Caton, John Dean

John Dean Caton was born March 19, 1812, in Monroe, New York. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1835. He achieved success in various fields of public service and received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Hamilton College in 1866.

In 1834 the first political convention was held in Illinois and Caton participated as its secretary as well as a member. He served on the Illinois Supreme Court, beginning as an associate justice from 1842 to 1864, and acting as chief justice in 1855 and again from 1857 to 1864.

In addition to his legal and political careers, Caton served as president of the Illinois and Mississippi Telegraphic Company from 1852 to 1867, performed the duties of Justice of the Peace in Ottawa, and gained recognition as an author. His most famous works are A Summer in Norway, written in 1875, and The Antelope and Deer of America, published in 1877. Caton also contributed numerous articles on nature to the Ottawa Academy of Science.

Caton died July 30, 1895, in Chicago, Illinois.