Notable Alumni of Illinois College

William Jennings Bryan 1860–1925

Three-time Democratic presidential nominee

Also attended: Northwestern University

Child: Ruth Bryan Owen (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

Sibling: Charles W. Bryan (University of Chicago, Illinois College)

Cheri Bustos 1961–

Former U.S. Representative from Illinois

Also attended: University of Illinois Springfield, University of Maryland-College Park

Paul Findley 1921–2019

Former U.S. Representative from Illinois and writer

Richard Yates 1815–1873

13th Governor of Illinois during the Civil War

Also attended: Georgetown College, Transylvania University, Miami University-Oxford

Child: Richard Yates (Illinois College, MacMurray College)

Ralph Tyler Smith 1915–1972

Former U.S. Senator from Illinois

Also attended: Washington University in St Louis

Charles W. Bryan 1867–1945

Governor of Nebraska

Also attended: University of Chicago

Sibling: William Jennings Bryan (Illinois College, Northwestern University)

Stephen P. Hempstead 1812–1883

Second governor of Iowa

Richard Yates 1860–1936

22nd governor of Illinois

Also attended: MacMurray College, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Father: Richard Yates (Illinois College, Georgetown College)

James M. Barnes 1899–1958

Illinois congressman and aide to Roosevelt and Truman

Also attended: Harvard University

Lewis W. Ross 1812–1895

U.S. Representative from Illinois

Frederick Remann 1847–1895

Illinois Republican U.S. congressman

William Herndon 1818–1891

Lincoln's law partner and biographer

John C. Martin 1880–1952

US Representative and Illinois treasurer

William E. Williams 1857–1921

U.S. Representative from Illinois

Barbour Lewis 1818–1893

U.S. Representative from Tennessee

Also attended: Harvard University

John Davis 1826–1901

U.S. Representative from Kansas

John Wesley Powell 1834–1902

Explorer who led the 1869 Colorado River expedition

Also attended: Wheaton College (IL), Oberlin College

Sibling: William B. Powell (Wheaton College (IL))

Sibling: Ellen Powell Thompson (Wheaton College (IL))

Margaret D. Foster 1895–1970

Chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project

Also attended: American University, George Washington University

Edgar Howard Sturtevant 1875–1952

Linguist and Hittitologist

Attended until 1895

Also attended: Indiana University-Bloomington

Sibling: Alfred Sturtevant (Columbia University in the City of New York)

Pauline Atherton Cochrane 1929–2024

Librarian and information science researcher

Bachelor of Arts · Social science · Class of 1951

Also attended: Dominican University

William Mather Lewis 1878–1945

President of George Washington University and Lafayette College

Also attended: Lake Forest College

M. F. K. Fisher 1908–1992

Food writer, co-founder of Napa Valley Wine Library

Also attended: University of California-Los Angeles, Occidental College

Spouse: Dillwyn Parrish (Harvard University)

Everett Dean Martin 1880–1941

Minister, writer and adult education advocate

Floyd Newkirk 1908–1976

Major League Baseball pitcher for the Yankees