He was appointed as state attorney general, serving 1837–1839. He was called to assist the city of Alton attorney, Francis Butter Murdoch, in prosecuting what was known as the "Alton Riot Trial", following the attack on a warehouse and deaths of a man named Bishop and Elijah Parish Lovejoy on November 7, 1837.

He also practiced law in Illinois from 1835 until 1860.

Political career As a state representative from southeastern Illinois elected in 1836, Linder met a young lawmaker from Sangamon County in central Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. In defense of his constituents, Linder attempted to oppose Lincoln's successful efforts to move the young state's capital from Vandalia, Illinois to Springfield, Illinois. The pro-slavery Linder opposed many of Lincoln's political views, as he was a member of the Illinois Democratic Party prior to 1839 and again after 1854.

However, Lincoln and Linder also practiced law in affiliation with each other. Lincoln was the circuit partner of a Springfield-based practice that handled a wide variety of cases in the Eighth Circuit, a collection of counties in central and southeastern Illinois that included both Sangamon County and Coles County. As Linder had by this time become a leading lawyer in Coles County, this meant that both lawyers needed to affiliate with a fellow professional in each other's home county.

According to the "Terre Haute Journal", Linder's teenage son shot a schoolmate, the son of Dr. Ball, on the evening of May 13, 1856, over some difficulties at school. When Lincoln heard of this, he offered to represent him gratis, "an offer that brought tears to the eyes of the distraught father. "

Known for his violence, in 1859 while in open court, Linder beat up a fellow attorney. He died in Chicago in 1876.