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EDWARD L. MERRITT was born in the city of New York. His father, the late Hon. John W. Merritt, was a law student with O'CONNOR and Brady as fellow-students and subsequently a member of the law firm composed of these gentlemen. While Mr. Merritt was yet a child the family removed to St. Clair County, Ill., settling on a farm near Lebanon. Schools were few and not of a very high standard, and twelve months covered the space of time which was devoted to his education. At the age of eleven years he was apprenticed to the printing business in the office of the Belleville Advocate. The family soon afterward removed to Salem, where the father began the publication of the Salem Advocate, Edward L. taking a position of the Salem Advocate, Edward L. taking a position in the office and becoming in time a thorough, practical printer.

For four years Mr. Merritt served as a civil engineer on the Ohio & Mississippi Railway. In 1858, in company with a younger brother, he assumed the publication of the Salem Advocate, finally becoming the sole owner thereof, and so continuing until 1865, when he became one of the proprietors of the daily and weekly Illinois State Register at Springfield, and which, in company with his father, he edited until 1873, when he became its editor-in-chief, and so continued until 1877, when he disposed of the property to a stock company composed of Gov. John M. Palmer, James M. Higgins, John Mayo Palmer and himself. In 1881 the paper was sold to its present proprietors.

As editor and publisher Mr. Merritt was identified with the State Register for over fifteen years and as such became known not only throughout Illinois but throughout the Union; his paper being inflexibly Democratic was recognized as a Democratic authority in the State. During Mr. Merritt's connection with the State Register he served as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee for about twelve years, the greater part of the time as its Secretary, spending his means and doing an immense deal of hard work in behalf of Democratic principles.

In the campaign of 1874, when the Democrats elected a nominee on their State ticket for the second time since 1856, the campaign was conducted under his direction, while in 1876 he again managed the campaign and the Republican nominee for Governor was elected by less than seven thousand, which was caused by the fact of its being a Presidential year.

Mr. Merritt has always been in advance of his party on the tariff question, being practically a free trader. In 1871, as a member of the Democratic State Convention, he introduced the following resolution in that body:

"Resolved: That all taxes or tariffs levied for protection constitute robbery; that experience has shown revenue raised by tariff is the most unequal in its nature, most burdensome in cost and most productive of evasion and crime; therefore, we declare as a correct principle of Democratic Government, that we are in favor of full and absolute free trade with all nations as soon as it can be legally reached by the United States Government."

This resolution was sent to the Committee on Platform, of which the late Hon. Thomas Hoyne, of Chicago, was Chairman, and the committee in its report to the convention refused to incorporate the resolution or anything lie it in the platform. Although the previous question was moved upon the adoption of the committee's report, Mr. Merritt moved the resolution as an additional plank, and after one of the hardest fights ever seen in an Illinois Democratic convention, in which all the young Democrats sustained the then new departure as against the "old wheel horses" of the party, the resolution was added to the platform by the convention, and the Democracy of Illinois in 1871 placed itself on the tariff question, where nineteen years afterward the Democracy of the nation made a winning fight.

In 1866 President Andrew Johnson appointed Mr. Merritt United States Pension Agent at Springfield, Ill. Being an avowed Democrat, it was understood at the time that this appointment was the cause of the passage of the present tenure-of-office law, necessitating the presentation of Merritt's name and that of all Presidential appointments to the Senate for confirmation or rejection. It was alleged that Lyman Trumbull, who was then in the Senate, was the author of the law. Shelby M. Cullom, now in Trumbull's place, then represented the Springfield district in the lower house of Congress. Mr. Merritt's name was accordingly sent to the Senate, and that body being strongly Republican, it was promptly rejected. President Johnson returned the appointment a second and third time, but the Senate was obdurate and refused to confirm. No other reason was assigned for Mr. Merritt's rejection except that he was not of the political faith of the majority. His ability to discharge the duties of the office was never doubted.

Mr. Merritt repeatedly held the position as a member of the Board of Education of the city of Springfield, during which incumbency he secured the adoption of several important reforms and useful improvements for the management of the public schools. Since his retirement from the editorial management of the State Register he has represented the St. Louis Republican and the New York World as their Springfield correspondent.

In April, 1890, Mr. Merritt was nominated by the Democracy of his district for Representative in the Legislature, going into the convention with more votes than either of his four competitors, and was elected, receiving the full strength of the party and a most flattering majority. Upon the convening of the Legislature in 1891, a prominent position in the councils and leadership of the party was at once accorded him, and much of the beneficent legislation of the session bears the impress of his thought and study.

Mr. Merritt has been twice married, Rebecca J. Tong, to whom he was wedded in the month of September, 1860, at Salem, Ill., having been his first wife. She departed this life May 29, 1868, leaving two children - Elizabeth J. and Wesley. Our subject was married to his present estimable wife in the month of December, 1870, and they have five children. Mrs. Merritt was formerly Charlotte C. George and is a daughter of the late Frederick George , of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Merritt are people of high standing in social circles and are greatly respected by all who know them.

Mr. Merritt's parents spent their declining years in Salem, Ill., where they were held in honor and esteem by the entire community. The mother passed away in 1873 and the father in 1878 at ripe old ages. Their marriage has been blessed to them by ten children, of whom seven are living. The record of their children is as follows: Julia C., is the wife of Mr. McCarty, of Jefferson City, Mo.; John H. is deceased; Thomas E., State Senator, is a prominent Democrat; Wesley, a resident of St. Louis, Mo., is a Brigadier-General in the regular army and has charge of the Department of the Missouri; our subject; Joseph D. is a journalist of Moorhead, Minn.; William W. is a railroad conductor residing at Salem; Emily O. is the wife of Jacob O. Chance, ex-Clerk of the Supreme Court, a resident of Mt. Vernon, Ill.; and Charles Willis was a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army and died while in the service.