Kane County prosecutors eager to learn about past leaders

The Kane County state's attorney's office has embarked on a history project of sorts, trying to track down biographical and personal information for all 40 state's attorneys who have been elected or appointed since 1836.

Officials hope to have the information on the office's website by early 2016 and are still seeking additional information on six state's attorneys.

State's Attorney Joe McMahon said the project, which only involves two staff members often working on their own time, is not necessarily to highlight or minimize the contributions of any previous state's attorney.

Rather, McMahon said, the aims is to gather and centralize information for the public as well as provide a glimpse into what issues the county's top law enforcement officer encountered and combated at the time.

"It's helpful for me to know the history of the office and it's fascinating to read about," McMahon said. "It's interesting to see what the issue of the period were. We really did not know much about the history of the office since its inception."

Over the last six to eight months, officials have interviewed veteran Kane County area attorneys, pored over state archives, visited genealogy websites and reviewed old newspapers.

Despite their efforts, they have not found any information on several state's attorneys: Orsemas D. Day, who served from 1842 to 1844; Phineas W. Pratt, who served from 1851 to 1852; M.F. Boyce, who served from 1853 to 1856; and Fred Schultz, who served in 1900.

McMahon's office also is seeking additional information on Charles Hughes, who was appointed to serve an unexpired term in 1964, and Leander Wilder, who was born in New York, studied in Geneva and served from 1865 through 1869 until he died of tuberculosis.

Anyone with information about any of these people can contact the office's Public Information Officer Christopher Nelson at (630) 444-2998 or nelsonchris@co.kane.il.us.