JUDGE ALFRED WALLIN, now of Fargo, is a member of the supreme bench of North Dakota. In the last half-century, especially, it is seldom that one wins prominence in several lines. It is the tendency of the age to devote one's entire energies to a special line, continually working upward and concentrating his efforts toward accomplishing a desired end; yet in the case of Judge Wallin it is demonstrated that an exalted position may be reached in more than one line of action. He is an eminent jurist, an able lawyer and a leader in political circles.
The Judge was born in Otsego county, New York, February 12, 1836, a son of Charles C. and Dorothy (Strongitharm) Wallin, also natives of New York. The father was a successful physician and surgeon who graduated from the famous old medical school at Philadelphia, the Washington & Jefferson Medical College, and was engaged in the practice of his profession in his native state until 1836, when he removed to Michigan. For fifteen years he practiced in that state and then, in 1851, went to Chicago, where he made his home until called from this life, in 1898, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. The wife and mother died in Michigan in 1851. The paternal grandparents of our subject were born, reared and married in England.
Judge Wallin spent his boyhood in Michigan and attended the common schools of that state until fifteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to a tanner and currier. He soon mastered the trade and worked at the same until reaching his majority. Feeling the need of a better education he entered the academy at Elgin, Illinois, in 1858, and pursued his studies there for one year, during which time he began the study of law. Later he entered the law department of the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was admitted to practice in Allegan county, that state, in 1864, and subsequently by the supreme court of Illinois. He commenced the practice of his chosen profession at St. Peter, Minnesota, in October, 1865, and continued there and at Redwood Falls, Minnesota, until January, 1883, whets he removed to Fargo, Dakota territory. He soon became a member of the law firm of Wilson & Ball, of that city, and later of the firm of Ball, Wallin & Smith, being, associated with those gentlemen when the state was admitted to the Union in 1889. At the first election he was elected a member of the supreme bench and was re-elected in 1896, the duties of which position he is now most ably discharging. During his residence in Minnesota he was elected county attorney of Nicollet county and the same in Redwood county, and was also a candidate for district judge, but was defeated by Judge E. St. Julian Cox, of that state.
At Elgin, Illinois, Judge Wallin was married in 1868 to Miss Ellen G. Keyes. also a native of New York, and a daughter of Eber and Juliette Gray Keyes, and by this union one daughter was born, Madeleine, now the wife of George C. Sikes, an editorial writer on the "Chicago Record." The Judge has always been a staunch supporter of the Republican party since its organization, and while in Minnesota stumped the state in support of its principles. He is an able jurist and is held in high esteem by the people of North Dakota.
Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota 1900 Page 214