James Stevenson Ewing was United States Minister to Belgium, 1893-1897. He was a cousin of Vice President Adlai Ewing Stevenson. James was the third of seven known children of John Wallis Ewing (1808–1855) and Maria McClelland Stevenson (1802–1883), who married 12 Oct 1830 at Christian County, Kentucky.
James married Katherine Spencer (1843–1922) on 28 Jun 1866 at McLean County, Illinois. James and Katherine were the parents of six known children, namely:
1. Clara Spencer Ewing McMahon (1867–1913)
2. Cornelia Ewing Clampett (1868–1949)
3. James Spencer Ewing (1871–1952)
4. Frances Spurgeon Ewing Beecher (1873–1910)
5. Davis Weldon Ewing (1876–1972)
6. Louise Ewing Dexter (1880–1966)
James was a leading lawyer and a life long partner of Adlai Ewing Stevenson I. He lived in Bloomington, Illinois and was Minister to Belgium from 1893 to 1897. In 1880 the family was living at 310 Albert Street, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois. In 1900 they were living at 604 N. East Street in Bloomington. Their daughter, Clara Ewing McMahon, was living with them with her two daughters. Their children Spencer and Louise were unmarried, living with them. In 1910 the parents, divorced daughter Clara, and two grand daughters were still living in Bloomington. In 1920 the widow Katherine and her grand-daughter Katherine McMahon were living with Spencer Ewing at Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois.
Links to James' parents, wife, all of his six known children and five of his six known siblings are included below.
From the Bloomington Daily Pantagraph April 23, 1918.
MEMORIAL EXERCISES FOR HONORABLE JAMES EWING
BAR ASSOCIATION IN GLOWING TRIBUTE
EX GOVERNOR JOSEPH W. FIFER READS MEMORIAL TO LATE MEMBER OF LOCAL BAR
- THE MEMORIAL
Practically all the members of the McLean County Bar Association gathered yesterday afternoon in the circuit court room of the county building to participate in the memorial services for the late Hon. James S. Ewing. Hon. Joseph W. Fifer, ex governor of the state, read the memorial which had been prepared by an appointed committee. Following this there were talks by a number of members of the bar who in their intercourse with their fellow men had come to know the late Mr. Ewing very well. All paid high tribute to his high capabilities and all honored him as perhaps but few have been honored. The following is the memorial ordered spread upon the records of the association:
THE MEMORIAL
The following is the memorial on Mr. Ewing as prepared by the committee and presented to the bar association:
James Stevenson Ewing was born in what is now a part of our neighboring county of Woodford on the 19th day of July, 1835, and died at his home in this city, February 7, 1918. It has been said that the great men of the modern world have been born under the straw thatched roofs of Europe and in the log cabins of America; that their cradles have been rocked by the feet of mothers whose hands were at the same time busy with the needle or the wheel. Our friend had the good fortune to be one of these. Neither pinched by poverty nor pampered by great wealth, he sprang from that sturdy middle class which had in all ages furnished the world its great soldiers, statesmen, lawyers and progressive thinkers.
EARLY LIFE
When a mere lad he moved with his father's family to the city of Bloomington, which place continued to be his home down to the day of his death with the exception of one year when he practiced law in the city of Philadelphia. His early education was had in Bloomington and consisted of but little more than the common branches now taught in the grade schools of our city. Like all truly great men, he had faith in himself and yearned for a better and a higher education than was offered by the city of his home, and accordingly in 1853 he entered Center College at Danville, Kentucky, and became the school mate of his cousin, Adlai E. Stevenson, Congressman Breckenridge, Senator Blackburn and many others who afterwards were distinguished not only in their respective states, but also as leaders in the political thought of our entire country as well.
BEGINS PRACTICE
At the end of the allotted four years at college, he received his diploma, and returned to the city of Bloomington to begin the arduous and responsible duties of life. He studied law and late in the fifties admitted to practice his profession and became a member of the Bloomington bar. He had in his early career the good fortune to meet and mingle with the great men of his own state; some of whom afterwards became distinguished not only in their own great country, but thruout the whole civilized world and whose names are spoken with reverence and respect in all languages and in every palace and hovel thruout the civilized world. Among these were David Davis, then on the circuit bench, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Judge Weldon and Colonel Stewart who were frequent visitors and practitioners at the Bloomington bar; and we should mention also the firms of Williams & Burr, Hannah & Scott, Swett & Orme, Packard & Wickizer and many others. It will thus be seen our friend entered the profession a the golden period of our local bar. It was inevitable that associations such as these should broaden his intellect and quicken his ambition, and that this was the effect was observed and noted by his friends thruout all the remaining years of his life. He often spoke with pride of his acquaintanceship and association with these great men. He entertained great admiration both for Lincoln and for Douglas and believed them to be the greatest statesmen since the era of American Independence.
AS A LAWYER
As a lawyer, Mr. Ewing was broad and comprehensive rather than technical. Few men ever mastered the science of the law more thoroughly than he, and it is doubtful if the states has ever produced any one more thoroughly conversant with its fundamental principles. As a speaker he was eloquent and convincing and was the most dreaded and dangerous advocate that ever appeared before a jury of our country. In all his relations with his brother lawyers, he was a perfect gentleman. In his practice he was high minded and scrupulously honest. Thru his long and honorable career he entertained the greatest aversion and the most profound contempt for any attorney who violated the ethics of the profession. He was the Nestor of the McLean county bar and for a long third of a century his leadership of that bar was unchallenged.
While our friend made no pretensions to authorship yet he was a man of marked literary ability and published at one time a booklet containing some of his public addresses and arguments before juries. This publication testifies to the truth of what is her said in regard to his literary attainments. It should be stated that the book was intended by him not for general circulation, but only for a few friends whose good opinion he highly esteemed.
He neither sought nor desired a political career, but not with-standing this fact, his friends and political opponents knew him to be one of the ablest and most resourceful politicians that Illinois has ever produced. He was the close counselor and advisor of the late vice president, Adlai E. Stevenson, and in all of Mr. Stevenson's campaigns, Mr. Ewing rendered him able and efficient services and no one more cheerfully acknowledged the value of these services than did Mr. Stevenson himself.
MINISTER TO BELGIUM
The only political office Mr. Ewing ever held was that of minister to Belgium, which office came to him during Mr. Cleveland's second administration, practically without solicitation. Mr. Cleveland and the then secretary of state regarded Mr. Ewing as one of the ablest foreign ministers then in the service of the government and the records now on file in the state department at Washington will testify to the fact that this estimate of Mr. Ewing's great abilities was not over drawn. His abilities were not only appreciated at home, but likewise by the officials of foreign governments with whom he came in contact.
The man who confines his life work to the practice of law may and generally does if successful gain the esteem of his brother lawyers and the judges before whom he practices, but an acquaintanceship with the masses and the plaudits of the multitude in a great measure must be forever denied him. The abilities of Mr. Ewing well fitted him to become a great judge and a senator of consequence and distinction. He was well qualified to fill the highest office in the gift of the American people and would have made a great president; some or all of these honors might have come to him had he chosen a political career.
VIEWS ON WAR
While a man of high courage and practically without a sense of fear, yet our friend was strong in his sympathies and friendships and had a heart as tender as that of a child. The horrors of the present war weighed heavily on his mind and he was frequently heard to say that he hoped to live to see the end of it. He believed that the hands of the government should be upheld in this great world crisis until an honorable and a lasting peace should be secured. He was opposed however to a standing army after the war, fearing it might make of us a military nation, a thing which he so much condemned in the central powers of Europe.
Soon after entering upon the practice of the law Mr. Ewing was married to Miss Katherine Spencer, a lad of culture and refinement and member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families in the community. To which union an interesting family of six children were born and resulted in more than fifty happy years of wedded life.
Thus in brief outline we have spoken of the life, the character and achievements of a man who for four score years lived in this community and was one of its greatest ornaments and most conspicuous figures. He was a friend without hypocrisy, a citizen without reproach, a lawyer without trickery, and a statement without his reward.
His death is a loss not alone to this immediate community, but to our state and nation as well. The bar has lost its most conspicuous member, the community one of its most useful citizens and his family a kind husband an indulgent father. We deeply grieve at his death and extend to those nearest and dearest to him in life our most profound sympathy in their great bereavement.
JOSEPH W. FIFER
THOMAS C. KERRICK
A.E. DEMANGE
JOHN F. WIGHT
CHARLES S. CAPEN,
Committee
James married Katherine Spencer (1843–1922) on 28 Jun 1866 at McLean County, Illinois. James and Katherine were the parents of six known children, namely:
1. Clara Spencer Ewing McMahon (1867–1913)
2. Cornelia Ewing Clampett (1868–1949)
3. James Spencer Ewing (1871–1952)
4. Frances Spurgeon Ewing Beecher (1873–1910)
5. Davis Weldon Ewing (1876–1972)
6. Louise Ewing Dexter (1880–1966)
James was a leading lawyer and a life long partner of Adlai Ewing Stevenson I. He lived in Bloomington, Illinois and was Minister to Belgium from 1893 to 1897. In 1880 the family was living at 310 Albert Street, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois. In 1900 they were living at 604 N. East Street in Bloomington. Their daughter, Clara Ewing McMahon, was living with them with her two daughters. Their children Spencer and Louise were unmarried, living with them. In 1910 the parents, divorced daughter Clara, and two grand daughters were still living in Bloomington. In 1920 the widow Katherine and her grand-daughter Katherine McMahon were living with Spencer Ewing at Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois.
Links to James' parents, wife, all of his six known children and five of his six known siblings are included below.
From the Bloomington Daily Pantagraph April 23, 1918.
MEMORIAL EXERCISES FOR HONORABLE JAMES EWING
BAR ASSOCIATION IN GLOWING TRIBUTE
EX GOVERNOR JOSEPH W. FIFER READS MEMORIAL TO LATE MEMBER OF LOCAL BAR
- THE MEMORIAL
Practically all the members of the McLean County Bar Association gathered yesterday afternoon in the circuit court room of the county building to participate in the memorial services for the late Hon. James S. Ewing. Hon. Joseph W. Fifer, ex governor of the state, read the memorial which had been prepared by an appointed committee. Following this there were talks by a number of members of the bar who in their intercourse with their fellow men had come to know the late Mr. Ewing very well. All paid high tribute to his high capabilities and all honored him as perhaps but few have been honored. The following is the memorial ordered spread upon the records of the association:
THE MEMORIAL
The following is the memorial on Mr. Ewing as prepared by the committee and presented to the bar association:
James Stevenson Ewing was born in what is now a part of our neighboring county of Woodford on the 19th day of July, 1835, and died at his home in this city, February 7, 1918. It has been said that the great men of the modern world have been born under the straw thatched roofs of Europe and in the log cabins of America; that their cradles have been rocked by the feet of mothers whose hands were at the same time busy with the needle or the wheel. Our friend had the good fortune to be one of these. Neither pinched by poverty nor pampered by great wealth, he sprang from that sturdy middle class which had in all ages furnished the world its great soldiers, statesmen, lawyers and progressive thinkers.
EARLY LIFE
When a mere lad he moved with his father's family to the city of Bloomington, which place continued to be his home down to the day of his death with the exception of one year when he practiced law in the city of Philadelphia. His early education was had in Bloomington and consisted of but little more than the common branches now taught in the grade schools of our city. Like all truly great men, he had faith in himself and yearned for a better and a higher education than was offered by the city of his home, and accordingly in 1853 he entered Center College at Danville, Kentucky, and became the school mate of his cousin, Adlai E. Stevenson, Congressman Breckenridge, Senator Blackburn and many others who afterwards were distinguished not only in their respective states, but also as leaders in the political thought of our entire country as well.
BEGINS PRACTICE
At the end of the allotted four years at college, he received his diploma, and returned to the city of Bloomington to begin the arduous and responsible duties of life. He studied law and late in the fifties admitted to practice his profession and became a member of the Bloomington bar. He had in his early career the good fortune to meet and mingle with the great men of his own state; some of whom afterwards became distinguished not only in their own great country, but thruout the whole civilized world and whose names are spoken with reverence and respect in all languages and in every palace and hovel thruout the civilized world. Among these were David Davis, then on the circuit bench, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Judge Weldon and Colonel Stewart who were frequent visitors and practitioners at the Bloomington bar; and we should mention also the firms of Williams & Burr, Hannah & Scott, Swett & Orme, Packard & Wickizer and many others. It will thus be seen our friend entered the profession a the golden period of our local bar. It was inevitable that associations such as these should broaden his intellect and quicken his ambition, and that this was the effect was observed and noted by his friends thruout all the remaining years of his life. He often spoke with pride of his acquaintanceship and association with these great men. He entertained great admiration both for Lincoln and for Douglas and believed them to be the greatest statesmen since the era of American Independence.
AS A LAWYER
As a lawyer, Mr. Ewing was broad and comprehensive rather than technical. Few men ever mastered the science of the law more thoroughly than he, and it is doubtful if the states has ever produced any one more thoroughly conversant with its fundamental principles. As a speaker he was eloquent and convincing and was the most dreaded and dangerous advocate that ever appeared before a jury of our country. In all his relations with his brother lawyers, he was a perfect gentleman. In his practice he was high minded and scrupulously honest. Thru his long and honorable career he entertained the greatest aversion and the most profound contempt for any attorney who violated the ethics of the profession. He was the Nestor of the McLean county bar and for a long third of a century his leadership of that bar was unchallenged.
While our friend made no pretensions to authorship yet he was a man of marked literary ability and published at one time a booklet containing some of his public addresses and arguments before juries. This publication testifies to the truth of what is her said in regard to his literary attainments. It should be stated that the book was intended by him not for general circulation, but only for a few friends whose good opinion he highly esteemed.
He neither sought nor desired a political career, but not with-standing this fact, his friends and political opponents knew him to be one of the ablest and most resourceful politicians that Illinois has ever produced. He was the close counselor and advisor of the late vice president, Adlai E. Stevenson, and in all of Mr. Stevenson's campaigns, Mr. Ewing rendered him able and efficient services and no one more cheerfully acknowledged the value of these services than did Mr. Stevenson himself.
MINISTER TO BELGIUM
The only political office Mr. Ewing ever held was that of minister to Belgium, which office came to him during Mr. Cleveland's second administration, practically without solicitation. Mr. Cleveland and the then secretary of state regarded Mr. Ewing as one of the ablest foreign ministers then in the service of the government and the records now on file in the state department at Washington will testify to the fact that this estimate of Mr. Ewing's great abilities was not over drawn. His abilities were not only appreciated at home, but likewise by the officials of foreign governments with whom he came in contact.
The man who confines his life work to the practice of law may and generally does if successful gain the esteem of his brother lawyers and the judges before whom he practices, but an acquaintanceship with the masses and the plaudits of the multitude in a great measure must be forever denied him. The abilities of Mr. Ewing well fitted him to become a great judge and a senator of consequence and distinction. He was well qualified to fill the highest office in the gift of the American people and would have made a great president; some or all of these honors might have come to him had he chosen a political career.
VIEWS ON WAR
While a man of high courage and practically without a sense of fear, yet our friend was strong in his sympathies and friendships and had a heart as tender as that of a child. The horrors of the present war weighed heavily on his mind and he was frequently heard to say that he hoped to live to see the end of it. He believed that the hands of the government should be upheld in this great world crisis until an honorable and a lasting peace should be secured. He was opposed however to a standing army after the war, fearing it might make of us a military nation, a thing which he so much condemned in the central powers of Europe.
Soon after entering upon the practice of the law Mr. Ewing was married to Miss Katherine Spencer, a lad of culture and refinement and member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families in the community. To which union an interesting family of six children were born and resulted in more than fifty happy years of wedded life.
Thus in brief outline we have spoken of the life, the character and achievements of a man who for four score years lived in this community and was one of its greatest ornaments and most conspicuous figures. He was a friend without hypocrisy, a citizen without reproach, a lawyer without trickery, and a statement without his reward.
His death is a loss not alone to this immediate community, but to our state and nation as well. The bar has lost its most conspicuous member, the community one of its most useful citizens and his family a kind husband an indulgent father. We deeply grieve at his death and extend to those nearest and dearest to him in life our most profound sympathy in their great bereavement.
JOSEPH W. FIFER
THOMAS C. KERRICK
A.E. DEMANGE
JOHN F. WIGHT
CHARLES S. CAPEN,
Committee
James Stevenson Ewing was United States Minister to Belgium, 1893-1897. He was a cousin of Vice President Adlai Ewing Stevenson. James was the third of seven known children of John Wallis Ewing (1808–1855) and Maria McClelland Stevenson (1802–1883), who married 12 Oct 1830 at Christian County, Kentucky.
James married Katherine Spencer (1843–1922) on 28 Jun 1866 at McLean County, Illinois. James and Katherine were the parents of six known children, namely:
1. Clara Spencer Ewing McMahon (1867–1913)
2. Cornelia Ewing Clampett (1868–1949)
3. James Spencer Ewing (1871–1952)
4. Frances Spurgeon Ewing Beecher (1873–1910)
5. Davis Weldon Ewing (1876–1972)
6. Louise Ewing Dexter (1880–1966)
James was a leading lawyer and a life long partner of Adlai Ewing Stevenson I. He lived in Bloomington, Illinois and was Minister to Belgium from 1893 to 1897. In 1880 the family was living at 310 Albert Street, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois. In 1900 they were living at 604 N. East Street in Bloomington. Their daughter, Clara Ewing McMahon, was living with them with her two daughters. Their children Spencer and Louise were unmarried, living with them. In 1910 the parents, divorced daughter Clara, and two grand daughters were still living in Bloomington. In 1920 the widow Katherine and her grand-daughter Katherine McMahon were living with Spencer Ewing at Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois.
Links to James' parents, wife, all of his six known children and five of his six known siblings are included below.
From the Bloomington Daily Pantagraph April 23, 1918.
MEMORIAL EXERCISES FOR HONORABLE JAMES EWING
BAR ASSOCIATION IN GLOWING TRIBUTE
EX GOVERNOR JOSEPH W. FIFER READS MEMORIAL TO LATE MEMBER OF LOCAL BAR
- THE MEMORIAL
Practically all the members of the McLean County Bar Association gathered yesterday afternoon in the circuit court room of the county building to participate in the memorial services for the late Hon. James S. Ewing. Hon. Joseph W. Fifer, ex governor of the state, read the memorial which had been prepared by an appointed committee. Following this there were talks by a number of members of the bar who in their intercourse with their fellow men had come to know the late Mr. Ewing very well. All paid high tribute to his high capabilities and all honored him as perhaps but few have been honored. The following is the memorial ordered spread upon the records of the association:
THE MEMORIAL
The following is the memorial on Mr. Ewing as prepared by the committee and presented to the bar association:
James Stevenson Ewing was born in what is now a part of our neighboring county of Woodford on the 19th day of July, 1835, and died at his home in this city, February 7, 1918. It has been said that the great men of the modern world have been born under the straw thatched roofs of Europe and in the log cabins of America; that their cradles have been rocked by the feet of mothers whose hands were at the same time busy with the needle or the wheel. Our friend had the good fortune to be one of these. Neither pinched by poverty nor pampered by great wealth, he sprang from that sturdy middle class which had in all ages furnished the world its great soldiers, statesmen, lawyers and progressive thinkers.
EARLY LIFE
When a mere lad he moved with his father's family to the city of Bloomington, which place continued to be his home down to the day of his death with the exception of one year when he practiced law in the city of Philadelphia. His early education was had in Bloomington and consisted of but little more than the common branches now taught in the grade schools of our city. Like all truly great men, he had faith in himself and yearned for a better and a higher education than was offered by the city of his home, and accordingly in 1853 he entered Center College at Danville, Kentucky, and became the school mate of his cousin, Adlai E. Stevenson, Congressman Breckenridge, Senator Blackburn and many others who afterwards were distinguished not only in their respective states, but also as leaders in the political thought of our entire country as well.
BEGINS PRACTICE
At the end of the allotted four years at college, he received his diploma, and returned to the city of Bloomington to begin the arduous and responsible duties of life. He studied law and late in the fifties admitted to practice his profession and became a member of the Bloomington bar. He had in his early career the good fortune to meet and mingle with the great men of his own state; some of whom afterwards became distinguished not only in their own great country, but thruout the whole civilized world and whose names are spoken with reverence and respect in all languages and in every palace and hovel thruout the civilized world. Among these were David Davis, then on the circuit bench, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Judge Weldon and Colonel Stewart who were frequent visitors and practitioners at the Bloomington bar; and we should mention also the firms of Williams & Burr, Hannah & Scott, Swett & Orme, Packard & Wickizer and many others. It will thus be seen our friend entered the profession a the golden period of our local bar. It was inevitable that associations such as these should broaden his intellect and quicken his ambition, and that this was the effect was observed and noted by his friends thruout all the remaining years of his life. He often spoke with pride of his acquaintanceship and association with these great men. He entertained great admiration both for Lincoln and for Douglas and believed them to be the greatest statesmen since the era of American Independence.
AS A LAWYER
As a lawyer, Mr. Ewing was broad and comprehensive rather than technical. Few men ever mastered the science of the law more thoroughly than he, and it is doubtful if the states has ever produced any one more thoroughly conversant with its fundamental principles. As a speaker he was eloquent and convincing and was the most dreaded and dangerous advocate that ever appeared before a jury of our country. In all his relations with his brother lawyers, he was a perfect gentleman. In his practice he was high minded and scrupulously honest. Thru his long and honorable career he entertained the greatest aversion and the most profound contempt for any attorney who violated the ethics of the profession. He was the Nestor of the McLean county bar and for a long third of a century his leadership of that bar was unchallenged.
While our friend made no pretensions to authorship yet he was a man of marked literary ability and published at one time a booklet containing some of his public addresses and arguments before juries. This publication testifies to the truth of what is her said in regard to his literary attainments. It should be stated that the book was intended by him not for general circulation, but only for a few friends whose good opinion he highly esteemed.
He neither sought nor desired a political career, but not with-standing this fact, his friends and political opponents knew him to be one of the ablest and most resourceful politicians that Illinois has ever produced. He was the close counselor and advisor of the late vice president, Adlai E. Stevenson, and in all of Mr. Stevenson's campaigns, Mr. Ewing rendered him able and efficient services and no one more cheerfully acknowledged the value of these services than did Mr. Stevenson himself.
MINISTER TO BELGIUM
The only political office Mr. Ewing ever held was that of minister to Belgium, which office came to him during Mr. Cleveland's second administration, practically without solicitation. Mr. Cleveland and the then secretary of state regarded Mr. Ewing as one of the ablest foreign ministers then in the service of the government and the records now on file in the state department at Washington will testify to the fact that this estimate of Mr. Ewing's great abilities was not over drawn. His abilities were not only appreciated at home, but likewise by the officials of foreign governments with whom he came in contact.
The man who confines his life work to the practice of law may and generally does if successful gain the esteem of his brother lawyers and the judges before whom he practices, but an acquaintanceship with the masses and the plaudits of the multitude in a great measure must be forever denied him. The abilities of Mr. Ewing well fitted him to become a great judge and a senator of consequence and distinction. He was well qualified to fill the highest office in the gift of the American people and would have made a great president; some or all of these honors might have come to him had he chosen a political career.
VIEWS ON WAR
While a man of high courage and practically without a sense of fear, yet our friend was strong in his sympathies and friendships and had a heart as tender as that of a child. The horrors of the present war weighed heavily on his mind and he was frequently heard to say that he hoped to live to see the end of it. He believed that the hands of the government should be upheld in this great world crisis until an honorable and a lasting peace should be secured. He was opposed however to a standing army after the war, fearing it might make of us a military nation, a thing which he so much condemned in the central powers of Europe.
Soon after entering upon the practice of the law Mr. Ewing was married to Miss Katherine Spencer, a lad of culture and refinement and member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families in the community. To which union an interesting family of six children were born and resulted in more than fifty happy years of wedded life.
Thus in brief outline we have spoken of the life, the character and achievements of a man who for four score years lived in this community and was one of its greatest ornaments and most conspicuous figures. He was a friend without hypocrisy, a citizen without reproach, a lawyer without trickery, and a statement without his reward.
His death is a loss not alone to this immediate community, but to our state and nation as well. The bar has lost its most conspicuous member, the community one of its most useful citizens and his family a kind husband an indulgent father. We deeply grieve at his death and extend to those nearest and dearest to him in life our most profound sympathy in their great bereavement.
JOSEPH W. FIFER
THOMAS C. KERRICK
A.E. DEMANGE
JOHN F. WIGHT
CHARLES S. CAPEN,
Committee
James married Katherine Spencer (1843–1922) on 28 Jun 1866 at McLean County, Illinois. James and Katherine were the parents of six known children, namely:
1. Clara Spencer Ewing McMahon (1867–1913)
2. Cornelia Ewing Clampett (1868–1949)
3. James Spencer Ewing (1871–1952)
4. Frances Spurgeon Ewing Beecher (1873–1910)
5. Davis Weldon Ewing (1876–1972)
6. Louise Ewing Dexter (1880–1966)
James was a leading lawyer and a life long partner of Adlai Ewing Stevenson I. He lived in Bloomington, Illinois and was Minister to Belgium from 1893 to 1897. In 1880 the family was living at 310 Albert Street, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois. In 1900 they were living at 604 N. East Street in Bloomington. Their daughter, Clara Ewing McMahon, was living with them with her two daughters. Their children Spencer and Louise were unmarried, living with them. In 1910 the parents, divorced daughter Clara, and two grand daughters were still living in Bloomington. In 1920 the widow Katherine and her grand-daughter Katherine McMahon were living with Spencer Ewing at Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois.
Links to James' parents, wife, all of his six known children and five of his six known siblings are included below.
From the Bloomington Daily Pantagraph April 23, 1918.
MEMORIAL EXERCISES FOR HONORABLE JAMES EWING
BAR ASSOCIATION IN GLOWING TRIBUTE
EX GOVERNOR JOSEPH W. FIFER READS MEMORIAL TO LATE MEMBER OF LOCAL BAR
- THE MEMORIAL
Practically all the members of the McLean County Bar Association gathered yesterday afternoon in the circuit court room of the county building to participate in the memorial services for the late Hon. James S. Ewing. Hon. Joseph W. Fifer, ex governor of the state, read the memorial which had been prepared by an appointed committee. Following this there were talks by a number of members of the bar who in their intercourse with their fellow men had come to know the late Mr. Ewing very well. All paid high tribute to his high capabilities and all honored him as perhaps but few have been honored. The following is the memorial ordered spread upon the records of the association:
THE MEMORIAL
The following is the memorial on Mr. Ewing as prepared by the committee and presented to the bar association:
James Stevenson Ewing was born in what is now a part of our neighboring county of Woodford on the 19th day of July, 1835, and died at his home in this city, February 7, 1918. It has been said that the great men of the modern world have been born under the straw thatched roofs of Europe and in the log cabins of America; that their cradles have been rocked by the feet of mothers whose hands were at the same time busy with the needle or the wheel. Our friend had the good fortune to be one of these. Neither pinched by poverty nor pampered by great wealth, he sprang from that sturdy middle class which had in all ages furnished the world its great soldiers, statesmen, lawyers and progressive thinkers.
EARLY LIFE
When a mere lad he moved with his father's family to the city of Bloomington, which place continued to be his home down to the day of his death with the exception of one year when he practiced law in the city of Philadelphia. His early education was had in Bloomington and consisted of but little more than the common branches now taught in the grade schools of our city. Like all truly great men, he had faith in himself and yearned for a better and a higher education than was offered by the city of his home, and accordingly in 1853 he entered Center College at Danville, Kentucky, and became the school mate of his cousin, Adlai E. Stevenson, Congressman Breckenridge, Senator Blackburn and many others who afterwards were distinguished not only in their respective states, but also as leaders in the political thought of our entire country as well.
BEGINS PRACTICE
At the end of the allotted four years at college, he received his diploma, and returned to the city of Bloomington to begin the arduous and responsible duties of life. He studied law and late in the fifties admitted to practice his profession and became a member of the Bloomington bar. He had in his early career the good fortune to meet and mingle with the great men of his own state; some of whom afterwards became distinguished not only in their own great country, but thruout the whole civilized world and whose names are spoken with reverence and respect in all languages and in every palace and hovel thruout the civilized world. Among these were David Davis, then on the circuit bench, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Judge Weldon and Colonel Stewart who were frequent visitors and practitioners at the Bloomington bar; and we should mention also the firms of Williams & Burr, Hannah & Scott, Swett & Orme, Packard & Wickizer and many others. It will thus be seen our friend entered the profession a the golden period of our local bar. It was inevitable that associations such as these should broaden his intellect and quicken his ambition, and that this was the effect was observed and noted by his friends thruout all the remaining years of his life. He often spoke with pride of his acquaintanceship and association with these great men. He entertained great admiration both for Lincoln and for Douglas and believed them to be the greatest statesmen since the era of American Independence.
AS A LAWYER
As a lawyer, Mr. Ewing was broad and comprehensive rather than technical. Few men ever mastered the science of the law more thoroughly than he, and it is doubtful if the states has ever produced any one more thoroughly conversant with its fundamental principles. As a speaker he was eloquent and convincing and was the most dreaded and dangerous advocate that ever appeared before a jury of our country. In all his relations with his brother lawyers, he was a perfect gentleman. In his practice he was high minded and scrupulously honest. Thru his long and honorable career he entertained the greatest aversion and the most profound contempt for any attorney who violated the ethics of the profession. He was the Nestor of the McLean county bar and for a long third of a century his leadership of that bar was unchallenged.
While our friend made no pretensions to authorship yet he was a man of marked literary ability and published at one time a booklet containing some of his public addresses and arguments before juries. This publication testifies to the truth of what is her said in regard to his literary attainments. It should be stated that the book was intended by him not for general circulation, but only for a few friends whose good opinion he highly esteemed.
He neither sought nor desired a political career, but not with-standing this fact, his friends and political opponents knew him to be one of the ablest and most resourceful politicians that Illinois has ever produced. He was the close counselor and advisor of the late vice president, Adlai E. Stevenson, and in all of Mr. Stevenson's campaigns, Mr. Ewing rendered him able and efficient services and no one more cheerfully acknowledged the value of these services than did Mr. Stevenson himself.
MINISTER TO BELGIUM
The only political office Mr. Ewing ever held was that of minister to Belgium, which office came to him during Mr. Cleveland's second administration, practically without solicitation. Mr. Cleveland and the then secretary of state regarded Mr. Ewing as one of the ablest foreign ministers then in the service of the government and the records now on file in the state department at Washington will testify to the fact that this estimate of Mr. Ewing's great abilities was not over drawn. His abilities were not only appreciated at home, but likewise by the officials of foreign governments with whom he came in contact.
The man who confines his life work to the practice of law may and generally does if successful gain the esteem of his brother lawyers and the judges before whom he practices, but an acquaintanceship with the masses and the plaudits of the multitude in a great measure must be forever denied him. The abilities of Mr. Ewing well fitted him to become a great judge and a senator of consequence and distinction. He was well qualified to fill the highest office in the gift of the American people and would have made a great president; some or all of these honors might have come to him had he chosen a political career.
VIEWS ON WAR
While a man of high courage and practically without a sense of fear, yet our friend was strong in his sympathies and friendships and had a heart as tender as that of a child. The horrors of the present war weighed heavily on his mind and he was frequently heard to say that he hoped to live to see the end of it. He believed that the hands of the government should be upheld in this great world crisis until an honorable and a lasting peace should be secured. He was opposed however to a standing army after the war, fearing it might make of us a military nation, a thing which he so much condemned in the central powers of Europe.
Soon after entering upon the practice of the law Mr. Ewing was married to Miss Katherine Spencer, a lad of culture and refinement and member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families in the community. To which union an interesting family of six children were born and resulted in more than fifty happy years of wedded life.
Thus in brief outline we have spoken of the life, the character and achievements of a man who for four score years lived in this community and was one of its greatest ornaments and most conspicuous figures. He was a friend without hypocrisy, a citizen without reproach, a lawyer without trickery, and a statement without his reward.
His death is a loss not alone to this immediate community, but to our state and nation as well. The bar has lost its most conspicuous member, the community one of its most useful citizens and his family a kind husband an indulgent father. We deeply grieve at his death and extend to those nearest and dearest to him in life our most profound sympathy in their great bereavement.
JOSEPH W. FIFER
THOMAS C. KERRICK
A.E. DEMANGE
JOHN F. WIGHT
CHARLES S. CAPEN,
Committee
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
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