Representative William St. John Forman

William St. John Forman (January 20, 1847 – June 10, 1908) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Illinois who served three consecutive terms in Congress from 1889 to 1895. Over the course of his public career, he held a series of local, state, and federal offices and played an active role in Democratic Party politics during a period of significant economic and political change in the United States.

Forman was born in Natchez, Mississippi, on January 20, 1847. In 1851 he moved with his father to Nashville, in Washington County, Illinois, where he was raised. He attended the public schools and later studied at Washington Seminary in Richview, Illinois. After completing his preparatory education, he read law and pursued legal studies in Illinois.

Forman was admitted to the bar in 1870 and commenced the practice of law in Nashville, Illinois. Alongside his legal work, he quickly became involved in local public affairs. He served as mayor of Nashville from 1878 to 1884, gaining administrative experience and building a political base. During this period and beyond, he was deeply engaged in party activities, serving as a delegate to all State and National Democratic Conventions from 1876 to 1896. His growing prominence in Illinois politics led to his election to the Illinois Senate, where he served from 1884 to 1888.

Building on his state legislative experience, Forman was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois in the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses. His congressional service extended from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1895. As a member of the House of Representatives during a significant period in American history, he participated in the national legislative process and represented the interests of his Illinois constituents. During the Fifty-third Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Militia, a position that placed him in a key role overseeing legislation related to the organization and regulation of state militia forces.

After leaving Congress in 1895, Forman moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where he resumed the practice of law. Remaining active in politics, he aligned with the Gold Standard faction of the Democratic Party during the monetary debates of the 1890s. In 1896 he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Illinois as a Gold Standard Democrat, reflecting the internal divisions within the party over currency policy. That same year, President Grover Cleveland appointed him Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a federal post he held from 1896 to 1897, in which he oversaw the administration of internal revenue laws during the closing years of Cleveland’s second administration.

In his later years, Forman continued his legal and political interests in Illinois. He died in Champaign, Illinois, on June 10, 1908. Following his death, he was interred in Masonic Cemetery in Nashville, Illinois, returning to the community where he had begun his legal and political career.