:: First Illinois College graduate, Class of 1835
:: 13th Governor of Illinois
Chronology
1815 :: Richard Yates was born on January 18 in Warsaw, Kentucky
1831 :: Moved with family to Springfield, Ill.
1832 :: Matriculated to Illinois College
1835 :: Graduated from Illinois College, then studied law at Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.)
1837 :: Admitted to bar and began his practice in Jacksonville
1839 :: Married Katherine Geers (Kate / Katy) on July 7
1842 to 1845 :: Illinois House of Representatives
1848 to 1849 :: Illinois House of Representatives
1851 to 1855 :: U.S. House of Representatives (elected as a Whig) where he was the youngest
member of Congress
1855 to 1860 :: President of the “Tonica and Petersburg” railroad
1860 :: Elected 13th Governor of Illinois (as a Republican) on the same ticket as Abraham Lincoln
1861 :: On April 12, the day after the attack on Fort Sumter, he convened the state legislature in extra
session and authorized the military to take possession of the port of Cairo
1864 :: Dissolved the legislature by a message of Prorogation
1865 to 1871 :: U.S. Senate
1871 :: Appointed by President Grant as a United States commissioner to inspect a land subsidy railroad
1873 :: Died suddenly on November 27 in St. Louis at the age of 58; interred in Diamond Grove Cemetery
1901 to 1905 :: His son, Richard Yates, served as the 22nd Governor of Illinois
1923 :: Statue of Richard Yates Sr. erected on the Illinois State Capitol grounds
1936 :: Richard Yates Jr. died on April 11 in Springfield and is interred in Diamond Grove Cemetery