My Genealogy Hound

IRA J. BLOOMFIELD, teacher, lawyer and soldier, Bloomington, was born Nov. 27, 1835, in Butler Co., Ohio, and is a son of John Bloomfield, a descendant of Gov. Joseph Bloomfield, of New Jersey. In the spring of 1837, his parents removed to Fulton Co., Ill., where in youth he endured the hard labor and privations incident to a frontier settlement, but which, gave him a vigorous constitution and laid the foundation of those habits of industry and frugality for which he is still distinguished. He there received such education as could be obtained in the common schools. In the summer of 1854, having cut with a cradle forty-five acres of grain, for his father, and worked ten days in harvest for the neighbors, for which he received $15, his father gave him this money, the balance of his time, and what few books and clothes he possessed, and he started out in life intent upon acquiring a good education. By alternately teaching and going to school he obtained, for those days, a fair English education, and some knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, and for several terms attended the Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. On his return to Illinois he visited Bloomington, where he learned of a vacancy in the High School, made application and was at once elected Principal, and subsequently Superintendent of the city schools; he there remained until the rebellion. His military career was brilliant. He enlisted as a private soldier and rose by promotion through several grades to that of Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers, taking part in all the marches, battles, sieges and campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee, including the capture of Island No. 10, Corinth, Vicksburg, Atlanta and Savannah; the march with Sherman to the sea, and the return through the Carolinas, ending in a grand review at Washington, and was finally mustered out of service at Louisville, Ky., July 20, 1865, after a little over four years constant service. After the close of the war he returned to Bloomington, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In the spring of 1867, without any solicitation on his part, he was appointed United States Pension Agent at Springfield, Ill., a position he held for two years, and was then appointed Supervisor of Internal Revenue for the State of Illinois. In April, 1871, he resigned, and resumed the practice of his profession in Bloomington. In 1872, Gen. Bloomfield succeeded City Attorney Fifer, and continued to fill the position with credit until the end of two terms, in 1876. He was for two years senior member of the firm of Bloomfield, Pollock & Campbell. He has also held a Professorship in the Bloomington Law School. He is now a member of the law firm of Bloomfield & Hughes, whose practice in all the courts, already very large and important, is daily becoming more and more extensive, Gen. Bloomfield is one of the most urbane, unaffected and most easily approached members of the McLean County Bar, and as a speaker is earnest, pointed and direct.