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JAMES H. MATHENY, the present County Judge was born in St. Clair county, Illinois, October 30, 1818. In the spring of 1821 he was brought by his parents Charles R. and Jemima Matheny, to Springfield, where he has since continued to reside. He now lays claim to be the oldest living resident of the city. Judge Matheny's life has been an active one. At fifteen years of age he was employed as Clerk in the Post office and the Recorder's office, transacting the entire business of each, and probably having a little leisure to engage in such sports as were common to the youths of that age. It is well known that he enjoyed a little fun when a boy and now that time has sprinkled his hair with gray he still enjoys a good joke. In 1839 he was appointed Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court and served for a time. In 1841 he entered the office of Baker & Bledsoe as a law student, and for two years pursued his studies, being admitted to the Bar in 1843. Instead of seeking a country where he was not known, he "hung out his shingle" in Springfield, where he was raised and where he was known by almost everyone. He soon secured a good practice, and from that time to the present, he has never lacked for clients. As a jury-lawyer, he ranks high, and has been retained in many of the most prominent cases before the courts of Sangamon and adjoining counties. He is an effective speaker, with power to move a jury at will. His perceptive faculties are large, and he can quickly grasp a point or penetrate the aims of an adversary.

In 1845 he was united in marriage with Maria L. Lee, and by her had seven children - Lee, Edward Dow, Lucy, Nora, James H., Jr., Ralph C., and Robert W.

Judge Matheny has held many important public positions, and has always discharged his trusts in a faithful manner. In addition to those already mentioned, he was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1848, and was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, in 1852, and served one term of four years. During the war he was commissioned Lieutenant colonel of the 130th Regiment Illinois Infantry. After the capture of Vicksburg he was on detached duty, holding military courts until 1864, when his regiment was consolidated with another, and he resigned. In November, 1873, he was elected Judge of the County Court of Sangamon County, and re-elected in 1877, without opposition.

In the "good old days of the Whig party" Judge Matheny was an earnest defender of its principles, his first Presidential vote being given to William Henry Harrison in the campaign of 1840. During that campaign, in company with nine other young men, he made a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, to hear Henry Clay speak. This journey required about five weeks, as the party went in their own private conveyance and camped out of nights. On the dissolution of the Whig party, Judge Matheny acted for a short time with the American and Republican parties, but on account of the conservative tendency of his mind, he finally drifted into the Democratic ranks, and usually votes that ticket. He is not a modern politician by any means, and never has agonized the better element of opposing parties. When running for office, he invariably leads his ticket, in consequence of personal popularity, and for the reason he does not antagonize.