Hon. Charles William McGill, a rising young attorney and counselor at law of Grand Rapids, Mich., was born in Troy, Rensselaer county, N. Y., July 14, 1865, and is the fifth of the six children born to Hugh and Eunice Ann (Newton) McGill, the former a native of Canada, of Scotch parentage, and the latter of New York, where their marriage took place.

Hugh McGill, a persevering and self educated man, was a farmer and extensive char-coal burner in Rensselaer county, where he lived until the spring of 1867, when he brought his family to Michigan and located in St. Joseph county, where he still resides upon a beautiful farm one mile east of White Pigeon. For many years he has given special attention to raising and buying horses for the New York markets, which business he has conducted with great success. Being a man of strong convictions and capable of thinking for himself, he has risen to prominence in his township and county, and is highly respected by all who know him.

Charles W. McGill attended the district schools of St. Joseph county during the winter months until fifteen years of age, and then entered the union school at White Pigeon, in the same county, graduating therefrom in 1885. Having determined to take up the study of law, he came to Grand Rapids in 1886 and studied one year in the office of Henry B. Fallass. In October, 1887, he entered the office of Turner & Carroll, was admitted to the bar September 18, 1881, by Judge William E. Grove, and continued his stay with Turner & Carroll until December, 1889, when he formed a partnership for practice with his brother, John H. McGill, and this partnership was maintained until the death of the latter, April1, 1892.

Mr. McGill is a republican and has taken an active part in both local and state politics for the past ten years. In 1892 he was elected to the office of circuit court commissioner for Kent county, and so ably did he perform the duties of this position that he was elected to fill a second term in 1894—thus serving, in all, four years. At the expiration of this last term, the republican party sent Mr. McGill to the state legislature, where he represented the city of Grand Rapids in a most honorable and creditable manner during the regular session of 1897 and the special session of 1898.

In the spring of 1898 he was nominated by the republicans of Grand Rapids for the office of judge of the police court, but failed of an election by a small plurality. On January 1, 1899, he was appointed assistant to Attorney General Horace M. Oren, in which capacity he has rendered most excellent service to the state.

Mr. McGill was happily united in marriage in Randolph, Dodge county, Wis., August 22, 1894, with Miss Stella Louise Stark, a native of Kenosha, Wis., and a daughter of John Given and Julia Lobdell (Dean) Stark, natives, respectively, of Connecticut and New York.

Fraternally, Mr. McGill is a member of Imperial lodge, No. 154, Knights of Pythias. In social circles Mr. and Mrs. McGill hold a very elevated station and enjoy a full measure of the public esteem.