Elbert Budd Hand has for twenty-one years been a practitioner at the bar of Racine and his course reflects credit, and honor upon a name that has long figured prominently in connection with the legal interests of the state. He was born in this city, November 11, 1871, a son of Judge E. O. Hand, mentioned at length on another page of this work. He began his education in the Racine grammar schools and afterward entered the University of Wisconsin, in which he completed his more specifically literary course by graduation with the class of 1892. Whether inherited tendency, environment or natural predilection had most to do with shaping his choice of a life work, it is perhaps impossible to determine, but it is evident that the choice was well made, for his record in the practice of law has been characterized by steady progression. He prepared for the bar as a student in the law school of Cornell University, from which he was graduated in 1895, and the same year he was admitted to practice before the courts of Wisconsin. He then joined his father, Judge Hand, long a capable member of the Racine bar, with whom he was associated until the father’s retirement, and the firm was accorded a very gratifying share of the public business in the courts. The practice of Elbert B. Hand has always been of a distinctively representative character and his name figures in connection with many of the most important litigated interests heard in the district. He is strong in argument, logical in deduction and clear in his reasoning. Outside of his law practice his business connections extend to the First National Bank, of which he has for many years been a director.
On the 24th of June, 1902, in New York, Mr. Hand was united in marriage to Miss Ada Orr Simpkin, a native of England, by whom he has three children, namely: Elbert Osborne, Norman Travers and John Budd. Mr. Hand attends the Presbyterian Church, while Mrs. Hand is an Episcopalian in religious belief. Theirs is a hospitable home whose good cheer is greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Mr. Hand belongs to the Chi Psi, a college fraternity, and the Phi Delta Phi, a legal fraternity, and he also has membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Commercial Club and the Country Club-associations which indicate much of the nature of his interests. In politics he is a democrat, but has never been an aspirant for office, preferring to concentrate his attention upon his professional duties. A lifelong resident of Racine, many of his staunchest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood to the present, a fact indicative of an upright career in which he has been faithful to all the duties that have devolved upon him in every connection.