HON. ALFRED ORENDORFF. The city of Springfield contains many lawyers who are possessed of thorough knowledge concerning the principles and precedents of the law and of the literary and scientific branches which are included in a liberal education. They are also skilled in all the details which pertain to the practice of their chosen profession, and are held in good repute by their fellow members of the bar as well as by the general public. Among this class is the Hon. Alfred Orendorff, who is perhaps as well known as any attorney-at-law in the city.

Our subject is the representative of a family which is numbered among the very early settlers of the State. His grandfather, Christopher Orendorff, settled on Sugar Creek, north of Springfield, in what was then Sangamon but is now Logan County, in 1819. He built the first water-power grist mill in that part of the country, making the burrs of boulders obtained in the vicinity. He was accompanied hither by his son Joseph, the father of our subject, who married Miss Elizabeth Stevens, a native of Henderson County, Ky. Joseph Orendorff died when out subject was ten years old and the widow subsequently made her home in Lincoln, Logan County.

Alfred Orendorff opened his eyes to the light on July 29, 1845, in Logan County, and after obtaining a common school education, spent a year in study in the Wesleyan University at Bloomington, adding thereto an attendance at the Military School in Fulton. Having chosen the profession of the law as the field in which to labor, he devoted himself with assiduity to the preparatory work and in the winter of 1866 was graduated from the Albany, N.Y., Law School, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He at once went to Texas, where he remained until the autumn of 1867, when he began practice in Springfield in the law office of Herndon & Zane. Upon the retirement of Judge Zane from the firm, the law partnership of Herndon & Orendorff was formed and continued for a number of years.

In 1870 Mr. Orendorff was nominated by the Republicans for State Senator, but the Democrats being largely in the majority he was defeated by the Hon. Alexander Starne. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and supported the Hon. Lyman Trumbull for President. In 1873 he was nominated by the Liberals, ratified by the Democrats, and elected to the Lower House, where he served on the Judiciary Committee and took an active part in forming the revised statutes made necessary by the new Constitution. Mr. Orendorff is now associated in business with Robert H. Patton, the connection having been formed in 1885.

Our subject has for some time past given his principal attention to his profession, although he still takes an active interest in politics. He has been chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee for a number of terms, has attended all of the National Democratic Conventions either as delegate, alternate or secretary, and held the last named position at the convention which met in Cincinnati. He has twice been a candidate for State Treasurer, during the off year when that was the head of the ticket, and with a majority of forty thousand against the party at previous elections, came near winning the race.

Mr. Orendorff is Vice-President of the German-American Loan Association and of the Franklin Life Association, and Director of the Abstract Guarantee Company of which the firm of Orendorff & Patton are counselors. He is one of the organizers of the Springfield Improvement Association in which he has been a Director for some time. He is a conspicuous figure in the Odd Fellows' order, in which, since 1874, he has filled various offices. He was chosen Representative of Lodge No. 465 to the Grand Lodge held in Peoria in 1875, was Grand Master of the State in 1878, and for the past twelve years has been Representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the World. He has had a large amount of corporation law practice. Judge Creighton, now Circuit Judge, was associated with Mr. Orendorff in the practice of law in the city of Springfield for ten years, which was terminated by the election of the former to the office of Judge of the Circuit Court.

Mr. Orendorff has one of the most pleasant homes in Springfield, the attractiveness of which is largely added to by the capabilities and charms of his wife. This lady is a daughter of Col. John Williams, was christened Julia, and became Mrs. Orendorff June 22, 1870. The household consists of three children, named respectively: John A., Alice E. and Lydia Edna.