KINMAN, EDWARD M., engaged in the practice of law and the abstract business at Jacksonville, Ill., was born on his father's farm three miles northwest of that city, April 2, 1856, the son of William and Ann (Shinn) Kinman - the father born near Vincennes, Ind., in 1812, and the mother a native of Camden, N. J. In 1820 William Kinman moved with his parents from Indiana to Pike County, Ill., passing through what was then the small settlement of Jacksonville. In 1851 he returned to that locality and settled upon the farm near jacksonville, where E. M. Kinman was born. William Kinman saw service in the Black Hawk War; was a Captain in Col. Bissell's Regiment (Second Illinois Volunteers) in the Mexican War; was Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War and was killed at the battle of Chickamauga. His sons, Capt. Cyrus L. Kinman and Newton D. Kinman, were in the Civil War, the latter also dying in the service. There were eleven children born to Col. William and Kinman and wife, and E. M. Was the youngest member of the family. In 1864 the mother and family removed from the homestead farm to the city of Jacksonville.

E. M. Kinman graduated from the High School of Jacksonville in 1873, and from the Northwestern University, at Evanston, in 1878. He read law with William Brown, of Brown, Kirby & Russell, Jacksonville, passed his examination before the Supreme Court, and was admitted to the bar in 1880, since that year having practiced his profession in that city alone. He was a Representative from Morgan County in the State Legislature for one term (Thirty-third General Assembly 1882-84), has served in the City Council, and has been one year on the Carnegie Library Board. In 1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland Postmaster of the city of Jacksonville, holding that office for one year. Mr. Kinman was married October 10, 1883, to Nellie C. Springer, daughter of John T. Springer, and sister to John W. Springer, of Denver, Colo., and they have one daughter, Ruth, now attending school. He is a member of the Board of Stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the I. O. O. F., and in politics a Democrat.