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John H. Hamline

American lawyer (1856–1904)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ6236863 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Henry Hamline (1856–1904) was a prominent Chicago lawyer.

Biography

John H. Hamline was born in Rotterdam, New York on March 25, 1856. He was educated at Northwestern University, graduating in 1875. He then attended Columbia Law School and graduated in 1877.

After law school, Hamline began practicing law in Evanston, Illinois where he was elected as village attorney several times. He married Josephine Meade of Norwich, New York on May 19, 1880, and they had two children. In 1883, he moved to Chicago. A Republican, he was elected to the Chicago City Council in 1887 as alderman for the Third Ward, holding that position until 1889.

Hamline served as president of the Chicago Bar Association and, in 1896–1897, of the Illinois State Bar Association. He was also president of the Union League Club.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “John H. Hamline” is american lawyer (1856–1904). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through John, Hamline and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1856, 1904, 1875, 1877—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1856-03-23. For this dossier, John, Hamline and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american lawyer (1856–1904)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6236863. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1856, 1904, 1875 and 1877.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John H. Hamline”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John H. Hamline primary sources, John H. Hamline archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John H. Hamline”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John H. Hamline” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.