JUDGE ROBERT EAKIN. – While Union county is so especially favored in having men of energy and talent in the various callings of human industry and learning, there is no profession that is more signally marked by the men of ability within its ranks than the legal, and as a leader among this class stands the gentleman, whose name initiates this paragraph, and who is well and favorably known throughout eastern Oregon. Judge Eakin is a profound student of the literature of his chosen profession, having added by careful and thorough research to a mind well poised for weighing the questions of human justice an erudition and fund of information that enables a searching and keen perception to select for the intricate problems that are daily encountered by a deciding jurist the authority needed and lay down the principles applying. Adding to this an acumen and breadth of grasp that are happily blended in his make-up, we have in Judge Eakin a judicial representative that the county of Union may well feel proud of and in whom, we are pleased to state, commendable pride is taken.
At Elgin, Kane county, Illinois, Robert Eakin was born in 1848, being the son of Stewart B. and Catherine (McEldowney) Eakin, natives of Ireland. In 1866 the family removed to Willamette valley and settled at Eugene, Lane county, the parents remaining their until the time of their death. Robert entered the Willamette University at Salem, at the age of twenty-one, and began the study of law. With the characteristic pluck and grit of his race, he made his own way through the university by teaching and acting as assistant in the office of the surveyor of the county. In 1873, he took his degree from the university and in the following year he was admitted to the bar, and in 1875 he came to Union and located. From his advent into the county he took an active part in politics, serving for many years a chairman of the Republican county committee. In February, 1895, the eighth judicial district was created and Mr. Eakin was appointed by Governor Lord as judge. In June of the following year the people elected him for a term of six years in the same office, where he is at the present time. The decisions of Judge Eakin have been marked and clear cut ever adhering to the line of justice and equity, and he is highly respected by all and universally beloved as man of fearless impartiality and a stanch champion of the principles of truth.
In 1876 the marriage of Robert Eakin and Miss Mary, daughter of M.E. and Rebecca (Stowell) Walker, early pioneers to Eugene, was celebrated, and the union has been blessed by the following issue: Ethel, who died in 1878; Georgie B., aged nineteen; Robert S., Gertrude M., Harold C. The judge is affiliated with the Masons, Lodge No. 56. He has a fine residence in Union and is a highly honored member of the bar.