James Cook Conkling was born in New York City, New York on October 13, 1816. He attended Princeton College and graduated in 1835. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey. He moved to Springfield, Illinois in 1838, where he formed a law partnership with Cyrus Walker. He later partnered with future United States SenatorJames Shields. In 1844, Conklin was elected Mayor of Springfield as a Whig. He was appointed to the Illinois House of Representatives during the 1850–52 term to replace Ninian Wirt Edwards. Conkling was one of four delegates, including Abraham Lincoln, from Sangamon County, Illinois, at the 1856 Bloomington Convention. This was the first official organization of the Republican Party in the state. He was named to its State Central Committee, responsible for overseeing the campaign in the state that year. He was a presidential elector for the Republicans in 1860 and 1864, casting votes for Lincoln. He delivered the dedication address at the opening of the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. During the Civil War, Governor Richard Yates appointed Conkling a State Agent, responsible for settling claims of the state against the U.S. government for equipping volunteers. In 1863, he read what would become known as the "Conkling Letter", an address written by Lincoln, at a mass gathering in Springfield. Conkling was elected to the Illinois House for another two-year term in 1866. He authored the bill that would authorize the construction of a new Illinois State Capitol building. Soon after the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Conkling was named one of the first fourteen members of the Lincoln Monument Association, where he served for over thirty years. He was elected a trustee of the University of Illinois for the years 1879 to 1880. In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison named Conkling the Postmaster of Springfield. He served the office for four years. Conkling married Mercie A. Levering on September 21, 1841. They had five children: Clinton Levering, James, Charles, Annie V., and Alice. Eldest son Clinton would be a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1920–21. Conkling attended the Second Presbyterian Church of Springfield and was a longtime elder there. He died on March 1, 1899, in Springfield, and was buried in Oak Ridge.
